EAT SLC: Eva

With a quest to taste every small restaurant in the greater Salt Lake Valley—and Beyond! (Said with Buzz Lightyear voice over), I stumbled upon the delicious restaurant Eva on Main Street. Eva is a small plate restaurant featuring Mediterranean fair at decent prices. Their spinach and potato gnocchi w/mushrooms and truffle oil is worth giving up your first born for. Seriously. Plus, while we were there Thursday night for a post Twilight concert series dinner they featured a live band.

Photo credit: www.cityweekly.net

Check it out and try: Ratatouille Pie, Spinach and Potato Gnocchi, Baked Mac and Cheese, Garlic Rosemary and Parmesan Fries

Check it:

Eva

Entrees: $6-$15

17 S Main Street

Salt Lake City, UT 84111-2702

(888) 314.8536

http://www.evaslc.com/

Bike Love in Utah

I am a big cycling fan. I got my first road bike 3 years ago. I have rented and watched all the Lance Armstrong Tour de France years (these are highlight reels from the 7 yrs Lance won The Tour). And I have ridden over 100 miles in one seating (not that impressive to biking folk, but I thought it was good).
Last week the Tour of Utah was making it's way around the state. The Tour of Utah is one of the most difficult stage races in the States. And the reason for its difficulty is the elevation. Not only the high altitude in which we live, but the elevation changes the riders encounter on each stage. The race starts with a Prologue. Luckily the course was right by my house so I was able to check out a few minutes of the race. The Prologue is a 2.8 mile time trial around the Memory Grove/City Creek Canyon loop. The racing was fast. These guys were probably going 35–40 mph at some points in the race.

Too fast for my camera.

The next few stages took the riders from Ogden to the U of U, down to Mt. Nebo and around Park City. The must-see stage was Stage 5 which finished at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon at Snowbird Resort. Sadly, I wasn't able to attend Stage 5.
But there is always a silver lining. The good news of all this racing through Utah was my favorite bald bicyclist, Levi Leipheimer, who won the yellow jersey (overall leader). Congrats Levi (I love the bald men).
Next year my plan is to be independently wealthy so I can quit my job and follow every stage of the Tour of Utah (among other things).

Photo courtesy SL Trib

UV Protection

Could you be my new sunglasses?

I used to have several pairs of sunglasses. The "cute driving" glasses, the "sporty athletic" glasses, the "co-pilot" glasses (for the co-pilot in the car who is supposed to keep me from getting lost or falling asleep—the glasses are a token of my appreciation), the "I got them forever ago and I thought they were really funny" extra pair of glasses and even recently I purchased another pair of "cute driving" glasses. So you would think that I would never go without eye protection. Well, I have. I got rid of the extra pair because really they were just silly (grandmother's glasses with painted tropical scenes around the frames). Not sure who took the co-pilot sunglasses, but they are gone (the glasses are only for your use while you are in my car, don't steal). I broke the new pair of cute driving glasses in Germany (luckily they lasted the entire trip). And just last week my last cute driving sunglasses were stepped on and broken.

Luckily I have my sporty glasses left, right? Well, sort of. I left those sunglasses at a friend's almost a month ago and haven't had time to drive down there to pick them up.

So basically, I'm in the market for some great eye protection. Here are some of my favorites:

I like color.
Red for Red. Maybe?

Travel Bug

I think everyone should take a long trip at least once a year. Get out and stretch your legs, your wallet, but most of all your mind. I am lucky to have family living overseas giving me a chance to do all three. This time I headed for a mini Red (yes there are 3 redheads in my family) reunion in Germany. Instead of boring you with details of my trip I have summarized my favorite things into a TOP 5 list.

Top 5 Thing I Love About Germany

#1 Alps
I love the mountains (I might have mentioned this before). The German Alps are everything a mountain should be. Dramatic is one word to describe them. Steep (I'm talking 24% grade steep) another. The Alps are covered with dense green forests and amazing rock faces.

Beautiful Alps

#2 Bikes
Everyone rides bikes in Germany. There a bike paths everywhere and you yield to cyclists the way you do to pedestrians. There were so many cute bikes, ugly ones too. Now I want to get me a basket, throw it on a bike, and head to the bakery (German style).

I want a bike like this. Add a basket and I'm German

#3 Bread, Brats, & Apfelschorle

You can't beat the bread in Europe. There is a bakery on every corner so it is easy to get fresh bread. And the dumplings... So I have to clarify on the dumplings. There is a good kind and a bad kind. I ate these potato dumplings that were shaped in a ball and had a slimy texture to them...yucky. But later I had another dumpling that was sliced and had a bread texture...yummy. Both were referred to as dumplings on the menu, so good luck. I still haven't figured out, but I purchased a mix at the store so now I can make them at home.

Yes, I ate a lot of bratwurst. Yes, I liked it. But what I feel in love with the most was Apfelschorle. It was a delightful soda drink. Very similar to Martinelli's (which I also love), but in a soda pop version you could find everywhere. I probably drank my body weight in apfelschorle during my trip. Yummy.

#4 History
I have always been fascinated by the Holocaust; even though history never fascinated me until my first trip to Europe when I was 18. I was able to visit Dachau concentration camp, saw the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and toured King Ludwig II's castles in Bavaria (Oh yeah, I'm talking Neuschwanstein aka Sleep Beauty's castle in Disneyland). All of these places help you experience history more personally than reading from a textbook.

Castles, Memorials, Monuments

#5 Houses
Flower boxes and house paintings never look as good outside of Germany. There is a little town near SLC called Midway where Swiss style homes abound. But I think it just looks cheesy unless you are actually in the Alps. Germans know how to do it. With overflowing flower boxes and detailed house paintings, you feel comfortably at home, yet clearly on an adventure.

Only cute in Germany