Turning inward and off to faraway places……..

Morocco I would say, is one of the countries at the very top of my list of places to go!

The colors and flavors of Morocco have spilled into the colors on my kitchen walls and more recently on our dinner table!

As the weather get colder and colder and we turn, into our cozy homes and sweaters, I find that my journal starts to get picked up again as I muse about the seasons past and my cooking begins to also get warmer and deeper in flavors and style.

I recently bought a cookbook on Moroccan cuisine and decided that now was the time to pull it out and begin learning juts how to use those Tajines I bought as well!

My first try was a Moroccan chicken Tajine was verrry easy to make and a huge hit with the family!

I like to gather all my ingredients together before beginning any new recipe and read the recipe over several times so I know exactly what I need to do–this makes it a ton easier the first go around.

For this tajine I combined three different recipes ingredients together and luckily for me it worked!

A vegetarian option would also work using tofu or chickpeas, or if you eat fish just place it on last at the top of the Tajine.

Here is the recipe for Moroccan Chicken Tajine with Veggies:

Ingredients:

2 small packages of skinless boneless chicken thighs

1-2 tbsp Olive oil

1 medium yellow onion diced

1  yellow zucchini- Medium sized slices

1 large carrot thinly sliced

2 potatoes sliced med-”thinish” slices

1 large bunch of Cilantro

Kalamata olives-pitted–a handful

1 cup couscous toasted

Ingredients for the marinade:

1/2 cup cilantro copped

3 cloves of garlic chopped

1 2/2 tsp paprika

1 tbsp cumin ground

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cayenne{optional- if cooking for kids}

1/4 tsp saffron-optional

Juice of one small lemon

3 tbsp olive oil.

Mix ingredients together and marinate chicken or whatever meat or tofu you are cooking with for at least 1 hour.

Preparation for Tajine:

On medium heat saute the onions with some olive oil until they start to turn brown{approx 5 min’s}

Stir in the couscous and mix coating it and saute until it slightly browned approx 10 min’s

Line the bottom of each tajine{if using two small ones–if using one large one pour all of it}

Top with the chicken in equal parts.

Now take the potato slices and toss them into the marinade for a bit while you poke the carrot slices into the couscous at the bottom, and then cover the chicken with the slices of zucchini and now marinated potato.

Lastly take the marinade and slowly pour over each tajine until it is gone.

Garnish with olives and more cilantro and cook in the oven at 3oo for one hour.

Serve on a beautifully set table with a deep red wine and then a light desert like the one below–mango custard and Moroccan Mint tea~

Putting the Bee’s to Bed for the winter

On one of the last sweet and sunny days of the season, Nao came over to the back garden where the bees are with a roll of black tar paper and we prepared their home for the long winter ahead.

First we had a big check in to see how the bees were doing, as this past fall there were many issues including a very high mite count that had to be dealt with.

The we gave them some pollen patties and prepared to tuck them in for the cold fall and winter evenings ahead.

Often times beekeeping is a two person job, and over these past two years we have fallen into a comfortable rhythm with each other while we bee keep.

It requires that we both be really present to the task at hand.  This involves listening for the difference in the bee’s sounds.

Once you hear it a few times it is easy to notice when the buzzing escalates, which happens if they are feeling a tad irritated, at which point whoever is the “smoker” for the day needs to smoke them down a bit.

If anyone were watching they might think we were a touch “off” as we both lovingly speak to the bees as we find this calms them, and us, as we work.

Next season will find me hopefully with some new “Top Bar Hives” and bees that are my own, as the Beecause bees will be possibly moving into the country!

The bees have now been wrapped up tight for the season. Nighty night bees!

Learning to Smith Jewelrey-Blow torch included!

For some time now, when I am out and about and wearing one of my jewelery creations I have been asked if I actually “Make” my own jewelery.

At first I mis-understood this question and answered ‘Why Yes-thank you” Only to meet an astounded gaze and the other person stutters out–”wow–you MADE that pendent!”

At this point it hits me and I realize that the other person is not admiring the “design” of the piece, but rather the skill it took to make the pendent I have used, and I have to tell then that no unfortunately I did not create the pendent.

There is a special skill in being able to take metal and fashion it into a thing with meaning and beauty, and I want to learn how!

I love the idea of alchemy, of working with metal, bending, melting, and forming it into a creation of your own making.

So tonight I fed the troops dinner, and excitedly drove myself down to Van Tech school for my first ever Jewelery making class– for beginners!

The class was filled all sorts of creative types, and there were surprisingly more men then  I had anticipated as well!

Our teacher, Dominique has been making jewelery for over 20 years, and  her skills made everything she showed us to do, look incredibly easy.

For the first 2  hours she spoke, showing us examples of what we would be learning to make in our 8 weeks together.

We then were taken around the HUGE classroom and she demonstrated the basic techniques of jewelery making we would need, along with how to use the tools.

This is truly an ADULT class–as the lesson on using the Blow torch took about 15 min’s and then we were all given full permission to use it whenever we wanted!

Yup we were taught the basics for 2 hours and then given some metal and told to design something simple- um ok!

I choose a simple crescent moon design-in celebration of my love of the moon of course!

And here I am working away!

And Voila-after a few hours of learning the ropes and figuring it all out!

Next week I will drill in the holes for stringing, then file them down so they are smooth, get out the blow torch to solder them together and then heat them so I can get a pretty “patina”!

So far so good!