Camacho Watcho

I admit that we made quite a few mistakes in Provence when it came to eating. First, we visited the area during the *slow* days of the week and second, we just didn’t think much to make reservations to eat anywhere. In a sleepy area like the Luberon, it just seemed contradictory to need to plan anything in advance.

I was highly anticipating the food we’d devour for dinners. I had lists of entrees, ingredients and the restaurants in which to find these delectables, but I didn’t have the Provencal mindset to go along with these. For instance, some restaurants are open all days but Monday and Tuesday. Others are open just for lunch on these days but not for dinner, and so on. Information posted in guidebooks (even recent ones) was found to be generally out of date.

We encountered restaurants that were closed for the evening (despite our previous research) and other restaurants that were “full” for the evening. And while I love the concept of a place being considered “full” at 7:30pm, as there is only one sitting and diners have the table for the night, my heart broke as I looked around the restaurant at all the happy people clinking their glasses. Turning sadly to leave the restaurant, I decided that the next trip would take better planning.

It was time to take some advice. Our inn owner suggested that he call for reservations for us the following evening at a restaurant that he highly recommended. This is how we came to dine at Le Fournil on our final evening.

Le Fournil was on our list of places to try while in Provence. We had, however, previously stopped by for lunch while in Bonnieux, but found it closed (of course). Upon our return the next day for our 7:30pm dinner reservation, however, we found a bustling restaurant that was, thankfully, open. Without a second thought, we both ordered the menu which included an amuse, salad, entree, cheese and dessert.

Asparagus was in season while we were in town, so it wasn’t surprising when a chilled asparagus soup arrived for our starter course. We both were giddy at how asparagus-y it tasted. And while I apologize for my lack of descriptive food writing here, simple food can sometimes only be described that simply. So I’ll say it again: it was the ultimate in asparagus-y. Served chilled, the grassy qualities came forward — a clean and refreshing way to start the meal.

I love how French eat their meals with an abundance of bread to mop up the sauces — not letting a morsel go to waste. I so badly wanted to sop up the rest of the asparagus soup with warm bread and was thankful when the man eating next to us did that very thing. Following suit, we left not a drop on our plates; going through three bread bowls in total.

Following the soup, we each had a salad course; mine a second asparagus course (pictured above). I love asparagus! Following were two of the most amazing entrees — lamb for me and pigeon for Kyle.

And, of course, we mopped these plates clean as well. SO MUCH YUMMY BREAD!

Perhaps we were a bit aggressive to both order the menu with the cheese course. We had no idea that we each would receive a platter for five generous servings of cheese with a salad as well. No matter, we dug into the cheeses, doing as much damage as we could before moving on to dessert — strawberry tiramisu for Kyle and a chocolate mousse for me.

Finally — Our best meal in Provence!

Earlier this summer, Kyle and I took a trip to Europe. Our initial intentions were to hit northern Spain, but as we got around to actually booking tickets and seeing what was available, our plans changed.

Our final itinerary, which we dubbed Milan to Madrid, had us arriving into Milan, training it to Nice, renting a car and spending several days in Provence, then on to Barcelona and finally out of Madrid.

My next few posts will hit on the fabulous food of this trip. I thought it only appropriate to start with my favorite breakfast, which we had each morning in Provence.


Our time in Provence was spent in the hilly area of the Luberon. We drove aimlessly through small towns and countryside, taking in the vineyards and cherry groves. At times we consulted a map, but for the most part we just made up our minds as we went along. The countryside is gorgeous — stone buildings created from the rocks that are scattered throughout the fields and the poppy fields were in full bloom. A couple weeks later and we would have been there for lavender season — maybe next time.


Each day we started out with breakfast at our inn. Simple pleasures like toasted baguette and croissants with butter and jam and homemade yogurt served outside made for an idyllic start to the day. And despite the many espressos we enjoyed on our trip, we easily polished off a big carafe of cafe Americano with our meal each morning, ensuring we were fully caffeinated for our days of wandering.

Just a hole-in-the-wall type of place serving up some delicious seafood favorites, The Sea Shack is a must-visit when visiting Hilton Head. Get there early, as the crowd gathers quickly and you’ll be left waiting in line while some other hungry diner digs into their po’boy.

Pictured below: crab cake best crab cake I’ve ever eaten and calamari tossed in a zesty roasted red pepper sauce appetizers, fried oyster po’boy mouthwatering good with just some lemon juice and Tabasco

While visiting Chicago recently, I had the opportunity to check out Han 202, a tiny Chinese restaurant with an amazing meal deal. For $20, you have your choice of five courses: soup, salad, appetizer, entree and dessert. Better yet – it’s BYOB. I love that about Chicago!

All the food was fantastic, but I did have my favorites. For appetizer, absolutely do not miss the Salt and Pepper Calamari. Its crispy salty/peppery flavor is positively addicting in the best way possible.

Another of my favorites is the crispy beef with orange extract – a lovely orange flavor that is surprisingly balanced for what could be an overly sweet dish.

Last, but definitely not least, is the lovely, lovely dessert – vanilla ice cream with tomato mango sorbet. I am head over heels in love with it…*sigh*.

PS – Did I mention that this deal runs every day of the week?

Labor Day was an adventure for me…four days in the Boundary Waters. My first time up there and I absolutely loved it! Portages was hard and my back was sore from all the canoeing but for the views and solitude that venturing in a ways gets you, it’s worth it.

Hungry Jack Outfitters helped plan our trip, which started off the Gunflint Trail at entry point #47. The first day was a grueling trek of about six miles in four hours with all our gear until we found a campsite on Gaskin that was free. We stayed there two nights and spent the second day on the water without gear managing an eight mile loop along Winchell and back around. Day three we travelled back toward the entrance and camped another night at an amazing spot that afforded us water access right from our camp fire. At this spot we also had an encounter with a few bald eagles that were interested in devouring the remains from the fish we filleted. Absolutely amazing creatures!

We planned our own meals and opted for fresh foods, rather than the dehydrated stuff. We managed steaks and couscous the first night (although we ate in the dark from our long journey), pasta with corn, feta and cilantro the second night and a walleye feast for the third night. Breakfasts were eggs and hashbrowns, oatmeal and granola bars (for a quick exit that last day). For lunch we made shredded beef and potato burritos and deli meat and cheese wraps (with fresh lettuce…oh how fresh veggies taste good in the wilderness)!

More photos on flickr.

On our way home from Sauk Center last weekend, we decided to stop for breakfast at Charlie’s Cafe, located right off I-94 in Freeport. We had never heard of it, although it is apparently well-known for its Garrison Keillor affiliation. (Later we read that years ago Keillor spent a lot of time in Freeport and at the cafe which led him to base his Lake Wobegon on Freeport and, some say, to model the Chatterbox Cafe after Charlie’s Cafe.)

Regardless, friends had told us that it’s an iconic Minnesota spot and that we should check it out. Enough said for a Sunday morning – we were there.

Driving up, I loved the huge sign outside that marked the spot “Charlie’s Cafe”. Given that there really isn’t much else around, and certainly no other competing signs, the sign screams at visitors with its bright yellow and red lettering. Walking inside I was instantly in love. From the booths to the display cases and the knick-knacks to the wallpaper, it was a true step back in time.

We took a seat in a small middle booth and immediately ordered coffee and one of their famous caramel rolls. The caramel roll arrived and we dug in – it was gooey, rich and tooth-achingly sweet. Seconds later, it was gone.

Our breakfasts arrived a short while later, the usual for me and a breakfast sandwich with sausage, egg and cheese for Kyle. A little disappointing, as overall it was pretty average fare on both accounts.

Perhaps not for their full breakfast menu, but when in the area again, Charlie’s Cafe’s throw back charm and caramel rolls might be just the thing to draw me back in for a stop.

In celebration of my 200th post, I thought I would list the 10 posts that have gotten the most traffic since I started my blog almost two years ago. Cheers!

#10: Cafe Maude
#9: Black Sheep Coal Fired Pizza
#8: Shamrock Grill
#7: Minneapolis Restaurant Week 2008
#6: My Final Week in Uruguay
#5: Uruguay v. Bolivia (5-0) This is my personal favorite.
#4: Mate (mah-tay) Although not on the top 10 list, this is part 2 to the previous post Mate…the rest of the story
#3: Kindee Thai Restaurant
#2: Punta del Este It’s odd that I failed to mention in the post that we stayed up all night gambling in the casino that weekend – I won $400 playing craps!
#1: A to Z Produce Pizza – Stockholm, WI aka: The Pizza Farm

For the long 4th of July weekend, we headed out to Oregon. The first couple of days were spent on the coast and then we headed inland to Portland to visit our friends Jeff and Lisa. A beautiful coastline, great weather (it was unseasonably hot) and plenty of great food and drink made the trip a fantastic getaway.

The trip started on the central coast where we stayed in the small town of Manzanita. I loved this little town – great shopping, expansive beach – but the food in the area was a bit lacking. Actually, we struggled to find good food on this leg of the trip at all. It seemed every restaurant we had previously researched and heard great reviews about was closed, so we were left winging it. We drove up to Cannon Beach one evening and ate at the Wayfarer. It had a perfect sunset view but, besides some tasty clam chowder, the food was pretty standard. We also ate at a new Mexican restaurant in Manzanita (not worth even mentioning the name here) and the Manzanita Seafood and Chowder House, which served up a decent order of fish and chips.

The highlight of our coastal eating was actually a breakfast spot in Nehalem called Wanda’s Cafe. We actually ate there twice and I got the same breakfast both times (my usual order of two eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast). I did try a bite of the French toast and the breakfast quesadilla as well, which were very good. The best part of my breakfast was the thick-sliced, pepper-crusted bacon. Crispy goodness!

We also found some good eats at the Tillamook cheese factory. After taking the self-guided tour, which allows you to look down into the huge facility where the cheese is shaped and packaged, we tried a few small samples of cheese (fantastic cheese curds and extra sharp cheddar) and then headed down to get some ice cream.

Overall the ice cream was extremely creamy and very good. We enjoyed our cones, but it definitely seemed that these kids, who were there for a birthday party, were enjoying theirs much more.

On to Portland…

The first place we ate at in Portland was a neighborhood spot called Meat Cheese Bread (1406 SE Stark Street). Locally sourced ingredients are featured in creative salads and sandwiches like the popular BLB (bacon, lettuce and beets) sandwich and the flank steak with pickled red onions and blue cheese. My favorite, however, was the sandwich I ordered – asparagus, hard boiled egg and bacon relish (yes, you heard me right…bacon relish) on a chewy baguette.

Next up in Portland was to hit The Waffle Window in the Hawthorne neighborhood. After walking around the neighborhood’s cute shops, Jeff led us around a corner to the small window opening at the end of a long brick wall where these treats are made. Although there are many sweet and savory waffle variations, we decided on two sweet flavors – one with strawberries and another with blueberries and lime curd. The toppings were fantastic and the waffles were also very good, although more cakey than the typical fluffy breakfast variety.

A strong contender for the best pizza I’ve ever eaten (I struggle giving it this full title given my love for Wig and Pen pizza in Iowa City) can be found at Apizza Scholls. This gem of a pizza place makes their dough fresh daily, then opens up for business at 5:30pm. The masses patiently wait their turn to be seated, as they know what is to come…beautifully chewy, yet crisp-crusted pizza pies.

We ordered two pizzas – one pie with pickled red peppers and sausage and the other pie with half ‘Margo’rita (their version of the margherita with red sauce, two types of mozzarella, pecorino romano, garlic and basil) and half Tartufo bianco (mozzarella, pecorino romano, truffle oil and sea salt). The pickled peppers on the sausage pie and the truffle oil on the bianco were absolutely delicious! This place is a must. And if do want to try it out, be sure to get there early. When the fresh dough runs out, they simply close up shop for the day.

Saturday morning of our trip was perhaps the craziest breakfast morning ever. The day started with Voodoo Doughnuts. Awhile back I had seen an episode of Man v. Food on the Travel Channel where Adam visited this doughnut shop – home to the voodoo doll doughnut and the bacon/maple doughnut. I didn’t get the chance to visit the shop, but Jeff was kind enough to go pick up a box of doughnuts for us to sample while we got ready for the day. He chose the following flavors: Tang, voodoo doll, bacon/maple, and Butterfinger.

The bacon/maple (oh, that crispy bacon and super sweet maple frosting!) and voodoo doll (with raspberry filling) doughnuts were the favorites. As for the Tang and Butterfinger varieties? We could have done without them – the toppings were too powdery. The overall consensus was that for novelty, Voodoo Doughnuts is a must…but a high quality doughnut should not be the expectation.

After our light breakfast, we headed to the Portland Farmers Market. This busy market is chock full of beautiful produce vendors. Ranier and bing cherries were in season – $3.75/pound! The artichokes and berry boxes were my favorite displays. But we were on a hunt for hot food – biscuits and tamales.

Pine State Biscuits has a restaurant in Portland and, recently added a vendor booth to the farmers market. Fluffy buttermilk biscuits with rich toppings make up the menu – I couldn’t resist ordering the Reggie topped with fried chicken, bacon, cheese and gravy. We also got a plain biscuit that we topped with their marionberry jam. Absolutely amazing!

We also ordered tamales at a Mexican stand in the market. Huge tamales stuffed (and I mean stuffed!) with either chicken or vegetarian options like artichokes and cojita cheese. A surprise to me, I preferred the vegetarian tamale – the creamy cheese with the artichokes was a winning combination.

Our last meal in Portland was another extremely decadent breakfast at the Screen Door. Sunday mornings, this neighborhood restaurant opens its doors at 9:00am to a lengthy line of people in need of coffee and some Southern food. By 9:15, all the seats are filled (indoor and out), yet the line continues down the sidewalk. We were lucky to be in the first seating and put in our order right away. An obvious choice for a breakfast appetizer (yes, we ordered an appetizer, much to the confusion of our waiter) was the praline bacon. Three crispy slices of bacon with a crunchy topping of brown sugar and pecans – oh my god! Yes, it was that good.

As for our main course? At first, we thought of going the more subtle route; perhaps just an egg scramble and toast for me and french toast for Kyle. But, when the waiter approached, we changed the plan. Our order? The Fried Chicken and Waffle – a fluffly sweet potato waffle topped with three boneless pieces buttermilk-battered fried chicken. The order was quite large, but a great bargain for $12.95 (we split it and still had a piece of fried chicken left). I don’t know that I would need to order it again (it is a bit of an absurd breakfast entree), but it was certainly a great meal.

And that was how we ate our way through Oregon. Yes, it did make us thirsty (thank goodness for Portland breweries!), but that is for another post.

I can’t believe so much time has passed since my last post. Work has been busy (yay!) and I also did a little traveling back home and to Chicago. I’m still getting caught up on some deadlines, so I won’t do a full post today. Instead, I’ll share a few of my favorite photos from a “recent” trip to Florida. (*Recent was in April – personal photos just don’t get turned around as quickly these days.)

This was a birthday getaway for me and my friend Kate – the Big 30 – so we headed to Key West and Miami with our husbands to celebrate. Photos are from both places – the food photos are from a yummy little lunch spot located in a strip mall in Miami – Jimmy’z Kitchen. More photos are in my Flickr photo stream (linked to the right).

I spent a couple days in Chicago last week and I got to eat some of my favorite kinds of foods – Chicago style. My original plan was to do a tour of Chicago style hot dogs (four hot dog places in one afternoon). Unfortunately the plan didn’t work out – I definitely must do it next time in town. Regardless, I did get the chance to eat at three great places – casual, classic, tasty food.

The first place is called Bari, an Italian deli and grocery store on West Grand. My sister wrote about it on her blog, that I’ve linked to here. (She’s much more familiar with Chicago than me, so check her site out.) The only option for eating Bari’s food is to order and take it to go – so we grabbed sandwiches and headed back to my sister’s place.

I ordered the nine inch Italian sub – capicollo, genova salami, mortadella, provolone, and Bari hot giardiniera. The bread is crispy and the toppings are a lovely blend of Italian flavors and seasonings. I wished I could have eaten it all, but I could only do justice to half…in fact, I think my other half is still in my sister’s fridge. Wish I would have had those leftovers for lunch today!

The second place we hit was Hot Doug’s. Although the tour de dogs didn’t work out as planned, I still had my mind set on a Chicago style hot dog, so we headed out to experience the dogs that Anthony Bourdain had visited. Although it was 2pm on a Thursday afternoon, the line was out the door and wrapped around the sidewalk. But, we weren’t to be deterred – we took our place in line.

Hot Doug’s menu is extensive – traditional and gourmet dogs featured every day along with their crispy fries (which are cooked in duck fat on Fridays and Saturdays). I decided on The Dog and the Keira Knightly, both with Chicago style fixin’s (electric green relish, pickle spear, tomato, mustard, onion and celery salt). Although both were fantastic – soft, poppy seed bun and fresh toppings, I preferred the Keira Knightly (pictured above on the right) because of the subtley spicy meat. I’ll definitely be back to Hot Doug’s – who wouldn’t love a place whose tagline reads “The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium”!

Our final treat in Chicago was the delicious pizza of Pequod’s, in Lincoln Park (I think). Located in a small, dark bar with exposed brick and cozy booths, Pequod’s pizza is the ultimate in deep dish pizza enjoyment. It’s thick and doughy with a crispy, fried cheese crust and a fresh, chunky tomato sauce. And if you go, you must try the sausage – huge chunks of seasoned sausage make for the perfect pizza topping.