Mid-Michigan Foodie

What Else I Didn't Do on My Summer Vacation

2009-09-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

I began the summer with a listful of good kitchen intentions, the foremost of which had to do with breadmaking.

First of all, I wanted to make homemade tortillas, like the wonderful tortillas offered by Tony's in Standish. Partner in Food had requested a comal, a tortilla griddle, last Christmas for that very purpose. The comal was oiled as directed and has been seasoning nicely in the oven every time we bake something...but no tortillas, or chapatis, or crepes, have been placed on it so far.

I had also wanted to try Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day -- a recent visit to Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, and experiencing the crusty goodness of their breads, reminded me of that plan -- but so far I've not gotten around to doing that either.

We had begun the summer with plans to expand our home canning to include peaches and pears and several more kinds of pickles...but we have been so busy traveling in the last month for various family get-togethers that we've had to fall back on our Amish neighbors for our winter canned fruit and pickle needs.

We have made some kitchen progress, however. We finally melded our two households' worth of kitchen equipment and dishware into one and either sold or given away the excess, and our kitchen implement drawers are now arranged by theme. We've discovered the joys of a rice cooker -- a rejected Christmas present that we decided to keep for ourselves and have found to be absolutely invaluable not only in cooking rice but also in making other grain- and bean-based dishes and in steaming vegetables. We've further unplugged from supermarket food by purchasing more directly from farmers. And, despite a horrendous summer in terms of growing weather, we've been able to enjoy a few home-grown vegetables of our own -- heirloom lettuces, snap beans and tomatoes -- with more on the way.

The beauty of not finishing a to-do list, of course, is that goals are very recyclable. We have placed a month-long moratorium on traveling, just to regroup and enjoy our home during our favorite season...the comal might finally come out of the oven between now and November.

What I Didn't Do on My Summer Vacation

2009-09-09T06:01:00.000-07:00

I didn't blog.

The truth of the matter is, I lost the bug; I lost the motivation. I came very close to pulling down the shades of this little online enterprise and turning the key for good.

But then I saw the film Julie and Julia. And it helped me see why I was dissatisfied with this blog as it was, and what I really want to do with it.

No, I have no intention of creating an online paen to a culinary hero or cooking my way through a favorite cookbook.

But I do want to write with greater authenticity; to let readers know not only what and where I eat, but who I am as someone who enjoys and cares about food and who finds rural Michigan a good place to be.

Because I have another, non-foodie blog where I am more inclined to self-disclose, I originally intended to keep this one, by contrast, rather thematically focused and semi-anonymous; all about the food of mid-Michigan and surrounds. I put on my PR hat and wrote entries in the way I would if I were writing a food column for a Michigan tourist-industry publication. Informative, maybe; but not particularly engaging for me, at least not after awhile.

So I am going back to the kitchen, so to speak, to find my voice and use it more liberally in the dishes I serve up here. I also want to share more about life here in mid-Michigan -- oh, there will be recipes and excursions to foodie destinations; but also some reflections on the rural life; on the kitchen as the heart of a home (even unconventional ones like ours); on the victories and defeats of growing one's own food. I hope you'll enjoy it, and come back for seconds.

Dinner Plait

2009-07-23T06:16:00.000-07:00

We ran out of bread a few days ago -- one of the disadvantages of homebaking bread is that it disappears so quickly -- and we needed to use up some eggs, so I thought I'd change things up and make challah, the festive Jewish egg bread. My thought was to knead the dough in the machine (I love hand-kneading bread dough, but we frankly don't have a good kitchen space for getting down and dirty with flour), then take it out, loaf it and bake it in the oven.

This worked out beautifully. I used an old trick of my baker great-grandfather and my grandmother and placed my plaited loaves in greased breadpans -- this improves sliceability while still maintaining the aesthetics of a braided loaf.

Challah is intended to be a rich bread, but the amount of eggs and butter usually called for in recipes may make one's arteries shudder in dread. The recipe I used was a bit leaner, and I bumped up the health quotient further by swapping no-transfat, good HDL "buttery spread" for the real stuff and 2 percent milk for whole milk.

Bread Machine Challah
makes 1 1/2 pound loaf or two 3/4 pound loaves
3/4 cup milk, scalded (I do this in the microwave) and allowed to cool to lukewarn
2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons butter/margarine
3 cups bread flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Glaze, if baking in oven: 1 egg beaten with a tablespoon or so of water

Add ingredients into bread machine pan in order recommended by the manufacturer. Process for white bread, Light setting. OR...process on Dough setting; punch down; remove from bread machine pan, knead -- adding flour if necessary -- and divide into halves; then divide each half into thirds. Roll each third between hands until it forms a rope; try to make lengths equivalent. Pinch ropes together firmly at one end braid; pinch other ends together firmly and fold both ends of braid underneath. Place braids in greased pans; push down gently to fill corner spaces; cover and let rise until at least doubled in bulk.

Heat oven to 400 degrees (375 if using glass pans). When loaves are sufficiently risen, brush with egg glaze. (Glazed loaves can be sprinkled with poppy or sesame seeds if you choose.) Place bread in oven; immediately turn down heat to 350 degrees (325 for glass pans). Bake for approximately 1 hour, or until loaves are browned and sound hollow when tapped. Immediately remove from pans and cool.

Where's the Beef (in Smaller Quantities)?

2009-07-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

One of the problems for small households like ours when it comes to buying meat directly from farmers is the issue of quantity: Farmers can't legally sell meat by the cut without opening their own meat processing businesses or jumping through other bureaucratic hoops in order to have their meat processed and packaged to government specifications. Most of them can only legally sell by the full, half or quarter animal.

We don't have the freezer space to accomodate this much beef or pork -- nor do we necessarily want all the cuts of meat from a particular section of the animal.

Graham's Organics is one local purveyor of beef by the cut. K&J Feeds in Farwell is another. And now we've found another source for local beef and pork that doesn't necessitate purchasing most of the critter: Hensler's Country Market, just east of the MBS Airport on Freeland Road.

Hensler's is a small farmstead store selling freezer beef in both large and small quantities, and a small amount of pork sausage in various varieties. It also sells a limited amount of non-local chicken and an assortment of country-themed packaged foods (including Rosie's Roasters soynuts from Ann Arbor) and handcrafts.

One interesting feature of Hensler's meat case is the variety meats; on the day we visited there was both tongue and heart in stock. (I am not a fan of tongue, but I do enjoy beef heart made German style, sweet and sour -- and like tongue, heart can also make good sandwich meat.)

We enjoyed our visit here -- and meeting the farmers and food artisans is as much a part of the pleasure of eating local as the food itself. So if you're near MBS, do check out Hensler's, 7520 Freeland Road -- look for the red barn and the sign by the road.

You Have the Right to Remain Full...

2009-07-15T15:17:00.001-07:00

Here is a great foodie story from the next county over. Thanks to Clare City police, a downtown Clare landmark bakery is not only surviving but thriving in tough times. If you're planning on visiting the "Gateway to the North," take the time to venture off Burger Row and purchase a doughnut from Cops & Doughnuts.

Soup is Good Food

2009-07-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

It was a rather dreary, drizzly day today, so even though it's slouching toward the middle of July I made a big pot of chicken noodle soup.

The noodles were delightfully fine, airy homemade egg noodles we found on an evening adventure trip into Clare County -- a small roadside stand on the east, unpaved end of Surrey Road. (This farm also offered canned pickled beets and "pork and beans" -- actually a homemade beanie-weenie mixture of navy beans and sliced hot dogs -- both of which we've eaten and declared very good.) The chicken came from the Gingerich family, also of Clare County. And thanks to a burgeoning herb garden, I was able to use fresh-from-the-backyard seasoning.

I've said it before...it's worth it to take a meander off the freeway into the farmlands of the state and see what direct farmer-to-consumer products are out there. Even if you don't find anything at first, you've given yourself permission to have a pleasant excursion into the countryside. And if you do find something...it may be something worth coming back for again.

Strawberry Fields Forever?

2009-07-03T19:17:00.001-07:00

Evidently not here in my county.

Today we were looking for strawberries; lots of strawberries; about 12 quarts, to be exact, mostly for freezing.

I knew of one small you-pick operation near the Midland County line, but we didn't have time to pick our own. After a fruitless (pardon the pun) Internet search of strawberry growers in our area we settled on buying ours from Buckeye Market, a venerable produce grower/seller east of Gladwin; while they don't grow their own strawberries, they do sell Michigan berries, and they have a local reputation for quality.

When we got to the store, we found lots of summer people provisioning for the long weekend...but no strawberries. A shipment from Traverse City was due to arrive at noon, I was told. I left my number and asked for a call when the berries were in.

We ran some errands in town, then came back around noon just to see if we could meet the truck. The truck was running late. Customers were beginning to loiter in the store, waiting. The counter people told them that they might have to wait an hour or more for the new shipment. Some disappointed shoppers left, while others hovered around the produce cases.

I decided to hold my ground, inside the store and finally a worker emerged from the warehouse with a box of berries. With the determination of a fashionista at a department-store bargain-basement sale, I grabbed my dozen baskets as soon as I could, as tourists glared at me. I emerged from the store with a big smile on my face and a Tiger Woods air-punch of victory.

En route home we stopped at an Amish roadside farm stand west of town, just south of the M-61/Bard Road intersection; we often buy produce and pies here. The family did not disappoint this weekend -- I snagged lovely raspberry and strawberry-rhubarb pies to take to Ann Arbor in a couple days when we visit The Kids. But when another customer inquired if there were any fresh strawberries for sale, the woman at the stand sadly shook her head.

Later we had occasion to talk to the Buckeye people again. They said they were pretty sure they'd sell out of strawberries by sunset.

What all this is telling me is that Gladwin County and surrounds could sure use a strawberry farm with a ready-picked option. I know there are numerous barriers to such an enterprise; but I'm just sayin'.

The Left Coast Food Tour: Something Fishy in Ludington

2009-06-30T15:43:00.000-07:00

Bottrell's Fish Market was once named by Epicurious magazine as one of the best seafood shacks in the nation...so of course we had to stop in during our trip to the Lake Michigan side of the state.

Bottrell's offers an assortment of fresh fish from Lake Michigan, fish from elsewhere, like cod and tilapia, and smoked fish of various species -- even, on the day we visited, sturgeon. (I'm guessing that because of sturgeon's highly endangered status in the Great Lakes this fish was imported from the West Coast or elsewhere.)
Which, by the way, was very tasty -- rich, smoky, un-fishy.

Our hosts bought some whitefish filets, which they grilled with a baste of lime and olive oil, and served with a fresh strawberry salsa -- strawberries, lime juice, mint and a couple generous teaspoons of red pepper flakes. Do not fear fruit with fish; the salsa cut through the richness of the whitefish in a refreshing way, and the mint was a subtle undertone, not an overpowering flavor, in the mixture.

We didn't get a chance to go back to Bortell's for a fried-fish lunch. But it's certainly on our short list of places to revisit the next time we're in the area.

The Left Coast Food Tour: Smokin' Good Meat

2009-06-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

Meandering back up to Ludington from Montague ("Map? We don' need no stinkin' map!"), we took a few wrong turns and found ourselves traveling east instead of west. As we reoriented ourselves toward the coast, we noticed a sign for a smokehouse, just beyond a small white building on what appeared to be a family farm.

That is how we found E.J.'s Smokehouse of New Era, a family enterprise selling an assortment of sausage, jerky and seasoned meat. The store is no bigger than our kitchen, with two refrigerated cases and one freezer.

We had to weigh our excitement over this unexpected find with the distance involved in toting any purchases home, and the size of the cooler we'd brought along. So we settled on a few aged, seasoned ranch steaks -- great for a quick meal back home -- a healthy hunk of summer sausage, cabbage bratwurst, Italian sausage and Swedish potato sausage. We had a couple of the steaks over the weekend and enjoyed them muchly, and are looking forward to trying those potato and cabbage wursts.

E.J.'s Smokehouse is located at 4728 S 48th Ave., New Era, MI. Call (231) 861-4469 for more information.

The Left Coast Food Tour: Lipka's Soda Fountain

2009-06-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

Partner in Food and I just returned fron two fantastic days spent on the Lake Michigan side of the state; we spent a day with friends at a cottage in Whitehall, then meandered up the coast to Ludington, then back across to the Sunrise Side.

Obviously even dedicated foodies can do only so much eating, shopping and rubbernecking on a 48-hour tour, so I'm sure we missed many fantastic food finds on the Left Coast. But I'll highlight some of our stops here.

Our hosts took us to lunch across the bridge in Montague, at Lipka's Soda Fountain (8718 Ferry St.) This is a venerable establishment in a charmingly vintage part of town filled with boutiques, art galleries and antique shops. It features not only an old-fashioned ice cream store where you can enjoy everything from a cone to a malted to a phosphate (the less foo-foo American cousin of the Italian soda), but a new deli/cafe' area featuring homemade soups and sandwiches. There's also limited sidewalk seating, which we appreciated on this pleasant summer day.

PIF and I enjoyed a tasty lunch headlined by a "Polish Rose" sandwich -- ham, dill pickle chips and scallion cream cheese on thin toasted herbed sourdough. PIF paired this with stroganoff soup, while I ordered cream of asparagus soup -- both outstanding.

If you're in the area, make an excursion off the main drag to explore this interesting little shopping district -- and definitely stop at Litka's.

Orange You Glad You Made This Marinade?

2009-06-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

We sure were. We test-drove it today on pork chops to see if it was guest-worthy for later in the week. My only regret is not being able to marinate the meat as long as I'd have liked. Also note that you have even more opportunity to "Michiganize" the ingredient list. For intance, I used Eden soy sauce; and there are certainly some good artisanal made-in-Michigan mustards and hot sauces out there as well.

Beer Marinade For Pork or Wings
1 bottle Bell's Oberon beer (a great Michigan product with a citrusy/herby flavor)
1/4 cup orange marmalade
2 minced garlic cloves
1 TBS minced fresh ginger
1 TBS dried or prepared mustard
3 TBS soy sauce
1 tsp. hot sauce
2 TBS sugar
1/2 tsp salt
ground pepper or red pepper flakes to taste

Whisk all ingredients together until well blended. Marinate pork or chicken wings 6 hours or preferably overnight, turning meat occasionally. Grill or bake as desired.

The Proof in the Pudding

2009-06-22T18:22:00.001-07:00

In my quest to find new rhubarb recipes I've stumbled a number of times over recipes for Danish or Scandinavian rhubarb pudding, a simple, cornstarch-based dessert served cold with whipped cream. Fueled by memories of my mom telling me about my great-aunt's famous rhubarb-banana preserves, I've also been looking for recipes that combine these two great ingredients.

The other day I decided to experiment a bit in the kitchen; to make the Danish pudding but add sliced bananas to it. So I tried this.

The good news was that it was delicious. The bad news was that it didn't seem to set up in the saucepan the way I expected. Now, rhubarb-banana sauce -- say, on ice cream or pound cake -- would be swell in itself, but I wanted something more...well, pudding-y. So at the last minute, inspired by my favorite strawberry pie recipe, I added an extra ingredient: a box of strawberry Jello.

We really enjoyed the result, served very cold, topped with whipped cream. It would make great parfaits. If you want to try the original yourself, just omit the bananas and Jello.

Rhubarb-Banana-Strawberry Pudding
1 1/2 cups rhubarb, chunked
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water mixed with 3 TBS cornstarch
3 bananas, sliced
1 package regular strawberry gelatin

Combine rhubarb, water and sugar in saucepan; bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer until rhubarb is softened. Add a paste made of 1/4 cup water and 3 TBS cornstarch, bring back to a boil, and stir several minutes, until mixture is thickened and clear. Remove from heat; add bananas; add gelatin powder. Stir well, until gelatin is dissolved.

Chill until firm. Serve with whipped cream.

Just Ducky

2009-06-22T13:24:00.001-07:00

I got an e-mail from a local farmer the other day informing me that he had some ducks ready for market, wanting to know if I wanted to purchase any.

I had contacted this individual I think last fall, on the strength of his profile on Local Harvest , but was disappointed when I called and didn't get a lot of information or even affirmation regarding purchasing meat from him directly.

I'm glad he saved my e-mail, though, and am looking forward to my two ducks. Now I have to find some good duck recipes.

Just Say NO to NAIS

2009-06-19T07:09:00.001-07:00

The USDA's proposed National Animal Identification System, or NAIS -- a response to recent contaminations of food by pathogens which would require farmers to electronically ID every animal they raise -- is a disastrous, dumb idea that financially punishes small-scale farmers, especially those who sell their livestock locally. They are not the meat producers whose animals wind up in industrial vats of burger containing the meat of literally hundreds of animals before it winds up in patties at your local fast-food joint or mega-mart meat freezer.

I am passionate about opposing this. If you are too -- if you want to protect small family farms, if you want continued access to locally raised, small-scale-farmed meat and poultry -- please contact all your legislators and the USDA and inform them you do not want NAIS. Big Ag, unsurprisingly, is pushing it; push back. Please go to NoNAIS.org to learn more, and please share this information with all your foodie friends.

Crawdads

2009-06-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

When I read this article in the latest online edition of Traverse magazine, I told Partner in Food, "I would do this -- I'd go out and catch a mess of crayfish and boil them up." PIF, who used to live in Maine and is intimately acquainted with lobster boils, clam bakes and associated other wild seafood feasts, just gave me A Look.

But I'd still do it. I would.

Not Too Foodie For Fast Food

2009-06-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

At least if it's from Grand Traverse Pie Company!

We're huge fans of northwestern Lower Michigan, so of course we're inclined to like any restaurant that tries to capture that "up north" vibe (not to mention one that serves great pie). But the Pie Company also delivers on good food, at reasonable prices. And it tries to incorporate regional cherry products into its menu. (Look for the little cherry decal next to selected menu items.)

We stopped at the Midland store yesterday after stained glass class in Bay City to meet up with a friend. I chose the Parisian ham and havarti sandwich, featuring Cherry Republic cherry chutney and spicy mustard on ham and cheese. It was delish.

Bean There

2009-06-16T09:46:00.001-07:00

Yesterday while examining the new squash plants pushing up through their hills I noticed a couple other plant babies -- dark green, folded like praying hands -- emerging from the base of the squash hills: "Dwarf Bees" scarlet runner bush beans.

No; not an oxymoron; there are such things as bush-type runner beans. "Dwarf Bees" is often sold as an ornamental -- perhaps why my seed packet was so paltry in comparison to my other bean seeds -- but like other scarlet runners it does produce edible beans, both snap and dry.

Runner beans do well in cooler, wetter weather, which may be why they were the first of my bean varieties to emerge. Elsewhere in the garden I have "Dragon's Tongue," also known as "Dragon Langerie," a flat chartreuse wax bean with purple stripes; "Masai," a newer variety of French filet bean; and "Roma II," a flat Italian bean.

I know I'm tempting the Fates by counting my beans before they're picked, or even sprouted -- but I can't wait until I get a good mess of them to eat fresh and to freeze.

One of my favorite recipes comes from my mom's family, classic "po' food" from the Depression: Stewed tomatoes, cooked snap beans, cooked, diced potatoes, onion and, if there's any around, a chunk of smoked meat -- bacon, sausage, pork hock, etc. Simmered together, it's awfully good.

I've also come to appreciate green beans either roasted at high heat until browned, or stir-fried whole (the latter a likely fate of some of those filet beans).

For the moment, though, I'm simply cheering on my runner beans as they gradually make an appearance in the squash patch...and cheering on Partner in Food, who today is working on the wiring of our new electric fence. Which may help ensure that we actually get to enjoy all those great beans this year.

Fun With Smoked Salmon

2009-06-15T16:47:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed our Lake Huron smoked salmon so much -- mainly just as a handy protein snack during the day. But one day we enjoyed it Danish style, on little open-faced sandwiches made with cocktail rye, fat-free cream cheese sprinkled with chives and dill, and thin slices of radish and/or cucumber. (The radish is from the Swier Farm, local growers who do business with Greentree Cooperative.)

Strawberries and Rhubarb -- Together Again

2009-06-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of cutting and bagging about 10 pounds of rhubarb -- most of it from a friend of mine who inherited a big patch of it in her back yard from previous homeowners, who just doesn't have the time or inclination to do anything with it. I love rhubarb, so this was a great present.

Most of it will wind up in the freezer, but I wanted to enjoy some fresh rhubarb, so I decided to make a rhubarb coffee cake. I had some strawberries in the fridge -- they're not quite ripe in our area, but I succumbed to a taste for them and bought a quart of California berries -- so I tweaked a recipe I found on the Internet to incorporate both springtime flavors, with great results.

Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake
Cake
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream (I only had a half-cup of low-fat sour cream on hand, so I made up the difference with 1/2 cup plain yogurt mixed with a half-teaspoon of baking soda)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb and 1 1/2 cups quartered strawberries (I measured these generously...and I also tossed them with a bit of cornstarch and just a touch of sugar)
Topping
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1 tablespoon butter, softened
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix topping ingredients until crumbly; set aside. Cream butter and sugar together in mixing bowl. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in sour cream and vanilla. Mix flour and baking soda together and fold into batter. Fold in rhubarb and strawberries. Turn into greased 9x13-inch pan. Sprinkle topping over batter. Bake 30-40 minutes until done.

Meat Them on M-25

2009-06-10T13:54:00.001-07:00

While on our search for Lake Huron fish we stopped into Walt's Meat Market,
3189 Port Austin Rd. between Caseville and Port Austin. They had no fish -- but they did have some excellent meat.

I'm picky about butcher shops. If I walk through the door and detect the "off" aroma of less-than-fresh meat, I'm out of there. Walt's keeps a very clean shop, with an attractive display.

We were impressed with some of the specially seasoned meats -- the bleu cheese and cheddar-bacon hamburgers, and the beef tenderloin stuffed with bleu cheese and wrapped with bacon. If you're a camper or picnicker in the area you can enjoy a bistro-quality dinner right from a parkside grill.

We grilled bleu cheese burgers last night and ate them with garlic-and-sundried-tomato couscous, and enjoyed leftovers today, and are looking forward to trying Walt's bratwurst tomorrow.

Walt's also carries deli meats and cheeses and some standard groceries.

Local Food Goes to School

2009-06-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here's an encouraging story about a local farm providing fresh produce to my hometown alma mater.

Smoked Salmon Pasta

2009-06-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

So we've been on the Thumb portion of the Lake Huron tour, and we come home with a pound of smoked salmon. What do we do with it, besides eat it au natural, morsel by morsel?

Tonight I decided to make a creamed salmon sauce for pasta. I had some fusilli -- fun, twirly long pasta I'd bought with a gift card -- in the pantry; I had some half-and-half, fat-free sour cream and green onions in the fridge; I had a bottle of Longview Rustic White wine from Leelanau County on the counter.

Here's what I did: First I sauteed the thinly sliced green onions in some Healthy Balance buttery spread. I then added just a sploosh of wine, plus salt and pepper, and cooked that over the same medium-high temperature until the wine had been reduced by about half. I turned the heat down to low, added maybe a half cup of the half-and-half and a large dollop of fat-free sour cream, seasoned the mixture with a healthy dash of dillweed (maybe two heaping teaspoons or so) and mixed cracked pappercorns. Meanwhile I'd started the pasta. I sliced a filet of smoked salmon and placed the slices in the sauce just to warm up. After the pasta was done and drained, I plated it and then gently scooped the salmon and sauce onto the pasta.

I served this with whole green beans from my Amish neighbors last year that I'd frozen, and the Longview Rustic White.

We enjoyed this mostly-made-in-Michigan meal muchly...so much so that I didn't have time to snap a photo of the final product.

Working Definition of a Foodie...

2009-06-08T09:44:00.001-07:00

Someone who, preparing for an extended day trip, packs a large cooler not to take food with her but rather to bring food home.

Learn About Great Food

2009-06-07T20:20:00.000-07:00

If you're a foodie longing for a vacation that feeds your favorite passion, check out the website Learn Great Foods for information on one-day food tours and food retreats in the Great Lakes region -- many in northern Michigan -- with an emphasis on organic foods.

Clare Cafe' is "the Berries"

2009-06-07T18:05:00.000-07:00

As in the Mulberry Cafe', inside the Herrick House gift/home furnishings shop just east of the Doherty Hotel on 5th St./Old US-10, next to the Pere Marquette Public Library.

An old high school buddy of mine who looked me up on Facebook was in the area this weekend for a family event, so we met at the cafe' for lunch. She had the scratch-cooked quiche of the day; I had a luncheon plate that included a broiled chicken breast topped with roasted asparagus and a side of cranberry compote, toasted herb bread, a small wedge of Brie and apple slices. We both enjoyed our meals muchly, and it didn't take a lot of persuasion for us to add a dessert course -- strawberry-rhubarb pie for her and a warm rhubarb cake for me. Again, both were great.

As much as I love the cheery eclectic decor of the cafe' -- the light, cottage-y flowered-print tableclothes and mismatched vintage glassware -- and the friendly, positive staff, what I really appreciate about this restaurant is the scratch cooking and creative, ever-changing menu. In a restaurant market filled with cookie-cutter establishments all buying the exact same foods from the exact same food service companies, it's refreshing to eat in a restaurant where cooks actually cook (as opposed to warm up from the Gordon's and Sysco containers), and actually take risks by offering customers new recipes.

My thanks to the Mulberry Cafe' for providing another excellent meal and a wonderful backdrop to a personal high-school reunion.

Thumb's Up!

2009-06-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

We set out on an adventure this morning: a trip to Michigan's Thumb.

I've never traveled in this part of the state before, so it was all terra incognita to me. We took M-13 to Kawkawlin, where we tried to get breakfast at the Mussel Beach Drive-In, an establishment that got rave reviews from diners on TripAdvisor; it was so busy that a line stretched out the door, so we gave up and -- after some map-challenged meanderings down the canal-lined backroads east of Bay City -- found M-25, the highway that runs around the perimeter of the Thumb region.

We had a great deal of fun, especially since we had no itinerary at all other than "Let's stop anywhere that looks interesting," and a booklet of local attractions we picked up for free at a gas station.

We got our foodie on big time at the historic Bay Port Fish Company, right on the shore of Lake Huron, next to the park in what constitutes downtown Bay Port. The place is spotlessly clean, and offers absolutely fresh, competitively priced fish filets from the big lake -- perch, whitefish, walleye, salmon -- and numerous species of au natural, clean-'em-yourself fish, everything from crappies to sheepshead, at bargain prices. (Had we not been so far away from home I would have been tempted to test-drive my dad's old fileting knife and my half-remembered fish-cleaning skills on some of these intriguing and hard-to-find freshwater fish.) We wound up brunching on a smoked salmon filet that was so well seasoned, so buttery-rich and non-fishy -- it was terrific, even if we had to eat it with our fingers and wipe our hands on the paper bag. (Gertie the Wonder Pup, who is incredibly spoiled, also enjoyed a morsel or two.) We are so going back to Bay Port Fish Co., this time with a cooler and a shopping list...if you'd like to check it out, it's open seven days a week during the season, 9:00-3:00; call (989)656-2121.

Our second foodie discovery was the Dizzy Daisy Winery and Vineyard, between Port Austin and Bad Axe. This new winery features 20 different wines, from popular varieties like Riesling and white Zinfandel to unusual fruit wines -- rhubarb or white currant, anyone? (I am a huge rhubarb fan, and I enjoyed the slightly sweet/slightly tangy wine, but Partner in Food found it, shall we say, an acquired taste that she had not yet acquired.) The less adventurous in the market for dessert wine may prefer the strawberry or raspberry wines. We left with a nice, light, food-friendly cabernet/merlot blend and semi-sweet muscat wine, a new varietal for us. The Dizzy Daisy's tasting room offers free samples. The Dizzy Daisy Winery is at 1288 Crown Road, west of M-53.

On our way back to M-53 stopped at a combination deli and charter fishing business on the corner -- I love small-town businesses -- that advertised smoked fish on its sign, to see what they had to offer. They had home-smoked salmon, which was also very good -- maybe a bit spicier than our first taste of local smoked fish, and more roughly cut, but we liked it as well -- but we learned that their other smoked fish came from...Flint. (It always pays to ask.) The proprietors also told us that they don't carry fresh fish because there's no local market for it, and the licensing they'd need to sell it was cost-prohibitive. That echoed our observation that it was darned difficult, even on this nautically-themed highway so close to a Great Lake, to procure fresh fish from that same lake. The lack of local respect for Michigan's great foods never ceases to amaze us. (And we also find it amusing that people who cite price as a barrier to buying local don't mind paying as much or more for highly processed or fast foods; which reminds me of many fruitless discussions with my otherwise painstakingly frugal parents about why they would pay $5 or $6 or more a pound for lunch meat but not for fresh meat.)

We didn't explore the Thumb interior this time around -- we got tuckered out before we reached Bad Axe -- but we had a great time driving M-25 up to the tip of the Thumb. We will be back.

They're Alive! They're Alive!

2009-06-04T05:35:00.000-07:00

Back in April I started a tray of heirloom tomatoes gotten from a greenhouse in Florida that actually specializes in tropical plants but sells tomato seeds as a sideline. It was a wonderful array of tomato varieties from all over the world.

Three weeks later I had a delightful little tomato nursery there in the window of our front room.

Six weeks later -- disaster. Cold, dim days had led to damping off despite my best efforts and a supposedly advanced "system" for even watering. And it was too cold outside to get the baby 'maters into some natural sunlight.

About mid-May, on a rare sunny day, I took my tomatoes out to the patio, placed them in a semi-sheltered location and filled the water tray. "I'm pretty sure you're all going to die," I told them, "but at least this way you'll die in the outdoors, where you belong. Fare thee well, little friends."

And I left the tomatoes alone. Oh, I'd throw a beach towel over them on frost-warning nights, and maybe once a week I'd freshen the water tray. But that was it. They were on their own.

This week we have finally been able to get into the garden -- the yard guy finally rototilled the lawn, and after a couple of soggy weeks I was finally able to get in and cultivate, yank out some massive networks of tree roots, mark off the garden space with a degree of accuracy. On Monday I began planting tomato plants gleaned from my trips to local greenhouses. But yesterday I decided to pick through my handgrown tomatoes and see which, if any, were viable.

To my happy amazement, the casualty list was not as horrible as first imagined. I did lose an entire batch of "Jeune Flaumme," a French cherry tomato that ironically was supposed to do well in cool, damp climates...but I wound up with a representation of the other varieties I'd planted. I actually have so many that I've been scrambling to find space for them all. (The House Beautiful people may not approve, but I claimed chunks of our backyard border for vegetables.)

In the house, or more accurately around the house, we now have the following from-seed varieties:

"Nepal"
"Paul Robeson"
"Black From Tula"
"Vintage Wine"
"Black Russian"
"Silvery Fir Tree"
a wild Mexican species tomato that is supposed to produce bi-colored cherry-sized fruit
an "heirloom mix" featuring some intriguing leaf patterns

They join "Green Zebra," "Black Krim," "Stupice," "Old German," "German Striped," "Mountain Pride" and a couple others from local greenhouses and big-box stores.

When I planted my little seedlings directly into the ground yesterday, I could almost perceive their little roots sensing the luxury of unbounded soil around them: "Free at last!" They are about four inches tall, or were before I buried them up to the leaves; they look so puny next to their commercial counterparts, but I remember my aunt -- a lady who started her tomatoes in coffee cans in the plastic-covered windows of a drafty, wood-heated house -- reassuring me that "They catch up as soon as they get outside."

Gardening is exciting again.

A Good Cup of Joe...and Much More

2009-06-04T05:13:00.000-07:00

Ellsworth, Michigan, like many small northern Michigan communities, lives on the economic edge, and when the economy suffers it can slip that much closer into "ghost town" status.

National Public Radio recently ran a story on how an Ellsworth church -- in an act that echoes writer/poet/farmer Wendell Berry's advice to "practice resurrection" -- has brought new life to a dead village cafe'. Creative people coming together to promote both good, local food and to strengthen the bonds between neighbors -- it's a good thing.

You can read about Ellsworth's Front Porch Cafe' here .

Cheesy Planked Whitefish

2009-05-24T16:28:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the holiday this evening with a meal from the charcoal grill -- planked Michigan whitefish, organic potatoes chunked and tossed with whole garlic cloves, slivered onion, olive oil and herbs, and local asparagus rolled in olive oil and sprinkled with salt.

I'd seen a couple of recipes for planked whitefish online that added a crumb topping -- bread crumbs or potato chips -- to the fish before grilling. I had neither of these on hand but did have a half-bag of cheese crackers, plus grated Parmesan cheese. So I tinkered with the recipes a bit and came up with the following:

Cheesy Planked Whitefish

2 cedar planks (available in grocery stores or in the grilling section of big-box stores), soaked in water for a couple of hours
cooking spray
2 whitefish filets
butter or spread
1 1/2 cups crushed cheese crackers (we used Late July brand from Greentree Coop)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
seasoned salt
dried dillweed
dried chives

Spray one side of soaked planks with cooking spray. Place filets skin side down on planks. Dot with butter, then coat with cracker crumbs and sprinkle with seasoned salt. Add some generous sprinkles of chives and dillweed. Grill over charcoal until fish is opaque and flakes to the touch of a fork.

For more information about Michigan whitefish, including places to purchase fresh whitefish, visit the Great Lakes Whitefish website.

Eat Turtles? (And I Don't Mean the Chocolate Kind)

2009-05-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

Because we have a turtle in our pond we need to get rid of -- a big, mossy-backed snapping turtle that menaces local fish, frogs and ducklings.

My dad's side of the family included many avid hunters and fishermen, including connoisseurs of turtle meat -- I recall my Great-Uncle Art stopping by one day with a brown paper bag filled with hot-out-of-the-pan deep-fried snapping turtle coated in cracker crumbs. It was good, in a novelty-food sort of way -- cliche' to the contrary, it did not "taste like chicken," but had a similar flavor to frog legs, with a meatier, more sinewy texture. But sadly our family tree no longer includes outdoorspeople willing to hunt turtle; and despite living in a pretty rural, back-to-the-land part of the state we've so far not found any local folks willing to trap our turtle for us.

So, in the spirit of six-degrees-of-separation, I am now broadcasting our request to the general public: We need someone to trap our turtle, preferably someone who enjoys turtle meat. We will recompense you for your efforts. Post or e-mail me for details.

Entrepreneurial? Whole Foods Wants to Help

2009-05-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

If you are a food artisan who needs help getting a home business started, Whole Foods may be able to help. Check out their website here .

Meat Me in Rosebush

2009-05-19T18:25:00.001-07:00

While traveling through Isabella County the other day I had a chance to visit Graham's Organics , a farm/meat processing operation located between Rosebush and Mt. Pleasant on Weidman Road. I was acquainted with Graham's through Greentree Coop, which carries their products, but wanted to see what meats were available on premises.

I was not disappointed. In the shop that day I found certified organic chicken legs and thighs; turkey breast; hamburger; country ribs, pork sausage and brats, even pepperoni; eggs; and homeground cornmeal.

The cost of running a butcher shop on premises is prohibitive for most farmers, but it's great to be able to buy specific cuts of meat directly from the farmer, instead of always having to purchase halves or quarters of the animal, or whole fryers and roasters.

I think I'm going to make Graham's a regular stop on future trips to Mt. Pleasant.

Stalking the Vintage Tomato

2009-05-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

This spring I had high hopes of growing all my tomatoes from seed, and for awhile my little plantlets, growing in the window of our front room, looked wonderful -- about ten different heirloom tomato varieties, even including a wild species cherrry tomato from Mexico.

But farming -- even windowsill farming -- has its risks. And by last week my seedlings were in very sad shape for a number of reasons, including damping off (despite my conservative watering schedule). I lost at least one entire variety ("Jeune Flaumme," a bicolor cherry tomato that was supposed to be good for cool climates), and the others are not thriving.

Hope springing eternal, I'm trying to maintain a serene attitude about it all: What can I learn from this experience? Among other things, I've learned that I need a decent grow light, and that my low-tech styrofoam-cup seed starting kits of years past are much more user-friendly and successful than the blingy indoor-greenhouse "system" I bought at Lowe's in a momentary lapse of judgment.

But -- I decided I needed to move on to Plan B. But I wanted heirloom tomatoes, not the same-ol-same-ol varieties at the average garden center.

Fortunately for me, I've found two local sources for my heirlooms. One is Pleasant Thyme Greenhouses in Rosebush, just north of Mt. Pleasant on Baseline Road, east of the Mt. Pleasant racetrack. I stopped by last week on the way home from an appointment in the Mountain Town, and to my delight found a great variety of heirlooms, including hardy, flavorful Eastern European varieties like "Black Krim," "Black From Tula" and "Stupice." I also had fun talking tomato varieties with the owner.

My newest greenhouse discovery is an Amish business, Twin Willow Greenhouse, located on Wirtz Road south of Sugar Springs here in Gladwin County. This establishment is small even by small-town standards; one greenhouse that's about 12 feet from one end to the other, with a wood stove taking up considerable space in the middle. Despite the diminuitive size, though, the place is jammed with all manner of vegetable starts, including heirloom 'maters like Oxheart and a few I've never heard of, like Mountain Glory. An added bonus visiting this business is the presence of several small Amish children, all delighted to have "English" visitors, even though the tiniest can't speak English (Amish kids speak the traditional Swiss dialect of their community until they go to school). Smiles and pantomime go a long way.

It's All Greek to Us

2009-05-19T17:51:00.000-07:00

We had great charcoal-grilled lamb kebobs tonight, served with tziki sauce (yogurt, cucumber, garlic, dill, lemon, salt and pepper -- use proportions you find pleasing). Here's the marinade I used on our lamb stew meat:

Greek Lamb Marinade

Marinade one pound of lamb stew meat in a mixture of:

1 cup plain yogurt
2 minced cloves garlic
2 tsp Greek seasoning (a mixture of oregano, garlic, onion and mint)
1 tsp dried dillweed
a generous squeeze of half a lemon
sea salt and pepper to taste

Marinate meat for several hours or overnight. Place meat on skewers and grill.

Fungus Among Us

2009-05-19T17:32:00.000-07:00

It seems like forever since I've posted here...we are getting ready for a garage sale, so I've been spending quality time sorting through a houseful of belongings, crammed into our spare garage, and when I'm not doing that I'm working on lawn and garden (the vegetable part of which is on hold until Thursday when Yard Guy can finally come and disk it. I know I should be patient -- my parents never planted their garden until Memorial Day weekend, ever -- but I feel as if I've already missed an entire season).

Anyway...the other day when I was at Greentree Coop in Mt. Pleasant I was intrigued by a new line of gourmet mushrooms, grown in Alpena by the Williams family. I love mushrooms. And with the exception of shiitakes, these were new varieties for me. I decided on a package of elm ear mushrooms -- they grow vertically, overlapping like pretty white shingles on a faerie rooftop. According to the package label, they're best cooked.

I sauteed my 'shrooms in some olive oil, with a little shallot and thyme, and had them with my breakfast eggs. They were lovely -- mildly flavorful, with a pleasant texture. I think that, instead of including them with other exotic mushrooms in a dish, they'd be best served solo with a mushroom-friendly entree, or maybe even added atop an artisan white-sauced pizza.

The Williams family also sells mushroom growing kits so you can try your hand at raising your own gourmet fungi, and will even expertly sow 'shroom spawn on your property. Check out their website for more information.

I Heart My Rice Cooker

2009-05-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

I remember, back in my 20's when I first developed an interest in natural foods, reading cookbooks like Laurel's Kitchen whose authors tended to look down their noses at specialty home appliances as wasteful and frivolous and "Establishment."

Well, the process of living tends to add some texture to youthful idealism. And while I can still laugh at some of the sillier kitchen appliances I see in stores (like the hot dog roaster that literally electrocutes your wienies), and while I do tend to avoid appliances like food processors that are often more trouble than they're worth for small-batch cooking -- I have found some appliances that do save time and effort and are worth the investment. A contact grill is one. A bread machine is another.

My new favorite appliance, though, is the rice cooker. We got ours by default, when our semi-daughter-in-law said thanks but no thanks to a small, simple rice cooker we bought her last Christmas for her tiny apartment. We thought we might be able to make use of it ourselves, but then we got busy, and the rice cooker got shoved into a far corner of the cupboard.

We brought it out the other week when we wanted rice, and were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to operate and how quickly it cooked the rice. We tried it with quinoa; with brown rice; it was great. (The cooker somehow knows when the contents has absorbed all the liquid it's going to, and automatically switches from "on" to "warm." I know it's all physics, but it's still a little magical.)

This morning I got creative and used it to get a head start on our curry supper. I cooked red lentils in the bottom, and used the steamer attachment to cook a mix of sliced fingerling and sweet potatoes and carrots. Again, it worked wonderfully and fast. Tonight I'm warming up the lentils with the veggies and some pre-made curry simmer sauce, while I put the cooker to work again to make a couple servings of basmati rice.

This is the coolest thing. If I knew a kid just starting out on his or her own, this would definitely be a housewarming gift from me.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

2009-05-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

Last fall, when my neighbor expressed an interest in buying my house, I dug up my tiny pocket herb garden, a small "V" alongside my back steps, and transplanted them to a bed at Partner in Food's home.

After the spring thaw I waited for some signs of life among the winter-wizened plants.

Good news and bad news. My thymes -- a regular thyme, lemon thyme and silver thyme -- survived the season in fairly good shape; the only casualty was a creeping thyme. My tri-color sage did not make it through the winter, but the regular thyme is sporting all new growth. A knot of seed-grown chives from last year reemerged, but the garlic chives didn't make it. The parsley died. And -- remarkably -- a French lavender that I'd assumed was dead has just sprouted some new foliage.

I have much more space for herbs this year, which is good -- we use lots of them, especially in summer marinades and grilling. I'm planning on expanding my collection of sage, replanting garlic chives -- very useful for times when you just don't want to fuss with cloves -- and putting in a big bed of parsley. Meanwhile, I have a couple of basils and tarragon growing indoors.

A Rosy Tea Alternative

2009-05-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

The next time we head up north to Glen Arbor, we have to make a stop at Great Lakes Tea and Spice for a refill of their wonderful wild rose white tea. The light, lemony-floral flavor is wonderful; it's a great tea for sipping out on the porch in the cool of an early summer morning. Like other Great Lakes Tea and Spice products, it's available online.

Get the Spirit

2009-05-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

Inspired by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, an enthusiastic mixologist in her spare time, we've been experimenting with liquors and cordials at our house -- just one bottle at a time, and when possible something we can also use for cooking.

Not too long ago we'd read an intriguing article about True North Vodka, made in Michigan by Grand Traverse Distillery, so when we saw a bottle in a party store today we thought we'd taste-test it in a batch of bloody Marys -- a jigger of vodka, about a half cup of V-8, a couple teaspoons of lemon juice, a good shot of Worchestershire sauce, several dashes of Tabasco and a bit of horseradish shaken up with a handful of ice, then poured over more ice and finished off with celery salt. (Partner in Food makes a wonderful gazpacho during the hotter parts of summer, when we can get the veggies locally grown, that will make a great bloody Mary.)

The True North vodka went down very smoothly and cleanly -- much more so than the usual vodka-based bar cocktail.

We're looking forward to trying other cocktails with True North, and perhaps saving some for vodka pasta sauce, margarita chicken or other dish. Grand Traverse Distillery also offers a cherry-infused vodka that has all sorts of interesting possibilities for drinks and other recipes.

Sizzlin' Steelhead

2009-04-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't fallen out of cyberspace...I just got busy with non-foodie things this past month.

We tried something new a couple of weeks ago, on an unseasonably warm day when grilling out on the patio seemed like a pleasant weekend-dinner plan: Steelhead.

I seldom see this species in local markets, so I was intrigued when one of our local grocery stores had Michigan steelhead in stock.

We seasoned it with a beer-garlic grll rub we'd picked up on a whim at Cabela's last summer, that's been sitting in a dark corner of the spice cupboard ever since, and grilled it over beechwood-chip-enhanced charcoal -- I'd found the chips at an end-of-season sale awhile back.

We absolutely loved this fish. It was rich and flavorful, yet milder than salmon. We will certainly add this to our fish repertoire whenever we can find it.

What's Cookin' in Clare

2009-03-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

It started out as a trip literally across the street to the post office and our pet supply store. It wound up one county over, having lunch at The Mulberry Cafe in Clare. I love days like this!

After picking up mail and cat food we decided we'd visit an Amish family we buy baskets and sundries from. Their older kids park the family buggy at the corner of Bard and Beaverton Roads in southern Gladwin County and sell quilts and handcrafts on Saturdays; among other items, they make nice, sturdy braided dog leashes, and last weekend we ordered a couple of them for Gertie. We weren't able to rendevouz with the kids to pick up our order on Saturday, so on this day we drove to their home. I met the mom and two tiny siblings, whom I seemed to fascinate not only by my presence but by my speaking a little German to them. (Little Amish children speak Swiss-German dialect at home and hear High German in their worship services; so I must have sounded very formal and "churchy" to to them.) The little boy was able to tell me his name; the little girl brought me her bunny book. Too cute.

We were right at the county line, so we thought, Hey, let's look for a wheelbarrow at the Amish hardware store. We'd priced them at Lowe's but weren't quite happy with what we'd found. First we went to the Colonville General Store, on Colonville Road, which has some hardware but is really more geared toward housewares and tourist-friendly stuff. One of the clerks there directed us down the next cross-road to Hershberger's Hardware, on Leaton Road just over the line into Isabella County.

This is a nice full-service store that serves both Amish and English communities. And we were thrilled to find a good steel wheelbarrow and a spare no-flat tire, for a total price about $40 less than the equivalent at Lowe's. That, a bag of lime for the garden and a bag of Amish multicolor popcorn, and, we felt the trip was well worthwhile.

Our 10:00 mail run had now stretched to noon. "So," Partner in Food said, "where would you like to eat?" I suggested The Mulberry Cafe inside Herrick House, a gift/houseware store near downtown Clare, next door to the lovely new Pere Marquette Library.

We had a delicious lunch. The cafe, which also sells baked goods, is tucked into the south end of the old house where the gift shop is located; in the summer guests can sit on an adjoining patio. The inside seating area is bright and cozy, like a country kitchen, with real tablecloths and vintage dishware. Today the tables were decked out for springtime, with table linens sporting a print of bright flowers and bees.

The cafe has a small regular breakfast and lunch menu, with two daily sandwich specials, two soup specials and a revolving menu of homemade pies -- standards like apple and blueberry, and novelties like strawberry-mango and chocolate chip.

We decided to try a daily special, turkey panini with Swiss cheese and banana peppers. It was great; a combination I never would have come up with myself; the peppers provided just the right piquant zing. For dessert we ordered homemade key lime pie, which was decadently rich and flavorful. ("This recipe is an experiment, so let us know how you like it," the waitperson advised.)

Partner in Food had never eaten at The Mulberry Cafe before. "We will be back!" she declared.

I love eating in places with quirky touches -- like the green Depression-glass ice-cream-soda glass used for Partner in Food's iced tea and the other mismatched plates. I appreciate seasonal menus, and cooks confident enough to experiment with new scratch recipes. If you like these things as well, and you're traveling through the middle-of-the-Mitt, you might want to detour off Clare's Main Street one block east (turn east at the Doherty Hotel) and visit The Mulberry Cafe. They're open from about 8:00 to about 3:00 on weekdays and from 9:00-2:30 on Sundays.

Walleye -- Wow!

2009-03-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

It was nice enough outside tonight to grill on the patio, so we tried a walleye recipe I found online, submitted by a fishing guide who makes it this way for shore lunches.

I double-layered a large rectangle of heavy-duty aluminum foil. I placed some pats of Smart Balance (our concession to better health around here, having been verbally spanked by our doctors for high triglycerides) and generous dashes of Old Bay seasoning down the middle, and placed a walleye filet on top, skin side down. I seasoned the top side of the fish with more Old Bay. Meanwhile, I'd melted a bit more of the Smart Balance with a lot of dillweed in the microwave; after this cooled down a little I drizzled it over the fishe, then brought up the ends of the foil to make a packet. I then pricked a few forkholes into the top to let steam escape. This went into our little "junior" tabletop barrel grill for about 15 minutes, until the fish was opaque and flaked easily.

I'm used to crispy-coated fried or baked walleye, so this was a real experiment on my part. What I found was that this treatment made the fish taste very much like lobster. We loved it, especially with the Amish pickled beets and steamed Savoy cabbage we served on the side.

Ironically, the original recipe called for lemon juice in the melted butter and sliced lemons atop the fish. I forgot. We didn't miss the lemon at all -- but you may prefer it.

Getting My...Stuff Together

2009-03-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

I assembled my new Eco-Bin composter today -- just a ring of ventilated heavy plastic sheeting bolted into a ring and staked into the ground. Even though it was barely above 30 degrees and my hands were so cold I could barely manipulate the materials, this task made me feel as if spring had really arrived. (That and my sighting, last night, of the first turkey buzzard in our area, and a pair of sandhill cranes.)

I am also busily filling up my first slop pail of vegetable peelings, coffee grounds and other compostable kitchen detritus.

"I've never been so excited about garbage before," I told Partner in Food.

A Finny Feast

2009-03-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

Fish may be a traditional Lenten food, but in our house it's a feast. So today for our Sunday dinner I made panfried Lake Huron perch with fish from Jack's Meat Market in Midland, dipped in egg wash and then coated in a mixture of panko, potato flakes and a lemon-herb seasoning mix from Donna Frawley, a Midland herb grower who's a regular at the Midland Farmers' Market. For sides we had mashed potatoes -- Yukon Golds from Greentree Coop -- pickled beets from our Amish neighbor Mrs. Mast, and a veggie experiment: fennel. We happened to be in Meijer's Friday, and while I was looking for savoy cabbage for my St. Patrick's Day corned beef I happened to notice fennel on sale. This is one vegetable I have never eaten on its own, so I shrugged and added a bulb to the shopping cart. We washed it down with 2007 Honey Moon viognier from Trader Joe's -- really, aside from the panko and fennel, the only non-Michiganian food products on our plates today.

The perch was absolutely fresh and wonderful -- the crunchy coating nothing more than sensory window dressing for the natural goodness of the fish. My mother, who would fry fish at least twice a week during the winter months when my dad went ice fishing, prefered Crisco for her fish-frying, but I fry my fish in canola oil because it's healthier. I don't use a lot of oil -- just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. I dip my filets in an egg wash, then press both sides into the seasoned crumbs, then let the coated filets sit for a few minutes on a paper towel before transferring them to the hot pan; this seems to help adhere the crumbs to the fish.

I had microwave-steamed the fennel for maybe 7 minutes, until it was tender, and served it with a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper. I think I'd avoided fennel all these years because of cookbook descriptions comparing its taste to that of anise -- I don't dislike anise, but I got the idea that fennel was rather strongly flavored, when it isn't at all. Think celery with a hint -- just a hint -- of anise, and you'll have some idea of what a fennel bulb feels and tastes like.

Mrs. Mast, who lives between Beaverton and Clare and has a roadside stand where she sells home-canned goods and candy, makes wonderful pickled beets -- they rival my mom's, which is no mean feat. Together with the fennel and the buttery Yukon Golds..."Eat your vegetables" was very easy to do today.

Fight For Local/Sustainable Food!

2009-03-12T17:06:00.000-07:00

Legislation alert for anyone who cares about locally, sustainably grown foods:

Two upcoming pieces of legislation threaten to put small-scale farmers and growers out of business and make consumers more dependent on Big Agribusiness for our food. (And we all know what a great success that's been...)

First of all: There is a move afoot to mandate what's called the NAIS, or National Animal Identification System, in order to better track the sale of livestock and the source for outbreaks of foodborne disease. NAIS would require all farmers to implant an ID chip in each animal -- this to the tune, I've been told, of over $100 per head. This would effectively put a lot of small and hobby farmers -- the kind of folks like my friend Farmer Ken who sells me beef and pork -- out of business. And it also fails to address the real root of danger in our food supply, to wit huge centralized factory farms and agribusiness processing plants.

Another scary piece of legislation out there is HR 875, the so-called Food Safety Modernization Act. This would require all farmers' markets and small-scale produce growers -- again, people like the local folks with roadside stands where we buy a lot of our fruits and veggies over the year -- to register with the government and be subject to countless fussbudgety regulations. Isn't it odd that the spouse of the Connecticut legislator who introduced this bill in the House is an executive with...Monsanto; and that it's supported by other Big Ag businesses.

There are very few issues that get folks on opposite sides of the political divide working together, but I think both crunchy-granola folks and libertarians who detest big government can find common ground in opposing this legislation.

Please, all of you who read either of my blogs: Contact your legislators and let them know that you are opposed to both these attempts to regulate small farmers/growers out of existence. (The fact that you're online now means that it just takes a few clicks to get to your legislators' webpages and zap them an e-mail expressing your concerns.) And let your friends know about these shenanigans going on in Congress. If you belong to a food coop, let your fellow coopers know. If you do business with local farm and garden stores, let the people there know. If you're on Facebook, there are Facebook groups opposed to both legislative proposals -- search them out, join and invite your Facebook friends to join. We need to support our farming and market gardening friends in the face of this attack -- for their sake but also for ours and for all consumers who genuinely care about food quality and food sustainability.

Soup and Bread Night

2009-03-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

Partner in Food and I are signed up to be chefs at our church's Wednesday evening Lenten supper in a couple of weeks. Our assignment is to provide two different, simple soups and a couple loaves of bread to feed the 25-30 people who show up for our meal and the Holden Evening Prayer that follows.

We love to cook, so we're excited by this prospect. But what to make...what to make...

We had our own soup and bread supper tonight, so I test-drove a recipe I'd found online a few days ago. I was looking for an excuse to use some herbes de Provence we'd bought at The Lavender Fleece at their farm open house last fall, and also looking for a reason to try some of the lentils we bought at Whole Foods during our recent trip downstate.

This turned out really well. Accompanied by some warm oatmeal bread fresh from the machine, it made a great meal.

Lentil Soup With Herbes de Provence

<em>olive oil
1 large carrot, sliced thin
2 stalks celery with leaves, sliced thin
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced fine
1 cup lentils, rinsed and picked over (I used a mixture of red lentils, which PIF finds easier to eat than the typical supermarket variety, and some little French lentils)
1 tsp. + herbes de Provence
1 small bay leaf
4 cups vegetable broth (I used a shoot-from-the-hip combo of water, Better Than Bouillon mushroom base, vegan bouillon and a few splooshes of tamari)
1 can diced tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Saute carrot, celery and onion in olive oil until onions are transparent but not browned; add garlic and saute about a minute more; add lentils and herbs and stir until ingredients are all mixed; add broth. Bring to boil; turn heat down to low and simmer for about a half hour or until the lentils are tender. Add tomatoes; season to taste, adding more herbes de Provence if desired; continue to simmer until tomatoes are hot and flavors meld. Remove bay leaf.

Serve with crusty bread, and if desired with a little dash of balsamic vinegar. Serves -- oh, five or six.

And here's the latest variation on our oatmeal bread. The original recipe called for only 1/4 cup of oatmeal, but I like oatmeal-y bread, so during the first knead in the bread machine I kept sprinkling oatmeal onto the dough, and I'll say that I added at least 2 TBS and maybe even 1/4 cup more oatmeal. I also substituted a little bit of 12-grain flour for bread flour in the recipe, which you don't need to do...although it adds a healthy golden glow and some extra protein and fiber to the bread.

Buttermilk Oatmeal Bread

2 TBS maple syrup, honey or molasses (I used maple syrup from The Sweet Farm in Glennie)
2 TBS canola oil
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup warm water to start
4 TBS dry buttermilk powder
generous 1/4 cup oatmeal
3 cups bread flour (I used about 2 2/3 cups bread flour and topped off the cup with multigrain flour)
1 heaping tsp vital gluten
1 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast

Add ingredients to bread machine in order recommended by manufacturer. Set machine for 2 pound loaf, white bread. Watch dough during first knead cycle, and either add warm water or flour to dough to achieve a smooth, elastic dough. (You can also try my trick of incorporating a bit more oatmeal into the dough after it comes together in a ball.)

Reverse Elitism at Work

2009-03-12T06:58:00.000-07:00

The other day I was reading an online article about food and the economy, and the author made a disparaging reference to out-of-touch foodies who, presumably unlike the noble proletariat, "shop at Trader Joe's."

I happen to like Trader Joe's. We get to the Ann Arbor store maybe four times a year and stock up on shelf-stable food. It's a great place to get good food cheap -- often cheaper than at our local supermarket -- which I assume is a good thing during a recession.

So why pick on Trader Joe's? Hmmm. Maybe because it's fun to go there, with the faux tiki decor and goofy bell-ringing. Maybe because the company assumes a degree of literacy and food awareness on the part of its patrons. Oh, my -- can't have that, can we; smart shoppers who make informed decisions about their food purchases.

So maybe the better question isn't why pick on the store chain, but who's doing the picking, and why discouraging mindful consumption of whole/sustainable/organic food is so high on their agenda that they're going to go after a not-very-large, not-very-self-serious grocery chain.

Young at Heart...and Taste

2009-03-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

I spent this past weekend downstate with my two aunts-in-law, one 87 and one 90.

I love and admire these women for many reasons, not the least of which is their great sense of adventure when it comes to food. They do not fit the stereotype of rigid elders who won't expand their culinary horizons beyond meat and potatoes.

Partner in Food and I visited Ann Arbor on Saturday, and brought dinner back for The Aunts and ourselves from Whole Foods: roast chicken with an assortment of salads, one of which was tabbouleh. We weren't sure if The Aunts would take to this rather exotic side dish, but we figured we'd finish whatever they didn't eat.

Well...The Aunts LOVED tabbouleh. "What do you call this?" they kept asking. "This is so good. And it's so healthy looking! Where did you say you can get it?" Needless to say, we let them eat most of it.

I have made tabbouleh at home, with great success. I would love to develop a big enough parsley patch in the new herb garden to become parsley and mint self-sufficient for recipes like this. I have also made tabbouleh mintless -- my late mother couldn't quite bring herself to eat a savory salad with mint in it -- or with, um, creatively obtained mint in the absence of the fresh stuff (like the innards of a mint tea bag).

I use the taste-and-tinker method for a lot of my cooking, but this recipe has the standard proportions of ingredients in it. I also like the addition of cucumber in the salad. I prefer the finer-grained bulgur or cracked wheat in tabbouleh because PIF has an easier time eating it, but if you like more texture in your salad try the standard bulgur.

Tabbouleh

1 cup bulgur, cracked wheat or other grain (try quinoa for a kind of South Amercan/Middle Eastern fusion thing)
3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
3 green onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint leaves
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup olive oil

Place bulgur or cracked wheat in bowl and cover with 2 cups boiling water. Soak for 30 minutes; drain and squeeze out excess water. (You can also use leftover cooked grain.)
In a mixing bowl, combine the wheat, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, garlic, parsley, mint, salt, lemon juice, and olive oil. Toss and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. Toss again prior to serving.

Sweet Seeds

2009-03-04T16:57:00.000-08:00

I was leafing through an almanac the other day when I read a short article about Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. It's a company in Missouri founded by an enthusiastic young horticulturalist back when he was still in his teens.

So I checked out the website. The catalog has an amazing variety of open-pollinated vegetables from all over the world, plus a good selection of old-fashioned annual flowers. The website has a lot of other interesting info as well. You can check it out here .

On the Table at Marian's

2009-02-28T18:23:00.000-08:00

My Aunt Marian passed away this week, after many years in a local nursing home and several weeks of a final, grave illness. Her funeral was today.

Marian's caregivers at the nursing home knew her as a small, frail lady; but when I was growing up Marian was a hefty farm woman who toted hay bales, cultivated a huge vegetable garden and canned many, many jars of food each year.

I used to love to visit Marian's house because she and her brother practiced what we now call voluntary simplicity long before it had any cachet. Going there every Sunday afternoon with my parents, or staying there for a week or two each summer when I was little, was like a trip back in time. She cooked with a woodstove for many years; had what I considered an ancient refrigerator; eschewed a hot water heater in favor of a huge, constantly simmering kettle.

Marian had a knack for making the most simple foods attractive and fun for a little kid. I remember summer meals of fried bologna cups filled with home-canned peas; apple or potato pancakes; leaf lettuce fresh from the garden, dressed with sweet cream straight from the cows, amended with sugar, vinegar and yellow mustard; fried potatoes and hotdogs, the latter slashed, curled and crispy-brown on the outside; butter and radish sandwiches on homemade white bread. When I was there for my summer vacation we often had pizza with a homemade crust, topped with hot dogs or hamburger and the barest sprinklings of cheese. We would sometimes forage the farm for wild treats like currants and gooseberries to eat out of hand. Every so often my uncle would take me fishing with him and we'd wind up with a small mess of bluegill that Marian would fry up for dinner.

I had wanted to post one of her recipes here in tribute to her skills for making do with what she had, but the family cookbook with her clippings is deep within a box somewhere in the front garage, still waiting to be unpacked. I will, though, share what I think is a reasonable facsimile of a recipe she'd make before Lent; I'm not sure if this was a tradition in our extended family or if she just found the recipe and enjoyed it, but it's consistent with the little free-form donuts many Germans make before Lent begins. They taste the best while they're still warm.

Old-Time Puffball Donuts

3 eggs,
1 cup sugar
1 pint milk
pinch of salt
flour enough to stiffen dough until a spoon can stand upright in it
nutmeg to taste (preferably grated off the nutmeg, old-school style)
2 heaping tsp. baking powder
lard or Crisco
Beat all until very light. Drop by the dessertspoonful into boiling lard. Cook until brown; drain; while still warm, roll in sugar. These come out of the fryer in all sorts of goofy shapes and are great fun to look at as well as eat...and very addictive.

Great Depression Cooking

2009-02-27T05:19:00.000-08:00

This YouTube series, created by a great-grandson in honor of his 91-year-old great-grandma Clara(such a good boy!) was featured on a segent of Good Morning America today. This is great stuff. (For more episodes, search "Depression Cooking" on the YouTube site.)

Now's the time, before it's too late, to ask our own elders how they got by feeding their families in hard times. My mother always enjoyed the following recipe, a staple in her home during the Depression -- my grandmother was a prodigious canner, so no matter how bare the rest of the cupboard (and sometimes there was no bacon or other smoked meat to add) there were always plenty of vegetables:

Beans and Bacon
1 quart canned green beans, with bean liquid
1 sliced carrot
1 chopped small onion
2-3 small potatoes, sliced
some chopped sliced bacon, or a heel of bulk bacon, or a ham rind, or ham bone
1 pint canned tomatoes, if desired
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the vegetables except for tomatoes and the bacon/rind/bone in a soup pot. Simmer over low, slow heat until potatoes are tender. Add tomatoes, if you're using them. Season to taste.

Bring Back Sunday Dinner!

2009-02-22T16:05:00.001-08:00

While some may think our household most untraditional, one very traditional family value we embrace is keeping Sunday as a day for faith, family and friends. We avoid shopping, chores and general busyness on this day; instead we make time for worship, relaxation and enjoyment of one another and our circle of friends.

We usually just nosh after church, and then make a scratch, slow-food dinner for later in the day.

Today we accepted a dinner invitation by two of our friends -- beef roast, twice-baked potatoes, salad and paschkis for dessert, followed by a lively game of Skipbo and some roughhousing with Gertie the Wonderdog and our friends' two fuzzy shi-tzu puppies. We had a lovely afternoon.

Gratitude for food, family and friends -- a duty and a delight, as the saying goes.

Middle East Feast

2009-02-20T16:19:00.000-08:00

We had a great TGIF meal tonight. Partner in Food sauteed a package of ground lamb from our friends at The Lavender Fleece (hey, visit the "lamb" page of the website and see an endorsement from Yours Truly and Partner in Food!). She then added garlic and a pureed mixture of V-8 juice, onion, celery, carrot and curry powder, and lentils.

We ate this stew with some whole-wheat lavash from Greentree Cooperative Grocery. It was so good.

Home Ground Round

2009-02-20T10:51:00.001-08:00

If you're like me, your food processor probably spends most days shoved into a dusty corner of your kitchen cupboard.

I am a severe underutilizer of my food processor. For one thing, it is so hard to lock and unlock the lid that for me it's often faster for me to just chop or grate (in my own untutored way) by hand. I have also suffered numerous blood-lettings thanks to the lethal blades. Whenever I get an urge to food-process something, I usually wait a few minutes until the feeling goes away.

But here is something -- other than potato pancakes -- that to me is worth getting the food processor out for: Making my own ground round. There is something pleasant about the somewhat coarse texture of food-processed round steak that reminds me of the homemade, hand-meat-grindered venison burger I used to happily wolf down as a child. And, darn it, it just tastes better.

We like ground chicken and turkey at our house, so I think that might be the next frontier of my rocky relationship with my food processor.

Will Web For Food

2009-02-19T12:18:00.000-08:00

I am taking a leap -- of faith, and maybe also of folly -- into the unknown next week when I depart my current, paying job for some continuing education, volunteer work and domesticity.

I will be studying, among other things, web design/webmastery, because in this day and age writers pretty much need to not only know how to write but how to display and distribute their own work. And even though this sort of skill has lost the cachet it had even a couple of years ago, I find that a lot of businesses and agencies here in rural Michigan have absolutely no idea how to build or maintain websites and sometimes pay big bucks for out-of-area companies, who don't really understand or care about their products and services, to do this work for them.

Partner in Food -- who has much more computer competency than I do -- and I have entered into a couple of nice goods-in-kind barter arrangements with local organizations. She loves the technical challenge; I love the editorial component; we both love free stuff.

Anyway...if you or some other Michiganian you know who raises/crafts food and wants an Internet presence, we'd be open to working with you/them for goods in kind. We can show you some of our work and maybe do up a sample site.

Tony's Goes To Town

2009-02-17T05:27:00.000-08:00

Tony's Tacos -- a little side-of-the-road carninval-style taco stand south of the city of Standish on M-13 (4140 Huron, to get technical)-- is one of our very favorite fast-food places. If "Mexican food" makes you think of over-salty, overspiced generic Meximerican a la Taco Smell, as my college roommate used to call it, you will be pleasantly surprised by Tony's.

We went to Tony's for dinner last night -- they're open until 5:30, which necessitated a rather wild ride down M-61 to get there in time. Partner in Food ordered carne guidsada, a flavorful stewed pork served with tortillas, beans and a savory tomato rice. I had a picadillo gordita -- beef, pork and vegetables served inside a soft cornmeal crust like a thick griddle cake. Our meals were so good we didn't at all mind having to eat them in the Jeep in the parking lot -- because, you see, Tony's has no seating during the cold months.

But Tony had good news: He's realizing his dream of owning a sit-down establishment. It's going to be right in the city of Standish, on the east side of M-13, in a building formerly occupied by a Chinese restaurant. He hopes to be relocated next month. I'm sure the truckers who now have an easy time pulling their rigs into the industrial lot next to his current stand will be sad to see his little taco shack go, but the rest of us are looking forward to real Mexican food in a real restaurant setting very soon.

Quail Cornbread-Quinoa Dressing

2009-02-15T17:13:00.000-08:00

One of our own household family values is the sanctity of Sunday dinner. No matter how busy our weekend, it's very important for us to sit down and truly enjoy a well-crafted meal on Sundays -- a "duty and delight," as the saying goes.

If you've read my last couple of posts you know we've had a very rough week around here because of our beloved Cassie's passing. Adding to that was our determination to wrest some order out of chaos in our house, which we've been neglecting since the holidays.

So we have spent the last couple days determinedly chipping away at our housekeeping. And we've made some good progress.

But we still wanted to enjoy a good meal today. So we went freezer and pantry foraging.

Partner in Food found some more cherry-pecan sausage from our fall trip to Pleva's in Cedar, and some quail from our local grocery store. (Like many small-town grocery stores, our down-the-street supermarket tends to have a very modest -- sometimes frustratingly so -- inventory, but occasionally surprises us with specialty foods: shallots by the pound in the produce section one week, quail in the frozen foods section the next week. One week this fall I noticed they were selling domestic quail by the dozen, for a very reasonable price; and inspired by a quail appetizer we'd liked at The Brass Cafe in Mt. Pleasant, I went ahead and bought them.) I found some whole green beans I'd frozen this summer during the Amish roadside stand season, and some quick-cook, pre-washed quinoa in the pantry that I'd bought in a bout of healthfulness. And, there on the kitchen counter, was a spare pan of whole-grain cornbread I'd made the evening before for supper.

It was a little like an episode of Chopped, where chef contestants are given a bag of disparate groceries and given a limited amount of time to turn them into something good to eat.

Here's what I did: I cooked a half-cup raw quinoa in water seasoned with chicken base, while sauteeing onion, celery and a bit of garlic in another pan. (I used a mixture of olive oil and a bit of "light butter," a mix of real butter and canola oil.) I also made a small amount of chicken broth using more chicken base in very hot water. When the quinoa was done I mixed in the cubed day-old cornbread and the sauteed vegetables, adding some extra broth. I then added diced cherry-pecan sausage, and a mixture of herbs that I enjoy in dressing -- sage, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, poultry seasoning, plus salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste.

I placed the dressing in a sprayed glass pan. I then placed four thawed quail atop the dressing butterfly-style, rubbing them with light butter and sprinkling them with the same seasonings. I placed the pan in a 350 degree oven for about an hour, until the quail was browned and tender. Halfway through I also added a small casserole of the thawed green beans, seasoned with salt, pepper and a bit of dillweed,, to the oven to heat up with the main course.

If you're a fan of dark meat, you'll like quail. It has a rich, but not gamey, flavor. We enjoyed ours a lot. I think, though, we enjoyed the dressing even more. Quinoa is light and fluffy, with a distinct but hard-to-define flavor -- Partner in Food pronounced it "earthy." It meshed well with the flavors of cornbread and savory vegetables. The sausage added a bit of sweet, smoky goodness. If I'd had dried cherries in the house I think I might have added those to the dressing as well, and pecans. (Partner in Food, who can't eat most nuts, can tolerate pecans sliced fine.)

The moral of this Sunday dinner story? First, that it's fun to start without a plan and craft a meal intuitively based on ingredients on hand. Second, that it's fun to experiment once in awhile with unusual ingredients. Third, that a meal made with whole foods doesn't require a great deal of time or work -- the quinoa took maybe 20 minutes to cook, and after that assemblage of the meal took maybe another 20 minutes, plus an hour in the oven while we did other things. "Convenience" foods are not always what they're cracked up to be, and "slow food" isn't always slow or difficult. (But most readers know that.)

Note: I'm interesting in dressed farm-raised game. If any regular readers here know of Michigan farmers who raise and dress gamebirds -- ducks, geese, pheasants, quail, etc. -- for direct sale to consumers, drop me a line. Obviously I'd prefer someone in mid-Michigan, but we venture into parts south and north perhaps on a quarterly basis.

Coffee With Authority

2009-02-15T09:31:00.000-08:00

I'll admit it -- I'm not a huge fan of dark-roasted coffee. Oh, I enjoy espresso shots now and then, but only with double slugs of cream. Light-roasted Ethiopean Yrgicheffe or other equally smooth "breakfast blends" are more my taste.

But for those of you who do like java that'll grow hair on your chest, as my dad would have said...the Amish-run Colonville General Store, just north and east of the city of Clare on Colonville Road, offers a locally dark-roasted coffee from an outfit called Custom Coffee Roasting; the coffee is sold ground in 12-ounce packages that retail for $6.15 at the store. My sister-in-law in Florida loves it so much we periodically ship some down to her.

To learn more about Custom Coffee Roasting, call (989)386-3425. The business is located at 9912 Tobacco Drive in Clare.

An All-American Drink

2009-02-13T16:47:00.000-08:00

I know this blog is about Michigan food, but in the current spirit of "Buy American," I'll take a moment to give a shout-out to a venerable American beverage: Laird's Applejack.

Applejack, a combination of apple brandy and neutral grain spirits, is an American drink that predates our existence as a nation...and Laird's Distillery in New Jersey has been around since the 1680's. You can find out more about Laird's Applejack by visiting here .

We were introduced to applejack at our house by MSNBC and Air America commentator Rachel Maddow, who in her spare time is an accomplished mixologist with a particular fondness for traditional, un-fussy cocktails. We saw a YouTube clip of Rachel making Jack Rose cocktails and knew we had to try them.

We tweaked the recipe a little to suit our own tastes, but we will pass along Rachel's advice: This should be a no-brainer for foodies, but...don't use bottled lime juice. It's not real. Use real limes. And shaking cocktails requires time and effort -- a few half-hearted swishes won't cut it. As Rachel notes, you're trying to wake up your drink, not put it to sleep.

Anyway...here's our take on Rachel's recipe:

The Es' Jack Rose Cocktail
for each cocktail:
1 1/2 ounces applejack or Calvados
1 1/2 TBS grenadine
juice of one freshly squeezed lime

Fill shaker with ice. Add ingredients. Shake for at least a full minute. Pour into highball glass.

Cassie: Requiem in Pace

2009-02-13T16:44:00.000-08:00

I have to digress from the usual subject matter of this blog...our beloved golden retriever Cassie passed over the Rainbow Bridge this morning after suddenly taking sick. You can read about it on my other blog . Cassie was a wonderful companion and we will miss her terribly.

Summertime, and the Living is...Seedy

2009-02-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's the presence of the sun, and warmth, outside the past few days that have got me searching online seed catalogs in earnest for my new garden.

For those of you who support cooperative businesses and are also in the market for organic and/or open-pollinated seeds, check out FEDCO Seeds Cooperative out of Waterville, Maine. They actually put out several catalogs, all accessible online, selling garden seeds, potatoes and bulbs for home gardeners and retailers alike. Their scope is amazing -- lots of interesting heirlooms as well as more contemporary favorites and a few F1 hybrid. And the prices are very competitive. The next time you're at the laptop with a mug of coffee or cup of tea, give their website a visit.

Wining Again

2009-02-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

On my last trip to Greentree Cooperative Grocery in Mt. Pleasant I was tickled to see two wines from the Left Foot Charley winery in Traverse City. We've heard about this winery but have never gotten around to visiting it.

I purchased a 2007 "Murmur," a white table wine. We had it that evening with takeout Chinese, and the light white was a great accompaniment; pleasing flavors of apple and honey, and just sweet enough for this dry-wine fan.

Photocopied Friends of Foodies

2009-02-06T15:40:00.000-08:00

I was in the Colonville General Store today -- that's an Amish-owned hardware store on Colonville Road just north and east of Clare. The store has a table in one corner where people can leave advertising fliers; and it was there that I found a stack of photocopied, handwritten newsletters from a group of Isabella and Mecosta County farmers calling themselves Christian Farmers United.

These farmers are looking to sell their meat, poultry and other farm products directly to consumers. The newsletter contains contact information and an area map.

Sadly, these farms are all a little too far away from our home; but if any readers live a little farther west and south and are in the market for bulk meat purchases or CSA honey and produce, do contact them. For a year's subscription to the Christian Farmers United newsletter, write to CFU, PO Box 63, Winn, MI 48896

Dishing Dirt

2009-02-05T17:08:00.001-08:00

I was home with a bug today, but I tried to be at least marginally productive by comparison-shopping for composters.

We've wanted a composter of some kind at our place for awhile now, because our cooking seems to generate a lot of good compostable veggie scraps. I also, of course, want to amend the soil of my new garden as time goes on.

I started out wanting a small version of one of those blingy barrel-type composters that, theoretically you periodically fill and spin around until compost comes spilling out. Then we talked to a friend who hadn't had satisfactory results with hers, who recommended something more basic. And that's also the recommendation of gardening expert Elliot Coleman, who recommends simple circle bins or even bins made of straw bales, which handily recycle themselves into compost as time goes by.

I found something online called a Soil Circle that retails for around $40, that seems to combine the capacity to hold in moisture with enough ventilation to keep the pile stoked. That may be where I'm headed.

Pork Barrel

2009-02-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's all the talk of "pork" on a political level we've been hearing lately...but I just remembered that I ordered a half a hog from one of our local pork producers. He hasn't contacted me yet, but...better get that freezer cleaned out fast.

Michigan Maple Wings

2009-02-02T15:58:00.001-08:00

I'm not much of a football fan, but I am a football snack fan. And that's how I found a chicken wing recipe, from a bed-and-breakfast in New England, for this year's Superbowl. I was looking for a recipe with ingredients we already had at home particularly for maple syrup, because we are still very slowly working our way through a quart of syrup from the Sunrise Side that we bought quite cheaply at the fruit market in Standish last year. (Note to readers: Do keep your real maple syrup in the fridge.)

Anyhow, the mix of ingredients in this recipe was just weird enough to make me want to try it. Which is why I want to assure you now that, while the amount of herbs and spices in here may look like waaaaay too much, it really isn't; trust me. I did add some chives to the mix just because I enjoy onion flavor; you could add green onion or onion powder to your taste.

I changed the original recipe instruction that told cooks to marinate the chicken, then mix the used marinade with the next two ingredients and keep brushing it on the wings throughout their baking. This roused my "ecch" factor, so I discarded the marinade after taking the wings out of it.

The wings baked up sweet and mild but with a tantalizing undercurrent of spice. We'll definitely make them again -- at least as long as we know where to purchase reasonably priced local maple syrup. I think the only thing I'd do differently would be to try fresh ginger in the marinade and perhaps amp up the pepper.

Michigan Maple Wings

5 lb bag chicken wingettes
1 cup dry Michigan white wine
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons ground sage (don't be afraid!)
1 teaspoon spicy Michigan mustard
1 tablespoon dried chives
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon each freshly ground pepper and kosher salt
1 cup Michigan maple syrup
1 cup half and half or cream

Mix wine, oil and seasonings. Add the chicken wings and toss to coat. Marinate 24 hours in the refrigerator, turning chicken occasionally.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line sided cookie/cake roll sheet with foil, spray with cooking spray and/or coat with extra olive oil. Pat wings dry with a paper towel and place on sheet; season with additional salt and pepper if desired. Mix maple syrup with half and half. Brush wings with maple syrup mixture. Bake wings for 40-45 minutes until golden brown and tender, turning and brushing frequently with mixture.

Note: If you want more "oomph" in your maple/half-and-half basting mixture you might try stirring in maybe a quarter cup or so of wine/seasoning marinade reserved before you add the chicken.

French Chicken in a Pot

2009-02-01T05:48:00.000-08:00

While wrapping up my Christmas ornaments yesterday -- it's a long story, but I just undecorated yesterday -- I was watching America's Test Kitchen on University of Michigan public television. This episode featured French Chicken in a Pot -- a very simple but elegant way to roast a whole chicken in a Dutch oven on very low heat. The result was tender and juicy.

Having grown up eating chicken in pieces-parts, and not being very brave about cutting up my own whole Amish chickens (as I've blogged before, my knife-handling technique would send a chef like Gordon Ramsay into a full-blown, profanity-laden apoplectic fit), I'm always in the market for good recipes for whole chickens. This one definitely goes on my to-do list.

You can find it here .

Has Beans

2009-01-31T16:32:00.000-08:00

It felt like a soup day -- kind of wet and raw outside -- so for supper I made a small batch of navy bean soup with local navy beans and some Pleva's cherry-smoked bacon that we have been stewarding in the freezer for just such occasions.

I don't do a lot as far as seasoning bean soup. I used a good-quality organic jarred chicken base; yellow onion; organic carrots and celery; thyme, a couple dashes of marjoram, maybe a half bay leaf and pepper.

It hit the spot. We sopped up the bottom of the bowls with homemade potato bread.

I have some black beans in the pantry I'm looking forward to using on the next soup night -- I'm thinking the vegetarian Cuban black bean soup from my old Diet For a Small Planet cookbook. I'm also thinking of expanding my bean repetoire. Whenever I go to the coop I find myself lingering at the bulk gravity boxes, pondering the adzukis and mungs and other unusual bean varieties, thinking, "Hmmm...wonder what I could do with those?"

Commit-Mint

2009-01-25T13:53:00.000-08:00

On our trip to Lansing yesterday we passed Crosby Mint Farm in St. Johns. This place has intrigued me ever since I was a college student fascinated by the green-roofed white farm buildings and the muckland where the mint grows.

Today I Googled "Michigan mint" to see how things were doing with this once important Michigan agricultural niche product. Sadly, competition from other areas of the country and from synthetic flavorings have almost killed mint farming in Michigan, and the few mint farmers left are struggling to hang on.

I was cheered, though, to find the Crosby Mint Farm website here . They are trying very hard to keep their farm viable through savvy marketing, product expansion -- they now sell mint compost, made from the leftovers of mint oil production, as a soil amendment -- and eco-tourism.

If you enjoy mint for cooking or for herbal healthcare (at our house we've found that peppermint soothes upset tummies and stuffy sinuses as well), or want to try mint compost in your garden or flower beds, do check out the Crosbys' Michigan products.

And if you're a chocoholic who also enjoys the zip of mint with your chocolate, look for Hanover's Michigan-made chocolate mint patties at specialty stores, or visit the Hanover's website .

Oh, Honey...

2009-01-25T13:20:00.000-08:00

I was slow to warm to honey. I outright hated it as a child; as a teenager interested in baking I'd use it as an ingredient in recipes and found myself even liking it, some, in certain things; but I would never think of, say, pouring it on a pancake or licking it off a spoon.

Then I got a taste of star thistle honey from Sleeping Bear Farms of Benzonia.

Star thistle is a more aesthetically pleasing pseudonym for what many of us know as knapweed -- a scrawny, weedy non-native with thin, gray-green foliage and pinkish-purple, thistle-like flowers that appear in mid- to late summer. Star thistles thrive in poor, dry, neglected soil -- roadsides, old train embankments, sandy beaches and the like.

While star thistles generally get no respect, bee magic turns their flowers into a wonderful varietal honey. Star thistle honey is golden in color, mild, with a scent and taste containing notes of flower, citrus and vanilla. If you find the flavor of wildflower or darker varietal honeys too overbearing, try star thistle honey; you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I'm baking bread in the Breadman today. As I squeezed a couple tablespoons of star thistle honey into my wet ingredients, that aroma of warm August days on the front porch came wafting up from the bread pan. It's a really great honey that more cooks should know about.

When You Need Some Bunny

2009-01-24T16:26:00.000-08:00

I was in the Colonville Country Store, an Amish hardware store, in Clare Friday afternoon, en route home, when I noticed a flier advertising "Rabbits -- Live or Dressed." The phone number didn't have a local exchange, but in these days of cell phones that doesn't read anything; so I called it, just for kicks, and wound up talking to a guy whose farm is just around the block from the store. He does big business in bunnies too -- he told me he sells between 800-900 pounds of dressed rabbit a year.

He didn't have any dressed rabbits in stock right now, but told me to just give him a few days' notice whenever I want rabbit. He charges $3 a pound, and his rabbits tend to dress out around four or five pounds each.

He was delighted to talk foodie talk with me, and was happy to meet another person who believes in "buying local." That's how I feel whenever I find a local grower or artisan -- a mutual happy "Aha! Someone who gets it!" fist bump.

Partner in Food is a rabbit newbie, so now the pressure is on to create an entree bursting with bunny goodness. I wish I could channel my departed grandmother's long-lost recipe for real Hasenpfeffer, to serve with a side of Spaetzle; or even my mom's smothered rabbit, browned and braised with onions, whose golden gravy over mashed potatoes was out of this world.

Join the Club

2009-01-24T15:46:00.000-08:00

The Travelers Club and Tuba Museum , that is.

We spent much of the day today in the Lansing area, pricing supplies for Partner in Food's future stained glass studio. (For any readers interested in this and other glass- or ceramic-related crafting, Delphi Glass on Jolly Road, just over the border into Lansing from East Lansing, is the place to go.) We made our way home via Okemos, on my recommendation that we have lunch at the Travelers Club on Hamilton, in Okemos' old downtown. Travelers Club was a hip and happenin' joint back when I was an MSU student, and I enjoyed a visit there a couple of years ago when I was in the area. The restaurant is known locally for many things -- its collection of vintage tubas, which grace the walls; an awe-inspiring collection of beers and ales from all over the world, including the restaurant's own patioside micro-micro-brewery outfit; and its commitment to using locally and regionally grown/crafted foods.

The Travelers Club regular menu takes guests on a culinary tour of the world, and each month the restaurant features a special menu highlighting a particular country or region. We were lucky enough to visit during African month; because when, and where, can we enjoy African food up here in the middle-of-the-Mitten toolies?

We ordered from the a la carte monthly specials menu. I chose marinated pork kabobs with spiced rice and a side of spinach ata stew. Partner in Food selected lamb babotie, a spiced meatloaf with Cape/Malay origins, with a side of Tanzanian mchanyanto -- a thick, mildly spiced vegetarian stew featuring potatoes, winter squash, yams and peanuts -- and a sort of Dutch/African fusion hot (both temperature and spice-wise) coleslaw called gesmoorde kool. Peach chutney accompanied our feast.

We enjoyed our meals (which of course got passed back and forth) muchly. The pork kabobs were faintly lemony-herby; a little bland, frankly, compared to the way we marinate our kabobs at home, but still good eating. The babotie was wonderful, mildly but intriguingly seasoned, with a hint of sweetness, and made us resolve to make a reasonable facsimile back at home. (If you Google "babotie" you will find recipes for both a rather elaborate, moussaka-like dish with a savory custard top and a simpler version more like American meatloaf; our babotie was the latter.) The mchanyanto was another tasty melange of flavors and textures. The ata stew, which included tomatoes and onions, was tangy and flavorful, and the spiced rice featured hints of cinnamon and cardamom that didn't overpower either the rice or the other dishes.

We had such an enjoyable lunch in this little restaurant. We capped it off by splitting a piece of lovely Key lime pie -- the real deal, not the frozen-foods-section kind.

If anyone reading has occasion to visit the greater Lansing area, definitely take the road less traveled off the busy Okemos/Marsh Road strips and onto the "old town" section of Hamilton Street, and prepare your tastebuds for global adventures -- yet with a nod to local growers and food artisans -- at Travelers Club.

Sunny Citrus Marinade

2009-01-21T16:23:00.001-08:00

We had "freezer potluck" today -- grabbed a bag out of the refrigerator freezer compartment to make room for something else -- and wound up with a package of mahi-mahi.

I decided to bake the fish, but first I made up a marinade with some fruit odds and ends from the fridge. I made some steamed whole green and wax beans and Israeli couscous as go-alongs. (We really like Israeli couscous at our house -- the round grains look like tapioca, are browned a bit in the pan before hot cooking liquid is added, and only take about 12 minutes to cook thoroughly. I like to add a few splashes of tamari to the cooking liquid for a little extra flavor. Look for it in the ethnic or grain section of your local supermarket, ethnic market or coop.)

We really enjoyed the result; and I think that this tangy marinade would work well with whitefish or other firm, somewhat fatty regional fish. I didn't do a lot of formal measuring, so these are approximates...taste-test the marinade until you're happy with the result.

Sunny Citrus Marinade
1 lb firm white fish filets

1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup white wine
juice of one lime
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4-1/3 cup olive oil
2 green onions, sliced
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 tsp thyme
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Baking spray/oil

Mix marinade ingredients until oil is well incorporated. Place fish in a glass dish; pierce filets with fork; pour marinade over fish. Marinate a half hour or so, turning filets frequently.

In the meantime, heat oven to 425 degrees.

Remove filets from marinade to a flat non-reactive pan that has been sprayed or oiled. Spoon a few spoonfuls of marinade over filets. Top with some of the green onion from the marinade, and thin slices of orange/lemon/lime if desired. Bake fish for 20-25 minutes, or until fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

The Politics of Food in the New Administration

2009-01-21T13:09:00.001-08:00

I just checked out the Obama agenda for agriculture and rural policy on the updated White House website .

I hope it's true.

Inauguration Party Chili

2009-01-20T14:37:00.003-08:00

When we heard that President Obama's favorite food is chili, we figured that would be just right for supper tonight.

Our chili has a Michigan twist -- it contains venison burger from a friend of mine, a few cloves of hardnecked garlic from our up-north market foraging this fall (hint: freeze garlic heads whole and pull off cloves as needed) and a few dashes of smoked paprika from the Great Lakes Tea and Spice Company of Glen Arbor. The latter added a bit of chipotle-ish smoke flavor to the chili without having to open a can of chipotle peppers. An onion, a can of diced tomatoes with mild jalapenos, a few pinches of oregano and hearty doses of cumin and chili powder rounded out the flavor.

in addition, we plan to toast the new Administration later tonight with some up-north-vintage Bel Lago late harvest pinot grigio we've been saving for some significant event and at the moment have chilling in the snow on the patio. Today seems like a good day to finally crack it open.

"Grassroots" -- Not So Much

2009-01-20T04:53:00.000-08:00

Anyone with the tiniest ounce of healthy skepticism can recognize the hand of PR spin behind a multitude of faux public-service commercials and ads -- coal really isn't dirty, endlessly exploiting public lands for natural resources is actually a form of conservation and patriotism, etc.

Just so you know...one of my favorite food blogs, La Vida Locovore , IDs one such group, the "Center For Consumer Freedom." Turns out that 40 percent of its money goes to -- quelle surprise -- a PR firm. You can read about it here . (The "Center" is upset about an Obama appointment because the appointee is -- you'd better sit down -- a vegetarian. O my stars and garters.)

La Vida Locovore also recently published an action alert for those of us concerned about sustainable farm-to-consumer agriculture, to make our voices heard in the new Administration regarding our concerns about the country's agricultural priorities.

I have La Vida Locovore's feed on my Google homepage. It really is an excellent resource for anyone whose concern about our food supply goes beyond the immediacy of our personal buying/growing. Check it out.

Locally Grown -- Not Just a Marketing Niche

2009-01-20T04:39:00.000-08:00

Proponents of locally grown, sustainable foods are often portrayed as food snobs with too much discretionary income; not the "just folks" who struggle with their grocery budgets week to week.

This of course isn't true. Those of us who buy or sell locally produced foods, who shop at food cooperatives and whole foods groceries, who raise our own food as we can, know that we re a amuch more diverse group of consumers than pro-corporate idealogues want to believe.

For a snapshot of a non-affluent rural Michigan school district moving its food service program in a creative direction with the help of local farmers, check out this article from the Michigan Land Use Institute website.

Non-Daily Bread

2009-01-16T19:24:00.000-08:00

I love my new Breadman bread machine and am having great fun experimenting with new recipes. But -- sometimes you want a crusty artisan bread that you just can't produce in home-kitchen conditions.

On a visit to Midland's fantastic Eastman Party Store today (to celebrate a good medical report -- yay!), we picked up some crusty hearth bread from Wright's Bake Shop in Reed City. (Way over on the west side of the state, at the other end of U.S. 10.) This bread was wonderful with cheese and some deli antipasto, sopping up the herbed olive oil. We also tried samples of Wright's spinach-feta bread -- delicious. We also saw Wright ciabatta, ciabatta rolls and white cornmeal loaves.

We don't normally travel much in west Michigan, so for the time being we'll have to depend on Eastman Party Store for Wright's baked goods. But if Reed City continues to have the summer folk concerts it had a couple of years ago, where we saw performers we love like Claudia Schmidt and John McCutcheon, we are definitely adding it to our summer itinerary, and will certainly be making a side trip to Wright's Bake shop.

Silience of the Lambs

2009-01-13T16:38:00.000-08:00

Today Partner in Food, summarizing a news article for me, told me that the average Americn eats less than one pound of lamb per year.

Vegetarian readers aside -- this is too bad. But I think it's due to a lack of information about available fresh local lamb, and to a lack of knowlege about how to cook lamb.

We had lamb shanks braised with winter vegetables on Sunday. I seasoned two meaty shanks with salt and freshly ground pepper, browned them in olive oil, and placed them in a casserole with lightly sauteed root vegetables from our trip to Whole Foods -- garlic, onions, shallot, garlic, celeriac, turnips, leeks. (A very simple mixture of carrot, celery and onion would have filled in just fine.) I poured a half-and-half mixture or vegetable broth and red wine over the meat and veggies, seasoned it with thyme and marjoram, then baked it at 350 degrees for about an hour.

This made a wonderful meal. No exotica like curry or mint -- just honest western European po' food cooking, with a minimum of seasoning and fuss.

Good Food in the Neighborhood

2009-01-11T16:02:00.000-08:00

First of all, a heads-up that I am going through a serious health issue right now and may not be blogging as frequently as usual. But I will try.

That said -- last night Partner in Food and I went out to dinner at our very favorite restaurant, The Brass Cafe in Mt. Pleasant. We have never had a bad meal there. The service is excellent -- the rival of posh big-city restaurants. The establishment has made a commitment to getting its ingredients whenever possible from sustainable sources. And it's just a nice, relaxing place.

I had nut-encrusted Lake Erie walleye on a bed of mushroom risotto. So good -- the fish was mild and delicious; the risotto was so rich and earthy and mushroomy. We split a bottle of Ladybug white wine, one of our favorites, which I believe comes from sustainably grown grapevines (hence the label's paen to the little natural pest controls).

Today for dinner we're having braised lamb shanks with root vegetables -- the former from our farmer friends at The Lavender Fleece , the latter from our trip to Ann Arbor: leeks and celeriac and carrots and golden beets. We're still trying to convince some of our lamb-shy friends of the deliciousness of lamb straight from the farm; this recipe might do it.

Crash Hot Potatoes

2009-01-04T18:10:00.000-08:00

An online pal of mine has recently been rhapsodizing about something called Crash Hot Potatoes. When I finally asked what on earth these were, she shared the recipe, complete with helpful how-to photos, courtesy of an Australian blog. I cannot wait to try these!

Cherry-o Chutneyed Cheese

2009-01-04T17:05:00.000-08:00

If you're like me, thinking too hard about chutney -- that sweet/tangy exotic preserve combining fruits, vegetables and spices -- is not a good idea. I remember reading my mother's venerable "green cookbook," containing recipes for chutneys based on everything from apples to green tomatoes, staring at the improbable combinations of ingredients, and thinking, Why?

It's taken me about four decades to appreciate the complexity of chutney. Now I enjoy it muchly -- with Indian food, with pork and poultry, or as a flavor enhancer in bland dishes like chicken salad or tea sandwiches.

This holiday season we enjoyed cherry chutney from Cherry Republic with Brie. I sliced the top rind off a middlin'-size round of Brie; placed the cheese in an oven-proof custard dish; topped the cheese with a generous layer of cherry chutney; topped the chutney with slivered almonds. I baked this at 350 until the cheese interior was bubbly/melty and the nuts were browned. Served with a warm, crusty baguette and crackers, this made a lovely post-church Christmas Eve treat.

If you're a chutney newbie, try the cherry chutney; if you're not a fan of Brie, pour some chutney over cream cheese and spread it on crackers or bagels.

Honey Laundering

2009-01-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

We've all heard of money laundering. But honey laundering?

Alas, it's a real phenomenon. And all the more reason to support local/regional cottage-industry beekeepers who are maintaining sustainable hives and have product to sell.

An Injection That Doesn't Hurt...

2009-01-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

...that's actually quite pleasant:

During a trip to Cabela's this fall we picked up, just for kicks and giggles, an inexpensive food injector -- a scary-looking hypodermic device for infusing meat with extra flavor.

We used this today on our Sunday roast chicken. We'd picked up a bottle of Knudson spiced cider on sale at Whole Foods, and tried injecting our roaster with cider before putting it in the oven. The results were great -- a distinct but not overpowering spiced-cider flavor, without the fuss of marinating or brining.

I can become a gadget-a-holic if I'm not careful, so I try not to pay a lot of attention to such stuff in kitchen supply stores. But every so often one actually does the trick.

Fooding in A-Squared

2009-01-04T15:16:00.001-08:00

Partner in Food and I traveled downstate yesterday -- fortunately, while the weather was mild and lovely, before we were hit with an ice storm. Part of the trip was about family -- taking one mid-Michigan aunt to visit her Detroit-area sister. Part of the trip was about food -- heading across to Ann Arbor to visit Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's.

We do this two or three times a year. While we do most of our organic/whole foods shopping locally or at our food coop, there are some products we just can't find around here, that we can get in A2. And Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are both just fun places for foodies. (And for fellow up-northers who've heard the jokes about "Whole Paycheck" -- the prices for staples are very competitive with what we pay at our local supermarkets. Which makes the paucity of Whole Foods Markets in Michigan all the sadder.)

I got a little crazy in the produce section as I searched for root vegetables; my goal was to find veggies to roast with the Sunday chicken dinner and get some ideas for my new vegetable garden. I bought a celariac root -- the ugly-on-the-outside, easier-to-grow cousin of regular garden celery. I found some really nifty looking yellow and burgundy turnips. I bought some golden beets -- we'd gotten some from a local grower this summer and loved not only the flavor but the ease of handling -- no red stains everywhere. We picked up some parsnips and Yukon Gold potatoes to round out the mix.

Once again we visited the "no-commitment" bin of cheese samples at Whole Foods. This is a fun, cheap way to try lots of interesting and occasionally quite exotic varieties of cheese. I selected a handful of small cheese chunks with unfamiliar names.

And of course, in between these two stops we had a lot of fun rolling up and down the aisles just looking at stuff.

We like Trader Joe's for cupboard staples like pasta and peanut butter, and for a few bottles of cheap drinkable wines like Charles Shaw (the famous Two-Buck Chuck -- Three Buck Chuck here in Michigan).

Halfway through the Trader Joe's run, I remembered the dogs, Gertie and Cassie, whom we'd taken along with us on this road trip. They were in the vehicle alone with multiple grocery bags.

"We'd better check on them," I fretted. Partner in Food volunteered, while I finished up and checked out.

It turned out that, while we were shopping, Gertie the lab mix had hopped into the back, cherry-picked through the groceries in one bag, and eaten half our cheese samples...along with a package of pita chips. Partner in Food caught her happily noshing on a bit of French sheep's-milk cheese. ("Perhaps Madamoiselle would like to try our Charles Shaw to go with that?...") Cassie, the golden retriever, was staring impassively out a side window at other shoppers: I know nothing.

Even our dogs are foodies.

Despite this, we arrived back home with the rest of our purchases intact. My root vegetables are finishing up in the oven even as we speak. And my garden wish list has lengthened just a bit.

Fair Fowl

2008-12-30T16:38:00.000-08:00

The aforementioned Edible Grande Traverse magazine led me to a new farm in the middle-of-the-Mitt: Bakers' Green Acres in Marion, between Harrison and Cadillac. The farm specializes in pasture-raised poultry, and according to the magazine is in the process of branching out from chickens to ducks and game birds. The link above takes you to the farm blog. Having just enjoyed a wonderful duck dinner, and having been reminiscing recently about the gamebirds my dad used to bring to the table during the autumn months...might have to make a field trip to Marion one of these days.

Leelanau Weekend

2008-12-29T16:48:00.000-08:00

This past week saw not only Christmas, but my birthday, on the 26th. Now, for most of my life the two celebrations were mooshed together; but for the past couple of years Partner in Food has worked hard to make my birthday a separate, special event. This year, that meant we spent the weekend at one of our favorite getaways, Sleeping Bear Bed and Breakfast in Empire. This B and B is located in an historic farmstead on M-72 between Empire and Traverse City; the eclectic ambience is Michigan-rural-meets-French-Provincial, with a dash of Southwestern art -- a special interest of innkeepers Van and Susan -- here and there. It's also one of the most affordable B and B's around. The breakfasts are always wonderful, served up by French-trained chef Susan. This particular weekend's offerings included sour-cream banana pancakes with carmelized bananas and creme fraiche, and herbed stuffed omelets with homemade blueberry muffins and a fruit cup featuring fresh pear, pineapple and pomegranate.

The plan was to alternate snowshoeing the Dunes area and enjoying some of the area's best foods. So on Friday night, after arriving at our B and B, we headed to Trattoria Funistrada , in a neighborhood called Burdickville, on the south end of Glen Lake. This was our first visit to Funistrada, and we loved it -- as many people seem to, because even on an inclement evening in the off-season the place was packed. The atmosphere is casual and intimate; the list of nightly specials is impressive; and the food was absolutely delicious. We started off with a seasonal salad of warm beets dressed in vinaigrette and served with chevre over greens, a small plate of lobster ravioli and a mini-baguette from Stonehouse Breadworks of Leland. We enjoyed the salad muchly, and also enjoyed our bread dipped in olive oil. After agonizing over the manu -- so many choices, so little time -- I surprised myself by selecting a roast half duckling with carmelized onions, instead of one of the more recognizeably Italian offerings, while PIF -- encouraged by one of our table neighbors -- picked the chicken puttanesca. We traded plates halfway through. Yum. The duck was very gently seasoned, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and not fatty at all. The puttanesca was rich and nippy, with generous additions of olives and capers.

I couldn't have had a better birthday meal -- even though we were both so full after dinner that birthday tiramisu or indeed dessert of any kind was out of the question. And the price range falls well within what we're used to at places back home like The Brass Cafe.

Saturday, our designated showshoeing day, was a complete bust thanks to the unseasonably warm weather and, in the afternoon, driving rain. Damp, chilled and a bit glum, we settled for one wine stop at Good Harbor Winery in Leland, then drove into town only to find Fishtown, where we'd hoped to score some cheese for supper, totally shut down, and the rest of the downtown area in near-hibernation. We had a restorative lunch at Joe's Friendly Tavern back in Empire, consisting of a really tasty tomato-and-Swiss-cheese bisque and cheese sandwich, and then headed back to our B and B for Scrabble and DVD's. Supper consisted of Good Harbor oaked chardonnay, a trio of non-local cheeses we picked up at a local supermarket, a Stonehouse baguette and a Granny Smith apple.

A full-blown blizzard hit northwest lower Michigan that night, howling through the night and buffeting our upstairs bedroom; when we got up we wondered if we'd be able to leave. But the weather broke around noon, so we packed our things and slowly made our way down the ice-glazed M-22 and M-115, for a very long trip home. Along the way we stopped at Crystal Mountain Resort in Thomsponville, about halfway between Cadillac and Benzonia, for a late lunch at the Thistle Grill and Pub, which we'd never visited before. We were impressed with the "Local" designation on selected menu items using local/regional foods; we selected a potato-encrusted walleye sandwich with a roasted red pepper remoulade, and were impressed with the quality and flavor of the fish.

It was one of those vacations that went completely off the itinerary, but was still enjoyable and worthwhile. We can't wait until our next opportunity to get up north; perhaps we'll visit Funistrada's down-the-road French neighbor La Becasse.

Lambie Pie

2008-12-29T16:05:00.000-08:00

Partner in Food and I are both kicking back in contentment after a marvelous dinner of...shepherd's pie.

For fans of TV Britcoms, "shepherd's pie" may bring to mind images of godawful English cafeteria food. Or perhaps at your house, growing up, shepherd's pie was hamburger pressed into a pie pan and filled with mashed potatoes. Or for those of you in northwest Michigan acquainted with Edible Grand Traverse magazine , you may recall the latest issue's recipe for a top-drawer mixed-root-vegetable shepherd's pie.

Ours, tonight, was none of the above. It was just very, very good. And whenever possible we used locally grown or organic ingredients -- locally raised lamb; cherry-smoked bacon from Pleva's in Cedar; a sweet onion from our Amish neighbors and hardnecked garlic from a trip up north; potatoes grown in LeRoy, near Cadillac. Topped off with some leftover Jarlsburg cheese, our shepherd's pie made for some wonderful comfort food on a damp, chilly, windy evening.

LC's Shepherd's Pie
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
1 stalk celery, finely diced
olive oil

1 pound lean ground lamb
1 strip lean bacon, or equivalent bulk bacon
1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced
handful of parsley, finely minced
1 tsp each thyme and marjoram
dash Worchestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup well seasoned stock

4-5 potatoes
half-and-half*
butter or margarine*
cheese of one's choice, for topping, if desired

*a note that it is not at all necessary to make mashed potatoes for this recipe using such calorie/cholesterol-laden ingredients. Frankly tonight we were just trying to use up Christmas leftovers.

Saute onion, carrot and celery in a small amount of olive oil until carrots are fork-tender and onions are soft and translucent. Remove to another dish and set aside. In the same pan, brown lamb and bacon until no pink remains; return sauteed vegetables to pan, along with seasoned stock, and add other seasonings to taste. Bring to boil, then turn down heat to simmer and cook until liquid is reduced somewhat. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Meanwhile, quarter and boil potatoes until fork-tender. Drain and mash with half-and-half and butter or margarine.

Place warm meat mixture in a glass casserole dish. Top with mashed potatoes and, if desired, cheese.

Bake at 425 for about 20-30 minutes, until cheese is melted and/or potatoes begin to brown.

Good Food Cheap

2008-12-29T09:34:00.000-08:00

I found this post on one of the New York Times' blogs quite interesting, and heartening, in these tough times -- especially since many of the foods listed are growable in a home garden (one of my New Year's resolutions) or procurable from local farmers. I found the wild rice listing quite surprising; I wouldn't exactly call wild rice a budget food item, even if the calculation is based on cost per serving, and wonder if some other grain like barley or bulgur might not be a better choice. But it's still good to see some preemptive strikes against a anti-whole-foods/anti-local-foods backlash.

I'm Baaaaack

2008-12-29T09:30:00.000-08:00

No, I haven't abandoned my blog.

But a combination of Christmas prep, a vicious upper-respiratory bug that left me feeling incapable of doing pretty much everything, the holidays and a weekend getaway kept me away from the computer for awhile.

I'm back now, wanting to blog about food in particular. So bear with me as I get back up to speed. A belated Merry Christmas to all.

Fashion-Forward Food

2008-12-17T11:22:00.001-08:00

I'm stuck at home sick today. In between dozing off, I've been reading the latest issue of Food and Wine magazine. Food and Wine is one of those aspirational magazines that are fun to read even though the chances of my ever traveling to one of their restaurant picks or making one of their recipes is slim to none. (Although it should be noted that frugality was a running theme throughout this January edition, and they even recommended a $9-a-bottle wine.)

It's always interesting to read about up-and-coming trends in these new-year issues of magazines. Here are some of the foodie trends mentioned in Food and Wine:

"Extreme" eggs. Whole Foods is planning on expanding its selection of egg offerings to include more exotic species, like ostrich. Not having a great need to make 10-serving omelets, I'm not too excited about this...but I will say that duck eggs, which we had at our house while I was growing up, are great for baking, adding a lot of richness and yellow color; eating on their own, not so much, because of a rubbery texture unlike that of a chicken egg.

Buckwheat as a "hot" grain. I absolutely love kasha, love soba noodles, love homemade buckwheat pancakes...so bring it on! (For great restaurant buckwheat pancakes in mid-Michigan, by the way, visit Helen's Restaurant in beautiful downtown Remus, a village about midway between Mt. Pleasant and Big Rapids on M-20.)

Cheap cuts of meat cooked with "big" flavors. It was nice to see humble pork shoulder and chicken thighs spotlighted.

Cabrito. Which sounds so much better than "goat meat."

Comfort food at home. Fried chicken...turkey tetrazzini...the kind of recipes I find in my mom's old Ladies' Aid cookbooks. One of my personal favorites is...meatloaf. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Chicken and dumplings. Mom's tuna noodle casserole, which contained cheese and eggs and was firm, like a kugel.

Natural sweeteners like agave nectar and sorghum. Interestingly, the article didn't mention maple syrup, the natural sweetener of "up north." We get no respect.

Naturally fermented foods as probiotics. Who knew that foods like sauerkraut would enjoy a new hip cache because of their health benefits? I don't have the gumption to make my own kraut, but I did know a couple in Cadillac, where I used to live, who made homemade sauerkraut right in the canning jars; and it was terrific. So it can be done. Meanwhile, Greentree Coop in Mt. Pleasant offers some interesting Michigan-made fermented relishes.

Hmmm. Maybe I'll take a pass on the fermented carrots; but fried chicken and 'taters sounds good right now, even here on the sickbed.

Meet the New Boss...Same as the Old Boss...

2008-12-17T06:54:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry to see that President-Elect Obama has named Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa and friend of agribusiness, to be Secretary of Agriculture. I think for anyone who'd hoped for a more consumer-friendly, more sustainable approach to the nation's agriculture, this was a disappointment.

All the more reason to support grassroots efforts to promote locally and regionally grown foods, small farms and direct farmer-to-consumer selling.

New Zealand Spinach

2008-12-16T15:25:00.000-08:00

When I can't sleep at night I sometimes mentally figure and reconfigure my future backyard garden.

One of the desired crops I haven't mentioned here is New Zealand spinach. It's not really spinach, and I'm not sure if the plant actually has a New Zealander pedigree. It's a succulent, with rather meaty arrow-shaped leaves, that loves hot dry weather, and has a prolific cut-and-come-again habit. Despite all this, it tastes almost exactly like regular spinach, can be used in the same ways, and has all the health benefits of other dark-green leaf veggies. For those of us in climates without long, spinach-friendly springs, it's a great substitute.

Mmmm...dark green leafy vegetables...I can't wait for those seed catalogs to get here.

Fair Trade

2008-12-16T15:19:00.000-08:00

We're sitting back enjoying a really fine dinner of venison tenderloin, courtesy of a coworker of mine who is happy to trade me venison for our locally grown lamb.

As we eat more locally raised meat, we're finding that we're doing more bartering -- made easier by the fact that, purchasing directly from farmers, we usually have to purchase at least a half an animal. That's an abundance of meat for a two-person household. We're happy to swap some of it out for some other locally raised meat. We're also finding that a lot of our hunter friends enjoy hunting for game than they enjoy eating game. So bartering is a win-win proposition.

Now if I could just find a chicken- or lamb-loving ice fisherperson whose catch outpaces his or her appetite...

Son of New York Omelet

2008-12-13T14:29:00.000-08:00

We found ourselves with half a small butternut squash to use up the other morning, and decided to make our own version of the tasty autumn omelet we'd had at the Blue Fin on Broadway during our Thanksgiving adventure.

We sauteed the diced squash with potatoes, onions and cherry-pecan sausage from Pleva's in Cedar.

It made a great omelet filling; we didn't even need to add cheese. Although that would have been good too.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

2008-12-13T14:21:00.000-08:00

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

But wait -- they're in Amish dress!

That was my experience Friday evening on the way home from work.

There's an Amish-run bulk food store on the way home, just off Beaverton Road a few miles east of Old US 27, that I visit from time to time for baking supplies. Yesterday as I entered the building I heard singing -- faint female voices singing a capella, in an unusual but pleasing harmony reminiscent of Southern shaped note singing.

Then the storeroom door opened and a young girl came out, humming. Behind her were about a half-dozen other teenage girls, singing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." They smiled but quickly shut the door.

The Amish don't often share their singing talents with their English neighbors, so it was a real treat to hear them.

The Case of the Mystery Meat

2008-12-13T14:18:00.001-08:00

We're pretty fastidious about marking freezer packages around here, so we were rather chagrined this morning, pulling out a half-gallon bag of frozen leftovers to toss in the crockpot for a hot weekend supper, to discover no label on the bag. We had no idea -- no idea -- what was inside. Except that it was orange, and lumpy.

We sniffed. No clue. We gingerly tasted icy flecks of whatever it was. Couldn't tell.

So in an act of faith we emptied the bag into the crockpot anyway, added a package of hamburger and a can of Progresso tomato bisque, and turned the thing on.

Several hours later, it smells pretty good. And we can now discern meatballs floating in the sauce. We added a splash of red wine and some herbs.

Ah, sweet mystery of life.

Spudzilla

2008-12-07T16:18:00.001-08:00

Something to aspire to in next year's garden?...

Why We Bought a Freezer

2008-12-06T16:26:00.000-08:00

We picked up our latest lamb from our "Lamb Lady" at the Lavender Fleece.

Lots o' lamb.

Partner in Food made me pinky-swear to no more meat purchases until we eat a significant chunk out of our freezer.

In the meantime I've been looking up recipes for ground lamb, since this time around we seem to have wound up with several pounds. I believe we have some gyros, curry burgers and Mediterranean pasta dishes in our future.

When We're Ready For Squash Again

2008-12-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

I know...again with the squash...

But I have to share this.

We ate most of our New York City breakfasts at The Food Emporium, a handy mini-Whole-Foodsy specialty foods/grocery/deli/cafe near our hotel; we stuck to a modest menu of bagels, fresh fruit and coffee. But one morning, just for kicks and giggles, we wandered down the street until we hit Broadway, and decided to try the swanky/spendy/trendy Blue Fin, only because we couldn't believe they were open for breakfast.

After a moment of menu sticker shock we gamely plunged in. I ordered eggs Benedict, just because I like them, and you just can't find them around here. Partner in Food struck out in an adventurous direction, and ordered an autumn omelet filled with -- take notes -- sauteed diced butternut squash -- fork-tender but still solid -- chorizo and aged cheddar cheese. She definitely got the better breakfast this particular morning.

We are thinking that the squash/chorizo/cheese omelet filling would be just great inside, say, a whole-wheat tortilla, or on its own as an entree, maybe with some nice browned potatoes thrown in. But don't take our word for it.