Presenting The Faux Gourmet!

The Faux Gourmet has been on hiatus for a while. I began this blog as a creative outlet during law school. After law school, I started other blogs on other topics and no longer needed this as a creative outlet, not to mention my diminishing free time.

But I kept cooking, kept taking food pictures and garden pictures, kept wanting to share the little tidbits of what I'd made. I occasionally did this on my personal blog (to which, I'm sure, people yawned and wondered when I'd post another cat picture). But I started to miss this space. Of all the blogs I have, this format, culled over several dedicated years and incorporating that adorable illustration by Sam Wedelich (see info the left) is by far my favorite.

So I'm back!

Expect short and sweet posts. Less food porn, more recipes and tips. If you want food porn you can look at any of the 5000 million existing food blogs. I don't have good lighting in my apartment and don't have time to style plates. I just want to make something yummy and eat it. If that sounds ok with you, stick around.

Looking forward to being back in touch!

xx

The Faux Gourmet

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    Friday, August 15, 2008

    Getting my kicks on I-90

    If you ever plan to motor west,
    travel my way, take the highway that's really the best.


    Images courtesy Interstateguide.com.

    Taste & See: Should you one day find yourself coasting along I-90, the interstate that winds from the Emerald City of Seattle through the wide western states, lake country, and all the way over to Boston, I highly recommend pulling off on Exit 61, in dusty old Wallace, Idaho. Just after the farmlands of Eastern Washington give way to the first forested slopes of the Rockies, you'll find "the best huckleberry shake" on I-90, and maybe anywhere, at Red Light Garage.


    Huckleberries are, after all, the state fruit of Idaho and Wallace is home to the annual Huckleberry Festival.

    Image courtesy The Shepherd's Inn, which makes delicious huckleberry crepes.

    The tiny purple berries are a pain to pick but a joy to eat, tossed in pancakes, cereal, salad, flavoring ice cream, syrup, dressings, honey. Apparently they have quite the linguistic history as well. According to the people's source for information (Wikipedia, obviously):
    The tiny size of the berries led to their frequent use as a way of referring to something small, often in an affectionate way. The phrase "a huckleberry over my persimmon" was used to mean "a bit beyond my abilities". "I'm your huckleberry" is a way of saying that one is just the right person for a given job, which was used by the character Doc Holliday in the movie Tombstone. The Huckleberry Railroad is a heritage train located in Flint, Michigan. It ran so slowly that it was said a person could jump off the train, pick huckleberries and jump back on the train with minimum effort.
    Idaho gets a bad rap, the scruffy kid brother of the beautiful Pacific Northwest states to the west and known more for potatoes than fine dining, antiques and art. But funky little Wallace, Idaho is kind of a gem. Or rather, a silver dollar: Wallace is the "silver capital of the world". It is also home to the last stoplight to be bypassed by the mighty transcontinental I-90. Residents added Wallace to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 so the freeway would NOT pass through town.

    The streets are lined with stately brick buildings housing coffee shops and rusty antiques. On the edge of the 'downtown' is the Stardust Motel with a sign like an oversized Hollywood prop for a 50s period piece.


    While a huckleberry shake with sweet little berries grown locally is a clear winner, the nearby Red Light Garage is more than just a spot for great shakes:


    Red Light Garage also serves sandwiches like the New Orleans style "Muffuletta," $2 beer or wine and cheap Mexican food (two tacos for $3!). Apparently, a lot of people have opted for beer:



    Definitely wins the award for best artistic use of bottle caps. In fact, the entire interior displayed the same panache, using ordinary materials to make charming decor. Who wouldn't want a bath tub love seat?


    Old ties as trimming?


    Barbara, behind the counter, not only makes very good coffee, she was also kind enough to lend me a copy of a magazine she saw me eyeing, trusting a complete stranger to bring it back on the way back through a week later.


    Thanks Barbara, and thanks Idaho. That's just how we do out here.


    6 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Wow, Jeannie Rose. Makes my feet itchy to drive cross-country and eat my way through the US too. =) Alas, I'll have to live vicariously for now. See you soon!

    The Faux Gourmet said...

    Thanks Anna, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

    Molly said...

    Yeah Montana! Thanks for allowing me to make an appearance on your blog. I showed it to my host mom :) Happy eating!

    JR said...

    Thanks! What's in the Pot? makes it to Austria!

    Anonymous said...

    As a native of Wallace, Idaho I take offense at your description of us as scruffy...We are the best of the Northwest, gateway to Glacier and Yellowstone and some, if not the best undercroweded and beautiful forest in the nation.

    Don't blog about us, I don't want people knowing about us. But, those who know, vacation in our bastion and covet what we have. Stay out.

    The Faux Gourmet said...

    I believe the comment was in the context of dispelling the idea . . . but I do apologize for anything I said that would induce too many tourists to come and crowd your town. If I lived in such a beautiful area, I too would want to keep it all to myself.