Wordless Wednesday

Basting Zaki`s quilt (the back is Nature Walk, Clearing by Cloud 9 Fabrics)

Morocco Monday Part II - A Spring Festival

So here is Part II of my Morocco Monday post.  From the beautiful town of Oualidia, we drove an hour east inland to my parents-in law`s house.  They, like all Moroccans are fantastic hosts and always greet you like you are a long lost relative even though you may only have seen them a couple of days before. My mother in law hugs like no other. The mantra goes that it is your home and don`t dare admire a single thing for it is likely to be thrust into your hands for you to keep.  I learned this lesson the hard way and have since disciplined myself to keep my mouth firmly shut.

My son loves visiting his grandparents, where he spends inordinate lengths of time in their garden chasing the chickens and collecting snails for newly discovered pockets.  There were certainly signs of spring...like this cherry blossom..

and this burgeoning fig tree...

...a lemon tree...

...a bee doing his work on the orange blossom...

...hens of the free-range variety...

...and a single poppy.

Admittedly, this poppy looks a little sad but when the poppies flower (we passed fields of them on the way and they were in no way sad), it signals the start of a special week long festival or moussem to celebrate the start of spring.  The festival includes a fantasia - a competitive tournament where riders dressed in traditional costume sit astride magnificent horses with harnesses pierced with gold and embroidered blankets swishing under the saddle.  Complete with gunpowder muskets, the riders line up...

and charge at full gallop in a straight line with muskets held aloft...

...before coming to an abrupt halt inches from the facing audience and firing their muskets at the same time in a deafening boom and a cloud of dust.  Despite this being repeated over and over, the audience never tire of this spectacle and the noise of the guns get you every time...

While most of the riders are men who are more than happy to pose and who love sashaying past you...

in a demonstration of equality of the sexes,women participate too...

...but after one bang too many, especially for little Z...

...it was back to the house for some lovingly prepared chicken couscous...

Hope you`re celebrating the first signs of spring in your part of the world and that your week goes with a bang!

Morocco Monday Part I - A Blue Lagoon

After almost 3 weeks of feeling decidedly under the weather or as the French would say - not in my plate, I was suddenly much brighter.  With this in mind and my mother here for her annual spring visit, my husband suggested we all go away for the weekend.  He suggested here...the beautiful small coastal town of Oualidia.

When my husband proposed almost twelve years ago I accepted immediately. He said we would honeymoon here - in Oualidia. We would swim he said, eat fish and run on the beach. For those who know me well, they will be able to tell from these words that my husband and I hadn`t known each other long! You see, my husband runs.  He`s slim and built for it. I`m not. I do not run. In the end, we didn`t honeymoon here but have spent several weekends and summer days in Oualidia.  Known for its safe swimming for children in the lagoon, oysters and bird watching, it`s where my husband came as a child every Sunday with his father.  Still relatively unspoiled and undiscovered, it`s where Moroccans holiday as well as a few in the know.

So on Saturday, we took the road from Marrakech north west. It`s really not a good idea to take short cuts in Morocco.  Stick to the main roads.  We took a `short cut` and ended up adding an hour to our journey. There were however compensations...we took in the simple unhurried ways of life in the country...

You`ll see from this last photo how bad the roads were...and this one wasn`t the worst.  No matter, because we ended up here...

Oualidia has a beautiful blue lagoon which provides safe and warm swimming in the summer. Just the other side of the houses in the distance are rough waves for the more adventurous.

Small pleasure boats provide rides...

to the sand banks that appear when the tide is low...

 

...and a fisherman messes with a bucket...

So we inspected the catch of the day (sea urchins (?!),mussels and oysters), ate fish, enjoyed fragrant gardens..

and basked in the sun but there was no running...it was just what I needed.  Part II tomorrow.

With a renewed sense of energy, I hope to have something creative to show you  - very soon!

Wordless Wednesday - Recapturing My Salad Days

Quinoa Salad

There`s no Need to Knead!

Forgive me, I`m a little late to the party on this one but it was a shock revelation to me that there is no need to knead bread.  I didn`t know this.  Why did no-one tell me?

Okay, someone did tell me. It all started a few weeks ago when a friend sent me this link.  It`s a short video by the excellent Minimalist of The New York Times who shows how you can leave bread overnight in the fridge to prove and you just have to chuck it in a super hot oven the next morning and the result is utterly gorgeous bread! You see those people who know about these things have found that it`s not the kneading that`s important but the length of time involved in the whole process.

Even though I was shocked by this news, I then kind of forgot it until a doctor here in Marrakech told me this week to improve my diet.  I`d always thought I had a good diet.  Everything we eat is freshly cooked from fresh produce but when I thought about it there probably had been too many lamb tagines with fennel and peas (red meat is a now a no no) , too many cups of espresso coffee, too many oranges and not enough pain complet - wholemeal bread to me and you.  The Moroccans love their bread and it is the main carb in their diet.  How else would you mop up all those lovely juices?

A packet of dried yeast

I haven`t made bread since I was a teenager when I used to bake every Sunday but today I made this little dusty beauty using this incredibly easy recipe  from The Guardian for a wholemeal loaf.  It`s not something you can really make if you`re in a rush.  You need to be in the house pottering around and then this is super easy to make.

Not only is it easy to make but it`s good.  No, it`s much better than good - it`s delicious.  The addition of a small amount of butter and a little Vitamin C (I used a bright orange flavoured one and the results were fine) means the result is light and not at all dense.  Trust me, you have to try this bread.

Bon appetite!

One Week On - A Thousand Cranes for Japan

Inspired by lovely Nicolette over at Dutch Comfort, I made these 3 rather sad looking origami cranes.

As Nicolette explains, in Japan the crane is a symbol of long life and happiness and if someone is lucky enough to have a thousand cranes then their wish is granted. While the crane is folded, positive thoughts are sent to those who are ill or in need of help.

My cranes are not nearly as pretty as Nicolette`s  (they obviously have lovely colourful glossies in the Netherlands), but it was fun making them.  I used this video tutorial and old magazines et voila.

I believe there is power in positive thinking so let`s all think positive thoughts and if you have the time or inclination, make some cranes too.

Happy weekend!

Wordless Wednesday - A Fat Quarter

A work in progess

Orange Blossom

Walking my son to nursery this morning, it didn`t feel too springlike. The rain is pouring down and the sky is grey.  But there are definitely signs of spring...

     

Roll on warm balmy evenings and the heady scent of orange blossom in the air... 

Marrakech Monday - The Majorelle Gardens

After a few days of much needed rain the sun returned briefly yesterday morning.  Z and I took advantage of the good weather and visited one of my favourite places, Le Jardin Majorelle, which fortunately is just a couple of streets from where we live. These stunning botanical gardens where cobalt blue provides a stunning backdrop were designed by French painter Jacques Majorelle in the 1920s. Until his death in 2008, it belonged to Yves St.Laurent who bought the gardens in 1980 and made them a huge tourist attraction.

As you enter the gardens, a shimmering fountain greets you.

It turns out that Z and I had quite different ideas about the purpose of our visit.  I wanted to see this. An exhibition on Yves Saint Laurent at the garden`s museum.  It`s been on since last November and has only a few days left to run.

However, Z quickly announced that he in fact wanted to do this...

turtle spotting. Who got their wish?  Well Z of course. As it turns out, the exhibition was packed and not a place for a toddler.  I`ll try and return on my own later this week.

So we turtle spotted and enjoyed the gardens.

We saw beautiful reflections of the palm trees...

paid homage at the Yves Saint Laurent memorial where his ashes are scattered...

admired fun and lovely artwork..Yves Saint Laurent`s `LOVE` prints..

and some romantic graffiti on the bamboo plants.  Really Fred and Pauline you`re old enough to know better.

 One of us learned through experience that cacti are prickly.

We admired pretty blooms...

and not so pretty plants amidst immaculately raked gravel.

But after a time, it was just a bit too much for some...

so after some refreshments...

.. it was time to go home along Rue Yves St. Laurent.