Homemade Bolognese Pasta

The very delicious Bolognese

My uncle stirring the Bolognese

My Uncle enjoying his time while cooking the Bolognese

Recently my uncle was in town from New Jersey. In fact the weekend he was here was the weekend when I had an overnight hockey tournament in Northern Minnesota. We didn't get to see him that much. On the last night he was here he made a very delicious dinner. He made a Pasta Bolognese with a side of sauteed Kale and some garlic bread.  I have had two kinds of Bolognese in my life. One kind was at one of my favorite restaurants in Duluth named Belisio's. My Uncle Peter's Bolognese was the second version I have tasted and it did compete with Belisio's Bolognese. It was a perfect meal after coming home from this tiring but well rewarding hockey tournament. It was nice to have some good food after going to pubs and buffets for all of our meals up North.

CSA Season Reflection for 2012

         

A close-up view of the One Hand of Tomatoes

I Can't handle all of those tomatoes

           













         Joining a CSA farm would be a great thing to do. Not only do you get the freshest food you also have the the chance to help the world. For us we got food all the way from June to December. Nobody would have thought that you would get fresh and local produce in December. But there are multiple ways to do that using Environment friendly methods. For instance using green houses and plant tunnels to grow crops later and earlier into the seasons, allows our CSA farmer to harvest until December. Overall we had a very rewarding year with Earth Dance Farms and then we also had fun in the kitchen making different dishes with the large variety of crops we received. 

             Ever year our CSA Farmer Norm hosts a fall harvest where his members are allowed to come up for half of a day and wander around the farm, take a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, have some nice hot chili, meet some new people, and then get to talk with Norm and ask him questions like he is a celebrity. Our family did not go last year but we did go this year. We had a really fun time. It was a typical fall day in Southern Minnesota, windy, cloudy, and then at the end a little sun which was nice. At the end of the day our whole family came home with 4 very nice pumpkins that we used for Halloween pumpkin carving. Norm’s farm is in a part of Minnesota that is really beautiful every single season of the year. The whole area is very hilly. One thing that I always notice when we go up to Norm’s farm is that there are always many great different skylines. You could be up there for a whole day just studying the skylines and you would not get bored.

With the very warm spring some of Norm’s crops did not grow as much as they have in other years. One crop that did not do as well was his apple crop. The crop was harmed when there was about a week of nice warm weather and all of the beautiful blossoms had come out and then one night a frost landed on his land and all of the blossoms died. Only some of the blossoms survived. Since that frost happened he only had so many apples to give out to his customers. One other crop that did not do as well as he planned were the strawberries. One night an evil group of raccoons decided to come along and eat every single strawberry plant. Not even one plant was left behind. Norm’s wife Laurie found one lucky strawberry but she decided that since all the other strawberry plants were eaten she would enjoy that strawberry all by herself. Hopefully next year that group of evil raccoons will not come back and we will all get to enjoy the strawberries.

 One cool thing that Norm added to his farm where two goats that are really amazing. We got to see them and when we did my brother and I wondered if they like to eat carrot tops, so we gave the carrot tops to them and they were pleased. One other thing that Norm added to his farm is a plant tunnel that allows him to grow plants late into the fall and then he can start growing earlier in the spring. This structure is almost like a greenhouse but instead of planting plants in little cells he can actually plant plants in the ground. 

At one point during the summer, farmer Norm said that he had extra tomatoes and people could purchase an extra hand of tomatoes. My mom did purchase an extra hand of tomatoes thinking that she would be able to handle the amount of tomatoes that came. My mom did not exactly know what an extra hand of tomatoes meant so when the extra hand came she was really surprised. What Norm meant by an “Extra Hand” is that he will send you a whole produce box of tomatoes. With all of these extra tomatoes my mom and I made many tomato sauces, tomato salsas, and a couple of tomato soups. I think that in the future my mom and I will be a little more prepared so when we get a whole produce box of tomatoes. To picture how big the produce boxes are they are about 1-½ feet by 1-½ feet. That’s a lot of tomatoes.

I am so excited for next year and seeing what kinds of new foods we will make with our CSA produce. I will be thinking of Norm as he plans for a new season. I Wonder what our boxes will be full of during 2013. As a family we are committed to support local farmers and eating a healthy diet.

Christmas 2012

Our Christmas Tree for 2012

A sugar coated ginger bread house

My family drove out to Grand Rapids, Michigan to join our extended family for this Christmas Holiday.We have been doing this since I was a little baby. I had a wonderful Christmas this year.  There were so many things that made it just perfect.   I had a really nice time meeting with relatives and getting to know the newest members of the family better.

Of course I had some delicious food. I personally think Christmas would not be what it is now without good food. I had some new dishes and also the foods that have become a tradition in our family. Like the Ice Cream Dessie and the Candy Cane Cookies. We created new traditions that I hope will be followed over the coming Christmas's. One new tradition that was created was the annual Ping Pong tournament. Sadly I did not win the tournament.

For Christmas Eve we went out to dinner with the family at a restaurant named the "Green Well". I had their burger which was one of the best burgers I have had in my life. It had toppings like bacon, cheese,  carmelised, onions, and pickles. It was cooked perfectly with love. One thing that made it one of my favorites was it was so juicy but not too juicy. It of course had a side of well seasoned french fries that for a change were good.

I had other very satisfying meals during our trip. Home cooked and out at restaurants. During two meals that were stews which were very delicious. On the last night we had a chicken curry with coconut rice topped with toasted coconut, peanuts, and cilantro. The chefs in the kitchen decided to cook soups and stew because they are easy to fix for a crowd. We decided to have chili, a mediterranean stew, and the curry during our week together. A fabulous addition to each meal was a fresh loaf of bread or a homemade maple honey corn bread.

Uncle Peters Trip to Italy

Butera Wine Cellar

With The Wine Maker in Chianti

Recently my Uncle Peter took a trip to Italy. He was invited to go on a wine tasting trip with winemakers who had heard of his interesting wine blog. If you do not know this yet, Italy is a place where they make wonderful food. They do not just make any kind of food but they make many different kinds of food and many different foods that have many really magnificent flavors. If you go to Italy you do not just have to eat wonderful food but there are many great things that you can see such as some very historic volcanoes and towns. On my uncles blog you will see reviews of restaurant, wine, and food. If you live or ever visit the New York area going to his blog might be a good idea if you want to find some good restaurant reviews and suggestions. The link to his blog is

http://manoavino.typepad.com/mano_a_vino_montclair/ 

Thanksgiving 2012

The pecan pie

The Pumpkin pie

The turkey before roasting

The corn pudding

My dad's stuffing

The turkey after roasting and ready to eat

My family and I had a very good Thanksgiving this year. We invited some friends over, had fun, watched some good football, and most of all ate some very good food. We decided with our friends that we would serve dinner at our place and then we would all go to their house for some delicious dessert. I really liked doing things this way because both of the families got to help each other out and enjoy the Holiday together. We kept almost all of the same dishes on the menu as we did last year and a few years back. As normal my dad cooked the turkey and also made the wonderful stuffing. My mom made the corn pudding, the green beans with shallots and bacon, the salad, and the squash. You are probably wondering who made the best part of the meal, which is the mashed potatoes, well our friends got to make them. Unfortunately I did not get to cook with my mom and dad this year. I thought that if I got in the kitchen I might mess something up. My parents have a great thing going with cooking the Thanksgiving Day meal – so I thought I would leave them alone.

One best parts of this Thanksgiving was walking over to our friend’s house after the main meal because it was snowing and pretty windy out, making it felt more like winter. This was my first progressive dinner and I really think it was a success.