Review (sorta): Turkey Roost, Kawkawlin, Michigan
Posted on 13 July 2007 under Day Trips, Food Destinations, Restaurant Chit-Chat, Reviews: Restaurants | 10 Comments
Turkey? A full-blown turkey dinner, with stuffing and potatoes, and cranberries … in July?? You bet your boondockers! Turkey anytime, and this particular plate is one I’ve been enjoying off-and-on my whole life! No, not … the same plate of turkey and stuff … my whole life … that would be … no, that’s not right …
Blog Roundup
Posted on 13 July 2007 under Canning, Food Blogs, Food Destinations, Gardening | No Comments
No, I’m not using Roundup on blogs …
Over on All Things Green, Bob has posted the procedure for, and some wonderful photos of, Harvesting Garlic. Looks as though I need to do a followup, Roasting Garlic.
Over on Home Life, Sarah’s generally talking about some kind of ccoking. This week she took part in a Food Preservation Phone Seminar. Her notes on not using a pressure cooker for home canning contain some compelling arguments.
While not really about cooking, Monroe News Managing Editor Dan Shaw has posted a fun story in News Notes about Gov. Granholm and an elusive doughnut.
And on The Place Where We Live, Sarah is posting details about a Michigan Beer Trip she and Kevin have now begun. “Mmmm … beeeeeer …”
Alden Mill House, Alden, Michigan
Posted on 11 July 2007 under Food Destinations, Ingredients, Shopping | No Comments
Two summers ago on our honeymoon, Mary and I rented a house near the northeast corner of the amazingly-clear Torch Lake, located between Traverse City and Charlevoix. As the lake is almost 20 miles long but very narrow, we decided one day we were going to simply drive around it and see all the sights. After passing the southeast corner and turning north in Elk Rapids, we ended up coming into a slew of traffic of both vehicles and pedestrians. Passing through a 90-degree-turn eastward, we found ourselves in the extremely busy little town of Alden. It was Thursday, at lunch-time, what the hey were all those people doing there?? It turns out that Alden, Michigan, is simply the little town every other little town hopes to become. They pack so much into a distance of about a half-mile, the whole place is a destination all its own.
Having lunch at a place called the Kountry Kitchen (now The Sweet Onion or something like that) I found some nice spices on the table. The address on the label indicated they were made right there in town. I’d ordered an omelet, and when it was brought to me, I followed my sister’s lead with her Lawry’s Seasoned Salt and sprinkled some Alden Mill House’s Farm Market Salad Seasoning on the omelet. Oh yeah, that was nice! The server said the mill house wasn’t far away, but I didn’t feeling like touring what I thought was an industrial facility. So, we went shopping instead.
In the tiny grocery in town, I picked up a couple Alden Mill House jars and took them to the counter. I was stunned when the girl at the register said they were cheaper at the mill house itself. Wait … you’re suggesting I get them elsewhere for less?? Wow …
Walking the rest of the way east to the next 90-degree-turn in the road, we finally saw the Alden Mill House. Good Sister Mary Margarita, I’m seeing Pippi Longstocking’s Villavillakula here!
These photos are from this past Friday, during our 4th or 5th visit to the Alden Mill House. As unkempt as the yard west of the house appears, it’s actually groomed this way by Chef Geno, a retired Chef, and owner of the Mill House and developer of the wonderful spices made there. The rest of that side of the yard is just as odd, but in a strangely-beautiful way:
Review: Trout Town Country Café, Kalkaska, Michigan
Posted on 9 July 2007 under Food Destinations, Reviews: Restaurants | 2 Comments
It’s not very often Mary and I find a restaurant that we’ll go back to time-and-time again in a very short period of time. This past weekend, however, we visited the Trout Town Country Café in Kalkaska, Michigan, four times between Friday evening and Sunday morning. It certainly wasn’t our intent to have multiple meals there for the sake of this review. Sure, I could have used an excuse along those lines to generate multiple visits. (You know, me saying things like, “Honey, it’s for the blog!“) But frankly, after that first visit to the restaurant on Friday evening we both wanted to go back. And once we took the boys there Saturday evening, the Trout Town Country Café’s Sunday Brunch Buffet was definitely a given. Besides, Mary wanted to try that Baked Oatmeal at least once. Ok, so I’m getting ahead of myself.
I must say that all was not wine and roses. I do have some complaints, which I’ll talk about later on. But I’ll tell you what, with the friendliness of the staff (including Chef/owner Dan Bloomquist himself), and the food being incredible the majority of the time, I’ll give Chef Dan and his crew 4-out-of-5 Titanium Sporks right out of the starting blocks.
We had seen a blue state-placed sign for the Trout Town Country Café along M-72 east of Kalkaska on our way into town. Without a decent internet connection it took us a while to figure out exactly how to get there from our hotel. That it turned out to be walking distance was a bit wacked, and besides, we never did walk to get there. Come to find out, we should have just followed the arrow on that dang-blasted state-placed sign to get there the first time …
Reading the menu, the rather small restaurant showed its pedigree:
Trout Town Country Café is locally owned and operated by Chef Dan Bloomquist. Dan has been in the restaurant business for approximately 23 years …
Hmmm … we know more than one of these kinds of places, particularly Bolles Harbor Café. Besides this, on the wall near the register was a recent award. It seems Chef Dan won for Best Presentation in the Taste of Trout competition at the National Trout Festival in April.
Ok, Chef Dan, this is your home turf. Let’s see whatchya got …
Fresh Washed Cherries!
Posted on 9 July 2007 under Food Destinations, Food Festivals, Shopping | 2 Comments
The National Cherry Festival is taking place up in Traverse City this week, and as always, there’s plenty else going on near the festival itself including roadside stands with signs advertising “Fresh Washed Cherries”. This past weekend, the folks at Penrod Sales parked this truck in an old driveway off M-72 east of 131 just south of Kalkaska (about 25 miles east of the festival) to sell cherries to anyone who would stop by. Along with the darker tart cherries, they were also offering these beautiful Queen Anne cherries:
Even more unique was this box of Napolean cherries that was tucked behind the table. Mary and I accepted a few as samples … they were wonderfully sweet and very juicy!
We went with the “ol’ standby” though and drove away with a couple pints of the Tart cherries, which are still our favorites. However, two days later, after we had both thought the other had finished them, some were still in the bag! Of course, they were still very good indeed!
Errr … no, I didn’t save any to cook anything with. What, are you kidding? That there’s finger food!
Food Festivals in Michigan
Posted on 11 March 2007 under Food Destinations, Michigan Cuisine | 3 Comments
One of the things I’d been putting off doing has been to update the Food Festivals page on my Michigan Cuisine web site with info for 2007. This can be a bear of a project. We’re finally moving from dial-up to cable-based internet on March 15th so I’d hoped to do the updates afterward. But a couple days ago I heard from Marina at Food for Thought in Honor, Michigan, asking about the 2007 list. Food for Thought is a food manufacturer specializing in organic and wild-harvested products. As their having the list affects their business, I took the time yesterday evening to update my Food Festivals page as much as I could.
Obviously, festivals which occur later in the year are still in the planning stages, but there’s even info missing as of yet for the Made In Michigan festival in Lansing in May.
Also, you may not be aware (I wasn’t until last summer) but Michigan actually has two State Fairs. There’s the one in Detroit, but about a week earlier the state also sponsors one in Escanaba as the Upper Peninsula State Fair.
There are some fairly wacky food festivals in Michigan.
India’s Upcoming Cultural Food Loss
Posted on 8 February 2007 under Food Destinations, Food In The News | No Comments
The other day in a chat with food writer Linda Eckhardt, she told me, “Let’s hear it for the steak and forget the sizzle. It’s sorta why I like street food. Sometimes — if you know where to look — it’s the best.”
Unfortunately, India’s capital of Delhi is facing the possible demise of its world-famous street food.
In Delhi street snacks face the chop, the BBC reported yesterday that “The Supreme Court has passed an order to ban the cooking of food at stalls along the roadside … More than 300,000 hawkers could be forced to close their outdoor kitchens if the rules are enforced.”
To give you an idea of how many stalls this is, the 2000 census came up with 124,943 people living in Flint, Michigan. Every person there can have at least 2 stalls of their very own.
Fresh Handmade Cheeses at Boulevard Market
Posted on 4 February 2007 under Food Destinations | No Comments
I originally wrote this back in June of 2006 when John Aylward of the Boulevard Market in Tecumseh started making his handmade cheeses. Now that he’s into making rich, creamy bleu cheeses and other varieties as well, even more people should be headed over there to keep him busy.
A sliced blob of fresh mozzarella
from the Boulevard Market
To be honest, I’ve been biased about the Boulevard Market in Tecumseh since, well, before they even opened back in 2004. Before there was a Boulevard Market, there was a Crazy Daisy in that space. Crazy Daisy wasn’t a flower shop. It was a bookstore, something I felt Tecumseh needed. When the folks at the former Bird Mercantile were assembling what would be Crazy Daisy, I worked with them on putting together a computerized cash register for the store. For various reasons, that particular store didn’t make it.
After Crazy Daisy closed and Boulevard Market opened, I visited the new store. Along with admiring the new owners’ bold statement in putting together such an amazing specialty food store, with its imported cheeses, fresh hearty breads, and jarred goods, I found they also had that cash register I’d installed in the space. Couple that with the young lady running the register being one of my daughter’s closest friends from elementary and middle school and that did it for me. I now visit the store whenever I’m in town to support both the store and the warm and friendly family that operates it.
I’m particularly glad when owners John and Erica Aylward are too busy to assist me or even chat for a while. Being so busy means they’re succeeding in what they’re doing, and that’s a great thing.
So imagine how pleasantly surprised I was yesterday evening to discover a new aspect of the store.
“Dream Dinners” with Mary
Posted on 2 February 2007 under Cookbooks, Food Destinations | 5 Comments
This past weekend Mary and I did some shopping, picking up handmade gourmet doggie treats for that little (”he’s not spoiled!”) Pomeranian that we both love so much. (Yes, I spoil him, too …) I also picked up the Dream Dinners cookbook … which Mary promptly fell in love with. Even before we got home, while browsing through the book, she had ideas about which dishes she wanted to make.
Dream Dinners isn’t just a cookbook. There just happens to be a location in Lambertville, which is why I picked up the cookbook in the first place. I’d first heard about Dream Dinners on Food Network. After booking a session with them, you go to the location and prepare a number of meals for your family. Dream Dinners provides all the ingredients, kitchen space, etc., and what you end up taking home is frozen and ready-to-cook. Their menu for February 2007 includes such dishes as Herb-Crusted Flank Steak, Tilapia with Lemon & Dill Sauce, and Moroccan Chicken.
You have to know a couple other things.
The Thousand-Dollar … Brownie???
Posted on 1 February 2007 under Food Destinations | 4 Comments
Have ya’ got an extra thousand dollars lying around? Would you like a brownie??
Mary about spat out her coffee at this one this morning.
Early this morning, ABC News reported on the $1000 brownie at Brûlée Desserts, a dessert-only restaurant at the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City. Their Crystal Menu presents desserts that are “served in a classic three-course French style”.
Yuppers, a dessert “entrée” now has its own Amuse Sucrée served prior to it, and is followed by a Petits Fours finale.
The thousand dollar brownie is the Brownie Extraordinaire. An atomizer is on the plate next to it, which holds a bit of 1996 Quinta do Noval Nacional, a rare port wine.
The web site doesn’t explain that the brownie itself has a fine dusting of edible gold.
It also doesn’t explain about that atomizer. US News & World Reports explains:
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