Vertins, Ely, MN

Almost any weekend we can get away after the driveway starts to be driveable again, we start making our summer pilgramages to our happy spot in the wilderness. Kevin's family owns a cabin on Burntside Lake in Ely. Both his parents grew up in Ely and his grandfather who was a stubborn old Finn who worked in the iron mines in Ely, managed to get this lakeshore for a steal a long time ago. In the picture above, the little brown cabin is a sauna. It used to be a shoe shop in Ely and was drug out over the ice to sit where it sits today. Kevin's parents actually spent their honeymoon there. It is now a sauna and a dressing room and the cabin above it is the main cabin.What a view! There was still ice on the lake and patches of snow and it was the fourth of May!One of my all time favorite place to eat breakfast in Ely is Vertins Cafe. This would be considered your average hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon where the locals eat. Don't let that stop you from eating here. Although the menu is for the most part mediocore, there is one showstopper on there that is worth a trip. The Stuffed Hashbrowns. Greasy and flavorful with strings of gooey cheese. A heart attack on a plate. Everytime they set that plate in front of me I hear the halellujah chorus in the background. It's a beautiful thing. And it doesn't hurt that Vertins has their own local ghost. Kevin's uncle Mike (in the red and black plaid shirt above) told me that there have been employees that have quit because of Old Man Vertins ghost lurking around. He knows I looooove a good ghost story. I've never seen Old Man Vertin but I have consumed many plates of stuffed hashbrowns over the years.The end of the weekend always comes too fast. Last summer I painted a sign at the end of the drive that says "Brainerd 189 miles." Here are Miss Chocoholic and I pointing to the sign with our best pouty faces. But guess what? You will be hearing a lot more about Ely! It has a plethora of food stories!

Cream cheese mints

My brother is getting married in a couple of weeks and I volunteered to make the "mints" for the tables. These aren't actually mints, although you can add mint flavoring to them if you want. My brother's fiance is partial to almond flavoring so I enlisted Miss Chocoholic's help and we spend all afternoon one weekend cranking out about six hundred of these little guys.

The ingredients are simple...a bag of powdered sugar and a box of cream cheese. Mix it all together with whatever flavoring you desire and you can add food coloring if you like. You almost have to just get in there with your hands and actually dump this out on the counter and knead it like dough. It takes a little bit of work to get the "dough" ready to use.Grab a paper plate and pour it full of regular sugar. You will also need a cookie sheet (or six) covered with wax paper and whatever rubber molds you want to use. I used a rose, a heart and a butterfly.You take a marble-sized pinch of the dough, roll it in sugar and press it into the mold. Then you pop it out onto the cookie sheet to let it dry. Once they were dry, we stacked them in layers in a tupperware container and put them in the freezer.It was the perfect project for an April sixth snowstorm. I wondered if the outside wedding would really happen in a few weeks especially since we had a snowstorm again the next weekend.Not looking too good for an outside wedding! Thank God it is melted now!

My little wine collection

The blueberry wine is finally done! I get so excited when I bottle wine and stash it downstairs in my "wine cellar" which is slang for "under the bar in the basement." The blueberry wine was sweetened with molasses, brown sugar and honey and you can definitely taste all three. I know this because there was just a liiiittttle bit that wouldn't fit into the bottles! I pulled all of the bottles out of the "wine cellar" to take some pictures and brag a little. I love how they run the gammit of jewel-toned colors, from yellow to pinks to dark reds. I have blueberry, strawberry, crabapple and white peach. Now if I can just keep Kevin (and myself!) out of them for awhile!

Moscato and Malvasia

I have been promising to do an article on moscato so here it is, finally! Moscatos and malvasias are the ultimate girly wines. I haven't met a chick yet who doesn't love them. If you are not a big wine drinker, but you would like to start getting into more wine, moscato is the perfect wine to cut your eye teeth on.

Moscato is a sparkling, white, dessert wine and while it doesn't have as much fizz as a champagne, it is a quite a bit sweeter than champagne. The taste always reminds me of fig newton bars mixed with pear. Moscato is made from the Muscat grape and typically comes from Italy although muscat grapes are also grown in Spain, Chile, Australia and other countries and those countries produce their own versions of wine from them. Asti Spumante also comes from the muscat grape and is similiar to moscato with the exception of a little more fizz. My favorite high end moscato wine is the Bartenura brand. They make both a moscato and a malvasia. St. Supery also makes a great moscato. A bottle of this wine will run anywhere from twenty dollars to six dollars a bottle. The Barefoot brand of moscato is the lower end and that brand also has a good flavor. You can pick up a bottle of that for about five or six dollars. Try some moscato with some bleu cheese and put those taste buds to work! Malvasia wine is another dessert wine that tastes a lot like moscato. Sometimes this wine is white and other times it is a blush color. Bartenura makes the rose-colored malvasia. Malvasia wine comes from the malvasia grape that originated in Greece in the fourteenth century and was then called "malmsey" wine. The grapes were brought to Europe and the word was changed to "malvasia" which was the name of an Italian wine port city. In some cases, the grape is dried before they make the wine, which just makes the wine sweeter. I found a great malvasia at the liquor store for $6.99 a bottle called "Le Duca."Sweeter wines seem to be gaining popularity these days. I have never been a person who really enjoys a super dry glass of wine. I can appreciate the taste and the flavors but it is hard for me to really sit down and drink a whole bottle of merlot unless I am planning on sleeping very late the next morning! The nice thing about moscatos and malvasias are that they have a low alchohol content so if you are looking for a light party sipping wine, these are perfect.

Rachel's Bakery and Schaeffer's cheese

I woke up with a toothache this morning. After stumbled around the bathroom, I crawled shivering back into bed and curled myself around an industrial-sized bottle of advil. As I lay there hurting, I reminded myself that I would rather have a baby or do my taxes then have a toothache. At least you have something to show for it afterward.

I called in to work in pain and went to see my dentist that afternoon. Even though the pain was half-way managable with advil, I was still feeling pretty sorry for myself and down in the dumps as I schlumped out of the dentist's office and over to the pharmacy for some antibiotics. My dentist had told me the tooth had to come out and the only thing I hate worse then dental work is...well, I guess I can't think of anything worse. As I pulled into the pharmacy in Nisswa, I noticed a new, little bakery called Rachel's Bakery. That perked me up. I had read a newspaper article in the Brainerd Dispatch about how good their breads were and since I am not in Nisswa every day since Miss Chocoholic isn't going to school there anymore, I don't always see the new stores.

After throwing the prescription in the jeep and with my mood considerably lightened, I made my way into the bakery. The shop was quaint and cozy and the owner was extremely personable. He was full of suggestions and conversation and seemed like he was high on life. I told him I had seen the article in the paper and he suggested a few breads that I would like. I walked out with an onion dill loaf, a caraway rye loaf, a date-filled cookie and a pear-ginger tea bread that looked like a tiny, cute loaf of banana bread. I devoured the cookie and the tea bread on my way home and couldn't wait to dig into the actual bread. Here is their website: http://rachelsbakerymn.com/ Super nice, friendly people who seem passionate about what they do and very flavorful bread!

I figured what the heck, I have to have a tooth extracted, I should treat myself. So I stopped at Schaefer's Grocery store on the way home and got some honey ham, horseradish-chive havarti, bleu cheese, bleu cheese-stuffed green olives, a chunk of scallion-rosemary cheese and a chunk of garlic, chive and dill cheese. Unlike most of the grocery stores around here, Schaefer's has a good selection of gourmet cheeses. Here is their website: http://schaefersfoods.com/ The checkout boy laughed at me for spending six dollars for a chunk of cheese. "Six dollars for cheese?" he said to the checkout girl, She said to him, "It's probably better than the Kraft stuff you eat!" I just stood there and let them have their laughs and I pitied them. They will never understand the ecstasy of smooth, creamy, salty, quality cheese sliding down your throat. What would they say if they knew I spend twenty dollars a pound for sottocenre cheese when we go to Ely? Some things are just worth it.

I grabbed a bottle of moscato and brought it all home. The afternoon was beautiful so I sliced up the cheese and the bread, poured myself a glass of moscato and took it all out on the deck.
Each thing separately was extraordinary, but putting it together was a symphony in the mouth. Whoever thought of stuffing green olives with bleu cheese? They should be given a genius award. The salty acidity of the olives offset the pungency of the bleu cheese perfectly. Then you wash it all down with a gulp of sweet moscato and the sweetness of the wine enhances the saltiness of the cheese and the olives. The onion dill bread was the best bread I have had in a long time. It was the perfect consistency and the subtle onion flavors went well with the earthiness of the rosemary cheese. I put a hunk of the havarti on the bread and topped it off with the honey ham. You don't even need any kind of mayo or dressing when your lunch ingredients are this high quality. The moscato went well with everything. It is a great cheese wine. I'd take a bite of cheese, then a drink of wine, then a bite of cheese, and so on until the plate was empty.As I sat watching the squirrels in the backyard in a sleepy, dairy-induced stupor, I thought how bad can a tooth extraction be? It's so easy to forget about pain after a cheese picnic fit for a godess. Cheese, bread and wine will cheer this godess up anyday!

Minnesota State Chip

My brother and his fiance came over the other night for supper and we were sitting around eating mango salsa and "hint of lime" chips. My brother pulled out a chip, looked at me weird and said, "Maybe I shouldn't eat this one!"

Now if it just had a famous person's face on it, we would probably be able sell it on ebay!

Lucy's Kitchen, Akumal Mexico

I discovered a kindred spirit while we were in Akumal last week. Although I didn't have much time to talk to her while I was there due to the fact that she is running around serving people the most delicious shrimp tacos I have ever had in my life. Her name is Lucy James and I took the liberty of snooping on her through the internet before we went to Akumal. I had heard that she was from the northwest states and runs her own quaint little restaurant in Mexico for part of the year. I also heard that her food is to die for so of course I needed to check it out. And I was not disappointed. I love her attitude about food, new things, creativity and most of all, I loved the food! Here is a quote from her that I found on the internet:

"Lucy's Kitchen opened in early 2003. We served lunches for a short time, delighting (I think) locals and visitors to Akumal with selections such as Pad Thai, potstickers and sushi, among others. However we soon became known, and maybe a little famous, for our handmade ice cream. For me, cooking is an expression of creativity, and I love trying new things. I like to experiment with recipes and inspirations until they are 'just right'. At Lucy's Kitchen we're sticklers for authenticity, and if there's a shortcut to doing something, we generally don't take it!"

Kind of sounds like my mottos! I am sorry to say that I didn't try the homemade ice cream while I was there because I hear it is as good as the tacos. I tried the shrimp tacos, the baja taco, and another taco that had tempera battered salmon in it, I can't remember the name of it. We actually came back a second time for lunch because it was so good. I think she might put crack in those tacos to keep people coming back and dreaming about them when they are back in their own cold hometown. I am kidding about the crack but seriously, those tacos are so good they should be illegal. The chipolte mayo and the fresh pico de gallo go great with the steaming, hot, tempera battered shrimp. Once again, I have to curse myself for not bringing my digital camera. The disposal camera just doesn't do justice to these works of art.
In Mexico, tacos aren't the same thing as they are here in Minnesota. The word "taco" literally means "a wad of food" so you can put anything in a tortilla shell and call it a taco in Mexico. At home, we think of tacos as being the tacos we get from Taco Bell but those pale in comparison to anything I had in Mexico.

Not only does Lucy cook and manage the kitchen, she was outside waitressing both afternoons. She also seems to have a knack for languages as I heard her speaking Spanish, Italian (or was it French?) and English to different customers. She is definitely someone I could hang out with. Here is the Lucy's Kitchen website. If you are ever in Akumal, Mexico, don't miss out on this place!! Keep being a free spirit, Lucy! http://lucyskitchen.net/

Pico de Gallo in Mexico

Kevin and I just got back last week from our late honeymoon in Mexico. Yes, we have been married a year and a half now, however, we wanted to save up for our honeymoon. We went to the Riveria Maya area and stayed at the Akumal Beach Resort. It was the time of my life. You will have excuse the blurriness of some of the pictures since we didn't take our digital camera and so therefore all the pictures were taken with a disposal camera. I got a lot of strange looks when I took pictures of my plates of food, but I figured they probably thought I was just another strange American. Here is the picturesque view from our balcony. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort that had a buffet that wasn't the greatest but filled us up. There was one amazing thing on that buffet and that was the pico de gallo. Not once did I see what we call salsa anywhere, it was all the chunky, delicious, cilantro, addicting, pico de gallo and homemade chips. I lived off the pico de gallo and chips.Below is a picture of what Kevin lived off of. He quickly learned how to say "cervesa." The resort had a Mexican restaurant and an Italian restaurant. We ate at both and they were very good. I forgot to bring my camera to the Italian restaurant but here we are at the Mexican restaurant.I saw they had cerviche on the menu and I asked to try it as an appetizer. It was made with cooked grouper and had just enough sour and sweet in it. It was served with those awesome homemade chips which are nothing like Lay's tortilla chips. The picture doesn't do it justice, it was a very pretty, colorful dish.We both had the pulled pork and it was very tender. They served it to us with flour tortillas.The picture doesn't look too appetizing but it was very good and very filling. One other place we ate that was interesting and worth the trip was Senor Frog's in Playa del Carmen. I had said if I went to Mexico I would never eat at Senor Frog's because it was just a glorified American Mexican restaurant. Well, what do you do when you are given a free meal there? Because we bought two day trip tours, we were given a free meal. It was a very tasty meal and the location was beautiful. I wouldn't recommend going there normally but I have to admit the food and the drinks were good and it was well worth the day trip into Playa del Carmen.We both had beef tacos and they served it to us with little sides of cilantro and hot sauce. I had a frosty, green drink. I think it was called a "Frog." Lots of Midori in there. Yum!

I tried to make that addicting pico de gallo at home but I haven't succeeded yet. I will let you know when I do, because you know I will try until I do! It was a relaxing and interesting week. I love exploring and I love different cultures. We can't wait to go back!

St. Patrick's Day shepherd pie

If you can't tell from my complexion and my hair, I am Irish. Oh sure, there are a few other strange things thrown in there, like Czech and maybe some German but there are quite a few Irish good-for-nothings in my ancestoral line.

I love the story my grandma tells about my great-great grandmother who came over to the United States from Tipperary on a boat. Her name was Alice Ryan and it sounds like she was a feisty one. She divorced a husband in the late 1800's when it just wasn't really cool to do that and not only did she divorce him, she hit him on the head with a cast iron skillet. I don't know if he had brain damage afterward. She must have really been mad at that man, and I am sure all the women out there can sympathize at some point or another. I went through a stage when I was married to my ex-husband where I threw dishes at him on a regular basis. But then I went to dish-thowers anonymous and broke the family cycle and Kevin has only had one dish thrown at him in the six years we have been together. Yes, I had a little set-back that day. Because I love that story and because I identify with that crazy great-great-grandmother, I begged my grandma to let me have the trunk Crazy Alice brought over from Ireland. It now sits proudly in our downstairs bedroom and is so large I could easily stuff a body in there. When my mom and I moved it, we thought it was funny when the neighbors were outside to hit the trunk several times and tell the "person" in there to "shut-up!" The apple probably doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to crazy.

Yeah, yeah, I am getting to the food part! I made an easy shepherd's pie and irish soda bread in honor of Crazy Alice and St. Patrick's day. Here is a really simple way to make shepherd's pie. Start with a layer of vegetables in a pie pan or casserole dish.Brown hamburgers and onions in a skillet and that is your next layer. Pour a couple of cups of brown gravy on top of your hamburger.The next layer is a couple of cups of garlic mashed potatos. The last layer is cheese.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Have a Guiness or six while you are waiting.

Kevin and Miss Chocoholic really liked this dish, although I saw Miss Chocoholic picking through her vegetables and sliding some of them in the garbage can. It was really good microwaved the next day, too.

I'll leave you tonight with an Irish blessing:

"May those who love us, love us; and those who don't love us, may God turn their hearts; and if He doesn't turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping."

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Bellisio's In Duluth

A trip to Duluth, MN is never complete without stopping at Bellisio's. It is one of my favorite classic Italian restaurants. Last week I took Wednesday off so Nancy and I could take a little road trip to Duluth to see the show "Riverdance." Nancy has worked in the same office with Kevin for a long time and I call her the "dorm mom" of his office. She hadn't been to Duluth in years so I asked her if she wanted to stop at Bellisio's for lunch.

The atmosphere is Bellesio's is always warm and inviting and the staff are friendly and helpful. The menu will make you salivate and the wine menu can be intimidating. I have read novels that are smaller than that wine list. I love the racks and racks of wine bottles that line the walls in the restaurant.It's very Italian.

I talked Nancy into trying a glass of moscato which she loved. A lot of women I know love that wine because it is so light, sweet, sparkling and doesn't have a bit of dryness in it at all. Even Kevin's mom will drink it and she doesn't drink much wine. There are many different kinds of moscato and they all taste pretty similiar. So if you like a sweeter, lighter white wine, try it! If you can't remember the name of it, I told Nancy I remembered it this way when I was first introduced to it. Tomayto, tomahto, mosquito, moscahto. Hey, whatever works! I'll write another post on just moscato wines some other time because I could go on and on about moscato. It is one of my favorites.

Nancy and I started out with the seafood bisque. It was rich and creamy with chunks of crabmeat. The bread that came with it was rustic and buttery.

Here is Nancy laughing at me for whipping my digital camera out to take pictures of my plate.

We both decided to have the lobster broth-infused risotto with shrimp and aspargus. The dish was good, it was clean and simple and the shrimp were cooked to perfection.However, I have a little problem. I am always looking for a dish that as I told Nancy..."blows me away." It is probably like a high that a drug addict looks for, whenever I find a dish that is extraordinary, it is a high for me. When lunch is over thirty dollars I expect to find that high and sometimes I am disappointed. But don't let my little problem stop you from eating at Bellisio's. While the food wasn't something that made my knees quiver, it was still good and the tastes were very simple and not muddled. That is probably good for a lot of people, for me I am looking for the thing that makes me say, "Wow!"
Trust me, I will be back and next time I will have the fettuccini which is always a "wow" dish at Bellisio's. (And the show "Riverdance" was amazing!)

Lemon Curry Chicken

Chef and Company started a cooking club this year and I was very excited to be around people who are as passionate about food as I am. We had our second meeting last week and it was so fun. We cooked lemon curry chicken with mango basmati rice salad.

I learned a few things that night. First of all, curry is from India. It actually means "gravy" not the powder in the spice jar that you and I are thinking of and see on the grocery store shelf. When the British were over in India, they wanted to take back the tastes of India, so they put together the spices that reminded them of that country. Curry in a spice jar is actually a combination of a bunch of different spices. Someday, I will have to find a place that has actual "gravy" curry or try to make it myself.

Second, basmati rice is also from India. I had never heard of it before. The name means "fragrant" and I have to admit it does have a nice aroma. Basmati rice is the most expensive and sought-after rice in the world. I found a box of it in the rice section of Cub Foods. It came with a packet of seasoning that I didn't use.

I have never cooked with ginger before, so that was different. But different is good! I love to try and find a new taste that I like. I bought a ginger root and I learned that you can grate the ginger, peel and all, and if you want to keep the rest, put it in a baggie in the freezer and it will keep for a long time. The next time you need some, just take it out and start grating, you don't even need to thaw it. So I went home and recreated the recipe. Here are a lot of the ingredients. Yes, my kitchen was a mess.
I have the rice cooling on a cookie sheet.And here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Chicken part:

-3 chicken breasts (I marinaded mine)

-2 cups of plain yogurt

-2 tablespoons of curry powder

-grated zest and juice of a lemon

-1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

-salt and pepper

Stir together yogurt, curry powder, lemon zest and juice, sesame oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add chicken and toss gently to coat with the yogurt marinade. You can either roast the chicken in the oven or put it on the grill. I grilled mine but we roasted it at the cooking class.

Mango basmati rice salad

-1 cup basmati rice

-1 inch piece of grated ginger

-1/2 pound of green beans

-1 small red onion

-1/4 cup cashews

-1/4 cup fresh mint leaves

-1 fresh mango, peeled, pitted and chopped

-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

-juice of 1/2 lemon

-salt and pepper to taste

Put rice with ginger in 2 cups of water, 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Give rice a stir and turn hear to low, cover and cook for 12 minutes without lifting the lid. Spread cooked rice out on baking sheet and let cool to room temperature. Par cooked green beans and drop into ice water bath to keep the bright green color. Drain, cut beans in half. Chop the onion, cashews and mint leaves coarsely. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss gently. Taste for seasoning. Serve the chicken breast over the rice salad.

Shrimp Po' Boys with Angry Mayo

My mom came to see me this weekend and I wanted to make her a good supper so I decided to make shrimp po' boys with angry mayo. I like to say "angry mayo, I think it sounds funny. I happened to see this recipe on http://www.foodnetwork.com/ and make it once in awhile. About six years ago I went to New Orleans and I wish I would have known about these then; I would have made an effort to try an authentic shrimp po' boy. Instead my friend, Carrie and I came back with twenty punds of beads between the two of us. Crazy girls! We did go to Cafe du Monde for the bengiettes so we managed to sneak a little culture into our partying.

I started out by chopping up some basil and cilantro putting it in a skillet with half a cup of olive oil. Then I chopped up a serrano chili pepper and added that and some garlic and lemon zest to the skillet. Once the basil and cilantro started browning, I pulled the oil mixture off and put it in a bowl in the refrigerator to cool. I added a cup of mayo and and a tablespoon of lemon juice to the oil and mixed it together once the oil mixture was cool. The mayo wasn't too angry tonight. How can you be angry on a weekend anyway? Usually I make it hotter but my mom isn't too crazy about spicy stuff and neither is Miss Chocoholic. You could add two peppers if you wanted the mayo to be angrier. (Did I mention I like to say "angry mayo?")I thawed and peeled a pound of shrimp and rolled it in a cup of flour and cayenne pepper. I pan fried the shrimp in the skillet I used to make the angry mayo. Shrimp, like most seafood, cooks fast so don't overcook it or the shrimp will be rubbery. I split open the bread and piled on lettuce, cheese, angry mayo and shrimp.Here's to a fun, relaxing weekend!