I’ve been too busy meandering around to visit other blogs or post on my own lately. As I process all that I’ve learned and keep meandering for another few weeks, here’s a “filler” post about food. On the label of this product (which shall remain nameless) note the “natural flavor with other natural flavor” description.
Russ and I found it funny. What do you think that could mean? Is one flavor more natural than another, or does the product contain doubly natural flavors? It’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
On this day, we traveled from our base in Bayeux to Mont St. Michel. This tiny tidal island, an UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to the majestic St. Michel Monastery. As we drove through the Normandy countryside, I was struck by how it reminded me of the rich, pastoral borderlands of Scotland.
Due to the volume of tourists, everyone must take a crowded shuttle across the causeway to the island. Quaint shops and tiny inns line the narrow cobblestone streets that lead up to the monastery. Then come the steps. Our guide said there were 350 of them! A few of our group members with mobility issues stopped at this point, and I did not blame them.
Saint Michel shines atop the monastery.
Thankfully, Russ and I were able to continue. Under the watchful eye of a statue of St. Michel (which is reproduced in gold atop the monastery), we were given tablet computers and a headset for our tour.
St. Michel is considered a warrior angel, leading heavenly armies in the battle against Satan and his forces. Now, he is also considered the patron saint of police officers, paramedics, and the military.
The view of the tidal flats from the top of the monastery.
Legend has it that the archangel Michael appeared to Bishop Aubert of Avranches in 708 A.D.in a dream and instructed him to build a sanctuary on the rocky islet that would become Mont Saint Michel. The angel told him, “If you build it, they will come.”
Sound familiar? I was flabbergasted to learn this because it’s the same instrumental phrase used in the baseball movie (and book), Field of Dreams. The author plagiarized from history! I mean, I guess that’s okay, but I was surprised that it wasn’t an original phrase in the movie, and I’d never heard anyone make the connection to Mont St. Michel. But now you know!
Aubert initially ignored the dream to build a sanctuary, and, after a second angelic reminder was also ignored, this angered St. Michel, who burned a hole in Aubert’s skill with a finger of light. That made Aubert pay attention! He quickly erected a small chapel on the site, which served as a pilgrimage shrine. Because the island is accessible only at low tide, it was both a place of worship and a natural fortress against Viking raids.
The Great Wheel of the Abbey
During the French Revolution, the monastery was a prison. One interesting sight connected with that is a huge wooden wheel called The Great Wheel of the Abbey. Six prisoners (nicknamed squirrels) would walk inside it like a hamster wheel and power a crane that would be loaded with food, water, and other provisions for the monastery.
The Scriptoriumceiling
I also enjoyed seeing the scriptorium, which is the room where monks copied manuscripts. There’s also a cloister that was built in the 13th century. The cloister is trapezoidal and consists of a garden and a covered gallery that runs around it. The garden is separated by an original colonnade, composed of 137 columns arranged in staggered rows and forming tripods, which support the vault and the roof of the cloister gallery.
The elements that make up the cloister were made with materials from the region, such as Caen stone, but also from more distant lands, such as Purbeck marble. The cloister allowed the monks to find themselves in a suspended space conducive to meditation, and thus to be closer to God, through the presence of its garden open to the sky. But what I really wanted to know was how they got all the soil up there to make the garden in the cloister courtyard!
Mont St. Michel
Like in Versailles, armed guards were in evidence, although this time, instead of only being at the entrance, they walked among the crowds, giving us all the evil eye as if to say, “Don’t try any funny stuff!”
The walk down the monastery hill was much easier than the walk up. Along the way, we saw some seagull parents trying to protect their chick from passing tourists. The chick had wandered near the walkway, much to the parents’ distress. Although some passersby took photos of the chick, most stayed a respectful distance away. (I did not take a photo.)
A house at the bottom of the hill on Mont St. Michel
We caught a shuttle back to our bus and then returned to Bayeux. Dinner was on our own. We’d worked up an appetite. I had a scrumptious Mediterranean pizza (with anchovies, black olives, tomatoes and mozzarella) at Le Florentin restaurant, with cream puffs and ice cream for dessert.
The next day would be our last full day in France.
The business ends of two sea lampreys. Image courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
I interrupt my France travelog (again) for a breaking news story. Thanks to this very blog, I was interviewed by the Canadian Broadcast Corp. about That Time I Organized a Sea Lamprey Taste Test | Marie’s Meanderings post, which I wrote in 2020. I later reworked the post for a blog I used to manage for work and that’s where the CBC reporter saw the story. (It’s also included in my Meander North book.)
Her 9-minute feature about how the invasive and ugly sea lamprey are a sought-after food in Europe aired last week. You can listen to it here: Amy Hadley: Sea Lamprey Cuisine | Superior Morning | On Demand | CBC Listen. I loved the light tone she took and that she was able to speak with sea lamprey cooks and Fishery Commission staff.
It just goes to show, you never know where blogging will take you sometimes!
Dear readers, you may recall that Russ and I have a penchant for fine dining. When we travel, we try to hit at least one gourmet restaurant per trip. Featured on this blog in recent years have been The Rhubarb Restaurant in Edinburgh (with its rhubarb-themed drinks and a Châteaubriand Angus steak platter for two), The Wharf on Grand Cayman (with lobster, and you can feed the shells to awaiting tarpon fish off the dock), the Mariposa in Sedona (with juniper cocktails and mejillones con chorizo, a mussel and sausage appetizer), the Von Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe (with a lingonberry spritz and quail/venison dinner), and the Eiffel Tower Restaurant in Las Vegas (with its grand Marnier souffle), to name a few.
More recently, our dining experiences have literally taken a dive. We’ve been exploring the cheapest (but tastiest) places we can find. Whether this shift is because we’re both retired and on fixed incomes or simply inspired by the fun we had last year at the Czech Grill in Grand Cayman—where we wrote on the walls and enjoyed our sixth wedding anniversary with ribs, potato salad, a tabby cat, and a handsome rooster—the change is noticeable.
We’ve experienced several memorable meals this past year, dining in northern Minnesota/Wisconsin dives. Our definition of a dive is a place where we can buy dinner for two for $40 or less. Many times, this even includes adult beverages and the tip! We have friends who also love dives, and they’ve introduced us to a few.
With that in mind, here are six of our favorites, listed in no particular order. Each offers its own unique charm, and we’d happily return depending on our mood.
The Alborn Tavern is a family-owned, small-town restaurant and bar in northern Minnesota. If you like a place with crumbling vinyl seat covers, pool tables, dart boards, and meat raffles, this is the place for you! BTW, a meat raffle is a community fundraiser where people buy tickets for the chance to win packages of meat, usually steaks, roasts, and bacon.
Art on the door of the El Toro Lounge.
The El Toro Lounge and Wilbert Café is a historic stopping place and local watering hole along the highway that leads to Canada. It used to be THE place to stop when Greyhound bus routes ran between the Iron Range and the rest of Minnesota. Now, it mainly serves locals, anglers, and snowmobilers. Diners can get breakfast all day most days of the week. There are also bingo nights and Friday fish fries. We celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary in the lounge.
Near the El Toro is the Dawghouse in Canyon, Minnesota. The renovated restaurant has a more modern feel than the Wilbert Café, plus there’s a large and lovely event venue suitable for hosting a wedding reception or party. There are even customized racks so that snowmobilers can hang their helmets and gear while they eat, and an outdoor patio that’s dog-friendly.
Diners order dinner at Gordy’s Hi-Hat.
Gordy’s Hi-Hat in Cloquet, Minnesota, is a family-owned burger joint that’s only a few years older than me. It’s well known for stellar customer service and a family atmosphere. Guy Fieri, with the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives television show, has even dined there. If you’re more into salads and coffee, stop next door at their Warming House. We celebrated my recent birthday at the Hi-Hat with a Swiss-and-mushroom burger, fries, and a hot fudge malt. I highly recommend the malt!
The Anchor Bar in Superior, Wisconsin, wins “best burger” almost every year in local competitions. Their burgers are homemade, cheap, and good. The fries are plentiful. But what’s most notable is the maritime décor. Ship ropes hang from the ceiling, sailing books line the shelves, ore boat photos grace the walls. It’s also been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The clientele is mixed, from doctors to longshoremen, from college students to truckers. The cashew burger is my fave. Look for the ship’s anchor outside the door.
The aftermath of a meal at the Anchor Bar.
Tired of burgers? Try the India Palace in downtown Duluth. It offers a plethora of Indian food options with levels of heat friendly to Minnesotan palates. There are also vegetarian options. It’s known for tandoori chicken and curry dishes. The service was very good.
True to this trend, we plan to spend our seventh anniversary this week at another local dive. If it’s any good, I’m sure you’ll be hearing about it!
Please feel free to share a link to your favorite dive in the comments and tell us where it’s located!
Yet another project to fill my time in retirement was to explore the art of gluten-free sourdough baking. Some people think that regular sourdough bread is gluten-free, but it’s not. You need to have a special sourdough starter that contains some kind of gluten-free flour, like brown rice.
A few months before I retired, I happened upon just such a starter at a local mercantile. It was made by the Cultures for Health company (but you can get it via mail, also). Not long after my retirement last spring, I began to experiment with it.
Buckwheat sourdough blueberry pancakes. These are fluffier and milder than regular buckwheat pancakes. A win!
So far, I’ve made two kinds of gluten-free sourdough pancakes (one was buckwheat blueberry, the other whole grain), bread, and a chocolate-coffee cake with chocolate-coffee frosting.
Of those, the pancakes and the cake were delectable winners! I’m still perfecting the bread recipe. I have a hard time getting the dough to rise enough before baking. I suspect the cold climate I live in is one reason for this. Sourdough bacteria like a nice, warm environment. I’ve begun adding some regular yeast to the bread dough, but I think I need to add even more. We’re not huge bread eaters in our household, so this could be a long process.
Whole grain gluten-free sourdough pancakes. Another win!
I’ve also learned how to refrigerate the starter and how to revive it from a frozen state. I freeze it when we’re gone on long trips, otherwise it wouldn’t survive not being fed with new brown rice flour and spring water every 3-4 days.
That’s another thing about sourdough starter, you can’t just use water from the tap. It has chlorine in it, so you need to use spring water, which can be found in most grocery stores. Another secret is to heat the water before adding it to the starter. I’ve had good luck heating it to 80-90 degrees F in the microwave, which makes the starter activate more quickly. You can tell your starter is activated when it gets a lot of bubbles and it almost doubles in size.
Gluten-free sourdough bread. Still needs work. It’s like eating a brick.
I got the pancake and bread recipes from the Cultures for Health website. The cake recipe came from the gluten-free cookbook, Cannelle et Vanille Bakes Simple by Aran Goyoaga that I bought at The Lost Kitchen store in Maine.
Learning a new cooking technique has been fun! Are you stretching your culinary skills in some way?
The chocolate-coffee sourdough cake, with sprinkles. Another winner!
Russ and I left Waterbury and meandered through the rest of Vermont and New Hampshire on our way to Maine. Our goal was a small town north of Bangor named Guilford, which my ancestors founded. But on our six-hour road trip, we took a slight jog to Freedom, Maine, to visit The Lost Kitchen, a place featured in one of our favorite cooking shows.
The Kitchen is run by Chef Erin French and her crew and is named after a restaurant she once owned in Belfast, Maine. She lost the restaurant because she had a really mean husband who closed it down and fired everyone while Erin went into treatment for substance abuse. (You can read all about it in her memoir, Finding Freedom.) She also lost custody of her son to the mean husband. But Erin got clean and slowly pulled herself up by her Maine rubber bootstraps. She ditched the husband, regained contact with her son, and began her own mini restaurant in a refurbished Airstream trailer.
She still has her trailer, but along the way, she was able to buy an old mill in her hometown of Freedom. It’s situated on a pond in the middle of town. I’d been to Freedom in the past – once filled up at a gas station there and bought a red T-shirt that featured a moose filling his Model T with gas that said something about Beautiful Downtown Freedom, Maine. I swear, that T-shirt lasted twenty years! I wore it every time I worked out, and it served me well. It is long gone, however.
I was excited to return to the town and visit Erin’s Lost Kitchen site that we’d seen so often on TV. Her show is on the Magnolia Food Network, which is available via streaming through Discovery+. We’d watched all her episodes, which focus on her local farm-to-table foods that she feeds to guests (chosen by a lottery, which we entered last year but did not win). Her restaurant is open for dinner at all times of year, except for winter, when the staff hibernates.
One of the memorable scones that we ate.
Our fall drive through New Hampshire would have been beautiful except for the leaf colors muted by drought and a viewshed clouded by rainy mist. When we arrived at The Lost Kitchen mill, we visited the kitchen’s café, which features fresh-baked goods and other light lunch fare. We ordered a candied apricot and ginger scone. It turned out to be fresh-from-the-oven warm. OMG, so flaky and good!
In addition to the café, Erin also has a cooking store on-site. I bought some candlestick stickum (to make taper candles stick in their holders despite the candles or the holders being off-kilter), a pastry brush (which we needed for our cabin), a sourdough bread-rising bowl, and a gluten-free cookbook that one of the staff members (who we saw on TV!) recommended.
Then we went back outside and wandered around the grounds. We crossed the famous bridge over the mill pond, which is featured in the TV show, and ended up buying yet another scone (not so warm this time) and eating it in the outdoor dining area near Erin’s Airstream.
The Lost Kitchen mill pond.
One thing that struck me is that the mill site looked smaller in real life than it does on TV. But it was still exciting to see it. Also, it’s surrounded by old Maine houses that could use paint jobs. (Which they would never show on TV.) That’s one thing that struck me about our drive through this state. I’ve been to Maine several times over the years, but I don’t recall so many houses that need attention. I fear that the state and its occupants are suffering financially.
We did not glimpse Erin or her new husband, Michael (a media executive who probably helped get her show on TV), but we were still so thankful to spend a bit of time in the reality of this place. Methinks that Erin’s ex is eating his heart out now. (Smile.)
Then we hit the road to Guilford. More on that, next!
Wild rice, the kind of rice native to the Great Lakes and other parts of North America, is not only delicious in soups and other dishes, it makes a great and healthy snack.
A few years ago, I was gifted a copy of The Good Berry Cookbook by Tashia Hart. The author is a member of the Red Lake Anishinaabe (northern Minnesota) and she’s a culinary ethnobotanist, artist, photographer, writer, and cook. The book is more than a cookbook. It’s everything you ever wanted to know about wild rice.
A wild rice triple chocolate donut. Doesn’t it look tasty?
I’ve made several recipes from the book, notably, one for wild rice chocolate donuts (Triple Chocolate Donuts). As someone who’s always on the lookout for alternatives to wheat and corn, I was attracted by this recipe. They turned out looking great but were a bit gritty. Maybe I didn’t grind the rice into flour as fine as I should have. Since then, I’ve found other wheat- and corn-free recipes I like better.
This weekend, I went to a Harvest Festival in Duluth, which features produce from local farmers and artisans. One booth offered puffed wild rice in several flavors (for instance, cheese pizza!) I tried a sample of salted rice puffs. They were very good. Done this way, the wild rice tastes almost like popcorn, but with a richer, nuttier flavor. I would have bought some, but the vendor used popcorn salt, which usually contains cornstarch, so I passed.
Seeing the puffed wild rice reminded me that the Good Berry cookbook had a recipe for it, so when I returned home, I made some. It requires wild rice that has been picked and parched in a traditional manner. This makes it a lighter color (dull brown) versus the paddy-grown wild rice, which is dark and shiny.
All you do is heat a few inches of oil (I used canola) in a pan at a high temperature. I used setting 7 out of 9 on my stovetop. Wait until the oil is good and hot, then place a small amount of wild rice in a sieve (2-3 tablespoons) and lower it into the oil. It should puff up quickly if the oil is hot enough. Then spread the rice on a plate lined with paper towels to drain. I seasoned mine with sea salt (which usually contains no cornstarch).
If you’ve ever had puffed wheat cereal, you’ll recognize puffed wild rice, although the rice kernels are smaller and skinnier. It tasted great!
Marie tries her hand at harvesting wild rice, St. Louis River, MN.
Russ has developed the habit of eating popcorn in the evenings, which is sort of torture for me because I can’t have it. (Do you think he’s doing this on purpose??) Now, I have an alternative.
Tashia also offers a recipe for wild rice chocolates. Basically, you take the puffed wild rice and pour melted chocolate chips over them. I have some leftover puffed wild rice. That’s next on my list!
For a story about my “immersive” experience harvesting wild rice, visit this link.
Update: 9/10/25
I made the puffed wild rice chocolates. Very good! The recipe calls for making them in a flat sheet, but I chose to clump them instead. They taste rather like a Nestle crunch bar.
I discovered recently that conditions half a world away have disrupted my morning routine. Instead of drinking coffee like many of you out in the blogosphere do, I drink cocoa. I make it myself because most of the commercial brands have ingredients I can’t tolerate. I use dark cocoa, pure cane sugar, milk, some decaf coffee crystals for extra flavor, plus cinnamon and nutmeg for zip. I drink it hot in winter and iced in summer.
However, for the past few months, I haven’t been able to find dark cocoa on the grocery shelves anywhere in my town. I can only find regular cocoa, but not much of that, either. I finally turned to the internet to discover why.
I learned there’s a global cocoa shortage that’s affecting the entire chocolate industry. I was aware there was a chocolate shortage, but I never thought of that affecting cocoa, for some strange reason. Cacao crops in Ghana and the Ivory Coast of Africa (which produces 60% of the world’s cocoa) are being destroyed by weather and an insect-borne disease with the worrisome name of Cacao Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CCSVD). This and other factors are causing shortages of cocoa and chocolate, increases in prices, and supply chain issues. According to one blog, it’s even encouraged a cocoa smuggling business.
I began drinking dark cocoa because I thought it was “healthier” – containing more antioxidants than regular cocoa, just like dark chocolate contains more antioxidants than regular chocolate. Later, I discovered this is not true! Regular Hershey’s cocoa actually contains more antioxidants. But I kept drinking dark cocoa for the taste.
I guess that for now, I’m forced to drink regular cocoa and be “healthier.” I’m just glad I can find that on the shelves.
Here’s what AI suggests for finding Hershey’s dark cocoa if you just can’t live without it:
Check online retailers: While some stores may be out of stock, it might be available on websites like Amazon.
Consider other brands: If you can’t find Hershey’s, you might consider other brands of cocoa powder.
Use product locators: Some retailers may have online tools to help you find stores that have the product in stock.
The weather for Independence Day in northern Minnesota was perfect: hot and sunny. I thought I’d share some images from it.
I can’t believe that my phone camera caught this firework on its way into the sky, looking like a space rocket. An empty brandy bottle served as a fine launch pad.
No 4th of July is complete without my mother’s potato salad recipe. It features extras like black olives, hard-boiled eggs, mustard, onion, dill, and paprika. I made enough to last our crew for several days!
Back in Colonial days, cakes used to be a “thing” for Independence Day. As for us, we devoured a fruit pizza, which is basically a huge sugar cookie covered in cream cheese, whipped cream and fruit that matches the day’s color scheme (red, white and blue).
We ended the day at a community parade. I’d never been to it before and was surprised by the number of people who attended, especially since there aren’t that many people who live in the area. The parade was filled with ATVs, floats from local businesses, and people tossing candy to children. One guy was even handing out fireball whisky shots! There were also a few disturbing “Don’t Tread on Me” flags on the ATVs (a symbol for the alt-right) and much Trump paraphernalia in sight, but that’s the politics of this rural area, as it is in many small towns across the country.
This was the cutest float in the parade. While many of the ATVs were trailing beer cans, he chose pop cans. Note the patriotic dudes in the background.
We had a great time with family and friends. I hope your 4th was memorable, as well. What are your traditions?
My husband’s nickname is Russell Brussel. He has a fondness, some might call it an obsession, with Brussels sprouts. We were cooking supper the other night: caramelized Brussels sprouts pasta with toasted chickpeas – a great vegetarian meal that we’ve cooked before – and I noticed a curious thing. The day was warm, so we had the kitchen windows open. Gradually, gobs of large black flies collected on the screens. They not only collected, they swarmed. In a spontaneous, miniature airshow, they divebombed the screens, as if trying to get inside.
Curious about whether this was happening elsewhere around the house, I checked other windows. No. The phenomenon was only happening at the kitchen windows. Thank god for the screens or we would have had an invasion on our hands!
We were busy cooking and then eating, so I didn’t think much more about it, although I noticed that the flies dispersed once the cooking was done.
The next morning, I did an internet search about whether flies are attracted to the smell of cooking Brussels sprouts. As you can probably guess, YES, they are!
Here’s why:
Odor Amplification:
Cooking can intensify the smells of food, making them more noticeable to flies, which have a highly developed sense of smell.
Volatile Compounds:
When heated, Brussels sprouts release various volatile organic compounds, some of which might be similar to those produced during decomposition, a known fly attractant.
Opportunistic Feeders:
Flies are attracted to a variety of food sources, including those that are decaying or decomposing.
The process of cooking, especially when done with heat, can amplify the odors of food and make them more appealing to flies. Brussels sprouts, like other vegetables, can release volatile compounds when cooked that are similar to those found in decaying organic matter, which is a common attractant for flies. This is due to the presence of methyl eugenol, which is also found in other fruits and vegetables such as cherries, raspberries, and basil. When this compound is present in high concentrations, it can be intoxicating to flies and other insects.
Now you know! Plus the next time we have Brussels sprouts I can joke to Russ that he’s cooking carrion again.
Marie's Meanderings 