I met Amanda in Morocco and OMG was it more of a 3rd world country than I expected. We had to be home by 9pm every night and usually ate at a place near our Riad (a moroccan hotel - which doesn't have any windows to the outside except for the one skylight that lights up the center garden and this royal garden is supposed to be an enclosed prized beauty in the center with all of the rooms surrounding). And I ate SO MUCH mint tea (always with a lot of sugar - definitely plumped up 3 or 4 pounds in 3 days, not exaggerating) and LOTS of Tagines (at least once a day) which is the little oven sort of cooking mechanism found here http://www.google.fr/search?q=moroccan+tagines+on+the+river&hl=fr&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=JnVKT6WRB4e_8gOIqcC9Dg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CBAQ_AUoAQ&biw=1242&bih=609
and in this specific city always came with a kind of meat, carrots, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, pickled lemon, and either a well known mixture of 5 spices or with the beef and lamb a mixture of 35 spices! SOOOO good! I did some major negotiating (alwayssss must negotiate 1/10 of the original price in morocco or they rip you off) and bought a tagine and so now I can cook for you when i get home ;) I also made friends with the guide on our day excursion to the mountains - being the only blonde girl of course, made negotiating much easier when I smiled and batted my eyes! - and so he taught me the true moroccan recipe for this tagine so I know exactly how to do it! I also ate something else delicious another day with eggs and tomatoes and meats and spices and it was at this little random shack looking restaurant on the side of the road and they brought me back into the kitchen to show me how they made it! And everything costed nothing to eat!!! that egg thing with bread and mint tea and a kiwi to finish (and I was SO full I didn't eat dinner except for an avocado juice mixed with milk and sugar - amazing) only cost me 2 euro!!!!! And last night I ate SHEEPS HEAD (literally the tongue, cheek, cartilage that surrounds the brain, alll of it) for 2 euro and then also got a plate with a bunch of veggies and a veggie chish kebab for 1 euro more! And they liked that I was from CA and started singing me Hotel California and so they brought us free bread with a spicy sauce and then once again mint tea. I am never drinking mint tea again. I drank it 3 different times yesterday and it is so sugary it is like eating a piece of chocolate cake. 3 times a day for 4 days wears you out! And Amanda and I did this traditional thing called a Hammam (most visitors to Morocco/europeans go the private one that is super glamourous and it is like going to the spa where they pamper you for about 10 euro and give you a massage) but we decided to go to the public one for 1 euro and do the real thing/experience. So we both had to get naked and they sat us on the floor on this little plastic mat (probably not the most sanitary) in a steam room with a bunch of different stalls to separate each lady in this big room, but the stalls didn't have doors or anything. Don't worry, only women/girls inside except for one little boy with his mom. And then a naked Moroccan lady came over and lathered our bodies with a special black soap made in Morocco and and then took this really course glove and scrubbed our ENTIRE body down to every crevice (if Amanda and I weren't good friends, we are closer than close now - and also made me realize that if I were gay I probably would have known during this naked fest, and I am definitely not) and we watched black chunks of our skin come off and laughed sooo hard because of entertainment and of course being totally shocked! And then she even washed our hair and pour buckets of hot water over us as we sat on this mat like little kids in a bath. And that was the most cultural experience I have ever had. No doubt. I am learning more about cultures/history/politics/economics/food during this year than I have my entire life, NO DOUBT.
And it was pretty much just a crazy crazy adventure and I had a blast but I was very relieved to be getting on my plane this morning just to be warm at night in a heated house and to not have to feel enclosed when the sun goes down. I will shock myself if I decide to go work in a third world country in the future - always wondered if I would but I am 1. not sure if I would be comfortable with that/happy with doing that with my life. and 2. (more importantly) do not know if it is actually HELPFUL and WANTED in these countries! It is hard to explain, but after talking to a bunch of locals it seemed like they were more annoyed with "help/aide" coming in and they wanted to live with their own traditions and customs. They did not welcome a lot of it and rathered that we come in as tourists and give them jobs and make them profit like that. But then again, EVERYWHERE I went had little children coming up and begging me for food and ice cream and it was just SO sad that this is what they spend their day doing all day long everyday. And also, the people working always did they exact same job every day and only left for their 10 minute prayer 5 times a day at the mosque, and then returned to work every single day. On our excursion, one guy's job was to sit on the side of the hot road and wait for excersion people to come and see his 4 camels and HOPE that they will pay (like 1 euro each, or whatever they want to pay) to take a quick ride. And he had his little fire pit that he made with his clay tagine and pot of mint tea up on the hill next to the road that he cooked and drank and ate all day to entertain himself. I talked to him for a while and he was SO proud just to show me his tagine and offered to make me tea right away so that I could sit with him and chat. Sadly, I had to pass up that one for my own health, but I really enjoyed talking to him.
I think the most beautiful part was the way that Amanda and I decided to embrace the people and they culture, instead of being closed off and annoyed like all of the tourists that came in. OF COURSE we were always smart and never gave out any info or went somewhere not public or where we could have any danger - we were very smart and safe. But Moroccans are known for being super annoying and pushy and no matter where you are on the streets, people are begging you for money or they are walking with you on the street as you walk by their stand/store saying, "you know you want this! How much do you want it for? Hello pretty do you want my purse?..." and NOT giving up until you ignore them for about 20 feet. And as soon as you react at all, they POUNCE! But often, if something seemed interesting/new, we stopped and asked them about it. We asked if they made it, how they made it, and even often for their name an shook their hand! We ended up spending hours at stands as they explained all of the little fabrication details (SO proud) and got offered free tea many times - a representation of being welcomed in as a friend - and also got a bunch of free gifts when they knew we weren't even planning on buying anything. We made a lot of friends about half of them named Muhammad (literally). Unfortunately, there are never girls on the streets and they only girls we met were in the hammam (they weren't as nice though, they made fun of us, literally) and the really nice girl that worked at our hotel and made us breakfast crepes and tea every morning while we basked in the sun on the rooftop terrace. She was awesome and walked us to her special/favorite hammam.
Ok so EASY recipe for you make and totally moroccan:
-make some balls of ground meat and maybe some salt and pepper
-sauté the balls until cooked (don't forget a bit of olive oil in the pan) - put meat balls aside
-cut up and mash a tomato (or 2) and also dice some onions
-add these to a sauté pan with some olive oil, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, ginger, tumeric, saffron, paprika, or just whatever of those that you have that smell good! And also don't forget SALT AND PEPPER! And a little white pepper if you have it :) Just add a dash or 2 of each and cook on med-low until onions are becoming clear and it is nicely cooked
-place the meat balls in a circle in the pan on top of the tomato mash so that there is still a space in the middle
crack an egg (or 2 or three if you want more) in the middle and let sit for a few minutes on medium heat until the white is cooked through but the yellow is still runny and delicious! grab some bread, grab your little sauté pan, and place them on your place mat and scoop out the egg/meat/tomato masterpiece with your break right from the pan and enjoy!!!
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