Red Wing

If you ever want to get out of the Twin Cities for a day or two there is one place that is wonderful, that is Red Wing!

We found out through the Star Tribune travel section that they have eagle spotting there, at Colville Park. It is a prime spot, where many eagles nest and hunt. They had an eagle expert there next to the river with scopes and binoculars to watch the eagles.  The gentleman was very informative and willing to answer any questions we had.  We were lucky and able to spot a few eagles flying.

Bald Eagle Flying

With it being only an hour from the city, we went downtown to check out the Red Wing shoe store where they have the world’s largest boot on display! They also have a small museum on the top level which we found quite fascinating. Then on the bottom level they have a whole clearance section if you want to go and find yourself some nice, new, and more affordable red wing shoes. Once done there we went to look for somewhere to eat.

We went to the Brickhouse, they have traditional american bar food, but it was good, filling, and affordable.

Brickhouse Menu

I enjoyed a pulled pork, mushroom, onion, and swiss cheese sandwich on potato bread, with a side of kettle chips.

Pulled Pork on Potato Bread

Jackie enjoyed a tasty chicken sandwich topped with parmesan cheese, pesto and sun-dried tomatoes on a focaccia bun with waffle fries.

Chicken Sandwich with Waffle Fried

For our final stop of the day trip we went to the large antique mall right by the Red Wing pottery store.  It was a large mall with two floors of antiques, lots of fun to look at. We found a couple of really cool unique kitchen pieces. Those are the best to find, something that you don’t find in an everyday store.

So if you ever want a quick trip to get away form the Twin Cities, feel free to take a short drive to Red Wing!

If there is anything you think we missed from Red Wing, please feel free to comment on it.

Bubble Tea

What is this drink that has little black pearls in the bottom of the cup?  That drink is called bubble tea with large tapioca pearls.

There is not a whole lot of history on bubble tea because it is not that old, but most people agree on where it came from.  Bubble tea originated in Taichung, Taiwan in the 1980’s.  There are two shops in the village of Taichung that claim they invented the drink, but no one knows exactly which one.

After bubble tea was created it was not largely popular, but became popular by a japanese advertising company. They put it on some billboards and it started to spread throughout southeast Asia.  Eventually it emigrated itself to Australia and then all the way across the Pacific Ocean and making its way to the U.S. west coast.  Now, to this day, it has slowly spread throughout the U.S. and is even in the U.K.

Despite not being advertised much within the U.S., but due to word of mouth, it is a fairly popular drink. Bubble Tea can be found commonly in the The Tea Garden stores, and a few select Asian, mainly Thai, restaurants.

Many recipes vary for this drink, but most will commonly contain a tea base or fruit based which are blended with either milk or water.

Recently, when we first tried to make bubble tea we found finding the ingredients turned out to be more difficult than we thoguht.

We learned from talking to the shop owner at a small local shop in Burnsville, MN that the following is recommend to make bubble tea. We also learned to ask the “locals”, you would be surprised how willing people can be about helping you.

• Large tapioca pearls
• Ice
• Sweetened condensed milk
• Milk
• Flavored drink mix (we bought strawberry)
• Large round straw

Bubble Tea Ingredients

                          

A bag of large tapioca pearls

Strawberry flavor mix

That night we made our first bubble tea at home. Here is what we did, which makes two large servings.

1/2 cup dry tapioca pearls

 

Boiling pearls

Start by adding 1/2 cup dry tapioca pearls to boiling water. Boil for approximately 5 minutes. When done, they float to the top, similar to ravioli.

Then drain the pearls under cold running water.  To keep the pearls from sticking put into a cold water bath.  You want them to be chewy, not mushy.

If you want your pearls sweet, add 2 tablespoons honey to your cold water bath.

For an ice-blended version, fill the blender 3/4 of the way full with ice, 2 cups of milk, 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk (you can always add more depending on how sweet you want it), and 3 tablespoons flavored drink mix.   Blend until desired consistency.

Strawberry ice-blended version

To assemble the drink, place 1/4 cup cooked pearls into bottom of large cup, pour half the blended mixture over pearls.  Insert fun large straw. Enjoy!!

We are looking forward to experimenting with many variations of bubble tea. Check back again to see what we come up with. Also, please share with us on how you make your bubble tea.

Swedish Meatballs

Kottbullar-Swedish Meatballs (Courtesy of http://www.sweden.se)

I am a very Swedish person, my great-grandmother came over here from Sweden back in the 1920’s.  I understand a few of the customs of food, such as lutefisk and lefse, which I both love.  One thing however that I love the most is Swedish meatballs.  But with almost every ethnic group out there having their own version on the meatball I wondered what made the Swedish meatball Swedish?

So I dug into it a little and found out that there is actually a combination of two ingredients that makes the Swedish meatball, Swedish.  That is milk and bread crumbs. The breadcrumbs are placed in a bowl with the milk and soaked, which helps gives the meatball the common soft texture.

Also, interesting, is the meat that makes up a Swedish meatball.  In northern Sweden beef is mostly used to make a more lean meatball. In the southern region pork is more commonly used.

In my families recipe we use pork and veal, which leads me to believe that they came from southern Sweden.  So, there really is something that helps to make the Swedish meatball, Swedish.

This is the recipe that my family likes to use:

1/2 cup fine bread crumbs

1 cup milk

1 lb pork and 1 lb veal

1 cup onion-diced

2 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp dry mustard

Put the bread crumbs and milk in a large bowl and let them soak for about 5-10 minutes until all absorbed. Combine remaining ingredients into bread crumb mixture, mixing until well incorporated. Using, melon baller or your hands form the meat into balls about the size of 3/4″- 1 1/2″ ball.  The smaller size meatball is more common to Sweden, as other meat balls around the globe tend to be larger.  Set oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the meatballs on a sheet pan and bake for about 15 minutes or until brown on the outside.  You can make your own gravy with a mix, or you can take the juices and put them in a sauce pot, add some stock and boil it down to make a gravy out of the left over juices.  But ultimately the gravy is up to you.

Hope everyone can learn about and enjoy Swedish meatballs as many other people do. Give them a try!!