Category: Munich

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The Last Great Lake to Visit

Traveling to Lake Superior – Part I

Lake Superior was the only great lake we had never seen. We weren’t planning on going to see the “last one” this summer, but when I researched going back to Maine and the Eastern Townships area of Quebec, those areas proved to be prohibitively expensive. So, a trip to Ontario, and the Upper Peninsula area of Michigan seemed a more affordable option.

Since I was celebrating a birthday and didn’t want to spend all day driving on my birthday, we decided to leave the day before. This way (we hoped) we’d have no issues crossing over the border into Ontario in the morning. Why was I so considered about border traffic? Because I had a lunch reservation at a winery that I didn’t want to miss.

Old School Cafe, Naples, NY

Our first stop though was lunch in Naples, NY. The Old School Cafe, right on the main road, had been on my “to do” list for a while, and it didn’t disappoint. But has anyone ever seen me post a picture of a waffle? The answer to that is NO. Even my daughter, Rachel, was alarmed that my first meal of our trip was something I never make, order, or eat. I just don’t eat waffles.

I’m not sure what possessed me that afternoon, but suddenly I wanted something different. Something sweet and something savory. Therefore, The Old School Cafe’s special that day, a buttermilk waffle topped with Korean spicy chicken, was definitely a hit.

On the way from Naples to Medina (where we were staying for the night), Lynn happened to mention a Louis Kahn church in Rochester that he had visited once in college. Could we detour he asked? Of course, I said yes, and luckily, it wasn’t even a detour, but a mere two minutes from the highway we were already on.

Louis Kahn in Rochester

The First Unitarian Church of Rochester was completed in 1962. The building was closed so we weren’t able to get inside, but we did walk around the entire structure. Was it the ugliest building I’ve ever seen? No. Here’s a photograph of it anyway.

Medina, New York

We had been to Medina a few years ago and had stopped for lunch. It seemed like a quirky town with a couple of decent restaurants and even some boutique-type hotels. Since Medina is only an hour away from the Canadian border, it seemed like a good choice since there was a restaurant there that I had my eye on, too.

Downtown Medina is small. You can walk both sides of the street in under 10 minutes and find yourself wondering what else to do. We came across a plaque, commemorating a speech Frederick Douglass gave. Was it coincidental that it just happened to be the same day (August 3), but 155 years later? Perhaps. (This also happened to us on another occasion on the trip.)

After walking around the downtown area, we decided to try and see Medina Falls. Unfortunately, the pathway overlooking the falls was crumbling and thus, a bit scary. Plus, there were so many trees and bushes overlooking the falls, that I couldn’t really get a decent view. Actually, had I not heard the sound of the water rushing (plus a dog barking whose owner somehow had managed to get down closer to the falls), I wouldn’t have known that the falls even existed.

After the lackluster viewing of the falls, I drove to see The Culvert Road. I knew that it was the only road under the Erie Canal, but didn’t know the “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” connection. Apparently, we had missed it the last time we were in town, and since we were the only car on the road, it obviously wasn’t a trendy tourist thing to do. (Since I now live near the Erie Canal, most fun facts about the canal pique my interest.)

The Hart House Hotel

Now that we can travel any day of the week, we generally try to avoid Friday or Saturday nights because it’s always more expensive to stay on those days. Unfortunately, this time we didn’t have a choice, and luckily, the Hart House Hotel had one room available. I loved this quirky hotel and admired all the hard work the owners put into restoring it. It features a contactless check-in, and I’m glad they like to rave on their website that they now have an elevator since our room was on the third floor and the stairs were steep. And no, we didn’t sleep on the couch. Our room was quite large (hence the sitting area) and named after John Jacob Astor.

I would have liked to talk about the dinner we had that night in Medina because it was another reason we had decided to stay there. Alas, it turned out to be the most expensive meal of the trip, and disappointing, too. I rarely post a negative review of a restaurant I’ve been to, primarily because I don’t want anyone to lose their livelihood. I also understand the power of negative reviews on Tripadvisor and Google that can potentially turn people away. The few times I’ve had an issue with a meal, I’ve sent a note afterwards to the manager just as a heads-up and expect nothing in return. My silence about this particular restaurant will be enough.

On To Canada (But Lake Ontario First)

In the morning, we had time to kill before a 1:30 lunch reservation at Trius, a winery/restaurant we had been to before in Niagara-on-the-Lake. So, we decided to take the long way on Route 18 which runs along Lake Ontario. The weather that day was gorgeous, and we got to see a new lighthouse, Three Mile Point, as well as what looked like a laid-back summer town of Olcott. One takeaway from this ride were the gorgeous flowers (particularly sunflowers) that I saw blooming in everyone’s garden! For the birthday girl, it made her day!

Niagara-On-The-Lake

We have been to this area of Ontario many times and it’s still one of our favorite places to visit. Luckily, the border crossing was quick, and although we did end up driving through the town of NOL to see what was “new,” we just made it in time for our lunch reservation.

We sat outside and looked at the grapes still hanging on the vines. After discussing the hot weather we’ve had with our server, we learned that their harvest might be brought in about three weeks earlier this year. Since I know nothing about harvesting grapes, I just filed this away under something “good to know.” Followed by, yes, climate change is real!

Back to lunch. We had wine flights, and we had a tomato and nectarine salad. Then we had a cold smoked salmon plate with fingerling potatoes and poached shrimp. We split a slice of apricot cake with mousse that was frosted with a white chocolate ganache and whipped cream. We ordered more wine to go with dessert, and thinking about this lunch now makes me very hungry.

Most importantly, look how happy we are after this amazing meal!

London (Ontario that is)

Somehow, I had confused London, Ontario, with a town I thought we had been to and remembered as “charming.” This was not the same town. However, I specifically wanted to stay overnight there because of a restaurant that was on my “foodie radar.” I will mention how much I LOVE traveling through Canada, but how much I HATE the 401, the 405, the 403, and any other major highway that reminds me of being on Long Island. Unfortunately, to get anywhere quickly in Canada, these highways are your only option. Traffic is always bumper-to-bumper. But there aren’t any tolls, and there are “ONroute” rest areas every so often if you need to pee or a get a cup of coffee.

So, after getting off the 401, we made sure the restaurant we were going to was within walking distance of our hotel, and that there were sidewalks. (More on the latter later.) I had forgotten that the next business day was a civic holiday, which meant downtown London was pretty empty. Most people, I’m assuming, having departed for some sort of vacation or camping adventure elsewhere.

Dinner at Grace

Grace offers a CA$65 4-course prix fixe menu that you can’t beat. The Executive Chef, Angie Murphy, also has a sense of humor in that she has named many of her dishes. Case in point: the new potato and pickled cucumber dish that you see below, called “Velvet Underground,” is such an unassuming dish on the menu that I wasn’t sure if I should order it. However, this one totally wowed me. The potatoes and the cucumbers were so smooth (hence the velvet description, I assume) that I could have ordered another plate of that one dish alone. Next up: “Gold Bar” – polenta with eggplant, tomatoes, compressed zucchini, parmesan and basil in a thick tomato sauce. Lynn had a duck breast as an entree (not shown), but I went for something a bit unusual.

Titled “Doctor, Doctor” (put the lime in the coconut and call me in the morning), it featured Ube gnocchi with mushrooms, tofu, and cilantro in a hot coconut sour sauce. I did check with our server to make sure I knew about “Ube.” (It’s similar to a sweet potato, but actually a yam with a gorgeous purple color.) Finally, last but not least, dessert was a “Chocolate Mirage.” Also known as chocolate mousse on a stick with a sour cherry sorbet, the dish was fun and delicious. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the “stick” in question was actually a biscuit that was made to look like a stick and totally edible.

A Bit of Bavaria in Frankenmuth, Michigan

After leaving London in the morning, we crossed back over the border, and suddenly were in Michigan. Frankenmuth was a surprise to me. I was looking for a place to stop for lunch and didn’t know anything about this German-themed town near Saginaw, but still about three hours from our Mackinaw City destination.

Luckily, I had already scoped out the lunch possibilities and settled on Prost, a wine bar/restaurant that specialized in charcuterie. How could we resist that? It was very crowded, but we managed to get a seat at the bar. Since we knew we had a big dinner ahead of us, we decided to share a “German Heritage” board with a couple of beers. I was already feeling a bit elitist (having lived in Munich for so long) that I didn’t think the kitchen would be able to pull off a decent rendition, but they did.

Our board had some summer sausage, liver pate, black forest ham (the only cold cut that I wasn’t particularly fond of), as well as a mild “Butterkäse” cheese along with sauerkraut, pickles and bread. We drank Paulaner out of a can, and I was pleasantly surprised that the food was so good.

Afterwards we walked around town, and I tried to think I was in Bavaria – somewhere. I took a lot of pictures. There were murals, there were tons of flowers, and even a little Glockenspiel with dancing figurines. On the way out of town we even got to drive under an “Auf Wiedersehen” arch.

Mackinaw City Here We Come

I love to look at maps and would frequently look at a map of Michigan. (I know, I know, boring.) But looking at a map fuels my desire to travel and plan trips to see things I haven’t seen before. I had always wondered about Mackinaw City and the Mackinac Bridge which crosses the Straits of Mackinac connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

I had booked the cheapest hotel I could find for Mackinaw City in August. This meant we were staying at a Holiday Inn right near the bridge. The good news: we had a small balcony and even had a glimpse of the water. The bad news: if you sat outside on the balcony, you were accosted by never-ending traffic (including heavy trucks), so the noise level was pretty high. Luckily, the hotel was on the newer side (or renovated, I’m not exactly sure), and someone had the brains to not only put in room darkening shades in our room, but also install windows that kept all the noise outside.

The Holiday Inn was adequate for our two-night stay. But what we didn’t realize is that although we could almost see the restaurant we had booked that night from our hotel, we weren’t sure how to get there because of the bridge and the traffic. Luckily, we found a road that went under both. When given the option of walking to dinner, we usually prefer that over driving.

Audie’s for Dinner

Billed as a restaurant with both a “Family Room” and “Chippewa Room,” of course we walked into the family side by mistake. I will take a moment to comment on families that let their children 1) run around, 2) make a lot of noise and generally behave badly at the table, and 3) order off a kid’s menu when they are old enough to eat “real” food. I just can’t fathom having children who would behave like that in any restaurant and immediately feel hostile towards parents who don’t do anything to change their children’s behavior. End of rant.

Once we found the correct entrance, two things caught my eye on Audie’s menu. Perch and Whitefish. The last time I had eaten perch was when my grandmother, Theresa, was still alive. She lived in Whiting, Indiana, a mere 29 minutes from downtown Chicago, on the shores of Lake Michigan. Occasionally when I’d visit, I remembered many “all you can eat perch” meals at a place called Phil Smidt. Before they went out of business, I even found a retro-looking postcard that I’m particularly fond of. I even put the postcard in a small frame to remind me that their sauteed perch in butter sauce was the best I’ve ever eaten!

I was hoping Audie’s would be up for the challenge. While their perch was decent, it wasn’t the buttery, melt-in-your-mouth goodness I was looking for. Still, the menu was fun. We had some Oysters Rockefeller to start, followed by the perch, and apparently, someone had told them it was my birthday week, so we split some homemade vanilla maple ice cream for dessert.

And if anyone wants to see the glimpse of water from our little balcony and the bridge at night, I have photographs of that, too.

Tomorrow we’ll take the ferry over to Mackinac Island. You’ll be able to read about it on my next post.

Until our next “Let’s Go” adventure.

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Get In The Car

My new book, available on Amazon (2/2021) in both paperback and Kindle version, is a food and travel memoir. Written in 2008 (and just published this year), it’s the story of traveling with my husband, Lynn and two children. Canada, California and numerous European countries are some of the places we visit. Join us for the ride.

Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/GET-CAR-Food-Travel-Memoir/dp/B08WZFTWDM/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=julie+mccoy+get+in+the+car&qid=1614963641&sr=8-2#reader_B08WZFTWDM

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A Very Long Year

I often find myself standing in front of the fridge looking at all the magnets I’ve collected on our travels. Sometimes a memory or two comes back from a city we’ve visited, a noteworthy museum or historic house we were lucky enough to see, or a certain dish at a restaurant that was really good. But the moment is fleeting and once I open the fridge, it’s all about business – planning breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The Fridge Door = A Memory Magnet Wall

As my past few blogs this year have revealed, there’s been a lot of cooking and a lot of eating. Lynn has learned how to make soup and pasta and perfected his pizza making. I baked more than I like to and what we didn’t eat, we froze. I finally got around to looking at old cookbooks that had been sitting on my bookshelves for years. And I read new cookbooks as if they were novels. I devoured each page as if it were a dish itself since my days were based on finding “activities” (i.e., making meals) that would not only pass the time but nourish us as well.

All Kinds of Goodies

Memorable Oyster Moments

I discovered my local supermarket carried freshly shucked oysters from Maryland swimming in their natural brine and bought myself a cast iron pan that I hope to eventually use outside on the grill (where it belongs) instead of in the oven. Taking inspiration from Sarah Leah Chase’s recipe in her New England Open House Cookbook, I learned how to put together a decent version of “Oysters Clark Rockefeller.” I made my own creamed spinach (using frozen spinach and half & half) and it came together beautifully with the addition of some grated Jarlsberg on top. Even as I was making this dish, however, I couldn’t help but remember one New Year’s at Leon’s Fine Poultry and Oyster Shop in Charleston, South Carolina. We spent a sunny afternoon there sitting at the bar and eating platters of coal-grilled oysters while sipping Spanish Cava!

It’s About Time For A Hike

In between all the cooking (and eating), we walked as much as we could before the cold weather and the snow started. We found trails in nearby marshes, walked around a few lakes, and into a lot of forests.

There were waterfalls to visit that were close to home and picturesque covered bridges to cross. All of this made me very happy that if we had to “quarantine” any where in the world this is a pretty nice place to do so.

Crackers and Butter, Why Not?

And then I made crackers. It seemed an okay recipe at the time but the dough was a bit dry and even though they came out fine in the end, the sesame seeds didn’t properly adhere to the dough. Guess what, we ate them anyway!

Then I heard about a shop that was making their own butter. I began to follow them on social media and subsequently paid them a visit even though it was a 45-minute drive away. While I thought the concept was unique, I was disappointed with their product. Consequently, a few days later I just whipped up a batch of my own “compounded” butter flavored with pink Himalayan sea salt. Full confession: I over salted my first batch but have containers of heavy cream sitting in the fridge waiting to be whipped into butter again.

Supporting Local Farms and Stocking Up!

Since March 2020, I have tried to support as many local farms and small businesses as possible. When the weather was warmer and we could have lunch outside at a restaurant, we did. Suddenly though, restaurants started closing. Either they weren’t making enough in takeout orders to keep their establishment solvent or unfortunately, they were forced to shut down because one of their employees had tested positive.

One afternoon we were craving a hamburger from a place we had been to before. I called to phone in an order only to listen to a recorded message that said their restaurant was closed “indefinitely.” So, we went home and for dinner that night I made the hamburger and tempura-fried onion rings we both wanted. (No, the burger wasn’t really this tall; I just wanted a dramatic photograph so stacked everything really quickly and hoped it wouldn’t topple over!)

As the weather got colder, we visited many local farms although Lynn gave a thumbs down to buying a pumpkin. Why? Because last year’s was torn to shreds by either a deer or squirrel or both so we bought tons of squash and apples instead.

I also bought a small freezer to stock up on butter and chicken and meat fearing we would face another round of food shortages going into the holiday season. We had absolutely no place to put an extra freezer in our house so it ended up going in the laundry room which works just fine for us.

Golf? Leaf Peeping? Day Trips?

We even bought some old golf clubs hoping to hit a driving range before it closed for the season even though we never did quite make it there. And we drove, sometimes hours, just to look at the leaves changing colors in a state park.

We visited places we had never been (Hamilton College Zen Gardens below). And went to see as many lakes in the Adirondack Park as we could. (And that’s beautiful Bog River Falls at the bottom of Tupper Lake.)

Picnics!

We often brought lunch with us after buying a really cool thermos that we filled with homemade chicken soup. To kick things up a notch, I also tossed in some store-bought tortellini at the last moment which resulted in a pretty decent version of “Tortellini en Brodo.” Lynn was so pleased that I had even packed a tablecloth on one such outing. He probably thought I was trying to be “romantic.” Actually, I was just trying to cover up any bird poop that might be splattered across the picnic table we were eating on.

Suddenly, Winter

And then it snowed. So we shoveled the snow off the deck and hauled the snowblower out of the garage. We just hoped it would start quickly so we could dig out our driveway!

The local kids started to sled down the hill next to our house and every day we would find another pair of discarded gloves or a hat thrown on our lawn.

The cold weather kept us indoors so I made stuffed cabbage and pulled out the sous vide machine to make chicken. I even ate cauliflower even though it has always been my least favorite vegetable. Hint: tossed with pancetta or bacon, some sliced olives, garlic, parsley and Parmesan it actually becomes edible!

TV Time

We started to watch cooking shows in the early evenings (before the grim newscasts about the number of COVID-19 deaths that day) just to get some ideas about different dishes we could make. This resulted in fish baked in parchment on a bed of slow roasted tomatoes with herbs and white beans. Oh and wine, you need lots and lots of white wine for this dish!

I also finally gave in and bought myself a non-stick frying pan just so that I could learn to make a “real” French herb-infused omelette the way I saw Jacques Pépin do on PBS! (It takes a lot longer to make an omelette this way, but I absolutely love the way it just slides out of the pan.)

I even made biscuits!

Then There Was The Meat Slicer

Yes, truly. I grew up in Munich, Germany, where cold cuts are “king” or at least “König-like” so I was comfortable with this new toy. I also wanted to wean Lynn off of unhealthy processed meat lunches and make my own ‘”healthier” protein for him to eat. After this purchase, we started roasting boneless pork roasts, center cuts of beef and huge chicken breasts. Sandwiches were topped with slices of unfortunately tasteless out-of-season tomatoes but spruced up a bit by a homemade mayo and horseradish spread. Salads were lavishly adorned with slices of chicken and ham was cut to order for leisurely and late breakfasts.

And We Talk and Talk (Childhood Stuff Is Frequently Mentioned)

Lynn and I have been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time together, now even more so. Luckily, we rarely run out of topics. We find ourselves remembering things that happened to us growing up. Lynn likes to tell me his “baked good” story even though I’ve heard it a thousand times before. Apparently when he was a young lad, a friend would entice him to go to a local shop to buy a “baked good.” Even though Lynn wasn’t quite sure what a “baked good” was, he went along for the adventure. (If you, too, aren’t quite sure what a “baked good” is, it’s simply something that was baked, i.e., a cookie, cake or cinnamon roll.) I decided to share with him a food memory from one of my many “summers in Whiting” stories.

Similar to his quest for a “baked good,” my summers in Whiting, Indiana, often involved a trip to a local supermarket with my maternal grandfather. There he would pick up some Hostess cupcakes and I learned from him the proper cupcake eating etiquette. One had to gently nibble first on the waxy chocolate frosting with the decorative white squiggle on top before digging into the cake portion beneath it.

Of course I overcompensate with all this nostalgic memory stuff by making French toast for breakfast one morning using leftover brioche and topped with some raspberries and local maple syrup. And for lunch? Well, I find a recipe I’ve been wanting to make for an Austrian apple cake and decide why make just one cake when you can make two? (We are not total gluttons, we eat one for lunch and freeze the other.)

These days we try to be upbeat but do worry about our adult children, my parents and other family members. To get out of the house we often visit a local farm. There we buy cheese, chicken livers if available, as well as lamb and veal. We freeze everything for future meals and on the way out, we take pictures of Jones Family Farm goats.

Embracing The Gray and the Holidays, Too

We spend Thanksgiving by ourselves, having decided as a family that it was too dangerous to get together now that we couldn’t totally socially distance or be outdoors. Since there was no need to make a turkey for the two of us (we had homemade lasagna instead), I suddenly had an entire afternoon on Thanksgiving Day with absolutely nothing to do! What did I do to pass the time? I decided to cut my hair!

As a woman of a certain age, I have embraced my gray hair and even more so since it’s actually turning a funky shade of silver! And since a visit to the hairdresser as well as a nail salon are big no-no’s for me, I just snipped off about two inches myself. Here’s the new me right after we put up our Christmas tree.

We celebrated Christmas alone as well which meant it was the first time we had spent a holiday without either of our children. We “make do” by eating platters of deviled eggs topped with salmon roe and some fresh dill. And the pâté? Well, that was tucked into little “nests” that I had crafted from the leftover sesame cracker dough.

See that mother-of-pearl caviar spoon? I was lucky enough to purchase it at a restaurant in Paris one year after a very delicious lunch. Sigh, I do miss our European adventures!

And Last But Not Least, Our Final Bathroom

Since we are home indefinitely, we also decided to tackle another (and hopefully last) big home repair project. Normally, this would not have been an article I would have covered here, but since we are not traveling or dining out, I think the “Let’s Go!” blog can make an exception to my own rule.

For those of you not familiar with my previous blog “The Red House Project,” I wrote about the renovation of our house for nearly nine years. Here’s the link to the story that describes how I tackled this very ugly bathroom by myself one summer. http://theredhouseproject.eathappy.net/the-beginning-of-the-red-house/learning-how-to-play-with-boy-toys/ .

We had put off renovating this final bathroom for reasons we can’t even remember. When the kids and their spouses/partners come to visit, it becomes “their” bathroom. It was functional but old and dated. It was time.

So, we went to the “Big Box” store one more time, bought some tile and a new vanity and toilet that will be installed by some subcontractors. When we approached one subcontractor about also updating our bath/shower combo and asked him for an estimate, he responded with a number that was astronomically high. (His fee for this small bathroom redo was about the price of a used car!) Obviously we said no and started to plan to demolish and renovate the bathroom ourselves. After a few false starts and a couple of returns (vanity faucets to be precise), we tallied up the receipts and have spent a little under $300!

The fake marble paneling on the walls came down, and after much trial-and-error we managed to remove the bathtub faucets, too. Hint: white wine vinegar and a special $9 tool! What to see the “Pro Puller?”

To this day I still marvel at Lynn’s drawings and am really truly thankful he can do most of this renovation with a little help from me. This approach also saves us a ton of money!

In the meantime since I’m a trooper, I’m outside in the freezing cold helping him saw pieces of wood so we can build a wall.

Which we did!

Eventually the old drywall will come down around the tub but we needed to put up the wall before the new floor is laid.

Would I rather be traveling and eating oysters at a bar somewhere rather than renovating a bathroom? You betcha! Do I need a few more magnets to add to the “memory wall” on the fridge? Absolutely! As a matter of fact, I hope in the years to come that we can add more than a few to our collection.

Here’s to a happy, peaceful, and most of all healthy New Year everyone.

Until our next “Let’s Go” adventure.

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Teaching Myself To Cook One Pot Meals

Last weekend I challenged myself in the cooking arena. I pretended I didn’t know how to cook and found three New York Times recipes and one recipe from Food & Wine that I thought I would “try” to make. These were supposed to be simple one-pot meals, which as many working families know, is a blessing if you are trying to put together a quick dinner.

When we were living on Long Island, I would spend a good portion of every Sunday afternoon cooking for the kids (and us) to make sure there were at least a couple of decent meals I could simply warm up in the oven during the week. As a full-time working mother, I often wouldn’t be home until 6 p.m. and Lynn (when he was lucky) wouldn’t be home until nearly 7:30 p.m. In other words, I needed all the ready-to-go meal help I could get!

Over the years, I had developed a few simple meals that I would make repeatedly. Chili, roast chicken, meat sauce for pasta, and schnitzel. I was able to rotate these simple dishes for quite a few years until the kids grew up. Luckily for me, they both got after school jobs at an early age and often just ate whatever they could grab on the run.

I had learned to cook at an early age. I was not even a teen (12 to be precise) when cooking was an activity I really enjoyed. Even back then I could be trusted to put together some sort of chicken or pork dish in a mushroom cream sauce, make crepes (sweet and savory) and even dessert (usually cookies or a cake). Living in Munich, Germany, also had a lot to do with it. I wasn’t into sports, television didn’t come on until after 6 p.m., and there are only so many books a young girl could read!

To set myself up for this weekend challenge I decided I would try to follow the recipes exactly as they were written. This was a bit difficult for me because as I read through some of them, I knew not only was there a better way to do it, but sometimes even a better ingredient could have been included in the dish. Plus, since I’ve been cooking so long (over 46 years at this point – gulp!), I only follow a recipe when I have to bake.

First Dish – Shrimp Scampi With Orzo

I always have a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer. This may have something to do with me always hoping for “unexpected” guests and being able to whip up some sort of shrimp dish in a hurry if I have to. The fact that I’ve never once in my entire life had an “unexpected” guest visit anyplace I’ve lived is irrelevant. Therefore, since I had the shrimp already, the only thing I would need to purchase for this first dish was a box of orzo. Everything else was already in my pantry, too.

I cleaned the shrimp and cooked the orzo. Luckily the night before I had watched a Jamie Olivier cooking show where he added raw shrimp to a dish of pasta he was cooking. I usually like to cook shrimp before I add it to any other ingredient that’s already cooked. The fact that he was so nonchalant about adding raw shrimp to the pasta gave me the courage I needed to do the recipe exactly as written.

The orzo cooked up very quickly as did the shrimp. When it was done, I thought there was a bit too much liquid. Yes, there was lots of parsley and white wine which I love but I found even the spritz of lemon at the end was overwhelming. I’ve made my own version of this dish in the past, adding some roasted tomatoes and chunks of feta which gives it the creaminess I think this dish was lacking. Here’s a picture of The New York Times version, followed by mine.

Second Dish – Cheesy Baked Pasta with Radicchio

The next night I put together a baked pasta with radicchio that I had seen in Food & Wine. The challenge here was two-fold. First, where the hell was I going to find radicchio in upstate New York without driving an hour east to a Whole Foods or an hour west to Wegmans?

Luckily, a 10 minute drive to the over-priced Hannaford supermarket in the next town proved they could sometimes surprise you. They did in fact carry radicchio and low and behold they actually had three whole heads for a mere $4.99 a pound! (Note the sarcasm here, please.)

I picked up the radicchio that looked the least wilted and was actually bizarrely happy that I found it so close to home. I mean really, look at the color of this vegetable! Yep, I did play around with this image courtesy of Instagram but it shows the layers really well this way.

The supermarket also had prosciutto on sale which was a plus since I needed it for the dish, too. I sauteed the red onions, sliced the radicchio into ribbons as instructed and added the garlic and red wine vinegar. I cooked the pasta and then poured it into a buttered baking dish. Normally, I don’t like any pasta (other than lasagna) that’s baked, particularly macaroni and cheese. I could never understand why cooks insist on putting a breadcrumb topping on such a classic American dish. To me, the whole point of mac and cheese is to eat creamy mac and cheese not breadcrumb-dry mac and cheese. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I mixed together the goat cheese but substituted gouda for the fontina cheese because fontina was nowhere to be found. I also omitted the nutmeg because I simply don’t like nutmeg. As I made my way through the steps of this dish, I thought cooking all of these ingredients separately was just WAY TOO TIME CONSUMING. I thought about how quickly I can usually put together a simple cheese and veggie pasta dish (which is basically what this dish consisted of). Had I not been doing this “cooking exercise,” I don’t think I would have baked this dish either.

Was it cheesy? Yes and it actually tasted better the second day because all the flavors had time to sit and simply blend together.

Here’s a picture of Food & Wine’s version, followed by mine.

Besides the pasta that day I also whipped together a “simple crusty bread” recipe that I hadn’t made in years. Originally, I thought it was the same recipe my Dad uses when he makes bread but alas, I was incorrect. This New York Times recipe got a ton of press when it came out in 2007 because it had four simple ingredients (yeast, kosher salt, water and all-purpose flour) that you just mix together. How could you go wrong?

As I was trying to maneuver the dough into the pan I was using, I remembered why I hated this recipe. The dough was so wet it was physically impossible to pick up! Plus, more than one-quarter of it kept sticking to my fingers, my hands and the countertop. Also, I really like kneading dough and this recipe omits that step.

The dough did rise however and I took it out of the oven when I “thought” it was done. Looking back it should have cooked about 10 more minutes to get a crispier crust and not have such a dense interior.

Meanwhile back on the farm (just kidding), it was really cold outside. So cold in fact that there were these really long icicles that were hanging off the roof of the house! In addition to the cold, the wind was howling outside, truly sounding like a freight train. When we woke up in the morning (after getting a nice glimpse of a crescent moon and Venus the night before), I opened the fridge and almost everything was frozen! What had happened overnight?

The only thing I can figure out is that the fridge is right next to a window and perhaps the cold air just kept blowing into that area all evening? This meant that the potatoes I had bought to make that night’s adventure in cooking dish had frozen, too! I tried to salvage some of them but just found myself getting angry that I had spent money on food I then couldn’t eat.

Want to see the icicles?

Third Dish – Salmon With Potatoes and Horseradish-Tarragon Sauce

At one point I owned Chef George Lang’s cookbook “The Cuisine of Hungary” but alas I think I lost it in the last move! That said, the fact that this was his recipe intrigued me especially since 1) I love salmon, 2) I love horseradish and 3) I love sour cream! (After all my great-grandmother was from Hungary.)

I sliced the few potatoes that didn’t have “frost bite” as paper thin as I could without the aid of a mandoline. (I’m terrified of mandolines.) I put them in a baking dish as instructed and added some shallots. This is what they looked like after cooking for about 20 minutes.

Then I mixed together some sour cream, tarragon and horseradish. I was supposed to “brush” the sauce on top of the salmon that would then be placed on top of the potatoes. When I did this, however, the sauce ended up looking like frosting and even after the salmon had cooked, it still looked that way! Which was really kind of weird.

See what I mean?

The salmon was very moist prepared this way though and I loved the sauce and the potatoes. Bottom line: I would make this dish again.

Fourth Dish – Dijon Chicken With Shallots and White Wine

Holy Moly. This recipe called for 12-15 medium shallots! I had bought six, used one for the above-mentioned salmon dish which meant I had five left. I thought five would be more than enough, after all these were kind of big anyway.

I melted some butter in a frying pan and sauteed the chicken as instructed. First problem was that the chicken thighs didn’t get as brown as I thought they should. Since I didn’t want to “cheat” by putting them in the oven (which would have given them the brown color I was looking for), I just left them on the stove and added the rest of the ingredients.

This recipe had a lot of wine, almost too much I thought. Ditto for the tomatoes. But the sauce, when it reduced, was really good and ultimately even though the bread didn’t turn out as planned, I grilled up a couple of slices and we ate it with the chicken. If I make this dish again though, it’s definitely going in the oven!

Ultimately, I liked making all of these dishes. It was actually kind of fun to pretend not to know how to cook and follow a recipe pretty much exactly. I do think, however, they might have been too difficult for your average person who doesn’t know their way around a kitchen or even how to shop for some of the ingredients. Luckily for me, this adventure was motivated by the cold weather outside and me wanting to stay inside. After all, we only turn the TV on at night and there really is only so much even this “older” girl can read.

Until our next “Let’s Go” adventure.

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Campobello Island – But First A Stop In Saint Andrews, New Brunswick

Visiting Campobello Island to see Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s summer “cottage” (it has 34 rooms!) had been on my do-list for a while. I love visiting old houses and am fascinated by stories of how people lived during the 1930’s and 1940’s. This probably has something to do with growing up in Munich and being constantly surrounded by reminders of World War II. But first we needed a place to stay.

So, after we had visited PEI, we drove to Saint Andrews (also referred to as Saint Andrews By-The-Sea) which is a very romantic sounding name for this town in an area called the Maritime Provinces of Canada.

We were to stay one night at Rossmount Inn, a hotel I had read about that had travelers raving about the on-site restaurant. But first we decided to pay a visit to Kingsbrae Gardens. If you are interested in garden design and flowers and plants like I am, this is a must-see stop. Set on over 25+ acres in a residential area of Saint Andrews, they not only have lovely flower gardens but an interesting sculpture garden and miniature exotic pet farm, too.

To give you an idea of how much they love gardens (and gardening!) this was the first thing I saw walking onto their beautiful estate.

We walked around the gardens admiring all the flowers and the neatly trimmed hedges.

Plus they even made rows and rows of daylilies and assorted other wildflowers look civilized.

And then we saw the peacock! I mean, I had seen a peacock spread its feathers before but this bird decided it was going to give us a little fashion show. Look how it spread its feathers and strutted a bit so we could see both the front and back of this gorgeous bird – a member of the pheasant family I believe.

I actually thought the back of this beautiful beast was even more interesting than the front.

After more sculpture (see the food theme prevalent here with an apple core and an avocado), we went to the hotel.

A Night at the Rossmount

Chef Chris Aerni and his lovely wife Graziella are probably one of the nicest couples we’ve encountered on our many travels here and abroad. They are totally hands on with this lovely retreat they have created and love to talk to their guests not only about food but places they, too, have visited. (I’m now very curious about Hobart, Tasmania, because of my conversation with them that night.)

This is a shot of their hotel and the lovely pool area. Unfortunately, it was too late in the day for us to hang out by the pool, but this hotel is definitely on my “return for a visit list” so we’ll have to check it out the next time we go.

Dinner that night was exceptional. A multi-course tasting menu featured fresh Malpeque oysters (I will talk more about these beauties in an upcoming Prince Edward Island story) paired with a scallop ceviche.

Mushroom soup and bib lettuce and beets from the garden topped with edible daylilies (who knew you could eat those).

Followed by a roasted quail and potato salad. And then old school surf and turf kicked up a notch with succulent butter-poached lobster with garden fresh veggies and a killer Bearnaise sauce. The dollops of green pesto that were added to this dish just brought the whole thing together. It was tasty and absolutely brilliant!

And then there was dessert. Pea semi-freddo? You betcha. And it was delicious – sweet and savory all in the same bite. But then since it was my birthday (really, the actual day not the day before or after), I asked if they could bring me out something chocolate. And that’s exactly what they did. (I know it was so unlike me to order a second dessert, but I split the chocolate mousse with Lynn.)

On To Campobello Island

We started off the morning (after a lovely breakfast at the Rossmount) by listening to “Siri” tell us how we should “drive” to Campobello Island. Usually I at least take a glimpse at an old road map to make sure she’s heading us in the correct direction, but this time I didn’t. That’s why about an hour later we ended up somewhere along the coast near Passamaquoddy Bay (yes, that is exactly how you spell it). We were in the town of L’Etete and saw signs for a ferry that we thought was going to Campobello. Since there was no reason not to trust “Siri,” we drove the car onto the ferry. Who knew the ferry was free, too? (Thank you Canada!)

When the ferry docked, we realized we were on another island, “Deer Island” to be precise. There’s got to be a bridge, I thought that would get us over to Campobello, right? There is a bridge, but not where we were! We also discovered that we needed to take another ferry and had just missed the one that would eventually take us over to Campobello. See there it is pulling away!

So we joined a growing line of cars and waited for the next boat. Since we were basically stuck on Deer Island, it’s not like we could turn around and go back. Nearly an hour and a half later (not the hour intervals as shown below), we drove the car onto ferry #2 and finally ended up where we wanted to be. And this time we had to pay about $27.00 for the crossing.

The Roosevelts

Once we finally got to Campobello we managed to finagle our way onto a tour of the house that had just started. I was impressed with the home and simple furnishings and the great lengths the Roosevelts took to spend summers there! (If it took us that long to get there from our morning start which was a mere 117 kilometers away, imagine what it was like for them to get to their summer home from New York or even Washington in the 1920’s via train and automobile!)

And since I love to cook and eat (as you all know), I particularly focused in on the kitchen. The stove Eleanor’s staff would cook meals on was still in the house. This is a thing of beauty. And looking at it, it actually has more burners and “counter space” than my current stove.

I also loved the bullhorn that was out on display. Apparently, Eleanor used it to call the children in for meals when they were out and about.

And with a view like this from the house, who wouldn’t want to be outdoors every single second of the day?

Until our next “Let’s Go” adventure.

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A Trip To Maine and New Brunswick, Canada (And Random Thoughts About Breakfast, Too)

It was nearly 29 years ago when we first traveled from Long Island to Maine and New Brunswick with our then 1-year-old son strapped in a car seat in the smallest car I think Chevrolet ever made (the Sprint). It was actually so small (I’m pretty tall and Lynn is too) that we even nicknamed the Sprint “Sprint Junior” just to make fun of its tiny size.

This time we started out from upstate New York (already saving us probably at least 3 hours) avoiding that awful stretch of I-95 going through Connecticut. Our first stop was in Essex, MA, for amazing lobster rolls at an old school joint called Essex Seafood. I mean look at this handwritten menu tacked onto the wall!

The lobster was sweet, minimally dressed and the side order of onion rings were pretty decent, too. I’d also like to personally thank many of my Instagram foodies who shared that find with me!

Overnight in Portland, Maine

We hadn’t been to Portland in at least 20 years and frankly, we didn’t remember a single thing. We walked around near the harbor area but weren’t that impressed.

There were a couple of restaurants and bars and the usual coffee places but there seemed to be an overwhelming number of tourist places all selling the same trinkets. Actually anything that had a lobster on it seemed to be a guaranteed sale. Lobster key rings? Check. Lobster potholders? Double check.

Dinner that night was at Fore Street – a restaurant that didn’t disappoint in its open kitchen concept as well as the incredible wood-burning smell of everything they were cooking.

The menu was very creative. Squid with eggplant and green beans followed by grilled foie gras on a slice of homemade zucchini bread! Who does that?

Second course up: Fresh blue fin tuna with peppers and grilled corn. A tasty dish but a small portion I thought for the price tag. (Yes, look at it, it was about 2 .5 bites!)

Finally, Lynn and I split a fresh berry cobbler topped with a biscuit-like dough (not my favorite but more on biscuits later) and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Doesn’t that look absolutely delicious though?

On the way out, stopping to say “thanks” to the chefs working the line in the open kitchen, I was told by a not-so-friendly wait staffer that I was “not allowed” to be there or to talk to them! What? Cooking is a thankless job but I made sure the chefs working that night heard me compliment them on their exceptional talent. And at least I got a smile out of a few of them.

Before we left Portland the next morning, we stopped to see the lighthouse. Apparently, we had missed it the first time and the weather was absolutely perfect to get a great photograph!

On To Saint John, New Brunswick

We stopped for lunch outside of Bangor, Maine, and started with a seafood “chowdah” brimming with haddock, clams, shrimp and lobster. I moved on to eat a lobster BLT with avocado and Lynn held out for a traditional lobster roll. It was pretty darn good.

We had never been to Saint John and stayed at a hotel on the rather ugly waterfront. (This apparently is turning out to be a theme on this road trip.) Here, however, at least someone had attempted to create some “artwork” along the way. I particularly liked the random fish sculptures that were scattered around the downtown area.

We walked into a park, King’s Square, and found what appeared to be a Victorian-era band stand. Although when I looked at it, it kind of reminded me of a squat version of the Chinese Tower (Chinesischer Turm) in Munich’s Englischer Garten.

I have to segue just a bit. I really wanted to find a picture of Munich’s Chinese Tower and post it here but I realized that all the pictures I probably took of it were WAY BEFORE THE CLOUD! What? And yeah, I could drag out an old CD, pop it into my laptop and then spend hours looking for that one photograph. Or, I could just walk downstairs and find the one photo album I needed and just take a picture of the darn thing.

So here it is: My own photograph of the Chinesischer Turm in Munich, Germany, shot in the winter of 1979. Pretty cool right? And if you just look at the top two “towers,” you may see the same resemblance I did. And yeah, it took me a mere 3 minutes to walk down the stairs, find the photo album, flip open the page, shoot the picture, walk back upstairs and upload the shot.

Dinner At East Coast Bistro

When I tell you we had some of the best mussels EVER for dinner that night at East Coast Bistro, I’m not exaggerating. First of all, these mussels were from the Bay of Fundy which is the closest body of water to the town of Saint John and hence the restaurant. Spiced up with an intensely flavored coconut hot sauce with leeks on top, I’m still tasting (and dreaming) about this dish today. Second course I had was a fresh halibut with asparagus, pickled onions and arugula on top.

Yummy! Finally, since I had mentioned it was my birthday week – look what they brought out for me! Lovely homemade vanilla ice cream with a lemon tart topped with meringue. Also, I got to meet Chef Kim Steele and crew which was a nice treat.

Breakfast? What Breakfast?

One of my pet peeves of traveling these days is not being able to find a decent breakfast in the morning without A) driving out of our way and B) paying way too much money. I’m also not a fan of hotel buffets (unless it’s a really decent hotel). Or standing in line to scoop lukewarm scrambled eggs out of a chafing dish and then stand in another line to toast store-bought muffins.

I also like my breakfasts to be pretty simple. Eggs are a must but I don’t particularly like sausage for breakfast. But I’m okay with bacon but only one slice! And yes, I, too, fell for the avocado on toast thing. But then I stopped eating bread at breakfast for a while and I wasn’t crazy about just eating a “naked” avocado.

Hash browns or any kind of potato actually are also a definite no-no. You’re probably thinking, wow, it seems she doesn’t even like breakfast at all! But I do, I do, it just needs to be really simple and preferably served with a little bit of fresh fruit. (But only certain fruit.) Okay, I know I’m more than a little particular about my breakfasts.

I also won’t go into how I would prefer a croissant over a biscuit any day because my Dad, Larry, is one of my best blog readers and after he reads this he will probably be sending me hourly recipes for biscuits! (Love you Dad!) If you haven’t checked out any of his books, he is a funny writer and his books make great gifts, too. Side note: he LOVES biscuits and pie!

I also won’t go into my love/hate relationship with bagels. Well, okay, if you insist. I only like plain ones (and prefer mini bagels over full-sized ones) and also only buy bagels from certain stores. Recently Lynn and I decided pizza for breakfast would be a good idea but then wimped out at the last minute and got Italian pastries and cappuccino’s instead. (This photograph was from a recent trip to Montreal.)

Consequently, the next morning in our search for a bite to eat – a coffee, a donut, a bagel, a something, we walked around downtown Saint John and came up with zilch. We ended up back at the hotel, walked into the dining room and looked at a room filled with people who were drinking coffee. My breakfast “radar” went up. I realized no one had a plate in front of them which meant they had been waiting for their breakfasts a really, really long time.

I decided to be brave, ordered a simple omelette with toast and coffee and then we proceeded to wait. We got lucky. Apparently, the chefs working the line that morning cook everything at once since everyone’s food came out at the same time. So even though we were the last ones in that morning, our food came out as well. Timing is everything.

Since I didn’t take a picture of the omelette or my lousy coffee, I will leave you with some photos of some truly great breakfasts! (Regardless of my rantings above, I really do love breakfast!)

The best omelette you will ever eat. Courtesy of Les Deux Magots in Paris.

The best scones you will ever eat. Courtesy of The Langham Hotel in London. (Note: we did NOT stay there because it was outrageously expensive but went once for Easter brunch.)

The best farmer’s market to enjoy some pastries (and breakfast). Courtesy of the Byward Market in Ottawa.

I mean, even riding the Eurostar between London and Paris we had a decent croissant!

Finally, my new commuting life allows me not only to photograph my sucky”breakfast” at my desk but also share it with my husband, Lynn and my readers. If you’re wondering what it is – here’s more than a clue: Pepperidge Farm white bread, a slice of Munster cheese (or if I’m feeling really adventurous Havarti), a smear of butter laced with olive oil and either green or red grapes. Followed by weak office coffee. Awesome, right?

Until our next “Let’s Go” adventure.

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Lunch, Dinner and Waterfalls, Too (Back to Canada)

We did a spur of the moment trip earlier this summer to the Niagara-on-the-Lake area with trips to Hamilton and St. Catherine thrown in. We had been to the area a few times before but now there are even more places to eat (and drink) so we like to go back as frequently as possible. The fact that many of the Niagara escarpment wineries remind me a little bit of the California wineries we used to visit in the early 1990’s also helps. I also love to drive around the area to see not only what the farmers are growing but what dishes the chefs are creating with all this bounty before them.

We made it over the border crossing in about 40 minutes (yeah!) and found ourselves at the amazing winery/restaurant of Two Sisters Vineyard. The problem with eating “across the border” is that it is difficult to make a lunch reservation because you never know how long the wait will be to get across! Luckily, even though the restaurant was packed, they managed to find a table for us.

We didn’t waste any time when ordering. Glasses of wine. A wood-burning stove that spit out pizzas (ours was covered with arugula and prosciutto) followed by a pasta Bolognese dish even though it was hotter than hell that day. For those who missed my last story mentioning the “Beef Strogonoff” that Lynn consumed (again on a really hot day), well, all I can say is “Bon Appetit!”

Dare I mention they brought us out the largest bowl of grated cheese I’ve ever seen? I mean it was the size of a casserole dish! Look, our server is even showing off by holding it in one hand! (Actually I asked her to hold it that way so I could take the photograph.)

After lunch we drove around the area and to kill some time before our next meal, we went to a winery, Tawse, in Vineland, Ontario, we had missed the last time around. But first, we drove down a street called Cherry Avenue. What did we find on Cherry Avenue? You betcha!

To say I was excited about seeing cherries for the first time in person, in all their cherry goodness, is beyond words.

Dinner at Quatrefoil

This had been on my list of restaurants to go to for quite some time. Housed in a lovely house in the town of Dundas, Ontario, on Thursday nights they do a 3 course prix fixe “Farmer’s Supper.” So it being Thursday, that’s what we had. For starters, I had the white asparagus vinaigrette. Now this may not seem like a special dish, after all it’s just asparagus, right? But since I grew up in Munich, we waited anxiously every year for the asparagus season to start (usually the end of April/beginning of May). White asparagus was always preferred to the green kind and once the asparagus came out it was sold in farmer’s markets and was a featured dish in nearly every restaurant. To say it was a big deal is an understatement. Now, however, when I see white asparagus in the market, it just doesn’t taste the way I remember. This asparagus with a perfect vinaigrette absolutely hit the spot though.

Next up a perfectly cooked moist piece of salmon. Now, I realize I shouldn’t be that excited about salmon, right? Trust me this was exquisite. Do I dare mention that Lynn had beef (a steak) again? And no, I’m not posting a picture of his steak. Absolutely not.

A few days prior, I had seen on Instagram that the chef de cuisine of Quatrefoil, James Bourdeau, had “acquired” lots of different fresh berries from a local farm. “Where were the berries?” I asked our server. He wasn’t sure but he would find out. Imagine my surprise (and laughter) when a plate of berries was brought out for me to try.

And then Chef Bourdeau came out to talk to us! How cool is that? Thank you Chef!

Dessert included a deconstructed chocolate cake and mousse combo with fresh mint leaves and a lovely rhubarb creme brulee (not shown here since the shot came out blurry – probably from all the excitement.) I mean fresh picked berries and white asparagus in the same meal? I thought the food was amazing, the plating stellar and the service was outstanding.

Craving Indian…Still Craving Indian

Lunch that day was a choice of Thai or Indian in St. Catherines. We chose the Indian since 1. We love Indian. 2. We can’t find decent Indian near us. 3. We hadn’t had naan or curry in a long time.

It’s always disappointing to crave ethnic food and then not have them deliver what you’re craving. While the chicken tikka masala was okay, the naan and poori breads were just not as light and fluffy as they could have been. We sucked it up and decided Thai might have been a better choice that afternoon.

Creekside Estate Winery for Dinner

We had been to Creekside Estate Winery the year before and liked their varietals very much. They pour a strong Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah, too. A chef I had been following on Instagram, Ross Midgley, was cooking that summer on the deck at this winery so of course we wanted to visit.

Friday nights at the Creekside they have a limited menu but live music. Dare I mention it was really hot that Friday night – so hot we were sweltering and of course there wasn’t even a gust of wind in sight. We sat and drank lots of cold white wine to cool off. And then ordered some pretty outstanding food.

We started with a plate of oysters! Yeah, I love oysters! Then moved on to the Mediterranean platter (grilled halloumi, pita, olives and red peppers). Look at those cute little French jam jars – one filled with hummus and the other with Greek yogurt. And finally, the lobster roll was pretty decent, too. Thank you Chef!

We also got a chance to talk to Chef Midgley which was a special treat since he only had one other person helping him in the minimalist deck “kitchen” (fridge/work counter/grill) that evening.

Waterfalls, Waterfalls

Before we left to drive home, we decided to visit a couple of waterfalls in the area. Now since we have a waterfall in our backyard (albeit one you have to hike to), we shouldn’t have been as excited about seeing these. But they were pretty and we basically had the place to ourselves. I’ll leave you with two photographs…

Until our next “Let’s Go” adventure.