Impressions of America

We launched The Cook and The Writer in 2018 to write about food and travel.  During the pandemic, our travel writing was curtailed because, well, we weren’t traveling. But in pre-COVID days, we wrote about our big trips, like to Hawaii or Sicily.

We just completed the biggest trip we’ve taken in several years – a two week visit back to the United States.  It was a 2,300 mile road trip across 8 states (Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina)  Along the way we met with business associates, family, and friends.  We ate some memorable meals and a few that were forgettable.  And we looked at America with different eyes.  Some of what we saw was funny, some of it was inspiring, some was concerning.

Here are a few of our impressions of what we saw, did, and ate along the way.

The Trip Over

Our route to the US was LIsbon to Paris and then on to Chicago.   It was Mary’s birthday and she had high hopes for a nice lunch during our layover in Paris.

Mais non, ma chère.  The signs at Charles De Gaulle airport were confusing, and we burned up most of an hour finding the terminal and gate for our flight to the US.  The main food court there was a disappointment.  There were only a couple places to eat – a coffee shop and a patisserie that was almost out of product at 1:00pm.  (It shut down a few minutes later.)  

So we bought lunch at a convenience store – a pre-made chicken salad sandwich, a bag of Lay’s BBQ potato chips, and two little bottles of rosé.  We sat at the counter of a defunct café and ate.  

Things got better on the second flight of the day, from Paris to Chicago.  Our section was nearly empty and we each scored seats in rows of three with no other passengers.  We settled in for a long day of flying.  It was our first time traveling on Air France and we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the meal they served us.  They even gave us each a glass of champagne to celebrate Mary’s birthday.

Getting Lost – At the Airport!

We have flown through Chicago’s O’Hare airport many times.  This trip was the first time we tried to leave by car.  We spent two days in downtown Chicago, then went back to the airport to pick up the rental car we would use for the remainder of the trip.  

As we drove away from the rental car lot, Mary was reading Google Maps directions and Mike was navigating the busy roads   But he made a couple wrong turns and we ended up in a parking lot.  The only way out was to take a ticket and drive to the exit.  

As Mike pulled the ticket from the machine, a sudden gust of wind blew it from his fingers.  In a moment of exasperation, he pulled forward and kept going.  

At the cashier’s booth, Mike explained to a bored attendant that we had entered the lot by mistake and had not parked.  She asked the logical question, “Where is your ticket?”

In a classic the-dog-ate-my-homework moment, Mike told her that the wind blew it away.  She was unimpressed, and also unable, she said, to make a decision to let us pass.  Mike handed her the rental car contract that showed we had only been in possession of the car for less than 20 minutes.  She called a supervisor and had a lengthy conversation, while we sat and read the sign that listed the parking fees.  The cost for a lost ticket was $70+.  

When she got off the phone, she shook her head and said, “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to charge you.”

We tensed up, anticipating an ugly scene.

“That will be $3.  Have a blessed day.”

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The Fun of the Open Road

Once we were out of Chicago, we enjoyed the road trip.  We had a few long days of driving, but most were just right – 5 or 6 hours – most of it in familiar territory.  And in between, we always had several days to relax and catch up with family.     

One of the highlights was the drive from Columbus, Ohio to Asheville, NC.  Most of the drive was on US Highway 23 – a well-maintained four lane road without a lot of traffic.  We were able to make good time and still enjoy the scenery of southeast Ohio, eastern Kentucky, and little slivers of Virginia and Tennessee.  We were driving In mountains most of the way, first the Appalachans and then the Blue Ridge.  

This section of the drive brought back a lot of memories.  Mike had grown up in a small town in eastern Kentucky.  Mary had grown up outside of Asheville.  We met at Maryille College in east Tennessee and even got married on the campus.  After college, we lived in Maryville for a few years.  Our second child was born there.   

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Society and Culture

After 10 months abroad, many things that we used to take for granted in the US looked different to us.  

Big Box Stores

There is nothing in Portugal that we’ve found to compare to the big box stores in America. We’ve found a few big grocery stores, but nothing to compare in size and variety to a Wal-Mart or a Target. And some of the things you can buy in America are simply not available, like other-the-counter medicines. We came back with a shopping list and an extra suitcase.

Abundance and Waste

While we have read a lot about supply chain issues and shortages in stores, we didn’t see any empty shelves.  We were sometimes surprised by the enormous variety of items available.  

One of the most striking examples was in a convenience store where we stopped for gas and coffee on our way out of St. Louis. The drink station was a mile wide, with ten varieties of hot coffee, twenty kinds of tea and juice, and two dozen spigots for soft drinks!

We wondered how much difference there was between the varieties of coffee.

We’ve written before about the emphasis on recycling and reuse in Europe.  Most restaurants in Portugal, even in the shopping mall food courts, serve your meal on a ceramic plate with metal flatware, all of which can be washed and reused.  (The exceptions are the American fast food chains that use cardboard containers.)  

So we were aware of how much trash we generated every day on this trip.  Hotel breakfast bars served everything wrapped in paper or cellophane, on disposable plates, with plastic flatware and paper cups.  All of it destined for a trash bin, since there were no options for recycling.  

And we quickly adapted to the throw away culture.  Every day on the road we would consume drinks in single-use cups, tossing out one when we stopped to buy another.  

Thinking About Safety, Again

Mary had booked our first two nights at a hotel in downtown Chicago, so after we landed, we took the train from O’Hare into the city.  After riding for a few minutes, we each had the same thought:  “We need to be careful here!”  

Mary was thinking about the shooting that happened in the New York City subway a few days earlier.  Mike was thinking about all the news reports he’d seen about record homicides in Chicago.  We realized we had been spoiled by living in Portugal, where gun violence is nonexistent and we could safely walk the streets at any hour.  

Thankfully, we had no incidents in Chicago or anywhere else, but our guard was up the entire time.

The Simple Joy of Casual Conversation

Throughout the two weeks, we enjoyed talking with people in stores, restaurants, and hotels. We were back in a land where we spoke the native language. We could cut up with the smart alecks, chat with cashiers, and ask for directions, confident that we would probably understand the answer. It was almost effortless, and felt so much different from our very tentative and succinct interactions with people in Portugal.

Mary commented that there is a real privilege of living in a country that speaks English – “the world’s language”. She found that everyone seated next to her on airplanes spoke English, regardless of their nationality.

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The Food We Ate

Of course we have to report on the food! Throughout the trip we had a nice mix of meals in restaurants and meals cooked in family members’ homes. Here are some of the highlights. Unfortunately, we didn’t do a very good job of taking photos, so for some of these, our descriptions will have to suffice.

The Kerryman Pub

https://www.thekerrymanchicago.com/

This thoroughly Irish neighborhood pub was around the corner from our hotel in Chicago. We had lunch there on our first day, and Mike went back for beers with a business associate later in the day. The sandwiches were robust, to say the least, and they had Guiness on draft.

While waiting on our lunch, Mary searched for the meaning of “Kerryman”. She learned that it referred to residents of County Kerry in Ireland, who are often the butt of Irish jokes. One example:

Any fan of a college football team has probably slung versions of these jokes about their rivals.

We learned from our waiter that the owners of the pub were originally from Kerry, and they had named it after Saint Brendan, a 6th century Irish saint. Needless to say, we didn’t make any Kerryman jokes after that.

The Purple Pig

https://thepurplepigchicago.com/

Mary suggested we should eat at this downtown Chicago restaurant, owned by James Beard award-winning chef Jimmy Bannos, Jr. They serve a variety of dishes – some small plates, others entree-sized. We asked our server to recommend her favorites. She suggested four items that were a mix of familiar tastes and unique preparations.

• Salt-crusted brocolli. Different than any we’d ever had. Delicious!
• Beets with creamed goat cheese, pistachios, and pistachio butter. We hadn’t had beets since we were kids, and never had any like these. Sweet and salty. We kept going back for more.
• Pork shoulder with mashed potatoes. Real comfort food on a cold evening.
• Half a barbecued duck. Crispy and succulent.

Put this place on your list for your next trip to Chicago.

Cracker Barrel

On our way to St. Louis from Chicago we stopped for lunch at “The Crack” to get a taste of an old favorite. A new addition to the menu surprised us. They now serve wine. In cans.

We did not indulge. We were driving. Yeah, that’s it.

Tompkins Riverside

https://tompkinsriverside.com/

We had lunch in this farm-to-table restaurant in St. Charles, Missouri with Mike’s brother, Thom, and sister-in-law, Jane. They feature ingredients from farms in a 50 mile radius. We enjoyed green salads, smashburgers, giant BLT’s, and piping-hot french fries, washed down with a local beer called Schnickelfritz. The dining room was 19th century rustic and we sat at a table positioned near an open door so we could catch the spring breeze.

Our waitress was good-natured snark who got in the best line of the day. When Jane asked for directions to the restroom, the waitress deadpanned, “Well, there’s a gas station at the top of the hill…”

After lunch, we walked through the historic district of St. Charles, peeking in the shops and admiring the flowers and blooming foliage.

Hot Chicken Takeover

https://hotchickentakeover.com/

Whenever we visit our son, Will, and his wife, Julia, in Columbus, Ohio, we have to have a meal at HCT. They serve Nashville-style hot chicken in a big, open space above the North Market. The chicken is delicious, the portions are substantial, and you’d best get there early because when they run out, they’re out!

In addition to serving great food, they serve their community by offering employment to men and women who need a fair chance to work. Whether they are homeless, previously incarcerated, or facing other obstacles, HCT provides meaningful work, financial stability, personal growth, and professional development.

Gemut Biergarten

https://www.gemutbiergarten.com/

This was a new place for us in Columbus, OH. We spent an enjoyable evening sitting under canopies on their outdoor patio, feasting on German sausage, pretzels, and, of course, good German beer! Being there with Will, Julia, our daughter, Katie, and Katie’s husband, Jared, made the night even more special.

Beef Wellington at Chef Will’s

It wouldn’t be a Johnston family gathering without at least one meal where Mary (The Cook) and Will (The Chef) collaborate on a special dinner. This time, their project was Beef Wellington, something they had never made before and the rest of us had never eaten.

The rest of our group washed some dishes, fetched ingredients, and otherwise just enjoyed watching the meal come together.

It was delicious!

Jettie Rae’s Oyster House

https://jettieraes.com/

At the far eastern end of our itinerary, we spent a couple days outside of Asheville, visiting Mike’s brother, Bobby, and his husband, Paul. While there, our big night out was dinner at Jettie Rae’s, one of Bobby and Paul’s favorite restaurants. It’s located in a renovated Gulf gas station that has been used for various restaurants for over 70 years.

Mary and I split a perfectly cooked pan-seared branzino that was accompanied by cubed potatoes and broccoli. Our appetizer was unique – bleu cheese potato chips. These would beat nachos any day.

Red State BBQ

https://www.redstatebbq.com/

On our way back to Indianapolis from Asheville, we stopped outside Lexington, Kentucky for a leisurely lunch. Given the name of the restaurant, and our first impressions of the clientele, this was not a place where we would want to engage in a political discussion. But the staff was friendly and the BBQ was great. We could see why it received “Readers’ Choice” accolades from the local paper four years in a row.

It just serves to confirm our guiding principle: Keep politics away from the dinner table!

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Reflections in the Rear View Mirror

That said, allow us to break our own rule.

Coming back to America was something that we looked forward to with anticipation and some trepidation. We were anxious to reconnect with family and friends with whom our only contact had been email and Zoom calls. That part of the trip was joyous. At every turn, we were seeing people we loved and had missed, probably more than we realized.

At the same time, we wanted to sample the vibe of America. We had given up watching the cable news channels on TV after we moved to Portugal, but every day we read the New York Times digital edition. And every day we grow more concerned about the future of the country.

We may live elsewhere, but we are still, and will always be, American citizens. We have business interests in the US. We pay US taxes and we will vote in US elections. Who knows, at some point we may decide to return to the US to live.

We cherish the institutions and democratic principles that have made America a force for good in the world. But today we see those same institutions and principles under attack by a powerful minority for whom power and wealth are the only goals.

What we saw and heard on our trip confirmed our impression. The United States is a country with wealth and abundance unknown in much of the world. But it is a country at war with itself.  We see a country where the majority of people want to make their own lives and the lives of others better, but who are served by a government that does not.

We also know that the path of American progress has not been a straight line. Our experiment in democracy has had twists, turns, and setbacks before. We are hopeful, and cautiously optimistic, that through the efforts of committed and good-hearted people across the country, the forces that threaten our individual and collective liberties will be turned back.

Now, what were we saying about keeping politics away from the dinner table?

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Where will your travels take you this year? Share your plans in the comments below or with a note via the Contact Us form. We’ll be waiting for the postcards.

Until next week / Até a próxima semana

Mary and Mike

The Cook and The Writer

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