More From Michigan

Heading southeast from Detroit to Hillsdale, after passing Ann Arbor, the drive rolls through very small town after very small town. It's apparent, right away, that living in this part of the country is different from living on the busy East Coast.

Sam and Stacey, our friends in Hillsdale, can't quickly swing into Target or Trader Joe's to pick up a few things. But they have shopping options that we just don't have out here - like Joe's Country Store, where we stopped for steaks on our way from the airport to the house. Check it out: 

I am pretty sure Cooper would like to see a jerky HQ someplace around here.

It's hard to miss the store from the road:

There are more deer where that one came from, too.

And the steaks? Unsurprisingly, they were fantastic.

UPDATE: Fantastic and, as Cooper just reminded me, fantastically inexpensive. $12.99 a pound for ribeyes? Yeah, that's pretty reasonable.

I Want To Be At This House

Right about now, I'm sincerely considering finding some crystal decanters and silver pitchers.

Or stealing my mothers. Just kidding. (Kind of.)

(Via MFAMB.)

Farmer's Market Surprise

We just got back home from a long, fun weekend in Michigan, visiting our friend Sam and his family. Sam was Cooper's roommate for a few years after college. At the time, he was in grad school in Maryland, getting his doctorate in math. Right around the time we got married, Sam finished school and accepted a job as a professor at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, a small town in southern Michigan.

I've got tons of pictures from the weekend - a lot of which are of food and the big party Sam and Stacey threw on Sunday. I haven't had time to sort through all of them yet, but I did find this little gem - something I spotted at the Hillsdale Farmer's Market on Saturday morning:

I've spent my entire life living in states that started out as tobacco producers. In elementary school, at least one field trip revolved around historic tobacco farming (exploring our colonial roots and all). But I haven't ever seen tobacco plants at the market. Maybe I just haven't been paying attention?

These were tucked in with a lot of more standard plants. If we hadn't been flying home, I definitely would've gotten one for our garden. Just to try it.

As a whole, the farmer's market was full of nice surprises. Hillsdale is a tiny town, and it was a holiday weekend, so the market was only about three-quarters of its usual self. But there were tons of interesting jellies and honeys and pickles and other things I wanted to buy, but didn't want to carry through airport security.

More to follow!

High School Parties, All Grown Up

Over the weekend, we cohosted a party with a bunch of my high school friends and their kids. There was no specific reason for the party - back in January, I just started feeling sentimental, so I emailed a bunch of old friends about getting together. Next thing you know, it's May, and the party was actually happening.

My friend Suzanne volunteered her neighborhood beach for the party.

It was perfect. The view from the pier:

The kids spent most of their time on the beach, or in the water,

while the adults camped out in the screened pavilion. It's so nice!

The view from the beach (where I spent a lot of time, watching Dixon in the water):

We set up all the food and the drinks in the pavilion. We brought some wine and a keg (which, thankfully, we returned to the liquor store empty). Everyone brought food- either an app or dessert. And by that, I mean that pretty much everybody brought cheese and crackers or some sort of store-bought Mexican dip. By the time the 5th person opened some sort of Mexican snack, I was laughing. I guess great minds think alike? And like guacamole?

My friend Pat was the exception to the rule (that's him, above, in the blue shirt by the DJ equipment -
he and some friends volunteered to DJ). Pat makes this absolutely amazing fresh salsa.
He brought a giant vat of it to the party - which disappeared crazy quickly:

The party started at 12 and lasted until around 6 - as everyone left, we decided it should be an annual event. It was just so much fun. Thanks in part to a beautiful day and setting, but also because it's so fun to catch up with old friends, and fantastic to watch everybody's kids play together.

Plus, we need an annual reason for Pat to make that salsa.

Though really, once a year isn't nearly enough.

DISH by Shax Riegler

Plates are so pretty. So it's no surprise that Shax Riegler's book about them, the aptly named DISH, is quite lovely itself. Riegler, the features editor at House Beautiful, has made his way around the shelter mag world for two decades. He knows how to set a table. And how to write about what goes on that table.

The book includes a million photos of plates that are gorgeous and/or historically interesting (including my own everyday plates, plain white Apilco dishes from Williams Sonoma).

Here are a few of my favorites:

Minton oyster plate, circa 1851:

I love oyster plates in general - and this one in particular. Beautiful colors + amazing details.

Part of a tea service given to Martha Washington in 1796:

I love the states-in-links detail around the edges - and of course I think 

the letters W&M just belong together.

Wedgwood's Chinese Tigers pattern, circa 1915:

This design was inspired by foo dogs, which I love. And the color is just the best.

There's more to come from this book, too. I went on a scanning spree -

there's a lot to love between the covers!

Recipe: Maryland Crab Cakes

Way back when this was a brand new blog, I posted my recipe for crab cakes. On Monday, after eating crab cakes at my house on Mother's Day, my sister emailed me for the recipe. I sent her the link to that long ago post, but had to add tons of comments - I've tweaked the recipe a lot over the past few years.

So here it is, in all its current glory.

Kit's Crab Cakes

(makes 6 crab cakes, which serves about 3 people)

( takes about 30 minutes of active cooking/prep time, including picking through the crab,

but requires AT LEAST 5 hours of refrigeration)

Ingredients
- 1 lb lump locally caught crabmeat, picked over for shells (Local crab is more expensive, but it is much, MUCH better.)
- 1/2 cup panko
- 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
- 1-1 1/2 tbls. Old Bay (If you like spicy and salty, go heavier. If you don't, use a little less.)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup Duke's mayonnaise
- The juice of 1/4 of a lemon
- 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- Olive oil
- Butter

Directions

1. Using a fork the panko, dry mustard and Old Bay together in a small bowl.

2. In another, larger bowl, mix the egg, mayonnaise, lemon juice and Worcestershire, stirring with a fork or whisk until the mixture is completely smooth.

3. Fold in the dry ingredients and mix until everything is completely combined.

4. Using a large spoon, fold in the crabmeat, until everything is evenly coated.

5. Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions. Form each portion into a round ball and place on a cookie sheet.

6. Refrigerate for at least 5 hours and preferably overnight. Whenever I refrigerate for less than 5 hours, the cakes completely fall apart in the pan.

7. When it's time to cook, start by preheating the oven to 300 degrees.

8. In a large frying pan, heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 pat of butter over medium heat.

9. Once the pan is hot, carefully add the crab cakes, without crowding them in the pan.

10. Cook until they are crispy and a warm brown color on the bottom - probably 3 to 5 minutes. (This may vary, depending on your pans. Mine run hot and I cook for about 3 minutes.)

11. Using a spatula, carefully flip the cakes, trying your best not to lose any bits of crab, and cook until brown on the other side, another 3 to 5 minutes.

12. Once the crab cakes are brown on both sides, transfer them back to the cookie sheet and place them in the oven to heat through, about 5-10 minutes.

Sometimes I turn the oven off after about 5 minutes and just let the crab cakes sit there, while I finish up the rest of dinner. So far, they haven't dried out.

Serve with lemon slices and cocktail sauce (mine is a simple combination of ketchup, a shake of Worcestershire, a squeeze of lemon, and enough horseradish to turn the ketchup pink).

And enjoy!

Brazilian Steakhouses: What's Up With That?

Brazilian steakhouses get all the love. Isn't that weird?

Let me back up. I am a huge fan of  Urbanspoon - no surprise since the site is run by restaurant-loving data nerds. Since I am also a restaurant-loving data nerd, I especially enjoy when the Urbanspoon crew mines their data. This week, they evaluated their entire database to determine the 250 high end restaurants that receive the most attention from users, bloggers and traditional media.

And do you know what their results show? Coast to coast, people cannot stop talking about Brazilian steakhouses.

Fogo de Chao received the most attention - it's on the short list in 14 different cities, including Baltimore, where it is the third most talked about restaurant (behind Waterfront Kitchen and Wit and Wisdom). This fits with my own Google stat knowledge - searches for  Fogo drive quite a few people to my 2008 post about the restaurant.

Considering Fogo only has 18 locations in the U.S., the fact that 14 of them show up on this list is pretty impressive. (Beverly Hills, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami are the locations not included.)

In addition to Fogo, seven additional Brazilian steakhouses make the list (maybe even more - those seven have obvious names). In nine of the 70 cities included, a Brazilian steakhouse takes the top spot (that's 13%). Several cities have more than one Brazilian steakhouse on their list - in Washington D.C., where there are a lot of good restaurants, Chima Brazilian Steakhouse is #1 and Fogo is #2 (three out of Chima's four locations make the list).

So back to my original question - what is it about these places?

I have to admit that I didn't love my experience at Fogo de Chao. I didn't hate it, but it was hectic and some of the meat was overdone. We went once four years ago and haven't been back since. For me, going out to dinner is active - I talk and observe and try other people's food. I don't just passively sit, waiting for someone to serve me. But in the end, I usually find dining out relaxing. Fogo was not a relaxing experience. I like relaxing experiences in restaurants.

But apparently I'm in the minority, at least among people using Urbanspoon.

My guess is that most people feed of the energy in Brazilian steakhouses - that's why they like them. I also think people just like being around all that meat.

And, let's be fair, there are worse things than being surrounded by tons of meat.

Aside: Other interesting things about the Baltimore list - Salt is #5 and Woodberry Kitchen is #6 out of 6. I think Salt is great, but Woodberry definitely gets more press - I'm surprised that Salt would even make the top 15 in terms of attention. Woodberry's lower score might be because Urbanspoon doesn't capture all of the national press the restaurant gets. But I'm still puzzled by Salt's high ranking. Good for them - they deserve it. But I didn't expect to see them there.

Mother's Day Recap: The Extended Version

As I mentioned yesterday, I had a wonderful Mother's Day. The weather was beautiful and my day began with pancakes al fresco, courtesy of Cooper and Dixon. The boys set a very nice table on our deck, complete with roses from the yard, and gave me a champagne stopper along with VOLT ink, the new Voltaggio cookbook, which is beautiful (but complicated - the recipes are challenging, to say the least).

In the afternoon, my sister, her boyfriend and my mom all came over for dinner, and Cooper's parents stopped by for a bit. Unfortunately, my dad couldn't join us, as he's laid up in the hospital with a broken leg, but the good news there is that he's on the mend and hopefully will be home soon.

But I digress.

When everyone arrived in the afternoon, we started with Pimm's Cups - the recipe is here - and I got a chance to use these perfectly Marylandy cocktail napkins I picked up at Eddie's:

Mr. Acheson inspired more than the drinks -

I also made a couple of recipes from the "Snackies" section of his book.

These (blurry) Medjool dates are stuffed with a mixture of peeled and thinly sliced celery,

grated Parmesan cheese and olive oil:

I'm a fan of stuffed dates in general, but most of the recipes I come across either involve bacon or some type of cheese by itself. In this case, the celery added fresh flavor and crunch - they made the dates more interesting.

The Acheson cookbook also inspired this dish of ham, arugula and chilied mango:

Not only is the combination pretty, and tasty in that salty-sweet-spicy way,

it is just about the easiest thing ever.

All I did was cube some mango, sprinkle it with red pepper flakes and toss it with some very thinly sliced Virginia ham and a few sprigs of arugula. A tiny drizzle of olive oil and voila - finished. Seriously, so easy.

And last night, we used the leftovers for a spicy arugula and mango salad (dressed with a quick champagne vinaigrette) and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Not so boring for leftovers.

Not everything came from the Acheson cookbook, of course. No Waskom party is complete without a cheese or two, and pate (I got mine from Neopol). Plus, I did some more cooking.

The recipe for these pickled tomatoes and fennel came from and old Food and Wine:

They were simple as anything, but do require overnight marinating. They also weren't the biggest hit on the table, though I think they're pretty good.

We spent most of the afternoon snacking, but when we sat down for dinner, we had asparagus with hollandaise (which I didn't photograph!) and crab cakes with cocktail sauce:

When I first started M&G, I blogged my recipe for crab cakes, which is based on the Annapolis Junior League recipe. That was 2006. In the past 6 years, I've made those crab cakes many, many times and the recipe has evolved. So I'll be posting it again later this week (UPDATE: here it is).

After all of that, we still had dessert, courtesy of my sister, Erin - a lovely apple pie:

Erin started with this recipe, making a few adjustments here and there.

(The big one is that she used Whole Foods pie crust to save time - it was very good. Other revisions include adding cinammon and nutmeg to the mix, mixing some of the syrup with the apples before pouring the rest over the lattice and sprinkling the top with water and sugar before baking. She also tented foil over the pie while it was in the oven.)

As usual, I was thankful that I have a sister who likes to bake, since I wholeheartedly do not.

After the pie, we were all, understandably, stuffed to the gills. But the weather held and we all sat around the table chatting, until the bugs drove us inside. Where we sat and chatted some more.

Relaxing and delicious, start to finish (well, except for the 30 minutes right before my sister arrived, when I managed to clean the kitchen, wipe all the counters, sweep the floor, take a shower and dry my hair). Mostly relaxing, anyway.

And definitely delicious.

Recipe: Southern Pimm's Cup

I like a nice Pimm's Cup. It's what we drank last year, around Royal Wedding time

and what we drank this past weekend, for Mother's Day.

For Mother's Day, I used the Southern Pimm's Cup recipe in Hugh Acheson's

A New Turn in the South as a rough guideline.

I have to confess, I'm not 100% sure what is particularly Southern about this version of the drink vs. other recipes, but it was both easy to make and pretty delicious, so I'm not super concerned about its pedigree.

The ingredients (most of them, anyway):

 

And here is my take on Acheson's version of the drink:

Southern Pimm's Cup

Fill a pint glass with ice.

Fill the glass almost halfway with Pimm's

Fill it almost another quarter of the way with lemonade
(if you don't make your own, Acheson recommends Simply Lemonade;
I used the Trader Joe's low calorie organic lemonade, which I find reliably good)

Then fill it almost to the top with spicy ginger ale (I used Reed's ginger beer)

Place a couple strawberry slices, a couple cucumber slices,

and a few torn sprigs of mint in the glass and give it a stir

Squeeze a lemon in, stir again and enjoy. Super refreshing, I promise.