Road trip in Morocco means roadside cafe tajines. The best ones are prepared in the morning and slow cooked on charcoal for a good 3 or 4 hours.
Onions, meat, veggies and olives. My favorite part is the caramelized/burned onions that you scrape off the bottom of the tajine. When I was pregnant with my firstborn I craved nothing more than one of these beauties…alas roadside tajines are not common in California.
Agadir is one of Morocco’s newest cities. An earthquake in 1960 completely destroyed the city. Since then it’s been rebuilt, and it’s retained a newish, cleanish aura. We went there at the end of December and found the resort town eerily empty, not the usual bustle of sun-seeking tourists. Welcome to the worldwide recession folks.
I love a good stone/adobe wall. Solid, real, beautiful. Whenever I see one I get a good look, because this building technique is fast disappearing, giving way to the fast, cheap and durable cinder block.
Along a dusty alley in Southern village I discovered this giant bag full of Argan shells. Once you go south of Marrakesh you see a LOT of Argan trees and the oil is sold everywhere. You’ve heard this all before, but let’s give a recap on why Argan oil is such a high-profile oil. For one, the trees only grow in Morocco and in some areas of Mexico. And it’s supposed to be great for you, whether on your skin or on your plate. I use Argan oil on my skin on a regular basis and the thing I like most about it is it’s a dry, non-greasy type of oil, unlike olive oil for instance. It’s good, not miraculous, but good.
Life in Marrakesh 
We must both be craving a Moroccan roadtrip! Check out my post from Friday!
http://a-brilliant-life.blogspot.com/2012/01/moroccan-road-trips.html
Masha’Allah…
I found your blog looking for information about morocco because we are thinking about moving there 🙂
Love your blog btw!!
lovely pics as usual 🙂
my fav. is the 1 b4 the last.
Mmmmm… I try to cook tajine ones in a while and only very slowly getting better at it. I always remember you when slicing the onions for the bottom layer, prrrrfect, miam… I need to remember the roadside cafes in case I come to visit Morocco again Inshallah. And yes the photos are beautiful, my favorite is… hmmmm… the tajine? I think there is tajine on a menu soon in our house.
Btw, I learned from your post today, had no clue about the Argan oil and just breathed in all the rest. Thanks, sister…
Love and salmas
Wish I was there with you to share a tagine!
We were in Agadir once but did not love it as much as some other seaside places.
We are expecting our second grandchild any day now.
love to all your family.
I sent you an email yesterday, Did you receive it?
🙂
Love your pictures ! I however have a comment on your “adobe/ stone” wall. To me it is just a stone wall, and I can not see any trace of adobe in it. The stones are of course cemented together with a mixture of mud and straw but that is not enough to qualify for the adobe technique.
Adobe are sun dried mud and straw bricks not just a cementing mixture. Probable etymology of the word the Arabic طوب or طوبية.
A good Tagine, I am dreaming now……I too love the caramelized onions! Lovely photos that make me want to travel again to Morocco soon.
I have never heard of Argan oil. I doubt that we could find it in Canada. :-{