The Erudite Factory

So this used to be a blog with wahoo-flavored rants from an angry Black girl who believes that we can't continue to sit idly by as we lose generations to miseducation. It still is, but with a lot of other really random stuff thrown in too to lighten it up a bit...

[theeruditefactory]

Morocco: Day 12

The next day we set off for home. Marrakech to Madrid to London. We actually spent the night in a tiny little motel in Heathrow Airport called Yotel since we arrived in London so late and had an earlyish flight back to Raleigh the next morning.

All in all, we had a marvelous trip. Once in a lifetime really! Thanks to everyone who made it possible! We are so very grateful and will always be forever grateful.

[theeruditefactory]

Morocco: Day 11

The next day we actually went to ANOTHER cooking class! This one was via Amal, a nonprofit that helps impoverished Moroccan women to gain work skills and business skills. They operate a restaurant, and the women work there to learn about gourmet cooking, but they also provide langiage courses, entrepreneurship classes, and daycare services. 

The instructor told is all about how Amal began, their succeses with the program so far, and about several awards they had recently won. I must say, we were very impressed with the program and in the future, I think I will consider donating to their cause. 

Anyway, their facilities were not nearly as fancy as our last class, and we actually prepared the food and cooked it over charcoal outside. 

This time, Kevin and I made a vegetable tagine. However, they gave us so many veggies that it felt like we were preparing enough food for a small army! 

Still, it was delicious and we gobbled it up. We also bought some recipe cards and an apron. Actually, with the apron, they like you to take a picture in it whenever you travel home or somewhere interesting and send it back to them! Cuteness. The rest of the day was pretty chill. We shopped a little more, and then walked around the gardens near the main mosque.

Later, we had dinner at a trendy, modern restaurant called Nomad. We shared a lentil salad and a vegetable pastilla for appetizer. Then I had the fish of the day (sea bass) and Kevin had calamari. The food did not disappoint, especially the dessert--date cake with salted caramel sauce and whipped cream. O. M. G. So good! Also, I had the best mojito I've ever had there. Moroccan mint is a wonder!

[theeruditefactory]

Morocco: Day 10

The next day was our shopping day. I really wanted a Moroccan rug, some scarves, and a few other things. First, we went to the Artisan Center (L’Ensemble Artisinal). The shops have fixed prices there, so 1) you don't have to haggle, and 2) it’s a good way to get a sense of what a reasonable price should be since the souk sellers are always trying to squeeze as much $ from you as possible. We actually found a cute rug there and decided to buy it instead of trying not find one in the souks. Kevin bought a djellaba, a traditional Moroccan robe. 

We then ventured back into the souks. I haggled with a guy for some scarves. I ended up getting an okay price. Not great but not  terrible, and I felt better about it than my previous attempts. 

That night we went to the Square to see what the night markets were like. The food sellers are quite aggressive and try whatever they can to get you to stop at their stand. For example, they would try to get my attention by calling me various names, like Nina Simone, Nikki Minaj, and Michele Obama. Quite amusing. We ate tangia, which was kind of like a pot roast, and some meat kebabs (mystery meat). After that, we got some ice cream cones and found a comedy/musical group that was performing. We stood watching for a bit and then they pulled us into the circle. They asked us where we were from and some other questions and seemed to gently poke fun at us in Arabic because the crowd laughed. They even had me dance. I felt quite silly but it was fun. 

We ended the night like most nights, having mint tea, but from a terrace overlooking the Square.

[theeruditefactory]

Morocco: Day 9

The next day, we went to a cooking class at La Maison Arabe. It was fabulous! The Maison is a very fancy hotel, and their demonstration kitchen was expertly set up. Each of us (8 or 9 couples) had a little station and could watch the chef on the screen in front of us. 

We made a chicken tagine with preserved lemons and olives, an eggplant salad that I devoured, and a tomato and Chili salad that was quite nice as well. The instructor was also really great about telling us about the history and context of Moroccan cooking. At the end, we each ate our own meals and even were given small tagines as gifts!

[theeruditefactory]

Morocco: Day 8

The next day, we visited Ait Benhaddou. It's on a very high hill and the stairs wind up steeply. 

Abdul said he climbed those stairs probably a thousand times before (an exaggeration, I'm sure)/and he looked like it. He climbed so quickly! Kevin and I definitely got our workout in. At the top is a little tower where the city kept it's valuables. Apparently, Ait Benhaddou was a very rich city because it was on the Sahara caravan route and it charged to let people through. Because of this, it was attacked many times but rarely was defeated. We could see why. You can see miles from the top. The fortress is also the setting for all the provincial arena fighting scenes from Gladiator. Who knew!

Afterwards, we got back on the road to Marrakech. The trip took a while but it felt shorter this time in my opinion. When we arrived back to Marrakech, we said goodbye to Abdul and were escorted to our new riad, Riad Adore. 

It is a very lovely riad--perhaps even prettier than Riad Dar Hanane. The staff was very professional and we enjoyed a delightful dinner of Moroccan salad and chicken skewers that night (though the cooks at Dar Hanane won out). After dinner we chose a DVD from the riad library: Flight, starring Denzel Washington. It was quite good.

[theeruditefactory]

Morocco: Day 7

The next morning, we woke up early to watch the sun rise over the dunes. It was lovely but I think we agree that sunset was better. Then, after breakfast, we set off towards the Todra Gorge--the highest oasis valley gorge in Morocco. It was quite beautiful. Sort of like the Moroccan version of the Grand Canyon.

Kevin still didn't feel well and on the way to our hotel for the night, he was very quiet. I was worried about him. When we arrived at the hotel, near Ait Benhaddou, we had some tea and relaxed. We got to hang out with Abdul for a little while and enjoyed talking with him about his experiences driving and Moroccan weddings (he is missing his brother’s wedding because of our trip).

[theeruditefactory]

Morocco: Day 6

The next morning, after breakfast, we hit the road again, this time towards the Valley of the Roses. This is a famous area because in the Valley, the people grow many roses and in the Spring they have a rose festival. The roses are mostly used to make cosmetics, and we stopped to buy some rose water and rose oil. Much improved at my haggling skills, I was able to get the price down from $275 dirhams to $250 dirhams--though we later learned this was still far too much to pay.

Then we continued on to the desert, almost to the Algerian border. There we were introduced to our guides, Jimmy and Bob Marley (camels--our actual guide was a sweet dude named Mohamed). 

The camel ride was beautiful. There is nothing quite like seeing the sand dunes against the blue sky as the sun sets. We got off the camels to climb a large dune in order to watch the sun set. I was struggling to get up the hill fast enough (stupid sand) and so Mohamed would run up and then throw down his scarf and pull me up. It was quite impressive. 

At the top, we sat for a while watching the sun sink below the horizon, and Mohamed took some great photos of us. 

He even made cute sand art and wrote our names in Arabic. 

He then took Veronica “Berber sledding” which really just meant he pulled her down the dunes on a blanket. It was fun! 

We got back on our camels and rode back to the camp (P.S. staying on a camel is actually quite difficult and involves a lot of quad and glute muscles). The camp was gorgeous. Beautiful carpets were laid out across the sand and large tents were placed all around. Our tent had a 4-post king size bed, two small love-seats, and a full bathroom. We had electricity but it was solar powered, so it was not available between 11pm and 6:30am. Still, it was very nice. 

Dinner was fabulous and very romantic. It was served in the restaurant tent, where there was a table with candles and grand chairs. The meal consisted of soup, wine, lamb tagine, vegetable couscous, chicken tagine, and a bean concoction that was quite delicious. After dinner, we walked about the dunes for a bit, and then off to bed. Kevin wasn't feeling very well, so we tried to go to bed early.

[theeruditefactory]

Morocco: Day 5

Today we woke up and had breakfast at Dar Lorkam. It was yummy, and I especially liked the orange muffin. Afterwards, we relaxed by the pool for a bit (a bit chilly, but warm if you could find a spot right in the sun). 

Abdul then took us towards town and we stopped at Kasbah Amridil. I was leery at first because tours aren't always done well, but this was actually quite informational. Our guide explained that kasbahs were forts but also homes for the elite. He did a great job telling the history of this particular Kasbah, as well as describing life back then more generally. The coolest part was that they have excavated quite a few artifacts and have them on display. For example, we got to see the original way they would grind grains, a mold they use to build the mud walls of homes, and ovens for bread. Additionally, he showed us the “toilet” the families used, and he showed us how the locks on the doors worked (a very smart system of turning pins). At the very top, the views were spectacular.

Post- Kasbah visiting, Abdul drove us into town. There wasn't much to see. We went to a cafe where we had the local specialty: goat cheese! It was served as a dessert with honey. It was a little like cheesecake. So delicious.

When we got back to Dar Lorkam, we chilled and then went to dinner. We met a lovely French couple but unfortunately there was a big language barrier. For example, they enjoy running and hiking, but I misunderstood and thought they had actually hiked from Marrakech over the Atlas Mountains. (Abdul found this very funny.) Also, the husband is a farmer but they didn't know the word “agriculture” and instead said he was an architect of cereal. But how fun to try and communicate!

[theeruditefactory]

Morocco: Day 4

After a breakfast of boiled eggs and croissants, we said goodbye to the staff at Dar Hanane and headed toward the mountains with our driver, Abdul. As we headed toward the highest mountain pass in the Atlas mountains, the turns in the road got sharper and sharper. 

Kevin began to feel ill. While he was able to make it across the pass by closing his eyes, some time later he could no longer hold it in, and I had to ask Abdul to pull over so that Kevin could vomit. Then he sat in the front seat to alleviate motion sickness, though most of the windiest roads were already behind us.

We made it to Ouarzazate, the Hollywood of Morocco. Abdul says that Moroccan movies are “horrible." But several American movies and shows have filmed there, including Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, and Game of Thrones. We stopped for lunch at a cafe. We both had mixed kebabs with chicken and meat, along with fries and rice and Coca-Cola to help with the nausea. We continued on to Skoura, where there is a large palm grove. We stayed at a place owned by French people. There isn't much here, other than the ruins of some old kasbahs and palm trees, but it's very quiet and peaceful. The other guests were also French.

For dinner we had zucchini soup and a tagine with meatballs and peas. It was quite delicious. For dessert there was fruit. After dinner we played Scrabble, though because it was the French version, the letters had different values (w's and y's were worth 10!). Kevin won, as usual. Then they went to bed.

[theeruditefactory]

Morocco: Day 3

We had a free day in Marrakech. We slept late and had breakfast downstairs. It included a thin omelette and the same croissants and jams from the day before. We then returned to the room to rest some more before heading out to the Palais Bahia. We got lost for a little bit but we were finally able to find our way to the square, where we stopped to buy a pair of sunglasses to replace the ones that were damaged by the punk kid. Kevin successfully haggled the price down to 110 dirhams (about $11) for 2 pairs of knockoff Ray Bans. We continued on to the palace and made it there without incident. The entrance was lined with orange trees filled with oranges. The palace had similar architecture to the Mesera as Najat had mentioned. Afterwards we looked for Cafe Clock, which Mohammed had mentioned was good and nearby the palace. Unfortunately nobody around was familiar with it, so we went to another nearby cafe. I had the creme de legumes (basically a bean puree soup) and Kevin had a chicken olive lemon tagine. It was quite flavorful, but we decided it was not made with as much love as the one from the first night. After lunch we went to the Saadian Tombs. It seemed to be undergoing some renovations but there were some impressive pieces of architecture, especially the intricate plaster work. We then returned to the riad, somehow successfully navigating the medina without incident for the first time. I went to the hammam (bath house) for a manicure, pedicure, scrub, and massage. The manicure was fine, but the pedicure was torture. Due to language barriers, the aesthetician popped my newly formed blister and began cutting away at the skin around it. After silently crying inside, I endured the pain of alcohol being rubbed on the wound and headed to the scrub. The scrub was odd to say the least. I was told to strip down and then was guided into a tiny room where I sat on a bench and the aesthetician began pouring cups of hot water over me. Then she put on scrubby gloves and gently began scrubbing me, very much like how one bathes a baby. More cups of water were then poured over me, and the aesthetician dried me with towels. The massage was more enjoyable. Warm jasmine oil was used, and I was left feeling more relaxed. Kevin stayed in the room and played freecell on his phone. When I returned, Youssef called for a car to take us to Al Fassia, a trendy restaurant in La Ville Nouvelle (the modern city outside the medina) where Mohammed had made a reservation for us. The restaurant was filled with stylish Europeans, mostly speaking French. The servers as well mostly spoke French with limited English, but we were able to communicate with a bit of Frenglish on both sides. Both of us ordered a prix fixe vegetarian menu--I opted for the vegetable tagine (though I meant to get the lentil stew) and Kevin got the pastilla, a pastry that was a bit like a large samosa. The starter was hoummus, eggplant, and taboulah. For dessert we had Moroccan crepes and pastries. I did not like the pastries much. We finished the meal with mint tea. While waiting for our driver, Badr, to pick us up, I went to a convenience store to get some bandaids for my ailing toe. The cashier didn't understand English, but I was able to make herself understood with some weird hand gestures. Back at the riad, we packed and got ready for our voyage the next day.

[theeruditefactory]

Morocco: Day 2

Today was interesting. First, we actually woke up too early, even though we thought we had overslept, because our clocks were off by an hour. Breakfast was delicious--Moroccan pancakes, croissants with jams, orange juice, coffee, and yogurt. From there, we then went on a walking tour. They should call them selling tours. While our tour guide, Najet, was nice, she took us around to lots of shops in the souk (marketplace) where we were pressured to buy things. It was very uncomfortable at times, especially at the rugs market... I am not a good haggler, and I ended up buying a very overpriced wood piece and some Argan oil. 

We did get to see some cool places though, including the Medersa ben Youssef, an old Islamic school that has stunning architecture. 

In the afternoon, we had free time, and so we decided to visit the Jardin Majorelle, a famous garden that used to be owned by Yves St Laurent. 

We got a little lost on our way to the taxi stand, and a young guy offered to show us the way. Typically, if someone helps you when you're lost, it is expected that you tip them, but we had been warned not to accept help from young guys because they can be aggressive. Well, turns out, we should have listened. We tipped the kid, even though it was clear he had led us there in a very roundabout way, but he wanted more. When we wouldn't give him more, he started yelling and pushing Kevin. He even yanked Kevin's sunglasses off, breaking them. It was very upsetting. He was still cursing at us as we got into our taxi. It definitely made me realize that we need to be more careful and probably let the riad staff accompany us and arrange travel for us when possible. I think we both feel we are independent and shouldn't have to do that, but it's better to be safe than sorry. For example, tonight, Youssef is going to walk with us to a restaurant nearby for dinner.

We had dinner at Foundouk, a beautiful restaurant just around the corner from our riad. In the center of the covered courtyard was a pool covered in rose petals and floating candles. The lighting was very romantic. 

I ordered the Couscous Royal, which included several types of kebab and sausage along with vegetables and couscous. Kevin ordered the Berber Tagine which came with lamb. 

The tagine was delicious but he preferred the chicken tagine from the night before. For dessert we shared a delicious chocolate lava cake with yogurt flavored ice cream. Yum! We walked back to the riad with Youssef and tried to watch Battlestar Galactica. Unfortunately we couldn't get the WiFi to cooperate, so we went to bed instead.

[theeruditefactory]

Morocco: Day 1

Raleigh to London to Madrid to Marrakech, oh my! While in London, we journeyed out of the airport to see the city a bit since Kevin had never been. 

The plan was to see St. Paul's Cathedral but unfortunately (a) Kevin and I had to pee, but the public bathrooms in the cathedral were closed so we spent a million minutes trying to find a functional toilet. Then, (b) it turned out now you have to pay a load of $ to visit St Paul's (I don't remember having to do this before), so we decided just to walk around the area a bit. Kevin was pretty grumpy at this point from being so exhausted. That was fine because by the time we got to Madrid, I was out of my mind tired and not particularly pleasant.

We finally arrived in Morocco after nearly 24 hours of travel, and it was fairly easy to find out driver who took us to our riad. Riads are traditional homes that center around a shared courtyard and kitchen. Many in Marrakech are now bed and breakfasts. The night manager, Youssef, was a doll and had dinner waiting for us. Carrots with cumin, garlic, and vinegar; a fresh salad; booked eggplant; and, bread were the starters! The main course was a delicious chicken tajine with olives and lemon. I don't know if it was just all the bad airport food we had or what, but it was delicious. We went to bed very full! Speaking of which, our room is amazing. It's giant, with a gorgeous canopy bed, 3 comfy sofas, unique lamps, and even a loft with another bed. 

[poldberg]

While there is a lot of appropriate rage about Ferguson right now, the killing of John Crawford, III is getting less attention than it deserves. I put Shaun King’s tweets and history lesson on the matter in chronological order for easier consumption.

Links:

Autopsy and video show John Crawford shot from behind in Wal-Mart

Witness in murder of John Crawford changes story

You really should be following Shaun King on Twitter.

[theeruditefactory]

i hate the world.

[thepastelqueenofhell]

You don’t have to be pretty like her. You can be pretty like you.

One of the most freeing things I have ever heard (via firecannotkillabadwolf)

[arthaemisia-deactivated20170611]

I love my skin!

[theeruditefactory]

Proud of Myself

Yesterday, even though I was still pretty sore, I walked a mile with a friend and then went to a belly dancing class.  I, admittedly, ate some junky stuff, but I let that be my dinner instead of stuffing my face even further.  

This morning I had a pretty big breakfast, so I think I'll stick with a small garden salad for lunch.  For dinner, I'm going to have some of Kevin's homemade chicken soup and a salad.  I'm going to try and convince him to take a walk with me, too.

[theeruditefactory]

I am so sore from BodyPump.  Like, I feel like maybe my legs will give out on me and I'll just collapse into a big pile of person kind of sore.  BUT it was a good workout!  Even though I couldn't finish a lot of the sets, I pushed myself pretty hard, and I felt like I was doing good by my body.  

Still, I have to admit that I'm feeling a little frustrated.  I have been eating better, I've been working out, but the scale hasn't budged yet.  I weighed myself this morning and the scale still said 189 (189.2 to be exact).  :(

But I like the idea of this photo.  I don't think it's quite scientifically accurate, but in general, it kind of helps to think about there being a month's delay.  Helps me not feel so discouraged when I don't see immediate results.