February 23, 2024 Breakfast - Pancakes with blueberry maple syrup. Lunch - Snacks at Ari’s house. Dinner - Chicken tagline with couscous

February 23, 2024 Breakfast - Pancakes with blueberry maple syrup. Lunch - Snacks at Ari’s house. Dinner - Chicken tagline with couscous 

We awakened around 7:30. I took a shower and dressed and watched the last ten minutes of Newcastle v. Nottingham Forest which Newcastle won 4 to 3.

We then ate the rest of the Machaca and then watched the news.

When Debbie joined us around 9:00 she made pancakes and fried bacon and served the pancakes with fresh blueberries in maple syrup.

Then around 10:00 we said goodbye and drove to the large outdoor flea ,market at McCollum Auditorium . We did not see anything worth buying, so drove 45 minutes up the hill to Idyllwild to Ari’s home to visit him and Luke, who is visiting him.

Suzette and I each ate a cold slice of the marinara pizza from last night before we realized that Ari was preparing a cheese board with brie, feta, and cheddar cheese, slices of baguette and crackers plus containers of baba Ghanoush and tzatziki and multicolored baby carrots.

All I could  eat was a slice of feta on a slice of bread and a carrot.

Then we walked round the block. Ari then drove us on a tour of Idyllwild. We toured the Museum where we saw that an Elvis Film titled Kid Galahad was made here and a few other notable facts.

The weather was warm in the Low 60’s, so very pleasant at 4:00.

Ari told us that Idyllwild is the first town on the Pacific Crest Trail so it sees lots of hikers on their way from Mexico to Canada.

Luke emphasized that Idyllwild is two hours from LA and 45 minutes from Palm Springs. If yesterday was an example, they have a really mobile lifestyle.  They travelled to Sam’s Resort in Desert’s Edge and then Yucca for a party near Joshua Tree National Park before returning to Idyllwild.

I lay down to rest when we returned and found that I had lost several days of notes that I could not find.

I went downstairs around 6:30 to join Luke and Suzette in front of the fireplace where there was a fire blazing that Luke kept going with sticks.

There must be no shortage of wood in this forest.

Dinner

Ari was in the kitchen making a chicken Tagine from a New York Times recipe. 

He was caramelizing two skillets full of onions and then added chicken lightly baked with cardamon, cinnamon, fenugreek, coming, and several other exotic spices.

He added the chicken to the onions and then added kalamata olives and some of the dates we brought and slices of preserved lemon he had made that was a wonderful addition.

Ari also brought us drinks as we sat in front of the large stone fireplace.

Around 7:30 dinner was served a ceramic bowl filled with with soft fluffy couscous and raisins and the two skillets full of chicken thighs and legs, onions, dates, and olives. 

It was a wonderful dish.  I opened and poured the Claire Palentir Sauvignon Blanc that was pleasant but got lost in the strong flavors of the Tagine. The flavors of the spices and ingredients in the Tagine were well integrated. I definitely want to try this dish or one like it soon.

After dinner we returned to the living room and the fireplace for an hour or so until Suzette and I became sleepy and went to bed around 8:45.

It was wonderful to see how happy Luke and Ari are together.

It was a pleasant day with a rather scary drive up the mountains that seems to be part of Ari and Luke’s normal commute to Palm Springs and the area around Palm Springs.

Bon Appetit