Road Trip to Alaska! Part 1, aka the Food Diaries.

Road trip to Alaska, part 1. Aka the food diaries. 

     The middle of North America is somewhat unremarkable, except for a few spots here and there. Michigan has more than its fair share of pretty, inland lakes, not to mention the Great Lakes. Wisconsin has gently rolling farm-fields dotted with picturesque farms and silos, and houses hidden in the private nooks of the hills. The great plains states have farms so large the ends are out of sight, and they're so flat you can see for miles and miles. Eventually the farm fields give way to the plateaus before the mountains, and then there's nothing to see but scrub grass, horses, and some apparently free-range cattle. Often they're both out grazing together. 

     Canada has not been any different than the US so far, except with more Tim Hortons and fewer gas stations that are open 24/7. Like, none. Manitoba looked just like North Dakota, and Saskatchewan looked just like Montana. Alberta's plains look an awful lot like the ones in Montana, too. It's easy to forget we're in Canada, except for the maple leaf flags and speed limit signs in kilometers per hour.

     There hasn't been anything to write home about except crazy high winds and the food. The food has been phenominal. In Chicago we were shown the best sushi in all the land, at Sai Cafe. The sashimi was incredible- melt in your mouth, amazing. The rolls had just the right amount of roe, wasabi, and house made sauces. Each piece of sushi was perfect in taste, texture, and presentation. It was awesome.  For dessert we had something called mochi, which looks like Baybel cheese but in fact its actually ice cream, covered in pounded sticky rice that's basically Japanese gummy. There were 3 flavors: vanilla, lavender, and green tea. I'm not a fan of green tea but even that one was good. I will be seeking out mochi at every Asian store I ever go to from now on. 

     After all that, we walked a few blocks down to a wonderful Italian restaurant that smelled amazing, and had some really neat decor, and finished off the night with some amazing glasses of wine. Delicious.

    The next day we were in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and we got to eat at Matt's Bar, home of the original Jucy Lucy, which was featured on the TV show Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives for good reason. That was one good burger. 

     After eating a wonderful breakfast at the Uptown Diner (Luke and I split a skillet), we went shopping at the Mall of America. That's right, we went shopping. We both hate shopping, yet we managed to kill four hours there. It helped that we rode on a roller coaster, which was a total blast. 

     We moved on through North Dakota and made our way to the Canadian border, where we found out empty gun magazines are still too scary for Canada (but ammo is not), in spite of having been told otherwise when Luke called ahead. We decided to mail it to Alaska, like the guns themselves, but it was a Sunday, so that meant not only getting turned around, but also having to stay overnight in North Dakota. We went back to Grand Forks and got a hotel. It was a little less than fantastic, but we did get a really good gourmet pizza that had cream cheese and shrimp with a white sauce that was pretty good. 

     The next day we made it into Canada and headed to Winnipeg, Manitoba. We ate lunch at a 1900s style Jewish restaurant, Sherbrook Street Delicatessen, which was extremely unique and absolutely delicious. I had a red beet borscht that was life changing, and we split a smoked meat sandwich that was heavenly. They had all kinds of unique sandwich options like pickled tongue, chopped liver, or corned beef. They all seemed quite popular, and they all looked good. 

     Not to be outdone by the day before, we went to the Thuy Tien Vietnamese Restaurant in Medicine Hat, Saskatchewan, for lunch, and that was really good. Luke ordered a curry that tasted just like Mom's, and she makes a good curry. I had a stir fry that really impressed me, over some really good rice noodles. 

     Since we were on a roll, we couldn't skimp out on getting a decent dinner once we got to Calgary, in Alberta. Luke looked up some places that got good reviews and we settled on a Nepalese Indian food restaurant called The Himalayan. That was some of the best indian food I've ever had! Luke got a sample platter with a little bit of everything. I got something called Chatpat, which had green and red pepper, onion, and chicken in a carrot based sweet and sour sauce. It was good. It came with a traditional Nepalese dish, which had lentils, some other sort of large green pea, and potatoes in a curry sauce served cold, and that was also good. So was the fresh, warm "flat bread," aka Naan. For dessert we had a mango rice pudding that was nothing like a traditional English rice pudding, and a Himalayan cake made of some kind of root (Cassava?) and coconut. It was the consistency and shape of a lemon bar but it was only semi sweet and very refreshing. It was very much appreciated, if not necessary, after the sinus clearing spiciness of the main meal (and we only ordered medium spice!).  

    Tomorrow we'll be heading to Lake Louise in Banff, to spend a few days there. I'm sure we'll still find good food but starting tomorrow our trip will become less about food and more about adventure. My other favorite thing! Yukon Ho!