eclaire (what’s in a) name?

this week, mike and i packed up our car and headed up to mendocino and calistoga to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. we spent four days and three nights camping in mendocino (with no internet or electricity – can you believe it?), then headed down to calistoga (where we are right now, living the life with free wifi in our hotel).

before leaving for our camping trip, we prepared several dishes in our kitchen at home and placed this food into our ice chest to minimize cooking time at our campsite and to maximize the hiking, sightseeing, and relaxing in mendo. (and for tons more mendo pics, check out my flickr account.)

the potato salad we made lasted through three delicious meals, and is a combination of the joy of cooking’s potato salad recipe and mike’s mom’s recipe. there are several key tips mike’s mom gave us to making this potato salad amazing: 1) use red potatoes, and boil them with the skin on; 2) peel the skin from the potatoes after they are done boiling – this makes the task quite easy (although hot!); 3) pour the dressing over the potatoes while they are still warm, and let the dressing soak in overnight before finishing off the salad.

we’ll post pics from calistoga once we’re back home – but for now, we’re off to go get a mud bath!

mike’s mom’s potato salad

adapted from the joy of cooking
yields 6-8 servings

• 2 pounds red potatoes
• 1/2c apple cider vinegar (or any kind of vinegar)
• 1/2c olive oil
• 1/2t salt
• 1/2t dried mustard
• 1/8t black pepper
• celery
• olives
• hard boiled egg
• carrots
• parsley
• dash paprika
• salt and pepper to taste
• mustard and mayo (optional)
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1. boil potatoes in salted water until tender (approx 20-30 minutes), then drain
2. while hot, peel off skins (optional-the skins can be delicious!), cut into quarters or your preferred size, and place into bowl
3. combine vinegar, olive oil, salt, dried mustard, and pepper by whisking in a bowl or shaking in a jar and pour over the warm potatoes
4. cover the potatoes and let dressing sink in overnight
5. the next day, dice your favorite potato salad toppings, such as celery, olives, hard boiled eggs, and/or carrots, and add with chopped parsley, paprika, and salt & pepper to potatoes
6. add mustard and mayo to taste if desired (we didn’t, and it was great with just the dressing. if you do plan on using mustard and/or mayonnaise, you may want to drain excess dressing) and enjoy!