Family
Ciderhouse Whiskey
Alright, here is the first of the recipes and of course I start with booze! This recipe I found on Saveur’s website. I thought it sounded amazing and it was! How can you go wrong with bourbon and cider? I make a similar version that involves bourbon, cider, and sparkling wine — very festive. Anyhoo, here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 oz. bourbon
- 1 oz. cider syrup
- strip of lemon zest
- ice
Combine bourbon and cider syrup over ice and stir. Twist the lemon zest to release the lemon oil and drop into the drink. Stir again and serve!
Notes — Cider syrup is essentially some cider that has been really boiled down. I started out with about 6 – 7 cups of cider and boiled it down to about a cup or a cup and a half. It maybe filled the syrup dispenser shown in the pics to about 80%. According to the recipe, you’ll need to boil it down gently for about 2 hours; mine took about 3. . . The bourbon that I used is from the Grand Traverse Distillery in Traverse City. I had gone up there for a vacation just before the summer tourist season started. I was absolutely floored by it! This was one of the places that I had definitely wanted to visit while up north and I was not disappointed. They only make some small batches and they only had a few bottles left when I was there. Luckily I had picked up a bottle for me and one as a gift. What’s nice is that they do their very best to use locally produced grains to make their spirits. I believe that everything is Michigan made, except for the bourbon — I think they need to get the barley from out-of-state. If I remember correctly, it is 70% corn, 20% rye, and 10% barley. I was familiar with their high quality vodkas and now they are working on making a gin and rum as well. I can’t wait to go back and see what else they’ve got and luckily they are building a tasting room in Novi, MI so I won’t have to drive up to Traverse City to get myself a taste!. . .
Pumpkin Carving 2013
Hey everybody! Happy Halloween! I just had my annual Pumpkin Carving this past weekend. Sure it was cold and it did rain a little bit, but I think everyone had fun. We even did it up a little bit and put some bales of hay around the fire pit so folks could carve and still stay warm. And we did have a fire extinguisher on hand because having a bunch of dry straw next to an open flame isn’t exactly the safest thing to do.
Folks brought some stuff to share like a nice rice salad and a yummy warm spinach dip. We provided the pumpkins and made a big batch of chili. I baked a whole bunch of stuff as well:
Gluten Free Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Pepita Lavender Brittle
Savory Pumpkin Rugelach
Ciderhouse Whiskey (Saveur)
I also made a Harvest Spread, but that was from a mix (I know). I’ll get the recipes up as soon as I can. Well, maybe not the Brittle recipe because I have done a Lavender Pepita Croquant before and the recipe is very similar. On a weird side note, apparently I am the country’s leading expert on Pepita Croquant. I did a Google search to do some research and there I was — I took up the top three spots. Weird and unexpected, but still kewl. Anyhoo, keep an eye out for the recipes and be safe during the holiday!
New look and fun with the Beekmans!
Hey everybody! Sure it’s been awhile since I’ve here, but it’s another injury-filled couple of weeks for me. Maybe I should actually rest instead of still playing volleyball for once. Humbug on that! Anyhoo, I just have a couple of announcements.
First of all, Jereme’s Kitchen has a whole new look! It took me awhile to decide on one and I will probably be tweaking it over the next few weeks. Of course, I could just change it altogether. I’d appreciate any feedback and thoughts!
Secondly, I got a chance to spend the afternoon with the Fabulous Beekman Boys earlier this month! And this time they were both here (well, not here exactly, but close enough in Lansing, MI)! If y’all remember, I was able to attend a reading by Josh Kilmer-Purcell back in April of 2011 when he came back for a visit of his old alma mater (Go Spartans!). This go around, he came back and he brought his partner Brent Ridge MD with him! The focus for this talk and book signing was for their new Heirloom Dessert Cookbook. The recipes they have assembled are a collection of time-honored gems that have been a part of their own family traditions and histories. Like the previous cookbook, they do leave a space for you personalize the recipes with your own special twist or just leave some notes on what to do. There is also a space for you to add any family recipes and include it in this heirloom collection. It’s a nice touch that other cookbooks don’t offer! And one lucky Jereme’s Kitchen reader might just get their own signed copy to cherish (hint, hint — stay tuned)
At the book signing, Brent had told me about a blog project that the Boys and Kenn the Biscuit Guy were planning. So I got to talking with Kenn the Biscuit Guy (there is a very entertaining story about how his name came about, and it involves Martha Stewart!) and he gave me some of the details about it. The blog is called Bake Like a Beekman over at Blogspot. What is so great about this is that they will look at one of the recipes in the book, participants will then attempt to create them, and then everyone gets to share their experiences with the recipe. You can talk about any changes you made, serving suggestions, concerns that you may have, or just share your results.
Now the project did already start this past Sunday, with the first recipe being the Walnut Cake. There are already some results from the participants posted. A new recipe will be selected every Sunday, and there will be a deadline for submissions. That way we can all learn everything we can from each other and then all move on to the next recipe! I think it’s a wonderful project — it’s like we all are taking an online class together. I look forward to participating and I encourage y’all to join in too! If you do decide to partake, tell Ken-with-two-“N”s that Jeremy-with-an-“E” sent ya!
Friday Foodie Funnies, ep. 3
Bonus post! Aren’t you excited? And you thought Friday the 13th is bad luck! Just saw this yesterday on the blog by Amy Blandes and just had to share. This is my favorite time of year. Check out this post from a couple of weeks ago which helps explain why. It just makes me think of cozying up with friends and family with a lot of food and booze. And it’s good to celebrate with your peeps!
But it’s not just the time for pumpkin this and pumpkin that. There’s pumpkin-pie-spice-flavored everything, too. Like those M&Ms that I’ve never seen before. Oh well, Happy Friday!
And don’t forget to follow me on Facebook here and here! Or don’t. But it will make me sad if you don’t.
Fall is almost here!
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love everything about it — the smells, the cooler days, the crisper nights, the colors, the pies, Halloween, Thanksgiving, volleyball and football start up again — what’s not to love? Alright, I admit there is one thing I don’t like — cleaning up all those damn leaves on my property. I own about an acre of land with maybe 20 giant oak trees. So the leaves can pile up and pile up quickly. And unlike in some neighboring cities, I can’t just push my leaves into the road, so I either have to do it myself or hire someone else to do it. But that’s a whole other issue. . .
Anyhoo, I saw this the other day on Facebook and wanted to share. This appeared on my feed from the magazine Midwest Living. This sums up everything that is awesome about Fall and I wanted to share it with y’all. What do y’all like about Autumn? Just let me know — either here or on Facebook! I gots a recipe for some Gluten-Free Rocky Road Brownies coming up later this week, and hopefully some other fun stuff.
Stay tuned!
Watermelon Punch
It’s August and Summer is in full swing here in Michigan. Actually, with the weather we’ve been having here the past few weeks, it feels like Fall. Not that I mind the cooler temperatures; I’m just hope the mild summer is not going to translate into a brutal winter. But enough about that — nothing says summer quite like a nice boozy watermelon punch.
I did just have my summer shindig recently and made this again. I usually have 4 big get-togethers each year when I invite my close friends (actually I consider these guys to be family) and treat them to some free food and booze. Sure this explanation is a little simplistic, but y’all don’t need to get into my big bag of crazy when it comes to planning and prep. I actually don’t remember what else I made, other than stuff on the grill. But I did remember this! Making this concoction this time seemed a lot easier, but last time I was face down in my backyard all afternoon so who knows what my recollection can actually count for. And, of course, I could not find my old recipe no matter how much I looked around for it. So this is a whole new deal.
Now I really like this recipe. I didn’t think it was overly sweet and you could still pick up on all the ingredients. And if you are like me, you may just have a couple of portions of mint syrup just hanging out in the freezer for emergencies.
I did hollow out the watermelon and use it as a serving utensil, which is completely optional. I like the presentation. If you were interested in serving it this way but don’t know where to get a spigot like this, you could check out your local brewer’s supply shop. Here’s what you’ll need:
- 1 watermelon (medium-sized, I guess. Use the pictures as a reference)
- 1/2 – 1 c. vodka
- 1 c. cachaça
- 1 1/2 c. rum (I used a dark 8-year-old rum)
- 4 oz. Midori
- 6 limes, juiced
- 2 c. mint syrup
1. Take your watermelon and see if it’s able to stand on its end. If not, just cut off a small slice to level it off, making sure not to expose any of the inner flesh.
2. Cut off the top couple of inches of the watermelon to expose some of the red flesh inside (wow that sounds a little macabre). Using an ice cream scoop, start scooping out the fruit (berry?) and place it in a food processor. Pulse it in batches until smooth and run the purée through a fine sieve set over a large bowl.
3. In a large pitcher or jug, combine the vodka, cachaça, rum, Midori, lime juice, and mint syrup. Stir to blend.
4. Add the strained watermelon juice and stir to combine. You can refrigerate this overnight, just be sure to mix it before hand.
5. Pour yourself a little happy. Add some ice if you like!
Notes — you may want to run the watermelon through a very fine sieve. you could just line a sieve with some paper towel, but that sounds like a long process. . . if you cut off too much on the bottom to level the watermelon, it’s not the end of the world. just be sure not to hollow out the watermelon too much or you will have a boozy, leaky mess on your hands. . . also, be careful not to take out too much of the pulp (is that the right term?). if you are overzealous with your scraping, the hollowed out shell might crack and there’s another boozy, leaky mess. . .
Slow’s BBQ and the North American International Auto Show
I was hoping to post this sooner, but I was having some problems with editing. For whatever reason none of my revisions were saved and I was trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. Eventually I figured it out so I apologize for being behind on posts. But I digress. . . On to my story. . .
I am a car nut. Not a gear head, mind you, because I can barely change a tire. I can do stuff like switch out headlamps, but adding some forced induction to boost performance is way, way, way over my head. I just love driving them (one of my favorite pastimes [I think that’s spelled wrong] is going out for test drives of new cars). I like seeing what’s new and improved, seeing what sexy concepts are coming, and following all the latest automotive news. And one of the great things about living in SE Michigan is that the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) is held every January right in downtown Detroit. Luckily I got a chance to go on the last day of the 2012 show on Sunday, January 22nd. Now if you love cars, this is one of the best shows in the country, if not THE best. Over the past couple of years, the NAIAS saw a drop which coincided with the economic downturn. Automotive companies withdrew from the show, major debuts and premieres were shifted to places like Chicago, New York, or Geneva, and attendance dropped. But from the looks of everything, the show has come back in a big way.
Another great thing about SE Michigan is Slow’s BBQ. For the past couple of years, our new tradition has been to go to the auto show and afterwards head on down to Slow’s for some beers and a meal of barbecued deliciousness. Slow’s has generated a big name for itself not just among locals, but across the country. There was even a nice article in the New York Times about how Slow’s is helping to revitalize downtown Detroit.
So let’s get down to business. . . after hanging out at the auto show for a few hours, we got in around lunchtime (like around 1:00), so it was packed with an hour wait (the crowd does thin out around 3:00 so that could be a good time to go). You could try and get a seat at the bar, but I wanted a table and didn’t mind the wait. Besides, it gave me a chance to look over all the pics from the auto show. Plus, I get a chance to figure out what beers I want to try — they have about 60 bottles and 20 beers on tap.
We started out with the Fried Catfish Appetizer and a couple of beers — specifically Bell’s Hopslam and Short’s Sour Puss. These are two of my favorite breweries and if you come across either of these two I definitely suggest you try them. The Hopslam is hoppy, and bright, and has strong flavor of grapefruit (especially on the aftertaste). This is another one of the Bell’s beers that has a cult-like following, especially since it’s available for only about one month out of the year. It is a lot stronger than your average ale, with a 10% alcohol rating. Now, as for the Sour Puss, I was not familiar with it and I couldn’t find any info about it at all on their website. So I had to drop the brewery a line; I haven’t heard back from Short’s so your guess is as good as mine. But I will be scouring stores in my area to see if I can get my hands on some. No surprise, but there is a very strong sour flavor and it was unlike anything I’ve ever tried before. It was layered and complex, but I have no frame of reference for me to compare. I just know that I loved it! Unfortunately for a lot of y’all, Short’s beers are available only in Michigan, and they don’t have any plans to change that any time soon. But hey, that’s a great reason to come and visit the state and visit Short’s Pub in Bellaire, MI.
So, on to the catfish. . . these morsels were perfectly cooked and served hot with a side of remoulade. These were described as having a “tempura” batter, but that really wasn’t the case. It was a lot more substantial than you would find in a tempura, but it didn’t overpower the fish. I think that the cornmeal in the batter helped out with that.
Another round of beers. . . another Hopslam and this time I wanted to try the Firkin of Pineapple Ale. Again, I don’t know much about this one and didn’t think to ask. I’m still learning how to be a restaurant critic so I will try to remember to be more inquisitive. . . and to bring a pen and paper because using the notepad on my phone is a pain! Now I’d say that this ale is closest to an IPA but on the sweeter side. I didn’t quite catch flavors of pineapple, but I did get apple and citrus notes. Since it was served closer to room temperature, the other flavors were easier to pick up. Now this is definitely a better choice for the meal, because the Sour Puss might probably overpower the rest of the meal with its intensity.
And now for the main course. . . we got the Longhorn sandwich with a side of waffle fries and the Big Three entrée with a side of green beans and the delicious Mac and Cheese. The Longhorn is a sandwich with sliced beef brisket, onion marmalade, and shredded smoked Gouda. The Big Three is pretty much a sampler platter of their barbeque offerings — pulled pork, pulled chicken, and the brisket. Honestly, I think the brisket is the star. You can get some of the crispy charring on the outside coupled with flavors with some of the fat on the beef (the fat is where the flavor is at!). So not only do you get the layers of flavors, but also layers of texture which add a great deal to the experience. I definitely think the brisket could stand on its own without any additional sauces or additions, but of course, that didn’t stop me from trying different combinations! Don’t get me wrong — I love the pork and the chicken, but they can be a little bit on the lean side which means they are perfect vehicles for Slow’s selection of sauces.
There’s a selection of four sauces — Apple, Sweet, Spicy, and North Carolina. In my opinion, the best all-arounders would be the smokey, sweet Apple and the vinegary North Carolina. I think the Spicy works best with the pulled pork, and the Sweet goes well with the chicken. Keep in mind that there are other dishes there, like the ribs, salmon, jambalaya, even vegetarian options, so these sauces could strut their stuff with other pairings. Maybe one of these days I’ll opt for the ribs and a side of the black-eyed peas. And maybe one of these days, I’ll remember to leave room for dessert.
Slow’s BBQ is quickly becoming an Michigan culinary institution, if it isn’t one already. I think that over hour wait that you’re likely to encounter when you get here attests to that. But if you can wrangle up 5 of your friends, you can call ahead for a table because they take reservations for parties of 6 or more. I love Slow’s and I recommend you checking them out. If you’re careful, your bill doesn’t have to be exorbitant like mine tends to be. But I get here once a year, and what can I say? — I’m a sucker for great food and great beer!
Martha’s Eggnog
This is one of several “holiday menu” installments, so brace yourselves! Alright, so let’s start the holidays off right with some eggnog. The recipe that I’ve been using for the past couple of years has been adapted from Martha Stewart. Now I was looking on her website a couple of weeks ago and I really couldn’t find the right recipe. I found one for her “Classic Eggnog” but the amount of booze seemed a lot lower than I remember; even if you made a double batch it still didn’t sound right. Luckily I found one on Food.com which was a lot closer to what I remember. Of course, I changed it a little — I changed it from 1/2 c. rum to a full cup because why would you just put 1/2 c. of rum into anything?
In addition to a nice large serving bowl, here’s what you need:
- 12 eggs, separated
- 1 1/2 c. superfine sugar
- 1 quart whole milk
- 1 1/2 quarts heavy cream
- 3 c. bourbon
- 2 c. cognac
- 1 c. dark rum
- freshly grated nutmeg
1. In a very large bowl, beat the egg yolks until thick and pale yellow. Gradually add sugar to the yolks, whisking to combine. Gradually whisk in the milk and 1 qt. of the cream. Now add your bourbon, rum, and cognac, stirring constantly. You can make this base of the eggnog a day or so in advance.
2. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff (you can add a little bit of sugar if you like). Gently fold that into the mixture.
3. Whip the remaining cream to soft peaks and dollop or fold into the mixture. Sprinkle with nutmeg and serve!
Notes — There is a caution at the bottom of the recipes that I found stating that “raw eggs should not be used in food prepared for pregnant women, babies, young children, the elderly, or anyone whose health is compromised.” It’s probably a not to let pregnant women, babies, or young children to drink something this boozy!. . . supposedly this serves 24.
Holiday Menu Planning
Entertaining and menu planning may seem tricky, but the execution doesn’t have to be all that intimidating. It just takes a lot of thought and timing. You have to take into account what the dishes are, how many people are attending, and when dinner is supposed to be served (along with a whole host of other things to consider). But all this planning can be spread out over a whole month. Now I just had my “Holiday Feast” the other day and here was my schedule. The day was busy, but I still got to spend time with my guests before dinner and take part in the festivities (i.e. – drink booze).
3 weeks prior: send out invitations. Hopefully you will hear back relatively quickly about who can and cannot attend.
2 weeks prior: finalize menu. Here’s what was decided: Roasted pork shoulder, marinated turkey breast, bread pudding with mushrooms and roasted peppers, roasted fennel and carrots, rapini with fried apples, egg nog, cranberry cheesecake, holiday biscotti, and sugar plums. Now that I actually see it written out, that’s a lot of food. Even more so because it was also a potluck. I will do posts on all this stuff soon with a focus on the more holiday-ish items first.
1 week prior: finalize attendees, buy supplies and groceries. Alright so it wasn’t completely finalized and it hovered anywhere between 12 -18. It finally ended up at 13.
4 days prior: clean house, iron table linens. Now cleaning the house is a daily thing, but I did a major cleaning on this day. I ironed the napkins and prepped them so that I could fold the “birds of paradise” relatively quickly. I like this fold because it looks nice and is relatively easy to do.
3 days prior: buy fresh ingredients (fruit and vegetables), make cranberry compote. The cranberry compote could even be made the week before.
2 days prior: make cranberry cheesecake, bake biscotti. Making this now lets the cheesecake set up in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Just cover it with plastic wrap after it cools. The biscotti should stay fresh for several days.
1 day prior: blanche rapini, peel carrots, make sugar plums, assemble bread pudding. The sugar plums need some time to dry out a little before rolling in sugar. The bread pudding can sit and all the flavors can marry while sitting in the refrigerator. Plus the bread can really soak up the custard.
6 hours prior: roll the sugar plums in sugar, fold napkins, set the table. At this point, I still didn’t know how many. My best guess was 12, which was nice because everyone could sit at the table.
3 hours prior: start holiday music playlist, attend to early attendees, make beer bread, drink beer. Now we asked folks to arrive at 3:00pm with dinner to be served at 6:00. Not everyone will show at the start which is fine.
2 hours prior: attend to early attendees, roast fennel and carrots, drink wine, eat cheese. Serve appetizer dishes that guests brought.
1 hour prior: attend to attendees, bake bread pudding, make egg nog, drink egg nog. Egg nog is usually a big draw because of all the booze 🙂 I use Martha Stewart’s recipe, which has 3 c. bourbon, 2 c. cognac, and 1 c. rum.
30 minutes prior: light candles on the table, make rapini and fried apples, place fennel in oven to reheat, finalize drink orders, drink more egg nog. Everything is coming together and all your hard work and planning is paying off. Hopefully you won’t be too tipsy at this point.
I know this looks like a lot and that you’ll be in the kitchen and not enjoying anyone, but everyone always ends up in the kitchen anyway so you won’t be missing out. You won’t really be missing out if you prep everything ahead of time. Just pop into the kitchen to take out the bread and pop some veggies into the oven. Then you have an hour to play with your guests before the next thing goes into the oven.
Remembering Licorice
On this day last year, my dog Licorice passed away. She was 16 at the time and would have turned 17 in February 2011. Now if you remember a few months ago I had posted about having to put down my dog Moby in September of last year as well (and yes these were the saddest holidays I’ve ever experienced). His death was from out of the blue, whereas Licorice’s passing was something for which I had been preparing for years. Given her advanced age and some previous (and current) health scares, her death wasn’t that much of a shock. But that didn’t make it any less painful. After all, this was the longest relationship that I’ve had with another living thing aside from family.
I was living in Gainesville, Fl when I rescued her. I just fell in love with her gigantic bat ears; she later grew into those. She was black lab mix with a barrel chest, skinny legs, and pointy ears. Definitely an odd duck for a lab. But she was a sweetie, unless you tried to mess with her food. Moby learned that lesson quickly.
Towards the end, her health started to fail. There was a big scare when she was about 13 when she couldn’t move, spewed out fluid from both ends, and couldn’t eat a thing. It lasted over a week and I was at the point where if I didn’t see any improvement, I would have to really consider the worst. At the time she was on so many meds and I was up pretty much every hour administering some kind of medication. Eventually I worked out a medication schedule that also included flipping her on her opposite side, changing / washing her bedding 3 or 4 times a day, and cleaning her as best as I could. But she made it through and lasted a few more years.
The last few months of her life became more of a struggle. She wasn’t able to walk around on her own; only her front legs had any kind of strength. Also, she had started to get some skin infections and problems with discharge from her eyes. Her weight dropped and her breathing became more labored. Not the best quality of life.
But there are lots of happy memories, with birthdays being some of those memories. This is from her Sweet Sixteen. I couldn’t afford to buy her a car, but she got a cake baked with love! Thankfully Licorice, Moby, and Daisy all got a chance to take part in the celebration. This was taken from Food, Fun, and Facts. For a little added treat, I added a cream cheese frosting and some gummi bears. It was her Sweet Sixteen, after all so I thought a little extra treat was in order. Here’s what you need:
- 1 c. whole wheat flour
- 1 t. baking soda
- 1/4 c. peanut butter
- 1/4 c. cooking oil
- 1 c. shredded carrots
- 1 t. vanilla
- 1/3 c. honey
- 1 egg
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a ring mold with cooking spray.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and baking soda. In another combine the remaining ingredients. Add the flour combination and mix quickly.
3. Transfer to prepared mold and bake for 30 – 40 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before transferring to a serving plate.
Notes — serving suggestion is to frost it with some cottage cheese and top it with some carrot pieces. . . like I mentioned earlier, I frosted this one with a cream cheese frosting and topped it with some gummi bears.
