A few months ago, I started a little networking group for small local businesses like mine. We called ourselves the Prez Club. Like my friend Katie said, it’s lonely at the top! For most of us there isn’t too terribly far to fall, but 3 of the businesses in the group have recently gotten some major press and I’m really excited to share their well-deserved success!

Lucille's Kitchen Garden's Raspberry-Pepper Jam - YUM!!!

Lucille’s Kitchen Garden

Anyone who’s eaten Aunt Else’s Æbleskiver at the Mill City Farmer’s Market has had the chance to eat them with the amazing pepper jam from Lucille’s Kitchen Garden. Zoie & Amy Glass have become trusted partners to us and I was elated to open the Taste section of the Strib the week before Christmas to read that Rick Nelson loves them as much as I do! Check out Rick’s ringing endorsement of all things local and delicious. Way to go ladies!

I was also really pleased to see that Rick highlighted Lucille’s jams can be purchased at Local D’Lish (Ann is also a Prez Club member!) and the Golden Fig in St. Paul. Rick does a great job supporting local food, he’s awesome!

Byrd and Belle's Laptop Case

Byrd and Belle

My co-worker David had some exiting news to share with me about his wife, Angie Davis, a couple weeks back. Angie makes handmade cases for laptops, mobile phones and iPods, and does it so well that she and her Etsy store, Byrd and Belle, were featured in a recent New York Times article. Angie has a really inspiring story about starting a company after being laid off late last year. She is a fantastic addition to the Prez Club, and I’m hoping to reveal a Byrd and Belle designed æbleskiver pan storage case in the coming months. Congrats Angie!

Bramblewood Cottage

Our most experienced Prez Club member, Amy Goetz, (whose booth is 2 doors down from us at the Mill City Farmers Market) is having quite a start to 2010.  Amy’s Bramblewood Cottage shortbread was featured on Oprah.com’s “Foodstuff for the Foodie in Your Life”. I can honestly say that Amy is one of the nicest, most generous people I’ve met, and nobody deserves good things to happen to them more than her! Congratulations Amy!

I received an email a few months back from chef Shannon Wilkinson (former producer of Top Chef) while she was in the process of opening a new restaurant called Henry Public, in the Cobble Hill neighborhood of  Brookly, NY. Shannon was including æbleskiver, a childhood family favorite, on Henry Public’s menu and was in search of an aebleskiver pan that would work well in her restaurant’s busy kitchen.

She had seen the photos on www.AuntElse.com of the 12-hole cast iron æbleskiver pans we cook with at our booth during the Mill City Farmer’s Market and wanted some for herself.  I happily connected her with the local Minneapolis man who makes the dozen-hole pans, Vagn Jensen.

Fast forward a few months, and I was really excited to see that Shannon’s new restaurant, Henry Public, had opened and was featured in New York Magazine along with an excellent (and gigantic) photo of Vagn’s pan! You can read the entire article that appeared in New York Magazine here.

Best of luck to Shannon, Vagn & Henry Public!

Aunt Else's 9-Hole Cast Iron Æbleskiver Pan NOW available on www.AuntElse.com

I’m so excited that our 9-hole æbleskiver pan is almost ready! When I say “our”, I mean Aunt Else’s Aebleskiver’s new pan. I absolutely love the fact that we’ve been able to keep the work local, and so proud that each pan is marked “MADE IN MINNESOTA, USA”. I’ve been amazed at how much we’ve learned, and after stopping to think about things I realized that it’s been in the works for a while now. Here is a little timeline:

• After tossing around the idea of making our own pan for a couple months, we decided to officially go for it in January.
• By the end of February my business partner Linda’s husband, Daryl had it all designed.
• We spent a few weeks in March talking to a bunch of foundries. Most here in Minneapolis, but one as far away as Sioux Falls.
• By the end of March, we had decided to work with Smith Foundry, located here in Minneapolis (right off of Hiawatha).
• Under Smith’s guidance, we worked with a local pattern maker who quickly created 3D CAD drawings for us to review.
• Shortly thereafter, in late April, Lori Writer wrote a great article about the pan for our favorite blog, The Heavy Table. The article got quite a bit of attention, people asking for the pans & when they’ be ready; there was no turning back after that!
• Then the match plate was created.  The match plate  is the tool used to create the sand molds that eventually receive the molten iron.
  

  Aunt Else's match plate! Two molds can be made at a time. This is the side of the match plated used to create the cope.

• Smith cast us a prototype pan in early June, which we felt was too heavy, so modifications were made to the design and subsequently to the match plate
• Modifications were completed, and Smith cast another couple sample pans for us. The pans looked great to us, but the seasoned professionals at Smith recommended a couple additional minor tweaks to the match plate. The most interesting change was to increase  the size of the “gate”, or the hole into the mold which the molten iron flows through. Apparently, if the iron doesn’t flow into the mold fast enough, it cools and can cause wrinkles in the surface of the casting.
• We met with Neil & Wendy at Smith to kick off production of the pans this week! They couldn’t be better people to work with, and I’m completely reassured that our decision to work with a local company was the absolutely the right one.
• We will take delivery of the pans in about a week, August 14th!

I almost forgot to mention that we’ve been simultaneously working with our designer, Dan Jenstad, on a hang tag for the pan. Dan created our logo, and the packaging on Aunt Else’s Aebleskiver Mix as well. We really wanted to emphasize the fact that the pan is made locally, and also bring in key elements from the mix packaging. We totally dig what he’s created, and love his attention to detail; notice the background pattern is made up of hundreds of little 9-hole æbleskiver pans. He’s so clever!

*** UPDATE, 8.27.09 ***

The pans are in and selling really nicely! You can order yours on our website, www.AuntElse.com.

I had our designer Dan Jenstad, take a few professional shots of the pans and I think they turned out really well. Have a look and let me know what you think!

Top of the pan with the label attached.

Bottom of the pan. Notice the stabilizers that allow it work on all types of stove tops; electric, gas, ceramic/glass, and magnetic induction.

Our starter kit which includes the 9-hole Aebleskiver pan, Aunt Else's Aebleskiver Mix, a handle pot holder, and a stainless steel chopstick for turning the aebleskiver as they bake. The perfect gift for the cook who has everything!

Extreme close-up of Aunt Else's logo in the handle of the pan!

I recently made my annual trip back to West Concord to pick up the farm raised chickens I order from my cousin Shelley. I grew up eating farm chicken that my Grandpa raised, and I just can’t get myself to eat anything else. In my mind, the store bought chickens are small, tasteless & expensive. Plus, you don’t know where or how they were raised. To be completely honest however, there is a downside to farm chicken; you have to butcher them yourself.

When I was a kid, we lived a couple blocks from my grandparents. That meant we helped butcher the entire family’s chickens, and I developed a deep hatred of plucking feathers. Thankfully, Shelley and her family do the plucking & dressing for me now.  I simply show up at the farm, cut the chickens up, and head home. I happily avoid re-living a lot of smelly, feather-filled childhood memories, and enjoy fantastic chicken for the rest of the year.

Whether you buy chicken from a co-op, a farmer, or the grocery store; it’s always cheaper to buy chicken whole and cut it up yourself. I cut my birds into 12 pieces (well, 13 counting the neck); although many people do 10 pieces. I like to quarter the breasts; this way the breasts are relatively the same size as all the other pieces and evens out the cooking or grilling time. I also only put half a chicken in a bag; my family is still young, and we get 2-3 meals from a half of chicken.

I use a paring knife, medium sized kitchen knife, and a cleaver. You can use whatever knife you have, just make sure it’s sharp, and NOT serrated.

Step 1 : Remove the neck. Slice halfway through the neck, and bend neck to crack the spine. Continue cutting through the other side of the neck.

Step 2 : Cut off the wings. Insert the point of your knife (I like to use a paring knife for this step), into the wing joint, and cut around it in a circular motion. Fold the wing tip over the shoulder, and add one wing to each of 2 bags.

Step 3 : Cut off the legs. Put the chicken on it’s back, and slice through the skin between the body & the thigh. Do this to both legs, and then you can press down to pop the ball joint of both thighs. Once this is done, the legs should lay pretty flat and you can cut through the joint and back of the leg.

Step 4 : Separate the thigh & drumstick. Place the skin side of the thigh down. Make one cut down through the joint. Add a drumstick & thigh to each bag.

Step 5 : Separate the back and breast. Insert your knife into the wing hole. Cut down the side of the bird, along the end of the rib cage on both sides. Again, push down on both halves until they both can lay on the table, and cut through the cartilage in the shoulder area to completely separate.

Step 6 : Break the back into two pieces. Slit the thin cartilage beneath last rib, and use your hands to crack the backbone. Finish seperating the sections using your knife again. Ensure each bag gets a piece of back meat.

Step 7 : Split breast into quarters. Using two fingers locate the notch in the breast bone and cut just above your fingers. I like to use a cleaver, as you’ll need to apply a lot of pressure to cut through the breast bone. Cut the 2 large pieces  in half lengthwise. Ensure each bag gets 2 peices of breast meat.

That’s it! Good luck!

We were at a neighborhood party hosted by our friends Will & Nancy a couple weeks ago. I learned 2 things that evening: 1) Will makes the best drinks on the block, I swear he could win a blue ribbon at the State Fair for his Tequilla Mockingbird; and 2) Nancy has a killer garden, by far the best on the block and maybe in all of Hennepin County.

As Nancy led a couple of us gawking neighbors around rows of luscious arugula and snap peas, she taught me a term I’d never heard before; Backyard CSA. I knew what a CSA was, but was confused about the backyard bit. Instead of the regular CSA farmer leaving you a box of fresh, local produce at a convenient drop-off location each week, the Backyard CSA farmer comes to your house and helps you grow your own produce.

Cool, right?

Nancy’s farmer, Jen Adams, helped her convert two large patches of her lawn into rich, fertilized garden beds; completely encircled with a woodchip walking path and a rabbit repeling fence. They seeded the gardens together and the Jen returns weekly to continue educating her about maintaining healthy plants and keeping the weeds out. They have already re-seeded parts of the garden to replace the quick growing greens &  squash.

I think this is a great idea, and was amazed at the huge amount of food that could be raised in a relatively small space. It’s not hard to see what a huge impact it would make if everyone, or even every other house in America had a small backyard garden. I can’t wait to get my own growing next summer. If you’re interested, you can get more information by emailing Jen at jena2@usfamily.net.

If you’d like the garden & fresh vegetables without the work, you can contact Backyard Harvest and one of their talented farmers (you may recognize Seth & Stephan from the Mill City Farmer’s Market) will come tend your garden while you enjoy a Tequilla Mockingbird!

Good growing!

The eagerly anticipated æbleksiver cooking is video is complete! Huge thanks to Lee Z; who not only offered up his kitchen as the set, but also filmed, directed & edited the entire video. I couldn’t be happier with the final product, and hope it helps folks perfect their pronunciataion and cooking technique for years to come!

If you like the video, please leave a comment, rate us, and add us to your ‘favorites’! Don’t forget to share with your friends! With your help, we could be on top of the search results list!

I wasn’t scheduled to work this weekend at our booth at the Mill City Farmer’s Market, so naturally, we decided to take the entire family down to the Market to enjoy the craic. We missed the goats and rooster, but the kids still loved the Market and danced to the live music (they say that they were shaking their booty’s). It’s getting harder to get pictures of them. They knew I was trying to get a picture of them eating an æbleskiver (above), so Big Brother shoved the whole thing is in his mouth! I don’t know where he gets the stubborn attitude??? (You can see Terri & Brent working away in the Aunt Else’s Æbleskiver booth)

Gardens of Eagan was selling slices of watermelon for a buck. You could choose red or gold watermelon. It was delicious!

This picture wasn’t taken at the Market, but the baby started smiling this week so I wanted to share. Even through our bloodshot eyes we think she’s pretty cute!

My mom’s family got together this last weekend for a summer picnic. Unfortunately, the baby decided to stay awake the entire night before, so we weren’t able to drive the 2 hours to take part. Luckily, my mom has given me the full download of who was there, what cute & funny things the kids did, and most importantly, what food everyone brought.

As usual, there was a ton of food, but one dish stood out above the rest. The entire family is still talking about the salad cousin Sarah brought. Sarah gave me her recipe, and I’m posting it here so you can impress everyone at your next summer gathering. If you’re really ambitious, make your own fresh mozzarella and I guarantee even my family will talk about you for years! If you have any left-over mozzarella, Chow Hound has a tasty & easy recipe for marinated mozz!

Pasta with Peppers and Mozzarella

12 ounces short pasta (such as gemelli or penne; about 4 cups)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bunches of basil, thick stems removed (about 6 cups)
12 ounces bocconcini (small balls of fresh mozzarella), cut in half, or fresh mozzarella, cut into bite-size pieces
Kosher salt and pepper

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, drain the pasta, and set aside. Wipe out the pot.
Heat the oil in the pasta pot over medium heat. Add the bell peppers and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the peppers are tender, 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the basil, bocconcini, the cooked pasta, the reserved pasta water, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring, until the basil is just wilted, about 1 minute.

I found a similar recipe on Real Simple’s site, which mentions the recipe serves 4. They also use arugula instead of basil. I really like both and think that using half basil & half arugula would be amazing! Buon appetito!

The first installment of a series of posts highlighting the amazing & talented people I’ve met while establishing Aunt Else’s Aebleskiver business. The Sphere of Skiver Spotlight is my little way to help the people who’ve helped us so much!

Tessie, owner of Personalized Gifts & T-Shirts in New Brighton, MN, has embroidered Aunt Else’s logo on chef jackets, aprons, canvas bags, and even the little flags we hang on our tent at the Mill City Farmer’s Market.

My wife introduced me to Tessie last fall when we were getting ready for our debut at the Mill City Farmer’s Market.  My business partners & I wanted something to wear that would make us look professional (and hopefully convince people we knew what we were doing). I called Tessie up, and a couple days later she had our logo digitized & embroidered on a bright red chef jacket.

I was even more impressed with that fast turn-around time after I learned that Tessie has 4 kids at home; ages 7, 4, 3 and 6 months. She balances being a busy stay-at-home mom and running embroidery jobs during the day, and screen prints a night or two a week.  She’s doing something right, her business will be 3 years old this fall.

If you ever need embroidery or screen printing done, Tessie has all her stocked products listed on her website, www.PersonalizedGiftsandTShirts.com. She said her most popular items are personalized t-shirts for bachelor & bachelorette parties, but can accommodate most requests.

Tessie's ebroidery machine at work on a beach towel.

The kids love their new little sister! The first thing they want to do each morning when they wake up is hold her. This morning was no exception. Maybe the excitement the older kids have will rub off on the baby at some point…..she wasn’t so pleased! Ha!