Ah. A party for Jimmy Choo ltd at Peacock Pavilions. What an evening filled with magic for the gorgeous fashion bloggers, Candice Lake, Zanita Whittington, Lainy Hedaya, Camille Charriere, Gala Gonzalez, Jessica Stein, Kat Collings. Click through the slideshow for a recap!
And many thanks to the absolutely adorable Lucy Dachtler and Phoebe Younger from Jimmy Choo!
We take our Moroccan cocktails seriously at Peacock Pavilions. When we have guests, a freshly made, craft cocktail is available every day at 5:00 (and we make sure that guests never get the same thing twice). Over the years, we have amassed a repertoire of Marrakech-inspired cocktails, and there is always something new and delicious being stirred, muddled or shaken in the kitchen. Many of the ingredients come straight from our organic garden!
I grew up with a father who loved libraries. We used to spend our Sunday afternoons in one nearby no matter where we lived. I liked those libraries best which paid special attention to the children, with chairs, tables and shelves just the right size. And, of course, I loved the books with their glossy plastic coated covers. I took pleasure walking down the aisles, my hand brushing one spine after another, as if they were piano keys. But as much as I enjoyed reading the books myself, infinitely more thrilling was being read to. My heart tipped open to those kind volunteers who would hold the books aloft and really tell us the stories -- their voices taking on dastardly characters with ease or haughty British accents when required. I would sit in a chair just my size and be swept away.
When did that all stop? Why?
I remember when I first went to the famed Jemma El Fnaa Square in Marrakesh. It was there that I spied a huddle of Moroccans, hushed, just listening. I peeked through their shoulders and saw an older man speaking in Arabic, his hands gesticulating, his eyes vivid. What’s he saying? I whisper asked to a man next to me. Is he selling something? I queried. No, my neighbor responded. He’s telling a story.
Sadly, those Moroccan story tellers seem to be fewer and fewer -- dying one by one, and trumped by the internet, video games and texting.
Café Clock opened today in Marrakesh, a sister to the well known Café Clock in Fez. There’s food of the simple and very good variety. But more than that, there are master Moroccan storytellers. And along with the storytellers are their newly trained young apprentices, some of them women, who will tell these Moroccan stories to you, yes, in English. Every Thursday from 5-7 in the evening.
Honestly, it’s all too wonderful.
224 Derb Chtouka
Kasbah, Marrakesh
+212 (0)6 55210172
PS If you can’t make it to Marrakesh {and even if you can}, purchase The Last Storytellers, by BBC journalist Richard Hamilton. Richard is a passionate collector of the storytellers' stories. Read his book to yourself. And then read it aloud to someone you love.
So it was Thanksgiving and we were in Morocco, of course. And rather than let the holiday slip away, leaving us with yet a more tenuous thread to the country from which we came............. we chose to celebrate with 20 friends and family.
Our Thanksgiving theme was the Wilds of Africa. {Because Morocco is in Africa, despite popularly confused opinion.}
This is a tale of how it went........
We got to decorating the Arabian tent at Peacock Pavilions. We gathered some of our crazy African loot.
African stools and old beads
Animal skulls and bones.....
A batik length of cloth from Mali, antlers, strands of African pods.
African antiquities, namecards with African porcupine quills.
Objects dressed up to look their African best........
A herd of antelopes and old bauxite beads.
Bunches or yellow roses in vintage Ethiopian tole containers. Gazelle horns.
Antique Tuareg nomadic bags and olive branches hung in the air.
Shiny Amy-- helping out at Peacock Pavilions for two months--took to the African madness with gusto.
And it all ended up looking like this....
We put out the horn and abalone serving utensils.
And the glimmery dishes.......
The menu was masterminded by Peacock Pavilions very own Michelle, with a 30 pound turkey sourced by the Four Seasons Marrakech and cooked by our friend, Kimo.
We filled our plates.
And we dug in.
Most importantly, we went around the table, and each of us gave thanks, large and small........
We ate and ate and gave more and more thanks......until some literally passed out......
Happy Thanksgiving. Today and every day.
