Saturday, August 04, 2007

Report from the Road: Days 2 &3

I'm not sure but I think yesterday may have been the longest I've ever been in a car in one day. We left Ashland, KY around 8:45 AM ET and made it to Joplin, MO around 7:15 PM CT, putting 725 miles behind us in the process.

Thursday was another Gram-tastic meal, complete with more of her killer mashed potatoes, fresh peeled tomatoes, green beans and corn. I also found out the actual mashed tater recipe: 5 lbs. potatoes, 2 bricks of Philadelphia cream cheese (8 oz. each), and one 8 oz. container of sour cream. Peel, quarter and boil the potatoes until tender. Place cream cheese, potatoes and sour cream in mixing bowl and mix until blended well and free of lumps.

Once the mixture is to your liking take an ice cream scoop and drop them onto a cookie sheet or other tray you can fit in your freezer. Place the trays in the freezer until the tater balls are frozen and then transfer to a large freezer bag.

When the time arrives remove as many balls as you need and defrost/reheat in the microwave.

We originally planned to get to Springfield, MO but we were making great time and pushed on to Joplin, MO where we got one of the last two rooms in our hotel. After we settled in I got to try my first Steak and Shake, which I was enjoyed but didn't find earth shatteringly great.

That's it for now. We're hopping in the car momentarily and heading to Oklahoma to see JT and Nancy, eat some Head Country and relax for a couple days. More details later.

1 comment:

Synd-e said...

I've been enjoying your roadtrip stories, both from you and Ryan! Those mashed potatoes sound incredibly delicious - never thought about adding cream cheese!

Your "meh" assessment of Steak and Shake is completely correct. Don't know if you've really noticed yet, but the Midwest is rather low on traditional-style diners. It's one of the things I missed the most during my nine-year exile there. However, I will say that it was a Steak and Shake milkshake that finally convinced me that I was lactose intolerant...

Looking forward to more reports from the road, and someday meeting Ryan, so I can tell her stories of the smelly cave that was "the radio station."