Jill and I will be heading out to Las Vegas in the near future. It kind of started on a whim in a Hotel room one blissful fall evening. We took a stab at scoring some concert tickets for a Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds acoustic show at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. We threw our name into a lottery scenario and to our surprise we received an email confirming our tickets. Beautiful! Exciting! We’ve decided to make a four day weekend out of it. Why go all the way out there if your gonna have a super quick turnaround!? Anyone who has ever been to Vegas will more than likely confirm that you only need to spend a night or two there to grasp the excitement and offerings the city boasts. Any longer than that you end up $1000 light in the wallet and deprived of sleep. One thing that must happen while we’re here is a quick pit stop at In and Out Burger for a Double Double Animal Style. You either can get this in California or Vegas and we’re not making it as far west as California this time. Who knows it, understands.
So we’ve decided to take in two nights of “Sin City” and spend a day or two in the mesmerizing back-country of Utah. Many don’t realize, but Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park are within 2-4 hours of Vegas. In fact, I didn’t realize it until I checked out the map. You also get the experience of the drive itself. You know, renting the cheapest car possible for a ballpark $20 a day and speeding off legally into some of the quietest parts of the continental United States. In doing this, you need an Atlas, a good old road map. In the days of GPS technology, we miss the subtle beauty of reading a map and following a road into a large patch of land, color coded green with a variety of elevations attached to it.
Jill and I have a thing for stopping in midst of beautiful landscape equipped with copious amounts of wine, potent cheeses and crusty bread. What better place to indulge than the magnificent panoramic lands of Utah’s famed National Parks. As much as we both like to go out to eat, we equally enjoy this sort of engagement. We’ve actually cooked pancakes over sternos on a windy beach in Georgia one morning and watched the sunrise with an off-dry bubbly. I didn’t produce the best pancakes that morning but the experience was unforgettable.
This time, in addition to the wine and cheese, I want to make something warm and delicious, cooked from scratch over minimal flame with meticulous simplicity. I want smells and flavors to permeate the crisp Utah air. All the while, looking intently into the distance of some of the best scenery know to man. I envision wild, earthy mushrooms cooked crisp and creamy in the best butter I can find with floral herbs and coarse sea salt. Maybe even finish it with some creme fraiche or mascarpone. I want to spread that on some crusty bread and as I bring it towards my mouth, I want the smell and steam to weather my face. I want to nosh on that and wash it all down with a peppery Zinfandel from the Sierra Foothills. What else should I make?
