My Search for Newfoundlands Worst Meal (Part 2: Days 2 and 4)

The morning of day 2, we decided to do something crazy, hike the Copper Trail up Blomidon (lit. blow me down) Mountain. It took about 4 grueling hours and much encouragement and peer pressure to make it to the top. I mentioned before that they call Newfoundland "the rock". This trail lovingly shows that by having the last hour of the trail wind up a steep rock cliff that seems to never end. Finally our troupe made it and part of me wanted to collapse, but the rest of me anxiously anticipated the delicious, hard earned meal awaiting me at the bottom.

Pretty impressive, am I right?

What some of you may not know about me, is that I have very poor balance (I blame this on being tall), so getting down the mountain can often be just as difficult as getting up. Luckily, thanks to the 'side step' I made it down injury free and was ready for some Newfie style eatings! Our knowledgeable guides told us that we needed to call ahead and order from the 'chip stand', or we would have to wait forever. This already sounded exciting.We ordered a regular fries, onion rings, and fries with burger and gravy (a Newfoundland specialty).

The stand was about half an hour away from the mountain, my anticipation grew stronger, my stomach more growly . Fries are one of my biggest guilty pleasures and favourite all time foods (just earlier today I was asked if I had to pick one food to eat for the rest of my life what would it be? I answered, 'poutine').

The stand was mostly visible because of the lineup of cars parked on the street in front of the hut, and patrons were in and out of the little shop, mostly eating in or outside of their cars. Our guide went in to pick up the goodies and we waited anxiously outside. In what seemed like forever (around 2 minutes) our food came out and we began to eat. Onion rings first as our "appetizer". The rings were topped with paprika, which added a delectable flavor, and the breading was good (if not gluten free). What was probably most impressive was that the onion rings stayed together, and there was no separating of the onion and the breading. I will not pretend to be an onion ring expert, as this is the first time in several years I have eaten them, but I would still take it upon myself to name them the best in the country.

Next we moved onto the main course: fries. I took a bite of the plain fries first. Only lightly salted, and not too greasy tasting, it had the right combination of crispy outside and mushy, creamy potatoe-y inside. You can tell these are handmade from real potatoes. Satisfied with my taste testing, I moved on to the Newfie specialty: fries with burger and gravy. This kind of works like a poutine except instead of cheese curds there is ground beef. This actually turned out great for me, because I didn't have to attempt to 'eat around' the cheese as I normally do when sharing a poutine. The concoction was everything I could have asked for: heavy, salty, meaty, fatty. All the ingredients of fine Newfoundland cuisine!

I don't know if this will take the prize, after all, it was very tasty as well as heart-stopping, but we are on the track to success!

The Ultimate Tuna Sandwich

Days 3 and 4 were pretty uneventful food days, but I just want to take a moment to describe the lunch I made today. Peanut butter and Tuna sandwiches. I know you are having your doubts, my travel companions had their doubts too ...at first. The idea came from my aunt, who used to eat peanut butter and salmon sandwiches when she was younger. It never sounded appealing but I was always curious to try, so I made a sandwich for one of my travel companions. He gave me many funny looks (the thanks I get for preparing the meal!), but did not keel over, or even vomit after the sandwich, so I made some more for the rest of the crew! I may be biased, but I thought they were great. This isn't Newfoundland cuisine, per se, but I would highly recommend giving this a try! Especially with school house gluten free bread (the only brand I've tried that tastes anything like real bread).

Signing out, still on my search but feeling hopeful already!