SC - Re: Pucks Retirement, OOP, OT

[Barbara Sall]

Although i received mail from my daughter sent on Oct 17 by the end 
of October, i just today got some mail she'd sent on Oct 9. She's 
staying with an educated and fairly well-off family - the mother was 
a nurse, but has 5 children so she stays home; the father is a 
professor at the Faculty of Veterinary & Agricultural Science, 
specializing in toxicology. They live on the 6th floor of a 6-story 
apartment building.

I thought i'd share some of her observations [my comments]:

"...a few weeks ago we got a few sacks of wheat. My hot mother's 
mother came over, and washed all the wheat. We then spread it out in 
the sun to dry. It dried for about a week... I think my hot mother 
will take it to a miller to be ground. She said that then she sifts 
it into two batches, the rougher flour for bread and the finer for 
things like "ghayf" [khaif?], the sort of crepe-like, flakey 
breakfast food. She bakes bread every few days. The small loaves 
(~9") she bakes in a small gas oven on the terrace [i guess this is 
sort of a balcony]. She takes larger laves to a communal baker, who 
has a food-fired oven. There's a baker nearby, just next to the 
hammam [public baths]; I think communal baking and bathing is still 
more common in the medina. You'll be happy to hear that eating 
fresh-baked whole-wheat bread daily has instilled in me a tolerance 
(or perhaps even fondness) for whole-wheat bread (chubz in Arabic, 
aghrum in my host father's dialect of Berber)...

"P.S. - Did you know that in 1589 in England royal consumption of 
sugar amounted to 18,000 pounds annually, and that Queen Elizabeth 
would only accept Moroccan refined sugar in her household. Jewish 
merchants of Marrakech had a monopoly (given by the Sultan) on sugar 
exports. J. Gerber, "Jewish Society 1450-1700" (Leiden, 1980), p. 
173. [i assume this is from Brill, a Dutch academic publisher]"

[She included a recipe for a very NOT "period" dish, which i will 
share in her words]

Tektouka

5-6 green peppers (elongated, sort of a cross between hot-&-bell peppers)
4-5 tomatoes (medium)
1 eggplant (small)

[oil - she left this out - probably olive]

3 plus garlic cloves
(1 onion, optional)
1-2 T salt
several T cumin
coriander [Knowing my daughter, coriander means coriander seed - i'm 
sure if it was the leafy greens, she'd call it cilantro. She doesn't 
say how much to add. Based on my knowledge of Moroccan cooking, 
strictly from books, the quantity could be anywhere from half as much 
as the cumin, equal to the cumin, or twice as much as the cumin - use 
your judgment]
2 T cayenne
1 t har: very hot pepper powder

parsley [probably flat leaf variety]

Cut green pepper into thin rondelles, and remove seeds & white fiber. 
Remove skin from eggplant and slive into rondelles. Heat oil in a 
skillet, and add green pepper. Turn to coat in oil, and cover. Allow 
to cook on low heat for ~5 min, until soft. Add eggplant to bottom of 
skillet, and cook covered for ~5 min, until soft and slightly 
darkened. Remove skin of tomatoes and mince/chop finely. Add spices 
to tomatoes and toss. (This includes pressed/minced garlic). Add the 
mixture to the skillet, and turn up the fire a bit fi the tomatoes 
are juicy. Mix and allow to cook covered until the mixture remain 
moist, but most of the liquid has evaoprated; uncover if necessary. 
Mince small punch of parsley and garnish.

[Obviously this is damned hot - so feel free to adjust the amounts of chilis]

- -------

Oooh, oooh, just 28 more days til i leave...

Anahita