Airport blues

I have done so much traveling this year.  And right now I find myself in the Salt Lake City airport hoping that my flight into Chicago is not delayed any more.  I have flown through this airport quite a bit in my life, and if you haven't been here you need to know that the whole airport smells like Cinnabon.  It's absolutely criminal.  Have you ever had something that smells as deliciously evil as Cinnabon but tastes so disappointingly like gooey plastic?  I did not fall into the temptation today.  Instead I got some tea and a cookie.  Unfortunately when I'm bored I eat.  Yet hooray for free wifi!

Like I said, this year has been a traveling year for me.  It all started back in August when I went to Los Alamos for some archaeological site revisitation.  It was a fantastic archaeological adventure.  A few months later I found myself in New Orleans for the American Anthropological Association meetings.  This was quite the culinary adventure!  I'm pretty sure I gained 10 lbs in 4 days.

Over Christmas break my boyfriend and I flew to Puerto Vallarta where we stayed for two weeks and ate fresh amazing Mexican food.  This was only my second trip to Mexico and I loved it.  We returned and three weeks later we took off to Paris for a 10 day sojourn (I had a conference to attend with some amazing French archaeologists).  Two weeks from returning from that I went to Washington DC where I ate amazing Ethiopian food, and then 3 weeks later I took off to Crescent City to visit my boyfriend who was working in the area.  The tsunami struck there 3 or 4 days before, so there was a strange surreal vibe to the place.  After that, down to Sacramento for some more meetings!  Now I'm on my way to Chicago to visit an archaeology friend and then St. Louis to visit my grandmother.  *phew*

All this traveling can really wear on a girl, you know?  And this bad bad airplane/airport food can suck away at ones soul.  But thankfully everywhere I have been this year has been a delicious adventure!  My favorite meals this year were:

Los Alamos:  New Mexico green chile stew!  Amazing, delicious, and boy I miss living somewhere where I can get these things!  This summer I'm planning on heading to Pie Town, NM to check out their New Mexico green apple pie, made with green chiles and pine nuts!  My lovely friend Natalie made one for me in December.  It was incredible!  Check out the pie-o-neer cafe for some of their amazing pies. http://www.pie-o-neer.com/pies-at-pioneer.html

New Orleans: Wow, this is a hard one!  Oysters at the Acme oyster company were amazing, as were the BBQ shrimp (ingredients: butter and worcestershire sauce) at Mr B's.  However, my favorite meal was actually at a mexican/NOLA fusion restaurant (sacrilege, I know!)  You see, I had been to NOLA for the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, and my father and I cook NOLA food quite a bit, so this burrito took me by surprise!  Roasted garlic, sweet potatoes and so much else.  It was a masterpiece of epic proportions and goes to show that NOLA chefs are ready to push the boundaries of all kinds of food!  I also took a cooking course when I was there my last morning and learned to make so many things correctly.  We ate here: http://www.juansflyingburrito.com

Puerto Vallarta: The pie in Yalapa was amazing!  The "market food" of carne asada and milkshakes.  Oh my, how delicious!

Me sipping a cocktail at one of my favorite haunts in Paris

Paris: additionally, really difficult to decide.  The food at Les Fetes Gallantes was incredible, as always.  My friend Bibi is the chef extraordinaire and he did not disappoint.  I had tongue at a cafe in the 14th, rabbit in the 4th, escargot, fondue, absinthe (the real kind), hot wine on the street and crepes crepes crepes!  Oh, and a foie gras salad on the Champs Elysées with the conference participants.  It was a magical 9 days of food!  It was however a high of 25* F when we were there, so Paris was cold!  But that didn't make it any less charming.  I even brought back some Paul croissants to my classmates when I flew home.

DC: The Ethiopian food!  My friend lives at the border of the old Ethiopian town in DC so there was no paucity of amazing food.  We can't get this kind of food in Pullman, so I gobbled it up with gusto.

Crescent City: really, I don't remember too much.  We cooked in mostly.  We rented a beach house for a few days.

Sacramento: WOW this town has revived itself!  I used to drive through and try to find *anything* that was open.  It's really much better now!  Our favorite was a British pub where I tried Scotch Eggs for the first time.  Yum!

Now I'm off to Chi-town and St. Louis!  Adventures to be had by all!