This winter break Andy and I traveled on Amtrak from Grand Rapids, MI to Glacier National Park. The 36 hour train ride follows highway 2 through North Dakota and Montana, a highway with which Andy and I have developed a fascination. It is an easy going two lane road that can be driven all the way from Seattle to the Mackinac Bridge and it is route we have taken home from the West many times.
We spent our first few days skiing around Glacier National Park and then we played a new year’s eve gig in West Glacier at an old railroad hotel from 1910 called the Belton Chalet.
We have been cross country skiing around 10 miles a day on mostly un-groomed trails.
Yesterday was the coldest day starting at -13 F and
topping out around 4 F.
With all of the practicing and skiing, we’ve been eating and cooking some crazy Montana size food in our little cabin on Highway 2.
Here is one recipe from tonight for a crazy pie that Andy made.
Mean Green Montana Pie
2 TBS butter
3 onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped
sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley, 3 TBS each, chopped
1 lb each lacinato kale, rainbow chard, collards, chopped and blanched (de-stemmed if preferred)
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 cup grated mizithra cheese
2 cups roasted chicken breast, chopped (we roasted a whole chicken a few nights back!)
salt and pepper to taste
Double crust yeasted tart dough:
1 cup water
2 packets of yeast
2 eggs
8 TBS of butter
4 cups local Montana whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
1. To make the dough mix the water and yeast with the salt. Then mix in eggs and 1 cup flour. Add butter and the remaining flour. Kneed 5 min and let rise in a covered oiled bowl.
2. Blanch the greens and set aside in a colander to drain out all the water.
3. Heat the 2 TBS of butter with the onions, herbs, and garlic over low heat for 20 min.
4. When the onions are soft, take off the heat and mix with the greens, chopped chicken, cheese, yogurt, and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Divide the dough in half. Roll out each half separately, one for the bottom and one for the top of the pie.
6. Bake the pie for 50 min and then let cool 10 min.
Miles Driven: 5366
Miles Driven by Andy: 5366
Time in the car: 86 hours
Times Carmen did a full pack of the car: 13
Days without driving: 1
States visited: 13
Average driving per day: 6.6 hours
Average sleep per night: 6 hours
Total hours in the car with 5 people: 22
Profit made: decent
Different pieces performed: 30 (27 original arrangements, 3 original pieces)
Total social dance pieces we performed at milongas: 163
Cords in our gear: 24
Other musicians we performed with: 6
Opera singers we performed with: 1
Meals we cooked: 14
Out to eat meals: 9
Meals cooked for us: 6
Meals we assembled in the car: 5
Number of fast food stops: 0
Total avocados eaten: 13 (plus all the guacamole we ate in restaurants)
Bowls of oatmeal eaten: 22
Meals eaten with green chilies: 4
Bags of chilies purchases: 3 dried, 1 fresh
Number of coffees: uncountable
Different kinds of beer consumed: 15
Bottles of wine: 2
Home stays: 5
Camping nights: 5
Hotel stays: 2 nights at Hotel Andaluz
Highest point: 11,100 feet near Loveland Pass
Lowest point: Pacific Ocean
Highest temperature: 106 degrees in Yuma, Arizona
Lowest temperature: 45 degrees in Golden Gate Canyon State Park, CO
State parks visited: 5
Oceanside picnics: 1
Pika sightings: 1
Live skunk sightings: 3
Miles hiked: 18
Pillows Dave lost: 2
Times Luke changed his clothes in public behind the car: 4
Monkeys on horses: 1
Chilies eaten raw in car: 10
Awards:
Best Out to Eat: Church St. Café; Albuquerque, NM
Best Beer: Cali-Belgique on tap(!) from Stone Brewery (a must stop for beer lovers!!)
Best Performance: Hotel Andaluz; Albuquerque, NM
Most Enthusiastic Crowd: Cowboy Monkey; Champaign, IL
Best Attendance: Mercury Café; Denver, CO
Most Unique Venue: Candlelight Bar; Ventura, CA
Best Place to Dance, Drink, and Play Music on Sunday: Green Street Social Club, Salt Lake City
Warmest Crowd: Eagles Club; Glenwood Springs, CO
Worst Traffic: Driving north to south through L.A. at 11am on a Wednesday
Most Packed Venue: Ciao Bella; San Diego, CA
Most Picturesque Venue: Corrales Mission Church; Corrales, NM
Best View From the Car: PCH into Malibu tied with the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson overlooking the city
Best Coffee: Mercury Café Lattes in Denver, CO
Luke said that he ate better “roughing it” on the tour than he does at home. Between our own car and camp cooking and home stays we were graced with delicious food for the past two weeks.
We certainly know musicians who include a detailed description of food requirements in their performance agreements, however this tour’s sustenance rode on the generosity of many hosts and hostesses who saw that we are well taken care of; many of them who got up early to make us full breakfasts by 8am.
Jackie in Champaign
veggie egg casserole, fresh homemade bread, whole wheat pancakes, fruit salad, polish sausage, bacon, juice, tea, coffee
Cheryl in Glenwood Springs (afternoon snack)
whole roasted chicken with good bread, homemade corkscrew pasta with kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and Parmesan, cranberry San Pellegrino spritzers on ice
Leslie in Glenwood Springs
homemade biscuits and gravy, fresh strawberries, blackberries and raspberries with honey Greek yogurt, coffee — she also made us 7 sandwiches for the road with provolone smoked turkey, proscuitto, salami, and roast beef!
Renne in Salt Lake (who woke up with us at 5:30am!)
cereal with soy milk, coffee, tea, fruit, juice, toast with good hummus for Andy (to prepare him for the drive to L.A)
Stephen in Ventura
two broccoli, zucchini green onion frittatas with feta (made lovingly in cast iron), homemade granola (!) with yogurt and fresh peaches, killer oolong tea
Gabi and Linda in San Diego
fresh baked croissants with homemade dulce de leche(!) and coffee
Erskine and Hotel Andaluz
Lunch at the Lucia (4 start restaurant in the hotel!)
And for eating meals in the car…
With five of us crammed in the car, the seven hour drive from San Diego to the mountains outside Tucson went surprisingly well. One of the highlights was coordinating and preparing a car lunch buffet of baguette slices, longhorn cheese, guacamole, and kalamata olives. There is nothing quite like thinly slicing a baguette with a buck knife with three in the back seat.
And here is another recipe from the trip made from ingredients we found quickly in a Tucson grocery store.
Zona Cactus Beans
The Beans
1. Roast the following on the fire: 1 red bell pepper, 1 head of garlic, 4 cherry bomb peppers, 4 ears of corn, 2 tomatoes
2. Chop everything and put in a cast iron pan on the fire with 1 tsp cumin, 3 TBS olive oil, and 1 can of nopalitos (rinsed)
The Tortillas
1. 1 cup each masa and whole wheat flour mixed with 1 1/4 cup water. Include 1tsp each of coriander and cumin powder in dough before pressing them on the tortilla press and then roasting them on the fire.
We ate the tortillas and beans with homemade guacamole (made by the guac-master Avik) a wheel of queso fresco, Greek yogurt, radish sprouts, canned salsa verde and chips.
We washed it down with some Kilt Lifter Ale, a scotch style ale from Four Peaks Brewery in Tempe, Arizona.
It has been difficult keeping up with the blog during the last five days of the tour. We have been driving an average of 6.6 hours a day and sleeping only 6 in addition to playing gigs, camping, and cooking along the way.
After our gig in Ventura, CA we drove through the parking lot that is L.A. and continued down into San Diego where we played (and ate!) at a lovely Italian café named Ciao Bella.
From there we drove with saguaros to an awesome campground called Rose Canyon 20 miles north of Tucson in the Santa Catalina Mountains where we camped for the night.
Our drive to Albuquerque began with a lunch stop and chili shopping spree in Hatch followed by two nights of gigs with lodging at Hotel Andaluz, an awesome luxury hotel that supports regular tango events with live music.
We also played at a historic mission church in Corrales, NM and had a great time playing with members of QTango Albuquerque’s local tango band led by Erskine Maytorena.
To get home, we spent two 10-12 hours days in the car! The highlights included nibbling on the loot from Hatch (fresh jalapenos, dried chipotle, guajillo, de arbol peppers) and a last food stop for barbecue in St. Louis, MO.
We decided this was the best way to warm up at the California campsite. Imagine the 1st lute suite, the 3rd cello suite and the solo flute partita here…
