The kitchen has been sluiced out and I have been planning meals and working out what essentials we need to take, that we cannot get in the supermarkets in Morocco....
I was going to take a piccy of Earl Grey Teabags but I've packed them and thrown away the box!
The mechanic has already included a photograph of the galley. The two metal containers on the left of the picture which previously held in flight plastic meals for Jersey Airlines, have proved to be incredibly useful.
Over the years they have gone through several different incarnations as we have trooped-trialled them to achieve the best format. Last year's push to the desert proved that just one shelf in the left hand box separating two 'Really Useful Boxes' worked the best. These contain all the basic cooking requirements - salt, pepper, spices, oxo cubes, tomato paste, chopping board, bottle opener and corkscrew and so on. Priorities.... I was a girl guide you know.
Last year I found cooking in Morocco far more challenging than cooking in say France or Italy, or for that matter when the 'kids' come home (27 and 22) and want to relive their youth by having Mum cook sausages in buns in the van in the car park at the sea side.... generally accompanied by battering winds and curious children passing by who stare blankly in amazement at this yellow beast, from which Tony Blackburn is blasting at great levels from the 'wireless' (update on 25 Feb...no longer, apparently. This Hardy Annual of the Radio has been sacked.) and which is full of 4 adults scrunched together inside trying to keep warm.
I might add here that we get no build up of condensation from all this cooking and all these bodies because my darling husband has provided an extractor fan.
Hmmm. Back to the Moroccan supermarkets which are usually only to be found close to large cities in the north. Once south of the Atlas mountains they are few and far between. Bread, fruit, vegetables and meat are readily available in all souks but great care is needed to ensure that the meat you ask for is in fact meat and not all mostly bone and gristle slipped in when you've been distracted. The first meat I bought last year using my schoolgirl French was 'fillet'. OK I thought, thinking of Mr Tesco's Extra Special cuts, that'll be fine. What I got was a different matter. I am convinced that it was in fact the shopkeeper's old flipflops which he was taking the opportunity to recycle.
Chicken is a far better and easier option. Well, with one proviso. It comes with two legs (good) but it is still running around on them (not so good). At least, we don't have to 'do the deed' and it is FRESH. They even take the feathers off! My mother always said though, never to put warm food into the fridge......sorry!
So, and this is my justification for what I have already got packed....it is NECESSARY to take as many things as possible that (1) do not take up too much space and (2) are in plastic containers [I have been listening] so that you can 'do' something cordon bleu with the poor quality meat and vege available. I must remember to take that beef jerky sauce in the jar out....
I've mentioned OXO cubes. I took about 3 last time and regretted it...you can get something similar 'out there' but it don't pack a punch. This time, I have take lightweight ingredients such as Spice Doctor curry mixes. I found these in Tesco and they consist of 3 sachets. One with dried spices for frying, then a base sauce of additional oomphy stuff and then the main sauce. In the middle of all this you add 250g of something else....meat, mushrooms, eggs, fish....I also take rice and pasta already bagged into portions for two.
I mentioned the fruit and vegetables. Oranges are sold everywhere at the road side and are wonderful. I wouldn't say that we bought any other fruit though. When you buy vege, you take one of the rather decrepit washing up bowls that are laying on top of the huge piles of tomatoes etc. into which you put everything you want. It is all weighed together and paid for in one go -minus the bowl. The quality is varied and you have to pick carefully through unripe, over -ripe and furry items all in the same pile. My suggestion would be to pick from the top of the pile to avoid those at the bottom that have been investigated by cats or peed on by the huge number of feral dogs that abound.
Bread is available in all of the tiny shops which actually look like cigarette kiosks...it is in no way your Mother's Pride sliced in a resealable packet - but round, about the size of a bread plate (?!), tasty but does not keep well. Occasionally, when we were out in the 'boonies' it became difficult to get. So I have also packaged up 'kits' so that I can make chapattis and drop scones. We did the latter last year using dried milk powder and dried egg. Just add 5 fluid ounces of water. Excellent but, time consuming if we wanted to get away quickly in the morning. We are intending to have some stop overs this time...
What's in the right hand flight box? Well that is also separated by a shelf which sits about 4 inches from the top and takes the heavy duty wet wipes for the mechanic, the doggy poo bags which are a great item to have around ( no not for that... for rubbish bags. You need small ones as big ones when full niff very quickly). Pegs, loo roll... Underneath, is the large container which holds the day to day water, and the washing up stuff.
Washing up is done at the sink, specially constructed to fold up neatly against the inside of the back door.
We have two means of cooking. The gas stove inside and the portable Cadac which also uses gas. Replacing cylinders in Morocco can be interesting. Most look as if they are 40 years old, covered in rust and come with different gauges at the business end.....so take the widget from the empty one with you to ensure you get a perfect fit.
The Cadac is brilliant and enables us to roast a complete chicken, bar b q, griddle and so on. We use it most of the time when we are in Europe and I tend to wrap everything in foil to cook to save on the washing up. We took it last year 'down south' and will do this time, but we did use it less there. There is usually a wind which in conjunction with the inevitable sand makes for cooking outside sometimes challenging. But it rings the changes and we have also got wind breaks.
What other 'white goods'? The fridge...runs off the lecky. Having tried ordinary freezer boxes and cheap electric ones, it paid to throw money at it, and it keeps the beer and the white wine cold, snuggled in with warm chook, milk and chocolate.
There is the wood burning stove which is lovely to sit next to in the evenings..
The pipe is also good for drying your socks on.....last year a pair of my daughter's purple socks which I was 'borrowing' ended up melting on the pipe - it still has the marks - when a certain someone forgot to check them while I was showering.
Finally, there is the washing machine. Daphne is actually the prototype for the BBC's Tardis. The only difference being that they did not think yellow would be a good colour. There is a large tube with ends on it. Half fill with water and a smidge of washing up liquid, add dirty smalls, seal and attach firmly to the vehicle before a day's off road driving. Ready and clean for rinsing and drying at the end of the day having been well agitated for several hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment