Sorry for the Delay

I've been absent for the past couple weeks, and I feel bad for this because so many things have happened within the past two weeks that I don't even know how to begin describing them. Firstly, I had my trip to Rome and got reunited with Nick, my good friend from high school. It was wonderful. I spent the first three days walking around the Eternal City with Nick and a few of his other friends in the same program from Dartmouth, then spent the next three days exploring on my own. I saw all the standard things, like the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, as well as Villa Adriana in Tivoli, and Pompei, which I've wanted to see since the third grade. I also ate more pork than I've eaten in the past two years combined. Let me tell you, if living in a Muslim country doesn't make you appreciate a good slab of bacon, nothing will. I wished I'd written more about my experiences in Rome while it was still fresh in my memory, but instead I'll provide some pictures. This sort of trip was so wonderful, I think it can only be described in photographs anyway. Click here and here and here and here and here and here but not here

Another important event in my life occurred yesterday. I moved out of the Villa and in with a Moroccan family, as I've been wanting to do since the first day I got to Fez. The family is lovely; there's a mom, a dad, a sister named Kenza who's studying at the university in Fez, Hamza, who's 19 and studying to be a hairdresser, Meriam, who's 17 and wants to go to college in America after she graduates this spring, Mohamed, who's 9, and Abdu, who's 4 and always wants me to draw farm animals for him. They live in an adorable apartment in the Ville Nouvelle, about a fifteen-minute walk from the school. I've only been there a day, but so far it's going very well. The mother is an excellent chef, and yesterday she made the best chicken tajine I've ever eaten. My plan is to stay with them until the end of the term, which is next Friday, then off I go to explore the rest of the country I haven't had the chance to see yet. I can't believe the end of my journey is coming so soon How did this happen? Where did the past two months go?

In the next few weeks while I'm abroad, I'm going to try my best to continue blogging regularly. It's not much longer until I'm reunited with the things I miss most like my family, my friends, the promise of a western-style toilet, and bacon, wonderful, delicious bacon.

B'salama,
Doonyaa

Food b'zef!

Another cooking class last night. Unfortunately, I had to miss it, but I got rave reviews from the other ALIFers that this recipe is a keeper. So here ya go!

Layla's Chicken and Prune Tagine:

2 1/2 kilos chicken
5 medium onions, chopped small
1 medium tomato, grated
1 bulb garlic, pressed
1/2 cup fresh coriander, minced
1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced
2 1/2 tablespoons ginger powder
1 tablespoon grounded black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Moroccan saffron
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups water

Add all ingredients to a large pot, chicken on the bottom, bring to a boil, then simmer for 25 minutes. Add 5 more cups of water, then bring to a boil again. Lower heat to medium and cook for 30 minutes.

Prunes:

3/4 kilo (5 cups) prunes, rinsed
8 cups water
heaping teaspoon cinnamon

Add all ingredients to a medium-sized pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Prunes will expand (done when fully plumped). Drain water from pot, but do not rinse.

Put back over medium heat and add:

2 cups of Tagine broth
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cook for 5 - 10 minutes.

Final Preparation:

Arrange chicken on a large platter and ladle broth mixture over the top, filling the bottom of the platter. Pour prunes over all and serve with plenty of bread.


Notes:

Beef or lamb may be substituted for the chicken.

Serves ~ 10

Thanks to Laura for taking notes!

In a couple hours, I'm off to Rome. Wish me luck!

B'salama, Ciao!
-Danielle

À la discothèque

It's been a little while since my last post, and the, "Where are you? How are you? Are you alive?" emails from relatives started pouring in the other day, so I figured that was my queue to make another blog entry. This weekend, a lot of the people on six-week programs are leaving Fès for bigger and brighter things in other parts of the world, so this past weekend we tried to have one last hoorah....at the discothèque....in Fès. The plan was that Julian and I would go eat dinner at a friend's house in the medina, while Tim, Hannah, and Krista went to another friend's house and then later we'd all meet up at the disco. Apparently, this was not inshah'Allah, and Julian and I never met up with our friends. Instead, we had the most random eight-hour long adventure that resulted in us: A.) eating the best food in Fès, prepared by a 50-year-old Moroccan man who talked about Cambodia b'zef (a lot, in Darija) B.) dancing to crazy Arabic music, also b'zef C.) listening to another Moroccan man talk about the Tuareg people D.) watching this same man balance a glass on his head, over and over E.) stuffing six people in a petit taxi (mind you, they're only supposed to passenger three) F.) speaking b'zef, b'zef Français G.) getting home at 6am.

After this night of crazy, random adventures, I've spent everyday since then hiding in my room, trying desperately to remember all the events that took place. I don't even know where to start though.

On a completely unrelated note, tomorrow evening I'll be leaving Fès for a week to travel to Rome. Nick, my friend since the fifth grade, is studying abroad there and I'll be visiting with him, eating massive amounts of pasta and gelato, meeting new people, and inshah'Allah, enjoying a nice break from Morocco.

Also unrelated, my lovely sister Jordana is leaving for Nepal in less than a month! This is Jordana

and this is her blog.

B'salama,
Danielle