Somewhere in Middle America

So we're staying in Lebanon, MO tonight. We just got back from an incredible barbecue dinner at a restaurant next to our hotel. Between the two of us we had half a smoked chicken and a half rack of ribs along with sides and beer. The restaurant didn't have beer on the menu, so we asked our server what kind of beer they had. He said that they didn't serve beer, but we could go to the liquor store next door and bring it in for them to serve to us. Well, I didn't feel like buying beer next door, but I did have a six pack of Black Butte Porter in the car. So I brought two bottles in and they chilled them and served them with our dinner in sneaky red tinted plastic coke cups. Sometimes the Ozarks rule! Needless to say, we left a huge tip.

Tomorrow we're planning to drive to St. Louis and go up the arch and do a little other sight seeing.

And as promised, here are some photos:

This is a view of Route 66 from the interstate. See how close it is!
This is me sitting on the Jackrabbit at the famous Jackrabbit Trading Post in Joseph City, AZ. They are well known for their cherry cider, but sadly they don't have it any more.
This is the Wig Wam Motel in Holbrook, AZ. I really, really, really wanted to stay here, but it was only 4pm and we really couldn't stop so early in the day. Oh well, maybe some other road trip.
(This text isn't a link, I don't know why it looks like one. Sorry) This is the blue whale in Catoosa, OK. It is in an old swimming hole just out of town and was built sometime in the 70's. It's officially closed, but I suspect it still gets lots of use. You can walk in the mouth and either go down one of two slides (you can see a white slide just behind the mouth) or climb a ladder up to the top of the tail and jump off.

This is me running away from the whale that's about to eat me.

Enjoy the photos and hopefully we'll post more tomorrow.
David and Abby

Making progress

Yesterday we woke up in Needles, CA and crossed into Arizona. We drove all the way across Arizona and into New Mexico. We tried to go to the Grand Canyon, but there was a huge accident on the road leading into the park, so we missed it. Today we drove from Albuquerque, NM across Texas, and to Clinton, OK.

We've been driving more on the interstate than on Route 66. We figured out pretty quickly that unless we're in a city, driving on Route 66 means going 20mph slower on a road 20 feet to the side of the Interstate. So we decided to stop off and drive through the cities. We've been seeing tons of cool old neon signs and eating at great restaurants. So far the culinary highlights have been strawberry rhubarb pie in Needles, CA, sopapillas in Grants, NM, breakfast burrito in Albuquerque, NM, and fajitas in Elk City, OK.

Tomorrow we're headed through the rest of Oklahoma, a tiny bit of Kansas, and into Missouri. We're having a great time and we have both gone through some states we've never visited before. We do have some pictures to post, but I left the camera in the car and I'm too lazy to go retrieve it.

See you on the road,
Abby and David

Good Bye Napa...Hello Route 66

At our Last wine tasting at William Hill. What a view.

Driving through central California, on the way to Needles CA, on the CA-AZ boarder. There were tons of windmills all over the ridges around the highway. We'll drive out of CA early tomorrow, and through AZ, with a quick stop at the Grand Canyon and the painted desert.

Hope all is well at home, its 75 at 9:30 in Needles CA. I think we're in for a bit of a shock when we get home!!

Lots of love to all
Abby and David

Alcatraz and Graduation Photos

Hey everyone,
We had a great time at Alcatraz with Jason and Kaitlin. We went on a perfect day, sunny and warm, and took the audio tour. The tour had recorded stories from past guards and inmates and was really interesting. Here are some photos.





Here's a photo of the whole family in the entrance to the CIA.



And finally, here's a photo of the bottle of wine our friends Marcus and Denise gave us as a going away gift. It's a double magnum of Pinot Noir. It holds 3 liters, or four standard bottles. I've included a regular bottle in the photo for scale. That is one big bottle of wine!



As far as moving goes, we spend all day yesterday scrubbing our apartment from top to bottom and getting rid of everything we don't need. Today we're spending the day driving around the valley and doing a little wine tasting. Tomorrow we'll get up early and hit the road. We're going to catch Route 66 in Lenwood, CA (about 7 hours south of here) and then we're heading back east. See you soon!

David

Week 29 and Graduation!!!

Week 29 was techniques of healthy cooking. It was a fun class, which was co-taught by the creator of the Sonoma Diet, which is based on the traditional Mediterranean diet. The class was fun, we played with different grains and cooking techniques. We all learned a ton.

The weekend between weeks 29 and 30 we went to Alcatraz with Jason and Kaitlin, which David will post about soon.

Week 30 was Advanced culinary techniques. It was a tough week, our Chef, Chef Almir, was not about to let us slide to graduation. We had lectures on caviar, foie gras, sous vide cooking, and wild mushrooms. The lectures were all done by suppliers/producers of these specialty products, except for the sous vide lecture. (Sous Vide is a method of cooking where food is vacuum sealed in a bad and then poached really slowly for 4-48 hours at around 148 degrees. The food comes out insanely tender) By Wednesday we were in full production mode to make our 50 canapes each. My canape was a coconut curry poached salmon on an asian pear, with kumquats, cilantro oil, toasted coconut, and kaffir lime salt. (what a mouthful!) Here is the photo!!


Now, I don't want to toot my own horn, but mine was totally the most delicious. Chef Almir made yummy noises when he would walk past me working on them, and snitched them off my trays when I wasn't looking. The family, Malders and Zanders alike, loved them as well. I was really happy they turned out. I loved them so much that I'm making them again for dinner at our friends Marcus and Denise's house on Thursday!!

We had a blast with the Zander clan this weekend. Lots of eating and drinking.

Now were working a few days and then packing up. We have a day in SFon the 24th and then we are hoping to be on the road by Thursday of next week.

We'll keep you posted from Route 66 on the way home.

Love to all,

Abby

Practical Fun!!!

Week 28
My practical was on Monday and I passed with flying colors. I got the lamb medallions with mustard and calvados sauce, duchess potatoes, and glazed carrots, fish course was rolled sole fillets with veggies and sauce vin blanc. Sooo I was more than a little nervous but I managed to get everything done with a whopping 10 seconds to spare. I also managed to cut my hand pretty badly. I'm all healed up now and ready for my next class, only two weeks left! I only had class for two days this week so there isn't much to say, Wednesday we ate dinner at the restaurant at school and the rest of the week we were off.

This week is Techniques of Healthy Cooking, and next week is Advanced Culinary Techniques, which is getting ready for the graduation reception. I can't believe it is almost over. We've started packing and most of our furniture has been claimed by people we know. Two weeks to go!

Lots of love to one and all

Abby