Mo' Food for Thought

Just returned from Model D's "Mo' Food," a panel and conversation on the future of food and food systems for the Detroit economy and community.

Among issues discussed were: What are the emerging opportunities for Detroit's local food economy? Is the city open to new ideas and ways of doing business? How are markets and restaurants changing the economic profile of the city and how can they contribute to its growth? What are the opportunities for collaboration between large scale markets, existing food markets and emerging entrepreneurs?

A panel discussion led off -- on it were DanCarmody, president ofEastern Market Corporation; Todd Abrams, food writer and co-founder ofGourmet Underground; James Garrison, kitchen manager at Honey Bee Market La Colmena; Joe McClure, co-founder of McClure's Pickles; and Jess Daniel, founder of Neighborhood Noodle. Noah Ovshinsky, WDET reporter on food issues moderated.

First off, the venue, Cliff Bells downtown was packed to the gills, standing room only. Clearly, there's a lot of interest and passion in the topic.

Second, Eastern Market is set to become a real power house in the development of food systems, linking consumers, wholesale, retail, entrepreneurs and even schools in developing a comprehensive, fresh, Michigan-centric products. According to Carmody, Michigan stands to become a national leader this area. Among things planned at Eastern Market are an open market kitchen incubator available to cottage and emerging artisan food producers; technical and business support for these emerging producers, a linkage between Detroit Public Schools kitchens (Carmody says they're some of the best commercial kitchens in the country) and entrepreneurs and farmers, making these sites for fresh produce for neighborhoods.

Also learned more about the Good Food Working Group that's helping start-ups connect with others in the same boat, the Detroit Food Policy Council and the Food Justice Task Force.

A critical mass is converging around this broad topic - food access, food business, food fairness and justice and it's an exciting mix of individuals, business, city experts all working to push Detroit to embrace and lead in this important area.

I'll look forward to learning more about all these various efforts --- inspiring and exciting.

Charleston Chow

Short trip to Charleston -- chowriffic
Thanks to chowhounds and yelp we had a great couple of chow days in Charleston. Lunch at See Wee restaurant in Awandaw --- special of fried flounder, shrimp oysters, fried green tomatoes, red rice (husband has mac and cheese and slaw.) Hot, fresh, ethereally fried -- washed down with a hop-sy Palmetto lager. Just a great, great meal and such friendly service.

Breakfast at Hominy Grill next a.m., Chalreston -- best grits I ever had, mile high biscuit -- husband had eggs and sausage -- very porky, spicy, coarse ground and obviously made there. Fresh and lovely restaurant in charming neighborhood, again, great service. Think I could eat there three meals a day.

Dinner at Magnolia's on East Bay. Rich and luxurious blue crab bisque, spicy shrimp and grits with andouille and tasso gravy, husband had the shellfish with lobster sauce over grits. Impeccable service, white table cloth but very warm and chic. Food was perfect --rich but not overwhelming, very nice wine list.

We loved the city and the chow. Just sorry it was a short trip. We'll be back as soon as we can.

Michigan's Lower Peninsula in cheese

You never know what wonders you'll find making lunch. Here's the Lower Peninsula, courtesy of Hoffman's extra sharp cheddar. On rye.

Psychology treats

The day before Christmas break I invited my AP Psychology students to bring in a treat that had a psychology theme. Here are some of the best ones.



Illusion cake - is it a rabbit or a duck?


Scatterplot cookies


Positive reinforcement brownies


Color-blindness test cookies


Gestalt principles of perception cupcakes

Detroit Food Holiday Mart

Heading downtown to the old Tiger Stadium neighborhood for the first food mart. Lots of artisanal and home produced specialities, including our pals' at Gang of Pour cider and wine vinegar and their 22-year-old vinegar mother.

Are you going? If so, please post what you saw/ate/bought.

We'll do the same

English muffins

The female half of this blog has sent me to Michael Ruhlman's website for his English muffin recipe. I've tried making EMs before, but never been very satisfied, so trying these seems like a worthwhile hour or two.


They certainly look like EMs, don't they?

The recipe flows as advertised - it's pretty easy to follow and the batter comes out pretty much the way I expected. The cooked product had a decent rise, though I would have liked a little more rise. Lacking an electric griddle, I cooked them in a big cast iron fry pan. The problem I had is getting the temperature right. Ruhlman says to cook on medium to medium high heat. I found that the temperature was too high - the muffins nearly burned before they were cooked thoroughly inside. I tried medium high, medium low and the lowest setting our gas range offers. I finally decided to finish them in a 300 F oven after cooking them to deep brown in the skillet on the low setting.

The making, then, is kind of a pain. But the eating is a different story. Toasted, these muffins are very tasty. Ruhlman suggests using a sourdough starter and that sounds like a good idea to me. I might try buttermilk in place of the whole milk as well, though that make require some experimenting with the baking powder.

Are they worth the effort? (Even Ruhlman suggests that Bay's EMs are a worthy substitute for homemade.) I think so - but let me try them a few more times. We'll see.

Check out the directions and recipe at Ruhlman's website

Hanukkah dinner

We were invited last night to a traditional Hanukkah dinner. Herewith some photos and a few comments.

We started with a lovely French onion soup - sweetly caramelized onions, gruyere cheese and a hearty chunk of good baguette.



Dinner featured a tasty, homemade applesauce with apricot-glazed chicken. We enjoyed both - well-cooked and boldly flavored. The latkes turned out to be an adventure and we love adventures!



Kugel for dessert: M has had it many times, I only a few. It's hard not to like raisins toasted in brown sugar and these were just fine. Kugel is an interesting concept - noodles with fruit and brown sugar. Imagine the Irish making a dessert of potatoes, fruit and brown sugar.



After dessert, E treated us to game of dreidel in which we gambled for our chocolate coins by spinning the dreidel. It was certainly an exciting game - the element of chance was intensified by the fact that only one person knew the rules to the game, and it was possible that her interpretation of the rules was, um, inconsistent.



The Shady Lane "Coop de Blanc" seemed overly sweet to most of us, tho M liked it more as the courses grew sweeter.



The Grand Traverse Dry Riesling was quite pleasant and enjoyed by all.



All in all, it was a most pleasant evening with interesting people and good food, decent wine and, I should mention, a rather assertive Bell's Christmas Ale which I did enjoy after I realized I needed to steel myself before every sip for the malty wallop it gives you.