Taneasha's Crazy Cross Country Road Trip Part One

Well, perhaps it’s just because I’ve been on the road for almost four weeks now, but I think this road trip has definitely been eventful enough to warrant two posts.  With a two and a half week ‘layover’ in Virginia, it’s basically been two road trips anyway. 

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, I’ll give a brief explanation.  On May 20^th, we (hubby, Otto, and I) left Utah with only 9 boxes that we shipped and whatever would fit in the trunk of the car, and began our cross country move to Massachusetts.  The day before we left, we found out that my husband’s ninja like training skills were greatly needed in Virginia, and would we maybe, please just stay there for 18 days.  Yes, I said the day before we left.  Needless to say, we had a last minute change of plans on our itinerary. 

So, onto our journey.  Frozen bottles of water to keep the sandwiches cold… check. 

Back seat turned into one big, cushy dog bed… check

When you’re traveling, don’t think you have to just eat beef jerky and something you pick up from a drive thru window.   Take the time to make some good sandwiches.  I even made two different types.  One was just some sliced ham and salami on some good rolls.  The other was chicken salad.  I had some leftover chicken from a kabob I got at an India restaurant the night before, so that’s what I used.  I just diced it up with some celery and green onion then stirred in some mayo and grated smoked cheddar. 

Somewhere between Evanston, WY and Loveland, CO we stopped to eat our sandwiches.  I realize that’s a really long distance, but let’s just say it wasn’t terribly memorable, so I couldn’t say where exactly we were.  So, pull out your sandwich and your pistachio nuts.  You did pack a little container of pistachios for the sandwiches, right? 

Put them right on top and enjoy. 

Where are they, you ask… They really are on there. 

See, even on the road you can have gourmet, you don’t have to go without. 

Our first stop was Loveland, CO.  We stayed at Embassy Suites that night and just had some of their cheese, crackers, and hummus to satisfy us enough to not starve until bedtime.  We were too tired to do much else. 

After Colorado came Kansas.  This picture pretty much sums up Kansas for me. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful, but it’s just this forever.  It never changes.  You feel like you’re just driving the same stretch of road over and over and over and over and over.  We stayed in Salina, KS that night.  So, I’ll be honest, I was not expecting to find good food in Salina, KS.  Imagine my surprise when I was served one of the best steak dinners I’ve ever had.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures.  Salina was also where our tornado adventures began.  When we read about the tornado that had happened nearby while we slept, we had no idea what we were in for in the coming days. 

Before that, however, came Kansas City.  When in Kansas City, one must eat Barbecue, right? 

If you don’t know where to go, just look for the place with cop cars in front.  They always know who has the best food. 

(Notice the sunshine?  That didn’t last long.)

Never having been to Kansas City, we went in with a plan.  Try some of just about everything on the menu.  Hubby ordered ribs, burnt ends, sausage, potato salad, and baked beans. 

I ordered turkey, pulled pork, ham, and coleslaw. 

The ribs and the pulled pork were… OMG, I’m salivating just thinking about them now.  Seriously amazing.  I have to give a shout out to Arthur Bryant’s.  It’s a have to have if you’re ever in the area.  Personally, if I ever find myself there again, I’ll skip everything else and just have a pile of the pulled pork and some baked beans.  Let me just savor this part for a minute, because, well…

Not long after we left, the sky started to look like that.  We were literally dodging tornadoes, and sometimes outrunning them. 

I admit to having a total meltdown at one point when we were stopped on the side of the freeway for one to cross somewhere in front of us and one started coming in from behind.  Not fun.  Tornadoes are not something we get in Utah, so it was a first for me. 

During one of our jaunts off of the freeway to let some bad weather pass ahead of us, we came across a restaurant advertising foot tall pies.  Even in the middle of tornadoes and storms, you can’t pass that up, can you? 

Hubby had lemon meringue. 

I had chocolate meringue.  Yeah… they’re all meringue pies.  That’s how they make them so tall.

Unfortunately, I have to report that they tasted about as good as they looked.  That is to say, not fabulous.  Perhaps they would have been good if they weren’t served warm.  Warm?  Who serves chocolate cream pie warm?  Ok, so it was more like room temperature because they weren’t refrigerated.  It came as a huge shock to me when I took my first bite, which I’m sure showed on my face.  After a few bites, we paid for our pie and drove as fast as we could the rest of the way to St. Louis. 

Yummies is supposed to be THE place for soul food in St. Louis, and we wanted soul food. 

Unfortunately, they were closed by the time we got there.  They had only been closed a few minutes, and my husband being my husband, he walked up and knocked on the door.  He talked to the owner (I assume) who kindly offered to box us up some of what he had left so we could take it to go.  Thank you, Yummies for a fabulous dinner of turkey, stuffing, beans, mac n’ cheese, and greens.  There I go salivating again. 

We made a quick stop in Indianapolis on our drive from St. Louis to Cincinnati.  I just have to mention it because they actually serve ketchup like this:

Hubby almost made them take it back.  I’m pretty oblivious of sports stuff, but apparently the Colts are a rival to Hubby’s team.  You know how men can be.  Now onto Cincinnati. 

So, in Cincinnati they eat chili.  Chili on hotdogs, chili on French fries, and most notably, chili on spaghetti.  Sounds weird, I know.  I thought so too, but when in Rome…

When in Cincinnati, definitely pay a visit to Camp Washington.  It’s just a little fast food lookin’ joint, but it was awesome. 

On top of that, it was super cheap. 

That’s right.  Hubby and I both ate for seven bucks.  Awesome, huh? 

The next day was our longest drive, Cincinnati, OH to Fredericksburg, VA.  There weren’t really a lot of eventful things that happened, except lots of crazy rain and wind because the storms were still following us.  We got in really late and had to just order off of the late night  menu at a pub.  I was way too tired for pictures at that point, so that brings us to the end of part 1 of my long, crazy, fun, and sometimes scary, road trip.  Stay tuned for part 2 where things really start to get good. 

Gemma Halliday is visiting us on Friday, so be sure to stop by and see what she cooks up for us!       

Black Forest... Cookies!?

Last week a coworker who knows I like to bake offered me a challenge. Black Forest Cake. In a cookie.

Chocolate, cherries, cream. Holy crap yes. So, I started searching. Initially I’d figured I’d make a chocolate sugar cookie and sandwich two together with something cherry-ish between them. Maybe top it with some kind of creamy glaze or icing… Seemed like a lot of steps, particularly if I was making some of it up as I went. And I’d have to present these to the people at work who come by my desk and say “Cookie?” Not something I want to do with a complicated recipe that I’ve never tried before.

And then I came across a thumbprint cookie that was freaking perfect. A minor adjustment to incorporate the cherries and I had it! And holy crap do they look fancy. And holy crap did people ever keep coming back to my desk looking for more. Too bad the recipe only makes 28. I definitely need to do a double batch next time.

Black Forest Cookies

What you need:

For the cookie part:

• ½  cup butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg, separated 
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder (regular, not dutch process)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sugar, for coating the cookies

For the gooey filling:

• ½ c cream cheese
• 3 tbsp dried cherries, chopped (if you don’t have or can’t find dried, I suppose you could use some other kind but really, look for the dried ones, they’re awesome)
• ¼ c icing sugar

To make them look super fancy:

• ½ c semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

What you gotta do:

As usual, have all the ingredients waiting for you on the counter. It’s best if everything is the same temperature: room temperature. But don’t bother preheating the oven quite yet.

As with nearly all cookie recipes, you start by creaming the butter and sugar.

Separate the egg, set the white aside, and add the yolk to the butter/sugar along with the vanilla and milk.

Sift the flour and cocoa together. I use a sieve over a bowl.

I recommend a bowl wider than the sieve.

I just dumped all the dry stuff in with the wet and started stirring. And panicking. It looks really dry at first. Like way too dry.

But I kept stirring and eventually it all mixed in and formed a really soft dough.

That’s why I wrapped it up and put it in the fridge for an hour. I totally did the dishes while it chilled. Totally did. Okay, yeah, total bullshit. But I thought about doing them.

Once it firms up a little, roll it all into balls. Yup, do all of them first. (Actually, preheat the oven to 350 first).

You get a better idea of how many there are, get a chance to make sure they’re all about the same size, and you won’t be constantly wiping egg white off your hands to roll the next one.

Yup, egg white. Dip each ball in the egg white.

Actually, best to dip only half of it, then roll it in your palm to spread it around. A bit too much egg white isn’t terrible. It comes off looking and tasting kinda meringue-like, but if you’re aiming to make these look fancy, less egg white is better.

Roll the whited balls in sugar and place them on a cookie sheet. With your thumb, a bottle cap, or a half teaspoon measure, press the balls down and make a dent.

Bake about 10-12 minutes, and then while they’re taking a minute to cool on the pan, use that measuring spoon to refresh the dent in the middle. You could probably skip this step if the dent stays, or if you’re okay with a slightly shallower dent.

Put them all on a rack to cool completely. You can make the filling while they cool.

Combine the cream cheese, icing sugar and chopped cherries in a bowl, then transfer it to a sammich bag.

Cut the corner off the bag and squeeze a bit of the filling into each cookie.

Resist the urge to poke at them or eat them. They’re not done yet and yes they really need the last step.

(Note the white-ish meringuey coating. It's actually kinda crispy and tasty, but has a slightly different aesthetic.)

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave on medium heat. Seriously, everything in the microwave should be done on medium heat unless it’s water you’re trying to boil. The radiation is just too intense; you’ll scorch the chocolate.

Once it’s all melted, put in into a sammich bag as well, and trim a tiny bit off the corner.

Back and forth across the top of the cookies and the decorating is done. They’ll need a minute or two in  the freezer to set before you can pack them into the magic cookie tin to take to work. Keep them in the fridge though, there's cream cheese in them.

So, there we go. Black Forest Cookies.

Alright folks, here's your chance. Challenge me.

What kind of cookie do you want me to make?