Kieren’s Kitchen – North East Minneapolis = Food Building & Makers – Local Foods

Hey! It’s below zero degrees Fahrenheit today! But here’s a reblog from 2019 as the Food building is open and still making all their products. Let’s go out and have lunch again.

Happy Shamrock Day!

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Our Autumn days are sunny again. I went out on Thursday to take a few photos in the park. Then I went to the Co-op to buy a few items and look around. There I picked up a loaf of Rye bread from Baker’s Field. It smelled heavenly. Rye bread is quite a different and hearty bread from whole wheat. I grew up having Limpa Rye bread at my Swedish neighbor’s house. That’s a story in itself.

When I read the label on the bread, and ate it the way I did as a child, just plain, I knew I had found a gold standard of Bread Baking. A new tradition of milling and baking has begun again in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Small scale is terrific.

Baker’s Field Hundred Rye Bread – Minneapolis MN Ckatt 2019

I looked the makers up in Minneapolis. They grind their own flour and make all sorts of breads and pastry. The bread and pasteries can be bought at Kieren’s Kitchen in the Food Building. I was very excited to investigate further and contacted my friend Carla and sent her a link to Kieren’s Kitchen in Minneapolis. “locally sourced seasonal produce includes Minnesota-grown staples, like apples, squash, pumpkins, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes and blueberries. Our meats come from farms in Minnesota and Iowa.” ~ Kieren’s Kitchen ~

https://kieranskitchen.com

 We found there was more to discover at the Food Building 0n NE 14th Street. We visited and observed the Makers in the building.

Squash Soup at Kieren’s Kitchen Northeast

Breakfast at Kieren’s Kitchen Northeast

 

The Squash Soup was served with half a squash with pepper aioli and a drizzle of cream and herbs. It was a treat and imaginative way to serve squash soup & Baker’s Field warmed bread! Five ☆☆☆☆☆ Eats. I had the locally made Ginger Beer and it was very good. I’m a big fan of Ginger Beer.

 

 

Carla’s full breakfast had eggs, crisp flavored fried potatoes came with a sauce, plenty of thick bacon, and Baker’s Field toast. Carla had Irish Breakfast Tea. Five☆☆☆☆☆ Eats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Atmosphere

Guests order at the counter and then it’s seat yourself. At Kieren’s they pay attention to details of food presentation, service and quality. Also on offer are the goods from the other maker’s in the building. I tried the Brie cheese sample from Alemar’s Cheese. It had a very refined flavor and lush texture. Big Plus was that the people who serve you are very warm and friendly, which adds to the pleasure of the experience. (A+ to have great service.)

The Food Building

Food Building 117 NE 14th Street Minneapolis, MN

Alemar Cheese

This Alemar Cheese producer was not actively making cheese, when we walked through hall from Kieren’s Kitchen to see the business in action.

Baker’s Field Bakery

Their flour is milled on site and can be purchased at Kieren’s Kitchen.

Baker’s Field Flour being milled before our eyes 10-25-19

Main view of the Baker’s at work and their workspace

Red Table Meats

Redtable, that is another producer at the FOOD Building, processes and cures their own meats, which can be bought at Kieren’s Kitchen.

If you are in Minneapolis, Kieren’s Kitchen has a menu that might appeal any day of the year.  It was a great way to celebrate Autumn with my friend Carla.

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen.

Wishing you a good week wherever you may be.

Peace.

The Food Building has a space to cater events CKatt 10-25-19

Ginger Beer made by the Spruce Soda Company Minneapolis

Originally posted Oct 26, 2019

What a great way to celebrate any season!

Have a good weekend where ever you are.

Peace

Chocolate Nut and Fruit Chunks = Chocoladebrokken – Candy Recipe

This is a reblog of a candy recipe that I took from my niece Sabina’s blog. Her cooking talent is well known in Holland. She is a food writer.

It’s still winter in the Northland and we are expecting snow next week. I start craving chocolate treats at this time of year. So here’s a repeat from 2012 of a recipe that did not take much time to make. ❤️❤️

Remember Chunky “What a chunk of Chocolate!”? No? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestlé_Chunky  Never mind. Suffice to say, it was a chunk of chocolate with nuts and raisins. Old fashioned energy food, which was not owned by the Nestle company, as it is now. I loved this chocolate chunk candy.

Here’s a recipe for something to serve with coffee that seems to be an approximation of a “Chunky”. It has all my favorite foods: chocolate, raisins, apricots and nuts.

I nabbed this recipe from Sabina Kookt to try. I had all this chocolate that I bought on sale. (What to do? What to do?) After all the Dutch make a very fine chocolate and cacao. Yes! Although I used a good American brand.

Remember Chunky “What a chunk of Chocolate!”? No? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestlé_Chunky  Never mind. Suffice to say, it was a chunk of chocolate with nuts and raisins. Old fashioned energy food, which was not owned by the Nestle company, as it is now. I loved this chocolate chunk candy.

Here’s a recipe for something to serve with coffee that seems to be an approximation of a “Chunky”. It has all my favorite foods: chocolate, raisins, apricots and nuts.

I nabbed this recipe from Sabina Kookt to try. I had all this chocolate that I bought on sale. (What to do? What to do?) Retrieved March 4, 2012.

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The English version of the recipe followed by the Dutch version:

Ingredients:

200 grams of 100% cocoa baking chocolate – I used semi-sweet Ghiradelli Chocolate  – great flavor.

150 grams of mixed nuts – I used raw Spanish peanuts that I roasted at 300 degrees in the oven for ½ hour.

Chopped apricot and whole raisins to add to the melted chocolate

 Method

Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a bain marie or double boiler. Bain Marie – put a bowl in a pan of water and heat up the water to simmering to melt the chocolate. I used a metal bowl.

Line a small spring form pan with aluminum foil. Alternative: Use aluminum cupcake baking liners is what I did since I don’t have a small spring form cake pan.

When the chocolate melts and is shiny stir in add the nuts and a handful of raisins and 4-5 diced soft dried apricots.

Spread the mixture over the bottom of the spring form pan or drop and spread the mixture into the aluminum foil cupcake liners. Let that cool.  Alternatively, place the mixture in the refrigerator and it is ready in an hour or two to serve.

Open the spring form pan and take the aluminum foil sheet off of the chocolate and break into chunks or serve in the aluminum cupcake cups.

These treats can be stored for a week, but after that they start to look white. They still taste the same, but don’t look as appealing to eat.  Eat them up!

Note: I would use a lighter chocolate or milk chocolate next time and add more raisins. They have a really dark flavor, if you like that, then enjoy! After a day’s curing. These are really fabulous!

This recipe is based on the “Daatjes” of  Yolanda van de Jagt from the Cookbook “Hollandse Kramen” Retrieved March 4, 2012.

Note: I have asked Sabina to write recipes in English, but she modestly declines, which allows me to loosely translate recipes from her food blog.

Note: I would use a lighter chocolate or milk chocolate next time and add more raisins. They have a really dark flavor, if you like that, then enjoy! After a day’s curing. These are really fabulous!

This recipe is based on the “Daatjes” of  Yolanda van de Jagt from the Cookbook “Hollandse Kramen” Retrieved March 4, 2012.

The Dutch version of the recipe is:

2 Oktober 2009 Door Sabina

Ingredienten

200 gram pure chocolade, het liefst chocolade om te koken

150 gram gemengde noten

eventueel: wat gedroogde abrikozen of rozijnen

Breek de chocolade in brokjes en smelt au bain marie. Dat doe je door een glazen schaal of een kom in een pan met zachtjes kokend water te zetten.

Doe aluminiumfolie over de bodem van een kleine springvorm.

Als de chocolade gesmolten is en glanst, roer je de noten erdoor. Je kunt er ook rozijntjes of in stukjes gesneden gedroogde abrikoos aan toevoegen.

Spatel het chocolade-notenmengsel in de bakvorm en laat afkoelen. In de koelkast is het in een uur of twee voor elkaar, anders moet je langer geduld hebben.

Als de chocolade is afgekoeld, haal je de rand van de springvorm af en wip je de chocolade van het aluminiumfolie. Breek of snij in grote brokken.

Gebaseerd op het recept voor ’Daatjes’ van Yolanda van der Jagt, uit het kookboek Hollandse Kramen.

Je kunt de chocoladebrokken een week bewaren, daarna beginnen ze wit uit te slaan. De smaak blijft hetzelfde, maar het ziet er niet zo gezellig meer uit. Snel opeten dus! (Geen straf).

http://sabinakookt.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/chocoladebrokken/

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen.

Have a good weekend.

Peace

Seacliff State Park in California ~ Gaia Speaks – Volcano?

Pictured here is Seacliff in November of 2022 before the storm hit the WWII sunken boat monument and destroyed that and the wharf near it. This is before the winter storms came in January.

The earth or Gaia speaks. Volcanoes and earthquakes are terrifying and remind me how the works of humankind are easily brushed aside in the wake of these events. My heart goes out to all in the wake of these disasters.

Seacliff State Park, California In November before the storm. November 7 2023

Seacliff State Park California November 7, 2023 CKatt

Seacliff State Park, California In November before the storm. November 7 2023

During the storms of January pictured here below is a Seacliff State Park still photo from a video during the storm from channel KSBW Channel 8.

CAPITOLA, Calif. — Jan 11, 2023

The storm-related destruction at Seacliff State Beach south of Capitola goes well beyond damage to the cherished wooden pier, as new images from California State Parks show.

“People are shocked,” Santa Cruz Public Safety Superintendent Gabe McKenna told SFGATE on Tuesday. “Seacliff State Beach is one of the most popular in Santa Cruz County and the greater Bay Area. Visitation is extremely high. It’s one of those places that’s kind of multigenerational. People have been going there for a long time.” – KSBW Channel 8

By Eric Brooks, SFGATE

The planetary upheavals are many since the beginning of the year. First a volcano in Hawaii erupts. Then the weather becomes severe. Is there a connection? Yes. Gaia speaks to us.

The weather hit the Pacific coast and caused flooding and storm damage. Where did that come from? The weather events on the west coast moved across the Northern Hemisphere creating weather effects from north to south. We saw 52.5 inches of snow in Minnesota in a short period of time. Buffalo, New York, well, they were buried in snow.

It put me in mind of the event in 1883 of the eruption in Indonesia of the volcano known as Krakatoa. Equally climactic changes happened after the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa.

“The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa (Indonesian: Letusan Krakatau 1883) in the Sunda Strait occurred from 20 May until 21 October 1883, peaking in the late morning hours of 27 August when over 70% of the island of Krakatoa and its surrounding archipelago were destroyed as it collapsed into a caldera.” ~ 1883 eruption of Krakatoa – Wikipedia: Retrieved Feb 13, 2023

Global climate
The eruption caused a volcanic winter.^[17] In the year following the eruption, average Northern Hemisphere summer temperatures fell by 0.4 °C (0.72 °F).^[18] The record rainfall that hit Southern California during the water year from July 1883 to June 1884 – Los Angeles received 970 millimetres (38.18 in) and San Diego 660 millimetres (25.97 in)^[19] – has been attributed to the Krakatoa eruption.^[20]Wikipedia: Retrieved Feb 13, 2023

For the full story please click any link above.

OR: A Year Without Summer in 1816 when Mount Tambora, an active volcano blew up starting in 1815 and the results of which were strikingly similar to the weather events we had most recently.

Click the link to read all the Farmer’s Almanac reports. It’s a revelatory account of the effects of the Tambora volcano on weather, Ninety thousand people perished in the initial blast. Almanac.com: Retrieved: February13, 2023.

Okay, by way of explanation on this linking of weather and volcanoes, I wrote a about Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. In my research, I found this notation that the post volcano weather brought thirty days of rain to their lakeside idyll in Switzerland.

“In June 1816, Mary Shelley was forced by the weather to spend her Swiss holiday indoors with her literary companions, where to pass the time they decided to have a contest to see who could write the scariest story. The result was the novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.” Almanac.com: Retrieved: February13, 2023.

My absence and neglect of this blog is due to going through old papers and photos of which I have far too many to keep. I am throwing them out. It’s a process and like a part-time job. Kind of like a volcanic purge going on here in my kitchen.

BTW: Minneapolis’ temperature is going up into the 40s. (It’s not normal for February.)

Still here! Thanks for stopping by my kitchen.

Have a good rest of the week wherever you may be.

Peace

Think Spring! © CKatt 2023

Travel – Holidays = Arctic Blast Delays

I made plans for a trip South Carolina to visit my friend and her family over the holidays. Yes, I made it out of Minneapolis, MN even as the snow started on Wednesday 12/21/22. If you wondering how that was possible, Minneapolis is the top airport in a snow situation. That’s from my friend who’s is in the know about flying, air travel and all things to do with aviation.

I know the next day that people were stuck there. 😏 after the whole country was socked in as we say… hmmm…interesting expression.

After an hour and A half waiting in the plane on the tarmac, the plane was in line for de-icing. I had the good fortune to be sitting next to a student from Denmark, who is studying at the University of Minnesota.

Talking with him was a fun way to pass the time. I mentioned a Danish series that I watch on PBS. It is called “Seaside Hotel”. The cast of characters are an array of people from Danish Society in the years right before World War II. The series has 8 seasons. The student liked the series and had watched it all with his parents!

This series has so many layers of humor, drama and social commentary. I find it engaging and really delightful. The premise is a small group of people who meet every summer at the charming hotel by the Danish coast and includes the characters who run and work in the hotel. The characters stories intertwine in unexpected scenarios.

Some many years ago I visited the town of Helsingor Denmark, which as it turned out, to be Elsinore of Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet”. The town has a very big castle you can visit.

Aha! A light went off after my photo was taken next to a large poster that advertised the play “Hamlet”

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen.

Have a pleasant safe holiday wherever you may be.

Peace

Tart Queen Rising = Fresh Peach and Berry Tart Recipe –

This post was written in August of 2010, when I first started my Kunstkitchen blog. It’s a continuing journey of life, learning to cook and grow new neurons after having a TBI, when my brain connections were sheared. As a consequence, to learn to write and read again, to improve my memory and comprehension, I was inspired o write a blog by my niece, Sabina, who is a professional writer.

SABINA RECENTLY ON VACATION COMMUNING WITH THE LOCALS in 2022

My ability to paint and draw was gone, I started from the beginning to retrain my brain with drawing exercises, then practice, practice, practice, practice and the attitude of”never -give-up”. Once again I can read and comprehend again, create artwork and enjoy writing even though my spelling has not quite recovered. There is always room for improvement.

Twelve years of blogging have passed with support from many people and readers. When I started this blog, there weren’t many responses to my posts. I’m offering this post up again. To all the many readers who stop by I deeply appreciate your support. Sincerely ~ Kunstkitchen AKA Catherine

🥧 🥧 🥧 Posted on08/06/2010bykunstkitchen

There were fresh raspberries and blueberries at the market – locally grown – that cried out to be in a tart.  What’s so great about a tart, you wonder?  It is an open face fruit pie with a jam glaze on top.  Oh, those French tarts!  They look so artful. They taste like summer and are only 80 calories a slice.  The crust quality is buttery, but delicate.

Don’t you love a piece of pie with a glass of milk, or a cup of tea or coffee? I do. I want to become a pie queen and be able to produce the most scrumptious pies. That’s a daunting thought.  So scaling back this grandiose plan I start with the basics and work my way up to the hard stuff – Cream pies or Black Bottom Pie. (A favorite of mine that I discovered when I lived in Jacksonville, Florida, but that’s for another story.)

Be warned, the cooking guru on television said, the day before yesterday, that pie-crust never turns out the same twice. (I could have told you that.) Crust is tricky. This time I vowed to follow the instructions to the letter! Darn right.

The cooking experts taste tested the pre-made pie crusts that are available at the store. Boxed types voted least favorite and Pillsbury voted the best of the refrigerator dough types. But the best of all was the homemade crust. (I tried pre-made from the freezer and it saves time. IMHO is that the flavor, consistency and the essence are not the same. Yes, essence, the magic that comes from fresh baked and made by human hands. There is enormous satisfaction when the crust comes out of the oven looking like a picture.

Now, to recapitulate, the art of dough as given to me from the Washington Post Recipe online follow these directions. (I apologize for the serpentine way this recipe is written. It made me crazy this first time I tried it.)  It’s a Julia Child recipe. The links still work in this post BTW.

Note: This time I used peaches in the center, raspberries around them and blueberries artfully filling in spaces on top.  For the glaze, I used a mixed fruit jam. (It’s hard to follow all the rules.) Using in season fruit I adapted the recipe.

The recipe is at this link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8355-2004Aug17.html August 6, 2010.

Your questions and comments are welcome.  Happy summer! Share a fruit tart.

The tart pan looks like this: fluted edges and removable bottom pan – there is no top crust. Yay!

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Thanks for stopping by my kitchen.

Sharing a bit of summer pie baking for your week.

Peace