Oooh Nelly! We have gone from leisurely days filled with trips to the Supermarche and ample internet lolly gagging to full-on actual WORK! Our classes got underway just as our first visitor Bob arrived and two conferences that required our attendance took place around town. Luckily, Bob is a seasoned traveler who willingly ventures out on his own and is easily entertained. For example, when asked what he wants to do he has replies such as, "I'd like to sit at a cafe and read for a couple of hours." Or our itinerary for beach day, "Let's get a Harira soup breakfast, then get newspapers in French and Spanish, and have coffees at a BEACH cafe." Can do Bobby boy! While most of these cafe trips turned into gab sessions, I appreciate an easily pleased traveler. This is not to say we weren't into seeing the sites. Bob and I took a day trip to a local gem of a town called Taroudant which is about an hour or so outside of Agadir. It is a walled city with tons of bicyclists and bustling energy and also host to one of the best restaurants I've had the pleasure of dining in so far. Lucky for me, I 'll be giving some teacher workshops there and will definitely have more chances to eat this delicious food. Take a gander...
The restaurant has a rooftop terrace, but Bob and I were drawn to this room and sat down before we realized we could have eaten up there. The room supplied great views nonetheless...
Let's take a small tour around my new favorite thing: Moroccan Salad. These little lettuce boats are filled with (from the top clockwise): an eggplant dish similar to a caponata but less tomato flavor, tender little potato squares that were buttery and herby, a melange of vegetables that had delicious spice and herb action, caramel rich carrot pieces, also buttery delicious, and herbs mixed with diced tomatoes under the lemon. In between were roasted peppers with olives. It was heaven!
Bob was on a mission for Pigeon Pastilla a traditional Moroccan meat and pastry pie. Unfortunately, you have to order it two hours in advance here and they were out. Instead, he went for the pigeon tagine with prunes and almonds. The pigeons aren't just nabbed off a window ledge, they are specially raised and more rare, thus the special order. It tastes a lot like duck.
I had couscous with chicken and big tender chunks of vegetables including sweet potato! It was served with a rich broth with a few carrots and veggies in it that you spoon over the couscous to ensure you will die from all the rich fabulous flavors.
A note about desserts. I usually harbor a real disappointment in the idea of fruit in and of itself as a dessert. Fruit covered in a crispy, crumbly topping with whipped cream?? SURE! Fruit as a dessert is much more common in most parts of the non-United States world, and of course can be done well. The fruit dessert at one of our conference luncheons was a small plate with a whole banana, whole orange, and whole apple. Healthy, but not exciting. This dish below, however, was divine and oh so simple. Orange pieces peeled and sliced and sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar. See? So, simple and somehow perfect. I will make this at home! (...and serve it with two small cookies on the side because I can't help myself!)
Ry is categorically against desserts that don't have multiple textures, so any type of flan or custard is never a real option when sharing, but he wasn't here...so since Bob got the orange dish, I got the creme caramel and it was tasty flanny goodness.
and of course...tea.
It is absolutely worth the bus ride alone just to have this meal. Our bus home was delayed, but we entertained ourselves with some of my favorite road trip/idle time games and thus an extended session of Botticelli was enjoyed by all.
The larger conference was on the state and status of language(s) in Morocco. Interesting presentations on Moroccan Arabic, Standard Arabic, Amazigh, and French. Most of the presentations were in French, but a few were in English. By the end of the third day our brains were overstimulated with language use, policy and identity issues and French language bombardment. It was great to meet an international crew of scholars mostly from Europe or Morocco (and a couple Americans) who are so interested in language issues. We again found ourselves to be the language chumps when multiple presenters were a Spanish or Dutch scholar working on Moroccan Arabic, who presented in French, and answered questions in English.
We are also language chumps because we had to skip our Derija class last week. The course is picking up speed and all of the students have a tired look by 9pm. After the last class I also made a public vow to never again write on the board in cursive! I spend half of the class deciphering if it is a french cursive 'b' or 'l +u'. Yet another new sympathy I have for my language students!
Last but not least: Halloween and the great October Nor'easter! After the conference Ry went to Marrakech to meet up with Bob for his last days in Morocco. Beyond being another treasure trove of a city to discover, Marrakech had a bakery with pumpkin and ghost cookies! He brought this little guy home and when I opened it I couldn't believe how much he matched all the pictures of snow covered Jack-o-lanterns I'm seeing from friends on the East coast. I think this pumpkin cookie also shares the expression many in the Northeast have dealing with snow in October! This cookie is a small comfort because boy do we miss Halloween. Hope it was a good one everybody!
