Moroccan food

Moroccan food is one of the most sensual in the world. It appeals directly and unashamedly to the senses of smell, sight and taste in a way that no other cuisine can match.

The souks are magical places, with smells and sights that make one feel hungry just thinking about them. Around every corner, waft different smells to surprise and delight.

The Moroccan-born writer Edmond Amran el Maleh described Moroccan cuisine as "the perfumed soul of our culture", a unique blend of African, Arabian and European influences. The result: a cuisine characterised by its subtle scents, delicate flavours and elegant presentation.

Eating is serious business. Typically dining room walls are decorated with mosaics and richly woven carpets cover the floors. Hand carved low divans swamped by luxurious, elaborately-decorated cushions line the sides of the room and a heavy circular table is laid with ornate baroque silverware and copperware

Dishes are placed in the centre of the table often in earthenware dishes in which they are cooked and everyone tucks in.

Most meals begin with a simple selection of mezze, which might include a bowl of olives or a selection of cooked vegetable salads dressed with olive oil, sprinkled with cumin and served a dip and flat bread. The tagine or roast meat dish may come next, served with couscous and often a salad. A simple plate of prepared fresh fruit or dessert marks the end of the meal, before mint tea is served.

The Japanese Kimono

The Kimono in general

If there is one single piece of clothing that is associated with Japan, it  is the kimono (literally translated as "the thing worn.") The kimono and its variations has a very long history in Japan and is still worn today, although generally only for celebrations and wedding ceremonies. The history of the development of the kimono is closely tied to the development of Japanese textiles and techniques for making clothing.

The kimono emphasizes the material from which it is made. Assembled from simple rectangular cut pieces of cloth, the shape of the body is both concealed and virtually ignored by the structure of the garment. Western clothing is constructed of material that is cut precisely to conform to and accentuate the shape of the body, thus eliminating the space between body and garment.

The kimono is made by sewing together simple rectangles cut in straight lines from relatively narrow widths of hand woven silks or hemp tailoring, such as that found in western style garments is not used. This makes it easy to take the kimono apart, replace worn areas, and put it back together again.

Making the kimono

There were different ways of decorating the kimono. Among these are:

Immersion dyeing: This is used when you want the entire cloth to be of the same color. Once the dye is ready the cloth is immersed in it over and over until you get the exact color that you want. Once that happens the cloth is removed and dried. Sometimes certain materials are used to make sure the dye penetrates the cloth properly.

Painting: You outline a pattern, then use dyes and mordents to brush in the pattern and then use freehand painting to finish it.

Paste resist: A drawing of the design is made on the fabric, then past is applied to the area to be reserved and then the dyeing is done.

Shibori: Sometimes there are areas of the cloth that you don't want dyed at first, so it's necessary to somehow block off those areas from the dye when you initially immerse it in the dye bath.

Yuzen dyeing: The silk is stretched straight then a drawing is painted onto the white silk with a water-soluble blue liquid. The drawing is traced over with narrow lines of resist paste. The name comes from Miyazuki Yuzensai, a fan painter of the seventeenth century.

Kimono colors

It is obvious that on many of the kimonos color is a very important aspect. Through the Heian period colors were considered to have a spiritual force. Many of the plants used for dyes for the kimonos also had medicinal uses, adding even more importance to the colors used.

Color names include murasaki (purple); akane (red); ai (indigo); benibana (scarlet) and cha, or brown.

Black, which was associated with wisdom, was believed to be protection against evil. Purple represented elegance and was connected with the highest ranks of people. Browns and greys were the traditional colors for commoners.

Storing the Kimono

Since kimonos are constructed so that they can be taken apart and put back together there have been times when a kimono that had faded was taken apart, re-dyed and then put back together again although this is not really done much anymore.

Kimonos are also never dry cleaned. You also never hang the kimono on a hanger or seal it in plastic.

In order to clean you first shake off any dust and then vacuum the surfaces to remove any other dust. You then refold the kimono and put it away.

Properly storing a kimono requires wrapping it in rice paper called tatoushi then laying the kimono flat in a drawer. Ideally this would be something called a kiri tansu which is a chest made of lightweight wood that repels moisture.

Australia

Aborigines: Aborigines are Australia's natives. The Aborigine's had no written language. Instead of writing, Aborigines told traditions in stories, songs, dances, and art called Corrobees. In their dances, Aborigines used an instrument called the didgeridoo to make animal sounds that occur in dances. The didgeridoo is made from the hollowed limb of a gum tree.

Schools: In school children usually wear uniforms which mostly consist of a certain color shirt or pants (in public or private school.) Most children attend a government funded school. At eleven o'clock, it doesn't matter where you are, it doesn't matter what school you're in, you stop and have tea. For the children, tea would be a juice box, or a cookie. For the teachers they would actually have tea and a crumpet (which would be some sort of roll) which one mom would provide. After the children finished drinking and eating, they would go around to the cricket shed and get out cricket equipment and a basketball. Then until eleven thirty, the children would play either cricket or basketball. School would continue for ten weeks straight with no three day weekends, only two day weekends. Then at the end of the tenth week, the children would have two weeks off, and that would be called a "term" (quarter.) At the end of the fourth "term" the children would have six weeks off, and that would be their summer vacation.

Sports/Favorite Activities: In the summer most Australians enjoy surfing, and boating. In winter most Australians enjoy hockey, rugby, soccer, and basket ball. Australians also enjoy playing soccer, and cricket.

Kangaroos: The kangaroo is one of Australia’s most iconic animals, and most species are endemic to Australia. There are over 60 different species of kangaroo and their close relatives, with all kangaroos belonging to the super family Macropodoidea (or macropods, meaning ‘great-footed’). The super family is divided into the Macropodidae and the Potoroidae families.