Red Rock Canyons

After a 7 hour drive from San Diego, we arrived at the Zion National Park visitor center.  Made a reservation for a ranger tour and hike tomorrow (didn't tell Dr. C. the hiking part :0) and settled in at the hotel. 

Gorgeous views everywhere you look! So, what's for dinner?--oops, don't ask---oh, OK, I'll tell you--we ate at the Spotted Dog Cafe next door to the hotel, and I'll just say that it wasn't my best meal.  Sometimes chefs try to be more than they are, and nothing really worked here. I ordered something that even the novice chef should be able to cook well ...... in a slow cooker.

Boeuf bourguignon--OK, so there is an ORCHID on my FRENCH stew---that should have been the tip off, but then I was trying to figure out if those were actually CANNED mushrooms, or just overcooked mushrooms---I think they were the latter (I kept telling myself that every time I picked one up on the fork) The potatoes were microwaved before they went in, so they didn't soak up much of the sauce--a good thing, because it was ghastly---someones idea of a bad joke--it had cloves and allspice in it---trust me it wasn't even the remote bit tasty, just something you would push around on your plate. 
I'm a polite guest, I go someplace, I'm not sending this back, because chances are whoever is out in the kitchen can't do much better with anything else on the menu and the special was seared Ahi tuna which was frightening to me, as I was trying to eat something any cook could put together.  If you want a great recipe for this dish, you can go here or here or here.  Since I'm on the road I won't be posting recipes, but when we return will try to document what goes into this dish that Julia Child once called the greatest stew known to mankind --it's certainly not in Springdale, Utah, that's for sure!