Back from a “vacation”. School starts back up again tomorrow and I am not a happy camper. I don’t think anything on my list was completed. I went home to Fort Bragg, CA for the week and enjoyed the amazing weather that happened to show up the entire week. I celebrated St Patrick’s with hot dogs and the option of homemade sauerkraut, avocado and tomato. No corned beef and cabbage. I don’t know why, I guess hot dogs just happened. Doesn’t matter though because the weather was great and few things are better on a warm day than hot dogs and potato salad. I was in charge of the potato salad and kind of hit a home run. I’ve made it before and never really remembered what I had done then next time I attempted it, so its only been really good a few times before, but now it’s recorded, in all it’s glory. Good old fashioned potato salad. Nothing too special, and the amount it makes is perfect for a potluck or BBQ.
If you ever have a chance to go to Fort Bragg for a weekend, or anywhere on the Mendocino coast for that matter, just go. There’s not a whole lot to do, hence the time period of the weekend, but the beaches are gorgeous (insert corny sunset picture) when the weather is nice and there are some neat campgrounds. My grandparents have lived up there forever and my mom just moved back into the area last year, so this last semester I went down once a month and have been going as much as I can this semester. There is not a lot in the way of amazing food, but if you go, you have to go to Thanksgiving Coffee in Mendocino. They have the most amazing fresh blackberry or blueberry cream cheese pastries ever. I’m not crazy about their coffee, which is served all over Mendocino county, so I’ve planned to go picnic style next time and bring my own coffee, save some money, and park on the bluffs to eat and enjoy the view of the pacific. My mom always gets the onion bialy, a flat bagel “pizza” sort of dish with poppy seeds and crazy nice onions, along with some of their really nice boysenberry iced tea. So, if you ever go to the Mendocino coast, go there. Get a danish or a bialy and go enjoy the view. And a little fun fact, the slightly interesting movie, overboard, was filmed on the Mendocino coast and the restaurant they film in is Capt’n Flints down in the Noyo Harbor. Just throwing that out there for all of those Goldie Hawn/Kurt Russel fans.
Now, back to the potato salad. This is classic with one secret ingredient: pepperoncini juice, or the pickling liquid they sit in, it adds a perfect amount of zing and a slight spice that’s not overwhelming by any means. If you don’t have any, then you should go out and get some, pepperoncinis have to be in your fridge at all times, and if this in not an option then use a little less of a rice wine vinegar or cider vinegar, possibly even the juice of a lemon. For best results, make it a day ahead.
