A tiring week

Hello Everyone,

With Jerry in Edmonton all week, I've been doing all the prep work and shopping for the party (with 15-20 guests). I'm rather tired but satisfied with my progress. I have one dish to make tonight, cleaning tomorrow morning and the rest of the food to be made in the afternoon. Here's the menu:

Snacks
pistachios
bissara (fava bean dip) with pita and fresh veggies
sour almonds
dates

Salad (served at room temperature. I think they use this word to mean sidedishes)
hezzu m'chermel (caramelized carrots with sweet paprika)
matisha mhassela (spiced tomato and honey coulis) - it's a palate cleanser
zahlouk (eggplant and tomato salad)
mselalla (orange and olive salad)

Main Dish
b'stila b'djej (chicken pastry)
tagine bil berkok (lamb with prunes tagine)
Moroccan couscous with chickpeas and peppers
harissa (North African hot sauce)

Drinks
pomegranate and orange punch
byob

Dessert
birthday cake (chocolate with a whole bunch of candles)
butter tarts
rocky road candy

Since you don't use silverware with Moroccan food, there will be lots of pita bread. The Persian store nearby was great for picking up some things and I got a great deal on lamb at the Halal butcher on the other block. I was able to find all my ingredients within the stores nearby.

I made the harissa Wednesday night and the b'stila b'djej last night and this morning. It's in the freezer until the party. You just need to add an extra 10 minutes to the baking time. My first time playing with phyllo. The cake and rocky road were made last night. The cake's in the freezer and I'll ice it early Saturday afternoon.

The rest can be done throughout the day on Saturday. Dinner isn't until 6 or 7 so I've got lots of time. Jerry's home tonight so I may ask for prep help since he's better at evenly chopping things. And he'll know what else we can make early and then just reheat. For a proper "feast", you do several courses so I can separate things out a bit. Generally it's snacks, salad, b'djej (it's like a free-form meat pie), tagine (similar to a stew, often made in a tagine, which is a wide pot with a cone-shaped lid), an extra main meal course like roasted lamb but I don't think we have enough people to warrant the extra course, couscous and then dessert. I made enough of the chicken pastry so the non-lamb eaters (silly people) won't starve and the couscous and salads are all vegetarian. Everything will be labelled and translated. I'll put the matisha mhassela on Chinese spoons (flat bottom) with an almond on top on a tray. It's the only dish one eats with a spoon and this way it's already in serving mode.

The food is very interesting. Lots of unusual spice combinations but all ingredients we had in our cupboard.

So I'm rather tired and the furry family is out of sorts. My routine is out of wack with Jerry gone and the party prep didn't help. I think he has one more week up there and then back to Calgary. I will be very happy next week when I can put the house back together and get back to my schoolwork. I need some quality cuddle time with Whiskers, which I do while reading my textbook. Mike is eating some wet food finally. I give it to him at night when he's "super hungry - Mom, why aren't you giving me treats". He gets dried in the morning. I have to watch him though because he's like a dog - will gobble his food so fast that he makes himself sick.

We have 2 tomato sprouts so far. I'm hoping the rest will show up in the next few days.

I'll let you know how everything goes. Have a great day!