Little House on the Peninsula

The house my parents bought has a functional wood burning stove and apple trees. This of course equals apple pie Laura Ingalls Wilder style,because honestly who want's to use a real oven when you have that thing? It's actually quite versatile and the temperature recorder on the oven door is surprisingly accurate so burning food is a non-issue. I quickly found myself beginning to enjoy the old fashioned feel of the cast iron pots and pans steaming and sizzling away as logs crackled away  in the belly of the stove. I even discovered that there is something intrinsically calming about the site of a tea kettle always a-steam in a kitchen. And the rocking chair right next to the stove... A heavenly place to be-- it's possibly the warmest spot in the whole house. We actually used the stove to make most of Thanksgiving dinner and the apple pie was no exception. Since there are two apple trees I had originally thought to use the tree with the larger apples but I quickly discovered all the fruit had already fallen so I ended up using the apples from the shorter tree, I'm not sure what variety they are but they were much smaller and more tart. Still delicious though and very crisp and crunchy which I loved, there are few things worse then a soggy, mealy apple. (yuck.) Peeling the apples became a bit of a pain because they were smaller so of course more were needed and a few were lost to the kitchen floor in the process. In the end I think the smaller one's were a better choice, they were just tart enough to end up being perfectly sweet when it came time for the sugar, which threw yet another monkey wrench in my baking dreams. I had been feeling pretty good about the whole pie making experience after the apples had been peeled. I had the apples, main ingredient, all seemed to be well. Until I realized that I needed brown sugar, which of course we didn't have. Luckily we had precisely 2/3 cup of white sugar which was the exact amount of sugar I needed and we had molasses.Brown sugar is in fact white sugar with molasses added so if you ever find yourself in a similar situation or you just want to try something new, it's a pretty simple process to make your own brown sugar.

Just add molasses to regular granulated sugar and stir--it's sticky so at first you won't feel like you're accomplishing anything but with a little persistence all will be well. Add a little or a lot depending on how dark you want your sugar to be and voila there it is. After the minor sugar debacle it was smooth sailing--my pie crust was a little lopsided but hey I'm an amateur what do you expect? We just added a few more logs to the fire to get the oven to the right temperature and in went the pie.The oven is a little finicky because the heat comes primarily from the left side where the wood burns so during cooking if you don't watch the food and turn it halfway through one side will be a little crispier then the other. Also the bottom doesn't always have enough heat to cook so we had to set the pie on the stove top for a few minutes just to assure the bottom wouldn't be doughy. All in all it was a pretty decent pie. Not the prettiest thing in the world but very tasty!

Keweenaw Co-op

The day before Thanksgiving we stopped at the local co-op to pick up some last minute items. Our family has never been involved in a co-op before so of course I was excited to find out my parents were legit members--equipped with a co-op number and reusable bag. It doesn't get much more official then that. The co-op is aptly named for the Keweenaw Peninsula, where it is located--Keweenaw being an Ojibwa term meaning portage.)  It was started in 1973 as a sort of Sam's Club for natural foods. They still aim to provide goods for the environmentally and socially conscious. They have an array of items from all over the globe included handwoven Ghanaian baskets (woot woot!) Housed in a simple blue building with an "I Shop Local" sign hanging alongside many others on its double glass doors that serve as both entrance and exit it's a great place to buy fresh organic items. It's also a fun place to just poke around, they have an abundant variety of teas for anyone who is a tea fanatic like myself-- I ended up trying pine smoked black tea, it was pretty yummy stuff.  They also offer fresh local produce as well as imported specialty cheeses. Their deli offers specialty sandwiches and salads (there is a link to the menu below) and for  vegetarians the co-op carries meat substitutes  (Boca Burgers etc.) The market is virtually all organic so it's a perfect place for the extremely health conscious and even if you aren't there's still plenty to indulge you. For instance the chocolates placed conveniently by the checkout isle...Lindt dark chocolate truffle anyone? And the IZZE sparkling juices, I personally love the sparkling pomegranate. And of course there is the honey tap...A huge vat filled with honey that you can buy on tap. Brilliant? I think so. I'm definitely hoping to come back in the summer and I can't wait to try the locally grown fresh fruits . Judging from the winter fare summer is going to be amazing. 

Keweenaw Co-op website:

 http://www.keweenaw.coop/index.php

Deli Menu:

http://www.keweenaw.coop/deli.php

Thanksgiving in Copper Country

 My parents recently became Uper's relocating to the scenic,quaint twin cities of Houghton & Hancock in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They are former copper towns speckled with the crumbling remains of old mines and wonderfully antiquated buildings that are like time portals back to the era of the copper boom when the towns were sprawling communities filled with miners and their families. Surrounded by Lake Superior and dotted with other lesser lakes there is no shortage of fresh water fish and Peterson's Fish Market is the place where many locals go to buy both fresh and smoked fish. The Peterson's are part owners in the larger Apostle Island Fish Company a local commercial fishing business they co-started with another fishing family in 2006 to help combat the difficulties within the commercial fishing industry brought on by the sales of foreign fish. (there is an article link  with more information below.) Peterson's Fish Market is a small, un-showy building and the inside is heavy with the aroma of smoking fish. A short list of its offerings is posted on a small dry erase board and a bowl of candy for customers stands prominently on the counter. Our order of salmon is fresh from the smoker and given to us with instructions on how to best handle the still cooling fish. Peterson's offers a selection of  both fresh and smoked Salmon, Trout, Whitefish and smoked Herring all fished from Lake Superior whose cold, clear waters supposedly enhance the flavor of the the fish. Whitefish is said to be especially good because of its high fat content and firm flesh so if you don't know which type of fish to try first start there. All fish  are hand smoked with wood native to the Upper Peninsula and the result is delicious. The fish has a wonderful warm caramel outside from the smoking and the flavors of the wood and fire-smoke delicately lace every bite of the firm flesh, it's definitely worth trying if you're ever in the area.

For more information on Peterson's or to ask about ordering, visit:
http://www.exploringthenorth.com/petersons/fish.html

 To learn more about the Apostle Island Fish Company:
http://www.lakesuperiorwhitefish.com/ApostleIslandFishCo.html