Now Them's Good Eatin'

Being a road worrier requires nourishment along the way. Fortunately, this country is very lucky to have lots of good restaurants to select. While on my last road trip to NM, a couple of places became new favorites.

In Guymon, OK, Naifeh's is a steakhouse run by a Lebanese family. Turns out one member of the family has Wichita connections! Nothing like food to make ties across state boundaries. In Las Vegas, NM, there is the "Spic and Span." Good Mexican food with a little kick to the chile. Forget healthy. We're talking'big portions and eclairs the size of dinner plates. Reinforces my firm belief that gluttony is the best of the seven deadly sins--followed closely by sloth.

For something completely unique, in Santa Fe, there is a chocolate place called "Kakawa" that specializes in historic and even prehistoric chocolate recipes. It is a surprise to many that chocolate began, not as a food, but as a drink. The earliest reciples include a beverage called "Aztec Warrior," a bitter drink (pure chocolate has a very bitter flavor and is not sweet at all) laced with hot chile. I settled for the "atole" with cornmeal as an ingredient, a resulting concoction that tasted a little like malted milk. Check out http://www.kakawachocolates.com/ for more info.

In Ashland, Kansas, there is the Hardesty House, an old hotel that also offers steaks. The smothered steak is a good option here. Another great attraction to this location, by the way, is the building itself. It is one of the few of the old hotels that still has massive clerestory windows in the interior walls, a holdover from the days when buildings did not have lights in every room or air conditioning and clerestories were common features for lighting and ventilation. The Kansas to New Mexico run has other options, too, such as El Charro in Dodge City, the Eklund Hotel in Clayton, and the Brown Hotel and Cafe in Springer.

There are some distinct features that keep cropping up. Mexican food is one. Sadly, my goal of eating at a Mexican restaurant that openly proclaims serving "inauthentic" Mexican food remains unfulfulled. "Authentic" Mexican food is your only option, if you believe the signs and the menus. Beef is another feature. If you like steak, you can see and smell your future supper walking around as you drive by. Out here, chicken IS the vegetarian option. Dessert is important and the fruit pie has an important role in preventing scurvy since fruits and vegetables may be rather rare commodities on the dinner plate.

A lot of foodways on the western high plans still have traces of the 1950s in their preparation: a heavy reliance on pre-prepared things. The idea that there are other lettuces than iceberg and other dressings besides ranch and thousand island has yet to reach this part of the country. Still, if you want a blast from the past, you can't beat the high plains for heritage eating.

A dusty drive down memory lane

Things have been quiet here with the Road Worrier for the past few weeks but recently, some new adventures have cropped up. Last week, after visiting the Flint Hills with my friend and colleague Cheryl Unruh (check out her http://www.flyoverpeople.net/ for that story), I headed back to New Mexico. Today, my dad and I got a chance to visit some land, including an old ranch house, that the family once owned. The ranch was a vacation house where we spent a lot of weekends during my early years. I had not quite realized how much that little ranch had shaped me during my growing up. I sorta knew it then but now really can see how much my appreciation of the NM landscape came from those times out there. This was a place with electricity but no running water. We had to use an outhouse but at night we listened to the local Spanish stations from Las Vegas NM on the radio (no TV reception either). In these years of the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were no cell phones to annoy, no satellite TV with 300 channels and no wii game sticks to distract us. It was quiet and relaxing--the occasional chore notwithstanding.

Going back now decades later, it is amazing how much has changed and how little has changed.

The area was and is very remote. It is a place where, as my dad says, you want to drive on the upper half of the tank (your gas tank over half full) since there aren't a lot of facilities for the motorist out here. The roads are dirt out here. Little twists and turns that I had long forgotten. The earth is a lot more reddish than I remembered. The desert plants have a spicy smell. Some of the old adobes are now in ruins. Even took a picture in one old home of the remains of a chair in a room.

Other families have brought in mobile homes. Prefab to the rescue when maintaining adobe is too much, I guess. I am glad I made it back there.

Expanding horizons

Last night as I drove back to Wichita from visiting a colleague in Manhattan, KS, I drove through the Flint Hills and took some photos of the school at the Tallgrass Prairie Nature Preserve school at sunset. As I did, it occurred to me that it is pretty hard NOT to take a cool photo of the Flint Hills at sunset. The setting lends itself to great shots. On the rest of the drive back, I mulled over the idea of a new type of photo contest for Kansas. Its defining feature would be what was not allowed in terms of subject. The point is not that said subjects are not valuable or important. Rather, it would be to get us to think about Kansas in a way that got beyond the familiar, even cliche images that show up on photo contests and state fair exhibitions. In some ways, it is too easy to fall back on these topics. What else in Kansas is worthy of documenting? So...here are some ideas of things that would NOT be permitted in this alternative Kansas photo competition:

The Flint Hills and Konza Prairie.
Monument Rocks and Castle Rock
Abandoned farmhouses, one room schools, country churches, court houses
Cows, bison, and horses
Trains and railroad stations
Windmills, barns, and grain elevators
Sunsets, approaching storms, and tornadoes
Panoramas of fields, either bare or with crops
Sunflowers, post rock fences and barbed wire
Children and senior citizens (however they may be in the background of scenes provided people of other generations are also present)
Patriotic imagery
Cowboys
Traditional artistic images (Madonna of the Plains, Cathedral of the Plains, Keeper of the Plains, the John Brown Scene in the Capitol, etc. As a general rule of thumb, if it has the phrase "of the plains" in the name, it is probably off limits.)

You are probably saying by now "hey, what CAN I photograph?"

Now, you've got the idea!

Homeward bound...and determined

Well, fellow travelers, last week was the final dash of the trip. Sunday, got up early again (having a room facing east where the rising sun hits you in the face helps that process). Headed into PA to see the Ephrata Cloister, sorta a German-based version of the Shakers, and then on to Intercourse to see the Amish Country. It was, well, an experience. Am sure the locals really don't care much for "English" like me coming in and traipsing around. The stores tend to be Mennnonite-run tho' imagine my surprise when it turned out that "Nancy's Quilt Shop" had Chinese immigrants behind the counter.

Monday was Decoration Day (today we call this Memorial Day) and got to spend it, in all places, Gettysburg. The battlefield was something. A lot happened there so it got kinda confusing. The best image was that of Confederate reenactors outside a store selling Civil War souvenirs with an African American woman talking to her friend on the street. Talk about exploding with irony. While touring, went past Eisenhower's farm--he bought land next to the battlefield and considered that, in many ways, his homestead. So much for those Kansan ties. Not like Truman and Independence. Drove across PA to Sandusky OH for the night. Saw the sunset over Lake Erie.

Tuesday was Heritage Quest. Drove across Michigan, where my family is from. Entered into Monroe County, which is French Canadian in ancestry and one side of my family has been there since the 1700s. Even the street names are family names: Nadeau, Cousino, Navarre. Saw the little (and I do mean little) town of La Salle where my grandmother grew up. Then to Haslett, which is outside of Lansing, where my grandfather grew up, my mother lived as a small child, and ironically, where my dad lived as a teenager. Went to the old Marsh family homestead and knocked on the door, not sure who would answer. Turned out the family who lived there knew my family very well. Got to see the home and the landmarks that I had heard about for so long: the enclosed porch, the garden in back with the lilacs, the hill down to the swamp and the rr tracks with Lake Lansing and Hickory Island beyond. All my life I had heard of these places and they sounded so far apart. They're not. The whole area is smaller than College Hill. Michigan as a whole is flat with lots of lakes, swamps, marshes, etc. I seem to be a descendant of the swamp people.

Then to Holland, Michigan to visit my aunt and uncle and cousins. We toured around and went up to Muskegon, where the Prices are from. Saw the Price home, the synagogue where some of the family attended, and other landmarks. Let's just say a lot of the area is now a "transitional" neighborhood and it was good to have visited it in the daytime. Back in Holland, the Dutch heritage is still highly prized, with the folksyness we see, for example, in Lindsborg KS with the Swedes. One wonders how Holland's Chamber of Commerce would treat a discussion of modern Holland which, in addition to windmills and tulips, is just as known for its red light districts, hash bars, gay marriage, and mosques.

The following day, I took the ferry across Lake Michigan from Muskegon to Milwaukee. After a slight mix up on schedules (note for the future: double check the sailing times as the company as I made a reservation for what I thought was Thursday and they thought was Wednesday). Minor glitch but got on board and headed across. About a 2.5 hour ride across. They even show movies on the boat.

The next day after that, it was Frank Lloyd Wright-apalooza. Saw his Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, the Unitarian Church in Madison (as well as the now completed Monona Terrace), then to Taliesin and southern Wisconsin. I saw lots of the prairie style but not much prairie. Lots of forested hills with broad river valleys but little that looked like what I would think of as the tree/grasslands combo that we call prairie here in KS. Ended up at Effigy Mounds National Monument on the IA/WI border.

Yesterday was the last day of the trip. A mad dash across Iowa from outside Dubuque to Cedar Rapids (to view, among other things, the "Mother Mosque of America") through Des Moines and to Madison County. Yes, I saw the bridges. There are about six of them and I visited 3. They are quaint from a distance but the social history side of things comes from reading the graffiti that literally covers the interiors of the bridges from end to end. After that, headed on down to Kansas City where I had supper on the plaza. Then, it was into Kansas and down through the Flint Hills into a gorgeous KS sunset. Kansas was welcoming me back home again. Got in about 10:30 last night. Researchapalooza is over. I survived. I think.

Am still processing things. What a time! Am not so much thinking of the trip as ending as much as a new phase of research and study will begin. Will keep you posted!

New York, New York

This past weekend, I got the chance to see New York City up close and personal like. Just a few thoughts and observation, complete with appropriate music to go with it.

Got on the train at 6:30 or so and headed on into Penn station. (Queue Chattanooga Choo Choo lines about leaving the Pennsylvania Station) Down to the subway. What a mess! Most complicated blasted thing I’ve ever seen. A spaghetti of different routes, some of the worst signage I’ve seen and, to boot, on weekends they like shuffling things around for line work. Also pretty dingy in the stations. THIS is supposed to be the famous New York subway?

That notwithstanding, made it down to Battery Park to take the ferry to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Lady Liberty was quite a sight. It seems sad that she is too often draped in a flag and used to sell patriotism. Then headed to Ellis Island. (Queue Neil Diamond’s “They’re Coming to America”) The whole experience puts you in the mood: approaching on a crowded ferry having stood in line. You are surrounded by families and rowdy kids and are in the midst of hearing about a half a dozen languages. How appropriate! Ellis Island was quite moving and well done as an exhibit—even if my ancestors came through Baltimore.

After that, up to see the World Trade Center. What was striking was the lack of patriotic schlock that the event gets back in Kansas. The big sign on one store said “Remember….Fathers Day.” Then to Wall Street. (Queue theme to “Wall Street Week in Review”). It was striking that this “city that never sleeps” had a lot of businesses closed for the day.

Following this, saw one of the truly great museums of the city: the Tenement Museum. Check out the web site at www.tenement.org. A recreation of life on the Lower East Side up close and personal. It showed how dark and crowded the places were, but how they also offered hope. Also showed how urban life in New York is a process of constant change. An emersion into the complex, unsettling life of the tenements and the families who lived there.

Back on the subway to Times Square (Queue “Give my regards to Broadway”—the subway stops were various points in the song). Got a sandwich from a deli and ate it outside by Madison Square Garden. (Queue theme to “Sex in the City”) and then headed on back.

So how was your last dinner party?

Yesterday, had the fun of attending a dinner party of a friend of mine, Paul Cassedy. Paul grew up in the Alexandria/Washington area but is now in Baltimore. He says that he is called one of the last of the Edwardians in that he loves the tradition of the formal dinner party. This “modest” event took place at his home, a 1910s-era row house. There were 16 guests so it took the parlor and dining room both to hold the long table that we set up. Talk about breaking out the china and the glassware! Each place setting had seven utensils and four wine glasses. Among the Edwardian features that Paul continues as a love of pickled items so the first course were all homemade pickles of various veggies along with spring sausage of meats like elk and bison. At this point, the music arrived. The duo,“Zephyr,” consisted of a lute player and a singer who serenaded us with Renaissance songs. Then came the turtle soup, which traditionally has an accompanying pickled hard boiled egg. Then a salad. Then the entree, a roast of wild boar with a mole sauce and saffron rice. By this time, we are on our third different wine. To cleanse the palate, we had a sorbet of lemon and vodka graced with basil and sage. Then came the cheese course of various types of cheeses and then a mixture of berries soaked in Grand Marnier . Paul is surprised when people say this is a lavish affair. This is just a group of friends getting together. I’ll let you be the judge!

Cheeseburger in Paradise

They say confession is good for the soul. Last night, while heading back to the Cathedral, I stopped into a restaurant called Mediterra in Adams Morgan. I ordered, I am ashamed to admit, a cheeseburger. Consider the irony: this is an upscale, trendy restaurant in one of the most cosmopolitan neighborhoods in one of the most internationally-oriented cities in the country. Embassy Row is within walking distance and the Islamic Center's minaret is visible on the other side of Rock Creek Park. I order the most Mid-American of foods.

Upon reflection, it occurred to me that I had not had a hamburger in quite a while. This whirlwind of a research trip has been one of ethnic cafes with cuisine ranging from Korean to Indian to Thai to Afghani to Mexican to Ethiopian. Lots of salads and pastas. Local fare has included Philly cheese steaks, Canadian poutine, and Cincinnati-style chili (with a hint of chocolate and cinnamon, served on spaghetti with a heaping mound of shredded cheese). A lot of the meals have been delightfully vegetarian. It is striking that the humble cheeseburger, in this environment, IS exotic foreign fare. Sometimes you just hanker for the basics.

Yes, the burger, by the way, was wonderful. Having not had one in a while, it was quite rich and satisfying, even decadent. Somehow, it even seemed appropriately Mediterranean in that cafe's setting with subdued lighting and reproductions of 1930s French travel posters. Yes, I did have to make one concession to the region: an appetizer of hummus. Hummus and cheeseburgers. Now there's a combination for the 21st century!