Rock the casbah

Last night we had our goods and services auction party, rock the casbah. Our Moroccan feast went well. Good company, food and entertainment. A lot of work but it didn't go unappreciated. We get to do a mini-version for two couples who couldn't attend, and that will be nice too.

Shara provided the after dinner entertainment with her belly dancing. We got her costume, adult-size, and she did a remarkable job pinning it up so it looked perfect. Nice that this will last several years.

Menu:

Fresh Tomato & Caper Salad
Grated Cucumber (Feggous) Salad w/ Orange Flower Water
Roasted Beet Salad w/ Cinnamon
Sweet & Spicy Moroccan Eggplant
Sweet Potato Salad (Arabesque Cookbook)
Cooked "Wild Greens" Salad
Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad
Marrakech Tagine Bread
Potato Tagine w/ Olives & Harissa
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Tagine of Baby Calamari & Shrimp w/ Red Pepper & Tomato
Chicken & Fennel Tagine
Couscous
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Mint Tea
Passover Baklava Cake

Tastes of Summer

Last week we went to a church friend's to get some pointers from an experienced jam maker. It was a great time and we all got a chance to chop, clean, fill, etc. We came home with a bunch of strawberry and strawberry rhubarb.

Later in the week I bought some rhubarb and blueberries at the produce stand. I picked a few scrawny stalks from the garden and added it to the rest, with a bit of ginger and then put in a jar of the strawberry jam instead of sugar. I boiled it until the rhubarb broke down then let it cool overnight. The next day we mixed it with some plain, fat-free Greek-style yogurt and some vanilla, then froze it in the ice cream maker. I thought it was very good but Shara thought it had a little too much ginger in it. She may be right, but it won't stop me from eating probably the whole container. Without any fat, it does need to soften in the microwave to be scoopable, but that's no real issue.

Look at the color!