Palm Springs postscript: Desert Eats & Home Treats

On vacation, you really should have a personal chef. I offer that advice after having experienced the pleasure of professionally prepared meals in the comfort of a vacation rental in Palm Springs.

As I noted in my post about our family vacation, my son-in-law is a chef. When we arrived at our Airbnb in Thousand Palms, near Palm Springs, he offered to do the meal preparations. I had expected that he might want a break. But, he explained, preparing exciting meals for family is different from running a catering kitchen. Besides, he was eager to use the fantastic backyard grill and outdoor kitchen. 

My wife and I only have limited experience with vacation rentals. And when we have stayed at an Airbnb, we haven't done any creative cooking. We use the kitchen to heat up leftovers from restaurant meals, or to make coffee while lounging in the morning before embarking on vacation activities. 

Grilled steak and asparagus, baked potato

For this family trip, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that we'd find a house to rent. We all wanted to be together for the vacation, and the house we rented had a beautiful backyard with pool and spa and fire pit, in addition to the outdoor kitchen. So when Peter (our son-in-law) offered to do the cooking, that was just a bonus for us. (Of course, we do get to enjoy his cooking when we go to their house in Minneapolis.) 

It did then require doing some food shopping. Shopping with a chef is a little different than our ordinary grocery store trips. We came back to the house with some exciting provisions, not only for a couple of dinners, but also for breakfast and snacks and picnic lunches. 

For dinner on the day we arrived, we had a salad, pasta with pesto, and grilled chicken. On our second night, after a day of hiking and swimming, he grilled steaks and asparagus and baked potatoes. As much as I enjoyed the dinners, I really liked the breakfasts. 

Scrambled eggs and avocado on a bagel

 I should mention that as a family, we are a bit particular about bagels. It was understood from the beginning that supermarket bagels would not do. I didn't know this in advance, but at the supermarket where we did most of our shopping, they carry Einstein bagels. They're not bad, but a little too bready for me. We expected that there would be good, New York style bagels available in Palm Springs, but I had some trouble finding them. I ended up ordering a baker's dozen from Townie Bagels. I took the advice offered online and ordered them in advance. So when my daughter and I showed up at 8 a.m. to pick up our order, there was a line out the door. We were able to skip the line and got our order at the pickup desk. 

While we loved the home cooked meals, we did venture out a few times. We had a couple of dinners at restaurants. They were good, but not like the dinners we ate at the house. The grandkids wanted to have In-N-Out burgers for lunch one day. My wife and I decided to skip the fast food. We made a delicious lunch at the house. 

Pasta and pesto with a beef stick and salad

One day after hiking, our granddaughter said she wanted ice cream. Somehow we'd heard of a place called Monster Shakes. We went to the one in Cathedral City. She got something called a Cotton Candy Explosion. In order to make it, the attendant came out from behind the counter and fired up a cotton candy machine. Voila!

Cotton Candy Explosion

After we got home, and I was thinking about how great it was to have a personal chef on vacation, I thought that might make an idea for Airbnb. I should have guessed that someone had already figured that out. Indeed, there are 38 'chef services' available in the Palm Springs area. Still, most of them will come in for a special meal, but the rest of the time, you're on your own. We were fortunate to have a live-in chef for our entire vacation.