February KTC Event: Moroccan Madness!

With Meg, William, and Fernando missing, February’s KTC event at Rick and Anne’s house could have felt oddly unpopulated. However, we were fortunate to have some very special surprise guests: Mom and Dad Allen!!

I arrived at Anne and Rick’s place, went in and went around to say my hellos. I introduced myself to Joyce’s mom, and then I spied Joyce’s dad sitting on the sofa, reading a book. I walked over to introduce myself, and knew we were all in for a treat when this exchange occurred:

Me, effusive: “Hi there! I wanted to come over and introduce myself, my name is Shawn, I’m so glad you guys were able to join us! What a nice surprise!”
Dad, after a slight pause: “You talk a lot, don’t you?”

Brilliant stuff!!

Joyce’s parents weren’t the only special guests, however. Elli and her gal pal Olivia (I think?) joined us, and Flat Stanley was also in the house, helping cook and serve. And no one said a thing about his dog being in the kitchen!


Moroccan food was our carte du jour, fun! I had read somewhere that nearly every Moroccan meal is accompanied by pickled lemons. On my way to Anne and Rick’s, I popped into the Mediterranean/Middle Eastern market near my house and picked up a jar. Anne and I opened it to check out the goods, and first noticed the color of the lemons: a somewhat unappetizing mustardy camel color. Immediately afterwards, our nostrils were assaulted by an extremely pungent herbal aroma, reminiscent of pine. We sliced off a tiny bit to try, and, ladies and gentleman, it was as if we were chewing on solid bits of Pine-Sol! It was horrible!


Since she’s amazing like that, Anne cracked open a jar of her own homemade pickled lemons. They were actually lemon colored, and smelled zingy and lemony. Plus, they were delicious! Maybe next year I’ll pickle some lemons.

Needless to say, the Pine-Sol bits were, shall we say, a dud. What a disaster!

Amidst the pickled lemon activity, lots of other groovy cooking and preparation was going on. Onions were diced…


Olives and cilantro were chopped...


Which didn't make Rick too happy...


Moroccan bread, called khobz, was baked...


Vegetable tagine and chicken and olive tagine simmered…


Couscous was prepared...


The table was set…


And everything was plated up and served!




We had a thoroughly enjoyable dinner and conversation, and most of us even manned up to eat with our (right!) hands. Elli’s friend Olivia was put on the spot to guess the age of everyone at the table—a potentially uncomfortable situation which was defused by her sense of humor and sensibility to low-ball her guesses.

Dessert was ice cream, one was coconut with saffron, which I loved and which Anne made. The other one was good, too, but I don’t remember now what it was or if Anne made it! Anne? Do you remember?

Post dinner, Joyce, Jessica, and parents retired for the evening. After a light straightening up, those of us remaining sat around in the living room and chatted, which was really nice and relaxing. Even the cat enjoyed it!


All in all, a superb evening was had by all. We were sorry to have missed Meg, William, and Fernando, and will look forward to seeing you all this weekend at Meg’s! Golly the time flies……

More soon, Kissers!