Participants will post a picture, story, song, poem, recipe, craft project, piece of art – anything, really – that tells us something about your city/town, state/province, or country for that week's topic. Our hope is that through this weekly meme, we’ll learn more about our countries and cultures.

This week's theme is EATING OUT, so tell us abut or show us the places where you go to eat outside of your home in your part of the world.

Here goes nothing!

Eating out has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Whether it was the Sunday gatherings with family or the dinner out Thursday nights with my parents and sisters, I have always enjoyed eating away from home. The Amazing Egyptian Dude, on the other hand, grew up with a tradition of always eating at home so when we got married, we had to strike a compromise on dining out. Over the years, he's kind of gotten used to it and although he'll complain about the cost every now and again, we eat out once or twice a week on average.

At the beginning of the week, we had dinner at a restaurant owned by one of our customers. The Karma Cafe serves delicious homestyle Moroccan cuisine. One of these days, I am going to remember to carry the camera around with me but until I do, I have to rely on our cell phones for photos when we're out and about. Sorry -- the quality isn't all that great in some of them.



Gabriel, the owner and chef at Karma Cafe, served us a cornucopia of delights. We started with za'atar and bread. Za'atar is a blend of herbs, spices, and sesame seeds mixed with olive oil.


Then we had the most amazing falafel I've ever eaten. I don't know what they do in Morocco that's different, but they definitely have an edge on the falafel there! The falafel was followed by samples of kebab and shawarma with hummous.



Next came Moroccan lentil soup. I am not much of a soup eater, but even I had to concede that this stuff was delicious!



Finally, the entrees. I had Tagine Chicken, and the AED got the Fish Pastilla. Both were heavenly!


The delicious lentil soup proved to be our downfall -- we each ate a full bowl and had no room for the entree other than a few bites. We brought the leftovers home and had a great meal the next day, though. And for me, that's the best part of eating out anyway!