Week in Review

As a family, minus our oldest who is off at college, we are starting to get organized after the school year started.  Honestly as a teacher and mother I find September the hardest month.  I'm never ready to go from 0-60 in 2 seconds.  However I finally do get into the swing of things as they say.

I'm back to reading a little bit more.  I just read a very interesting article about what dinner looks like around the US.  As someone who takes the dinner hour very seriously I always find it interesting to see what other people are eating and doing for dinner.  Click here for the link.

I'm also reading A Feast Nearby. It is the story of one woman surviving on local food and a budget of $40 a week of groceries and grocery items. I seem to have a food theme this month of September.

Of course Saturday is not complete without a trip to the farmer's market in September and October.  I need to get all of the local produce I can before the winter, when the selection becomes very sparce.  However this week I did pick up a non-local ingredient, black truffles!  I haven't quite decided how I will use them, but I'll figure it out soon.

This weekend was also the first time I picked up seconds from my favorite apple orchard.  So with the help of my daughter and husband we peeled about 10 pounds of apples for apple sauce.  This was the first time that product came out of the hot water caner looking professional. I'm very pleased with my self.

And of course at this time of year what is for dessert?  Apples in various ways.  This time I chose to make an apple tart.  This is incredibly simple.  Just roll out a sheet of puff pastry and cut into 4 or 5 pieces; it depends on how big you want your tarts.  Peel and core your apples and slice thinly.  Then just place them on the pastry and dust with cinnamon sugar.  Top the pastries with dots of butter, maybe 4 total all around the tarts.  Bake in an over preheated to 425 degrees for about 20-25 minutes or until they turn golden brown.  Brush the tops with  melted apricot jam for a glaze.  They are delicious as is or topped with whipped cream too. 

I hope your had an enjoyable week.

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

Eating Local

Several years ago I read a book about 2 people who based their whole eating life-style around food that came from within 100 miles of them.  The book, Plenty, really made me start thinking about where my food comes from.  Since then I've read other memoirs about self-sustaining life styles.  Now I know that in reality this is not something I really want to do for all of the year, especially living in northeast Wisconsin.  However as I said theses books really made me think. So starting in the late spring and up through the late fall I love to eat as much local food as possible.  That means eating with the seasons, growing food in my garden and of course trips to my local farmers' market. In addition my family now buys a 1/2 cow from about 20 minutes away.  The meat is also packed by a local butcher and it makes me feel good about giving back to my community.  So what are we eating and buying now?  Well the garden is full of kale, carrots, zucchini and herbs.  Unfortunately the tomatoes got a blight, but I have Rick from Produce with Purpose.  Also from the farmer's market I have Cipolini onions and various types of mushrooms and of course the last of the corn.  As for fruit we have the last of the melons, blueberries and now apples.  As I said we aren't perfect localavores in our family, but I try be aware of where our products come from and pass that on to my family.

Hedgehog, shrimp of the woods and chanterelle mushrooms along with fresh garlic.

Cipolini onions

What are you eating this fall season?

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

Favorite Lunches

I love to cook as you may already know and I love to make a delicious lunch when I have time.  However there is something  quite divine about going out for a delicious lunch in the city.  Recently my oldest daughter and I went down to Chicago.  We did this last year as well, so we decided to return to our favorite place for lunch, The Peninsula Hotel's Pierrot Gourmet.  It was a wonderful day and we could dine outside.  The restaurant sits directly on Rush St. with just enough of the city crazy yet you are still able to carry on a conversation quite easily.  The other thing I really enjoyed about this restaurant is the clientele.  People were happy to be alone reading (not on their phones), enjoying a glass of wine with lunch or just not rushing.  For lunch I had their Asian grilled salad with a peanut dressing, avocado and mangoes.  Of course to drink and Argentinean chardonnay.  Absolutely delightful
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The following week my husband and I dropped our eldest off at UW-Madison.  Madison is a great food city.  I'm really looking forward to eating there more often.  For our first of many Madison lunches we went to Graze.  The restaurant is right on the capitol and also has beautiful outdoor seating.  The menu is based on local seasonal ingredients -so how can you go wrong.  My lunch was a Bun salad, Chinese noodles, various raw vegetables sriracha dressing and a tofu roll.  It was just the right lunch after working all morning.  Of course I had to have the delightful glass of wine too, a California from Santa Barbara County.  

I hope you can take some time to enjoy a leisurely lunch somewhere nearby.  Take some time not to be on your phone, talk to someone, just be alone and of course enjoy your food and wine.

Bon Appétit!,

as always with love from the Midwest,

Beth