Moroccan Family Style

We enjoyed the privilege of sharing in a friend's 40th birthday celebration at a Moroccan restaurant here in Atlanta - The Imperial Fez. Firstly, it was a successful surprise party, which is always cool. Next, the friends were a fun group. Finally - the restaurant and the food. It was really cool. You take your shoes off as you enter. You recline (or sit on a VERY low seat) at the table. You are provided with a towel, which is to be draped over your left shoulder. This is your napkin. You will use a good bit of the towel for this purpose, because you eat just about EVERYTHING with your fingers - index, middle, and thumb, as we were instructed. Everything was served to the table "family style" - meaning everyone grabbed food (literally) from the same dishes. Even the salad assortment was to be eaten with the fingers. The food was delicious, and flavored with spices not normally encountered at my house. I really liked just about everything I tried, and I tried everything. We started with a lentil soup (I really LOVE soup!) that was delicious. But, with no spoon, you drink it from the bowl! Only one of the appetizers (a mushroom and spinach thing) was a little spicy-hot. There were several vegetable appetizers, all delicious. They did provide 2 levels of hot sauce (again, not really hot) for the meats. The Angus beef kabob was excellent. The lamb chops were excellent. The Cornish hen was tasty. There was a filo pastry appetizer with powdered sugar and powdered cinnamon sprinkled on it with Cornish Hen inside that was fabulous! All in all, an excellent meal.

They also had several appearances by belly dancers. It was fun. The sword dance was interesting. We left just before the "Fire Dance" - that could have been interesting too, but the group was ready to leave. We had been there for quite a while. I would definitely go there again!

Our life group met tonight (minus one family). It was good to get back together. I'd say we're all still healing a bit from the mess at BH this year. We're also eager to move on - and hopeful that we can. Time will tell.

Finally - I hope the week ahead at work is less stressful. On top of the acquisition last week, and 2 customer emergencies for me to handle, I had 2 co-worker's families touched by medical issues. One, a co-worker had an aneurysm burst in his brain. He had a 5-hour surgery on Friday that was a success, thank God. Second, another co-worker's husband had a "mild" heart attack. After a double-angioplasty he is recovering nicely also. Again, thank God. I'd really like a week at work with a little less going on!!!