From Casablanca on the coast to the inland city of Fez in the northern part of Morocco, the area looks very much like the American Southwest.
Looking out the window of the van, there's not much to see.
A well-paved highway cuts through the flat, dusty farmland, passing villages remarkable only for the number of flat roofed houses with satellite dishes and the occasional donkey cart.
I'm with a group of travel and food writers visiting Morocco. Some of us are here for the first time.
Before we leave Casablanca we stop at the Mosque Hassam II, the 3rd largest mosque in the world, the largest in Morocco.
The scale of the doors makes visitors look very small. The detailing on tiles and metal work on the tall doorways is beautiful. The mosque overlooks the breakwater and harbor. A few blocks away, restaurants and clubs share the same view. We grab a quick breakfast after our all-night flight before we climb in the van for a three hour drive.
We were going to take a cab to Damascus for dinner, but we couldn’t get
our visas, so we headed south. I was in Jordan, the Middle Eastern
Sundance Lab had ended. The aspiring filmmakers and their mentors were
dispersing back home to Cairo, Beruit, Ramallah and Casablanca.
A trip to Santa Fe is at once exhilarating and embarrassing. You say to yourself, “how can I be so corny and fall in love with the food, the shopping, the art, and the
physical beauty all over again?”. And yet, you do, embracing it all as
you roll your eyes at your own enthusiasm. The food, of course, is of
superior class with an emphasis on how we want to eat today: local and
seasonal. And each Santa Fe friend has their own passionate reason why
their favorite restaurant has the best green chili. But there is more
to the palette of Santa Fe food than traditional Northern New Mexico
cuisine, as good as that is. Here are a half dozen of my personal
favorites. One of the great things about them all is their unique
points of view on feeding you. Unique, like Santa Fe itself.
I have been a news junkie since I was a child, probably because we only
had one TV with rabbit ears. Every night after supper, I sat with my
dad and watched the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.
When I landed at LAX I didn’t have the heart to tell my father all I wanted for dinner was some delicious Prime Rib from Lawry’s. But, I didn’t need to wait long because just as we entered the house he announced we would be getting dinner there that very night. Needless to say, the Martini, Lawry’s Cut, and all the sides had me full, content, and very sleepy after a long day of travel.