We're back!

We are getting along just fine.

Checking out of Riad Zolah

Today we leave Marrakech and our wonderful guesthouse Riad Zolah. In the picture you see me standing with Ismail, the riad's manager. He, Aziz and the rest of the riad staff were very gracious and hospitable throughout our stay. Each day they would book fantastic restaurants for us or draw maps so that we would not get lost. We particularly enjoyed speaking with Aziz on many occassions regarding everyday life of Moroccans and Americans. It was fun to see all the similarities and differences. Family is important in both cultures, but in different ways. In Morocco, when a man gets married, the wife moves into the husband's family home. Everyone continues to live in the family home and help out. This is not terribly different from Taiwan, but it is different from America. Seems that the general belief is that Americans/Westerners do not care as much about family since we all move away.

Aziz confirmed that in Morocco there are discount shops similar to outlet malls and we also noticed young people listening to American pop music. So in many ways things are very similar to Western life. In fact, Aziz changed out of his traditional robe and into baggy khakis and a denim shirt before leaving. We really enjoyed our chats with Ismail and Aziz, and it was nice to get a hug goodbye from our new friends.

Bonjour, hello, just looking, best quality

It is our last day in Marrakech and after our usual late breakfast, we stepped into the souks to shop. We played the haggling game with the guy who sells tassels. Every type of tassels imaginable - in difference sizes, colors, and ornamentation. This was our first foray into Moroccan haggling. As always the vendor would start with a ridiculously high price and then gauge our response to see where to go next. Lily was very good at laughing (literally) at this first offer saying "too much." As what seems to always happen next, they ask how much you have to spend. We of course do not respond but rather start looking at other options in the store. The vendor always talks about "best quality" (which every vendor seemed to have) and tries to show you the differences in sizes. We played this game for a while and entertained options for higher and lower priced tassles just to get more price ranges going. As this grows old, Lily would come up with a creative "package deal" for several items at a low price. We found that suggesting a multiple item purchase would easily drop the price. His final game was to pull out a large calculator and show how things add up. The funny part was that he often mistyped the numbers so we just let him play with the calculater for a while until the numbers got lower. In the end we got to a 40 dirham impass and agreed to split the difference (ok not exactly, as I gave him 5 dirhams more just to end it). It was a decent deal but we probably could have gone lower. Overall it was a succesful first buy.

Then Lily bought a drum and Berber castinets. Next we bought 5 fez hats for Sabaya. I personally think that the fez hats were the best deal as we ended up getting all 5 hats for the price initially quoted for one.

We then wandered to Djemaa el-Fna and sat on the terrace of Cafe Glacier to watch the busy square. At about 4pm, the food stall vendors start to roll their carts in to the square, the carts include tables and chairs for seating, all their cooking utensils, and food for cooking. We also saw lots of unsavy tourists get trapped by monkey peddlers and snake charmers, who pester you for a tip because you didn't know you wanted to take a picture with their pet. They often put the snake/monkey on your shoulder before you can say no and then try to get a tip out of you. It's a lot like the windshield washer guys at intersections in America. Once you start to tip they hound you even more for a few extra dirhams. It's a game we avoided entirely.

Le Tangia

Tonight we had dinner at Le Tangia, a nice restaurant that has live music and bellydancers. The picture below is of the giant lantern hung at the middle the courtyard. The dining area is on the second floor with seats that look down to the ground floor. The musicians were on the ground floor which was the bar area. Shortly after the musicians finished playing, the bellydancers came out. There were 3 dressed in traditional bra and belt style costumes (not matching) and one heavier set girl in a fully covered costume (perhaps folkloric) who balanced a tray of lit candles on her head and did pretty the same twisting hip movement the entire time. They danced to a dreamy Arabic intro piece where they danced with midget sized veils, then a drum solo, then a techno piece, and then an upbeat fusion piece where they got patrons up (fortunately not us) and dancing, escorting them around the room. The dining room was square with the very center being the open air area that looks down to the ground floor. The four girls each took one of the four sides of the square and then rotated with each new song. Of the three girls dressed in bedlah, two of them were wearing bras that were way too small for their frame, and their boobs were pushed out to where it just didn't look good or natural. Their costumes were not as nice as the ones you see Sabaya wear. Call me a snob, but they weren't nice at all. But enough about the entertainment...the food was pretty good too. We had the typical harira soup and tagine kefta, but also ordered a new dish called couscous royal. This was a large plate of couscous topped with everything - lamb, chicken, sausages, carrots, carmelized onions, squash and other veggies. It was "royal" indeed and was nice to try all the different stuff.

Earlier this afternoon Ryan and I went to the riad's hammam. It was obviously more luxurious than going to the local hammam, but we were hammam virgins so we wanted to have a smooth intro. The hammam is basically like the Turkish bath. Every town has atleast one. With its main purpose for Muslim ritual and cleanliness, the modern day hammam serves an important role in the social lives of women. The men and women have separate areas. Then with each area are several rooms for disrobing, bathing, steam, massage/scrub/soap/rinse. The riad's hammam is private and all done in one room. My (Lily's) attendant was a girl who did not speak English, but we managed. After disrobing (tous, as they say in French), we walked into the warm bath area. She poured comfortably hot/warm water on you, then soap, then rinse. Then you lay face down on a rubber floor mat and she proceeds to scrub you down with her scrubbing gloves. I watched her take a fresh glove out of a sealed bag. You can literally see your dead skin get scrubbed off. There are obvious sensitive areas like the inside of your thigh and underarms, but everywhere else the scrubbing feels great! She rinses you once again. Sitting on the bench, you get your hair washed. Then she lathered on a mixture of fresh orange pulp, some brown paste that could have been mud, tumeric, and rose water. Then cotton pads of rose water was placed over the eyes. You sit there for two to five minutes while she rinses out her bowls. Then rinse again. The whole process went by quite fast, probably about 30 minutes. In a public hammam, women usually hang out afterwards drinking tea and socializing. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good cleansing!

My (Ryan's) hammam experience was similar in process and while nice, it was also strange. I basically had the guy who served me breakfast now bathing me. It felt really good and relaxing. I believe all the years of massages has helped ease the potential akwardness of the hammam. Now my skin is silky smooth...yet still masculine (haha).

Pastille de Pigeon

Last night Lily and I booked a table at a fancy restaurant named La Foundouk. It was a very hip place with Asian lounge music and cool decor. The food was really nice and so I decided to try my first Pastille de Pigeon (pigeon pie). This is a very typical dish in Morocco and a favorite among locals. Originally I thought it was a different kind of bird from the ones that overrun the squares in Europe, but it is in fact the same pigeon. As you can see in the picture it was about 6 inches diameter and is more of a flaky pastry than a pot pie. The crust was so thin and wonderful, and was topped with sweet crushed almonds. Inside was a mix of shredded pigeon meat, crushed almonds, sugar/honey and some egg. It was very delicious and sweet, almost like a dessert. The pigeon meat very dark and a little tough (which is probably why they shred it up), but the taste was typical of poultry.


In addition to the pie, we were served a nice mix of small snacks including olives, cheese crisps, almonds and peanuts. Not sure how they roasted the peanuts, but they were some of the best I've tasted. Lily ordered a vegetable tagine (also known as Berber tagine since Berbers historically could not afford meat often) which had a strong olive taste. We also sampled the harira Moroccan soup. This was more than enough food, so we skipped dessert and wandered home through the mostly empty streets.


I'll end this post now as the third Adhan (call to prayer) begins to fill the air over loudspeakers on top of the mosques. This happens 5 times per day and is a summon to the Muslims to pray. It is quite a strange thing to hear the first time but you get used to it. The prayer is not recorded (live each time) and there is a different person praying at each mosque so the prayers seem to overlap in the air.

Headstand view

Lily convinced Ryan that he needed to do some yoga too. So here he is in headstand pose, enjoying the view upside down!

Yoga with a view

After being out of practice for more than a week, Lily decided to do a little practice in La Pause this morning. After warming up inside of the house, Lily stepped out to the sunshine and enjoyed a personal practice with a view. Lily is seen here in preparation for pigeon pose.

Eco-friendly living isn't so bad

After a night without electicity and hustling the fireplace, it's great to wake up to a breakfast like the one pictured here.

To be honest, it was really cool to spend a few days/nights without modern coveniences. It really helps you see that we can live quite "normal" without all of that stuff.

We are back in Marrakech now, but we already miss the solitude of La Pause. We spent our days out in the sun and relaxing under giant tents while the very attentive staff were always ready with fresh orange juice or mint tea. It was very luxurious, and I sometimes felt like desert royalty given all of the personal attention. One of the great things about La Pause is the exclusivity. The owner books one group no matter how small (2 in our case) so that you have the entire place to yourself. La Pause can sleep 30 people, split among the three houses and tents. Imagine sleeping under the stars in the summer. We poked our heads out at night and could see so many stars. Much more that what you can see in the city. Ryan even saw a shooting star.

In case you are wondering, yes, I am pouring coffee into a bowl to drink. There is freshly squeezed orange juice, Moroccan pancake that is a little savory and a little sweet, and homemade moroccan that is similar to a flattened English muffin.

After breakfast, Ryan went on a mountain bike ride with a guide who happened to be the main attendent named Aziz, who does not really speak English. Lily was suppose to go, but the smallest bike they had was still too big for her. Instead Lily stayed and read her book in the warm sun.

After Ryan got back from the bike ride, we had lunch, which was about 2:50pm. We started with a salad that included beets, cold and cooked carrots and potatoes, tomato, cucumber, and baby lettuce. We also had briouats which are small flaky pastry envelop containing vegetables as a starter. The tagine was a beef and prunes, which delicious. Instead of couscous, it was served with rice and fresh bread. Keep in mind that we did not ask nor was informed what each meal was. In our case, it was nice not having go think or chose, but just be fed delicious food!

Kickin' it old school

Now this truly is kicking it old school...reading by candlelight while warming up by the fireplace.

We had a wonderful candlelight dinner of arugula salad, mixed Moroccan veggies, mini-courgette tarts, mystery-poultry tagine, and an apple tart for dessert. We could not decide if the poultry was chicken or pigeon (later we found out it was chicken)...but it was tasty served with carrots, potato fritters and rice.

And so now we retire by the fireplace with our books and meaningful conversation. This honeymoon just keeps getting better.

Middle of nowhere

So we are pretty much in the middle of nowhere at an Eco-friendly resort called La Pause. It is situated about 45 minutes outside Marrakech. I probably will not blog much because there is no Internet or electricity (I am not joking). Our light will be from candles or the sun. For heat we have the luxury of propane heaters, a cast iron stove, and a fireplace. We are very excited about staying in such a unique place. After arriving we had some mint tea and then went for a nice camel ride at sunset. It really is spectacular and isolated out here as you can see from the picture.

Souk shopping

Do I finally managed to get a picture of a typical souk alleyway. As you can see, it is just lined with shops. This one was wider than most because it was a main road heading towards the Place Jenaa-el-Fna where we saw many monkeys and snake charmers. Each performer tries to see if you are interested in their show by walking right up to you with their monkey or by playing drums very close to you. We also found more ways the vendors try to get your attention like whistling (makes you better appreciate how girls feel walking past a stereotypical construction zone), tapping or just general noise-making. If you look their way then they wave you over. It's quite funny actually and you learn quick to just ignore it all.

Desert

Last night we were able to enjoy the meal from our cooking class. It was very good and filling too. The lamb was falling off the bone and the couscous was fluffy. Afterwards we took some mint tea up to the room and lit a fire in the fireplace. As it was another chilly wet night, we enjoyed relaxing with our books.

Today we will visit the souks and museums of Marrakech before heading out to the desert at 3pm. Not sure if we will have Internet access out there, but I will blog whenever possible.

Famous Souks

After our cooking class, we made our first venture into the famous souks of Marrakech and the Place Jemaa-el-Fna. The souks were like a flea market on steroids packed into a small space. Actually, the souk is large but they really pack in the vendors. They were selling everything from purses to shoes to olives to spices. As you walk around, the vendors vie for your attention by calling out at you in different languages... "bonjour, hello, guten tag, konichiwa" ...They hope you react to one on the languages so they can reel you in. Lily was often mistaken for Japanese as most vendors tried many Japanese words on her as we walked past. I suppose they see more Japanese tourists shopping than Taiwanese. The best course of action is to ignore all of them as if you are deaf so that they move onto the next tourists.

We also passed by the Place Jwmma-el-Fna which is the main square where all the food vendors and performers are located. They were still setting up shop and it was rainy so we headed back to the riad to warm up. We have a few more nights here to explore when the weather improves.

Cooking class

Today after brunch we took a cooking class with the riad's chef. She taught us how to make a traditional Moroccan meal of lamb tagine, couscous, 3 salads, and a fruit tart for dessert. Despite a French language barrier we had a lot of fun. We deciphered the spices by smelling each one and Lily got her hands dirty feeling the couscous for consistency. I was quickly taking notes on my iPhone so that we can try this at home. We are going to need a pressure cooker now, though I wonder what Moroccan's did before the days of pressure cookers (patience?).

In the picture you can see the chef putting the final touches on the tagine before putting the conical lid on.

First night in Marrakesh

Last night we had dinner at Cafe Arabe, which was about a 5 minutewalk from our riad. Afterwards we enjoyed a fire in our room, flipped through a moroccan interior design book, then read the books we brought with us on our trip. Lily is reading "40 days and 1001 nights" by Tamalyn Dallal. It is a book about her travels, spending 40 days in 5 Islamic countries. Ryan is reading a book he got for hid birthday from Ross called "Sex lives of cannibles". Breakfast consisted of French press coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice, unsweetened yogurt, fresh fruits including pomegranate seeds, a sweet bread, fresh pancakes, jams, and butter.

Breakfast in the courtyard

We woke up late around noon today. So our breakfast was more like a lunch.

Deez nutz

Complimentary snacks such as pistachio nuts, dates and assorted dried fruits awaited us in the room. These are typical snacks easily purchased in the souks. The dates and raisins were sugary sweet but the nuts and apricots were just right. The oranges you see here are growing on trees all over the city. It's nice to see them in public on trees, and it reminds us of all the clementine trees we saw in Spain a few winters ago.

Unique bathroom

Here is the unique shower in our room. Unfortunately my iphone camera can't get the entire curved tub so you will have to wait for our big picture upload later. The decor in this place is just fantastic and the vibe is relaxing. Perfecto!

Golden Sinks for the Golden Couple

This place is fantastic and just what we wanted. Check the "golden" mosaic sinks in the bathroom. Only the best for us you know (haha).

Riad Zolah

Stepping through the doors of Riad Zolah was like walking into an oasis compared to the old maze of wet alleys outside. We were quickly greeted by Ismail, the manager who Lily had emailed with prior to the trip. We then sat down by the fireplace for some mint tea and snacks while completing our check-in. Soon we were shown to our beautiful room upstairs. See the bedroom here. We loved the decorative lighted headboard and complimentary slippers.

Arrival in Marrakech

After an early morning and some delayed Iberia flights, we arrived in Marrakech Sunday afternoon about 4pm. The airport was tiny (see pic) and the weather was slightly rainy. There are no real terminals here. You just walk off the plane and across the tarmac into the immigration hall. Just beyond the customs declaration doors we met our driver who took into the old city. Inside we met Aziz from Riad Zolah who walked us though the twisty alleyways and soon we reached our riad (aka guesthouse aka b&b).

Bocadillo

Here I am enjoying the bocadillo mentioned in the post below. It was a simple sandwich of jamon y queso. The weather has been beautiful with daytime sunny skies and full moons at night.

Parc Cafe

After wandering through the Parc Guell, we stopped at the cafe for a cafe machiato and bocadillo (baguette sandwich). Here is Lily sipping her coffee.

Steep hills and strong coffee

This morning we woke at a normal hour and slowly made our way out of the apartment. We stopped briefly at the market for fresh strawberry & banana juice on the way to the metro. Then we hopped on the green line up to estacion Vallcarca. Then we walked up some steep hills (think San Fran) to the Parc Guell. This park was commissioned by Guell and displays many of the unique designs of Gaudi as seen in this picture.

Shopping the stalls

While wandering about town and up La Rambla, we stopped at many street vendor stalls including the antique vendor seen in this picture. We also stopped by the beach and shared cafe lattes and carrot cake as a snack. The famous food market off La Rambla was great. We saw food vendors of all kinds including fruits, meats and seafood. It was like a super farmers market.

Tapas

Just a quick pic and message about the tapas I am eating. Who doesn't love pig ears with a side of spicy grilled sausages. We are also sharing a pitcher of sangria and already polished off one round of tapas including spicy potato meatballs, fried camembert chess and cod fritters. Yum!

Sightseeing and sleep

Thursday was a very long day of sightseeing and sleep. To fight off jetlag, we walked all over and saw many great things including Segrada Familia (the famous Gaudi cathedral) and the Mercat de Santa Caterina food market. For dinner we ate some decent tapas and jet lag hit us hard. We ended up sleeping for about 15 hours and woke up at 3pm Friday!

Walking tour

After breakfast, we did a lot of walking in the La Ribera, Barri Gotic, and Eixample neighborhoods to see some of the famous Gaudi architecture such as La Pedrera seen in this picture. The design was stunning both inside and out.

Breakfast in Barcelona

We arrived safely in Barcelona this morning and grabbed some breakfast. Here I am eating "ous esclafats amb xorico".... or fried egg with potatoes and chorizo. Lily had a croissant de xocolata while we both enjoyed our cappucinos.

High flying

Here we are in our luxurious biz class seats en route to Barcelona. The flight is about 8 hours long so the seats gotta be comfy!

And we're off

The honeymoon is on and poppin'. We had a last minute flight change due to weather delays, but Delta was very accomodating

Surprise Surprise!

Lots of suprises going on lately, including the fact that I finally posted another blog!

I just wanted to post an ode to my friends. They are simply awesome...especially my fiance. Last weekend she put together a double-surprise-party weekend for me. It all started Friday night when I was totally shocked to find a dozen of my good friends at the restaurant when I arrived. It was a varied group of people from all the different hobbies I am into (cars, bikes, pinball, etc) and we had such a great time. Then on Saturday, many of the same people plus a few more friends met up at the bar downtown for drinks, cupcakes and to watch the bellydance (courtesy of Sabaya).

It really made me feel good that I have such an awesome fiance and the great friends I am so lucky to have.

Restaurant Review: White Restaurant - Auckland, NZ

Last Sunday, a friend and I went to a nice restaurant on the Auckland harbour called White. This restaurant was recommended by a coworker as a fancy, chic place to dine. Expecting it to be busy, I booked a table for 2 a couple days ahead and was able to get a reservation at my preferred time.

We arrived at the restuarant promptly at 7pm and were politely greeted by the Hostess. She allowed us to select any table we desired so we opted for one near the window. This restaurant is situated on the end of a pier in the harbour. All tables look out across the water with views of sailboats, ferries, the North Shore (Devonport), and some of the islands. The view was fantastic.

The menu was well designed and simple to follow. There was a nice Set Menu which included wine recommendations for each course. Not one to let someone select my dishes, I reviewed all the choices and made my selection.

Starters: Fresh, raw Oysters with a Sapphire and Tonic to wash it down.
Entrees: Waikanae crab tortellini, leek fondue, smoked corn cream sauce
Mains: Balmain spiced lamb rack, summer bean cassoulet, rosemary jus

My friend ordered the following:

Starters: Fresh, raw oysters
Entrees: Seared scallops, buffalo mozzarella, currants, vanilla/honey dressing
Mains: Marinated feared Tuna w/ crayfish sauce and fresh vegetables

While waiting for the oysters, the waiter brought out some nice olive bread and my cocktail. While the bread itself was nice...there were a few problems:

1. No butter was brought out, even though they provided butter knives
2. The Gin and Tonic was not made with Bombay Sapphire (yes, I can tell)

I sent the drink back once and asked for another with less tonic. The first one had too much tonic and the gin didn't taste like Bombay Sapphire. Sadly, the replacement drink wasn't much better. But at least it was decent. Next time I'll skip the cocktail and go straight for the wine.

The Oysters came out chilled and on a bed of rock salt There was also a nice lemon to squeeze across the huge, fresh oysters on the half-shell. These things were monsterous and so fresh. One good thing about Auckland is that it's easy to get fresh oysters. I never liked them much until I got here. Now I crave them.

Entrees (aka appetizers) arrived soon after we finished the oysters. Both items were nicely presented and very tasty. The crab tortellini was a little bland, but at least the crab was fresh (not fishy). The scallops were small and fresh. Lightly pan seared with a sweet sauce. They were not overly sauced which was nice. In the center of the plate was a healthy portion of fresh buffalo mozzerella. It was a very nice dish and I would consider ordering the scallops again next time.

We took a brief pause after the entrees to watch the sunset and some tugboats pulling out one of the many cargo ships. There is something very calming about living on the water and watching the boats. It was a cloudy evening but the sunset was very pretty nonetheless.

Our mains arrived along with my glass of recommended wine....Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir. I have to say this was one of the better glasses of Pinot I have had in New Zealand. Overall I am very happy with the Pinot Noir's here and it's possibly my new favorite. The lamb main was well presented with several slices of lamb stacked upon the rib bones. They were cooked medium rare as the chef recommended. Surrounding the lamb was a nice mix of beans/peas and all was covered in a brown sauce poured on at the table. I typically do not order meat cooked medium rare, but it was quite nice. Soft but not too chewy or gamey. The marinated tuna dish (daily special) was also very nice with a lightly seared edge. It was cooked almost rare as is normal for this fish. The sides includes a puffy pastry filled with a meaty mixture and fresh vegetables. The crayfish sauce was spread decoratively around the plate to make the presentation complete. Both mains were very nice and I would recommend them to anyone.

Despite eating all of the food described above, I was unable to pass up the dessert menu. There were many good choices, but I still had some wine left in the glass so I decided to order some cheese to compliment it. There were about 8 cheeses on the menu including blues, brie, cheddars, goudas and more. I selected some local blue, a mild brie, the very aged gouda, and some sharp cheddar. All of these represent many of my favorite cheese and I wanted to see what the New Zealand cheese makers had to offer. All of the cheese were delicious. The blue was not overly strong, and went well on the table cracker with a bit of berry jam. The brie was nice and soft. You could almost spread it on the crackers. The cheddar was not as sharp as I prefer, but was still nice. It was just not what I was really craving. The star of the cheese plate was the aged gouda. It was very dry and crumbly...and the taste was fantastic. It was great to share the gouda with my friend, but I would have prefered to have my own piece because it was SO GOOD.

With the cheese and wine finished off, we requested the bill and made our way out of the restuarant. During the 2.5 hours we spent in the restaurant, we never felt rushed despite many other patrons coming and going. The staff was very friendly, attentive, and relaxed.

Overall it was a very nice experience and highly recommended to others visiting Auckland.

You can check out the website (including menu) here:

http://www.whiterestaurant.co.nz

Cheers!

TV On The Radio

So this week I saw a band named "TV on the Radio" perform on the David Letterman show. Usually I dismiss most new bands I hear because so many these days are just not that interesting. But something about this band really struck me. Maybe it was their energy on stage or just the song itself. I can't say it has anything to do with the lyrics as I never really listen to the words much. I tend to focus on the beats, melodies, etc. Either way, I decided to download the album from iTunes and it's really good. Hard to describe the genre so I won't try to. Highly recommend you check them out.

http://www.tvontheradio.com/

First Post

Yup....this is my first post. Just wanted to kick off my new blog that I have started after months of deliberation. Are my thoughts and observations important enough to warrant a blog? You can decide...