By ANN CUEVA
For The Voice
Happy New Year! I am back from my holiday hiatus, broken all of my resolutions, and am ready to return to routine life. People shared some great recipes with me over the last three weeks and, now that I have returned by plane, automobile and Greyhound bus I am ready to share them with my readers. Although I always think I should have an admission to one of those lovely private hospitals for a week or two of rest for travel nervousness, I don’t ever get to have it. The closest I’ve come is a massage and that is not a week at the spa.
This past week we waited for the Greyhound bus for two hours at the abandoned Clegg’s in Burley, wondering if it had forgotten us or if we had gotten the time wrong. With deepening frustration we called all of the numbers we had and spoke to three people. One told us they could not track a bus. The first thing I noticed when we eventually did get on was a beeping GPS. Gracie, our automated travel advisor, gave us the times we already had on paper and the price we had already prepaid, and finally the third live voice told us she was very sorry and due to the official Monday holiday, they would not be able to locate the bus until the following day—about the time we were supposed to be in the air. The bus did pull in after all. In Portland, the escape hatch had flown open during a high wind and could not be repaired. This required an hour return to Portland for a new bus and, then, of course, the two hour delay. That was one busload of crabby people. My seat mate was watching the Rose Bowl, and I learned that one could hear clearly 84 expletives while watching a football game on a smart phone that even I would not ever utter. I have vowed to never curse again.
On our way out here, I had a fender bender that allowed us to make the plane by a breath. As we were getting on at the last minute, I noticed a barking dog with another passenger waiting to board. I offered to sit with her since my life IS more or less barking dogs, crying babies, and complaining spouses. I asked her if she had seen a vet for sedation. She had, but the dog kept yapping. The airline did not allow her to board.
This reminded me of my last experience about traveling with a pet. We were shipping our beloved Toby to my daughter-in-law and son. We were down to only one dog, he was lonely, and Toby’s daughter belonged to them. We drove to Salt Lake City to ship Toby the afternoon before our morning flight. Luckily we had asked our friends Tab Smith and Cindy Mangum about shipping dogs, and they had let us know we would need ten times more documents for the dog than we would getting through a red alert security plus food and water taped to the crate. I had make a visit to Wally Ward just in case Toby decided that flying a multi thousand pound machine a mile high didn’t make sense, I could quiet him with a doggy sleeping pill. Not necessary.
When we entered the animal shipping area at Delta, we were the only ones there at first. I began tediously filling out the novel of paper work and Ken sat down to wait. Within a few minutes, a woman came in with a screeching, snarling, hissing cat. She sat in the seat next to Ken who just could not resist the temptation to ask about the cat although it was cornered in the back of the crate where it could not be seen. I was reaching for the doggy sedation, but even Toby was intimidated into silence. The owner proudly explained that this cat was being shipped to Philippine Royalty. It was a hairless cat. She was the top breeder in the United States. This cat had been voted second best worldwide and cost $10,000. (And that is not a typo.) My curiosity despite the ear shattering noise it was making got the best of me. While the gentleman put Toby’s paper work through the computer, I turned, bent down to look, jumped back when the cat charged the front of the carrier, and saw a most horrible sight–a pink skeletal cat.
Since the owner was so proud of her animal, I refrained from saying, “That is the ugliest animal I have ever seen.”
Instead, I asked her if this type of animal had to have sunscreen on when it went outside. She reared back as if I had spoken the most despicable profanity ever and exclaimed, “This cat would never be allowed outside,” with “you are an idiot attitude.”
Okay, then. She snatched her cat up and huffed up to the check-in for her turn in line with the cat still screaming and hollowing. As I turned to say goodbye to Toby who is jokingly referred to as our “cougar dog” because of his delight in chasing our cats up a tree, he was silently cowering is the corner of his cage.
As we left the area, I noticed Ken was showing an extraordinary interest in his watch and the calculator on his cell phone. I asked him “What’s up?” He told me that he was figuring that if we immediately drove back to Idaho, trapped our feral cats, bought all the Nair between Salt Lake City and Heyburn, borrowed Jerry Arthur’s sheep dip tank, and gave the cats a Nair bath, we could make our flight the next day and be $100,000 richer.
Momentarily the money sounded appealing, but the thought of a restful night in a hotel, a leisurely departure time, dinner at an Italian restaurant, and most of all, the possibility of a mouse getting into my house because of the absence of those wild cats made me refuse.
I know each of you probably has a traveling horror story in your memory, but once home is in sight, it always seems worth it to me. On Christmas Eve, I made my sister, Laurie’s, filet mignon sliders. They are always a hit and make you look like a master chef. Send me your traveling stories with a recipe. You never know. I might test them, and you may find yourself and your story in print! cueva.ann@gmail.com
Fancy Pants Sliders with Horseradish Butter
24 slider rolls—homemade or purchased (I love these on SUNSETS Poppy seed squash rolls—the recipe pops right up on the internet. I just shape them differently and space them separately. (Roll them out and use a biscuit cutter.)
One beef loin
In a large plastic sealable bag, marinate the beef overnight in:
1 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 whole green onion, chopped fine
Prior to baking, remove from refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature. Discard marinade or bring to a boil and then use to brush the meat when it comes out (I don’t bother).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake 45 minutes for medium rare. Allow to rest at least 10 minutes before slicing into thick slices for the sliders.
After starting the marinade, make the horseradish butter.
Beat together:
½ cup butter
¼ cup horseradish
1 8 ounce package of cream chees
¼ cup of mayonnaise
2 finely chopped green onions
Chill overnight, and then allow to come to room temperature before applying to the rolls. About the time the beef goes in the oven, split the rolls and spread ¼ inch of the butter on each roll and allow the rolls to wait for their beef on the stove top so they are slightly warm but does not allow the butter to melt.
Buy a big loin—they go fast!
