Posts Tagged ‘burger’

When I flew out to see my friend Travis in California a few years ago, he picked me up from the airport with his girlfriend and told me flat out: “Okay, we have to stop at In-N-Out before we head home. You need to experience it.” I honestly had no idea what In-N-Out was at the time… and then I was enlightened. And addicted. And lived in the Midwest. If you haven’t heard of the cult of In-N-Out yet, it’s pretty simple: perfect, simple burgers, fries and shakes, done really, really well. I mean… really well.  Like the best fast food burger you’ll ever have well.

I know a lot of people knock fast food and the evils of it and blah blah blah McDonalds breakfast will kill you. But I stand firm when I say it’s all about the production of the product which causes the bad rap. If every restaurant did what In-N-Out does, I think we’d all be singing a different tune. Yes, it’s high in calories and fat because they’re still burgers and fries, but guess what, that organic pizza or locally raised beef you’re eating? Probably has the same calories.

No freezers, no heat lamps, freshly ground beef from their own cattle, hand leafed lettuce, freshly baked buns … I mean the list goes on and on of why this place rocks. And although I now live in Colorado and only get In-N-Out when I’m lucky (oddly enough today is Friday the 13th – go figure), I still make sure to grab an Animal style cheeseburger, fries, and Neapolitan shake whenever I can.

I’ll be out of town the rest of the week to spend some time in Tucson, AZ for a publisher’s conference until Sunday. The thing I’m looking forward to most? This masterpiece will be less than 5 blocks from where we’re staying:

Oh In-N-Out, how I’ve missed you.

I’ll post pics of places we eat while there (as usual) and although I imagine most things will be “animal style,” I’m sure we’ll have some other things along the way.

See you guys Sunday!

I used to hate summer. Sure I loved not going to school, maybe swimming occasionally and wearing flipflops, but I have never liked hot weather and growing up in Kansas City meant not only heat, but unbelievable, suffocating humidity.

Although autumn is still my favorite season (for weather and dining), summer grew on me by leaps and bounds as soon as I started cooking seriously and appreciating seasonal ingredients – one of them being the glory that is summer tomatoes. I know it’s still early and the best have really yet to arrive, but I couldn’t resist when I saw this recipe on Chow.com. It sounded so good to pair with a burger and some watermelon (pre 4th of July BBQ warm-up, anyone?) so I stopped by this farmer’s stand that’s always in the parking lot of my local liquor store and snatched up some baby tomatoes toot suite.  And now with the heat wave Boulder is enduring this week, nothing could be better.

You could probably do this entire salad raw if you appreciate the taste, but I went with cooked for the first run.  This salad is so unbelievably refreshing with the lemon vinaigrette and crunchy corn, it would be fabulous alongside spicy BBQ if you felt like something besides burgers.  Also, my burgers are incredibly simple – I just like to mix 4 ounces ground turkey with 1 minced garlic clove, a sprinkling of fresh oregano and about 1 teaspoon grated red onion.  Top with some fresh spinach and feta and away we go.

My reward for my big, tiring, sweaty, gross move.