Thank You Denise, Peggy and Dena for the examples of Moroccan food. The only item I recognized is couscous ( which I cook from a box ;) ).

We love Ethnic cuisine and are very adverturous when it comes to dining.

Hoping to have an opportunity to try some great Moroccan cuisine actually IN Morocco!

BTW, Maria, I prepare couscous from the box, too :D

Denise, I hear they have a popular Moroccan fast food joint in SoCal now!
In-N-Out Burka's! ;)

Dena - One of our favorite Moroccan dishes is b'stilla, as well. We also love the lamb tagines. I've made b'stilla a couple of times - it's a bit of work but fun to try; and that combination of savory and sweet is just something quite delightful. Is Marrakesh the one on Ventura Blvd. in Studio City? We used to go to that one when we lived in N. Hollywood.

Denise - With our long day at Agadir, we're going to spend our private tour time going to Taroudant and skip Agadir altogether. We plan to indulge in a good Moroccan lunch in Taroudant. According to our guidebooks and the on-line guides, there are several excellent restaurants in Taroudant. We are most eager to try one of them. Ah, I'm already drooling, slobbering, and generally salivating about the opportunity to eat a wonderful Moroccan meal in - where else, kiddies??!! - Morocco. How can we wait until November?

Taginelly yours, Fred

I had to google b'stilla. It looks and sounds so very delicious!

Fred,

Our plans are to do pretty much the same in Taroudant.

I'd love to know the name of the restaurant in Studio City that you were referring to.

Don,
:app: :app: :nw: :nw:

B'stilla - it sounds weird but is delicious! Like a main course and dessert all in one :)

Fred, the Marrakesh we go to is in Costa Mesa, but I think it's affiliated with the one in Studio City. Hmmm, since I work just a mile or so away, maybe I should look into picking up a b'stilla "to go" for dinner! ;)

Dena

Greetings from the M/S Amsterdam somewhere off the coast of Oregon!

The restaurant is in Sherman Oaks and it is off Coldwater Canyon. It is Marrakesh. Also very popular is on in Hollywood whose name escapes me but at the one in Hollywood it is very authentic with Belly Dancers. Dar Maghreb is in Hollywood.

On International food, we can have a Tapas lunch too in Spain. There are so many great little tapas spots. I love Tortilla Espanola and also the Gazpacho (Andalusian) soup.

Tbis thread is making me drool. B'stilla is something new to me. Sounds definitely like something I want to try.

Kathy, enjoy your cruise! I'm envious here in land-locked Dallas.

Well, we are doing our pre-cruise in Paris, so maybe that is why we went to La Madeleine for lunch today! LOL

BTW, their rotisserie chicken has carbs in it. Who would have thunk it! I guess they add wheat to their herb mixture and probably some sugar. I was shocked to find out that it had 8 carbs (5 net after fiber). Of course I didn't find that out until after I ate went to log in my diet journal and went to their website for the nutritional info! Oh well, that just means that I will have to make some other adjustments tonight. No wine, but plenty of WHINE! LOL

Hi Don,

Do you do Atkins? Isn't it annoying when those hidden carbs pop up? I can understand in pecan pie, but in chicken???? Come'on!

Yes! I have lost 85 lbs since August! Needed to do something so that our luggage wouldn't weigh so much! LOL

Oh and for those keeping track of such things. Boston Market adds sugar to their chicken as well! :eek:

Don: WOW and you even posted pixs - you are awesome!!!!!

Awesome, Don! We need to make lots of champagne toasts on CROSS to your incredible success!

Please wear a red carnation in your lapel (or Speedo) so Alan and I can recognize you!

Congratulations Don!

Good for you Don!!! Thats wonderful and you are to be commended.

Finally - got our JetBlue flights last night Ft. Lauderdale to IAD. So everything is now in place.

Just hope my Dad gets over his bout with shingles and gets healthy enough that I don't have to worry about him. At the moment things are not going well. He was supposed to go to North Carolina next week for his oldest great grandson's high school graduation (he has 9 great grandchildren) but has decided he doesn't feel like traveling and since he is dealing with an outbreak I don't think he can anyway. Now he's talking about not going to the Beach with us in six weeks. Soooooo, I'm hoping this round of medication will get him back on is feet and feeling better.

Sorry to hear about your Dad, JoAnn. Hope he's doing better very soon and able to join in the family festivities.

Very good that you got your return flight in place.

Hi JoAnn,

I am so sorry about your dad. A couple of years ago my dad also went through shingles and it was so painful and uncomfortable. It took him a while to get over all the symptoms and pain.

My mom has shingles in the nerve running to her eye. A huge worry and constant attention.

JoAnn--the medications they have now are much better than the ones they used (and didn't work) years ago. Hoping he'll be up and around to go to the beach with you.

JoAnn: Good wishes for your Dad's recovery -

Diane,

My mom had that too! It happened, in all places , the day we arrived in Rome! Visits to the specialist there and poor mom had to be walking around with a patch over her eye the whole time. But she recovered from it (after months!) Is it a recurrent problem for your mom?

Well things may not be as bad as I thought, I talked to the Clinic nurse where he lives this morning, and apparently is NOT experiencing a new outbreak, but the bad news is that he is experience the neuralgia pain that goes along with it, which he did not have initially. So they have given him a pain medication and I think the main reason he doesn't feel like traveling next week is that he is uncomfortable and just not up for all the socializing and traveling it would take, so maybe by beach week, the medication will have the pain under control and he will be able to join us.

Maria - no its not a recurrent problem, at least so far, he just had his first outbreak about 4 weeks ago. But he is 94 and according to my research and the Clinic Nurse, its not at all unusual at his age. She said the biggest issue is managing the pain, which as I said he was not having until just this week, so if they can get it under control early on, maybe he will start feeling better.

Thanks all for your good wishes, I appreciate your thoughts.

JoAnn, this is my first time to check in today, so I'm late to send my best wishes for your dad's recovery and quick relief from pain. Good news from the nurse today, at least. BTW, my mom is 94 too!

Don, 85 pounds! You bet we'll toast your success! Wish I could achieve just a fraction of that number.

Priscilla - thanks, appreciate your good wishes.

Isn't it great to have 94 year old parents, and generally my Dad goes strong - but the health issues do get tough sometimes don't they. I am the only one left to deal, my Sister passed away in 1979 and my Mom 7 years ago, so its just me and Dad, and I just keep hoping he will go on and on and on, but realistically I know thats not going to happen. Anyway......don't want to get into all that here and now.

Wine please!!!! As my Dad would say!

JoAnn,

I totally understand you. I am blessed that my parents are still around ( and with a more active social live than mine! Right now they are in a cruise!). My dad is almost 85 and my mom a few years younger. And like you, I keep wishing they'll be around forever but know that will not happen.

Priscilla ,
How lucky that you too have your mom with you. And 94 too! Good genes are coming your way.

Yeah, let's toast to our parents

Like my dad says: "It's getting dark, I think we can open the wine". He loves it in the winter months here because it gets darker earlier. :D

Maria: I love your Dad - yuck it is light on Fjords 24/7 :mecry:

Maria, Priscilla and JoAnn,

Here's to your wonderful parents and the opening of many, many bottles of wine to toast them!

Joanna,

Don't worry , that didn't deter me !!

Denise, Thanks for the toast!

Daylight or nighttime.

All the way across the Atlantic!!!

Unfortunately six months from today we will be disembarking in FLL!!! :(

Fortunately though, it will be after eight glorious and fun filled sea days! :D

But we'll have all those good memories!! And surely by then, another cruise to look forward to.

I am sure that both will be true! Also, I just realized that I was a day late. I thought today was the 19th! Oops! I probably better look in my wallet to see if I'm also a dollar short! LOL

We changed our air for CROSS; we will arrive in Funchal on November 9 and spend two nights there. I was a bit concerned about a possible hurricane and wanted to arrive 2 days early vs. one.

Don; this way we will be rested and waiting for you and Diana on Saturday! PARTEEEEEEEE TIME!

Sounds fun guys - have a great evening in Funchal. Look forward to seeing you'all on the 11th. We will continue PARTEEEEEEEE TIME!

Funchal is a wonderful port, Madeira a beautiful island! I wish we had more time there. The taxi drivers seem to have it divided up into "zones" for what you can do in a few hours or a whole day. Sue, since you will have more time there, the more you can do! Fit in all you can, because after that, it is like JoAnn said, PARTEE TIME if you are going to follow the TAP tradition of the crossing~

I think that 8 days of intense tours followed by 8 sea days is the perfect combination of cruising. Lots of R&R and fun and no jet lag for the trip home - 25 hours in many days to adjust to the time.

Olivia that is a big reason why we wanted to arrive an extra day ahead of time - I will need part of our first day to recoup (my legs have circulation problems as well as being weak) and enjoy what is near our hotel and then on Saturday when Don & Diana arrive we will be ready to explore all we can! :)

So good that it's all coming together, Sue.

I agree, Kathy. Eight days of non-stop touring followed by 8 days of non-stop fun and relaxation!

Denise you have the perfect trip - go go go chill chill chill - wish Tony could go go with you and I could chill chill with Alan - Joanna