Shallots Web

The Viola

Sadly, our dear friends Allison and Mark lost their grandmother, Viola, this past December. She had moved into a new apartment in August of last year, where she received a little more assistance when she needed it. As Allison and Mark’s mom, Bethany, and her husband, Harold, were discussing the new place and some of the new items they needed to pick up for Viola (new coffee pot, new TV), she interrupted, asking, “More important than any of this, is there a nice cabinet for the liquor?” Bethany just laughed and said, “You know, we already checked that out when we visited! There’s only one problem: it’s above the refrigerator and Harold is the only one who can reach it. I’m not sure that’s going to work very well. I think you’d have to drag a chair over if you wanted to get at it.” Then Harold said, “Yeah, maybe that’s not such a good plan considering you just fell earlier this week.” Viola replied, “I don’t know…I think reaching for a bottle of Wild Turkey sounds like a good way to go.”

My kind of lady.

Collectively, the Bun and I only talked with Viola a handful of times, but it was obvious to us how much she meant to her family and how much her family meant to her. As she would have wanted, the whole of her clan was celebrating her life in Michigan (her home state) a few weeks ago. We decided that this week’s cocktail should be in her honor. This is a sweet, but spicy take on a Manhattan and an Old-Fashioned, using fresh Michigan cherries and (what else?) Wild Turkey.

Cheers, Vi!

(more…)

Sloppy Joe Dinner!

Yes, I work in advertising, but I still have trouble admitting when it works on me.  Watching the TV the other night, a (somewhat cute) Manwich commercial came on and the Bun turned to me and asked, “do you like Sloppy Joes?”  Sheepishly, I said that I did and would gladly eat one that very moment.  We agreed that we would make Sloppy Joes, but our own special version, of course.  I haven’t had Manwich since I was a kid, and even then, I am pretty sure my mom just made her own version from scratch.  Judging from the images on the commerical, it isn’t a terribly complex set of ingredients, and I am quite sure that some sort of added sugar or high-fructose corn syrup plays a role.  We decided that it couldn’t be that hard and would take cues from the seasonings we use in Bolognese Sauce and in Bloody Mary mix.    

(more…)

The Bun and I finally made it to the Green City Market in Lincoln Park last weekend.  I think I forgot how great (and overwhelming) that market can be.  We decided that there are some vendors whose “local” produce is negligible, but for the most part, you can really tell that the people are growing the food they sell.  Since this was our first farmers’ market in a while, it was tempting to go whole-hog and buy a ton of stuff, but we did our best to focus and decide on a purpose for everything we bought.  Hopefully, we’ll make good on each one and have some great recipes to share. 

Having such fresh and beautiful ingredients at your fingertips can be inspiring, and we’ve already managed to make some delicious food from what we bought (see yesterday’s post).  Sadly, I had to work most of the day on Sunday and wasn’t able to spend as much time in the kitchen I would have liked.  As a complete surprise, though, the Bun pulled together the most amazing cherry pie I’ve ever tasted, made with fresh Michigan sour cherries.  See below!  

Cherry Pie

(more…)