Cacao – Prague

We stopped in Prague for an overnight stay during our Christmas trip to Germany. By the time we got into town and checked into the hotel, we were a bit hungry.

Right near our hotel was the Cacao Coffee Shop.

Nice little place, coffee, drinks and a good selection of soups and sandwiches.

I had a pastrami sandwich – Beef pastrami, pickles, coarse mustard, Emmental (Swiss cheese), roasted onion and pickled onion. Not bad for $149 CZK.

It was good. I was a little worried about having roasted and pickled onions, but they weren’t overpowering. I would have liked a bit more pastrami, but what was there was good.

The Chicken Club – Chicken breast, lettuce, bacon, tomatoes, dressing, baked potatoes. $159 CZK

Was Ist Das Schnitzel? Day 2 Berlin

On day two of our trip to Berlin, we finally started to get it together. After breakfast at the hotel, we asked at the front desk where to find an ATM so we could get some Euro’s. Seems like the only choice was at the airport, just a few minutes’ drive from the hotel. 

So we headed to the airport, found a place to park that didn't have any fee and went inside. Took us a couple of minutes, but we did find an ATM that worked and got out some money. 

The location of an ATM in the Berlin Airport. They are easy to miss if your stressing from a long flight and the fun of getting your bags from baggage claim . As you walk from baggage claim to the rental car desks, you have to look back to baggage claim to see the ATM.

We looked at the map and it looked like there might be a couple of local places in a shopping center just one exit down the Autobahn. We headed over to the area, but there really wasn't a good choice. We didn't feel like grabbing ramen or kabab. 

We had noticed a Gasthaus just a bit down the road. It took us a couple of tries to find the parking lot entrance, but we did manage to get to the Zur Hecke Gasthaus. The parking lot was small and quite full.

Once inside we were greeted by a lady, I'm guessing the owner. She addressed us in German, which we didn't understand most of what she said. My wife shyly said, "English?" She seemed quite surprised but did say she could speak a little English (actually, I thought her English was pretty good). 

 We both ordered Schnitzel, me a Hamburger Schnitzel and my wife a Jagar Schnitzel. They were both very good. I do have to say, there was a lot of food. Great service, good food and a pretty authentic experience.

Looking for Food; Day 1 in Berlin

My wife and I used to have a hard rule about dining while traveling, no chains, no restaurants that we have at home. It seemed like a good plan; it allowed us to find really amazing places like the “Fox and Goat” outside of Oxford England. 

The Fox and Goat, we were lucky to find a great place to eat on day 1 of our England trip.

It was on that trip in 2019, we found ourselves on the highway heading back to Oxford, hungry, tired and in search of anything to eat. We finally exited at a turnout along the highway and found something to eat. You can read about that in this blog entry: Food on the Fly: A French Burger in England? It Could Happen We ended up eating at the McDonalds in the turnout. I was actually pretty happy with the “International” burger that I had. 

That experience led us to having breakfast at the McDonalds next to our hotel on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii. Food on the Fly: Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam Wonderful Spam! 

So tonight we found ourselves in Germany, short on cash, not able to find an ATM and not sure if our credit cards would be accepted. Once again tired and hungry, we turned to our old friend Mickey D’s. We had gone in search of an ATM and ended up driving into Berlin (which was not part of the plan). We set the GPS to go back to the hotel and saw a McD’s right on the route. We went in, wondering if the staff would be able to understand us. What we found were the electronic ordering board we have at home. After a minute, we noticed that we could switch the language to English. Hoping to find something different than the offerings in California, I ordered a hamburger Royal. 

 Turns out it is just a ¼ pounder with cheese. I really didn’t mind, I was just looking to eat something. They also offered a chicken sandwich that looked a lot like the original chicken sandwich at Burger King, I thought about giving that a try, maybe next time we are in Germany. 

 So, it wasn’t a life changing experience, but I still think we will wander into a McDonald’s when we visit France in the Spring.

Off to Europe

It’s been a bit, but we’re back on the road. This time we are headed to Germany for the Christmas Markets.

I was sitting at the computer about three weeks ago. My wife had forwarded me an article about the German Christmas Markets she had seen online.

As I read the article, I thought, “why not.”

I went online and booked flights, hotels and a car.

There is a bit of insanity, booking a trip to a country you’ve only dreamed of going to, hoping that between Utube and one semester of high school German you can navigate a trip to a foreign country.

We’ll see how that works out.

We left home on Saturday and headed to Los Angeles International Airport.

On the way we stopped at Clearman’s North Woods Inn for a meal before the flight.

Clearman’s holds a special place in my memories. I remember going there as a child with my father.

My parents separated when I was very young, so I didn’t see my father much. One of the things I remember most about the time we spent together was eating out. He didn’t cook much and at home with mom, we didn’t have much money, so we rarely went out.

I love Clearman’s from the start. From the fake snow

covered roof, to the dimly lit interior illuminating the Canadian North Woods décor. And as a kid, anyplace that let you throw peanut shells on the floor was a rare treat.

Not much has changed since I first walked thru their doors over 50 years ago. On this visit, I had the “Steak Chunks on skewer” served with two salads, rice pilaf, baked potato and garlic cheese bread.

The salads are a pretty plain salad and a red cabbage salad. I would go to Clearman’s just to have the cabbage salad and the garlic cheese bread.

It’s not cheap, but for a special treat it’s well worth the cost.

Slapfish - Los Angeles International Airport

We had booked an early morning flight from Los Angeles to Vancouver Canada. Not wanting to deal with LA morning traffic, we booked a room at a hotel not far from LAX. The hotel offered a morning breakfast, but we needed to be at the airport before they started serving. 

Our experiences dining while traveling since the lifting of some pandemic restrictions has been a mixed bag. 

We have been in airports with no food establishments operating, seen some limited seating, and some places that were wide open. 

Since we arrived on the concourse at LAX before 7:30 am, we expected to have limited choices. The Jersey Mikes Sub shop was open, as was Slapfish Modern Seafood Shack. 

I was hoping one of the two other dining choices in the area, Build (custom burgers) or Fresh Bros Pizza would be open. We checked and were told they wouldn’t open until 9am. 

So, we ordered from Slapfish. My wife got a breakfast sandwich, I got the breakfast burrito. 

If you’ve read any of my posts on burgers, you know that a pet peeve of mine is chefs who coat the outside of the just about any sandwich with butter. Honestly, this needs to stop. The last thing I want when eating is to have both of my hands covered in butter. And after finishing the meal, no amount of handwashing will get the smell of the burger off your hands. Only time will fade the scent. The one exception might be a really good patty melt. But that’s bread, not a bun so the absorption of the butter is a bit different. 

Which brings me to my breakfast burrito. 

Snapfish describes their Epic Shrimp Burrito as “Packed with shrimp, tomato, rice, fries, salsa, pickled onion, comes with a small side of chips & salsa.”

The breakfast version is a variation of the Epic. The big difference seems to be the addition of a bit of bacon and a reduction of the amount of shrimp.

If only it was as good as it looked

Don’t get me wrong, I like shrimp. I like it a lot. But there was something more than off-putting about this combination of eggs, shrimp and bacon that I just couldn’t embrace. In fact, I would log it as one of the worst burritos I have ever tried to eat. I say tried because most of it ended up in the trash. 

The eggs were dry, the shrimp was fishy, the rest of the ingredients were lost, the salsa could have been the saving grace, but it was watery and bland. 

And to add insult to injury, Build opened before we got our food from Slapfish. 

An Open Letter to BMW

Note: this is a reprint of a Facebook post I made on January 13, just as the pandemic was about to come to light. Our refrigerator broke, and I needed to pick up some breakfast for the wife and I.

During the drive home, I identified a real problem with the design of my BMW Z4. 

Me and my BMW Z4 at Painted Rocks, Fort Irwin, CA

Dear BMW,

I don’t normally complain. Perhaps it’s because of my British roots, as the English are known to be slow to disparage anyone or anything, preferring instead to just wait until a solution presents itself – as Pink Floyd noted in the song “Time” that “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.” 

But in this instance, I feel I must say something.

First off, thanks for making truly amazing automobiles. 

I proudly drive an older model Z4 convertible. The power to weight ratio makes for an exciting ride, especially in the winding roads of our local mountains. I love to put the top down and make the run up to one of our local mountain towns for lunch in the afternoon.

I reserve my sports car adventures for the weekends and days off, choosing to make my 150 mile-a-day commute to work in my boring, under-powered, yet dependable work truck.

Which makes driving the Z4 even more fun.

As much as I love the Zed, I would like to call your attention to a critical design flaw that could cause even the most experienced of drivers to lose control of their machine and end what should be a wonderful driving experience - in a fiery blaze of horror. 

Yes, I am talking about the cup holder.  Or to be a little more specific – the lack of a proper cup holder.

Yesterday morning I went out to pick up breakfast for my lovely wife and I. Our very high-Tech refrigerator had quit working and every bit of food in the house had to be thrown out. This necessitated a trip to a local restaurant to pick up our morning meal. 

Having spent a good deal of hard-earned cash on the refrigerator, as well as the food inside of it, I was feeling a bit low that morning. Because of this I decided that driving the BMW instead of my work truck might be just enough to raise my spirits.

I drove the four miles to the restaurant, enjoying the deep, smooth purring of the engine as I cruised happily along the main street of town.

Once there, I ordered breakfast - coffee and the #1 with scrambled eggs and bacon for the wife, an omelet with hash browns for me. After a short wait and a bit of conversation, I left with our meal.

As I situated myself in the driver’s seat of the Zed, I suddenly remembered the fact that the cup holders in the BMW will not actually hold a cup. 

The design has them embedded into the dash and they pop-out when needed.  However, in the four years I have driven the Z4, I have yet to get the cup holder to actually “hold” a drink cup. 

So, I sat for a minute, contemplating my options while the smell of freshly cooked bacon filled the cab of my little car. 

Hungry, and knowing my life depended on delivering the all-important morning elixir to the wife, I carefully placed the steaming cup of java in the only place it would be secure - between my legs. 

I carefully backed out of the parking space, shifted into first gear and pulled gently toward the exit. 

I signaled and made a left turn onto the roadway shifting into second gear. 

Almost immediately I felt a strange sensation in my nether regions. 

I’m not sure if the cup lid was not properly secured, or if my operation of the clutch jarred it loose, but the lid had come partially off the cup.

Time slowed as the “sensation” quickly became excruciating pain, as the dark, molten hot, 100% arabica-bean liquid soaked thru my blue jeans and scalded – how should I put this – the leading edge of my man parts.

I find it hard to describe the pain this inflicted onto one of the most sensitive parts of the male anatomy, but I imagine that somewhere in a deep dark dungeon of Medieval Europe, someone found this to be an effective tool to encourage any man to admit to any crime. Perhaps this was one of the methods of persuasion used during the Inquisition. Or maybe used by the KGB to flush out imagined spies. If not, they missed an opportunity. No man can stand up to this torture.

With no place to pull over, I continued to drive home. With tears in my eyes and holding the evil cup in my left hand, steering with my left wrist and using my right hand to steer and shift as I drove along in “quiet desperation.” 

I made it thru the multiple traffic signals and finally arrived at my house - relief finally in sight. As I pulled into the driveway, I hit a small bump, spilling more of the scalding liquid on my pants and interior of my prized automobile. 

Inside, as I explained to my family what happened, I was met with a touch of sympathy, but mostly with hysterical laughter. 

BMW BMW USA you alone hold the power to prevent this tragedy from repeating itself. You alone can prevent the pain and embarrassment caused by this design flaw from being suffered by others.

I plead with you to ensure that all future BMW automobiles have a proper way to secure beverages, for the safety and happiness of your loyal customer base. 

Or maybe we should all just stick to iced tea.

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam Wonderful Spam!

I’ve long been a fan of British comedy. As a kid, I would stay up late and watch Fractured Flickers and a couple of other oddball comedy shows. But the king of late, late night was Benny Hill. Maybe it was just the scantily clad women, chasing or being chased by Hill, but I found the skits really funny.

Later I became a fan of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. I still chuckle at the fuzzy little rabbit that turns out to be a fearsome beast that rips men apart (if you haven’t seen it, here is a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnOdAT6H94s&t=3s).

Vikings enjoying a little Spam at breakfast

But one of the most lasting skits from the show involves Vikings, breakfast, and Spam (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxtsa-OvQLA).

Now, in my younger years, I vaguely remember having Spam for breakfast once. I became more familiar with the processed meat product when I was stationed in Hawaii in the 1980’s, but I didn’t eat a lot of it.

Intrigued, I began to look into the origins of this “mystery meat.”

It’s really not much of a mystery. Introduced in July 1937, the Hormel company found a way to use pork shoulder, which was not a popular cut of meat. They blended it with some ham and a few other ingredients (salt, water, modified potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrate), sealed it in a can and cooked it for about three hours to kill off any bacteria that would make the meat spoil.

During World War II, the US Military became the major purchaser of the luncheon meat. Spam was shipped to the Pacific and to the front lines in Europe. With fresh meat being quite scarce, it filled a need for an Army on the move.

Soldier’s and Marines shared their Spam with local populations, many who faced near starvation, and Spam became a part of the local diet. It’s still somewhat popular in the UK, but the pink loaf has found a real home in the Pacific.

Hawaii, Guam, Okinawa and the Philippines, all consume large amounts of spam each year.

But South Korea has taken their love of spam to another level.

In the US Mainland, you’ll find the blue cans of meat in almost every grocery store. Neatly stacked on store shelves, most American’s just walk past.

In South Korea, Spam has achieved a status of a luxury gift during the Lunar New Year and annual harvest festivals. Packaged in fancy gift boxes, many Koreans plop down as much as $75 for a package containing as many as 16 cans and some expensive cooking oils.

Here in the US, Hawaii is the state that consumes more Spam than any other.

So, I wasn’t too surprised when stopping into a McDonalds on the North Shore, I found Spam and rice on the breakfast menu.

I grabbed a couple of breakfast sandwiches for the family, and a plate with eggs, Spam, sausage, and rice for myself.

I must admit, it was a great breakfast.

Loco Moco

During the four years I lived in Hawaii, I managed to learn to love many of the distinctly Hawaiian foods.

Over time, I developed a fondness for spam, chili over rice and a few other new flavors. My personal favorite, even to this day is the plate lunch.

There is one quintessential Hawaiian dish I couldn’t wrap my mind around as an 18-year-old. Loco Moco.

The Loco Moco at Pounders Restaurant at the Polynesian Cultural Center 

It’s generally agreed that Loco Moco traces its roots to one of two restaurants in Hilo Hawaii in about 1949.

According to legend, the dish was created for a group of teenagers who wanted something to eat, other than American type sandwiches, but that would still be inexpensive, easy, and quick to prepare.

The dish may have been named for one of the players on the Lincoln Wreckers football club, who’s nickname was “Crazy.” One of his teammates was taking Spanish in school and suggested they use the Spanish “Loco” instead of crazy. They picked Moco, mostly because it sounded good. Whether or not they were aware, moco in Spanish can mean booger, yep, that ooze from the nose. So, in essence they created the “Crazy Booger.” Yum.

Richard and Nancy Inouye, the owners of the Lincoln Grill, used some of the ingredients they had on hand to create the dish. They served up some common American favorites, like burgers, and had various Asian items on the menu.

In their published musings about the origins of Loco Moco, they name names, mention the local football club, and have many members of the club make public statements backing up that the dish was created in their restaurant (the other restaurant offers no proof that I have seen to back up the claim they came up with the dish).

In what may be the first real fusion dish, they served up a hamburger patty over a bed of white rice and topped it with brown gravy. Later they added a sunny side up egg.

As I mentioned, at 18 I wasn’t keen on the idea of Loco Moco. I think it was the sunny-side-up egg that put me off.

On our trip back to Hawaii after over 40 years, I made up my mind to give it a try.

We spent the first part of our Hawaiian vacation in Waikiki. Having lived on Oahu for four years, we opted to spend a little time in the “city” before moving to a hotel on the North Shore.

Turned out the North Shore hotel we picked was literally in the parking lot of the Polynesian Cultural Center. Which turned out to be a great choice.

We could just walk over to the Hukilau Marketplace at the PCC and eat at the restaurants or the food trucks there.

One night we made a reservation for the Pounders Restaurant at the Marketplace. My granddaughter opted for the make-your-own pizza. I went for the Loco Moco.

The kids Make-Your-Own Pizza

Pounders has taken the Loco Moco to the extreme. I’m not sure how much rice, but they serve three quarter pound burgers and three sunny side up eggs in their version of the local classic.

Its very good, but it’s a bit much for just one person.

Plate Lunch

 

When I was 18, I decided to venture out into the “real” world. I had told my mother when I was 12 years old, that I had planed on a career in the US Army. My first plan (the US Military Academy at West Point) hadn’t worked out, so I had switched to plan “B.”

Plan B, started with me becoming an enlisted Soldier and I was fortunate to find a position in an Army unit in Hawaii.

I was stationed on a small base west of Honolulu. For an 18-year-old it was the best life possible. I knew that I could eat at the Mess Hall, I had a guaranteed roof over my head and a steady paycheck.

The barracks that I lived in when I was first assigned to Hawaii

Which is why my friends and I spent every possible moment on the beach, mostly in Waikiki (and yes, in the bars there also).

At one point while growing up, we raised our own cattle, hogs, chickens, and turkeys. By the time I was 18, I knew that I was a big fan of steaks, Italian, Chinese and Mexican food. But that was the extent of my food experience.

Finding myself in the culinary wonderland of the Polynesian Islands, I began to try a variety of new, but pretty safe, dietary choices.

Though I wasn’t ready to dive headfirst into uncooked fish, octopus, poi, laulau, or spam musubi just yet. However, shave ice, saimin, and chili over rice (who knew it would rock) made me think about expanding my palate.

Which brings me to one of my fast-food favorites – plate lunch.

Growing up in SoCal, we had the advantage of growing up in the home of fast food. The original McDonald brother’s restaurant is only about 30 miles from where I grew up. The home of In-and-Out is maybe 60 miles away. My high school classmates and I split our Mexican food loyalty between the original Del Taco and its offshoot (and better) competitor, Naugles which were both local eateries.

One of the main attributes of fast-food, in my mind, was that it is “hand-held.” Like the original hot dog, it requires no silverware and no plate. It was purposefully designed to be consumed on-the-go.

Plate lunch was different. While still “fast-food” it was served on a paper plate and with plastic silverware.

I’m pretty sure that my introduction to plate lunch was at a roadside takeout window in Eva Beach.

I don’t remember who I was with, but I remember looking at the plate with a more than mild degree of skepticism. I thought, who would serve teriyaki beef with macaroni salad and rice. Turns out it was pure genius.

I wondered where the idea of the plate lunch came from. Who devised this rather strange combination of carbs, and why?

According to the website Eater.com;

“The origins of the dish date back to the 1880s, where it began as a popular midday meal option for hungry workers on Hawaii’s booming pineapple and sugar plantations. The plantation workers would bring their lunches to work with them in bento boxes, and leftover rice was used as an inexpensive way to bulk up whatever meats were leftover from last night’s dinner. By the 1930s, new mobile meal services called lunch wagons popped up to cater to laborers and drive-ins; instead of being served on bento boxes, they were served on compartmentalized paper plates, hence the name "plate lunch." By the 1950s, the plantation era had ended, but the plate lunch was a staple at drive-ins and free-standing restaurants across the islands.”

So, the origins of the plate lunch is not much different than the humble hot dog or burger, a cheep and filling way to feed hungry workers in the field.  

Forty some odd years after I left Hawaii, I finally returned to the Islands for a vacation. High on my list of foods I wanted to retry was the plate lunch.

Unfortunately, we first tried an order in a food court in Waikiki. They attempted to “upscale” the traditional plate lunch. The meat was tough, the sauce tasteless and the macaroni salad was replaced with a bad salad and a piece of pineapple. I was not pleased.

The "fancy" Waikiki plate lunch

I tried again at a food truck in the Hukilau Marketplace at the Polynesian Cultural Center when we were on the North Shore. I think I paid a little over half what I paid for the lunch in Waikiki, but the difference was worth twice as much.

Finally, on the North Shore, I found a real plate lunch from a food truck at the Polynesian Cultural Center

The beef had the sweet-salty blend that you expect from a good teriyaki sauce. The rice, was, well rice. The macaroni salad was very good. It took me right back to that little stand in Eva Beach. And it was just as good as I remembered.

Writing Again

 

0 words

That is what is displayed in the lower left corner of my computer screen.

16 words. A bit better but still too few words.

For some reason, writing has become very difficult for me.

It’s been over three months since I have posted to either of my blogs. It’s not like I haven’t been traveling. We had planned several trips before the current issues but had to cancel for obvious reasons.

We adjusted, rescheduled, and made new plans. We made changes, we adapted to follow the rules.

Finally, we just went where we could. When they wouldn’t let us fly, we drove to Zion National Park. We took a short trip to Palm Springs.

Zion National Park

As things started opening up, we went to Hawaii. We even went to Texas just for dinner and a show.

Waikiki at night

I flew to Wisconsin for work, then drove back to Southern California. We went to New England to visit family. And finally, we took the entire family to Walt Disney World for the 50^th Anniversary celebration.

As I sit here tonight, I have three different versions of this post on two different computers. And I’m left to wonder why?

I guess it may be some form of mild depression, I want to write, but can’t find the motivation. If the media is to be believed, I’m putting myself and everything I love at risk every time I walk out the front door.

Now please don’t get me wrong, I do believe that Covid is real. I believe it is highly contagious. I’m just not sure that wrapping our heads in old napkins and locking ourselves in the basement was a good idea. We should have protected the most vulnerable, of that there is no doubt.

I haven’t locked myself in the house and hidden from the perceived dangers of the current situation. I made the decision to live. It’s my decision to make, and others are free to find their own way. I wish everyone the best.

As things stand, we have two new adventures in the next few months. I’m going to look over what we have done in the last year and attempt to share some of those memories, but I look forward to getting back to what I do best. Writing about the travel lifestyle.

Thanks for coming along.

Pizza Fried Rice?

We went to DB Grill for an early dinner while on a road trip on a vacation to Hawaii.

It was the first full day of a nine-day vacation, and so far, the day had sucked.

My wife and I met and got married in Hawaii 38 years ago when we lived on Oahu. This was our first trip back. Needless to say, a lot has changed. The area where DB Grill is now was nothing but sugarcane fields back then.

We thought about getting food at a fast-food place in the same shopping center but decided to take a walk around and see what else was there.

We tried to get a table at the Japanese BBQ place nearby, but they told us it would be a two hour wait (they didn’t seem that busy, but whatever).

The second place we went in seemed very welcoming, but they did not open for about 45 minutes, so we checked with the DB Grill.

Turned out to be a good deal.

We were seated right away. The menu wasn’t too large, just seven appetizers and seven entrees. I didn’t feel like plopping down $70 for the ribeye, I have no idea what crispy mandoo or Kona Kampachi are, so I went with the DB chicken. The menu described it as “Mr. Hong’s special recipe, whole Cornish hen, pickles.”

DB Chicken

I have no idea who Mr. Hong is, but he knows a thing or two about cooking Cornish Game Hen. The skin was beautifully brown and crispy, the bird hot and juicy.

We also had some wings with gochujang, honey and sesame. Very good, kind of messy and just a touch of heat.

DB serves up some good wings

One of the items on the menu that had us a bit confused was the Pizza Fried Rice. It was listed as “PIZZA FRIED RICE Ezzo pepperoni, spicy tomato, mozzarella.”

I wasn’t too sure what to make of this one but noticed a lady at another table had ordered it. It looked interesting, so I thought “why not.”

It's a little weird, but the pizza fried rice was pretty good.

It was a little strange, fried rice packed into a disk shape, with slices of pepperoni. I have to admit, it wasn’t bad. The spicy tomato was nice, not too hot and the pepperoni was very good.

Oh, and by the way, the DB Chicken was so good we ordered another to go.

Flying Again

After several false starts, we finally hit the road again. This time we are flying from LA to Honolulu. We filled out the state required paperwork, got tested 70 hours before out flight and headed into LA to spend the night before our early morning flight.

For dinner, we made reservations for Knotts Berry Farm’s Boysenberry Festival.

We love Knotts, and I am a big fan of Boysenberries. So big of a fan, I bought a plant several years ago at the festival and have managed to not kill it yet (it’s my third attempt, the first two didn’t end well for the plant).

We tried:

Mac and Cheese Bites over Tater Tots with a Boysenberry Siracha Ketchup

Beyond Meatballs with a Boysenberry a BBQ Sauce over Cauliflower Cilantro Rice with Pita Bread

Apple and Chicken Sausage with Boysenberry Mustard on a Boysenberry Bun

The Apple and Chicken Sausage with Boysenberry Mustard

(There are five tasting to each card, we used the other two for drinks).

The boysenberry siracha ketchup was good. Just the right amount of heat.

I liked the Beyond meatballs better than I thought I would, the almost seemed like actual meat, just a little dense, which made them hard to cut with a plastic fork (we didn’t see any knives at that station).

I could do without the Boysenberry bun, but the Boysenberry mustard is really good.

We’ve gone to several of the Knotts festivals, and I’m certain we will go again.

The next morning, we headed to LAX. It seems that most of the dining venues at the airport are closed still. So we ended up getting some snacks from the market place and made do.

Food and beverage service was almost non-existent on the flight. They passed out bags with a cookie, nuts and bottled water twice during the 6-hour flight.

Needless to say, we were quite hungry by the time we landed.

Glad This Year is Over

 I’m sitting here quietly waiting for the end of the disaster that is the year 2020 to be finally over.

My son has headed home, my daughter and her husband are off in their part of the house, the wife is sitting in the living room, asleep with Star Trek Next Generation on the TV.

There are less than 30 minutes of 2020 left. Looking back, it’s been a terrible year. We lost my mom, my dad and two brothers-in-laws (none to covid). My only remaining brother-in-law is fighting off some form of cancer (they haven’t really figured out what exactly is wrong, but he requires two hospital visits a week).

We had a big travel year planned. We were going to go to Vancouver for our anniversary, take a Panama Canal cruise in May, finally go back to Hawaii (after meeting and marrying there 36 years ago). 

19 year old me when we lived in Hawaii

When things started going wonky, we scheduled a trip to Europe. Obviously, none of that happened.

We did manage a short trip to Zion National Park, but that didn’t give us much to write about for the remainder of the year.

A photo from our trip to Zion National Park

Still, I sit here at the end of the worst year of my 60 years, and I do still have hope for the future.

I don’t know what is going to happen in the near term, but I have hope that we can start to travel again in 2021.

We had rescheduled our Hawaii trip for just after my birthday but have put it off again (has more to do with construction on the house than any medical concerns).

We do have a trip to Europe planned for the spring, we’re waiting to see how that works out.

A photo of Stonehenge taken during our 2019 trip to England

The big trip for 2021 is taking the family to Walt Disney World in the fall.

We have been planning this trip for five years. Let’s hope it works out.

Photo from our 2018 trip to Disneyworld during the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival 

Hopefully, we can get back to traveling, get back to experiencing the dining options in airports and distant locations and sharing that with you.

Until then, Happy New Year.

For the Love of Pastrami

My earliest memories of a pastrami sandwich were when I was about 7 or 8 years old. My dad took me to a Marie Calendars restaurant in Southern California.

What I remember most of that lunch was how much pastrami they packed on the sandwich. Oh, and the lemon meringue pie I had for dessert.

I never really thought about what goes into creating the amazing thin beef slices that make up the sandwich. All I knew was that I liked it, and if that is what I was craving, nothing else would do.

The Pastrami at the Carnegie Deli

Although the exact origins of this exact style of preserved meat is a bit vague, it seems that the beginnings of pastrami were the work of the Ottoman Turks, according to “The Artisan Jewish Deli at Home.”

Their methods were passed to the Romanians. But most of the ancient world developed a similar method of using salts to preserve meat.

I was with the migration of Romanian Jews that pastrami came to the shores of the New World. They switched from using goose to using cheep American beef in their recipes.

But legend has it that Mr. Sussman Volk made the sandwich famous. He was asked by a Romanian friend to store luggage in his basement while he returned to Romania for an extended visit. In return, the friend shared his family pastrami recipe with Volk. In 1887 Volk began producing pastrami in his New York butcher shop.

It became so popular; he began serving it sliced in sandwiches. He added seating to the shop and turned it into a restaurant.

Today good pastrami can be found in almost any city in the US. 

New York is full of great deli’s; the Carnegie Deli was a landmark for almost 80 years before shuttering its doors in 2016. With their 4-inch-high plie of steaming hot pastrami, they were the king of the sandwich.

In LA, Canter’s Fairfax serves up a meal that is pretty close to the better deli’s in New York.

But for me locally, The Hat Pastrami is the go-to. It’s fast food service, but they do a great job.

Eating Zion - The Switchback Grill part 2

On the last night of our vacation to Zion National Park, we decided to splurge a little bit and return to the Switchback Grill for dinner.

This time, we had a reservation and were seated almost immediately.

I ordered the Manhattan Sirloin Strip steak (medium rare), Au Gratin Potatoes, and mixed Vegetables. 

The Manhattan Sirloin Strip Steak.

The meal arrived in an acceptable amount of time.

The steak was perfectly cooked, a nice cool red center and a light char on the outside. I normally don’t request any sauces with my steak, I might add a bit of salt and pepper.

The steak was excellent, the potatoes and vegetables were good. 

Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee

Dinner was great and we saved just enough room for a little dessert. We split the Crème Brulee. It was perfect. Nice crisp sugar crust on the outside, covered with some berries on top.

Just the right way to finish off a nice vacation.

Eating Zion - Stagecoach Grill part Two

Our next trip to the Stagecoach Grill was to the second location in La Verkin, Utah, just a little West of the Springdale location.

We went for breakfast and I opted for the Stagecoach Skillet – “Potatoes with your choice of bacon or sausage and two eggs smothered with your choice of Chile Verde or sausage gravy. Served with toast or a biscuit.”

Stagecoach Skillet with Scrambled Eggs and Chile Verde

Now I know that almost everyone can agree that bacon is the holy grail of all meats. However, if you look back at earlier posts to this blog, you’ll notice that, at least for me, Chile Verde shares an almost equal level of adoration with bacon (however not to the level of the Pacific Islander love of Spam, but close).

I first became aware of Chile Verde when I tried the “Lester’s Burger Bonanza” at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport during a really long layover.

The “Lester’s Burger Bonanza “was described as: “green Chile pork (osso buco style), atop wagyu beef, Oaxaca, bacon and avocado, served on a challah roll with roasted jalapeno aioli and housemade chips.”

Lester's Burger Bonanza

(the original post - http://www.foodonthefly.us/2016/09/cowboy-ciao-phoenix-sky-harbor-airport.html)

The wagyu beef and the rest of the offerings were great, but the Chile Verde made the burger. As I said at the time, it was love at first bite.

The Chile Verde at the Stagecoach Grill is among the best I have ever tasted. The combination of tender pork chunks with a blend of roasted poblano, jalapeno chiles, cilantro, spices and tomatillos were just amazing. Add to that the subtle crunch of hash-browned potatoes and tender scrambled eggs and you have a near perfect breakfast.

Eating Zion - The Pastrami Burger

Before we left for our Zion trip, I did some research on what foods are particular to Utah. 

Although Funeral Potatoes sounds interesting, I didn’t see it on the menu anywhere. What I did see was a Pastrami Burger. 

I am a big fan of the pastrami sandwich. 

Properly done, served on rye bread or a sturdy roll with a bit of mustard. And maybe a pickle on the side. 

Real pastrami is made from a roast. Covered with a mix of spices, smoked, and then steamed until perfectly done it has a very specific taste and texture.

The burger looked good when served

 What I got was not “real” pastrami. 

The closest thing I can think of is the Carl Budding prepackaged meats. However, that was not the worst part of the burger. 

If your going to serve a large burger, you need to serve it on a bun that will stand up to what you stuff between the slices. It only took a couple of bites before the bun began to disintegrate. 

This is not how this is supposed to work!

Needless to say, it made quite the mess! 

 Maybe I’ll try it again at a different restaurant.

Eating Zion – The Bit and Spur

 

Due to the pandemic, The Bit and Spur was not seating guests in the dining room. You had two options when making a reservation. You could sit at a table on the porch, or you could opt for the outdoor seating on their large lawn.

We picked the lawn option.

It was really nice. Many guests brought their dogs with them. All of the dogs were pretty calm, except one that got a little excited when several members of the local deer population made a guest appearance.

I tried another local brew, the Hell's Keep Golden Ale from Squatters Brewery. It's very good.

I had the carne asada plate. It was well cooked, and I thought it was very good. I also ordered a cup of chili verde, which was good, but I may have over ordered a bit. The staff was very friendly.

The Carne Asada plate came with black beans and cilantro rice, some grilled peppers. The beans were good, nothing special, but good. The steak was still medium rare, not easy with such a thin cut.