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Tag Archives: Food

Motels/Dining/Covid19Summer

07 Friday Aug 2020

Posted by winifredcreamer in Cross country, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota

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Covid19 travel, Food

We stayed in three different motels on our trip from Rochester, MN to Fortine, MT.

Sculpture outside Rochester, MN

We ate takeout sushi in Fargo (terrible, don’t ever do that). We didn’t get sick, we just found the sushi to be inedibly dry, cold, and hard. We ate leftovers that we had with us for dinner in Williston (after the night of terrible sushi). We bought a rotisserie chicken in the grocery store in Havre.

Fargo, ND: Residence Inn by Marriott Fargo was very clean, as were all the places we stayed. Most people wore masks going in and out, but not everyone. Staff was behind a plexiglass sheet. They were helpful, for example, giving us the extra packet of coffee we requested. Coffee maker was in the room already. There was supposed to be breakfast, but we decided to visit Starbucks instead.

Williston, ND: Winterton Suites. Like most of these motels, Winterton was unprepossesing, painted in an unfortunate shade of slightly mustard-tinted yellow that seems to be popular with motels and rental properties this year. The bathroom was very clean despite decor approximating a gas station restroom. On the bright side, the managers were very cheerful and readily available, and the price was right, $100 a night. This was less than our other stops. We didn’t investigate breakfast options. The motel rooms faced a parking area, and not all rooms were occupied. We wore masks going in and out, but didn’t see other people except from a distance.

Winterton Suites, Williston, ND

Havre, MT: Best Western Plus Great Northern Inn. This motel backs onto a BNSF railyard that emits lots of huffing and puffing, like a very loud AC unit, but inside our room we heard none of it, so I’m not sure it matters. The pool was open here and I couldn’t resist taking a dip–no one else was in it at the moment. The breakfast was limited to non-existent, though there was supposed to be something. I got an apple wrapped in plastic that tasted fine (I washed it again). Most people wore masks in the indoor spaces, but not 100% of people.

406 Coffee Roastery and the red caboose in Havre, MT, next door to the Best Western

Next door to the Best Western was the highlight of our trip in culinary terms. The 406 Coffee Roastery in Havre had good coffee, and exceptional baked goods. The crumb cake was dense and delicious, with lots of crackly topping. The lemon poppyseed muffin was flavorful and large sized. We spent half as much as we had at the Starbucks in Fargo, to boot, including our big coffee drinks. There is a small park next door with a red caboose parked in it, very apropos for this town along the rail lines.

We chose places to stay that had a kitchenette and refrigerator so that we could renew our cooler each night. It proved useful when we found that eating in was preferable to eating out.

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Auckland in Three Meals

06 Saturday Jul 2019

Posted by winifredcreamer in New Zealand

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Tags

Food, Museums, Restaurants

We stopped in Auckland on our way back to the US. We didn’t need to, there are direct flights from Brisbane to the US, but we saved a mint, so decided to do it. We arrived on Monday afternoon and left on Wednesday morning, deciding to take a brief culinary tour during our stay.

We began with dinner at Masu, a Japanese restaurant in the downtown area (Federal St.). The decor is comfortable, with wooden tables. Diagonal beams hung overhead suggest the roof of a house. The menu includes sushi, kitchen specialties, and a robata grill. We chose items from each section, with black cod cooked on the grill as our main dish. It was all delicious. As I am a dessert lover, I don’t mean to diminish the buttery sushi, the crsipy, spicy calamari, or clams steamed in buttery broth, but what really stood out was dessert. When is the last time you had a truly delicious dessert at an Asian restaurant? Masu really delivered in this category. The chocolate hazelnut pudding arrived in a small wooden box, with umeshu ice cream (made with Japanese plum liqueur). A server sprinkled green tea powder on top of the baked pudding at the table. Spoon out hot pudding with a crispy bit of topping, followed by a bite of ice cream–what flavor! I scraped out the corners of my little box, glad there wasn’t more, because I would have eaten it.

We took Uber back and forth from the city to our hotel by the airport, and the process went smoothly once I learned not to order a ride until I was in an easy-to-find location.

On Tuesday, we began with lunch at the Depot Eatery and Oyster Bar, once again arriving in the downtown area via Uber. There are no reservations at the Depot, but we were seated immediately, right around noon. Taking advantage of our location, we ordered a dozen raw tuatua clams, followed by a small plate of charcuterie, then venison cheek on creamy polenta. The charcuterie was both delicious and a bit unusual, including rabbit rillettes, cherry relish, wild pork salami, and locally made bresaola, served with fig and fennel seed toast. Best of all were little batons of head cheese that were rolled in crumbs and deep-fried; hot and crispy on the outside with melting meaty flavor on the inside.

The day was overcast, and we opted for a walk to the Auckland Art Gallery. There was Maori art, art of the western canon, and a surprisingly engaging exhibit, “Guerrilla Girls: Reinventing the ‘F’ Word – Feminism!.” The Guerrilla Girls are a collective of artists who point out inequality where they see it. They make posters to plaster in public places with titles like “Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get Into the Met. Museum?” The poster lists statistics about the representation of women in the Met’s collection, where it turns out there are far more female nudes on the walls than work of any kind by female artists.

By this time, we were getting museum fatigue and took a break for tea. Refreshed enough to continue, we headed for the harbor, strolling the pedestrian shopping precinct in central Auckland. These few blocks are full of international brands, with the occasional tourist souvenir shop butting in. We window shopped our way to the water. Two huge wharves have been converted to hotel and restaurant venues. We found our dinner spot, Euro, out on Princes Wharf. Our reservation was early, since we’d be getting up at 4 am to head for the airport. Our third restaurant meal was as interesting and as delicious as the previous ones. Jonathan couldn’t resist a few local oysters, and the two first courses were excellent. We started with “scorched” steak tartare, a delicious nearly raw chopped beef covered in a cloud of tiny kumara (yam) chips. Next came duck ham, slivers of ham draped over a pastry tube of delicate duck liver mousse. We cleaned up every bit of it. Jonathan went on to a main dish of crispy beef cheek while I held out for dessert. When I asked our waiter what to choose, he suggested he bring me something, which turned out to be half portions of two different desserts, cheesecake cigars with ginger ice cream followed by tapioca with pineapple curd, panna cotta cream and so that it wouldn’t resemble pudding, shards of white chocolate and dried pineapple fanning out of the top like the sails of a ship.

Our culinary visit to Auckland showed there is lots of fresh shellfish and well prepared seafood. There is also excellent meat and specialty products from local producers. Add some New Zealand wine and you have menus that focus on New Zealand products with delicious results. We don’t usually eat out, so this visit was a real treat, and we were more than satisfied with each of our stops.

7.2.19 Auckland towersm
7.2.19 Albert Park-002sm

 

 

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Interim–October in Santa Barbara

03 Saturday Nov 2018

Posted by winifredcreamer in California, Lyra

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Tags

Festivals, Food

We left Peru with great fanfare, but didn’t get all the way to New Zealand in one hop, we stopped for a month in Santa Barbara, CA. It was a month of relaxation, walks on the beach, exploring the area, and wine-tasting–this is California, after all.

We visited the Avocado Festival in Carpenteria, and the Harbor Festival opening the season for California spiny lobster in Santa Barbara, and ate a few spiny lobster. We tasted wine in Los Olivos, Solvang, and Ojai. Ojai is a town with family history, as Jonathan attended at least part of 8th grade there during his peripatetic childhood following his artist parents around the western US and Mexico.

10.13.18 making lobstersm
10.13.18 making lobster-001cr

As if this were not enough fun, we had visits with friends and family, taking advantage of being on the west coast. It was wonderful.  We had a chance to visit Cal State Long Beach (CSULB) and see Amanda’s experiment that is the basis for her M.A. thesis. At lunch, Amanda and Jonathan made fun of my taking selfies with a regular camera. Why not?

We stayed in a lovely Airbnb, a bungalow remodeled into an open plan living/dining/kitchen area with seating areas outside on both sides of the house providing shaded seating at all times of day. We shared a bit of the yard, and the outdoor shower, with a neighbor in the apartment on one side, but that did not prove to be a problem in large part because of the delightful tenant, Jackie, and her temporary guests Lucas, Henna, and Montana (3 months). A cute baby is always nice to have as a neighbor.

10.2.18 Airbnb Santa Barbara Marys Garden-007sm
10.2.18 Airbnb Santa Barbara Marys Garden-005sm

Under the pineapple guava (feijoa) tree with Kneave and Linda.

Our home was surrounded by perfect contemporary landscaping, terraces of succulents down the small hillside lot made the area seem larger. The tiers and pots of plants were interspersed with just the right number of citrus trees, one of each: grapefruit, oranges, Meyer lemons, lemons, and limes, along with an avocado and a persimmon tree. The persimmons were just ripening, dotting their tree with small bright orange fruit. Jonathan made multi-citrus marmalade, a gorgeous orange-gold color and tasty into the bargain. There were days when we could easily have sat on the terrace all day. In no time, it was time to leave for the airport again.

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How to Make Paella

12 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by winifredcreamer in Peru

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Tags

Food

The main event at a recent housewarming was paella made by two Spaniards. These are experienced paella-makers, and they came prepared.They used a portable gas burner with three concentric rings of flame, perfect for a paella pan.

 

Sauteeing the initial vegetables and seasonings in the big paella pan.

At subsequent points, more liquid was added and then the pork, sausages and chicken.

Once those were started, the rice was added in a big star shape across the surface of the pan. This seems like a good idea as well as nice showmanship, because it limits stirring needed to evenly distribute the rice.

The dish simmered for a while as everyone chatted.

The final touch was to add pimentos. All the Peruvians pointed out that the peppers were grown in Peru, processed in Spain and exported back to Peru where they cost plenty. They were delicious, too.

I had never eaten paella without seafood and was skeptical (I kept my doubts to myself). It was delicious, really delicious. We benefited from our cooks, who were said to have made paella for 400 people on occasion. For them, this was a lark, easy to whip up as a housewarming gift for a friend. All you need are the ingredients and an audience–and some wine.

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Life in Campania: Vacation Paradise, Daily Grind?

05 Thursday Oct 2017

Posted by winifredcreamer in Salerno

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Attractions, Festivals, Food, Travel preparation

Hurricanes have flattened more than one vacation paradise recently. There are many left, and we are just finishing our stay in Salerno, Italy, adjacent to, if not in, vacation paradise (as in Amalfi, Sorrento, Capri).

Castello di Arecchi

Our current home ground, the province of Campania, was the breadbasket of ancient Rome, and occupied both long before and after the Romans. Pompeii is the most famous archaeological site here, and there are countless others. Not just the other Vesuvians (Herculaneum, Stabia, Oplontis, Bosco Reale), but Samnite and Lucanian sites, Etruscans, and Greeks, too. Later came the Lombards, the Angevins, Aragonese and the Hapsburgs building castles and fortresses. Archaeologically, this area is fabulous.

  • As a vacation paradise, there’s a lot to recommend this area.Gardens and orchards. Lemon, pomegranate, quince, apple trees are all dropping fruit all over the place–olive trees, too. The markets have an excellent variety of fruits and vegetables including multiple varieties of tomatoes and eggplants. You can be a vegetarian without even noticing. All that mozzarella de bufala, so little time!
  • Food costs are lower than anywhere else we have been in Europe.
  • Food festivals. We visited Cusano Mutri for its annual mushroom festival, the Sagra di Funghi. We bought porcini and chanterelles, ate mushroom and cheese sandwiches, had coffee in the tiny plaza at the top of the town. (There were no tour buses.)
  • Archaeology is everywhere. There are ruined towers every 500 yards or so along the coast. Some of these have been transformed into houses and hotels. Others are ruins ready to be visited. The Castello di Arecchi outside Salerno is one of the largest and best-restored.
  • In Florence, I saw a woman with a nice haircut and asked her whether she was local. When she said no, I asked where she was from and when she told me Salerno, I insisted she write down the name of her hairdresser for me.. 2 1/2 months later, when we were nearby, I visited her hairdresser, who was flattered that I made the effort to track her down. It was fun and I got a good haircut.
  • We had wonderful hosts, and met some lovely people, both Italians and other visitors.

No one really lives in Paradise, we just vacation there. Everyday life has its struggles whether you live in Bali or Boston, and how would we live with nothing to grouse about? We may only be here for a month, but a few things had to get done that vacationers ignore until the party’s over. That’s where Italy is a challenge.

  • Repairing anything is complicated, in Italy as in the US. My Samsung phone broke and I took it to a repair place that said the reset I needed could only be done at the other Samsung repair place. I went to the second repair place, left my phone to be fixed and came back the next day to find that they were still unable to fix it.
  • To get an appointment with an English-speaking eye doctor, I had to call her non-English-speaking receptionist. Fortunately, I can muddle along in basic Italian and receptionists can muddle along in English.

General grousing about Italy:

  • I have rarely been in such heavy traffic caused by…..nothing. On our first try we missed the ferry to Capri because no cars moved for 40 minutes. When I explained our problem at the ferry office, the agent was sympathetic. “Yes, terrible traffic.” “Do you know why?” I asked. Rolled eyes, a shrug. “No. It just happens.”
  • People drive badly. Most people drive too fast for the conditions, straddle lane lines, pass too close, tailgate, park haphazardly. If you plan to drive, be warned. There are a lot of cars, and too little space for them.
  • Traffic cameras send you a ticket three months after you’ve left town–we’ve only gotten one so far. Every person you speak to says they have gotten innumerable tickets. (Shrug. No one has any suggestions for avoiding them.)
  • Crowds are part of life. I feel crowded on the bus, the subway, walking down the street, shopping, and at the beach. There may be tiny hill towns begging for population, but Greater Naples is bursting at the seams. Eight story apartment buildings surround single story houses from the last century. It looks like the big buildings just shouldered their way in and squatted down.

Woman gardening beside motorcycle repair shop.

Some of my grousing can be turned on its head.

  • There doesn’t seem to be a lot of zoning concerns in Campania the way there is in Tuscany where preserving views of the landscape is a paramount civic value.  In the Naples region there is a patchwork of apartments, cultivated fields and orchards. You could call it lack of zoning, but I like seeing see lemon trees along the highway and eggplants beside the car repair.
  • History is everywhere. We saw city walls from five different time periods in a two block section of Salerno. You can walk around any ruined structure that isn’t marked Do Not Enter.

I wouldn’t change what I am doing for a different way of life. I appreciate learning what you need to know to actually live in a place, and every different locality has its own charms and aggravations. While I stretch my brain muscles with crosswords, I also stretch myself by living in different environments.

 

 

 

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Try Parma

25 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by winifredcreamer in Tuscany

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Tags

Antiques, Churches, Food

Arches of the Pilotta Castle, a vast building in Parma that houses museums.

I wasn’t thinking about visiting Parma, but Jonathan asked how we could pass up the place that is home to PARMAsan cheese, Eggplant PARMAgiano, and PARMA ham. We had to go. What we found is a city with impressive historic sights, a Duomo painted and frescoed from floor to (a very high) ceiling, great shopping and an interesting antiques market. Traffic is limited in the central area, making our visit less congested and polluted than in other cities. Lots of people ride bicycles. There are bike rental stations here and there if you have an urge to join in. We found all these things without doing much advance research.

No estaba pensando en visitar Parma, pero Jonathan me preguntó cómo podíamos dejar el lugar que es el hogar de PARMAsan queso, Berenjena PARMAgiano, y PARMA jamón. Tuvimos que irnos. Lo que encontramos es una ciudad con impresionantes vistas históricas, un Duomo con fresco y pintura de abajo hasta arriba (muy arriba) y un interesante mercado de antigüedades. El tráfico es limitado en el área central, haciendo nuestra visita menos congestionada y contaminada que en otras ciudades. Mucha gente monta en bicicleta. Hay estaciones de alquiler de bicicletas aquí y allí si usted tiene un impulso para unirse. Encontramos todas estas cosas sin hacer mucha investigación en las posibilidades.

The three ages of Parmesan, 24, 30 and 36 months

What we had looked into was where to buy salami and cheese, so we aimed for the closest parking area we could find and headed for Via Garibaldi. The two best known shops are on opposite sides of the same block and we stopped at La Verdi. We took home prosciutto di Parma (Parma ham), parmesan aged 30 and 36 months, and the local specialty culatello di Zibello. We stopped for lunch and had a parmesan sampler and some handmade tortelli (ravioli) filled with ricotta and spinach.

Lo que habíamos buscado era donde comprar salami y queso, así que apuntamos para la zona de aparcamiento más cercano que pudimos encontrar y nos dirigimos a Via Garibaldi. Las dos tiendas más conocidas están en lados opuestos de la misma manzana y nos detuvimos en La Verdi. Nos llevamos a casa prosciutto di Parma (jamón de Parma), parmesano de 30 y 36 meses, y la especialidad local culatello di Zibello (un jamon).Paramos para el almuerzo y tenía un sampler de parmesano y algunos tortelli (ravioli) hechos a mano lleno de ricotta y espinacas.

6.20.17 Parma-008cr
6.20.17 Parma-007

The Baptistry is striking. A small but very tall circular building made of pink marble, it glows faintly. The doors are carved everywhere. The day we were there, a group of young women in gray habits and white veils were visiting. I think it was a group of postulants from a convent. They were rapt in their interest and utterly silent inside the cathedral.

El Baptisterio es sorprendente. Un pequeño pero alto edificio circular de mármol rosa, que brilla débilmente. Las puertas están talladas en todas partes. El día que estuvimos allí, un grupo de mujeres jóvenes en hábitos grises y velos blancos estaban visitando. Creo que fue un grupo de postulantes de un convento. Estaban encantados en su interés y completamente silenciosos dentro de la catedral.

6.20.17 Parma-013sm
6.20.17 Parma-011

We went to look at the stands in Piazza Ghiaia and found that there is no longer a market of fruit and vegetables, but there are stands that sell used and vintage items. It was interesting to see the range of goods, and would be worth a visit earlier in the day when I wasn’t quite so tired out from the heat. I recommend a visit to Parma if you are withing striking distance. There is at least a day full of things to do.

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Watching fall come in

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by winifredcreamer in Scotland

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Castles, Food, Landscape

Yesterday were were on the beach at 1 pm and the sun was slanted across the sand as though it was late afternoon. Today it’s the equinox. Time sped up lately, since the last I remember the sun barely set by 10, or was that 8:30pm? Birdwatching is more challenging, too. I turn my head at a slight movement in the woods, but it’s not a bird, it’s a falling leaf.

The weather varies a great deal now. Here’s perfect afternoon:

9-16-17-saltburnHere’s the next morning (note the moored sailboat center left in both photos):

9-15-16-saltburnHere’s the full moon over the oil rig.

9-17-16-full-moon-over-oil-rig-003smWe’ve been doing some cooking:

BEFORE
AFTER

We’ve also kept up our visits to castles. This is Cawdor Castle:

Cawdor Castle, yep, as in Shakespeare
Formal garden
Jonathan in the topiary

Fountain in walled garden
Maze with minotaur
Into the wild garden

Birch bark
Fabulous bird feeder
Millstones

We would run away with Mr. Toad any day.

9-18-16-cawdor-castle

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Community in Kjerstad

04 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by winifredcreamer in Norway, Paula

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Tags

Attractions, Food

Tjeldoya Island looks deceptively empty. On the day we drove to Lodingen we were on the opposite side of the fjord and Amanda pointed out that there are many houses on the shore of Tjeldoya that you don’t see from the narrow road where one driver often has to pull over when two vehicles meet.

Reindeer crossing.
Car coming. Who will pull over?

Despite this rural setting, there are quite a lot of people on the island, especially in the summer, and many communities hold events. Kjerstad is active, holding a Sunday cafe in the small building that works as a community center.

On Sundays from noon-3 pm you can stop in for waffles or pancakes with jam and sour cream to top them and a beverage (soda, coffee) or an ice cream. The few indoor tables have been full and the heaters running when it was cold out this week, but lately people sit in the sun on outdoor benches and picnic tables. I took advantage of the women who run the event to find out the answers to my recycling questions (!) and we chatted about the weather. Even the woman who said her English wasn’t very good spoke excellent English.

During the week we saw a new poster on the building. After some searching and translating, we found that it is by a theater group that tours northern Norway in the summer, performing plays that incorporate elements of Norwegian history. At the following Sunday cafe, when we went with Amanda and Jimmy, we found out more.

Slideshow

1880 — Amerika: A tilbud you can’t refuse. [That is the actual title of the play.]

One of the actors in the theater group is from Kjerstad, part of the reason it is a stop on each summer’s tour. (He’s the one holding the fish.) I am so sorry we will miss this. The third week, we returned to the cafe with Paula, and met the actor’s brother, who lives in Kjerstad. Each week we learned something new. We also went fishing off the pier after finishing our waffles.


6.25.16 pub night KjerstadsmLast Saturday night was a pub night at the same place in Kjerstad, the community center. We were told it began at 9 pm, so we arrived at 9:30 pm. We were almost the first people there, but we got drinks and sat down and chatted with two men who turned out to be the musicians. Both are teachers in Harstad, one focusing on English though teaching other subjects, most recently to 6th graders. The other teaches a range of subjects to middle and high school students. They play for fun and pocket money. This was a last minute event for one or both of them. Someone cancelled somewhere along the way and one or both of them were a last minute addition. It didn’t matter to us because they were very good, playing bass and guitar and singing, mostly in English! The songs were familiar rock tunes. I’m sorry there was only one of these events during our stay.

6.25.16 pub night Kjerstad-001

 

We left them to tune up and took seats for the music. There was some wrangling about the space heater. (How many men over 65 does it take to start a space heater?) I’m not sure. They were not crazy about the foreigner figuring it out, but later we all toasted one another.

6.25.16 pub night Kjerstad-002

We’d be dancing with them if Jonathan hadn’t sprained his ankle.

 

 

 

Jonathan recognized a woman at the next table from when we turned around in her driveway (How did he do that?) and we had one of those funny conversations, “Oh, YOU were the ones in the dark car!” “Yes, that was us.” “I was mowing the lawn.” “Yes, on that riding mower.” “Hello.” (We shake hands and smile). Then we discussed how we happened to be in their neighborhood–Dragland–yet not related to anyone there. It seems that most people visit because they have a relative there, so our new friends assumed we must be some newly arrived relation of a Draglander. Since we had this conversation, I found that there is an Association of people named Dragland who are actually from Dragland. They all have a common ancestor.

The next day was our last Sunday cafe before leaving, and I asked if I could have a photo with the ladies who run it. They were all delightful. 6.26.16 waffles.16-002The woman on the left is from southeast Norway and said that though it appears isolated, people of the north have always been able to fish, and never starved like her ancestors who were farmers. She shook her head as she described her grandmother, poorly nourished, with ten children, not all of whom survived. I mentioned the bread made with crushed tree bark to extend the flour that was made in Sweden during famines. “Oh, yes, bark bread. They made that in Norway, too.” Fortunately, times have changed.  How much we appreciate their community events!

 

 

 

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Taking a break in Oualidia

30 Wednesday Mar 2016

Posted by winifredcreamer in Morocco

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Tags

Beaches, Birds, Food

It’s easier to say as Wah-Lidia, a small beach town on a lagoon that offers a surfing school (we enjoyed watching the wet-suited group from a distance), oysters farmed locally that we ate every day,

3.23.16 Oualidia-009
3.23.16 Oualidia-010

and bird-watching. From our Airbnb home we have a great view over the lagoon to the ocean.


It was a comfortable beach house, a bit dated, but comfortable, obviously a family home. The kitchen had everything you could need for cooking.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

To say that this town is quiet in the off season is an understatement. There is a large campground full of RVs that seem to be European retirees, though we only see a few people strolling up and down. On Sunday afternoon, the park by the water was full of children playing and families chatting, but most days were quiet. There isn’t much beach right here, the shore is rocky, made of porous material that is like lava to walk on.

3.24.16 Oualidia-001
3.24.16 Oualidia-004sm

There was a “souk hebdomadaire,” a weekly market that set up in a field at the edge of town. It was a true a field of tents. It was even more hands-on than markets in Peru, with people killing and cleaning chickens in one section, selling spices in another, shoes and clothing along another aisle. (I had only a few photos from a distance, in deference to the number of people who don’t want their picture taken, then I accidentally erased the ones I had.) I bought a pair of bright pink leather slippers (babouche) stamped with camels on the toes. What could be better!

Jonathan bought lamb and used the couscousiere, couscous cooker, to make couscous with preserved lemons, olives and garbanzos. We should have invited the neighbors.


Bird-watching is excellent in Oualidia because of the large lagoons. We had great luck in an area that looked like some disaster had struck. There was a grand bridge/stairway that ended suddenly, with piles of discarded construction debris dumped along the road. Bridge across the RV park, ends in swamp.In the middle of all this we saw a spoonbill, Kentish plovers, common plover, stilts, and even a Sardinian warbler. It was great.

 

 

 

White houses of Oualidia in the distance.
From a distance, it’s gorgeous.

We explored the coast to the south. Once you leave the shore, you are faced with miles of rocky landscape. People farm and graze despite the rock that is everywhere.3.27.16-018sm

Panorama
Panorama
Walls use some rock
Walls use some rock
Farmland
Farmland
Flowers among the rock
Flowers among the rock

There are towns and monuments among the rocks. We stopped at the lighthouse at Cap Beddouza, and saw a few distinctive places. Some may be tombs of saints, Muslim holy men.

Cap Beddouza lighthouse
Cap Beddouza lighthouse
3.27.16-003sm
Jamaa Elkaria
Jamaa Elkaria
3.27.16-008
A monument to failure, the elaborate lifeguard chair at an abandoned seaside development.
A monument to failure, the elaborate lifeguard chair at an abandoned seaside development.

Daily life intrudes on the landscape.

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Surprises at the end of the road

21 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by winifredcreamer in Morocco

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Food, Restaurants

We arrived at Foum Assaka, the mouth of the Assaka River, to find a beach community under construction, not uncommon in Morocco. We threaded through the streets until the car could go no further, then parked in a pullout. This is the entrance to “Le Rayon Vert,”  the Green Flash. I guess you can see it here as easily as in Key West. 3.16.16 Foum Assaka-009sm

 

3.16.16 Foum Assaka-013sm 3.16.16 Foum Assaka-008smIf you visit with a group, you can stay in a Moroccan tent.3.16.16smWe sat down to a delicious lunch of baked fish and vegetables. The eggplant were baked and the glazed with honey and spices. Delicious and in the middle of nowhere. The secret? Our friends called in advance.

3.16.16 Foum Assaka-005sm3.16.16 Foum Assaka-006sm

 

 

 

 

This was not the only hidden surprise we visited in the Sidi Ifni area.

The next evening we had dinner at the “3-O” restaurant in Mirleft. After driving from Sidi Ifni in the dark, we stopped in front of a pharmacy, with its lurid fluorescent light washing out everything. We got out of the car and looked around, puzzled. Jean-Marie pointed to an alley, unlighted. Then we saw “3-O” painted on the wall, and an arrow. We walked down the alley in the dark to a door. Locked. It has a buzzer. It looks like we are being checked into prison. The door opens and we are in a gallery of contemporary Moroccan furniture. We walk between the rows of tables, mirrors, and sculpture to a doorway and we are then in, a nightclub. Really. Tables and chairs, mirrors, light fixtures, very chic decor. We continue along to a dining room where our table is ready. We meet our host, Didier, who runs the restaurant, the workshop, and the club. The feature of this restaurant, where we also called ahead, is oysters. These are straight from the oyster farms in Dakhla in the Western Sahara, fresh every Wednesday. We had all we could eat and they were delicious, crisp as the ocean. Morocco is full of wonderful secrets.

3.17.16 Rest.3os.Didier-002 3.17.16 Rest.3os.Didier-003

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