Surf and Turf - Yooper Style

 

Dad caught enough blugs for two, we still had a venison steak from the Barnetts, fresh corn and tomatoes from the Kettus, and some Michigan farmed Idaho potatoes. Perfect. We fired up the barbie and enjoyed Surf and Turf Yooper Style for our farewell feast.

It was really good.

Red Sky Morning

The old adage proved to be accurate. Temperature dropped and rain is in the forecast for next three days. Nice dramatic sunrise though.

Olive-Palooza - Fall 2012 Edition

Mike, Chris, Emily, Matt, and  Olive visited us on Sunday, bringing gourmet snacks. garden veggies,  and farmers market goodies. MK tells me this is   "Jaochim Fearro" "Martín Fierro" - a  quince paste (membrillo) with manchego cheese, often served on a cracker, topped with fresh fruit, nice with a crisp, dry white wine. Named for a mythic gaucho character in Argentina."

Against All Odds - The U.P. is turning into a foodie destination. No. Really.

After some pizza, Olive favored us with her modern interpretive dance stylings:

Of fish and fishing...

Dad's best blug

 While enjoying some pretty spectacular weather, we tried to get plenty of fishing in.  The fishing was not great, lots of undersized pike, but we got enough bluegills for a fish fry. This post will serve as compilation of fish and fishing pics over the week.

Dad's worst blug

On the dock. The other dock.

In the tin can. When it was working.

Close but no cigar. Even the undersized shovelnose are fun to catch.

Froggy Friday

Ready for his close-up.

This post for no other reason than I inexplicably find alliteration amusing. This frog apparently thought we couldn't see him and let us get close enough for the macro setting. Either that, or he just liked getting his portrait taken.

Any guesses as to the particular specific ID for this critter?

Fish Taco Tuesday

This fish taco on Tuesday started out like this on Monday.

A barely legal Nothern Pike (aka shovelnose) caught on a Mepps #3 as we were trolling back to the dock Monday evening.

Filleting a Northern is a bit tricky because of the "Y-bone" structure. I was not happy with previous efforts so tried this technique to produce five fillets:

It worked out pretty well.

Everything I know I learned on the intertubes.

I then combined the fish preparation technique from this recipe...

FISHERMAN'S LOBSTER     

1/2 c. white wine
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. lemon juice
1/3 lb. butter
1 stalk celery, chopped
Paprika
Salt to taste
2 lbs. Northern Pike or trout fillets

Place 1 1/2 quarts of water, the onions, salt, lemon juice, celery and wine in a 2 quart pan and bring to a boil.

Then add the fish and reboil for 5 minutes. Drain and place the fish on a cookie sheet, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with paprika. Boil fillets for 2 minutes and serve with melted butter.

... with a modified version of the sauce from this recipe:

Grilled Fish Tacos with Chipotle-Lime Dressing
   
Ingredients:
Marinade
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons lime zest
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon seafood seasoning, such as
Old Bay™
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, or to taste
1 pound tilapia fillets, cut into chunks

Dressing
1 (8 ounce) container light sour cream
1/2 cup adobo sauce from chipotle
peppers
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons lime zest
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon seafood seasoning, such
as Old Bay™
salt and pepper to taste

Toppings
1 (10 ounce) package tortillas
3 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 small head cabbage, cored and
shredded
2 limes, cut in wedges

Directions:
1.     To make the marinade, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, lime zest, honey, garlic, cumin, chili powder, seafood seasoning, black pepper, and hot sauce in a bowl until blended. Place the tilapia in a shallow dish, and pour the marinade over the fish. Cover, and refrigerate 6 to 8 hours.

2.     To make the dressing, combine the sour cream and adobo sauce in a bowl. Stir in the lime juice, lime zest, cumin, chili powder, seafood seasoning. Add salt, and pepper in desired amounts. Cover, and refrigerate until needed.

3.     Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat and lightly oil grate. Set grate 4 inches from the heat.

4.     Remove fish from marinade, drain off any excess and discard marinade. Grill fish pieces until easily flaked with a fork, turning once, about 9 minutes.

5.     Assemble tacos by placing fish pieces in the center of tortillas with desired amounts of tomatoes, cilantro, and cabbage; drizzle with dressing. To serve, roll up tortillas around fillings, and garnish with lime wedges.

Dad rated the result a C+.

He thinks I overreached.  He was right. It was ok, but it was no Nick's Crispy Taco.

Acoustic Jam Monday

 Every Monday night the roadside dive "Jack's Hideaway" near Gwinn, Michigan is transformed into something magical. Local amateur (and a few pro) musicians bring their instrument of choice and play the night away.

This was recorded on an HTC smartphone, so the quality is questionable and background noise distracting, but hopefully some of the character comes through.

I counted six guitars, a bass guitar, three fiddles, a ukelele, two harmonicas, and one Old Style. Maybe two.

 

The whole thing is way cooler than it has any right to be. 

Shag Lake Sunday

The Weekend Crew

 It's a short trip for Wendy, Brian and Jim, as they will be driving back tonight.  Two events of note today.

First,  were almost out of firewood, but after a Saturday call to the Barnett's we had two cords delivered on Sunday.

With Mrs. Barnett showing the newbies how to stack wood...

... we were soon set for the fall/winter season.

More important. This was the opening day of the Chicago Bear season.  Miraculously, the Bears and Packers were carried by the local cable outlet, so the Den was reconfigured into a Media Room/ Man Cave.

A pirated Red Zone feed and direct line to Papa's Caribbean bookie supplemented the game day experience [Note to Comcast and NFL: We didn't really stream a pirate Red Zone broadcast. That would be wrong. In any case it was Jimmy that did it.]
.

Bears win. Packers lose.  Pretty much a perfect day. We toast to the Bears in first place and the Packers in last.

Followed by the traditional post game victory dance:

This was directed at our neighbors across the bay, who have the bad taste to display kayaks in Packer colors on their boat house.  But as for the Packer's themselves, I think this guy summed it up pretty well after Packer team captain Jarrett Bush made the ridiculous post game claim that they beat themselves:

"This isn't the first time that a player has used the "We beat ourselves" line. Following the playoff loss to the Giants, Clay Matthews had reportedly made a similar comment. According to Matthews: "The fact is, (the Giants) didn't beat us; we beat ourselves." The Packers need a reality check: the 19-game winning streak is long gone. The Packers have lost three of their past five games. They've been dominated in their last two games at Lambeau Field. Unbeatable teams don't get bullied by the Kansas City Chiefs with a backup quarterback. What baffles me is that these comments are coming from defensive players. In 2011, the defense surrendered more passing yardage than any team in NFL history. During the first half of their Christmas night game against the Chicago Bears, they made Kahlil Bell look like Matt Forte. Josh McCown even had a strong start to that game."

Heh. The simple fact is that SF quarterback Alex Smith is really not that good. The Packer's defense is really that bad. The Packers are on a two game losing streak and with Cutler under center for Thursday's game against  the Bears, an 0-2 start is staring them in the face.  I am taking Bears straight up on Thursday and beginning to wonder whether the Pack will win any games this year at all.

Halftime Snack - Fried Bambi Steaks a la Yooper

Bear food.

 This post goes out to Nanci. We've learned she actually makes her kids cook her meals based on family Shag Lake posts from this blog and facebook.  Nanci, you might want to try this one. First you need to send Alex, Sydnie, and Carlie out to kill and dress a deer.  They can probably find one in the nearby forest preserve. You could also try setting up a bait pile in the back yard within crossbow range of the kitchen window. 

 

Alternatively, you can order two cords of firewood from the Barnett's in the U.P.  Apparently offering frozen venison steaks, venison sausage, cucumbers and tomatoes fresh from the garden is the Yooper equivalent of Frequent Customer Loyalty Points.

I sliced the steak London broil style

Marinated in red wine, garlic and herbs.

 The wild rice takes a while, so it should be well underway before sauteing onions in olive oil

I try to avoid caramelizing the onions, so add wine when they start to become transparent. I was a little late with this batch. I was checking in on  the Bears game. 

Pan fry the marinated steaks in the onion infused oil

Not too long. It's very lean meat and overcooking will turn it into leather.

Not bad for a first effort.

Shag Lake Saturday

"The best sky was in Italy and Spain and Northern Michigan in the fall"
                                                                         - Ernest Hemingway

I've been remiss updating the blog. Will attempt to catch up with some daily highlights before I get so far behind I give up altogether. Arrived Friday with Dad. Wendy, Brian and his friend Jim arrived late.  Some Saturday highlights as we settled in:

Short Order Fry Chef serves up breakfast orders for the crew

We are here to fish. Since the Tin Can was out of commission, Brian commandeered a neighbor's pontoon boat. I don't ask questions.

Well played sir.

And we're off...

fishing high and low

Hooked a few, but no keepers...

Brian tests  rumor that shovelnose slime has hallucinagenic properties.

The college football betting season in full stride today...

Our resident bandwidth hog streaming live video, game scores, and Caribbean bookies simultaneously on 3-4 different devices.

 Simple fare for dinner...

 

...grilled burgers, sweet red peppers, onions, garlic, with  Wendy's roasted rosemary potato medly, and tossed green salad with balsamic vinagrette.

A good start.