Day 3: Wyoming - They've Got Rocks!

[Editor's Note: We've made it to Boston safe and sound, and are now catching up on some posts that we were hoping to publish from the road but didn't have a chance to]

Wyoming is a gorgeous state. It’s home to Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Big Horn National Parks, as well as a big stretch of the Rocky Mountains. However, when you decide to traverse the state along the southern border on I-80 (like we did) you see none of these marvels. What we did see from the road were rocks. Lots of rocks. But at least some of them were pretty cool.

We left our campsite in Utah around 9:30 a.m., and made a beeline for Laramie, Wyoming. We chose Laramie as a destination because it’s a college town, home to the University of Wyoming (Go Pokes!). We figured it might be pretty cool there, and Laramie didn’t disappoint. First, everything was dirt cheap. Gas was $2.70 a gallon, beers from the local microbrewery were $3.50 a pint, and dinner and drinks for two came to $32 (pre-tip). Amazing. Ben was also particularly taken with the old-west feel of the Historic District. Complete with sketchy saloons where women get ogled through the windows as they walk by, (I must have been particularly fetching that evening in my khaki shorts and oversized t-shirt). It really was a very cool mix of western town meets liberal-arts collegiate setting. For instance, across the street from the line dancing hall were a yoga studio and a pet spa. You can’t make this stuff up. Ben also liked the University’s Poke logo, which was a cowboy on a bucking bronco. Honestly though, his bar is pretty low, considering UNC’s logo is a dirty foot. [Editor's note: Ben was not involved, in any way, with the authoring of that sentence]


We stopped for dinner a bar and grill with outdoor seating so we could keep Zoe with us while we ate. We ordered two dinner salads, because obviously Wyoming is known for salad, since that’s what cowboys ate out on the range. Ben would like me to note that at least his salad had steak on it… whatever. After a short jaunt up across the railroad bridge, we decided to call it a night. After all, we needed to rest up for tomorrow’s venture to a very exciting place…


Next stop: Nebraska!

By the way... in addition to the rocks, we did catch this pretty stunning view from the road.

Day 2: Utah, More than Just Mormons!

We woke up early in Boise and had a quick breakfast of kibble and frosted flakes (for Zoe and ourselves, respectively), then hit the road. Our campsite was about an hour north of Salt Lake City, so we made a pit-stop on the way to drop off our camping stuff before heading into the city. After we weaved our way through the campground, we were thrilled to see that our site was right on the lake. After a quick dip in the surprisingly warm water, we were able to pull ourselves away from the lake and mountain views to take the trip into the city.

Since we were in SLC, our first stop was in Temple Square, where we were able to revel in some Mormonry. We took some photos of the newer temple (heathens like ourselves were not allowed inside), but were able to take a peek into the Tabernacle, where we caught a demonstration of a woman ripping a piece of newspaper, which could be heard clearly, sans microphones, throughout the entire building. Just a recording of the entire building full with the sounds of a choir in song made our spines tingle.

 

After leaving Temple Square (without being approached by any actual Mormons!), we took a stroll through downtown SLC and were sorely disappointed. The city was dead, it was super hot, and aside from a few bars and restaurants, there were not a ton of places that even seemed interesting. We ended up driving up the mountain to see the University of Utah’s campus, and, although it had nice views, we weren’t able to find much of a fun, social life there, either.

On our way back to our campsite, we stopped by a Whole Foods to buy some overpriced dinner ingredients, and headed back to our site to make a seriously tasty dinner. After watching the sun set over the mountains on the far side of the lake, which not only exploded into a sky full of colors, but also beautifully illuminated the mountains behind us, we fired up the grill for dinner.

We figured we’d embrace the region, and grilled some Buffalo rib eyes to a perfect medium-rare. They were way leaner than beef, but still were quite flavorful and tender.

After enjoying a few beers (Wasatch brewery’s Evolution Amber, which was created to protest Utah’s decision to teach “intelligent design” in their schools) and watching dusk settle and the sky full of bright stars appear over the lake, we headed into the tent and drifted off to sleep.

Day 1: Idaho? More like, You-da-ho!

Based on the indulgences of our last night in Seattle (see our previous post), we woke up a smidge less than bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but knew that we’d have to pull it together for one of our longer days of driving: eight and one half hours from Seattle to Boise, ID. We got onto I-90 East, and headed out through the grey, foggy morning.

This may sound typical of Seattle weather, but it’s NOT typical of a Seattle summer. That is, unless you’re talking about this summer, which has been about as cloudy as any February. Seriously, can’t someone cut these poor, pasty folks a break? The clouds cleared up once we got across the Cascade Mountains, and we’ve had sunshine ever since. We jumped on Route 82 into Oregon, which, it turns out, is actually part of the Oregon Trail! Ben immediately wanted to hunt for buffalo, but I knew that we’d never forge the river with that much meat, so we just kept on toward Idaho.

Near the border, we discovered something disturbing… A truck from Oregon carrying potatoes INTO Idaho. The potato lobby will be very upset when we blow the lid off this face of Idaho growing their own “famous potatoes.”

"Famous Potatoes"?  Yeah, right... 

We checked into hour hotel around 5:30 and looked on the internet for dog-friendly places to eat. We settled on a place called the Highlands Hollow Brewhouse, and found that their very tasty beers were great compliments to Ben’s burger and Allie’s hummus plate. We wanted to poke around downtown Boise, and found that they were having a bike race that evening. It ended up being a “Criterium,” which apparently means that they shut down nine city blocks and have 100 cyclist go t top speed and hope that “they don’t crash.”

It was fun, though, and the downtown was actually pretty cute, with lots of bars and cafes. After about an hour, we decided to call it a night, and after we convinced Zoe not to bark at everyone that walked by our room, got a restful night of sleep.

Next stop: Utah.

Ben and Allie Across Amurica

The rumors are true: we’ve packed up all of our worldly possessions and are leaving Seattle to move to the fair city of Boston. We both love road trips, so we decided the best way to get there would be the same way we got out here in the first place: driving! Thankfully, we could pay someone to haul all our furniture for us, so all we have in the car is food, camping supplies, and our trusty sidekick, Zoe. Let the adventure begin!

We spent our last day in Seattle with a delicious lunch of Paseo sandwiches (the #1 and #2) and a farewell dinner thrown and attended by some great friends. The party was QUITE a shindig, complete with four different meat preparations (smoked ribs, Hempler’s hot dogs, chicken parm on the grill, and grilled pork saltimbocca) as well as some of our favorite Pacific Northwest beers, wine, and sangria (you guys know us so well!). Although we had every intention of not overindulging, even the best-laid plans…

Profiteroles: More Fun than Patting a Shoe

[Disclaimer: We know... it's been forever since we've posted. We also know that excuses are lame, but we are about to move 3,000 miles to Boston, change jobs, and buy a house, so blogging about food has had to take a bit of a back seat these days.]

Now that the World Cup is upon us, we’ve been forced to remind each other that we should pull ourselves away from the TV for long enough to enjoy a little bit of the Seattle sun as it starts emerging from a long winter of hibernation. And what better way to enjoy summer (while still embracing the international spirit) than by making Profiteroles; light, puffy pastry balls filled with ice cream.

We were inspired, once again, by the Michael Ruhlman book Ratio, which provided us with the basic steps necessary to make the dough known as pate a choux (pronounced “pat a shoe”). Once we’d made the shells (as described below), we tried our hands at another batch of homemade ice cream; this time, a delicious chocolate orange, reminiscent of those Terry’s chocolate oranges (recipe not included here, but maybe we’ll do a dedicated ice cream post later in the summer). Although neither of us are big chocolate ice cream fans, we found that the orangeiness perked the flavor right up, and it proved to be the perfect filling for our profiteroles.

PATE A CHOUX (for use in profiteroles, cream puffs, éclairs, gougeres, or even gnocci).
Ingredients

• 1 Stick Butter
• 1 Cup Water
• 1 Cup Flour
• 4 Large Eggs

Directions

1. Put the butter and water into a saucepan over medium heat and wait until the butter melts completely.
2. Slowly pour in the flour, mixing with a wooden spoon until it absorbs all of the water.
3. Continue to stir for 1-2 minutes, or until the mixture starts pulling off the sides of the pan.

4. Let the mix cool down for a minute or two (but not much longer than that), then dump into a KitchenAid mixer with the paddle attachment (this can also be done by hand).
5. Turn the mixer onto low, and add the first egg, waiting for it to become fully incorporated.  When you first add the egg, the entire mixture becomes shiny and slippery, but after a minute or so, becomes more flat and rough.  It's at this flat and rough stage that you know that the egg has been incorporated.

6. Add the remaining three eggs, waiting between each for the previous egg to become incorporated.
7. Heat an oven to 425, then pipe the mixture onto a non-stick baking sheet (or use parchment paper).

8. Bake the puffs for 10-15 minutes (until they start to look a little brown), then lower the oven to 350 and cook for another 20 minutes (or so).  The first shot below is at 10 minutes, the next is at 15 (when I turned the oven down), and the final is at 30.

9. Once you think they're done, pull one out and try it.  If it still tastes a little eggy, leave them in for a bit longer.

10. Pull them from the oven and put them onto a cooling rack.

After you’ve baked your puffs, it’s time to fill them. We’d initially thought that since our homemade ice cream was so soft, that we could pipe it directly into the pastry, as you would if making cream puffs. We made some testers (shown below), and although the ice cream piped easily, we found that after we pulled them out of the freezer (once they’d hardened), that the bottoms had turned into hard, frozen disks.

Our recommendation, therefore, is to wait until you’re ready to serve them, cut off the tops (like you’d take the stem off a pumpkin before carving a jack-o-lantern), and fill them with a little scoop of ice cream before replacing the tops. If you want to go a step further, you can add a bit of melted chocolate to seal up the top, or simply dust with powdered sugar.

Although the French soccer team disgraced themselves on the world stage, at least we can thank that country’s chefs for their tasty contribution to the culinary world!

Where's the (Ground) Beef?

No, seriously, where's the beef?  After dreaming all day about perfectly-cooked, juicy, medium-rare burger, Allie and I were horrified to discover that the fattiest ground beef that we could find at our local grocery was 93/7 (compared to our preferred burger mixture of 80% lean, 20% fat, which, in our minds, yields the juiciest, most tender patties).  After talking to the butcher and confirming that there was nothing close to what we were after, we did the only thing that would enable us to enjoy the burgers that we'd been lusting after all day: we bought a rib eye and decided we'd grind it ourselves.

HOUSE-GROUND RIB EYE BURGERS
Ingredients

• Rib eye Steak (~1/2 pound per person)
• 1 T Butter (Melted)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Buns

Directions

1. These directions actually start at the store itself.  When buying your steak, you should look for a few things: Great marbling (ensuring that there is a good amount of white fat flecks in the muscle itself), a rich pink color, and a non-mushy texture.  You can buy bone-in or boneless (but if you buy the former, you'll need to cut the bone out yourself).

2. After getting home with your steak, cut it into long slices, sprinkle liberally with salt and freshly-ground pepper, and put it into the freezer for about 10 minutes.  This will firm the meat up enough so that it can be easily ground.

3. After the meat is nice and firm, it's grinding time!  We used our meat grinder attachment for our trusty Kitchen-Aid stand mixer, and used the larger of the two dye plates.  After grinding the chunks of meat once, we put the once-ground beef through the grinder again, which further mixed the fattier bits with the leaner bits.

4. After grinding all of the meat, we formed it into patties by starting with balls and gently flattening them out.  We also made sure to leave an indention in the middle of each patty, so as the meat expands as it cooks, the burger doesn't get too round.  After the grill was preheated, we melted the butter in the microwave, brushed one side of the burgers, and put them, butter side down, onto the hot side of the grill.

5. After about three minutes, we quickly buttered the uncooked tops of the burgers, and flipped them.  Note: Thou shall NOT push the burgers down with the spatula (lest you lose the delicious juices.  Be prepared to combat any flare-ups with a squirt-bottle of water.

6. After another three minutes or so, we pulled the burgers (internal temperature around 115).  We then let them rest for between five to ten minutes so that the juices could re-introduce themselves into the meat (and not go running as soon as we bit in).

7. After the burgers had rested, we put them onto the toasted buns, and kept toppings to a minimum (balsamic-caramelized onions and mayo).  We cut in, and enjoyed.

All in all, we were frustrated by a cruddy meat selection at first, but necessity is the mother of amazing burgers.  The lack of decent ground chuck led us to improvise with rib eye, which we will absolutely be repeating in the future.

Seattle Restaurant Week: Six Days in Heaven

It was late March when Allie and I heard about Seattle Restaurant Week, a 9-day event in which over 100 restaurants in Seattle would offer a 3-course prix fixe meal for $25. Allie and I immediately started planning how we would take advantage of some great food for an even better price. We looked at the menus for the stand-out restaurants on the list (both places we’d been and placed we’d been dying to try), and both rated each of them from 1 to 10, splitting the difference when our scores differed. After reading through more than 30 menus, we ranked them, picked our top six, and immediately made reservations.

We knew that this was one of the best ways that we could sample some of the pricier places that Seattle has to offer, and that we would eat like kings for a week. On the other hand, we spent the rest of the month eating leftovers to ensure that our wallets would be able to compensate for Restaurant Week. (Six restaurants at $50 a pop without tax, tip or beverage(s) can still add up, you know!)

Here’s a recap of the amazing restaurants we visited, and our favorite dishes we had at each of them. (And yes, we were the dorks taking pictures of everything that was put down in front of us. But, sometimes being a dork pays off…)

Crush (2319 East Madison Street)

Grilled pork belly served atop stone-ground grits*

Palisade (2601 West Marina Place)

Wagyu Sirloin with fingerling potatoes and grilled asparagus (this was seriously melt-in –your-mouth incredible)

Spring Hill (4437 California Avenue Southwest)

Perfect vanilla pudding with root beer Madeline’s and toffee crumble

Joule (1913 North 45th Street)

Korean-influenced Alaskan black cod*

Nell’s (6804 East Greenlake Way North)

Pork Tenderloin with cauliflower and pea tendrils

Dahlia Lounge (2001 4th Avenue)

Made-to-order doughnuts with rhubarb jam and vanilla mascarpone cream. Yes, they live up to the hype.

Dahlia coconut cream pie with white chocolate and toasted coconut.

*These photos were two of the three winners of the Seattle Restaurant Week photo contest. Yep… we’re award-winning photographers! Plus, we ended up winning gift certificates to two of the restaurants that barely missed the cut when we decided when we’d go during Restaurant Week itself! Plus the budgeting continues, so we’ll take all the help we can get in supporting our dining habit.