The Silent "I"

Prius v Review: Little Big Car

Last weekend, I had the chance to test drive a new Prius v for the weekend, thanks to the fine folks at Toyota. I had my pick of their new cars to try out, but I opted for the Prius v because it seemed to be a cross between the two cars we already have: an original, first-generation Prius and a Lexus RX300.  I was pleasantly surprised by the car, and it is currently high on my list of cars when ours need to be replaced.

We have used our 2001 Prius as a commuter car for a little over 10 years now, primarily for getting to and from work and short local trips.  We love taking road trips, but generally go with our roomier Lexus due to the limited trunk space on the Prius.  Unfortunately, with high gas prices, the Lexus is not always the most economical choice, but we just can't cram all of our luggage, snacks, and gear into the Prius.  The Prius v is the best of both, in that it has ample trunk space AND great gas mileage, averaging over 40 miles per gallon.

We got to tool around in the Prius v for the weekend, and were all impressed. My 6'4" husband found the extra headroom and legroom to be a bonus, and our leggy almost-12 year old enjoyed having more space the back seat as well.  I liked the comfortable seats and multiple cupholders, along with the dashboard gadgetry that allows you to do simple searches while on the road.

We had to pick up supplies for our annual neighborhood pool party, and were astounded that multiple cases of soda, chips, food, and other drinks fit easily into the trunk without folding the seats down.  There was plenty of room to spare as well.  Prius v definitely lives up to the Costco challenge.  Since Costco is my husband's designated "happy place," he got along well with the Prius v.  What is it with men and big box stores? Just because it's a deal if you buy in bulk, doesn't mean we need 4,000 rolls of toilet paper.  Even so, the Prius v, with fold-down rear seats, would be able to accommodate the lifetime supply of tofu burgers that you just had to have.  In addition, there is a secret compartment under the mat where you can store valuables out of sight, or to store your roadside emergency kit.

This would be a wonderful car for a small family that doesn't want to go full-on minivan.  The backseats have plenty of leg room and is wide enough for multiple carseats.  The car comes equipped with a carseat tethering system to secure the carseats in.  Older kids will like the multiple cupholders, backseat armrests and plug-in stations for portable gaming systems or dvd players.  Moms of multiple kids often complain that the worst thing about road trips is the fact that kids fight.  In the Prius v, there's plenty of room in the back to forestall the inevitable "he's touching me!" fights that can occur.  If only Toyota would build a wall there, the car would be perfect.

Both of our current cars have a GPS navigation system, but it was a little difficult to get used to the look and feel of the new system in the Prius. I had it on some kind of  3D setting that starting making me dizzy after looking at it for a while.  We finally figured out how to adjust it to 2D and it was more like what we were used to.  Entering a destination is much easier, although the touchscreen didn't seem to respond to my nails, so I think you have to use your finger pads.  Those with long nails should be forewarned.

The cars come equipped with Entune, a connectivity system that allows you to use apps like Bing, Pandora, and Open Table connected to your phone to find nearby restaurants, attractions, and play music.  The apps are equipped to use voice commands, so your hands never have to leave the wheel while you search for Vietnamese food in unfamiliar territory.

One of my coworkers asked if I could take her for a spin around the parking lot at work to try the car out, since she is thinking of replacing her existing car with a Prius v.  We noticed a little black slot on the driver's side that the manual says is a "card slot." We tried to imagine what that might be used for--credit card slot for use at drive-thru windows? Your Starbucks gold card? Parking lot tickets?   A really small grilled cheese sandwich? We also admired the double-glove compartment, with the additional glove box above the traditionally placed one. That would be a great place to store CDs, registration cards, insurance cards, and other things you need to grab without reaching down.  If you're a parent, the top box would be a great place to store toys, snacks, or extra clothes for little ones.

Overall, I was very impressed with the Prius v.  I think it would be a good compromise between the small SUV and a compact car.  It was easy to drive, fuel efficient, and had good pick-up on the highway.   Now, if I could just get Toyota to loan me one permanently...

Disclosure: I was selected for participation in the Toyota Women's Influencer Network through a program with Clever Girls Collective.  I did not receive any compensation for writing this post, or payment in exchange for participating. The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the views of Toyota.

Photo Credit:  All photos are copyright Glennia Campbell. All Rights Reserved.

Food, Glorious Food: What to Eat in St. Lucia

 

St. Lucia offers a variety of food options to suit just about any palate, from the gourmet to the gourmand or the mac-and-cheese-addicted child.  Freshly-caught fish and seafood abound, combined with locally-grown seasonings, vegetables and traditional Caribbean preparations, making for healthy, delicious, and unique culinary experiences.  Some popular dishes are found in different forms on other Caribbean islands, but St. Lucia puts its own twist on food. Even if you think you know what Callaloo or Shark & Bake tastes like, you haven't tried it until you've tasted it here. 

Green Figs & Salt Fish

The national dish of St. Lucia is the dynamic duo known as "green figs and salt fish".  The "figs" are actually unripe bananas, peeled and sauteed with garlic, onions, celery, and peppers.  If the combo of bananas and garlic don't sound appealing, never fear.  Unripened bananas are not sweet and taste more like potatoes than the yellow bananas we're used to putting in cereal and eating as an on-the-go snack.  Unripe, the bananas are much starchier and harder, with less banana flavor. Green Figs & Salt Fish also features salt fish, rinsed thoroughly to drain out most of the salt, then flaked and sauteed with the bananas and vegetables.  It is a hearty, filling meal for lunch or dinner, but I even ate it for breakfast while I was there.  Bananas, green and ripened, are abundant on St. Lucia and are the island's primary crop for export.

Floats & Bakes

"Bakes" are a popular form of bread in St. Lucia, made with a round of plain flour dough that is bake or fried.  When baked, it has a taste similar to English muffins, not sweet, but dense, chewy and hearty.  You can eat them on their own, or with a variety of fillings to form a handy sandwich-like snack. Add a little powdered sugar or jam, and you have a breakfast treat.  Much of the street food sold at markets and stands in St. Lucia has a bake filled with a meat or fish filling.

Shark & Bake

The same dough recipe can be deep-fried to create a "float", a popular base for St. Lucian street food like Shark and Bake.  Shark and Bake, as the name connotes, is a mixture of fish and stewed vegetables eaten as a sandwich.  I'm not sure if the fish meat was actually shark or something else, but it tasted good.  Other islands may have originated and popularize this version of the fish sandwich, but St. Lucians have adapted a version all their own.

Callaloo

Callaloo is a dark green leafy vegetable that comes from the leaves of the taro plant.  St. Lucians use it in place of spinach or kale, and when cooked up, it produces a smoky-flavored addition to fish or seafood dishes.  Combined with mashed dasheen (taro root), the leaves form a thick, green, flavorful soup base for crab or other seafood.  It reminded me of the Seaweed Soup my mom makes, both in taste and texture.  My travel companion, Julia, tried the Callaloo crab soup, which was a little hard to eat since the crab meat had to be extracted from the tiny crab legs.  She said it was worth the effort, even though some of it ended up on her lovely white dress.  I had Callaloo and Snapper at one meal, which was a mixture of snapper sauteed with callaloo leaves.  The leaves were similar in taste to cooked chard or kale, with none of the bitterness. 

Places to Dine

Street Food

Throughout St. Lucia, there are open-air stands selling a variety of ready-to-eat local delicacies, like shark and bake, roast pork, and bakes.  Grab a foil-wrapped Shark & Bake for an inexpensive, hearty meal on the go.  On Friday nights, Trios Restaurant at Bay Gardens Beach Resort offers up their parking lot to a food and music festival called "Calaloo Fridays" with food stands featuring typical street food, the ubiquitous Pitons Beer, music and Carnival bands showing off their elaborate costumes and dance moves. This is a fun and inexpensive way to try out a variety of St. Lucian delicacies. 

Caribbean Fusion

For a fine-dining experience with a pan-Caribbean flair, check out Trios Restaurant at the Bay Gardens Beach Resort in Rodney Bay.  Featuring locally grown fresh vegetables and fresh fish dishes from the sea, Trios offers excellent seafood, jerk-style chicken, and hearty vegetarian dishes in a romantic, tropical setting frequented by locals and visitors alike.  I enjoyed the Crab Chowder served in a coconut shell bowl, with large chunks of crab and vegetable in a coconut-based broth.  The Trios Snapper was served with three sauces that all complemented the fish and mashed sweet potatoes well.  For dessert, try the Fruitcake, which is more the color and consistency of gingerbread than the Christmas doorstop that we think of as fruitcake.

Pumpkin seem to be a favorite ingredient among St. Lucian chefs, who use it for a spicy soup, a base for vegetarian dishes, and for dessert treats like pumpkin pie. 

Indian Food

St. Lucians share a long history of trade with India, and nearly 40% of St. Lucians have some Indian ancestry.  It's only fitting that one of the top new restaurants in St. Lucia is the acclaimed Spice of India. Spice of India offers tradional Indian food served with a dramatic flair.  We had what seemed like a suptuous 90 course meal at Spice of India, and no one at the table could stop eating. From the luscious, creamy butter chicken to flavorful deconstructed samosas to perfectly-grilled tandoori chicken to the deep-fried chocolate cake at the end, every bite was a new twist on some familar Indian dishes.  This is not your mother's chicken tikka masala, and you might not ever want to go back to it after dining at Spice of India.  This restaurant was voted #1 by TripAdvisor, and for good reason: the food is simply out of this world.

If you just can't take all this exotic goodness, and have a hankering for some good old American fast food, there is a KFC, a Domino's and even a Subway in Rodney Bay.  McDonald's, however, has not made it into St. Lucia yet, so you'll have to wait to get to the airport in Miami or New York to get your Big Mac on.

 

 Creme Brulee, Fruitcake & Pumpkin Pie

 

“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life - and travel - leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks - on your body or on your heart - are beautiful.”

                                                                                                        -Anthony Bourdain

 Disclosure: Food and accommodations for my trip to St. Lucia were paid for by Bay Gardens Resorts. I did not receive any additional financial incentive or compensation for writing this post.  All opinions expressed are my own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Bay Gardens Resorts.

Photos: Copyright Glennia Campbell/The Silent I. All Rights Reserved.

Where to Get Your Kicks on California's Route 66

After our barrelling-through-the night strategy to kick off our Christmas Across America Tour, we woke up in Barstow and were ready to hit the Mother Road, Route 66.  Barstow didn't look like much at night, beyond a strip of chain hotels and fast-food joints (or at least to the weary traveler).  Barstow's primary claim to fame seems to be it's location along the historic Route 66, the way west for dust bowl refugees in the 1930's.  Barstow has clearly seen better days, and let's hope for better days ahead.

Our first stop was the Route 66 Museum, one of six Route 66 Museums dotting the historic road.  The museum is housed in basement of the old Harvey House Hotel, sitting beside a row of a dozen or more parallel train tracks.  In its heyday, the Barstow was a prime stop for the Santa Fe Railway, and Harvey House was renowned for its hospitality. The museum has a few old vehicles, like a Model T Touring Car, and displays on the various eras of Barstow's history and on Route 66 generally.  The gift shop of every kind of trinket imaginable emblazoned with "Historic Route 66" was nearly as big as the display.  Since my son is a fan of gift shops, we spent as much time there as we did looking at the memorabilia.

After learning all about the importance of Route 66,we set out to find it.  Some of it is subsumed under I-40, and then it diverges off through the Mojave Desert. We took the interstate for parts of the trip and went off on side trips down Route 66 from time to time, depending on what we wanted to see.  I was struck by how incredibly pristine both the interstate and Route 66 were--not a single piece of stray litter in sight.  I remember the famous commercial in the 1970's of the Native American chief character looking out over a landscape filled with trash and a single tear running down his face.  Anti-litter and highway clean-up programs over the years must have worked, because the desert road was amazingly clean.

We headed down the historic part of Route 66 to Newberry Springs, California.  We stopped for lunch at the famous Bagdad Cafe, location of the 1988 film of the same name.  Both Frank and I had seen the movie many years ago, and decided this was as good a place as any for lunch.  It's not the most luxurious place by a long stretch, and what you might expect of a roadside stop on an otherwise deserted stretch of highway in the desert.  The food was good, the staff was friendly and accomodating, and it has a certain nostalgia for many tourists traveling on Route 66.
 
Our main stop of the day was at Kelso Dunes, part of the enormous Mojave National Preserve.  We had to veer off Route 66 for a while and drive several miles down a dirt road to find the trail, but it was worth it.  I wrote a little about it yesterday, but none of the pictures I took really capture the magic of watching the light change on the desert.  The shadows on the dunes took on deep pools of color, turning the normally beige landscape into a breathtaking display of sand and sky.

 

We made it to Needles by around six pm, but couldn't decide on a place to stop for dinner, so we forged ahead to Kingman, Arizona.  We dined on hearty, delicious Mexican food at El Palacio on Route 66, then made our way to the Springhill Suites for the night.  Springhill Suites is a very modern, upscale motel near I-40 that we were able to use some of our Marriott frequent-stayer points to score a free room.

Road Trip Tip of the Day:  Visit natural landmarks and parks an hour before sunset for the best light for photos.  You will get some amazing results, even with a simple camera, if the lighting is right. These were taken with a Nikon D90, but my husband got some gorgeous results with his point-and-shoot as well.

Yahoo! Mother Board Summit: The Mother of All Conferences

Recently, sixty-five moms from all over the US and Canada descended on Palo Alto and Sunnyvale to attend the invitation-only Yahoo! Mother Board Summit.  The moms are a high-powered group of bloggers who are plugged in to all the latest trends in marketing and social media, and were invited to participate in a one-day conference at Yahoo! Headquarters in Sunnyvale. I was fortunate enough to be invited, and had a wonderful time connecting with old friends, and meeting some great new friends.  I was happy, for once, to not have to travel to a meeting.

I have been on the Mother Board for three years, from its inception.  At the beginning, we answered surveys and tested out new Yahoo! products and gave the marketing team feedback.  In the past year, it has grown into a community of 80 bloggers who support and advise each other through a Yahoo! group and on the pages of the Yodeling Mamas blog. 

The Mother Board Summit was a mix of practical advice for bloggers, marketing focus group for Yahoo! products and services, and socializing over great food and drinks.  The women on the Yahoo! marketing team and Voce Communications did a fabulous job of organizing the content, and shepherding the attendees from place to place.

World Cup: Where to Watch in Palo Alto/Stanford (San Francisco Peninsula)

My hometown of Palo Alto, California is a melting pot of cultures, and as international community as you are likely to find anywhere in the world.  Home to Stanford University, Palo Alto is an upscale mecca for students, entrepreneurs, and regular folks alike.  When the World Cup takes center stage every four years, Palo Altans and our neighbors from around the world gather to celebrate our national allegiances, and commiserate our losses to soccer powerhouses like Germany, Brazil and...Ghana?

This time around, I was determined to find a way to celebrate the event with other people, so I investigated where there were gatherings to watch the games being held in South Africa.  Although the HD TV in my house is just fine for viewing, it's more fun to watch with a group.

Here are some of the places I've watched these past few weeks, in case you're looking to watch the elimination games in Palo Alto or Stanford:

Pasta? Palo Alto: Pasta? as the name suggests is an Italian Restaurant in downtown Palo Alto on University Avenue.  The food is good, but the mood was somewhat subdued on the day I dragged my co-workers out for lunch to see the game. It was not nearly as exciting as some of the other venues, because I think the crowd was a mixture of soccer fans and people who just wandered in for lunch.  Pasta? is located at 326 University Avenue, Palo Alto, and is normally open from 10 am - 10 pm. 

Tresidder Student Union & Coffee House (CoHo): The Stanford Coffee House or CoHo as it's known on campus has two large HD TVs set up for game-viewing.  The day I was there, a group of Dutch students were lined up in front of one of the TVs like big orange birds on a wire wearing soccer ball hats, cheering on their team.  CoHo has not only coffee drinks, but also a great selection of salads and sandwiches.  It gets crowded at lunch time, so plan those 11:30 am games ahead of time.  I was also told that there are TVs set up in the lounges in Tresidder for viewing, but I didn't see where these were located.  CoHo is located at 459 Lagunita in the Tresidder Student Union, and is open 7 am - midnight weekdays and 9 am - midnight on weekends.

Restaurant Review: Piperade in San Francisco

I have been dying to try Chef Gerald Hirigoyen's Piperade Restaurant in San Franciso since hearing him speak at the Cooking for Solutions event in Monterey. I tried the Garlic Soup with bacon, egg and shrimp as the first course. The soup was tangy, but not overpowering with garlic flavor.  I would never have thought of putting shrimp, bacon, eggs and bread together in a soup.  It was like a sophisticated omelet soup. 

For the main course, I had a perfectly grilled halibut steak topped with crispy garlic and a spicy pepper on top.  The dish was flavorful, and the fish was buttery and delicious.  Frank had a tender duck that melted in your mouth.

I didn't know much about Basque cuisine going into the restaurant, but our friendly, cheerful Basque waitress was more than happy to explain things to us and make recommendations.  She recommended the Gateaux Basque for desert, a dense cake with a layer of cream and a compote of sherry-infused cherries.  I had a custardy mousse made of almonds, pistachios, and cream with sweet, crispy almonds on top that the waitress explained was a result of the Arab influence and history in Spain.  Wherever they came from, both were the perfect note to end the perfect meal.

I can't wait to go back to Piperade to find out what else Chef Hirigoyen has up his sleeve.  I bought a copy of his book, Pintxos: Small Plates in the Basque Tradition at the Monterey event, and now that I have some reference to what it's supposed to taste like, I might have to try a few things.

I saw one older child in the restaurant of about 11 or 12, but I would not recommend this for kids. I don't think that kids would be unwelcome, I just don't think that you or the kids would be comfortable.  Our son was not with us, so I don't know if they have a child-friendly menu, but the flavors are probably a little too powerful for small fry. This is a great place for a date night or a special celebration with friends.

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Now We're Talking: Talkeetna

We ventured off the main Parks Highway to check out Talkeetna, Alaska, population 1,064, plus a busload or two of tourists.  If you were charmed by the 1990's television show Northern Exposure, Talkeetna would be right up your alley.  In fact, the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska was supposedly based on Talkeetna, although the show was actually filmed in Washington State.  The resemblance between the two was unmistakeable.

Frank insisted on having lunch at the historic Talkeetna Roadhouse, built in 1914.  Frank later explained that he wanted to eat there because it was the only restaurant listed in the AAA Guide.  We saw several other eateries on the main street, so either the guide was out of date or the other places were not worth mentioning.  Not wanting to risk it, we stuck with the AAA Guide recommendation.

Celebrity Chefs Cook for Solutions in Monterey

This past weekend, I attended a great event at the Monterey Bay Aquarium called "Cooking for Solutions".  It's an annual event in its ninth year, featuring celebrity chefs doing cooking demonstrations and speaking on sustainable food efforts.  The events lasted all weekend, but I signed up for the cooking demonstrations on Saturday morning with chefs Anthony Fusco, Kevin Gillespie, and Gerald Hirigoyen. Each Chef presented a seafood-based recipe, answered questions, and spoke about their commitments to local and sustainable food sources in their respective restaurants.

Chef Anthony Fusco, formerly of Harbour Restaurant in New York City, was up first, and showed us how to make Scallops Crudo, an appetizer similar to ceviche using passion fruit vinaigrette instead of citrus to marinate the scallops.  Chef Fusco explained the various unusual ingredients in the dish and what they meant to the balance of flavors, such as adding cocoa nibs for an earthiness and shiro dashi for smokiness. 

Both he and Kevin Gillespie waxed poetic about the olive oils and vinegars from Katz & Company, a Napa Valley artisinal oil and vinegar company that supplies great restaurants throughout the country.  He emphasized that it is important to know where your food comes from, and who is making it.

I hadn't heard of Anthony Fusco before this event, and unfortunately, his restaurant, Harbour, closed in December. He is working on opening a new place in New York called Carmela's, scheduled to open at the end of the year.  Chef Fusco was very engaging, and spoke lovingly of growing up in an Italian family in Brooklyn where Sunday dinner lasted all day.  His father, a "Wall Street man", was sitting behind me in the audience, beaming with pride at his son.  He said their favorite dish was a simple pasta with garlic, anchovies, olive oil and red pepper flakes.

Aside from his love of seafood, Fusco seemed to hold a particular reverence for bacon.  "Popcorn cooked in bacon fat will change your life," he said, drawing a laugh from the crowd (and for me, the desire to go home and try it).  He invited everyone to come to Carmela's when it opens, and assured us that "there will be pork on the menu."

Dining in Kaua'i: 2010 Edition

 

Kauai has a number of great restaurants that will suit any palate, even the pickiest of children (or adults for that matter).  This was our sixth trip here, so we have some old stand-bys that we try to get to every time we come, and always try something new.  I wrote up a list of recommendations on our last trip here, and already shared my thoughts on Verde, so here are a few additional recommendations:

1. Brennecke's Beach Broiler:  Brennecke's in Poipu is a venerable seafood restaurant, unpretentious, but featuring fresh, grilled fish dishes and generous portions.  Decorated with a sports theme, it doesn't look like much, but the food is good, and the site offers views of the sunset off the western shore of the island.  I had grilled shrimp and ono, served up with hearty potatoes au gratin and broccoli, with a side of crisp pineapple salsa (pictured above).  Everything was cooked to perfection, and tasted great together. Location: 2100 Hoone Rd., Poipu Beach, Koloa, HI. Reservations Recommended.

Dining in Kaua'i: Verde

If you're looking for an inexpensive, yet delicious place to dine in Kauai, look no further than Verde, a New Mexican-Hawaiian fusion restaurant in Kapa'a (think: Ahi Tostadas and you get the idea).  It may look like a typical taco stand, but it's about as far from Taco Bell as Hawaii is from the North Pole.

Chef-Owner Josh Stevens moved to Kaua'i after stints as chef in some of Oahu and Maui's best hotel restaurants.  A native of New Mexico, Chef Josh imports in chiles and flavors from the region and blends it with the best of local ingredients to make tasty, creative concoctions like the Cali Burrito I had (pictured), or the Chile Seared Ahi tacos.  He also features flavorful vegan and gluten-free meals, so there is something for just about every palate.  The chile spice can be either mild or hot, red or green, and seasoned to your liking.

I'm not a huge fan of hot food, but the burrito I had was flavorful without being overpowering. It was a good size, but not the gigantic football size that you get in some restaurants that you can't possible eat, or if you do, immediately feel ill.  We also shared chips lightly dusted with chile powder served with some excellent guacamole.

Located in a fairly nondescript stripmall in Kapa'a, I was surprised that such good food was being served up in such humble surroundings. This was probably our best food find on this trip, thanks to our friends, locals Donn and Nancy Forbes, who are dedicated regulars.  Verde had not yet opened when we were in Kauai in 2007, so this was a new place for us.  Thanks, Donn & Nancy!

This is a great place to go if you've had enough kalua pork sandwiches, poi, and spam musubi, and want something a little different. Verde is located at 4 Kuhio Highway, Kapa'a, Kauai.