Taroudant Revisited

Because of the food poisoning Round 1 2011 we were unable to celebrate Eid al-Adha with our friend Habib's family in Taroudant.  Luckily, we were all invited to visit his family for the weekend when R's brother and Sarah were in town and it coincided with a Christmas party a Brit named Peter was hosting (complete with my first Christmas pudding with brandy butter).  We loaded into a Grand Taxi and made our way to this town outside of Agadir.

The walls of Taroudant, which is also called the 'grandmother of Marrakech'...

A nice three hour stroll through the streets of town which come to life with people in the early evening.

We stumbled upon a community center hosting some local hip-hop performers...complete with fog machine and the LOUDEST sound system I think I've ever heard.

Public sculpture fun!

Habib's friend Peter has taught in many parts of the world and now divides his time between England and Taroudant.  He invited us to his Christmas party where we met a lot of Moroccans, some Brits, and even an American Peace Corps Volunteer.  Pictured here is Peter's turtle, free to roam the garden all he wants.

Peter trying to explain 'minced pies' to some Moroccan guests.

 A Peace Corps volunteer who is the last cohort who will learn the local Amazigh language. The Moroccan government wants future cohorts to work with youth development and so they will be trained in Moroccan Arabic.

This stencil says something along the lines of 'Clean up your neighborhood'.

 

A special treat was Habib's oldest sister had a soccer game.  Look at all these fans out on a Saturday morning!

The best part about our trip to Taroudant was spending time with Habib's family and enjoying all the culinary bliss they heaped upon us.  Below is a chicken tagine with crispy french fries.  Grabbing a pinch of fries with the sauce, prunes, tender chicken, vegetables and bread (made with Habib's family's own milled grains) was another divine dining experience.  We followed this meal with fresh tangerines, from their own trees (of course).

I mention how well we ate with Habib's family and it is no exaggeration. What is particularly remarkable about his family is how much of our food came from their land: They have their own olive tree orchards, make their own honey, Argan oil, grow wheat that is milled in town and they bake at home into these chewy flat rounds of bread, and then the citrus! We woke one morning to Habib's dad bringing in what looked like a tall stack of bread and a big pot of tea.  The bread was layered with mild olive oil mixed with honey from the farm and we all pulled drizzly pieces of warm bread from the tower of goodness and washed it down with the tea.  Just another day in the life!

Celebrating the Holidays

We said goodbye to our friend in Marrakech and made our way back south to celebrate the holidays together. Hanging red and green reusable grocery totes was the extent of our holiday lights decorating.  Alan and Sarah showered us with precious gifts from the US, including a sack of brown sugar and chocolate chips...which was immediately converted into a batch of cookies baked on a Pastilla pan and made to a soundtrack of Otis Redding and Elvis Christmas tunes.  All was merry and bright!

 

Jemaa el-Fnaa Marrakech at Sunset

In the evening food options (makeshift restaurants), entertainment, and people fill the square.

Un-updated Blogs are the WORST...

Many apologies for the lack in blog updates. One friend suggested a blog is like a baby book. You start it with the best of intentions...but keeping it up gets too overwhelming. Not entirely, but it can be hard to have time to upload pictures, and avoid my lazy tendencies. We have been on the road quite a bit and busy with a round of visitors and final exam preparations. 

 Let's catch everyone up to speed by starting where I left off....

We were lucky enough to have friends and family visit around the holidays...and they all came at or around the same time so there was merry overlap and barely enough time to wash towels for the next batch of friends.

Here we are dining out with a friend visiting from Spain. After a couple days in Agadir, we all boarded the bus to Marrakech to meet R's brother and Sarah for some Marrakech Madness and a surprise experiential gift of a Moroccan Cuisine cooking class!

Grading essays on the road to Marrakech....oh, final count: 323 essay students. Argh!

Showing off our bargained purchases in the cool sitting area of our Riyad.  Many vendors would tell me: "Ok, you are a Berber woman, you are a bargainer."  I actually hate negotiating prices, but when it is game-on...I can play....and yes, I know calling me a 'Berber woman' is a great sales technique!

 Pastilla and Moroccan Salad...

A very Alice in Wonderland hotel where you step down into the bathroom, making me look like a giant.

Here is the courtyard with a rooftop terrace with tables for a sunny breakfast, taking in the Marrakech mosques and Atlas mountains...

I heart doorways and arches and tile...

Our cooking class began with a souk shopping treasure hunt for our ingredients.  I could dive into these mounds of olives a la Scrooge McDuck into his gold coins.

Stop at the spice market where we got 'the real Saffron!'

Exploring the treasures of the souk...

We got a tutorial on the most common Moroccan spices and how they are used in cuisine.

Lovely corners in the Souk...

Negotiating the vegetables section...

Oven fresh bread...

Cooking Class Time...I loved the set up in an open air courtyard. We all had a different recipe to prepare depending on which table we chose. When we finished we collectively worked on the most labor-intesenive ones and then after a wait, we reaped the delicious benefits of our labor.

We enjoyed the meal on the rooftop terrace and lingered in the late afternoon sun, very full and extremely happy.  Everyone got a recipe booklet with directions for all of the dishes we prepared. 

It was another perfect afternoon in Morocco.