A closer look at flyover land

Friday food

Taking the easy way out this week, I'm going to redirect you over to the Heavy Table and a wonderful post they ran earlier this week, interviewing Brett Laidlaw, author of the blog (and now book) Trout Caviar, about his views on foraging wild foods and what it truly means to eat locally and sustainably. 

Friday food

So if one's been to Taylors Falls and gone hiking and worked up an appetite, where should one get a bite to eat?

Duh.

 

  

The Drive In in Taylors Falls, of course. 

It even has a little tribute to the natural wonders just down the road. Also, way in the back? Mini golf. Eat at the Drive In, and you can get a two-for-one coupon. If you're not too tired from hiking. Ahem.

Gotta love a drive in with a giant rotating mug of root beer. Speaking of root beer...

Teen 2 went for the root beer float. He gave it two thumbs up, saying it had "a pleasing balance of ice cream and root beer." Yes, that's a direct quote. He says that most places go way too light on the ice cream, but not the Drive In. I went for the plain old frosty mug of root beer, no ice cream, but very refreshing nonetheless.

Forgive the red tones--we were under a bright red light. That's Teen 2's pizza burger, something he'd never had before, but proclaimed to be very tasty.

I went with the patty melt, which was satisfyingly greasy and messy and hard to eat.

While we waited and then ate, the Drive In blared popular 50s songs, and it turns out--who knew? Not me--that Teen 2 is a fan of 50s music. I had no idea. The things you learn on adventures with your teen. In fact, we discovered that we both love the song It's Not Unusual by Tom Jones. We might have been overheard singing it on the ride home.

Verdict: yes to hiking and yes to the Drive In. And, of course, Tom Jones.

Friday food

This one requires a little backstory, but stay with me, because on this gray November day (which is fine by me, but I've seen lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth over on the Twitters about the weather), you might enjoy the sunny scenery to come.

Exploring the very northernmost part of the state this summer was a true endurance test for me. My parents live north of Bemidji, and I could use their house as a base--yay! No hotel bills! But that meant a great deal of backtracking, which added on to my already long days. In just four days, I drove 1800 miles.

The worst day started with a drive to Roseau, pushing east as the day went on. When I arrived in Baudette, I saw the ominous orange detour signs. This is never a good thing. I snarled and started following it. Soon it became clear that this was no itty-bitty detour, but one of those horrible, way-out-of-my-way detours. I had county road maps with me and pulled over, seeking an alternate route. But no--there were no alternatives, unless I wanted to take my chances riding roughshod through untouched forests, something I didn't think my VW Beetle would take kindly to.

So I was running off schedule and darned cranky when I finally drove into International Falls. I was also hungry. I wandered around downtown and wasn't inspired, so I stopped by the Chamber of Commerce to ask about places to eat. The jolly woman there informed me it was a shame I'd arrived too late for the day's big event, a U.S.-Canada tug of war across the water, and there'd been a big barbecue. If only I'd been there an hour or so earlier.

Not only did I get stuck with an annoying detour, but I missed a U.S.-Canada tug of war? Oh, I was seriously cranky. That day was nearly irredeemable.

Fortunately, the jolly woman took a closer look at me, then wagged her finger and said: "You know what, you look like you could use a drink and a view."

Truer words were never spoken.

She told me to get back on the road heading east out of town and named two resorts that had restaurants that could deliver on all counts. I drove by the first one, which looked just fine, but decided to see what the other one looked like.

Sha Sha Resort on Rainy Lake is literally at road's end. It's a lovely little cabin resort, with three sides facing water (the fourth side, of course, is the only road out). What's more, they have a huge restaurant and bar, and the lovely deck above.

Can't beat a tropical bar on the edge of the Canadian border.

The view from the deck was perfect.

It's the kind of place where people boat in for dinner and/or drinks (including a few who, I think, had maybe already had a few too many of the latter). The deck is spacious, the afternoon was sunny and breezy, the waves were lapping at the shore.

I ordered the walleye salad and a beer.

The walleye was perfect, lightly breaded and fried, nicely seasoned, fresh and flavorful. The salad dressing was pretty much standard Kraft out of a bottle; if I had one complaint, I'd have to say, c'mon, if you can cook walleye this well, surely you can stir up a homemade vinaigrette too.

Doesn't matter, though. This place and this walleye were the restorative I so badly needed. I was sorry to have to say "No, thanks," when the server asked if I'd like another beer. What I really wanted was that beer and a room for the night.

But walleye salad and a stint in the sun were a pretty good second.

Even if I did miss the U.S.-Canada tug of war.

 

Friday food

Recently I talked about a bar and grill in the small town where I grew up. Just a few miles away is another little town called Turtle River, and in Turtle River there is this:

Turtle River Pasties. While visiting my parents, we bought some of these and baked them up and ate them. With great gusto.

It's a cute little shop.

Complete with little gifts and, in the back, under the mirror, on the left--yarn. I have found yarn in the darnedest places this year.

I didn't buy yarn, though. I was there for food.

You may or may not be able to see at the bottom of the board, where it says "100% Butter Crust." I had a good feeling about that.

There are several choices: original, which is like a classic pasty, filled with smoked brisket, carrots, onion, potatoes, rutabaga, and gravy; ham and cheese; Italian, with sweet Italian sausage, 5 kinds of cheese, and marinara sauce; Southwestern, with smoked brisket, black and refried beans, cheese and salsa; BBQ chicken; and spinach.

The pasties are homemade, on-site, using meats they've prepared in their own smokehouse. You can buy them to eat in, or you can get them to go, either piping hot or frozen solid. I brought home a bunch for the freezer. I can tell you right now that the original is hearty and flavorful, and the spinach was soooo good--I believe there was some garlic and roasted red peppers in with the spinach, and possibly some feta cheese.

For now, I'll show you the one I just had this week.

Mmmm...that butter crust is flaky and browns beautifully, and it's plump with filling.

Reuben filling: their own slow-baked corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and housemade Russian dressing. There's a bit of caraway in the crust for this one.

Traditional? No. Did I have a problem with that? Nope. Not for one bite of the tender corned beef, delicate pastry, melty cheese, crispy kraut, and tangy dressing.

The only problem I have is I'm running out. Guess I'll have to go visit my parents again.

Friday food

In one of those "well, shoot, there goes my shot at Mother of the Year AGAIN" moments, this past week Teen 2, diligently working on a science project involving building a model representing the anthrax bacteria, rummaged around the kitchen looking for things to build said model and suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, hey! Mom, that beer that's your favorite? The Cynic Ale? That would make a perfect model!" And off he trotted to the recycling bin where there just happened to be an empty can, which he then used.

So not only did my son turn in a science project built out of a beer can, he knew it was my favorite beer.

Yup, that Mother of the Year thing, not happening anytime soon.

But at least I have good taste.

Surly Brewing is a local company (Brooklyn Center) that makes some mighty fine beer, with wonderful names like Cynic Ale (still can't decide if I like the taste or the name best), Furious, and Bender. Oh--and Coffee Bender. Yes--coffee-flavored beer.

Surly offers a tour nearly every Friday which is free, except for a food-shelf donation, and it's great fun. Possibly because of the fun--and because one can get a fair amount of free beer--the tours book up quickly. I had to stalk their website several times a day for a week to land a slot, but I was glad I did.

Not that it's a big, fancy operation.

But that's part of its charm. This is one guy's passion, started with home-brewing and moving to a larger scale.

Owner Omar Ansari, telling his story, which is full of good-natured tales of the tribulations involved in getting Surly off the ground.

Lots of brewing goodness going on behind him.

And lots of cans, waiting to be filled with Surly goodness.

I'd say about half the people on the tour the night we went had been there before and opted to skip the tour part and stay in the bar.

Where generous samples of various beers were available. I learned from this that I don't actually like a coffee-flavored beer; don't know if this makes me a beer-drinking heretic, but while I love coffee and I love beer, I love them separately.

That's OK. There's plenty of Cynic Ale in the world for me. You can click on the beer photo on Surly's home page to find out where to find Surly at a bar or liquor store near you.

Drink up*. It's local. It's good. And it's fun.

*Responsibly, of course.

Friday food

I had something else planned for today, but after seeing this item in the Heavy Table, I couldn't resist changing gears: Dress Like a Cow, Eat Free Chicken.

So who's in? Who's willing to dress up like a cow and make an appearance at Coffman Union on July 10?

Friday food

Last week I had the pleasure of having lunch with Teen 2 at one of our favorite places, on one of our favorite streets:

Eat Street, the section of Nicollet Ave. in Minneapolis that runs from about 14th-28th streets and is jam-packed with different kinds of restaurants and food shops. Our previous visit to Eat Street had us on a Burger Quest. This time, no burgers--but, as Teen 2 would say, lots of nom nom nom.

Peninsula Malaysian Cuisine, right across the street from the Black Forest. I love this place. The menu is huge, and while there are some higher-priced items or market-price entrees, there are also many, many delicious things to eat that won't break the bank. Plus they make killer smoothies.

 

Complete with tapioca pearls and an oversized straw to slurp them up.

The appetizers are fantastic and could easily make a meal by themselves. Like the satay chicken:

 

Skewers of perfectly cooked chicken served with a mildly spicy peanut dipping sauce.

Or how about the shrimp puffs:

Chopped shrimp wrapped in bacon and fried. Oh my.

The entrees are generally huge and could easily serve for two meals, especially with appetizers. Unless you happen to be dining with a teenager who's grown three inches in the last six months. Here's his favorite:

Char Kway Teow, which is also one of my favorites. Stir-fried flat rice noodles with shrimp, squid, eggs, and bean sprouts in a spicy soy chili paste.

But this is very good too:

 

Indian Mee Goreng, stir-fried yellow noodles with tofu, shrimp, potatoes and bean sprouts topped with a spicy squid sauce and chopped peanuts. Definitely good for whatever ails you.

Not all of the dishes are spicy. And the choices are extensive--the menu goes on and on, and vegetarians will have no trouble finding something to eat here. Is it authentic Malaysian? I don't know. Everything I know about Malaysian food I've learned at this restaurant. But authenticity takes a backseat to excellence in my opinion, and this place rates high on the latter.

The interior is simple but nice.

Service is generally quick and cheerful. Parking is sometimes an issue at lunchtime, since it's street parking, but after 6 p.m. there's free parking in the lot across the street.

 

Teen 2 says, I don't want to go home. I want to stay here and eat some more. Because I am a bottomless pit.

Check it out. If you like any variation on Asian/Indian food, you won't be disappointed.