Girly-Blog

Thoughts at 5:30 in the morning getting ready to leave Norman, OK to drive back home to Atlanta: what an incredibly fun tour we had, and so good to see so many familiar faces along the way! And how good we ate on this go-around. Usually we are resigned to the constraints of road food, the occasional Cracker Barrel, Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Waffle House, (but not IHOP. We've determined that their food is, well, inedible. Kind of like this truck we passed on the highway that looked like it carried a boatload of gasoline or something, but on the back it read: INEDIBLE, NOT FOR HUMAN USE. PORK PLASMA ONLY. Anyone know the significance of this alien phrase? Doesn't that seem to imply that some Thing is drinking our nation's supply of pork plasma? And what do we do about it?) but this tour uniquely gourmet. In Iowa City, IA, we met Kim and Kurt Friese, members of the Slow Food board and owners of the restaurant, Devotay, just blocks from where we played. (They just released a fantastic book called "Slow Food in the Heartland" that y'all should check out) Kim said she was a real big fan and wanted to repay us for what we've given her by cooking for us. Are you kidding me?? We arrived 5 minutes early at her restaurant the next day!

The meal was tapas-style, and we started off with a light chicken salad with green apples, nuts, and celery accompanied by a freshly baked olive flatbread. Then came a plate of bacon-wrapped figs, sizzling hot, sweet and salty with a homemade tomato barbecue sauce, some expertly grilled sweet shrimp with lemon. Then a platter of sliced yellow tomatoes (picked that morning from Kim's garden) arrived, topped with a basil chiffonade and some balsamic vinegar and olive oil, with a sprinkling of cheese on top, followed by some locally raised bison meatballs with a homemade spicy marinara sauce that rocked my little Girlyman tummy. But wait, there's more! A quesadilla landed on the table stuffed with fresh asparagus, zucchini, and mushrooms, and their version of an empanada, which consisted of fresh peas, asparagus, tomatoes, zucchini, and onions, topped with a soft corn cake that was dusted with hot smoky paprika rounded out the meal. For dessert we tasted some mighty fine bread pudding, with a patchwork of cinnamon and spices, and a slice of a rich, chocolate ganache-like cake with a raspberry reduction sauce. So very delicious, and we give the restaurant a Girlyman thumbs up.

We also ate (and played at) the All Good Cafe in Dallas, TX. This is the cutest cafe, with letterpress-printed posters of various artists, vintage plates and knick knacks on the stage, and cheery Christmas lights adorning the windows. Mike, the owner, couldn't be nicer, and we ate generous portions of spice-rubbed pork chops and crispy chicken fried steak and gravy with buttery mashed potatoes, green beans, spicy black-eyed peas, grilled corn salad, and amazing apple pie a la mode. In fact, it was so delicious that it has renewed my interest in baking pies again.

At our last show in Norman, OK, our friend Suzy, who put on the show at the Norman Institute for the Performing Arts with her husband, Frank, provided us with an unforgettable homecooked meal of tender beef short ribs braised with carrots, onions, celery, Chimay, bourbon, and pomegranate juice (cooked for hours, with the meat just falling off the bones), a beautiful salad of arugula, mesclun greens, green apples, celery, toasted pecans, green onions, crumbled blue cheese, with a light dijon vinaigrette holding it all together. Her friend made some killer mashed potatoes with gorgonzola cheese to accompany the beef, and we chowed down like there was no tomorrow.

Thank you to all the folks who showed up on this tour and thanks for the memorable food!

Ty shows off her new guitar and Doris displays impressive lip syncing abilities.


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