 |
| Hallie and Lucy on the road in NC |
But I digress, I wanted to chat about about road food. This conversation was sparked by an email exchange the Reds had only last week…it went like this…
HANK: I am now, by the skin of my teeth, in Appleton Wisconsin after a few delays which would have resulted in missed connections, sigh, but now all is well, and I got from gate B 2 at O’Hare to gate F 24 in record time :-)
Now off to some motel which apparently does not have food :-) So I think I am going to the wine store, and then Wendy’s. How glamorous is this!
LUCY: what entrée from Wendy’s goes with wine??
HALLIE: Baked potato with everything!!
RHYS: After the wine store who cares? I once had the hotel shuttle bus drive me through the McDonalds drive through because there was no other food and it was snowing.
LUCY: Your turn now Reds... Does it matter what you eat while traveling? Is there a great meal you remember, or something truly awful?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: That very same trip I bought TWO turkey clubs at the airport just in case, and wow, that was a good thing, turns out,because right now I am someplace where there is NO food, and my backup day-old semi-soggy turkey BLT was dee-licious. And at a recent event I was so rushed and starving that for "lunch" I had a bag of potato chips that was in my swag bag topped by the peanut butter from the little container that came with my breakfast toast that I had saved for just such a circumstance. Potato chips with peanut butter, people! SO glam. And not as good as it sounds, sadly.
Whenever I go to California I try, first thing, to run into a grocery store and pick up a tomato and an orange. Even in a chain store they're better than what we routinely get on the East coast. (In Washington State in season, it's cherries. In New Orleans in season it's satsumas.) I've learned the hard way DO NOT GET supermarket maki rolls. Chewy. And not in a good way.
RHYS BOWEN: I always take granola bars, those little Gouda cheeses and a banana with me. I find it hard on book tour when the car is coming for me at 6 and I won't get back to the hotel until after 9. I don't want to eat before and I'm too tired to eat after. Actually what I'd like is a bowl of soup but I'm not ordering soup that has been sitting around since lunch
 |
| not croissants but reminded me of Jenn |
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Now I am really on the hook if everyone doesn't like the restaurant I picked in Dallas! I've been doing a lot of restaurant research because I live thirty miles from downtown and don't actually eat in the city that often. The restaurant I picked for our REDS dinner (Yay, all seven of us!!!) I have actually been to and loved.
Ok, Red readers, share with us your best or worst road food experience!
RED HOT NEWS:
We can't wait to see some of you very soon at Bouchercon--the Jungle Red game show panel is at 2:30 on Thursday, 10/31!
DEBS: A BITTER FEAST debuted on the USA TODAY Bestseller List last week at #31! I was so thrilled!
And even better, the book just got a terrific review in The New York Times!
If we’re on the road with grandbabies, we’re certain to stop at a Chick Fil-a or a Wendy’s or a Carl’s Junior [or Hardee’s, depending on how far south we are]. The grandbabies always get to pick where they’d like to stop for food.
ReplyDeleteI generally pack cheese, nuts, fruit, and granola bars before we start out, but somehow there’s never enough once the grandbabies get into them. I’m good as long as there’s plenty of water and lots of coffee [and, please, a stop at Wawa for a chocolate croissant] . . . .
Congratulations, Debs, on your great "Bitter Feast" news.
You're such a good grandmother Joan!
DeleteYou ladies make life on the road sound so glamorous!
ReplyDeleteBut, inquiring minds want to know, which restaurant is hosting your big dinner?
Mark, it's called The Henry.
DeleteWhen I was younger and several times drove half the width of the continent in either direction solo, I would keep a little jar of instant coffee in the car. I'd stop and get a big chocolate milkshake somewhere, stir in a spoonful of coffee, and have delicious cold caffeine-laden sustenance for next three hundred miles.
ReplyDeleteWhen people hear about the "glamour" of book tour, they never imagine these stories of yours of being put up in a food-free motel! I love the bartender stuffing Deb with olives and nuts so she wouldn't go to bed hungry.
Make sure you get a picture of the Dallas dinner to share.
That's not the worst driving beverage I've ever heard of Edith! sorry we won't see you in Dallas...
DeleteEdith, I love this idea! May I offer an updated refinement?
DeleteStarbucks makes little, easily portable powdered coffee sleeves, called Via. You've seen them in Europe and other countries, but these from Starbucks not only taste better, but they mix readily, even in cold liquids. When I travel I always have a handful with me. It's handy if the only coffee available is tired old truck stop or convenience store dreck. Just pour into hot water.
Or a cold milkshake!
DeleteGreat ideas, Karen and Edith. I'm going to pick up some Via packets next time I'm in Starbucks. And Starbuck's cheese and fruit boxes make great emergency food.
DeleteI can get Starbucks Via in the grocery store.
DeleteI went to a comic book convention in Philadelphia back in 2005. My first night in the city, my friend took me for an authentic Philly Cheesesteak. It was AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteBeyond that, I'm not really one to check out fancy-schmancy restaurants on the rare occasion I am in another place for dinner or lunch. I usually stick to the tried and true kind of meals I always eat. Give me a burger and fries and I'm good.
I can practically taste that cheesesteak Jay!
DeleteI've always been someone who gets both stupid and crabby when hungry so I travel with snacks and always hoard travel packs from hotel meals, too. Just in case. My story is the opposite of your horror tales: many years ago, visiting a friend in San Francisco, day before flight home I insisted on a stop for a packed healthy sandwich. Just in case. To my surprise- but I shouldn't have been in that foodie city - SF airport was packed with terrific places to eat. I had extra time and managed to fit in two meals! Plus a stop at a See's candy shop. ( PS an emergency meal of peanut butter with pretzels is actually pretty good)
ReplyDeleteNext time we travel with you Triss!
DeleteSee's peanut brittle is the best!
DeleteEdith, thanks for the tip. I was sampling truffles. Worth the calories, too. Brittle next time.
DeleteEdith is correct, good brittle at Sees
DeleteDebs and Gigi and any other Texas people, please check in and let us know about the tornado???
ReplyDeleteOkay here Roberta but it was a scary few hours. Lots of damage in Dallas.
DeleteI'm a burger-and-fries or a bag-of-salty-and-bag-of-sweet junk food person, depending on what is available at the exit where a gas station is. In July, I was driving home with 2 friends from Durham, NC to Mobile, AL. One of them is a vegetarian, which is practically never easy to do on a road trip through the south. Barbecue, yes. Fried chicken, sure. Vegetarian, huh? But we had heard that Burger King was putting a veggie burger on their menu. So every time we got off the interstate we'd look for a Burger King, and if there was one, we'd go to the drive thru and ask if they had the Impossible Burger. Uh, what?
ReplyDeleteAfter a very long day of junk food, and still more than 2 hours away from home, we reached an exit for the town of Hope Hull, AL. The town is still 8 miles away down the road, but at the exit itself, on the top of a little rise, was a Burger King. So we got off and - wonder of wonders - they had the almost-impossible-to-find Impossible Burger! My friend was thrilled. She still says it was the best one she has had so far. Nothing like spending all day in a car or a plane to make you appreciate a soggy sandwich, or olives, or a burger that looks and smells and tastes....just like a burger!
I second the vote for gas-station convenience stores! A lot of them have really risen to the challenge of feeding people on the go. Best one I ever went to was near New Orleans. Local boudin sausage. Excellent coffee.
DeleteThis feels like I'm just slightly going off on a tangent, because it mainly refers to car travel. But I came to the surprising conclusion a year or so ago that when traveling by car, especially if I am on a time crunch and can't afford a luxurious, linger-over-the-meal experience, I can actually eat HEALTHIER out of the gas station convenience store than I can at a fast food restaurant. Practically every convenience store now carries nuts, various kinds of granola/protein/energy bars, and fresh fruit. I can pick up a couple of those items and munch while I drive and feel both healthier and safer than trying to leave a drive through juggling a burger or chicken sandwich.
ReplyDeleteI used to travel for work a lot in the late 1990's, and most of my coping mechanisms for travel that included airlines and hotels were similar to those already noted. I always carried breakfast bars and nuts, and I often stocked up on cheese and crackers or, in a pinch, cheese crackers or peanut butter crackers, for the room.
Like Lucy, I’m wondering about the impact of the tornado in Dallas. Everyone ok?
ReplyDeleteMy goodness, road trips sound brutal. I live for decent food, so your descriptions of food-desert hotels sound like nightmares to me! Thanks for putting up with all that for us, your readers and fans.
I’d have almonds on hand, and chocolate-covered raisins, and cheese with crackers if feasible. Taken with a side of wine and I’d likely survive, though not very happily.
The best meal I ever had while traveling was a stop at Millers in Bangor, ME on our way to New Brunswick. That was almost 30 years ago and I still think about it, which is all I can do since I understand it closed after 50 years in business.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how a wonderful meal can stay with you forever?
DeleteWhen we travel by car, we have a small cooler with great snacks like shrimp, hard boiled eggs, cheese and fruit, crackers, nuts. When we fly, we always buy something at the airport that will travel without turning into ptomaine before we eat it. My favorite is a yogurt parfait and a bag of trail mix. If a airline meal happens to be served, which now only seems to occur on international flights, we choose the pasta. There are fewer ways to wreck that than the chicken Parmesan. And we always have a supply of water, lots of water.
ReplyDeleteWhen we arrive at our destination, Julie will have already mapped out places to eat so we have a choice, $, $$, or $$$. It's so agonizing to be starving and end up in a crappy restaurant. We avoid fast food for the most part, although I have to say, Arby's makes the best BLT in the universe. And I wouldn't turn down an In-N-Out burger if they are still as good as they were twenty years ago.
A jambon beurre has to be the best fast food in the entire world, but then the worst food I ever had in France was so good I could hardly stand it.
You have the best road food plan so far Ann! We're putting you and Julie in charge...
DeleteI always feel better when I eat a little every few hours so I would not be able to stay fasting all day like some of you.
ReplyDeleteUsually I'll plan my traveling with something or somewhere to eat.
Nothing fancy, a soup ,a salad or a sandwich will do the trick and I never go without a snack : granola bar or crackers with cheese or peanut butter.
But sure enough we can't control all. On my first day in Scotland, my B&B had no real restaurant around but plenty of Indian takeouts. My first try was a vegetable rice that was OK but my second was something so awful that I couldn't eat it and only took one of my snacks before going to bed.
Life on the road is different, that's for sure, especially when you're on someone else's schedule, and they don't seem to worry about whether or not you are fed. Developing self-care habits are essential.
ReplyDeleteMy husband used to spend six months a year driving across the country, between lecture tours and photography trips, and I've learned a lot from him. I also traveled, by car and by plane, for 20 years to stay at hotels in strange places, often in remote spots with few meal options. Eat fruit, as often as possible, and salads if you can get them. Constipation is a real problem when you travel, especially by air because of the dehydration. Water is essential. Yogurt helps.
We both really try to limit the junk food/fast food because it gets old after awhile, and is not healthy at all. If you have to stop at a chain, though, Wendy's chili is actually pretty good, and relatively healthy. They can add shredded cheese, and sour cream, too, if you want to make it heartier. The baked potatoes are good, but huge.
If your hotel/motel has a free breakfast, it's worth a quick stop to grab a banana or apple, or a muffin, or hardboiled eggs, or a yogurt, all of which you can stow in a bag, and/or eat on the run. If you have time for hot eggs, it's usually scrambled, and they're generally pretty good. Protein sticks with you all day. They also usually have oatmeal, and those little containers of peanut butter. I sometimes stir peanut butter into hot oatmeal, and have been known to have eggs with that, too. The only bad thing about peanut butter is that it stays on your breath. Have toothbrush, will travel! Carry some clean Ziplock bags for keeping your apples clean, and keep the used ones for your peeled eggshells. Little salt and pepper packets are handy, too, along with hand wipes.
I don't think anyone has mentioned this, but a reusable water bottle is a must. Refill as often as you can.
Airports used to be better, and worse. Our CVG airport closes early now, and the last time I went through late in the day, nothing was open, not even the bar. It's nice to see grab n' go options at airports now, though, with some pretty nice salad and sandwich choices. Starbucks, I've found, often has fruit and cheese packed together, and other tasty combos. On car trips I look for the Starbucks sign on the highway, and will stop there, on the chance they have these boxes. Failing that, I try to find a good grocery store. My husband always has a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and some fruit spread/jam in his cooler. Many's the time I have "cooked" for us while he drove. You could do the same, but with those little packages of peanut butter, jelly, and packs of crackers.
Some bookstores, especially Barnes & Noble, have Starbucks cafes, or at least they used to. Not every city is as lucky as Cincinnati; our wonderful Joseph Beth Bookseller has a full cafe with all-day meal options, a bar, and a coffee/pastry stand.
You are now on the JRW road trip food planning team too Karen!
DeleteOh my, Karen! Peanut butter on eggs?!? A reminder of graduate school dollar stretching in the 1970s (anyone else remember when an really 8 oz container of yogurt was only a quarter?). The peanut butter omelet was a major fail!
DeleteDang, Karen, we should have had you do today's blog. This is all excellent advice.
DeleteElisabeth, oops, no! I had the eggs with the oatmeal and peanut butter combo!
DeletePeanut butter omelet would absolutely be a major fail. Yikes!
Julia, after I wrote all that I thought, hunh, I actually have a strategy! Who knew?
DeleteCongratulations on the review, Hallie! Wish I were going to Bouchercon so I could tell you in person.
ReplyDeleteDebs and Gigi, hope you are both all right. What a scary night Dallas had!
Joining those asking for a Dallas update - such a scary story to see.
ReplyDeleteMost of my travel is either international for work or to family. With family I'm never worried about food since I have the good fortune to be surrounded by good cooks when I'm there. With work travel, I pack travel food that is vaguely astronaut like - Rx bars, instant oatmeal, freeze dried fruit, a couple of individual pouches of peanut butter, several Via pouches, some instant gatorade and a bag of microwave popcorn (filling and comfort food). If I'm on the last leg of my trip, I hand everything but the last Rx bar to my students to add to their field stash.
I've never thought of the instant coffee trick, Edith. It's on the list now!
And it is so hilarious how food becomes this major concern. I’m always careful to think: where is the next food coming, what will it be, will that be OK, as if, somehow, I would die of starvation. Debs, your story about everything being closed is just… Hideous. Especially because it’s a hotel! There’s food back there, someplace!
ReplyDeleteOnce I had an extra bagel, and wrapped it in plastic, actually, a hotel laundry bag :-) and then ate it two days later. It was heavenly.
The plain bagel is my save the travel day food.
DeleteHank, I just got back from MURDER BY THE BOOK, a Friday evening to Saturday afternoon conference in Bar Harbor. The library feeds all the authors a delicious dinner, breakfast, and lunch, with lots of choice and lots of things you can take away and nibble on. The woman running the program laughed because we were all SO GRATEFUL to not have to worry where the next meal was coming from and would we have time to snatch it!
DeleteYes! I have been to that--so great. xxx And yes, writers and FOOD --we NEEEd food!
DeleteJulia, yes. It's hard to screw up a chicken caesar salad. Those have bailed me out many times.
ReplyDeleteThere have been a couple times where we've traveled and I've gotten to the "I'm so hungry I don't care" stage. None particular stick out, so they can't have been horrible, although I'm sure none would have been my first choice if I'd not been famished.
It really is an "anyone can do it" dish, Liz. I always try to avoid getting to the I'll-eat-anything stage not because I'm watching my figure (unless that means I'm watching it expand, sigh) but because my whole system just seems more sensitive when I'm on book tour, traveling from place to place to place. I need my sleep, I don't want to be dragging myself into the bathroom three times in the night.
DeleteThat very item saved my butt this year at Malice when the hotel restaurant was completely full and I was starving.
DeleteAnd I know exactly what you mean. Or being in the middle of your talk and saying, "Um, excuse me folks. I'll be right back." Then rushing to the ladies'.
First, congratulations to Deborah! And green with envy at the thought of Bouchercon in Dallas (and me still, well, here).
ReplyDeleteBest road food? On a 6-week excavation in an area where the 'best' restaurant was a mom-n-pop diner. Chicken-fried everything. Except for Tuesday nights. Turns out Mom and Pop were Greek and on that night there was a full Greek menu, complete with ouzo, retsina, Greek wines. Our entire crew showed up en masse every Tuesday night--happy Mom and Pop, happy crew, very happy Flora!
Odysseus says, "Greek food is the original road food!"
DeleteThanks, everyone, for checking on us here in the Dallas area. The second wave of storms last night was our first "Take Shelter" storm of the fall season. I spent half an hour crammed in the downstairs hall bathroom (in my pajamas) with the two German shepherds. But no damage to the house, and only one small tree branch down that I've seen so far. I'm sure Gigi is fine, too, as she lives two blocks from me!
ReplyDeleteOh Debs! I hope this all moves out of the way for next week, and glad you are safe!
Deleteso glad to hear you're ok. Some of the pictures coming out of Dallas are devastating.
DeleteHere in Texas we can always stop at a Buc-ee’s for coffee, food, snacks and super clean restrooms. Salads, yogurt parfaits, sandwiches, fruit, meat and cheese snacks, desserts, they have them all for travelers. Depending on the highway you’re on you may also pass a smokehouse or a kolache bakery. We don’t really plan anything when we’re traveling. Wendy’s is always good for salads if we don’t see anything local that looks good. As for room service? Never tried it. There have been times I was absolutely starving but by the time we got somewhere we could eat I was no longer hungry. When we drive with my inlaws to Louisiana my f-i-l always planned to stop at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast and the welcome center across the state line for Community coffee.
ReplyDeletePat, we now have Buc-ee's just a couple of mile north of us. At night, it looks like an alien spaceship has landed! My daughter swears by Buc-ee's for gifts, too.
DeleteThey have great gifts, especially Texas- themed ones. And useful stuff too. You should drop in and explore!
DeleteOh, I will. Just haven't got around to it yet. We always stop at the Buc-ee's between Dallas and Austin.
DeleteP.S. I LOVE the photo of Hallie at the beginning of this blog!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat I remember about that meal was the dessert: banana toffee pudding.
DeleteI hope you didn’t mind that I posted that Halle! We sure did eat well with Molly Westin in North Carolina!
DeleteThat was a super review in the NYT, Deborah, congratulations. The Bitter Feast is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteBut needs a warning label: "Caution! if begun in the evening, you may still be reading when the sunrises." Best night without sleep ever. Thank you.
Thanks, Elizabeth! So glad you enjoyed it!
DeleteWhen I used to travel more for work, my colleagues would give me a hard time about ordering things like chicken strips. After traveling cross-country, I was usually too tired for "adventurous" food and ate like I was still nine. Chicken strips also usually don't get messed up. Always travel for work or fun with some snack staples like larabars or kind bars.
ReplyDeleteBethany, that's my usual road food philosophy. I want to know I'll like it, I want to know it's difficult to get wrong, and I want to know it won't upset my stomach, which gets a little touchy when I'm traveling.
DeleteDeborah, congratulations! Yes, I saw the review of your book in the Sunday New York Times book review section. Regarding restaurants, I wonder if they actually have Tex Mex restaurants in Texas?
ReplyDeleteThis conversation about food brings back memories. When flying, I bring small bags of almonds to eat in case I become hungry.
Hank, the potato chips and peanut butter combo made me wonder if the peanut butter itself was the salty kind?
Would love to bring granola bars. Unfortunately, dairy and wheat does not like me so I have limited choices.
Yes, I have seen many bars at airports. It is important for me to stay hydrated when flying. Drinking alcohol can be dehydrating for me.
Some airports have wide selection of food like Chinese food. We were at the airport and we got Chinese food, which was yummy.
Diana
Thanks, Diana! As to Tex Mex in London, I have seen a few restaurants, but have never dared try one!
DeleteThanks, Deborah. It sounds like Tex Mex restaurants are more likely to be over the pond than in the US.
DeleteHank, what are you doing in Appleton? I wouldn't fly in there-- I don't like regional airports. Milwaukee, Madison, MAYBE Green Bay, then a rental car. If you are in the far northwest, fly into Minneapolis and drive from there.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, if you are in Appleton between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. and looking for food, and you have a car (and nowadays there are delivery services from the stores and from Uber Eats for example) the local Kroger affiliate is called Metro Market or Pick n Save. Their deli section and the hot bar are probably only open from 9 to 9, but they have some packaged stuff, like tuna salad, pre-made hero sandwiches, bakery goods, and refrigerated buckets of fried chicken that are available all the time. And big bottles of cold brew coffee or various juices in the dairy department (and yogurt, and milk, and cottage cheese) and a spectacular produce array, that are open all the time the store is. They probably also have a Starbucks in the store, and it is probably also open all the time the store is. Speaking of Starbucks, Appleton is probably not immune to having a number of them.
And this is Wisconsin. Virtually every gas station and convenience mart and even the smallest grocery sells sausage (German and Polish settlers) and cheese (the Dairy State)-- and coffee should be available to make in the room or to pick up at a Seven Eleven or Speedway type store.
Or various pizza places deliver.
This is a far cry from what the world was like in the Seventies when a bunch of us gathered in someone's hotel room for drinks after a late night banquet (everyone traveled with booze back in those days, when you could bring a bottle in your carry-on luggage). We had drinks but no food in downtown Atlanta in a rainstorm. One guy ran out in the rain and brought back the only food he could find at a nearby diner-- a big box of buttered toast. Better than nothing. I went over to thank him, introduced myself and he introduced himself, and he turned out to be the recently former governor of a large state in the Northeast. Today's conveniences and security concerns keep interesting things like that from happening anymore.
TOAST! With butter Ambrosia!
DeleteYeah, Appleton airport was fine. Ish. xooxxoo Yikes.
P.S. A lot of McDonald's are now open all night for drive-through service. Egg McMuffins or McDouble burgers aren't bad and the coffee is decent. You may even be able to get mini hot apple pies and hashbrowns. And I think you can get something like Uber Eats to pick that stuff up for you if you don't have a car. You mentioned a wine store. They would have sausages and crackers and maybe cheese, too-- and maybe a jar of olives.
ReplyDeleteMy sisterNancy is a chef/caterer, and I told her how many meals I have had to miss because I cannot eat before a speech ,and then when the event is over, whoosh, the food is gone. Nancy said that she had seen that in so many presenters, and so often, that she now packs a take-out bag of a turkey and cheese sandwich and a bottle of water for each speaker. WHOA. Isn't that great? (Her next gig is with Anderson Cooper!)
ReplyDeleteYour sister Nancy is a gem, Hank! I can never eat before an event, and if it is an event with food, like a reception, I never manage to eat at those, either. Last week in Fort Worth the little book shop hosting me had the most GORGEOUS food (shop next to them is a caterer) and I only got a couple of bites. That was the night of the horrible room service boxed dinner, too. I was so cross.
DeleteSO terrible! I agree--I have swooned as gorgeous apps walk by..but broccoli in my teeth? What if I get the one bad shrimp? Garlic? Pass. xoooo
DeleteJust realized I said Hallie instead of Debs! Mea culpa.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Debs! Sorry, I think was dazzled by Hallie's great picture.
I had a lengthy message typed out, and I did something that made it disappear. Suffice it to say that I try to anticipate enough food for others and myself in gatherings or outings. When traveling on a plane, I always imagine that I will be that plane stuck on the tarmac, even though that hasn't happened yet, so I take snacks that would keep me from starving. I usually take peanut butter crackers, some kind of cereal or snack bar, maybe some cookies, and sometimes chips. When I'm at a hotel, I usually try to bring something back to the room from eating out to put in the refrigerator.
ReplyDeleteOh, Debs, at the London Tea Room in St. Louis, where I was at your tea, I got a strawberry tart to bring home (or if stuck on road, I'd have it, hahaha), and it was so delicious.
Later this week I fly to Vancouver for the Surrey Writers Conference... through San Francisco. It will seem endless. But I've been taking notes and packing food accordingly.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't seem like it, but you will be crossing an international border. You are not allowed to bring any fruit or meat, among other things, across the border. Keep that in mind especially on the way home, as the border patrol is all amped up these days.
DeleteI'm it cuts dearly, but do they still sell sourdough loaves at SFO?
DeleteThis blog reminds me of the Plotter-Pantser blog last week. Like the proverbial plotter that I am, I make sandwiches and pack fruit to bring on every type of trip. Of course, if you are driving for several days, that is a challenge. But, because of a serious allergy to HONEY (yeah), I can't always trust that there will be something that I can eat.
ReplyDeleteFlying to LA for a family event last month, the TSA was very interested in my backpack. LOL. I said to him, "It's a sandwich." He said, "Please don't touch the bag, M'am." Anyway, since airlines no longer provide food, even if you are travelling for hours, I am always stunned when people don't buy or bring a little something that they know they can eat. But when it is a long day, or a day in an unfamiliar city, you can get stuck even though you thought you had it covered.
I can totally imagine that encounter! xxx
DeleteWow, 70 comments, food must be a good topic for conversations. I'll come back and read everyone's comments after work, just want to my two cents in... Road trips have always included an ice chest of one kind of another ever since I was a kid. I'd like to say it was because my folks were good snobs but the truth is with three little kids and and penny punching father, Mom had to fill that old heavy metal ice chest for trips from Covina to Santa Rosa in the mid 60s. It was a cool chest, bottle opener attached to one end and a separate tray on top to help keep ice in place so sandwiches didn't get soggy but it was heavy. I still a small chest on my car if I'm going more than two hours away from home, usually cold water and little nibbles. For long distance, like up to Oregon, there is a bottle of frozen water, bottle of not frozen water, some cheese and crackers (or peanut butter), apple or pear, sometimes grapes and a couple sodas.
ReplyDeleteEating out can be problematic especially when I was trying to figure out my accelerating soy allergy... I actually thought if I ate at the same restaurant chain that was safe at home I'd be fine. Nope, every so often I get a lovely surprise and have to stop traveling for awhile. I've discovered that popular places of the locals are the places to go. Judy and I should meet and try eating out together, we would probably drive servers insane with our ingredient questions. I have learned that I have to ask questions, even for those times the hotel included breakfasts, powder eggs or waffle mixes can have soy as can those bagels. I rarely use room service but I do read the menus just because you never know when you are all of a sudden ravenous and must eat something better than the vending machine offerings down the hall. Any way back to work. And yes, I did check out the menus for the hotels in Dallas. :-)
Food plus mysteries. My jam. All puns accepted. So the worse experience was landing at Detroit right as the black out 2003 happened. I was trapped without power no phone and no access to ATM's. I conned my way to a hotel, conned my way to a room and lived on granola bars and water until I could get a flight out. Not a very nice vacation, but a conversation piece for later.
ReplyDelete2014...Pouring rain...late at night...finally found my hotel exit...no food to be found...I drive down the street a little ways and find Rigoberto's Taco Shop j(Albany, Oregon)and it is FANTASTIC!!! Authentic Mexican food in an old Taco Bell. If you're ever out that way stop in and be amazed how delicious & fresh everything is. I was on my way to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Next time I'm up there I'm taking a detour to Rigoberto's.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see the gorgeous food photos nexts to tales of improvising and deprivation. If you'd just let local fans know what you need, you'd be taken care of. Travel food for me is made more complex by the latex allergy. At one airport stop, we decided that I could safely have an apple and a glass of milk. At another, I nearly wept at the sight of latex gloves in the grill. The adorable cook said, "I'll take off these gloves, sterilize my hands, and make you the BEST hamburger you've ever had," and he DID! Enjoy your dinner together. <3
ReplyDeleteWe had to stop in Illinois because of a blizzard (Altoon or some such place) and cars and trucks were sliding off the road right in front of us. We got one of the last rooms in some kind of conference hotel that was in the middle of nowhere. Even the McDonald's closed down but the hotel (which didn't seem to have a kitchen or even vending machines) convinced the local pizza place to prepare about a zillion pizzas for anyone who wanted one. I have no idea who actually managed to go and get said pizzas but they were wonderful and much appreciated. We usually travel with peanut butter and pretzels for emergencies (the joys of our former travels with our four children).
ReplyDelete