Driftless Appetite

Did you know that the blueberry muffin is Minnesota’s official muffin!?!  Some third graders wanted to see if they could get a law passed and they did so the state got its official muffin in 1988 (State Handbook & Guide website).  So last week I was driving by the Brennan’s Market on University Ave. in Madison [...]

The best tasting and most comforting food are the ones that require only a handful of ingredients.  There’s no special skills need to may it taste good, you just need good quality ingredients.  Here is our Sunday lunch.  The trout is the one from Calumet Fisheries Inc. and the herbs are from my garden. RECIPE [...]

We were meeting some friends for lunch in Chicago.  After they found out that we were stopping for smoked fish, they suggested we meet them at Hot Doug’s for lunch, another entry from the No Reservations Chicago episode.  Among other things, Hot Doug’s is famous for it’s long lines (see above).  There’s no better feeling [...]

So we were driving back from Toledo yesterday and we stopped off on the south side of Chicago at Calumet Fisheries for some smoked fish.  We’ve both lived around (not in, around) Chicago for 15 years, but we heard of this place on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations.  I was never a huge smoked fish fan [...]

The General Store is a Spring Green institution.  As popular with foreign tourists as it is with artsy locals, it is the single must visit restaurant in Spring Green.  Home of Bobfest (an annual tribute concert to Bob Dylan) as well as Paul Bentzen Day (celebrating the birthday of a local actor who’s chief claim [...]

For my birthday I received a beautiful Hess Pottery pie plate from my backup mother Donna.  I’ve never made a butter pie crust before, but now that I’ve got such a great pie plate I’ve got to, right?  I took my inspiration from Ruhlman’s cherry pie recipe, substituting rhubarb from my garden for the cherries.  [...]

You don’t have to know too much about the Brewery Creek Inn in Mineral Point to figure out it’s the kind of place I would like.  Namely: 1) It’s in a restored 1854 warehouse. 2) They use local ingredients as much as possible and buy as few “prepared” foods as possible (as in they make own [...]

(clockwise from upper left) Lamb Vindaloo, Saag Paneer, Naan, & Dal We love Indian food– typically we’ll make Indian food about once a month.  We’d make it more often but we tend to go all out and it takes a lot of effort, plus it leaves the kitchen a complete mess.

The people of Mineral Point had something to celebrate on the fourth of July (uh… besides the birth of the nation).  Ice cream!  Sadly, Mineral Point had been without a proper ice cream joint for a few years before Atomic Ice showed up.  Just opened this weekend, Atomic Ice is a cute little ice cream [...]

Okay so this is never going to be one of those sophisticated beer blog where I talk about citrus notes and hoppy undertones.  I don’t know that much about beer and I’m only a casual drinker.    This is Capital Brewery’s Island Wheat.  It is a wheat beer.  It tastes like a wheat beer.  I [...]