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Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Morocco



Shannon and Ben hosted another smashing success. We were transported. And stuffed to the gills by the time we rolled out of there. Sit-down dinner for thirty. All the furniture removed in their dining and living room. Low tables with cushions. Candles burning. A stormy night. A two and a half hour power outage occurring the instant the main course was ready to be served. Games by lantern light.

The menu was incredible. Shannon had done a bit of research and found that Moroccan cuisine is often a blend of the best of French, Mediterranean, Spanish, and African food.

She started us off with appetizers of olives, hummus and pita chips, and stuffed dates. We drank pomegranate ginger punch and ate grape pecan salad and carrot orange salad. My grandmother cooked an authentic steaming dish of couscous served in her large Moroccan bowls. We finished off the evening with Greek Walnut Pie, Pumpkin Semolina Cake and Moroccan mint tea.

My mom's parents joined us for the first time. Fifty years ago they were living in Morocco as missionaries (with my mother and her two brothers). My grandfather created a wonderful slide show with pictures from their travels and time spent there, complete with Moroccan music. My grandmother helped Shannon with the couscous. We were delighted with all they added to our party!
Holly and Ivy. You just can't have a Christmas party without Holly and Ivy. Grin.

10 comments:

Barb said...

I can almost smell the cumin and cinnamon..looks absolutely fun.

Wendy said...

Hi Heidi! I have a question for you about your store and am wondering if you can email me (see my blog)? I couldn't find your email address here on your blog. Thanks so much!

Donna Boucher said...

What a beautiful portrait.
Lovely light on their faces :o)

Renee said...

Love the pictures. Looks like so much fun!!

Jenni said...

Wow! That looks like so much fun! I guess there is something to be said for white dishes, too, because I can see how you could change the whole look of a table very easily using the same dishes to go from Mexico to Morocco to whatever and wherever.

Anonymous said...

It was awfully fun wasn't it. Daphne loved visiting with Leif! Talk to you soon!
Lindsay

Heidi said...

Thanks, everyone!

Lindsay~ I'm so glad you were able to make it, and we got to sit together. Daphne is a doll. Hopefully we'll see you next week! :)

Anonymous said...

That was a fun evening wasn't it. It was more fun because the electricity was out when we were preparing the cous cous, but came on in time to get it all cooked on all four burners, then out again to enjoy the dinner by candelight. Browning the meat on the burner of the barbeque outside in the wind and rain added to the "fun". Love, Grandma

Anonymous said...

Heidi....I love your pictures!!! Can we do it again? What a lovely evening, and Shannon and Grandma did a smashing job on the food! love, debi

Heidi said...

Grandma~ Glad you got home safely. I'm soooo glad you could join us for the Christmas party this year!

Debi~ I love your 'new name'! Let your hubby know we missed him!