Fes Cooking Class

One of my main aims in going to Fes was to do a Moroccan cooking class and learn how to cook a tagine, and that I did. There was a link on the Dar El Hana website to Cooking Lessons and I am lucky I cooked on it as it led to Lahcen and his cooking classes. As we had booked in advance, Lahcen met us at 9.30 am Dar El Hana and took us shopping in the Municipal Marche in central Fes, as they have fish for sale there on Saturdays. After much discussion we (the 4 of us) decided to cook harira (the traditional Moroccan tomato-based soup), lamb tagine with apricots and almonds, stuffed calamari and for dessert, crepes with cheese, raisins and almonds. We trailed Lahcen around the market as he checked out the seafood, then bought vegetables, dried fruit, spices and a huge chunk of lamb shoulder. Although the spices are in different bags on the stall, they are bought and mixed together in a small piece of paper in which they are wrapped. We also got chick peas that had already been soaked from the spice stall along with some cinnamon sticks. Celery here is also very weird, more like a herb with thin stems rather than the thick stems we are used too, but it does still have the celery taste. The really good think about the trip to the market was that we could ask questions, "What is that fruit? What is that used for? What is in that pot?" Being Berber who grew up in the Atlas mountains and having spend time cooking in a number of restaurants, Lahcen has an excellent knowledge of local foods and very good English in which to explain things. Along the way he told us a Fig Desert:

Fig Dessert
Fresh Figs
Honey
Thyme

Drizzle whole figs with honey, sprinkle with thyme and roast. Serve cut in half with creme fraiche or on their own.

Now all I have to do is try it, but the fig season is nearly over.

He then took us back to Riad Tafilalet where we would be doing the cooking. We decided we would like to prepare to eat in the evening so we didn't have to return until 4.00 pm after we had had a mint tea and some almond bread in the riad courtyard and experienced the view from the rooftop terrace.
We finally got back at 4.30 after having trouble catching taxis and it was downstairs to the kitchen and on with the white, cooks jackets. Lahcen guided as we chopped, grated (did you know you can grate tomatoes), diced, fried, stirred, blanched, soaked and scraped the meat and vegetables. Finally the harira, tagine and calamari were on cooking. The tagine in a pressure cooker as is the norm here unless the meat is marinated the night before. Tumeric (or saffron), ginger and black pepper made up the spices in the tagine. Mmm, the smell was good.


Soaked raisins and crushed almonds were then mixed with the goat's cheese and used as filling in the crepes that were then rolled up, topped with melted butter and sesame seeds before being baked in the oven.

Finally all was ready and we went upstairs to our lamp-lit table in the central courtyard, where the fountain tinkled in the background to await the feast. Eat to much?, of course I did but the food tasted great then we had an impromptu Berber drum and singing performance by Lahcen and his friend.

What a great idea!

Weekend in Fes

Just got back from a great weekend in Fes with some friends. I hadn't been there since 2000 when I visited Morocco on holidays so wanted an update, as well as the opportunity to do a Moroccan cooking class, which I will cover in my next entry. Decided to stay at Dar El Hana as it was run by an Australian. I thought it would be nice to meet one as I rarely see them here in Morocco. Josephine met as at the medina car park and took us to the guesthouse where she had organised dinner to be ready and waiting for us. It was 9 o'clock by the time we got there as the train was late (a side effect of Ramadan I believe). Anyway we got the full Moroccan experience - Harira (a soup), a HUGE plate of mixed salads, lamb and prune tagine with fresh fruit and chocolate for dessert. We also took along a bottle of wine, not knowing we could buy it there. Anyway, it was a pleasant evening and we ate on the rooftop terrace by lamp light. Very quiet and relaxing, which is a great way to wind down after a busy week.
Here's the salad!

Dar El Hana has only 3 guest rooms sleeping a maximum of 8 and we had the two on the second floor, one twin and one triple. Typically there had tiled floors with rugs; hand-painted octagonal tables as bedside tables; bedspreads made of the plant silk; wooden shutters for the windows looking out over the central courtyard with wrought-iron frames around the windows and forming the balcony balastrades. A very comfortable place to stay and very centrally located in the medina.We spent some time wandering around the medina, and did so without a guide. One innovation that has made life much easier for tourists is a series of colour-coded thematic tourist circuits around the medina. We followed part of the pink one - the Traditional Crafts Circuit, and also part of the Dark Blue one - Monuments and Souks circuit. There is an accompanying guidebook that can be bought for 100 dirham. Highlights included the henna souk and Nejjarine complex. So much stunning architecture.

Might the central medina was a hive of activity around the Qaraouiyine Mosque as renovations have to finished this week so it can be officially reopened by the King, with its opening coinciding with the ending of Ramadan. Never have I seen some much painting, scraping and varnishing. Fes certainly will be looking its best this week.

Where to next?

Having spent my 2 month Summer break travelling around Eastern Europe, I am now planning other short breaks to make the most of my long weekends and breaks during my last year in Morocco. The weekend after next, four of us are going to Fez and doing a Moroccan cooking class as I want to learn how to cook a tagine before I leave. Plus I haven't been back to Fez since 2000 so I want to see how it has changed. I don't think it will have become unrecognisable like parts of Marrakesh.

Over Christmas/New Year I am going to Mali as I've always wanted to go to West Africa, not that I have any idea what was the inspiration. As it is just over a 3 hour flight away, it is too good of opportunity to miss. So Timbuktu, here I come.

Having found a travel writer's course that is happening for 3 days over a weekend in November in Marrakesh, I am debating whether or not to go. I'm sure the inspiration and what I would learn from the instructors would help me get back into it more efficiently, BUT do I want to spend that much money as it isn't cheap. BUT maybe I should spoil myself for once. Anyway I can think about it for a couple of weeks then still get the early payment discount.

Then there are the long weekends next year - what shall I do? Essouria is definitely on the list and . . . . I'll have to think about that.

Thank goodness I don't drive here

Every day at lunch this week as a group of us teachers sit at the picnic table with our home-packed lunches, I hear the driving stories. This week it is the drivers, the pedestrians, the police and especially the male drivers. The reason for so many stories is RAMADAN.

By the late afternoon when many drive home to the beach it is nearing 12 hours since most Moroccans have eaten or had a drink. But more importantly they haven't had a cigarette, no coffee and no alcohol, so withdrawal symptoms are striking. As well there is a lack of concentration, lack of energy, tiredness and of particular concern, a very short temper.

According to many, one of the favourites for upset drivers is to brake suddenly in front of the car that annoys them. A really sensible option when travelling at 110 km/hr on the motorway. Then there was the driver of a motor scooter who had stopped traffic and was ranting and raving at a car driver who "dared" to toot his horn at him!

This is all in the first week of Ramadan, so after the weekend I will probably have some more good stories to tell. Hopefully they will not involve pain or suffering.

In Morocco by Edith Wharton

Last weekend was the first meeting of bookgroup for the new school year., where we discussed In Morocco by Edith Wharton. Written in 1919 after her short trip around Morocco 2 years earlier, the book is sometimes lauded as the first travel guide to Morocco. Certainly a woman before her time travelling as a lone woman, she did have the support and company of the French Protectorate of the time - a driver, an interpreter, a guide and accommodation in some of the best places in Morocco courtesy of the French. This included the Bahia Palace in Marrakesh, which is still stunning today.

Not suprisingly she lauded the work of the French, and yes a couple of there major works - the railway system and the roads including across the Atlas, are still lauded today. However, she also looks down on, and is critical of the local people, their crumbling buildings, lack of motivation and particularly the bare, barren landscape.

However the reading of the book did set us to thinking about where in Rabat is the Pasha's Palace and the Medersa. Our decision was that the medersa is today one of the museums adjoining the Andulusian or Rose Gardens inside the kasbah walls. Meanwhile the consensus was that the Pasha's Palace is now Cafe Maure.

One other area of particular interest was what was visible at the Chellah in Rabat and Volubulis, prior to the extensive archeological excavations that have since occured. At the Chellah, there is mention of the Islamic structures but no mention of the Roman ruins or those from the Phonecians. Volubulis of today would bear little similarity to the one she saw. There were no high arches, no mosaics and few stone columns.As Rabat residents, the book had more interest to us than it would to the general public, especially as we'd all travelled to the same places Edith visited 90 years ago. It was encouraging to see, once I checked the copy I'd bought here in Morocco for A$6, that a number of books about Morocco written in English that may still be of interest to those readers of the English language are now being published in Morocco since copyright has expired.

Ramadan is soon - How do I know?

Ramadan begins the middle of this week. In the days prior it is a time for me to stock up on wine (as the wine shops are usually closed during Ramadan), work out the best way to deal with students who haven't eaten or drunk anything all day and visit restaurants that may close during Ramadan.

Here's how I know Ramadan is approaching:

• there are large boxes of dates at the entrance to the supermarket
• Direct Usine is crowded as people buy new plates, cups and glasses
• the students remind me, not just once but many times
• the medina has many carts, pulled by men, that are packed high with boxes of dates
• in the supermarket people are buying very large containers of honey
• the bottleshop section is full of expats stocking up
• I start to here of shops that will be closed

Ramadan certainly does make life interesting in Morocco! I know it is here when all the coffee shops are closed as I walk to work in the mornings, no tables on the footpaths, and no cups of coffee in sight.

International Blog Day - I'm late

Apparently August 31st was International Blog Day, and I just found out, but better late than never. So here are some of my favourite blogs:

Chaotic Life - a blog of a friend of mine, it is a never-ending saga of the dramas of everyday life. As a writer, she even makes these everyday events interesting. Plus it keeps me up to date with what is happening in her life.

The Journeys of Captain Oddsocks - I only recently found this one, but it written by an Australian who runs a hostel in Olomouc in the Czech Republic where I stayed on my recent holiday. It has lots of fun photos and information about the Czech republic and life in it.

Cat in Rabat and The Morocco Report are two Moroccan-based blogs written by expats who have both unfortunately left the country for greener pastures. Many hungry cats are now wandering the streets of Agdal.

Andy Rouse for some stunning wildlife photos. If only I could take photographs like that!

After writing this I have decided I need to do some more explorations in the blog world, so stay tuned for an update.