Travel – Page 12 – Yogurtsoda

La Fondita

February 7, 2014

When it comes to taquerias, us Californians are a proud lot. We each have our favorite and nearly every city lays claim to the best tacos around. I grew up in Santa Rosa, and well, we have the best taquerias. Even better than San Francisco’s Mission District, dare I say it.

Case in point: La Fondita is a nondescript taqueria in Santa Rosa’s Roseland neighborhood, an area dotted with no shortage of solid Mexican restaurants. La Fondita often has a taco truck adjacent to its brick and mortar establishment, and it’s here where I had some of the best tacos I’ve eaten in years. Four carne asada tacos, two chicken tamales, and a tamarindo Jarritos later and I was a happy eater. The tacos were the star but there’s lots more on their menu if you’re so inclined: chilaquiles and mole, for starters.

La Fondita standard is as far as taqueria service and ambiance goes, and if you happen to be there on a nice day, take advantage of the outdoor patio and enjoy your tacos in the sun. I can’t think of anything more Californian than that.

Calgary, Days Four and Five

February 5, 2014

No trip to Calgary in the summer is complete without ~~a trip~~ two trips to Stampede. I needed more cowboys, livestock, and poutine in my agenda, so Nishan and I headed downtown on our fourth day in Calgary for another day at Stampede.

After a snack of hot dog poutine (yes, it’s just as delicious and just as unhealthy as it looks), we strolled over for a live performance by A Band of Outriders, aka the greatest forty-piece cowboy and cowgirl showband I’ve ever seen this side of the Mississippi.

Seriously. These guys are awesome.

We strolled around the Stampede grounds for the rest of the day, riding the Ferris wheel for a view of the Calgary skyline and catching an epic fireworks show at the end of the day.

On our next (and last) day in Calgary, we had some pasta. And by some, I mean a ton. I don’t know what to tell you, Internet. I woke up and decided this was a fine day for making several batches of pasta and eating it all.

Naturally, Nishan made some handmade pasta while I cooked the bolognese sauce.

But oh no, that wasn’t enough. Next, Nishan cut some tagliatelle while I made a sauce of sausage and wild mushrooms. In between the Great Pasta Panic of 2013 we spent a few hours in downtown Calgary but really, this was a day about pasta. Yo dawg, I heard you like pasta so I put some pasta on your pasta so you can pasta while you pasta.

And on that gluten-y note, our trip to Calgary was over and it was back to life in the Bay Area. A life full of pasta, of course.

Calgary, Days Two and Three

January 23, 2014

Nishan grew up in Saskatchewan (among other places) so naturally, I’ve heard about Saskatoon berries more than a few times. And that’s how we found ourselves in the car on our second day in Calgary heading to the town of Okotoks, just outside of Calgary.

We had breakfast at their on-site restaurant, but the real highlight was sampling the Saskatoon berry ice cream. Okay, I get it. This stuff is good. Creamy, sweet, and super fruity. Why don’t they carry this in the states?

The farm carries other produce and baked goods, as well as tons of plants, so if you like to get your Canadian gardening on, this is the place.

From Okatoks we got back in the car and headed back towards Calgary, where we spent the rest of the day at the Calgary Turkish Festival, sampling kabobs and coffee.

We got up early the next day to drive to Lake Louise in Banff National Park. Tim Hortons in tow, of course. The last time I was at Banff, everything was covered in snow and I was convinced I was going to freeze and pass out from the cold. This time, we approached Lake Louise in tank tops and t-shirts. The sun was shining and the lake was gorgeous.

After lunch at the adjacent Fairmont Lake Louise, Nishan and I began the easy hike around the lake. Lake Louise is pristine, and the ice blue to emerald color of the water comes from rock flour carried into the lake by melt-water from the glaciers that overlook the lake long ago.

We were famished by the time we got back to Calgary, so we stopped at the market and picked up a few ingredients for dinner. Nishan cranked out homemade saffron tagliatelle while I made the lobster and scallops to top the pasta.

Score.

Calgary in the Summer, Day One

January 15, 2014January 15, 2014

I first visited Calgary last winter, and like a true Californian, I wasn’t prepared. But despite the freezing cold, the city won me over, and I went back in Calgary in July to visit Nishan and visit the Calgary Stampede — one of the world’s largest rodeo festivals. Yes, you read that right. I went to a rodeo. And it was awesome.

But first things first. Phil & Sebastian is my favorite coffee shop in Calgary, and we stopped there first to fuel up before heading downtown.

A piece of freshly-baked bannock bread kept us sated as we began to roam the Stampede grounds. Bannock is an unleavened flatbread fried in oil and native to Canada’s First Nations, and in this rendition, the bread was sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon for a sweet, warm treat.

We roamed the Indian Village on the bank of the Elbow River, peering into tipis that re-enacted elements of their traditional lifestyle. five nations of the Treaty 7 â€“ the Tsuu T’ina, Piikani, Stoney, Kainai and Siksika – are represented at Indian Village. Made in 1877, the Treaty 7 was an agreement between Queen Victoria and several mainly Blackfoot First Nations tribes in what is today the southern portion of Alberta.

Next we headed into the exhibition area to view (and pet!) the livestock. Horses! Llamas! Sheep-shearing contest! The little kid in me was delighted.

No visit to Stampede (or, uh, Canada) is complete without poutine, so we grabbed a container from La Poutinerie before the rain began. Southern Alberta was still recovering from some of the worst flooding the province had seen in a century, and the rains were still tapering off. We found shelter in a corner and dug into this delicious, comforting snack.

Dinner was even heartier at Charcut, a trendy and upscale downtown steakhouse. We shared a plate of the steak tartare as an appetizer followed by, well, more steak as our entrees. Hey, it’s Alberta. These guys do steak right.

Oh, Calgary. It was good to be back.

Kauai, Days Five and Six

January 8, 2014February 25, 2019

We’d spent the first four days of our vacation making day trips around the island, so on our fifth day, Nishan and I stayed close to home. After a hearty breakfast at Living Foods Market in Koloa, we made the five-minute drive to nearby Allerton Garden.

Allerton Garden is one of the United States’ five National Tropical Botanical Gardens. All but one are in Hawaii and one is in Florida. Queen Emma of Hawaii formerly resided at Allerton Gardens and in the 19th century, it was purchased by the McBryde family until it changed hands again in the 1930s, this time by Robert Allerton. Allerton designed the landscape into a series of individual gardens, and today the grounds maintain much of its original roots.

But enough about that. These gardens contain the larger-than-life Moreton fig trees that were featured in Jurassic Park. I got a kick out of realizing that the trees’ roots are, in fact, taller than me. Giant trees! So cool.

After our lazy day at the garden, we stopped at Koloa Fish Market on our way back to the condo to pick up some tuna sashimi, tuna poke, and cucumber salad for dinner. What’s better than a meal of fresh fish while you take in a stunning view of the Pacific?

Our sixth (and last day) in Kauai was just as lazy. After another breakfast at Living Foods Market, we made another five-minute drive to Poipu Beach. Poipu Beach is one of the island’s most popular beaches, both for its clear blue waters and its calm surf. Calm enough for a rookie like me, even.

The beach is popular with non-human visitors, too.

After Poipu Beach, we stopped at Koloa Fish Market for another meal of assorted poke, because, really, is there ever such a thing as too much poke? Probably not.

We spent our last evening relaxing in the back yard of our rented condo, taking photos and snacking on arare. A sunshower left us with a huge rainbow as the sun was setting and just like that, the day was over. Too bad I couldn’t bring some poke back with the mainland but until next time, I can always recreate the flavors of Kauai in my kitchen.