Local Delicacy by Orannies

I had my first taste of a home come local meal yesterday.

Kuskus is a local rice-liked me

al that is made of wheat. The first time i tried Kuskus, i was in the sahara desert in Morocco. I was told how fantastic KusKus is and was looking forward to have my first taste of it. It tasted yucky! I had one bite of it and could not take in another spoon. It tasted like uncooked rice being grained into small pieces! After that whenever others mentioned to me how great Kuskus tasted, i beg to differ, until yesterday.

A colleague, Nouhard (i remember his name by calling him New-Heart) invited us for a KusKus lunch yesterday. After hearing the disastrous experience i had with KusKus, he was determined to change my perception of it and at the same time, told me that he was pretty stressed out by it. What if i hate it even more after the lunch? Anyway we went to his house which he build and stay with his family. He told us that KusKus is a local dish that families will cook it every Friday as lunch. KusKus is made of wheat and not rice, and that since it is small hence each person will be serve a big dish! On top of that, KusKus is also eat together with mutton (the best) and sometimes, families will also cook some soup based vegetables so that the KusKus will not taste as dry. Besides that, they also have the norm of eating a spoonful of KusKus with a grape or a slice of watermelon. Sound bizarre isnt it? But it taste rather nice to my surprise. They even told me that the KusKus cooked in Algers or Oran Sahara will taste differently. It's just very unlucky for me to have my first taste of KusKus from perhaps the worst in Morocco.

My portion was so huge that i could only finished 1/3 of it. Nouhard's mother, a very lovely grandpa, urged me to eat more. Since none except Nouhard speaks English, he was the translator for the day. He told me that his mum commented that i haven even started eating when i was already stuffed! His belated father use to be a diplomat for Algeria hence the mum has experiences living in Beirut as well as Lybria. Although she doesnt speak English and i dont speak Arabic or French, she is nonetheless still a very chirpy lady, telling us stories of her life.

After tea, we were invited to just sit and relax at the living room and mint tea was served. Mint tea is just tea leaves boiled with mint with added sugar. I had so much in Morocco and they tasted great, especially in summer. So we sat there, drank our mint tea while at the same time i was also urged to take peanuts to go with the tea. I was so stuffed i thought i was gonna puke! hahah. Then came the kids. Nouhard's wife is a beauty. She has fair skin and she does resemble a little of Scarlette Johansson. He used to play the dating field while he was younger until one day, at the age of 29, he asked his mother to find him a wife. So he and his wife got married through arranged marriage and she has never work a single day in her life! 7 years down the road, they have a boy and a daughter. The boy looks very much like the mother while the daughter looks like Nouhard. She is so shy and cute at the same time. All the time while we were chatting away, she came and wanted everyone to hug her but being the princess to the daddy, she is clingy towards him. Asking him to help tie her hair, singing to her, kissing him, and playing with him non stop.

By the time we left his house, it was already almost 4pm. The lunch lasted for 3 hours. All the while he kept thinking of where to bring us when we wanted to leave while we thought we have troubled him enough for the day, and that he should be having some family time now. But Algerians are really friendly and warm. He kept insisting that we will always be his guest, for at least the next 1 year. Ah... so sweet of them.

Before we left, we were invited to a dinner next week. Cant wait!