Bowerman's

We took a short ride today.  The remnants of Irma are passing through here which caused a very threatening looking sky all day long.  It didn't actually rain but it did get quite gloomy and cool at a about the time when we would have made a commitment to be farther away from home base if we were going to do so.

We did not.

We did swing by our favorite blueberry vendor.

It was a very blue beary day at Bowerman's.

Cabbage, sausage and noodles.

This is going to be a previously never done, at least by me, triple post.

I am going to post this here today because I am making it here today.

I am also going to ante-post it to the date when the pictures were taken when I made this meal in Michigan in September.

And I am going to post it to the family cooking blog because this is cooking that I did (and am doing today) for members of the family.

So to start with, this is a pretty basic meal for which you might have most of the ingredients already on hand.  What you might not have is a cabbage.  I didn't have one today so I went out and got one.  Cabbage is a favorite here and I am always open to ways to introduce it into the regular rotation.

Here's what it looked like on September 12 in Michigan.  Note the most excellent slicing knife (the black handle) and the most excellent paring knife (white handle).  Good tools lead to good results.

So what we have there is a head of cabbage, a large onion, a ring of kielbasa, olive oil, butter, a couple of cans of stewed tomatoes and some ribbon noodles.

Basic stuff but it IS going to be good.

Start with the polish sausage, the white knife renders it into slices.  The slices go into the big pot with a healthy dollop of olive oil.  What we seek is the traditional "browning".

The slicing knife makes its first appearance to produce large onion pieces, I like my onion pieces large.

The browning has gone on for a bit, the onions are now added.  Here is where I also throw in that half stick of butter.

At this point the big pan is beyond the merely browning stage and is now in the starting to add flavor stage.  At this point butter is good.

The slicer has been busy again (what a great knife!).  About half of the cabbage has been reduced to cooking size.  The polish sausage and onion mixture looks like it could easily support some big pieces of cabbage.

Throw in the cabbage, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, enough time to steam cook the cabbage.

Time to start the noodles.  I cooked the whole package but I intend to use a little bit less than half.  The rest will have to be consumed in other ways.  Too many noodles overwhelm the cabbage.  You want some noodles but need to keep in mind that this is a cabbage dish.

Time to start throwing it all together.

My experience is that a couple of cans of stewed tomatoes are going to provide just exactly what this concoction needs.

Mix it all together, you can probably turn off the heat at this point.  Everything is warm, it will continue to cook on its own.

I don't have this today but in Michigan we had the ingredients for a highly qualified person to produce a side salad.

Sausage, cabbage and noodle hot dish with fresh salad.

The pictures are from Michigan and today in Minnesota we did not have the salad.

It was really good both times.

We venture off the mountain

Mrs. Smith prefers to  stay up on the dune but she can be coaxed off on a bicycle.  We headed out towards another of the iconic local landmarks.

Most will know that I approve of fuels with an attitude.

I am not so sure I approve of mid-September autumn leaves but they are here whether I approve or not.

We made it back in plenty of time for the reading festival to break out.

Very nice day here today, very much unlike sultry days in August.

Arrival at the mountain

Travel is always taxing but we have safely arrived.

And have successfully participated in one of the signature activities.

In which a 1,400 pound pig lumbers to his feet

We have been coming to the Fair for many years.  One of our almost always stops is the Swine Barn to see the state's largest boar.  Usually he just lies there.  This year for the second time ever in our experience he stood up.

It was, as you may be able to guess, a fairly epic struggle.

This year the pig was nearly twice as large as the pumpkin, a restoration of the natural order of things.

I didn't realize that this was important to notice but apparently it is.  We are supposed to notice that it is not llama products.

We often pass this one up but it is iconic Minnesota State Fair, the sculpting in 40 pound blocks of butter of the various contestants for the title of Princess Kay of the Milky Way.

To be eligible to compete you have to be the daughter of a working dairy farmer and live on a farm.  The winner spends a year representing the Minnesota Dairy Association at parades and community festivals.  Princess Kay this year is from near Saint Peter.

This table is made from Morton Gneiss, some of the very oldest rock on the planet.  This rock is 3.6 billion years old.  The table is a state fair special as just under $3,000.

Eventually we made our way down to the Midway to allow both TCWUTH and her Mom to win stuffed animals at the horse race game.

I am pretty sure that elsewhere on the internet an interested party should be able to locate a photo of Moo and the Dragon with their new owner.