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Hedging my best

It is exactly a year since we planted the hibiscus hedge at Dar Barbara and I am so pleased with it.  A year ago it was 18" sticks planted 18" apart but now it is a proper hedge which we have had to cut twice and even the righthand corner which did not take well and had to be replaced twice is looking like it was meant to be. The recent rain has greened up the garden as well as the surrounding countryside. When we went to Agadir the Sousse valley looked like the Vale of Clwyd in June. The Agave is looking good too and the roses which were about 9" high a year ago are getting out of hand and I will have to think how to prune them - Bush or Standard?

Around the shop

Sold to tourists and even now in Tesco's is a spice mix called Rash el Hanut. This literally means  "all Round the shop" and relates to the way town-based moroccans buy their spices in very small quantities so that they are as fresh as possible.  So when you go to the our local greengrocers, strangely not the hanut which is more of a small alimentation there's one every 50 yards, you can see people buying the spices for that days tajine with the greengrocer literally going round several small sacks and adding a spoonful or so of each into a plastic bag. At the spice stall in the market there will be a separate ready-mixed pyramid, often artistically arranged with the separate colours in stripes. Obviously then rash el hanut not only varies from seller to seller but also from day to day although only subtly. It is the basis of all tajines.

A good approximation is equal quantities of paprika,cumin and ground coriander (2 teaspoons of each for a 4-6 person casserole) with salt to taste.  A more sophisticated blend although more like catering quantities is as follows

1/2 teaspoon  cloves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
2    teaspoons allspice
2    teaspoons cumin 
2    teaspoons ginger
2    teaspoons tumeric
2    teaspoons black pepper 
2    teaspoons cardoman
3    teaspoons cinnamon
3    teaspoons coriander
2    freshly grated nutmeg

all measurements for ground spices  

Your carriage ma'am?

A competitor to the petit taxi (7MAD 3 person anywhere in the town limits) is the caleche which is preferred by many locals. They are also  popular with tourists and will take you on a 1/2 - 1 hour tour of the town for 50-100 MAD depending on your bargaining skills. They are certainly very popular with our guests. Sweetheart took a tour at dusk and was delighted when they stopped to buy and light candles to attatch to the caleche as headlights. They went round the medina and she was very taken with the "throne shops"; (traiteurs for your wedding feast). Madre went in the afternoon and circuited the town walls. She w2as struck by the cracks in the walls caused by the earthquake (now repaired courtesy of UNESCO) and the wadi although she did not get to see it in flood.
Some of the caleches are highly decorated with scenes painted on the back. Beloved took these pictures of some at yesterdays siesta. The horse seemed to be making friends with his couterparts outside the antique shop.



Caleche Taroudant





Model meets statue Taroudant






Caleche Taroudant



more mullah

Beloved has reminded me I stopped telling Nasrudin stories at 3 and you are supposed to tell 7 so here are 4 more from http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/nasruddin.htm

Once Nasruddin went to a garden and climbed on apricot tree. The gardener observed this and asked him, “Why did you climb someone else’s tree?” Nasruddin answered, “Don’t you know I am nightingale and for nightingales climbing a tree is not a sin.” The gardener laughed and said, “Please sing so I listen and enjoy.” Nasruddin started to sing in his horse voice. The gardener asked him whether nightingale sang so badly. Nasruddin replied, “A nightingale which eats raw apricot will not sing better than this.”



One winter night while Nasruddin was sleeping he heard a noise that was suddenly made in the street. Having covered himself with his blanket, he came out to know the cause of the noise. Suddenly a smart thief robbed him of his blanket and ran away. He came back home without the blanket. In reply to his wife who was asking about the reason for the noise, Nasruddin said, “All the quarrel was about my blanket.”



Nasruddin went to a city and was walking in the streets. Some one asked him, "What is the day today?" He said, "I have recently come to this city, so far I am not accustomed to the days here. You'd better ask a resident of this city".


 Nasruddin used to stand in the street on market-days, to be pointed out as an idiot. No matter how often people offered him a large and a small coin, he always chose the smaller piece. One day a kindly man said to him:

- Nasruddin, you should take the bigger coin. Then you will have more money and people will no longer be able to make a laughing stock of you.

- That may be true, said Nasruddin, but if I always take the larger, people will stop offering me money to prove that I am more idiotic than they are. Then I would have no money at all.
  
   
 

French lanterns

The french seem to have come to Taroudant at just the right time for street lights. The obvious example are the lights in the main square but there are lovely examples of wall fixed and hanging lights in the roads between the 2 squares and down to Bab Taghout. Lovely cast iron art nouveau.

Sidi Ifni

Sidi Ifni is about 2 hours drive south of Agadir on the Laayaoune road. It was only returned to Morocco in 1976 havikng been a Spanish colony. Despite their claim to bags a share of the western sahara minerals the spanish did not bother building there until 1934 so it was built in full Art Deco style.  We visited in December when it had the air of Rhyl of season. I was worried that "art deco" may mean full fascist architecture such as the valley los caidos or florence railway station but nothing so grim.
The tourist part of the town is the original administrative centre; the majority of people live a bit further inland presumably where they were kept away from the colonial forces. It is genuine art deco and wholly painted in white with  blue highlights  so it is reminiscent of Miami Beach by way of southern texas/californian spanish mission. the only sign of any vaguely fascist style was the brown stone memorable in the garden of the central square.
The town is divided into 2 parts, the upper part with the original admin buildings, lighthouse, market and the Hotel Bellevue, which is linked to a newer lower level in the north by steps which is at beach level with more hotels a couple of camp sites and a swimming pool.  The main attraction these days seems to be the surf but as we are too old and unfit for that we stayed in the upper town at the Hotel Bellevue (no sign of the infamous rude woman of the reviews only really helpful staff).The whole area can be strolled round in about 15 minutes.