Berber cuisine

 as experienced by me

(an ex NYC)  in the Detroit Metro Area

Number two  in a series of  Food analysis in the Metro D 

As of this article Your culinary journey has started at  beta of   the alpha bet - B for Berber (Morocco)

Posted on October 16, 2017 by sugarscience by Margo the Foodie

 and thanks to wikipedia  for the summary  below:

Although they are the original inhabitants of North Africa, Berbers lived in very contained communities and in spite of various incursions by Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Ottomans and French. Having been subject to limited external influences, these populations lived free from factors making for acculturation. (Not melting pot, not assimilation, not persecution. Wow.

Very simply  in Morocco , Berbers are respected - they are the originals .

  The acculturation is best explained by this quote from metrotimes.com : " Morocco is a cultural crossroads and that's reflected in its food with identifiable elements of Iberian, Mediterranean, North African Jewish, and Berber cuisine."    

The Berber cuisine is considered as a traditional cuisine which evolved little in the course of time. Couscous and Tagine are the principal dishes for special feasts, celebrations, etc within the means of everyone.

And in your case lucky metropolitan Detroit - you can hit up Casablanca in Ypsilanti - on your way to an Ann Arbor weekend. The non tailgate weekend. Lets call it the visit the library to do research on the family history weekend. You must stop here. It will save you the plane ticket to the  Levant Casablanca  , which is the Detroit of Morocco in a business sense.  Having wandered its souks speaking French and eating  fish figs and filo bread (baklava) and knowing that I cannot reproduce these flavors I found this place .

Casablanca

http://www.casablancaypsilanti.com/

2333 Washtenaw Ave, Ypsilanti

734-961-7825

Berber cuisine differs from one area to another within North Africa. Thus, it is not easy to speak about a typically Berber cuisine. A classification is essential, in order to emphasize the specificities of each Berber group. Zayanes of the region of Khénifra around the Middle Atlas have a cuisine of a remarkable but tasty simplicity. It is based primarily on corn, barley, ewe’s milk, goat cheese, butter, honey, meat, and game.

couscous dish

Tajine dish

The principal Berber food is:

• Couscous, a dish enjoyed worldwide
• Tajine, a very diversified dish, made in various forms:
  • Tajine with chicken, lemon and olives
  • Tajine with tuna
  • Tajine with sardines
  • Tajine with lamb meat and caramelized plum
  • Tajine with plums
  • Tajine with legumes and endives
  • Tajine with turkey and potatoes
• Pastilla
• bread made with traditional yeast
• “Bouchiar” (fine wafer without yeast soaked with butter and natural honey)
• “Bourjeje” (pancake made containing flour, of eggs, yeast and salt)
• “Tahricht” (containing offal: brain, tripe, lung, heart: these ingredients are rolled up with the intestines on a stick of oak and cooked on embers.)
  
• Mechoui or lamb barbecue – a whole sheep roasted in artisanal ovens, designed especially for this use. The sheep is coated with natural butter, which makes it tastier. This dish is mainly designed to be served at festivities.
• I personally had this as a  guest after Ramadan, while visiting a friend in Marrakesh. 

  
  Marrakesh main square- the Medina
  This is a UNESCO world Heritage site. Its a giant street fair.
   The party starts at sundown  
  You have got to go...just for the fresh squeezed OJ and sweets
  which are also available at Casablanca Ypsilanti 

  https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g293734-d324126-i196435068-Medina_of_Marrakesh-Marrakech_Marrakech_Tensift_El_Haouz_Region.html

The Holidays are coming :  Couscous and Tagine are the principal dishes for special feasts, celebrations, etc within the means of everyone. Try it for Thanksgiving ,as a great way to serve rice with some flavor. It is so easy to make-- here is a recipe.  Of course you can find couscous at Target  and Walmart.

But you could go to  Casablanca , and get appetizers , etc.. 

 Trip Advisor link for this metropolitan restaurant here 

Fitz Forward or Fitzed the %^$#@& Up ?

 Fitz Forward or Fitzed the %^$#@& Up ?

Fact: Upcoming Housing  auction for normal people not developers  in Detroit - October  2017

Did you know that certain neighborhoods have been on the radar since at least  1890 ? Thanks to Alex Hill and his site Detroitography - the history of  urban ideas in Detroit can be examined visually 

Let's talk @Fitzgerald  -  Map see section 9   Fitgerald is  Yellow box below#9  

(or click for a bigger visual )

 see section 9  ----Fitzgerald is divided diagonally by JC Lodge Freeway aka M-10

 In a Larry Gilbert original article  in metrotimes.com   Oct 4 2017 he mentions that he lives in the area. This area is a big project under the current mayor. Since the election will take place in a month, it is a part of Detroit that is not gentrified but is still getting attention- Fitzgerald is the experiment .
I was wondering what happens to people in urban experiments.

What if you want to be an active participant in your future?

 I grew up with HUD. Model Cities , Urban Renewal  and then I moved to NYC- Harlem.

clicking on box = easier to read 

So many dollars so little results. Neoliberal thought and action means there is not a tendency to throw federal /state/civic money at anything too large/unpredictable . Experience has shown to legislatures that agencies designed to improve urban environments tend to be ineffective.
Better to use private money.
 The unidentified 89 year old has her own money
so how much would she need to get a house in this improvement zone.???????

The less work needing to bring the house to habitation the better. So the first  Detroit Housing Auction in September tends to move houses that are more readily fixable.
Acccording to the official website  bidder registration started in August

Provided that the bidder is sharp and sticks to deadlines and is Internet savvy , all they really need is money in the bank  to bid on something decent- aka a Premium Property 
  

The specific rules for this auction are in a pdf .   The money requirements are from pg. 5-
not in this exact order 

III. THE AUCTION

1. The Auction will be conducted on the internet by the Treasurer, at

www.waynecountytreasurermi.com 

    Deposits and/or Bids

 WILL NOT BE accepted 

 at the Office of the Wayne County Treasurer. 

 At the sole discretion of the Treasurer a property identified as a (decent property)

 Premium Parcel may require a deposit of $25,000.00 and a registration fee of $35.00. A deposit of $25,000.00 will enable the bidder to bid on multiple properties.

In order to participate in the auction a deposit and registration fee are required.  

To bid on one  property the deposit is $1,000.00 with a registration fee of $35.00

Lower $$ attracts hipsters like me - all I want is a fixer upper with a taxable yard  of @ 1000 sq feet so I can park the mobile home and not incur the wrath of  the Zoning Board

 Deposit payments shall be submitted by utilizing the auction screens in order to be transferred to J.P. Morgan Chase’s online payment system. 

Hope you have a credit card   because prepaid debit/credit cards are not accepted

What are you buying? 
You had better drive by it first.
 Be careful.... it could be occupied, so do not go in!!

 My retired cop friend warned me that if I was this  a serious  purchase call him  so he could go along ... I had to admit it was not a bad idea, but since I was not in a rush to purchase I figured Zillow and a combination of Google Mapping and the auction.com site would do for this article.

Looking online in the Fitzgerald zipcode I quickly found a pleasant possibility 

The home resembles the colonial I grew up in pre and post  1967 Detroit    
it is 16573 Griggs  -   and listed for @ 20K
the go to site is Loveland  Technologies   Detroit if you are bidding   https://detroit.makeloveland.com/#p=/us/mi/wayne/detroit/62898 

 Thoroughly  examine  the zoning and plot info  links to the Wayne County site that you need to consult before going to the bidding site  www.waynecountytreasurermi.com 

•  You need to do Due Diligence  - there is a kiosk where you can look up parcels/info  
• You must check the deed information before you purchase a parcel. 
• Deed information can be checked at the kiosk for free, at 400 Monroe Street, 7th Floor.

Finally,  if you are feeling pretty comfortable about the purchase , review your contractors on Angie's List/ Home Adviser .com and vet their honesty.  The main thing to know is their willingness to work in Fitzgerald - the Home Depot is   on 7  mile and Meyers and they will be making lots of trips. 

Do the math ---- on paper you need  to have liquid approximately 5 times what it would take to make a home habitable in 6 months because it will be furnished ...
 5 x 25,000  minus 25,000 for the auction is approximately  100,000 which  should cover EVERY last  Unforeseen, Emergency , Cursed  Nain Rouge problem that can happen

  

Set aside   3.5 times the initial cost of the bid margin (25,000 x 3.5)  for   work by deadline : 
there is still a fixer upper deadline in these Special sales!Also assume you will need basic decent furniture/appliances  that fits the house  -stove, fridge, washer, dryer, bed, couch, table, chair ..
..adds up to the other 1.5 times the initial investment.(25,000 x 1.5 )

 Guess who is not that affluent??? Despite  saving $ by not paying average  NYC rent , and having some $ in the bank , this writer decided it was too easy to  spend 100 K total . Also This writer is not trying to flip anything since we never had 100 K to begin with.
 If you want to simply retire and not be too worried about hurricanes, bad guardians , living wills, rising taxes, etc , it makes sense to move to Kentucky and grow tomatoes.

 What can that 89 year old in 48227 do ?That 89 year old could easily overspend for her child and offspring.  I hope you are using an online calculator, printing the results  and asking yourself

Can it get done for less?

If you belong to the Boomer demographic (lets say Zoomer - Plan to Ski when retired) You are computer savvy compared to an 89 year old . In my case , the move back to the Detroit Metro area   from NYC  gave me a unique perspective. I could go hipster and be creative , even Detropia on this Land Bank and do something cool... using grant money along with my money, and I could plan it all out by research online. No tiny  house in my future. Hello Brick House with features!!

That did not happen . Money went to other things , like school loans.
Despite tools, rough carpentry background and friends with skills the $500 dollar house was a fleeting dream-Even with me getting the permits and parking the motorhome on site  with tools and a concealed permit, as suggested by my retired cop friend,I knew better... $500 dollars needs to be 50,000  - just the gas needed to transport materials would add up quickly. The obvious costs versus the hidden ones like security for the tools until the job was DONE.
 (I would probably just hire security anyway which means the $500 dollar house is no longer at $500..)

But dreamers deserve to dream and maybe get a book out of their efforts...

Just in case you want to go that route here is a  16  things to deal with   Buzzfeed article  . More interesting is the  article about the book written by

  Amy Haimerl  and her partner Karl Kaebnick on the initial  35 K investment (which is $ amount total  Wayne County Bid  pg 5  of the auction rules .pdf cites for the Premium Parcel)  They ended up spending a lot more.

 Most 89 year old Detroiters cannot afford to do what Drew Phillips did either-

https://www.amazon.com/500-House-Detroit-Rebuilding-Abandoned/dp/1476797986#reader_1476797986

I have yet to find a memoir  by a Boomer / Retiree or a Black Person or all three at once! 

 on restoring a house in Detroit. 

This also explains why the Hungry Black Man does not see a Boomer / Retiree /Black Person  Demographic ( the type that reads Black Enterprise, travels abroad and supports HBCU's)

 regularly populating restaurants in Detroit ...

Now because I find myself easily 20 miles from Corktown or Agnes Street /Grand River (sorry Vegan Soul) and have other responsibilities...

 Taking on a restoration project or even traveling to eat out is a no go. Being a homebody  is probably true for those who live in my old neighborhood or Fitzgerald as well . Not easy to go out on the regular , driving and discovering the next cool thing that is  popping up less than 10 miles via M10/Lodge Freeway . It should be easy to figure out that Boomers are not in the home renovation business in Detroit due to Life getting in the way. Yet they are the ones with some need to establish security  - but not the 89 year old----- this will wreck her security  ...

....Be kind to this 89 year old. Her auction project could be realized It is all about being in the Know and reading every last link in this article .... It is about doing doing the math. Consider the  great Metropolitan area between the riverfront and the old Selfridge Air force base even though it is not all Oakland county . Money not extending far enough  is the issue.  The  average cost of taxes, water bill, and electric resulted in a  9% increase in Oakland county in 2017 . If you are a retiree,your social security /pension had to absorb a 9 % increase  from 2016-2017 just because you live in the general area between here and the closest farmland. 
(No stats for Detroit yet but lets say it went up about that much there too) 

 Your ability to absorb  that 9%   is based on an income above $37,000- which is easily done in Oakland county since the median income in @ 65 ,000 . 
Guess what the medium income is in Detroit ?  

Conclusion :you will do fine- in Oakland County so get your kid to take over your old house in Fitzgerald, and you need to move out here to Waterford , South Milford or Pontiac - Unless you are very connected to your church you will find a new community here by using on demand SMART transit to hang out  at the local civic center.
Here is Troy as an example

 Then again, it all depends on the schools. Maybe you stay put and get your grandkids in the aforementioned towns where the education is almost as good as private, and it is free.
Your Call. Just do not Fitz yourself.

Happy Ending for Henry the Hatter

https://www.metrotimes.com/the-scene/archives/2017/10/05/update-henry-the-hatter-owner-says-new-eastern-market-digs-are-the-perfect-fit           

 Happy ending for Henry the Hatter

I am glad  for Henry the Hatter! He may have lost his downtown spot -and $$$$ its not easy to relocate a store downtown if you are not a big deal.... But Henry
now has a better spot...

 I developed a hat habit in NYC.  Maybe it was from watching too many movies in Black and White  or Annie Hall                                                                                                     

Annie Hall -Iconic Look not from the Art Director , but the Actor herself-

 

Tam O Shanters are not just for golfers

 How many hats do you have??

Oh I know- I lived in Harlem !!! But now I am back in the D and before I could get a chance to go deep downtown  I found out Henry the Hatter was out.... as of this fall Eastern Market (not far from where I spent my first years!)

 I have a derby (antique)

a leather all weather  gaucho hat (Argentina)

a  straw fedora -Goorin Brothers 

a felt fedora

a newsboy cap-( custom made in Harlem )

 a tam o shanter (its an antique!)

 crazy baseball caps  (Collectible hats)

and my favorite -a  Russian Army wool hat

Can not wait to visit Henry the Hatter and get something for the sure to be Very Cold Winter 2017-2018 (Hurricanes really change Michigan Weather - see  jet streams etc)

In Argentina /Wearing Leather Gaucho Hat