St. Paul Winter Market

katiejocannon — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:24:37 +0000

Before moving to Minnesota, the thought of going to a farmers market in the winter seemed ridiculous. Not that Illinois doesn’t have cold winters, but I just couldn’t imagine anyone braving the cold for outdoor activities like Minnesotans do. Of course, in the years that I’ve lived here, I’ve since gone to the Holidazzle parade, the St. Paul Winter Carnival and have taken part in a bonfire held on a frozen lake. My perspective has definitely changed.

So a couple weeks ago it didn’t seem so crazy for Kyle and me to bundle up and hit the farmers market in search of some good, local meat to stock up on. Not knowing what to expect (except the cold), we were really pleased to see a few farms representing with fresh and frozen meat. I guess the plus side to being a vendor during this time of year, is that the refrigerator is literally the outdoors. We didn’t last outside for long, instead we scoped out the meat and then headed inside to check out the indoor scene across the street inside Golden’s Deli first.

The indoor market is made up of 10 or so vendors mainly selling honey, apples (and apple donuts!), bread, chocolate and cheese. We weren’t in the market for many of these items, but we did pick up a basket of Honeycrisps (they are just too hard to pass up) and some cheese. But not just any cheese…stinky cheese.

I had never heard of Love Tree Farmstead cheese but I’m certain I will become quite familiar with their cheeses from now on. Love Tree produces wonderfully strong, stinky (in the best way possible) cheeses. And bonus…their animals are all organically raised in Wisconsin! We tasted several cheeses (they are very generous with their tastings) and loved each one better than the last. We finally decided on a huge hunk of “fish bait” cheese to take home with us (I’m assuming the name gives you a pretty good idea of its stinkiness). It didn’t last long in our household, as we greedily gobbled down each bite accompanied by crispy, light crackers and deep rich red wine.

On our way out we stopped by the meat vendors again and bought a whole chicken and a 5 lb. roast. I’m looking forward to pulling those out of the freezer to make some tasty meals soon.

If you haven’t made it over to the winter market this year, I would recommend stopping by. It’s open Saturdays 9am – 2pm on 5th and Wall in downtown St. Paul.

Cheese and Motorcycling

katiejocannon — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 02:50:30 +0000

Have you ever asked your friends “if you were stranded on an island and could have only five foods, what would they be?” I asked this to friends a few times and I’ve thought about that question myself even more. I’m pretty set in a few of my food needs, but others may vary slightly each time I think about it. Staples for me are bread and cheese. The fruit (usually strawberries) and the veggie (usually tomato) may vary slightly but I never waver on the need for bread and cheese. If you’re curious, I usually am also pretty set on my need for eggs. There you go, if I were stranded on an island and could eat only five foods, they would be bread, cheese, eggs, strawberries and tomatoes.

To feed my need for cheese I frequent the Surdyk’s cheese counter, where heaven awaits me. I am amazed at the cheese mongers’ knowledge of cheese, not only to recommend but also to identify and describe almost each cheese perfectly. Amazing! I love to try as many samples as I can (without being obnoxious), narrowing down to 2 or 3 kinds to take home with me.

Although I love cheese so much, I had never visited a cheese factory or even paid much attention to the many dairy farms as I’ve driven through Wisconsin. This inspired Kyle and me to go out of town for an overnight trip through the dairy land of Wisconsin. Hence the motorcycles part of the title…we went on Kyle’s motorcycle. We had some great recommendations for cheese factories (thanks Jim!), but we found that many cheese factories are not open on the weekends. We did get to go to three cheese factories and we enjoyed ourselves a great deal, but unfortunately, we did not get to see any cheese being made.

The first cheese factory we visited was Bass Lake Cheese, just outside the Twin Cities in Somerset, WI. Bass Lake is a small factory and cheese store located in the rolling hills of western Wisconsin. We tried several cheeses, thanks to the friendly woman behind the counter, and we walked away with three lovely varieties of cheese involving truffles, merlot and cranberries. I recall an hour after we left Bass Lake, I leaned forward to tell Kyle that I could still taste the truffle cheese from our tasting. Strong, stinky and oh so good!

After Bass Lake, we drove to Chippewa Falls and stopped for lunch at Lucy’s Delicatessan. Located right on the main street in Chippewa Falls, Lucy’s has a great selection of hot and cold sandwiches, pizzas and salads. I decided on the carnitas tacos with a side of black bean salad. The tacos were good, although I thought the pork was a little too sweet tasting. And I noted that this is first time I have ordered tacos and had them served with a toothpick in them. Very interesting spin on making tacos into a deli counter item. We stayed to rest a bit and to plan the next part of our drive and then headed out on our way.

The next cheese shop, Lynn’s Dairy, was located in Granton, WI. There really is not much to see at Lynn, but I loved the simplicity of it. This is not a cheese factory that is catered to tourists in any way. It is simply a cheese factory and a counter to sell their cheese. There is not much customer service and there are definitely no tastings. We couldn’t leave empty handed, however, so we bought a feta and a blue cheese for the road.

Our overnight in Marshfield was a very pleasant surprise, both with the inn where we stayed and the microbrewery where we grabbed dinner. If you can believe it, there are not many choices for hotels or bed and breakfasts in that part of the state (not great restaurant choices either!). We had previously checked most of them out and were planning to just settle for a Motel 6 or something just to have a place to rest our heads for the night. Luckily, however, we stumbled upon Anna’s Inn. Located just outside of Marshfield, Anna’s Inn is one room for rent in an addition above the garage of a farmhouse. The room is spacious and the grounds are beautiful, with a barn, firepit and small pond right in back of the house. Every detail had been considered by the owner from the white robes hanging on the back of the door to the fully stocked refrigerator and basket of goodies for us to eat. We loved how relaxing and perfect our stay was and we even loved being woken up by the roosters the next morning. It sure beat the Motel 6 or any other place we were looking at to stay!

The next day we drove southwest until we hit the river just north of Winona. We followed the river on the Wisconsin side, stopping only in Nelson to go to Nelson’s Creamery for lunch. This was our third cheese factory that we visited and we loved it as well. Just the opposite of Lynn Dairy, this is a more commercial setting with a full lunch counter, large wine and gourmet food store and lovely patio out back where you can enjoy lunch under the shade trees. We shared a pizza, chatted with some great people we just met to compare notes of restaurants and other places to try in western Wisconsin, and then headed on our way. The day was perfect for a motorcycle ride, which was evidenced by the many motorcycles we saw as we were out.

All three cheese factories were unique and interesting to visit. I would love to go back on a day when cheese is being made and I can see the process in action. Regardless, a couple days out on the motorcycle with the wind in you hair and sun on your face is a fantastic way to spend a weekend. It truly was a lovely weekend of cheese and motorcycling through western Wisconsin.

Camacho Watcho » cheese

St. Paul Winter Market

Cheese and Motorcycling