livin’ it up in the big easy

I was really excited to come to New Orleans for several reasons.  High among them was to see another college roommate, Nicole, who is now studying at Tulane.  I usually don’t mind arriving in new destinations late, but in the case of New Orleans, I was nervous that we wouldn’t have very much time and it kind of bummed me out.  After waking up late and struggling to get out the door, we were greeted by Nicole with open arms as she graciously offered to help us pack up the car before heading out to lunch destination number one.

Now, I don’t like to brag, but I’m a pretty good eater.  I’m sure that that has been made quite apparent to most of you, but just in case you’re new: I can eat.  I wouldn’t describe myself as a competitive eater and I certainly don’t strive to be one, but there was one challenge that I heard of that I really wanted to try out.  So much so, that I put it on my bucket list.  It was a big goal of mine to become a part of the 15 Dozen Club at Acme Oyster House in New Orleans, and although many scoffed, I knew that I could defeat this challenge with few to no problems.  So when I had the chance to go to New Orleans for the first time in March, I knew that the challenge would be my main goal of the trip, and after 40 minutes, I completed my challenge, having eaten 180 oysters, making me one of three (or four…) women to ever become a part of the 15 Dozen Club.  Among the many perks (really, it’s just like, three perks but they’re still cool) of being in this exclusive club, I was lucky enough to have my name put on the wall.  I have my own little name plate with my hometown and the date of my challenge.  I didn’t really care to have a full meal at Acme again, but I really wanted to see my name plate and perhaps milk the tiny bit of stardom that goes along with it.  I was very excited that some of the shuckers remembered me, and to my utter shock, someone wanted to take my picture.  Oh, the hardships of being a star.  We decided to have a small appetizer of chargrilled oysters, which are all the rage right now, and I can see why.  Grilled over an open flame with butter and parmesan cheese, these little suckers are salty, tangy and delicious.  They were the perfect first few bites of our time in New Orleans.

For our main lunch, we decided to go somewhere a little less fried-fishy and a little more vegetarian friendly, so thanks to urbanspoon, we happened upon Bennachin Restaurant, a little African place that caters to vegetarians and omnivores alike.  Since I was outnumbered 2-1 in this category, I decided to follow suit and order vegetarian so that we could all share.  But before I get to the food, let us first discuss the atmosphere.  With Afro-Caribbean music playing on a television just above the kitchen door and the smell of musty incense that hits you right when you walk in, Bennachin immediately makes you feel comfortable and ready for good food.  There was one server, who I can only assume was local (based on her accent) who was very friendly and knowledgable on the different menu items.  She offered her opinions and we quickly ordered and anxiously awaited our lunches.

To start,  we had the black eyed pea fritters with a tomato jam.  They were light, crispy and delicious.  I can’t really figure out which part was the black eyed pea, but none of us had any complaints about this dish.  It was a great way to start out the meal.  For our main courses, Joellen ordered the Kone ni Makondo, black eyed peas in a tomato sauce served with ripe fried plantains and coconut rice.  Her dish was absolutely delicious and even though I had my concerns about the coconut rice at first, I must admit that it was pretty awesome.   The flavor was savory and the coconut was present but not overpowering.  I had the Bikai ni Curry, a relatively spicy eggplant, bean sprout and mushroom curry which I ordered with cous cous.  The flavors were really on point, and although I could have done with a few more mushrooms, the eggplant added a nice meatiness that I wasn’t expecting.  The sauce was spicy without being too hot, and had a really good, strong curry flavor.  Nicole’s dish was the one that surprised me most.  It looked like it was just a plate of bland, steamed vegetables over rice but it was so, so much more.  She got the Baham, which was broccoli, cauliflower and carrots in a light ginger sauce over rice.  What really excited me about this dish was the savory ginger-garlic broth that was ladled over the vegetables and the rice.  It was so flavorful and really played well with the coconut in the rice.  If we have a chance to go back, I am definitely getting this dish and will probably (shamelessly) lick my plate clean.

During lunch, we found out that one of our next stops had fallen through, so we decided to stay an extra night in New Orleans and spend some time in Birmingham before heading to Nashville.  Although we were sad that we had to miss Panama City, we’re excited to make it there in the near future, and we were happy to have a little bit more time in the Crescent City.  We took our time in making it back to the Holiday Inn, and on our way stopped in some fun little shops on Decatur Street.  After perusing what the local markets had to offer and purchasing some very necessary fall decorations, we stopped at Cafe Du Monde for an after lunch treat.  Joellen had her first beignet and we enjoyed all of the people watching and re-caffienating.  Nicole had to go to class, so she left us after a little walk through Jackson Square with the promise of seeing us later that evening.

Since we were unimpressed with the Holiday Inn, we decided to switch hotels and stay at the Hotel Monteleone to have a true New Orleans experience for the night.  We got the car from one block away and drove it four blocks (thanks, one-way streets) to the hotel where we unpacked and relaxed for a few hours.  Feeling ashamed that we hadn’t really done much since lunch, we got ready and waited to hear from Nicole about dinner/drinks.  Since she is a good student, she told us that she could only meet us for one drink and that we’d have to be on our own for dinner, so I wanted to make that drink count.  When I was in New Orleans last, I really wanted to go to the bar at the Monteleone because it looked classy and very retro.  So we went downstairs to the Carousel Bar to check it out.  Aside from a rude bartender and a disagreement over what constitutes a Bellini, we had a pleasant time at this rotating bar (hence the name).

After bidding adieu to Nicole once more, we made the very short walk to Deanie’s, a popular seafood place, in search of some po’boys.   Joellen ordered the crawfish tail po’boy and I ordered the soft-shell crab po’boy.  While we waited, we were served boiled potatoes with Old Bay and butter…I could get used to that.  The service was quick and before I knew it, I was face first in to a Louisiana classic.  And it was just ok.  I think I had just been so excited about the chance of having boiled blue crabs or crawfish that anything else was destined to be a bit of a let-down.  They weren’t served with remoulade sauce, but we asked for some and that really amped up the flavor.  In the end, I’m glad that we made it to Deanie’s (it was another place that I had wanted to go to for a while), and I really did enjoy my sandwich, but next time we come to New Orleans, I think I’m going to need buckets upon buckets of boiled crustaceans to make up for this trip.  Feeling full and satisfied with our trip to the Big Easy, we made the short walk back to the hotel and promptly collapsed in to bed, thoroughly excited about the 12pm check out time the following morning.

❤ Amy

acl: day one

Austin. City. Limits.

So, I’ve never been to a music festival before. Last year I toyed with the idea of going to Bonnaroo, but I couldn’t really afford to take the time off from work. So when Joellen told me that one of the main reasons for the road trip, the Mecca to our hajj, if you will, was Austin City Limits, I got pretty excited. And nervous. I don’t do so well in the heat, nor do I care for large crowds or excessive noise (I may be a 90-year-old masquerading as a 20-something).  One thing that always bonded Joellen and me, though, is our love of music, so I could think of no better destination for the road trip.

We got up early (around 8:30…) and headed over to Zilker Park for day 1 of ACL. When we arrived, we were relieved to find that the lines were short and the sky was full of clouds. As I’m sure most of you are aware, Austin is experiencing a major drought and to see rain clouds in the sky is kind of a miracle. With hope of a good-weather day, we headed over to see Cults, but not before dropping by another, smaller stage to see what Miniature Tigers had to offer. An all male band with a familiar sound, they sounded a little raw and were alright, but not my favorites. Now Cults: I was not aware of this band, but Emily and Helen–Joellen’s friend from Kentucky and Emily’s high school friend–really wanted to see them, so we were all game. I really liked the band. They had a female front man (front woman?) and a somewhat dreamy sound that reminded me of something I would hear on the Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack (that is a good thing). I would up knowing one song (you’ll notice that’s a trend with most of the bands we saw) and really enjoyed my first music festival act. After Cults, we stopped by another stage to see An Horse who I also enjoyed. A male-female duet from Australia, they had a cool sound as well. It was a Joellen pick and did not disappoint.

We then took a break for lunch #1 and were so excited when we saw all that there was in the Austin Eats section of the park. There was so much to choose from so we decided to take it slow. We started with a grilled corn salad with a soft boiled egg from Odd Duck Farm to Trailer. It was really good. I wasn’t expecting it to be cold, but that was a very pleasant surprise. Really nice flavors that didn’t totally bomb in the heat. Definitely a good way to start off. Then we decided to have something small, so we each ordered a taco from Torchy’s. I got the green chile pork (on flour tortilla) and Joellen got the fried avocado (also on flour) and wow. They were so delicious. I actually favored Joellen’s taco, as it had a wider array of flavors, and I was really digging the fried avocado. Mine had just a touch more cilantro than I can handle, but I will definitely be making more trips to Torchy’s soon.

After our first lunch, we went to check out The Secret Sisters, a band I’ve heard Joellen mention a few times before. Now, given her usual tastes, I assumed they would be indie-alternative singers who may or may not be related (see: Tegan and Sara). I was really surprised when she told me that they did old-school country music. And did they ever. These Alabama girls were both energetic and demure, and sung beautifully. I was absolutely thrilled at how much I liked them. Check them out. Now. We then went over to a bigger stage to set up camp to see Brandi Carlile, who I was really excited to see. I’m just going to take this time to come out and say that I knew of about 5 artists of 130 who are at ACL this year. And Brandi was one of them. I discovered her on a Grey’s Anatomy Soundtrack and fell in love with her sound. She was awesome. Just really great. Just as I hoped she’d be, and so much more.

It was then time for lunch #2. We walked farther down the food section and found a lot more that piqued our interests, so we again decided to try/share a few little dishes. We first got the Kick Ass Nachos from Tim Love’s Love Shack, which lived up to the name. Joellen and I both have a secret (now not so secret) love of cheese sauce. This dish had plenty. And it was homemade, too. Nice job, Love Shack. We also got some truffled mac and cheese from Lonesome Dove Western Bistro which I devoured. I’m really in to truffles right now (see here) and this dish was flavorful without being heavy. It was delicious. They used orzo instead of the traditional macaroni which I liked and Joellen wasn’t crazy about. I would order this dish over and over, but again, when you’re using two of my favorite ingredients, that is a given.

We then went to meet with Emily and Helen at the Smith Westerns show, which abruptly ended 20 minutes before it was supposed to. Odd. We heard that Ray LaMontagne was onstage and went to go see him. Joellen really likes him and the more I hear, the more I like. I would have liked to stay, but it was so swamped that we decided to go to the stage next to his to wait for Cold War Kids and listen to him from the sidelines. I really enjoyed CCK. They were an Emily pick and a good one at that. Again, I knew one song and got really excited. I also did not want to stand up so I got a good glimpse of feet and tattoos. It was pretty great.

We went to the next stage (where Ray had been) and set up camp for Bright Eyes. They are a favorite of Joellen’s and I’ve liked them for a while too. I was introduced to them back in high school and have dabbled ever since. I’m ashamed to say that I fell asleep during their show, but it was a light, short sleep and I could hear how awesome Conor and the gang were.

Joellen and I left a little early to get a spot for my favorite act of the weekend: Sara Bareilles. I just love her. She sings one song that got really big, and I have been pretty excited about her for a long time (thanks, Andrea for letting me burn her cd!). She was awesome. Energetic and so talented. I wish that she was given a bigger stage/that she had played longer. Oh well, we’ll just have to see her in concert some day.  After Sara, we had dinner: spinach pakoras with a delightfully spicy/refreshing mint chutney from Royal Indian Foods and an fried avocado “cone”: fried avo with spicy sauce and sweet coleslaw in a flour tortilla situated in a paper cone from The Mighty Cone. It was actually really good.  Oh, and we also got ice cream. Amy’s Ice Cream, which is something that Joellen has been talking about since we got here.  Apparently it’s very Austin. We got the mint chocolate chip which was awesome. We then found Helen and Emily and settled in for our final show: Kanye. And it was fine; just what you’d expect: flashy, loud and crowded. We all enjoyed sitting toward the back and taking it all in.

To close, some observations about ACL (if I still have an audience, thanks for hanging in):

– There are so many nice people. Everyone is pretty like-minded and I have neither heard nor seen anyacts of violence. It’s all peace and love here.

– I love the flags. People carry around flags or balloons, inflatable animals, what have you on long poles and I love them. We have seen so many fun, creative and random flags. They’re also excellent for identifying location when you’re trying to find a friend

– There are so many kids here. And not just little kids with their parents, but 11, 12 year olds (seemingly just with a group of friends) who should maybe be with a chaperone. It’s a little alarming to see that once the later shows start.

– “So many young people with so many regrettable tattoos” -Joellen

– Rain happened. It was awesome, even if brief.

– This is the greatest place to people watch-EVER.

 

Until next time, Peace and Love from the ACL-ers

❤ 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

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