Tag: Traveling for Food

Uncategorized

Life on the Road

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

We have been “homeless” for almost 3 weeks and it is certainly presenting its challenges!  We are still learning to pack the car with each stop along the way! Yesterday, leaving Santa Fe after relaxing and eatting our say thru town we decide it is time to get back to relaity and head to Texas where we will once again begin to eat our way thru the state! After finishing packing Randy tells me he needs to repack the car to see if we can pack more in the trunk and not look like we are living out of our car! We are tired of people staring at us as when we are pulling up in parking lots!  As he takes the things out of the car/trunk to repack for the next leg of our trip we looked over to the restaurant which overlooks the parking lot of our inn! There in the window are the folks which we just finished sharing a table, looking out the window!  They were placing bets!  They truly didn’t see how we would get all our “stuff” into our compact car!  we watched as one table actually cheered as they saw Randy close the trunk with still more “stuff” sitting on the ground beside the car!  But we managed to find little cubbie holes in the backseat!  upon last inspection of the room we discovered we had forgot our pillows.  Mr Packer told me he was too embarrassed go carry them out so guess who got the honors! as we pulled out of the parking lot, we glanced over and saw our breakfast friends holding a sign up which said, “call car hoarders annoymous…you need help”! We jumped the curb pulling out of the boutique inn!  We decided we look more like Motel 6 people! 

Desserts

Falling In Love with Italian Desserts

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

Last night we drove into one of Randy’s favorite places…Santa Fe, NM. We were on a mission to get to the shed, 18 which is always the first place we eat upon arriving here. For some reason Randy loves to feel his mouth on fire, hence…the blue corn enchiladas with red chile sauce. I knew in 1995 that if this marriage was going to last that I would need to adopt a love of New Mexico Mexican food, which is totally different fro Tex-Mex. I remember the first time he brought me here to meet his parents. By the time we finished eating lunch that day at the shed, my mouth was numb from the heated enchiladas that I had never experienced before. Besides being nervous to meet them, now I couldn’t talk well for the swollen tongue from the red chile that I was told was “less spicier than the green chile sauce”

But 18 years later I can truly say that I love the food here. It is still spicy to me, but because of the ambiance which surrounds you here, it just seems right. Because we have not been back here in quite some time, even Mr. Spicy Red Chile sauce admitted that it was hotter than he remembered. You think? When the waiter came to ask if we needed anything else, I happened to ask him what the dessert listed on the board was. I had remembered seeing it, but could not for the life of me remember what it was. When he began to explain that it was an Italian dessert that helps take the heat out of your mouth, we immediately ordered one. When it arrived  and was set in front of us, I fell in love. Before me was the prettiest swirl of whipped cream with a hint of color, which I later learned was from the Amaretto  liquor that was added. It was the creamiest of creams that I had eaten.. Before I left the restaurant I googled to get a recipe for this wonderful dessert.

I do not know if it is the exact recipe that we ate last night, but as soon as I can get to a kitchen where I am free to cook, I will be making it.

From Mario Batali

4 egg yolks

4 teas sugar

4 tables marsala wine

Whisk all ingredients over a double boiler until thickened like pudding. Take on and off the heat while cooking so s no to scramble the eggs. When mixture is thickened, allow to cool. *Beat in 1 cup heavy whipped cream that you have beaten until stiff peaks form. *I have added he whipping cream to his recipe because the waiter last night told us that the chef used whipped cream in his recipe and served it cold, as opposed to Mario who says to serve it hot.  Our mouths were already on fire so we needed all the “cold” we could get.                                                                ”