tagine!

amidst the spring time feasting that goes with easter (see the delicious tagine above!), i stumbled across the website and you tube videos of great depression cooking with clara.  clara is a 93 year old woman whose grandson decided to film her cooking recipes and offering tips she learned during the great depression. i was instantly drawn in by clara’s frank and no frills approach to both food and life, and watched almost all the videos in a row. while watching clara, i started to think about our current recession, and how the impact will last much longer than the recession itself – i think many of us have already changed our behaviors, thoughts, and ways we approach food as a direct result of the national financial crisis.  the videos also made me appreciate the abundance of beautiful foods in my life.

i hope you enjoy clara’s cooking videos as much as i did, and while you’re watching them, i’ll be cooking up some new recipes to post!

this weekend, we headed up to san francisco to celebrate laura’s birthday. we began by dining at millennium, an upscale vegan restaurant. i always get a little overwhelmed when we eat somewhere that offers vegetarian or vegan fare, because i can pick anything off the menu! after munching on delightful hummus and bread, we decided to start with roasted beets and hazelnuts. unfortunately, none made it into our iphone snapshot – they were too amazingly tantalizing!

roasted beets and hazelnuts

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starting the tagine

what the heck is a tagine, i bet you’re thinking to yourself. yeah, i was right there questioning with you until i utilized the powers of google a couple of days ago. technically, tagine refers both to north african (think moroccan) stews as well as to the vessel they are cooked in for hours upon hours. while i love moroccan food, there aren’t any restaurants in santa cruz, so i have to head over the hill to san jose or san francisco to consume the amazing four (plus) course meals that are standard at moroccan restaurants. and usually, i’m so involved in the experience of eating the amazing moroccan delicacies served at these two restaurants (and there is only one veggie meal, not a whole menu of options) that i have never before noticed the name of the dishes i love – tagines!

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