Chickadee Thursday

At the Route 66 State Park in Eureka, MO:

And tracking down Muffler Men in Granite City, IL:

Route 66 State Park and Visitors’ Center

One of the three big field trips I planned for this year’s summer school was a trip west to the Route 66 State Park in Eureka, MO.

The Visitor’s Center is the old Bridgehead Inn, which was an original Route 66 roadhouse from 1935:

It’s a fairly unassuming building, but they have a surprisingly large collection of Route 66 memorabilia in the the museum inside:

The original name for the inn becomes obvious when you walk around outside, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to use the bridge! It appears that there is still a fundraising effort underway to restore it for (I assume) pedestrian access, which would be highly beneficial, because the rest of the state park is actually across the river, and requires using an entirely different exit from the interstate to access!

There are quite a few trails through the park, and it also contains a piece of local history, as the former summer resort town (and eventually full-time low-income housing community) Times Beach was once located here. That spot has a rather sordid but fascinating past involving poverty, an industrial disaster from the spread of the contaminant dioxin, and flooding, but is a lovely (and clean!) park today.

We are very fortunate to have Route 66 locations close enough to home for us to visit!

Stay tuned for more Route 66 adventures!

Tasty Tuesday–Celebrating 35 Years of Sonic the Hedgehog

Today is Sonic the Hedgehog’s 35th birthday! To celebrate, I made a few different recipes from Sonic the Hedgehog: The Official Cookbook, starting with “Seven Rings in Hand” donuts for breakfast and dessert. There are four different varieties…white chocolate glaze in Sonic’s iconic blue with celebratory sprinkles:

Chocolate glazed with salted caramel crunch topping:

Strawberry glazed:

And matcha glazed with lavender-vanilla finishing sugar:

They made a colorful display!

You can’t celebrate Sonic’s birthday without chili dogs!

To go with dinner I also made color-changing “Imperial Tea.” The butterfly pea iced tea was flavored with lavender and lemon and changed from Sonic blue to Blaze purple!

This was a fun excuse for a little celebration!

Tasty Tuesday–Dining Down the Mother Road (At Home)–Part Three

We’ve had another pair of Route 66 dinners in the last week!

First, I made “Bang Bang Burgers” from The Route 66 Cookbook like they serve at Hoppers Pub in . Waynesville, MO. The Bang Bang Sauce was amazing, and an onion ring is a great topper for a burger!

For dessert we had “Butter Spritz Cookies” like they serve at Jubelt’s Bakery and Restaurant, a Route 66 stop a little closer to home in Litchfield, IL.

Next up was a German feast…all items I’ve made before, but with new twists from The Route 66 Cookbook. The main course “Pork Wiener Schnitzel” like they serve at Westside Lilo’s in Seligman, AZ. It was very similar to how I usually make schnitzel, but with lemon pepper added to the breading…I will definitely be using that tip from now on!

To go with the schnitzel, I made Späetzle like they serve at the Rock Cafe in Stroud, OK. I make Späetzle A LOT, but this recipe was very different from what we’re used to. It was still good, and it’s nice to have another option!

I kept the German theme going with dessert, and the recipe for apple strudel was from a restaurant near and dear to my heart…The Berghoff in Chicago. I’ve never made strudel with phyllo dough before…it was light and lovely and the recipe is a definite keeper!

I already have a few more meals planned for our culinary journey down Route 66!