Remember my student, the astronaut-doctor?
Well, Adam's family invited me over for "lunch" today. They were inviting all of Adam's dad's side of the family over as they just moved into a new home in August and hadn't had the big family gathering yet. So, they invited me to come at 1pm. I arrived at 1:15 and found the children all dressed up and the parents still in sweats....they said the rest of the people would probably arrive around 2:30 (it's the Moroccan way). There were probably 40 people there and only two others besides the host and hostess that could speak English....so I spent a lot of time smiling and listening.
We sat from 2 - 4 in the front room, chatted, had a glass of delicious, fresh squeezed juices of various kinds and a small, sweet, tasty appetizer.
Then we went into the next two rooms and sat at three large tables that were all decorated with flowers and fancy dishes and napkins. The first course was pistillea (one of my favorite dishes). It is a philo(sp?) dough with chicken, cinnamon, almonds and other yummy spices cooked together. The presentation was beautiful!(very Moroccan) It was served on a huge platter and was wound around and around like a large rope. First the server (they had hired help for everything today!) cut a portion for all of us and served it on our plates, then after that everyone just reached in and plucked out a bite and so on....(again...the Moroccan way) Because I still have this cold that is lingering on, I was a little reluctant to keep putting my fork in and out of the food, so I held off a bit on that course.
Next came bread and small plates filled with cold veggies....carrots, squash, peppers, mushrooms, olives.....that they sat around in front of us and again we just took a bite from where ever and shared the plates. In the middle of all the small plates they brought out a huge platter again with leg of lamb, mushrooms and fried quail eggs on it.
The last course was another huge bowl that was filled with all kinds of fresh fruit. We just used our table knives to cut up and slice apples, strawberries, kiwi, bananas, dates, nuts......
Then the DJ put on some very loud Moroccan music. The men went outside and the women got up and started dancing. They pulled me in as well and it was a lot of fun being silly and laughing with the other women. Pretty soon Adam's Dad and one of his brothers joined in and showed their great dancing skills too. So, then I thought there was a little slow time and I would say good-bye.....well, no...
Next was hot mint tea and LOTS and LOTS of Moroccan cookies. I was sitting by Mohammed's mother and she was instructing me to take one of EACH kind. I went along with it on the first tray as there were only 4 varieties, but the next tray had like 7 or 8 different types of cookies....I took ONE and smiled at the server! She gave me a funny look and moved on.....then the dancing and loud music began again!
Well, as a typical Moroccan lunch would be....I was there for 5 1/2 hours!! :) crazy!!
I'm home now and settling into doing laundry and grading papers. But....just 1/2 block down the street from me I noticed a large tent set up in the middle of the street this am. There is a wedding reception going on tonight. Soooo MORE loud music and singing!! I'm thinking this might be a long night!! :)
Oh, I almost forgot..... I found out where Adam came up with the whole idea of being an astronaut-doctor. He and his dad watch all of the Star Trek shows/movies together and he loves them!! His dad and mom are the coolest parents. They are VERY involved with their kids and it shows! The kids are very smart, ask great questions, and are very well behaved. Wonderful family!!
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