On Moroccan food and the beach

Essaouira, Morocco


We're at the beach! Essaouria is a small town with a really nice walled old town that is right on the coast. Part of the coast here is rocky, but there's also a good beach that has been packed during the day. There are little kids in swim suits, covered women with their pants rolled up to their knees, wind surfers, and kite surfers. I think kite surfing looks like it would be awesome!

Some day I'm going to have to learn how. The city is very windy and cool, making a nice change after the desert. Most of the buildings in the city are white, and blue seems to be the color of choice for trim. It's really nice to be in a more laid back city, where I could go walking by myself, and where the shop keepers and touts aren't hasseling people all the time.



One of the biggest industries here is carving the local Thuya wood. Lonely planet indicated that the tree may be endangered, but Ian looked it up on the web, and could find nothing about the tree being endangered, or any groups set up to protect it. So we're going to assume that the guide book is lying. We've discovered on this trip that the guide book is not always correct. Yesterday, after reading about a "laundry mat" outside the walls in the ville nouvelle, mom and william walked half an hour there to discover that it was really just a woman's laundry business, and that she does have a washing machine, but it is not for everyone to use. So they left her our 94 pieces of laundry to do. When william and I came to pick it up they seemed amused at how many bags it was taking to carry it.


Me on a boat

Yesterday night, mom and William went out for their anniversary leaving Ian and me on our own for dinner. We went to a small pizza and pasta place. I got penne gratin, a version of macaroni and cheese. I was suprised when it came in the traditional tajine dish and was still bubbling. A tajine is made out of clay, and has a flat base and then a conical cover. They're used to convert a burner into a sort of oven. They come in multiple sizes, from an individual portion to a family sized one. Tajines usually have chicken, lamb or kofta, and then sauce and vegitables. They are brought to the table still bubbling. On the coast there are also shrimp (amazing!) and fish tajines. One of the most common types of tajine is chicken with olives and pickled lemon. I think it's on almost every menu that I've seen. And apparently they also make mac and cheese in a tajine.

Another common dish harira, a widly variable soup with a meat or tomato base, and vermicelli and chick peas in it. Here at the coast fish soup is popular. Couscous is another major moroccan dish. They serve it with cooked vegitables. They have lots of salads with tomato and onion, as well as the ocasional pizza and pasta. One good legacy of the french is great pastry and coffee. The national beverage is mint tea. It is served in a metal pot that is full of fresh mint leaves as well as some gunpowder green tea and lots of sugar. A pot usually contains enough tea for two or three cups. Breakfast is usually bread, butter, jam, orange juice, and coffee or tea. Sometimes they add pancake type things or hard boiled eggs to that.