Life on the road for the past two years would have been completely impossible for me without the hospitality and generosity of friends, friends of friends, acquaintances, couchsurfers, and perfect strangers. When road fatigue hits, I am revived by a simple, homey moment. We are all from somewhere, staying somewhere, and eventually on our way to somewhere else. On a recent visit to Toronto, a Russian-American family living in Canada hosted Nina and me at their home and shared stories and caviar! Not only that, but they also shared tea, cookies, chocolate, beer, and made us sausages, eggs, and Russian dumplings for breakfast! We felt like honored guests. Thanks Sergey, Oksana, and Yaroslav! As I make a new place for myself, I’m hoping I’ll be able to continue the generosity of home I’ve experienced. Perhaps I’ll get restless again at some point, but in Chicago this winter, I’m hunkering in. Do come visit.
On our last night in Georgia we hiked to Lagodekhi Natural Reserve (whose “sister park” is Grand Teton-a favorite of mine). As we passed through town a woman offered us a room at her guesthouse. She was the sweetest lady, and she reminded Olga of her Ukranian grandmother. The home was simple and straightforward, and her front yard was full of fig trees and heavy, ripe grape vines. We worked up an appetite hiking and came home to the most delicious dinner in this kitchen-meat cutlets, fried potatoes, tomato and cucumber salad, bread, fresh cheese, grapes, watermelon, and homemade wine. We asked her to eat with us, but she apologized and excused herself to watch her favorite soap on TV. We showered and slept, preparing to cross the border into Azerbaijan the next day.
We visited the wine region but still reeling from khachapuri, we couldn’t stomach a drop, so we walked around some gardens and had coffee and cake.
On the bus from Tbilisi to Sighnaghi in Georgia’s wine region we met a woman who runs one of Georgia’s many homestay/guesthouses. We stayed with her, and while we shirked at the sight of cheese, we enjoyed this breakfast. Eggs! The bread is present at every meal, and it’s wonderful. And when you’re on the road and a little bit sick already you question the cleanliness of fruit and veggies, but who can turn down tomatoes when all you’ve been eating is bread and cheese!? It’s good exercise for the stomach.
Olga fought for half an hour to purchase our train tickets at the lit windows along the back of the Baku train station. There was some order to the chaos which I did not understand at all, so I just stood back and watched in awe as Olga bullied and pushed her way to the front of the window. This was customary, not rude, but it was shocking to me as I’ve never seen Olga push her way in front of a field mouse.
Nonetheless, we were soon on the overnight train to Tbilisi, Georgia. Anyone I mentioned Georgia to mentioned the food, which I took as a very good sign. One of the first things we did upon arrival was eat. We were quickly schooled in the staples of Georgian cuisine: tomato and cucumber salad w/ walnut sauce, khinkali (like large meaty soup dumplings) and khachapuri (cheesey bread). The khinkali was delicious, but people were putting away 5 or 6 pieces, and they kept encouraging us to keep up! And I enjoyed the khachapuri, but the cheese is pretty intense, and I think I’m set for a lifetime. After that meal, I don’t think I felt hungry again in Georgia (and my stomach was quite confused). However, Georgians are notoriously hospitable, and we were treated (forced?) to many more Georgian meals. The tables at every meal were also covered in bottles of wine, mineral water, and tarragon lemonade. I’m still recovering with water and oatmeal.
Khinkali:
Khachapuri:
Photo by Matt Herman, from a generic hotel continental bkfast. Come on NY generic hotels, get your waffles together.
Filed under: Travel | Tags: bellingham, couchsurfing, farmersmarket, Seattle, Travel, Washington
I took some time out from Kansas to travel to Washington state with my mom for a spontaneous weekend adventure. I wanted her to see the state I’ve fallen in love with and to love it too and to declare she’s moving the family to the west coast. I was extremely worried that the whole plan was ruined as it rained the entire weekend. But I knew there was still hope when my mom turned to me very seriously and slowly declared, “This is the BEST LATTE I’ve EVER had.” Of course we ate well in Seattle, on Whidbey Island, and in Bellingham (love), but it was the homecooked goodness from our most hospitable of couchsurfers that made the eatin’ so good, not to mention the good vibes and conversation also bestowed upon us!
On Whidbey Island, Nikki and Luke made us an autumn feast that included dates stuffed with marcona almonds and wrapped in bacon, acorn squash filled with apples and raisins, beet, goat cheese, toasted walnut, spinach, and balsamic salad. Thankfully Nikki took us on a hike along the bluffs the next morning. We had such a wonderful evening full of food, conversation, and board games!
In Bellingham Jim and Rick made a delicious breakfast of hash browns, eggs in the hole, and canadian bacon cooked entirely in cast iron skillets with eggs from their chickens. They have an enviable pantry and are obviously fond of sharing food with friends. They had a beautiful looking cask of apple cider fermenting nicely on the counter, and I could get lost in their back garden for hours. They also took us to the Bellingham farmer’s market where I spent the morning swooning over beautiful Washington produce and lemon and pumpkin whoopie pies.
And we got to hang with Harold, and break bread for breakfast at the Firehouse Cafe.
Filed under: Places to Eat, Travel | Tags: farms, food, Garden City, Kansas, restaurants, Travel
Looking at the map route from Colorado Springs to Wichita on Hwy 50, Garden City was our only choice for a lunch break. Luckily my boss (who knows where to eat on any roadtrip-I hope I am her apprentice) knew that Garden City was home to many recent Mexican and Vietnamese transplants, meaning fresh tortillas and pho were on my mind all through eastern CO. We felt really lucky to be on track to arrive an hour before the Vietnamese restaurant we found online (Pho Hoa One) closed, yet the door was locked! Tragically, we hadn’t accounted for the change from Mountain to Central time, and therefore we had just missed lunch. We asked for recommendations at a tortilleria and were pointed to El Conquistador. It was solid, not exceptional, but that alone was completely unexpected in a long drive through Kansas.
by isayx3
Ah, cereal. Tuesday nights in my house were cereal nights. That is because it’s the night my mom taught a night class which meant it was dad’s turn to “cook.” Flash forward to another moment at an I95 rest stop where the only options were roy rogers, starbucks, mcdonald’s or sbarros. My travel buddy (Nina) demonstrated food-on-the-road ingenuity by going into the gas station and purchashing a small travel cereal box and bottle of milk. I appreciate a good bowl of cereal. A friend in CA had told me that cereal joints existed, and I just couldn’t believe her. While the Dallas airport doesn’t have free wifi (tmobile wifi, NOT ok), it does have cereal. $4 gets you some sugary cereal, with some nutty add ins and espresso syrup! I think I’ve also seen 10 starbucks and 3 TGIFriday’s in terminal C alone. I love flying, and I love airports, but damn, when are they going to get it together!!? The cereal joint does not make up for this. And I didn’t fork over the cash for coco puffs.
I can’t wait till cars are cool again because I love driving, riding, moving. We left Paonia and headed east through the mountains to Colorado Springs. I love driving in the west because the landscape changes so dramatically that my jaw is consistently dropped. Another favorite reason to move on? Roadside diners.
