San nin fai lok! Gung Hay Fat Choi! This year, Chinese New Year fell on Valentine’s Day. The parade is typically held a week or so later, but on the first day of the new year, Chinatown is packed with revelers. On this gorgeous sunny day, my friend Paige and I ventured downtown to find colorful confetti, children throwing down poppers (traditional firecrackers are illegal in most cities now, due to fire hazard), shops decorated with tigers and lanterns, and lion dancers and drummers scaring off evil spirits in front of every shop to ensure a prosperous new year. It was quite festive! 

Lion dancing in front of the police precinct on Elizabeth St.

Many streets were absolutely packed with people.

Some of the confetti poppers contained little pink parachutes with red banners. I’m guessing the banners said something about good luck. Everyone was trying to catch them as they floated down from the sky.

Year of the Tiger

The streets were so colorful!

These used to scare me when I was a little kid.

We followed these lions down the street for a while and felt like we were part of a parade!

I had been looking forward to our cooking class since I had decided to join Nicole on this trip. After meeting up with Gemma (the woman who runs Souk Cuisine) and the other four students taking the class that day, we headed into the markets to shop for the necessary ingredients for the pre-chosen menu. Then we went to the house where the kitchen is set up and chopped veggies and herbs, stirred up mixtures of spices, rolled meatballs, folded little triangle-shaped pastries, and mixed and mixed and mixed until we had a delicious Moroccan meal. After our very filling lunch, we met up with Yasmine for more sightseeing, and topped off our day with a little taste of the glamorous life. It was a wonderful way to end our time in Marrakech, and Morocco in general.

View of the Koutoubia minaret as we waited for our class to meet.

On our way to the spice market, we encountered this snail vendor. These creatures are sold for the spicy snail soup sold in the Djemaa el Fna square in the evenings.

Coincidentally, the same spice market we’d shopped at with the twins was also Gemma’s favorite.

Next stop was the vegetable market. We had walked by this quite a few times over the previous two days, as it was on the path between our riad and the square.

Waiting patiently to purchase our produce.

Diced onions and spices going into the tagine to make the sauce.

Cooking the veggies (diced carrots, zucchini, green bellpepper, onion), finely chopped herbs (parsley, coriander) and spices for the briouates.

Katy fried eggplant slices for zaahlouk.

Nicole was on meatball duty.

Meatballs (beef, onion, parsley, coriander and spices) for the kefta tagine.

Tagine sauce ready for the tomatoes.

Claire sifted flour and confectioners sugar for the ghribas, a light crumbly cookie.

Orange flower water, butter, baking powder and toasted sesame seeds for the ghribas.

Katy’s pureed eggplant, ready for spices, herbs and tomatoes.

Kate cooled our veggies and we got ready to cut ourka pastry dough into strips for rolling.

Nicole and Claire made ghribas.

Ruth made Moroccan salad (tomatoes, onions, parsley, coriander and spices), as well as the Sweet Carrot salad (carrots, garlic, parsley, coriander, sugar, vinegar and spices).

Rolling briouates was a challenge. You cut the dough, which is similar to filo, into about 1.5″ strips, place a round teaspoon of the veggie mix on one end, and roll and fold it along the dough into a triangle. But not quite like you would fold samosas. Or flags.

We all tried to roll briouates, so we got a variety of shapes and sizes. In the end, it didn’t matter, since they were fried and delicious!

Meatballs in the tagine, followed by eggs. Soon after, it was time to eat!

Sweet Carrot Salad

Moroccan Salad and Zaahlouk

Briouates with vegetables (with spicy harissa for dipping)

Tagine with kefta and eggs

Ghribas

Our Souk Cuisine classmates and fellow chefs

After stuffing ourselves silly, we ran to meet Yasmine and head to the Medersa Ben Youssef before it closed.

The beautiful medersa was founded in the 14th century. This Koranic school once housed and taught 900 students.

A few of the dorm rooms upstairs show how students used to live. The rooms were very small, about the size of my Manhattan kitchen!

After the medersa, we ran across town to the Badi Palace, which was built in the 16th century. It was looted of its gold, jewels and other treasures 75 years later, and now all you can see is the ruins of the once extravagant palace. The only item of grandeur left is the Koutoubia minbar (prayer pulpit), with very intricately carved cedarwood details. Unfortunately we couldn’t take photos of that.

In the summer, the city holds concerts and events in the courtyard.

Along the ramparts, storks have built nests, where they enjoy spectacular views of Marrakech.

Storks have very large nests.

Nicole and I wanted to experience a little luxury, even though we weren’t really dressed for it. The newly remodeled La Mamounia hotel is as fancy as it gets, with well dressed staff throughout, beautiful interiors, high end shops in the main building, and a gorgeous garden in the back. Yasmine even ran into a friend from school who now works for the hotel.

Just days before we arrived, A-list celebs were at La Mamounia to help celebrate its reopening.

Fancy fruit juice for Yasmine, cocktails for Nicole and me. Now THIS is the way to end a vacation!

There are five lovely bars in La Mamounia, so we chose the Churchill Bar for its jazzy lounge feel. There was even a shiny red baby grand piano with bar stools set around it! What a fun way to celebrate our days in Marrakech and spend a last evening with Yasmine. Soon, it was time to say goodbye to our lovely friend.

Our last dinner at Riad Karmela started with an assortment of veggie salads (I loved everything except for the one on the upper right - some sort of sweet stewed tomatoes with sesame seeds) .

Tagine of chicken, potatoes, olives and preserved lemons

Dessert was a chocolate torte with whipped cream, baked apple and fresh orange slices.

And that’s the end of our adventure through Morocco! Though we didn’t know each other very well, and had never traveled together before, I’d say Nicole and I were pretty good travel partners. We were together 24/7 for the most part, and spent a lot of time sharing life stories. We both agreed that best part of our trip was experiencing the Eid al Kabir with the Cherkaoui family, and sharing the culture first-hand. I can’t say I would change, add or omit much of anything we saw or did on this trip. The long hours in the car were necessary to get to the places we wanted to see,  and the tour company, Journey Beyond Travel, was extremely accommodating and helpful in all of our planning. I’d definitely recommend them if you’re planning your own trip to Morocco.

All in all, this was one of the most memorable travel experiences I’ve ever had, largely thanks to our driver and new friend, Hicham, and his amazingly generous and gracious family. I cannot thank them enough for their hospitality and willingness to share so much with complete strangers. I also loved the craziness of the cities, the calm of the desert and the coast, shopping in the souks, and making new friends in the cooking class. And now that I have a tagine of my own, I can’t wait to make Moroccan food for my friends and family at home!

After we left the Todra Gorge, we were due to head to Skoura (valley of kasbahs) to spend the night, but due to our curiosity and many questions about Eid al Kabir, our driver Hicham (prounounced Ee-sham) invited us to his family’s home in Marrakech to experience the holiday with them the next morning. It’s once a year and the biggest holiday for Muslims, next to Ramadan so we felt pretty honored to have this opportunity (He said it works out for everyone because we can participate and see how they do everything, and he’d get to be with his family for the celebration!). So we are switched up our plan and drove through Skoura and Ourazazate, passing by Ait Ben Haddou. None of the sights we were due to see in these areas would be open on the holiday anyway, so it was more than fine for us to skip them.

After an almost 12 hr drive we arrived at Hicham’s family home, just outside the Marrakech medina. We met his parents, twin sisters, a couple of cousins, and I lost track from there. It was all a bit overwhelming after so much time in the car.

Eid is the most important Islamic holiday. It follows the Hajj, or the pilgrimage to Mecca. It’s a family holiday which starts with prayer at the local mosque (for the men). The women make breakfast, and afterwards the men sacrifice the sheep, commemorating Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his only son, Ismael, to show his ultimate devotion. This is similar to the story of Abraham and his son Isaac in Christian religions. Each Moroccan family sacrifices a sheep to represent their devotion to Allah. In Marrakech and Fez this is done on the roof. I’m not sure if it’s like that everywhere in Morocco.

The sheep is then skinned, and certain parts are removed for various preparations. On the day of Eid the men cut up the organs, mix them with spices and herbs to help wih digestion of the freshly killed meat, and skewer it with tiny bits of fat from the sheep. The skewers are grilled and eaten with bread. Other Eid traditions include giving parts of the sheep to friends, family, and the poor, new clothes for children, dressing up in nice clothing for the celebration, working sons giving gifts to their parents, and visiting family and friends (or in the modern day, calling and texting everyone) to wish them a “Happy Eid!” We were very fortunate to have had Hicham as our driver for the week and that he invited us to join his family for the holiday. What an amazing and unforgettable experience!

Twins Yasmine and Nesrine wanted to make sure we were dressed up for the festivities, so while breakfast was being prepared, we had a bit of a fashion show.

Breakfast started with something similar to Israeli couscous, or tiny pieces of pasta, with a sauce of butter, onions and spices drizzled over. It was savory and delicious!

Next up were platters of breads - the far one was similar to a pancake, made with a runny batter, and only cooked on one side, so there are bubbles on top. The other is a fluffy layered bread made with semolina and pan-fried on both sides. Both are drizzled with honey for a sweet delicious treat!

After breakfast, everyone went upstairs to watch the men sacrificing the sheep.
(Yasmine, me, Nicole, Nesrine)

The women in their holiday best.

The mother of the house showed us the real way to prepare couscous. First you pour water and oil over the couscous.

Next, you fluff and separate the couscous between your hands.

Then you steam the couscous in a special pot, over a pot of meat and veggies, which will be served over the couscous. The fluffing process is repeated every 20 minutes or so.

Our littlest friend, Iman, was always at the center of the action.

The men preparing the kabobs of kidney and heart.

Iman loves to clean. I suspect she will have a very clean house when she’s grown up.

Kabob of kidney (I tried everything I was given)

Couscous is ready!

Nicole, me and Yasmine

We learned the proper Moroccan way to eat couscous - grab bits of the softened vegetables with a handful of moistened couscous, knead and toss it into a ball, then pop it in your mouth. Check out our couscous ball skills!

Our Moroccan family

*Note: I’m sure not all of you would like to see photos of the sacrifice of the sheep, so I’ve put those up on here on Flickr. But fair warning, it’s rather graphic. If you can’t handle it without saying “ew, gross!” please stay here on the blog.

The traditional lion dance symbolizes scaring off evil spirits, and is often performed at celebrations. I remember watching a lion dance at a Chinese family association Chinese New Year celebration when I was a little girl. The lion was viciously kicking around a cabbage, and combined with the scary face on the lion costume and the sharp, almost brash dance moves, it was a bit of a frightening experience for me back then. I saw this performance in front of a restaurant on Mott St., on my way through Chinatown tonight.