To the Top of the World

The meeting theme in Marrakech was "Climbing to Success", so it was only appropriate that our teambuilding activity took us on a climbing adventure to the nearby Atlas mountains.

Although the majority of our day was spent driving Land Rovers up steep winding paths, paved wide enough for only one vehicle (and yes, the traffic definitely flew by in both directions), we did get a few opportunities to stop and take in the sights.

A perfect day, wouldn't you say? Look at that blue sky!

First rest stop.

Mid-morning tea break.

A boy and his donkey.

Camel rides on the side of the road.

Baby sheep and goats.

You almost couldn't see some of the villages we passed. They were often well hidden in the hills, always the same color as the earth.

Mountains majesty.

Restaurant Typiquement Marocain

After our trip to the souks on day 1 in Marrakech, the group I traveled with enjoyed our first of many traditional Moroccan meals at the lovely Palais Chahramane.

Immediately, we were enthralled by the restaurant's beauty and elegance, by the detail in each tile making up the intricate patterns on the floors, walls and ceilings, by the music and dancing that greeted us as we entered and then entertained us during our meal, and most certainly by the wonderful tastes and aromas that we experienced in the food.

John, Alex, Paul, Julie and I - the "Achieving Service Excellence" training team - as we entered the restaurant. Each tile in this entryway was laid by hand, the stairs themselves taking a week to complete.

Our introduction to traditional fare was quite delicious, and we soon found that the format of each meal is always the same. To begin, we always sampled a variety of hot and cold salads - in this case, there were 15! - served with bread. Beef, chicken, fish and lamb main dishes were quite common, prepared with a variety of spices including karfa (cinnamon), kamoun (cumin), kharkoum (turmeric), skingbir (ginger), libzar (pepper) , tahmira (paprika), anis seed, sesame seed, kasbour (coriander), maadnous (parsley), zaafrane beldi (saffron) and mint.

My favorite tajines were those that combined sweet and savory flavors in combinations like dried prunes and beef, or cinnamon and chicken with vegetables. Cous cous was never absent, nor were wonderfully prepared vegetables. Fresh fruit always followed the meal, along with hot mint tea.

My favorites in this starter combination were the lentils and the eggplant.

Lamb infused with mint, which we were instructed to eat with our hands.

Musicians greeting us as we entered...

...then serenading us at our table.

And what meal is complete without a candle dancer....

...and a belly dancer?!?

Djemaa el Fna - جامع الفناء

Marrakech boasts the largest souk market in Morroco, in the city's المدينة العتيقة (medina quarter).

Our experience visiting this area of the old city was certainly heightened by the darkness that surrounded us. The streets were pitch black, the air was filled with the scents of food cooking and incense burning, the crowd was thick and at times overwhelming, and the poverty and begging were unmistakable. There were monkeys on leashes, dancers and musicians enticing you into taking a photo (for which a payment is demanded - nearly causing a fight to ensue between the local who suggested it, and one of my colleagues), women and children tugging at your sleeves in an effort to provide henna decorations, artisans drawing you into their shops and bartering with animation and persistence.

I could add so much more, but my internet connection prohibits, so instead I leave you with a few photos of the sights we saw.

And I can truly say that I am thankful that we shared this adventure with a colleague of mine from Saudi Arabia, who was able to translate effectively on behalf of the entire group. Bless him for taking care of us.

meat cooking in the square

oh, what i'd give to be able to bring home some of these spices.

handcrafted lamps

my colleagues Issa (pronounced ah-EE-sah), Paul and I, dressed in traditional Moroccan attire

(And I must mention that blogger automatically displays all site information in Arabic, when logged in in Morocco. It was certainly a challenge to try to remember which buttons are in what location, and to realize that because the language is read from right to left, the "sign in" and "password" boxes are not only on the other side of the page, but also in reverse order!)

countdown to adventure...24 hours

that's right, folks!

tomorrow i'm off on another business trip, this time taking me far outside of my normal United States and Canada territory to MOROCCO!

i'm headed for the city of marrakech - comprised of both an old fortified city (the médina) and an adjacent modern city (called gueliz).

while i know that i'll be busy working for the majority of the time i'm there, i am hoping to have some time to enjoy the rich culture, unique foods and amazing scenery that this country has to offer.

to give you a taste of what i have to look forward to, here are a few picture of the palace & resort (so much more fun a title than hotel!) that i'll be staying at, and its surroundings.

hotel lobby

spice market

rug shopgate to the marrakech medina

quality friday: getting organized

our pantry has been in utter disarray, and its been driving me CRAZY.

i have to admit, i really didn't realize how terrible it was until my recent efforts to spend a little more time in the kitchen. we have quite the collection of herbs and spices, condiments and sauces, but they were near impossible to find in.

thanks to the help of two extendable helper shelves (and getting rid of a few choice items), we now have some semblance of order.

before...

...and after.

notes, thoughts and anecdotes from 72 hours of travel

background

4 flights from 4 airports, 4342 miles traveled
+ 3 days in 3 cities
+ 2 nights totaling 6 hours of sleep
= 1 tired me, happy to be home for a few days

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red carpet club

"red carpet club, just for you ma'am." i thanked the man holding the pre-heated rental car door open for me.

"brand new car. nice, isn't it." i thanked him again, and agreed.

"here's a bottle of water for you. and let me give you my card".

"its a new car, you know". which is when i realized that he was waiting for a tip.

but i had no idea where my money was, nor had i ever encountered this before. as much as i appreciated having a warm car waiting for me as i departed the rental car shuttle, i didn't exactly ask for it.

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the rules of ethanol fuel

hurrying back to the airport on wednesay afternoon in an effort to catch in earlier flight, i quickly stopped to fill up my tank before returning the car. to my surprise, the gas cap was bright yellow and said "E85 fuel". having seen a few stations that sell ethanol/gasoline mixtures, i presumed that the car required it. so i left the gas station, and drove around desperately trying to find a pump at a few other stations. i finally gave up and called avis to ask them where one might be located.

turns out that these flexible fuel engines are designed to use any any mixture of gasoline or ethanol with up to 85% ethanol by volume. should i have known this?

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is the flight canceled or not?

thankfully, i still made it to the airport in time to make the standby list for the 6:30pm flight. getting home an hour and a half earlier was worth gold, considering that the 8:05 would have had me home at midnight.

i got comfortably seated in my exit row seat, and waited for take-off.

10 minutes after our scheduled departure time, we were informed the doors were still open because the pilot hadn't arrived. 5 minutes later, another announcement - still no pilot.

another 2 minutes, and we were informed of a mechanical issue, causing the flight to be canceled. there was going to be room for all of us on the later flight. folks started getting up and gathering there things.

yet another announcement that the mechanical issue might be fixed, and that we should sit back down.

and in the end, the plane was deemed un-flyable.

was it a coincidence that the pilot was also late?

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first class

i haven't had the opportunity to upgrade to first class often, but i did on the 8:05. what a treat! the cheese and fruit plate, and the wine were much appreciated.

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more on rental cars

dear avis,

can you please program your gps units to correctly locate your own rental facility? i typed in "avis - airport location" and then selected the correct airport. and i was directed to a strip mall about 2 miles away. "you've arrived at you final destination" the unit said. all i saw was a coffee shop and nail place.

*************************************************************
silent battles

again, trying to standby on an earlier flight on thursday night. two lines at the counter, but now only one agent. i eyed the girl next to me, and she eyed me back. we were still trying to get on the list, and they were already calling names and getting close to takeoff time.

i think i got to the counter first, but it was my agent who had left. which of us was going to be the next name added?

we approached the counter at the same time, and both placed our boarding passes on it, again glancing at one another.

"we've got room for both of you - only 3 seats left," the agent said.

whew.

as we boarded, the plane, i commented "this is my fourth flight in 3 days". she responded, "yeah, i've been traveling for 3 weeks straight. and have to again next week."

i guess we both won.

*************************************************************
priceless

the look on the older gentleman's face, as he boarded behind me to find the last seat on the plane was next to a toddler on his mom's lap.

"so i'm the lucky one", he said.

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does eating help?

about 45 minutes into our 50 minute flight, i glance over at that same little toddler, and realized that he was on course 5 of his meal.

a snack before take-off, then a little bowl of baby food, water, a banana, juice, a baggie of carrots, more water, and finally some pretzels for landing.

it certainly kept him occupied. and boy did mom do a great job of pre-organizing it all.


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the end

okay, i'm done. thanks for indulging me. :) and in another 72 hours i'll be headed off on my next adventure!

chicken soup for the soul

are you wondering how i'm doing with my 2008 goals, seeing that we are in week 3 of the new year?

well, i've certainly been working on item number 1! i have to admit - some of my culinary attempts have been less successful that others, but i'm working at it and learning along the way:)

and in an effort to keep myself accountable, i've joined this group of ladies in creating a new blog - menusbythemonth.blogspot.com - a place where we can swap menus, store them for future reference, and share them with others who might be interested in suggestions.

hope you enjoy it!

that being said, here's the the first recipe that i tried out in the new year. in fact, i made it twice in one day, and liked the repeat version share here better that the first, thanks to some wonderful suggestions from my husband.


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audrey's cilantro-lime chicken noodle soup

(adapted from ina garten's, barefoot contessa family style)

1 whole (2 split) boneless, skinless chicken breast

olive oil

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 quarts chicken stock (homemade is best, but wolfgang puck's was a fine substitute)

1 cup onion, sliced

1 cup medium-diced celery

1 cup medium-diced carrots

2 cups wide egg noodles

juice from 3 limes

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

preheat oven to 350 degrees.

place chicken breast on a sheet pan and rub with olive oil. sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. roast for 35 to 50 minutes, until cooked through. when cool enough to handle, shred the chicken meat.

bring chicken stock to a simmer in a large pot and add the onion, celery, carrots, noodles and lime juice. simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, until the noodles are cooked. add chicken and cilantro to heat through.

quality friday: just being here

earlier this week, i was pretty sure that my quality friday post was going to be about how i've finally (after years of saying i intended to do so) starting to pay closer attention to politics and the upcoming presidential elections. i've watched recent debates, followed the results of the first caucus and primary, and have found myself stopping to listen to cnn updates and polls regularly. i'm learning a lot.

but then thursday night happened, and with it my perspective for the week changed, too.

i was in the middle of making dinner, when i got a phone call from mark at work. he was calling from his cell phone rather, which in unusual, and the first words out of his mouth were "honey, i've had a little accident."

in an effort to not be overly descriptive (which is also why this post has no photos), let's just say that i learned that he had just cut his finger while cleaning a deli meat slicer. it was bleeding badly and had been doing so for about 10 minutes, during which constant pressure had been applied but was doing very little to stop it.

within a few moments, i was in my car, talking to our healthcare provider's nurse hotline as i hurried to get to him. thankfully, but the time i got there 20 minutes later, the wound had started to clot. and although my stomach turned when i saw it, we both realized that it could have been much worse. MUCH worse. thank God he didn't loose his finger.

although mark was able to drive himself home thursday night and chose not go to the emergency room, i was still thankful to be able to be there. SO thankful. what if i had been traveling, as i so often am on a thursday night? what if i was hearing the story from a city far away? i would have felt awful and completely helpless.

instead, i was able to clean and dress the wound at home, give mark pain medicine when the shock started to wear off, and on friday, was here to go with him to the doctor and hold his hand as they gave him a tetanus shot and applied a chemical cautery to the area. mark was tough and kept it together through the whole experience (although the look on his face told me it was much worse than he had expected), thoroughly impressing me with his tolerance for pain. afterwards, the doctor said that he had never cauterized a finger without local anesthesia. i take back everything i've ever said about my husband not being able to handle being hurt.

truth is, i'm sure mark could have taken care of himself and done it all without me being there.

but i'm glad that he didn't have to. thankful that i was nearby. grateful that God was watching over him, and making sure i was home so i could be there for him, too.

pretty in pink

this is another fun project that i took on while listing to christmas music, a gift for the best hostess i know.

the materials and colors, mark helped me to choose, and i can't thank the fabric store sales assistant enough for her helpful suggestions and tips!

here's what she taught me:

• pre-washing the fabric helps to prevent uneven shrinking
• before beginning, use fabric finish on the freshly washed material to give it light body and a crisp (but not stiff) ironed look. this also makes it easier to sew. note: always allow the fabric spray to dry before ironing - this prevents spots and flaking.
• sewing a double layer of material, with the "right-sides" facing, is easier than having to roll edges. simply sew the pieces together leaving enough room to turn them right side out, and then topstitch around the edges again for a clean finish. this tidbit gave me the added piece of information for the gift:

hostess apron...

...fully reversible.

there was a byob wine bag made primarily out of the smaller-print fabric, too!

i'm really starting to get the hang of this sewing thing....

freshly lined

a few weeks ago, i had mentioned that some crafty projects were in the works, and that i intended to spend my week of vacation completing and sharing them with you.

as it turned out, i was sick at the beginning of that week and we had guests over the thanksgiving weekend, so my high hopes quickly went out the window.

our living room curtains were purchased rather that made, as i had originally intended. and while i'm happy with how they look (and that buying them allowed us to also find matching throw pillows), i was a little disappointment with myself.

i have, however, since then been able to complete the other project that i mentioned. our wicker laundry basket - a bridal shower gift from my mom - now has a fresh, neat, new lining! and our clothes are very happy to be snag-free.

i must say, i'm pretty happy with the results of my sewing efforts. it really is an enjoyable hobby, and i hope to keep my sewing machine busy this year!

and with this photo i'll share a funny story.

the first time i visited brandon's new condo, it was still in a partially-furnished state. as he took my mom and i on a tour of the rooms, we paused in the guest bath, and he proudly reached into the cabinet under the sink to retrieve the shower curtain that had been picked out for the room.

yep - it was the same shower curtain that you see here, and that we had hanging in our bathroom in chicago! i find it funny that in the many times that he visited us there, he never noticed it, and had no idea that he was picking out the same one:)

quailty friday: there's no place like home for the holidays

a song couldn't be more right. it was such a treat for mark and i to be back in chicago - together - and to celebrate the week between christmas eve until new years eve with family and friends.

christmas eve
despite beginning the day 2000 miles away, we were able to keep with tradition, and celebrate christmas eve with mark's dad and sister at norman's home in hyde park. it was the first year we have ever had pizza for christmas eve dinner, but low key and easy also equals stress free and fun!

we continued the evening by heading to our dearly missed church for a beautiful candlelight service. the scriptures and music celebrated Jesus and the true meaning of christmas. and walking through the doors felt like coming home, and the warm and tender greetings from our dear friends touched us deeply.

and it didn't end there. we then joined melissa and steven's at their home for late night catching up with melissa's mom, lillie.

christmas day
we have always spent christmas day with my family, and since we stayed with them all week, this year it was fun to be able to sleep in. we spent an enjoyable morning and early afternoon preparing the meal together. in fact, the day was so laid back that we didn't even get to opening gifts until the sun had already gone down!

that's how you can tell we're all grown up. no one's begging to open presents on christmas morning:)

the cute couples. and yes, that's a mojito glass in shruti's hands. who would have ever thought in a million years that there would be drinks served?

brandon, shruti, daniel, casandra and jonathan

i think this is such a cute picture of casandra and jonathan. and have you noticed the cute haircuts on shruti and casandra? both recently donated their hair. i'd like to think i inspired them:)

gift time!

the highlight of the night was definitely enjoying dessert after all the presents were opened. the conversations and anecdotes got so funny that i tried to capture them on video, and would share them with you, but they just don't do the night justice. all i can say is that brandon attempting to put cooling eye drops into mark's eyes had me laughing so hard that i literally fell out of my seat and was rolling on the floor crying.

love those times.

the rest of the week

we tried to pack in as much as possible during the days that followed.

we played board games a few times (and yes, the boys did beat us twice at cranium). my mom and leslie and i spent an afternoon downtown in the snow. i laughed till i cried at the movies. mark reconnected with a close high school friend. we saw many loved ones. the list goes on and on.

and from trips to friends homes, to poker and xbox games, to brunches and lunches and dinners with any and everyone that would come out to play with us, we had a great time.

lunch group at fogo de chao. talk about over-indulgence.

dinner crowd at carson's. (l-r: norman, leslie, stacie, reggie, burton, kim, audrey, wylene, mark)

the week flew by, and by the time we left we were tired (exhausted, really) and extremely content.

we headed back to california on new year's eve (sadly, missing out on the fun at "4133"), and got home just in time pop open a bottle of champagne, turn the tv on, and countdown to the new year. and then collapse into our extremely-wonderful-and-very-missed bed!

resolutions

its that time of the year, isn't it?

to be honest, i never seem to remember the resolutions i make each last year, which is why i'm writing them down this time. i'm hoping that having something to look back at will help me to remind myself of the things i'd like to accomplish/continue to work at. and maybe some of you out there will help to keep me accountable, too!

so here's my list:

1) cook more frequently. i'm tired of making excuses! i have the perfect job (well, when i'm not traveling, that is) for making dinner at night. and with mark working late in the evenings, its really not fair to rely on him to make meals at 11pm. so my goal is 3 nights a week, when i'm at home.

2) eat in moderation. if last week at home in chicago taught us anything, it was that over-indulgence is a terrible (and painful) thing. we had large quantities of rich, heavy, delicious foods every day, and by the end of the week our stomachs were NOT happy with us. i'd like to learn to say "no" when i'm not hungry, enjoy sweets and treats in smaller quantities (as in, not finishing the entire bag of chips, or half the box of cookies in one sitting:), and try to think about the nutritional value of the foods i choose before i indulge in them.

3) exercise consistently. this is a big one for me. i have a tendency to be an all-or-nothing kind of girl when it comes to exercise. the perfect example? i poured my heart into training for a marathon, and since then, have done none at all on a regular basis. and i'm not happy with where its taken me.

4) learn a language. or refresh myself on one that i already (partially) know. mark and i are tackling this one together, using a christmas gift from last year. estamos comenzando con español.

5) be intentional in my relationships. say "i love you" to the people i love. pick up the phone and call to see how friends and family are doing. show that i care. i really do.

and now its YOUR turn.

what are your resolutions for 2008? post a comment, if you'd like to share.

or better yet, this would be a fun game of tag! the rules? list 5 resolutions (or however many you've made), and then tag 5 friends to do the same.

melissa
ann-marie
kjersten
stacy
vlada

you're all now "IT"!

good-bye 2007, hello 2008!

who would have guessed we'd be where we are, if you'd asked us a year ago?

2007 has been a memorable year for the malone family....

a new job for me resulted in a move across country. which in turn lead to a new school and new jobs for mark! we've worked to adjust to leaving chicago, to our new busy schedules and are continually working to explore all that the san francisco bay area has to offer. we were blessed to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary, and have shared in the joy of the marriages of dear family and friends. and i ran a marathon!

yes, this year has been a journey in many ways.

so what will 2008 bring? where will we find ourselves a year from now?

only time will tell, but here's what i'm hoping:

happy. healthy. full of love. discovering. enjoying. living life to its fullest.

and i'm praying for the same for you. wishing you a wonderful 2008!