Travel with JoY

Paris, mai oui! We loved it. Our little apartment in St. Michel, just a half a block from the Seine and one between Notre Dame and the Louvre. We loved the food: Tipoly's Lebanese Moussaka Manouch, the chocolate shops, the macaroons flavored with lavendar, mint, lime, chocolate, raspberry and more. We loved dinner at the Restaurant on our corner where Yata had grilled duck breast with a honey pear sauce and I had the Sea Bass with Beuree Blanc (white butter, lightly toasted). They served wine in little ceramic pitchers that you then poured into your wine glass to share. Then in Montmarte the Creperie Lepic that served, beside Yata's gluten free savory crepe and regular dessert chocolate crepe, the best salad Montmartoise; red green bib lettuce with bacon, wonderful waxy yellow potato slices, boiled egg and toasted walnuts. Not sure what the dressing was, it was subtle. Oh, they also serve on top of the salad, a soft cooked egg. So the yoke can serve as so...

Safaa as learned from Samila at Villa Gonatouki in Essouira, Morocco February 2014 J. Accola 1 whole chicken olive oil angel hair pasta, one pound 1 cup of golden raisins 1 cup of almonds 1 red onion chopped 3 cloves of garlic minced 1 cup cilantro 1 cup parsley 2 cups chicken broth 1 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground tumeric 1 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper pinch of saffron powdered sugar and cinnamon to garnish Pasta: Prepare angel hair pasta by breaking up into 1in. Pcs. Drizzle pasta with olive oil Prepare steam bath Set noodles over steam and cover. Steam for about 10-12 min. Remove, sprinkle with salt mix and return to steamer for another 12” Remove and add golden raisins Sprinkle with water, mix and put back on steamer another 12” or until soft. Chicken and Veggies: Cut up chicken and remove skin and any excess fat. Saute in olive oil: red onion, garlic, chopped cilantro and parsley Sprinkle ...

The Sahara, a small most Western finger of it which reaches into eastern Morocco is a favorite tourist destination for visitors to Morocco. We booked a three day, two night tour with our guide Abdul who drove us first into the High Atlas Mountains where we stayed overnight one night in a venerable chalet-like hotel up in the mountains. The next morning we woke to drive down into the Valley of the Dades and got some great photos of an old casbah (sort of an ancient castle) in the morning light.  The day before on the way up the mountain we stopped at a famous casbah where many Hollywood films have been shot. In fact there was filming going on while we were there, a new one called the Queen of the Desert to feature Nicole Kidman. We didn't see her but we did take some photos with some of the extras. Abdul, our guide with the film extras Yata had the opportunity to share some tunes with a Berber musician.  His instrument was similar to a banjo....