now the real eating begins

After a fairly lackluster food day yesterday, today's meals more than made up for it. Breakfast was somewhat of a cobbled together affair, but pretty tasty nonetheless. As Fage Greek yogurt is one of my favorite kinds of yogurt (especially when honey, granola, sliced banana, and toasted sliced almonds are stirred in) I was delighted to find a new flavor (peach), which went surprisingly well with the fresh strawberries we bought. Second course: half of a toasted everything bagel with salmon cream cheese. Beverage: latte from Starbucks purchased with "free" gift card from Coinstar machine the day before (I didn't even know gift cards were an option on those machines. Sure is a nice way to use up spare change.)

En route to Buffalo, we began listening to an audiobook of Michael Pollen's The Omnivore's Dilemma. As some of you may know, I started reading this book about, oh, just over a year ago and despite being completely intrigued by the subject matter, was never able to get past the third chapter. So I figured rather than continue to let the book gather dust, I'd force myself to finish it by having someone else read it to me instead, which turned out to be a really good idea. It seemed a fitting choice, considering the fact that we ended up seeing a fair number of corn fields along the highway. Iowa will be very interesting indeed.

For lunch, we ended up going to a place I found in Jane and Michael Stern's Road Food called Charlie the Butcher, which is known for their "beef on weck," a Buffalo specialty. Basically, it's a sandwich of sliced roast beef piled on top of a kummelweck roll (a kaiser roll with tons of pretzel salt and caraway seeds on top). The top of the roll is dipped in jus, but to get the full effect, you should still slather a layer of horseradish over it as well. As I stood in line placing my order, I watched the staff slice away at the roasts and put the sandwiches together right in front of me. There was, I have to admit, a moment of hesitation when I wondered if I should try the "fried bologna" instead, which was described as "grilled like a steak, tastes like a hot dog" (or something to that effect). Tempting, but...no. The beef on weck was fairly good, especially with a side of chef's salad (really, it should've been called a garden salad, because there was no cheese, egg, ham, or turkey!) and onion rings, as well as loganberry juice (a nondescript sweet berry-like juice) to wash it all down. But I couldn't help but pick away at the pretzel salt; I could feel my blood pressure increasing with every bite. By the time I was done, the bottom of my tray was littered with salt granules. And although the meat was undeniably "beefy," it just wasn't sliced as thinly as I would've liked (too chewy!). I guess not many people can cut 1/8" thick (or, rather, thin) slices like David Pazmino can.

Mid-afternoon break: chocolate frosty at Wendy's!

Once we arrived in Cleveland--apparently, we'd missed a morning of torrential rainfall in which several areas were flooded, in some cases by 10 feet of rain--it was time for dinner. Kim's suggestion of Lola Bistro was an excellent choice. We started with beef cheek pierogies, going on to smoked Berkshire pork chops (Ivan) and perfectly cooked walleye with creamed corn and bacon (me) with a side of sauteed wild mushrooms, capping it all off with a whimsical "peanut butter-banana chiffon," which looked like a napoleon's high falutin deconstructed cousin, but tasted like a more familiar chocolate peanut butter pie... only better. Too bad we didn't think ahead and were the most casually dressed people in the place. While everyone else had on their dresses, strappy sandals, and business suits, there we were in our comfortable "travel attire," complete with sneakers (Ivan) and Reef flip flops (me). Oops.