122 State Street, Madison Wisconsin

Baker’s Window is more than simply the name of Madison’s hit new bakery, instead it is a way for midwesterners to peer into the world of parisian artisanal baked goods. Karin and Brian have taken bread in American to a whole new level, the level at which Europeans consume. The best part about all of this is that they are located a block from the Madison Capitol building and about four blocks from the University of Wisconsin campus, a bit of serendipity.

The large arched window with stone brick boarder is a perfect frame for the passerby to peer in and see what is on that day’s shelves. On Wednesdays through Sundays any customer would be able to leave with a hot baguette or a whole wheat round loaf that has a crusty and crunchy crust yet with a light and chewy inside. There is also a selection of croissants and Door County Cherry scones with almond slivers.

Beyond the rustic breads and Croissants Brian is pulling out all day, Karin spends time crafting pain au chocolat, pain aux raisin, her own version of the typical morning bun, cheddar and sage savory croissants, apple pie and so much more. Their baking skills have allowed them both to blend the most amazing ingredients that are pure and full of their own flavors.

Baker’s Window strives to uphold something that is becoming very popular in Madison and throughout the rest of the United States, wholesome, organic and local ingredients. Brian and Karin stock the kitchen with local flour and homemade yeast starters that offer the most pristine product. They make everything in the back of the bakery, most by hand and in small batches. They pour their love into the baked goods which allows the rest of us to fall right back in love with each bite we take.

It would be an understatement to give them a ten out of ten, so if you are in the area or even in the lovely Wisco state make sure to stop by and if you want a wide variety of piping hot baked goods, come before 10 a.m.

Bien manger.

1201 Williamson Street, Madison Wisconsin

On the corner of Williamson Street and South Few Street is home to one of Madison’s best local eats. The group of friends operating this eclectically decorated establishment stocks the kitchen and walls with local ingredients and items allowing them to support a long list of farmers and food purveyors. Their breads are crafted in the lower level allowing them to provide the freshest accompaniments to their outstanding sandwiches. If ordered a few days in advance Chef Joey may even let you take a loaf home, as I have gotten away with a couple of times.

Madison Magazine named one of their burgers, Bob’s Bad Breath Burger, as one of the best in 2011 Burger Madness competition. The pairing of cream cheese, caramelized onions, garlic along with green goddess dressing and a mild pickapeppa sauce sounds intimidating but upon your first bit you wont want to turn back. The pan-fried Yukon gold potatoes as a side to any dish are coated in garlic that give it a bit of a kick and make it hard to share, with anyone!

Beyond the award winning burger the rest of the menu is nothing but well crafted pairings of amazingly fresh ingredients. A few more recommendations for any traveler stumbling through the doors is the West of the Andes sandwich, with tuna! I, myself, am not a huge fan of tuna but the combination of the other flavors strike gold.

There is also a large variety of vegetarian or vegan options that would satisfy any tastebuds and all menu options are available for a reasonable price. When dining at Weary Traveler you are among the best Madison has to offer an in the heart of our local scene located in the middle of Willy Street. Just a block away is Willy Street Co-op if you dare to eat anymore and the couple of blocks that make up this neighborhood are perfect for a summer, spring, fall and even brisk winter stroll.

Try not to get too lightheaded and weary when you sample the food but rather grab a seat and bon appétit with the best.

923 Williamson Street, Madison Wisconsin

Upon first appearance you may be worried you pulled up to someone’s quaint summer home but notice that the added cars and pairs of customers meaning you have reached your destination. Umami Ramen and Dumpling Bar opened this fall and has had great success minus a small kitchen fire that postponed business for five days. But have no fear they are again up and running and ready for you!

After venturing through China this summer and sampling each cities delicacy I was craving some good asian cuisine that was hopefully nothing like the endless supply of Chinese buffets scattered all over the U.S. My first experience at Umami was with my father who like me has a craving for good food, especially ethnic foods that truly follow their roots. A few of our favorites that had me back weeks later with my summer traveling friends were the pork buns, traditional miso and the green tea crème brulee. The chef offers specials and alters the menu every few weeks to keep up with the local seasons but it is rare you will leave disappointed.

The pork buns are like tender cuts of pork on sweet pillows that do not come close to comparing to an average “bun”. The pickled vegetables also add a nice crunch. The miso is stocked full with vegetables and traditional ingredients that is not as salty as many other ramens found in the U.S. Finally the green tea crème brulee is absolutely outstanding. Like many other crème brulees it is not overly sweet and the green tea adds an earthy flavor that isn’t found in most deserts.

The rest of the menu is very good and there is a well crafted selection of beer and cocktails. Just a few blocks from the Capital square so head over to enjoy its unique flare any season, bon appétit.

Gud food with a side of localism.

Hello all,

It has been quite some time since I have shared my latest meals with you, I am not sure if an apology is in order or a dundundun, I’m back, is. Either way I thought I would share a little bit of knowledge with you so that y’all can have your honeybee fix!

This semester has taken a toll on the blogosphere because of two lovely internships that came my way. One is with the ever growing Slow Food UW. This is a student organization that is associated with the greater international Slow Food movement. You can explore what Slow Food UW is doing through its Facebook Group, Twitter handle @slowfooduw, or website. If you like gud food, you will most definitely enjoy what Slow Food UW is doing. The most popular events are their Family Dinner Nights as well as the Wednesday Cafe’s. The Family Dinner Nights or FDNs are every Monday at 6:30pm for only 5$. Slow Food UW takes this opportunity to share the ideas that local food can be gud and affordable. The Wednesday Cafe is open from 11:30am-2:00pm each week and goes along the same lines as the FDN. Slow Food UW strives to promote good, clean, fair food that benefits society, the environment and our bodies. All Slow Food UW events are held on the corner of (1127) University avenue and Charter, in the basement of the Crossing.

Next up is Nostrano. This restaurant, located on the Capital Square, is a year old and thriving, as well as dishing out the importance of localism. Tim and Elizabeth Dahl, the face of Nostrano, left their well-established restaurants in Chicago to create a well adorned hot spot here in Madison. As you will see when you enter their website, Nostrano quite literally translates as ‘local’. Tim and Elizabeth support the restaurant with produce from their own farm and other ingredients traveling all the way from the Dane County Farmer’s Market, aka across the street. Tim is also becoming well versed with the ropes of social media so make sure to check out the Facebook page and Tweets, @nostranomadison.

Cheers to local being oh so tasty, and afforadable!!

Bon appetit.

It’s not summer until you have a BBQ!

  

Its been a while since I’ve posted but at least there is still sun-shining summer weather in lovely Wisco. However, in order to be able to fully label these months as summer I needed to be able to check off a bumpin’ BBQ from my summertime bucketlist. As the days were getting shorter and the clock was ticking closer to that time of year filled with studying and football games, my bestie and I decided to get creative and throw an End of Summer BBQ for all our loves at home in Sheboygan. We are the kind of friends that have fun cooking, eating, shopping, and repeating! I think in our past lives we were attached at the brain, so who else better to throw a BBQ with. As soon as we came up with the idea there was no stopping us as we were fast at work making homemade invites and drooling over possible recipes.

The few requirements we had were that it was outside, the grill was fired up, we had a drink with limes and all of our friends were in attendance. Then the fun part of creating the menu began… we decided what better to have in the summer time than some gud ’ol burgers! Since I have a soft spot for California cuisine and avocados we choose to have a CA burger with chipolini onions, avocado, heirloom tomatoes and lettuce. The other must have when grilling out are Sheboygan Hardrolls, from the crazed about City Bakery. This lead us to the creation of the Sheboygan burger with sharp cheddar cheese, sautéed onions, heirloom tomatoes and lettuce.

As for sides we attempted to follow some tasty looking recipes for sweet potato chips and zucchini fries but fell short of success. The finished products were far from presentable but still some of our friends were brave enough to sample the wilted and pathetic attempts at chips and fries. This was a failed attempt but we will try again and perfect turning our favorite veggies into our favorite snacks! There was also classic corn on the cob boiled and roasted along with grilled zucchini rounds and sliced watermelon.

The dessert was my personal favorite but unfortunately our guests pigged out on their BBQ feasts a little to much to really enjoy the tasty treats. My favorite sweet tooth satisfier is obviously dark chocolate but I needed to sweeten this up for all the mouths we were feeding. In order to do this I discovered a quick and dirty homemade caramel sauce recipe to fill dark chocolate cups with. The additional sea salt sprinkled on top made these a hot commodity that I am dying to make again VERY soon!

The second dessert was something my mom stumbled upon this past winter. We attempted to make our own ice cream but opted for a healthier version, that is disguised very well. We bought about a dozen bananas, peeled them and stuck them in the freezer over night. The next day a few hours before the BBQ I popped them in my mom’s Vitamix blender and pureed them until smooth. The left over caramel sauce along with various toppings allowed us to have a sundae funday ice cream bar!

Even though we were left with mountains of leftovers the adventure of throwing our first “dinner party” was a success and something we will continue to perfect over the years. What better way to spend time with your friends than sharing a great meal under the summer sky!

Cheers y’all and can’t wait for the next BBQ, bon appetit.

The-too-good-to-do-anything-else dish…

The dish I just finished licking my plate of was way too good to let sit in my word documents waiting to be shared with the world and also is just too damn good to be named. Caprese doesn’t do justice to the way this tomato, mozzarella, basil and balsamic dish is prepared. Comments or ideas on possible names please come rolling in, I will need help with this one!!

I guess I’ll give you the juicy details so you can recreate it in your sweet smelling home…. So start off by liberally dousing sweet cherry tomatoes with olive oil and salt. Place them in the oven at 425 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes letting them roast and explode! While these are roasting get started on the balsamic glaze. I found the recipe online at Simply Recipes and it is oh so simple. Reduce half a cup of balsamic with two teaspoons of sugar over high heat until it thickens. Plate the tomatoes with fresh mozzarella, rip up fresh basil and then drizzle the balsamic glaze all over the place (adding salt to the finished meal if needed). Try this and you may never want to eat a caprese salad any other way.

Next up is figuring out what else I can make with this DIVINE balsamic glaze… bon appetit!

Portabella Marsala Sando.

This post is almost one of my favorites because this sandwich is out of this world and will definitely be featured in a future cookbook!! Lunch was aproaching quickly and we had some portabella mushrooms calling our names.. what to do, what to do?? We decided to get a bit adventurous and created marsala mushrooms with portabellas and slapped them in-between some veggies and bread, waalaa.

The preparation of the mushrooms was like any other marsala preparation. Slice the mushrooms and sauté them in butter and when they are on the edge of being done add a splash of marsala cooking wine to caramelize them. Make sure to add the marsala at the end because adding this essentially finishes cooking the mushrooms. Once the mushrooms have a nice coating of marsala feel free to continue cooking for a few more minutes.

When creating the sandwich you can choose whatever you like but we sliced up some fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, last nights grilled zucchini and shreds of fresh basil.

Bon appetit to turning a dinner entrée into a tasty sandwich.

Not MJ’s Beets.

This post is no where near Michael Jackson’s hit single Beat It but almost as good and hopefully soon to be as popular!! Searching for a good summer recipe to go along with the large bundle of beets we just purchased from the farmer’s market we came across the website Simply Recipes highlighting a Roasted Beet with Balsamic Glaze. From time to time I go on a beet craze and ever since I returned from China this was a vegetable I was dying to dine on. The recipe was as simple as the name of the website (SimplyRecipes) and took only a few tries to perfect.

  

The beets are roasted at 400 degrees for an hour or two, depending on how large the beets are. It’s important to rub with olive oil and salt in order to give more flavor and to avoid drying them out while roasting. Poke the beets after about an hour every so often in order to find out when they are ready to be taken out.

The best part isn’t with the roasting but instead the Balsamic Glaze drizzled over top!! It may take a few attempts but start with a small, shallow sauce pan and add the balsamic vinegar and sugar in order to reduce into a syrup. When the beets are finished roasting chop them up to the size you prefer and pour the balsamic glaze over. We choose to grate some citrus zest over the top, whatever you have available would work, but we went for orange adding an extra bite to the dish.

These are a great snack or an accompaniment to any meal and can be served hot or cooled, or even in a salad. To find the original recipe visit SimplyRecipes online.

  

Not to mention cooking with beets always makes for some fun artwork, even though mother always told me never to play with my food, bon appetit!

A Sweet Summer Salad.

If there was one fruit that I would describe as sweet summer loving it would be watermelon. This colorful melon is so thirst quenching when the degrees start racking up as well as being extremely versatile. Slices of watermelon is hardly a snack you can go wrong with but what about adding some chili powder or lime sprinkled over the top, it’s easy to get creative and always rewarding. My favorite watermelon concoction is a salad with feta, Kalamata olives, onions and lime. All these flavors combined can create an addicting snack or the perfect side dish for any summer meal.

The recipe I used was Nigella Lawson’s and the reason I choose to use one is because she has an interesting approach to getting the flavors to really blend well. Her advice for the onions is to soak them in the lime juice so they lose some of the bite onions can dominate a salad with. When working with watermelon this is an especially helpful tip.

The rest of her ingredients include black olives but I like the flavor of Kalamata olives instead, and make sure to get pitted olives for maximum enjoyment. Nigella also chooses to add mint and parsley to go along with the tartness of lime and rich flavor of feta allowing for everything to compliment each other giving your taste buds a ride of their life.

The recipe can be found at http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/watermelon-feta-and-black-olive-salad-205, however if you google a Watermelon Feta salad you can find a list of other combinations that suit your style.

Bon appetit and enjoy your sweet summer salads.

Kombucha lucha, nature’s cocktail.

My mom’s most recent fix this summer is Kombucha, a fermented tea with health qualities and a fizzy kick. She first fell upon this in Fish Creek, Door County at the Getaway Car Juice Bar. Mary of Getaway Car has became quick friends with my mother and soon me, after our day trip to Door County. I have Mary to thank for starting this rapid forming crush on Kombucha in both my mom and me, as well as our close friends. The Getaway Car Juice Bar is the epitome of my dream café, tucked away between tall trees providing shade along the lake shore as well as tasty juices and smoothies to accompany her all natural baked goods. Beyond Fish Creek the upper peninsula of Wisconsin is where various Door-delis and cherry picking farms reside becoming a home of good, fair and natural foods or products for Wisconsin and other travelers.

  

The weeks after tasting the first sip of Ginger Kombucha in Door County now created a search for more homemade Kombucha. After research we discovered Willy Street Co-op is the proud seller of NessAlla’s Kombucha made in the basement of The Weary Traveler. Willy Street, properly known as Williamson Street in Madison, is the few block district that is home to many uniquely local establishments that know how to deliver good coffee, great food and fun art plus much more!

  

On my way back to Sheboygan this weekend my mother had me stock up big time on some of my new favorite flavors. If you’re trying it for the first time I recommend going for a ginger mix as most places will supply something along these lines. Although various Kombucha brewers will get creative so feel free to try what looks pleasing.

NessAlla is a Kombucha making company that has five fermenting locations in Wisconsin and six in Illinois. The NessAlla company started with two friends, Vanessa and Alla, who brought their knowledge and love together to start a thriving health company. They host events along with having a wealth of facts on their website. Follow them on Twitter, check out their Facebook page or do whatever to get involved, I know I have. This stuff tastes great, does great things and is sweeping the nation at a great speed.

Beyond NessAlla there are ways to search out your own source of Kombucha or get creative and make it yourself? Fun fact you start with a scoby but the rest is history for me, hopefully I’ll be able to update you all on my Kombucha making adventures someday.

Bon appetit to nature’s cocktail.