Uncle Cookie's Road Trip

We ate. We drank. We sat around and bitched about the same old family troubles. And had a fabulous time.

Wednesday Bryan and I stayed fairly close to home and visited Brighton. We first stopped in a store we had been dragged into many times as children by mom and dad (Canopy). Yep, the same store dad detoured to for hard-to-find wines, liquors and gourmet tidbits is still there. I remember thinking the containers of escargot shells were just so cool when I was a kid. Well, the escargot are gone, but we can visit any time we need something that's a little hard to find. And return those out-of-state/weird brand beer bottles that no one else will take back.

We had a drink and appetizer at Stout, our very own transplanted Irish pub, then dinner at Brighton Bar and Grill (the two of us...Tim had to work). We sat at an outdoor table, enjoying our sandwiches, and one of the last really warm days of the year. Then later we had a few beers out on the deck at home while the hummingbirds got in their last evening sips at the feeders, and we watched the stars come out. Bryan showed me all the pics he'd taken on his month-long drive from California so far. Bryce Canyon, the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, and Devil's Tower. All wonderful pics, and made me want to start planning a trip to those places. Unfortunately he had some cloudy weather in the Tetons, but the boy can still take a mean picture.

Thursday. Thursday? Oh yeah. I heard a saying not long ago, something to the effect of 'the sweetness of doing nothing'. That pretty much summed up the day. Okay, I cooked three meals and made my elderberry cordial, but it never seemed like work. I made pancakes in the morning, laced with liberal amounts of apple cider and stout. Then for lunch, we made roasted root vegetables and baked salmon with plum chutney. Later that night (poor Tim had to work again, so it was just Bryan and me), I baked up a couple of my Mediterranean pizzas loaded with capers, feta cheese and pine nuts. By the time darkness fell, I realized we'd pretty much loafed around on our butts all day long, switching between the Food Network and the Travel Channel. It was rainy and thundery outside all day. It was absolutely beautiful. Sweet.

Friday, we broke our pissy year-long boycott of downtown Detroit. We can't stay away from Eastern Market. And we decided to eat lunch at Fishbone's in Greektown, a place we hadn't visited in years (like since the last time Bryan was here). Bryan wanted to do some photography of the buildings, both old and new. We visited historic Trinity Lutheran church and was given a tour by a friendly curator. We passed through the Renaissance Center and took a look at the cars they have on display in the atrium. What is their deal with taking pics in there? Sheesh, it's not like they have any top-secret auto industry knowledge we are going to sneak out with. And there are far more photogenic buildings than this one. Not one but two different security guards gave Bryan static about photography. Sounded to us like much ado about nothing. We couldn't figure this out.

The river walk on the Detroit River is nice. You can wave to friendly Windsor, Canada on the other side. I don't think I had ever really seen Hart Plaza before. Detroit actually looks beautiful from there. I was even impressed by the union sculpture that is a gigantic shrine to organized labor (the conservative Republican in me only cringed a little). We walked around the outsides of Cobo Hall and Joe Louis Arena (which will actually see the Redwings play hockey this year!) for a while before heading out of the city to some more fave stores (Trader Joe's, Clover Leaf, Whole Foods and Middle Eastern grocery and bakery).

We weren't that hungry for dinner that night (at least I wasn't), so we decided to just quality control some of the cheeses we'd picked out for the big family dinner Sunday. We opened a couple bottles of wine, and Bryan showed us a devilishly simple trick to do with Parmesan cheese. I took my 14-inch cast iron pizza pan, and he spooned grated cheese onto it. We baked the hell out of these in a very hot oven for about 10 minutes until they were bubbly and brown. As soon as the pan came out of the oven, we lifted them off with a spatula and let them cool and harden to a savory crisp. If you are quick, you can roll the cheese rounds into cones or tubes, like tuile cookies. These are wickedly good with red wine.

Saturday, we worked. Yes, it came as a shock to our systems. But there is another saying, something like 'many hands make light work'. If Bryan hadn't helped me pull weeds and trim overgrown greenery and clean house, I don't know how long I would have dragged my feet doing all the things I believe to be essential to having people over for dinner. I thank him.

We picked about 72,000 pounds of apples from our neighbor's tree, and from a wild tree on the neighborhood's common property. I still haven't gotten around to making my apple butter, but we needed the apples for a dessert we had been drawing up plans for. Meanwhile, they sit in bags on the garage floor waiting for me to deal with them.

Bryan wanted to see Grandma and Grandpa Zucker, so we drove up to Frankenmuth to take care of that (see previous post).

That night, we got a personal sushi-making demo. Bryan had bought us a cookbook, and two essential tools for sushi, a bamboo rolling mat and a wooden paddle for tossing the cooked rice with the vinegar dressing. What a blast that was. There was hardly an inch of empty space left on the kitchen island, we had so many ingredients sliced and diced and scattered everywhere. This is not a meal you want to make if you hate washing dishes. Or cleaning up rice. The short-grained rice used for sushi could be used for gluing the heat shield tiles onto the space shuttle. But it was all so tasty, every bite of it. We had rare tuna sushi, roasted eel sushi, shrimp salad sushi, vegetarian sushi with avocado, crab sushi... We were actually quite full by the time dinner was over.

Sunday began with preparations for an early afternoon dinner. We planned to serve smoked chickens and grilled trout. My usual big question marks for the side dishes were handled by Scott and Ann with their giant green salad and bread, and Mom with her spicy salsa, corn and bean dish. We put out two cheese and cracker platters and smoked salmon for appetizers. Tim had the smoker and both gas and charcoal grills going all at once. It was a propane-charcoal smackdown. Plus we used the 12-inch dutch oven for the apple dessert. I forget how many bottles of wine and beer were opened, plus two bottles of carbonated fruit juice for the kids ('kid wine'). Later I cracked open the bottle of Godiva chocolate liqueur to slip into our coffee.

Plan A had been for us to eat outside on the deck, but pouring rain forced us to go to Plan B, cozily eating inside. Still, a good time was had by all. The kids were entertained by Lord of the Rings (FOTR), and we were entertained by niece Elise and her joyously shrieking repartee with Bryan (whom she has formally named Uncle Cookie).

Monday morning, we sent him off with a load of leftovers for his drive to Washington DC. No word of his adventures and photo-taking there, but right now he is hopefully in Raleigh, NC visiting 3rd brother Chris and sister-in-law Lindsey.

And here is the recipe for Uncle Cookie's Fancy Apple Goo Dessert:

Peel and slice enough tart apples to completely fill (and then some) a 12-inch cast iron dutch oven. Toss with about a half cup of brown sugar and several tablespoons of cinnamon. Preheat the dutch oven in the regular oven. Then add the apples and transfer to charcoal heat, using briquets both on top and bottom. When the apples have cooked down enough (after about 20 minutes or so, the pre-dinner wine makes it hard to remember exactly how long), add the rest. Cook, stirring occasionally about 45 minutes total, watching that they don't burn on the bottom. When the apples are caramelized and completely softened into a chunky, rustic apple sauce, remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, take two 8-ounce containers mascarpone cheese and mix in a few teaspoons of strong German vanilla sugar. Transfer to a pastry bag with a star tip and set aside. Make Port Caramel Sauce, and transfer to a plastic squeeze bottle. When it's time to serve, scoop about 1/2 cup of apple goo into footed glass dishes. Take a package of Trader Joe's Palmier (puff pastry) cookies, and break each in half. Set a palmier half at a jaunty angle in the apple goo. Pipe a small rosette of mascarpone beside the palmier. Drizzle caramel sauce over the whole thing (heat the squeeze bottle in the microwave on low if it's too stiff). Serve and enjoy a new twist on apple pie.

Port Caramel Sauce (I can't get enough of this crap. It's as good as chocolate)

From 'Food & Wine' magazine October 2003

1/2 C plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 C light brown sugar
1/3 C plus 1 tablespoon ruby port
1 C heavy cream
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

In a heavy medium saucepan, cook the granulated sugar over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until melted. Continue to cook, without stirring until an amber caramel forms, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add light brown sugar and stir until smooth. Return to the heat and carefully add the port; the caramel will harden slightly. Cook, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the cream and cook, stirring occasionally until thickened, about 6 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Transfer sauce to a pitcher and serve warm.

The sauce can be refrigerated for up to a month; rewarm. Makes about 1 1/2 C.

Notes: use a whisk to stir while adding the port, and add it slowly. The longer you cook this after adding the cream, the thicker it well get.