….is from right here in Michigan. Moomer’s Homemade Ice Cream in Traverse City won an on-line poll conducted by ABC’s Good Morning America according to the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Jon and Nancy Plummer, owners of the store on North Long Lake Road in Long Lake Township, received word from the ABC-TV’s morning news show’s producers Friday afternoon. Moomers bested three other ice cream stores from around the country in the on-line poll contest.
It’s time for a road trip!
I’ve got House TV on in the background and at 7:45 PM, they’re still in session. I’ve heard from friends in the media that phone calls to both caucuses and the Clerk have had some wierd answers. The Democrats caucused for quite a while late this afternoon and as of this writing, the House “At Ease At The Call Of The Chair.” I’ll keep the video feed up while I’m watching TV tonight to see if anything happens.
8:07 PM – The House has been called back to order.
8:20 PM – I’ve been told by that same friend that the House has “a lot of business” to deal with and they are planning on staying late into the night. Still wouldn’t answer whether HB 4163 would be called tonight or not.
8:29 PM – In another surprise move, the House in now voting on SB 776 which is the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, so it looks like they really are expecting a long night.
10:54 – They are STILL in session. They just announced there will be no further voting tonight, but the House will be back in session tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 10 AM instead of their usual 1:30 PM start time.
It used to be I got depressed watching the news because all they covered were car accidents and murders (hey, I grew up in Chicago’s DMA). Now, I get depressed watching the news because it reminds me how I rising prices are effecting everything I do. News stories are now starting to focus on people’s changing habits when it comes to saving money.
Adam Lenz has worked at Wenke Greenhouses for the past three years, and says one section of the business has recently seen a major boost.
“We’ve noticed a rise in the last year or so in our vegetable sales,” said Lenz. “A lot of people are trying to see to grow their own to keep the cost down a bit.”
I don’t eat nearly enough vegetables to justify growing a garden. Oh yeah, plus I live in an apartment complex. I don’t think management would like that too much. While it doesn’t make sense for me, it does make sense for some people.
Beudrie says the reason she’s starting her own garden is because she can’t afford to spend $200 on groceries every week for her family.
“It’s getting really expensive and the whole grocery budget is going through the roof,” she said.
To start up her garden, it will cost Beudrie less than a weeks worth of groceries, and over time, it will end up saving her much more.
Gardening is another one of those things that has kind of become a lost art in recent years. Growing up, my grandma always had (and still does) a garden. A lot of my friends parents did too. My family never did, but we didn’t eat a lot of vegetables either. In some ways, these rising prices are a good thing. It’ll bring families back to the table. Their own table. Not Applebees table. We got lazy in the last decade or so when it comes to food. Maybe this isn’t such a bad thing after all……
I love it when dignitaries make wagers like this. It’s pretty much commonplace among Mayors….but who would want to wager with Kwame Kilpatrick….and usually the winner gets food from loser.
LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today placed a friendly wager with Pennsylvania’s Governor Edward G. Rendell on the 2008 Stanley Cup finals between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Adding a note of friendly competition to the Red Wings and Penguins Stanley Cup final series, Granholm and Rendell have agreed that the governor of the losing team must be photographed enjoying a meal from the winning state while wearing the winning team’s jersey. A photo of the occasion must be publicly released.
The selected meal from Michigan that Governor Rendell would enjoy includes, Faygo Rock and Rye pop and Kowalski Kowality sausage, both companies are headquartered in Detroit. For a sweet treat, Michigan-grown cherries would also be provided to Rendell. Hot dogs from The Original Hot Dog Shop, a Primanti Brothers sandwich, and Smiley Face cookies from Eat ‘n Park restaurant, all Pittsburgh establishments, have been selected for Governor Granholm.
The Detroit Red Wings have won 10 Stanley Cup championships throughout history, more than any other franchise based in the United States. Game one of the finals is scheduled for Saturday, May 24, at 8 p.m.
To make things even more interesting, Governor Rendell should get his Faygo sprayed on him by The Insane Clown Posse…..looks like it could happen by this weekend too…
Keeping with the holiday cooking theme, WILX has a story today about propane prices.
“It used to be $17.99, now it’s $18.99,” said Teha Jones, a cashier at the BP in Grand Ledge.
That’s for a propane exchange, the price of a 20 lb. tank of propane also went up from $47.99 to $48.99 at the BP in Grand Ledge. Customers say even the $1 increase can take a bite out of the family barbecue over time.
Simple solution. DON’T USE PROPANE! Why cook out in the first place if your just going to be using gas. The flavor comes from wood. I don’t care if they warm up faster, they’re easier to control and they’re just prettier. It’s an inferior cooking device. Take some pride in your food and burn wood.
And seriously, as a side note. One of my biggest pet peeves is the way the word “barbecue” was used in this article. Throwing burgers on the grill is not barbecueing….it’s grilling. BBQ is slow cooking a cut of meat using smoke…you don’t BBQ with a propane grill anyway….you BBQ with wood
Well, it is Memorial Day and pretty much everyone, including me, fired up the grills for lunch. I stayed away from anything that needed sauce, but the Lansing State-Journal stirred up the debate in this morning’s paper.
The core of the barbecue sauce debate is simple: vinegar-based vs. tomato-based.
It’s strictly a Southern squabble, the battle line starting with the vinegar crowd in eastern North Carolina. As you move west, tomatoes take over. And the closer you get to Texas, the sweeter and darker red the sauces get.
But for non-Southerners, it’s hard to understand the fuss over a sticky substance spread over a chunk of meat.
It’s not strictly for Southerners. I hate when I see people drowning ribs in a Kansas City style sauce. My preference is actually somewhere between vinegar and tomato based. I use a sauce similar to what Neely’s BBQ in Memphis uses. It is a tomato based sauce heavy on ketchup (which is vinegar based itself), but I add a lot more cider vinegar. I probably double or triple their recipe. I like the sweetness of the ketchup, but I really like the tanginess of the vinegar.
Memphis BBQ joints really showcase the differences in sauce. There’s Neely’s which uses a thin tomato based sauce. Rendezvous uses a traditional southern vinegar mop sauce made up of pretty much just vinegar and pepper. Then Corky’s uses a thicker tomato based sauce. Once you reach the Memphis region and beyond, your starting to get more variety. Sweetness starts to take over from tangy and brown sugar, molasses, and honey start getting added.
Keep going west to Kansas City and you’ll run into a totally different animal. KC Masterpiece is the standard as far as Kansas City sauces go. Really think tomato based sauces that are really messy. Head south to Texas and your somewhere in between Memphis and KC. I would suggest reading the LSJ article for a detailed explanation of the different regions.
And just think, we’re JUST talking about sauce here. We haven’t scratched the surface as far as BBQ. There’s the ribs vs. chopped pork vs. pulled pork vs brisket debate. There’s baby backs vs. spare ribs or St. Louis ribs. There’s secret rubs….and everyone has a strong opinion either way. For me, heaven is a rack of baby backs with a chili pepper based rub with a thin, vinegary, tomato based rub. No matter what, I’ll take great BBQ, whether it’s mine or someone elses, over a salad anyday.
Well, just like I predicted, the smoking ban is being held up in the house because the Senate version makes no exceptions for casino’s or cigar shops. Cigar shops I’m on board with, but not enough to hold it up. Casino’s shouldn’t be protected just because lawmakers are afraid the Detroit casino’s will be hurt.
The Lansing State-Jounral had an article yesterday that desciribes Speak of the House Leader Andy Dillon as sympathetic to the casino’s. Dillon plans to call a vote on the ban, but he plans to add the exemptions back into the bill which means it would have to go back to the Senate for another vote.
“We’ll see if the Senate would like to negotiate,” Dillon spokesman Greg Bird said.
The approach is not sitting well with Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester. “If the people of Michigan want a ban on smoking, it needs to be across the board,” Bishop spokesman Matt Marsden said.
I’m totally in agreement with Bishop’s camp here. Call the freakin bill as is. Give it a year and see just how it works. You can’t pick and chose which businesses are exempt. If you’re going to exempt casinos, then you really should exempt taverns (bars that don’t serve food). I mean, they’re both adult oriented businesses, right?
This is stupid. Mr. Dillon, call the bill as is and let the legislature decide.
Like last weekend, posting will be light until Monday or Tuesday. This weekend, I’ll be driving back and forth to Ann Arbor for the Big Ten Baseball Championships. There’s a couple places I want to try and get to and my plan is to try my luck at Krazy Jim’s Blimpie Burger tomorrow (Friday) before I need to be at U of M. I don’t know about this, it sound kind of intimidating, but we’ll see. I don’t know how much time I’ll actually have to eat in Ann Arbor, but if you have any suggestions, let me know,
Sunday and Monday I’ll have family in town, so there probably won’t be a lot of time to post, but I expect to eat out at least once with them. So, I apologize in advance for the lack of posts this weekend, but be sure to come back next week as I’ll start back up with my regular news posts and of course, my reviews from lunch dates.
…and I don’t mean gas prices. I saw the following story on ABC 3 and honestly, it’s just depressing.
This weekend thousands of you will fire up the barbeque to kick-off the summer grilling season, but if that’s the plan, you better bring the bank.
From ketchup to paper plates food inflation is the highest in almost two decades.
The average price of a cook out will cost American’s six percent more than last year.
This is just the beginning. Analysts say next year, it’ll be even more expensive just to stay home and make burgers.
Man, they can even ruin grilling. I already got my burgers and buns…we don’t need no paper plates or ketchup….I’m kidding. I’m not that cheap, but really, that is depressing to think about it. You can’t leave because it’s too expensive and you can’t stay home because it’s too expensive. We might as well not have holidays.
According to this AP article, McDonald’s has finally replaced it’s oil with a trans-fat free oil.
McDonald’s has lagged other restaurant operators in switching over to a zero-trans-fat cooking oil out of worries it would compromise the taste of its trademark fries. It has been under increasing pressure from consumer advocates and some public officials to make the change.
The new oil is canola-based and includes corn and soy oils.
CEO Jim Skinner told shareholders at the annual meeting at its headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., that the new oil has been in use in U.S. restaurants for a few months now for french fries, hash browns, chicken, filet of fish and biscuits.
I’m not a huge McDonald’s eater, but when I do need fast food, I usually look for a McDonald’s. I do like the taste of their fries. Obviously, I’m not expecting a fast food places to cut potatos (even though Arby’s and Hardees leave the skin on their fries). It was just in 2002 that McDonald’s thought they were doing something good by switching from beef tallow to a healthier fat with less trans-fat. Now, six years later, they’ve been forced to switch again.
The problem with this whole situation is….who goes to McDonald’s for healthy fries? You know what you’re getting into when you pull up to the drive through. McDonald’s or any restaurant shouldn’t be forced to change their menu by anyone other than the shareholders or owners. When you start changing ingredients, you start messing with taste. Taste is the most imortant thing in any food and it shouldn’t be determined by a bunch of do-gooding hippies.
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