Showing posts filed under: Peggy’s Blog Clear

What brings you alive?

What brings you alive?

What brings you alive?
What brings me alive is the active participation of being in a culture different from my own, relating with a heightened sense of awareness and an open heart looking for a way in.

Hammam a leuyah

A story about Western women in an ancient community hammam. Some hammams are chic, some are anticeptic. Some are raw and real.

This story was written by Peggy back in 2010, but it gets brought up each time we visit the hammam in Morocco. We hope you enjoy it once more.

I Arrived In Morocco The First Time At Midnight In Springtime

I arrived in Morocco the first time at midnight in springtime. I was traveling with two women friends. We drove the long dark highway to the coastal town of Essaouira,  known as old Mogador. Seagulls welcomed us as we walked the dimly lit pathway to our hotel in the wee hours. We fell into a deep slumber and awoke to birdsong, Moroccan pancakes with honey and the aroma of sweet mint tea. Instantly, I fell in love with Morocco and that beginning has only been the doorway to which all other delights have spilled.

Spices are travelers themselves

Cumin, ginger, cinnamon, saffron – poetic spices that not only give flavor to food, but tell a story. Spices are travelers themselves, having crossed deserts and sailed on ships, they were coveted, used for trade and medicine. They tamed wild meats and aided digestion. Salt was as good as money. Spices have been a valuable flavorful currency worth their weight in gold as a precious influence on cultural identity.

From La Cucina al Focolare with Love

“Cucina e amore…” says Piero. Cooking is love. The wood-fired ovens are burning here at La Cucina al Focolare – Cooking by the Fireside, the original crown in Peggy Markel’s Culinary Adventures. We are in the Florentine hills of the Arno valley, outside of Florence surrounded by olive gardens and a stone’s …

Lust for Travel…

Late summer skies are getting bluer and there is the faintest hint of cool in the air. Most people are ending their summer holidays and going back to work or school. So am I. Thank goodness it’s the traveling kind. I’m ready to hit the road for foreign lands and steep myself in a different cultural brew.