We were up on the North Shore again last week and even though it rained a majority of the time I still really enjoyed myself. I didn’t mind the light mist while walking through the woods of the Superior National Forest at all actually. In fact, it kind of added to that almost mystical-feeling element that I can only describe as “Lord of the Rings-esque” one might feel while hiking on such lush, mountainous , lake-scented terrain. I wouldn’t have minded getting a nice sunrise photo out of the deal, but came close enough on our last day.

I still want to live in this area someday but my husband says we need to visit the area in the winter first before even really discussing it further. I don’t think I would mind the cold too much. It is 97 degrees here today in the Twin Cities and when I looked on the map to check Grand Marais it said it was only to reach 68 degrees. I’d be fine with that in the summer. In the winter it just gives me an excuse to do more sewing, crafting, reading and baking. All of my favorite things anyway.

I was lucky enough to catch the lupines in full bloom. I just love these ethereal flowers and they were scattered all along the roadside on our drive up between Duluth and Lutsen. These were shot on the grounds of Lutsen Resort, where we stayed in a log cabin. The resort was great, I will definitely go back.

This gigantic poppy was also on the grounds there:

Probably one of the most fun things to do was also one of the most simple: Sit and watch the waves!

The overcast also made it ideal for shooting waterfalls:

We were able to find many locations of “hidden away” waterfalls by borrowing this book from my mom: Gentle Hikes: Minnesota’s Most Scenic North Shore Hikes Under 3 Miles since we had the kids with us we weren’t able to do any “serious” hiking but that’s okay- even the gentle hikes were more than we bargained for and my brother actually fell a few times LOL but he’s tall and lanky and I’m sure the fact that he was usually carrying two cameras and a tripod didn’t help him with his balance at all.

Visiting Grand Marais was definitely a highlight of the trip. It’s a somewhat spendy little town for trinkets but stick to the Ben Franklin (which actually sells Carhartt and Uggs) and The World’s Best Donuts (they are) and you’ll do just fine. Sven and Ole’s Pizza was spendy too but worth it. The highlight for food in Grand Marais however was the Angry Trout Cafe. I don’t normally eat a lot of fish but something about being on that big lake was making me crave fish n’ chips so I ordered it at the Angry Trout. It’s sustainable, organic, incredibly delicious and they use wind-powered electricity. Our table of 5 all agreed it was some of the best food any of us have eaten and my husband was really happy with his maple vanilla soda. Embarrassingly enough my brother ordered a Pepsi when we sat down but the server was so kind in explaining they make their own organic soda on-site and wasn’t the least bit condescending like some of the servers at places like that can be. Big fat tip for him! Also, the picture at the top of this post is the Angry Trout’s delivery bike.

I could barely finish my giant pieces of perfectly fried cod or waffle “chips” but packing it up to go wasn’t an option as we had more exploring to do. Next stop was Cutface Creek Wayside Park for a little rock hunting. with a name like that, who can resist stopping?

The amount of rocks on these shores is amazing. Some people collect them, some people just look at them, and some people stack them:

This is a very small scale example, there are much larger ones you can see on the sides of the road from your car.

We also really enjoyed going to this kinda dive of a place on the Canadian Border called Ryden’s. Pick up whatever trinkets you need up there and exchange some money for the kiddies. The staff there were really nice  and friendly too, especially the man I asked about The Witch Tree. A tree that grows out of bare rock is just amazing to me and you see a lot of that on the North Shore- scenes that seems to defy nature.

On our way back down the shore to Lutsen, I stopped in the middle of the road (traffic is very sparse up there) for this shot of a fox running down the side of the highway of all places. From a distance we weren’t exactly sure what it was.

Back to the cabin for toasting marshmallows and sitting by the fire:

Of course on the day we left the sun was out and it was pretty as can be for the boats to come out.

But really, on the North Shore it can be sunny, overcast, rainy or downright blizzard-like, it’s still always beautiful here.

The Arboretum was free for its last Thursday of the cold season so we decided to take advantage of that and get out of the house for a bit. The temperature was about 49 degrees and actually felt pretty nice as we walked around the grounds. We started out indoors though and hit up my favorite room, the conservatory, first. These pictures were taken there:

And these were found outside. . . The first bit of natural “vibrant” color I have seen since the leaves changed colors last fall:

Inside there was a great collection of seed catalog cover art. A treasure trove of historical art any creative person would enjoy stumbling upon. Here is a great piece:

The rest of the images were taken while wandering the grounds outside like this creepy sculpture:

These Honey Crisp Apple trees are protected by little packages of Irish Spring soap. Apparently deer are like me and don’t like anything that smells too strong.

The kids and I were trying to figure out why there were a bunch of blue bags nailed to a bunch of trees. Then we came upon this sign:

These kids were all actually from our hometown of Hutchinson (45 miles down the road). They are learning how maple syrup is made:

Andrew had to make another trip into the twig house:

One of the best things about having kids is getting to experience all the holidays as a child again. I used to love Valentine’s Day. Packing up a little card and treat for all your classmates, maybe slipping an extra few hearts to the one you REALLY wanted to be your Valentine. Opening yours up to see if they did the same. . .

I was really pleased when Andrew came home from school with a note from the teacher requesting that kids try to make their own Valentine’s for their classmates. He has been working on this project for about two weeks now and out of 18 he still has 9 to go. But it’s been keeping him busy and he’s learning how to write.

We also decided that instead of putting candy in each envelope, we would make each kid a sugar cookie decorated with their name. Andrew really enjoyed baking them as usual, but more so knowing that he would get to pass out his hard work to each of his friends.

We went to our local scrapbook store and bought some pretty paper. Luckily we already had a heart-shaped paper puncher. That was Andrew’s favorite part.

I also made a few of my own to pop in the mail next week.

My kids made gingerbread cookies with their grandmother today. It was a pretty big production.

The kitchen got a little messy.

But the kids didn’t get too crabby.

Chloe just had to roll out her own dough.

I will cherish these pictures for years to come.

We let Andrew decorate the burnt ones. He didn’t mind.

I tried frosting mine to look like Hermey- the dentist elf from Rudolph. I didn’t do too bad from memory, but his bangs are actually supposed to flip the other way. . .

Here’s a collection of them:

Gingerbread Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 Tablespoon ground ginger

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

4 cups flour

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add molasses. Add dry ingredients. I added about a tablespoon of water as well so that the dough was easier to manage.  Form into 2 discs and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill for at least 2 hours. Bake cookies for 8 minutes at 375°

I used royal icing to frost- 2 lbs powdered sugar, 2 TB meringue powder and 6-10 TB water.

I’m not sure how many cities have a parade in the middle of winter, but Minneapolis does!

Andrew was very excited to go downtown and watch the Holidazzle parade which runs for several days in November and December.

Look at those Minnesota kids lining up to see the parade!

This was our view from the skyway before the parade started.

And an anxious kid waiting around for the parade to start. But once it started he insisted we go outside and watch it from the street!

So here he is in 15 degree weather and snow coming down all around us. You’d think we were crazy. But it was actually a lot of fun.

Andrew’s favorite were the Twinklebus and the pirate ship.

We stayed at the Westin which, like many downtown hotels, are connected to everything via skyway.

This was the view from the 8th floor. The kids had just as much fun looking out the window as they did anything else.

And here’s proof for later that my kids had a pretty comfortable life despite what they might say later as teenagers . . .

Pizza Vesuvio With the Works (Recipe from Food & Wine)

I can honestly say that the recipes in Food & Wine are the most useful recipes of any food magazine I subscribe to. Every month I choose one recipe from my most recent issue to blog about. This month I chose this, Pizza Vesuvio With the Works from Francis Ford Coppola’s restaurant Rustic. The picture in Food & Wine is gorgeous– when I saw it I knew I had to make this pizza. It really is a brilliant idea to fold over a portion of the pizza and make it into a calzone. How many people can never decide between pizza or calzone? This way, one can enjoy the best of both worlds! The flavor combination is delicious and the flavors are still on my tongue hours after eating a slice for lunch. I really loved this pizza. The dots of ricotta are what really make it.

Yum!

I used a new pizza crust recipe to make this pizza. In the past I’ve used Tyler Florence’s recipe which is good for a quick crust, but the extra time I put into this new crust is well-worth the result and will be my new go-to crust even though it will take much longer to prepare. I will have to decide the day before if I want pizza instead of that afternoon. The pizza crust recipe I used comes from a great new book called Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes.

Yummy Toppings

I think there is something special about a family getting together to make pizza once a week. The dough can be prepped in advance, the kiddies can add their own toppings. It’s more of a family event when everyone can participate (not to mention healthier) rather than one person picking up the phone. We used to order pizza a lot. But since learning to make our own, the stuff from the chains just tastes terrible! We are spoiled with gourmet homemade “za’s” as we call them. I usually let my 4-year-old pick out his toppings from the salad bar at the grocery store. Although he likes to choose the bacon a lot, he does often lean toward red bell pepper which is a great “bang for your buck” veggie. I can’t complain.

A Slice of Each- Pizza and Calzone

This recipe is perfect for those of you that have family traveling to your home next week for Thanksgiving. A lot of people probably order something in or go out the night before Thanksgiving but I can’t think of a better way to make real family memories than a crowd of 10 people all topping their own pizza creations.

Olives

I don’t really eat or like olives by themselves, but on a pizza they just add that extra taste of authenticity. They go perfect with the other toppings on this pizza– artichokes, salami, ham, mushrooms and ricotta. Even if you think you don’t like the texture of something, I encourage you to put them on the pizza anyway, bake it and then pull them off. Some of the flavor will still get baked into the pizza.

You will want to put your dough into a circle or rectangle shape then make sure your calzone toppings are neatly stacked a few inches from the edge of the crust. Then fold it over and put the rest of the toppings on the pizza. The marinara can go on top of the calzone as well.

Make this in the next week! You won’t be disappointed.

Pizza Vesuvio with the Works

By Francis Ford Coppola

Recipe Courtesy Food & Wine Magazine

Lemon Curd is one of my favorite treats. You can use it for a lot of different things but it’s probably most often used to make tarts. A lot of people probably associate Lemon Curd with the summer, which is why I actually like to make it during the more drearier time of year for a little bit of canned sunshine right in my kitchen.

The recipe I used came from the Ball Blue Book.

You can see a beautiful lemon tart right on the front cover of the Ball Blue Book. Now, why would I  be getting out my canning book at the beginning of winter? We’ve already had our first frost so there is nothing in the garden to can, but I still enjoy canning in the winter to make homemade gifts for people, to warm the house, stock up the pantry, etc. The garden might be dead, but I can still make plenty of things (lemon curd is not one of them— you freeze that) like apple pie filling for gifts, blueberry syrup, red pepper jelly, barbecue sauce, etc. The time to start making gifts is now!

Some recipes from the Ball Blue Book I’d like to can for homemade gifts:

• Cinnamon Anise Jelly
• Cranberry Cider Jelly
• Tangerine Jelly
• Spiced Honey
• Pomegranate Sauce
• Red Onion Marmalade
• Ambrosia Conserve
• Apple Butter

Here is what I ended up doing with my Lemon Curd:

This would be an easy treat to serve at a brunch. It’s just strawberry Jello pudding, vanilla yogurt and the lemon curd layered topped with silvered almonds and a raspberry. I layered them in juice glasses and served with a long tea-spoon.

I’m hoping to start on my gift jars soon. They will be given out along with boxes of homemade candy and cookies during the holidays. A lot of the canning equipment can be found rather inexpensively now since it is considered the “end of the season” for canning. This is a good starter package:

Ball Home Canning Discovery Kit

The Lemon Curd recipe is in the Ball Blue Book under the section for “freezer spreads”. You wouldn’t be able to put this in a gift basket since it needs to be refrigerated, but it would make a nice “canned” homemade gift for a neighbor. Just tell them to keep it in their refrigerator if they will be using it or to freeze it if they will not be using it soon. I gave a jar to my mom today for watching my kids. She was thankful for the homemade gift. To her, it means more than money. Remember, it’s the thought that counts and during gift-giving season some thoughts are better than others!

Depending on how lemony you want the lemon curd, or how healthy (or not healthy), you can try different recipes. The one in the Ball Blue Book is very tart. It’s good and a little healthier than other versions. It calls for more lemon and less sugar. Alton Brown’s is more sugar, less lemon and twice as much butter! Here is what he recommends:

• 5 egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 lemons, zested and juiced
• 1 stick butter, cut into pats and chilled

Here is what the Ball Blue Book calls for:

• 6 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• grated peel of one lemon
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 stick butter, cut into pats and chilled

Directions

I think Halloween is the best holiday for crafting. The colors are vibrant, the options are endless, you can make things spooky or cute, etc. I saw these enamel painted pumpkin jars in the Martha Stewart special Halloween magazine and wanted to make them immediately. I also found that they are featured here on the cover of this DVD if you wanted to see how perfect hers turned out:
The Martha Stewart Holiday Collection – Martha’s Halloween Ideas

Mine didn’t turn out too bad, although I see now I should have used a thinner coat of paint on top of my stencil for the “faces”. Oh well, I’ll just call it “rustic” which is what I do whenever something doesn’t turn out perfect.

Andrew filled his up with candy and then waited out on the deck to surprise Grandpa and Grandma when they stopped by.

They are fairly easy to make. You coat the inside of a jar with enamel paint. Make a stencil for the outside and paint on a “face”. Use metal wire to fancy a handle. Fill with candy but I recommend wrapped candy.

We also filled a jar partially full with black sand and stuck our ghost sucker pops in them. Andrew and I cut white felt into ghost shapes, drew a face on the front and attached a black strip of ribbon to the back with Elmer’s glue to hold the sucker.

I also made some mini brownies with chopped Ghiradelli caramel chocolate pieces, piped a little peanut butter frosting on the top and stuck a candy corn to the top.

All in all, they made for a nice Halloween display which I of course forgot to get a snapshot of!

Halloween is fast approaching and I feel as though I am hardly ready. We’ve got the kids’ costumes, candy bought, pumpkins purchased. It seems like last year we were working on decorations the entire month of October. But we haven’t done any crafts or decorated at all this year- we’ve been so incredibly busy.

I experimented with some sandwich cookies this morning. They were tricky! My intention was to make a knock-off Oreo with a peanut butter frosting but I had some problems getting the dough to firm up like I wanted and I had to act fast.

I think they turned out okay but not sure if they are worth the effort. The recipe only allowed for rolling and cutting the dough twice, and I was only able to make less than 20 small cookies. I took them to class so that I wouldn’t eat any. My husband will feel left out for about a second. . . then he’ll get over it when he sees what I am making him tomorrow.

Here is the recipe I used for the homemade Oreo-like cookies (I substituted the cream filling for peanut butter frosting). As mentioned earlier, the recipe was fairly difficult. It would make a great Daring Bakers’ challenge!

On another note. . . the peanut butter candies shown above— I broke down and bought a bag mainly because I enjoy the retro-wax-paper-Halloween-candy look but in a moment of weakness I ate one. Why did I hate these things so much as a kid? They actually taste pretty good. If there were a molasses version I would buy them in bulk . . .

We traveled to Fargo this weekend to visit a friend. I was excited to see the town because I have never been to North Dakota before. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but what I saw I didn’t expect! Fargo was okay, but the sprawl. . . the sprawl that is urban and becomes suburban is frustrating. I know a lot of towns are structured this way and I can’t single out Fargo, but the city is a good example of what drives me nuts about city planning.

A misconception I had about Fargo was that the people there sound like the people in the movie of the same name. But while visiting I didn’t hear anyone that sounded like the people who live in rural areas near my hometown here in Minnesota. The area around Fargo actually reminded me a lot of where I grew up in Nebraska which would make sense because looking at a map now I see Fargo is a straight shot, 7.5 hours north. Another 4 hours and you would be in Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada.

One thing is apparent in Fargo- people like to drink. We passed many, many drunk adults involved in an afternoon pub crawl. I suppose people were wondering what we were thinking bringing our kids downtown on a Saturday afternoon in October of all times. Our friend commented, “It’s Octoberfest, what do you expect?”

There were several “interesting” wardrobe ensembles worn by the locals. My head turned more than a few times. We saw go-go boots, fishnets, zebra prints, purple leggings, etc. and not just worn by the younger people or people of color but by 50-something year old white women as well.

The downtown is pretty urban. In Minneapolis you get hit up for change quite frequently depending on the day and it’s no different in Fargo. My husband got hit up but we weren’t sure exactly for what. Seemed like the very drunk young man only wanted a fight. He kept calling my husband “Joe” and taunted him for walking away. I was just hoping my son didn’t have to witness my husbands teeth being removed from his mouth while on “vacation”. Family friendly vacation spot? Maybe during a time that is not Octoberfest but I probably won’t be going back to find out otherwise.