Marrakech Part 3

Breakfast at Riad Vert consisted of fresh orange juice, bread and jams, and coffee. Mr F-P asked the lady who served us if I could perhaps have some fruit and yoghurt. She looked at me in that same askance manner, and asked me if I wanted banana, orange and apple. I said oui s'il vous plaît, and she said, in French obviously, that it would take about 10 minutes. So I waited and watched Mr F-P enjoying the bread. There was the lovely French-style bread of the previous night, and also what looked like home-made English Muffins, and some little yeasted pancakes. Eventually my fruit arrived - I'd been anticipating a fruit salad with yoghurt. What I got was a plate with an apple, an orange, a banana and a knife on it. No yoghurt ever materialised. Anyway, I ate the fruit, and drank my juice and we battled our way through a great big pot of 'economy' coffee (hot, dark brown water!). Then we set off to 'town'..........



So, said Dominic when we asked him, to get to the main square, the Jmaa el Fna, all we had to do was to go 'droite et droite et droit sur' (right, then right and then straight on). Sounds simple enough, non? We managed the right and then right, but after that there didn't actually appear to be any 'straight on'! We were trapped in the 13th Century and couldn't find our way out. We passed metal workers' yards with little donkeys and carts waiting outside. At one point someone had tipped a truckload of stones onto the 'road' and were patiently shovelling it into buckets and moving it into a yard, while a lot more people who could have helped stood around watching. There were people carrying covered trays of unbaked bread to the communal ovens. Women in hijabs whizzed past on scooters. Car horns honked constantly and we were forever diving out of the way. I'd got flip flops on and after about 10 minutes my feet were FILTHY! Eventually a kindly local took pity on us and offered to show us the way - for a not-insubstantial sum of money of course! Anyway, above is a photo of the Jmaa el Fna from the cafe Argana, where we finally got a decent cup of coffee!



Once at the square it was easy to find ourselves on the map Dominic had given us, and after our coffee, and after Mr F-P had bought some very cheap Converse trainers, we walked to the new town to get some more money. You can't buy Moroccan currency anywhere except in Morocco, so on the advice of some idiot at Thomas Cook's bureau de change, we had taken our spendoes in Euro Travellers Cheques. Don't do this! We could only find one bank in the whole of Marrakech that would change Travellers Cheques, and their bureau de change was closed from 1 to 3 every day! (we didn't discover this pertinent fact until the following day!).

Anyway, in the new town, after a series of incredibly nerve-wracking road-crossing exercises, we settled at a table outside the Grande Cafe du Poste, which is rather swish and seems to be frequented by Moroccan 'yummy-mummies' with designer babies, designer jeans, huge heads on stick bodies, and trout-pouts. We had mint tea, and then coffee (Mr F-P had a cafe Moroccaine, which was a small stripey one in a little glass, and I had iced, which was a massive black one in a big glass with coffee beans on the top). Then we asked for a table inside so we could have some lunch. For lunch I had grilled sardines with tomato marmalade, and Mr F-P had a cheese omelette. There was lovely bread again. They don't even charge for it you know! Then I fell down the stairs! The floor outside the loo - which was upstairs, and was lovely with little flannels to dry your hands on - was being washed when I came out, and I had flip flops on, as I've already said, and the stairs were marble and spiral, and I managed to slip down the last 5 or so, in a skirt, so no doubt flashed my undercarriage to the 10 waiters who just happened to be standing exactly opposite the bottom of those stairs at the exact moment I fell down! What fun!

So after that excitement, and the very small bill, we went off to catch the open-top tourist bus to have a look at a couple of palaces, the Bahia and the Baadi, one a ruin and the other not.

photos here...... http://www.flickr.com/photos/arowan534/

Marrakech Part 2

Riad Vert.

It’s a traditional riad, which is a Moroccan house, set around a courtyard. These houses turn their faces away from the street. Outside it was MENTAL! Narrow, dusty lanes full of honking car horns and kids running and donkeys and people shouting and all kinds of furore. Once we stepped through the green door, hidden in a little alley off the narrowest street, it was a different world. A short passage brought us out into the courtyard, with palm trees growing in the middle. It was covered with a canopy, because it’s COLD in Marrakech at night in the winter. There were tables set out in the courtyard for dining, and rooms opened off it with sofas and low tables. The owner, Dominic, a rather groovy Frenchman, greeted us and we sat and had mint tea with him and some other guests, also French. I smiled and nodded and pretended to understand while Mr Fuss-Pott chatted away. I’d really been looking forward to that mint tea, and it wasn’t a disappointment (but I discovered those lovely silver teapots need some kind of holder for the handle, as the heat doesn’t know where to stop!).

Monsieur Dominic said that he had put us in a larger room, so I was a bit upset that I wouldn’t be getting the pretty drapey bed – I’d so looked forward to that. The room we were in was lovely though, and the bed was incredibly comfy. I think the room we’d originally requested was on the next floor up and perhaps they didn’t use that floor if they weren’t very full. I will say that although the bathroom LOOKED gorgeous, all terracotta plaster and marble with brass fittings, it wasn't terribly efficient. The shower was passable, I've certainly stood under more dribblesome ones, but the sink was just silly! It was a lovely brass bowl set into a tiled worktop, with a brass tap. Trouble was, the plug didn't work, the tap only trickled, and the trickle barely went into the bowl, it was mostly over the tiles! It took a fair while to get enough water in there to wash your face! There only seemed to be 3 other couples staying at the riad. A French couple who seemed a bit mad (they hired scooters one day and a car the next – totally bonkers!!!), a Polish man living in Switzerland, and his partner, I think she might have been Swiss, I’m not sure, and a very young and rather perfect-looking French couple with a lovely toddler.

After the madcap ride through the streets of Marrakech in the taxi, and having noted how far we seemed to be from anything vaguely resembling a restaurant, or even a shop, we decided we didn’t actually dare to go out of the riad in the dark, so we opted for dinner a la maison. I gather Riad Vert do wonderful meals. Dominic looked at us quite strangely when we explained (well, Mr F-P explained) that neither of us ate meat – most French people look askance at you if you tell them that! In the end we decided on a meal of omelettes, salads and strawberries. That sounded perfect. We got all our stuff sorted out (which means I forced Mr F-P to unpack – he always tries to just leave his things in the case and the case open in the middle of the floor!) and then went down for dinner.

We were served at a little table in the courtyard, under a palm tree. First we were brought a basket of bread and 2 earthenware bowls of ‘salads’, which were in fact cooked dishes. Both seemed to be aubergine based, but were quite different, and equally delicious. I did indulge in some of the bread – it was like French bread but even nicer – golden and really crusty on the outside and fluffy inside. We were also brought a big bottle of water. Then the omelettes came, one each, great big things, gorgeously cooked and oozing with fresh herbs. The waiter left the remains of the ‘salads’ so we had those with the omelettes. Mmmmmmmm! Pudding was fresh strawberries with vanilla yoghurt, and we had coffee to end. It was the most delicious meal. Later, back home, Mr F-P promised me he would email Dominic and beg for the recipes for those aubergine salads.

We went to bed quite early – you’re always knackered after travelling, aren’t you, even if you didn’t have to get up especially early or anything. Funny that. I didn’t get much sleep cos Mr F-P makes little noises in the back of his throat when he’s asleep, and I could hear him despite having cotton wool balls in my ears!

Marrakech Part 1

Checked in online with BA the day before we flew to Marrakech, so we were straight through Gatwick in the blink of an eye! Never been so fast. Didn’t set the alarm off at the scanner, I usually do! Everything was on time, it was marvellous! My meal on the plane was a bit disappointing. I’d pre-ordered an ‘Asian Vegetarian’ meal, as there was no option for a gluten-free vegetarian one, and I thought Asian would be less likely to be pasta! I got ratatouille and rice (?!), which is a bit of a queer combination, but not ridiculously so. It came with salad and fruit salad, all a bit dull and teeth-achingly cold! I made the huge mistake of automatically saying no thanks to the “would you like wine with your meal?” cos I never drink on planes. Could have put it away for later though, daft cow! The Husband (henceforth known as Mr Fuss-Pott, or Mr F-P for short, for reasons I’ll explain in due course) had pasta, which he said was very nice.

So, we landed all safe and sound in Marrakech after a pretty impressive flyover of the city, due to the wind not being ideal in one direction and the pilot not being able to see a thing in the other direction cos of the sun setting, which gave Mr F-P a bit of a turn (he’d already been whittling about the dangers of us flying together – as if we are the royal family or something!). The airport was fine, like a lot of other airports but with nicer tiles. Got the bags and everything. We’d asked the Riad to send a taxi for us, and there was this chap with a sign that said ‘Riad Vert’’ (which was where we were going) and another one that said ‘Maddison’, which is not our name! So we made ourselves known to him and then we went outside for Mr F-P top have a fag while the taxi driver waited, we assumed for this Maddison person or persons. Anyway, he came out after a bit with 2 young guys, and we all walked out to the smallest car in the world, which was the colour of sand, and the taxi driver disappeared. So we stood and chatted – the 2 guys were Californians who now lived in Belgium, one was a Kindergarten Teacher, the other a Landscape Architect (whatever that is). The sun was going down and blokes were getting down in a sandpit and doing their prayers. It got a bit windy and me and Landscape Architect put our jackets on. We waited a bit longer. Taxi Driver came back, with a middle aged couple (proper middle aged, not like us!), and we started to wonder how exactly he was going to get us all in this teensy little beige car. Then another sand-coloured taxi came up, much bigger, and The Californian Belgians and the Middle Aged Couple got in and off they went. None of them going to the same place as us after all, so what we were waiting for all that time we’ll never know! So we got in the taxi and the Taxi Driver drove out of the car park, and then any similarity to driving as we know it totally disappeared. I think the only rule of the road in Morocco is ‘go’! Anyway, we hurtled round the city’s ring road at about 60 mph, in the heaviest and most random traffic I’ve ever seen. It consisted of: lorries, buses, taxis, cars, motor bikes, mopeds, push bikes and donkey carts! Oh yeah, did I mention there were no seatbelts?

Then we were in through the walls of the city through a ‘Bab’, which we assume means gate, and the 21st Century became the 13th. The Boy’s got a computer game called Assassin’s Creed, set in Crusade era Jerusalem, and the streets looked exactly like that! There were donkeys all over the place, and little kids running by the side of the narrowest streets, and Taxi Driver just kept honking his horn and the kids and the donkeys got out of the way. It’s impossible to adequately describe! Eventually, goggle-eyed, we stopped. Taxi Driver got out of the car, heaved our case out of the boot, locked all his doors and set off up a tiny little alley to an arch through which we could see a green door and the words ‘Riad Vert’.

Most of our photos are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arowan534/
though flickr won't let me put them all on!

Baked Risotto

Tonight I made a baked risotto, which was so easy. Here's the recipe, which I nicked from a mag at the hairdressers.

Squash, Pea and Sage Risotto.

4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 finely chopped onion
3 cloves of crushed or chopped garlic (or 1 tsp of that lazy stuff in a jar)
1 tbsp chopped fresh sage or half of dried
300g risotto rice
200 ml dry white wine
700ml veg stock (I used 2 cubes in boiling water)
300 or 400g diced butternut squash (or other sort - or even some other veg of your choice, I don't think it really matters, though if you use green beans say, you'll have to change its name!)
200g peas (frozen are fine)

Heat the oven to 180 (or 160 if its fan like mine)
Heat the oil and butter, and fry the onion and garlic till its soft
Add the rice and the sage and stir for a few minutes.
Stir in the wine and cook for a few minutes more.
Add the stock and the vegetables.
Bring to the boil and then put it in an ovenproof something, cover it and put it in the oven.
Bake for about 20 minutes.
Voila! Grate some parmesanny type stuff on it and eat it up - yum yum!! I did some veggie hotdog sausages with it cos The Boy and The Hubby don't much care for risotto, but actually they liked this. It says serves 4 on the recipe, but we got 6 portions out of it.

A Change

Decided I needed a new background, and just HAD to have this one - it's called Chocolate is Life!!!! Hope you like it. I lost all my links though, so if I was linked to your page and now I'm not, let me know!

I am a bit giddy with excitement as it is now less than 3 weeks till my trip to Marrakech! This is where we are staying, and that is my bed!!! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Ricotta and lentil salad

I didn't make this today, but I HAVE made it and it IS lovely! I promised it to someone so thought I'd put it here. It's not my recipe, it's from a newspaper, think it's maybe a Heston Blumenthall one - I can only see 'all' at the top of the page!
200g Puy lentils
1 small onion
2tbsp fresh parsley
juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp capers
salt and pepper
Olive oil 250g ricotta

Put the lentils in a pan with the sliced onion and the bay leaf, and cover with plenty of water. Simmer them gently for about 20 minutes, till their done. The recipe says remove the onions, but I leave them in, just take the bay leaf out or you might choke! Drain the lentils. Add the lemon juice, chopped fresh parsley and capers (you'll probably need to rinse them first, they're usually stored in salt!). Add a good glug of nice olive oil and season to taste. Slice the ricotta onto 4 plates and spoon the still warm lentils over the top. Mmmmmm........

Almond Cake

This seems to have degenerated into simply a recipe blog but what the hell! The Husband had a slice of Bakewell Tart the other day, and it looked lovely, so I decided I would make the filling without the pastry, cos I really didn't want to get into making gluten-free pastry - life probably really is too short! Anyway, I found a recipe for Bakewell Tart in a book, and copied out the filling part. Then I timesed it by half. This cake was incredibly easy and absolutely gorgeous!!!
6oz butter
6oz sugar
6oz ground almonds
3 large eggs
2 or 3 tblsp red jam
some almond essence.
1. Melt the butter.
2. Mix the almonds and sugar.
3. Beat the eggs.
4. mix all together and add the almond essence - I've got the natural one and used probably about 5 or 6 drops - it could have taken more.
5. Heat the oven to about 200.
6. Grease 2 sandwich tins and line the bases with paper, grease that.
7. Pour the better into the tins and bake for about 20 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and cool for about 10 minutes then turn out carefully. 9. Put the jam in a dish and microwave it briefly (half a minute or so) until it melts.
10. Spread the jam on one half of the cake and put the other half on top. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with cream.
The picture isn't my cake, I took a nice picture of mine but then I put the memory card from the camera in the wrong slot on the computer and I can't get it out!