My View From Fez, Part Two

Wow.  Never did I expect to receive so many comments from people all over the world.  I cannot begin to tell you how incredibly happy all of your comments about Fez made me.  I read each of them out loud to my friend Nina and then we high-fived.  Your comments have been thoughtful and moving and inspiring and believe me when I say that I know how lucky I am to be here in this glorious city.  I am so grateful to all of you and I am thrilled to take you on this grand adventure with me. So here we go again.  I feel as if I’ve gotten into the rhythm of life in the medina and I don’t get so overwhelmed by things like a maze of alleyways or donkey shit.  I have been fortunate to travel the world and as I’m sure you know (or can imagine), it’s way better to get the low down through a local.  That’s when the magic happens, and a lot of magic has happened since I’ve been here. Nina took me to her friend Adil’s shop in Fez Jdid (near the old Jewish quarter) to look for textiles and we spent the entire morning there shopping and ogling over rugs, poufs, jewelry, slippers, etc.  Afterwards we went to eat street food which consisted of fava bean soup with salt, olive oil, cumin, and cayenne pepper.  It was the heartiest soup I’ve ever had, and definitely one of the best that’s ever made it’s way into my mouth. I’ve also been introduced to Yunis, another one of Nina’s friends who is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life.  I unearthed some very old textiles at his shop and later on went to his friends house to watch them play drums.  Total experience. Noura, who is Nina’s housekeeper has been cooking up a storm everyday – fish, beets, rice, pasta, potatoes, fava bean soup, artichoke hearts, lentils, the list goes on.  It’s been a dream. And I just got back from the hammam where I was scrubbed from head to toe with rhassoul, a super creamy soap made from various oils. Amazing.  Thanks for reading and I’ll be back soon!

Here I am at Adil’s shop in the magic carpet room

It was super hard to narrow down my choices.  I went with the intention of purchasing one for my new office (!) and ended up with two.  This one didn’t make the final cut, but gosh is it a beauty.

HEAVEN.

The art of carpet showing

I fell in love with the colors of this one

Totally gasped when I saw this one.  But believe it or not I have something similar that I purchased in Istanbul, so sadly I had to pass.

A bed of beauty

This is one that I left with.  It’s actually a Moroccan wedding blanket but I’ll either use it as a rug or a tapestry.

Gorgeous leather fringe bag

Wheelin’ and dealin’ with Adil

Ceramics

LOOK AT THIS SHAWL.

Leather poufs

Those pastel powders are used as makeup.  You can use on your lips and eyes.  So pretty, no?

The view from Adil’s terrace

Right outside the shop

I want all of this in my home.

This is the joint where we ate fava bean soup.  It’s a common dish here but this guy is known for his.  There’s a tiny communal table that seats about 6 people and he serves you soup from those gigantic pots.

The salt, the cayenne, the cumin, and the soup with olive oil.

This is Yunis at his shop

He lives and works in this cozy space filled with caftans, antiques, and textiles.

All mine

Yunis took us to his friend’s place to look at blankets.  Really loved the natural, red, grey and green one but they didn’t have the size I wanted.

This is the kind of food that Noura cooks everyday.  I mean, seriously.  How awesome is this?!

Slippers!

I could live off of all this yummy bread, especially those on the bottom made with onions, cayenne pepper and cilantro.

100% pure rose water in glass bottles

We bought rose water and a bag of dried rose petals for the house.

This is me and Nina’s cat, Mish Mish Obama

See you soon!