Sellou & 3D Glasses

     Grandma Grudda came to visit us and baby Aliyah for two weeks! We had such a great visit. Aliyah even cooperated by agreeing to learn how to smile while grandma was here. We have yet to capture a good smile on camera though.

    Predictably, our landlord was also eager for grandma's arrival to Morocco. They seem to love these opportunities to assure our family back in America that we are well taken care of here in Morocco. When Nicole's dad and stepmom came to visit last year, they bought new couches, curtains, and serving platters in an effort to impress (we think). They also ensured that we were invited to a large couscous dinner. This years family visit was no exception. In the weeks preceeding grandma's arrival, our landlord and his family were busy killing rats, trimming trees, and sweeping up the driveway. The obligatory couscous dinner was also quickly arranged.
     We wanted to recipricate the kind gestures of our landlord's family by offering back something we know they appreciate: quality time with their family in an effort to deepen our relationship with them and embrace Moroccan culture. Since Dave had to work every day, we inquired about a Moroccan cooking lesson. Naturally, we expected this to be something that Nicole and ma could do while Dave was at work during the day. We should have known that things here never go quite as expected...


Sellou
    Our landlord's family seemed excited by our interest in learning about Moroccan cuisine with them. When they asked what we wanted to learn how to make, we decided to pick something traditional that we enjoy eating but don't get very often: sellou. The sellou they made in celebration of Aliyah's arrival was so delicious and we were anxious to get their recipe. We thought this would be a simple and easy treat to make while Dave was working one day. Najete, our landlord's wife, hastened to finish a grocery list and asked that we accompany her to Hay Hassani to buy the ingredients. Considering Aliyah and our busy schedule, we could not agree to a shopping trip at the market; however, we all agreed that the Wednesday of Ma's second week would be the ideal day to make sellou.

We didn't make sellou on Wednesday.

    Little did we know, sellou is extremely complicated to make. The process of preparation began Wednesday, but the actual mixing of the sellou did not. We were not expected to participate in the lengthy preparation process....but we also did not realize how much time and work went into it:

• On Monday, David tried his best to negotiate exactly how much sellou we would make. We were hoping to make 4 cups, maximum. They insisted that we needed to make a minimum of 20 kilos (44 pounds). We were finally able to compromise with a total amount of about 7 kilos (15 pounds)
• In order to create the best taste, our landlord's family spent Tuesday night at the Hay Hassani souk (marketplace) purchasing all of the freshest ingredients. Remember when we wrote about how to buy a chicken in Hay Hassani? Well, apparently all of the freshest spices are sold in big bins directly across from those floating chicken feathers
• Najete spent well over 4 hours tediously picking through every single sesame seed in order to pick out anything that was not a sesame seed (i.e. other spice seeds that got mixed in accidentally at the market or chicken feathers)
• Several additional hours were spent carefully sorting through the fennel and anise seeds
• All of the sorted seeds were laid in the sun to dry out
• The sesame seeds were toasted in a pan over the stove
• All of the almonds were boiled, peeled, and then browned in oil
• The flour was browned in the oven, which took about 2 hours
• Najete had to slowly but gradually grind all of the almonds and toasted sesame seeds in her small nut grinder
• Two whole nutmegs were grated and then crushed into a coarse powder  

Najete - sorting through the sesame seeds one by one!

     Thursday evening, after ma and Nicole spent the entire day home waiting in vain for the preparation to be complete, we began to worry that our previously arranged "date night" was not going to happen. Grandma was set to take Aliyah for the night while we went to the IMAX to watch The Hobbit. We were not enthusiastic about changing those plans... but, as we anticipated, the knock came on our door moments before we were ready to leave the house for our date.
     We apologized for not understanding the process of making sellou and explained that we would not be able to help make it. Aliyah had to sleep and we had to leave. They insisted that it was a quick process and that it was necessary for us to come for just 10 minutes to see how everything was mixed together. Ma went down by herself since we had to eat quickly and take care of Aliyah. 30 minutes later (with the sellou still not finished), we were able to get ma back upstairs with Aliyah and we left for our date, late.

3D Glasses
     The date plan was to get gelato before The Hobbit....but we no longer had time. Dave dropped Nicole off to buy our movie tickets so that he could find a parking spot. The line at the ticket counter was long, and it took at least 10 minutes before Nicole finally reached the front of the line to buy tickets. Two tickets were purchased and she was handed the ticket stubs and receipts just as Dave arrived. We were ready to put our frustrating day behind us and enjoy the movie, so we headed directly for the theater entrance.
    We handed our movie tickets to the guards at the door and reached for our 3D glasses. Unexpectedly, we were told we did not have the purchasing ticket for the 3D glasses so we could not get them. We were furious. Shouldn't the glasses be a part of the ticket price? Why didn't they tell Nicole about the purchasing of 3D glasses when she bought the tickets for the 3D movie? Indeed, we argued these questions angrily toward the theater guard...but we got no sympathy. Instead, he told us we had to go back to the ticket counter, behind another long line, to purchase our 3D glasses. Dave threw a pair of glasses across the floor in protest and we marched up the stairs.
     It took another 5 minutes before we got close to the front of the line again. The ticket vendors did not have adequate change to provide customers with....so we were at a stand still and getting more and more frustrated. Instead of waiting for the change to arrive, we started screaming and arguing with the ticket vendors. We were not happy. We caused so much of a scene that one of the employees finally printed out two purchasing receipts for the 3D glasses and gave them to us, free of charge, so that we could enter the theater in time for the movie to start.

     Remember those receipts Nicole got with the ticket stubs? Well.... turns out those weren't receipts after all. We had unknowingly paid for the 3D glasses all along and had the receipts to prove it. Oops

     Luckily, the movie was excellent. It was also long enough to allow us to get over our frustrating day. Grandma and Aliyah were just fine. When we got home, we were presented with the finished sellou...which we didn't really help make. We now have enough sellou to last us for at least 2 years.

-David & Nicole