Well that’s a new one…  Tariq told me of an awesome dinner of chicken with spices (of some sort) and lemon, mixed with fried tomatoes, peppers and onions.  That sounded awesome, so off we went.  We went to the suk, which is Sidi Bouthman is a series of small stands selling anything from watermelons to meat to t-shirts with American slogans on them.  Crammed together and situated on dusty ground, you’re forced to squeeze through small spaces at times and dodge the lambs and sheep hanging from hooks in the middle of the pathways.

As it turned out, we weren’t going to a restaurant to enjoy this meal.  We were going to create this meal.  This process, I learned later, was partly to help me learn my way around the town and fend for myself, because I had mentioned to Tariq the day before how dependent on him I was because he always takes care of everything for me and I just follow along and look stupid.

Our first stop was the mul djaj (chicken butcher).   There I saw many drumsticks, thighs, and whole, skinned chickens (as you would expect) and Tariq tried to get me to order the chicken from the mul djaj.  Of course, I was clueless so I pointed to a couple of the thighs and legs and looked to him for approval.  He laughed and said something to the mul djaj, who then went in the back and brought out a live chicken, and asked us if this was the size/amount of chicken we wanted.

Tariq looked at me for approval (as if I might know how much chicken we wanted by looking into the eyes of this poor, squawking foul).  I looked at him wide-eyed but he just smiled, and told me to ask him how much it was.  I did and Tariq immediately said “gali bizef” (too much) and told me to negotiate the price (which was a total joke because he was friends with the mul djaj and knew there was no bargaining).

 So I paid the mul djaj (about $4) and he proceeded to whack off the chicken’s head and stuck the chicken in a bowl to “drain.”   He then quickly butchered the chicken while Tariq went off to purchase the spices and lemon.  The butcher took about two minutes to have it ready and Tariq came back with the ingredients, and they put the chicken in a plastic bag, mixed in the ingredients, squeezed in the lemon, shook the bag around, and off we went.

Next stop, the little restaurant we sometimes go to. He just handed the guy behind the counter the bag and said we’d be back in a couple of hours.  I guess its not that unusual to bring in your own “main course” because the guy didn’t seem that surprised by the statement.  We went to the ciber (a series of cramped desks with computers with Internet, which Tariq owns, actually), and then went back to the restaurant a couple of hours later (with Otman, a good friend of Tariq’s and an awesome guy who speaks English quite well).

We sat down and Tariq went up to tell someone what we wanted (I think he temporarily forgot that I was supposed to be doing all this) and a little while later, out came this incredibly looking (and tasting) chicken with fried tomatoes, onions, and peppers, and of course bread!  Awesome!

Then on the way out, Tariq pointed to the owner (who was sitting in a chair counting his money) and told me to ask how much we owed.  I did, and shelled out 29 D (a little over $3), and that was that.  It actually seems a little expensive for Sidi Bouthman standards, but it was cool and yummy and fed three of us.  …and I learned a little bit more about life in Morocco.