If you have never ridden on a motorcycle, I recommend you do at least once in your life. They’re zippety quick, they bring attention to your table, and they shake up your travel experiences.
So remember the motorcycle route I showed you last week? How we were going to stay in Sun Valley, ID, starting in Bend, OR? Turns out, some dude named Bill Gates (don’t know if you’ve heard of him) decided to hold a meeting for a week in Sun Valley, booking every room in a 30-mile radius.
This is what happens when you don’t plan ahead and make a room reservation. Bill Gates swoops in and steals every room in sight. It’ll happen to you too.
So change in plan, we eat dinner at Jesse’s Country Grill in Bellevue, where our waitress sings along to Taylor Swift and all the other country jams on the music box. I sing along too, it’s cool. We spread out the Idaho map, call G’s mom {Life saver!} and request a lifeline being as it is neither one of us own a smart phone.
She was kind enough to book us a room in a town called Arco, a very good thing because as we roll in to our motel parking lot, John Goodman (or his brother, who knows) strolls out of the office and in his John Goodman voice says, “sorry folks, we’re full!” “We have a reservation” I project like an opera singer. “Really?” He askes. “Yeeeeeeah” I opera sing.
We made it by the skin on our teeth…any longer and we would have been sleeping on the side of the highway.
Our motel is fun. Arco Inn Motel. In the morning, I discover that the Arco Inn has a neat little room with ice and soda with a sign that says “coffee, help yourself.”
Don’t mind if I go. The coffee pot is sitting on top of the microwave next to a large tin of coffee which reads, “2 tbl only per pot please.” Ah hell no. Rules are meant to be broken, John Goodman. I quadruple the rule.
As we’re about to head out and continue on our journey, John Goodman comes out of the office wearing his dark blue bathrobe, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (not) in order to let his dogs out. We just love our John.
We ask him for a breakfast recommendation, and he tells us Pickle’s Place. Don’t have to tell me twice. Besides the fact that Pickle’s Place has the all time weakest coffee on the face of the planet, they have a pretty solid breakfast.
I got the Little Pickle. Garrett got the Big Pickle (consisting of a pile of meat, eggs, toast, and potatoes). Pickle’s Place sells whole kosher pickles for $1.59…a steal I totally would have partaken in had I not eaten a whole jar of pickles two days prior.
I was recovering from pickle tummy, else the kosher pickle plus its fried pickle counterpart would have accompanied my Little Pickle plate. Thanks for the advice on breakfast, John.
All said and done, we made it safely to Wyoming, are back now in California and I have a wonderful frittata treat for you. This is round 2 of Squash Fest 2012 and happens to be the best frittata I’ve made.
I tend to go overboard with vegetable ingredients, which makes one flavor scheme difficult to achieve. This time, I kept the ingredient variety to a minimum, packed in a ton of zucchini and the flavor and texture was exactly what I hoped it would be.
Ingredients
- 4 green onion stalks, chopped
- 2 cups shredded zucchini, 1 large or 2 smaller zucchinis
- 12 leaves basil, chopped
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
Instructions
- Shred the zucchini with a box grater or a food processor. Place shredded zucchini in a colander with a large bowl underneath. Sprinkle with a little salt and allow some water to seep out of the zucchini, about 20 minutes. You can squeeze some of the water out with your hands if you’re in a hurry. This part can be completed ahead of time and the shredded zucchini can stay in your refrigerator overnight if you would like to do this recipe in stages.
- In a large mixing bowl, add shredded zucchini, green onion, basil, cheddar cheese and salt. Stir to combine. Crack the eggs in a separate bowl and beat them. Pour the egg mixture into the bowl with the veggies and stir to combine all ingredients.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- In a 10” cast iron skillet heat 1 to 2 tablespoons grapeseed (or olive oil). Spread the oil around, making sure the sides are nicely oiled as well. Heat to medium then add the egg/zucchini mixture, and make sure the mixture is evenly distributed.
- Cook until the egg begins to cook to the sides of the skillet, about 3 to 5 minutes. Use a pot holder to place skillet in the oven. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until the center tests clean.