on the road again

As road trip days go, today was pretty uneventful.  No complaints, but also not that much to report.  I’d wax poetic about food today if there was anything to write home about, but truthfully, such is not the case.

After checking out of our awesome Kanab motel room, we started out on the long driving day that we knew was in store.  We first stopped at Pizza Hut (I know, I know, but we both like the salad bar, and in Kanab, it’s slim pickins) and dined on iceberg with various toppings and a mushroom and onion pizza.  Feeling satisfied and also slightly healthy (they were big salads), we headed out toward the Four Corners.  The scenery in this part of the country is absolutely breathtaking.  I mean truly, it is just something that everyone should see.  The rocks, mountains and red clay as far as the eye can see are pretty amazing, and it just kills me that none of the four cameras that we have in the car do any of it justice.

We stopped at Four Corners National Monument and stood in four states at once.  It was very cool.  We gulped caffeine like it was going out of style and I played car chef while Joellen drove after it got dark (I prefer daytime driving, she prefers nighttime…we make a good team in that way).  We satisfied ourselves with cheese, crackers, pb&j’s and tried some of the food that we have purchased along the way (the Touvelle cheese and rhubarb jam were very good choices, in our estimation).

After arriving in Santa Fe tonight, we got settled here at the Old Santa Fe Inn (very nice accommodations in a prime location) and then decided that we wanted hot chocolate.  We were told that the reception area was open 24 hours and was always stocked with Starbucks coffee and hot chocolate, so we went downstairs to check it out.  The building was locked and I had nearly lost hope when a very nice woman offered to let us in.  Although I’m pretty sure we were more of a nuisance than we intended upon, we left a few minutes later, hot chocolate in hand, and have now turned in for the night.

I’m sure that you all were hoping for more from today’s post, but some days we’re just kind of boring.  Don’t worry though, tomorrow we explore all that New Mexico has to offer, and we are definitely planning on doing that through our taste buds.  Stay tuned.

❤ Amy

san francisco…no flowers in our hair

I was nervous that I wouldn’t like San Francisco as much as much as I was supposed to.  Everyone raves about how great it is, and how it is their favorite vacation destination, and I was really nervous that I wouldn’t share the same sentiments with everyone else.  Luckily, we had an excellent experience today, and I can definitely say that San Fran is becoming a big contender for “Most Awesome Road Trip City” award.

We began the day by finding an awesome parking spot in the financial district not far from Ferry Market.  We got there and immediately set to waiting in line for the famed Hog Island Oyster Company.  I first read about Hog Island when I bought my dad a cookbook for some festive occasion, then quickly set about to reading it one weekend while I was visiting him.  Since then, it has been on the bucket list of places I must see/dine at before I die.  I recommended it to him when he was here on his honeymoon and he and my stepmom, Cindy, had nothing but rave reviews for the place.  So I was thrilled when we got there and the line was relatively short, as it was our first meal of the day (lunch has become the first meal for most days since we are incapable of leaving hotels/overnight locations much before noon).  We ordered 18 oysters (sampler platter), the grilled cheese, and clam chowder.  While I tried everything, the clam chowder was mostly for me, since the broth was made with bacon.  Let me just say that Hog Island did not disappoint.  The oysters, of which there were 6 varieties, were all spectacular.  Ice cold and ranging from salty to creamy to sweet, they were just what I was hoping they would be.  The grilled cheese, made with Mezzo Seco, cave-aged Gruyere and Fromage Blanc was so incredibly good, I had to fight the urge to order more than one.  Made with the most delicious blend of cheese and sourdough bread, with a side order of house made pickled veggies (carrots, cucumbers, fennel and cauliflower)…this dish was such a winner.  The clam chowder was also out of this world.  Made with Hog Island Manila Clams, aromatics and fresh cream, it was altogether light and flavorful.  Not your typical thick chowder, but something otherworldly.  I could bathe in this.  Oh, and it had bacon in it.  Do I need to get in to how much I love bacon?  Do I?  No, I don’t.  Bacon drastically improves just about any dish, in my estimation.  Bravo, Hog Island.  This meal was one I would like to repeat at least once every week for the rest of my life.  The glass of champagne for me, and a wheat beer for Joellen was also a great way to start out the day 🙂

After lunch, we walked around the Ferry Market building for a good amount of time, admiring and staring and smelling everything we could.  We almost bought about a dozen different gourmet foodstuffs and then remembered that we had nowhere to store them/nothing to do with them.  That might be the only negative to this trip; what would we do with a package of wild mushrooms?  I can’t wait to get back in to the kitchen.  Seeing all of these incredible ingredients everywhere we go and not being able to cook with them is turning out to be more painful than I could have imagined.  So after torturing ourselves for far too long, we hopped on the back of a bike and set out for greener piers.

One perfect bike ride later (shout out to Kyle for his excellent cycling services), we arrived at Pier 39 ready to see some Sea Lions.  And we did, and they were cool.  I got a Diet Coke and Joellen finished her really awesome iced coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee, and with our renewed sense of energy (read: we were so tired we contemplated coming back to the hotel for a nap but decided to power through), set out to explore more of the city.  Joellen led us all around with her excellent navigational skills, first to Lombard Street, where we walked up a virtual mountain in order to see cars swerving down a flower-lined road (it was actually very cool), then over to the Cable Car Museum (also very cool) then to a cable car stop, where we waited and waited and waited until we were finally able to get on to one of the cars (apparently one has to wait a long time if they want to get a seat on one of these bad boys).  We rode for a while until we got to the last stop then headed back to the car for a quick revamp before dinner.  I would just like to say that we walked several miles during all of this, many of them uphill, and that there were at least 7 hours between lunch and dinner.  I was asked today from an unnamed reader if we ever got any exercise after telling them what we had been eating, so I feel compelled to let you all know that we do, in fact, walk a great deal during our travels (thanks, Dad).

Dinner was at a sustainable sushi place called Tataki.  Since Joellen has planned so many meals with me in mind, I wanted to do the same for her.  Tataki had many vegetarian options, and lots of different specialties to choose from.  After much debate, we decided to share the spicy tuna, the futomaki, the avocado, and the mix-it-up (spicy tuna with crab and avocado).  It was all so delicious I can’t even begin to describe.  Very fresh, very flavorful, very San Fran.  We also started with the edamame, which was perfectly salted, and we were gifted an extra spicy tuna roll on accident.  So yeah, we maybe shared five rolls, but three of them were really small, and you know what?  We’re on vacation.  It was awesome.  When we got back to the hotel, we decided to have a very small dessert of a Clairesquares shortbread with caramel and chocolate.  Hey, we walked a lot today, ok?

With a fabulous day behind us, we look forward to tomorrow’s stop: Monterey!  (Hopefully there will be equally good food, because San Francisco set a very high bar for the rest of California).

❤ Amy

visitin’ the vegans’ paradise

We try to be prompt people.  We really, really do.  But it just doesn’t work out for us.  This is pretty much a constant problem for the two of us.  And you would think that perhaps we would influence each other to be more on time because the two of us being together would make us hyper-aware of the lateness situation.  This has not happened yet.  So, when we leave hotel rooms, we more often than not call and ask if we can have one more hour.  Luckily, no calls had to be made in Seattle.  Nobody was set to be in the studio directly after us, so we had a lovely, leisurely morning today getting out of the studio, and it was so nice.  We woke up later than I’d care to admit and set to re-packing and re-configuring the car.  If you know me, you’ll know how exciting this was for me.  I really like organizing and it was great to take everything out of the car and repack before heading back on the road.  We finished our leftover Indian food from the night before last and then went off to Portland.  The drive was easy, and we got here right around time to start planning for dinner (naturally, we pretty much plan our lives around meals).

We got to McMenamin’s Kennedy School and were absolutely amazed.  This is such an incredibly cool hotel, I can not even begin to describe how much I love it here.  So the McMenamin brothers started renovating old buildings to keep them from being demolished and now have a virtual kingdom of awesome hotels, brew pubs and concert venues.  This company is just so unique and awesome, and in a way, I think has a really noble way of running their business.  So we got here and got settled just in time for my first college roommate and good friend, Lauren to arrive, ready to lead us around Portland in search of the perfect meal.  We first had drinks at the Boiler Room Bar in our hotel and then headed over to Alberta Street to find somewhere to eat.  After walking a few blocks (yes, we walked to dinner, very Portland of us), we landed at Vita Cafe, a vegetarian and vegan restaurant (with a few meat options) that boasted everything from thai noodles to a burger with bacon and egg.  Joellen and I shared the club sandwich (fully vegan, with vegan mayo, vegan bacon and vegan turkey) and the vegan mac and cheese, and we shared the vegan nachos as a group.  I was really surprised at how much I liked everything.  As a meat and cheese lover, I was a little skeptical, and although I will happily eat a vegetarian meal most all of the time, I am still unsure about vegan cuisine.  Not gonna lie, I almost ordered the one meat option: a burger.  But I didn’t.  I decided to dive in head-first and have a totally vegan meal.  And you know what?  It was actually really good.  The sandwich was my favorite part–absolutely delicious, with a delightfully salty, smoky flavor and a nice, meaty texture.  I give that dish two thumbs way up.  The mac and cheese with faux cheese was also really tasty, with a creamy, garlicky sauce; I had a hard time putting down the fork.

We walked back to the hotel and stopped at one of the restaurants for another drink.  We befriended some guys and I shamelessly plugged our blog and road trip and told them upwards of a dozen times that they should really check it out.  Overall, I’d say that we had a great introductory evening to Portland.  I can’t wait for all that tomorrow promises–good food with good friends in a great city.

❤ Amy

big skies

Tonight we write to you from the lovely Livingston, Montana after a long day on the road.

We started out the day in Rapid City, South Dakota, where we tried to wake up early to see Mount Rushmore before getting on the road. Tried would be the operative word here. After struggling to move for almost an hour, we got up, repacked the car and headed to the Mount (that’s what all of the hip South Dakotans call it…?). Now, I thought that it was situated right in Rapid City, but I guess I was wrong, because it took us a good half hour before we were able to even see the mountain range where the Mount is carved. Oh, I don’t want to forget about the delicious breakfast that we had in RC (another hip South Dakotan abbreviation…?): bagels. Bagels have a particular significance for us, as they are delicious and we love them. That’s kind of the extent of it, but every time we are wondering what to have for breakfast, it’s usually in the top two. So we were thrilled to find Black Hills Bagels located conveniently on one of the two streets that run through RC, SD. We ordered the veggie bagel with sprouts, tomato and cucumber and added our own hummus, and we also got the sourdough bagel with an egg (we added our own old english cream cheese and it was to die for). After an easy and scenic drive, we arrived at the Mount, ready to see some former leaders.

So, the Mount. Let’s just break it down. It’s rocks. And it’s cool, and most certainly worth a trip, but I am not about to make it a destination…ever. So, if you find yourself on a road trip or passing through SD for whatever reason, you really should go. I would say that it’s worth going out of your way, but that’s pretty much a given since it’s not really in the way of anything. So that’s my spiel. Go see the Mount.

We spent many hours driving through the vast openness of South Dakota, then Wyoming, and finally, Montana before arriving here, in Livingston. We had a very notable stop in Garryowen, which is one of those little oddities on the side of the road that you wonder if you should stop for or just keep going. We stopped. And I think we really enjoyed scenic downtown.

Now Livingston is a really cool place to visit. I’m fairly certain that there is absolutely nothing here, but I did see signs for Sacajawea Park, so there’s that… We mostly decided to stay here because of a restaurant that we saw–shocker–on TV. The restaurant, The 2nd Street Bistro, is located in The Murray Hotel, a historical boutique hotel the a friendly staff and clean, quaint rooms. We definitely give four enthusiastic thumbs up. Now, I know what you’re thinking: what about the dinner? After all, I know that’s why all of you tune in day after day. To start, the bread was absolutely delicious. It had a nice soft texture and slightly salty flavor and the butter was creamy and delicious. We shared the seared sea scallops with a crawfish risotto and a red pepper sauce. I know what I said before about red peppers, but this dish was stellar. Really delicate seafood flavors and the risotto was cooked perfectly. We also had the fried okra, which was tasty but not worth ordering again, in my opinion. For the main course, Joellen had a margherita pizza which was very tasty and I had the lamb ragout, with lamb and goat cheese from a farm a few miles away. We finished with the yellow cake with lemon curd and a raspberry coulis. Delicious. Overall, a very successful and delicious dinner. I couldn’t be happier that we chose to stay in this little town, and I thank Travel Channel and Anthony Bourdain for showing us the way to The 2nd Street Bistro.

❤ Amy