Marrakech, Morocco

I didn't think we would have the chance to travel to North Africa, nor did we know what to expect.  So happy we got to explore Marrakech, Morocco!

People everywhere, bikes rushing by, cats, donkeys, stalls and sellers; sights, sounds, and smells that are amazing and overwhelming all at the same time.  When we arrived in Marrakech we disappeared down busy streets through a small alleyway to the silent oasis that was our Riad-Dar Dailkoum.

The Riad is run by a very nice French family, with a beautiful interior: including a little pool if you want a dip. We were impressed by the beautiful accommodations:

I loved the smell of the Riad, is that crazy? In such a bustling place you would never think that it was covered in orange trees, and the smell was wonderfully sweet. 

We enjoyed breakfast at the Riad every day before we left to explore:

Lets talk about our top five recommendations for what to do in Marrakech, along with the foods we recommend trying while on a visit to this hustle and bustle of a city!

1. Visit the Medina

The Medina is one of the most well known squares in Africa.  During the day it is filled with snake charmers, juice stands and henna artists, and in the evenings it transforms into a huge outdoor food court. 

At night the main square (Jemaa el-Fnna) turns into a food court for a foodies paradise.  You can try anything from snails to traditional tagine and sweet pastries.  As we walked around at night, the locals were calling Jordan Pablo Escobar, trying to entice him to eat from their stalls... His mustache has made him famous!

We would recommend visiting a Berber Pharmacy.  They come in all shapes and sizes, some are brightly lit shops with lots of items.  

 I love all the dried flowers used to make teas:

We visited "Apothecary Tuareg" in front of Azzara Pharmacie. Abdel was happy to teach us Spice 101.  His old fashioned shop is crammed to the rafters with perfumes, skincare, argon oil, spices, soaps and some of the most bizarre natural remedies that Moroccans use to cure illnesses and wake the senses.

In the Souk they sell amazing rugs, great baskets, and middle eastern decor-you can bargain for just about anything in the Medena, even a wallet. But be careful, when you have a mustache like Jordan they think you're way rich, and try to double to the price on just about everything...but with some good bargaining you can drop the price quite a bit.

2. Book a Berber Village Discovery Tour with 4x4Camel

The Discovery Tour was one of the best ways to learn about the everyday life of the local people.  Most of the Moroccans living in the villages in the Atlas Mountains are of Berber descent, and are the  original settlers in Morocco. Our first stop on the tour was to the farmers market; it was pretty eye opening to say the least!

Any kind of meat you could want...or not want...

  

Take your pick!

Free range and cage free

Jordan's mustache attracting international attention at the meat market

Grains and spices

Lots of mint tea, everywhere you go you can expect to be greeted with some 

At the market once you buy your meat, you can take it to a griller, who will cook it up for you

Lots of Tajin 

Apparently you don't go to the market just for food services, there are also hairdressers and dentists ready to work too.  I'm not sure how clean or comfortable it is going to a dentist like this, but desperate times call for desperate measures I guess...?

We drove the windy mountainside through little Berber villages.  Some of the villages were made up entirely of one family-with over 20 people! So some these areas are so rural they have no electricity. 

Our next stop was a woman's argan oil cooperative.  The cooperative helps employe widowed and divorced women to give them jobs.  

The oil is hand pressed, and it takes hours to bread down one nut!

The argan nut is unique to Morocco and Moroccans love to share the wonderful benefits of the oil extracted from the nut.  They use the oil in everyday use either for cooking or comestics. 

On the road again...

One of the highlights of the tour was having lunch in a Berber house in a village overlooking the Atlas Mountains and Mount Toubkal (the snowcapped peaked mountian that is the highest summit in Northern Africa). 

Lunch for two

We had such a delicious lunch, and the fact that it was homemade made it all the more special.
We started off with a pureed vegetable soup

Ooooo a tajine 

 Of chicken, veggies and couscous

We definitely enjoyed this meal, and the experience we had going through the Berber Villages!

3. Souk Cuisine Cooking School

Morocco is a country bursting with fresh ingredients for cooking: parsley, coriander, paprika, turmeric  you name it, they use the spice to liven up dishes without overpowering any one flavor.  We took a cooking class with Souk Cuisine and Gemma, our instructor, had the perfect afternoon planned for us!

We started off with a list that she created and were left to source out the ingredients ourselves.  Our goal was to find the perfect vegetables, barter over prices with local merchants, learn about spices and sample little treats from stall owners who knew Gemma. It is a great way to fully experience the day to day workings of the markets!

We tried different types of olives

Pretty good sugar donuts

We picked out a nice chicken to eat...which was measured in comparison to some rocks...

We completed our shopping and were taking back to Gemma's beautiful riad where we prepared our meal in Gemma's open aired kitchen.

Gemma had three Moroccan matriarchs helping us in the kitchen, teaching us how to cook with our hands.

A pinch of this, and a pinch of that...

We made so much food, for starters we made: traditional sweet carrot salad, courgette (zucchini) moroccan salad, and delicious zahhlouk (eggplant and pepper spread).

Final product:

For main dishes we had three: The first a tajine of sardines and rice
Making the rice mixture...

Mix, Mix, Mix

 All ready to be baked!

Final product

I worked on making chicken

My hands were yellow for days, and I couldn't get the smell to go away (which is terrible when you're pregnant and sick!)

I just need to post this picture to remind me of that tumeric spice smell, and the dye job it did to my hands

Ready to be baked

While things simmered on the gas stove, it is common in Morocco to take your large meat dishes to your local bread baker to be stuck in their oven. Kitchens can't accommodate large pans, and it is common to pay a oven fee to cook large meals.  I brought the chicken to the local baker to be cooked.

They wanted me to stay and make some bread for them...sure why not?!?!

The Master Chef worked on a preserved fish with lemon

 Looks good and proud of his meal!

For dessert we made biscuits with semolina and coconut, and ate them with mint tea

We had a great experience cooking, and were full for the rest of the day!  Cancel your dinner reservations and sign up for this cooking class and cultural experience, you won't regret it.

4. Visit Ben Youssef Madrasa

The Madrasa was founded in the 14th century as the largest Quranic learning center in North Africa, and it is the most splendid!

A great selfie

The medersa (which is a theological college) is affiliated with a nearby mosque, and once had 900 students in 132 dorms arranged around the courtyard where students would study religious and legal texts. 

"You who enter my door, may your highest hopes be exceeded"

We went into the dorm rooms and admired the beautiful architecture

While it is beautiful, I am happy Jordan didn't leave me here to live in the dorms.

5. Get lost and try local cuisine

If you haven't already gotten lost through the narrow streets of Marrakech you should, just be warned, everyone will try to give you directions to their favorite rug shop or friends store and expect a tip for their service.  You may find yourself lost in the tannery where they dye their leather, or at a beautiful hammam (couldn't do that pregnant, but if you're not you should totally go!).   

 He begged me to bring the donkey home...

While we have covered lots of food already, there are a few things besides Tajine that we recommend trying.  Cafe Chez Zaza in the Medina is a hidden GEM.  They have a pastilla that is a unique combination of sweet and savory goodness,  and a delicious apricot lamb tajine-totally worth eating here!

 Morocco was a great place to visit, totally unlike anywhere we have yet to go!  Our adventures continue on...

Our Garden

This year has been the first year we have been able to start a garden.  Our 600 square foot apartment in Los Angeles didn't come with a yard, nor with any land we could grow on.  I think community gardens are great, and if I ever lack space for a garden (which is pretty up there on my priority list of necessities for future moves) I will definitely find a place to plant.  I wasn't sure how big I wanted my garden; I was a little intimidated never having planted before, so we stuck with three raised garden beds made out of sandboxes. If I could do it again, I would have had Jordan build me some bigger raised beds, but you live and learn-our first garden was a trial experience, and a success.

One of the important things I learned was to observe before digging!  It took me a few days to determine the best place for my garden.  I had a friend who didn't have much success growing carrots because her yard was too shady.  It's important to observe the space you're about to use.  How big or small is it?  Which spots are sunny the longest, and which parts get hit with more shade.  We have a big tree in the yard, so I was out there checking the shade pattern of the tree before we started planting to maximize sunlight, and avoid shade.  I ended up moving some of the boxes around before putting in the soil because as the sun made its way around the garden, the tree shaded one of the boxes too much.

It was really helpful to read the seed packets, because they help determine when the best time to grow would be.  I also had friends and books help point me the right direction.  I found my Guru in a gardening Facebook group for my local area-shout out to Karinna Fig.

She was so helpful when it came time to figure out what would grow good in our spastic climate and when is the right time to plant was.  I planted a lot, in fact I was veggie HaPpY.  Here's what we grew, and what was a success vs. what wasn't:

We started our planting in little sprouting seedling pods that were dehydrated.  We started the sprouting process inside because it was late March, and it was still cold out.  Once we added water the dirt fluffed up, and they were placed in biodegradable cups that went straight into the ground.  We made sure to give them enough sunlight every day, to help them grow.

When it came time to put the sprouts into the ground I had to do some research to figure out the most favorable environment for the little veggies.  I had to make sure how far apart to plant things (again the Guru helped, and so did this book).    We used some normal cheap dirt, mixed in with potting dirt, it worked perfectly fine, and I made sure to fertilize every once in awhile.  After the frosted nights were over, it was time to introduce plants to the soil.  There were a few times that I had to put tupperware over the plants at night, a mini greenhouse affect to keep the cold weather from freezing them.

Time to let things grow, and I really learned about the need for space.  I think I was a bit ignorant to give things space, my bad. When they say zucchini and squash need to be planted a foot apart, they are serious, I had zucchini all over the place, and squash stalks competing for space!  

-Peas and Zucchini-

 -Carrots, Radish, Onion & Bok Choy-

Loving the little carrots

Baby green beans

Hey Zucchini 

Our Cantaloupe; sadly this is as far as it got, it didn't get warm enough

And then...all of the sudden it happened, the garden EXPLODED with growth.  The soil must have been great, and the weather in Germany was wonderful.  We watered every night, and kept the soil nice and moist.

 Check out the squash on the far right!

Good story we came back from a 4-day traveling weekend, and our Squash went berserk.  I didn't realize that the instructions for planting only 2 seeds in a planter this size was the truth; maybe I didn't trust my skills yet, but I put four seeds in originally, and they exploded.  Jordan would have put the right amount of seeds in...my fault.  The squash grew almost as tall as him!

 And definitely bigger than our hands:

The flowering meant we were doing something right, and them came the Bee's...and if you have read our Slovenia blogpost, you know I love bees.

I got up close to the bees-no fear here, they're all good.

Before we knew it, we were staring at edible vegetables; so sweet and delicious!

 Yellow Squash

 Zucchini: I didn't know that they are hairy, and have little spikes on them...

 Petite Strawberries

 Breakfast radish ready to eat

And now we start picking!

A great snack with Ranch dip

Bok choy for a salad!

 We ate lots of Zucchini, when you cut them off, they should be the size that they are in the photo for taste.  When you cut them off the plant it stimulates more growth.

 Multiple loads of carrots, we planted consecutively a few weeks apart so we had an abundant supply to pick!

 I love radishes in my salad!

 Lots of squash

We loved going outside after dinner to pick veggies to grill over the next few days.  We had so many I gave my neighbor some for looking over my garden while we traveled. 

Our garden was a success, I loved eating what we grew, everything was so flavorful and made me feel good to eat.  As winter is approaching, it is time to let the garden rest for the season, but don't worry it will be back!