Putting Some Yo! in Yosemite

Yosemite National Park.  An incredible place to visit, an even more incredible place to live.  Surrounded daily by the awesome beauty of Half Dome, El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, Vernal Falls and the list goes on.  Cool people, perfect California weather, authentic cheese steaks (cue sound effect of needle dragging across record)….I mean NO cheese steaks.  What is a former Philly girl to do?  About 10 years ago, my sister Cathy moved to Yosemite Valley to continue her teaching profession and discover her love of nature and climbing.  Living in Yosemite has been a rewarding and rich experience, however it comes at cost.  While you are surrounded with magnificence, you are also in a culinary desert.  That’s a slight exaggeration, but finding a real cheese steak in Yosemite Valley is as about as likely as finding a grizzly bear walking down Market Street.

Nothing compares to these delicious, just right, chewy-soft rolls. Urban legend says the secret is the Philly water used in the recipe that makes them impossible to duplicate anywhere else.

Cathy is a cheese steak aficionado.  A veteran of the grill – spending much time making this classic sandwich for hordes of satisfied customers in our Powelton Pizza days.  Last month I received an email from her asking if it is possible to send all the ingredients necessary for her to have a Philly cheese steak party.  Sure …no problem if you don’t mind shipping costs in the hundreds of dollars!!  She sadly declined.  We decided since her birthday was around the corner and she truly was jonesing for this great sandwich,  Philadelphia Catering Company would help her out and ship a Philly cheese steak feast to the land of grizzly bears.

Thanks to overnight shipping and dry ice, the package arrived safely.

The package arrived safely (and still frozen) on her birthday.  She gathered a group of her Yosemite friends and got to work making this Philly feast. As I mentioned, Cathy is a cheese steak making veteran, and like riding a bike, a skill you never forget.

Here’s the beef!

You can take a girl out of Philly, but you can never take the Philly out of a girl. Amen.

The Philly feast was a success.  Cathy’s friends enjoyed authentic Philly cheese steaks out in the wild west of Yosemite.  It was the talk of the valley. Now I’d say for sure that’s bringing some Philly Yo! into Yosemite.

Philly rule: Never discuss the calorie count of a cheese steak, especially right before everyone’s about to eat.

Some happy campers!

Even kitty Dolomite got a sample