Some down home cookin' and just plain good eatin'
Perhaps it comes closest to managing that in the varieties of food under the umbrella of American cuisine.
My canny daughter presented me with the best of all possible things to eat when I arrived to 98 degree heat: a light, crunchy green salad with selections of tasty things beyond the usual tomato and cucumber – olives, croutons, hard-cooked egg, chives, accompanied by the undeniable summer marker for me – iced tea.
Ice is not essential for iced tea (sometimes written as ice tea but standards of literacy on menus and signs in America is a story for another time) but coldness is. Nor is sweetening required.
“Sweet tea” means southern to me. Indiana, with touches of southerness about it, offers iced tea either sweetened or not.
Classic iced tea would be strong-brewed black tea poured while still warm over cubed iced with a sprig or two of mint.
Just writing those words conjures the best of summer memories – porch swings, bees on clover in the back yard and running through the sprinklers on a hot afternoon.
Thai iced tea is pink: a red tea made pale by the addition of coconut milk. Indian iced tea includes jasmine and iced tea can be brewed from any kind of tea.
As a prelude to my America visit, I enjoyed “Strawberry Fields” iced tea in Edinburgh – strawberry and mint tea. Delicious, but then it was 80 degrees there; the quintessential element for enjoying iced tea of any flavour is heat. I just don’t think it will ever be right for Caithness.
When my daughter discovered a Dutch pancake place in her neighbourhood, we were intent on exploring its menu.
Pancakes, another American icon, are typically served hot off the griddle (never in packages as they are here) and can be touted as buttermilk, sour dough, or silver dollar based on the ingredients or the size.
They are usually served with maple syrup and are associated with breakfast, especially a leisurely Sunday breakfast.
This newly discovered pancake house describes its Dutch pancakes as like an “American pancake but slightly larger”.
Food definitions get a bit problematic in the melting pot. Both my daughter and I decided to try the French toast (eggy bread) and omelettes rather than the pancakes, so I’ll have to go back again for the lowdown on Dutch pancakes in Chicago.
I PREFER to avoid franchised restaurants but I made an exception for Bob Evans. With my sister and her mother-in-law, we enjoyed classic American down home cookin’ and just plain good eatin’ – in American dialect.
Bob Evans is the kind of place where the waitress smiles at you even though you can tell her feet are probably killing her while she keeps refilling your coffee cup.
When my sister told the waitress I had come here for a biscuit, she looked quizzically at me.
After explaining that biscuits in Scotland are like cookies or sometimes like crackers, the waitress looked sympathetically at me and brought me an extra biscuit in a little box to take away with me.
Like pancakes, these are served (and best eaten) while warm. Again, if you are southern, you will hanker after biscuits with gravy made from pan drippings. I prefer my biscuits plain or with a bit of butter and jam.
Whatever the cuisine, a consistent theme in American cooking is using local ingredients and putting foods together imaginatively, even with classics like pancakes and biscuits.
I was delighted to discover a restaurant in our own back yard here in the north of Scotland doing that same sort of locally sourced, creative cuisine.
Reinventing classics in its own locally-sourced delicious food is a hallmark of The Lovat, Loch Ness (www.thelovat.com).
We chose the restaurant for its convenient location as we made our way from Edinburgh northwards to home.
As soon as I saw the menu, I felt right at home. Feta cheese in gnocchi topped off with pumpkin seeds caught my eye.
While we waited for our entrées, we enjoyed warm bread with pesto made with rapeseed oil rather than olive oil.
Many of the ingredients come right from its own kitchen garden; it proudly lists its local suppliers on the inside of the menu.
After enjoying our dinner, I discovered the many accolades the hotel has already received for its cuisine – despite having only reopened in 2005.
Coming back after a long absence is always a challenge. Taking in some history and scenery along the way north helped me remember where I am and having fun with food reminded me of the best aspects of where I had been.
