An unwelcome visitor

I was sitting innocently watching TV yesterday afternoon when I heard a plop and this was there on the floor. The really alarming thing about it was it's size which was about 5" or 12cm. Beloved acted in the appropriate way that God gave us men for and disposed of it out on the street. The question is, is it a locust, it looked like one; and, if so, do we have a plague of locusts or are we being invited to join the locust-eaters?

This Machine Kills Fascists

                                                                         

We watch television through the Astra 2 satellites and they give us some strange additional programmes I wouldn't usually see. There is one called "Contraversial " which seems to have a communist slant and at 5 yesterday I stumbled across a wonderful programme marking an important centenary I'd missed earlier this year. Woodie Guthrie was born on 14/07/1912.
He influenced Pete Seeger and the Weavers thus promoting the whole folk revival of my teens, and Beloved's hero, Bob Dylan, as well as Joe Strummer, Billy Bragg, The Manic Street Preachers and Sweetheart's favourites, Frank Turner and Al Baker.
Here's to you Woody. So long, it's been good to know you.

Taroudant's Tagine

                                              
                                                        

Houda Elgrich tells us about tagines in Taroudant.

     In Taroudant, we have a lot of traditional dishes that represent  our special culture. In this small topic, I am going to write about tagine and how people ,women in paticular, prepare it.  The word « tagine » comes from a dish used in the kitchen.  It is made out of clay that we put at the bakers untill it becomes baked and fit to be used in cooking. It is impossible to find a Moroccan house with no tagine because it is part of our culture. We use it to prepare different meals. A tagine contains some meat with vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and many others.  It is so delicious and healthy especially when it doesn’t contain a lot of oil.  A good tagine is cooked with olive oil.  In Taroudant, when people invite guests, they are very proud to serve them tagine with meat and different vegetables. It is, also, cooked on a very slow  fire. Which makes of it a very delicious tagine that tastes good.


                                     

When you visit our city Taroudant, you are kindly invited to taste our tagines.

 

The tagines you get offered in tourist restaurants tend to be the classics of court food; chicken with olives and preserved lemons, lamb with prunes and almonds, and kofta with egg. The everyday tagine as Houda says is beef with vegetables spiced with the cook's particular Ras El Hanut (see 25/01/2011). Carrots, chickpeas, turnips and marrow are all regular additions, but the principal attraction is that seasonal vegetables are used. I particularly enjoyed one with cabbage as an addition, which I would never have dared cook that way.
The glazed tagines sold in the west are really only suitable for using in an oven and it you approach a trader in the market about one of the fancy tagines made for tourists they will tell you they are suitable for cooking but backtrack rapidly when they realise you mean on a hob and live down the road and may return. It is the earthernware tagines that make the genuine article and whilst these can be used in an oven or on a gas hob with a diffuser the traditional method is to use  a majmar,the second part of the tagine outfit ,with charcoal.

Because these have live coals people tend to put them outside on their courtyards or roofs and coming up to lunchtime after midday prayers the smells coming from neighbours can drive you to a frenzy of hunger.
In europe one tends to serve tagine with rice or if trying to be "authentic" with couscous, but in Morocco it is eaten only with bread, either the ordinary flatbread or tafoulet a speciality bread. The dish is served communally and only the right hand is used for eating.
Some of the most readily available authentic tagines can be had at motorway or roadside services where they are bought by weight.

Yet More Jewellery

More necklaces from Afrika Arts. These are relatively inexpensive for silver and semi-precious stones @ 350-450 Dh.

Death to Beelzebub

This summer the wet weather followed by heat gave us a problem with flies we usually avoid. It started when on two consecutive days I was driven down from  sewing on the terrace by the number of flies. We muttered about getting a zapper when we next went to Agadir. Beloved thoroughly cleaned the kitchen ,floor, surfaces, the lot to discourage them. That afternoon I went into the kitchen to find it crawling with flies like some biblical plague. Clearly we could not wait for Agadir . It must have been a general manifestation because when Beloved went to the Hanut over the road midafternoon in the rest-time the shopkeeper put two cartons of milk on the counter because 9 times out of 10 that's what we buy. Beloved said "er no" and the shopkeeper immediately reached for the fly spray without him having to ask for it. That day was obviuously the day for buying fly spray . We used it twice daily. We have also went to Agadir and managed to purchase a "KILL PEST" zapper. We didn't see them at first but to Beloved's bemused  amusement the shop assistants in Bricoma responded positively to my request "Avez-vous une machine electrique pour mosquites bzzz bzzz bzzz ZAPP!!?"
It has been on continuously in the kitchen since. It seemed effective by the number of dead in it's tray but more keep coming and we didn't cook until  after dark  when they appeared to sleep. There is a loud crack every time one is killed which can be quite startling but judging by the frequency it seems to work best in conjunction with the fly spray as though the poison prevents them resisting the allure of the UV.
Now we are back and it is cooler there are far fewer flies. This can be easily measured in that in October we were emptying the zappers tray three times a day of about 50 flies we now haven't bothered emptying it for a week because its only zapping 1 or 2 a day.

More Jewellery

More jewellery for the knitter from Arika arts

Jewellery

The knitter wants to buy some jewellery from Afrika Arts. Here are some of the items which may be suitable.

A Demonstration to Support Gaza

After Friday prayers there was a little demonstration in the main square in support of Gaza. It burst into the square from I think the nearby mosque, about 100+ people with half a dozen banners and a dozen palestinian flags. They were chanting slogans and carrying a small size coffin effigy. The overwhelming feature of the demonstration was, like the Mayday parade, how dignified it was. They sang a couple of good hearty presumably protest songs, in two parts, with chant and reply much like any cold war communist demo; shouted "God is Great" a couple of times; listened to an amplified speech of only about 5 minutes length (British union leaders could learn a lot); solemnly burnt something, I think it was the coffin but as Beloved said, at least it wasn't a Welsh flag; chanted a couple more slogans and dispersed. About 20 minutes from start to finish.
They were watched from a distance by rather more police than usual say a dozen in all and there were a few army types with them and two more serious observers in suits. We had noticed an army type lurking near the mosque on the Bab Taghout road going in, just as at the height of the Benghazi bombing, but the whole thing could not have been more dignified and to the point; Focussed would be a good description.

Back in the sun

It's Islamic New Year. Not everything is shut but the number of drums for sale suggest that the whole population are going to have 2 each.
The garden is doing well and the hedge has lost its holes and the roses are in full bloom. Only one of the new plants has died and that's the one on the patio which we watched the birds peck at so we don't have to look far for the cause. I'm not sure about the longterm survivability of the yuccas though and expect that by this time next year those pots may be occupied by cacti.

We shopped ahead of new year and of course there is no lamb to be had as post-Eid everyone has a freezerful although we did manage to get beef. We followed pickups piled with sheepskin back from Agadir, presumably heading for the Tannery, of which Mohamed Elmeddah tells us more:

     Craftsmanship or the Tannery is one of the oldest centres in Taroudant. It’s a place where tanners make all leather and wool products.The time of its peak production is the days following Eid El Adha when people slaughter sheep and send wool and skins to the tannery. These products such as leather belts,slippers, hats, wallets, bags, sandals… attract people from all over the world ( tourists). Those products are not only exported to other cities all over Morocco such as Fès, Marrakech, etc but also to many European countries such as Italy, France, Germany, Spain...

     The local markets are rich with such leather and woollen products and articles that are used as ornaments or furnishings  in houses such as  rugs of sheep or goatskin or cowhide,or as clothes such as leather jackets and slippers, which are bought in different religious ceremonies.

                                    

Tafroute Again

I Have never really "got" Tafroute. People write songs about it and wax lyrical on the page but to me it seems a pretty ordinary if tourist orientated town. We had never stayed overnight , just passed through , so we decided to stay to see if we were missing something. We stayed at the Hotel des Amandines which overlooks the town with wonderful views and has a swimming pool which Beloved enjoyed. (I had managed to leave my costume in Blighty.) I was taken by their Saarinen contemporary copy tables and chairs on the terrace.
Beloved was quite excited by one of the other guest's classic Citroen.
We wandered round town in the day and evening. Had a nice meal. But, I still don't get Tafroute. I'd rather stay at Kerkous any day.

Couscous

Here Soukayna Mechouk describes how to make couscous.

     Hi! I would like to welcome you in my mini-project which is going to be about « Couscous ».

     Couscous is another popular dish in Taroudant and all over Morocco. For Moroccan families, it is the favourite dish on Fridays. It is a very respectful meal associated with the prayer of Friday in muslim countries. It is then, part of our traditions and customs. Couscous is a meal that brings people and members of families together when they eat, and it strengthens their relationships. In my city Taroudant, when people are not served couscous, they feel as if something is missing from them. It is also prepared in celebrations such as marriage,…

     HOW TO MAKE COUSCOUS :

-The ingredients :

   *1 kilo of couscous

   *1 kilo of meat of beef or mutton, you can also use chicken

   *2 or 3 carrots, 3 tomatoes, 1 big onion, zucchini and squash

   *Parsley (you may add coriander too)

   *2 big spoons of vegetable oil or olive oil

-The spices :

   *1/2 spoon of salt,

   *1/2 spoon of pepper,

   *1/2 spoon of cumin, pinch saffron is optional.

   *1/2 spoon of smen ( butter ghee)

   *1 litre of water.

     You will need a couscous pot : the top of it is used to steam the couscouss, the bottom is used for the sauce by which we include all the ingrediants and spices we mentioned  mixed them together.

Igherm

Igherm is a transport hub in the middle of the Anti-Atlas. It has roads to Taroudant, Taliouine, Tata and Tafroute. Its public buildings are particularly attractive with their Amizigh inspired architecture.