Blogging on Vacation...
Here I am, leaving an air conditioned house in Detroit, Michigan in 100 degree heat just to blog, blog away for all of you. I've been on vacation since June 29, first spending a week on Madeleine Island in Wisconsin, surrounded by the freezing waters of Lake Superior. Then, we drove hundreds of miles to Detroit and are encamped here until Thursday when we return to the Twin Cities (where we flew into), via Chicago, to return to the cool Northwest. And do you know what I discovered?
Luxury condiments are EVERYWHERE. EVERYWHERE these days.
The first day in St. Paul, our friend George took us to a random supermarket in St. Paul -- not a super gourmet one -- and I found a bevy of condiment that I hadn't seen before including something that is a second cousin to the bacon doughnut:
CHOCOLATE BALSAMIC VINEGAR!!! With chunks of chocolate floating in the bottle, to boot. Made by a Minnesota native (the company has a great name -- the Golden Fig), her specialty vinegars have not found their way around the country yet (at least not to the Northwest), but they will. For one thing, each and every one of her flavored vinegars is chock full of the flavoring ingredient. Of course, some smaller minded people might point out that this means less of the actual vinegar, but I like the over-abundance of flavoring agents. Yummy!
The chocolate balsamic vinegar is another one of those peanut butter/chocolate, bacon/maple bar combinations that sound initially crazy, but slowly the complete and utter sense of them percolates up from your subconscious until you realize how right it is. I poured some on strawberries and the tartness of the vinegar compensated for the sweetness of the chocolate and strawberries. It's the perfect dessert alternative for people who don't like too much sweet stuff.
On the tiny island, I also purchased a Garlic Balsamic mustard that is made for a Wisconsin company. I don't have the bottle with me -- I was only able to sneak the chocolate balsamic into the library, but it was good, although perhaps a little too sweet for my garlic balsamic vinaigrette.
Here in Detroit, we went to a liquor store that had a whole shelf of cocktail related condiments! Now I can experience Angostura bitters and blog about the experience in greater detail.
Back to vacation-land.
Condiment Grrl
Luxury condiments are EVERYWHERE. EVERYWHERE these days.
The first day in St. Paul, our friend George took us to a random supermarket in St. Paul -- not a super gourmet one -- and I found a bevy of condiment that I hadn't seen before including something that is a second cousin to the bacon doughnut:
CHOCOLATE BALSAMIC VINEGAR!!! With chunks of chocolate floating in the bottle, to boot. Made by a Minnesota native (the company has a great name -- the Golden Fig), her specialty vinegars have not found their way around the country yet (at least not to the Northwest), but they will. For one thing, each and every one of her flavored vinegars is chock full of the flavoring ingredient. Of course, some smaller minded people might point out that this means less of the actual vinegar, but I like the over-abundance of flavoring agents. Yummy!
The chocolate balsamic vinegar is another one of those peanut butter/chocolate, bacon/maple bar combinations that sound initially crazy, but slowly the complete and utter sense of them percolates up from your subconscious until you realize how right it is. I poured some on strawberries and the tartness of the vinegar compensated for the sweetness of the chocolate and strawberries. It's the perfect dessert alternative for people who don't like too much sweet stuff.
On the tiny island, I also purchased a Garlic Balsamic mustard that is made for a Wisconsin company. I don't have the bottle with me -- I was only able to sneak the chocolate balsamic into the library, but it was good, although perhaps a little too sweet for my garlic balsamic vinaigrette.
Here in Detroit, we went to a liquor store that had a whole shelf of cocktail related condiments! Now I can experience Angostura bitters and blog about the experience in greater detail.
Back to vacation-land.
Condiment Grrl
posted by CondimentGrrl at 12:13 PM
1 Comments:
OMG! OMG! Do they have Orange Bitters? Can you buy me some?
Please? Pleeze? PLUHLEEZE?
And yeah, I've been getting very into the hard-core, 85% cocoa, super-dark chocolates (thank YOU, Trader Joe's!) recently, which I think would be just right for infusion into a basalmic vinegar since there's very little sugar, but oodles of dark, almost bitter chocolatey goodness.
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