Wisconsin Travelers' Delights

Last weekend we drove through Wisconsin to get to Minneapolis. We were out of honey and made plans to stop near Janesville to pick up a new supply at Orlovsky Apiaries. When we called ahead to place our order, we were told that the bees had not had a good year, so we were going to be limited to 3 gallons. Rats.

I did some research on the Wisconsin Honey Producers Assn. site to see who was close to the Interstate AND had an e-mail address. The first one to get back to me was a guy in Tomah, home of the Warrens Cranberry Fest each September, who has hives in the cranberry bogs around there, so - cranberry honey! It's very thick and a little darker than other honeys. He told us it's as sweet as any other honey, but has a slight "tang" (I can't tell, so far). A third of our new supply is gone now, as we gave away some to relatives. My mother wants some, too, but she'll have to be content with a 2 oz sample that will pass airline security.

In Tomah, we got an additional 20 lbs. of the cranberry honey, 2 cheap bags of fresh cranberries, and a big pumpkin for Halloween carving. Lastly, we stopped at our all-time favorite Wisconsin eatery, Norske Nook, where the pies are huge and the crusts taste like homemade. We have been stopping there for years, and this time we got a banana cream (no refrigeration needed in October!) and a peach praline to go with a stuffed shells dinner with family in Coon Rapids that night. Excellent!

We always buy the pies in the metal pie pans which require a $7 deposit. With an accumulation of a stamp on their business card for each pie you buy, you get a freebie with 7 stamps. Two pie pans to return, plus the 7 stamps, means we got 2 more pies for practically nothing - yay!

How to Peel a Banana

I have always peeled bananas by pulling off the "handle" at the stem end. Imagine my surprise when I found out there's a better way! I was idly browsing through Xtreme English when I came across the odd link, Hilarious, on her 10/20/09 post. I don't know what Xtreme English found that was hilarious there, but I did find a YouTube of the correct way to peel a banana (monkey style). When I checked back there today, I couldn't find it again, but it's easy to find stuff on YouTube, luckily.

I happened to have some bananas at home and found out that this actually works very well - IF the bananas are not too soft. After that, the end doesn't squish so readily. I did a quick survey of the people at work the next day and found out that hardly anyone knows how to do it this way. Who knew? Thanks, Xtreme English and Belgian Waffle!

I Am Introduced to J.A. Jance

J.A. Jance, prolific mystery writer, is coming to my library in December. She's been writing mysteries for more than 20 years, but I haven't read any of them yet. Starting with a series about J.P. Beaumont, a recovering alcoholic and retired Seattle detective, she then went on to write another series about Joanna Brady, single mother and rural Arizona sheriff. My office partner is one of her fans and was excited to find out that Jance has combined these two series by putting Brady and Beaumont in the same book. And she has started a third series about Ali Reynolds, an over-the-hill tv newscaster with a marriage on the rocks who goes back to her small Arizona hometown to figure out what to do next, blogging all the way.

I've set myself a project to read at least the first book in each series before that author shows up here. Only the first book for the Ali Reynolds' series was available at the time, so I'm starting with that one. Now that I've spent a little time in urban Arizona, it will be fun to read about the rural part.

Julia Child on Film, in Books, at the Stove

I was a fan of the old Julia Child TV cooking series, so I couldn't wait to see the film, Julie & Julia, with Meryl Streep reincarnating Julia. I loved the movie, but agreed with the critics that too much time was given to Julie the blogger, and not enough to Julia.

I got my hands on Julia's account of her introduction to France and French cooking, My Life in France. which fills in the holes in the story: how Julia fell in love with French people (contrary to most Americans' view of the French as unfriendly snobs), how she became friends with the young maid who came with her first Parisian apartment - after seeing the maid burst into tears when Julia tried to sit her down to talk to her in mangled French about how to do things "right" (i.e., Julia's way), how she began to amass a huge collection of French cooking tools, etc.

As soon as I finish that book, my next project is to simplify Julie's project. I'm going to find the simplest and easiest recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which has never gone out of print and went back on the NY Times bestseller list! After I find the recipe, I will cook it. I'm betting it will have something to do with eggs. Stay tuned.

One Alpine Strawberry - At Last!

The tiny dot of ruby red at the bottom of this strawberry plant is the first of what I hope will be lots of Alpine strawberries. Unfortunately, it is September 17 today, so the odds are against it. At any rate, I am so happy to see that the plants, which were a gift from my dear aunt, are doing what they're supposed to. On to next season when I will stop ripping out all the runners they send out almost daily.

Charles Dickens: Love the Writer, not the Man

Just finished a very interesting new novel, Girl in a Blue Dress, based on the marriage of Charles Dickens and Catherine Hogarth. Afterwards, I had to go look up the "facts" about it. Here's an example.

I am one of the legion of fans of Dickens, the author, but after hearing about how he treated his wife, I find it hard to understand how he could be so empathetic to so many unfortunates in his novels and in real life - except in his own family. There seems to be a streak of hardness in his character that has forever changed the way I think of him. Sigh.

Squirrels Love to Waste Tomatoes

Here is the lineup of tomatoes I'm saving from the squirrels. As you can see, a few have been molested, but I'm trying to save them. The one under the plastic bowl is in intensive care, due to fruit flies attacking the bite marks. The one just beyond that also has bite marks, but they've closed over. These will be ok for cooking, if they can get ripe before they get rotten!

It so maddening to find a good tomato on the ground in my garden with just one bite taken! The squirrels have been terrible about that this year. For every two good tomatoes, the squirrels have had their way with one. I'm feeling murderous.