Hello my friends!
After an historic tour of Marrakech, and a trip to Essaouira on the coast the day before, we were excited to spend time in the old city to learn about Moroccan food and spices. In the morning of Day 4, after yoga and breakfast, we went to the beautiful Riad Zamzam for a Moroccan Cooking Class.
Many Europeans buy these Riads (300 year old traditional courtyard homes) renovate and convert them into boutique hotels with typically 5-7 rooms. Emma, the British owner, did a beautiful job of decorating each room and her lighting was especially stunning. We were welcomed with delicious mint tea and pastries!
Our menu included Moroccan salads of spiced carrots, potato and onion as well a traditional eggplant salad called Zaalouk. For the main dishes, we learned how to prepare Chicken Tagine with Oranges, a Veggie Tagine and then we had fun making cheese pastries called Briouattes, which they later fried. Rolling them proved to be harder than it looked! Emma had all the recipes printed out for each of us to take home. Everyone can’t wait to cook a Moroccan feast for their families!
Here is a short video of Emma discussing fresh produce. Click here: Moroccan Cooking Class at Riad Zamzam
We cooked the Tagines in the traditional way, not on the stove. Having eaten many tagines, I noticed a real difference in how it tasted! Very delicious.
After we finished preparing all the food, the staff cooked it and served us on their rooftop terrace. We feasted like kings and queens! It was some of the best Moroccan food we ate all week. See the eggplant and spiced carrot salads above!
Regina, one of our participants in Moroccan garb below, shared in a video about the food and in general about our retreat in Marrakech!
Click here to see her video!
In the late afternoon, we all went back to our Riad to rest for a while. Relaxing, sipping mint tea, or reading in one of the wonderful nooks made us all so happy. At 6:30pm, I gave a feng shui class teaching everyone about the Feng Shui Map (Bagua) and how to boost Health, Wealth and Love in your home and life. The Bagua and the 9 energy centers are laid out with pictures and illustrations in my book Feng Shui Your Life. I also shared many ways to create a sensual and healthy bedroom!
That night some of us went out to the famous square Jemma El Fna for dinner while others decided to hang out at our Riad. Jemma El Fna is a World Heritage Site and there’s nothing like it in the world. It’s a huge square in the middle of Marrakech with hundreds of stalls serving all types of Moroccan food, fresh orange juice, dried fruit and nuts, spiced tea where you’ll also see musicians, dancers, snake charmers, fortune tellers and thousands of people!
My husband and I love Stall #14 with it’s fried fish, eggplant, peppers, fresh fries and bread so we took everyone there. Some people also indulged in Moroccan spiced sausages at another stall.
It was another incredible day chocked full of new adventures! In my next post, you’ll read about our journey to Ourika Valley in the Atlas Mountains for a hike up to beautiful waterfalls.
Sending positive energy your way,
P.S. To read about our adventures and see pictures on each day of our Magical Marrakech Retreat, click below!
Day 1 & 2 – Yoga, Cultural Tour of Old Marrakech and Palaces
Day 3 – Day trip to the coastal town of Essaouira
Day 4 – Moroccan Cooking Class
Day 5 – Shopping and Spa’ing in the Souk
Day 6 – Hiking, Tagine & Feng Shui in a Berber village in the Atlas Mountains
Day 7 & 8 – Manifestation, Gratitude & Wrap-up!
How gorgeous and interesting. The colors and shapes are so different from what we see here. The square at night looks and seems like a blast.
Thanks for sharing!
love,
Cheryl
Cheryl – Happy to share all the different sights, colors, textures in Morocco! If only you could smell the amazing scents such as rose water they wash your hands with, or the aromas coming from the food stalls! Maybe you can come next time and take some real pics! xo
While I have arranged cooking classes for other groups (as part of my job) — I had never actually participated in one myself. It was a BLAST! Of course it helped that the veggies had been chopped and much of the food had been prepped . . . but that is how we were able to learn to prepare so many fabulous Moroccan dishes in just a few hours. I am not sure whether it was more fun making the food or eating it. 🙂 Let’s just say we were all VERY proud of ourselves — and rightfully so!
Riad Zamzam is gorgeous! Emma was a wonderful hostess and teacher, as were the members of her staff who guided us every step of the way. They gave us each a medium-sized tagine of our own to take back with us! The day after I arrived home I ordered two larger tagines from Sur La Table. On our last day in Marrakech, Arlynn and I picked up a small tagine cookbook in English from a newsstand in the Jemma El Fna (cost approx. $2 USD) along with some of those special Moroccan spices. I have tried one basic recipe so far. It was good, but it seems to me that everything tasted so much better in Marrakech.
Hi Regina,
Glad you loved the cooking class so much! I’m sure as you experiment with the dishes, they will get better and better. But, most likely, the food will always taste more delicious in Marrakech. So happy you came on our retreat! You’ll have to share what you learned with everyone in Chicago. 🙂