those three special words

I love you.  Those are three words that everyone wants to hear.  Some people wait lifetimes to hear them, some kill to hear them and some sacrifice everything to hear them.  Those three special words.  I love hearing them, don’t get me wrong, but I have a more favorite triad in the English language.  Oh yes, friends.  You and I both know that few words get me as excited as these: Food and Wine.  What a glorious combination of syllables.  So simple and yet, so very satisfying.

I am a fan of pretty much any kind of festival.  In my family, we are “festival people.”  A sort of snooty carnie, if you will.  We like to hang around food people, we really like to hang around wine people, and when the day is done, who isn’t thankful for a bit of art and music on the side (those are regular pairings with the magic three, don’t you know).  So, when my big sister from my sorority (are you really surprised that I’m a sorority girl?) told me that she would be participating in the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon and wanted to do the Wine and Food Fest the next day, I agreed to attend pretty much immediately.

Fast forward several months.  Lindsay ran and it was very exciting.  It was her first half marathon and she absolutely killed it.  She had been eating very healthfully for about two weeks prior, so to celebrate, the day of the race, we prepared and bought wine, cheese, desserts and crackers from The Fresh Market, parked on the couch until the 10pm race was to start, and relaxed.  As we were too tired to actually eat the cheese at 2am after the race finished, we decided it would be the perfect and most appropriate breakfast for our F&W day.

After a healthy dose of lactose and alcohol, we set off to Epcot to journey around the world and taste the many delicacies they offered.  Before eating, however, we decided to check out a few of the “rides” at the park to have a full Disney experience.  I have to say, one of my favorite things about Epcot is the wonderful irony of it all.  This park was supposed to be the focal point of Disney World in Orlando (thanks, Magic Kingdom, for killing the dreams of the big golf ball), and was intended to be a permanent Worlds Fair, with the main part of the park as a sort of “future world.”  What is so fantastic about Epcot is how outdated everything is.  The rides and attractions talk about the “future” that we are supposed to have and it reads a bit more like a ’70s science fiction novel than it does an accurate depiction of the future as we now think it will be.  But it is awesome.  I just love rides that haven’t changed since the late ’80s.  Really makes you wonder what they’re spending all of their money on…

After lots of laughs and sarcastic/snarky comments, we went to try all of the delicious food.  With two cash cards loaded and in hand, we went to Hawaii to taste the pork slider with pineapple chutney and the tuna poke with seaweed salad and a taro root chip.  I have to say, this was a great way to start off the day.  The slider was delicious; the pork was tender, the pineapple wasn’t too sweet, and it was on a sweet Hawaiian-style roll (go figure…) which was to die for.  The tuna poke was also very tasty.  The taro chip was a bit of a miss for me, but the tuna was fresh and cool and the seaweed salad was a great salty compliment.  Feeling good and ready for more, we went to Argentina for the beef empanada–also delicious.  The ropa vieja from the Caribbean tent was pretty good (although the rice was not very well cooked), and the mahi with coconut lime sauce and hearts of palm over rice from Brasil was surprisingly tasty.

We were on a roll.  Next was Mexico for the shrimp tacos for Lindsay which she loved, and the Swedish meatballs from Scandinavia (for me) which were just ok.  The sauce was not as flavorful as it should have been, the lingonberries were incorporated with the sauce, thus not really impacting the dish, and the meat was fine.  A let down, but I still ate them.  Linds and I shared the rice pudding and it was bizarrely unevenly cooked.  I don’t really understand how they accomplished crunchy rice pudding, but they did it.  Wanting to cleanse our palates of these let downs, we decided that a visit to the cheese tent was a must.  They had an Artisan cheese plate and another dish, a cheese fondue, which I was pretty pumped about.  Linds saw the Germany tent across the way, so while she went to go get some apfel strudel, I waited for the cheese.  When I went to place my order, I was very distressed to learn that they had run out of Artisian cheese and would not be replenishing their stock for another 15 minutes.  I proceeded with ordering the fondue and found Lindsay and the glorious looking strudel.  The strudel did not disappoint.  It was just as it should have been.  The fondue, however…well, it was weird.  They just didn’t cook it long enough.  The wine hadn’t burnt off its alcohol and the cheese was still in warm shreds.  Nothing had incorporated together to form a sauce.  It was thrown out.  And that’s saying something, because I will eat pretty much anything.  Really, I will.  This was just not worth the stomach space.  And you might be surprised, but space was running low.  We were hitting a wall and we were only about halfway through.  We also had spent about $15 each.  Who knew that it was so inexpensive to gorge yourself at Disney World?

Not wanting to lose momentum, we went to the Werther’s caramel store in Germany and each bought a dessert.  I ate mine promptly (a brownie with caramel sauce drizzled on top).  Lindsay judged me and said she wanted to “hold off.”  Not cool.  Next was Poland for the kielbasa with pierogi.  So good, and so heavy.  I would have eaten a full serving of that any day, though.  Doesn’t get much better than potato-filled noodles.  Then we went to Singapore to try the shrimp cake on a sugarcane skewer with Singapore noodles.  This dish was just not tasty.  The shrimp cake was way too shrimpy (although, in defense of the dish I really don’t care for shrimp so much) and the noodles were altogether bland and oddly flavored.  We even tried to chomp on the sugarcane as a little treat but the shrimp cake had permeated the flavor of the cane and it was just not a good situation.  So we got a snow cone to make up for the loss.

It was around this time that we decided to not eat anything more, save for the fisherman’s pie in Ireland, which Lindsay had been planning for since we’d read the menu (so about 48 hours).  Deciding not to eat anymore is not as easy as it sounds.  Because we passed Belgium and couldn’t resist the waffles with berry compote and a chocolate truffle.  The waffles were actually delicious, and the mussels they were serving looked awesome too.  When we finally rolled our way over to Ireland, I was fairly certain I’d never eat again.  But Lindsay had really been looking forward to the fisherman’s pie (with lobster and scallops, and a mashed potato top), so I put on a brave face and dug in.  I’m glad I did, because this was absolutely the stand out dish of the day for me.  I was surprised at how much I liked the combination of seafood with tomato cream sauce and mashed potatoes.  Bravo, Ireland!  Thanks for ending our day on a high note.

We made a quick pit stop to taste some of the sodas from around the world before departing and heading our separate ways.  Overall, we had a wonderful day.  Nothing says true friendship like letting someone watch you consume more calories than you did the entire month prior.  And all for a pretty decent price.  Epcot, I will be back.  Just maybe with a more discerning eye…

❤ Amy

surprises everywhere

I’m not going to lie, I didn’t have very high hopes for the culinary scene in Birmingham.  Or really, for Birmingham at all.  It’s in Alabama, and I might be a tad bit prejudiced against Alabama for the mere fact that it is, well…Alabama.  We wanted Greek food.  Like falafels and greek salads, and I really wanted potato salad atop my bed of greens.  If you haven’t had this, you need to.  We first stopped at Taziki, a regional chain with a Mediterranean flair.  After standing in line for a few minutes looking at menus, we decided that it really wasn’t for us.  It had nothing that really got us excited, so we went back to the car to try again.  Thanks to our trusty concierge, urbanspoon, we were ushered on to The Olive Branch, a mostly-Greek Mediterranean place.  When we drove up, we saw a sign that indicated they had Coca Cola products.  I wasn’t leaving.

We walked in and took our seats at the bar, a prime spot for viewing the goings on in the kitchen.  We quickly ordered sodas and decided to start with the grilled mushroom appetizer.  It was basically just button mushrooms that had been cooked on the flat top, but they were very tasty.  Savory and perfect with the complimentary pita bread.  I was excited.  Joellen was a tad nervous (they cooked the mushrooms next to some meat).  We both ordered the falafel lunch special and waited for what felt like an eternity to taste our fried chickpea deliciousness.  And deliciousness, it was.  Joellen ranks the falafel at Olive Branch in the Top 3 that she has had–ever.  That’s pretty big.  They were crisp on the outside and moist and flavorful on the inside.  Not an easy feat to accomplish.  Our falafel patties sat atop some awesome wild rice, and we were also given greek salads, pita and hummus.  We unfortunately dressed our salads with the house dressing, which looked really tasty but tasted like olives (no bueno), and it was all I could do to just scarf it down so that I would feel good about having some green.  Joellen didn’t even try.  She just gave up.  We couldn’t finish our falafel, leaving two each for left overs, and decided to split the walnut baklava and the pistachio baklava.  I was convinced that I’d prefer the pistachio, but the walnut was just stellar.  Sweet and flaky goodness.

After our lunch, we got in the car and made the short and easy drive to Nashville (I’m a little ashamed to say that I slept for a good part of the drive), and started on our next project: cooking dinner for Cindy and Kate.  Cindy is a friend of Joellen’s from college and she has a birthday this weekend, so to thank her and her partner, Kate, for letting us stay, and to celebrate her birthday, we decided to make them dinner.  Not wanting to do anything complicated, we decided to make vegetable lasagna with salad and a cake (from scratch).  Somehow things become a little bit bigger than we intend for them to, but I’d like to think we usually pull it off.

I started out by making the cake batter to get the most time consuming aspect out of the way.  I used Bobby Flay’s coconut cake recipe (just for the cake part–frosting was of our own creation) and was very hopeful about the results (I’ve used it once before and it came out really great).  Next, we started on the lasagna.  We cooked the noodles, roasted some yellow squash, sauteed spinach with garlic and onions and sauteed some mushrooms in the same fashion.  After making the ricotta-mozzarella-herb mix, all that was left was to puree the fire roasted tomatoes that had been doctored to our liking, in to a sauce.  After much laboring and the addition of more mozzarella and pecorino romano cheeses, the creation was complete.  To be fair, Joellen made the entire thing.  I just lent my hand in the seasoning of the sauce and the turning on of the burners.  We also roasted some beets and cut up different vegetables for a mini salad bar.  Joellen made a tangy honey dijon dressing with cider vinegar and I made a goat cheese dressing with shallots that got some mixed reviews (it was excellent with the beets, though).  I am determined to try and try again until I succeed with that one.  The cake came out looking great, although the strawberry cream cheese frosting lost its volume at the addition of the strawberries (which hardened the butter) and subsequent warm down (which melted the butter too much).  It was more like a thick glaze, but all diners were very generous with their reviews and nobody had a morsel of food on their plates.  I’d say it was a very successful foray back in to the kitchen for the two of us after such a long hiatus.

We’d like to thank Birmingham for surprising us, not only with the food that they host, but with some really friendly people.  We’d also like to thank Cindy and Kate for housing us and for lending us their kitchen to make a huge mess of.

❤ Amy

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

finally at the pacific!

Hello!  Tonight I write to you from the coziest place I think we could have chosen to stay.  As I lay here on the couch reflecting upon our day, I can’t help but feel that Seattle might be a Top 5 Favorite Place contender.  Although so far, there has not been a single hub that I haven’t liked, Seattle is definitely taking the lead (don’t worry, Minneapolis, you’re up there too!)

We woke up this morning in Spokane, Washington.  When we arrived there last night, I was not very impressed, and fairly certain that it would not be a town I would want to visit again.  Once we let the sunshine hit Spokane, however, I started to see a slightly different side.  After sleeping in too long/rushing to leave our hotel, we decided upon a cozy little breakfast spot that took us through some nice areas of town.  Frank’s Diner was exactly what you would want and expect from an old school diner.  Situated not far from Riverside Park, this train-car-turned-diner boasted not only breakfast foods of epic proportions in a very cool environment, but also the world’s greatest server, Gage.  Gage is perhaps one of my favorite strangers from this trip (there have been many favorites, but she takes the cake).  She has been with the diner for over 20 years and is exactly what you would expect in a career-server working in this kind of place.  Attentive, knowledgeable and friendly, she made our experience all the more authentic.

On to the food.  Oh my, the food.  Let me just start by saying that on the menu next to almost every item, there is the “lighter option.”  Now, if we had been thinking properly, we would have asked what this meant, and how big the normal portions were.  We lacked foresight, however, and hastily ordered our meals.  I could not believe how much food arrived at our table (nor could I believe how fast the service was, or the fact that Gage remembered I wanted lemons and wasn’t stingy with them).  I ordered the meatloaf benedict with hash browns and Joellen ordered the veggie and cheese omelet with hash browns.  I believe that Joellen liked hers, and I liked mine as well, but by the end I sort of left wishing that I had gotten something else.  The meatloaf was pretty good, but all of it was so covered with gravy that it was hard to taste anything else.  I think it is a great concept, but perhaps needs some fine-tuning.  Or not, since the place has been open for longer than I’ve been alive.  The shining star of my meal was the buttermilk biscuit, which was buttery and delicious and fluffy and just yum.  I could have easily gotten eggs and a biscuit and been happy, but I wanted a new experience, and I’m glad I got it.

We then hit the road for the easy drive across Washington to Seattle.  The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and varied from farm land to barren hills to rocky mountains to rivers and lakes to lush forests.  Washington really has a lot to offer and I am so glad that we were able to see so much of it.  We arrived in Seattle just in time for rush hour, but made it to our hotel in a fairly decent amount of time.  Seahurst Garden Studio is an incredible bed and breakfast that Joellen came across during her hours of research for this trip, and by far my favorite overnight venue.  When we got here, we were beyond thrilled with the amenities.  Situated on a hill, this one-room b&b is attached to a main house where owners Alice and Jane live.  The entrance is through the back yard, which is absolutely gorgeous.  Jane and Alice have taken such care of their property and it really shows.  There is a vegetable garden, flowers, a gorgeous willow tree and fruit-bearing plants all over.  The room is cozy, clean and well stocked.  We could not be happier.

After sitting under the grape vines for a while (I KNOW, RIGHT?), I got cleaned up and we drove in to town for an absolutely wonderful meal.  Annapurna Cafe was just what we needed.  Although we both asserted that we would never eat again after brunch, we started to get hungry right around sunset and agreed that enough time had passed and we were allowed another meal.  Now, I am a fan of all foods, and Joellen is too, for the most part.  But we just could not do one more gastro pub.  So traditional Nepalese, Tibetan and Indian food sounded perfect.  This restaurant was such an incredible find.  Most of the food is what you would expect to find in a traditional Indian place-curries, rice and naan.  But there were a few dishes that were not common and we were very excited to try them.  We started with the Spinach Momo, a traditional Tibetan-style steamed dumpling filled with spinach.  It came with a sesame chutney, peanut chutney and spicy tomato chutney, all of which were awesome, and were perfect compliments to the Momo.  We shared some samosas, which were great, the palak paneer, which is my personal favorite, and the Himalayan Curry.  This dish was all at once comforting, fresh and flavorful.  Unlike many traditional curries, the vegetables were perfectly cooked and the flavors of tomato and garlic really shone through.  I am a huge fan of all Indian food, and love everything about the creamy sauces, but this dish having none of that was such a pleasant surprise.  If you are ever in the area and want to try something different, you need to go to this restaurant.

Tomorrow we are off to explore and see all of the sights that Seattle has to offer.  Can’t wait to report back on the Emerald City.

❤ Amy