For the longest time I thought that eggs benedict was something that was pretty gross. Well I’d never actually had it. How could something that I’ve never had be gross? Well for some reason I thought that hollandaise sauce was made with Mayo. Well, I discovered, it’s not. It actually a pretty simple sauce. Egg yolks and butter are the main ingredients plus some lemon juice, salt, and cayenne pepper. When you taste this sauce on it’s own it doesn’t seem like it going to be that great. Then you put it over your english muffin, perfectly poached egg, and bacon and the flavor just takes off. Very velvetty in texture.
This isn’t the dish for every day or every week maybe not even every month but it’s definitely a treat when you get it.
My lesson, if you haven’t tried it, how do you know you don’t like it? So revisit what you haven’t liked in the past so see if your tastes love it now.
-FinnKidd
There are few smells as recognizable as the scent of bread baking. When I started my adventures in home made bread, I was having trouble finding a recipe that didn’t include one of these: 
The bread machine. The bread machine has done wonders for homemade bread. I think it has kept fresh bread in the home without the time commitment. It allows you to stick all of the ingredients into the machine and press go. It does the mixing, the kneading, the rising, and then the baking, all with the push of a button. With that amount of convenience it’s hard to think to do it the old way. But what if you don’t have a bread machine? How will you make bread? Well the old way isn’t really that hard to do. Plus bread machines have limitations to how they operate. Having restrictions is not something I want with my food.
Luckily, after much searching, I found a traditional recipe. (I’ve since found several books loaded with non-bread machine recipes.) When the whole process is done by hand, I feel there is more love in the bread. The kneading especially does well with the warmth of the hands. You get to feel the transition from wet dough to stiffer satiny goodness. This can get sticky but well worth it. The actual rising time and baking time are pretty hands off. Just set your timer and come back a couple of hours later or if you’re going to be gone for an extended amount of time (3hrs+) just put it in the fridge to slow down the rise.
I personally like to bake in the evening. The bread tastes the best and will continue to taste great if you let it cool down completely. Doing this at night helps resist any temptation that I may have. Warm bread is great but you can leave that to the bread sticks.
I’ve been working on a sour dough recipe. It is the type that Saint Anges makes in Saint Paul. My color still comes out a little dark and the texture is not quite right. But I will continue to try to figure it out. It’s Mel’s favorite type. This was my lastest attempt.
Better texture than last time. Still needs more sour. Already half through it. Will attempt again soon.
-FinnKidd
This past summer I had the opportunity to go to something that I may never go to again. The National Homebrewers Conference just happened to be in my own backyard and I couldn’t miss it. Brewing enthusiasts from around the country (some from across the world) descend upon a city for a long weekend to learn, share, and drink beer. The weekend has three types of events; learning, competing and celebrating.
The conference is mostly about learning. Over the three days there are 9 sessions, with 3 options of topics each session. The topics included a panel on starting you own brewery, lesser know english beer styles, cellarmanship, and mead varietal comparisons. All very nerdy stuff. You see some there with notepads but most are there just to listen. There is always a beverage floating around the rooms but you never see anyone drunk. That would defeat the purpose.
The conference is also about competing. This is the final location of the National Homebrew Competition judging. The best judges from around the country are attending the conference anyways, what better time to judge the best beers in the nation? Any beer being judged here had to first pass the regional level to make it to nationals. Competitors can rebrew the beer if they’d like/need to. Some will make tweaks in between the regional and the national competitions. At the end of judging, prizes are awarded to the top three in each of the 28 categories. These winners can also compete for homebrewer of the year, meadmaker of the year, cidermaker, and various members make up Club of the year. Many of the category winners can be better than the commercial examples that are on the market.
Last the NHC is about celebrating brewing. They do in three ways, Pro Brewers Night, Club Night, and the Banquet. Pro Brewers night resembles a beer fest. Regional brewers set up booths and you get your fill for 4 hours. This is the first night typically. The second night of the conference is Club Night. This is what people are waiting for. Each club gets a booth. They usually do a theme. From tropical islands to british pubs to FBI agents. Some clubs put out food to keep you filled up with something besides beer. This is the night where kegs disappear and you get to try some of the more unique beers. The last night of festivities is the banquet. They do beer pairs with excellent food. This is also where they announce all the award winners. This is the last event of the weekend.
Everyone gets Sunday to sober up before they head on home. Overall 625 five gallon kegs were drained during the conference this year. That’s a lot of beer. Hopefully this let everyone have a peak at the inside world of the National Homebrew Conference.
These are a couple of guys I met at the conference.
-FinnKIdd
Here in Minnesota the season to grow food is short. Yet many still take on the adventure every year. Why is that? Is it something to be proud of? Something to spend some time on? Does it just taste better when it is that much fresher? The answer is Yes.
Here in apartment living, the residents of our building do their best. Setting up a garden of planters that grow peppers, tomatoes, and herbs. Using old yogurt containers as planters to save some money. I was quite impressed with the amount of plants that reside here.
Here is our little garden. There is not much here but We haven’t been saving our yogurt containers I guess. We just have some rosemary, Purple basil and Cat nip for the Valo. That’s all we can really use for cooking at the moment.
Right now we are working on plants that take a little bit longer to mature. So we are starting them here so when we have a house that will be ready to harvest and spread out. Both mel and I each have one type.
For Me, Humulus lupulus, or Hops.
Being a home brewer I was naturally interested in growing my own hops, both for fun and freshness. You can’t get any fresher than off the vine. They start as 4″ long sticks, well rhizomes, but grow in to vines. The first couples of years are to develop a root system for these, when mature, massive plants. Some can grow to 20ft tall. They grow fast too. Sometimes as much as 2″ a day for my plants. I don’t expect to get an hops this season because of my late planting of them. I will chalk this up as a growth year. The vines will die back after the first frosts of the year but I’ll keep the root system outside all year.
For Mel, A meyer lemon Tree.
You may be thinking, “A lemon tree, in Minnesota? Not possible.” Well you would be partially correct. They can’t grow outside in the ground in Minnesota. Anything below freezing tends to kill them. But if you keep them in a planter and bring them inside during the winter, the survive and fruit. The tree will stay small enough to move it’s entire life. One of the beauties of Meyer Lemons, they don’t need a second tree to fruit. It will take about 3 years of babying to get this little guy to fruit but it is worth it for Mel.
Next year i think that we will try to grow some more items outside but this year is lost onto us already. Once we get a home our garden will go crazy. If it can grow in Minnesota we’ll try it. I even plan on building a greenhouse on our dream house’s property to maintain a steady food supply. Some would say I have a green thumb but for now it’s just a green inch. And I can’t wait to scratch it.
-FinnKidd
Behold the local contender to the Five Dollar Footlong. Acme deli is located in the Macalester College neighborhood on Saint Clair. Inside you will find exactly what the sign said above. A deli and a couple of tables. The place is not large but you can tell that it is popular with the locals just by the number of employees working behind the counter.
When you arrive you may wonder where the menu is but just look for the yellow cards at the front. Take your pick of several house creations or making your own. All of the sandwiches seemed to come pretty close to $5 +/- $1. Here is Mel making her decision.
She brought me to the Acme deli and she ordered custom. Turkey, Bacon, Pickles, Lettuce and Provolone I believe. She gets the same thing every time. Honest Tea was the beverage of choice.
When I go to a place, I look for something that is unique to the place or something that I haven’t tried before. This day I went with the #3. Roast Beef, Turkey, Swiss, and Coleslaw. It sounds weird but wow, this sandwich was amazing.
Everything was so fresh and the sandwich was filling. The coleslaw was crunchy without a taste of mayo. I paired mine with the a Boylan Black Cherry soda. Another great choice for the 90degree day.
Although it didn’t affect me because I passed mine to the wife, they give you a free pickle spear if you eat in the Deli. Mel loved both of them.
So if you’re done with Jimmy Johns, Subway, Quisnos, or Dominos, Stop by Acme Deli. But be sure to stop in early. They are only open from 9am-3pm but do delivery starting at 11.
-FinnKidd
My parents knew when I was growing up that mushrooms were not one of my favorite foods. I don’t really know why. What kid really wants to eat something as weird as a mushroom? As far as I can tell is most kids are subjected to bad mushrooms on their first experience. Usually the kind that is from the can. I can’t remember eating them for the first time but I knew I didn’t like them. I don’t blame my parents for this. Fresh mushrooms just weren’t as available when I was younger. The canned mushrooms that make up a lot of the hot dishes of minnesota are usually rubbery and tasteless. The rubbery was the part that got me. I’m really into textures. I can make it over a texture if the flavor is good.
For my now wife and my first anniversary, we had a three course meal based solely on mushrooms. It was part of a yearly fest they had at the Bayport Cookery. Bayport is now gone but luckily I found a mushroom that had better texture and full flavor. Those mushrooms are these.
Photo Credit: Melanie Mahonen
These are Morel mushrooms. They grow wild in many parts of the US. These ones were from Southern Minnesota. They are best fresh but the dehydrated ones aren’t terrible either. They have a very earthy flavor that I expect to change with where they are grown. Their weird brain-like look gives a nice firm texture. These can be used in any recipe that a normal mushroom would be used if your comfortable with the $40/lb price tag. They are usually a once-a-year type of thing we buy. In season, late April through early June. There is a mushroom hunter at the Minneapolis farmer’s market that always had the best looking ones. He lets you pick the smaller ones if you choose. I recommend that you do so as they have a more intense flavor.
Whenever I am in a restaurant and they have wild mushroom something on the menu I will order it. There is always the hope that Morels will be one of the wild mushrooms. About half the time I get my wish. Oh so good.
In conclusion, I don’t only like morel mushrooms. They are just my favorite. Luckily you can find Shiitake, Button, & Portabellas all fresh frequently and less expensive. If I can find others fresh, I love to use them too like the Wood Ear or Lobster. Also try that food that you’ve been passing on for years. You might actually like it now.
-FinnKidd
This past weekend was the Bachelor party of my friend Patrick. We went to a 10 year old’s dream birthday party. It was the Metropolis Resort in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The place had a water park, go carts, laser tag, bumper cars, mini-golf, and endless video games. The water park passes came with the room and the action city passes were only $20 each. With all of this playing, you get hungry. Luckily they have Monkey in the Middle pizza. We were able to order one of these bad boys.
A thirty inch half cheese, half supreme pizza. It wasn’t anything too special. It was tasty though. It also fed all nine of us. At $60 with tax, a steal of a deal. It hard to imagine how big this pizza actually is. A 14in pizza is 615square inches. A 30in pizza is 2,2826 square inches. Enough to feed an army like ours. Kind of funny, they deliver the pizza’s in a gorilla suit.
For the daring, they have the Gorilla Challenge. Eat the entire thirty incher with a friend in one hour. If you succeed, the pizza is free, you get a t-shirt, and you’re on the wall of fame. We didn’t want to ruin our night so no body tried it at the party. There was a group next to us that did try. Fail. They got down to the last 1/4 pizza with 10 minutes to go but couldn’t go on. It doesn’t sound hard but that like eating a 15 inch pizza in 10 minutes.
There is a place in the twin cities that does a giant pizza eating challenge too. Randy’s Premier Pizza in Oakdale offers a 30″, 36″, and 48″ pizza challenge. The big differences are that you only get 30 minutes to do it, you are required to have two toppings (excluding cheese and one has to be meat) and if you can do it, you get a t-shirt and up to $1,000. If you loose you have to pay for the pizza though which is a little more expensive. The most ridiculous one is the 3 people eating the 48″ in 30 minutes. That is 7,234 square inches of pizza. I don’t know if anyone has ever done it before. But I may order one one day just to have ordered it.
I love pizza.
-FinnKidd
I am addicted to melons. They are always best in summer. My goal of this summer is to try whatever type of melon the stores bring in. So far I’ve tried Athena, Sweet Juicy, Canary, something called Chair Orang (maybe), plus the usual Cantaloupe, Honeydew, and Watermelon. This week I picked up one of these:
A Santa Claus Melon. The skin reminds me of a pickle. Luckily the insides don’t. It is much tastier on the inside. This football shaped fruit was green on the inside.
The rind nearly blended into the color of the flesh but a sharp knife would follow along it to separate the goodness from the tough. It’s texture is reminiscent of a soft watermelon. Slightly chewy but medium firm. In flavor, a honeydew but less sweetness and stronger flavor. This is one tasty melon. I found out that these melons also can last quite a long time in their uncut state. Up to six weeks longer than other varieties. Break away from the cantaloupe and bring christmas home early, get yourself a Santa Melon.
-FinnKidd
My cousin and her fiance successfully became husband and wife on Saturday. Getting married is the ceremonious part of the day. They are often filled with lots of meaning that many of the wedding goers may not understand but they are meaningful to those who count, the bride and groom. So some dislike going to weddings because of the time, not understanding, or not really caring about what goes on in the ceremony. There is a reason most wedding crashers don’t show up until the reception.
Well, for some it is the free beer. But if I were to wedding crash it would be for the food and the dance party. Since many weddings do follow a similar coarse during the ceremony it is hard to remember details about it. When people think of weddings they are thinking about the food and the dancing. Was it a good meal? Was there free beer and wine? A host bar? Was the DJ horrible or did they get the dance floor packed all night?
I will remember Steve and Alison’s wedding because I enjoyed my meal and the DJ was fair at picking songs.
First when we arrived at the reception there was a cocktail hour. They were offering free wine and Michelob Golden. I’ve gotten used to drinking Mich Golden at weddings so that is what I chose. My wife stuck to the ice water all night like a good pregnant lady should. Mel and I spent most of the hour away from the crowds around one of those standing height tables. We later joined in with my Mom and Grandma. I spoke with one of my grandma’s oldest friends. I mentioned to him that he built our current spice cabinet. I told him he did a good job.
When the doors to dinner finally opened we were presented with these.
They were quite good. A server added some basil vinaigrette dressing as we sat down. Eatable flowers are always a nice touch. This salad had great textures and flavors. I ate every bit of it, including my tomatoes (I don’t even like raw tomatoes). My father couldn’t make it down, I should have taken his salad before the server picked it up. I would have eaten it for sure.
The rest of the meal was delicious too but I thought I would just pick one of the dishes for here. Alison & Steve succeeded in throwing a great reception. Everyone was having a great time. The dance floor always had at least 10 people on it. They did get 4 wedding crashers that were sent away pretty fast by guests. The dance finished with a memorable crowd dance to Piano Man. During which everyone got into a giant circle swaying back and forth while singing along. Eventually Steve and Alison moved to the center to finish out the dance. Very sweet.
Piano Man along with Brown Eyed Girl, Don’t Stop Believing and Sweet Caroline should be played at every wedding to ensure success. At least they’re my favorites.
Congratulations to Stephen and Alison Brown on your Marriage. Thank you so much for inviting us to your special day. The food was fantastic.
-FinnKidd
This evening I went to the groom’s dinner for my Cousin and her fiance. It was quite hot out this evening. So I say hi to my grandma and aunt and then head out over to talk with my Cousin Jason. At this moment I start noticing little details around the coolers. No one seems to have labels on their beers. The beer in the cooler just have colored caps. Above the cooler is a sign reading along the lines of; The green caps need more time to carbonate if you don’t like it you can grab a bud light. Before my cousin could say it, I said to him, “You starting homebrewing.”
“Yes.” He said. He had been thinking about doing it for a while. Then he went to my wedding the previous summer and he tasted all of my homebrews. At that point he decided that he would wait no longer. He started in October and these three beers were what he presented to the party. He was proud of his Scotch ale, giving it the best recommendation. It was definitely the best of the three. The other two were good but could use some fine tuning. That is fine. No brewer makes an excellent beer the first try. Although I long for my first batch the most some evenings. It could be nostalgia or undefined palate.
I guess that I am honored to be the one to finally push someone into homebrewing. I can blame or thank my roommate Uttie. He had the original idea. I just pulled the trigger.
Thanks for the reading. And congrats to my cousin Alison and Steve on getting married today. -FinnKidd
Doing a sparge on an oatmeal Stout for the wedding
