Traveling Tuesday: Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee

For several years now, my kids and I have enjoyed tagging along when my hubby has business trips, making the most of the hotel room, whenever we can.  It just so happens that he has an event in Milwaukee annually, and we've found a ton of fun things to do in this city.

One of our can't-miss Milwaukee moments is the polka fish fry at Lakefront Brewery.  Well, the fish fry and the brewery tour, that is!

Lakefront Brewery started in 1987 when one of the founders gave his brother a "Beer Brewing for Dummies" book.  Which makes me love it that much more.  They worked on their beers, started and grew production, gained fans, and eventually ended up where they are now, in an old Power Plant building on the river in Milwaukee.  And as grungy as that may sound, it's actually a gorgeous place.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

You know how much I love to revamp comfort food...so here's another good one: tuna noodle casserole.

Typically made with condensed soup and canned peas and mushrooms, making it from scratch ups the deliciousness a thousand times over without taking away from that "hug on a plate" comfort that this creamy casserole brings.

Summer Memories - Part One

So, on a typically dreary Chicagoland winter's day, or a weird one like today where it's raining and in the 40s, I can't help but think back on sunnier times.  Personally, I'm all about the in-betweens, and spring and fall are my favorite times of year, but I married a summer man, and I have grown to enjoy those hot, humid days as well.

We couldn't have asked for a nicer evening!

Now that the kids are getting a little older, we've been taking a yearly vacation up to my grandmother's cottage on Lake Michigan.  It's one of my favorite places, for many reasons.  We overlook the lake.  You can hear the waves crash all night.  Every other house you drive by sells firewood.  Our cell phones don't work there.  You get the picture.  It's just lovely.

This past year, we did something that I have never done in the almost 30 years that I've been going up to the cottage.  We went to a fish boil.  Now, I am a bit of a foodie freak.  I love food and the stories behind it.  I'm a huge advocate of local farms and food culture.  So, a fish boil might not sound exciting to everyone, but to me, it was a huge deal.  A dream of mine, you could say.  You see, a fish boil isn't just boiled fish.  In fact, the fish almost becomes a side note.  It's a gathering, seeped in tradition, an event.  And it's a perfect example of everything I love about local food.

Go Fish

A lot of my friends are excited that I've started this blog.  Many of them have been telling me for months, maybe even years, that I would be great at blogging.  I guess only time will tell.  But, as a couple of these friends made clear to me today, any blog I write needs recipes.  I love being in my kitchen, making delicious food for my family.  So where better to start than the dinner we had tonight?

So, fish.  Fish, in a culinary aspect, used to be pretty scary to me.  Geez, sometimes fish in non-culinary aspects are scary to me!  If I'm in the lake and something brushes my leg, get ready for a yelp.  But back to the kitchen.  I always felt like there was so much more that could go wrong with fish.  Cooking it wrong, having it taste bad, or worse, giving everyone food poisoning.  On top of that, fish is one of those "love it or hate it" kind of foods, and I wasn't sure I was on the "love it" side.  Anyone out there with me?

Side note: I'm sure that I will mention my friend Amy in this blog a few times, but let me fill you in.  Amy owns and runs Amy's Organics, a "mobile organic farmers' market", and it is awesome.  She's awesome too.  You can check it out at www.amysorganics.org.  I could go on forever about what a great service she has, but that wouldn't put fish on your table.  So, long story short, Amy has made it very convenient for me to live out my values of keeping my family's food high quality, delicious, and local.  One of the things Amy delivers from her truck is fish.  Not ordinary fish...fish wild-caught by natives out of the waters of the Great Lakes.  I'm sure it's probably not as romantic as I picture it, but I'm still going to picture birch canoes and ritualistic dances for bounty and abundance eventually resulting in the gorgeous fillets that Amy brings to my door.  I braved the fish for the first time last year, and since then, my family has enjoyed many different types of fish, including perch and walleye.  It's not as scary as I thought, and I'm going to share my method with you.

Here's the fish.  Today, it's trout.  For my family of 5, two good-sized fillets (around a pound each) works out almost perfectly.  I'm sure it won't be enough once they get older, but this method is easy to multiply servings.  The fish we get is usually free of bones, with skin on, so it's pretty good to go from the start.  I like to rinse the fillets and pat them dry with paper towels.  Then I lay them out and get ready to flavor them up.