The Q5

After a week of visiting dealerships, searching online and various phone calls, we finally got a car! I wanted to drive a car I've never driven before so decided to go for the Audi. Little did I know that a white Q5 was so hard to come by. There was one here in Bakersfield but it didn't have the navigation that we wanted. We found one in Beverly Hills for a great price and thought that was the one until we told him if possible we would like to have it shipped but if we need to drive down, then we would. That jerk ended up selling it to someone else that drove down without even letting us know beforehand . Car salesmen, I dislike them. I liked how he was contacting us all week and then when it was finally ready to go, he sold it to someone else! Anyhow, we ended up finding one at CarMax which was a great buying experience. No haggle pricing, paperwork was minimal and we were in and out in an hour. It was actually a luck buy because we went there the week before and they didn't have any Q5's, and none were listed online either. We were looking to do a transfer from somewhere but someone already did it for us and didn't end up buying it. Yay! We were able to drive it home that day!  It's a 2012, black on black, 18000 miles, full panorama sunroof and navigation:) 

Meet The Q5

P.S. The dust and pollen from the trees here are so bad that I doubt I could ever keep this car clean! Oh wells.

Bako Life {Temporary Housing}

We moved into temporary housing on Friday and it's feeling more real that Bakersfield will be our new home. We decided to live in a 2/2 unfurnished apartment, on a month to month deal, until we find a house. We are currently sleeping on air mattresses {thanks to our new friend Jill}, sitting on a futon and eating off a folding table {future mahjongg table} and two folding chairs. It's actually pretty cute and works just fine. Gerald and I were teasing and said we could live like this forever; who needs all the other fluff?? Hehe. Gerald bought a TV {box was bigger than Gerald} and I got my Nespresso machine {with fancy lights}; all is good:) We have everything we need to cook, but no baking supplies. I'll start baking again once I get a Kitchen Aid, so hopefully soon after we get into a home :) We spent a lot of time running around town over the weekend, picking up everything we needed and used Sunday as a chill day. I cooked our first meal in a few weeks so that was nice. We've enjoyed eating out, but it's so nice to know what is really going into your food and you can get all the flavours you want. Mexican food here is decent but I think it still lacks the extra spice that I'm used to in Tex-Mex food. We have yet to find our Pappasito's equivalent, but have a list of places to try. I am loving the Asian food options though:) Anyhow, here's a taste of the apt and some other random photos.

My bathroom

Gerald's room and bathroom

So organized! 

Salmon with wild rice and sautéed spinach, kale, onions and mushrooms :)

La Mina - tri tip street tacos and fajitas

Miyoshi

Oh and the apartment has a little gym so hopefully I can start going more often. It's nice and convenient. Yesterday, I spent 1 hour on the elliptical so that's a start:)

More about Bako life soon:)

Bako Life { Week 1}

So the past week has been semi productive. I managed to go to Target and Trader Joe's almost everyday, hit up the new Hobby Lobby, and get a Costco membership. Gerald completed his first week at the new job and is enjoying it. He has to drive 1 hr each way to work, so it's been a big change for him. Chevron gave him a nice work truck that beeps if he brakes too hard or goes over 60 mph so at least I know he is driving safely. Makes me nervous having him drive that long each day; We were so spoiled in Aberdeen. We still don't have a house, car, or phone {Bakersfield number} yet but we are now in a temporary apartment. We are staying at the Rio Paseo in a 2/2 which is nice considering we were living in a hotel for the past week. Yay to being able to cook again and for some personal space. We made sure to get a 2/2 so Gerald can have his room and bathroom again! Lucky for us, our air shipment arrived today too! I made sure to pack the basic kitchen items plus spices so I think we are good to go.  We were introduced to a very sweet, new friend here, Jill, from Laine, our friend in Aberdeen, and she let us borrow her air mattresses, which we will be using as a bed until our sea shipment arrives. We got notification that it will be in LA on Nov 29th, so hopefully we find a house before then. We went on an essentials shopping spree at Target and Costco today and got pretty much what we needed to live off of for the next month or so. You know, Costco size toilet rolls for Gerald...haha. Overall, things have been good. I catch myself trying to turn on the lights from the outside, writing the dates with the day.month.year, and walking on the left a lot.  It's funny how you pick up these habits without knowing. Driving had been good, roads here are huge and so are parking spaces. I do miss walking to the grocery store and stuff though. Currently, we are without internet {sitting in the car outside the apt rec area to use their wifi}, as the guy couldn't get it connected today for some reason. Hopefully, he will be able to do it tomorrow because I feel very lost without the internet. We do, however, have a full size washer and dryer and were able to do 3 loads today {wash, dried, and folded}, in about two hours! It was AWESOME!  Our next main focus will be buying a car and we might have to drive down to LA for that, but hopefully not. Just can't think of driving 2 hours to pick up a car but maybe we can make a trip out of it. We are planning to go to SF next weekend to meet up with some friends and a few friends are flying up from Houston as well so that should be fun! This next week will be spent continuing to settle in and hopefully finding a house. Wish us luck and Happy Halloween weekend! Have fun and stay safe! 

Tea, Tangia, Tangines, and more! {Marrakech Eats}

During our 3 day stay in Marrakech, we managed drink tea and eat tagines pretty much every day. The tagines we had were all delicious, some more than others, but because I've never really eaten that type of food before, so didn't mind having it every day.

As a welcome gesture, Moroccans serve tea to their guest along with some sort of sweet or nuts upon entering a business or home. The tea is usually infused with loads of fresh mint and lots of sugar. You have to tell them "no sugar" if you don't want a sweet tea or else you will be bouncing off the walls. Moroccans love their tea culture and have lots of beautiful tea pots and glasses to serve them in. Tash managed to come home with a beautiful set {teapot, glasses, tray, sugar bowl} and I'm quite jealous. I only got to bring home two glasses; we just didn't have room for anything more. Anyhow, pouring tea is also an art; you have to start pouring low and then raise the teapot up to a decent height {without missing the teacup} to get the nice foam/bubbles and aroma of the tea. It was definitely a skill the Moroccans have mastered.  We really enjoyed our mint teas and you better believe I will be replicating it at home =)

Another thing the Moroccans do well is Tangia. This dish is popular with the single men around town: they buy meat, put it in a pot with spices, and then leave it within the furnace of a hamam to slow cook,  using the ashes, throughout the day. The meat that comes out of this pot is so tender and flavorful {think braised short ribs} that just makes you want to eat more and more. We had the beef one at a very local restaurant. 

Have you ever tried steam lamb shoulder? Well, we did and it was some of the best meat I've tasted {think tender pulled pork texture}. The meat just pulls apart.  The restaurant that we got the meat from steams it underneath the restaurant itself. Upon entering the restaurant, there is a hole in the ground where you can see the shoulder being hung and steamed. Of course, they cover this up when people are walking by but you would never know something like this was happening, so neat! The meat was served with a mixture of salt and cumin that you sprinkle on top. 

Tagines, you can have lamb, beef, chicken, meatballs, or vegetables. Each meat is paired up with a different spice, fruit or vegetable and served with cous cous. The chicken one was cooked with cured lemon, something I've never had before. It gave it a nice citrus flavor. Meatballs tasted like meatballs with marinara sauce but spicier. Gerald loved the beef one, it was like beef stew with lots of spices. My favorite was the lamb, sweet and tender. Anyhow, we had our fair share of tagines and came home with full bellies every night but it was a nice eating experience that we enjoyed very much.

To soak up all the goodness of the dishes above, we were given bread. The bread didn't really have any taste to it, but the airiness inside and the golden outside made it perfect for dipping {think a thicker version of pita bread}. For the most part, these breads are made in a community bakery, located in each quarter. You just bring your dough on trays and leave it with the baker. The stone oven is huge and can bake lots at a time, I was really amazed. Supposedly the bakeries work 365 days a year so Moroccans must really like their bread!

Chicken Pastillas, it's like having dessert as an appetizer. I'm such a sweet and savory type of girl and this hit the spot. Savory chicken with nuts, inside a pastry shell sprinkled with powdered sugar. So yummy! You must try this if you ever see it on the menu. I think I had one everyday. I even had one at the airport, which was disgusting, but that's how much I enjoyed it and wanted it. 

On our last day in the city, we went to the Jemaa el Fna square and market place to check out the sunset. As we were heading to the cafe, I stopped at Stall 32 to try out some lamb sausages . I read it on a blog somewhere {forgot the blog name, SORRY!} and heard it was a must try. The others, Tash, James, and Gerald were quite hesitant but they were nice enough to sit with me while I tried these little suckers. After a bite into it, I was raving about how delicious they were so they all each took a bite and agreed that it was pretty good. I love street food and don't mind risking my health {just a litte} to try some tasty eats. After all, that is where some of the best meals can be found. The merguez sausages were served with harira sauce and the infamous bread. It was a nice snack before heading up to the cafe terrance to watch the sunset. 

Also, a couple of sweets we had:

Moroccan Cronut - fried bread, almost like a yorkshire pudding

Moroccan Cereal - sweet cereal like pastry with nuts, served with milk poured on top

As you can see, we had some pretty great eats in Marrakech. I especially enjoyed it because I've never eaten anything similar,  so everything was new to me. Definitely head to Morocco with an appetite because there are so many good things to try. I'll leave you with this gorgeous sunset over the Koutoubia Mosque for your viewing pleasure =)

Dar Seven Marrakech

Most of the accommodations in Marrakech are in the form of Riads {enclosed patio area in the center} or Dar {open garden/courtyard in the center}. You can read about the difference between the two and learn a little bit more about them here. Within the medina walls of Marrakech, you would never be able to discover some of these beautiful places if you didn't know exactly where they were. We arrived later in the evening and thankfully for us, someone met us outside the quarters of our dar to take us to our home for the next 3 nights. We were walking through traffic of people, scooters flying by, kids playing, cats running around and people just hanging out on the streets of the medina. "Where is he taking us," is what we were all thinking! But then, we enter through this pink little alleyway and a few steps down...

...we enter into peace and tranquility! We had breakfast in the courtyard every morning and enjoyed some wine on the rooftop one of the nights. I loved the modern Moroccan decor and really wished I could have taken everything home with me! It was such a relaxing place to be at the end of each day, after sightseeing and walking around the streets of the medina. The 2 staff that worked there {one morning and night shift} were both super friendly and we really felt at home. We shared the dar with a couple of girls from Hong Kong one of the nights, but the next two nights, we had the place all to ourselves. The residence is owned by the Princess of Asturias so we can now say that we've stayed in a royal residence =)

Our Room - The White Room

View to the lounge area across the ways

Rooftop view

Entrance to Tash and James' room. You'll just have to book a room here when you visit so you can see what it looks like.  I loved the doors to their room!