Food! Glorious Food! -- The Back from Montana Edition

Chicago Chain Kept Other Hawaiian Restaurants From Using ‘Aloha Poke’ Name
A Chicago-based poke chain sent cease-and-desist letters to other restaurants using “Aloha Poke” in their names.
By Jacey Fortin

The Freshest Ideas Are in Small Grocery Stores
As big supermarkets struggle, a new crop of local groceries are innovating to serve niche audiences and advance social causes.
By Kim Severson

What Is a Genetically Modified Crop? A European Ruling Sows Confusion
In Europe, plants created with gene-editing technologies will be stringently regulated as G.M.O.’s. But older crops whose DNA has been altered will be left alone.
By Carl Zimmer

HEADS UP
Madrid Chefs Rethink the City’s Classic Cuisine
A strong contingent of rising culinary stars has emerged in the Spanish capital, adding a needed dose of personality to Madrid’s contemporary dining scene.


Triciclo is among a fresh crop of restaurants in the Spanish capital.
By Paola Singer

WHAT TO COOK
Peak Avocado


Breakfast salad.
By Sam Sifton

FYI: But on another note, the USDA also informs us that consumption of avocados has skyrocketed since 2000, from two pounds per person to seven pounds per person. Needless to say, the explanation for this is no mystery at all: avocados are delicious and everyone should eat more of them. Why Did We All Start Eating More Vegetable Oil When George Bush Was Elected President?
KEVIN DRUM

CITY KITCHEN
Not Your Childhood Chicken Salad
Paired with a miso dressing, this take on the classic is a far cry from those cafeteria versions, plopped on plates with an ice cream scoop.


This summery dish of chicken with miso dressing makes for a delightful cold lunch or supper.
By David Tanis
Recipe: Sesame-Miso Chicken Salad

A GOOD APPETITE
A Pizza That Lets the Mozzarella Shine
A pie as you may know it, it’s not. But good things happen when torn chunks of fresh buffalo mozzarella meet roasted eggplant.


This roasted eggplant pizza is topped with chunks of buffalo mozzarella, which soften with the pie’s residual heat.
By Melissa Clark
Recipe: Roasted Eggplant and Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza

FRONT BURNER
A Mild-Mannered, but Sophisticated Midwestern Cheese
Roth Monroe is creamy, with fruity notes that would pair nicely with a glass of Sauternes.


This cheese is named after the town where it is made.
By Florence Fabricant

Meet Caulilini, a Lacy New Cauliflower
This new vegetable has stems like broccoli and florets that are lacier than cauliflower florets.


By Florence Fabricant

Deep in the Birthplace of Cuban Rum and the Daiquiri
Far from the tourists in Havana lies Santiago de Cuba. There, rum became a refined drink, and its signature cocktail still thrills.


Eduardo Corona, center, is a bartender at El Traguito, a bar below the Museo del Ron in Santiago de Cuba.
By Clay Risen
Recipe: Santiago-Style Daiquiri

A Lesser Known Wine of Sicily Benefits From Globalization
By Eric Asimov

WINE SCHOOL
3 American Rieslings to Drink Right Now


By Eric Asimov

TRENDING
Four Wineries Bringing New Energy and New Design to Napa Valley
These new wineries are shaking up the tourist scene in Napa Valley, with interesting spaces, intimate experiences, and an emphasis on dining and culture.


The wine tasting lounge at The Prisoner Wine Company, newly renovated and appointed in modern, contemporary décor by architect Matt Hollis.
By Shivani Vora

My tweets

• Tue, 15:12: RT @LindaNagata: Last day to vote for the Hugo Awards! (You might have already seen that reminder a few times today.) Anyway, it's been…
• Tue, 15:40: Why? Why does the media routinely lie about worker wages and compensation? https://t.co/FMqq6lq8y0 via @MotherJones
• Tue, 22:52: RT @LindaNagata: Oh hey! I've got a story in this! "Diamond and the Worldbreaker" is a short story about an incorrigible daughter. ;-) http…
• Wed, 06:25: RT @paulkrugman: Dear media: Trump is not a populist. He's a protectionist, which isn't at all the same thing. (William McKinley was also a…
• Wed, 06:26: RT @EdKrassen: It's now apparent that Betsy DeVos has a job in the Trump Administration because her brother Erik Prince helped President Tr…
• Wed, 06:28: RT @OhNoSheTwitnt: [in a Jewish deli] Customer: I’ll take a BLT. Clerk: Sorry, ma’am. We don’t serve pork here. Customer: (grabs phone)…
• Wed, 06:28: RT @TechCrunch: Huawei overtakes Apple in smartphone shipments https://t.co/5G9AcLtcry by @romaindillet https://t.co/EHsYWq3ooS
• Wed, 06:29: RT @waltisfrozen: If a required “voter ID” isn’t (a) free and (b) automatically sent to every voting-age citizen, then it’s a poll tax. htt…
• Wed, 09:05: Shopping for Health Care Simply Doesn’t Work. So What Might? https://t.co/wkSYQQDBKN
• Wed, 09:06: After Years of Quiet, Democratic Candidates Can’t Stop Talking About Health Care https://t.co/0cA5bf7m1I

( Read more... )

On the Recent Rosenberg Family Reunion at the Boulder Creek Lodge, Hall, Montana

Getting There

I drove from Minneapolis, MN to Fargo, ND on Wednesday to my sister's house. We picked up a friend at the airport that night at 11:30 pm, gabbed for a bit and went to bed. We planned on leaving early, and we did. The friend stayed to visit her friends and make a trip to Bismarck, where she ustta live. If you have lived in NoDak, driving across it makes watching paint dry sound exciting, but it starts getting a wee bit better once you cross the wide Missouri between Bismarck and Mandan. It ustta cost an hour to cross the bridge, but they moved the time zone change clear outta Mandan so that you can no longer cross the river and drink for an extra hour.

Bismarck to Billings

We spent the night at the Kelly Inn, just off I90 both coming and going. The first time, Google gave us a very circuitous route to reach the hotel. We did better after the first time. We had two breakfasts at the Kelly Inn (It comes with the room.), and that's already too much to say about it. We ate at The Outback, which is an "Australian" chain. My sister's husband, who drove, and I went to one in Fargo, ND when it opened there. It was a very memorable meal because they screwed up everything, including doing anything about the multiple fuckups until the manager asked how we enjoyed the meal as we were trying to escape.

Billings to Hall

We had a family reunion at Boulder Creek Lodge, south of Hall, Montana, and we had midwest Scandinavian potluck, with my sister's plum pudding (Xmas family tradition with a cinnamon brandy sauce amongst us old pharts), krumkake, rosettes, and sandbakkel. Hamburgers and sausage, sloppy joes, bacon, eggs, and pancakes, pulled pork, which kinda breaks the old midwest stereotype, potato salads and a few other salads not of the lettuce variety. We had one store-bought cake. It was all good, not much different from a family gathering in New Rockford, NoDak in 1956 would have been. The rolls were from my grandmother's recipe. The plum pudding recipe dates from way before that.

We spent two nights at the Wagon Wheel Motel in Drummond, MT. Except for the a/c, leet password, and wifi, it was vintage 1956. I got two coffees in the morning at the cafe there.

Boulder Creek Lodge with a lotta Rosenbergs

Boulder Creek Pr0n

Sunday morning after breakfast with egg, sausage and cheese muffins and my sister trying to pawn off the remaining rosettes and krumkake, we drove the scenic route down past Philipsburg, which was having a bash that weekend which we entirely missed, to Billings and the Kelly Inn. We dragged my sister's husband to the Montana Brewing Company Sunday night in Billings. Their beer was good, their French fried potatoes were excellent, and their food was good. Their kitchen was not the fastest one on the planet. Who knew huckleberries grew on evergreens? I had their huckleberry wheat beer first and then a stout. My sister stuck to huckleberry lemonade, which had some funny berries in it.

Billings to Fargo

I dragged three boxes of beer from Minneapolis, in fear of an ocean of Budweiser, but there was a mixture of beers, although a lotta Budweiser. Philipsburg, which was just down the road had a big weekend going on, but we didn't go there. They also had a brewery, which would have been fun.