Cookery Maven Blog

Wild Mushroom & Goat Cheese Risotto

The end of summer means all sorts of things: we need to start wearing socks again, 7 am is the new 10 am for breakfast, school and sport schedules begin to rear their ugly heads and wild mushrooms start to make their annual appearance in forests and fields around Bayfield.

Frosty Morning on the Beach

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted and its high time I get back into the Cookery Maven swing of things. I’ve been cooking, eating, drinking wine, taking pictures, and stirring the pot wherever and whenever I can but haven’t made time to sit at the computer and hammer out a blog post.

Rituals of Fall

My husband, Ted, asked me if I wanted to go for a ride. Now, if he posed that question to George, our yellow Lab, it would mean a trip to the beach was in order but since it was a September afternoon,

Building Bread & Community

I’ve always enjoyed making bread but hadn’t, until recently, taken the leap into bread made with wild yeast. Rebecca, my friend from Madison, posted a photo of a beautiful loaf of bread made from a starter that’s been living and growing for over 100 years and offered portions of the starter to anyone who wanted a jar of ancient, wild yeast in their kitchen.

New Pups In The Wolfsong Kennel

I’ll let you in on a little secret— I love, and I mean love, dogs. Ever since our blue merle Collie, Oggie (as in Oggie the Doggie) came to live with me when I was about five, the deal was sealed— I was hooked.

Eagles on Hermit Island

We went for an excursion on Friday afternoon to Hermit Island— one of the many benefits of living in Bayfield. As we headed to the boat landing, which was choked with two enormous ice bergs, I felt so very lucky to live in a place where we can decide to go for a boat ride and in 30 minutes, be buzzing towards the Madeline Island shoreline.

Polynesian Chicken Salad & Coconut Titiyas

Like most good things, this meal started with a single step into the unknown (or in this case, towards a random bottle of sugar cane vinegar).

An Iceberg Expedition on May 17th

It's the middle of May— the snow is gone, I've unearthed my sandals from the basement, our windows are free of their plastic wrap, and the Karl is back on the water. Summer is on its way and come hell or high water, I'm forging ahead....right into a Lake dotted with icebergs on May 17th.

Beltane Blessings

Poem by Muriel Rukesyer

New Sass At The Sassy Nanny Ranch

The Sassy Nanny ranch has a few new faces (and feathers, and hooves) in the yard. Not only are there roughly 78 new young'uns, there is a very large (and sweet) horse named Cash and a trio of waddling, inquisitive geese.

Lovely Hunks Of Pork, Dijon Marinade & Expired Tabs

It was the best trade we've made in a long time— the use of the Rover for a grocery bag of kick-ass beef and pork from a butcher in Hudson.

Fishing Tugs In Ice & Snow Irons

It snowed on Friday, enough to close school and add one more day to the end of the school year. We've had quite a few snow storms this winter and even the kids are getting sick of snow days.

Hard Cider & Calvados Cheese Fondue

Cheese fondue. Those two words conjure up memories of being a Holly Hobby bell-bottomed wearing kid in the 70's, scooping 'fancy' swiss cheese out of my Mom's fondue pot and feeling pretty fancy myself.

Houghton Falls Magic, Part Two

I'm in the very beginning stages of attempting to organize my 22,000 pictures into some semblance of order. And by beginning stages, I mean looking through the pictures and taking one big fat trip down memory lane— not deleting, moving or organizing a damn thing.

Houghton Falls Magic

It was the perfect day for a photo safari but we were fresh out of ideas. There's still at least three feet of snow on the ground and while I'm all for an adventure, slogging through thigh deep snow was a little ambitious for us.

Asiago & Pear Ravioli

I'm on a pasta bender. It just keeps snowing and snowing up here so I'm still in winter, carbo- loading mode. Plus, I love, and I mean absolutely love, working with pasta dough.

Grapefruit & Juniper Gravlax

Salmon cured in salt, sugar, citrus zest and spices— my idea of a very good idea. Maybe it was the name, gravlax, or the idea of safely eating raw fish but I assumed making gravlax was best left to the professionals and my job was to make a tangy sauce and slice the rye bread.

Maple Meringue Cookies- A Spring Superfood

Maple sugar— one of the many gifts of Spring and a good substitute for white sugar. Its subtle maple flavor is a great addition to quick breads and cookies (plus it's loaded with antioxidants).

A Grant's Point Sunset & The Madeline Island Ice Road

We've sprung forward and that means spring can't be far behind, right? I know there's one or two big, gnarly snow storms in my future but that's okay— it's only 50 days or 1,200 hours (depending on how you want to look at things) until May 1st.

And Then There Were Three

Henry died Tuesday in the early hours of the morning, on his bed with Gus and Seamus tucked in next to him. He woke me up at about 4 am, we went outside, I spent a few minutes petting him and then carried him to his bed.