long overdue.

I know it has been forever since I last posted, and I will do my best to fill you in on what I have been doing that has kept me from here... basically, a lot. Between a visit from my mom and work and a little bit of play and a few little colds that have had me restless at night, I feel like an energizer bunny.... without the energy. Is that even possible? I keep going and going and going... but I.... am..... so.... tired.

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!

stuff.

This month of fasting means a lot of time with my French family. Friday night I made pasta (I'll share this delicious and easy recipe with you) and ate with my guy and his dad. Saturday we were off to Forbach to stay the night at his sister's house. Usually, we eat at sunset (a little after 9 - we have a calendar that tells us what time we can start eating and stop eating at sunrise) and then we go to sleep and wake up to eat and then go back to sleep. At his sister's Saturday night, we all stayed up between meals. His family tends to pull all nighters like this (the first night I ever met them, we ate a late dinner and everyone stayed up chatting until well past 3am). Saturday was no different. We ate dinner. It was a totally Moroccan meal - breads, pastries, somosas, quiche, soup, mint tea and then at 1am came a tagine of Moroccan meatballs and more mint tea. His sister had spent the whole day making everything. She joked that it took her an entire day to prepare everything and it was all gone within minutes. She even made little shot glasses of tiramasu for dessert. We didn't get to sleep until after 5am and then slept until 2pm on Sunday.

Last night we ate more of the food his sister had prepared (I don't even think she slept because she was right back to making food on Sunday!) to send back with us. We all drove the 2 hours back and arrived just in time to heat up the food and eat it as his other sister's apartment.

Besides that, life has been pretty boring. Boring is okay sometimes! We eat at night. Catch up on our favorites shows on the internet. Sleep half the day. I've been practicing my French. We try to busy ourselves the best we can.

Most of Europe is "sleeping" during the month of August so it actually works out nicely that the month of fasting is in August this year, but the days are long and hot and that part is not so nice. France, for example, has a law that requires 5 weeks of mandatory vacation time. So a lot of businesses shut down for the first 3 weeks in August. It is better for business owners to do this than to have their employees taking their 5 weeks whenever they want, because most people would take their vacation at very busy times. My favorite bakery isn't even open, and I'm craving their olive bread, pepper bread, and their chocolate bread!

It's 7pm now which means a glass of sparkling water and some food are only two hours away. I've already prepared lemon poppyseed muffins, banana bread, and a big pot of vegetable and lentil soup. The apartment smells so delicious! Time for some exercise!