The Taste of Talkeetna

Our Talkeetna Weekend Get-Away just happened to coincide with this year’s Taste of Talkeetna – so of course we bought tickets. We had such a great time will definitely be doing this again next year!

The cabin we stayed at was super cute: tiny, but exactly big enough for the four of us. Viktor & Naldo were so excited, exploring the entire place all night long (oh joy). I brought my card-making while Bryan worked on his computer stuff. They even gave us a hand made refrigerator magnet as a Thank You gift for choosing their cabin to stay at!

Our movie selections went on a Johnny Depp theme this time, with all four of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies as well as “From Hell”, “Chocolate”, “The Libertine”, “The 9^th Gate”, “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” and "The Legend of Sleepy Hallow". Basically, I just grabbed every movie I had that starred Johnny Depp (except for the Harry Potter one). I will admit, however, that Bryan got a little tired of Johnny – regardless of how good an actor he is. Thankfully, our host had several movies to choose from, so we augmented our repertoire with “Predator” and “Constantine”

Food was the easiest part of this particular Weekend Get-Away; we only had one dinner and two breakfasts to worry about. And of course, one of those breakfasts was at the Roadhouse – because you can’t stay in Talkeetna and NOT eat at the Roadhouse!

But the Taste truly was the highlight of our weekend!

Our first stop of the evening was at the Flying Squirrel Bakery Café, where they fed us a Reuben Slider for him and a Chocolate Croissant for me. We were able to order tea or coffee as well, or purchase a more “adult” beverage if we so chose – but we stuck with the tea & coffee, knowing the harder stuff was still to come.

Next on the menu was a stop at the Latitude 62, an old favorite hangout of my mother’s. This was an actual sit-down at a table setting, with a dinner plate loaded with food. They served a generous hunk of prime rib wrapped around a large spear of asparagus, a dollop of mashed potatoes and a finger of toast. Bryan and I immediately exchanged the meat & asparagus (I don’t like meat – he doesn’t like asparagus) and happily dug in.

From there we headed on over to the Denali Brewpub where we all stood around the bon fire outside and sipped on Hot Chocolate or indulged in a Blueberry Mojito (made with their own Hopshine hop infused vodka, local mint, Alaskan blueberries and fresh lime). We just happened to catch the owner of the establishment there, who was telling a story about one of his chickens who hitchhiked a ride in to town one day and ended up at the bar, sitting up on one of the stools. Too funny! The weather that night could not have been nicer, but still it was very pleasant to warm up by the fire.

Eventually, we ambled over to the next stop at Mountain High Pizza Pie where they served us a small plate with a home-made meatball, some falafel on a dollop of hummus, and a tiny bread bowl filled with warm spinach dip. Oh my goodness – by this time we were quite full already, but just could not stop eating regardless. The food was so good!

We knew we were in trouble, however, because our next stop was at the Talkeetna Roadhouse - and we all know how good their food is! They did not disappoint us: we got to choose between a plate full of various sweet treats, like Moose Droppings, Pecan Clouds, Ginger Molasses, and Lemon Poppyseed - or a plate full of savory treats, like a Mini Mushroom Swiss Quiche, Broccoli Salad, Macaroni-n-cheese, and a Rudy-in-a-Parka. Since there are two of us, we got one of each and then ate off each other’s plate.

We ended our journey at The Fairview Inn with a drink to help settle our over-stuffed tummies. Bryan had a Russian Noggen (vodka, kahlua, and egg nog) while I opted for The Bill (absolute raspberry and cranberry juice with a splash of ameretto).

Yeah… we’re definitely doing this again next year!