Lazy Days and French Bakeries

While spending a relaxing Saturday wandering around Portland, I was brought to an amazing bakery, Saint Honore. What draws me to a bakery is first the food...of course, but what is just as important to me is the seating and whether the bakery is inviting.

When we arrived at Saint Honore the line of customers was almost out the door! So, this told me the food must be worth the wait. I ordered the Chausson au Pomme which is flaky dough filled with French applesauce and Ryan ordered the Normandy Apple Toast which is brioche baked in custard that has been flavored with vanilla and apple wine, topped with fresh apples. Both of the pastries were mouth watering!

Because of the crowds at Saint Honore, we walked a few blocks to The Dragon Cafe. This cafe had amazing hazelnut coffee. I highly recommend it.

Blueberry Picking on a Farm!?!

This weekend my friend Chaz asked me if I wanted to go blueberry picking on a farm outside of Chassell, Michigan. At first I was hesitent, but remembered that I had only gone wild blueberry picking three times this season and my freezer still needed to be filled. I have always told myself that I would never pay for blueberries, but when I found out that it was only $2/ lb, I gave in and decided to go. Gierke's Blueberry Farm is ablsolutly beautiful. It's a self serve farm, which means you bring your own buckets, and obviously do your own picking. The blueberry bushes are a perfact height, so you don't have to bend over or stand on your tip toes to reach the berries. I picked 10lbs of berries, which filled three very large bowls. I have since made ten jars of jam, and plan on making a crisp tonight for my family.

I would really like to dehydrate some of the berries, but there were mixed reveiews online. A lot of people say that the berries become leathery, so I'm just going to freeze what I don't use. If anyone has dehydrated blueberries before, I would love some advice!

My Favorite Seasonal Salads

So...I have grown way too much spinach and lettuce this summer. I don't know what to do with all of it. I have been searching online for good salad recipes. Most of the recipes that I have found online all seem to have too many ingredients or are too involved. I really like to make simple, seasonal salads with the ingredients that I have on hand. My goal is to make a different salad every week.

Two weeks ago, I made a spinach blueberry salad with rhubarb vinaigrette dressing. I was not able to make a salad last week because I was camping :( This week my friend and I made "everything but the kitchen sink" salads, haha. We both just really wanted to clean out our refrigerators. Later in the week, I plan on making a spinach, feta, and candied walnut salad.

The spinach blueberry salad was my favorite. If anyone wants the rhubarb vinaigrette recipe, I would be more than happy to give it!

I would love some creative salad recipes from my followers!!!

"Saun on koha apteet" - "The sauna is the poor man's apothecary."

The Sauna originated in Finland thousands of years ago. So...because it originated in Finland, it should be pronounced "sauna", NOT "sana"!!! Anyways, those who took saunas believed them to have healing abilities. I wouldn't go so far to say that they cure you of your ailments, but I do believe that they can be used as a form of preventative medicine. I have been told by many old time Finns that if you take a sauna when you just start feeling under the weather, it will prevent you from becoming extremely sick (depending on your ailment) and your symptoms will be mild.

This semester, I have started taking an average of two saunas a week. At the PEIF in Marquette, there is a great sauna. The cedar walls give off a great, relaxing smell. My sister and I have been taking a small jar of tea tree oil with us to mix in the water we splash on the stove, which is great! The tea tree oil helps clear your sinuses and really adds to the aroma of the sauna.

Now that I regularly take saunas, I can safely say how beneficial they are. I have never had such a great complexion or felt so healthy. I highly recommend a sauna or two per week. They are good for the soul and body!

foodgawker

So, one of my really good friends just introduced me to foodgawker.com. This website allows people to post their recipes. There are thousands and thousands of great recipes that are constantly updated on this site. Once you become a member, you can save the recipes you like to a favorites file. So, with this website you don't really need to buy another cookbook for the rest of your life. I love it!!!

Homemade maple syrup

The weather in Michigan is perfect for gathering sugar maple sap. When the nights are cold, and the days are warm, it’s perfect because the sap freezes at night, then melts and flows during the day. I have tapped only three sugar maples, making sure that they were hard maples, not soft. The reason for just tapping three trees was because I just won’t have the time to collect and boil down a lot of sap.
So far, I have collected four gallons of sap. By this weekend, I hope to have about fifteen gallons of sap. I’m not sure how much maple syrup this will produce. I’m guessing that I might get two or three pints of maple syrup!The process of tapping the sugar maple trees is very easy. You only need a small drill, tubing, taps, wire, and of course...sugar maples!

It's spring...I think...

Spring has come early to Marquette Michigan and I absolutely love it. I have been going on walks through Presque Isle Park every day. Taking a walk outside while the sun is shining, and the robins are singing is one of my most enjoyable pastimes. The same goes for my walks in Houghton. I recently found this beautiful cedar swamp that looks unexplored. It seems like it has a lot of potential for some good plant diversity. I can’t wait for more of the spring flora to start growing. There is a strong chance that I will find some lady slipper orchids in this cedar swamp! When and if I find some of these orchids, I will post pictures of them on my blog.

Anyways, I took some pictures of what I thought portray an early Michigan spring.

(Picture 1) In the spring, my family mixes grass clipping and compost remains into our garden. It doesn’t really look that nice, but the compost really helps the vegetables grow.

(Picture 2) When the snow melts, it’s amazing what you notice. I have walked this same trail for years, and just happened to notice this tire chilling in a log. It looks really old. I wonder how old?

(Picture 3) These are so pretty. I love pussy willows. They make really beautiful decorations!