Mt. Arvon - Michigan High Point

I had a continuing education seminar in Madison, Wisconsin in late June and flew into Milwaukee a few days early in order to spend some time in Northern Michigan and Northern Wisconsin. I arrived in Milwaukee about 6:45 a.m. and set out in a rental car on I-43 north along the shores of Lake Michigan to Green Bay, then Hwy 141 north through Wisconsin into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the town of L'Anse at the base of Keweenaw Bay and the Keweenaw Peninsula on Lake Superior, over 300 miles and 5 hours later. Mount Arvon is in the Huron Mountains, 12 miles east of L'Anse.

A picture taken later in the day from the west side of Keweenaw Bay, looking at L'Anse on the other side and Mount Arvon further east. 

I was listening to NPR much of the drive and had several of the jarring emergency alert system warnings interrupt the programming forecasting powerful storms in the Upper Peninsula with the potential for 70 mile an hour hurricane force winds and hail the size of silver dollars that could blow the roofs off houses and damage vehicles. The announcements were giving place names that had no meaning to me, but I knew they were within a local radius. Before the day was over I heard over 10 of these alerts, with varying winds speed estimates and hail sizes. The first alerts occurred while I had sunny skies, but as I left L'Anse and took the circuitous 24 mile drive to Mount Arvon, much of it down dirt logging roads, the sky got very dark and rain as hard as any I can remember began to pound down. I did have a few second thoughts about proceeding, but pushed on.

A school in Arvon Township viewed through my car window. School was not in session, but it was so dark that the automatic lights were on. 

The road from L'Anse pushed north to the Skanee Road bordering Huron Bay, a fjord separated from Keweenaw Bay by the Abbaye Peninsula, then east and then south into the interior of the Huron Mountains which frankly don't seem much like mountains. There were only a few sections of the road that had any kind of a significant grade to them and only for short distances. Fortunately, the road was well marked and the brunt of the storm in the area I was in occurred during my drive.

My windshield wipers were on the fastest setting and still struggled to give me a clear view. Fortunately, I did not experience any of the severe winds or hail.

As I neared Mt. Arvon the rain began to subside.

As I arrived at the parking lot for the Mt. Arvon summit, and I use the word "summit" rather sheepishly, the rain was only a trickle. After I walked about 100 yards to the summit, bypassing puddles and mud, I found a flat area with a high point sign, a mailbox with a high point register, a picnic table and a bench. A couple that had waited out the storm in their vehicle was in the vicinity. The elevation of Mt. Arvon is 1,979 feet. 

A sign pointed in the direction of the summit.

A muddy trail led up through the trees.

The summit.

I watched the couple take a trail down to the side and eventually followed them and found another bench with a lookout through the canopy revealing Lake Superior about 8 miles to the north.

The bench and some blue from Lake Superior shows through the trees.

It was nice to be able to see through the green canopy.

Huron Bay, followed by the Abbaye Peninsula, then the water of Keweenaw Bay

I decided to see if I could drive north and catch a closer look at Lake Superior. I eventually got a glimpse of Huron Bay and the Abbaye Peninsula through some trees on private property and found some beautiful flowers along the way.

On the drive back out, without rain, I got a better view of the lush green. 

At lower elevations lush ferns blocked the view into the forest.

Beautiful flowers

Finally, I got a glimpse out on to Huron Bay.

As I have found on other high point journeys, the fact that the high point is an easy walk does not mean that there is not an element of adventure in reaching them. The heavy rains and severe storm warning forecasts were more adventure than I wanted on this day. I felt fortunate to find Mt. Arvon and do it safely. 

Mrs. Backer's Pastry Shop - Salt Lake City

My favorite cake in the world is made on South Temple in Salt Lake City at Mrs. Backer's Pastry Shop. 

The butter cream frosting is incredible and when paired with their pineapple filling it is near nirvana. When I visit Salt Lake, Mrs. Backer's is on my way to my mother's, so I try to stop if it is open. The first item on my list is the Hawaiian Bar, a butter cream-topped, pineapple filling filled cake-bar that I dream for. The Rum Bar also has pineapple filling and is a good second choice. 

This past trip I could not resist a cupcake made of butter cream. It was a little much for me, I discovered that even I can be overwhelmed by butter cream. Mrs. Backer's offers way more stuff, really good stuff, but this was from my recent visit. The stuff of dreams. 

Grilled Prime Porterhouse

Anshu Pathak of Exotic Meat Market recently showed me some gigantic prime porterhouse steaks he had in his freezers, two inches thick and almost three pounds. Anshu supplies meat to high-end restaurants in Las Vegas, New York and other markets. I had to try one. 

Thawing.

USDA beef grades are standard, select, choice and prime, with prime being the top-end. The grade takes into account tenderness, juiciness and flavor and a significant factor in that process is marbling, the dispersion of fat among the lean meat. That is why prime beef is usually featured at upscale steakhouse restaurants. 

Sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words. So I give you mostly pictures, enuf said:

Boiled Lobster and Dungeness Crab

I made a trip to Utah and had an evening free to spend with "my girls," my two cute granddaughters, who go by the monikers Squirrel and Bug on the blogosphere. Several times previously I've taken them shopping for food at the local Smith's food store and we've purchased sea food which we've cooked at their home, such as Alaskan king crab legs, shrimp, squid and a small lobster tail. For this trip, I wanted it to be a little more adventurous, I wanted to try cooking live lobster with them. 

When our kids were young they were exposed to live lobster on a number of occasions. There is something quite exciting about holding a live lobster with the huge claws. 

Rachael with my mother and a spiny lobster and some crabs we cooked in San Diego. 

Sam, Andrew and Rachael holding Maine lobsters in Redlands. I love the look on each of their faces.

I scouted out a place in Salt Lake that sells live lobster. I got two - they were large. They also had dungeness crab, so I got one of them too. They had a wonderful boiled octopus so I asked for some of it as well. I called ahead to Nate and asked if he would put the largest pot they have on the stove with water. 

It was fun to see Squirrel's and Bug's eyes grow big as they saw, then held, the crab and lobsters. We watched them change color in the boiling water, then we used kitchen shears to get the meat out. As I pulled the tail off one of the lobsters and started to cut out the tail I was shocked to see Squirrel do the same to the other lobster. No fear. 

Squirrel and Bug pay close attention to the large dungeness crab.

Bug checks out the crab in the pot.

That is one big crab. Eating the crab and lobster side by side - there is no comparison. Lobster is superior in taste and in the amount of available meat. 

Squirrel examines one of the lobsters. 

The color shifts from black to orange in the pot. 

An octopus arm partially sliced. It was very moist and not too rubbery.

We pose in front of our exotic dinner. Kim chee is off to the right. 

Squirrel holds a lobster tail she has liberated from its shell. 

I ordered lobster hats for the occasion. 

This was very fun. I love having a next generation to share some of the fun of food with. 

Snapping Turtle Crockpot Stew

Looking through the freezers at Exotic Meat Market in Grand Terrace I found a five pound bag of bone-in common snapping turtle meat. 

Common snapping turtle.

I've tried snapping turtle meat in various ways previously and have never cooked it in a way that I've really enjoyed it. However, recently I cooked red-eared slider turtle soup in a crockpot and was very happy with it, so I decided to get the snapping turtle meat and try it in a crockpot. 

5 pounds of snapping turtle meat.

As I look back on my red-eared slider legs, I brined them overnight and I probably should have brined the snapping turtle meat. I think I would have been able to cook it for less time, but as it was, it turned out fine. 

I put the entire 5 pounds in the crockpot; added a half package of Zatarain's New Orleans Style Dirty Rice Mix; a can of Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic; a can of water; a bowl full of water that had four large New Mexico chiles soaking in it for several hours, along with the chiles that I cut into pieces; six large Anaheim chiles that I roasted on the grill, peeled and diced; 3 large jalapeno peppers and three poblano peppers prepared the same way; cut the corn off of three grilled ears of sweet corn; put four heads of garlic in, separated into cloves; cut-up about a quarter pound of wild boar bacon to give added fat and taste; and sprinkled it liberally with Zatarain's Creole Seasoning. 

Wild boar bacon. I used only a small part of this in the stew.

Cut corn from three cobs of grilled sweet corn.

Dried New Mexico chiles. I added a fourth to the stew after this picture was taken. 

Six Anaheim chiles ready to be diced. 

The crockpot full to the brim and ready for cooking. 

I cooked it in the crockpot overnight on low for 13 hours. The long cooking time obliterated much of the peppers, although the garlic and corn held its shape. But the long cooking time did soften up the turtle tremendously. The meat on the turtle bones just fell off as I spooned the stew mix. The turtle meat easily separated and I was able to spread it throughout the stew. 

Cooked stew at the end of 13 hours.

Turtle bones.

A bowl of turtle stew.

The stew was good but I did make a few mistakes. I should have brined the turtle before-hand and I should have added more soup or broth instead of water (we ran out and I didn't have time to go to the store for more). The broth would have been more rich. However, I am finding that I really like the crockpot for wild game. It is a great tool for softening up and cooking lean meats. 

Eland Osso Buco Crockpot Stew

Osso buco is Italian for "bone with a hole," a reference to the marrow hole at the center of a cross-cut shank (part of the leg between the knee and the ankle). I got a nice large eland osso buco from Exotic Meat Market and based on my earlier experiences with cooking eland, a large African antelope, I knew it would be very lean and very tough if I did not cook it right. Since I was already dealing with a small marrow bone in the eland, I decided to add some more beef marrow bones to provide additional fat and flavor. We had four marrow bone sections in the freezer which were perfect. Then to coax all of that flavor out of the bones and break down and soften up the eland shank, I decided to use a crockpot and cook it on low for about 12 hours. 

Beautiful eland osso buco.

Beef marrow bones

To add some texture and flavor, I put in: a package of Zatarain's New Orleans Style Dirty Rice Mix; a 10.5 oz. can of Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic and a can full of water; a 12 oz. can of beef broth; about six Anaheim chiles and 2 jalapeno peppers, grilled, de-seeded, then diced; two raw poblano peppers, de-seeded and diced; a small carton of mini portabello mushrooms, each quartered; some fingerling potatoes cut into small sections; and a head of garlic, broken down into cloves. Then I liberally sprinkled on some Zatarain's Creole Seasoning. 

The crockpot before cooking.

After 12 hours in the crockpot the marrow in the bones had mostly dissolved and the flavor had migrated throughout the pot. I loved fishing what remaining marrow I could out of the bones and relished eating it with a spoon of the meaty broth. The eland fell apart at the touch of a fork and quickly pieces of it were spread throughout the stew. Eland is a beautiful dark red meat and it reminded me of a beef roast. The mushroom pieces contracted into nice, plump balls of moisture; the potato slices were moist, yet still had texture; the poblano chiles were plump; and the garlic cloves were wonderful additions that melted in the mouth. The rice added a nice, spicy, thickness. 

The crockpot after 12 hours of cooking. 

The wonderful beef marrow bones.

A nice mixture of eland, rice, peppers, mushrooms and potatoes. 

I'm learning that the crockpot is a wonderful way of cooking lean wild game, particularly larger cuts. 

Wild Boar Bacon

I recently read the book, Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer, and after learning about the horrible conditions that chickens, cows and pigs are raised in and the antibiotics that they are fed, I have decided to avoid meat, for the most part, unless I can determine that the animal was raised in humane conditions and free of antibiotics. 

I've found that wild boar is particularly good. As a wild animal it has lived a humane life and it has eaten healthy and is much leaner than its farm-raised cousin. So I recently stocked up on wild boar products from Exotic Meat Market. 

I was particularly anxious to try wild boar bacon, something I've not eaten previously. It came in a very long, solid slab. One side of the slab was covered with a thin layer of fat and the other side had ridges that resembled sausages or ribs. 

I got an electric knife and proceeded to cut the bacon into thin strips and stacked the strips on a plate. 

In the last several days I've used it in a crockpot recipe for snapping turtle stew and this past Sunday I had bacon and eggs, using eggs given to us by our friend Jerry from chickens he raises in his yard. The beautiful orange yolks of the eggs melded perfectly with the nicely fried bacon. The wild boar bacon is a little tougher and much leaner than regular bacon, but the flavor is much richer and stronger. I much prefer it to regular bacon.