Food, Glorious Food

   As seasoned travelers, Penny and I are always on the lookout for the unusual things that make the places we visit unique. It might be stumbling upon the Pantheon (down the block from the 2018 award-winning Best Croissant in Paris), or sleeping in a thatched hut on a white sand beach in Thailand, snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, or hot air ballooning in Albuquerque. The one thing we are guaranteed to seek out is the local food. This trip has been no exception.

  There won't be any pictures in this episode as I'm not one of those people who takes pictures of food. Sorry. You'll just have to read all the words today.

  First, let's agree on some parameters. All big-chain roadside food is shit. When you eat it you're stuck because you've been driving for hours and you're so hungry you'd eat roadkill if it was served with a side of fries. That eliminates the vast majority of food outlets in North America. That leaves the local, family-owned eateries, where quality can be hard to find unless you have insider information. Fortunately, along with Atlas Obscura, I never travel without TripAdvisor. Before we go to a restaurant anywhere in the world I consult my foodie bible and see what the locals think are the best places to eat.

  This trip has been no exception. Aside from a desperation breakfast at McDonalds we've managed to avoid all the big names... until today. Today I checked one place off my bucket list.

  In-N-Out Burger is a California-based chain that has the reputation as the best fast food burger around. They only exist in the southwest so this was our opportunity to test drive it. A quick Internet search revealed a "secret menu" and, if requested, they would prepare your burger "animal style" which means they fry your burger in mustard, top it with their special sauce, pickles and chopped grilled onions.

  Well, after savouring this masterpiece, two cheeseburger patties topped with the aforementioned "animal style" fixin's (plus chopped chiles) on a buttered, toasted bun, I have to say this is the best fast food burger going. Juicy, tasty, tangy, a 10/10. It was so good I needed a smoke afterwards.

  Just a side note, should you find yourself at said establishment skip the fries... bland, thin potato strings. Also, don't be tempted by the shakes -- some kind of glue masquerading as a drink. Stick with a cold Coke or Dr. Pepper and enjoy the burger on its own.

  Ok, enough about restaurants as we're living in someone's house, not a hotel. That means we get to cook and live like locals. As I mentioned in the last episode, we're doing what we like to call "supermarket discovery". We've now visited each of the four local markets. Walmart is the same as every other Walmart in North America, so I won't bore you. Our neighbours, here in our little old, rich, white people enclave, swear by Sprouts which is great but very expensive. That leaves Safeway and Fry's, both of which we've visited the past few days.

  Both of these markets carry a similar selection of foods but, wow, what a selection! During our last visit we discovered thirty feet of shelving dedicated to all things Mexican. They also have an entire wall display of tortillas in umpteen varieties. If you love Mexican food like we do, welcome to Nirvana! Yesterday Penny made chicken enchiladas with green chile sauce  from Hatch, NM -- the best. Today we picked up a jar of avocado salsa, a bag of salsa verde chips and a jug of Jose Cuervo pre-mixed margaritas. Sounds like lunch to me 😉.

  That's just an example of the cool stuff these stores carry that we can't find back home. We found so many cool packaged sauces that we're planning on smuggling them back across the border. And we haven't been to Costco yet. I hear they just released frozen bbq brisket burnt ends which will go well with the jalapeno corn bread mix we bought today.

  Yes, we love to eat and eating the local stuff when we travel makes it so much more enjoyable and memorable. Like I mentioned in the first episode, Penny and I remember what we ate and drank on our first trip to Florida in 1982.

  Now that I've bored you with all this food talk, stay tuned for some fun stuff upcoming in the next few days. We'll be kayaking, e-biking and doing a scavenger hunt in downtown Prescott. And maybe some eating and drinking too. Cheers!