cristina's

Another one of those places that I think of when they say, "Close your eyes and go to your happy place."

Cristina's Restaurant in Sun Valley.  

Not only do we have a name in common, we have a love of food.  But man oh man, she does it so so so well. 

I didn't do a great job ordering this time.  Ordering is a skill.  I usually do a pretty good job at it. My chicken dinner was a little too manly for my pre snowboarding meal.  And I couldn't help but be jealous of the people across the room from us that had delicious salads.  But this bread basket always makes up for any meal.  See the bread with the purple stuff.  Grapes.  We sat there and tried to guess what fruit it was.  Like something that good had to be all exotic or something.  So we asked.  Grapes.  The hot chocolate is as good as it looks.  

hi, i'm christina...

...and I blog about food.

There are a few things that help me survive the road trip to Sun Valley:

-naps

-stopping at Jakes Over the Top somewhere in Nowhere Land (It's gone now, though :()

-books on tape
-naps

-knowing that a beautiful meal awaits me 

For whatever reason, when I think, "Idaho" I don't think beautiful food.  Nothing against Idaho  (Well, except the time when my family went to visit Idaho when I was a little girl and I slipped in the mud and fell and my entire side got coated with mud.  That and there was a mean girl that thought she was cool just because she had that lipgloss in the little tin with the slidey lid.  But other than that, I have nothing against Idaho).  

But that is all different now.  CK's Real Food changed my mind.  This really is real food. 

Oven roasted artichoke (my favorite), roasted local beet salad (my favorite), salad with snow crab and grapefruit (my favorite).  

Never mind that the waiter thought it was funny that we looked so haggard from the long drive.  I did a great job ordering at this place.  

Sometimes you live 25 minutes away from someone but you don't see them unless you go 5 hours away.  Then, you arrange to meet up with them.  Vacations are special like that.  

Karl's cousin, Michelle and her husband and daughter were up there at the same time.  So, we met up for breakfast.  That means we actually left the hotel before noon.  Minor miracle.  

Breakfast at the Kneadery.  Hearty, heavy, tasty, classic.  Pancakes (with, according to Megan, stale blueberries), waffles, bacon, eggs, and, for me, a cobb salad.  A really good cobb salad.  Yes, for breakfast.  I was happy, they were happy, my stomach was happy.  

I left my scarf there, they caught me on my way out the door and returned it to me.  Nice.

We hit the slopes.  Felt so early.  We said something like, "Whoa, it's so early."  Karl waxed the boards.  Made a huge difference.  I thought I was so funny when I took a picture of Karl by the "slow" sign. 

 I am getting older.  I am getting whimpier.  I liked riding the gondola instead of the lifts.  It meant a warmer ride up the mountain and an easier run.  Karl was getting bored so he rode fakey and kept spraying me with snow.  He did this by riding really close and then shooting the snow up at me with his board somehow.  It kept freaking me out because he would get so close.  The last time he did it (I say last because I wouldn't board in front of him after that), I caught an edge and totally ate it.  Good thing for helmets.  The fall made me even whimpier.  If that was even possible.  I want to take some lessons.  To de-whimpify me. 

So here is the amazing part of the day...lunch on the mountain.  The Roundhouse is amazing. So amazing that the owner guy that loves to eat there had a gondola built so he could get up there in his wheel chair.  

We loved every bite of this meal.  The salad, (descriptions straight from the menu) warm baby spinach salad with pan-sauteed chevre, caramelized walnuts, crisp bacon, olives and a balsamic vinaigrette.  Every bite had so much contrast with flavor and texture.  Some things I eat and I know I am going to crave them later.  This is definitely one of them.  We also had elk (elk!) and the best fondue we have ever ever (two evers) had.  We keep talking about the fondue, it was that good.  The fondue pot was a nice one so the cheese formed this crust on the bottom that we chiseled off and savored.  

And what is a meal in a mountain lodge without a jolly accordion player?

Since we had a mega-breakfast, and a late huge lunch, we just had a dessert that night.  We think it is funny when people say, "I'm not really hungry, I'll just have a (and then fill in the 700 calorie item of your choice)."  And that is what we did this night.

The Chocolate Chip Cookie Delight at Rico's is just that, a delight.  It's a hot, fresh baked cookie, topped with ice cream.  For whatever reason, it is so so so good.  I've tried to recreate it, but it is never this good.  

I was so tired while we were waiting for the Delight.  So tired that I kept falling asleep right there at the table.  Just propped my head up in my hand and snoozed.  That is what happens when you exert yourself only once a year.  Or maybe that is what happens when you whack your head on the ski hill.  I am sure Karl took a picture with his phone.  

So, we finish up the day in the in big, hot circle pool.  Sun Valley has kind of a small town feel, it is sweet.  So people talk to each other.   In the pool, a nice lady asks me if we were eating at Rico's earlier that night.  Turns out, they were, too.  Turns out while they were eating at Rico's the husband said to the wife, "Look, that lady is sleeping."  Faulty thought of the night:  Oh, I'll never see these people again so I will just fall asleep right here in the middle of the restaurant.  

THEN,

they asked if we ate breakfast at the Kneadery.  Turns out, they were too.  Turns out, the Kneadery people first asked the husband if he left the scarf, and he said, "No, but it would look good on me."  It was pink and gray and ruffly.   It was mine. 

This was a perfect food day.  I love those days.  This was a great day all around.  Head bash, public nap, scarf mishap and all.

sun valley, the end

Time is going fast.  This trip seems so long ago.  

Need to move on, need to take the Christmas decorations down, need to grasp that the holidays are over and that Eva's birthday is coming up fast.  Yikes.

The Roosevelt has been on Karl's list of places to eat for a while.  Tomato Basil soup is one of my favorite and the Roosevelt made a fantastic one.  The crab artichoke dip (if there is an artichoke dip on the menu, I almost always order it) was okay, I couldn't really tell there were artichokes in there.  The seared scallop salad was light and just right.  Karl said the trout was the best trout that he had ever had.

There was a tree lighting ceremony, with free hot cocoa and cider and a visit from Santa.  For a minute, I wished we had our kids with us.  The ice sculptures were very neat.  I had a wet bum for the rest of the night for the photo on the big ice chair.  

Karl always finds a way to get to the convenience store to get some ID lotto tickets.  

The Sunday brunch is always our final meal, here.  The chocolate crepe and the hot chocolate are my favorite.  I think I have blogged about this hot chocolate before, but that is just because it is so pretty.  

The goal was to have all the Christmas stuff done before we left.  Never quite happens that way.  Instead, I had hustle and bustle to get back to.  

But that is okay.  This trip gave me all the energy, plus some, to face the holiday mayhem (much of which is self imposed).