Epic Portions

Author: admin

  • Vacation

    August in Michigan.  For my family it means a trip “up north” (as if north would be anywhere other than up) to a cottage on a lake.  Yes, my friends, a break from the day to day grind of taking care of young children at home, in exchange for a chance to take care of young children in a totally new environment.  Between making sure they don’t drown, frequent applications of sunscreen, and child-proofing a cottage, I’m hoping to find a moment to eat delicious food as well.

    Northern Michigan (we will be in the Frankfurt area) offers some, but not many culinary diversions.  Cherry pie at the Cherry Hut is a must.  The best eats come when we charter a fishing boat and catch Great Lakes salmon, which, for lack of a better word, is great.  I will eat every fish I catch — save one which will be wrapped in newspaper and sent to an appropriate villain of my choosing.  The fish I keep will be cleaned, gutted, and then feasted upon.  A couple places will let you BYOF (bring your own fish) and cook it for you any way you like.  I usually walk in, hand them the cooler, and say “blackened, please.”  Or we will fire up the grill and make it at the cottage.  Either way, freshly caught salmon from Lake Michigan is AMAZING.  Add some homemade French fries, cole slaw, a cold craft beer, and a lake view and I will be as close to Shangri-la as you can get while still in Michigan.

    It is with a hint of regret, however, that technological limitations will keep me from posting on EP for a week.  It is also with more than a hint of regret that I have decided to allow my teenage cousin, Penelope, to write a guest column or two in my absence.  I shudder to think what will she will say, but hopefully it will be in English with something resembling correct grammar.  I am shuddering again at the thought.  I would like to state in advance that I accept zero responsibility for any posts bearing my name that may appear in the next week.  (No worries, John, I’ve cleared this with the Epic Portions legal department, I bribed them with some cupcakes and they were putty in my hands.)  So farewell for now, I’ll be back soon and hopefully you will enjoy the post(s) in my absence.

  • Cupcakes. Stop.

    I had to go to the mall, a place I try to avoid at all costs, the other day to have my iPod looked out by the too cool tech-geeks at the Apple Store, when I saw something that made me cringe in what was almost actual, physical pain.  No, it wasn’t unfettered consumerism at its overpriced worst.  It wasn’t bad mall food, as our local mall here in Ann Arbor actually boasts a couple of decent eateries:  Sushi Café (yes, sushi at the mall and it is delicious) and Chipotle.  It was a cupcake kiosk.

    When did the cupcakes invade and why have we let them take over?  A kiosk at the mall, a store devoted entirely to cupcakes just off Main Street in Ann Arbor, and my DirecTV has 250 channels, 90% of which are devoted to cupcakes all of the sudden.  It seems I can’t go to a party or function without some too cute dessert with pink frosting staring at me.

    This is what we are up against, my friends. Let's kill it before it has a chance to breed.

    I don’t have anything against dessert, but I am more of a main course kind of person.  The cookie will always hold a special place in my heart, but I’d take fried chicken or cheesy potatoes over dessert any day.  So I ask again, what is the deal with cupcakes?  They can certainly be delicious, but so are bacon smores and I don’t see kiosks at the mall for them.  Besides, cupcakes suffer from many of the same issues as muffins do.  The top is inevitably more delicious, but enveloping a full cupcake bite leads to frosting on the nose.  Not a good look for a man.  The solution is to lop the top off.  I just don’t trust a dessert that needs to be mutilated to achieve full deliciousness.

    The working theory I have about their popularity is that they are portable cakes, and if there is one thing we Americans love, it is portable, fattening, sugar-laden food.  But they are also cute, which annoys the hell out of me.  At my son’s school, every Mom had to be Sandra Lee and make some pink princess designed cupcake or Spiderman themed cupcake for their little snowflake’s birthday.  (If they have to be Sandra Lee the least they could have done was bring cocktails for the adults, but I digress.)  Call me a rebel, but I made chocolate chip cookies for my son’s kindergarten class on his birthday.  And yes, I do bake when I have to, if I have to be a stay-at-home Dad you can damn well be sure I’m going to make some cookies.  Delicious ones, too.  Might as well fully embrace where life has taken me…

    I was going to include a review of Cupcake Wars, but our friends at Would I Buy It Again did a solid, in depth review and I would rather direct you to their page than force myself to watch it.  Besides, it surely would have been a hateful rant and I like to limit those, otherwise you will be desensitized to them.  Can’t have that happen.  As for cupcake shows, no thank you.  I can’t stand Ace of Cakes either; Duff is actually pretty cool but baking shows in general are not on my list of things to watch.  Ever.  I even turn Alton Brown off when he is baking.

    Just like Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day, let me warn all of the impeding invasion of the cupcakes.  Maybe it is too late.  Their saturation is close to critical mass.  In the mean time, I’ll be in the corner with a bucket of fried chicken.

  • Ypsi Summer Beer Festival FTW

    Summer Beer Festival is over and before I comment on my favorites I would like to point out the awesomeness that is Ypsilanti.  Thousands upon thousands of beer drinkers, many of whom were inebriated (myself included), and the crowd was amazing.  Everyone was friendly and why not, we were drinking incredible beer.  Rain and swamp-like conditions be damned, it was one of those happy to be alive moments.

    I tasted so many beers that before I announce my favorite here are the honorable mentions:

    Copper Canyon Ginger Kids Revenge Imperial Red

    Frog Island Bengal IPA

    Big Buck Lemon Summer Ale

    Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA

    Founders Black Biscuit

    However, my award for beer of the Festival goes to:

    Dragonmead Redwing Raspberry Wheat – Perfect for a warm summer evening, hint of raspberry that really comes alive with the finish.  For me to pick anything with the words “Red” and “Wing” in it is amazing in and of itself, as I am certainly NOT a fan of the local hockey team. However, even with that handicap Dragonmead’s Raspberry wins.  Also, Dragonmead is a really bad-ass name.

    Special award for Most Interesting Beer goes to our friends at Bastone Brewery for their Peanut Butter Ale.  Refreshing and delicious.  Seriously.

    The best tent and overall brewer award goes to Gaylord, MI’s own Big Buck Brewery.  Their Lemon Summer Ale was a revelation, damn near a winner overall.  Also, they made an ice cream stout that was unbelievably delicious.

    Kudos to the Michigan Brewers Guild for a fine event.  Let it be known to all that Michigan is the United States capital for microbrews, so says Epic Portions.  I’ll put our group up against any other state.

    Good night and good luck.