This week I had the pleasure of meeting an awesome guy, Erik Bendl, aka. WorldGuy. On Tuesday, while driving to work, I passed a man, walking along the roadside with a giant, 6′ inflatable globe, and a dog. While my interest was peaked, I was running late for work. I called my wife, told her to be on the look out for the guy, but then he slipped my mind. On Wednesday I was planning on taking the day off, but due to a screw up I needed to run into work for a little while. While driving to work (I have a 45 minute commute) I passed the guy again. It was fate stepping in, and I knew that I had to stop and talk to this guy and find out what the deal was.

So I pulled over, on the side of the road, and introduced myself. I found out his name was Erik Bendl and that he was walking across Wisconsin, with this giant globe, to spread awareness of diabetes. I converstation eventually turned to how he supports himself in these endeavors (this is his 4th or 5th walk) and he said that he relies on donations and the kindness of strangers. I offered any help that I could, while he was in the area, and a place to stay if he needed it. While I was sincere in my offer I really didn’t expect to hear from him again.

Later, on Wednesday afternoon I received a call, from Erik, wondering if my offer was still valid. I was thrilled that he called and said that yes, the offer was definitely still available. I gave him directions to our house and about 30 minutes later he arrived. The first order of business was to get the poor guy something cool to drink as I imagine walking along the roadside in 85° weather was pretty dehydrating business. Next I drove him back to his “support” van, aka. home away from from. We met back up at my house and after getting things in order I whipped up a quick burger for him and a bowl of water and dog food for his companion, Nice, his dog.

We talked for a considerable length of time about his adventures walking to raise awareness for diabetes and his inspiration behind his activism-he has lost a family member to diabetes, have other that are diabetic and he himself was pre-diabetic at one point. Even after a full day of walking, in the harsh sun, Erik still radiated a passion for his cause. By about 9pm, after a long day of walking Erik was ready to crash so we rigged up an extension cord to his van to run his fan and other equipment and I said my good-byes as I would be up and off to before he got up, although my wife made sure to send him off with a full breakfast and coffee to help jumpstart his day.

When I mentioned this to my friends I got a mixed reaction. There were those that thought it was great, what I did, but others that wondered at my sanity-”why would you open your house up to a stranger? Weren’t you concerned?” No, I wasn’t concerned. TV and media has conditioned us to be scared of strangers, to be wary of those that seem outside of the norm. And while I think a healthy dose of concern is smart, we can’t fall into the trap of allowing ourselves to be suspect of every stranger we meet.

I applaud Erik for his committment to his chosen cause and applaud, even more, all the people he has met along the way who, contrary to popular thought, have gone out of their way to support him and make sure that he can continue his journeys.

As someone who is pre-diabetic I support Erik’s cause wholeheartedly. And while I offer up plenty of “unhealthy” dishes (because they taste so good and I can’t help myself) I also try to, on occasion, offer up recipes that are a bit more healthy, not just for the sake of my readers, but for myself and my family.

If you are interested in following Erik’s exploits, you can find his blog at www.worldguy.org. I have also added a link in my blogroll on the right of the screen. Please check it out, donate if you can, either to him or to the American Diabetes Association and if you ever happen to be driving down the road and see a man, and a dog, rolling a 6′ inflatable globe, please stop and, at least say ‘hi.’

Good luck Erik!!! I wish you safe journeys and hope that you make a difference in many lives. I know my family will not soon forget you!

We were very excited today as today marked the first delivery, of the season, from our new CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm. My wife and I had belonged to a CSA for a number of years, but stopped just before our daughter was born. After a 5 year hiatus we were more than ready to sign up for another season of fresh, locally grown produce. While we had been happy with the farm from which we had gotten our food from, for years, we were ready to try a new farm. After much research, on the internet, I narrowed our choices down to 3 or 4 and let my wife have the final say. We decided to try out Good Earth Farm, in Oakfield, WI, about 20 minutes from our home in Fond du Lac. You can check out there website here.

For those of you who are not familiar with what a CSA farm is, basically you purchase a “share” that entitles you to a set number of deliveries, of the farm’s product throughout the year. While there are all kinds of CSA’s, from fruit and vegetable shares, to egg shares, to honey shares, to meat and/or poultry shares, the most popular are the fruit and vegetable shares. While the price of a share varies from farm to farm and region to region, a good average price for a share in Wisconsin is $500-$600 a season. While this may sound like a lot of money once you start breaking it down then it ends up being a really good deal. Most shares will consist of approximately 20 deliveries (give or take depending on the weather) and often those deliveries will weigh in at between 10-20 pounds, again depending on the year and the season (spring and early summer boxes can be on the light side while late summer boxes can be overflowing with produce. Of course, all of this depends on the weather and Mother Nature. That’s why many of these farms plant tens to hundreds of varieties of vegetables so if one fails hopefully others flourish. It becomes a win-win situation for both farmer and consumer as the consumer gets lots of great (oftentimes organically raised) produce and the farmer gets some security knowing that they have been paid for their hardwork, even if Mother Nature doesn’t want to cooperate.

Now back to our CSA share. As typically of early season boxes ours was on the light side, but that didn’t matter because what was in it was excellent! We received a bunch of green garlic (can be used as garlic or in place of scallions), a nice large bunch of radishes, a large bag of spring greens for salad, some wonderfully sweet pea shoots, a pound of rhubarb (not that we needed any of that!), a pint of beautiful, local strawberries, and some wonderful bok choy.

In addition to our regular share, we purchased a bread share, which means that each week, with our box of vegetables, will be a loaf of bread baked, in the European tradition, by a local baker. This week the bread was a hearty, nutty 9-grain loaf. Overall, lots of great stuff to cook with and play with. Tonight though, I wanted to keep it simple and let the produce speak for itself. So I simply tossed the spring greens with the pea shoots and dressed this salad in a light vinaigrette of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, minced green garlic, salt and pepper. To accompany the salad I sliced up a few radishes and served the salad with 9 grain bread which I first brushed with a mixture of butter and minced green garlic and gently grilled until toasty and crisp. It was the perfect meal to celebrate the beginning of our weekly deliveries.

I look forward to sharing what we receive each week, and the recipes that our little box of goodies inspires me to make. Stay tuned!

I have been blogging for just over a year now and I realized that I have not done a great job in promoting Wisconsin products, which is unfortunate as Wisconsin produces a lot of great food. Of course everyone thinks of cheese when they think of Wisconsin, and rightfully so. We produce much of the cheese found in grocery stores across the US. Most of this cheese is of the relatively bland, supermarket, let’s appeal to everyone, variety, but Wisconsin also produces lots of world class cheese, produced in small batches by farmers and cheesemakers whose whole philosophy revolves around the adage of quality of quanity. In fact, one of my favorite blue cheeses in the world is produced here in Wisconsin, in an Amish community where the cows, that make the milk for the cheese, are hand milked, twice daily.

Wisconsin also takes its pork seriously. We are a state that loves bacon, ham and sausages. A number of years ago, long before I moved to Wisconsin, I was introduced to Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Bacon and it was love at first taste. This was way back when bacon was still “taboo,” and those of us uttering the phrase, “Everything is better with bacon” were looked upon as nutcases, to say the least, or as heretics. The pro-pork movement hadn’t yet made its backlash against the “remove all fats from your diet” mentality of 1990′s.

Having been raised on supermarket bacon, I was blown away by the depth of flavor the Nueske’s bacon possessed and I was quickly won over. Since then Nueske’s has been the bacon by which I have judged all others. That was until a few months ago.

My wife, in her job as an area manager for a cleaning company, picked up a few accounts in Wautoma, WI. She was then told by a colleague that she needed to check out Stoneridge Meat and Country Market. On that first trip my wife picked up a number of items but it was the bacon that took me by storm. Thickly sliced, this smoky, salty, slightly sweet bacon has quickly replaced Nueske’s as my bacon of choice.

Since she only gets out to Wautoma every few weeks, she makes sure she takes along a cooler and we stock up on their bacon. There are three varieties that we buy, the Pit Smoked bacon, the Hickory Smoked bacon and the Pepper Bacon. They might have a few more styles but these are the ones we usually get.

The bacon comes sliced nice and thick, between 1/8-1/4″ thick, and has a wonderful smokiness that supermarket bacon just never quite achieves. While salty, like any good bacon, Stoneridge bacons have a nice sweetness that compliments that saltiness, making it very easy to overindulge. This also presents the only downside to this bacon. Due to its thickness and slight sweetness, this bacon is easy to burn, if not closely watched. But cook it over medium heat and watch closely and you will be rewarded with a little bit of hog heaven brought to you by the folks in Wisconsin!!

If interested you can also find them online at Stoneridge Country and Meat Market. They do have online ordering, though I don’t believe bacon is on there. It would be worth a call though to see if they will ship some to you. Or if you know someone headed up this way, make sure they stop and pick some up!

I don’t like to get political on this blog, which is devoted to food and not politics, but I couldn’t stand by and not comment on the recent happenings here in Wisconsin. We recently saw the passage of bill that would allow the sale of raw milk, to consumers, in the state of Wisconsin (currently it is illegal). Unfortunately, our governor, in his “wisdom,” decided to veto the legislation. Yet another way our government plays babysitter, not allowing us to make these kind of decisions for ourselves. Governor Doyle claims he vetoed the bill due to the concerns of the public health sector, while proponents of the bill claim he was swayed by the lobbyists of the large dairy agribusinesses. No matter what the case, I disagree with his veto and those that chose to buy and/or sell raw milk will continue to be “criminals” in the eyes of our government.

Like so many other things we do, there is risk involved with consuming raw milk. But shouldn’t it be up to the individual to decide what is right for them? Is it the government’s job to “protect us from ourselves” and act as our babysitter?

While I could rant on and on about this, I won’t. If you wish to read more about this issue you can check out the news article here. Hopefully, this will come up again in January once Wisconsin’s new governor is in place. And hopefully, this time the governor will see fit to let us make our own decisions.

Mint

Despite the near blizzard conditions I experienced in the early morning hours of April 8th, as I drove to work, Spring is starting to really make its presence known here in Wisconsin. And it’s about time!!!! Today, I took the first good look at my herb garden to see what was starting to sprout. Most of my perennial herbs have broken soil. The tarragon, always an early starter, is already a good 3-4″inches high, while the sage has just started to sprout out from the woody remains of last season. The mint, once a joy, and now a beast that needs constant taming less it take over everything, has popped up all over the herb and flower garden. While my lemon balm, my favorite herb for herbal iced tea has just barely peaked out of its winter rest below the soil, the rhubarb is already looking robust and I look forward to my first pie of the season. Rounding out the rest of the lineup is my thyme plant. It’s hit or miss whether it will come back. Some years it makes it through the winter while in others I need to replant, unlike it’s cousin, the creeping thyme. This herb is more of a ground cover and while it can be used culinarily, its flavor is not nearly as refined as that of other thymes. It is also much hardier than other thyme varieties and comes back year after year.

I haven’t decided what to add to the garden this year, but a basil plant or 2 usually make the cut as does cilantro, both of its leaves and for the seeds (coriander). This year I might add some lavender again, another plant that borders on being hardy in this area. It survives mild to normal winters here in Wisconsin, but won’t make it if the winter is harsher than usual. Ultimately though, the decision won’t be made until I get out to the nursery and see what strikes my fancy at that time.

No recipe today, but look for these herbs in the future as I’m sure they will play prominent roles in a number of recipes to come. Until then enjoy a few pictures of my freshly sprouted plants.

Lemon Balm

Tarragon

Sage

Rhubarb

Okay, it’s a little late in the season, but I just recently discovered the Milwaukee Winter Farmers’ Market and I wish I had learned about it earlier! I came across it quite by accident as I was searching to see if there were any producers of hard cider here, in Wisconsin. I found one producer, Aeppel Treow Winery, which produces bothapple wine and hard cider. In their information I also discovered that they were at the Milwaukee Winter Farmers’ Market on the first Saturday of every month. Bonus, not only had I come across a producer of hard cider, but I also “discovered” a new, off season farmers’ market.

The market is held every Saturday, through April 24th, at the Tommy Thompson Youth Center at State Fair Park. You can access it through Gate 5, on 84th St. While not large, I was impressed by the variety of Wisconsin grown and raised products. Besides, the hard cider and apple wine, there was an apple orchard that still had apples for sale. These over wintered apples were starting to just show their age and were a bit on the mealy side, but they were still sweet and quite flavorful. A little mealiness is small price to pay for their taste which beats any store bought apples hands down. Also included in the days list of producers were a couple of honey producers, a couple of bakeries, numerous farmer’s selling pasture fed beef, pork, poultry and elk, and a few stands selling processed foods made from local, Wisconsin produce, from salsas and jams to pasta and granola.

Rolling Meadows Sorghum Mill is there selling their sorghum syrup and locally produced maple syrup. Of the few cheese producers there, we stopped at Saxon Homstead Creamery and picked up a wedge of their “Saxony” cheese, a washed rind cow’s milk cheese, which they describe as nutty and supple, a description that may be rather vague, but one I agree with. I will definitely be checking out some of their other cheeses. We also picked up some mushrooms from River Valley Ranch, Wisconsin’s oldest mushroom producer.

There wasn’t much in the way of produce, but I didn’t expect to find much at this time of year, in Wisconsin. But a few farmers were displaying some fresh spinach and radishes grown, I’m sure in hoop houses or hot houses.

While I didn’t purchase any, it did get me excited for spring to arrive and the farmer’s markets throughout Wisconsin to get started up again.

Probably, the biggest coup for the market though this the inclusion of Bolzano Artisan Meats.  Bolzano is Wiscosin’s first and only company dedicated to the art of dry curing meat.  While still relatively unknown in throughout the rest of the country, Bolzano has, in a very short time made quite a name for themselves among upper Midwest foodies.  They currently offer guanciale, dried and cured pork cheek and panchetta, an Italian slow cured “bacon” that remains unsmoked.  Both of their products are some of the best I have tasted and I expect it won’t be long before they gain a reputation from coast to coast.

With only 7 more weeks left before the market closes for the year, I doubt I will make it back,but not for a lack of wanting. Milwaukee is about a 45-60 minute drive and our weekends are pretty full for the next 2 months. So while I might not make it back this year, I will look forward to it’s opening next October, but just because I can’t make it back doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check it out if you are in the area. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Fall is in full swing and I am thrilled! This is my favorite time of year. The crisp, cool air, the sharp scent of burning leaves and fireplaces, the beautiful autumn colors as the trees change, and of course, the food. As the weather starts to turn cooler I leave behind the thoughts of light, refreshing meals and start thinking about warmer, heartier, more comforting types of foods; soups, chili, stews, pastas with rich, hearty meat sauces, and slowly braised or roasted meats. Fall also means many of my favorite fruits and vegetables are being harvested. Apples immediately come to mind as they are my favorite fruit, but also mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, mushrooms, winter squashes and many root vegetables. Fall also means the opening of one of my favorite places, The Little Farmer. Technically, they open in summer, early August to be exact, selling early season apples and peaches they bring in from a friend of theirs, in Michigan. I admit, I take my first trip out there, soon after they open, to pick up one of their apple muffins, which are to die for, and for which I usually start craving by mid July. Arriving at The Little Farmer in the midst of the summer heat seems wrong, but I need my muffin fix so you’ll find me out there either opening weekend or the week after.

After that first, initial fix, I usually wait until the weather starts to change and they start to harvest the later varieties of apples.

Some of the varieties they grow and sell are Cortlands, Russets, Jonamac, Honeycrisp, Duchess, Paula Red, Ginger Gold, McIntosh, and Empire. They also grow and sell pumpkins, so there is usually a trip out there with the daughter to pick pumpkins for Halloween.

You can choose any of the many hundreds of pumpkins they have already harvested or you can head out to the fields and harvest your own.

But if you think that The Little Farmer is just a roadside stand and U-Pick farm you would be missing out. It has become a one stop shopping adventure. A place to get out, enjoy the weather and a little rural fun. There are hayrides to be taken, a corn maze to navigate, freshly dipped caramel apples to be eaten, goats to be fed, and a fantastic playground with a twenty foot tall mountain of hay bales to be climbed. There is also a craft barn filled with seasonal bricabrac. The main apple house itself is filled with more knickknacks.

But this is where you can buy many of the food stuffs either prepared right on the premise or manufactured for them. All the wonderful baked goods, including the aforementioned apple muffins are produced on site, as is the cider, while many of the pickles and preserves are manufactured for them, according to their specifications.

Once Labor Day arrives, the place gets busy on weekends and they often offer entertainment or events throughout the autumn, including a Dog Walk, when people can bring their dogs for the day. And what would any weekend event in Wisconsin be without brats. Each weekend The Little Farmer allows a group to come in and do a brat fry to raise money for their group or charity.

My wife laughs at me, but I bet from the time they open, in August to the time they close in mid November, I venture out there at least 6-7 times or more. But I love the place! It reminds me of days gone by when we, as a nation, were much closer to our agricultural roots. I also like to help out local farmers and businesses, and it doesn’t hurt that I really like the product they produce!

If you are interested in visiting The Little Farmer, they are located on Hwy. 151 about 10-15 minutes north of Fond du Lac, Wi, on the east shore of Lake Winnebago, in Malone, WI. You can find them on the web here. If you are in the area stop by and, at least, grab an apple muffin.

There’s something about county and state fairs that really strike a cord with me. Of course, there is all the food, most of it deep fried and none of it good for you, but it goes beyond that. In many ways, these fairs seem so “yesterday.” They seem to belong to a world long gone, where grandmas compete for blue ribbons with their pies and cakes, where young farmers parade their best livestock, and where carnies try to sucker unsuspecting passersby into parting with their hard earned cash for a chance to win some cheap, poorly made stuffed animal. It’s a place where salesmen still compete for crowds and where the art of hawking and barking is still alive and well.

This past week we headed down to Milwaukee (actually West Allis a Milwaukee suburb) to visit the Wisconsin State Fair and once again it did not disappoint. Wisconsin has deep roots as an agricultural state and the Wisconsin State Fair is all about showing off the best of its agricultural products. Of course, a good portion of the fair grounds are taken up with the livestock barns which are jammed packed with farmers and 4-Her’s all there to show off their best livestock, from cows, and pigs to ducks, chickens, rabbits and any other farm animal you can imagine. Dairy also takes center stage, Wisconsin still being one of the most important dairy and cheese making states in the country. Winning a blue ribbon at the Wisconsin State Fair is still considered an important award for many cheesemakers. (continue reading…)

One thing I’ve learned, living here in Wisconsin, is that this state is obsessed with Bratwursts. It’s a passion that seems on the verge of mania. If you think I exaggerate I invite any of you to drive through any number of towns on any given weekend and you will see plenty of evidence. On any weekend from May through October you would be hard pressed to find a town that doesn’t have at least one “Brat Fry” going on, and oftentimes larger towns will have 2, 3, 4 or more going on simultaneously. These are usually fundraisers for community or high school groups from the Lions, to Rotary, to Band Boosters. The obsession doesn’t stop there either. Ask most people what is on the menu for their summer celebration and I bet brats are included somewhere on that list. On nice weekends throughout the summer it almost becomes impossible to escape the sweet smell of brats sizzling over an outdoor grill. I can almost envision the entire state being blanketed by a giant cloud of smoke from all the grills frying up the thousands upon thousands of brats required to satiate this state’s collective hunger for these humble sausages.

Brat making in Wisconsin is a local affair. Sure there are a number of companies mass producing brats for nationwide distribution and you’ll find these same brands in any of the large grocery stores in any town in Wisconsin, but Wisconsin is still one area where local butchers still flourish and most of these butchers produce their own brats. These handcrafted sausages are flavorful and complex, easily rivaling any of the great fresh sausages of Europe. Brats make a great addition to a traditional Choucroute and bring a wonderful flavor to any recipe calling for sausage, but grilling is where the brat really shines. There are 3 basic philosophies to grilling brats: 1. is to gently grill the brats over medium heat. Cook them too quickly or at too high a heat and they burst open spilling their flavorful juices and fat all over the grill, 2. is to first poach the brats in a mixture of beer and onions until cooked all the way through and finishing them on the grill, and finally, 3. is to first grill the brats quickly then finish them in the beer and onion poaching liquid. I prefer the straight grilling method though if I am not serving them directly off of the grill I do place them in a warm bath of beer and onions to keep them warm.

Most local grocery stores sell “brat buns” which are basically a larger version of a hot dog bun. That’s one of things I hated about living in Chicago and trying to make Italian Sausage Sandwiches; you either had the choice of hot dog buns which were too small or sub rolls, which were too large and, oftentimes, too hard. These brat buns perfectly fit the larger sausage. As far as toppings are concerned, brats should be topped with mustard, onions and sauerkraut, in my opinion. Forget the ketchup, it has no place on top of a brat. Use it for your burger and fries. One word about sauerkraut; sauerkraut should always be rinsed before using whether you are serving it cold or hot. Most people miss this step and end up serving a product that is so overpowering it obscures most of the other flavors in the dish.

The Beer Braised Onion recipe I offer below is a great accompaniment to a brat. This recipe was created with brats in mind. It would also make a great topping for burgers or other grilled sandwiches though if not planning on serving it over brats you might want to consider substituting other flavors for the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Beer Braised Onions

2 Tbsp. Butter
1 large Onion, peeled and cut into a julienne
8 oz. Beer, preferably something a little sweet and malty
2 tsp. Sugar
½ tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Black Pepper
1 pinch Cinnamon
½ pinch Nutmeg

Melt the butter in s sauté pan and add the onions. Season with the salt and pepper and cook until wilted and just starting to brown. Add the beer and simmer uncovered until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and continue to cook until almost all the liquid has evaporated, stirring regularly to prevent the mixture from burning. Remove from the heat, taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.