Tangier has been a wonderful place to live for the past month. Our house is in the Casbah, which is the old walled part of the city. The streets and tiny, winding, and very confusing if you don't know where you're going, the buildings are crammed together at odd angles, and there are surprises around every corner.
Sometimes you'll stumble upon brightly painted side alleys filled with plants...
...or intricate tile mosaics, quietly adding beauty to the crumbling walls.
One of my favorite things is the variation in the doors of the houses. This was the theme for a gallery exhibit at a show here! An artist from Tangier makes miniature models of real houses with wood, paint, and plaster.
Our house doesn't look quite as cute from the outside, but inside it is cozy and full of light.
We have a terrace where we can eat breakfast with a view of the bay. I love the bright blue paint on the floor!
We have a cute little kitchen, where we've been doing lots of cooking.
One of my favorite things to make is a breakfast sandwich I invented when we were running low on groceries. I toasted some leftover Moroccan bread - a type kind of a like a giant English muffin - split it in half, and spread tahini and honey on the inside. I added some sliced strawberries, which are in season and delicious, and took a bite. The bread was still warm, crunchy on the outside and soft inside. With the richness of the tahini, the sweetness of the honey, and the tangy juiciness of the strawberries, it was amazing. It's my favorite breakfast now, combining some of my favorite foods from Tangier.
We made an almost-raw chocolate cake, too - chocolate, cashews, and dates for the filling, with a crunchy crust of toasted almonds and brown sugar and a rich layer of ganache on top.
Lots of chocolate - a kilo, to be exact - also went into the brownies I made for some new friends here. I made a batch for a party, and the following week, when we made plans to meet for breakfast, they specifically requested "one batch to eat then and one to take home." They went over very well, and there is a standing request for more.
Delicious as it is, chocolate is not my staple. The markets here offer such fresh fruits and vegetables and I've loved cooking them in all forms - steamed, roasted, baked, stewed, sautéed. Yesterday we made a delicious lunch: garlicky greens with cauliflower "couscous" and tahini sauce. Cauliflower makes a great substitute for couscous if you want something light or cannot eat gluten. It's super easy!
You just steam it until it is cooked but still firm, then pulse it in a food processor until it forms small crumbles (whatever size you like). Then heat oil in a pan, add chopped kale, bok choy, or other greens and sauté until bright green and wilted. Add garlic to taste, cook for another minute, and serve on top of the couscous. To make a tahini sauce, simply mix tahini with a dash of soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, turmeric, and water to thin it to the desired consistency. The 'couscous' would work well as a substitute for rice, too, and as a great base for any sauce.
Love to all my family and friends, and more soon on cooking and life in Tangier!
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