Food Report From The Road

As you know, I've spend much of the past week going to Vermont to see my godmother Mary, who has had a devastating stroke.
I'm afraid I haven't been thinking about blogging much this week, so I don't have anything brilliant to say. Thought I'd just report what I'd eaten on the road:

Had my regular breakfast before I left Tuesday morning; was on the road by 8:30 with three fried eggs in me. Somewhere in the middle of Ohio I stopped for lunch, and had three pieces of KFC grilled chicken and two servings of green beans. I had taken both tea bags and a jar of instant tea with me, and drank iced tea all day in the car. (This is a trick I've done for years. Most gas station mini-marts will let you have a cup of ice for no more than a quarter, and often for free; then I get water from the bathroom tap. Add instant tea in the car, and I have a big cup of iced tea for next to nothing -- instead of the $2 most fast food places charge.)

I also packed along three varieties of Grace Island Cheese Crisps and some Go Lower Bars. I never did eat the Go Lower bars, but the Grace Island Cheese Crisps were wonderful road food; one serving-sized envelope would keep me full for a couple of hours; they really saved me when I couldn't spot any fast food I wanted to eat. Highly recommended.

I finally decided it was time to find a place to stop after I backed (gently) into someone's car in a gas station parking lot. It was clear I was too tired to keep going. I found a motel in Binghamton, NY around 9 pm. There was an Applebee's nearby, which was great, because all I really wanted was a steak and a glass of wine. Make that two glasses of wine. I only got myself outside of half the steak, but it was just what I needed, along with the wine, a salad, and some steamed veggies with lots of butter. I went back to the motel and crashed.

Next morning I made a big pot of tea in my trusty thermal carafe and hit the road by 8:30 or so. I finished the tea -- took about an hour -- before stopping for breakfast at a Denny's. They have a new create-your-own-omelet menu, with a three egg omelet with four additions running $6.99. I had an omelet with pepper jack cheese, chorizo, avocado, and pico de gallo, plus a side of bacon, 'cause I like bacon. It held me until I got to the hospital in Brattleboro sometime in the early afternoon.

For lunch, my cousins and I went to Brattleboro's food coop, a hippie-lefty-trendy health food store with a big deli section. I live in a lefty-trendy-health-foody town, but Brattleboro is a step or two beyond Bloomington. The food in the coop was very good, but very pricey; a couple of scoops of turkey salad, four slices worth of tomato salad (tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and basil) and a scoop of cauliflower salad Provencal, plus a bottle of unsweetened iced tea (organic of course) ran me over $13. Still, it was good, and quite filling. Went back to the hospital.

I finally left when the sun was going down. I was staying at Mary's house, which is a good 8 miles or so off the paved road, out in the country, and I didn't want to be driving around the woods of rural Vermont in the dark, even with my cousin leading me in. On the way there, I stopped at a Price Chopper grocery store, and bought:

A dozen eggs
A pound of bacon
A rotisseried chicken
A container of mixed nuts
A container of yummy Emerald Cocoa-Roast Almonds
A container of grape tomatoes
Two sticks of butter
A pound of Seriously Sharp Cabot's Vermont Cheddar
A 1.5 liter bottle of cheap Cabernet (and a cheap cork screw.)

Back at the house, I had a supper of chicken, tomatoes, and some nuts, plus a couple of glasses of wine. (Nostalgic note for you Baby Boomers: I drank my wine out of a 4 ounce juice glass that had start life with jarred shrimp cocktail in it. Does anyone else remember those? We had a bunch of 'em when I was a kid.) Crashed.

Having been told that the official breakfast of the family summer cottage was scrambled eggs and bacon, that's what I had for breakfast on Thursday, along with a lot of tea, of course -- five strips of bacon and three eggs, scrambled in bacon fat. And a handful of Cocoa Roast Almonds. Headed back to the hospital.

For lunch, I was hoping to find a diner or something, anything cheaper than the coop, but after driving around not finding anything I just went back to the house and ate the other leg and thigh off my chicken, plus some mixed nuts and tomatoes. Went back to the hospital.

When I left around sundown, thinking of supper, what I really wanted was a salad. I stopped at Price Chopper again hoping to buy a pre-made grilled chicken salad for dinner. They had 'em, but they were pricey, so I bought a bottle of Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing, and a container of organic mixed lettuces, went back to the house, and made my own salad with leftover rotisseried chicken, along with, again, a couple of glasses of wine.

More bacon and eggs and tea Friday morning, and back to the hospital. My cousin Julie and her husband Tim came back from their home in the North East Kingdom, and they sat by Mary's side while I drove over to Keene, NH (about 30 minutes either way) to fill a prescription at the nearest branch of my pharmacy. On the way back, I stopped at a little general store and deli I spotted down the road from the hospital and bought a chef's salad; it was simple but fresh and good, and half the price of eating at the coop! That held me till I got back to the house yet again. This time Julie and Tim came to stay overnight there, too. Julie brought a huge bowl of yellow cherry tomatoes from their garden; they were so much better than the tomatoes I'd bought at Price Chopper it was as if they were an entirely different food. I ate a bunch of those, and some nuts, but was full enough from the chef's salad that I didn't bother with a real supper.

Still more bacon and eggs and tea on Saturday morning! I packed up most of my leftover food in a little cooler (left three eggs and three strips of bacon for my cousins) and brought it with me, since I was planning to head home that afternoon, and didn't want to leave the hospital early to go back to the house. I hit the road long about 5:30. For some unfathomable reason, The Lady In the Dashboard routed me back along Rt. 90, instead of the way I'd come out. Rt. 90 across New York State is a fine, big, well-surfaced road, and I made great time. However, it's a toll road, with strictly limited access, and almost nothing at the interchanges. I was nearly desperate by the time I found a motel in Batavia, NY -- almost to Buffalo! -- long about 1 am. I hauled my little cooler into my room, deeply grateful I had it with me. I shredded up the rest of the breast of the rotisseried chicken with my fingers, put it in the container with the rest of the lettuce, poured on some dressing, and ate it with a plastic fork that had been kicking around my glove box. Still another couple of glasses of cheap Cabernet, this time out of a plastic disposable motel cup. Watched a documentary about the making of the movie Jaws, and finally fell asleep around 2:30 am.

Unfortunately, some previous guest had left the alarm clock set for 8 am, so I was awakened after 5 1/2 hours. I tried to get back to sleep, but only succeeded in dozing a little. Made a truly horrible pot of tea from not-very-hot water at the motel breakfast buffet and hit the road. Stopped right around the New York/Pennsylvania border at a highway rest area where there happened to be another Denny's, so I did the create-your-own-omelet thing again; this time I had cheddar, bacon, avocado, and jalapenos. That was really quite good; few things wake me up like hot peppers in the morning. I like the create-your-own-omelet thing -- I never go out to breakfast at home, but wouldn't hesitate to hit a Denny's were I on the road again. Oh, I had more bacon, too. And the nice waitress filled up my big reused fast-food car cup with ice for me, so I could make a huge iced tea for the road.

More KFC grilled chicken and green beans long about central Ohio -- around 5:30 or so, when I'd finally gotten to the point where it wasn't going to take me much longer to get home than it regularly does from visiting Chicago. :-/

Walked in the door right at 9:30 pm, exhausted, sad, but overwhelmingly happy to see That Nice Boy I Married. I hate going away from him. Had -- big surprise -- a couple of glasses of wine. And went to bed.

So that's my food log for my trip to Vermont. I'll try to come up with something more interesting to say tomorrow.