Today I should be posting about yesterday's fabulous and inspiring first ever Boston Book Festival. And I will, but it needs to sink into my brain further and distill a bit longer.
Meanwhile, all I can think about is croissants with za'atar. Flash back to a trip to Saudi Arabia with photographer Nicole LeCorgne in 2006, while we were on assignment for Saudi Aramco World Magazine. We usually had breakfast in our hotel room so we could eat while getting ready and checking e-mail. We fell in love with the exquisite combination of croissants filled with za'atar that had been moistened with olive oil. It came as part of the 'oriental breakfast' - consisting of these croissants, sometimes mana'ish (za'atar on flat bread), as well as a salad of cucumber, tomatoes and olive oil. Of course very fresh orange juice and marvelous coffee.
Za'atar is a combination of wild thyme, sesame seeds, salt and sour ground sumac. You can buy it in Middle Eastern delis. It has a lemony and spicy taste that makes your tongue squirm with delight. And with the delicate pastry layers of a buttery croissant, it's pure heaven, especially if you wash it down with a sip of Arabic coffee.
To replicate the experience, buy the inexpensive Pillsbury croissants in the tube in the grocery store. Mix up some za'atar and olive oil in a bowl, probably three tablespoons each. Then put a generous dab of the mixure on the wide end of each croissant before rolling it up. Ten minutes later, voila, your taste buds are doing a riotous dabke dance. You can also add za'atar and olive oil to popovers.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
The Man Who Would Be King - Morocco as Movie Set
Last night we watched the film version of Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King, directed by John Huston, starring Sean Connery and Michael Kane. OK, so we're thirty years late, but better late than never!
I love Kipling's larger-than-life characters and his out-of-this-world plots. Last December, I read Kim for the first time, in honor of the late father of a close friend who used to read it every Christmas. I fell in love with the book - then watched the 1950's black and white film version, starring Errol Flynn. While Kipling might be considered racist by today's standards, in these stories he writes about the unique society of the British Raj and how it interacted with the South Asian society around it. In The Man Who Would Be King there is another story layer about British freemasons living in India, and the plot even proports that Alexander the Great was a freemason. Kipling loves to explore the idea of brotherhoods and the bonds and friendships among men. In Kim, he explores a colorful multi-ethnic network of spies set up by the British - another layer there too. I read in this an implication that all men are brothers - since his characters mix it up with all kinds of people. So what's not to like?
In addition to enjoying the story itself, I got a huge kick out of the scenery and extras because most of the film was shot in Morocco; near Marrakesh in the Atlas Mountains, then further south toward Ouarzazate. The dancers in the Kafiristan scenes were Guedra and other dancers from the village of Goulamine. The extras in the these scenes spoke Arabic perhaps mixed in with Tamazirt (Berber) - couldn't understand all of it. The Bhuddist-like monks were actually singing Muslim chants in Arabic - and they used local Moroccan costumes liberally.
Then, I got a good laugh when the bride of Sean Connery, Roxanne, was brought to him wearing a bright red Khaliji thobe! The film was made in the 1970's during a big 'Oil Boom' so no doubt the wardrobe people had come across one of them, and it ended up on the bride. Today's filmmakers would likely have made this movie in India itself, so they would have no need to find a stand-in country with stand-in languages and costumes. But I still enjoyed it. Best of all, it was wonderful to see places like Ait ben Hadou in the wedding scene - a place we've visited on every Oasis Dance Camp Morocco tour. When we were there last fall, we went horseback riding outside of Marrakesh. It turned out many of our horses have been used in films that we've seen, like Gladiator. Just another indication that the whole country of Morocco is a movie set!
I love Kipling's larger-than-life characters and his out-of-this-world plots. Last December, I read Kim for the first time, in honor of the late father of a close friend who used to read it every Christmas. I fell in love with the book - then watched the 1950's black and white film version, starring Errol Flynn. While Kipling might be considered racist by today's standards, in these stories he writes about the unique society of the British Raj and how it interacted with the South Asian society around it. In The Man Who Would Be King there is another story layer about British freemasons living in India, and the plot even proports that Alexander the Great was a freemason. Kipling loves to explore the idea of brotherhoods and the bonds and friendships among men. In Kim, he explores a colorful multi-ethnic network of spies set up by the British - another layer there too. I read in this an implication that all men are brothers - since his characters mix it up with all kinds of people. So what's not to like?
In addition to enjoying the story itself, I got a huge kick out of the scenery and extras because most of the film was shot in Morocco; near Marrakesh in the Atlas Mountains, then further south toward Ouarzazate. The dancers in the Kafiristan scenes were Guedra and other dancers from the village of Goulamine. The extras in the these scenes spoke Arabic perhaps mixed in with Tamazirt (Berber) - couldn't understand all of it. The Bhuddist-like monks were actually singing Muslim chants in Arabic - and they used local Moroccan costumes liberally.
Then, I got a good laugh when the bride of Sean Connery, Roxanne, was brought to him wearing a bright red Khaliji thobe! The film was made in the 1970's during a big 'Oil Boom' so no doubt the wardrobe people had come across one of them, and it ended up on the bride. Today's filmmakers would likely have made this movie in India itself, so they would have no need to find a stand-in country with stand-in languages and costumes. But I still enjoyed it. Best of all, it was wonderful to see places like Ait ben Hadou in the wedding scene - a place we've visited on every Oasis Dance Camp Morocco tour. When we were there last fall, we went horseback riding outside of Marrakesh. It turned out many of our horses have been used in films that we've seen, like Gladiator. Just another indication that the whole country of Morocco is a movie set!
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