My Favorite Food In The World...Not Kidding

    One of the reasons I wanted to write this blog is to try to get people to not only get excited about food and travel, but to also get them to try new foods and travel to new places that they may have never tried before. I mean, you can't always eat eat Italian food or travel to Mexico or Canada. Fun sometimes, sure, but are they interesting if that's the only other cultures you try, hell no! With that in mind welcome to Morocco!! I know, I can already hear some of you saying "c'mon Brad, Morocco????" And as my title says, it really is my favorite everyday, meat and potatoes kind of food. Not only is the food AWESOME, but it's a really unique, exciting and hospitable country.
    First thing's first, since it's my favorite food I guess I'll have to explain why. The essence of moroccan cooking is SLOW and well spiced. The base of the food is a tiny durum wheat pasta called cous cous. Now cous cous has become pretty popular in America because it's easy and takes about 5 minutes to prepare. The only problem is that real moroccan cous cous takes about 3 hours to prepare and puts the ready to eat stuff here to shame. The real stuff is wonderfully prepared, fairly dense without being heavy, and can take on any spice you care to pair with it. The second thing the moroccans do well is lamb. they cook this lamb on the bone and in their slow cooker called a tagine. you can actually buy these in the U.S. at most stores. It looks like a big upside down ceramic ice cream cone on top of a heavy plate. It allows the meat and veggies to cook low and slow so that they are more tender than you think they could possibly get. If you are a veggie person you'll be in heaven, and if you're a meat person like me you'll become a vegetarian. Not kidding. I ate cous cous with seven vegetables (the name of the dish on EVERY menu) at least once a day, crazy good everywhere I ate it. A third thing that was a nice surprise were the oranges. They grow freaking everywhere. There are orange trees in the cities, train stations, restaurants, streets, everywhere. Usually the dessert at the restaurants consist of these oranges. I ate a half dozen a day and never got tired of them.
    Where should you go you ask? Well, my favorite places were Marrakech and Fez. Casablanca is famous, but it's really just another European type city that's kinda dangerous and pretty boring. Marrakech gives you a big city with old world Arab flair. The souks (markets where you can buy anything) are enormous, the food is outta control and you won't run out of places to see and experience. In the middle of the city is the square called the Jemma al Fna. It has open markets a few restaurants, but the coolest parts are the fact that you can see al around the city just by standing in the middle of the square, and while you're standing there you can see some old world entertainment like snake charmers and sword swallowers. Fez is basically a smaller Marrakech, but with no cars or motorbikes in the city. it's all walking in the city proper, but after the cars and motorcycles in Marrakech it feels wonderful. Fez is the traditional culinary and religious center of Morocco, and between 800 and 1100 AD it was the culinary and religious center of Islam. Pretty cool.
    Now, about hotels. Morocco offers something that you won't really find anywhere else in the world. Most places you go you stay in hotels, B&B's, hostels, cottages, etc. but in Morocco you can stay in riads. A riad is a really nice home, often formally owned by the wealthy or nobility. Unlike wealthy homes elsewhere though, lies in where these homes are located. Streets in Marrakech, Fez and other cities in Morocco are often narrow, tan and nondescript, and the doorways are no different. The door of a riad may just be a metal door that looks like any other run-down metal door, but when you open in it and go in you're greeted by marble floors, fountains, pillows and couches and every other item that reminds you of Arabian Nights or Aladdin. It's incredible. Here and here are a few websites of some Riads I've researched. Check them out on your own too. I recommend Tripadvisor.
    Please Please Please do yourself a favor and do your best to see new cultures. I know travel is expensive, and oversees travel is even more expensive, but you won't regret one minute of this vacation. It's a truly remarkable country and unfortunately I haven't even scratched the surface here. Check it out and see if it's for you! But, because no one is going there tonight, I'll leave you all with one of my (and my wife's) favorite at home moroccan meals - moroccan spiced chicken and cranberry cous cous. This is a meal you can do in under 30 minutes and it's as easy as it gets. The only hard part is getting the spice rub for the chicken, but you can find it in most speciality spice stores (or the internet. Gotta love that internet!). Sidenote - If you like skin-on chicken, use that, and if you want to substitute lamb or any other meat, knock yourself out. This is less a recipe and more an idea and plea to try something new.

Moroccan Spiced Chicken - serves 4
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2-3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt
freshly ground pepper
2 tsp cumin
Ras al Hanout - this is the moroccan spice mixture I spoke of, it's the essence of moroccan cooking and smells wonderful

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Rub the olive oil on the chicken first, then season them with the salt, pepper and cumin. The reason I didn't give you a measurement of the Ras al Hanout is that the idea is to cover the chicken with the mixture, so just sprinkle until it's covered.  Then just take the chicken and put it in a baking dish or even just a cookie sheet and then cover with aluminum foil and put in the oven. bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked through.

Cranberry Cous Cous.- serves 4
1 1/2 cup store bought dried cous cous
1 1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock (recommend Swanson) - I know the package says water, but trust me use the stock
butter and salt - just use what the package says
1 cup (or your preference) dried cranberries

This one's easy. Just prepare it like the package says, but use the stock in place of water. Some store bought cous cous calls for olive oil, so if it does then use it, but most don't. For those of you who have never made this pasta, just boil the stock along with the tablespoon or so of butter in a small to medium size saucepot. Because you're using stock you can probably forego the salt. Once the stock is simmering turn off the heat, add cous cous and cranberries and stir quickly to blend all ingredients, and then cover the pot and let sit for five minutes or until the stock is absorbed. Then take a fork and "fluff" or stir and mix it up so that it gets light and fluffy. then serve and munch!

A Haven Amongst the Trees and Mountains

    The first place I would like to write about in this new blog is a place truly special to my heart: Asheville, NC. Asheville may seem like a strange place to start, but I wanted to start off this armchair journey through the world in a close to home destination that has a dynamite culinary and cultural experience. Asheville is nestled in the Smoky Mountains along I-40 in western North Carolina, and it's location makes it ideal for 100's of different activities. In Asheville you can hike beautiful trails, climb majestic mountains, tour the cool and funky downtown and visit the ever beautiful Biltmore Estate. One cool thing about Asheville is that it has an incredible bohemian vibe. It's almost a Greenwich Village in the mountains with great shopping, beautiful vistas and even better FOOD!
    So, as to the destination itself there are a couple of things I have to recommend, the first of which is the reverential Biltmore Estate. This is the home built by George Vanderbilt at the turn of the 20th century and is the largest private home in the entire country. On the estate you can take a number of different tours, eat at a number of restaurants and visit the AWESOME winery. The Biltmore winery has some of my favorite wines (the Sangiovese, Riesling and Pinot Grigio are the best!!). If you want to eat on the estate then the Bistro above the winery has the best food by far on the grounds - definitely give it a try for lunch.
    The second thing I would do in Asheville is to just stroll the downtown area. The city is known as a haven for the funky, hippie, bohemian culture and it's kind of fun to see all the different stores, restaurants and little open areas where the young people gather and shoot the breeze or sometime have some live music. While you're downtown you absolutely have to go to The Tupelo Honey Cafe. This is an award winning restaurant in the middle of town with a very southern/eclectic menu. The best things on the menu are the Grilled cheese and tomato soup, the fried chicken BLT and the Tupelo burger. All of their stuff is fantastic and fresh, and you cannot beat the biscuits and honey butter that you get free of charge. I never miss it when I make it up to NC.
    A third place not to be missed in Asheville is the Grove Park Inn. This is historic beauty sits on a beautiful mountain in Asheville and overlooks a GORGEOUS valley. Now, it is a great option at which to stay, but I wouldn't recommend it for a number of reasons. The first is that it is waaaaaay overpriced. It's not that the hotel isn't beautiful and worthy of a good review, it's just that the rooms aren't worth the cost. The rest of the hotel is totally worth the price, but the rooms are small, dated and just boring. The other problem is that it takes a year and a day to get from one side of the hotel to the other.
    However, the reasons I say you can't miss this place are the spa, the view and once again, the food. The Grove Park Inn Spa is the best spa I have ever had the pleasure of using. It is fantastic, wonderful, perfect, and every other superlative I can think of. The best part? THE POOL. It is a huge stone grotto with side pools with waterfalls and pleasant music that plays underwater. Once again...Perfecto! As to food, the steakhouse is good, but if you're going to spend that much money you might as well go to one of my favorite fine dining restaurants in the South - The Horizons Dining Room. Their steak is fantastic and the lobster bisque is creamy and full of flavor and just wonderful. But, the best thing I have ever eaten is (or was) on their menu the last time I ate there, and it's the maple glazed fois gras. This is just heaven on a plate. That's it, the only description that can really get at it...heaven. When someone asks me the best thing I've ever had this is it. It's sad, cause it's all downhill from here, but it's totally worth it just for their fois gras.
    Now where do I stay you might ask if you won't let me stay at the Grove Park Inn?? Well my good chap, the place to stay is the Inn on the Biltmore Estate. The rooms are much better (they remodeled the rooms and much of the hotel within the past 7-10 years), and roomier (i know, bad use of words) than any other hotel in Asheville. The other reasons for staying here are the amenities. First of all is that you get to stay on the nice quiet estate. Second is that there are all the estate amenities at your fingertips - restaurants, winery, shopping, house tours, etc. And a little nice thing I found out is that if you buy anything on the estate they will deliver it to your room free of charge (how friggin cool is that?). Just stay here...you'll thank me.
    So that's my little (or really long) Asheville spiel. It's a magical city that everyone should experience. Definitely try some of the stuff here, but find your own niche too! There's tons to do that I didn't go over, and it's up to you to find it! Have fun and check back next week for a new spot to explore or a new dish to try!

Now Who Doesn't Love a Little Local Italy

    Italy...The images this wonderful country brings up are some of the most iconic in visual or culinary arts. Just take a minute and think up some images of what Italy means to you. Fields of sunflowers, beautiful wines, Renaissance art, pasta, quaint towns, and Pizza Hut. Wait a tick...Pizza Hut? Kinda makes you wonder where Italian food has gone doesn't it? Well that's what we're gonna explore here. I think you'll find that Italian food hasn't disappeared or been turned into overcheesed pepperoni bread, it's just hidden in little beautiful pockets in our cities, towns and kitchens.
    Now this is one blog post that I would love comments on because if it's one thing I miss while living in a small town it's good Italian food. I would love to hear about some good places to try out when I travel. So anyway, I guess it's best to start with some of my favorite places I've found around the U.S. One of my favorites is a recently found spot that's thankfully (fairly) close to home. It's a place called Mercato in Charleston, SC. Mercato is on Market St. next to the big covered market in Charleston and is thus pretty aptly named. It's got dark wood booths and tables, an old school bar, great live jazz and awesome food. It's a great restaurant for a romantic date or just when you're in the mood for good food and good music. There is one dish that you can't miss if you go though, the potato gnocchi. It's a wonderfully made gnocchi with a sweet oven dried tomato sauce made with cipollini onions and braised short rib. It's basically a pot roast pasta and impossible to resist.
    My sister is probably gonna kill me for taking one of her favorites, but if you're in Chicago please do yourself a favor and check out Volare. It is what I think of when I picture the ideal Italian place. It's packed, has REAL Italian waiters serving out of this world food. Their calamari is the best this side of Italy and if you want a good veal marsala then there is no better place. But if you just want a perfect pasta dish then their capellini arrabiatta is a pure taste of the old country.
The last place you just cannot neglect is on the Hill in St. Louis. My wife grew up in St. Louis and showed me the Hill, which is basically little Italy in this beautiful city. The restaurant is Zia's on The Hill and is an Italian landmark in a city full of unbelievable italian food. You enter this place and basically transport to Italy for a few delectable hours before making the trip back when you force yourself to leave. Now I suggest that you try absolutely any and everything, but my favorite is the Spiedini Proscuitto. This masterpiece of culinary artwork is an 8 oz marinated chicken breast lightly dusted in breadcrumbs, basted in lemon butter and charbroiled. They then top it with white wine, lemon butter sauce, proscuitto ham, sliced mushrooms and provel cheese. It's AMAZING!!
    Well, these are a few of my favorites, but if you want to try a wonderful, easy to make Italian favorite at home then you should try my cheesy baked pasta that has become a favorite comfort food of my wife. The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients
Olive oil
2 ½ cups marinara sauce
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 pound (box) pasta (I prefer penne or tortellini)
Enough thinly sliced mozzarella to top pasta
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Pesto (to top the pasta mixture)
1 cup (or your preference) sliced porcini mushrooms

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil an 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish.
Whisk the sauce, mascarpone cheese, mushrooms, parsley and thyme in a large bowl to blend. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender (about “{half done”). Drain. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. Transfer the pasta mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top the mixture with the pesto then the parmesan. Top with sliced mozzarella (cover all of the pasta) Cover with foil and bake until the sauce bubbles and the mozzarella on top melts, about 30 minutes.

I hope you enjoyed a little taste of Italy in the United States, and I hope you learned that next time you crave Italian there are alternatives to Tombstone. Do yourself a favor and find them in your own town, and if you can't then at least you can become your own Italian chef at home! Come back next week for an exotic locale with some of the best food in the world, Morocco!