I won't complain, because I much prefer hitting the bed hard and having it feel like a little piece of Heaven than laying there awake at night - not tired at all. It has also been a wonderful change of pace to be very busy and constantly on the move.
I will begin to do a little backtracking to catch everyone up on what I've been doing. I will start with what is freshest in my mind (what I did this weekend), and then tomorrow I will share pictures of the wonderful time I spent with my mom.
This past weekend was a really wonderful one for me, because for the first time in a really long time, I was able to spend time with my guy. Friday night we made and enjoyed a delicious pancake dinner - something we both really love. I made a pile of delicious vegan pancakes and hot fruit syrup and then filled the table with our favorite toppings - shredded coconut, banana, Nutella, chocolate chips, all natural maple syrup (the real stuff), and powdered sugar. I used our wonderful new gift from my mother (more on that to come) and made a delicious cappuccino, topped with cinnamon and steamed chocolate milk for my guy. Mmmm Mmm good!
Last night I joined my guy and his family in going to my first Moroccan wedding and had the chance to wear a beautiful caftan. The wedding was so colorful and cheerful. The bride changed her dress more than 5 times to symbolize the fashion and culture in different parts of Morocco. It was a wonderful occasion.
The serving of the food was very different than any wedding I have ever been to so that part amused me a bit (we also ate around 11pm). The salad came out first and the servers walked to the front of the room in a line and stood in a row and opened the lids of the massive plates to display the salad for all to see and then began placing these enormous plates at the center of each table. We each took from the plate what we wanted and were even able to go back for seconds! The salad had a wide variety of veggies ranging from Moroccan olives to tomatoes to heart of palm to bamboo (and everything in between). It was very good.
After the salad, the waiters brought a few small plates to each table - some containing zaalouk and the others containing some sort of tangy, Moroccan carrot appetizer (which I will need the recipe for). After which they again marched to the front to display the main course - a heaping helping of meat. I didn't think of photographing this until it was devoured, but you couldn't even begin to imagine how much meat was being served at this wedding reception at one time. Each HUGE plate at the center of about 40-50 tables (maybe more) had an entire animal (I swear haha) on it. Everyone started taking their knives and forks and searching for the meat of their choice. I got a kick out of this. Survival 101: Don't mess with these carnivores when their native food is in front of them. I'm kidding! They actually follow the rule of always serving others before serving yourself. They each kept handing each other more meat (often with their hands) until the receiver would finally cry mercy and say, "Seriously, I'm good."
It should be noted that at the sight of this huge plate of meat, I did gasp a little. I had never seen so much meat on one plate. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a serving dish so big. His mother right away took action and said that I didn't eat meat and they began cooking a chicken for me! I had to wait to eat until everyone was finished but my chicken was worth the wait. Even for a 90% of the time Vegan / 7% of the time Vegetarian who doesn't really enjoy meat / the 3% chicken eater in me (who usually does this just to please people) actually really enjoyed the chicken. Half was dark meat which I did not eat but the other half was juicy white meat and the sauce was SOOOO good. It was some sort of mixture of cinnamon and spices and reminded me so much of fall. It's good that my new French family has opened my eyes to trying new things! And, equally as good that they don't pressure me to eat red meat.
After the meal came bowls of fruit followed by coffee and hours later followed by Moroccan cookies and cakes and mint tea. We danced until almost 3am but we were all getting pretty delirious from fatigue. We left the party then but I am sure, as per usual with these kind of events, that the party lasted for at least a few more hours after that. I have read and heard that sometimes these events last until 6 or 8am when breakfast is served!!!
Here are some pictures:
Finally, to cap off the weekend, today was a holiday. My guy's brother went to kill a sheep as is tradition. 3 of his 5 brothers and sisters and 5 of his 9 nieces and nephews all gathered tonight for this celebration eating more traditional Moroccan cuisine.
Now, it's time to make myself another cappuccino and relax!
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