Spring Musings

Hello my friends!
Greetings from my farm near Lark's Lake. I am waiting for the guys from the airport to come over a move a fridge to their hangar so I can store food for private charter flights. It is nice to just sit here in the morning calm and lookout over the fields and listen to the birds again. I love this time of the year, the spring peepers are out in the evening, the birds start to return, my flowers are slowly peeking up and everything is turning green!

Even though it is gray this morning, the landscape is soft and beautiful. Yesterday, there were two flickers in my yard with their beautiful red markings. A friend helped me put up five more bluebird houses and I hope they will be used. I have seen some swallows checking them out, but no bluebirds since several weeks ago. I think they were investigating the old houses which I hadn't yet cleaned.

When I get to the market today I am going to scrape up the dirt along the highway in front of the store and try to plant some grass. The dirt is really poor, I should get some topsoil, but I think it would be too much of a mess and too expensive. It looks terrible now though, I've got to do something.

My friends helped me haul away twelve big garbage bags full of leaves and sticks from my garden clean up at the market. I have plenty of work still to do, but I enjoy it and I love watching the plants come up. Our Bleeding Heart is one of the first in the back garden, but the Columbine and Iris have a good start and I saw one of my Delphiniums coming up near the Peonies. As always, we will have lots of Hollyhocks, they rule the garden.

We have been using the Chives for a couple of weeks and the Lovage that I planted last year looks very healthy and is coming up great. Mint, Wild Strawberries and Bronze Fennel have invaded the back section of the garden and while I love them all, they are taking over! The next herb that we will harvest will be the Sorrel, we will use it for a delicious Spring soup.

Last week we received our cheese order and we have the Bleu des Basques again, this is a cave aged sheep's milk cheese from the Basques country in the Southwest of France. It is buttery and rich and completely delicious, plus the price is down a bit thankfully! For the triple crème lovers we have the Delice de Bourgogne and Fromage d'Affinois.

From Italy we brought in a Tallegio from Piedmonte and a Gorgonzola Dolce Latte. From Menorca, we have an aged Mahon! There are many more, but that will give you a small idea of some of our new offerings.

Our new premium chocolates by Patric and Amedei have been very well received. My favorite at the moment is the Patric 70% from the Sambriano Valley in Madagascar. It bursts in your mouth with red fruits and citrus and it has a beautiful finish.

Why not plan a mini chocolate tasting with a few friends? Buy a few different bars and use the convenient "tasting guide"from Patric and have some fun. You could try four different 70%'s or the complete range of one producer for example.

I know that we have many clients looking for gluten free products. I have brought a few things in and we are looking for more, so come in and let me know what you would like and we can add to our assortment. We now have some pastas, rice cakes and crackers, cookies etc.

We have added a new vinegar from Cuisine Perel, Blueberry! I haven't tried it yet, but it sounded intriguing. Of course it would be great in a salad with some fresh blueberries, almonds and goat cheese, but I think it would be a nice reduction for pork tenderloin and chicken breast!

Another great idea is to use our American Spoon Sour Cherry Fruit Perfect for a grilling sauce, add some Spanish Sherry Wne Vinegar to the Fruit Perfect and reduce a bit, perhaps add some shallot and garlic too, then reduce, that would be great with our duck breast, chicken, pork...mmmm!

La Panzanella Croccantini Crackers are back and our Castellana Crostini crackers have arrived from Italy. The case of Fennell crackers was damaged, but there are some salvageable bags that we will sell for half price. Just because there are some crumbs, they are too delicious not to eat!

We are expecting an order in from new York on May 7th and I will write about those goodies later.

Thanks to all of you who found the time to come out to our "April in Pellston" Dinner. I hope that you got a chance to stop in at Diane Kowolski's Antiques, Art and Collectibles too,it's my favorite treasure trove! I thought I would let you know what I did with the leftovers of the dinner! I called a few friends to come out to the farm and I combined the creamy mussel sauce, with spinach, diced tomatoes and our smoked whitefish spread and served that over farfalle pasta. We loved it, I have a new dish!

Join us at the Pellston Market, Saturday May 9, 7:00pm for an evening of Cabaret and Tableside Magic by Jania and a Magical Four Course Dinner with Hors d'Oeuvres!
After mingling and enjoying assorted Hors d'Oeuvres, enjoy a

First Course of Three Cheese Raviloi w/a Creamy Sage and Sun Dried Tomato Butter Sauce garnished w/ Fresh Basil, Toasted Pine Nuts and Oven Roasted Tomatoes.

Main Course features Roasted Salmon Filet w/ Red Wine Shitake Sesame Butter Sauce, Grilled Asparagus and Exotic Oriental Rice Pilaf
Salmon w/ Red Wine Butter SAUCE

Salade - Asian Cannage Slaw w/ Honey Ginger Sesame Vinaigrette

Dessert - Semi Frozen White Chocolate Mousse Towers w/ Fresh Strawberry Crush and Passion Fruit Coulis

Cost $50 plus tax and 20% gratuity.
Magic by Jania by donation

Please call 231/539-7100 w/ credit card to reserve

Thank you for your time!!!