Although we only stopped at McDonald’s once during this road trip and Subway once on the way out, by the final stretch home we reached Golden around dinnertime and were determined not to eat fast food again—the main drag offered little else. By that point we had been snacking on the last of our road-trip provisions: bagels, blueberries, and apricots picked up at roadside stands. I had hoped to find a pie stand piled high with homemade fruit pies but came up empty. We wanted something fresh that hadn’t been rattling around the car for two days.
Instead of settling for drive-thrus and gas-station options, we headed into town. I went into Sobeys while Mike waited in the car. W tolerated a $3 cheese focaccia that I convinced him passed for pizza—he soon gave up on it after a few bites and ended up having two pears and a candy necklace for dinner. I tried a turkey-spinach wrap that looked better than it tasted, and bought a small container of a grain salad that, though costly at $4.50 for roughly a cup, intrigued me enough to consider recreating it at home. The salad’s ingredients were quinoa, bulgur, barley, canola oil, apricots, raisins, red pepper, apple butter, apple cider vinegar, green onions, honey, salt, lime juice, parsley, and garlic. Apple butter in a grain salad was an unexpected but pleasant choice.
The salad was enjoyable, even with a slight tang that often develops when prepared salads sit packaged for a while. I was disappointed to find it was made in Ontario—there’s no reason a grain salad or any fresh salad should be prepared there and shipped all the way to BC. Local production would have made more sense.
For dessert we ate the lovely fuzzy apricots from the roadside stand, and I picked up a plastic container of precut strawberries and blackberries along with a tub of Liberté dulce de leche yogurt. Liberté is a particularly luxurious yogurt brand—some varieties reach about 8% butterfat, far richer than the more common 1–2% yogurts. Its texture is thick and custard-like; some people find it too rich, but I often prefer it to ice cream. The dulce de leche flavor was delicious, although I’d rate the mocha as my favorite. Blackberry would have paired wonderfully with the fresh berries, and any of these rich yogurts would be excellent on fruit crumbles, crisps, pies, or shortcakes.
I still plan to make that peach crumble I’ve been thinking about. I bought peaches at a beach grocery and we ate them right away because they were incredibly juicy and smooth, without any pulpiness. I haven’t enjoyed peaches that satisfying in ages.
Note: dulce de leche is a thick milk caramel popular in Spanish-speaking countries. You can make it at home by submerging an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot of water, bringing it to a simmer, and simmering for about two hours—keeping the can covered with water by adding more as needed. Let the can cool in the water before opening; the contents will be a deep golden, creamy caramel.