A smiling, white-haired gentleman greets me and I give him the name of our party. “Oh, you’re having lunch with my good friends today. Welcome.” The dining room has plenty of dark wood, lit by stained glass and low lights. Nearly every bit of wall space has either a German artifact or a framed photo [...]
On Culture, Caraway, and a Computer
One of the featured examples of innovation in Frans Johansson book The Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation is the work of Marcus Samuelsson at Aquavit. Johansson explains the idea of Associative Barriers, the associations our brains naturally make between certain ideas. Some of these ideas are culturally bound. When we hear [...]
Backyard Grilling – Pheasant Sausage and House-made Pickles
There is a primal satisfaction in lighting a fire and cooking outside once again in early spring after a long, cold winter. Winters here in the Great Lakes region can be bitter cold and heavily snow-covered. The days are short and the nights long. As the days start to lengthen, the snow recedes and we [...]
Duck, Duck, Goose – Duck Fat Poutine
So sometimes, it's just for fun. We took the duck rillette we had saved after our smoked duck breakdown and decided to to use the fat to oven-fry Yukon gold potatoes and top with the shredded duck. So that's duck, duck. We just had to come up with the goose to complete the childhood game. [...]
In Praise of Beer
I love beer. I love the caramel toasty notes of a rich American amber. I love the coffee and chocolates of a well-crafted stout. I love the citrusy floral notes of pale ale. I love the varieties, the possibilities, the potential. I love that you can smoke the malts and make a beer that tastes [...]
Great Lakes Cuisine 