Cluster Flies

There lies a heavy reminder of snow on the ground, but spring will win, it always does. I peer out across the landscape under heavy cloudy resistance at the sandy snow, dirt, puddles. It all feels so slow. It's hard to believe that powers are changing the landscape, unseen. The cluster flies know. They're bouncing on the windows incessantly attempting penetration as ages old instincts sing of tilled soil by machinery or hoof, and the exposure of moist, forgotten earthworms.

We wait.  And those who cannot wait create varying landscapes for their amusement, dialing the channel from this to something else. Spring break? There's that. That's what we've done. We've escaped the molasses flow of spring and hurried to a place alive with it already, filling our hearts with birdsong and flowers, the music of it still playing in our minds upon our return.

Our closest friend derives the sap from the maples this time of year. It's the first harvest from the land. And how sweet it is! I'll share some ideas a little further down the page.

The hoop houses in the area are filling with seedlings in total disregard of the grey sky-grey snow. I'm sure the caretakers can't even notice the creeping weather. How could you when your eyes are filled with the miracle of seed? Earth, water, seed interacting to create life, which sustains life, which creates life again. Science and Miracle dance this time of year so obviously, so carelessly, so abundantly, and so confidently. Nature awakens in everything, from first sap, to creation of next year's seed.

I encourage you to taste, slowly, the first evidence of fresh, local spring that passes your lips and hesitates on your tongue.

Maple Steamer

• One Cup of Milk (Soy, Almond, Cow, etc.)
• Two Tablespoons of Maple Syrup 

Using an espresso machine, steam and froth the two ingredients together. The more froth the better, as Maple Syrup is heavy and the froth with fight to suspend it in every sip.

Maple Shake

• Four Scoops Ice Cream
• ¼ Cup Maple Syrup
• Milk

Add as much milk as necessary to the other ingredients so your blender spins everything up well.

Time Flies!

It was an all day rain today, persistently reminding us the time is nigh for autumn colors, sweaters, rosy cheeks. Winter reached long again this year, making summer negligible and the notice of the "early trees" in August even less welcome than ever.

We also closed our summer location in Munising early this year. We frankly picked a convenient time, as Andrew (the manager) headed out the door for his last semester on his math degree.

Sitting in the cafe' this dark evening with the furnace warming the scent of freshly roasted Sumatran coffee, listening to "Summertime" wilting out of our old radio, I can't believe the first day of autumn is not even upon us.

Produce still opens our front door and makes its way to the cooler and the plates.  I've decided to stock pile mint syrup made with Backyard Mint from down the road.  It's the heaven that has carried me through the season. I can go years without ice cream, but this summer the pool of fresh mint syrup surrounding my vanilla ice cream while sitting in my bed looking out at miraculous sunsets over the new hoop house just up the road will never leave my memory.

Here's a recipe:

Backyard Mint Syrup

You'll need a large pot of simmering water, a large pot of ice water, a small saucepan, a blender, and a fine mesh sieve.

1 Dozen Mint Stalks (1 foot long)
2 Cups Organic Sugar
2 Cups Water

Put the washed mint stalks into the pot of simmering water. Turn the burner on HIGH. Allow them to boil briefly... 30 seconds or so, until they become bright green. Remove them from the water and place them immediately into the ice water.

Bring the sugar and water to boil in a small saucepan and cook until all of the sugar has dissolved. Set aside.  This is "Simple Syrup".

Remove the mint from the ice water and pat the excess water from them with paper towel. Cut the mint into 2-4" lengths.  Empty both of your water pots.  Wash them both and have them handy.

Place a handful of the mint into the blender and add about 1/2 Cup of the simple syrup. Pulse until well blended. Add more mint and add more syrup. Repeat. Continue this way until all of the mint and all of the syrup are now well blended (pureed) in the blender.  

Pour through a fine mesh sieve into one of your now empty pots. Empty and rinse and sanitize the sieve.  Pour the Mint Syrup one more time through the sieve into another pot. You're done!

Missed the Strawberries

Our family visited the Gulf Coast in L.A. (lower Alabama) last week. We were hoping to get some fresh local strawberries while we were there at BJ Farm. They told us that strawberries are 45 days late this year at their farm because of the cold temperatures experienced in that area the winter of 2014.

Where we live, 45 days late would be catastrophic. "45 days late" in lower Alabama is the difference between March and May. Here, "45 days late" really can't happen.

Thinking about that, really makes me grateful for the natural rhythm of things we often enjoy. Those abnormalities in the weather and the seasons keep us in check and keep us grateful for when things go well.

I just checked the UP Food Exchange website to see if any local food is available to purchase for our restaurants yet.  Potatoes, eggs and hay are available, as well as ground beef we purchase from Bahrman Farm and maple syrup from Paul Whitmarsh.  There's always something that can be purchased locally here. We're fortunate to live here, even if the growing season is short.

I can't wait for Upper Michigan strawberries. Here's hoping they're not "45 days late".

Something Has Sprouted

Looking out at the falling snow, dreaming of white sandy beaches, my mind has been called back to the earth, the sun, the possibility of miracles sprouting from seeds.

It's been a long winter. It matters not about ones experience, ones delicious detailed stories they carry in worn places of the mind to tell anyone who'll listen about that most memorable snow storm, that most memorable winter. Today, that's filed in the region of the brain called 'garbage'. We've had enough. There's no glory here under the heavy gray sky that's threatening another inch of constraint, another inch of hesitation, another inch of frustration.

But my salad. My salad fills my mind with miraculous reminder of exponential growth not found in any bar graph. A local farmer has sprouted seeds, apparently against the will of the atmosphere. And here I am, having placed that local grace on the very top of my salad, remembering the deliciousness of spring. It is here, somewhere.

It's Spring Somewhere Salad

Organic Mixed Greens
Organic Baby Kale
Tons of Bleu Cheese
Fresh Blueberries
Orange Cardamom Vinaigrette
Tons of Fresh, Local, Pea and Popcorn Shoots Right on Top

Rock River Restaurants Orange Cardamom Vinaigrette

3 T Local Maple Syrup
1 T Freshly Grated Orange Peel
4 T Orange Juice (don't worry, just grate and squeeze an orange)
1/2 t Ground Cardamom
1/2 C Apple Cider Vinegar
1-1/2 C Olive Oil
Throw everything except the olive oil into a bowl. Either whisk briskly or use a mixer while drizzling in the olive oil ever so slowly to emulsify the dressing. Taste and add sea salt or more cardamom as you'd like.

Lettuce Begin

We've been getting wonderful little handfuls of local greens and lettuce this past month. It's certainly not nearly enough for the needs of our customers at Rock River Lunch Bag and Rock River Cafe'. It's been brought to the Lunch Bag by Vicki from the local community hoop house and by Shelter Bay Tomatoes.

I love starting out the summer marveling at the wonderfulness of the fresh local produce. There's always a stark contrast between the fresh and local and the stuff I get to fill the void in the winter. I wish it was always fresh and local. But it's not.

It's an imperfect process, requiring creativity, energy, patience, and acceptance of the limitations of supply. One of our locations closes in the winter for lack of demand and lack of supply. We found that the menu had to shift so far from our intentions, that it just needs to stop.

We are ecstatic that the customers and the produce are coming back. I look forward to summer, and seeing the joy on visitors' faces as they also marvel at the fresh and local on their plates.

Scrambling Eggs~Scrambling Menus

This time of year is always a bit of a juggle in Rock River Restaurants. We're ramping up for the summer tourist season, testing new ideas, juggling fresh ingredients, training new staff and have not quite enough customers yet.

This year, we're beating a lot of eggs. Trenary Ducks & More got certified some months ago so we now have a great source of local eggs. We're feeling better about eggs than we have since we opened our first restaurant two years ago. I'd gotten to a point last summer where I was ready to let go of cooking breakfast, quite frankly, until we could find happy chickens. The prayer (demand) has been answered, finally. And it's been answered with not only happy chickens, but with another signature ingredient the Rock River Fresh & Local brand is excited to put in the menu: duck eggs.

And there's more to come... in July we plan to be offering Light of Day Organics tea, Mitten Munch, and Just Good Chocolate. Local is so fantastically wonderful!

The Ducks Know

This spring has been fraught with all too much snow and not enough warmth to get any fresh food growing that's not protected by hoop houses and greenhouses. This has caused me to lean heavily on eggs as I conjure this and that.

Our egg supplier says the ducks have been laying like crazy. They know it's spring, even if the weather has been slow to emulate the calendar. Today I'm sharing a recipe for Pannukakku which is Finnish Pancake sometimes also referred to as Kropsua.  We live amongst a significant Finnish population that's been here a few generations now. Many of them are fairly certain about such things as Kropsua and Pannukakku, and some of those are certain in slightly different ways, if you get my meaning. The following is close to the recipe we've chosen for the Rock River Cafe' for its authenticity and its speed of preparation. There is another school of thought which requires a whole bunch more milk and a whole lot more time. I would guess that it's much more custardy and worth the wait.

The following recipe is great when made in an iron skillet in the oven, fairly quickly. In fact, here's a video I often refer to that shows the completed project just out of the oven, as it deflates.  The video even has some wonderfully celebratory music that accompanies it!

Pannukakku~

4 Free Range Chicken or Duck Eggs
2 C Whole (Preferably Cream~line) Milk
1/2 C Fair Trade Organic Sugar
1 t Sea Salt
1 t Pure Organic Fair Trade Vanilla
1 1/4 C Organic Unbleached Wheat Flour
3 T Butter (cut into two pieces)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, placing a 12" lightly oiled (seasoned, not greasy) iron skillet inside immediately. Make ready all of your ingredients. Begin by beating the eggs in a mixing bowl with a fork until well blended. Beat in the milk, sugar, salt, vanilla and lastly, gradually add in the flour, continually stirring. Allow for lumps, but only small ones.
Throw the butter into the hot skillet, allowing it to quickly melt, and then follow it with all of the batter and close the oven door.

Bake for approximately 30-40 minutes. It is done when a knife comes out clean. Allow it to rest a few minutes before serving.

Toppings?  Powdered Sugar, Maple Syrup, Berry Coulis, or Raspberry Jam

Yummy!