For the last 5 days I have had two moroccan friends staying with me in Marrakech. I have been working and coming home each day and battling my way through conversations in my limited arabic. They assure me that my arabic is 'izween'- beautiful, but I tend to disagree.
When I visit one of my friends I am always treated as a guest in their house, even though the whole family knows that after 2 years I am pretty much part of the furniture. Moroccan's hospitality never ceases to amaze me. It is unrelenting, so much so that to a certain extent I feel embaressed about the lack of assistance I give to my surrogate family. I put the shoe on the other foot and I think that in my own household I would probably throw a teatowel at my friend and say' Thanks for coming to dinner. I'll wash - you dry'
I had a brainwave. As I am on my homegorund I would finally be the one to reciprocate a speck of the last two years of hospitality that has been so generousy bestowed upon me.
First was the vegeterian lasagne. Now vegeterianism is not huge in Morocco. In fact I don't have one moroccan friend that doesn't eat meat. Most people think I'm crazy. I was nervous, here I was in the kitchen with an insanley good cook. The pressure was on. I chopped, I sliced, I stirred and I seasoned, and the overall verdict was pleasing. It must have been as it was enjoyed by my two friends for lunch the next day. Let's be honest lasagne is always best the next day.
This morning before the girls set out on yet another day exploring I cooked them a good old English breakfast. Complete with scrambled eggs, baked beans, toast and butter. I couldn't talk them into a white tea so it was served with mint.
This week has reminded me that two worlds can come together without much hoo-hah, little by little, and food is a great way to start.
