A Foodie Train Ride Road Trip

My husband and I have itchy feet or what some refer to as wander lust.   Honestly, had we not had kids, I doubt we ever would have settled down.  Not that settling down and establishing roots is a bad thing it's just there are so many places to see, so many adventures and my gosh the food possibilities are endless.  We are beyond pleased to have become established, creating firm roots for our kids and grandkids, but we still have a bit of wander lust yet to expore.

A couples of our kids and family live in Wisconsin so we try to get there two or three times a year.  The problem with driving from Ontario to Wisconsin is you have to go down under the bottom of Lake Michigan and let me tell you with the lake effect, that stretch of highway is beyond brutal in the winter.  So this trip, we decided to take the train.  If you have not traveled by train especially for a longer distance, this is a must do on your bucket list!

We seriously have coolers and insulated food bags at home, on the boat, at the vacation home and in both vehicles.  Well, we arrived at the train station for our early morning 6 AM departure, opened the trunk and all we had was the large insulated food bag.  I'm sure it would have worked fine but my husband insisted we would buy another cooler in Wisconsin with the size depending on the amount of cheese being brought home.  He felt the insulated bag would not keep the cheese cool enough for the over 8 hour trip.

Only foodies would buy a cooler to bring home their stash of goodies :)  We stopped at Cedar Valley Cheese Store where we delighted in stocking up on cheeses.   Then we stopped to buy a cooler to fit our purchases.  He bought the 28 quart Igloo Island Breeze cooler which just fit all of the cheese leaving just enough room for the light lunch and yogurt we purchased at the grocery store for our lunch on the train before the switch-over.  Now, we were travelling rather light with two back packs (one almost empty for other purchases), the computer case (computer, iPad) and we had a spare cloth shopping bag just in case.  The nice thing about traveling by train is there's no liquid restrictions and coolers are allowed (50 lb or under with size restrictions) plus we only had to get the cooler from the rental car to the train then to the next train on switching then to our car and finally in the house but it was considerably less complicated than flying.  If traveling by train, I highly recommend not getting a cooler larger than this as when filled, this cooler just comes under the size restrictions.

I have blogged several times about Cedar Valley Cheese Store in Wisconsin.  The store has expanded and now offers gift boxes, wines and imported cheeses along with their own cheeses. You can order online with shipping via UPS or USPS.  You really cannot appreciate this cheese without visiting the store though.  It does have some of the best cheese in Wisconsin although I may be just a tad biased.

Pictured is our Cedar Valley Cheese Store purchase of just over $140.  The only cheese I bought that was not from Cedar Valley was the English Blue Stilton.  We bought a total of about 30 lb of cheese: 6.3 lb whole milk mozzarella cheese, 3.57 lb sharp cheddar, 3.64 lb white mild cheddar, 3.84 lb medium chedar, 3.26 lb colby jack, 3 lb low fat cheese strings, 2.23 lb cheese curds, 1.21 lb cheddar garlic and dill, . 90 lb swiss premium grade and .19 lb of the Stilton.

Our kitchen refrigerator is stuffed with cheese but make no never mind, I will put it to good use!  It's a toss up what will be first - poutine using those beautiful cheese curds or a cheddar beer soup. Of course, lasagna is a given as is homemade mac & cheese.  Stay tuned ...

Oak Grove Cheese Factory Limited, New Hamburg, Ontario

Southwestern Ontario is sprinkled heavily with various food venues well worth the visit.  These include roadside stands, orchards, mushroom farms, farmer's markets, vineyards, fisheries and cheese factories.  At one time the large commercial food manufacturing  plants like Dare, McCormick's and Libby's had little factory outlets on site where both their employees and the general public could get fabulous deals on foods produced at the plant.  While some of the factory outlets are no more, other factories like the cheese factories and some chicken processing plants (eg. Maple Lodge Farms) still have small on site shops open to the general public.  During a recent visit to the kids in the GTA, we made a side trip to Oak Grove Cheese Factory Limited.

Oak Grove Cheese Factory Limited is located at 29 Bleams Road East in New Hamburg, Ontario.  This is a family owned and operated business.  It was established in 1879 by the Langenegger family.  There are currently fourth and fifth generation family members working within the business that continues to manufacture cheese the same was as it was when the business was first established.  The building itself is quite large but that is because the cheese is being manufactured on site using Ontario milk.  Unlike some cheese factories, there is no viewing window in the retain store to see the cheese being made but you can take a virtual photo tour of their cheese making process on their website.

The on site retail stores of most food manufacturing factories have two things in common.  They are small, bordering on tiny and they are not fancy.  In most cases they have enough room behind the counter for one or two wait staff and room for about four customers on the other side of the counter.  Signage is generally simple, often hand written.  The staff is generally very friendly and knowledgeable about their product.

The retail outlet at Oak Grove Cheese Factory Limited is small and well organized.  A neatly organized, easy to read price list hangs on the wall facing you as you enter the store.  The price is per pound (lb) not kilograms.  The counter is simply a raised closed front counter without a display where the cheese is cut, weighed and wrapped.  The staff will cut and wrap you cheese as desired, either chunk or sliced.  Our grandkids love going to this cheese factory because they always get a free sample of cheese.  

The cheese is arranged in neatly lined rows of block cheese.  Cheeses available are:  Borgonzola, brick, brie, caraway, cheddar (medium, extra old), Swiss, Colby, cook cheese (available fall to spring), havarti (plain, dill), hot pepper, Limburger, marble, Monterrey jack, mozzarella, new bra, onion & garlic, Parmesan, Romano, cheese curd, smoked old cheddar and black pepper.  They also offer cheese trays, cheese balls and gift baskets.

We had a lot of fun making our cheese choices.  Our grandkids were beyond excited.  This is one of their favourite places to visit!  I definitely share their excitement.  All that cheese just gets the creative culinary juices flowing.  Of course I overspent a bit but this is high quality cheese well worth that little extra cost!

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Frugal Kitchen Finds

My husband and I have always been heavily into re-using and repurposing household items.  You really do not need a lot of money to have a very well stocked kitchen!  I would honestly rather buy used any day as it keeps that item from finding it's way to the landfill and quite often brand new, never used or very close to it kitchen items can be found for a fraction of what they are worth.  For example, I found two fancy shaped Valtrompia bread tubes sold by The Pampered Chef, brand new and still in the original packaging at a thrift store.  The very kind lady gave them to me for a total of 50¢ and then felt bad that she was charging me too much!  I've bought dozens and dozens of canning jars used and one of my biggest expenditures when shopping the thrift stores is old cookbooks.  If you are willing to use previously used kitchen items, here is a list of where to find what:

• thrift stores - Oh good gosh you never know what you can find in the thrift stores.  I go about once a month currently looking for glass inserts for canning jars but also older glass ovenware.  These stores are the place to look for small kitchen appliances like bread machines and yogurt makers at ridiculously low prices, often under $5 a piece.  You do need to know the value of new though as recently some thrift stores are charging more per canning jar than they would cost new.  They are one of the prime places to look for cookbooks, often going as cheap as 10¢ per book!  Seriously, I bought a huge Smart Choice recipe binder by Weigh Watchers, an antique mason jar and another specialty jar for $1.49 the other day.  There may be a small selection of cooking videos as well usually for 25¢,
• yard sales - At one time my husband and I would spend Saturday morning visiting yard sales.  It was one of our forms of entertainment  We seldom do that anymore what with the price of gas combined with not really needing anything.  Yard sales are the perfect place to look for ultra cheap Tupperware, dishes, serving ware, canning jars and kitchen gadgets.
• estate sales - Estate sales are similar to yard sales except the entire contents of the house are being sold.  This is where you can pick up nice small and larger kitchen appliances in good condition.  Estate sales are one of the prime resources for finding antique or vintage linens and tableware.
• eBay - A surprising variety of kitchen related items are only as far away as a click of your mouse and quite often the prices are rock bottom.  eBay is ideal for finding kitchen gadgets, kitchenware and cookbooks ranging from brand new to used, vintage or antique.  While there are great deals to be had, there are two problems you need to be aware of.  First off, you are relying on the seller to actually ship the goods and for the most part sellers on eBay are quite good otherwise they don't last long but just be aware that some sellers are a bit on the dishonest side.  The second problem is shipping costs.  The buyer pays the shipping and handling charge (if any) but should be aware that shipping costs have increased in North America and shipping outside of North America can be rather costly.  While the item may be a steal, the shipping costs can make your purchase really not worth it.
• online stores - Online stores can be a very frugal way to find the kitchen items you want for a fraction of the price.  Many online stores have a clearance section where you can get some really nice deals.  For the most part, the shipping and handling charges tend to quite reasonable but some online stores offer free shipping if you buy over a certain amount, usually $50.

Coco's in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Canada

I have been fascinated with cooking outdoors as long as I can remember.  My Mom had a clunky old charcoal grill that whe would wheel out once in awhile.  After she got sick, the grill never came out.  One of the first purchases we made as newlyweds was a hibachi followed quickly by a charcoal grill just like my Mom's.  I fondly remember our first propane grill, every grill we've had since then, and learning to cooking on an open fire while camping. There really isn't a fuel I haven't used when cooking outdoors.  Our outdoor grill is used year round despite the weather.

We stopped at Coco's in Niagara Fall, Ontario Canada.  Coco's is located at 5339 Murray Street, one block from Fallsview Blvd towards the Falls.  This unique restaurant specialized in wood fired pizza and lamb.  The tantalizing smell of the smokey fire is enough to draw you to the restaurant from a couple of blocks away.  You just can't get better flavour than from a wood fire!  It has two large and quite amazing wood fired pizza ovens as part of their pizza bars.  They are spectacular.  They also have a large, custom made wood fired pit for barbecuing lamb.  The main draw really is eating outdoors on one of their patios while being enveloped in the wonderful smokey atmosphere created by the wood burning ovens and grill.

We love pig roasts and up to the last couple of years we were able to rent a pig roaster.  Well, renting pig roasters for whatever reason is not possible anymore.  I want a pig roaster!  It is really the only way to do a pig. 

Coco's had the most amazing roaster set-up.  Granted they were roasting a lamb rather than a pig but I hear they roast pig as well.   I think I got enough pictures to duplicate it.  The roaster was about six feet long, stainless steel, wood fired and equipped with a rotisserie spit.  There was a drip pan which is something not normally used with pig roasters.  This set-up gives me a good idea as to how to set-up  a roaster at our new house. 

Coco's has two wood fired pizza ovens, one for each of their pizza bars.  These were quite elabourate with colourful ceramic tile designs on the outside.  I'm not kidding, I would love to have one of these!  I am going to be looking online for building plans.  I think this design would be great for baking bread in as well. 

Wood fire imparts a unique flavour to any food being cooked.  You can bet we will be incorporating outdoor wood cooking into our new home even if we can't go a large as this outdoor wood fired oven.  Watch for that adventure coming soon as our house is officially SOLD!

Chocolate Flowers by Executive Pastry Chef Claude Escamilla

Chocolate Flowers by Executive Pastry Chef Claude Escamilla

May 15, 2011

Part of being a foodie is enjoying all aspects of food.  When on vacation and road trips I am always on the look-out for great foodie finds.  I love finding sculptures made from food.  I will admit that chocolate is not my absolute must have food especially milk chocolate but I could not help appreciate the beautiful workmanship in these gorgeous massive chocolate flowers that span over two feet in size.  They are a creation by Executive Pastry Chef Claude Escamilla of the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.  The chocolate flowers are on display at City Center in Las Vegas.  Aren't they magnificent?  With a bit of practice these flowers could be made on a much smaller scale to decorate a homemade cake.

Las Vegas Here We Come

Blogger has been having a few problems but in case you hadn't figured it out we have been on a road trip to beautiful Las Vegas.  The next few posts will share some of the great foodie finds discovered there.  Keep in mind a lot of times being a true foodie home cook I am always looking for dishes tha can be easily recreated at home.  Our first foodie find did not disappoint.

Once we cleared airport security my husband and I along with our very best friends forever (seriously) stopped at one of the airport restaurants while waiting for our flight.  This is a favourite pass time for those flying.  What I noticed is a lot of the foods offered can easily be duplicated at home. 

I ordered the chicken caesar warp served with French fries and dill pickle slices.  Really it was more of a stuffed pocketless pita that would be ever so easy to duplicate at home.  The next few posts will  highlight some of the foodie finds we enjoyed.  Oh my!  They were delicious!

Seafood Breader Mix (Foodie Find)

We eat a lot of local fish (bass, perch and pickerel) as well as non-local fish (cod, haddock).  My husband is always picking up fish coating to try in addition to our homemade fish coating.  As a result we have been able to tweak our homemade fish coating to give a couple of different results.  We have also discovered a lot of nice fish coating mixes in the process.

One of our foodie finds from Bravo in Florida was Dixie Lily Seafood Breader Mix.  This coating can be used dry as a breading or mixed with water to form a batter for fish, seafood, and vegetables.  The 24 oz bag cost $3.19 which is rather inexpensive as fish coating goes although it is still more expensive than homemade fish coating.

The main ingredients in any fish coating is flour, yellow corn meal or yellow corn flour, and seasonings.  Other ingredients such as powdered eggs, corn starch, baking soda, sugar and preservatives may also be added.  Fish coating really is a mix that can be made at home with simple then tweaked to get the desired results.  You can even make up a couple of different versions.  It will keep nicely in the pantry.

Cod is one of our favourite fish usually enjoyed deep or pan fried.  This is such a nice thick yet tender and flakey fish.  When we have cod in a restaurant we usually order it English style (beer battered) or broiled with orange sauce.  We tried the seafood breader mix on pan fried  Atlantic cod loins.  I served the fish with fresh cut French fries. 

The mix performed nicely giving a gorgeous golden coating without being too heavy or overpowering.  It was light yet tasty.  This would be a nice mix to create a clone recipe for.  I had best get doing a bit of tinkering in the kitchen!

Willow Creek Mill Stoneground Fisherman's Choice Breading & Batter Mix

We eat fish at least once a week but quite often a few times a week.  Our fish of choice tends to be locally caught perch, pickerel and bass but we enjoy other fish as well.  My husband has a tendency to pick up a pack or two of fish coating to try. 

One of the foodie finds we brought home from our recent vacation was Willow Creek Mill Stoneground Fisherman's Choice Breading and Batter Mix.  It was packaged in a resealable, waterproof bag inside a cotton bag decorated with a small bobber.  Willow Creek Mill is located in Valders, Wisconsin.  The added tag gave the nutritional information and best used by date.  Ingredients on the back of the cloth bag indicated the mix was made with unbleached flour, cornmeal, triticale flour, seasonings and salt. Checking their online site, lemon pepper and horseradish root are also listed as ingredients for this product.   Instructions for using dry or a batter were also printed on the back of the cloth bag. 

We made a tradition perch fish fry using the Fisherman's Choice mix served with fresh cut French fries.  Pictured is our perch fish fry dinner.  This was a good coating but somewhat lacking in flavour.  Until I read online that the coating had lemon pepper and horseradish root in it, I definely would never have guessed it.  The coating mix was quite on the bland side.  Not that you want a really spicy coating for perch but you need a little flavour besides the taste of flour.  It did not adhere to the fish as it should have but other than that, the fish was good. 

I would rate this fish coating mix just slightly under average in terms of flavour and performance.  Don't get me wrong as it was still a good dinner but nothing spectacular with respect to the fish.  The fresh cut French fries on the other hand were superb as always.  We enjoyed the meal in front of the television watching Coronation Street while the snow fell is swirls outside the window.  This was a great Friday fish fry without having to leave the house!

Foodie Finds from Our Recent Vacation to the Sunny South

As you may have guessed we were on an extended vacation to our vacation home in the sunny south.  We left here December 8 and returned on January 9.  Our travels spanned over one Canadian province and eight US states.  Over the month we put a lot of miles on our car, did a lot of sightseeing including both coasts, ate a lot of wonderful food, visited family and friends and in short had one heck of a good time!  As always we managed to bring a few foodie finds home.

I have a small collection of mugs with food advertising on them.  Some of them are antiques but others are classified as collectibles.  This trip I expanded my collection by three mugs - Morton's Salt, Maxwell House Coffee and Campbell's Soup.  The Maxwell House Coffee is the oldest made by the same manufacturer of a Campbell's Soup mug I already had.  The newly purchased Campbell's soup (circa 1998) is still a nice addition to my collection. 

Most of my collectible mugs are in daily use.  My theory is why collect something you can't enjoy.  Some say the enjoyment should come from display only but I don't live in a museum so most of my pieces do get used.  I do use a lot of my antique glassware including Anchor Hocking's Fire King bakeware and lusterware.  My carnival ware pickle dishes get a fair amount of use.  I'm a bit more protective of my American Sweetheart by MacBeth-Evans Glass Company but it doese see a bit of occasional use.  As a home canner I do have a collection of old canning jars with the oldest ones for display purposes and those from the 1940's still in use mainly for dry storage.

Surprisingly we did not go overboard with the foods we brought home.  I was looking for foodie finds that were a bit different.  Pictured are all of our foodie finds including the only carbonated beverage, Vernor's, that I like other than club soda.  I'm looking forward to using the pure sugar cane syrup.  It is quite thick like corn syrup.  We did a tour of the Jelly Belly factory!  The wacky mac is 4 - colour vegetable bowtie pasta from Illinois.  The seasoning packets (chipotle chili, bacon cheddar, sesame garlic) are from The Pantry Club in Clearwater, Florida.  Currently their seasoning packets are only available through shows they hold at select Sam's Clubs in a few states.  Shows last 4 to 18 days.  They sell online through their website as well.  We bought two brands of fish coating to try, White Castle mustard, chicharrones (pork skins), lychee drink and hot sauce from Harry's Seafood Bar and Grille.

Cedar Valley Cheese Factory in Belgium, Wisconsin is on our must stop when in the area list.  Our two main stock up items there is the mozzarella block cheese and the cheese sticks.  These are the best cheese sticks I've ever tasted.  I especially like that they are not individually wrapped too, making them an eco-friendly food choice.  We only bought a small block of cheddar this time.  Two new cheeses we bought were white cheddar horseradish and cheddar caraway cubes.  The white cheddar horseradish cheese will be quite lovely slice thin on roast beef sandwiches.  The Willow Creek Mill Fish coating pictured in the last picture and beef jerky from Mike's Country Meats in Campbellsport, Wisconsin were also part of our purchases at the cheese factory.

As a foodie I love browsing kitchen specialty shops.  We stopped at Vero Fashion Outlets in Vero Beach, Florida.  While my husband checked out the clothing deals I amused myself in Kitchen Collection.  As with all kitchen specialty shops this one was filled with a lot of foodie eye candy as well as a few thing to drool over.  I settled on a tortilla press and a pro meat tenderizer.  I've been told once you start making tortillas fresh you won't go back to store bought so I'm looking forward to using this gadget.  There is a story behind the meat tenderizer that I will tell when I post about using it.

When we bought our vacation home we knew we would be either flying or driving down so I decided on driving trips I would expand my recipe book collection to include a cookbook from each state we travel through.  We enjoyed two trips to The Florida Aquarium - an amazing must visit attraction.  While at the gift shop I bought a copy of Best of the Best from Florida Cookbook (2004).   This is a series cookbook with one from every state although I did not notice that at the time.  I can't wait to report back on some of the great recipes from this cookbook!  Although I won't be collecting this specific series as I already have cookbooks from other states we have visited, it does look to be a good series. 

Bravo Supermarket Purchases

Any frugal foodie will tell you if you want to save on preparing ethnic foods is you need to shop at an ethnic grocery store.  In larger urban areas where there may be several established pockets of various ethnicities (eg. China town, Little Italy, etc.) then the best place to by ethnic ingredients is in the small mom & pop shops in those small niche areas.  If you live in a rural area then some of these ingredients might possibly be found in some country markets or grocery stores.  In general though if you want a few more exotic, ethnic ingredients the main choice is ethnic stores.

We stopped at a small Bravo supermarket in Florida.  It was in an area that has a higher Latino population and I got the distinct impression it was not in what would be considered affluent but still rather safe area.  The store was stocked with all kinds of great Latino foods and ingredient.  Oh my gosh I bought a bit to bring back home.  My purchases included: pork skins, dried black beans, dried Central America red beans (aka small red beans), chicharron de harina (wheat pellets), whole annato seed, ground annato seed, menduo mix, espresso coffee, masa flour, ancho chili pose, turbinado natural sugar and sugar cane (cones to the upper left).  The prices were really quite good in this little grocery store.  I only spent $31.91.  I noticed their prices for rice were almost half of what we pay for long grain rice.  I have a lot on hand otherwise would have bought some.  One of the most interesting things I bough was the chicharron de harina (middle bag to right).  These wagon wheel shaped pellets almost look like a hard pressed rubber except they are not flexible.  However when they are deep fried they puff up like cheesies for a light fluffy snack.  I can't wait to try these!

Old Town Amish Store in Berea, Kentucky

There are quite a few interesting foodie finds as well as other attractions along the I-75 corridor.  Most have one or more large billboards along the highway announcing what exit to find them on.  While some of them are touristy others are not.  Such is the case with the Old Town Amish Store.  While it is quite apparent that this is an Amish store there isn't much touristy about the store at all.  It really is a convenient stop to bring home bulk food supplies, home baked goods and dairy though.  You just know we had to make a pit stop here!

The Old Town Amish Store is located at 201 Prince Royal Dr. in Berea, Kentucky just off Exit 76 on I-75.  The shop opened in July of 2009 so is still fairly new.   It is quite easy to find off the exit and there is ample parking.  The store is beckoning from the outside where a large display of apples tantalized us with their beautiful colours and wonderful aroma.  Upon entering the door the amazing aroma of fresh baked breads while rows and rows of neatly stocked shelves delight the senses.  The interior is light, bright and airy has a cosy atmosphere.  To the left of the main food area is a room filled with hand crafted Amish rocking chairs, porch swings and other furniture.  To the back of the main food area is a small dining area.

The Old Town Amish Store sells a wide range of foods including bulk foods like beans, pasta, herbs and so much more.  Unlike the Bulk Barn bulk food stores I shop at, all the the bulk food has been packaged for sale in the store eliminate the problems of bulk food in bins with scoops.  While the price per pound is the same for a certain bulk product (eg. beans) there will be in weight so one bag may be a few cents cheaper than another.  The products are neatly arranged on commercial shelving.  Foods are packaged in the standard thin plastic bulk bags, small plastic tubs, paper sacks and glass jars.  A wide range of homemade jams, jellies and preserves are available.  Roll butter (not pictured), honeys, bacons, farm fresh eggs, cheeses, fresh baked breads and pies are also available as well as some commercial products like Ball canning mixes.  I did not see any Pomona's pectin or Clear Jel® but I likely didn't look hard enough and didn't think to ask.

A lovely Old Order Amish buggy serves as a visual divider between the main bulk food area and the dining area.  Despite its decorative element it also serves as a practical shelving for cases of honey.  The dining area is neat, tidy and cosy, a unique blend of quaint and modern.  The chairs would be just lovely to sit a spell enjoying a slice of homemade pie! 

The entire store is just simply a delight to spend a bit of time in.  They are very friendly!  I found the prices to be quite reasonable, in line with what I pay at the Bulk Barn.  There was less of the bulk candy but they more than made up for it in staples.

If you get a chance to visith the Old Town Amish Store you definitely will not regret it.  This store is on our list of must stops on the next trip and you can bet I will have a long list of goodies to buy!  We didn't buy much this trip.  Our purchases included a 500 ml jar of pure sourwood honey, two pouches of fish batter, dill weed (like Israeli) and dill seed.  The total came to $13.24.  The sourwood honey looked interesting.  There is a piece of the honeycomb in the jar.  According to one source sourwood honey is seldom sold outside of the area it is produced because of supply and demand.  This honey is considered one of the rarest and finest of honeys that is only havested a few days in the fall.  It has a deep, woodsy flavour so this will be an interesting honey to do a bit of experimenting with.

Sanders Cafe and Museum in North Corbin, Kentucky

I do a lot of genealogy and family history so have always been interested in how our ancestors ate and stored foods.  It is especially interesting to see what kind of equipment our ancestors used along with their methods of food storage.  Being foodies we are both interested in the history of foods and that includes restaurant foods.  We stopped at Sanders Cafe and Museum in North Corbin, Kentucky on our way home from our vacation home.  Sanders Court and Cafe is the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The Colonel Harland Sanders Cafe and Museum is located in Corbin, Kentucky off of I-75, Exit 29 then go 1 mile south on 25E, turn right on 25W one half mile.  The directions sound a little confusing but it is only because 25 bends around.  The quaint white building is rather easy to find. It is how the restaurant appeared in the 1940's.   There is a historical plaque outside of the museum that is well worth reading.  This is very much a working museum with dining tables set up amongst the various displays.  Rooms like the kitchen and motel display are blocked off from roaming through with a low glass barrier.  To the furthest side behind the rounded entrance (back middle of picture) is the restaurant where you can order eat-in or take-out.  We didn't order anything but certainly enjoyed looking through the displays!

The original Sanders Cafe kitchen like many commercial kitchens is not large but it was well organized.  Harland Sanders started Sanders Court and Cafe in 1930 where he originally fried chicken in an iron skillet.  Despite being in the trying times of the Great Depression he was quite successful.  He certainly did not use a lot of fancy equipment but he did put out exellent food.  The kitchen obviously was utilitarian with function first.  He realized that frying the chicken in an iron skillet took 30 minutes so in 1939 Colonel Sanders altered his cooking method to us a pressure fryer that would reduce the cooking time allowing him to serve more patrons quicker.  And thuse was born Kentucky fried chicken.

I work with pressure canners and cookers a lot so can really appreciate the logistics of what went into using pressure cookers as a pressure fryer.  Pictured on the top are the two 4 qt Mirro-Matics with single Wisconsin valves.  Both have weights as regulators and one has a custom made metal label for Kentucky Fried Chicken.    The lower pressure cooker is a double Wisconsin valve pressure that was in used from the 1960's until the advent of self-contained pressure fryers.

I mentioned the logistics of using a pressure cooker as a pressure fryer.  Pressure cookers are designed to operate at 15 lb pressure which is one reason they should not be used for pressure canning.  The second problem is a pressure cooker can only be filled 2/3 full so that really restricts the amount that can be cooked in a pressure cooker so at best these pressure cookers could only put out small amounts of chicken at peak time but it would be faster than pan frying.  It just boggles my mind that he was able to achieve this without blowing up a pressure cooker!

These are exactly the same types of pressure cookers I have in use and certainly the same type available to the general public during that era.  In fact very little has changed with the design of modern pressure cookers.  Modern pressure cookers should not be used as a pressure fryer though.  There are specific pressure fryers meant for home use but unless you are frying a lot of chicken they are really a bit on the expensive side at $230 or more for the unit. 

Magnolia Plantation in Tifton, Georgia

There are always so many great foodie finds to discover when on a road trip.  Quite often there are billboards along the highways announcing various food stops of interest or as my husband calls them tourist traps.  It is often better to get off the main highway to find some of the more unique shops but that isn't always possible.   It is surprising just how many great foodie places can be found just off the highway exits!

Magnolia Plantation is located at 35 Omega Elderado Rd, Tifton, Georgia just off of I-75 on exit 55.  They specialize in pecans, peanuts, Vidalia® onions and other southern treats like salt water taffy, pralines, poppy cock and so much more.  There is also a gas station.  The building's facade is that of an old two story plantation style house complete with large pillars and porches.  As tourist traps go this one really is less touristy and more foodie!  Practically everything in the store was either food or pertaining to food (eg. cookbooks).  That in itself made for a lovely spot to just wander through the store to see all the goodies and believe me there was a lot to see.

Pecans were the main feature but peanuts were close as well.  There was a large display of home canned style goodies mainly jams, jellies, and condiments.  Most of the displays were counterstyle and bins although there were a few racks and shelves.  There was a cute open top pop cooler hold glass bottles of CocaCola® on ice.  An abundance of warm wood tones gave the bright, airy store a touch of warmth.  I really enjoyed shopping here.

I will warn you this foodie stop is not cheap though.  A 3 lb bag of pecans in the shell was $11.19 and 12 oz bags of shelled pecans were $6.97.  Jams and jellies were priced around the $6 per pint with condiments in the $4 range which is fairly normal pricing for home canned style products.

My foodie purchases at Magnolia's Plantation  included fresh roasted peanuts in the shell , shelled pecans, powdered peanut butter, Vidalia® onion relish, Ma's Cookin' by Sis and Jake (1986), and Gerorgia Hometown Cookbook by Sheila Simmons and Kent Whitaker (2008).  The grand total came to $51.11 so a bit more on the higher end for foodie purchases.  In fairness though we basically bought what we wanting not really paying attention to the price.  The pecans are a treat for a couple of our kids because we know the grandkids love nuts.  I already have a couple of ideas for ways to use the powdered peanut butter.  If we like the Vidalia® onion relish then you can be sure I will be coming up with a clone recipe to home can as well.  All in all I enjoyed our stop here and it is a foodie place we will stop at again.

Recent Foodie Finds

I am always on the look-out for foodie items I can't find easily at home. It isn't surprising that a few foodie extras get tossed into the shopping cart as well especially if I find them for a good price. I'm always excited when I find something that comes highly recommended or something I saw on the food channel that I want to try.

Recent Foodie Finds

Pictured are a few of the foodie purchases I made on this road trip. I honestly don't think you can have too many rice varieties. I discovered Calrose rice a few years ago. This is a medium grain rice 'radiation-bred' grown in California. In comparison to plain long grain rice ($6.99 for 8 kg/18 lb) Calrose is about triple the price ($7.69 for 2.26 kg/5 lb). However, it has a lovely flavour and texture suitable for sushi rice. Nishiki is a new variety of medium grain milled rice also suitable for sushi and stir fry. Other purchases included organic sugar, flavourings, bouillon, a glass pie plate, meat tenderizer and a few more items I've likely already posted about in the past. Some of the items in this purchase deserve a bit further comment.

Bouillon

I make a lot of my own stocks so bouillon is not an item I use a lot of still it is good to have on hand especially as part of your dry storage. The biggest problem with bouillon is always the salt content. However a newer product called Better Than Bouillon is now available and it comes highly recommended. Better Than Bouillon does not contain MSG, yeast extract or artificial flavours and is gluten free. Unlike my brand Aurora used for homemade dry mixes the first ingredient is not salt so that is a huge plus. The down side is once opened Better Than Bouillon must be refrigerated so it cannot be used as a replacement for Aurora. The jar I bought is shelf stable until at least 10/08/2011 so still suitable as a pantry product. It would be an ideal substitute in the even I ever run out of homemade stock. In comparison to Aurora ($3.99/454 g) Better Than Bouillon is more expensive at $4.79 for 227 g that will mak 9.5 quarts of broth. Aurora is Canadian made while Better Than Bouillon is American made and I have not seen this product in Canadian grocery stores yet. You can order Better Than Bouillon online, minum purchase of $15 with UPS shipping (ground, select, air).

Organic Sugar

I've been using organic sugar for quite some time. I like organic sugar because it is less refined than white sugar so has a unique flavour beyond just sweetness. Florida Crystals® is now producing USDA certified organic sugar that is also certified carbon free. In order to earn the carbon free certification the products' carbon emissions must be offset by the company's production of renewable energy. This results in a lower carbon footprint that helps to reduce our use of fossil fuels. Why should this matter? Every eco-friendly thing we can do on a personal level ultimately helps. So look for the new certified carbon free logo when you shop for eco-friendly purchases. In terms of cost a 907 g (2 lb) bag of organic sugar cost me $4. I would guess this is about twice the cost of regular white sugar. However, this price is well within the costs of other sweeteners like maple syrup, local honey, molasses and stevia.

Gourmet Flavourings

When it comes to candy making LorAnne Gourmet Oils are highly recommended. These are highly concentrated flavourings that are 4 times stronger than extracts. They are used for candy making and baking. Each bottle is 3.7 ml (.125 fl oz or 1 dram). The amount used of course depends on the recipe. During the holiday season a larger variety of these oils are stocked in the baking section of department stores. After the holiday season they are often marked down significantly as in this case at 70% off. Now you have to check each flavour label especially if you want to avoid artificial flavours and colourants. In this case the cherry contains both artificial colour and flavour, the butterscotch contains artificial flavour but natural colour and the orange oil is all natural.