Sil!
She didn’t really come just to see me, of course… but she did have an extended layover in SLC yesterday – just in time for the Greek Festival! I picked her up at her hotel, and we headed over to the festival, where we ate Greek food,
drank Greek wine,
and savored Greek pastries
until we were too stuffed to move.
After a quick trip to the LYS (of course), Margene joined us for a bit of knitting time and fun.
It was a delightful day. Here’s hoping for more long layovers!
AKA the Food and Drink edition.
One of the best things about the trip to Boise was meeting fellow knitter Jill in person! She picked me up at my hotel where we chatted for a bit, then took me to Java, a fabulous little coffee shop in Hyde Park (the historic district in the North End neighborhood of Boise).
She introduced me to the “Bowl of Soul”, which was an incredibly delicious coffee-espresso-chocolate-cinnamon delight. We had a lighter version of the standard (low-fat milk, half the chocolate, and no whipped cream), but it was perfect that way.
The cafe is located in a historic house, and is very charming. The baked goods and food items looked wonderful – I wish I could have gone back for breakfast. Or at least taken my camera with me. We had a great time, and I was sad that we didn’t have more time to spend together. I’ve already talked to my knitting group about taking a road trip to Boise for a weekend, and there’s lots of excitement about that.
Another great find was the Shangri-La Tea Room and Cafe. We were introduced to the cafe by a couple who run a BMW accessory business, and were also vendors at the rally.
We were there on Wednesday night, which was fortunate as they had live music – you can just get a peek at the musician in the background. He had an amazing guitar – it was made of welded steel. It was beautiful and had a fantastic sound. Although the lyrics were very Dharma, we thought the music sounded like it was coming from a smoky Louisiana bar. We enjoyed it tremendously. (OK, I am stupid – I asked him if I could take a photo, but didn’t get his name…)
But the best part of all was the food. It was really, really good. I had the veggie burger, topped with goat cheese and mango-peach salsa and it was amazing. (You can see it in the video on the Shangri-La website.) I think even meat-lovers would enjoy it – the melting goat cheese and sweetness from the salsa made a delicious flavor combination. We also shared a Mediterranean platter, which included the best Baba Ghanoush I’ve ever had. Plus they had organic beer and wine, so there was something for the non-tea drinkers.
Another great food experience was the breakfast we had on the way home. We left the hotel early, so didn’t stop for breakfast until we hit Wendell – about 20 minutes north of Twin Falls. We saw a Phillips 66 with a big sign that said “Farmhouse Restaurant“, and figured it was a good time to stop and fill up our bellies and the gas tank.
What a great decision! The food was excellent. I had an omelette that was cooked in the classic French manner – a beautifully thin, tender layer of just-barely-cooked egg tri-folded over its filling. Trust me, it’s an incredibly difficult thing to master. The waiter (great service, BTW) recommended the Basque Sheepherder’s bread for the toast – and was that ever delicious! It’s moist and tender on the inside, a bit crispy on the outside, and comes in huge loaves baked in a large dutch oven. (You could buy the loaves of bread, and if we’d had the room, I would have.) They make French Toast with the bread, which I’d love to try if we go there again. The two slices of toast that came with my breakfast would have been more than enough by themselves – each piece was practically the size of a dinner plate, and about an inch thick.
I got a big kick out of this car in the parking lot. Obviously the best people know this is the place to go.
There was a more to my Boise trip than just motorcycles. We stayed at the Doubletree Riverside Hotel – not in a particularly great area of town as far as things to do nearby, but it did have a lovely pool:
Cozy places to knit:
And was right along the Boise River with easy access to the Greenbelt Park:
There was even a balloon festival going on. The morning we left, there were at least 6 in the air, with a dozen or so more just lifting off as we headed down the freeway.
Unfortunately, I didn’t seem to get my camera out very much during the trip, so I’m sadly lacking in photos. Stay tuned tomorrow for the rest.
P.S. – Here’s the winning Hawaiian shirt. I shamelessly stole this photo from someone else, but I suspect they won’t mind in the slightest:
Last week Larry and I went to Boise for the annual Curve Cowboy Reunion (CCR) with a few hundred of our closest friends. The CCR started 11 years ago when a group of people who rode BMW K1200LT motorcycles decided to get together for a rally. (Yep… they met on the Internet in an online group.) But it’s not limited to BMWs – anyone is welcome, with any kind of bike.
Each year, the rally is held in a different location, and raises funds for a local children’s charity. We’ve attended 5 out of the last 6 years (we missed last year’s in Vermont – it was just too far to go), and we’ve met some wonderful people. Everyone is incredibly friendly, caring, and generous.
The first 4 years we went, the group raised between $22,000 and $25,000 each year for the selected charity. This year, the charity (Ride for Joy) was given a check for $37,000 at the banquet, but I heard the total ended up being more like $41,000. I think it was a lot more than usual this year because of some excess funds that needed to be distributed, but it’s still an amazing amount considering there were less than 300 attendees this year.
Most of the money is raised through a silent auction of donated items and a 50/50 raffle (half the money raised is awarded as prizes, but almost everyone returns their prize money back to the charity). There are also private donations, and sometimes some additional fundraisers as well. This year there was a bike wash which raised about $900, and a Hawaiian Shirt contest which raised about the same. For the Hawaiian shirt contest, participants wore their favorite Hawaiian shirt, and everyone voted for their favorite shirt by stuffing money into the shirt pocket. The person with the most money won, and got half the money they collected as a prize (the losers had to donate all of their money).
It didn’t surprise me at all when Larry won the contest with a total of $141 (and of course, he donated his share of the winnings back to the charity). He knows how to work a crowd. (Threatening some of the guys with lap dances if they didn’t pay up may have helped a bit.)
The CCR is a ton of fun – besides the fundraising and dinners, there are lots of suggested riding routes for motorcycle trips, and there’s also the fun of seeing all of the other bikes and trikes. This year there were several sidecars. This would be perfect for letting me knit while biking:
(Unlike Elizabeth Zimmermann, I won’t knit while riding on the back of the bike.)
Next year’s CCR will be August 28-31 in Duluth, Minnesota. Get your motor running and join us!
 Cabled Sheep lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she enjoys knitting, cooking, and munching veggies out of the garden. She never tires of Utah's glorious landscape. |
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