Holiday Weekend

What a holiday filled weekend this was!

It all started, of course, with Thanksgiving on Thursday. Because Eid Al-Adha was on Saturday, Peace Corps put a travel restriction in place for all volunteers from Wednesday to Wednesday (which means I am still under house arrest). During Eid, people are traveling all over the country to go home for the holiday. Consequently, traffic is bad and there are many car accidents. Peace Corps (rightly so) seems to think it is better if volunteers stay home for the week. This travel restriction meant no chance of spending Thanksgiving with other volunteer friends. So, I celebrated Thanksgiving with my wonderful host family. Tuesday and Wednesday I went shopping in Tiznit and my souk for all the Thanksgiving ingredients I could find.

Thursday morning Najma came to my house, arms full of pots, pans, utensils, plates, and casserole dishes. My 2 saucepans and 4 plates were not going to cut it for our Thanksgiving feast. My wonderful host sister stayed in my kitchen with me from 9:30 until 2:30, chopping, peeling, cutting, mashing, cooking, frying, sauteing, and baking.

We started by making an apple pie. Then, we prepared the 5lbs of turkey I found in Tiznit, the green bean casserole, the stuffing, and last but not least, the mashed potatoes. I was a little nervous about everything being ready by 2:30 when my guests were expected; however, with Najma's expert ability to work incredibly efficiently in the kitchen, we had all the food ready a few minutes early.

While I forgot to take pictures of the finished products, here is the stuffing and turkey cooking!

My recipes and cooking schedule, posted in the kitchen.

My 8 guests and I thoroughly enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal, and I honestly believe they really liked the food.

Friday, after sleeping in to recover from Thursday's cooking extravaganza, I spent 5 hours baking Eid bread with Ijjou, Najma, and a few of my neighbors. My host family has this awesome outdoor oven used to make mass amounts of bread. The oven (heated by fire and clay) holds about 8-9 rounds of bread at a time, which is very convenient when each family makes 20 or more rounds of bread for Eid. I had a really nice time with them (as usual), even though I was told that no one will want to marry me if I don't learn to make bread faster. :)

As we finished up the last batch of bread, we made tea and bsis*, which we ate with hot fresh bread. It is hard to believe that this was the last Eid I will spend with my host family. I am definitely going to miss making bread with them!

*bsis. Anyone trying to gain wait? Yes? If so, make bsis. Bsis consists of flour, butter, a little salt, and eggs. It is DELICIOUS, and probably the best weight-gaining food out there.

Saturday morning, my host family slaughtered a sheep and 2 goats for the Eid celebration. This is done in honor of Abraham, who was willing to sacrifice his son for God, before God told him to sacrifice a sheep instead. Although Muslim families all over the world practice this tradition, people celebrate in very different ways. Some families give all the meat to those in need, while some (like my host family) eat every last organ, and have enough meat to last them for 2 or more months.

Here's the poor guy a few minutes before sacrificing time. He had no idea what was coming.

And here are his intestines. Yummy!

While the animals were being gutted and all that jazz, Najma and I started making liver and fat kebabs. Mmmm good.

I had a very enjoyable day with my host family; however, I can safely say I will not mind if that was the last sheep stomach I ever eat again in my life.

Now that Thanksgiving and Eid are over, Advent begins! Last week I decided it would be nice to have an Advent wreath this year. Unfortunately those aren't exactly readily available in rural Morocco. So I decided to make one! It isn't so much an Advent wreath as it is an Advent row...but I think it gets the point across. Plus I did my Christmas decorating! Too bad there was no eggnog and homemade Mom cookies.