I never thought I'd say (write) this...

But who needs Dean & Deluca in town when we've got the Golden Fig!

The Golden Fig, a small shop on Grand Avenue in St. Paul is full of wonderful treasures. I first heard about this store last fall, and made a mental note to stop by. The mental note apparently got lost, and not until this past weekend did I finally get there. We were just down the block at Cooks of Crocus Hill (another gem of a store) and I dragged the Husband over to the Fig.

It's tiny, but was I ever impressed. There were loads of chocolates, and spices and a whole cooler full of fun cheeses in the back. The day we were there they were offering samples of Mama's Salsa and Golden Figs own Margarita Mix. Needless to say, both ended up in our basket. We picked up two kinds of cheese, an Applewood Smoked Cheddar and a Cocoa Cardona rubbed with cocoa and black pepper (both from La Valle, WI). The first one we thought would be nice with our much-ignored bottle of truffle oil. The second because cheese and chocolate? Um, yeah, no-brainer. A bag of Garlic and Basil Fettuccini from the Sunrise Deli in Hibbing, MN also found its way into our bag, and the lovely proprieter recommended serving it with homemade pesto (there's one bag left in the basement) and fresh tomatoes (from last Saturday's excursion to the Minneapolis Farmers Market.) And because we couldn't completely ignore him, we brought a bag of Sister Joan's All Natural dog treats home for Dog. No sugar, no salt, no preservatives. Sounds boring to me, but he loves him. (Take note that a couple of our guests on Saturday night tried them as well. Fewer margaritas next time, eh?)

Now that we found this heavenly storefront I'll be stopping by there more often. There is a rumor going around that they might be expanding which would be fabulous. Sorry there are no photos, maybe on the next visit. I didn't want to overwhelm everyone on my first visit.

Up next, a visit to the Minneapolis Farmers Market, lunch at the new restaurant Saffron, and a trip through the world of Dulce de Leche.

Easy Weeknight Dinner Idea: Kitchen Sink Quesadillas

About once a month my mind goes blank when it comes to an idea for dinner and we have Quesadillas. I borrowed this idea from my friend Lisa years ago, and its become a staple in our house. Each time the ingredients change just a little bit depending on what we have in the fridge. Last night, we put together a basic version, with pulled rotisserie chicken, black beans, green peppers and cheese. We layer each of the ingredients. First the black beans (and a few random tomatoes) :



Then the chicken and peppers:


And then the cheese:


Then the other tortilla, and smoosh it down real good.

Stick it in a hot oven for about 15 minutes, or until the tortillas have a little brown on them and the cheese is melted:
I served them with some fresh tomatoes, avocados from The Midtown Global Market, and a scoop of local Salsa Lisa.

In the past we've added mushrooms, other peppers, corn, etc. We've made these without chicken, although I think Husband may not consider it a meal without it. Regardless, they're hard to mess up and are really very delicious. And the bonus? There's plenty left over for lunch the next day.

Enjoy!

Yuuuummmm... Buffalo.... Burger....

We grilled the buffalo burgers we picked up from Prairie Pride Farm at the farmers market and we were definitely not disappointed. I am not a big fan or red meat, primarily because of the high fat content, but these burgers were full of flavor without oozing all over the place. With some tomatoes, pickles and a generous dallop of ketchup, we were happy campers.

For more information about Buffalo (Bison) meat, I found this site.

(Sorry about the bad photo, I was hungry.)

Not really much to crave...

We met the Parents today for lunch at the new restaurant in the Galleria, called Crave. I read a review a couple weeks ago, can't remember exactly where, but I remember that the writer wrote that the restaurant was "safe." Meaning that they menu was diverse, with nothing too strange. Crave took over the old Sydney's location, and I have to admit it is an improvement. Owned by a local "restaurant" family, the space is stunning. There's a large bar on one side of the room and an open kitchen across from it. Dividing the main dining area from the bar is a floor to ceiling wine "rack" which reminded us the breathe-taking wine display at Wild Rice just outside Bayfield, Wisconsin. (It also reminded us that we need to get back there.)

The menu was as promised, and listed everything from pizzas, pastas, salads, and sandwiches. The sushi menu was also long, and even listed a walleye roll that contained smoked walleye and mayonnaise. The Parents are not fans of sushi, so we started with an order of the spring rolls. Spring rolls are not hard to make, and are a delightful way to start a meal. I've even made them, so I can speak from experience. The rolls that were delivered to the table were loaded with soft rice noodles and little else. They were loosely wrapped and as soon as a bite was taken, the rest of the ingredients plopped out onto the tiny appetizer plate at each setting. Mom was surprised to see a sliver of shrimp on her plate among the noodles. The dipping sauces were slathered into the corners of the plate and were difficult to dish up. I hoped the entrees would be an improvement.

Dad asked what the fish of the day was and our server told us she wasn't sure, but would check. Okay, so we met at noon, meaning by now it was probably at least 12:15. The restaurant was at least half full, and nobody had asked about the fish? She came back a few minutes later and said the kitchen had not yet decided. Dad made a joke about still catching the fish, which I found appropriate. This isn’t Boston, it’s Minneapolis. You either have the fish or you don’t.

He decided on the pistachio-crusted salmon, Mom on the margarita pizza, which our server promised wasn’t too large. Husband ordered the Mango Chicken Wrap and I went with the Grilled Vegetable Sandwich. Forty minutes later, our food arrived. The salmon was by far the best looking meal, and I was surprised that it wasn’t oversized like so much of suburban food is. The pizza, however, fulfilled that role nicely. It was over a foot across, barley fitting onto the plate. Husband’s wrap was also large, but stuffed primarily with baby greens. And the vegetable sandwich was sparsely loaded with a portabella mushroom and roasted red peppers. The house made root vegetable chips were delightful. (I could have skipped the sandwich and had a whole basket to these.) They were light and crisp, and actually tasted like the vegetables they had once been.

The service continued to be slow. Our plates were not pre-bused (a term from my serving days), and I had to ask for our check. Only then did were our plates cleared. Will we go back? Maybe for a glass of wine if we’re shopping in the area. Will we Crave it? Probably not.

The farmers market is open!

Okay, so actually the St. Paul Farmers Market has been open all winter, but today was the first day of their extended hours, including Sundays.

The best thing about the St. Paul market, is that everything sold there must be grown locally. That means you won't find pineapples, or even oranges. While it limits what's available, it keeps things local. And that's what life should be about, right? Eating what's available now. So knowing this, we didnt expect there to be a lot of vegetables to choose from. I expected Asparagus, and maybe some lettuces, but I really wanted to check out what kind of cheese and meats I could find. We walked away with a full bag.

Our first stop was to pick up some smoked gouda from Eichtens Cheese shop. I also picked up a pack of bison burgers. Something new to try. Eichtens is located just miles from the In-Laws, I hope to stop by their bistro at some point for dinner.

We wandered through the rest of the market to take inventory of what other vendors had available, before taking a break for fried egg sandwichs (using locally sourced eggs, of course).

Before heading out, we picked up a pork tenderloin and a package of andouille sausages from Praire Pride Farm; a loaf of garlic bread from the New French Bakery; and a dozen eggs and pound of boneless chicken breasts from Otis Family Farm.

We'll be eating well over the next week, and I'll try to post what we do with our amazing finds.

There were also truckloads of flowers, herbs, grasses and vegetables to plant. But that's next weekend.

Our First Anniversary: Paper
May 4, 2007 marked our first wedding anniversary. We started the day with a fabulous breakfast at the Good Day Cafe and then sped through Hidden Falls Park on our new bikes. The rest of the day we spent dodging the rain and watching tree-trimmers scale our gigantic Ash and Maple trees.

The highlight of the day, though, was dinner. Since it was our paper anniversary, I decided to try something wrapped in parchment paper. Thought I've seen it done, and have probably tried it at a restaurant, I had never tried it on my own. A quick search for the word parchment on Cooking Lights website lead me to this:

Five-Spice Salmon with Leeks in Parchment.
It was actually very simple. Toast some spices quick, grind them, slice a leek, and put everything on top of the salmon, wrap it in the parchement and stick it in the oven for 20 minutes. I served the fish with a coconut rice with scallions. In the rice cooker, I substituted light coconut milk half of the water, and through in thinly sliced scallions at the end.



This is definitely a recipe I will make again. Even for company. The salmon was moist and full of flavor. We both thought we could taste butter in the fish, but I hadnt added any, so this was obviously just the paper keepign all those good salmon juices intact. The fish was also beautiful to serve. The light green leek against the mellow pink of the fish was beautiful. Highly recommened.

We paired it with a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon that we recieved as a wedding gift. One of three bottles some coworkers gave us, one each for one-year, five-year and ten-year anniversaries. I dont normally drink red with fish, or drink much red wine at all, but I thought the five-spice flavor would be able to handle such a rich wine.
I would like to experiement more with this parchment thing, so keep your eyes peeled. And did I mention clean up? Just through away the parchment. The baking sheet was clean.

So it's been a year, we'll have to do a search for the what the two-year annivesary is so I can start planning dinner.