Traveling: Good Food

So for the foodies out there I’d like to share our experience in Paducah, KY.  As I mentioned in my previous posting, we stayed at a great little B&B in this small Kentucky town.  It was a great find and the owners, Robert and Rachel (interestingly for this Brit, Rachel was from Manchester, UK!!), were wonderful hosts.  Rachel had an amazing elephant collection which was also rather interesting because our daughter Melissa has an elephant collection too.

But the best part of this B&B was our room.  You have to understand that the building looks like a non-descript ranch style house from the outside.  As you walk in there is a spacious living area with a dining room and large lounge full of big comfortable sofas.  Robert has installed a hi-tech media server that is connected to digital players in each guest room and a large wall-size screen in the lounge.  Guests can pick from a vast menu of movies 24/7 and each room can watch a different movie at the same time.

Two of the three guest rooms are quite simple, comfortable but simple, with a small adjoining bathroom.  However, there the “simple” stops.  They each have another en-suite room that contains one item – a large two person hot tub! Yes, it was ours, all ours, no sharing!!  The third guestroom is slightly different in that the bedroom is a little larger and has two big beds and the bathroom is much larger and in one corner there is a large 2-person whirlpool tub.  We so enjoyed our hot tub later in the evening.  It was such a de-stressor after two days on the bike.  I slept like a baby afterwards. 

When it came time for dinner Robert had some very good suggestions.  He actually said, as he rubbed a substantial but not fat belly, “Anyone with a body like this who recommends a restaurant is probably giving you good advice”.  And he spoke the truth.  After singing  the praises of several eateries in the area, he said the magic words “good Thai food”.  Richard’s ears perked up and his eyes brightened.  “Pad Thai”, was all he said,

A short time later found us back on Harley and headed into Paducah town proper ready to locate “Spicy Ginger”, one of two Thai restaurants that Robert had named.  We were not disappointed.  After sharing some of the best Pot Stickers ever and a couple of really good, crispy spring rolls, Richard ordered his Pad Thai and I asked for a Green Curry.

Both dishes came out looking a little different from other Thai restaurants that we have enjoyed, but resting in the enjoyment of our appetizers we tucked in.  No disappointment at all.  Rich said it definitely tasted different from previous Pad Thai experiences, but that it was “really, really good”. (That’s high praise coming from Richard whose vocabulary over food usually consists in “OK” or “not as good as others”, but “OK” is his predominant assessment!). 

My Green Curry was also most definitely different to others that I have eaten, but the “mmmmm’s’” and “aaaaah’s” that ensued as I enjoyed the dish certainly bespoke the deliciousness (I don’t care if that’s not a real word – it fits the moment!).  I do not lack in vocabulary when it comes to food, and apart from my audible mewls of pleasure as I ate, I remember telling our server that it was the best Green Curry I had eaten, that it was absolutely awesome.

So, for the travelers out there, Paducah, KY offers Escapes B&B as a very good and unusual place to stay and also has some great eateries.

By the same token, if you ever stay in Bolingbrook, Chicago, never ever eat at or order out from “Golden Palace” Chinese restaurant.  We arrived here yesterday at about 5.30pm worn out from 430 miles on the bike, muggy weather, and dealing with several stretches of road works that slowed us down.  We were tired and hungry and needed to eat and get to a spiritual concert and meet with friends at St. Dennis church in Lockport (that’s another posting), so we decided to order into our hotel.

As soon as we opened the containers I knew we were in for a bad experience.  Trying to get the pieces of chicken out of the thick, sticky, General Tso “goo” was awful.  My pot stickers were great clumps of congealed dough, and Richard’s crab rangoon looked greasy and sorry.  We were hungry and ate some,  but I immediately regretted it and it sat on my stomach for a couple of hours.

Thank goodness the fellowship and sharing God-time we enjoyed later at St. Dennis, along with a couple of slices of decent pizza, managed to wipe out that bad experience.  Next time I will go without rather than put bad food in my stomach.  I deserve better!!