Oklahoma Postscript

Wow - I've done a lot in Oklahoma! Here's a look-see of my last day or so there.




Canning! I helped my hostess can her pickles and apple butter. I also helped myself to a jar of each, to add to my own collection of preserved goodies.




The Chihuly Exhibit at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art is the largest collection of Dale Chihuly glass anywhere in the world. It's stunning, and the video showing the makings of his work is truly amazing. I couldn't choose just one picture...










After seeing the exhibit I was craving Italian food. Maybe it was from hearing all the Italian in the Chihuly video, much of which took place it the glass blowing capital of the world, Murano. It's tough, finding a place to eat in the great unknown. It's too easy to be let down. We had a few recommendations and although my head said to go to Cheever's Cafe, my heart wanted Italian. Trattoria Il Centro looked promising, but was closed for Sunday evening. That left Flips, whose menu looked a bit "spaghetti and meatballs" Italian, so I was prepared to be disappointed. I'm pleased to report I was wrong. Dumpling appetizer (aka gnocchi) with pesto. Surprise! Good! Lentil vegetable soup. Nice! Green salad - surprisingly tasty! (In my opinion, making a good simple green salad is harder than it looks.) Dinner rolls - cold. With cold butter. One thumb down. Pasta with seafood - the homemade vermicelli had just the right amount of chew. I love that. (Admittedly, the seafood was a bit past perfect, but I forgave them, since the pasta and its wine sauce were both delicious.) It's a shame we couldn't fit in just one more course. I was hoping for some of that molten chocolate dessert, but there was just no way. Next time, we'll give Cheever's Cafe a try.

You might notice that the prevailing pronoun for this visit is "we", especially in my prior post. Yes, I was a passenger for the riding in Oklahoma and I'll talk more about that next time.

But for now, one more picture of that Ducati 696. Because I still want one. Now.

Oklahoma?

Sometimes life takes you somewhere you might not expect. Although Oklahoma isn't known as a motorcycle destination, it shouldn't stop anyone from riding (or eating!) there.




Here are a few pictures of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, honoring "those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever by the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City."

The fence where people place their own memorials.



One chair for each of the 168 people killed.



The reflecting pool.

We took a nice ride through the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Reserve, and hiked to the top of Elk Mountain.

Bison and Texas Longhorn abound. Both were close to extinction when this park was created for them 1901.

The top of Elk Mountain. It was a short hike, and low in elevation. It should have been a piece of cake, as I've been hiking at high elevations (some hikes as long as 12 miles and change) all summer. I was wrong. It kicked my butt. I think I was suffering from a touch of heat exhaustion, actually. Even so, the view was lovely.

The generous portion of lemonade at the Meers Store and Restaurant was the perfect cure.

The "Seismic Burger" didn't hurt either. It's one pound of pure Texas Longhorn beef, from their own herd of cattle. (We split the burger.) There's a reason for the name other than it's size. There's a seismograph on location, monitoring the nearby Meers Fault. They also sell Meers Gold Beer, from a traditional Choctaw Indian Nation recipe. Intriguing, but the 22 oz. bottle isn't exactly riding fare. Another time.

The road up to the top of Mount Scott is the only twisty one for miles and miles. We were glad we happened to be near it.


Just by chance, we passed by the Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy main plant, near Tuttle, OK. They only sell their products within 300 miles of here, to maintain freshness. We didn't get a tour, but we did have a nice milkshake at one of their local stores.

Yesterday was spent motorcycle shopping (aka "dreaming"). Performance Cycle of Oklahoma City has an expansive array of antique motorcycles. They hope to open a museum next year.

I particularly liked this 1930's Moto Guzzi.

The real find was a bike that was faster (by far) than mine (not hard to find), yet not any heavier or taller (nearly impossible to find unless I want a cruiser, which I emphatically do not). This Ducati Monster 696 is the first bike I've ever seen that fits the bill. It just happens to be a LOT faster than mine. A LOT. It is also quite a bit lighter and even a bit lower. I want one. Now. I'll have to find $10,000 or so under the couch cushions before I can buy it, though.

The Daily Special (Potato Roesti with Broiled Caprese)

Sometimes, I can't help but snap pictures of food before I sit down and eat. The pictures are never as good as the food, since I'm unwilling to let my meal get cold (or wilted, or soggy, or whatever) while I angle for the best shot. (This pictures looks a bit too much like a starfish for my taste, but maybe that's because I was recently at an aquarium, so I've got sea life on the brain.) In any case, I thought I'd add a little series to my blog featuring what's coming out of my kitchen on occasion.

I cook a lot differently than I used to. I used to have a vision and then do anything and everything to get what I needed to make it happen. Since I've starting getting CSA shares rather than shopping at a grocery, I see things differently. Now I look at what's in my kitchen and try to find interesting (or quick, or healthy, or gluttonous or... depending on my mood) ways to prepare it. It's a bit of a logic puzzle, and while I miss the "other way" from time to time, this method is a bit more natural, and results in far fewer trips to the grocery. Today my objective was to make a potato and a tomato feel like a meal. I think I'm pretty clever to have come up with this dish, which couldn't have taken more than 30 minutes to prepare (if that.) Next time I hope I'll have better mozzarella on hand. That's the downside of the "cook with what you've got" philosophy, I guess.

A funny story about potato roesti came to mind as I was cooking. The summer of 2007 was the summer of the potato. A very large sack of potatoes (so big I could hardly drag it) mysteriously appeared in the grass outside of our apartment. The potatoes seeming fine (hey, we were in northern UT, practically ID!, they had to be good, right?), and our budgets not, the entire orchestra nourished themselves from that burlap bag for the better part of the summer. One evening, I made potato roesti after potato roesti, running them upstairs to a party. I bet I used 30 lbs. that night. It's a shame the potatoes didn't come a few pounds of butter, too.

Change of Plans

It was supposed to be a dream motorcycle trip across the Sierra Nevadas, a gig in Napa, and dinner at Thomas Keller's The French Laundry. It was a plane trip, a different gig, and dinner at Alice Waters' Chez Panisse. Although the mode of transportation wasn't what I had hoped for, I was not disappointed with my dinner. Chef Alice Waters saw all that is good in fresh, local, organic foodstuffs long before it became hip with the masses. Her restaurant features different offerings each day, based on what's hot at farms in the area. You won't find off-the-wall ingredients or particularly innovative recipes, but you won't miss either of these things. You'll find delicious fresh ingredients prepared simply and flawlessly.

I enjoyed (and shared):
Cannard Farm avocados and grapefruit with citrus vinaigrette
Tomales Bay clams baked in a the wood oven with sweet red chiles, almonds, garlic and greens toast
Crimson rhubarb tart with vanilla ice cream

My good friend and dining partner enjoyed (and shared):
Carrot soup with ginger
House-made spaghetti with morel mushroom ragu and peas
Hazelnut praline cream puffs with bittersweet chocolate sauce and caramel cream

We both washed it down with Chez Panisse Zinfandel from Green and Red Vineyards (not the most logical wine choice with our menu, but I happen to love Green and Red Zin and I wasn't passing it up)

There wasn't second rate bite in the lot. Most notably, the citrus salad had the most perfect avocado and some bonus, unadvertised blood oranges in the mix. Spaghetti sounds so unglamorous, but ah! - it was perfect! Just the right amount of chew, with the morels and spring peas light enough to let the pasta shine through.

I have to give honorable mentions to two other meals I had while in the San Francisco area last weekend. Magnolia Gastropub and Brewery not only has the expected interesting and delicious selection of beers, but good food too! It's the first brewpub I've ever been to with decent food, really. The menu is definitely hearty, and made to go with beer, but goes above and beyond the call of duty by offering such things as buttermilk fried spring onions, an interesting selection of sausages (lamb merquez! rabbit crepinette!) and scotch quail eggs, to name a few. Someone at the Allied Arts Guild, the site of the gig that partially subsidized this trip, also knows his or her way around the kitchen. (Note to self: the husband of the cellist on this gig is a partner at Au Coeur des Chocolats. Check it out next time, it's surely better than the big scam called Ghiradelli.) Although I missed the hors d'oeuvres while working, the main course of chicken and roasted sweet potatoes, roasted vegetable quiche and salad was completely satisfying. I give them extra points for serving boneless dark meat chicken, which has so much more flavor than the ever popular (why?) boneless chicken breast. The only disappointment here was the chocolate/chocolate mousse birthday cake, which was only mediocre. Perhaps even more impressive is the gardener at Allied Arts. The grounds are spectacular, and (lucky me!), were in perfect bloom. By then I'd had more than my share of good eats - little did I know there was more to come. I can thank the guest of honor at this lunch for grilling us all steaks later that day for dinner.

I narrowly missed a day of wine tasting in Napa, and dinner at Brix Restaurant. I was bumped off my flight (darn!), and had the necessary arrangements almost complete when the airline rep informed me of their error. I guess all good things must come to an end.

Postscript-
You know how most cafes have pastries that look pretty, but taste like sawdust? Not so for the few things I tasted while in San Francisco. The cherry turnover at the Java Beach Cafe was a pleasant surprise. Not earth shattering, but perfectly edible and even tasty. The Simple Pleasures Cafe served up a wonderful ham and cheese croissant, and I can't stop thinking about their tea cakes. So buttery! The sandwich I took away for the plane trip home was, alas, not toasted despite my request.

Reading up, I see my weekend was a gastronomic success!

A Significant "Other Matter"

You DID notice the "Just Divorced" sign, didn't you? The end of a marriage is cataclysmic for those involved, and I wasn't exactly hamming it up with the judge this morning at the courthouse, but humor really IS good medicine. I think I'll go riding again tomorrow.

Bonus: A wildlife encounter at my usual turnaround point at the top of the mountain -I was surrounded! We enjoyed each others' company for a good 10 minutes before they went on their merry way. It's a shame I was shooting into the sun.

The Who Farm - sign this worthy petition.

Why not spend all the water work and energy used to grow grass on the White House Lawn to grow food instead? It just makes sense.
Read and sign here:
http://www.thewhofarm.org/

Geocache Update

It's day two of my Geocache career and I just learned that part of the object of the game is stealth. So two thumbs down to me for sharing my purpose with the helpful passerby yesterday. The stealth angle in an urban cache hunt can be tricky! There are a good 15 or more caches to be found within a few minutes walk from my house (one practically across the street). Walking the dog has become a brand new game! We found one last night, so clever and so tiny I thought part of it was missing. I went for another today, whilst running an errand. Its name, "Penguins in Sonora," gives it away (both location and contents), if you know downtown Tucson. No map or GPS unit required by me for this one, but the crowded site makes it nearly impossible to retrieve. I had hoped the rain (yes, it's raining today!) would help me search away in a secretive fashion, but it made things more difficult. I'll have to postpone this particular find for later.