Ms. Traveling Pants' Top Ten Favorite Food Destinations

As a key component of all travels, food is the window to a different culture. I have decided to highlight my favorite food destinations along with some recommendations in a top ten list.

For those of you familiar with David Letterman and the Late Night Show, I give you.....Ms. Traveling Pants' Top Ten Favorite Food Destinations.

10. Montreal, a great blend of bilingual culture, jazz, and dining. I have had the pleasure of visiting this great city twice with my husband who is an executive chef. Believe us, if you are in the mood for a great aged steak, you must stop by Le Queue Cheval and if you have a second night to dine please go to Peel Street and visit Ferriera's Cafe.

9. Florida Keys...my number nine review is for an outstanding Islamorada restaurant called Pierre's. With its own private white sand beach and beautiful Gulf views for sunsets, this is a special place. It is high end cuisine, but you can always just visit the inviting bar and lounge on the beach patio lit by tiki torches after the sunset. For lunches, I would recommend its sister restaurant Morada Bay. With great chips and salsa, live music, and that same private beach, it is one of the best lunch joints in the Keys.

8. Also, in South Florida, you must go to Le Tub in Hollywood. Award winning for its extra large burgers, the place certainly has a unique decor with a wooden enclosed eating area with benches for parties of two to six people. Some of the tables are waterfront (you need to get there when they open to get these prime spots) while the others are shaded by tropical trellises. Be prepared to wait an hour for your burgers and the servers are "no-frills."

7. Whether in Casablanca, Marrakesh, or Tangiers, you must try the national dish of Morocco, tagine. Named after the actual cooking vessel, tagines are rather unusually shaped casserole pans with a cone shaped cover. It is with this heating and steaming method that the typical chicken and lamb combination is very moist and enhanced by the flavors of carrots, potatoes, onions, and many times dried fruits and nuts such as almonds and raisins.

6. When in New England, a stop in Beantown for "chowda" is necessary no matter what the season. Clam Chowder, a traditional thick soup with onions, potatoes, cream, and clams, is no better than at one of the most historic restaurants in all of Boston, the Union Oyster House. In fact, the Union Oyster House, near Quincy market and Faneuil Hall, was one of my husband's first jobs in the culinary field.


5. Madrid is near and dear to me so I must mention one of its specialties. Cocido Madrileno is a very filling stew usually served in two stages. The first consists of a broth, straight from a large pan where all the stew’s meat has been slowly simmering. The second course is usually presented in a tray placed in the middle of the table containing chickpeas, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and all the meat: beef, chicken, ham, chorizo and sometimes morcilla (blood sausage). Only true Madrileno style restaurants do cocido and typically only one day a week.

4. New Orleans is a great stop for culinary travels. If you haven't heard of it before, you must go to Cafe du Monde for a good coffee and the world renowned beignets, square fritters covered with powdered sugar. If you want an enjoyable Southern dinner on Bourbon Street, try the Red Fish Grill. Go for the Red fish....it is good enough to name the restaurant after.

3. Ixtapa, Mexico not only is a trendy, Mexican beach destination, but it has a great hamburger place called Ruben's. Now you don't think of burgers when you think Mexican food, but these charbroiled burgers are to die for. You can have them with the traditional ketchup and mustard, but I would recommend skipping both and going for the in-house pickled vegetable mixture to garnish.

2. Not to far from number 3, Zihauntanejo, Mexico.....This is where you would find Pollo Loco (crazy chicken) a small, local hangout that has the best hand made tortillas, grilled onions, peppers, and chicken a la brasa. Just order the 1/2 chicken, a Sol (a more authentic Mexican beer than Corona), and roll up your sleeves and dig in.

1. Nerja, Spain is one of the jewels of Costa del Sol and paella beachside is my number one pick. Paella is typically done by fire in a very shallow, metal pan (see picture above). It is a rice dish with fresh seafood, chicken, sometimes rabbit, saffron for color, veggies and is best accompanied by a nice pitcher of sangria. I would recommend Chiringuito Ayo, one of the most popular on Burriana beach.

Riding a Camel

There are certain things that you just don’t forget how to do like tying your shoe or riding a bike. Well, I have to say that riding a camel is certainly not one of those skills, but it is definitely unforgettable.

I rode my first and only camel while on a visit to Morocco. At the time, I was traveling with one of my girlfriends from school. We had already taken the ferry from Southern Spain to Tangiers, haggled in the markets for tea and spices and toured the many souks to experience (smell) where the dying takes place for all of the infamous rugs and tapestries. Then this led us to Casablanca to visit the picturesque mosque and on to Marrakesh.

In what seemed like a day long bus ride from Marrakesh through the mountains, we finally arrived in a small town on the line of the Sahara desert. We asked for a guide that would be able to take us for a journey into the desert. We were led to a clay, earthen building at the edge of town where a Moroccan man, father, and owner of various camels spoke to us and one other tourist from Belgium, Jurin (pronounced urine). Within moments, the price was set and all three of us were to leave shortly on pre-selected, temperamental camels with one guide with little to no English skills and food and tea for four.

The owner and guide loaded our backpacks and supplies strategically on the camels, which did not seem at all happy to be taken out of their stables. My friend and Jurin were the first on the camels. I was entirely pleased that I waited to observe. Having ridden horses as a child, I never liked riding, but I was an average rider with enough skill and time around animals to not fall off. Well, if you have never ridden or seen someone get on a camel, it is rather different that just jumping in the stirrups and throwing your leg over.

To ride a camel, first there is a very wide saddle-like seat that is placed and secured on the camel. With the owner or trainer holding the reins and the camel, you sit on the saddle unable to lower your legs around the camel like you would with a horse then putting your feet in the stirrups. You sit rather spread eagle with nothing to hold onto except the front of a saddle. Then, the camel is instructed to rise. It gets up with both of its back legs first, throwing the rider to a face down position while holding on for dear life until the front legs catch up.

All three of us, successfully in uncomfortable riding position, departed for the desert with our guide on foot. To add to the complete camel riding experience, I must explain a little about the gate of the camel. The horse has a stride that one can get used to it is almost like a forward and backward motion that the rider emanates; however, the camel’s gate is not one that is easy to compliment or survive. A camel walks with one of its front legs and the back leg of the opposite side at the same time; thus, providing a very jerking, unpredictable gate, front to back and side to side motion.

The ride of my other two companions ended very shortly out of the compound. They said they wanted to save their behinds. Well, I was stoic and stayed on, but also I stayed as I feared the dismount needed to get down from that damn camel. After what must have been an hour and a half, we could no longer see the compound; we were in the middle of the desert; and my butt was hurtin’. The sun was down, the moon was rising, stars began to explode through the dark sky, and we made camp.

I have never camped without a tent; so, once again this was a first. We laid out blankets from the guide and then arranged our sleeping bags on top. The guide prepared a tangine (typical dish prepared in Morocco with a terracotta dome shaped cooking vessel). It was made with various vegetables and a mixture of chicken and lamb which was cooked over an open fire with plenty of tea to drink. The food was great and only complimented by the incredible sky. Although I grew up much removed from the city lights, I had never and have never since seen the sky so bright with millions of stars. Like most camping evenings, once you have eaten, there isn’t a TV or radio to turn on, so it was goodnight.

I have to admit I felt a little scared knowing that desert bandits could come and take us for ransom, but it didn’t happen that night and we awoke to the most glorious of mornings. I have always loved water and have gravitated towards the ocean and the beach; so, I was surprised to witness that the desert is indeed gorgeous. It is not the water, but the sky that produces that contrast of blue and tan that is similar to the beach.

Needlesstosay, we returned early in the morning, all on foot. No one was willing to torture their bottoms again on those cranky camels. Upon arrival at the compound, we gathered our things, but not before the owner talked with Jurin. We later departed heading back into town, when Jurin shared with us that he was asked by the owner to trade two camels for the green-eyed one (me). I guess I should have been flattered as camels are expensive and I have since inquired that two camels is a very generous price for a young-twenty something green-eyed woman. Luckily, Jurin understood that just because he was in our company, it did not mean that either myself or my friend were his property.

So, it was an evening to remember filled with many firsts whether riding camels or being bartered for a pair of camels where we gained a travel partner for the rest of our Morocco trip, even if his name did sound like urine.