rock the casbah

Last night we had our goods and services auction party, rock the casbah. Our Moroccan feast went well. Good company, food and entertainment. A lot of work but it didn't go unappreciated. We get to do a mini-version for two couples who couldn't attend, and that will be nice too.
Shara provided the after dinner entertainment with her belly dancing. We got her costume, adult-size, and she did a remarkable job pinning it up so it looked perfect. Nice that this will last several years.

Menu:
Fresh Tomato & Caper Salad
Grated Cucumber (Feggous) Salad w/ Orange Flower Water
Roasted Beet Salad w/ Cinnamon
Sweet & Spicy Moroccan Eggplant
Sweet Potato Salad (Arabesque Cookbook)
Cooked "Wild Greens" Salad
Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad
Marrakech Tagine Bread
Potato Tagine w/ Olives & Harissa
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Tagine of Baby Calamari & Shrimp w/ Red Pepper & Tomato
Chicken & Fennel Tagine
Couscous
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Mint Tea
Passover Baklava Cake

Chef Shara

This should have been posted about two weeks ago. Didn't realize it was still a draft.

This morning I asked Shara if she's be able to cook the rice by herself tonight because Alan had to meet with a fence guy and I had to go to a meeting. She said sure and suggested I write the directions on the white board. She did a good job! Alan had to put some things in the oven. He did a good job too.

Awesome Cake

Shara's cake was amazing. She needed a little help with frosting it - the cake was a bit crumbly where it was cut for the shape, but other than that, she did it on her own!

Birthday Cake

Tomorrow we're going to Alan's parents for supper & cake for Alan's birthday on Monday. Shara made the cake and frosting. Tomorrow she's cutting it and frosting it. She found the recipe in a cookbook she got at school - it's a cat cake. It's supposed to look something like this:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hitveF8gI9U/TCabkgbOHzI/AAAAAAAAAPA/hiQXmzH5GQs/s1600/P1030811.JPG

She got home from school today, called me at work and asked if she could make the frosting. She never used beaters before so she found a video on line showing how to use them. I had gotten the butter out for her this morning so she was ok with that and she just made it. I got home and she was cleaning up. She needed help getting the frosting all out of the bowl into the container, but she did it all really.

I'll take pictures to share.

Here's where she made the cake the other day: