foodies – Peaceful Reader

Solar Eclipse Journey

Just a week ago we made the trek to Missouri to be in the path of totality. It was exciting stuff to be on the road headed to such a monumental event and one that, in our lifetime, we may not be able to see again. My husband started plotting this adventure back in April and was shocked to find all campgrounds in the area to be booked. He did find a hotel in Columbia, MO for the night and then we’d head to Boonville, MO to be right in the path. He even had a large park picked out that would be perfect for hanging out and waiting for the moon to cross over the sun in the middle of the day.

{Harley Park-same location-after eclipse}

Somehow he managed to take care of many details except to find the appropriate glasses. This is the part that stunned me. Here we are making this 5 hour journey to watch an amazing moment in time and not prepared with the right equipment. We might be left looking like Mr. Trump squinting into the sky. Once we checked into the hotel I made this my priority. Luckily the University of Missouri book store had ordered more than enough paper glasses and were selling them at a reasonable rate. We were set for the next day. We had fun at Cosmo Park with an eclipse themed party; live music, food trucks, and fresh local beer. After that Groovy Girl picked a place for dinner; Babbo’s Spaghetteria! We headed back to the other side of town, near the U of M, and found this place in a highly traffic commercial area-not our usual dining preference but it’s what she’d picked.

This is the thing with road trips that I love. If it is a new destination for you; you have know idea what you’re going to get. The place from the front looked like a glorified Olive Garden but what was inside was a different story. Our dining experience was delicious. I had a strawberry salad that was the perfect size with great flavor. And Greg and G.G. both had pasta dishes they loved as well. We shared a bottle of wine as our excellent server informed us the bottles were on sale AND we could take the rest of it with us. I think that’s a great rule. We had a leisurely dinner, enjoying the staff, the food, and the ambiance even though we were in a fancy strip mall. A good reminder to never judge.

Harley Park after eclipse}

The next day we hung out in Harley Park with our own snacks and beverages. The park service of Missouri were extremely helpful and polite, using golf carts to help ferry people and their chairs, coolers, and bags up and down the hills. Super hospitable. After the amazing event we hung around a bit, waiting for the rush to leave the park. And in order to hopefully miss much of the highway traffic we hung around in downtown Boonville doing some vintage shopping.

Our drive home was l-o-n-g. In other words we DID NOT miss the traffic. In Hannibal, one of our favorite little cities, we decided we needed a dinner break. We trawled through town looking for something interesting other than fast food and one of our phones brought up the Rustic Oak (motto: best food by a damn site). It had an interested front-like an old west saloon and we walked in. This is again just part of the road trip experience but let me tell you flat out that this place sucked. It’s tough to be a foodie in the real world of restaurants on the road.

Oh the waitress was okay and the decorations were interesting to look at but the food-total bomb. It had an extensive menu, with many pages to look through. At the appetizer section both my husband and I spotted fried okra, which we both love. We ordered that with our waters while we continued to browse the menu. I finally spotted fish tacos and felt pleased that I’d found something. I’m usually pretty happy with just an app or a salad but this was the kind of place that included meat on every salad. Blech. A good salad does not need meat. Just fyi. Eventually Greg and GG found things they were excited about and our order was placed. Oh how I wish I could take it back. We knew we were in trouble when the okra showed up looking like hard little puff balls straight from a freezer box.

We waited a long time for the rest of our food to arrive and when it did we should have sent it all right back. There was something off-tasting in my tacos-I still don’t know what it was. It wasn’t spoiled or rotten but it was on the way. It might have been the cole slaw or something in the fish batter-but I had to stop eating after a couple of bites. Greg agreed after one bite that I was right. He had a burger (the meat was good) but the lettuce was like the limpest piece of bottom of the bag that should have been tossed away, the bun was stale and GG’s chicken parmigiano was gooped with a bunch of really plastic cheese. We laughed at all of these things although we did turn the fish tacos back in to the waitress.

You just never know and that’s what adds to the excitement and fun. We have so many memories like this as a family. And we are lucky to have them. The Rustic Oak will live in infamy when we joke about crappy food.

A trip to bountiful…

We signed our young dancer up for a dance intensive in Madison and I have to admit it was something I was equally excited about it because I would have to spend the week there with her.

(James Madison Park)

We felt like we were in the land of plenty; surrounded by our people. Everyone seemed quirky, a bit earthy, polite, and healthy; bike riders and walkers were evident in every neighborhood. Traffic was expected to make way for pedestrians and bicyclists which was so refreshing. Plus we had many diverse cuisines to choose from. We made a pact to eat only local and found a lot of suggestions from this post. In order we ate at all these fabulous restaurants which showcase much of what Madison has to offer.

1. Maharana Restaurant: We found this gem after we stopped at Target to get a few things we forgot (like bread for her lunches-whoops) and through the magic of our GPS this Indian restaurant came up and it was just around the corner. She had Chicken Tikka Masala and I had vegetable somosas and a cup of coconut soup. At the end of dinner our waiter brought out complimentary ice cream. This restaurant, for the first night of our adventure, was amazing.

2. Monty’s Blue Plate Diner: This was number one on the list and after we left the dance studio it was POURING/HAILING on us and the Prius. We made it into this bright blue beacon and were greeted by friendly staff as we shook off like wet dogs. I had a delicious artichoke sandwich and the starving dancer had a roasted chicken, bacon, and herbed goat cheese sandwich. There were about 12 menu items I was interested in so I’ll have to go back and it shows what a diverse menu Monty’s offers. (I mean lots of vegan and vegetarian choices)

3. Ha Long Bay: Vietnamese and Thai combo in an eclectic neighborhood and it was packed on a Tuesday evening. We ate dinner almost every night right after dance class at 4:30; she was starving after a long day of exercise. We shared tofu spring rolls and two excellent main dishes. We both thought it was comparable to our favorite Ginger Thai here.

4. Fair Trade Coffee House: After three such amazing meals we opted for something smaller on Wednesday. Each day I hung around downtown or at James Madison Park, writing, reading, napping, exploring, walking, and researching our next meal but on this day I walked up and down State St. just looking in windows and checking the downtown scene. The smells from this shop lured me in and I sat and enjoyed an iced chai tea. On the daily chalkboard a chickpea curry soup was advertised and I knew that’s what I wanted for dinner.

5. Alchemy: Everyone picks a dud at some point. I read about this one and dragged her there and she was dubious-it wasn’t on our list and the name didn’t speak to her. I told her they had sweet potato fries and we agreed if she didn’t like anything on the menu we would just get the fries and be done. We had the fries, which turned out to be chips, and while the sauces were amazing, many of the fries were burned. I also ordered a cocktail here b/c it sounded refreshing (fresh blueberry kombucha mojito) and it sadly tasted watered down. We looked out the window and I spotted Tex Tubb’s Taco Palace that I’d also read about and we hopped over there instead. Groovy Girl had an amazing burrito and we know we’ll go back to the Taco Palace again.

6. Taste of India: We liked the first Indian restaurant so much but found this one and decided to give it a try. It was equally as good and by this time Greg had joined us for one night and he is a connoisseur of Indian food and he was thrilled they had Lamb Korma and Groovy Girl had another chicken dish. I tried the sauce for both and liked the spice. I was happy that both Indian menus had extensive vegetarian choices.

(Madison Public Library-downtown)

It was a great week of food and fun, living out of a suitcase with my favorite 14-year-old. I spent time enjoying the lakes, the views and the literary scene via the Madison Public Library and two bookstores, Mystery to me and A room of one’s own, all independent and thriving reading communities. After every adventure it is always wonderful to be back home, in my own bed, my dogs and my house projects to finish.

Weekend Cooking; Mouth-watering Vegan Chocolate Pudding

My stepdaughter, Kaylee, has been here all week and anytime she is here I step up my cooking. This week I tried three new recipes; one from my Sept. Vegetarian Times and two from Alice Waters’ In the Green Kitchen. All were delicious but the most adored recipe was a Vegan Chocolate Pudding from VT. It was completely unfair to pit this mouth-watering chocolate recipe against two other very good choices so you can find their recipes at the end of this post. Several of us dreamed about the pudding that night after eating it and talked about it the next day.

(image courtesy of Seraphic Singles)

Velvet Smooth Dark Chocolate Pudding (Sept, 2011)

This warm stove-top pudding packs a punch of deep chocolate flavor. It’s the perfect recipe for a quick company dessert or a simple nighttime treat.

3/4 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
3 T cornstarch
2 1/4 cups unsweetened hazelnut or almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz vegan semisweet chocolate, chopped

Whisk together brown sugar and cornstarch in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in hazelnut milk, whisking constantly to combine. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, or until mixture thickens. Stir in vanilla, and remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate, and let stand for 1 minute. Stir until smooth.

Mine didn’t thicken as much as I thought it should. We called it chocolate soup but licked our bowls anyway. Now I have to try, try, try to make this again and see if I can perfect it! Oh, the tribulations!

Here is the Lentil Soup recipe.
Here is the Apple Galette recipe.

I’ve loved paging through In The Green Kitchen and am thinking I might have to buy it. Waters’ has it set up with an informative opening about what a green kitchen is and how to stock a green pantry with a great list. Each featured chef has their own section, with their green cooking tip; something like David Tanis’ Simmering Beans advice followed by his recipe for White Beans with Garlic and Herbs, which I plan to make this week.

Weekend Cooking is a weekend meme hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Any food related post can join in-click on her link and take a look at all the other foodie-posts!

Reducing Your Foodprint; Farming, Cooking, and Eating for a Healthy Planet

by Ellen Rodger
(2010)
Energy Revolution Series from Crabtree Publishing

My husband loves bananas and I love pineapple! Both fruits require a lot of shipping miles and too many chemicals to grow. As this book explains, our foodprint is calculated by how farming practices and how far food has to travel to get to our table. Knowing this I choose pineapple as a delelicate treat to be savored and not purchased often. My husband, as a runner, eats bananas everyday. We do purchase organic when we can but even those have to travel miles and miles to arrive in our fruit bowl in Iowa. It’s tough to consider how we can decrease our foodprint and become more earth-minded with our grocery money. This book helps to raise awareness.

From the publishers website:
Reducing Your Foodprint teaches children that what they eat and how they eat is important to the environment. Most of the food served in restaurants and stocked on grocery store shelves travels many thousands of miles by airplane and truck. The further food travels, the more harm to the environment. This enlightening new book explains how to eat locally and responsibly. Special case study sections highlight how others have reduced both their carbon foodprints and footprints just by making changes in their diets.

Topics covered include Eco-Awareness, History of Cultivation, Food from Afar, Being an Ecovore, Eating Local, Green Cooking, and Fair Trade Food. Ecovore, a new term to me, is described as” someone who shops , cooks, and eats with the environment in mind. It is a term first used by cookbook author Kate Heyhoe to describe someone who makes sustainable food choices that are as environmentally friendly as possible.” (14) I’m going to add it to my vocabulary and find out more about Kate Keyhoe.

This book could be a great teaching tool but more likely will be used by eco-minded parents to open more awareness. It would make a great Earth Day gift for a child. I checked this one out from the library and will look for the other books in the series, Energy Revolution, for my school library. Crabtree has lesson plans for the series.

To purchase a copy of this perfect book for Earth Day, click on the the title…

Reducing Your Foodprint; Farming, Cooking, and Eating for a Healthy Planet

Holiday Traditions

Teenage Boy, Groovy Girl and two friends, after tree search.

We always get our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving at a lovely tree farm, Kris Kringle’s, and they serve hot cider and have a fire in an outside pit. It makes for a lovely few hours and two years ago we invited another couple and their children to join us, so we’ve added to our celebration.

That is what I love the most about the holidays-it seems we make more time for friends and family. We are having friends over tomorrow night just because we ran into them recently at my husband’s play and decided we needed to get-together for dinner and before Christmas is really upon us. They are coming for dinner tonight and I’m making a chicken. If you’ve ever read my sidebar list it says I’m a vegetarian that eats locally-raised meat (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver changed my mind) but not frequently. I met a farmer (through a friend) who raises chickens and other cute farm animals as well. He started doing it 10 years ago for just the same reason I didn’t eat meat-he didn’t trust what was happening to our corporate- produced meat sources. I’ve only been back to eating meat about a year now.

I digress-this post is supposed to be about food and friends-not cute farm animals, who might be friends also. My mother used to make this rosemary and goat cheese chicken so I searched around a little last night, looking for something similar and came up with a roast chicken recipe at Jamie Oliver’s website. He, like Kingsolver and Alice Waters, is making a difference in how people eat and I admire the work he’s doing with the British school lunch program. That would be my dream dinner party-cooking together with Barbara, Alice and Jaime! Thrilling!!

Tonight will have the roast chicken, mashed (home grown) potatoes, spinach and feta lasagna, brussell sprouts and a small salad. Half the group is vegetarian thus the reason for the lasagna which comes from this fabulous cookbook from The Grit, in Athens, Georgia. We’re starting off with champagne, with pomegranite seeds tossed in and will move on to a lovely bottle of red, which I haven’t purchased yet or I’d mention its name as well. Thinking about wine makes me think I should check my old version of The Wine Trials to find a perfect (and reasonable priced) wine!

Could I mention any more food links? Well, most definetely Yes!, but I’ll stop there. This is how things go at my house-inviting two people, one couple, for dinner has led me to all these dining spots, recipes and brought up all these whirlwind ideas.Like now my mind is thinking about a post debating hard copy cookbooks vs. online. My mind on food. Don’t ya just love the holidays!! Tonight will be filled with good conversation and good (hopefully) food and my mind will chill.

Happy eating and reading! Cheers.

p.s. last week’s Morrocon-Style Lentil and Chickpea soup was a huge hit with my family. We ate it simply, soup and fresh-baked bread. Yum.

***This food-related post is linked to Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Pop over there and read about Crescent Dragonwagon, a writer of children’s books and cookbooks, and her new Cornbread book. My husband might need this for a Christmas gift. He loves cornbread but makes it from a box. Hmmm.

Seriously, Have a Happy Saturday!