This past summer we decided to take the drive up to Marquette, Michigan to tour the craft breweries. Marquette is really a hidden gem on the edge of Lake Superior with a population of 20,000 and home to Northern Michigan University which adds about another 10,000 students to the city. With a hilly terrain and [...]
Tag: Michigan
Fall Harvest – Apple Cider Brined Roast Chicken
If you are driving the stretch of land between Grand Rapids and Lake Michigan you will see a patchwork of farms around the town of Hudsonville and in late fall some of those farms will be harvesting winter squash, a seemingly endless variety of shapes in oranges and greens. If you happen to stumble across [...]
In Praise of Cherries – Pork Tenderloin with Cherry Pan Sauce
The summer picking season has begun in the Great Lakes region for tart Montmorency cherries. Both Bing and Montmorency are grown extensively in Wisconsin and Michigan, thus the National Cherry Festival hosted in Traverse City, Michigan each year. On the festival website, they share this bit of history: French colonists from Normandy brought pits that [...]
In Praise of the Hand Pie
A roast herb chicken over a pan of onions, carrots, and rutabaga - Saturday evening meal. The drippings, after a quick coating over the vegetables, are strained off and refrigerated. The caramelized bits are scrapped up and added to leftover vegetables and chicken, which has been finely diced. And now the heart of the hand [...]
New Restaurants Added – Grand Rapids, MI
Let me tell you this – the Backwoods Bastard is definitely one of the finest brews I have ever had. Complex, lingering, hauntingly good. It just may be the best brew in Grand Rapids, MI, and given that Grand Rapids has been named Beer City USA in a poll run by the guru of home [...]
Great Lakes Cuisine 