Our kind of gourmet meal, somewhere in Idaho, 2010

When I met TDL, he worked at a gear shop and his life was a series of climbing trips and skiing adventures. He was pretty much a dirtbag. I have always preferred living out of my car and would rather be inside than out, so we fit together pretty well and created our life together based on our love of dirt and travel. We have slept outside all over the western US, chicken bussed through Central America, and have mastered the art of the camp shower.

During the past two years, however, we have been getting outside less and less. TDL’s nursing school was an intense year, and then we were working opposite schedules, and now we are in Vegas. I am unemployed here in Vegas, so TDL has to pick up the slack and work copious amounts of overtime. Between the overtime and Portugal, we haven’t had much outside time. That’s all changing now. This trip reminded us what is important: playing outside.

As soon as TDL returned from his weekend in Kingman’s ER, we loaded up the car and were on the road. It’s an easy two hour drive from Vegas to St George, UT, where we filled up our cooler at Natural Grocers and continued on to the Red Cliffs Campground. Red Cliffs is a gorgeous campground, with hiking and red cliffs (hence the name) in every direction. It was oppressively hot during the day (95-102ºF), but cooled off nicely at night. Probably not a good place to camp June-August.

On Tuesday, we drove north on the 15 to reach Kanarraville, where the Kanarra Canyon hike begins (and ends). It’s $10 to park, but well worth it. The hike has a scorching beginning as you travel up and then down to the creek. After the first mile or so, there is more shade and you get to wade through the icy water, so the heat is tolerable. The hike is gorgeous, and the slot canyon section was incredible!

After the hike, we were sweaty and starving and needed to get out of the sun during the heat of the day. We spent the afternoon as the smelly, dirty people wandering through the idyllic, manicured downtown of St George. We had a nice lunch at the Painted Pony and then while TDL got his hair cut (strange activity on a camping trip, but he needed a haircut and rarely has enough time off work to fit it in in Vegas), I explored the amazing Urban Renewal. This shop was fun enough to make me want to move to St George: vintage, secondhand, and new clothing, furniture, and random items from records to vintage aprons, with friendly staff and new items constantly coming in!! I was in love.

On Wednesday, our last full day outside, we went to Crawdad Canyon to do a little climbing. Climbing purists may not like the fact that this is a “climbing park,” requiring an eight dollar entrance fee, but we wanted to get in as many routes as possible and stay out of the heat. Crawdad Canyon has over a hundred sport routes on either side of a creek, so it was possible to dodge the sun and get in a bunch of routes with no approach time. Despite a swimming pool full of screaming children at the entrance, we didn’t see anyone else climbing and felt like we had the park to ourselves. We had a couple holds break and some of the routes were a little dirty, but it was a fun, productive day of climbing and we’ll definitely be back.

On the way back to the campground, we stopped in St George for some marvelous custard at Nielson’s, although we had also been told to stop in Veyo for pie, custard sounded better on a hot day. We will have to get pie next time.

Back at Red Cliffs, we had enough daylight remaining to hike to the swimming holes by our campsite. It was just another example of the beauty in this area.

Look, it’s a Wooly Mammoth!

While in the Praça, we attended an unimpressive wine tasting at ViniPortugal. I can’t really complain too much about a free wine tasting, but we shouldn’t have wasted our time.

Leaving the tasting, we walked past a ginginha stand. Back in Tavira, our hosts had told us about ginginha en copa de chocolate and, being fans of both ginginha and of chocolate, we had to have a taste. Yum-my!

We were enjoying the sunshine so much that we decided to walk all the way up to Principe Real.

At the top of countless steps, we arrived at the beautiful Jardim de São Pedro de Alcântar and were awarded with breathtaking views of Lisbon.

We quickly fell in love with the Principe Real neighborhood and spent our afternoon exploring.

I wish we could have spent more time in the area- there was so much to see! I miss Portugal terribly and am sad to be done blogging about it. A return trip is imminent…

We may have not found Lisbon’s best restaurants or hotels, but we did find Solar do Vinho do Porto, and that made all the difference. For us, this was the place to taste port. We had a blast there and I think it is a must-visit while in Lisbon.

It is not a trendy, modern-looking place. It was quiet and calm the two nights we were there, making it easy to get comfortable with a glass of tawny goodness. The servers were adorable older men who spent the time they weren’t helping us gossiping in Portuguese around the corner. The menu is a bit intimidating at first, but our server gave us a helpful hint: the ports are priced to reflect quality. The higher the price, the better the port; no guessing or tricks involved. The prices are reasonable, and make it easy it try several ports (as much as you can handle!). I got to try a port that was born the same year as me! Here are some pictures of the menu, some of them have my fingers pointing at the fantastic ports we tried.

I hope my poor-quality iPhone pictures convinced you to check out the Solar next time you’re in Lisbon. Just go there, dammit!

I need to finish up our Portugal trip (over a month later). Our last destination was Lisbon. I am having a hard time trying to figure out how to write about Lisbon. I feel like we didn’t really succeed in finding its great restaurants or hotels, and we had a case of the Sunday Blues while we were there, knowing it was the end of the trip. Lisbon is also a place I had really built up in my mind (bad idea!!) for years. During my first trip to Europe 13 years ago, I found a book by a Danish author. I remember the book as a beautiful, sad love story, taking place in the “white city,” Lisbon. The love story was as much about a girl as it was about Lisbon, and so, in a way, I was in love with Lisbon before I even met her. And, we all know, love can be deceiving. Anyway, maybe I just need to type away and see what happens. Good luck, reader.

We arrived in Lisbon by train on a gloomy, rainy Sunday. Our hotel was The House, a three-story family home, converted into a bed and breakfast, inside an apartment building. It sounds confusing, and it kind of is. The views are great and the hotel is spotlessly clean, but after one night there, we moved to a more central location. We had picked the wrong room at The House, and were paying 90€ for a room with thin walls that didn’t have an attached bathroom. I have a small bladder, and walking through a common area in the middle of the night to pee is just not something I pay 90€ for. The owner is incredibly kind and accommodating, and I recommend The House, but it’s not the best for a romantic holiday (I feel so cheesy typing those words, ugh).

After a mediocre lunch close to The House and some wandering around, we decided to get on the tram and head to Barrio Alto for dinner. FYI, Lisboa is a ridiculously hilly city, and places that look like they are walking distance on a map may actually not be, once you factor in the elevation gained. If you’re staying at The House, tramming to Barrio Alto is a must (I just turned “tram” into a verb and I like it). We were impressed with all the shopping and fanciness in Barrio Alto, but it was Sunday, and every restaurant we had picked out was closed. Endless hungry wandering led us to resort to an old trick of mine: pick out locals who are dressed nicely and look like they are headed somewhere. Follow them. The Portuguese family we followed “took” us to an Italian restaurant in Barrio Alto. I was so hungry and exhausted that I neglected to remember the name or much of what we ate. Exhaustion didn’t prevent us from needing some gelato, but after creamy dessert heaven, we trammed back to the hotel and called it a night.

The next day, we moved hotels to the Fontana Park Hotel, which is part of Design Hotels. It is a large hotel, but more conveniently located, with friendly staff and cool design features (the second picture is the hallway leading to our room):

It was another cold, rainy day, but we welcomed the opportunity to walk downtown to Bonjardim to get some piri piri chicken.

The chicken and the spicy piri piri sauce were absolutely incredible, but  we left with a bit of a bad feeling about our experience there. Our bill was surprisingly high, and upon reviewing it we discovered we were charged for much more than we expected. The covert was expensive (and gross, we shouldn’t have munched on it, but were too hungry to be reasonable). Our server brought us some fried cod fritters that we didn’t order; we tried them, not expecting to be charged, but they ended up on the bill (again, they were gross and we should have just said “no thank you” but we thought he was being nice). When we ordered our chicken, we asked for no fries and a salad. We were brought fries and a salad and charged for both. These all added up to an expensive lunch. Bonjardim is worth a visit, just say no to all the extras they bring and you will have a cheap, filling, delicious lunch.

That night, we went to Sacramento for dinner. It was recommended by our hotel, and the food was quite good. Not the most memorable meal of our trip, and I don’t believe there was a single Portuguese patron. If you want to experience Portuguese food in an accessible, modern setting, this is a good place. I guess I just prefer restaurants with a little more character.

After dinner, we stepped into A Brasileira for a drink. At the time, we had no idea we were in one of the oldest places in Lisbon, and were merely impressed with the beautiful decor and the fact that TDL’s Portuguese was improving to the point that he didn’t have to use any English or Spanish during his interactions at the bar.

Downtown Las Vegas

Doing a restaurant guide to Vegas feels kind of…useless. There are thousands of restaurants and probably tens of thousands of restaurant reviews out there for this city. So, I am going to treat this like every other post on this blog: I’m doing it for me, with an added bonus if there are one or two other people out there who will find it useful.

TDL and I like to eat at places that care about the quality of their food, that have creative menus, friendly service, and just an overall happy vibe. We have certainly found some of that here in this crazy city we now call home.

I’ll start this with downtown, because that’s where we live.

Mundo- I think visiting Mundo and the World Market Center is must while in Vegas. While in the area, walk past the Dr. Seuss-esque Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, the beautiful red sandstone County buildings, and over to the Smith Center and Symphony Park. There is even an outlet mall around the corner if you’re into that kind of thing. Mundo is inside the World Market Center, two huge towers that house all the interior design goodies you could ever imagine. The first two floors are open to the public, and I love wandering around, decorating my fantasy house. Mundo is always busy, so reservations (even for lunch) are a good idea. The food here is creative, delicious Mexican fare and the decor is what you would expect for a restaurant inside a design center. The drinks are fantastic (100% Agave tequila!)- I love their margaritas and TDL gets the paloma. For appetizers, definitely get the Ahi Tuna Tostada. The only downside is it is a little pricey. Overall, Mundo is currently my favorite nice restaurant downtown.

The Smith Center

Viva Las Arepas- Mmmm, arepas! Arepas are like Venezuelan sandwiches (or the Venezuelan version of a pupusa, if you know what that is), but instead of bread, they use grilled cornmeal patties. The arepas are stuffed with your choice of delicious meat (think shredded beef, smoked chicken, or pork butt). I personally recommend adding avocado. On the side, you can get fried yucca or plantains, which taste great with the three tasty sauces they bring out. To drink, I love the sugarcane juice with lime. Two arepas, a large drink, and a side of yucca costs about $16 and will keep two people full for hours. This place is fantastic.

¡Viva Las Arepas!

eat.- I love that the ingredients are locally sourced when possible, and you can taste the quality of the food. Service is usually pretty good, but nothing special. I wish the menu were a little more creative, a little less bread-focused, and a tiny bit more affordable. They are strict about breakfast being over at 11 am, so if you are in for lunch, you basically have a couple salads or sandwiches to choose from. Thankfully, both the baby iceberg and the arugula salads are awesome. I am still unable to eat much bread without suffering, so I haven’t tried any of the sandwiches. The specials seem to be hit or miss. Breakfast is pretty darn tasty but, again, not as good/creative/bread-free as I think it could be. Overall, I think eat is a good choice, and it’s the only place I would go downtown for breakfast.                                                 Update 4/24: I remembered to check the prices during a delicious, filling breakfast at eat. The breakfast entree prices were ~$10-12 (I had the truffled egg sandwich without the bread, TDL had the Huevos Motulenos).

Le Thai- Le Thai is a cute little restaurant on Fremont East. The service is good and speedy. The portion size is enormous- plan on leftovers. I wasn’t too impressed with the drinks (they tasted weak and watery or too sweet), so I would recommend hydrating with water while at Le Thai and then heading to Park or one of the other bars for drinks. Thai soup is just wonderful and Le Thai’s is no exception. My overall opinion is Le Thai is good: nothing special but certainly nothing bad. Two entrees, an appetizer, and tip is just under $40.

Bar + Bistro- My feelings about Bar+Bistro require a bit of a story. Here’s why: In February, TDL and I went there for dinner and drinks and really enjoyed it. The drinks were creative and delicious; the food was fun and excellent; the service was perfect. We ordered take-out another time before leaving for Portugal and it was, again, good. This month, when TDL’s parents were visiting, we planned to walk around the Arts District and check out the cool vintage shops right across the street from Bar+Bistro and then eat there for dinner. That afternoon, we received a call telling us our reservations had been canceled. Upon further questioning, they said they had to close that day due to plumbing issues. No big deal. But then we saw this, reporting that Bar+Bistro had actually been shut down by the health inspector for some pretty heinous violations. It has since reopened, but TDL and I don’t plan on going back. Maybe they’ve changed everything, but I don’t want to support an owner who let his restaurant go downhill like that in the first place.

Tostones at Bar+Bistro

So that concludes my downtown Las Vegas restaurants…so far. There are new restaurants opening, and I will add more/modify current reviews as we eat our way around Vegas.

Filed under: On Eating, Travel, USA ]]> http://livecleancookdirty.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/where-we-eat-in-vegas-downtown-edition/feed/ 2 livecleancookdirty IMG_0312 The Smith Center photo-1 Tostones at Bar+Bistro http://livecleancookdirty.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/trying-to-drink-port-in-gaia/ http://livecleancookdirty.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/trying-to-drink-port-in-gaia/#comments Sun, 14 Apr 2013 00:45:40 +0000 livecleancookdirty http://livecleancookdirty.wordpress.com/?p=1076 Continue reading →]]> For our last day in Porto, Catarina at 4Rooms booked us a tasting/tour at a port cave in Gaia. We had also promised our new friends at Saboriccia that we would stop by for a wine tasting, so after a late breakfast we headed over to our favorite shop. There, we met some of the fascinating residents of Foz do Douro and had a blast drinking wine with them and hearing their stories. They gave us some amazing recommendations (a fish restaurant, a wine shop, a downtown restaurant, and where to go to the bars), but it was our last day in Porto, and we already had dinner reservations, so we didn’t get to check out any of the suggestions. I am sharing this little notepaper of recommendations, written by a Porto local, in the hopes that someone out in the interwebs may be able to take advantage of it on their travels to Porto.

We reluctantly left Saboriccia to try to make it on time to our port tasting. The cute little trolley that runs from Foz do Douro to downtown had other plans, and we didn’t get very far before the trolley was stopped by a car parked on its tracks. The trolley operator didn’t have any luck finding the car’s driver, so we walked the rest of the way downtown and then crossed the river to Vila Nova de Gaia.

By this time, we were too late to make the tasting that had been scheduled for us, so we dodged the tourists and guys selling riverboat tours to grab some pictures before heading uphill.

As a local told us, Gaia exists for its view of Porto. The best views, many of the port tasting rooms, and the popular hotel, The Yeatman, are essentially on the top of a hill straight up from the river. Storm clouds were quickly rolling in, so, motivated by the chance to taste some tawny port, we speed-walked up a narrow street, hoping to find a tasting room along the way.

We got a little lost, but at the top of the hill was an incredible view of Gaia and Porto.

We actually had to walk downhill to get to the Taylor tasting room. At Saboriccia, we had been talking to the Taylor marketing director, and we knew Taylor made a good port (it’s called Taylor-Fladgate in the states), so we decided it would be our first tasting in Gaia.

We arrived just before 17:00, so our first tasting in Gaia was also our last (don’t feel bad for us, we drank plenty of port on our trip). I decided to go big, ordering a 30 year tawny; TDL went for the 20 year. Hell yes, they were delicious. Happy times ensued.

It was a good day. After fueling up on port, we wandered around the city a bit longer before celebrating our last night in Porto with dinner at ODE Porto Wine House.

We went to Cafeína after our wonderful day exploring the Foz do Douro. Cafeína is in a residential area walking distance from 4Rooms. The dining area has a cool, dark interior. We felt like locals, cozy at our table, listening to Portuguese all around us. I ordered the filet mignon de porco preto (filet of black pork) and TDL chose the tranche de robalo (sea bass). YUM. The food was fantastic and the service was even better. When our server saw me enjoying the bolinhos de bacalhau (cod fritters) that came with TDL’s dish, she brought us a couple more, no charge. After we finished our glasses of wine, she kept topping us off. My only complaint was the smoking, but when we mentioned it to the server, she sent the owner over to apologize and he promptly turned on the air filter. It was a great meal and we enjoyed our walk home through the dark, narrow cobblestone streets.

The next night was our last night in Porto, and our big night out. ODE Porto Wine House is a cute little restaurant along the Douro River in the Ribeira district. We were escaping a lovely winebar across the street (“escaping” because there we were being unwillingly befriended by a group of falling-off-their-chairs-drunk Austrians), so we arrived a couple minutes early for our reservation. We were greeted by the owner, Cristóvão, who kind of looked at us funny and inquired how we had found his restaurant. I think he was just being humble in the typical Portuguese manner. Like, “how did you possibly come across my tiny, no-name restaurant?” even though said restaurant is very highly rated and usually fully booked. He explained his concept of slow food: nearly everything is local and from his farm or farmers he knows himself, it is not a restaurant, it is a home, everything is fresh and prepared there, and if you are in a hurry, this is not the place for you.

We assured him we were on-board and excited for the experience. It begins downstairs, at a communal table next to the open kitchen. At the table with us were a couple from France and a couple from Coimbra, the home of the oldest university in Portugal. We immediately began chatting with our tablemates. The communal table was a highlight for us- especially hearing four languages being spoken between six people (the French couple spoke a little Spanish, which helped with our lack of French vocabulary). We really hit it off with the Portuguese couple. She was a nurse, just like TDL, and they told amazing stories of the traditions at Coimbra University, where they had met.

In the midst of all our chatting, we did manage to eat and drink a bit. TDL and I were excited to look at the wine list and discover a Portuguese Pinot Noir! We lived in Oregon for a couple years and the Pinot grape is one of our favorites. It was fantastic- probably our favorite wine of the trip.

The dining experience begins with the couvert. This is not your typical couvert. Well, it kind of is, but WAY better. When Cristóvão brought the couvert out, he also brought out a map of Portugal and proceeded to tell us where everything we were eating came from. I nearly died from joy. Some highlights of the couvert were the creamy shaved butter (drooling a little right now) and the Boroa de Avintes: a tradition Portuguese slow food rye/corn bread that was so. damn. good.

Next, we had alheira, a homemade sausage that, in this case, was wrapped in fresh mango. *swoon*

After the appetizers, Cristóvão brought us upstairs to our private tables for the meal. TDL ordered the grass-fed steak, which was fantastic. My entree, the pork, was less memorable. It wasn’t bad, it was just simple and traditional. I can’t remember what we had for dessert, but the port was really nice…

After dessert and more chatting with Cristóvão, we had been in the restaurant for four hours. Truly slow food, but it didn’t feel drawn out or boring. The time flew by with the great company and fantastic food and drinks.

(In case you are wondering, our “big night out” in Portugal at ODE was 99€. I miss Portugal.)

(photo by EPlove)

The last week of March marked our 3rd wedding anniversary. Our actual wedding was at the courthouse in Indio, CA, but we spent the week of our wedding in Joshua Tree with our families and a couple friends. It was perfect and low-key. If you have any interest, more photos can be found here at the blog of our phenomenal photographers, EP Love. (And if you are in need of photographing, I cannot recommend them enough.) While I am on the subject, I can’t talk about our wedding without talking about the stunning Sacred Sands guest retreat, where we stayed during our wedding week. I really cannot say enough about the service, attention to detail, and luxurious accommodations at Sacred Sands. The owners, Scott and Steve, could not be more kind and generous. For example, when they found out we didn’t have a wedding cake, they had their chef bake us the most delicious cake, and served it to us and our family with champagne.

(Photo by EPlove)

Fast forward three years: we had no specific anniversary plans, so when TDL got back from Kingman on Tuesday, we decided we needed to do something spontaneous, even though he had to be back at work early Friday morning. We loaded up the car Tuesday night, and left early Wednesday morning, with plans to climb Wednesday, camp in Joshua Tree, and climb Thursday before heading home. Spring break thwarted our plans in a big way, and after driving almost 4 hours, we discovered there wasn’t a single camping spot available. Hotels were all booked or required a two-night minimum. There was a lot of driving, grumbling, and a bit of stress before we decided to just enjoy our day in the park and return home that night. It wasn’t the relaxing return to Joshua Tree we had hoped for, but nothing about our relationship and our life together goes according to plan, so we’re quite accustomed to embracing the adventure.

In my humble opinion, what makes TDL and I work so well is our commitment to always bettering our relationship and not stagnating. As part of this commitment, after we got married, we decided we will only be married for one year at a time. It may sound strange, but our anniversary marks a date where we formally assess how things are going and decide if this is something we want to do for another year (obviously this is a continuous process, but the year mark is when we lay it all out on the table and make sure we are still committed and excited and ready for one more year). Our long drive(s) gave us plenty of opportunity for discussion. We are both excited for one more year of marriage; next year we plan on celebrating with by returning to our favorite hotel on the planet-  Sacred Sands.

We felt pretty confident about the nice weather, and had left our big winter jackets at the hotel. After taking some pictures, we realized how silly we had been; the hovering grey clouds forced us to get back on the bus to retrieve our umbrella, jackets, scarves, and other off-season travel essentials from the hotel. However, we didn’t make it back to Oporto that day, because the sun was shining in Foz do Douro.

Foz do Douro means “mouth of the Douro,” so, as you would expect, the town sits where the Douro River meets the ocean. It is a beautiful part of Porto, and even if your hotel is downtown (although, in my opinion, you’d be foolish not to stay at 4Rooms), it is worth getting on the tram and spending a day wandering around the Foz.

The first place we happened upon was Forto de S Joao Baptista da Foz, built in 1570.

From there, we went wandering down the cobblestone streets that make up Foz do Douro’s downtown. Restaurants, shopping, and Saboriccia. Oh, Saboriccia. Basically, it’s my dream shop, full of wine, award-winning sheep’s milk cheese, olive oil, cured meats, fruit, veggies, almonds, and other produtos regionais. Many of the items in the store, like the produce and the cheese, are from the family farm. Everything is from Portugal. We walked in, and I was so happy I nearly started crying. It only got better when we met Ramiro, one of the brothers who owns the shop. Ramiro is a kind, gregarious, enthusiastic farmer; he works on the farm most of the time, but we were lucky enough to be in the shop when he was down for a visit. He showed us around the shop, letting us taste the incredible cheese, telling us all about the products, and insisting we come back the following day when they were having a wine tasting. He helped us choose some wine: an incredible Vinho Verde and a delicious Douro red. We couldn’t resist getting some fruit from the farm- who knew you could grow kiwis in Portugal?!

Saboriccia and Ramiro’s kindness made our day. We grabbed a late, light lunch in one of the many restaurants in the Foz (ask at Saboriccia, they’ll give you a good recommendation), and headed back to the hotel to enjoy our wine and fruit.