I found my thrill at Mulberry Grill!

The Katy Trail stretches over 200 miles east and west across Missouri, intersecting with a number of trailheads and (mostly) small towns. Bill and Chris carry essential biking food with them–gel packs and other “tasty” “gourmet” energy treats, as well as plenty of water.  Dinner can be eaten wherever we stay, usually a larger town.  But lunch can be interesting, as they like to eat near the trail. Don’t want to lose any time!

The general perception is that the best meals are found in large cities in upscale restaurants.  But the Mulberry Grill and Bakery in Rocheport, Missouri puts paid to that assumption in a big way!  The small building overlooks the trail, and you order at the window.  There are tables on a patio, shade provided by overhanging trees and cooling breezes by large fans.  The day we ate there, it was hot and humid, but the fans moved the air nicely.  Sandwiches used to be on the menu, but Bruce told me he couldn’t figure out a way to make them pay.  The menu consists of a salad option and pizza cooked in wood-burning oven located right next to the eating area, built by Bruce’s dad, a former professor who still puts the pizzas in the oven and who also made the kitchen and the patio.

Road trip!

At long last it’s time for our annual vacation trek to the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming!   It’s a two-day drive, so we start relatively early, once the van’s packed. The coolers are filled with all sorts of goodies, both to consume during the trip and to “import”. Our menu today consists of grapes, cherries, corn chips and bierocks. Bierocks are a type of pocket sandwich shaped like a turnover. I make the slightly sweet dough in the bread machine, roll it into circles and fill with a combination of ground beef, onion, cabbage and a bit of cheddar cheese. After a short rise, they’re baked.  Besides being delicious, they’re also perfect because the filling doesn’t fall out while you’re eating them. 🙂

After leaving Illinois, we head into Wisconsin  into relatively flat farmland.  As we go further, it becomes more hill, wooded, and wild-looking. We make one stop each year in Mauston, a small town that’s home to an amazing cheesemaker, Sid Cook (http://www.carrvalleycheese.com/).  I read about Sid and Carr Valley in the book, Cheesemonger. The author mentioned Carr Valley so often that I looked to see where it was located and realized we drove by the exit every year. Now we make a regular stop there. Deciding which cheeses to get, though, is difficult as there are so many choices and every one we’ve ever tried has been good. (Photos of cheeses at a later date when they’re not being kept in the cooler.)

If you’re from Wisconsin or Quebec, you know about cheese curds, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_curd. Cheese curds are very, very fresh cheese, cut into curds. Ideally, they’re eaten the day they’re make or within several days and besides being tasty, they squeak. 🙂 Needless to say, we buy a bag.

More road trip food

A serious road trip (by which I mean going from one place to another as non-stop as possible) means that your (good/healthy) food options are seriously limited. So you need to think about what to take with you. I’ve been on the road a lot recently, so I’ve given this some thought.