The Final Push

It’s an early start leaving Colorado. Reluctantly I steer the car out of the driveway and across railroad tracks, I’m heading East towards the highway and the very long trek to Illinois. As the sun begins to crest on the horizon I’m well on my way, the mountains and Pine trees give way to the open plains of eastern Colorado. The plains also have their own beauty yet the vastness of the land makes the trip seem much longer. Then I see my first cornfield. I love corn and I especially love fresh picked corn right from the field. I know this may sound crazy to some but I also enjoy eating it raw. There are those who swear by the boiling method, some use milk in the water some use sugar. Others prefer to grill their corn. I like it many ways but my preference is still uncooked especially if its a great crop of crisp sweet kernels. Let’s not forget that Southern favorite creamed corn, that’s a dish that brings back many memories.

I’m now surrounded by corn so I’m most certain I’m in Nebraska. In my mind I’m thinking,”Wow that’s a lot of corn! It’s beautiful the way it grows on the rolling hills.” Two hours later I’m thinking, “Oh look more corn…” Yet I keep on driving by the fifth hour a crazy idea pops into my head, “Maybe I’m driving in a circle! How could there be this much corn in the entire world!?”. The corn continues and now I’m either in a Steven King novel or an episode of The Twilight Zone. I see signs at the end of the rows, some say Test Field, some say Research Lot. There’s smaller writing but I’m doing 75 mph trying to get out of this giant corn field. I remember reading that in America we grow the most corn in the world. 92 Million acres were planted this year and to put that into something we can understand, that’s 69 million football fields! Only a tiny portion of that goes to feeding people. A third goes to feeding livestock another third goes towards the production of ethanol and the other third is used in manufacturing of food stuffs like soda, cooking oil, maltodextrin, plastics, canned beer, high fructose corn syrup and finally cereals and chips. Corn or it’s derivatives can be found in many food products, especially processed foods. After all that we still have enough left over to sell it to other countries as well. It’s no wonder I’ve been driving through corn fields for the last 8 hours.

I finally saw something different, I’m not sure what crop it was but it came with a rainbow so I’m guessing thats a good sign! As night falls I’m finishing the last hundred miles of Iowa and I’m about to cross the Mississippi river. Here’s another tip for traveling in the time of Covid. In many small towns regardless of Covid, most restaurants close early. If you’re planning on getting into a town after 9pm it’s probably a good idea to pick something up on the road. I’ve ran into this problem a couple of times and was only able to grab some fastfood before going to bed. At this point I’m pretty tired and just want to put something in my stomach and go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be another long day of driving, but I’m excited because I’ll end up at the very tip of New York State and won’t have to worry about the quarantine list anymore.

If you’ve ever gone horseback riding you may know what I’m talking about, as you start on the last leg of the trail ride, the horses know they are going back to their home so they always pick up speed. They want to get back as soon as possible. That’s what I was feeling like. I just wanted to get into New York as fast as possible. Normally I would love to take my time and see the sights, but so many things are closed now and you never know what’s going to be open or not. The trip from Illinois to New York wasn’t very scenic or eventful so the only fun thing that happened was in Cleveland. The highway makes a crazy 90 degree turn at Lake Erie! Everyone is driving 75-80 miles and hour heading towards the lake. You can see the lake and it’s getting closer and closer, then the speed limit signs start going down and down until finally you see the big yellow sign with a huge 90 degree turn arrow and the speed limit drops to 15 mph. I’m left to wonder why they built the highway in such a manner, but it did break up a rather boring drive!

Crossing the border into New York was such a relief. I didn’t have to stay in states that weren’t on the quarantine list for New York. However, if I didn’t then there would be a 14 day mandatory self quarantine. This way I’ve already spent five days being in “safe” states and now back in New York I could relax and enjoy my stay at a quaint little BNB on Lake Erie. A couple days of relaxing and I’ll be back in Nyack after consuming a few to many maple donuts from the local Tim Horton’s. Since corn is in season right now here’s a recipe for southern style cream corn. You can use frozen corn if you can’t find fresh, but I think with all the corn I just saw you’ll be able to find a few cobs somewhere!

• 6 ears of corn, cut off the kernels into a bowl with a knife then use the back of the knife to scrape the cob getting more of the juices.
• 1 cup half and half or 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup milk.
• 1teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter or bacon drippings (southern tradition)
• salt and pepper to taste
• top off with a little more butter before serving.
• Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the cornstarch, then add the corn and the sugar and mix well. Next add the half and half or milk/cream mixture and stir. Cook on medium heat for about 15-30 minutes until thickened.
• Enjoy!

There are other variations of this recipe that I like to use every so often, like adding a touch of cayenne pepper or sour cream. It’s fun to make your own twist on recipes and I like to encourage people to try new ways of making the old staples. So if you have a variation on Cream Corn please let us know. Thanks for sticking with me all the way back to New York. I’ve really enjoyed the adventure and look forward to more at a later date when I can actually take my time and explore the places I’m staying in. As always if you have any questions or comments please leave them in the box below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.Until next time Boone Appétit!