THE KASBAH /Kitty Morse, Moroccan cuisine, FREE February 2025 edition : late again... sorry

Why The Kasbah Chronicles are late: Minor surgery on my right trigger finger, arthritic hands, rehab for my shoulder and keeping it together: C'est trop!

Jan 31, 2025

Thank you for not giving up on these Chronicles. Je suis désolee, I am sorry: I meant to write earlier but somehow lost track of days. But 2025 is another year, a time to think happier thoughts, and explore new avenues. So, a little belatedly, health et bonne année to you all.

A la vôtre!

Musings: On the Los Angeles Fires

What is L.I.F.E.? Kitty is on the board

Former and future LIFE speakers

Make and USE your own preserved lemons.

Links of interest

Citizen Activist: Keep on writing in CURSIVE

New food discoveries

Kitty is selling

Where to buy Bitter Sweet?

Musings:

The Los Angeles fires took it out of everyone. The devastation as I viewed it on television was almost too much to comprehend. Please, if there is a reader who lives in the devastated area, let me know how I can help after the initial focus on the tragedy dies down. Do local libraries need books? Schools need supplies or research material?

Owen and I traveled to The Palisades and Sunset Drive areas of Los Angeles often to visit friends and relatives. Many Angelenos will rebuild better than before—if they can afford it. Of course, this brought to mind my own environment, atop a hill, surrounded by palm trees. Exotic, but also fire prone. Chop chop for palm trees, and hopefully, no earthquakes! (But I can see the Pacific from my terrace, and I am picking Meyer lemons and limes in January. I am stuck here)

Links of interest:

LIFE, Learning is For Everyone, is a non-profit group run by volunteers at Mira Costa College in Oceanside. For a glimpse of the LIFE program, please visit the College’s Web site: https://www.miracosta.edu/community/_docs/life-newsletter.pdf

LIFE is a FREE lifelong learning group featuring interesting, informative, and topical presentations by MiraCosta faculty and staff, guest speakers, and occasional LIFE members. Membership is open to all and visitors are always welcome to our sessions.

The group has been in existence for 30 years. My mother was a MEMBER, and I now have the honor of serving on the curriculum committee and on the board. I am extending a personal invitation to anyone who would like to join us from 1 to 3:30PM every Friday in the administration building (next to the president’s office) on the campus of Mira Costa. There is a 30 mn break for socializing (with tea and cookies) from 2:00 to 2:30:PM. We also hold Zoom sessions.

Here are some of our most recent speakers:

Frank Golbeck is the Founder and one of 127 Co-Owners of Golden Coast Mead, Southern California's first meadery, located on Oceanside Blvd off College Ave. Frank is a sixth generation Californian, he grew up in Costa Mesa, studied at UC Berkeley, served 4 years in the US Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer and has been running Golden Coast Mead since 2010....(he served delicious samples with permission from the college.)

Golden Coast Mead, 4089 Oceanside Blvd Suite H, Oceanside CA 92056. goldencoastmead.com

Dr. Carl Luna, professor emeritus of political science at San Diego Mesa College and a visiting professor at the University of San Diego. In 2014 the Association of Community College Trustees recognized him as one of the 5 top community college professors in the country. Brought us up to date on the present political climate.

David Marshall, AIA, NCARB, President, HERITAGE ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING, in charge of the Hotel del Coronado restoration.

MORE EXCITING SPEAKERS COMING UP, view the schedule: To join, please email magrom@hotmail.com, our scheduler, and request to be placed on the LIFE email list. This way, you will get a ZOOM link. ALL FREE FOR THE ASKING!

February 7^th: The history and programming of the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library Join Executive Director Christie Mitchell for an overview of the beloved Athenaeum in La Jolla, a music and arts non-profit dedicated to fostering curiosity, creativity, and community through music and visual arts.

Feb.28^th: internationally known Zoro the Drummer, (once drummed w the Beatles’ Ringo Starr) speaks about his latest memoir, MARIA’S SCARF, THE POWER OF DREAMING BIG.

Based on his award-winning memoir, Maria’s Scarf, Zoro’s journey from the slums to the spotlight as a world-renowned drummer is an unforgettable and hopeful story that will inspire you never to give up. a short book trailer quickly conveys the essence of his story....

April 18^th: Debra Erickson, San Diego native, executive director and chair of the board of Wildlife Madagascar.

And many other fascinating speakers.

Reminder! Have you made preserved lemons yet?

Meyer lemons are bountiful this month. A jar of preserved lemons makes a great gift, as they are good for at least 6 months. The best lemons are no larger than a golf ball. Pair a jar with one of my Moroccan cookbooks. The recipe is in a number of my SUBSTACK posts.Watch me demonstrate how to make them on YOUTUBE:

Kitty’s Preserved lemons.:

Book trailer for Mint Tea and Minarets

Recipes to get you started: Rub preserved lemon pulp around the rim of a margarita glass. Add some diced preserved lemon to guacamole, fresh salsa.or salmon spread.Or baste a fresh fish filet with preserved lemon pulp. YUM!

Talks and presentations:

Saturday, Feb 22: 2-4 PM.

Alliance Française de San Diego. 6390 Greenwich Dr, #185,San Diego, CA 92122

I will speak en français and in English about Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes from Occupied France. A propos de mes ancêtres alsaciens, morts pendant la 2 ième guerre mondiale en laissant un journal de guerre et des recettes de famille. Signing. Free and open to the public. View the flyer and Reserve a space.

https://www.afsandiego.org/events-1/rencontre-dauteurs-et-dedicaces-2

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mf3oE8QAABjKSrlqD4z7fHvlhQ99Zo1wjL1a4lyxiwk/edit?tab=t.0

February 26,2025: La Jolla Villagers

March 22, 2025: Community event at the BEAUTIFUL Coronado Library. Presentation w books for sale.

NOTE! Why not host an event with me? I am already planning for May and next summer. I am available for talks in person in San Diego and Los Angeles Counties and everywhere else on Zoom. My presentation focuses on WWII and my family’s history during the Holocaust, but it can also be adapted for culinary groups. I chat with you, and you cook my great-grandmother’s recipes.

Links of interest :

Are you a Citizen Activist who believes in keeping cursive alive? I was absolutely appalled to learn that cursive hasn’t been taught in schools for a decade. I don’t have kids in school, I never knew. How can that happen? Ar e we to let a piece of our souls and our culture disappear when young ones cannot even sign their names? EWhen I think of the hours, weeks, and years we spent learning cursive at the ecole primaire, I am speechless? Luckily, California has reversed course. I came across Citizen Archivists out of the Library of Congress, where you can volunteer to transcribe old texts so that everyone can read them. Brilliant! Citizen Archivist Missions

Amazon on the plate:

En souvenir de mon aventure en Amazonie en avril 2024 : Lima is also a gastronomical destination. Not quite what I cooked with in the Amazon, but interesting just the same! The Flavors of the Amazon in a Concrete Jungle.

And this is one of my absolute FAVORITE food destinations: Montreal and the Monteregie agricultural area across the river from Montreal. I hope to return there in a year or two. BBC: https://bbc.com/travel/article/20241015-the-vloroute-gourmande-canadas-delectable-235km-food-trail?

New food discoveries in San Diego’s North County:

Did you know that my hometown of Vista shelters over 40 breweries. I don’t drink beer. Dommage. But you should come up and visit some of them.

Maintenant South Korean/FRENCH boulangeries/patisseries? After make-up products and K-Pop music, the US is being introduced to a Korean take on French bakeries. I visited these two in the last 2 weeks. It’s quite an interesting concept, most bakery goods are packaged individually, like petits pains au chocolat (called chocolate croissants in the US) and unusual Korean pastries.

85degrees: Mission Avenue, Oceanside, next to Stater Bros. : 85cbakerycafe.comSliced, pain de mie fresh daily, pastries, croissants and other Asian delights

Paris Baguette in Carlsbad next to Von’s on El Camino Real (and on Convoy street). You can eat in, and savor a number of baguettes sandwiches.

My friend, Debbie Kornberg, owner of Spice and Leaf, (spices from around the world) has launched a line of gift boxes named for various areas of San Diego. The attractive box is for sale at San Diego airport. Bravo Debbie! https://www.spiceandleaf.com/our-story? Spice and Leaf gift boxes

PAID subscribers of this Substack can expect:

An introduction to my screenplay on Estebanico, the Man from Morocco, who accompanied Spanish conquistadors to America in 1539.

A short article on “my”Morocco: Snow in the Sahara…

A recipe for using preserved lemons

You can order Bitter Sweet on Amazon.com here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kitty-Morse/author/B001K8JDIG?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

or order a signed copy directly from me thrugh my website or at kitty@kittymorse.com. Mother’s Day Gift? with Preserved Lemons??? or a bottle of Champagne from Chalons en Champagne??!!

KITTY IS SELLING. Just click on the link to view my museum-quality Moroccan artifacts, rugs, textiles, handcrafted copper trays, and much more. I am listing my father’s collection of antique books on Moroccan history in English and French, some going back to the 1700 and 1800s. My father purchased his books from antique book dealers in Morocco and London.

Vintage bone dagger: sharp with silk cord.