South Dakota IS fun!

The next day I found myself actually in awe in South Dakota. Who would've known. Well, I'm sure lots of people knew of South Dakota's beauty, but not me. We made it to the South-Western corner of SD were we went into the Badlands. AWESOME!

On our way to the Badlands, across the state it was so windy it was rocking the car all over the freeway. We stopped one time at an overlook and our jackets were flying off. Wasn't really a good day for the gas mileage but it was still really cool.


Along the way there were so many tourist stops, but none were open. We followed signs once to a "Ghost Town" and it turned out to be really just that. There was not a soul there, I can't really convey how quiet and strange it felt there.



Once we reached the Badlands it was time for a break from driving. And man, the badlands were so impressive! They made us both stand in awe overlooking the first point. We were both so excited about them we stopped at each turn out, took lots of pictures and felt like little kids excited about the new discovery. Tim was really in heaven, he was so happy it was cute.

Standing out on ledges taking pictures, walking out on the rocks, looking at fossils, listening to prairie dogs talk, and getting cold in the high, whipping winds. It was so cool and really made me get excited to get back home to go hiking and exploring! As I drove through Tim took so many pictures that we laughed he would fill my whole card up with pictures of rocks!


After hours spent in the badlands we decided that we headed to Wall, SD. People told us that is was really cheezy but we were so close we couldn't not stop at Wall Drug! We walked through, took some pictures, bought some cheezy gifts, and had a good time. But, yes, it was pretty cheezy. Word to the wise, don't ever go to the restaurant across the street, it was awful!



Next we drove out to Mount Rushmore, figuring we would just drive there and stay somewhere near there that night. As we pulled into the town of Keystone it was just dusk, got to the monument and it was dark. But we were there and decided to go anyway. We ran in the freezing cold to the lookout point just as they turned the lights on, it was us and just two other people. Freezing we took the picture and raced back to the warmth of the car!

Driving down the hill and back into the town we realize that nothing is open! The town is in the off season and there isn't one place to stay! So, we decide to push on to Deadwood... It was just another 20 miles away.

Once we reached Deadwood we hit snow! Yeah, the first snow of the trip!! It was so pretty. We quickly found a hotel so that we could get out of the car and see the snow. Ending up at a pretty cool casino, Deadwood was so cool. It was just what I always expected it to be, felt like an old time town. That night we ended up in a pretty old building on the top floor in a little restaurant. It felt so nice to relax and eat food, after the night before of gas station food!

Able to just stumble back to the hotel room we decided to have a couple bottles of wine, walk the streets of Deadwood and enjoy the snow. It felt good to just slow down. All this after just weeks prior working myself to the bone. It was becoming apparent to me I was returning to my old self... Finally.

Back at the hotel we went down to the pool and hot tub and just swam around like little kids. Fun. :)

The World's Largest Ball of Twine!! Oh yeah!

So the next day we found ourselves driving right through the town in Minnesota with the WORLDS LARGEST BALL OF TWINE! Yeah! Glad I can finally now knock that one of my list of things to see in my life. It really is just what you would think, it's a giant ball of twine. Enclosed in a glass cased gazebo of course to protect it from the harsh Minnesota elements.

From there we went to eat breakfast at "The Home of Stuffed Hashbrowns". What the heck? Yeah, exactly what I said, I had to see what this was all about. I love the fact that we weren't in a hurry on this trip and could stop and see random stuff like this and the ball-o-twine. It's really more fun traveling across country this way.
The report on the hashbrowns... Well they weren't really all they were cracked up to be. They were actually pretty bad. As soon as the plate was set in front of me and I saw the canned mushrooms peaking out from between the layers of potatoes I knew I was in trouble. During lunch I just sat and stared in jealousy at Tim's chicken fingers.

The rest of the day was spent trying to get to a town, any town in South Dakota. Since we had started our day off the interstates we were going to stay off them, thought we could see more that way. Well, there's not too much to see in middle South Dakota. The only excitement of the night was driving to try to get to the next town to find a hotel and a deer in the middle of the road that we almost hit at 80mph. Tim used his wonderful defensive driving skills to help us avoid hitting the deer. ;)

Later, I was so shook up by the almost flip that Tim kept thinking I was mad at him. Really I was just so freaked out that we almost flipped and very thankful that he reacted the way he did, saving us from near disaster.

Shaking we made it to the next town and there in the middle of nowhere, the three hotels in town were booked. What? We were in the middle of BFE and there was NO VACANCY?! Well, turns out there was some kind of hunting competition going on. Oh boy. The next nearest town was 45 miles away.

Finally we found a little hole in the wall, crappy, little hunter's lodge hotel. Now, food. Yeah, we drove through town and were frightened to go into any of the places so we ended up at the gas station... Yup, sour patch kids, chex mix and beef jerky for dinner!

'Cheese Country' aka Wisconsin

The next day while spending the first daylight hours in Wisconsin we drove out of Madison. The first stop we made was because we thought Tom-Tom was pointing us to a Cracker Barrel, but it turns out he wanted us to turn around and go to the last town. So, already being off the interstate we decided to stop anyway, at a little cheese shop.

We went in and bought some cheese (and chees-y gifts, hehehe), took some pictures with Bessie the cow and took a little break from the drive. After the cheese shop we drove down to a small family restaurant to grab some breakfast before driving again.

On the way across we made our way to the Wisconsin Dells and couldn't help stopping to play some mini golf! Don't ask Tim about the results, he's still a bit sore about being beat by a girl! Hehehe. :)


The road from there led us across the Mississippi and into Minnesota, over to a relative that Mom wanted us to meet. It was Ruth Ellen and she lived in Austin, MN (the home of the SPAM museum). We unfortunately got there too late to attend the SPAM museum but got there with just enough time to get to know Ruth Ellen. Ruth Ellen knew my Grandfather's family while he was growing up, he used to wear her dresses while great-grandpa was starting the Mayo clinic in MN.

After leaving Mary Ellen's house we made our way up to Minneapolis/St. Paul to meet up with a fellow CIA grad I haven't seen in over 5 years. He, Alex, had just returned home three days prior from bumming and bicycling all over Asia for the past year! Oh, so jealous!

We did a bit of restaurant/bar hopping around the area and met some of his friends in the area. Later in the evening we left and got a hotel room in the area on the way out of town, for a quick egress in the morning.

Outside of Bloomington...really?

...You mean we're not going back...? We really made it out of Bloomington? I was out. Free. I could live my life again. Whew. The first night we made it to Madison, Wisconsin. Neither of us had been to Wisconsin and were both pleasantly surprised at how nice it was there. Madison is a very nice little city on a lake.

Using the Tom-Tom that Tim's parents had graciously sent him for this trip we navigated to a restaurant called Harvest, recommended by Alan. It's a small restaurant using non other than local, sustainable ingredients like most all restaurants these days. It was a great dinner. Maybe it was because of the company, or the fact that it was Saturday and I wasn't working, or maybe it was the good food but I had a really nice time.

After that dinner I finally started to realize that Tim was there to drive with me back to Oregon. It was hitting me. We weren't just going away for the weekend to turn around and go back to Bloomington... It was all starting to sink in. We had an ADVENTURE ahead of us! WOOHOO!! Oregon here we come. A week of driving wherever we wanted to go - so long as we didn't get sick of each other along the way! :) hehehehe.




Oh yeah...Bacon. Hehehe. Dave sent a slab of bacon back with us to my Dad because he knew how much he loved his bacon. So, we decided to play a little game with Bacon. That's his name 'Bacon', got really creative with that one. Here's the plan: we were going to dress him up and take pictures of him crossing the country, sending various pictures to Dave as Bacon traveled. Kind of like the Expedia gnome. ;) Hehehe. Here's where I would add that "I'm such a dork". But Tim willingly played along so I'm going to have to say that we are both pretty strange. :)

Indiana in the Rear View Mirror

So my time had come to leave Indiana. The west coast, the ocean, and the mountians had been pulling me back since I had arrived in the dead-flat, ocean-less Mid West. Tim arrived on Thursday, November 8th (!) so I went up to Indy to pick him up, he didn't know I was coming and he was nicely surprised. ;)

That night we got all dressed up for fun and went to dinner at Tallent. The next day we packed up, went to the Chocolate Moose (a Bloomington must for any visitors) one last time, ran some errands, (had way too much fun in the Walmart camping/survival section) then later went out with Alan and Emily. On Saturday, we woke early and met Alan, Dave, and Krissy at the Farmer's Market and from there we headed back to Tallent to cook some breakfast.

Dave and Krissy cooked while Tim, Alan, and myself sat and talked. Breakfast was great and it was really good to have all of us together for a send off breakfast. But, we didn't have too long to dilly-dally because the car still needed to be packed up.

So Tim and I said our goodbyes and went on our way, packed up the car. Threw out what wouldn't fit in the back of my Subaru, and we were on our way. I needed to get out of Indiana. It was not a good place for me. When we were leaving I was having feelings of regret. Regrets that I was doing the wrong thing, giving up on a job. But, Tim kept reminding me just how much it was running me down and had changed who I was in just three months time. Imagine what I would be like after the year I was supposed to stay.

The further we got from Bloomington, the better I got...

Stag's Leap Tasting Dinner - December 5th

Restaurant Tallent is teaming with Stag's Leap to do a tasting of wine and food on December 5th. Anyone interested should contact and sign up, the cost is onlny $80 for a 6 course, wine paired, wonderful dinner. This is the planned menu for the evening.

Restaurant Tallent and
Stag's Leap Winery Dinner
December 5, 2007


Hors d' Oeuvres at 6:30
Stag's Leap Winery Amparo Rose, Napa, 2006


Lemon, Black Pepper, and Peekytoe Crab Risotto
Stag's Leap Winery Viognier, Napa, 2006


Pancetta Wrapped Rabbit Loin with Truffled Rabbit Cannelloni
and Wild Mushroom Ragout
Stag's Leap Winery Merlot, Napa, 2004


Pan Roasted Pacific Coast Sturgeon with Braised Pork Belly and
Black Currant Sauce
Stag's Leap "The Leap" Cabernet, Napa, 2002


Spice Crusted Elk Loin with Braised Elk and Fingerling Potato Hash,
Brussel Sprouts and Chestnuts, Foie Gras Bordelaise
Stag's Leap Petite Syrah, Napa, 2004


Tarte Tropezienne with Citrus and Vanilla
Beringer "Nightingale", Napa, 2003

Barton Seaver, Watching Over The Kitchen...

So Barton, in his race for 'rock and roll' status, in the food industry is now in Henkel's adds. The add was brought to my attention by Dave who brought in the magazine it was in. I posted the picture up near Dave's station for his inspiration (and as a joke). Barton moved his way to the paper towel dispenser where one of the kitchen staff decided to write "He's Dreamy" and little hearts all around. I couldn't help taking a picture of the Barton that looks over our kitchen for all of our continued inspiration.

Soup Tasting

Dave was in the Soup Tasting event at the Bloomington Farmer's Market this weekend. It was an event sponsored by Slow Food, free to those who want to stop and taste some seasonal soups from local restaurant chefs. Our soup was made from local chestnuts, all scored and peeled by our kitchen's hands. :) We peeled them all and froze them in anticipation for this event.

Our soup was a Chestnut and Pancetta (House-Made) Soup with Persimmon Bread Croutons

We had so many people asking for the recipe, but we just really have a method of how it was done.

Pancetta - rendered and pulled out for crispy garnish
Onions, Carrots, Parsnips and Chestnuts - cooked in the pancetta fat
Rosemary, Thyme, Garlic, Shallot - added for flavor
Apple Cider, Brown Duck Stock, Water - liquid it was cooked in
The soup was then cooked for about 45 minutes, pureed, passed through a fine mesh sieve. Then finished with a little heavy cream.

The croutons were pan fried in local farm butter. The bread was made with local persimmons that we again, passed our selves during the season and froze the puree.

Just so people didn't think this was in anyway vegetarian Dave wore his "Meat is Neat" shirt. :)

Daily Specials #7

November 1-2, 2007:

Amuse Bouche:
Beef Carpaccio, Caramelized Onions, Creole Mustard Sauce on a Crostini


Vegetarian Entree:
Saffron Braised Fennel and Leeks (Braised in Veg. Stock and Saffron), White Bean Puree Ravioli, Roasted Red Pepper Sauce (braising liquid puree with roasted red peppers)


Fish Entree:
Pan Roasted Barramundi, Rabbit and Black Trumpet Ragu, Bacon Vinaigrette

Daily Specials #3

October 18th, 2007:

Amuse Bouche:
Golden Beet Carpaccio, Red Beet Tartare, Horseradish Creme Fraiche

Vegetarian Entree:
Wild Rice, Buckwheat, Quinoa and Golden Beet Cake
with Fall Vegetable Lentil Ragout


Foie Gras:
Pan Roasted Foie Gras, Apple-Bourbon Gelee, Cornbread Crouton,
25 year Balsamic

This is just a picture of the Taglietelle that we have on the menu, it was for a VIP guest so we shaved White Alba Truffles on top instead of the normal Black
Burgundian Truffles that go on it.

Hungry Yet??

My Date with Krissy Tallent

Last night Krissy and I went on a date to the best restaurant in Bloomington. Yup, Restaurant Tallent. Dave cooked a tasting menu for us and I only remembered to take pictures of the last dish, doh!

Heidi and Krissy's Tasting Menu

1st
Mussels with Chorizo, Roasted Garlic and Red Wine, Spicy Frites


2nd
Seared Sturgeon, Braised Elk Osso Bucco with Jerusalem
Artichokes, Heirloom Oyster Mushrooms


3rd
Truffled Rabbit Rillette, Truffled White Bean Puree, Braised Collard Greens, Truffle Foam, Shaved White Alba Truffles (....YEAH...)


4th
Cold Smoked Duck Breast, Risotto with Squash and
Shaved Brussel Sprouts, Currant Sauce, Shaved Black Burgundian Truffles


5th
Too full for dessert with split one scoop of:
Malted Brownie Ice Cream


Wine:
Gypsy Dancer Pinot Noir

It's Fall!

This weekend Tim came to visit and we went out for a walk in the woods. Then went to a farm and got a pumpkin to carve (which we didn't carve because all my knives were at work!). Then we cooked dinner: Braised Beef and Potato Stew, Cider Glazed Beets and Turnips, Bacon and Garlic Braised Kale - mmmmmm.

Daily Specials #6

October 26th, 2007:

Amuse Bouche:

Tallent "Cheesesteak Sandwich"
Beef Carpaccio on Crostini with Horseradish Cream, Parmesan Crisp, Truffle Emulsion


Vegetarian Entree:
Potato and Almond Dumpling, Truffled White Bean Puree,
Caramelized Beets, Fennel and Leeks, Lemon-Rosemary Vinaigerette


Surf and Turf:
Pan Roasted Sturgeon, Elk Osso Bucco Braised with Jerusalem Artichokes,
Celery Root and Bordelaise Sauce


Steak Special:
Beef Coulate, Pan Seared Heirloom Potatoes,
Cider Braised Cabbage, Truffled Bordelaise


Foie Gras:
Pan Roased Foie Gras, Fig Preserve, Persimmon Bread, 25 Year Balsamic