LoveFeast Table

Houndstooth Boutique in Savage, Minnesota was one of the businesses that put a little swag in our bags at BlogLove!!  During the week while Kristin was visiting we ran down to Houndstooth and interviewed Amber, the owner to see what is going to be in fashion for this fall!  Amber is really knowledgeable and will know just the right look for you!!  So peek through your BlogLove swag bag and find her business card and visit Houndstooth to use your store credit special for BlogLove Minnesota attendees!

And, here’s a look at this fall’s fabulous fashion:

What trends do you like this fall?

One of things we like to do here at LoveFeast Table is to bring together people to share stories, experiences, and conversation.  We like to meet people along our journey and hear their story.  And, if it happens to be around the subject of food or drink, all the better!

On my flight to visit Kristin last week I happened to share some conversation across our drop-down tray-tables with a gentleman in my row named Don.  After some small talk, Don offered some explanation about his second mini-bottle of wine.  Instinctively, I asked, “Are you collecting the bottles?”  As a matter of fact he was!  I inquired why.  “For limoncello,” Don replied.  Don had my full attention.

You see Kristin and I, together with our husbands, fell in love with limoncello on our trip to Italy.

Specifically, our limoncello love began at our limoncello table in a charming little restaurant on the side of a hill run by a chef and his wife, in Florance.

This picture is a little out of focus.  But, so was that night….especially after the limoncello.  But, let me tell you it was like a dream eating in this garden.  The chef and his wife oversaw our table and brought us out small glasses of homemade limoncello.

Limoncello then became part of our story.  We have even themed our summer with it!

But, I digress…meet Don.

Don, like myself, is also from Minneapolis and he is famous for his limoncello that he gives as gifts in small little bottles to his friends and family.  That is why he needed to drink the wine on our flight!!  For the bottles, wink!wink!  Don was kind enough to give me his recipe for me to share on LoveFeast Table.

The Don’s Limoncello

11/2 liters Vodka  (Don uses the Kirkland brand from Cosco because it is the same as the Grey Goose brand for less money!)

20 Lemons (Finely zest the lemons ever so lightly over a plate with a micro-plane avoiding the white inside of the lemon.  Don gets organic lemons reasonably priced at Trader Joe’s.  If he uses regular lemons he cleans them with hot water and water purification tablets from Mexico.)

Fill a jug with rubber gasket on top with the vodka and lemon zest and shake.  Put in a dark corner.  The zest will turn white in 8-10 days.

Filter through a colander.  Don has been using a french press lately and it worked really well for him.

Add simple syrup.  Simple syrup is 1 part water to 2 parts sugar.  For this mixture Don used 21/2 cups of water and about 5 cups of sugar.  Refrigerate this mixture before you add to the lemon/vodka mixture because if it is warm it will cloud the mixture.  Put the limoncello in the freezer.  It shouldn’t freeze if it has enough vodka in it.

It is ready to drink.  Don says you can add a touch of 7-Up to it for a little “zip”.

Thank you so much, Don for sharing your travels and your recipe with us!!

Sometimes, Minnesota seems like a barren tundra of cold to me…and then one day, more than a few months ago I was walking through a mall parking lot and I came across this and my hope was restored.

Only in America would you find a car like this! -specifically cold northern America.

Oh, my lands, only in the Land of 10,000 Lakes – a project for the long winter!

And, quite possibly only in Minnesota!! -because we need to amuse ourselves during the white outs!

What a thrill to discover it was covered in plates! -’cause this a food blog, after-all!

Plates with kitchen wisdom….

and honest truths!

Plates with messages, I took personally.

During my photo snapping guess who eventually came around?

This is Jan, the owner of this car!!  She has a passion for collecting and searching for the mystery in society’s bi-products! And, she works in schools!  And because this is a foodie blog I couldn’t resist asking Jan what Minneapolis restaurants she recommends and they are: The Craftsman, 112 Eatery, & La Belle Vie.

Jan is also the proud owner of the Cork Truck and participates in something called the Art Shanty Project.  This is something some Minnesotan’s do in January even when the current temperature is zero degrees Fahrenheit, like today or less.  (Ever hear of the phrase “cold snap”–it’s a Minnesota thing, and I’m pretty sure it’s a form of brain damage.)  The Art Shanty Project is a temporary artist community built on frozen Medicine Lake, west of Minneapolis because in the middle of the winter some people here begin to ask “What can you do with a lake in January when you can’t swim in it?“  Here is a closer look into that sort of “cold snap” outcome– a video of some of the artists’ thoughts and explanations of this event from a previous year…watch this.  Now you can see what really goes on here in Minnesota…and you can see if I complain a little, it’s just a form of survival and a way of moving my mouth to create some body heat.

According to the website it looks like Jan is going to be there this year in the Art Car Taxi Shanty, so I’m going to try and drag my Suburbia Man and kids there to follow up with Jan and remind them that where we live is really really cool…. I mean, cold.  And, to let them see really really cool art…. I mean, cold art.  Here is what I think a very real look at what happens to the northern Minnesota brain in the middle of the winter -again, it is just a logical guess that this project took place…during a very long gray winter.

Saturday January 16, 2010 is the opening day of this year’s Art Shanty Project.  It’s going to be cold..again, just a logical guess… but, “it’s something to do in January” if you want to “get out and play“.  And, I heard there might be food?  Want to join me?  Comments, conclusions, questions, & expressions of outrage…feel free to share!

Sometimes you just want to eat a burger. Eating a burger at The Cove, is like eating at your older brother’s apartment; your older brother that was into records, fishing, hunting, and skateboarding. The Cove has a relaxed hang-out type vibe where you can be comfortable, kickback, and hang with some friends. That is what “Good Vibe Ambassadors” and brothers, Bruce and Brock Larson, are trying to do with their burger joint. The menu is simple and inexpensive pub food. The hamburgers and hot dogs are served in basket with good fries. And, they have “appetitzerz” and pizza as well. This is dude food that even a chick might like!

I stopped by during The Cove’s soft open to talk to Bruce Larson who recently opened The Cove, with his brother Brock. The pub is decorated with skateboard decks, music posters and memorabilia. Bruce, who formerly worked in sales and marketing for EMI and Warner Brothers, said he has been collecting stuff since he was eight years old and wanted to share it with people, in a relaxed atmosphere. He wanted a restaurant with a solid food menu, and a pub vibe that revolves around music.

What inspired you to start your business? A love of music, beer, wine, and simple food. After twenty-five years in the music business, and after kicking the idea around for almost ten years, I was looking for the right opportunity.

What other restaurants and travels inspired you? I wanted good food and good music, something like the Hard Rock Café or Denver, a mountain town-chalet type place with a fireplace, to be the best burger joint you ever went to.

What is your favorite food memory? My wife and I use to go to a place in Colorado, above Boulder, in Nederland, CO, where all they served was spaghetti. There was a line out the door. It was the best spaghetti you ever had. It shows it doesn’t have to be fancy, just good, reasonable, fair, and a fun experience.

Where do you see you’re self in the next five years? For this place to have a cool vibe and maybe a couple of more locations in the area south of the river (south of Minneapolis).

What’s a fun fact that you’d like people to know? My brother is a hunter and a fisherman and a lot of the fish mounts in our place were caught locally. I live and breathe music.

How is music going to play a role here? It is going to be a mish mash of good music, something for everyone.

How would you describe “the vibe” here at The Cove? I just want people to be happy, to be able to go to a place that is different and fun and escape for awhile.

I enjoyed hearing a little about the inspiration behind the restaurant and hope that anyone in the Minneapolis area who finds them selves “south of the river” and looking for a “Jucy Lucy” ventures into the hometown hospitality of The Cove.

My sister-n-law, Kim, who I think will forgive me for sneaking a look into the cookbook Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, that gave I her as a gift, has read the cookbook cover to cover.  She also has agreed to submit to a lie detector test has agreed to an interview.  Kim is in the beginning stages of launching her own baking company.  Let’s see where she gets her inspiration!

What is your favorite food memory? Um, learning to make chocolate chip cookies in 4-H.  We had to measure all the ingredients into butter dishes.  That is my first memory of being taught how to bake.

What inspired you to start your business? I love to bake for myself, my family, and other’s enjoyment.  So many of my friends don’t bake because they can’t, don’t know how, don’t like to, or don’t have the time to.  Store-bought has become the staple at every event and I want to bring homemade back to home.

What’s your three favorite kitchen tools? My kitchen-aid mixer, my apple/slicer/corer gadget, and my hand chopper.

What have you made from the Baked cookbook so far? The Peanut Butter Cookies With Milk Chocolate Chunks, page 140, completely awesome!  The Chocolate Chip Cookies, page 139, not your average chocolate chip cookie.  And, the Peanut Butter Krispie Bars, page 133, super yummy intense adult rice krispie bars, delicious!  A sugar rush!

What do you want to make next from Baked? Black Forest Chocolate Cookies, the Baked Brownie, and the Rootbeer Bundt Cake.

What would you like to learn next? I’d like to take a food science class, to learn the ins and outs of how ingredients interact, so I can formulate my own recipes with less trial and error.

Where do you see yourself in the next five years?  Or, where would you like to be? I’d like to have my business up and running.  I’d like to have a retail location where I can bake and teach classes for kids and adults.

If you were going to ask the owners and writer of Baked anything-what would it be? What do you think the key to consistency is, as you start to hirer and expand, to maintain your same quality product.

What kind of satisfaction do you get from baking? Personally, therapeutic, for me it’s relaxing.  When I was younger, and in high school, if there was something going on, you could tell, because I would make a pan of brownie or cookies.  When I bake for others, there is nothing more satisfying than hearing, that was really good!

If you were going to eat your last dessert, what would it be? A hot skillet cookie.  It’s a hot chocolate chip cookie, warmed or cooked on a cast iron skillet, served with icecream and hot fudge suace, whipped cream, with toasted almonds on top.