Culinary Adventures with Camilla

  While I have to keep my wanderlust in check for just a little bit longer, as the world opens back up cautiously after fifteen months of being sheltered in place, I have satisfied  my craving for adventure by reading a few roadtrip memoirs recently, the latest of which was  Drive-Thru USA: A Tale of Two Road Trips  by Rich Bradwell.* On the Page I was completely unfamiliar with Bradwell's writing, but I will definitely seek out his subsequent books. In fact, I've already added two to my list. But I have always been intrigued by other countries'  views of my own. I remember cringing as a friend from Denmark gave me daily updates on their take on our 45th president who shall remain unnamed here.  So, it was fascinating to read Bradwell's well-written and well-researched book that details two road trips he took across America, first, with a university friend and then, a decade later, with his wife. During both trips, they travel from state to state in search ...

I just finished a book about the ultimate American road trip - Not Tonight, Josephine: A Road Trip Through Small-Town America by George Mahood.* Maybe it was my way of virtually traveling the country while we're entering out nineteenth week of being sheltered-in-place during this coronavirus pandemic. Pause on that for a moment. Nineteen weeks. Our annual summer camping trip was canceled - maybe postponed! - and schools are starting in a couple of weeks in a completely distance learning model. So, it doesn't appear we'll be getting out and about any time soon. Boo. Mahood's book was a wonderful antidote to the travel itch. First things first. The photo above was taken by a friend when the guys did a crazy road trip years ago from the Monterey Peninsula up into Oregon to pick up a motorcycle. Boys! On the Page image from amazon.com Before I picked up this book, I had never heard of George Mahood. Sorry, George. Now that I've read this, and sha...

Remember our road-trip tradition of ice cream ? You know you're a fanatic when you actually plan your stops around ice cream shops, right?!? Well, we are just back from a filthy but fabulous camping trip around northern California. 1200+ miles. 10 days. 4 state parks. 1 national forest. Miles on foot. Miles and miles on bikes. Tons and tons of memories and - most importantly for this post - 4 planned ice cream stops. As we traveled and tasted, we decided that we needed a new scale for judging these goodies. It's not like we're comparing Penny Ice Creamery to Baskin Robbins...all of the stops were organic, seasonally -flavored creations. And all were comparable in price, so we knocked that out of consideration. Also, we were evenly split on ice cream versus gelato. We ranked them based on (1) innovative flavor combinations; (2) execution of said flavors; and (3) texture. Here are the stops, in order... [then I'll give you ranking at the end!] Arcata Scoop 106...

Every family has road trip traditions, right? Ours - finding fun ice cream shoppes along the way. No matter what the season. Here we are, in Sausalito, a couple of years ago. It was Spring Break. It was cold. But that didn't stop us from getting some scoops and enjoying the view of The City! Ice cream has come a long way since I was a kid. I remember going to Thrifty's when scoops were fifteen cents. Yes, I'm that old! And the flavors from which you could choose were basic: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint chip, and bubblegum. There may have been a few more flavors - butter pecan comes to mind - but not too many. Combinations were had by getting more than one scoop with whatever flavors you wanted to combine. And the ice cream tower teetered precariously on your cone while you ran your tongue from one flavor to the next.  Gone are those days. Ice cream flavors now are dictated by what's in season and bound only by the creativity of the ice cream maker. Thin...