Vagabond Kitchen: Sunsets and Sunrises
8-4-15 Sunsets and sunrises layer color lines across my memory. Summer days beach basking, evening speeds into morning faster than hummingbirds in flight. Our car and belongings are full of sand, tiny pebbles, lake water layered, collected from too many places to count. Lakes: Superior, Michigan, Manistique, Crooked and countless rivers and streams toe-dabbled along […]
Torn Between Red and White? For Halloween, Try Orange Wines
Torn between white and red wines? Orange might be the perfect happy medium–especially with Halloween parties around the corner. Orange wines are similar to white wine, but with the full-bodied, tannic taste of a red and a copper-color. Though there are different methods, orange wines are typically made by allowing the grapes to macerate in […]
Vagabond Kitchen: Bliss Remix
Memoirs and recipes from the Vagabond Kitchen experience at Bliss Fest 2015 7-27-15 I sat outside the home-tent, sun slinking, still hot, behind untidy pines. Carp fed ten feet away in the shoreline’s shallow, reedy, lily-pad laced water. Their mouths made quick “Snap!” noises as they snatched bugs from the surface. Their spotted bodies seemed […]
The Flavors of Cacao
In last month’s chocolate article Daniel Rutz of Everyday Wines explained what steps are that transform cacao beans1 grown in far away tropical places into the confectionary treat that is almost universally loved by people the world over. Like wines, coffee, and premium olive oils, fine chocolates all have a signature flavor. This flavor is […]
Vagabond Kitchen: Gus
8-3-15 My written updates from the Vagabond Kitchen — essays and recipes detailed and recorded—have been sporadic. I’ve paced around my notebooks, taking food pictures and writing down ingredients. I’ve finished an 800+ page novel and begun another lengthy fictional diversion. This is the essay I’ve been avoiding—the aching loss spilled in ink, then typed […]
The Vagabond Kitchen: Sleep, Bread, and Brie
6-24-15 Being a vagabond means sleeping in many places: guest bedrooms, deep woods, decrepit farmhouses. Means plastic bags of dirty clothes. Toilet paper rolls on the dashboard. Damp, bundled tents in the back seat. Vagabonding means sleeping in many different beds: the rental house, down blankets on the hardwood floor because the bed was in […]
The Vagabond Kitchen: Mosquito Song And Hard Ground
6-23-15 Even inside the car and tent, the no-see-ums still bit me. Their little bodies are so tiny they’re barely detectable amongst the freckles and moles peppering my body like constellations in a clear night sky. Mosquitoes hummed, swarming tenderest bits of skin every time I exposed myself to pee. Blackflies attacked my ankles, leaving […]
In The Kitchen With Austin Fure of The Marq
Austin Fure is the young and talented head chef and partial owner of Marquette’s Farm To Table restaurant, The Marq. Spending 12-14 hours daily sourcing, preparing, and serving the best ingredients our area has to offer, each bite of his food is soulful morsel. The dishes you find at the Marq are a reflection of […]
The Vagabond Kitchen: Last Year’s Seeds
6-10-15 We ate our first outside meal by the lake last night. Keith, the kind of dear friend who helps you say, “Yes” to the next adventure, brought lemony tabbouleh and we roasted gourmet hotdogs as the sun dipped its round face below the tree line. I picked arugula for a salad in the garden […]
The Vagabond Kitchen: Last Week of Moving Meals
Foraging Forest and Freezer
We were cleaning out the refrigerator and freezer in preparation to move. The last Rock River Farms chicken rested in the freezer’s meat drawer. I stared at it anxiously. Should I cook the last chicken before moving, or save it for a summer meal? Cold freezer air undulated around my feet as I surveyed the […]
