First experiences

Dear Fellow Travelers,

It is now Sunday afternoon, just a few hours after our last post. The lunch was wonderful. We ate traditional Berber food: bastilla (the Arabic spelling) (or pastilla the French spelling), a very specisl food. It's a pie with layers of flaky pastry (like filo), filled with ground chicken, ground almonds, saffron, eggs, and spices, cinnamon, and all covered on top with powdered sugar. Yum Yum! We were already full after that, but there was much more to come!

Next we were served lamb slow-cooked with vegetables (cauliflour and green beans), with a light gravy, and served in a tagine, an earthen-ware container with a conical cover.

For dessert we had a Moroccan pancake - made with flour and water, then blended so it's light and fluffy, then cooked on a non-stick pan so it's light and fluffy and full of little bubbles. It was covered with ground almonds mixed with honey and argan oil, which we were told is only available in Southern Morocco. The argan oil is very good for many uses. It's good for the body!

We also had mint tea, made from a mixture of green tea and fresh mint. This is Morocco's national drink - so far we have had it with every meal, and in between meals. It's very tasty and refreshing, and is also very good for the body. We'll have make some when we get home.

We're off to Djemaa el Fna, the main square with the largest market in the world - lots of souks (little markets_).

xxox
Alicia and Lucy