AWEsome Cookery

  Black Bean paste is a Chinese condiment used in many a dish (hoisin sauce, stir fries, Asian BBQ, noodles), and a secret ingredient of those from Team Umami.  It’s bold and tangy and can bump the flavor factor of your sauces manyfold. It can be really difficult to tell if Chinese condiments are gluten free, especially if there is the possibility of soy sauce (containing wheat) and it certainly doesn’t help if the ingredient list seems vague or incomplete.  I’ve been searching for GF

  Full moon in the North Woods from a couple of weeks ago…back when we were blanked by that white stuff called snow.  It’s been an interesting time of skiing in alternating slush-ice-slush-ice-rain conditions during these tropical heat waves, what can you do but enjoy the moment while quietly mourning the early loss of winter. Last week we were invited to a dawn ‘crust ski‘ on a nearby lake (there’s always a nearby lake in Wisconsin).  Usually a spring venture, people monitor temperatures and wait

  First, a stunning photo by Coleen Sullins.   She joined us for a trip to ABR then afterwards sent along this Birch beauty for the post.  It almost appears that she was laying down for the shot…I didn’t ask if perhaps she fell while skiing and noticed the great view :-) It’s good to take moments and notice the beauty whenever you can!  And sometimes lying in the snow provides a good opportunity.  Believe me, I have spent a fair amount

  More wax!! For any of you partial to vintage ski paraphernalia here is Something Old and Something New in side-by-side Reds: years ago Swedish wax company Lind-Ex changed their name to SkiGo and here they are together. We bought the new SkiGo Red this year because of impending warm conditions, and Scott found a red Lind-Ex kick wax from the early 1980’s in his wax box. I love the SkiGo ski bag in the background of the SkiGo waxes, and next

  The Montreal River…not frozen.   There aren’t many places that can survive a week of temperatures hovering around 40 degrees (F) with multiple days of pouring rain and still have trails with skiable snow.  ABR in Ironwood, Michigan is such a place with their dedication to grooming and building a solid base.  The Upper Peninsula enjoys (most of them do enjoy it) an average of 167 inches (nearly 14 feet!) of snow per year, so fortunately they had some volume to

  Completely inspired by Magnus Nilsson of Fäviken in Sweden, these crisps are simple with a most intriguing look.  In his cookbook Fäviken, Magnus explains that he started with thicker versions using more types of seeds, then evolved the crisp towards thinner version using only flax.  His cookbook photo shows the delicate see-through results.  Since I was making these as a traveling snack I brought it back to a thicker version so they would be more sturdy and road-worthy.   “Road-worthy”??  Yes!  We are once again pointing our

  Fuzzy diversions! Friends just picked up their chicks for the year and there are few things in this world more adorable than fuzzy babies.  Their nervous peeps filled the room when they first arrived, eventually softening into murmurs as they calmed and settled into to their new surroundings.  They would make a good jigsaw puzzle.   Check out Orange Free Sounds to hear chicks peeping!     Edible diversions. Baked ricotta is an easy dish that feels much more special than the energy it takes to make.

  Fritter me this. You can make a flavorful mash of nearly anything then fry it up and call it a fritter.  British fritters are often coated in a batter before frying, but U.S. fritters mainly consist of main ingredient with some kind of binder (like egg, flour or cornmeal) then are deep fried or pan fried.  Fritters are hugely popular in Southeast Asia, combinations like squash, chickpea and green onion; or yam and banana; or squid dipped in batter; or a mixture of shredded

  Since I’m on a cozy-roll these few weeks, here are a few more images of warm, glowing contributions to the feeling of hygge.  This is my lampshade made of agates, I’ve shown it before but as we’re now fully in midst of the chill and long, dark nights it seemed like a good image to bring back.  The question is….do I love warm glowing candles and fuzzy clothing because it’s winter, or do I love winter because I get to wear

  The Baltic Blitz continues… Blinis are a holiday treat in many traditions hailing from Eastern Europe and Russia.  In older times they were considered a symbol of the sun because of their round shape and were served at the end of winter to celebrate the coming of the new sun.  That ritual was eventually adopted by the Christians and is now known as ‘pancake week’ or ‘pancake day’ and blinis or pancakes are served on Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) before Ash Wednesday.  

  It’s been a very Baltic few months!   Zeppelins are adorable stuffed potato dumplings often served at Baltic holidays and they have the coolest name around.  We made these cuties for the Estonian Dinner last fall but I have to admit…I don’t have a Lithuanian grandmother therefore I really struggled with these stuffed dumplings.  Later I found some comfort to read online that other Zeppelin newbies have also struggled and I was not alone.   Though there are many versions,

  This scrumptious little spread is creamy, buttery, herbalicious and highly snackable for nearly any occasion.  It doesn’t have the crumbly texture of French Boursin but it’s still ding dang delicious and great for any edible vehicle that can transport it to your mouth.  The cracker in the photo is a Mary’s Gone Crackers Super Seed, one of my favorite crunchies.  The seedy ones are high in protein and hold up well.     Blend it all together and serve,

  A little image of Hyggelig for your Thanksgiving week. We’ve officially entered the dark season of candles and warm fuzzies, and some of you may need a strong dose of Danish hygge to survive the ensuing large family gatherings.  They say that Danes burn the most candles per capita of any country—the radiant glow is a great contributor to the hygge atmosphere of coziness and warm conversations.  So break out the tea lights and the sparkly strings, light the fire, dim the overhead lamp, and put on beautiful music and

  “One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it.” . -Clarissa Pinkola Estes     A few weeks ago we went to the Barebones production in Minneapolis, and though I kept thinking others would love to see some of the amazing imagery and creatures from the night

photo by David Cavagnaro Squash, potatoes, onions, coconut milk, herbs, chili and curry paste…that’s what I had so we’ll see where this goes.  It could be good.  This dish was an experiment on a chilly afternoon and though it probably dips into the ‘vague recipe’ territory, I think you can handle it.   A Gratin generally consists of root or firm vegetables with cream baked in a a shallow dish with a browned topping of breadcrumbs and/or cheese, or perhaps lately it’s morphing into just ‘something baked in a

  An extraordinary project has been happening in our little town this year. Our resident English stone-guru Ted Wilson is building a dry-stone arch bridge with the help of Sean Smyth from Missoula, MT who travels around the country working on complex stone projects like this.  Dry-stone is an ancient building method that uses no mortar.  Dry-stone bridges have been built for centuries—the stones need a trapezoidal shape and a tight fit, then the arch holds its shape by only the pressure of the stones against each other.  Sound formidable

  This is a full-flavored simple soup for a fall day, and especially great for the dreary chill that arrives in this part of the northern hemisphere as we shift into late October.  And it’s orange.  That should cheer up nearly anyone.     I roasted and froze corn in August and was happy to use it up in this soup.  Fresh corn would work well too—it might not have the roasty flavor but it would make a smoother puree than the

  Once in a while during my occasional extrovert phases I would love my hair to be this color of deep, rich, delicious, Carmine red.  I looked up the many shades of red to find the best name for this particular color of paprika and Carmine from the aluminium salt of carminic acid was the closest match.  This photo is of the sauce before the sour cream is added which gives it a lighter hue, then it becomes more like a Carnelian Red or Venetian Red.   You can also dye eggs

  Judging from the cleaned and possibly licked-out ramekins we cleared from the tables at the end of the night I think this cheesecake may have been the favorite course of September’s Estonian Dinner.  Creamy with a hint of tang, it’s great with a fruit sauce or ‘kissel’.   These buddies are on the table waiting to be kisseled for the dessert course.  We sampled the ‘extra’ cheesecake earlier in the week, and though it was delicious by itself we also discovered

  Our monsoon rainfalls in the upper Midwest this summer have resulted in a bumper year for mushrooms….we take those silver linings whenever we can.  The Northeastern U.S. on the other hand has probably experienced a crummy year for the moisture-loving fungi, I believe the Midwest has squeezed every drop of Wetness out of the air and left none for them.  Sorry folks, we would truly love to send some of this excess precipitation your way.   Here we see a pile of adorable Oysters, Miniature Puffballs, Entaloma