Category Archives: Good Food

What is Custard? and Should you be eating it?

Posted on July 25, 2011 | Leave a comment

One of the many Abbott's Frozen Custard locations

 

Frozen custard is not ice cream, but I can see how you would be mistaken—they are both creamy and cold and delicious. Custard has more butterfat, more egg yolk and less air than ice cream and is served a bit warmer, so its soft. And its awesome. Alas, I am dairy free for the duration of breastfeeding as it seems the milk proteins are bit hard on his belly (and therefore hard on our us…). Its been two months since I’ve had real dairy. Vanilla almond milk is really pretty good, and Earth Balance fake butter (canola oil solidified, I think) really does taste good. But there is no substitute for a good stinky cheese, what I would give for feta. There is also no real substitute for ice cream or  custard. I’ve tried. Rice Dream tastes like a really shabby version of ice cream, too watery/crystally to be good. Almond Dream fake ice cream is better, but it still like has a weird taste. So I gave in. We were picking up a dresser found on craigslist to serve as Raddichio’s changing table and were driving past Abbott’s Frozen Custard. The Rad One had been very good lately, and we figured maybe one custard wouldn’t hurt. 60 days dairy free and one small chocolate custard couldn’t possibly bring the return of the constantly crying baby, could it? I wish I could say it was true. I ate it. And the next day we had Gassy McFartsabunch in tears for part of the day.

 

But the big question is, was it worth it?

 

Chocolate custard (and some dude...)

I’m ashamed to say, yes.

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Summer in a Glass

Posted on July 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

Way back when I was pregnant and living in Michigan (oh, that wasn’t way back? It was only 6 months ago? Are you sure? Cause it feels like a lifetime ago…) I contacted an awesome photographer to take some maternity and eventually newborn photos for us. God bless Google, cause it’s how I find everything and I ended up with an outstanding set of pictures. What does this have to do with tea in China or our blog? Well, it turns out that Morgan of Morgan Dawson Photography is also Morgan, wife of Evan Dawson, local journalist for WHAM 13, editor of the New York Cork Report, and author of Summer in a Glass. It’s not like she shows up and announces her husband is this guy everyone knows; she mentioned in conversation that he was interested in news…Anyway, when we went to pick up our pictures in March we also bought a copy of Evan’s book. Seeing that I was about eleven months pregnant and unable to sleep I read it in two days, loved it, learned about some Finger Lakes wineries we hadn’t been to and decided to plan some visits.

And then we have a baby. And two months later I desperately want to wash my hair, get dressed and spend some time without said colicky baby. So we decided to head off to Morgan’s husband’s book signing and a visit to Fox Run Vineyards, Red Tail Ridge and Billsboro. If we’re lucky we may even stop at Ports for dinner!! The GPs are watching the Rad One and we are off in the convertible, sadly with the top up as its a bit cool and rain looks eminent.

First stop, Fox Run for lunch and the book signing. Fox Run used to run its own café and often held wine pairing dinners with their chef, but recently the business has changed. The café is now called Opus and is a separate business (although inside the winery) run by the former chef. The menu hasn’t changed, a variety of salads and panini, but the wine selections are offered at a separate check out. I assume this is simply for business purposes. In talking with Scott, the owner, we also learned that the wine pairing dinners are no longer being held and understandably so; we loved them and so did the 20 other regular couples who attended. The goal of those dinners was to build new business; all it really did was attract the same devoted folks over and over. I’m sad they’re gone, but I totally understand why. Anyway, lunch was two panini (mine without cheese but full of pulled pork, not very traditional!) and a bottle of Fox Run Dry Riesling. It was even nice enough to sit outside and enjoy the view of Seneca Lake. This was the same lunch Jake and I shared on our second date—I was super late because I won an age group award at the Keuka Tri (scroll to 35-39 if interested)  and had to clean up a bit but still showed up with sweaty braided hair and race numbers marked on my arms and legs; I’m amazed that Jake went out with me again!

We also chatted with Morgan, Evan, and Fox Run’s winemaker Peter Bell; got  two books signed; bought a mixed case of wine (riesling and pinot noir, both reserve), and tasted a few others.

The day’s weather was improving and we took the convertible, top down this time, to Red Tail Ridge. There are two great reasons to go here, both unexpected. One, it’s a LEED certified winery. In other words, super green. Two, rosé. Really. We bought two bottles.

Most of the wineries close their tastings rooms at 5PM so we had about 30 minutes to stop at Billsboro once we’d finished at Red Tail Ridge. The Billsboro tasting room is not actually on the same property as the vineyards that produce their grapes-the grapes are grown much further south on the eastern side of the lake, while the tasting room is on the north west side (Evan’s book does a much better job than I in explaining terroir—basically, the dirt/geography/climate is better for grapes/wine over there…). It’s a restored 18th century barn nestled in some trees. What it lacks in lake view it makes up for with hand hewed beams and chocolate and wine pairings! We bought wine here too…a syrah.

Our plan was to head home, but when we called the GPs they said go to dinner. So we did. We’d been meaning forever to go to Ports Café but never seem to find it open. Tonight we were in luck! Although we had dinner at a wholly unnatural time for us (5PM) and did not take pictures or write down what we ate or our instant impressions, I can assure you I ate the best veal chop I’ve ever had for dinner, then for lunch and again for dinner, and that wasn’t just Mom’s Night Out Freedom talking. MMMM.

When we got back it was like the boy hadn’t even missed us.

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Bone Appetit

Posted on June 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

Bone Appetit-Take Out Menu

I’m not a barbecue expert in that I can’t make ribs or pulled pork and I don’t know the differences between regional styles. I do know that I like barbecue, pretty much all of it, from anywhere. Well, not anywhere; the McRib wasn’t a great idea.

Porn for Foodies

Anyway, the new issue of Saveur showed up Wednesday with ribs on the front and some great articles on regional barbecue (seriously, east and west Carolinas have different styles?!). Mmmm, I want some ribs…pulled pork…corn bread…

Wish granted.

Saturday evening, driving back from a family event two hours away (a blast with our newly-vaccinated-pissed-off baby) we drove by Bone Appetit in Lyons. We had gone by before but there was a serious lack of signage and it wasn’t til this pass that we realized what was going on there.

Jake made a u-turn, I sat with  the Screaming Mimi, and in a few minutes we had a rack of ribs, pulled pork, corn  bread and mac and cheese to go. (Jake must be trying to kill me; I’ve had to go dairy free while breastfeeding the  little man and would probably mug an old lady to eat cheese!! Torture!!)

First things first, little man needs to hit the hay. And by that I mean bath, diaper, eat, lullaby, swaddle, rock-for-freaking-ever then sleep. I also mean reheated ribs.

Ribs, Pulled Pork, and Corn Bread, Oh My!

So, how were they? Awesome! Very smokey and substantial. I liked them as  is but Jake really loves condiments (I think his ratio of food to condiment is 40/60) and would have liked more sauce. Whatever.

I also liked the pulled pork but agreed with Jake when he said it tasted like Spanish rice. Not bad, but different. Oh, and on a huge chunk of white bread, like a whole loaf!

Really, the corn bread got me. Moist, not a dried up crumbly mess like most barbecue places have. If only it was larger…

We plan to return, with little man, for an early dinner (so as to annoy the least number of people with Mr. Fussypants) in their dining room.

And they make pie too…I can’t wait!!

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Would you eat at Bambino’s?

Posted on March 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

Let’s say you asked the guy who just did some work on your car for a dinner recommendation (what? Mechanics eat too!!) First he mentions Chili’s…not high hopes for the next thing on the list…then says Bambino’s. My general rule is to ignore further suggestions from people who’s first thought is “a chain restaurant near the mall is a good choice,” this despite the fact that I will eat at Applebee’s pretty much anytime. Anyway, I’m also not enthusiastic about Italian restaurants (once you’ve eaten in Italy, most of these don’t live up) and the name Bambino’s doesn’t lend itself to me reconsidering my view.

Let’s also say you are nearly 9 months pregnant and hungry and you are in Auburn, NY. The options are limited and you’ve lost your pickiness. So off to Bambino’s Bistro you go.

We’re asked if we have reservations and although it’s a fairly busy Friday night, we are able to be seated without too much trouble. I was offered a seat three times in the 10 or less minutes we waited for our table to be ready, by the owner(?) and two servers. As we took our seats, we both remarked that the table placement reminded us of Italy–meaning you were pretty much sitting with your neighbor. While I appreciate that this is bothersome to some people, we don’t mind; it usually means you can at least be nosy and listen to what could be interesting conversation and at most meet some really nice people. There is also a small patio that totally reminded of us of Rome–the way small Roman restaurants just kind of take over a parking space or sidewalk and put tables there, Bambino’s has done the same. It’s not usually scenic or decorated, just outdoors.

The menu was divided in the traditional Italian way–antipasto (that included a grilled calamari with white beans…), primo (pasta, soup, salad) and secundo (meats and fish) but without contorno (sides for the meats) with both very typical Italian American dishes and more traditional Italian style entrees. We were served water in a clear, hinged bottle (like this one) but were not offered a wine list. I didn’t even think about this until I saw a couple come in and place a their own bottle of wine on their table. It seems Bambino’s doesn’t serve alcohol…

It also seems that there is no permit in NYS for BYOB establishments; they are required to get a liquor license as if they were selling alcohol. Three different tables brought their own wine while we were there and all three were told that they couldn’t currently BYOB. This is where the super close tables are helpful! We were able to hear the owner(?) tell the couple next to us that hopefully in two weeks BYOB would resume. Of course I’ve googled NYS liquor laws and suspect Bambino’s is either in the process of applying for a license to sell or a club license (which means the owners are really ‘members’ and a ABC liaison is involved) and likely had been BYOB illegallly. It seems NYS is cracking down on BYOB lately, and many establishments have been caught unaware of the rules.

Anyway, no booze at Bambino’s at the moment, but it wouldn’t stop us from eating there.

We didn’t order much, I’m too pregnant to eat large amounts at one time and while I would have loved all three courses (to share!!) I know I get full so quickly that its wasted on me. We opted instead for a plate of calamari (the standard fried kind) and two pastas. The calamari was good, didn’t seem to be the frozen kind, and was plentiful. While eating my three bites of calamari I noticed some other dishes coming from the kitchen–oysters, looking outstanding, and an enormous pizza that wasn’t on the menu. Turns out Bambino’s has a take out pizza place in back.

Jake had Fruitti De Mare (linguine with mussels) and I had Penne Alla Caprese (penne with fresh moz, basil and tomato). Neither of these should be shocking to you–Jake loves mussels and I love fresh mozzarella. We were impressed with both dishes. The tomato sauce was the kind we learned to make at Mamma Agata’s: oil, cherry tomatoes, garlic and that’s pretty much it. Definitely not from a jar and not pureed, but cooked down.

For dessert (I know, I just said I’m super pregnant and nothing fits, but there is always room for dessert) we had two decaf cappuccino and a chocolate souffle with vanilla gelato. We’ve had some trouble finding gelato with the right texture outside of Italy–I’m not sure if its our rules about dairy or that it sits longer here or that we just can’t do it right, but it’s always a little icier or grainier that it should be. This wasn’t. The vanilla gelato was creamy and smooth, with the thick texture we’ve been looking for. And the souffle wasn’t bad either!

After our meal we looked at some other reviews and mostly it gets raves, but I think its important to know what you are getting into. It very much reminded us of Italy: the tables are tight, the service is pretty slow, there is no expectation that you have anywhere else to be. The food was pretty close too! We loved it, and will absolutely be back. Of course, we’ll call about the wine first…

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French Cooking for the Lazy

Posted on February 10, 2011 | 1 Comment

That would be me. I’m a lazy cook in general, and french cooking in particular brings out my lazy bone. I like things I can make in one pan, or things that don’t require cooking ingredients only to assemble them with other cooked ingredients, and I really really hate anything that requires soaking…beans can be found in cans, already cooked and not that different from the ones you’d take from hard to soft yourself!!

Bringing me to dinner last night. I have this old recipe for Saucisses aux Lentilles du Puy that I ripped from Saveur who knows when. The real version expects me to simmer lentils and tie fresh thyme, parsley and bay leaves together, I suspect while making my own pork sausage if the French had their way. Well, fortunately for me, I’m more than willing to offend the French and adapt a recipe using, gasp, Progresso soup and organic chicken sausage!! Oh, and for my triathlete friends–this is totally within Ironmomma’s Core Diet.

So here’s how Sausage and Lentils gets made at my house:

Ingredients:
2-3 slices of bacon
1 tbsp or less (I use less, sometimes none) of butter
1 small onion, or large, use what you’ve got, finely chopped
1 carrot (again, if I don’t have one, I leave it out), finely chopped
1 stalk of celery (really, I never have this, and I’m not buying a bunch to use one stalk), finely chopped
1 tbsp (or more) of dried Herbes De Provence (that’s rosemary, thyme, marjoram, and savory–but much easier to buy just the one jar)
1 can of Progresso lentil soup
1 can of plain old lentils, drained
dijon mustard
balsamic vinegar
1 package of organic italian style chicken sausage (I buy Al Fresco brand at Wegmans)
1 cup of white wine (the sweeter and less drinkable the better, buy those little bottles at the wine shop if you aren’t a drinker, but its an important ingredient–trust me)
1 cup of water
2 sauce pans

1. I start by poking the sausages with a fork and plopping them in a pan with the cup of wine and cup of water. Boil this, until all the liquid is gone (you’ll be cooking the lentils in the other pan while this happens), and let the sausage brown/carmelize in the pan. The sugars in the wine brown nicely and really add to the flavor, and the alcohol has long since boiled away. You need to watch this as it gets less liquidy–you don’t want to ruin your pan or your sausage.

2. While that boiling is going on, cook the 2-3 slices of bacon in the other sauce pan.
3. Add butter, onion, carrot, and celery and cook til soft.
4. Add the Herbes, the can of soup, and the drained lentils and bring to a boil, then simmer until thickened.

If you’ve done all that correctly, the sausage and lentils are done at about the same time

5. When lentils are thickened, remove from heat and add dijon mustard and balsamic to taste (I like a lot of dijon and find that adding at the end is really the most important part, otherwise the flavor disappears, if you eat this as left overs, you’ll have to add it again, because the flavor just disappears the next day).

Serve one sausage on top of lentils–this makes 4 servings for normal people. It makes 2 at our house–Jake eats 3/4 at one time and I get the remaining 1/4.

Its not pretty, but its good winter food!! On the side I like Wegman’s Rosemary Loaf with Olive Oil and Sea Salt. Sometimes we eat a salad beforehand, you know, for the veggies…

Sausage and Lentils, almost like going to France...

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Eating with Mom

Posted on February 8, 2011 | 5 Comments

My mother has proposed a series of articles for the blog based on eating out with her. She has even suggested that I choose all the restaurants and that she won’t complain about any of them. Maybe you like the restaurants and food that I like, but I can tell you, my mom is probably not as interested in eating, oh, say, sweetbreads, as I am. So I have a challenge on my hands!!

The plan is thus:
Mom and I have season tickets to the Rochester Broadway Theater League; six shows a year. We go to dinner before hand, my choice, and I blog about it, with Mom’s input. Things I know my Mom likes: garlic, eggplant, scallops, creamy/buttery things (who doesn’t!!), soups, and coffee with no cream or sugar. She liked everything we made when we came home from Mamma Agata’s cooking class–eggplant rolls, sausage and peppers, farmers pasta, lemon cake…But I’m still worried she won’t like what I pick.

We had our first dinner recently, prior to seeing In The Heights (a great show, by the way, with what Mom called “light” rap) at Jines. This is one of my mother’s favorite and when I lived in the Park Ave neighborhood years ago a regular sunday night event with my parents. (Let me tell this story–I was getting divorced and super depressed and my parents came every sunday to take to me to dinner at Jines, after, they would go square dancing. Have you seen what people wear when square dancing? Well, they don’t look like square dancers all of the time, but they do have some nights that are super dressed up with bolo ties and belt buckles and boots and big skirts and the whole nine yards. So picture super depressed woman in sweats and uncombed hair with two older people dressed to go square dancing. Priceless). Anyway, Jines is a sort of diner, sort of family restaurant, sort of Greek place, and sort of breakfast place. Its always crowded, has an enormous menu and has recently remodeled to increase their seating capacity.

Mom and I often order quiche; they usually have 2 or 3 choices everyday. I had the Mediterranean Quiche and Mom had the Spinach and Ham. We also usually start with one of the soups of the day; today Mom had somthing I’ve compeltely forgotten and I had Lemon Rice Soup. I feel in love with Lemon Rice soup in the diners and middle eastern restaurants of southeast Michigan and had some high hopes for this soup–not disappointed!! Also loved the giant piece of quiche–more filling than egg and tons of spinach. Mom ate hers, and when she ordered she said that she loves spinach, but then when it came she said there was a lot of spinach, and not in a good way. Mine had a lot too, so I’m not sure if she liked it or not.

Consistent, that’s Jines. Our only complaint tonight was lack of water refills. It was a Tuesday, and I think they were a bit short staffed because normally that is not a problem.

Our next show is West Side Story in May (we are missing The Lion King as run coincides with my due date) and I’m thinking about a few places I’d like to try. One is Lento, a restaurant focused on locally available products and season foods. The other is Mise En Place, a market/restaurant hybrid. Both are a little off of Mom’s regular palate, but I think some items will interest her.

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Is This Really Niagara Falls? AKA Wine on Third

Posted on January 28, 2011 | 4 Comments

We find ourselves in Niagara Falls, stateside, for four days this week. Jake does some work for a large government contracted manufacturer here and it always takes several days. Until two weeks ago I was still working in Michigan, so he took these trips alone, stayed at the Crowne Plaza Niagara Falls alone, ate meals at the hotel bar alone and generally billed the daylights out of this company while working 14 hours a day for them. But now that I’m working from anywhere the internet exists, I came with him. Now I spend the day at the Crowne Plaza alone, eat my lunch alone and work via Adobe Connect with AtotheB.

The Crowne Plaza is perfectly fine, although not as grand as one might think (ahem, nearly all the gym equipment is broken, as is my ice machine). Niagara Falls, USA is not a city most would visit if it weren’t for the falls and the casino (which I have a perfect view of from my window…) and even then, I learned yesterday that the average visitor spends 12 hours here. The Canadian side is more visited; the hotels are larger with more amenities, the casino facilities are a few steps closer to Vegas (whereas the US side is more closer to bingo hall with neon), and the city itself is tidier. Also, the view of the falls is better. I love Goat Island and how you can stand right on top of the water, but if you really want to SEE the falls, Canada is your side.

One thing sorely lacking on either side is a quality restaurant. Both sides have casino restaurants and we’ve eaten at several. They are good, more expensive than they deserve to be, but certainly better than the infinite number of shabby storefronts serving questionable fast food.

Since we are going to be here for four nights I figured I poke around a bit for some other options. Our first night we tried to hit the steak house in the Seneca Niagara Casino only to find that the wait was over 90 minutes unless we had reservations. I tried to use my gigantic pregnant silhouette and intense need for beef to get a table, but no dice. Clearly that host has never dealt with pregnant women before!! We ended up at the Italian restaurant of the casino, Cascata, I believe and they had beef. The filet I ordered was very good, but the service wasn’t that great and the winning gambler clientele not my cup of tea. Plus, Native American casinos are the only place in NYS one can smoke in public and my super pregnant senses couldn’t get past the smoke.

Lunch was on my own yesterday, I considered ordering room service as I was working online with AtotheB, but she had to leave me early and I decided to walk to the Hard Rock Cafe for a Cobb Salad. At least its consistent. Actually, it was very good! Fresh, large, nicely priced, no complaints.

Dinner yesterday was the great triumph though. I’d looked at Yelp restaurant reviews as well as UrbanSpoon and TripAdvisor and found Wine and Third to have great reviews. Not many reviews, but what was there sounded promising. Plus it was only two blocks from the hotel.

Wine on Third is a small place with a bar that serves a tapas style menu and a dining room with eight or nine tables where you can order their dinner menu. Turns out a thursday night is pretty dead on the dining room side and we had the whole place to ourselves, while the bar side was pretty full. I was concerned what this might mean for service or even food quality, but we could see the chef preparing tapas plates and everything looked outstanding.

The dinner menu was small, with a seafood special and soup of the day in addition. Dinner items were listed with a suggested wine pairing and I was so jealous of Jake and his wine all night. I did taste everything and it seems the pairings were a good match. The waiter was also ready with wine choices for the appetizers that did not list a suggested wine.

We started with a bruschetta amuse bouche.

Bruschetta, Wine on Third, Niagara Falls, NY

I thought the bruschetta was perfect; the bread was toasted but didn’t break apart or hurt your mouth when you bit it, and the tomatoes had not soaked through to make the middle soggy. Plus there was an olive in the middle. I loves me some olives! We also had bread service, only three slices of garlic bread with olive oil. At first you think three slices is a small amount, but I like that its enough to be tasty and still enjoy the meal because you aren’t full of bread. The bread may have been made on site; it was a very fresh loaf with roasted garlic cloves baked in.

Jake ordered an appetizer of Mussels with Chorizo, while opted for just an entree…my tummy space is not what it used to be.

 

Mussels with Chorizo, Wine on Third, Niagara Falls, NY

 

Jake also had a suggested Chianti with the mussels that was a perfect peppery match for the spicy chorizo.

My entrée was a free range chicken breast (with bone!) stuffed with prosciutto and mozzarella over a tomatoes, polenta and a tomato coulis. Jake order the filet mignon with gorgonzola and mushroom risotto and a meritage pairing. Lets just say we both cleaned our plates. I found the gorgonzola on Jake’s to be a little heavy handed but he loved it and the wine pairing was excellent. My chicken was also very good; moist, well seasoned and the polenta was perfect.

 

Chicken, Prosciutto and Polenta, Wine on Third, Niagara Falls, NY

 

 

Filet Mignon with Gorgonzola and Mushroom Risotto, Wine on Third, Niagara Falls, NY

 

Dessert. I eat more of them than I used to. I even had one at Hard Rock earlier today and last night we went to Cold Stone Creamery (with the best ice creams servers ever!!) after the casino dinner. So tonight was no exception. Wine on Third had three choices, with the only one I heard being Lava Cake. I’m always suspicious of lava cake if it wasn’t mentioned at the beginning (because its supposed to take about 25 minutes as the cake is baked when you order it, with its insides left soft) because it often means the restaurant makes a shell of cake and fills it with hot batter. I ordered it anyway.

Chocolate Lava Cake, Wine on Third, Niagara Falls, NY

Chocolate Lava Cake, Wine on Third, Niagara Falls, NY

It came quickly, and I was sure it wasn’t real, but there must be magic in that kitchen because this was everything lava cake is supposed to be. The cake itself was moist and warm and increasingly warm and flowing center. Jake had a few bites, very few, while I devoured, scraped, used my fingers to finish the raspberry sauce.

We also tried something new. Normally we would order a port with dessert, but the waiter recommended something else: chocolate wine called Cocoa du Vin. Interesting. It was very chocolaty, and reminded me of Bailey’s only with a wine-ish flavor. We asked to look at the bottle; its nothing fancy…the label states that it’s a “grape wine” made in Florida. I liked it, you could only really have one glass, but for dessert, very nice option.

 

So, Wine on Third is a winner and I can only hope that they will still be in business the next time Jake works here. Niagara Falls is not foodie friendly and like many cities who made their fortunes on industry and chemicals, is just plain run down. A restaurant like this is worth a visit and hopefully will inspire some other entrepreneurs to return to the falls.

 

 

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Tesoro Inn: We Never Want To Leave!!

Posted on August 23, 2010 | 2 Comments

For my birthday the beautiful and talented Kimberly planned a trip to the Old Mission Peninsula of Michigan.  I think she is trying to get me to like Michigan by taking me to a very familiar looking place, only it’s in another state. By this I mean that the OMP reminds me so much of the Finger Lakes region of New York that if she dropped me in blindfolded, I may not know the difference (how devious of her). Much to her chagrin I figured it all out. It only took the observation of one in ten cars using their turn signals to make me aware I was in Michigan.

Actually she planned a great trip revolving completely around driving my Alfa Romeo Spider; unfortunately the Alfa had other ideas.  It seems as though it is angry at me, I know, I know,  it’s inanimate, but more importantly, it’s Italian.  This means it doesn’t have to adhere to the rules of living and non.  When it has been left in the barn for legions of barn swallows to conduct bombing raids on it, it refuses to start.  If it were a Ford it would gleefully fire on the first crank and go straight to the car wash, but alas its somewhat crankier than that (think Stephen King’s Christine). Ford Freestyle to the rescue, always there, always non-threatening; the mom-mobile.  It all worked out for the best as the Alfa is not as watertight as it should be and we had torrential downpours on friday night.  Wet jeans are the standard when driving in the Alfa in the rain, and the wipers are virtually useless.  It’s hard to look cool getting out of your sporty little italian convertible appearing to have peed your pants.

We arrived in dry pants at the Tesoro Inn.  After we parked in their circular drive, I spent a few minutes checking out the outside of the b&b.   

 It was beautiful, with cedar shakes, pergola, fancy pants front door, landscaping and a cupola. The foot square cedar beams that formed the uprights of the pergola have copper tops on them to keep the beams from rotting and a climbing vine running up to the latticework.

We went in and were instantly hit with the aromas of what we found out later to be Saturday’s breakfast. Along with the heavenly smells there was jazz playing on the stereo, and a friendly old dog, thus giving an ambiance that made me feel completely relaxed and “home”.

There aren’t many places I go that can shut my brain off like here.  Les, one half of the Tesoro inn team, (and one hell of a cook) greeted us and gave us a tour of the place.  He showed us the back yard and the rooms, also told us of the recent renovations (which sounded substantial, including cedar pillars, repairing damage left by an indoor hottub, and reconfiguringsuites/bathrooms).

After the tour he showed us our room, the Pear Tree Room.  It took us a while to figure out why it’s called the pear room, but then Kim saw it; a lone pear out on the tree just outside the window.

The room was large, clean, tastefully decorated and had a very comfortable king size sleigh bed.  In other words, way too nice for me.  Luckily Kim deserves the best so I can’t say that the quality of the room was wasted.  We also noticed after the 7pm turn down service that there were two chocolate coated strawberries with candied ginger on them, a combination I wouldn’t have thought of but will never forget.  Yum!

 

I’ll skip dinner as Kim has that covered and move on to breakfast. We went up to the cupola for breakfast, as it had rained out and eating outside would have been no fun. 

First out came the coffee and of course,  Diet Coke for Kim.  A pleasant young man (never caught his name so I will make one up for him: “Roland”) delivered these and took our order.  Kim ordered the sweet potato and maplewood smoked bacon hash and eggs, I ordered the duck breast, eggplant and goat cheese frittata.  Our starter was a parfait glass with fresh blueberries and a homemade lemon whipped cream on top, it was delicious.  In fact “Roland” probably didn’t make it downstairs before we were done eating it. There was also a mango upside down cake or maybe a crisp that was the perfect accompaniment to my coffee.  “Roland” came back a little while later and refilled my coffee (not gas station coffee either, but really good coffee) brought us fresh mango and pomegranate juice and took our dirty dishes.  He then came back with breakfast.  Let me start by saying that I grew up on a farm and probably take for granted what a farm fresh egg looks and tastes like. Now that I regularly buy store eggs, I’ve forgotten the difference but organic and fresh is the way to go; the yolks stand up like a hemisphere and the color is more orange than yellow.  When you pop the yolk it’s thicker; less like a thin sauce and more like gravy.  There truly is no comparison, but back to breakfast. Kim’s breakfast of sweet potato with maplewood smoked bacon hash and eggs looked great and smelled even better.  The hash had sweet potatoes, onions, garlic and bacon in it and was unlike any breakfast hash I’ve ever had (Kim’s aside: it was awesome and I only shared because I’m a super nice person, not because I really wanted to!).  I love corned beef hash and have to admit that I feel like I cheated on it with a younger, hotter hash.  The eggs were, as I said before,  awesome and procured from a local free range farmer (Shangri-la Too Farms). When you dipped your fresh homemade wheat toast in the yolk it coated and stuck to it like velcro.  I had the fritatta and it was comprised of eggs, pan seared duck breast, swiss chard, eggplant, onions, garlic and goat cheese.  This was another winner, Les was batting a thousand. 

We also met Les’s wife Jane, and talked with her about pottery and food and art for quite awhiel; she has a very engaging personality and we both couldn’t help but like her. I should also point out that both our breakfasts came with more fruit; mangoes, black berries, strawberries, and raspberries.  This was truly one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had.

The next morning the starter was a mango smoothie, and oatmeal scones with honey.  Both of these dishes were so good I could have had them only, for breakfast. “Roland” came back for our orders, I ordered grits and eggs with bacon,  Kim ordered eggs benedict.  Perfectly reasonable diner food right?  Wrong, fool!  Here are the twists to some classics.  I had hominy grits with leeks, onions, garlic and smoked gouda.  More like risotto than your mom’s grits.  This isn’t Shoney’s, sucker! I also had more delicious eggs and homemade toast with some savory bacon.  Awesome!  Kim’s eggs benedict was served over homemade white toast, canadian bacon, swiss chard sauteed with garlic and homemade hollandaise over the farm fresh egg.  The hollandaise sauce was so very good; I remembered what real hollandaise tastes like (the kind I make comes from a box…mostly because I lack the skill and patience to do it the right way).  Again there was more fruit, kiwis, strawberries, mango, and blackberries. 

I would say if you were going to the Old Mission Peninsula for the weekend and wanted to hit the wineries and breweries then this is the place you want to stay.  The outstanding breakfasts, the large room with turn down service, and the peaceful atmosphere (not to mention heavenly smells!) are worth every penny!!

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They Make Wine in Michigan?

Posted on August 20, 2010 | Leave a comment

Yes they do, its not all coney’s and big hair around here, we have wine country too. This weekend we are headed to the Mission Peninsula just north of Traverse City.


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We’ll be staying two nights at the Tesoro Inn, having Jake’s birthday dinner at Mission Table, visiting some wineries and the Jolly Pumpkin Brewery, and having a massage at the At Rest Micro Spa in Traverse City. Ideally there will be much relaxing; we’re still tired from the remodel!

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All Inclusive or Not?

Posted on August 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

We’re looking at all-inclusive. Jake’s done it, I have it and I have to tell the truth; I don’t think I like it. In my mind I see annoying ‘hosts’ trying to get me to play beach volleyball and bartenders pouring weak drinks and food made in a central kitchen by cooks one step from Ruby Tuesday. Jake sees all play and no work. No planning, no thinking, no budgets.

I’ll just say it: I like planning.

I like the research, the spreadsheets, the scouring of obscure message boards, the search for the great local restaurant, the little known shop, the B&B that was right there if you would only look. All-inclusives take that joy away. But then again…it could be good to let someone else do it. I love Disney, and how different can this be? Insulated, fake, pre-planned. 

Maybe a 5 star? I want good food. And no rowdy people. I’m not sold yet, but I think Jake is making progress.

(Jake says: of course I’m making progress, she can’t pass up the free booze and the swim up bars. Just ask her about that time in Texas…plus, I’m a man and what I say goes. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear you snickering at me.)

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