Duck Pozole Roast one fresh duck from Rakowski Farms. Make stock out of duck gizzard with onion and bay leaves. In a large stock pot saute onion, garlic, cumin seeds, and oregano. Add drained and rinsed HUGE can of hominy. Drain stock and add to hominy with a lot of chopped cilantro, and salt. Simmer…
Category: Eating
Rustic Thanksgiving
Rustic Thanksgiving Recipes MENU Turkey, Stuffing, Potatoes, Cranberries Day before Pick up fresh turkey from Rakowski farms. Rinse turkey, then salt. Separate wings from the rest of the turkey. Wrap body and wings separately in plastic. Make Cranberry sauce with 2 lbs fresh local cranberries, cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and ground cloves. Put all ingredients in pan and boil until berries pop. Sweeten…
Chicken Ginseng Udon Soup
Here is a nice recipe for a cool fall that has super nutritious and healing ingredients. Chicken Ginseng Udon Soup with Spinach and Mushrooms The Stock: 1 stewing hen (makes a nice rich, brown broth) some chicken feet (ask your local farmer to bring these to the market) 2 dried ginseng roots 1 onion 1…
Bordeaux Wine Tasting
Last week we were in France with the goal of trying to figure out a little bit about the great Bordeaux wine region. This can be a daunting task considering that Bordeaux has 57 designated regions, 10,000 producing châteaux, and 14,000 grape growers. Navigating Bordeaux wine is complicated to say the least. We stayed in…
Catalan Paradise
We spent the last week in Falset Spain, a small town on the edge of the Priorat wine region. The town is in the mountains just off of the Mediterranean in Catalonia. Catalonia has it’s own language, culture, and history. We were excited to use our Spanish language skills but were not completely successful as…
Alba Wine Food Music
After our gig in Milano, Andrew and I went to Alba, a town in northern Italy in Piedmont famous for food, Barolo wine and white truffles. First, we walk 4 miles into the country to Ceretto winery, a family operated winery that was started by the “Barolo brothers,” two men who helped put Barolo on the international market. Barolo as well…
Alpine Food
We spent the last few nights in the Austrian alps making great food and taking even better hikes. Here is an example from our last night. This recipe is basically nothing…but it is so flavorful and so nutritious! Pasta with Scarlet Runner Beans and Ricotta 1 pound of whole wheat…
Wine Show
Andeluna 2011 Estate Malbec Tupungato Mendoza Argentina Purchased at La Tablita in El Calefate, Santa Cruz (Southern Patagonia) Notes: tastes of blueberries, blackberries and black cherries. Fresh fruit finish, herbal. Purple color. Restaurant Meal: Cordero Patagónico (whole, open-fire roasted Patagonian lamb), papas naturales, ensalada mixta Rutini 2009 Cabernet-Malbec Coquimbito Maipú Mendoza Argentina Purchased…
Oregon Feast
We were staying a few days on the Oregon Coast and after being sent from Idaho with half my mother’s garden and then way over buying at the Eugene health food store we needed to make a feast! Fennel Rice Noodles with Seared Tuna Strips, Maitake Mushrooms and Pepper Cherry Tomato Salad 1 cup vermicelli…
Tour Fish Recipes
Grilled Lingcod on a Bed of Pancetta Morel Udon With a beautiful sunny day in the Kluane National Park and a generous fire grate, I decided to go all out for dinner. Here is a recipe based on some lingcod that we found from a guy from the Queen Charlotte Islands (across from Prince Rupert,…
On the Prairie
We just completed 2 days of driving through Minnesota, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and western Alberta. Some 1300 miles in all. Andy navigated us through a minor Bison snag today in Elk Island National Park. On the eating end of things, we had a fantastic lunch in the car yesterday while we drove through Lloydminster,…
Happy Ham Day
Today we sliced into the Michigan raised ham that we have been curing in our basement since November 1! To my utter surprise it was ruby red and delicious. This was our first attempt at salt cured air dried prosciutto-style ham and I just assumed by how tricky it is to make prosciutto that we…
Solace Mag Feature
This month our home cooking was featured in Solace Magazine for an article on good food movements in Grand Rapids. Author Kristin Tennant and photographer Ryan Pavlovich captured the intersection of our cooking, travel, and music to a tee. “Between music, food, and marriage, Carmen Maret and Andrew Bergeron have enough projects to keep them…
Glacier and Highway 2
This winter break Andy and I traveled on Amtrak from Grand Rapids, MI to Glacier National Park. The 36 hour train ride follows highway 2 through North Dakota and Montana, a highway with which Andy and I have developed a fascination. It is an easy going two lane road that can be driven all the…
Mama of Spelt – Best of Folias Fall Recipes
Our local farmers have provided me and Andy with some incredible ingredients to cook with this fall. Here are a couple of the most memorable things we prepared from Michigan ingredients! Mama of Spelt Pasta Fresh Emmer Wheat Noodles We purchased these at a farmer’s market in Sutton’s Bay, MI. (Emmer is an old world…
Redefining Road Food
Luke said that he ate better “roughing it” on the tour than he does at home. Between our own car and camp cooking and home stays we were graced with delicious food for the past two weeks. We certainly know musicians who include a detailed description of food requirements in their performance agreements, however this…
We Made it to Cali
Andy is a professional driver. He made it from Salt Lake to downtown L.A. in ten hours flat! Once we arrived we picked up Avik in Santa Monica and made our way to Malibu Creek State Park for the night. The day of our gig at the Candlelight Bar in Ventura we spent hiking, visiting…
Working Tourists in Colorado
Andy and I spent two days in a cabin we rented in central Colorado preparing for our tango gig in Glenwood Springs. After five years of playing tango together we are finally doing our first milonga entirely from memory–something we should have done sooner! If you ever visit Glenwood, don’t miss the hot springs (especially…
Flaming Gorge Salad
Andy and I camped at the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area on our way through Utah yesterday. Our campsite was 30 feet away from a 1300 foot drop off overlooking the red rock canyon walls with the Green River below. Although Ed Abbey would probably want to take down the dam that make this reservoir…
Rocky Mountain Tango House Party
Last night we played for a lovely tango house party in Hailey, a town three hours north of Boise nestled in the Central Rockies of Idaho. It was another night of playing music, having fun dancing, and enjoying good food and company! Empanadas! (one batch filled with spinach and one batch with creamed corn!) Heirloom…