Road Food
When traveling as much as a busy Motorcycle Monster does, one of the important parts of hotel/road comfort (if there is such a thing) is having the ability to get a little snack or small meal together in the room or on the roadside without packing everything including the kitchen sink in your saddlebag. Old stand-bys like granola bars, single portion boxes of Cheerios, cookies, jerky, and the oldest of all portable Monster travel fair, Vienna sausages , out of a can with some crackers have given many road dogs like the Monster, a full tummy before taking a roadside nap. When the Monster broke down several years ago he even sank so low as to open a can of Spam under a dark overpass on Interstate 65 in Indiana. That’s what I call yummy “finger food”.
I just can’t remember how many lonely nights the Monster has cozied up to a bowl of Captain Crunch and a few of those delicious Vienna on Triskets. Today, with the advent of packaged foods that don’t require refrigeration until opened, we can broaden our horizons with foiled packages of tuna, boxed Dinty Moore beef stew, and even some mysterious soy milk in a package that will ride in your leather saddlebag until the dinner-time candles are lit. Hormel has a complete line of package dinners that are quite tasty and quick and easy with a little help from a micro wave.
As motels have made coffee pots in our rooms a regular amenity, delicacies like Ramen Noodles, and other dry packed soups and teas have made it possible to have a tasty warm dish at the Motel 6, complements of the Mr. Coffee. There is no end to the creativity that many pose when it comes to adding goodies to their “Hot Water Ramen”. A little hot sauce, Ketchup, Vienna, Ritz crackers, in a warm cup of Ramen, wow! This all sounds a lot like when the Monster ate mush for two weeks straight while broke and in college in the 70’s.
The Monster most recently has heated several types of hog dogs and sausages in the hot water of the Mr. Coffee. Not only can you get a “great warm meal” well maybe not that great, “a warm meal”, but you can also keep it warm for a while on the Mr. Coffee hot plate. Hotdogs have lots of red dye and preservatives so you are “sort of safe” carrying a package of hot dogs around for an hour or two in your shirt pocket till you can get from the “Piggy Wiggy” to the Best Western. With the ice bucket and the aid of the AC unit, those Hog Dogs will stay good for days.
Of course with the breakfast buffets available at most motels today, I usually have some stolen, I mean “free fruit” and a “half day old” biscuit or two, hidden away in the sock drawer. If they happen to make the mistake of including a small mini bar type refrigerator in my room, I gladly empty those over priced bottles of sparkling water onto the other bed in lieu of cold fruit, milk, and other delicious goodies commandeered at the AM Breakfast Buffet. Don’t forget to return them before the bean counter arrives and breaks the bank with 3.00 bottles of H2O..
After an extended wait in a Sea Food restaurant in Florida recently, the Monsters latest girlfriend noticed that the Monster was warming up to some shrimp sauce and saltines. After remarking how disgusted she was to watch the Monster eat such a terrible mix, she caved in to her own hunger pains and gave it a try. Needless to say, the Monster girlfriend now packs saltines with ketchup packs in her fanny pack for those moments when you really need a ketchup fix.
One of my favorites, that I recently saw updated on the Cooking Network by genius chef and avid 2 wheeled rider, Alton Brown is the instant oatmeal in the Mr. Coffee gourmet breakfast. I have already used the warm water of Mr. Coffee to heat my instant Quaker Oats and Honey, but Alton added the idea of making it with Herbal Tea with honey or jelly from the small restaurant packs.
The Tea idea opens up vast array of grommet ideas of great teas with all types of cookies and packaged scones and French pastries. While in New Orleans a few years ago, the Monster carried benits for days to relive the special culinary delicacy over again. If he had only thought of Alton’s Herbal Tea a la Mr. Coffee. Well anyway, be creative, and make the most of the open road.
Make that stop at Wally World, and pick up some solid road food. Ramen Noodles and Vienna Sausages have never been better.
For questions contact, www.motorcyclemonster.com or call corporate offices
c/o MRA (Motorcycle Riders Association)
Attn: Dawn Sundean
947 South Florida Ave
Lakeland, Florida 33803
Phone 866-333-1829
