Beautiful Food, Travel & Design
One of the fun things about being a food blogger is the sense of community that I’ve found amongst my peers. Whether it be a random bond formed over pieces of distressed wood found at a flea market, (“Where did you get that? That would make the perfect food backdrop. Wait, you’re a food blogger too?”) to the thoughtful comments left on posts, to the random tweets, food bloggers are a friendly bunch…. Read More »
The second stop on our Northern Morocco roadtrip was Chefchaouen. Chefchaouen is definitely a darling of the people hear. Whenever people hear that we’ve visited, inevitably the response is some variation of “Oh, how beautiful,” or “What a wonderful city!”
Tucked away in the mountains, the small city is most famous for the winding, blue-painted streets of its old medina. They were painted blue by Jewish immigrants. Other than a few short treks, the best thing to do in Chefchaouen is to wander the streets and relax.
It’s relatively inexpensive and is a good place to buy a Berber rug or a hand-woven picnic blanket, in our case.
There is also a good assortment of dishware and the usual touristy trinkets
As you can see, Chefchaouen is also home to several glamourous feral cat models.
All is not glamorous in Chefchaouen however, there is still the day-to-day drama that exists elsewhere. We witnessed a minor physical scuffle between some local men over something. They were not happy with us photographing this, but I did manage to get a little photojournalistic proof.
Most of the local old men seem content to relax on a park bench and just enjoy life.
Our progress so far:
Other stories from our Moroccan adventure:
A Day by the Sea in Asilah, Morocco
You can also see what we’re up to, while we’re up to it on Instagram!
Chocolate-making is one of those things I have always toyed with the idea of trying, but it has always seemed so intimidating! Kind of like making a wedding cake (check!) or macarons (hmmm, stay tuned?). Luckily, I recently had the opportunity to take a chocolate making class taught by Ben Tseitlin, founder of Benchic Chocolate.
I was shocked by how easy and accessible Ben made the chocolate-making process. Using just a few ingredients, he walked us through the process of making our own chocolate. The chocolate that we created was wonderful. We were encouraged to bring our own toppings and I brought a little fresh cinnamon to dust over mine. Ben also had curry, cayenne and a variety of other toppings on hand for us as well. He was the perfect host, keeping us occupied with chocolate history and making sipping chocolate while the chocolate set.
Ben’s class would be a perfect date idea or great for a weekend event with girlfriends. He also does private parties and corporate events. For more information on Benchic chocolate making classes, check out his website here.
Hooray for the start of the Morocco honeymoon posts! Pat and I arrived safely in Morocco, and in fact have already been here a week! I blame the (relatively) cold weather for the lack of a post sooner. It’s winter here too, and some nights it’s been down in the 30’sF! Combine that with a lack of infrastructure for the cold (what, no central heating?) and it’s been hard to get motivated. All that aside though, we’re having an absolutely lovely time in Morocco. It was a great choice for a honeymoon destination.
We started out our trip by flying into Tangier, one of Morocco’s northernmost cities and most often visited because you can easily take a ferry there from Spain. It’s basically a port town and not the best Morocco has to offer, so we made the decision to rent a car at the airport and get the heck out of dodge as fast as possible. We drove about 45 minutes south to Asilah, a lovely Moroccan costal city.
Asilah is busiest in the late summer, when it hosts the Asilah Arts Festival. Then, it is flooded with tourists and artists, coming to enjoy the scene and the beach. There are still many murals on the walls to hint at the fun we missed this year.
We found Asilah a bit sleepier, but still charming. It was fun to wander the streets and also the sea wall.
We got to take a look at the catch of the day.
We relaxed and sipped mint tea and enjoyed our first Moroccan couscous, while soaking it all in.
In Asilah, we stayed at Hotel Azayla. Although it was recommend by both of our guidebooks and has a reputation online for friendly staff, they must have had the day off when we visited. The rooms were simple and clean, but the thin glass windows let in every noise like we had them wide open. Imagine our surprise when we were woken up to loud music at around 11pm! It carried on for an hour before we decided to investigate. We got bundled up and ventured out, following the booming base. About a 10 minute walk away, we came upon a plastic tent where we could see the outline of several belly dancers and men and women sitting around and watching them. It was so loud! But you don’t have to take my word for it:
Asilah Noises in the Night from Kelly Egan on Vimeo.
As tempting as it was to join the party, we scurried away back to our beds and popped in some earplugs. Just as we were about to fall asleep, around 1am, a rooster started to crow! This went on for the rest of the night and the earplugs weren’t enough. We just had to laugh and chalk it up to part of the adventure. Welcome to Morocco!
Our progress so far:
P.S. – See what we’re up to now on Instagram!
While I’m on my honeymoon, I’m so happy to bring you a guest post by Ashley, from Delightfully Domestic. Delightfully Domestic is her little home on the world wide web where laughter is mandatory and story swapping, inspiration gathering and recipe learning is encouraged. Thanks Ashley for sharing these His & Hers Knitted Toque Patterns, which google has informed me is Canadian for hat!
Hey! I’m Ashley, and if you haven’t noticed yet, I’m from Canada. Winter is upon us up in Northern Alberta and today I’m sharing with you how a few simple changes to a pattern, basic knit and purl stitches using the same colours of yarn can make the difference between a His and Hers toque…. Read More »
This spicy goat cheese and sweet potato egg skillet recipe is elevated by adding spicy pepperino chili-infused olive oil. A healthy and flavorful recipe!
I distinctly remember the first time I tasted real olive oil. I was in Italy in college and it was my first night, in a plaza in Milan. The complexity of the flavors and the, well goodness, of it is something I’ll never forget. I definitely have Italy flashbacks when I have good olive oil. It’s one of those ingredients that is worth spending a few extra dollars on to make sure you get the good stuff…. Read More »