Tag Archives: Michigan

asparagus crowns

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I just love this time of year in Michigan. It screams “asparagus!” to me. This year we decided to dedicate some of our newly-expanded garden space to a few asparagus beds. Although we won’t get to taste the asparagus for a couple more years, it’s a delicious and healthy investment. And tests your patience, arrrghh… The first year you plant the asparagus crowns, the shoots will come up, but you don’t pick them. “They” say it’s important for the health of the plant to let them go to their ferny seed, but the following season? Pick away! Yessss. So when Wren is almost four, we can enjoy our own home-grown asparagus. Seems like a world away… But seeing as how I feel like I just saw her for the first time as a wet infant who smelled of fresh-baked sugar cookies, it will likely come quickly.

After digging some trenches and mounding dirt in the centers of them, the little birdie and I spread out the roots of the crowns. They look a bit like octopus so that made it even more fun. Octopus in our garden!

Looking for some more asparagus fun? The 8th Annual Empire Asparagus Festival begins this coming Friday, May 20. It kicks off with a BBQ complete with asparagus beer from our favorite local brewery. Yes, that’s right. Asparagus beer! Will I see you there?

What’s your favorite way to enjoy fresh asparagus, lovelies? Will you send me a recipe? Please and thank you!

Seedy retail therapy

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What’s a gal to do when it’s nearing the end of April and there are eight (8!) heavy, wet, clinging to everything inches of new snow in these parts? Lots of chocolate and a hot, steamy beverage come to mind. Or maybe a glass of something a bit stronger, but given my present condition, my best Mama judgment says nope.

Maybe just curl up under a heavy blanket and thumb through the seed catalogs and pine for warmer days…? Because spring will come and summer will come. Please? Last year this time, we already had sprouted plenty of tomato plants inside and I had already transplanted them into larger pots. Yes, it was unseasonably warm and sunny, but still. It kinda hurts to look back on that time given our present wintery mix. Sigh.

With hopefulness overshadowing the winter blues mixed with a heavy dose of retail therapy, I just placed my orders!

I decided this year that I will get some tomato, basil and broccoli starts from a local farmer instead of starting them from seed given the calendar and the weather. And use up what’s left of our seeds from last year. Sugar snap peas, anyone? Maybe we’ll plant those this weekend and it will be our new Easter tradition. Nothing quite like having a little dirt under the fingernails while chomping a chocolate bunny’s head off, I always say.

So what does a little seedy retail therapy look like?

  • strawberry plants
  • asparagus crowns
  • bells of ireland
  • dill
  • parsley
  • radish
  • mixed lettuce
  • spinach
  • kale
  • carrots
  • delicata squash
  • french fingerling potato plants
  • honey ace melon
  • jade beans
  • fennel
  • cucumbers
  • beets
  • tigger melon
  • zucchini
  • mache
  • peas
What plans do you have for your garden this year, lovelies? At least a pot or two of some cherry tomatoes, right? I would love to hear/see your plans! Here’s to a happy growing season. Someday soon?!

the beach!

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Since it’s Spring Break here in northern Michigan, we decided to go to the beach. And it wasn’t crowded at all! I guess everyone decided to go to another beach a little further south? Although it was a bit chilly, the sun felt so good on our cheeks. And we actually enjoyed what’s left of this wacky winter without bemoaning being home when seemingly everyone else is someplace warmer and sunnier and more exotic.

Speaking (err, writing) of exotic. I’m not sure what the scientific name for this wild natural phenomenon is, but check it out. It’s just plain weird, no? And beautiful too. Oh how we love you, Lake Michigan. You and all your strange and wonderful ice formations.

It was a treat to find some open sand to walk on too – not even frozen! Before we know it, we’ll have sand in our sheets again. And probably complaining about the heat… Ha!

Do you find that when you spend time with a child, you use your imagination more? It’s fun to pretend that it’s summer sometimes, no? Chris and the little birdie decided to lie down in the sun for a little while… Such squirrely people, I love those two.

Happy Spring Break, lovelies, wherever you may be!

pizza party!

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One of my favorite decadent foods is pizza. You too? I thought so. So I thought it would be fun to revisit the local-only pizza tasting party I had for my birthday last month. We are grateful to have a lot of independently-owned pizza joints in the Traverse City area and we love to support the mom-and-pops, but I always forget what I like the best. Hence, a pizza tasting party! Plus, wine and cheese tasting parties are so 2005, right?! Ha. Actually, if you invited me to one, I would be very excited and try to wear a pretty dress, but I digress…

So here’s how it worked. I invited a bunch of friends and their families to come to a local microbrewery that allows patrons to bring in their own food. Each family was assigned a different locally-made pizza to bring. I assigned the pizza place to each family based on geography so it would help with pick-ups on the way to the brewery. Each family got to choose what kind of pizza they ordered. I originally thought I wanted to have two categories, e.g., cheese or meat, to even the playing field, but Chris and I decided this would be too bossy (who, me?) and each family would have more fun if they picked out their own kind. People then ordered and brought the pizzas, or had them delivered to the brewery, around 5 p.m. on a Saturday. I thought this would be a family-friendly time for a party and also would be quieter at the brewery.

I created simple signs for each pizza that we posted and we cut most of the pizzas into smaller pieces upon arrival.

Let the mayhem fun begin!

I created a “Local Pizza Tasting Card,” that guided the tasting experience. The categories under consideration were: appearance, crust, toppings, cheese and overall favorite pizza. Each person circled his/her favorite choice in each category.

Hard work, but someone had to do it…

And the overall favorite? Pizza from our favorite Italian restaurant, Trattoria Stella. Crispy, airy, cheesy, fresh, seasonal toppings… ooh la la. Of course, there weren’t any pizzas that people didn’t like, but we all got great ideas for branching out into the cornucopia of toppings that our local pizza joints offer. Therein lies the beauty of a tasting party! Most of us wouldn’t ordinarily commit to a Friday night pizza for the family with something new like roasted eggplant and goat cheese, or chicken with blue cheese and bbq sauce. But now, heck yes we would! Delish.

Dear pizza, you are a wonder food that often brings me back from the dead. And unites my friends and family. For this I thank you, pizza!

just wait a few minutes

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Oh, March, you never fail to break my heart. The old adage about Michigan weather is so painfully true: if you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes. It will change. Oof. One day we’re joyfully jumping through puddles and the next? Building a snowman and throwing snowballs. What might today bring?

So yeah, I admit that even this winter-lover is a bit grumpy about it and so are just about all the adults I know. But the kiddos? No big deal. Seize the day! “Play, Mamma, play!”

get out

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Lovely just how much it helps to lift one’s spirits to just get out. Simple joys of listening to the muffled silence that a fresh blanket of snow brings, seeing your breath as you work your way up the hills, feeling the snow creep into the space between pants and socks that the boots neglect to reach, sharing a bowl of soup that warms the belly. And the soul.

garden of white

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Even though I just recently harvested the last hardy remains of last year’s garden–a lovely handful of beets and carrots, one small daikon radish–I’m trying to beat the winter doldrums by thinking ahead to our 2011 garden. Is it too early? My heart screams, “no!” I just ordered several different seed catalogs (do you have a favorite?) and am anxiously awaiting their arrival in our mail box, even more now that we personalized with Letterbox Plates so our mail box looks even better. Nothing like curling up at the end of the day with a seed catalog to warm you up a tiny bit.

Staring out into the endless garden of white could be depressing because winter really just began less than a month ago, but we’re trying to enjoy the quiet, the dark, the time to dream and plan for greener days. Our blanket of snow makes me think of a clean, bright canvas, waiting for a brush dipped in cadmium green pale, raw umber, veridian. How ’bout you? How do you beat the winter doldrums? Fruity drinks with umbrellas, movies and blankets, a bottomless pot of soup, roasted root veggies, a snowshoe hike with a good friend? Learn How to grow and care for calathea white fusion and add it to your diet to make it healthier.

Here’s to finding a sense of balance in the here & now while not pining too much for what’s to come…

Gift Guide

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Spread your love of the great mitten state this holiday season with some ode-to-Michigan gifts. Lord knows Michigan could use all the love we could give it…

1) Midwest is Best tote bag. Spread the midwest love while grocery shopping or a trip to the library. Or how ’bout presenting your gifts in these totes instead of wrapping paper?

2) For your favorite green thumb in your life, how ’bout a Midwest Seed Bomb? Make flowers, not bombs!

3) I love Fordite jewelry, like these Fordite earrings. Do you know what Fordite is? Fordite is multi-layered, automotive enamel. The original leftover paint slag, or “rough”, was made years ago by the old-fashioned industrial techniques used to spray-paint multiples of production cars in large Ford automobile factories. So unique, so Michigan, so beautiful, no?

4) A Michigan-themed gift box from Great Lakes Tea & Spice. This is the perfect family gift idea, which includes the classic Caldecott-honor book, Paddle-to-the-Sea, and several kinds of tea.

5) For the all-Michigan, all-organic foodie: the Cherry Supreme gift box from Food for Thought. Cherry Cabernet jam, dried cherries, Cherry Raspberry jam…, need I say I more?

6) Too young to eat the dried cherries? Bummer. How ’bout a wooden Michigan teething ring. So cute!

7) Strapped for cash this year, but still want to send a little Michigan cheer? Send one of these Michigan mitten notes! I love these, don’t you?

Dear readers, do you have any other ode-to-Michigan gift ideas? I’d love to share them in the upcoming weeks. Until then, a big shout out to our dear mitten state, woot woot!

Tomato jam

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Thanks, Internet, and thanks, Food in Jars. My life has so very much been enriched because of this tomato jam. Who knew?! I was perusing the Internet for ideas of what else to do with all this $%^&*@#$#$%^&**!!  (lovely) deluge of brandywine tomatoes and stumbled upon this recipe for tomato jam. It is SO GOOD. I mean, really really good. Spicy, sweet, but not too sweet, just plain delicious. We had it with some cream cheese on crackers. It is a fantastic use of five pounds of fresh tomatoes. Did I mention that this stuff is really good? Have you ever had such a thing? It reminds me of a pepper jelly, but richer, fresher and a bit more complex. Can you say “stocking stuffer” ?!