Island Hopping 2024: Marrakech, Cooking Lessons w/Tagine, Belly Dancers

 A drive out to a suburb of Marrakech took us to the Dar Amal Women’s Training Center.  This is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to train underprivileged women in the culinary arts that can then lead them to steady incomes in the tourist industry.  One of the things that they do is give cooking lessons to groups like ours.  We had a good time preparing our own meals.  Between those of us in the OSU group, we made separate tajines; one with beef ribs, one with chicken, and a vegetarian one.  They were all good.  

Sunrise in Marrakech

Sandy the Moroccan Chef

We used every one of these spices

Massaging the beef

Tajines on, charcoal burning

Finished product

While we were waiting for our tajine creations to finish cooking over charcoal, we were given a demonstration in Arabic calligraphy,  and an opportunity to try our hand at it.  Sandy and I wrote out our own names, and then the demonstrator gifted us elaborately drawn cards with our names on them.

This how Sandy and I wrote our names, me on left, Sandy on right

This is how the instructor did it.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at another small garden.  It was pleasant, but the 15 minute walk both ways in 90 degree temperatures with no shade, … well that was memorable too.

Courtyard Garden in Marrakech

Mosaics everywhere

Very cool and relaxing

We finished the night at a very Moroccan restaurant eating piles of delicious but unrecognizable vegetables and more expertly tajine prepared chicken.  Lots of good food with the many severs serving the meals with a flourish.  Then, when we thought it was done, in came the entertainers.  First two musicians playing lively Moroccan music, which led to some of our group being pulled up to dance.  Then in came the belly dancer.  It was all over the top in a Moroccan way, and it was all perfect

Fellow traveler trying her hand at belly-dancing

Belly-dancing with the lights

Another delicious Tajine