Boise and Trout Amandine

I have not blogged in a long time because I have not been riding my bike. At all. I was having some back trouble for a while and lately life has just gotten in the way. But in a good way.

This weekend Jerry and I went on a really great adventure. We loaded 20 small dogs into the back of the Mirage and flew them to Boise, Idaho. There are lots of large dogs in Boise, but not very many small ones, so they are a shoe-in for adoption. They were pulled out of a shelter in Oakland, along with an additional 20 dogs flown in another Mirage by Yehuda and Cindy. Yehuda lives in Southern California and Cindy lives in Livermore, which is where we picked up the dogs. They have rescued scores of dogs this way-- picking them up from crowded shelters in Southern California and the Bay Area and flying them to Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Vancouver.

The dogs were incredibly well behaved during the flight. We'd hear an occasional yowl or whimper, but I think they mostly just relaxed or went to sleep for the two and a half hour flight.

Once we got to Boise, it was a different story. They wanted out. But the only out they were going to get was to be loaded into the Boise Humane Society trucks and vans. Once they reached the facility though, they were unloaded into warm, cozy cages replete with blankets and doggy beds. I think their future looks pretty bright.

After we transferred the dogs, we headed to downtown Boise, which was actually a bit bigger and cosmopolitan than I had imagined. We stayed at a very nice hotel, Hotel 43. Large bed, fluffy towels and even a little stuffed bear in a bathrobe to great us. The room also had a Keurig with dark roast coffee.

We made plans to have dinner with Cindy and Yehuda, and I set out on line to find a good place. Not easy to find a reservation at 7 on a Saturday night, even in Boise. The top Yelp picks were booked until 8:30 or 9 but I took a chance on a place called Cafe de Paris. I saw they had Idaho trout on the menu, and I figured, how could I go wrong with that.

And right I was. The trout was really perfectly cooked and the slivered almonds were wonderful. The sauce was not too heavy. It was accompanied by asparagus and rice pilaf. Jerry and Cindy had salmon, and they thought it was great. Yehuda had a chicken dish. He didn't rave about it, but he ate it, so I would call tht a success.

We even ordered a bottle of Idaho wine-- a Meritage that was perfectly acceptable. The only downer was they were out of creme brule, so I made do with a cup of good coffee.

Sunday morning we found a good breakfast place and ate too much, but the red potatoes were so good I had to eat at least some of them.

We strolled around town and then made a pilgrimage to the Boise Goodwill. We found Jerry a nice sweater and I bought some holiday tins.

The flight back went without a hitch, which is as it should be.

I hope we get to hear some news about the dogs we delivered. I'm rooting for them to get great homes.