Morocco Blogs » Fes

Lifesize – An Exhibition in Fes You Won’t Want to Miss

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:15:30 +0000

Jess Stevens of Culture Vultures Fes is having an exhibition of the unusual and fresh work of…Jess Stephens! The show includes sculpture, art jewelery, painting and other 2D, 3D and electronic marks.

Please note that LIFE SIZE opens on Wednesday 15th of September and runs until the 25th and since we’ve already seen some of Jess’s work, we can tell you that you don’t want to miss this.

As long as we’ve known Jess she has dedicated herself to getting the word out about Moroccan artists, musicians, poets, performers, and crafters. If there was an award for Welsh women who have contributed to the growth and appreciation of the Moroccan art scene, we are sure that His Majesty, the King would bestow it upon her.

Now is a chance to see some of what Jess has been doing with her diverse talents, diverse background, and diverse self! Go, go, go!

Moroccan Family Recipes #5: Lalla Oumkeltoum’s Cookies

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 12:44:38 +0000

Share your Moroccan family recipes by sending them to reviews@moroccoblogs.com

Lalla Oumkeltoum is my grand-mother, she’s 60 years old and she was born in Fez. When she was a girl she loved to make cookies and cakes for her family. In fact, she still does. This is the recipe her mother taught her:

Lalla Oumkeltoum’s Cookies
Ingredients:
* 4 eggs
* 1 kg of flour
* 2 cups of sugar
* 1/2 cup of oil
* molten butter
* bag of vanilla
* chocolate

First add the chocolate, eggs, sugar, vanilla into a bowl and beat them until smooth. Next add the oil and butter. After that add in the flour little by little. Let it rest for two hours and then make small round cookes and cook for 30 minutes. Finally, decorate with chocolate.

On every Friday my grandmother receives her close relations and has tea together with the family. She serves these cookies with the tea and has been doing this since she was young. She has always been known as a woman with refined dishes, wonderful cakes, and food everyone loves to taste. – Ghali B.

Moroccan Family Recipes #4: Lallati Zina’s Fassi Couscous

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:30:24 +0000

If you have a favorite Moroccan Family Recipe you’d like to share send it to reviews@moroccoblogs.com

For more great recipes check out
The Moroccan Cookbook.

Lalla Zina is my grandmother. She’s 70 years old and she was born and grew up in Fes. She is a true Fassi woman. When she married my grandfather she was just 17 years old. She used to go to her cousins houses and they would all cook and make recipes together. This is her favorite Fassi recipe.

Lalla Zina would make this for her cousins and brothers when they would have parties. She says when they got thirsty she would make them simple green teas. Our whole family loves it when she makes this for us. ~ Salma B.

Lalla Zina’s Fassi Couscous
Ingredients:
* 1 cup couscous
* 1.5 pounds of tofu
* 1 onion
* 1 cup of potatoes
* 1 cup of carrots
* 1 cup of mushrooms
* 1 cup of celery
* 1/2 cup of walnuts
* 1 can of chickpeas
* 1 can of tomato sauce
* 1/2 cup of raisons
* 1 1/2 cups of water
* 2 teaspoons of curry powder
* 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne
* 1 tsp of paprika
* 1 teaspoon of salt

Preparation:
First, in a large pan, brown the tofu, onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and nuts. Then add the remaining ingredients, bring it to a boil, cover and simmer for 40 minutes. Next boil 1 1/2 cups of water with 2 tbsp of oil. AFter that, add couscous, stir, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Finally serve the vegetables over the steaming couscous.

Winner of June Travel Writing Contest

admin — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 08:29:27 +0000

We’re proud to announce the winner of our June Travel writing contest. It was a hard decision as all of the entries had something that we loved about them, even the one that told us not to pick it. While they were all great, it was the images and scenes that were described by Miranda that stood out the most.

You can read her award winning entry below. Her prize is a two night stay in the Fes Medina at the luxurious Dar Othmane. Congratulations Miranda…if you ever want to write a guest post about Morocco or travel here, you are always welcome!

My favorite Moroccan destination isn’t so much a destination as it is a state of mind, though it does have a name and a place on the map.

My partner and I visited the ancient medina-city of Fes el Bali for the first time three years ago. Our love was still new and when we arrived it was like having travelled to the centre of someone else’s dream; we stood at the base of Bab Boujoloud, the gaping blue-green gate, our eyes hot, sweating diamonds onto a street paved with dust.

We held hands shyly as we explored; we learned the smell of each other’s sweat, the intimacy of shared anxieties and happinesses.

We spent our days walking imperfect circles, coming across sudden palaces, half-decayed, women scrubbing the rot of orange blossoms from the tiled floors. We never quite knew where we were and we never once felt lost.

From a good terrace we could see the curves of the city and look down onto the mysterious pear-shaped Medina and we could try to decipher it; but two thousand streets is too many to understand, and what would be the point anyway?

In the medina we were able to simply be; the air hanging always with a candid, unbridled pungency, the sky above open and honest and blue.

One night, full of meat and couscous from the Tajine, and cinnamon-spiced oranges, and chunks of hearty bread, we wandered with no aim but to quiet our bulging stomachs, and to enjoy the coolness that the dark brings. We took a turn away from the main drag, where late night merchants beckoned us into stalls full of leather bags and extravagant rugs, where children ran screaming past us and beggars rattled coins.

Suddenly it was quiet: we had come upon a small square, which once, perhaps, was fully enclosed, for along one side was a half-collapsed wall, and in one corner, a single, elegant archway. The ground was patterned with blue tiles.

We heard the echo of one last call to prayer; from our secret plaza, it sounded distant and foreign. We felt ourselves suspended in time.

Every day for a thousand years, I knew, the muezzin had sung from minarets for men to come and pray. Maybe this was the only way to mark the passing of hours here: by the clockwork of five Adhans a day.

Now it seems to me a sweet city of perpetual wandering. You are carried by the wind, driven by the whims of your own nostrils, by the way the light strikes a building; and the aimlessness of a day spent lost-but-not-lost in the medina is as beautiful as any mountain or medersa.

ALC Student Travel Tips – Fes #7

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:25:31 +0000

My class at the American Language Center in Fes was terribly excited to have the opportunity to present travel advice to potential visitors of their city. Once again, I gave them the choice of me posting their work to MoroccoBlogs.com or Vagobond.com and they overwhelmingly chose Morocco Blogs. It seems that the students and many of their families already know and like this site and so this is where they want their work to be seen.