Hands down to Paws Up (and Rocco DiSpirito is the male Sandra Lee)

   

Sigh…it’s been a while since I’ve written, so apologies to all who’ve been checking and seeing the same old posting over and over and over again.  But I’m back from vacation, pretty refreshed and hopefully ready to blog again!

Some good luck shined upon The Artist and I, as I won a trip to a fabulous resort in Montana.  The resort, Paws Up, is located about 30 minutes east of Missoula.  I’ve never been out to that part of the country, but it’s just beautiful.

The accomodations were superb and the staff was top-notch.  And the food.  It was all wonderful.  We arrived before most of the other guests in our party did, so we stopped down to talk with the chef, and made sure they had my celiac-information of gluten free items (readers, especially newbies, this is a good “starter” list but in no means is it 100% meant for anyone other then me, so don’t sue me if you can’t use it!. That’s my legal disclaimer).  The chef, Chad, was fantastic, and told me not to worry, that they have rice bread in the freezer and even gf pancake mix for me for breakfast in the mornings.  Gluten free pancakes for breakfast was hard to fit in while eating prime rib hash each morning!  And fresh squeezed orange juice.  But I managed to scarf a few pancakes down.  Chad also told me they have a box of gluten free frozen pastries, but when I asked about it another day, it took them a while to come back to me and say “Oh, I don’t think those were delivered today, we can’t find the box.”  No problem.  The Artist and I did laugh at that, as if a  delivery of frozen gluten free pastries happens daily.  Right. 

And then just when you’re full from breakfast, and relaxed, and maybe did a small hike, or sat out and got some sun and read while drinking iced tea (as shown in the picture above),  it’s time for lunch.  Amazing burgers – I had one the first day and just had to have it again EVERY day!  It was that good.  Definitely not the same grade of beef we buy at home!

And dinners….where to start?  Each night, there was an amuse bouche that the servers confirmed were gluten free.  The first night, I tried bison steak for my main entree.  Served with carrots and mashed potatoes with tarragon butter on top of the steak.  Yeah, that was a hit and I had to have it again after I tried the elk (I prefer bison!).  The elk came with lentils (not a fan) and creamed leeks (not bad).  Overall, the bison steak was my favorite.

Desserts was where they lacked some good options.  They had one gluten free option which was some sort of “cheesecake” like blob.  It wasn’t good, so I opted for locally made vanilla ice cream and fresh berries instead (which was a great choice!).  If only that daily delivery truck had made it….

As the Artist and I were relaxing and reading and spa-ing (is that a word?) we caught Rocco DiSpirito’s new show on A&E.  Now, I don’t know much about him, but I always thought he was a great chef, and pardon this, but a “real” chef.  The episode of the show we caught had him making beef wellington using frozen puff pastry dough (ok, that’s fine as that’s hard to make) but then canned cream of mushroom soup.  Come on, beef wellington using canned soup?  That’s a total Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade fake chef easy way to make what SHOULD be a gourmet meal.  I just can’t agree with that option.  If you’re making tuna noodle casserole, yeah, canned soup is ok.  But beef wellington?  Not so much.  And then he made dessert.  Creme brulee, which I love.  But he made it with pudding.  Pre-made pudding.  Like the kind that Mr. Cosby used to sell on TV or Hunt’s Snack Pack.  Then put sugar on top and burned it.  Seriously.  He’s the male Sandra Lee.  No doubt about it.  He gets an F.

Sigh….

But back to reality.  As we traveled through Montana (then to British Columbia and North Idaho) I was always on the lookout for new gluten free items to test and report on.  Honest, I didn’t find much. In North Idaho, I found some great products from major brands (Enjoy Life and Glutino) that I can’t find in Denver.  It’s a shame that I live in a major market and have to go out of state to get some good gluten free packaged goods.  I think Glutino bagels are hands down the best, but my local Whole Foods is always out of them.  But there they were in a major supermarket chain in Sandpoint, Idaho.  Glutino, if you’re reading, I love your bagels.  Get them in stores here in Denver!  Or just send me some, please!  

Well, back to life and laundry.  Here’s a photo from our “home” at Paws Up – this was from our back porch in the morning.  How peaceful.

Be well.

GFS

From our deck at Paws Up