I Left My Heart in San Francisco. Maybe I'll Find it in Coeur D'Alene

We left Hood River and drove to Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. That day’s drive was to take us along the Columbia River and then through the dry flat prairie of eastern Washington and into Idaho where we would then finally begin to see hills and mountains. Coeur D’Alene is a beautiful resort town in Idaho, with a large lake where, in the summer, people partake of numerous water sports. We stayed there two years ago, when we were on our way to Montana for this same nutrition conference and that year, we were there for our 30^th anniversary. But before we left Hood River, we HAD to stop for Breakfast at Nora’s. They have many wonderful delectable

breakfast offerings, including my choice which was from their “2 eggs your way plus 2 sides” section of their breakfast menu. This is then followed on the menu by a very long list of possible sides. I chose crispy bacon and zucchini fritters. My favorite way to have eggs is “almost hard”. This means, the yolk has some almost hard form to it, but is quite moist in the center. Almost NOONE knows how to make eggs like this and it seems to baffle breakfast chefs everywhere. Each and every time I order eggs in a restaurant this way and I either end up with totally hardened egg yolks or completely runny yolks (Really????How can this be almost hard by anyone’s imagination??), But Nora’s made them perfectly. The bacon was crispy and the zucchini fritters? Oh, I am going to dream about those fritters. Delicious little crispy on the outside bites with herb flavored fluffy zucchini centers. Can they ship them to Marin? Probably not. Sigh.

After breakfast, we began our drive north east and as I was driving, David had photography duty. He took a few photos. Quite honestly, we have little to show you about this drive as David

David's Photo of The Columbia River-side Trip

historically does not take photographs though he did take a few, especially as we drove along the Columbia River and ventured onwards toward Coeur D’Alene. This was also the long boring drive through endless vastness of hot empty prairie with the occasional dust devil at the side of the road. As we entered “fraught with peril possible dust devil exposure land” we were warned that our car might encounter one of these whirling dervish-like entities on the highway. We were wondering what happens to people in convertibles, if a spinning dust devil crosses their path on the highway; instant facial exfoliation? Would this be the kind of thing people would pay big money for as a spa treatment? “Try our new dust devil scrub!” 

This is What I Expected to See

But What We Actually Saw Was This

During the drive, we saw about 7 of these but none of them crossed into the road. Our journey took us past Spokane, Washington, and eventually into Coeur D’Alene. We made our way to

The Roosevelt Inn, a bed and breakfast converted from an old brick 1905 schoolhouse, just a few blocks up from the lake. We were welcomed by our hosts, John and Tina Hough who, as it turns out, are the aunt and uncle of “Dancing with the Stars” brother and sister choreographers Julianne and Derek Hough. We were shown to our historic room and treated to a welcome tray of their special spa water and Tina’s delicious bread pudding and a beautiful red rose. We unpacked, relaxed and then

walked toward the lake to stop for dinner at ‘Bonsai Bistro’, where we ate our 30^th anniversary dinner two years ago. They have an extensive Asian menu and we were absolutely delighted to see one of our all time favorite dishes, “sake kasu”. Sake kasu is a Japanese dish, and consists of fish (usually cod) marinated in sake lees for a long time and then broiled or grilled. Check out the next blog post for a more in depth explanation of this recipe. We got three small dishes and shared them:

1. Sake Kasu: Black cod marinated in “sake lees” for 72 hours and broiled.

2. Mongolian Style Beef: slices of wok caramelized steak, sautéed mushrooms, yellow onions with a sweet soy sauce, fresh green onions, black and white sesame seeds. Served over a bed of fried rice sticks

3. Garlic Black Bean with Prawns: Savory garlic black bean sauce, prawns and organic broccoli.

Sake Kasu

We were in heaven with the sake kasu. If you have never had it and can find it, we highly recommend it. Amazing that we have not seen it in Marin in California, but had to come to Coeur D’Alene, Idaho to find it!  After dinner, we found an ice cream place for dessert and then went back to our Bed and Breakfast.

Dinner Plate with Sake Kasu, Mongolian Beef, Prawn Dish

Our Route:

Route 84 to 82. Route 82 to 182 and then to 395. Route 395 to 90 and then Route 90 into Coeur D’Alene. About 323 miles and 5 hours and 27 minutes.

Links:

http://www.therooseveltinn.com/