TRAVEL AND FOOD: XC SKIING AT LAKE TAHOE JANUARY 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 2:08PM 
Welcome to the second year of California Junket and Happy 2011! Though we had a whirlwind holiday with family in Yosemite, it's never too soon to travel in the new year and when opportunity knocks, I always answer. Never having caught a glimpse of the cool blue waters of California and Nevada's Lake Tahoe, I was enthusiastically envisioning our visit when our friends Bonnie and Hans from Utah called and said they were staying for a week at South Lake Tahoe. A four hour drive from Yosemite Valley, Lake Tahoe is a weekend getaway for us, though we weren't going to get away from winter. Instead, we packed our skis and snowshoes, rolled down and out of Yosemite Valley and headed north on historic Highway 49 through the Sierra foothills until we reached Placerville and ascended back into the mountains. Bonnie and Hans have a timeshare at Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort so we swanked it up a bit and planned our Nordic skiing routes as we enjoyed cocktails with excellent company.
Bonnie and Ted
Though Tahoe has world class alpine (downhill) skiing, we opted for the budget-priced Nordic (cross-country) skiing for this trip and were pleasantly surprised to find a serious arena for skinny skis. Miles and miles of groomed trails are spread across many public lands and the private ski resorts like Heavenly and Kirkwood. The first day we opted for breathtaking Hope Valley south of town where Hope Valley Outdoors rents equipment and grooms the trails that wind into the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, leading to snowy lakes and meadows. The photo of Hope Valley below is by Jason Woodcock (check out his entire portfolio of Lake Tahoe photos on photo.net). We skiied until I re-injured my foot spectacularly (see the Death Valley post: diametrically opposed to Hope Valley in many ways), though Ted is not allowed to discuss the episode.
Photo courtesy Hope Valley Outdoors
I can't offer any lowdown on SLT restaurants because we spent our evenings in our swanky two bedroom suite cooking hearty winter dinners after swimming in the indoor/outdoor heated pool. Not bad. Hans gave a thumbs-up to my latest meatloaf endeavor, courtesy of my subscription to Fine Cooking magazine - a thoughtful holiday gift from my mother-in-law, and even requested the recipe.
Bonnie and Hans dig in
Photo courtesy of Fine Cooking
We were gifted with clear and sunny weather over the weekend, to ski and check out the lake: Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America and at 1645 feet deep, second only to Crater Lake in Oregon for depth. The Lake Tahoe Basin, ringed with mountains, was formed 2 million years ago with the modern lakeshore created during the last Ice Age. Lake Tahoe is split right down the middle between California and Nevada, so not only is the area known for exceptional outdoor summer and winter recreation, but also for proximity to casinos on the Nevada side. We took a brief run at Harrah's Casino on Saturday evening, where Ted was justifiably excited to double his money playing Blackjack and Hans slowly whittled his wallet down on poker slots. Ted posed proudly with all four of his gaming chips (we arrived with $30 and left with $60!!) and we were delighted by the musical entertainment: Arty the Party - a one man band with keyboard magic (not my video!). 
Our second day of skiing was spent at Camp Richardson, an historic mountain resort and marina located in the national forest on the lake since 1926. Just a short drive along the lakeshore from the Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort, Camp Richardson offered groomed trails through the U.S. Forest Service campground and into the national forest to more snow-clad lakes and meadows. Our late afternoon ski afforded us late afternoon sun slanting through the pines and dazzling the snow. It wasn't until I was creating this post that I noticed we were outfitted like twins.
We exited true winter for awhile as we left Bonnie and Hans to the heated pool and the swanky suite early Monday morning. Ted was attending a trade show in Sacramento for 2 days and I had a lunch date with my friends Matthew and Eric in El Dorado Hills. Winter days in Sacramento, California's capitol city located at the north end of the Central Valley, hover right around 50 degrees or so (upon exiting the highway in Sacramento, Ted spies a fully-loaded lemon tree in someone's backyard and says "Whoa! Look at all those lemons that guy has. Hardly seems fair."). My lunch date was scheduled for Tuesday, so on Monday I occupied myself with Barnes & Noble at the mall for several hours after dropping Ted at the CalExpo. Very seldom do I have the chance to thoroughly browse a bookstore, so I took my sweet time and relieved B & N of several publications. I satisfied my weakness for print magazines, architecture and travel with Atomic Ranch (Mid-Century Marvels!), Modernism, and AFAR, my love of literature with Tropic of Cancer
I spent the afternoon reading about 1950s textile patterns, the Palm Springs Modern Tour, a small ethnic minority of the Chinese population with the unfortunate name of Dong, oyster harvest and a Brit's take on American regional cuisine like jambalaya, BBQ, fried squash blossoms, and Waldorf salad. I'm pretty impressed with AFAR magazine - it's quite a stretch from your average travel rag - and my favorite feature was a photo spread with close-ups of ears and earrings from various countries: a mini world tour through the presentation of personal adornment. Food writer Robb Walsh led me back to the Southern Foodways Alliance and the passionate desire to see more advocacy for food culture in our country in addition to a great slideshow from his oyster adventures. For some reason, I am always fascinated by pictures of food.
We ate dinner that night with our trade show compatriots at a Mexican chain restaurant called El Torito, where I ordered the oxymoronic "Mexican Caesar Salad". Since the Caesar Salad was created by Italian-born Mexican Caesar Cardini in Tijuana circa 1924, there's no need for extra descriptors. However, the Caesar dressing was replaced by El Torito's Cilantro-Pepita Dressing (insert trademark here), so perhaps they meant "Mexican" as a variation of classic Caesar Salad. Oxymoron or no, the dressing is delicious (which you can also purchase bottled in your local California grocery store or purchase on the web at MexGrocer) and I also ordered tortilla soup. Everyone else seemed satisfied with their platters of rice, beans and tacos washed down with enormous Margaritas (and blanco sangria in my case).
During Ted's second day at the trade show, I kept my lunch date with friends Matthew and Eric who work at Impact Photographics outside of Sacramento. Matthew, Eric and I have a lunch history together and they have never steered me wrong, so I looked forward to more El Dorado Hills culinary delights. Congratulations are in order since they are both becoming fathers again in the Spring (not together): Matthew and Julia #2 in March, Eric and Melissa #6 (!) in April. For lunch they suggested a new and not yet sampled restaurant nearby: Relish Burger Bar.
Matthew and menu
A raucous party of lunching ladies had livened up the dining room since "Bar" in the name does not refer to a countertop filled with condiments. We watched the young and obviously intimidated male waiter serve trays of Lemon Drop Martinis to the ladies who gave much verbal encouragement not to spill. Everyone at Relish seemed to be enjoying themselves and we were no exception. Feeling obligated to order a namesake burger, I pored over the menu which offered interesting fare like the Bordeaux Burger with a Burgundy wine sauce and the Black n' Blue Bayou Burger with Cajun spice. I settled for the Dubliner Guinness Pork Burger, Matthew chose The Hills Bacon Cheeseburger with regular fries and Eric gamely went for the Gilroy Garlic and Jalapeno Burger, accompanied by sweet potato fries.
Michelle and Eric and a year's supply of fries
The Dubliner Guinness Pork Burger is described as pork shoulder patty with Guinness BBQ sauce, Cheddar cheese and crispy Tobacco onions (spelled incorrectly on the menu). No sloppy red sauce here, the burger was perfectly topped with onion and BBQ sauce mixture. Matthew and Eric enjoyed their choices too. Relish Burger Bar is the brainchild of restauranteur Richard Righton who owns the Bidwell Street Bistro in Folsom. Though we didn't take advantage of it on this winter's day, RBB has extensive patio dining outdoors that would be very comfortable on a summer evening.
After yet another successful lunch outing with Eric and Matthew, I bid goodbye to El Dorado Hills and returned to Sacramento to scoop up my husband and make the drive back to Yosemite. I have friends scattered all over this country, and I am lucky enough to stay connected despite infrequent visits and treasure each and every shared meal with beloved companions. Though sometimes they wish I would stop taking photos and just eat.
Junket Ratings:
Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort: Junk-O-Rama
Hope Valley Outdoors: Junk in the Trunk!
Camp Richardson: Junk-O-Rama
El Torito: Junkety-Junk-Junk
Relish Burger Bar: Junk-O-Rama
Michelle Hansen
Here's an update I couldn't pass up:
The Southern Foodways Alliance blog announces an oyster app for your iPhone. Check it out:
http://southernfoodways.blogspot.com/2011/01/oysterstheres-app-for-that.html
CALIFORNIA, FOOD, LAKE TAHOE, RESTAURANTS, ROAD TRIP, SACRAMENTO, SKIING, SNOW, WINTER in FOOD, TRAVEL