Every year, Beth Jacob Synagogue holds a lottery as one of their major fundraising events, to raise funds for the education program at the synagogue. They offer a large cash prize and they also offer various items for auction. I contributed a “Moroccan Cooking Class” as one of these auction items. Sandra Morris and Jeanette Nathan beat out Patrizie Maine for the bid on this item. Displaying grace and generosity, Sandra and Jeanette invited Patrizie to join them in the class.

So we held the class at Jeanette’s home on Monday, November 18, 2013. We had a lovely time as I prepared a scrumptious (if I may say so myself) Moroccan meal teeming with spice and flavour. I made a cooked carrot salad, a traditional tomato and cumin salad, and, for the main course, chicken and olives with couscous and vegetables (zucchini, potato, turnip, and chick peas). Mmm!

In addition to the hands-on experience, I gave the ladies copies of the recipes so that they can replicate the meal on their own.

I had a wonderful time with Sandra, Jeanette, and Patrizie. In addition to being so helpful, they were also very open to these new flavours and style of cooking – and eager to learn how to incorporate traditional Moroccan cooking into their own cooking. It was a pleasure sharing a part of my tradition with such warm and receptive individuals.