Eid Al Ad’ha

This past weekend we celebrated the Eid Al Ad’ha, or Kurban Bayram in Turkish. It is perhaps the most important feast day in the Muslim calendar. This eid, or feast, commemorates the story of Abraham and Isaac, in which God called upon Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, to Him. At the point of cutting the boy’s throat, God relented and stayed Abraham’s hand, seeing that the old man was willing to do whatever He asked. A sheep appeared and father and son sacrificed the animal in thanksgiving.

In the Muslim world, all who can are called upon to sacrifice a sheep, goat, or even a cow or camel. A portion of the meat must be given to those who cannot afford a feast on this day. There are traditional foods that are eaten on this day and lamb is featured, grilled lamb being the hands-down favorite.

Around the area, we could hear the bleating of sheep awaiting the feast. On virtually every vacant lot in town you could see shepherds with their small flocks, selling the required sheep to families looking for just the right one. Live sheep were selling for between 370 and 700 TD each and the news reported that sheep production was up 15% over last year.

Men came through our neighborhood wielding knives, offering their services as butchers door-to-door and later you could see men collecting sheep hides for tanning. Some of the traditional foods of the day use the internal organs and some even cook the head, so nothing goes to waste.

Paula and I celebrated the three-day weekend with a bit of feasting of our own. We did a bit of shopping on Saturday and purchased some lamb for our new grill.

Our first course was harira, which is a Moroccan soup made with lamb stock, chickpeas, lentils and tomato puree. I seasoned it with Ras el Hanout and lots of fresh parsley. There’s plenty left over, but it’s so good that I wouldn’t wait more than a couple days to drop by.

Fortified with a good hearty soup, we moved on to preparing the main event, which was grilled lamb, salad and garlic mashed potatoes. The salad was a mix of tomatoes, fennel bulb, onion, parsley and garlic all diced and tossed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

As you see, our grill is an interesting device. At a paltry 2.500 TD, it certainly is affordable. It is made of misprinted sheet metal and pop rivets. Simple and effective! If you’ve ever used one of those disposable grill and charcoal packets, this little guy beats the heck out of that in cool factor alone!!

I was a bit concerned about getting the thing lit, but the former tenant of our abode left us a bottle of paraffin oil (!?!),  so I used it as charcoal lighter. Needless to say, it smelled like burning wax and smoked a bit, but, after a fashion, it did do the trick!

On Sunday we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went out to Port Kantoui.

Port El Kantaoui is an upscale area of tourist traps, pubs and rather nice restaurants, laced with hotels and anchored by a pleasure craft marina. It’s a pleasant place to spend a beautiful late autumn day, wandering through the over-priced shops and strolling around the marina. You can get a bite to eat and have a drink with your meal, as the restaurants cater to foreign tourists and locals alike.

There are plenty of faux priates.

These sherbet-colored boats offer a view under the sea.

It was Paula’s turn to make a new friend.

The breakwater is the place for strollers and fishermen to mingle.

With this cat on the job, the sign was superfluous! Keep out!!

After buying some soap at the Olive Musee stand, the man offered us a gift. He hand-lettered a card with our names transliterated into Arabic with a profession of our love. Sweet!

These fellows were headed to sea for a bit of fishing … the hard way!

This is a harbor marker. Stay between the lights, and  I don’t mean the white one in the sky!

And finally, what can I say? There’s a zoo at Port El Kantaoui and on the street side there’s an enclosure for Guinea pigs. Curiously, they have more furniture than we have at the moment. Here they are at table for their own Eid feast.

 

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