very interesting, however, it seems from articles I read about women that they are all either recovering from or narrowly escaping from sexual abuse, recovering from or escaping from drug and alcohol abuse. I asked my friends. None of us could relate. Makes me feel very suburban boring but also very lucky.
Please get an ichthyologist to answer the question for the readers so we can put this to rest. Any basic knowledge of fish anatomy and taxonomy will settle the question of whether the fish pictured are walleye. Thank you.
Just curios of one of the ingredients mentioned in the picture of her stuffing sliced turnips with lobster roe. Being a commercial lobster fisherman for the last 25 years and having to painstakingly V-Notch every egg bearing female lobster that I catch, I'm wondering where she gets the ingredient and why is it that someone benefits form the conservation and sustainability efforts so many commercial lobster fisherman in the northeast have worked for. Not to mention that taking an egg bearing lobster is totally illegal.
To all the excellent, sharp-eyed commentators who pointed out that what we had originally identified as cranberries were perhaps something else. You were right. Iliana used an app and the flavor of the red fruit to identify them as cranberries. But after many people weighed in, we sent several images to botanists at universities in Michigan and beyond. The verdict? Crabapples! We have since corrected the story and the cutline, and Iliana says they still taste like cranberries even though they were misidentified in the field.
Gosh. I am so relieved that this was resolved.
Sorry....I don't get it: I've worked with strong capable women many times in my career and life, personally and professionally. I just do not see what is so special about what is happening with this woman vs. any other that have dreams "to make it". Do you only make it if someone else writes an article about you, your mid-life pivot and your purchase of a remote property someplace in the woods? Apparently you need a Michelin star to be a woman that "takes risks" "stands up for herself". There are far, far more (and greater) female risk takers than the chef and premise for this article.
3
@Pablo. You got me “this woman.” It doesn’t take much, such as being a woman, perhaps, to identify with the courage needed to sever from the comforts of city living (so-called!) and march off into the unknown. And I don’t believe you know as many women who have done this. Male privilege allows your demeaning comments, I feel. And I feel it. Write your article about your courageous visionary woman or women, please. Put up.
I cared about as much for this story about a chef in the woods as I did the one about how a comedian spends his Sundays.
Like many people, I suppose I often wonder what I would do if I "won the lottery" -- after the normal things like paying all my bills, buying houses for my kids, and setting up trust funds for my grandchildren.
This article made me realize one thing I would do is seek out talented women who do good things, like Ms. Regan, and invest in their dreams for the sake of those dreams, unlike the investor with whom she had a bad experience. Being from Michigan and understanding the allure of the Upper Peninsula, the "U.P." as we call it, only makes my hope for her success even stronger.
4
This article is by far fantastic. I really enjoyed the background and insight into the lives of the two female chefs as well as the struggles they both faced. It's honestly one of the better articles by he Times
2
I am one of those older white men raised in KY and living in Louisiana. I have forged for food and enjoy the woods when I can. I also enjoy anything cooked in Louisiana. Maybe you can add some of our food to your menu as I am sure you would make it in a fabulous way. I appreciate the article and I hope to find your cookbook, sounds wonderful to read. I wish both of you all the success and maybe one day I can visit Chicago, the restaurant and your cabin up north. Sounds like a terrific trip and experience. All my best ladies and good wishes on starting your family. Those will be some lucky children in my opinion.
3
Loved this article and wish Ms. Regan all the luck in the world with her UP venture. As an old Michigan forager, I can assure readers that the controversial berries are not cranberries of any kind. This is a broad-leaved hawthorne tree.
1
@dressmaker
I was struck while working briefly in the UP the absence of frogs in what I thought would be ideal habitat for them. Dusk in the summer was a time to retreat to the indoors, the mosquitos were overwhelming.
1
Iliana Regan's determination in the face of obstacles is admirable. I get a feeling of an earth child with a true believer spirit. I would go to Milkweed.
Very enterprising. But it should be mentioned that these cookie-cutter log homes are typically stuck in beautiful stands of forest or on summits that are totally unsuitable for agriculture (though land is often cleared for a yard, road and powerline.) Nature lovers would be better advised to live in one of the many abandoned farms in America that at least have the potential for sustainability. Early settlers chose their homesteads wisely and, I'm guessing, labored unpretentiously. The environmental impact of the operation here is probably fairly hefty. It should be pointed out, I think....
9
I am also a woman chef. I left the industry and now work as a private chef. One of the only ways to get the wealthy to part with their money is to provide them with services. I charge a LOT. If these women can get people to pay $1000 a weekend then good for them! They should charge as much as possible. I see my charging high prices as a redistribution of wealth, something I believe in. I take their money and redistribute it directly into my community. I'm not getting rich, and there are no benefits like vacation or health insurance, but I make way more money than I did when I had a restaurant. I say, "You go girls!"
299
@Chef G I couldn't agree more. As soon as someone is clever and talented enough to convince the 1% to part with some of their money, they are viciously attacked. People are just perverse.
5
@Chef G Yes I agree that if people are stupid enough to pay that kind of money for dried out fish with a single untrimmed charred carrot and sleep in rooms with shared bathrooms and drive through wilderness that even the owners get lost in to get there for that kind of money --go for it. As I recall pet rocks were once a fad.
13
I am a 55 year old male chef of over thirty years. I have a successful restaurant in upstate NY- as far as these things go.
I am green with envy of this chefs willingness to throw away the "success" of a restaurant - which is as much a lodestone as it is a badge of accomplishment- to try new things.
She clearly has enormous talent, and almost more importantly, she has guts. I can assure you that as she approaches these life changes, she is not without fear and second guesses. But she marches forward despite the fear. Good for her.
Don't listen to the haters!
82
I found this article to be a lovely diversion from a world of petty politics. Am I going to visit this place? Probably not. Do I avail myself to pricey culinary experiences in the northwest where I live? No. I can however enjoy a story about a young woman who has made her way in the world doing something that she loves and not being confined by stereotypes. For my fellow readers who read an article like this and need to pick it apart, perhaps you need a little whimsy in your life. I wish these women all the best.
603
@Shana Cantoni
Diversion? Yes!
Who seeks what they are selling? Not their problem.
They are living the lifestyle they want. Paying guests only on weekends. Being appreciated for creativity and hard work.
Maybe wealthy guests will have time in solitude to consider what really matters.
41
@Shana Cantoni here's the difference - the median income in Nahma is unde $35K, the median income in Seattle is over $93K. They aren't serving the locals, they are not sustainable, and they will be spending half the year in a place where "exit, pursued by a bear" really happens.
15
@Shana Cantoni
It wasn't clear from the article, but the inn's website notes that 8 of the maximum 10 guests share a bathroom; the guests who stay in the tiny trailer have their own bathroom in the trailer.
I hope the owners have their own bathroom. It is not clear which bathroo the staff use. (In my early years my family numbered 8, and 2 bathrooms were nowhere near enough.)
Especially at these prices this is definitely not glamping. And quite a high price for whimsy, too.
10
Regan is pictured twice with a wood splitting maul pretending to split logs. The maul pictured is a monster maul. I've had one for thirty years. It weighs 16 pounds and there is no way a woman, especially one as slight as Regan, is going to swing that thing.
21
@Jim Tagley
My thought was any woman who can wield a monster maul can do anything. But there's only one log, sitting on the ground at a tilt that would make finding your spot difficult. For myself, the attempt to split wood with it was impossible: first there's lifting the thing, then there is being able to direct the head with precision and speed to the targeted log. Even my [ male] sig other gave up and bought a log splitter . . .
16
@Jim Tagley I am a 135 pound 58 year old woman living in Montana. I regularly use a sledge maul to split wood. It's not a round house type swing - it's a straight up and down swing and you use the weight of the maul to split the wood.
40
@barbara
You may use a sledge maul, they're about 8 pounds, but this is a monster maul, 16 pounds. With a good swing the log literally explodes, especially when it's real cold out, which is the best time to manually split wood.
9
I hope they find the peace and happiness they have been searching for. The UP can be both beautiful and a challenge but I wouldn't fear the bears so much as the old white men.
10
Is their menu anything like Pilgrimme in Galliano Island, BC
I think there is a connection with Restrepo Wonderful natural elegant food in the woods
6
After reading this article I came away with two thoughts.
1) Who in there right mind would pay for that!
2) There are plenty of girls to adopt. If you choose to have a baby the "old fashioned" way. It may not be a great idea to have a baby boy.
10
@M.W. Odom Maybe the world needs more baby boys raised by strong, independent women. And for all those who so blithely tell people to adopt - you try to go through the process. It takes years and years, costs a fortune and is wracked with heartache. Why shouldn't someone who can have children be able to have them?
1
Arrived up here 25 years ago to start a small forestry consulting business and raise a family. I have never looked back. On a tiny income, I raised my daughters in a falling-down farmhouse in the woods on 18 acres of bush--trees, creeks, a simple kitchen, zero TV, thousands of old books, and three classical music/news public radio stations. The oldest graduated from Harvard last spring and is now a Ph.D candidate in climate science at a major public university; the second is an intern in Dick Durbin's office in DC and is majoring in political science and art at Marquette University. For the creative, the UP is bountiful, boundless; a blank canvas, perfect for so much art. They'll be fine and their kids will be too.
66
@Susanne Brown, I don’t see anyone doubting that the women or the children they might be blessed with would not “be fine” living in the woods of northern Michigan. The question — the subject of the article — is whether their rustic inn business will be fine there. Different considerations.
11
Congratulations to Iliana for forging her own path, being independent and adding creativity to the world. An overlooked note - how many women have a creepy drunken uncle/father/cousin in their past.
12
@Kat Perkins I never knew any, but then I was never given a chance to know my family which was sad.
my friends ex husband is famous chef. Few Christmas ago she and her brother in law dined at her Ex's restaurant. plate after plate perfect gorgeous lots of veggies. at the end of the courses they were starving. the Chef happily sat at her table and was promptly served a perfect roast chicken and frites....she and her brother on law just watch him eat.....
7
@Julie haha, now that’s funny
1
Pleasure before business ... muchos respectos to the lady.
All the best!
This is about as believable as all the Hollywood types who claimed they would move to Canada if Trump were elected (in 2016). After the election - "oh, well, never mind".
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/22/move-to-canada-celebrities-donald-trump
But, hey, it's a good way to get written up in the Times.
5
Awesome!
I live in the U.P. and it is kinda paradise
Very excited for this new addition
All the best wishes for your success!!
2
This old white guy loved the story and it was the first article I read this morning. I chuckled and may have even rolled my eyes but also followed up with a map search to see if the Milkweed Inn was in an area I'm familiar with cuz I love the North Woods, the UP, people with vision and the courage to pursue it. Best wishes to these ladies and all their customers trying to get there.
6
Wonderful read. I wish the couple all success - in their terms of success.
I’m also envious because what is described sounds like a little bit of paradise mixed with a lot of hard and satisfying work. Terrific combination.
Foraged food? Divine.
5
There’s nothing wrong, unethical or immoral about turning ingredients (whether usual, unusual or as unexpected as milkweed pods) into the high art that is haute cuisine - for the same reason their isn’t anything wrong about turning denim into a pair of $600 jeans. There is a world of tasty food and suitable pants at all price points, no need to argue someone’s designer jeans means you’ll have a bare behind or someone’s smoked lake trout and candied carrot means you go hungry.
There’s nothing pretentious about people choosing to spend their money to be delighted by quixotically prepared food. Eating like this this is an experience - like getting a massage, strolling a museum or beach or going to the symphony. Whats the difference between spending a couple thousand dollars to enjoy a weekend getaway in Miami or spending the same amount to visit Milkweed Inn?
Yes, yes, some people have money to burn, like my friend who is sunning in Marrakech today while I contemplate running errands in the freezing drizzle, but that doesn’t make the affluent stupid, petty or greedy.
Ms. Regan is a rockstar. It’s kids like her who make the world so fascinating. I wish her, her wife, their pups and her 15 year old sourdough starter a rollicking and scrumptious future. You go, girls!
51
I wish Ms. Regan and Ms. Hamlin the very best. They have chutzpah. The cabin idea is great even getting there being an adventure in itself. Congratulations!
4
I enjoyed the dedicated pursuit of contradiction. Tatooed arms covered in flour. A fully equipped kitchen at the end of a logging road. Flannel shirts and Julie Hyman glasses. A rustic cabin with a Shih Tzu. Named Bear. Who is not to be messed with. They should change the name of the place to Paradox Found or Incongri La.
24
Sure are a lot of negative comments about two people trying to live their dream. As a Yooper, chef, traveler and forager I look for a quality experience. I may not be able to afford to go to Milkweed, but I welcome them to the UP and I wish them well and much success. If you have ever truly foraged, spent hours on you hands and knees searching for mushrooms or picking berries or trying to catch a fish and put a value on your time and expertise, it’s a different equation than placing a and receiving an order from a vendor. I don’t imagine too many Sysco trucks will be rolling down their road. Good for them. I would like to meet them and have them over for dinner, we all have so much to share. And the next time I’m in Chicago I will look them up. I didn’t really care for the article, maybe too much information and a bit wordy, but that’s just writing and a personal opinion. Welcome to the U.P., eh!
11
beautifully written. exactly what I needed this morning.
2
I found this article inspiring and wish this family success professionally and personally. Rooting (pun intended) for you!
8
I'm an old white man, but I found this story enchanting and now want to read her book and hope the movie is made. However, I'm a Floridian who does not appreciate snow and cold, so I would not visit the Milkweed Inn. I wish her well, and she seems to be in her version of paradise.
6
Is the couple planning on living up there all year round? As someone who lived in the north woods when I was younger all I can tell you is that relationships tend to fall apart in the long long long winters. Scared of bears and old white men? Indeed. But that’s not all you should be afraid of. My advice? Stay away from too much alcohol.
9
I’d be curious to know more about why “old white men” are frightening. I happen to be married to one. Just sayin’.
11
@Kathryn
Only the scary ones. We avoid them all our lives. And pray for 'divine intervention' for their souls.
4
The fish being smoked in the photo are not walleye, but some kind of trout.
5
Running a restaurant has its moments- your staff can be like family, and some days are really satisfying, but it's grueling and there are a TON of components to making it work. The overhead is insane even if you're good with food and labor and related costs, commercial rent and taxes are high as the sky, and no matter how glamorous the place, you will repeatedly find yourself in the dish pit at the end of a crazy night (or better, unclogging a toilet) because the people you hired for this job didn't show up. Believe me, I know firsthand. That Ms. Regan and her wife have downsized to something they can run by themselves and hopefully make a good living, on their own terms, from their talent and work is actually a textbook definition of the American Dream, so I am shocked that so many people here are, for lack of a better term, throwing shade. So what if that's not how you would spend your money on an all-inclusive weekend? Someone else wants to. There are people out there committing crimes or making a fortune posting pictures of themselves on Instagram, and these women are who you're coming after?
27
@Lella thank you Lella I am sooooo disheartened at the amount of shade bring thrown
5
I think they’re jealous. Who wouldn’t want to live like these two outrageously talented and enterprising young women are living? More power to them! May we all be so courageous.
2
@Lella as a previous restaurant owner, I absolutely understand how these two women wanted out from under their restaurant. I would argue unless you have worked in the industry, or owned a restaurant, you simply have no idea the worry, frustration and often lack of funds. A friend said to me that she did not understand why we could not offer a ham sandwich for 3.50 as that is how much it might cost her at home and assumed we could do even cheaper. One last thing, many restaurants in the past had family members helping out for free. I saw this as a girl growing up in NJ with many ethnic restaurants. Today that labor cost has skyrocketed. Chinese kids do not want to work in a kitchen, thus many Chinese restaurants closing now. While many want to pay help more, the margins simply are not there. It is time to go small as these two women have decided. Take back the power.
I spent a goodly part of my youth in the UP, and it is a magical place to me. Birch forests and diamond dust, taking snowmobiles on exploration forays into state/national forests (with a pint of Schnapps for comfort, lol), and hurling ourselves over snow banks, and the stars in the sky!....good stuff. Just make sure you bundle up!
6
Nothing like putting your freshly picked cherries in a $300 Yeti cooler to get back to nature...
11
Why do so many, particularly old white men, denigrate these women? And why do so many have opinions when it probably none of our business?
I say, good on you, gentle women. Go worth & be extraordinary & do it in steel-toed boots. (Red Wing Or Tractor Supply.)
We on the border of your fine state wish you well.
13
Ironic that she complains about the crazy, bitter and nonsensical "Yelp" comments and right here you can find about 300 bitter, crazy nonsensical complaints that range from they are starving the squirrels (!) to how terrible it is to fleece the rich (which the same commenters also hate, so go figure . . .)
10
@ck we have become a grievance collecting society. Many want one voice.
I love this story, thank you. As for the comments... well
As an old white man, if I lived up there I'd consider a 357 a fine way to deal with both bear and scary old white men, of whom there are more than enough.
All you guys pretending they don't exist? Get a grip.
9
special, precious, and perhaps her food is good. Just close your restaurant and get it over with. get on with your life, get it in "balance" and stop boring us.
4
I loved the article and, being originally from N. Michigan, I was utterly intrigued by what these two women are creating. The chefs seem to know their onions, but I am quite curious why editors don't take the time necessary caption to photos correctly. Picking cranberries from a tree? Really? It just seems so sloppy and unnecessary and unfortunately reflects badly on what these two are attempting to create. (She is picking crabapples, in the event you are wondering...)
7
@Dan H Those look like some type of berries.
I admit I stopped reading after the mouse party in the basket she used to proof her sourdough bread.
4
@Asheville Resident If you had continued reading you'd learn she discontinued using that basket post-mouse party.
7
I'm not sure if this article is romanticizing or mythologizing the life of the outsider, the outlier, but I suspect it is both. At least she found a way to follow a socially responsible and personally meaningful direction for her life, but all the little tropes do become tiresome after a while: The genius chef--only 5 years old and already so focused on the mushroom; the pervy uncle taking her to an isolated cabin--well, something could have happened!; the successful but world-weary Michelin starred chef wanting to live the life of Theroux--six years IS SO a long time; tats, check; drugs, check; sexual orientation, check. Is there a manual for this available nowadays? The formulas are starting to become a wee bit predictable.
16
@James R Dupak Has New York jaded you? I appreciate the tropes and memes. Hardly any of them have been a part of my life.
I speak as an old white male.
5
You forget to point out that she made megabucks.
2
Wealthy people will drive miles and miles to pretend they are in the Little House series, but with the comforts. Nothing new.
5
She knows when to slow down and smell the roses. An admirable ability to value quality over quantity.
1
For that amount of money, I’d rather go to any Italian or French village for a long weekend.
11
Few memorable quotes from the article:
"She had to weed out arrogant male chefs"
"She is scared of Old White Men"
Funny how acceptable and even fashionable it seems in certain circles to make sweeping and denigrating comments about a group of people as long as they are men, particularly white men?
It seems the subject of the article picked up her love of cooking from her dad, who I assume is an "Old White Man", but why let nuance enter into a conversation when sweeping generalizations are the norm.
9
@GANDER-FIR Read more closely. The subject of the article did not say she was scared of old white men.
5
From reading the comments, it seems like the gentleman commenters are uncomfortable. It's been a few centuries, hasn't it?
That these women probably don't care about the reaction to the staged maul photo or the offense at being scared of old white men (legitimate!) or the expensive but obviously in demand experience they offer and what all y'all think.
I hope they're cozy and warm and getting a kick out of this. They did it. They made their way to true independence. Inspiring.
11
I suspect that if this was a profile of a male chef no one would be bothered by the prices.
6
@June nah, it has nothing to do with gender. Americans are educated to believe everything should be cheap. We do not know how to value things anymore.
I take it the photo shows her picking high-bush cranberries and not cherries? The wild cranberries of my experience grow on petite shrubs a few inches tall.
3
Cranberries don't grow on trees. She might be picking wild cherries.
To those of you offended by Ms. Hamlin’s comment at the end of this article, I ask you to consider an essay in today’s NYT Op-Ed by Jamelle Bouie: “The Iconic Man With a Gun Is a White Man.”
I got news for you: Many of us are afraid of older white men, including this older white woman.
22
Cool. Cranberries don't grow on trees, though.
5
@Pam N. Highbush Cranberries do...
1
@Pam N. Stay tuned. We've got the botanists on this.
1
@Kim SEVERSON Enlarge the photo & look carefully at the fruit and the few remaining leaves. There are good internet sources re Michigan native trees & shrubs. Carefully compare the easily available images This looks more like crabapple -- or a hawthorn. I'm sure she still make a delicious -- whatever -- from the fruit of these wonderful native small trees. Says this botanist.
8
it's a fantastic article, one my food obsessed daughter and her husband will enjoy. As did I. One little nitpicky tidbit that I'm certain someone else have brought up. The fish being smoked are trout, not walleye.
I don't care how great Ms. Regan is in the kitchen, there is no way to make lake trout edible. Based on the size of the fish, I'm guessing they're lake trout. It's just a wretched fish to eat. If they're whitefish or brook trout, you're in for a treat.
3
@Rob Y. Some folks say the same thing about bluefish and mackerel. They're all strong flavored fish. There are definitely ways to turn lake trout into a great meal.
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/species/speciesinfo/laketrout/pdfs/laketrout_recipes.pdf
@Rob Y. They are actually walleye.
2
@Kim SEVERSON Which are delicious!
It’s the rare “crancherry”, and it actually does grow on trees!
And Greta Thunberg would probably find Iliana’s story interesting and inspiring because she’s a survivor, like all of us, and GT could probably relate to that, seeing as she’s in the survivor business.
Coming from a harsh, trauma-filled background, isn’t it nice to see a story about someone who has survived though grit and hard work? Isn’t this the story of America? And because she uses market economies to her advantage, how does that make her a bad person or wrong? She’s just creating something that is in demand, which could be considered inspirational and artistic. She’s not wealthy. It sounds like she can barely make this work. She’s hustling to survive, and she’s carved out a little niche doing something that she loves – writing and cooking – and it actually allows her to get away from the unhealthy stress of the city.
And someone asked what good is it doing in the world? What about connecting people to real food, and nature? What about the inspiration of having a vision and making it work through hard work? What about the inspiration of her completely original take on the culinary arts? What about her story of survival after addiction? What about the education of slowing down, enjoying the beauty all around us each moment?
Such harshness out there in the world.
30
@Martinski Not just America. It's a universal story.
1
@Martinski I'm with you all the way, despite being an old white male.
Despite the cringey male-bashing throughout this piece, I applaud the concept and the adventure and wish them great success.
3
Every last bit of nature will be monetized, won’t it? Our species has lost its way.
15
If you had ever been to the UP, which you clearly have not, you would realize this is the perfect way to both celebrate it and to spread the importance and love of the wild woods to city folk. It is a huge, desolate place with less than 100,000 inhabitants. Bravo, ladies.
7
I don’t see how Greta Thunberg has anything in common with the subjects of this article. I can’t see Ms. T approving of folks driving hundreds of miles — or flying even farther — for a couple of expensive meals. I’m also pretty certain Ms. T knows cranberries don’t grow on trees.
37
Try Pickity Place in Mason, NH for gourmet food that is delicious and healthy in a really backwoods location...that is famous for a very different reason. One of our favorite places!
2
It takes courage to follow a dream like theirs and I wish them luck, financial security, and happiness. That said, I'm going to fix myself a PB&J sandwich, a glass of milk, and an orange. I do cook some very complicated dishes and I'm usually an adventurous eater, but the dried duck and roasted(?) carrot, in particular, weren't even visually appealing.
18
@Linda And it probably cost a fortune
1
Good storytelling. I also love the northwoods and plan to retire to cabin up there one day.
10
To the snarky, nasty commenters: have you ever even tried to cook like this? The creativity, the complexity, the amazing patience and experience and yes, it's very expensive if you add up the time and the ingredients. This story is about how to make a living in the world of gourmet cooking and it's inspiring. Gourmet cooking is an art and it is unfortunate buying art is for the rich, this is a given. I invite the enterprising couple to visit the foodie culture of Australia, especially Tasmania, where they will find chefs also trying to live the dream.
47
Great writing, Kim. This made my day! I'll have to get the rest of your books. I loved "Spoon Fed".
9
I wish her the very best of luck. Reminds me of one of an older, culinary-gifted brother of mine in Vermont, who gave up the chef rat-race for a cabin and huge garden in a big slice of heaven. The hotel biz might be easier but still won't be any piece of cake, particularly with entitled strangers under the roof.
17
Moose tartare? That sounds like a terrible idea for both the diner and the moose. Glad for the love for the beautiful UP, but I’ll pass on that one.
17
I love Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I recommend it. I love good food. But u can find plenty of good food in the UP for far less than $1K.
15
I can't cook, I live in the city, I'm straight. I'm almost the opposite of Iliana Regan. But I loved this article and feel so glad for her existence. I love her determination, her self-determination, her focus, over everything. A wolf, indeed. Her inn is too far away from me but it would be wonderful to meet her and sample her foraged creations. Fantastic article.
73
If you ever get down to Sooke, near Victoria, go to Wild Mountain. Fantastic little ocean/farm-to-table restaurant with lots of local & foraged ingredients, run with a lot of love. Might be the next best (or even) better experience.
1
And so many children go hungry every day in our country. Wonderful, boutique food people are extremely interesting and make delicious contributions. But how do their pursuits connect to the important link between nutrition and academic (and thus life) success for so many of our children? This elitism breaks my heart.
10
@Diane Enos, I do see your point, but this woman came from a working class background herself and overcame what sounds like a very hard life to carve out one of her choosing. There's a market for what she's selling. She does her job well and with focus, effort and integrity. There are far, far better places to point your finger while making your valid observation.
79
My children went to a school (and not a private one) where they grew a garden, learned about foraging, and used wilderness survival skills.
Instead of crying “elite!” why not think about how all our children could benefit from this approach to life? About how to aspire to the elegance of fresh, imaginative food?
Nutrition should not be about using a box cutter to open a package from Cisco.
12
@Barton —yes, she did, but would it be too difficult to target her prices towards a level that would earn her some money and be accessible to those not of the 1%
4
Nice article, I just added her book to my library list. I love hearing about people leaving the high stress rat race and doing something very different.
23
I loved the article and thought it was such an interesting view of Chicago and MI, and was about to send it to a friend, till I got to the mean ‘white men’ comment at the end.
50 years of trying to get away from looking at people in such reduction. I’d be so ashamed to say that in a paper. Fulfilling stereotypes of how high culture think- divisive, and smug.
It need not be like this. We can do better America.
17
@Alexandra Considering all the Confederate flags I saw when I lived in Michigan(! not even the South so no “history” argument) I can’t blame her... The rural yoopers are likely even more brazen, that’s just how it goes.
9
@Alexandra Unfortunately there's some truth in that fear. The crime rate in folks born before 1973 has remained high while that in the cohort born after 1973 has fallen 50%.
10
Shhhh. Don't tell anyone about the U.P. We vacation every summer on Lake Superior. There's no one up there, and we love it. And those are not cranberries.
35
@Linda Thank you for both points, about the UP and the fact that they are not cranberries.
The UP has somewhat of a history of very wealthy people having "cottages" there (loggy mansions) so the notion of a chef charging almost $1000 to eat a meal may not be a total anomaly, but for normal circumstances in the UP, it is pretty arrogant. It is a beautiful, rugged and pretty poor area.
I am curious about the plethora of chefs who have cultivated an image of outlier - considerable tattoos, disturbed or disturbing histories, and an edginess that can make one a bit worried about the safety of the food! Also, I think there is an inherent obscenity in the use of food as art or tiny servings at extraordinary prices or the preciousness of it, when for most people on the planet, it is sustenance and sustenance for which they are grateful.
Mario Batali also has a place in Michigan. Mostly I wish famous people would do things to help preserve and conserve its environment under constant attack from polluters of water, exploiters of water (Nestle), fracking, animal disease (deer wasting, etc.) Help Michigan's precious environment; don't just use it for business PR.
28
@Linda Thanks for confirming my doubt that those were cranberries! I have spent time in the UP for 6 decades.
2
@Linda As a Michigan ecologist whose research has involved plants with small fruits, I can confirm those are certainly not cranberries; the tree appears to be some sort of hawthorn.
5
As a Republican Old White Man guess I'll steer clear. Don't want to frighten anyone.
54
@Steve, as a liberal youngish white woman, I actually agree with you. I enjoyed the story, but Ms. Regan's wife's comment there was unnecessary and a bit cringeworthy. I don't care for sweeping reductions.
7
@Steve I don't think you understand what you have become, catch a whiff of the impeachment hearings for minor start..
9
Reads like a Portlandia episode.
81
@M LOL!
3
As a Michigan native I find this repulsive. Charging 750 to 1000 for forged food? Rich people really need a big tax.
71
@Monica Sounds like the 750-1000 is for an all-inclusive experience including meals and lodging over 3 days. It's not necessarily "rich people" money.. have you seen what a top restaurant charges for a tasting menu? Or a top concert or sporting event ticket? There are a lot more wasteful ways to spend $750.
23
@JJ Johnson - it is "rich people's money" once you include the cost of traveling to this remote corner of the U.P. - and honestly, that travel expense and the $750-!000/person for the luxury weekend would go rather far in filling the storeroom of any number of food kitchens in Escanaba, Sault St. Marie, and other small towns. Hopefully they are at least paying the fishermen, local farmers and local residents well and maybe even employing a few.
8
@JJ Johnson
There are many people in The UP that live on less than $8000 a year so yes the amount is offensive. As a Yooper, I would just as soon have the rich find a better way to interact with the land.
5
Is she trying to chop a plank with a splitting maul?
14
@Karl Hess: That was my first thought, but a photo later in the article seems to show that she's splitting firewood. Having done that with a felling ax, I think her way would probably be less tiring.
4
The maul she is holding in the picture is not used for chopping wood as she appears to be pretending to do for the photographer, but is instead used for splitting logs using a sledgehammer. Tools matter.
32
having spent a winter in Maine I can tell you this tool when used with a steel wedge will effectively split an upended log.
3
If you look at the other photo in this article you can clearly see that she is using the maul for its intended purpose of splitting logs. And I have no idea why you seem to think a mallet is always necessary to split logs when using a long-handled maul like this one.
1
@Steve She wasn’t pretending. She was splitting logs. She did need the sledgehammer, granted.
3
Please, do not come to the U.P. It is remote. No “fun places” to go. Really. It is an outpost.
33
@Tired
Bad cell service too, no internet. And the mosquitoes and black flies will drain your blood. And it can snow in July. Almost forgot about the wolves and cougars.
2
Lesson learned ? No more reporters . No more commenters . Have a nice life up there!
14
Aaahh, the UP. Mosquitos, mosquitos, mosquitos...
20
@Bill lol yes! I've been giggling over unsuspecting tourists showing up for June weekends where they spend 22 hours a day inside a tiny camp room because of the bugs!
4
I guess foie gras owls on toast aren't considered delicacies to be devoured, as much as they are a cruelty that is behind the times. Bunny's bakery was a disaster from the get go with that revolting concept.
19
I guess foie gras owls on toast aren't considered delicacies to be devoured, as much as they are a cruelty that is behind the times. Bunny's bakery was a disaster from the get go with that revolting concept.
2
It's just well-cooked tasty food, really. Why anyone would pay the prices quoted herein for a UP getaway is . . . beyond my ken.
19
Sounds good to me!
2
Perhaps the definitive Midwest drunken-lesbian food memoir. I didn’t realize this was a genre.
62
My ex tried to get me to retire with him to his cabin in this area when he moved back. I told him that I grew up in the midwest and would never go back. He kept trying to assure me that it was different.
Now, whenever I call him, he whines about all the MAGA hats, the humidity, the bugs, and the river his cabin sits on has frozen over. I say, "I told you", and then send him a quick pic of the daffodils that have come up on my patio in early February, my weed garden, and me drinking a cup of his favorite coffee (no, not Starbucks).
But, at least now he has a decent gay restaurant in his area:))
64
@Tom—yeah, I miss those mild NW winters! Someday my flowering trees won’t get killed by a sudden frost...
And, I love your “weed garden”. I think I’m going to put up a farm stand for my. Maybe with “pick your own” on weekends.
2
Comment on her staged picture, she won’t last very long in the woods using a log splitter as an ax.
16
another olive newton john. With fame came freedom to afford what she really wants.
2
Not to rain on the whole parade, just a slight passing shower. I wonder where the moose for the tartare comes from? The moose population is being negatively impacted by climate change, and chronic wasting disease is in the deer, elk, and moose populations. Besides that risk (like getting mad cow from eating one), it seems a shame to kill a healthy moose so that rich urbanites can have a dizzneeland eating experience.
44
@Outdoors Guy
Exactly my thoughts. Fear over prions getting into the under supervised slaughter houses is my motivation for eating vegetarian. Meat is not worth the current risk. Outside the U.S. I will eat meat depending on where and what meat, in moderation with many veggies.
3
@Outdoors Guy
How about Lyme Disease! I never knew a lesbian who doesn't have it- or knew someone who did!
@Aaron don't really understand the joke you are trying to make, but if not for early intervention of antibiotics, I would have had Lyme. Same for a friend, and I do know someone who had it. The long-term effects are not fun to live with.
2
Wow beautiful.
1
Looks dreamy!
But the sourdough looks way too highly hydrated. i suggest a rethink of her baker's percentages, 65% water is my current thinking.
Also that cabin needs a parrilla ( https://nyti.ms/2ICilxw ) and a nukadoko pickler.
With those additions, and a sufficient hygge factor (heavy quilts, log fire pit), they are gonna be flooded with affluent hipsters soon enough.
Euell Gibbons would have been proud!
2
I don’t pretend to know much about sourdough bread, but hers is the best I have had in my entire 47 years! When Kitsune was open, we would go there just for the bread (to be clear, the entire menu was spectacular)! If you ever get a chance to try her bread, go for it!
17
@Amy Pag
Apparently Ms. Regan herself was unhappy with the loaf pictured. Bakers know that unless you have a fully controlled production line, artisanal one-off loaves can go awry, especially if you don't have all your gear.
Baking, an indeed any sort of fermentation, is very soulful work. Truly a special form of alchemy.
1
I’m tired of hearing how much “her junior” a woman’s partner is.
31
Yes. Reminds me of how journalists always need to say “their adopted child” instead of “their child.” Unless the context is about the age difference or the adoption, why mention? We know why. It hints at unsavory, but titillating, backstories.
5
Good grief.
The comments are nearly exclusively using this column to bash the rich, those that cater to them, and the comparison to Greta T.
Can you all just get off your high horses? Or find a soap box elsewhere? Focus on Ms. Regan and her accomplishments, which are amazing in a world of male-dominated chefs and restaurants.
Add to that her memoir and coming from a working class background.
Jeez, give it a rest NYT commenters.
92
Thank you! I was astonished to see so many comments. I thought, “what could people possibly find to say about this article, other than, ‘how nice that two people have found meaningful work they can do as a family.’” Boring!
Nope. Forgot that this is just the way we live now. Sigh.
28
@Kelly
Certainly agree with you. So manny commenters in another major newspaper as well as to articles on aol news, are snarky and critical. Why? Just read comments judging the Sussex royal’s decision. Whatever happened to “live and let live”? My gosh, life is so unpredictable these days, why not simply smile and wish good luck to those who are trying to get through in a way different from yours.
6
Well said but, no they can’t because, after all, they’re NYT commenters and have to be progressive, supercilious and demeaning, all at once. I’m originally from rural Michigan and say more power to ya, Ms. Regan. I hope you make a go of it.
5
Love these two hustlers! Stick it to rich hipsters who are willing to pay to be around creative, unique people who do their own thing. Serve them your version of Hip Pasties! Take them to the cleaners. Put your spin on the local culture and customs. Things are tough up in the UP, I know because that's where I grew up. Most people drink coffee at the Holiday gas station and live in grinding poverty. Our family house is an old miners house with two bedrooms and the bathroom up stairs. It probably should have been condemned 50 years ago. Creativity and the Blogger Instagram lifestyle is unknown by most Yoopers.
37
Interesting take-for the more money than brains crowd.
12
Ah, the haters and green-eyed monsters have come to criticize women in the woods--after reading how criticism has caused these young artists real pain.
They chose to leave by all accounts a misogynist profession and redefine the terms so they can still make artful cuisine and do what they love.
They chose a spot within 90 minutes of the airport. This is practically next door in Yooper terms.
If an hour and a half seems too far for you, how about the fact that even with a long list of chores and certainly something on the fire that needed tending, the chef still drove 50 miles RT to pick up a reporter whose car couldn't make it. First time I've read of an interview subject's kindness in this regard.
Guests might buy gas, pop, jerky, pasties or
long underwear in the area. A Michelin star chef herself suggests a chicken thigh from the gas station. So the women may or may not be helping the local economy. Are you?
Brava to my fellow* Michiganders. Keep up the great work.
*See what I did there?
64
Ms. Regan: 55 is not the “end of time.” From a productive and contented 56-year-old female artist in CA.
14
@Kim Stringfellow ——if you are in the food biz (on your feet 10-12 hours/day) it simply is ....
2
2020 is already sold out per their website. Well done, NYT!
28
clearly, in the photograph, she is picking wild crab apples, not cranberries. Please
23
She's "scared of old white men?" Did she really say that? Really?
30
@SGin NJ Who else do you see prominently destroying all the last bits of goodness in this country while pretending they've never done a thing wrong or benefited from the misfortune of others in their lives? (Also, who attempted to molest her in this article?)
12
I wish them well, but this 'experience' is a bit rarefied for many of us. Thankfully, there is Lehto's Pasties.
10
Welcome to da' U.P. ay.
10
From a fellow recovering alcoholic who has spent a lifetime living life and enjoying it with all the gusto 33 years of sobriety have given me, I say, Run, Ms. Regan! Life is going to be beautiful as you embrace the qualities others may dismiss as "disorders". I love what you are doing and though I have no intention of heading to Michigan, I will be rooting for you on your journey. Great article!
25
Despite all of the comments to the contrary, the berries in the photo are most certainly cranberries. Just not the kind of cranberries most people are used to eating. The ones in the photo are highbush-cranberries more properly known as Viburnum trilobum. They are very, very tart and it would take a really good chef to make them worth eating.
The fish are indeed walleyes which are abundant in the lakes in this region. They are most certainly not trout or any of the other guesses in the comments.
22
@John Allen -- High-bush cranberries (not true cranberries at all) grow on a shrub, not a tree anything like the one pictured. I'm telling you, that's a crab apple tree the chef was picking from. I look at one every day of my life, and I know. AND crab apples (with plenty of cooking and coddling) are edible.
23
@John Allen - Viburnum trilobum has the common name of American cranberry or highbush cranberry but it is not a true cranberry. Viburnum is in the Adoxaceae family, whereas the true cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon, is in the Ericaceae family.
9
@Carla
I agree. Those are crabapples, not cranberries, Viburnum or otherwise. The fruits, leaves, bark, branches all say - crabapple.
12
I spent a happy three years in Wisconsin and the highlight was a road trip through the upper peninsula. A beautiful landscape to visit and a harsh one to build a life in. My best wishes to Ms. Regan and Ms. Hamlin. This was an inspiring story and I hope they thrive.
26
Reminds me of a visit last year to Minam River Lodge in Oregon. Incredible nature, isolation, and oh man the food.
6
This piece is a great read, indeed. Good luck to them!
As an aside, what is the relevance to the story, of the age difference information, specifically mentioning that her partner is "10 years her junior"? Would you do this if this was a heterosexual couple and the main subject was male? A survey of articles fitting those characteristics tell us the answer is no.
42
@EB
Presumably it is for context and to let us dinosaurs who predate "new math" know that she is 30 year old since she is afraid of older white males and old / young is relative:
“I know we’re safer here than when we’re in the city, but I am scared of bears and I’m scared of old white men sometimes,” she said. “This can be quite isolating.”
Insert your combination choice of 1: old / young / same age as me 2 :black / white / hispanic / latino / Asian 3: women / men / transgender for "old / white / men" from her quote and see how that sounds. Does your survey reveal a quotation of a spouse making a statement with any of those combinations?
5
Reading this article drives home the fact to me that there really are "two Americas" – and that even when they rub up against each other geographically, they remain miles and miles apart.
29
In the winter, when food for the wildlife is scarce, it is inappropriate for humans to gather it for their own consumption. We can go to the grocery store. Deer & squirrels cannot.
10
@Ann
eat the deer and the squirrels. problem solved.
18
@Ann
May to October !!
The deer and the squirrels will be just fine.
1
My folks had a sweet little camp on Lake Beaufort in the UP for 50 years. Fish, canoe, swim and hike in the summer; in the winter it’s xc-skis and snowshoes and snowmobiles. Good fun!
Been up there long enough to know that the usually nice local people would mock this as the crazy shenanigans of the ignorant self-important rich down in Chicago. And they should know.
Not to be a Negative Nancy, but this enterprise is doomed. Won’t last a year.
6
@Jim Jam So you say. But according to their website, their 2020 Wildcrafting Workshops are entirely sold out. You can still get a reservation for 2021.
6
@Jim Jam
One only has to drive along US 2 to see all the high end resorts that were going to be the best ever and ended up decaying wood. You can also see the For Sale signs on the "cottages" and "camps" after one summer because the owners didn't like the nearly day long commute and isolation.
I love the UP and would never leave IF there were jobs and medical care.
@Jim Jam
Except...according to their website they're already booked solid for 2020.
Bummer, Nancy.
1
Finding any jobs, much less those that pay benefits, is very difficult in rural areas like the Upper Peninsula, Catskills, Adirondacks, Smokies, etc.
Do the staff of Milkweed Inn (dishwasher, prepper, waiter, cleaners, etc.) receive minimum wage, plus medical and other benefits? Do they get tips based on the exorbitant cost of the meals?
If so, great.
If not, they are subsidizing the outrageous lifestyles of the 1% who can afford such an expensive experience, as well as the get-away-from-it-all-but-have-your-cake hopes of the inn's owners.
The NYT gives a lot of ink to income inequality, but one hopes this idyllic-sounding story that glorifies catering to the 1% is not in any way based on exploitation of the poor underclasses.
21
@Mon Ray From my reading there is no staff. It's the two of them running the place.
1
@Mon Ray
Do most servers (waiters, waitresses), dishwashers, kitchen staff, and cleaners have health insurance in restaurants and hotels in big cities in the United States? Doubtful.
1
Sorry. Not interested.
Rent a cabin. Go fishing. Cook what you catch.
Maybe drive into town and order meatloaf at the diner. Have a beer.
Save yourself a thousand dollars.
64
The creep of the self-conscious self-absorption that used to be reserved for the temples of fine-dining continues its march...
I worked in Michelin starred restaurants for over a decade, including at the 3* level, and at this point, I can’t decide whether the notion of paying through the nose for intricacy or for simplicity is more obnoxious.
Whether they’re boiling lichen or scooping caviar, the culinary world has thoroughly replaced the value of eating with the value of experience. It’s a dangerous message that current practitioners fail to grasp.
34
Cranberries do not grow on trees. They grow very low on the ground. The picture is very misguiding.
5
I brace myself every time a New York Times writer uses “Northern Michigan.”
Do they mean Gaylord, Traverse City, or Cheboygan … which would be like saying Chicago is in the Northern US?
So, hooray for a writer who gets it right!
And huzzah for the majestic Upper Peninsula.
11
Switch "old white men" with any other race and decide if it's acceptable. Can't wait until we look back on this phenomenon 60 years from now, and those who paint themselves as saints today are seen for what they really are.
31
@Amy - Can't a white woman say a white man scares her? I'm an old white man and they scare me, too.
6
@Amy Can you remind us whose ancestors were primarily involved in the genocide of Native Americans, the enslavement of Africans and their descendants, and the withholding of voting rights to non-Whites and women in this country for as long as possible, by hook and by crook? Were those old Cambodian men? Old Latino men, perhaps? This "phenomenon" is America growing up and reckoning with its disgusting history.
6
Stop telling people to go to the U.P. Okay, I guess they can go if they spend money. If you go in late May or June or July, and sometimes in August, you will have lots of girlfriends wanting some of your blood. Permethrin clothing helps a lot. I wonder if they will ever do a vegetarian weekend.
6
Some unsolicited “Dad” advice: invest in some good steel toed boots for when you’re swinging that splitting maul.
30
Cranberries grow in bogs, not on trees! The photo shows a crabapple tree, much like the one framed by my kitchen window.
20
Perhaps those "cranberries" in the photograph are really crab apples? Cranberries grow in a bog, not on a tree.
14
@Katrin Cranberries can be harvested without flooding a bog -- that is a relatively new method which became the standard in the 1960's. It was common in the "old days" to use hand-held rakes to pick the berries, a method that tends to leave the fruits more intact.
2
@Katrin Cranberries grow on vines. These days they are usually harvested by flooding a bog full of vines -- a relatively new method which became the standard in the 1960's. It was common in the "old days" to use hand-held rakes to pick the berries, a method that tends to leave the fruits more intact.
@Katrin Yes, cranberries grow on vines, not trees. These days they are usually harvested by flooding a bog full of vines -- one of the most beautiful fall sights. Harvesting in water is a relatively new method which became the standard in the 1960's. It was common in the "old days" to use hand-held rakes to pick the berries, a method that tends to leave the fruits more intact.
Like Keith Richards said:
“It’s the price of an education.”
All the best to them.
7
"On Friday night, after the staff at Elizabeth had served the last fresh doughnut dusted with blueberry powder, which capped her 14-dish fall tasting menu, the couple wrangled their three dogs into an S.U.V. and drove six-and-a-half hours to get here.
Around 2 a.m., they got lost on the network of profoundly muddy, one-lane logging roads that lead to the cabin."
It is a certain impossibility that the "last fresh doughnut" was served at around 8 p.m. on a Friday night, considering the scenario which the author presents. Although, it's certainly possible the two ladies left early to arrive at a reasonable time to get some sleep before the next morning.
2
Great read. Wishing these two women all the best.
11
Seems very ten percent-esque to me.
4
I never knew that cranberries could grow on trees, as shown and captioned in the article's photo. Are those really cranberries Ms. Regan is picking ?
3
The log cabin stood out - looks like a great place.
6
Iliana - her background, her businesses, her personal life and dreams - fascinated me.
Kim Severson wrote a truly wonderful story!
However, I question her description of "Burn the Place," Iliana's book: "perhaps the definitive Midwestern drunken-lesbian food memoir."
"perhaps the definitive..."? You mean there are more of this genre? Please post a list of the others, as I can't wait to read them all!
13
Good for her! Chaque a son gout! At what point does continuing to push your own culinary boundaries turn into narcissism? Is it the chef’s fault that her customers are willing to pay $750 to enjoy the her efforts? So she decided to quit the madness of the Chicago restaurant scene...dramatically... to start a family among other things. How different is this from what many other chefs have done, except that it’s in the UP and on a very limited schedule? It’s her life. Let her live it.
8
Sounds pretty 10%-esque to me.
4
Millionaires paying for roots and shoots. I love it! Next comes the ultimate experience, leaves for TP.
15
@Wang An Shih
I needed a good laugh tonight, and you provided it. Thank you!
"Smoked" walleye? You don't smoke fish putting them over an open flame--every outdoorsman and outdoorswoman knows that.
10
Great example of following your dream - best of luck with your endeavor
7
I'm clapping..You two rock!
8
« Ms. Regan is its Greta Thunberg » is a poor analogy in an article about a chef and the food she prepares. Greta is vegan and promotes a vegan diet. This story is interesting but disappointing. Just another chef who cannot be « creative » making delicious food without killing and exploiting other animals.
9
Just a rustic retreat for the 1% to pretend they are roughing it.
14
As a Michiganian, I so appreciate what this wonderful chef is trying to do. The remoteness of her place is an obstacle but if anyone can pull it off she can. Clearly a woman of grit and determination. We vacation every year in the vastly more populated northern tip of the "mitten." If they fail to make it in the woods, we could use a few good restaurants in the Harbor Springs, Petoskey area on the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan.
11
I can't afford their prices, but I wouldn't mind being their neighbor and helping with the dishes.
14
Cranberry trees! How delightful. Harvest them with a cranberry rake to get at those luscious ones at the top! But be careful leaning a ladder on a cranberry tree, there are branches above your head!
8
@Guy Walker I forgot to include in my previous comment. Could also be Amelanchier sp. nothing better than plant ID to take my mind off politics !!
4
The picture of her picking some berries are not cranberries. Cranberries grow in damp areas on the ground, or bogs. They grow on small vines, not on trees. I can't tell what that is she is picking but they might be Mountain Ash tree fruit or Hawthorn berries.
11
@Greg McCartan They do look more like crab apples than cranberries.
We do have highbush cranberries here in North America (not related to the bog cranberry), part of the Viburnum family.
3
@Tim Thanks Tim. Never knew that. Maybe they might be those kinds of cranberries then!
2
What a glorious profile of a very special human... Though my budget prevents me from dining at Elizabeth, I blissfully recall Ms. Regan's pierogi. I first enjoyed them at a tasting she held at a friend's shop in my neighborhood, and often purchased them to enjoy at home.
Yes, she is most certainly a quiet, humble soul - when she opened Elizabeth, blocks away from my home, I could not have been happier for her. That she's seen such success is both not a surprise, yet also miraculous.
24
As another reader mentioned, the fruits in the principal photo aren't cranberries, as the subject of the story would know. Cranberries, real ones, grow in delicate creeping vines in bogs and bog-like places. Highbush cranberries, which aren't really cranberries but are tart like them, grow on bushes, but that's not what we're looking at either. Those fruits look like crabapples.
9
Dissimilar plants are known as cranberries (e.g., the highbush vs bog varieties). Neither is any less a real cranberry than the other.
2
@B - This is why latin plant names are important! So many plants have the same common name and it can be very confusing.
5
@B But a crab apple is not a cranberry of any type.
1
I’m not a foodie but a 61 year old grey haired guy riding a train and I loved this story. I wish the girls all the luck they will probably need in their new venture and a happy successful life.
27
Wish I could be friends with these women. Such grit and independence. Inspiring.
11
@E - Write them. They might really appreciate a California pen-pal come dead of winter when they are buried in snow inside for a few months. Or maybe they would come visit to get away?
1
I found this article to be an inspiration, in spite of all the misgivings commenters expressed about the price, the footprint, the ethics of catering to the rich, the woods being gentrified, etc. From the Hudson Valley to all parts of France, these kinds of ventures are nothing new. They are an accepted part of the culinary tradition and experience. Out of the way places like the Milkweed Inn provide people an adventure grounded in cuisine. They do not hurt the local economy; instead can certainly help it along!
22
As someone who actually lives, works and thrives in the UP, this story left me with mixed emotions. When I heard about Milkweed opening I was excited to visit but the prices even for great food are way out of reach for most who live here. I get they are trying to attract people from outside of the UP, but local support can go a long way and be beneficial...isn’t that the essence of using and placing value in your local resources? People too, not just the milkweed and apples. How about finding a way to use the mosquitos in a sauce? We have TONS of them!
39
@B, this is what happened to Anderson Valley, Mendocino and nearby rural areas of northern California. What was once a place for affordable back woods living became the preferred area for inns, winery tasting rooms and high end vacation homes. Back in the 1980s, a foodie couple built a hotel and restaurant in the the little town of Boonville, which was then considered the boonies. The restaurant became a foodie Mecca, until the owners ran off after being accused of stealing their employees’ tax withholding (they now run a similar operation in Oregon). Now Boonville is just another wine country tourist town, and the locals can’t afford to buy homes.
14
California year round gentrification can never happen in the UP because of the weather. And the bugs. And the bad roads.
4
@D.Annie
How awful! Why isn’t all of that more widely known? Thank you for posting.
There has got to be a culinary medium between eating at the Waffle House (which is delicious, by the way), and this sort of precious haute cuisine.
27
@TNB
This type of cooking is analogous to the role played by high fashion as described by Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada. It is innovative (ingredients and technique), and thought-provoking, and subsidized by the 1%. But the ideas trickle down to more affordable restaurants and accomplished and not-so-accomplished home cooks.
@TNB - Vietnamese pho - runs about $4 a bowl and is a gift from the people of Vietnam. I would put a simple bowl up against anything Gordon Ramsay has ever done.
1
Those berries are not cranberries and those fish are not walleye.
16
@Paul Ruszczyk
Yep: it's the FIRST thing I noticed and I even said out loud "cranberries don't grow on trees, sweetie."
possibly saskatoons, but definitely not cranberries....
7
@Paul Ruszczyk I think they are actually. We call them Pickerel. The shiny reflective eye is an indicator.
Sander vitreus
2
@Paul Ruszczyk Please, don't burst the rainbow balloon.. cranberries in trees, walleye that isn't one, bears almost as scary as old white men... the story has all the ingredients to please the readership..
8
I too want to leave all the noise, pollution and mostly the people of the urban environment where I currently reside. My paradise is near of the small forest towns of northern or western New Mexico. Good for Ms. Regan that she has the skills to make it a reality while she is still young.
10
As a native Manhattanite I cannot imagine the challenges these two courageous women face. It makes rush hour on the subway and urban madness seem like child's play. It's inspiring and refreshing to read about interesting people who have chosen such a different life than the one I lead. Thank you for publishing it and all the best to this lovely couple! More of this please as it is a good distraction from the divisive and uncivil narrative we are living through every day.
24
Their prices are probably too low, actually. Surprised to see how many people think they are too high. Motivating to see women trying and trying to be financially independent.
xo
15
@interesting, in California the price would certainly be higher, even for such rustic accommodations. But maybe that isn’t the case in northern Michigan.
9
Running a restaurant is little more than indentured servitude.
21
@Clark Landrum My brother is in the business. Profits are under 5%. You have to love it and have a long term plan. It's a terrible investment.
8
I am mystified by the flood of petty comments. (Cranberries/v. crabapples: “I’m glad someone else caught that!” ) These are people creating memorable experiences for others, in nature. Not affordable by everyone, but not decadent or wasteful. It takes so much hard work and creativity to realize something like this inn. Must be dispiriting to have it picked apart by bitter-sounding armchair critics.
44
@printer, you don’t understand plant people.
10
@printer
Ms. Regan cooks with mushrooms. I wouldn't want her guessing.
18
The fact that people are so snarky and worked up about cranberries vs crabapples demonstrates
the sad state of our Republic in 2020. Jeez. Lighten up folks!
We have had a lake cabin in the UP of MI about an hour west of the Milkweed Inn since the mid 80s.
We have just sent our children and grand children a notice that since reading this article the rates have just gone up at Duck Lake on a logarithmic scale.
Ms. Regan might have better luck wooing the locals if she did not wear a hat with a MN Vikings logo.
21
@Edward B. Blau
Many Yoopers are Vikings fans including this Yooper. But I will admit that Packer Backers out number us.
A friend who doesn't like to be bothered by facts would love the caption for the picture that reads cranberries as being picked from trees. I joked one morning in her B&B in the Northern Neck, Flowering Fields, about the cranberries that spilled on her kitchen floor that they where returning to ground. Susan said they came from trees. I thought everyone knew they came from low growing vines. And my what large cranberries she is picking! (not cranberries though).
38
@Sean Cairne American Cranberries are low to the ground and typically what people think of traditionally, but what she appears to be picking in the picture could be a highbush or "tree" cranberry. They aren't quite the same but not so dissimilar that I would correct anyone calling them a cranberry.
24
@Sean Cairne The berries are probably Viburnum.
7
@Sean Cairne Thanks for reading the story and for your comment, Sean from San Diego. They're high-bush cranberries, a common name for a fruit which is different than the true cranberries you are referring to.
36
How absolutely wonderful to read about these ladies and the life they have chosen to live.
May they live long and realize all of their dreams.
23
I bought my piece of heaven in the wilderness 22 years ago..... one thing you learn quick? control the rodents. given a chance they will destroy those pendeltons and invade every space during a long cold boarded up winter. not to mention what they will do all year around to the wiring of any vehicle left sitting for more than a week (hello airstream). our cabin guests like "rustic"? but not that rustic!
21
@coale johnson, not to mention chewing the wiring in your automobiles. Thousands of dollars in repairs there.
My pantry was invaded by mice a couple months ago. They were definitely not “hosting a mouse party.” There was not being twee about the disgusting mess they left.
5
I think Native American chef's ought to do this too, it would be an excellent way to be back in nature with great food.
Congratulations you two....may the wind be at your back and the sun shining on the path before you.
11
It wasn't clear from the article, but the inn's website notes that 8 of the maximum 10 guests share a bathroom; the 2 guests who stay in the tiny trailer have their own bathroom in the trailer.
I hope the owners have their own bathroom. It is not clear which bathroom the staff use. (In my early years my family numbered 8, and 2 bathrooms were nowhere near enough.)
Especially at these prices this is definitely not glamping.
12
@Mon Ray, the shortage of bathrooms is not a small matter, nor is the probable overuse of an inadequate septic system. I live in an area where many people run various sizes of unlicensed guest accommodations, or rent nonconforming, non permitted outbuildings to lodgers. I can tell you from personal observation that overflowing and clogged septic tanks are unpleasant. They foul local waterways, too.
22
@Mon Ray
There might be a few two holers and there are plenty of trees.
1
A farm accident is far more likely than anything involving 'old white men' (as there are few young black men there) or, especially, any black bear. These fears seem irrational. It might serve her well to culturally assimilate a little as she adopts elements of the local gastronomy.
Preserving context is important (and doesn't require communing in the woods with Ted Nugent). It gives liberalism a bad name when liberals are out of touch with local common sense.
30
@carl bumba I agree the reference to old white men was terrible!
10
Don't know exactly what it was; the author or the subject, but this story made my day and put me in a good place that will linger for awhile.
12
As someone who moved to the woods 24 years ago, I get it. I purchased a battered, old house with “carpet in the bathroom,” but did not cry about it not be not being perfect (unlike Ms. Hamlin). Sometimes you need to work for the things you want, slowly, and with patience. My imperfect house is still a work in progress.
6
@Passion for Peaches I interpreted as she cried because she felt overwhelmed about the prospect of the eventual multiple renos.
14
When we bought our first house I was sad about the raw pine paneling in the half bath. Definitely a symbol for all the ugly, run down, poorly done, falling apart and sometimes dangerous/disgusting features of a fixer upper. I knew exactly what “bathroom carpet” meant.
1
I think the picture of picking cranberries is actually picking crabapples. Just saying.
22
@cyn I agree. I am pretty sure cranberries grow in a bog, in water, and not on branches well above ground
4
@cyn
Cranberries do not grow on trees!
1
@cyn
I was coming to point the same thing out. Hopefully her Identification skills are MUCH better when it comes to wild mushrooms....
4
I hope these folks have enough success in the woods to do all right and to find some measure of happiness. This kind of independence, grittiness, and creativity give hope for others.
17
@Cacho Fuentes
It sounds like they already have.
1
This is amazing. As an immeasurably lucky frequenter of the robust world-leading Chicago culinary scene and a passionate North Woods disciple bordering on unofficial UP’er, my dream is to retire to the sparsely populated beauty of the the Upper Peninsula. While I’m a bit more biased to the Keweenaw, I look forward to being a regular guest at the Milkweed Inn and wish Ms. Regan the best of luck in her endeavors.
20
You know what boinked me on the head when I dined at Elizabeth years ago? Deer blood soup, complete with a runny egg yolk île flottante taunting us in the center. Not kidding. And yes indeed, it tasted precisely like you're imagining. As did the mushroom caramels for dessert. My dining companions and I STILL talk about that dinner... so the impact was... well... quite real. Hope the ladies find peace in the woods. I'm more interested in trying the gas station chicken thighs.
43
@J.B., I nearly lost my lunch over that description. But then, even the mention of taxidermy at their cabin bothers me. BTW, I write the odd Yelp review, so I guess I am part of that giant, hated, head bonking appendage. People need to know when things go well, or not, at a restaurant. You can’t trust professional reviewers all the time.
7
Haaaa! My Finnish grandmother and mother were “Upers” at the beginning of the last century. Foraging, fishing and hunting were life skills. My grandmother was an amazing gourmet cook on the wood stove. She was so good that every summer she would go to work at “cottages” of rich easterners who had lodges on the Lake Huron islands called Les Cheanaux. They valued her so much that she was imported to NYC to continue to cook. Iliana won’t really have it right until she can do it on a wood stove without electricity or running water.
25
@Karen Reed Just FYI it’s Yoopers
8
The UP, maybe should be the 51st state, the State of Superior.
Very scenic, blistering cold and grey for at least half of the year!
Interesting cuisine, wrong location, UPERS are practical folks, as they have no choice.
11
@OLG, I agree about the location being a challenge, and perhaps not an optimum choice. I have been a guest in rustic lodgings like this, where food is one of the main draws. It sounds as if Iliana Regan is enough a draw all by herself, to bring in dedicated foodies, no matter what the challenges. But what the average target consumer for this kind of destination wants is this: cozy comfort (high quality bedding and snug rooms, adequate hot water, toilets that don’t come with a page of instructions for use), accessibility balanced with the right degree of remoteness (that rutted road and the distance from the city will be problematic for them), and summer camp activities (without the worry of being shot by hunters).
Optimum location for this kind of business would be three hours or less from a major city, within a reasonable distance from a private airport (you want to attract monied customers), in a place where medical helicopter evacuation is feasible. And they need to invest in a high capacity septic system, which I assume they don’t have at the moment. And keep that little biting dog away from the guests.
14
Just a quick horticultural note. Those aren't highbush cranberries. Judging from the size and leaves left on the branch I'd make an educated guess they're crab apples. But definitely not a cranberry. :)
53
@Stephen Flanagan
I agree they are not cranberries. They look very much like thorn apples, but the branches of the tree doesn't have any thorns. But still good eating, especially if wild (thorn apples are most often wild, the seeds spread by ruffed grouse, which love them!)
3
@Stephen Flanagan
Hi. Thank you for that clarification. I was confused by the identification as "Cranberries" and was trying to find the answer.
4
@Jennifer Milligan
Hi, Jennifer.
My brother Kevin lives in Christchurch. And he has also spent time here in the Upper Peninsula.
Small world, eh?
The photo shows Highbush Cranberry which are not related to true cranberries at all. Still a tasty fall treat!
14
I first visited the U.P. in 1990, staying near Ontonogon. When I asked the locals how bear aware I needed to be out in Porcupine Mtns State Park, they laughed at me. This article prompted me to learn that the bear population has been on the upswing ever since then, which is great. Don't go to the U.P. much anymore, after being to Beaver Island, it doesn't seem remote enough. Wonder how long before somebody gets the idea/gumption to create an experience like this there.
7
@Outdoors Guy
True enough, bears are way more scared of humans than humans are scared of them. If you are lucky enough to see a black bear, count your blessings. It doesn't happen often. Incidentally, Outdoors Guy, I am a lifelong Yooper and am scared of people in the downtowns of big cities. If I ever go hiking in a downtown, any survival tips?
24
Don’t make eye contact.
@Another Perspective, it has been way too long since I lived in Chicago's South Loop to be of much help. But . . . . blend in (which works anywhere). Don't wander deserted areas at night or early in the a.m. If you're around a group of young ruffians and some change hits the ground near your feet and one of them says "sir, you dropped your change," don't bend over to pick it up.
Addendum comment on wild apples of the UP. Long abandoned “stump farms” can be found all over often with remnant apples seeded along fence lines, the progeny of Finn and Swede farmers who I imagine had brought cold hearty varieties with them. Every once in awhile one finds a spectacular variety, a bit of fortune locals know must be kept secret
30
Why does everyone have to have an opinion on this talented young woman's life? Let's wish her and her family the best and be thankful they are sharing their story (which is a good one).
107
Gina, because shes seeking to be covered, to seen and heard and be a celebrity. As such you garner criticism. no one gets out alive.
12
sounds like a fantastic excuse to go to the beautiful UP !!! congrats to the couple on their new endeavor - no matter how it turns out, i'm sure we'll get a great story out of it. as for the cranberries v. crab apples - lol !! i'm sure it matters not once the master chef has applied her magic!
19
@Joe A chef needs to be careful of wild picked foods incorrectly identified. Wouldn't want that $600 dinner to be poision.
1
Yep. Been there and done that. Good to do this for a few years--opt out of the swarming noisy mess that is urban life in favor of "the wilds." Then, as time in the natural world passes you begin to notice in a hundred little ways that the wild is not doing so well. You begin to experience grief and anger at the sickening trees, the absence of frogs, the proliferation of deer with no lions or wolves to keep them down, the sudden clear-cut in your favorite forest patch, the invasive off-road vehicles and eventually it becomes too much to bear. That's when the real story begins.
91
Plus, the biting cold, the heavy snow, dearth of places to spend your money on food and fun. I'll never return to the UP in this lifetime.
12
@dressmaker
agreed: I have a cabin in rural PA. The bird music has dropped , I just had to have 20 ash trees cut down because they are dying from the ash borer, we now have ticks coming from the south bringing disease, in a place where there were never any ticks. The arborist told me trees across the country are dying. Plus PA is also the fracking capital of the US so the frack trucks are busy dumping contaminated water in rivers and streams, including the mighty Susquehanna. Nature is all that matter to me on a spiritual level so to witness all this is beyond heartbreaking. No longer any escape from " capitalism."
21
I want to support the endeavor of this young chef, but Kim Severson's drenching of the story with identity politics made it difficult to like it. Take this last quote: “I know we’re safer here than when we’re in the city, but I am scared of bears and I’m scared of old white men sometimes,” she said.
Maybe Kim's point is that these two women are simply prejudiced and are making little effort to integrate into a rural community where people are, in fact, probably friendly and welcoming once you look past their gender, age, and skin color. But I doubt it.
55
@Andy No, it's not unreasonable to worry, and your point is solid. I don't begrudge Ms. Regan and Hamlin their views, my comment is on Kim Severson's choice to make it such a prominent part of the article. It was her choice to make this an "us versus them" story, rather than focusing more on their successes or on other aspects. The subjects of Times profile pieces certainly have lots of fears and personal views that may or may not be prejudiced or otherwise warranted. It's up to the author and editors to decide when to include those views and how to shape the narrative. If this were a piece about a white chef opening a new restaurant in Brooklyn, I doubt Kim would share their concern about local residents--it would be inflammatory. In this piece, the decision to include those views strikes me as easy but maybe not warranted.
22
@Bryan
Bryan, the quote that ... "I’m scared of old white men sometimes" is not really about identity politics--far from it. I am old and I am white and I am scared of young white women. Stating that fact does not make me prejudiced or a practitioner of identity politics. Young white woman in the wilds of the Upper Peninsula are more rare than black bear. Given time and some polite conversation I could probably put my fear behind me.
26
@Bryan Bryan, it must be hurtful to be lumped in with a toxic population ("old white men"), but when you've been insulted, threatened or sneered at enough times just when you were enjoying your day, you tend to keep an eye out for the enemy. It's not prejudice; it's survival. I'm a 70 years old lesbian and I'm still keeping my shoulders hunched. Give the kid a break.
6
One thing is certain: it will be a learning experience.
6
@Benjamin Teral, and source material for another book. Which will be made into a movie.
3
Yes. Like learn how to split wood, for heaven's sake! ...and where is the woodpile, anyway?
1
My goodness what a wonder. I’ve got a 1950’s vintage deer shack rather near this place and should I ever cross paths on a wander would be a very nice old white man indeed. Mosquitoes of May can be daunting (we used to trout fish wearing rubber gloves with the finger tips removed), wood ticks of June no delight, but one overlooks grocery store limitations cooking brookies in a skillet with Neuskies. Venison over alder compares well, too. Good luck young ladies.
102
Hats off to this kind response. You notice the same anxieties that some other commenters have answered with judgment, and offer instead the kind of neighborly good will that converts carpetbaggers into community members. I hope those women have the good luck to run into you. (And props to PA!)
57
@John Wow! Such a great comment. It's possible to build community anywhere, isn't it? With the right people. Happy fishing!
9
As the climate changes, the UP will become a paradise of cooler weather and wonderful color and growth. She's investing way ahead. That said, suerte to these two and their new adventure in life, work, and love.
23
@North Carolina As a native of KY and after spending four years in St Louis I told my MN born wife that wearing a long sleeved shirt on the 4th of July in the UP was a luxury.
After spending decades in the UP in all seasons at our lake cabin I can only hope the guests are prepared for tiny black flies in May that raise nasty bumps, mosquitoes until mid June followed by deer flies that hurt when they bite and leave a very large, itchy bump.
Other than that the western UP is a great place.
Black bears are not to be feared, cougars and wolves are keeping the deer herd in check, grouse have suffered from West Nile, wild ramps are abundant and the trout fishing is great.
14
@North Carolina
Shhhhhh! Don't tell everybody. For people who know and love the U.P. it's getaway from rest of crazy, frenetic, chaotic world that we live in.
Every time I cross the Mackinac Bridge and head west on U.S. and get outside St. Ignace, I am overwhelmed by a sense of calm. It's extremely hard to be in the U.P. for an extended period of time and not feel more relaxed.
:)
4
"no more wondering if the dishwasher will show" -- If you pay them a decent wage and treat them as a decently, they will show.
70
And then you have to raise prices and potential customers don’t want to pay the freight. Restaurants operate on slim margins and prices are already too high. There will come a great culling during the next economic downturn.
8
True, at $600/menu, the margins must be thinner than the micro-portions.
22
@Ronald Weinstein You obviously have never worked in a restaurant before. Even if you pay well and treat them decently, they might not show up.
11
I raise my cup of chaga tea to this intriguing couple, with a hearty cheer that everything works out harmoniously.
And, to some extent, you get used to bears. But be careful of having any food outside. And be certain your dogs are big and hearty from now on....
24
Great piece; thanks for sharing it. Good luck to these intrepid women. Made me hungry just looking at the photos.
14
I am praying for a happy pregnancy and birth for this hardworking couple. I love they're sharing their story and am rooting for all their desires to manifest. I will never look at my milkweed pods again the same. Thank you.
31
As a Michigander myself, I can say, looks like a terrific escape from the metropolis.
The lure of the U.P. and the north woods is strong. While visitors are there they may want to check out Pictured Rocks, one of the best summer hike escapes possible in the country (with the beautiful panorama of Lake Superior). As well, read a bit of Jim Harrison's writing about the place before you go and perhaps you'll want to change your life forever.
31
@Robert Detman, most definitely Harrison’s memoir. So much of Harrison’s fiction and nonfiction was infused with the love of good food.
8
Harrison’s “True North” and “The Big Seven” are set right in their back yard and he knew his cooking and wine. I found his work spine tingling good and there’s a new regard for bears to be found; however difficult it is for ladies to get through and you’ll see what I mean if you have a go at it.
4
It sure looks like tart crab apples being harvested in Fall from the tree and not cranberries from a bog.
35
Those are not cranberries.
Cranberries grow in a BOG, not on a leafy tree branch.
Cherries perhaps?
29
@Moehoward Highbush Cranberries (not actually a cranberry, but tastes like one). https://extension.umaine.edu/cranberries/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2015/10/Highbush-Cranberry-Tree-SEastMinnesota.jpg
10
@stuart Not to belabor this, but those are not highbush cranberries in the photo.
15
@Cranberry Expert
Clearly not a cranberry of any sort.... why does it have a leaf like an apple or something? A highbush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) has a three lobed leaf more like a maple then an apple or crabapple leaf. Also the tree clearly has the structure of an apple type tree with what appear to be spurs (or prickers or whatever the specific term for sharp things on the end of the shoots of apple branches are) are on the axillary shoots?
I sure hope the mushrooms were identified by someone else.....
8
Kinda reminds me of one of my favorite classic old films, Holiday Inn, where Bing Crosby decides to quit the rat race of city life/live performances in clubs for his solitude of country life, only to discover that he actually isn’t fully prepared for the hard work of the farm full time, only. So he makes the Holiday Inn, where they perform on holidays only, which is what really helps him run the farm. Funny.
Interesting that this article comes alongside the “Quitting” series. Everyone is looking for their green grass on the other side, trying to find out if they can make it in another way.
I wish these women the best of luck in their newfound lives.
24
Well, I definitely wasn't expecting to find cranberry-gate in the comments.
Anyway, I think the price is reasonable. $1800 for the weekend for 2 for lodging, all meals, booze, and activities included, taking into account we're talking a Michelin-starred chef. And they can only open 6 months/year and have to afford to run the place. It's not like they're making millions, or anywhere close to it.
94
So much vitriol and misinformation flying around on all sides of this cranberry/crabapple debate. I suspect Russian trolls. Can’t we take a page from Ocean Spray, whose Cran-Apple blend has been bringing people together for generations?
14
@Kas I've taken all your comments into account, and I largely agree.
Except for the fact that she's carving out yet another niche for only the very seriously affluent (i.e., rich).
Having grown up in Colorado and having lived in NYC for the last 35 years, I honestly and serious doubt anyone needs that at this juncture in our nation. Except maybe the rich.
Good story!
But those are crabapples on the tree. Not cranberries.
Cranberries grow on low shrubs, not trees.
39
Sounds like a brilliant life full of courage, wisdom, nurturing inner talent, nature, friends, family, and heart filled risk, wow go for it, maybe we will see you in Michigan!
34
I grew up in the 1950's in far northern Minnesota. We picked berries of many kinds, fished in the lakes, hunted game and found wild mushrooms. In addition we had a large potato patch plus some planted carrots and onions. Non of the food was gourmet but it certainly was good. Glad to see these women recreating that life style. Not sure about the cost for city folks though. Pretty expensive.
15
Is this the Age of Retreat to Nature and Privacy?
And good cooking?
Bravo!
49
The article and comments are classic NYT urban fascination with exotic rural experiences where people sleep in cabins, eat wild food, even animals and fish, pick cranberries from trees, make a fire, work outside, and are afraid of black bears. The extent of interest and willingness to pay a lot of money for new ideas in food is increasing to astonishing, almost unbelievable, levels.
68
@drj
Welcome to the new Gilded Age.
People are willing to spend money on these types of experiences in many cases are signaling to others they have the money spend.
36
@drj It is true. But if I could, I'd rather support people doing this kind of thing for work than many other occupations.
39
One of the photos that shows Ms. Regan picking "cranberries" off a tree. I don't think cranberries grow on trees--rather, they grow on long perennial vines. Could these "berries" be something different?
34
From the internet: Highbush cranberry - Often mistaken for true cranberries, the highbush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) is a landscape bush that develops edible fruit in the fall. This fruit looks and tastes similar to a cranberry, but it's not exactly the same thing. Also, the highbush cranberry plant takes five years or more to bear fruit, unlike the common lowbush variety that takes two years. This makes the lowbush vine better for commercial production.
28
@Laurie The highbush cranberry shown in the article is a Viburnum - a forest shrub. The "cranberry" we all know and love from juice and sauce, and dried like a raisin, is a Vaccinium and grows in open bogs. These plants are in different families and not related (relatively speaking).
7
@Laurie:
These are not viburnum, not highbush cranberry, not ordinary cranberry. They are crabapples: Note the tuft of old sepals opposite the stem, characteristic of the genus Malus (apple). Note also the few remaining leaves: viburnum has opposite leaves.
63
I've been a Michigan resident for about 10 years. One of the things I enjoy most about being here is the scenic beauty of the state. I've been fortunate enough to spend a considerable amount of time in the Upper Peninsula as referred to as the "U.P."
There are couple of things the author should know. Michigan consist of two peninsulas. The lower one is where the majority of people in the state live and the northern part of that peninsula is referred to as "northern Michigan." The Upper Peninsula is seldom if ever referred to locally as "northern Michigan". The area has a distinct heritage, culture and pace of life. The people who live there are referred to as "Yoopers." They are a hearty bunch with a dry sense of humor, and some speak a dialect of English that is closer to what you would here in Canada than the United States. They see themselves as a completely different region than people who live in the lower peninsula in the state. The area attracts quite a few people who simply want to live a simpler pace of life.
147
@Carl Thanks for the note. I spent my teenage and college years in Michigan and know the UP well. Are you making a reference to the headline, which uses the phrase northern Michigan? I was careful in the story to call the UP the UP. We work with some space and other constraints when we cast headlines, so we appeal to the widest audience possible and have to be conservative with word count. Thus the very general reference to northern Michigan. That's not to say your point isn't a great one. Here's to more cinnamon toast!
47
@Kim SEVERSON I grew up in "Northern Michigan" (Traverse City, Alpena, Petoskey) and we visited the U.P. often for camping and to visit family in Marquette. I'm also a former editor for several Northern Michigan county newspapers. Totally got what you were doing, and that headlines are a tricky business all to themselves. Reading your lovely piece, all geographic references felt on point (though I did wonder if those cranberries were crab apples). ;) Rest assured: you did good, Grrl! Now where did I leave my cinnamon toast...
27
@Kim SEVERSON
Kim, my main goal was to provide more context about the U.P. to readers who are not familiar to the area. It is truly a special place with some truly special people, who are authentic and true to themselves and whom I hold dear to my heart.
10
Just a lovely piece about two authentic beautiful and gifted woman. I send them both all my love. Millennials are so much more authentic than the rest of us. We have much to learn from them. God speed ladies!!!!
30
The chefs sure sound talented. However - clearly aimed at a super well off clientele. $1500-1800 for 2 nights in a cabin and 4 meals. You can have a better (probably subjective but likely true) experience for much less at a million agriturismos in Italy. Flights cost $500-1000 or cheaper if you find one at the right time. Go in spring / summer, work the farm a little, partake in the fresh cheese and endless wine and good food.
35
Website?. simply dying to go.
1
Oh, come on. How about if instead of making a celebrity out of someone who charges $1,000. per meal to people with more money than sense, we celebrate that we can all get out into the woods, for free, in many parts of the US?There are forests with trees all around us that we can walk in, hunt in, and with a little self-education, forage in. Environmental groups need donations to protect forests, how about giving that $1,000. to the Nature Conservatory or your local land trust rather than a status meal in the wilds of the UP?
218
@Susan Abbott I lived in a seasonal tourist area in Northern Wisconsin about 30 years ago. Worked and cooked in restaurants. Off season, we all had dinners like these at each others houses (mostly rentals) Culinary delights, good wine, and the only price was to bring your best self. Cheers!
26
@Susan Abbott
Make sure to reach out to your VT Warren organizer and knock some doors so your ideas have a shot at a wider audience -- we need them.
Second, I grew up in Michigan and they have been losing young people since the late 70's because of the economy. If folks come to the Northern Lower Peninsula, they will need to travel through many small towns to get there -- they will need gas, food and maybe lodging.
Vermont is also paying young people to move to it's small towns for similar reasons. If young people like these two can make it work and boost surrounding areas, let it be.
30
@Susan Abbott The $1,000 covers lodging and 3 other meals. Still not a "cheap" weekend getaway, but not a single meal costing a grand.
10
Well then, I just booked for October! Now I have to figure out how to get there from NYC! Exciting!
61
@AS
Your best bet is to see about getting a flight into Marquette, Michigan, the biggest city in the Upper Peninsula and renting an SUV. Other possible alternatives are flying into Green Bay Wisconsin, or Duluth Minnesota, but that would mean a longer drive. That's not necessary a bad thing if you enjoy beautiful scenery.
28
@AS Duluth is over 300 miles away of backroads driving and not-especially well plowed roads in snow season. Green Bay is 150 miles away, same snow and roads. There is no Uber in Marquette. Be prepared.
2
fly into Marquette. if you want a good long drive but also to get to cross the mighty mac fly into traverse city
1
Cranberries grow in bogs in my area, glad someone else caught this.
46
From the internet: Highbush cranberry - Often mistaken for true cranberries, the highbush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) is a landscape bush that develops edible fruit in the fall. This fruit looks and tastes similar to a cranberry, but it's not exactly the same thing. Also, the highbush cranberry plant takes five years or more to bear fruit, unlike the common lowbush variety that takes two years. This makes the lowbush vine better for commercial production.
7
@Andy That's not what's in the picture, though. Highbush cranberries are very round, smooth and glossy without a prominent blossom end (like cranberries or grapes), and their leaves are serrated with three lobes (more like a grape leaf). This fruit's blossom is still very obvious on the bottom of a somewhat squat fruit (like a crabapple), and it has pretty basic oval or elliptical leaves (like a crabapple).
10
@Andy That 'tree' looked more like a crabapple tree than highbush cranberry shrub. Oh well, you can eat the fruit from both, so all is good.
1
Ever hear of The Peekamoose Restuarant in the Catkills? Or The Catskill Rose Inn? Or countless other "gastro inns" in the wilderness of upstate NY? Great chefs have been doing this in the Hudson Valley for decades. And many of them probably did.it with a lot less capital. The trail blazing mentioned in this article is way over-stated.
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@bytegently thanks, had the same thought! Interesting backstory, but nothing new, finely hewn for the instagram set...
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@bytegently
The trailblazing part might be about two lesbians taking a risk in living in potentially threatening territory in order to achieve a dream, or about women being able to build up enough capital to fund a significant life-AND-professional change, or about a woman being famous/recognized and then giving up her successful venture.
Or maybe all 3 of those each-one-seemingly-novel storylines are also exemplified by one of the other examples you cited?
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@bytegently, having spent time in the Hudson valley and the U.P. of Michigan, I can assure you that they are quite different.
2
I love the U.P. and we take out tent up there regularly. This is not a "cabin in the woods," but a house made out of logs, which likely has indoor plumbing and room for a hot water heater, and maybe even a furnace! Not what we in Michigan consider a "cabin."
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@Ruth Van Stee No, we call it a "cottage," even if its a 10,000 square foot mansion on Glen Lake.
2
The fruit Ms Regan is shown harvesting in the photo is probably wild crabapples. Cranberries do not grow on trees.
Best wishes to this couple, may they build the life they are hoping for.
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@Joanne Heidkamp they do now. It’s 2020.
High-bush cranberries. Not at all related to actual cranberries.
2
We, too, have a cabin in northern Michigan, and we, too, have dogs including one who is part Old English sheepdog. A gentle warning to the chef — do not let the dogs run free in mid-August through October, even though it is not yet hunting season. They would have a marvelous time but you would have no time to cook because you’d be spending all your hours removing burrs. Trust me on this one.
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@Inamuraj - My ex lives in this area in a cabin. His female Doberman came up missing one night and he's pretty sure coyotes got her.
1
This sounds so much better than Door County!
If you doubt they’ll get business, don’t. Illinois floods The Door, as it’s called, and it will flood the Milkweed in the UP.
These women have made their Chicago mark. Chicago will follow them “way up north” and everyone will be happy, cabin owners and “cooks”, Chicago visitors. This will not be much about locals. But the locals will probably benefit, too.
In the meanwhile, beauty, peace, love, and good food in the UP....their hope.
35
It is beyond me why couples use "husband" or "wife" anymore. Two men are not each other's "husbands." Even the term means to guide or oversee. It is misogynistic in origin and use and it ought to be done away with as should the outdated and pointless "wife." For those of us in same-sex relationships, we should not be using these terms that have to do with ownership more than caring for one another.
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@Larry Esser These women have agency and should have the freedom to characterize their relationship however they wish without anyone mansplaining their choices.
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@JBC They want a ‘modern’ arrangement but use old terminology? Every thing just gets too confusing nowadays. Words are important, how they’re used has impact. Maybe go back to generic ‘spouse’?
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@ellie k.
Spouse works if you are married and ignores all of us who "cohabit" intentionally. I had a relationship with someone for 40 years: he definitely wasn't a boyfriend beyond year 2. Not married - and no common-law in NYS. I called him my "significant other" when forced to describe the relationship, as spouse didn't apply. The Census Bureau once came up with POSSLQ: Person of the opposite sex sharing living quarters - which defined nothing, was awkward, and never even considered the existence of committed same sex couples. At some point friends and I tried "co-vivant." A bit art, and it puts too much attention on the description. Partner is a lame but fairly simple designation.
7
I really, really want to like Ms. Regan and Milkweed, but as a native of the U.P. and one who currently lives ~1 hour away, I just can't get my head around re-creating UP camp culture ('camp' is the local term for rustic cabin) and pricing it so far above what the locals could even dream of affording. It just feels so wrong to me. I'm lucky enough that I could afford to go, and I happily build vacations around what restaurants I will visit, but I could not bring myself to spend a weekend here.
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@Barbra W I’m aware that many lower peninsula residents were effectively pushed across the bridge when property around Traverse, Petoskey, and Charlevoix became too expensive due to the influx of new residents with deep pockets. It will take time however for places to develop the polish and upscale offerings of places like Door and Traverse area. And a reminder, Thanksgiving a family visiting their cabin for the weekend had to be rescued when stranded due to heavy snow. Even rescue vehicles had problems getting thru!
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@Barbra W I know that sounds unfortunate, but with visitors who are successful and imaginative people who appreciate the local culture and respect the people, more activity and ideas can emerge for the region. Hopefully they are attracting people who have that respect.
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@SFE Of course, any visitors who want to pay a lot of money for this 'experience' are 'entitled' to do so. But they are not experiencing the 'local culture'.
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Oh, this is wonderful. I've been up there, and done that. She may be a great chef, but even a complete incompetent can't ruin fresh walleye right out of the Lake. It is fabulous just with lemon wrapped in foil and tossed on the fire, though I suspect she did something even better.
We were dropped off by guides, living in half-wall tents. This looks like luxury. It was good without luxury, and I hope that the addition of such luxury will be a spectacular success. It deserves it.
I'd like to go.
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@Mark Thomason
A Michelin star six years in a row better.
2
My wife and I were originally from Chicago, but decided after honeymooning on a remote beach in the Upper Peninsula many moons ago, to leave the city permanently and live in the UP in deep woods; we have done just that for the past 31 years and have really never looked back. Simple living, simple pleasures and the best people one could ever want to meet. Bravo to Ms Regan!
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@B. Granat
Bruce, we miss you in Jacobsville. And Maureen too! Be sure to come back and visit the real U.P. once in a while! We'll leave the lights on for you.
Billy
4
I am moving back to my family home in the UP, and look forward to stopping in!!
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Cranberries growing on trees? What?
The most innovative thing about Milkweed Inn seems to be how Ms. Regan and Ms. Hamlin are creating gourmet meals from fresh ingredients they themselves forage from their 150 acres of western Upper Peninsula land. That’s a place practically no one thinks about, let alone understands. No, $750-$1K experiences aren’t for the locals. But the area is amazingly rich in other ways. I’d be interested in hearing more about the fishing and foraging. (Gourmet magazine, are you listening?)
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@Julianne -- I hate to break the sad news to you, but Gourmet magazine stopped publishing over a decade ago...
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@Julianne The 'locals' are thinking about and do understand their area without the help of the visitors. The money they make will possibly not contribute to local lives. Although the taxes they pay will help their area.
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Okay, the actual point of my comment, @J and @pat smith, is that cranberries don't grow on trees. Not even close. (If I had to take a guess at what Ms. Regan is actually picking in the "cranberries" picture, it would be lingonberries.)
Which is why I say Milkweed Inn appears to be an innovative endeavor, and one that's sorely needed. I would bet that pretty much anyone living in the neighborhood of Milkweed Inn (off the beaten track, between Munising and Nahma Twps) already knows how cranberries grow. It's those who live elsewhere who are confused.
Of course the Upper Peninsula locals "understand their area without the help of the visitors." It's the visitors I worry about - and the place. When very few people experience a place, get to understand a place, and fall in love with a place - well, I worry for that place. I worry for Michigan's Upper Peninsula. As I worry for many other places that people in NYC (or London or Paris or Tokyo or...) don't seem to visit much.
By attempting to deeply embed themselves in a chronically overlooked and undervalued place, and attempting to share their love for and understanding of that place with those who have overlooked and undervalued it, Ms. Regan and Ms. Hamlin appear to be doing something truly innovative. I wish that were more acknowledged in this article.
(@pat smith - good call on Gourmet magazine. I clearly have never read it. I guess because lingonberrries.)
They seem like lovely, creative, hard working people and i wish them the best. But seems to be another example of creating experiences for rich people who have nothing else to do but obsess about finding the next new thing or a remote adventure or culinary experience. The food I am sure is amazing but they will need to continue to fix up the house.Their customers wont want to be too rustic and the kitchen needs a total makeover.
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I'm speechless. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
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@Het Luilekkerland I'll second you, since my more detailed comment about there being no ethical consumption under late-stage capitalism seems to have been deemed "uncivil." At least we'll always have cranberry-gate.
cranberries.....from a tree?
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Looks like crabapples..... definitely not cranberries.
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@Stew Hamilton Yes.. tree cranberries.. that's why the menu starts at $1000.
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@Stew Hamilton
Cranberries grow on trees. Like money. Yeah, right...
1
"Jeff Gordinier, the food and drinks editor for Esquire magazine and a former reporter for The New York Times, called it “a funky, foraged, magic-realist vision of the Midwest” when he included it on his recent list of the last decade’s 40 most important restaurants"
If I were to write a book satirising the celebration of food and elevation of people who cook into celebrities I probably would include the sentence above.
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@John As opposed to the elevation of talentless people who do nothing but appear pretty and vapid into celebrities?
1
You will know the end of civilisation is near when people who make food are elevated to celebrity status
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@John : The beginning of the beginning. Civilization when they can feel and be completely safe and totally free anywhere and everywhere.
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Because athletes, actors, and politicians are any more interesting. Artistry comes in many forms, and the artists who understand the delicate work of flavors and presentation deserve their share of the spotlight as much as any painter or singer.
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@John Every profession has its own celebrities since the term merely means those who are "celebrated." Chill.
20
Fantastic to walk away in pursuit of a deeper passion. I keep viewing the very heavy splitting axe and keep remembering when I switched a heavy wedge for a Fiskar's Axe - please try it out. It was very light, and maintained a very sharp edge and chopping wood became fun. At first almost dangerous, as it went thru the wood so easily I almost removed a toe... Much easier on the back and shoulders. Good luck living in the bush - there's nothing better.
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I have a strong feeling that the amazingly wise for her age Ms Thunberg would not appreciate the analogous pairing of her with Ms Regan. Suffice it to say that there is some amazing irony (if not hypocrisy) in the idea of spending somewhere near a grand to "experience" some palatable and meticulously pieced together " 'deep nature' cooking".
Now perhaps if she made the guests forage for their own fare, but alas, 9 out of 10 would starve.
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@DKM Yup, I stopped readig when I saw the comparison to Greta Thunberg. Great Thunberg, um, is not a symbol of exploiting nature to please a bunch of rich people in search of diversion.
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@minkybear
Yes! 100% correct. I am so tired of these curated experiences being offered up as something we should all experience.
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@DKM - I think Greta would be okay with this as long as we rode a bike to get there and packed out our own garbage.
1
I am hoping that the "young milkweed pods fried until the insides turn as silky as cheese" served in the 15-course dinner are grown from seed in a kitchen garden and not foraged from the wild world of the Monarch butterflies summering in Michigan that need them more than we do to sustain a life cycle.
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Monarch caterpillars crave milkweed leaves not the pods. If you have seen a milkweed pod exploding with seeds on their puffy parachutes in August, you know there are plenty to propagate. The roadsides and fields of the Midwest are full of milkweed and won’t miss losing a basket of pods.
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Trust me, there are plenty of milkweed pods here in Michigan for both butterflies and culinary endeavors.
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@Karen Reed
The caterpillars definitely eat unripe seed pods. I watch them do so in my backyard every year.
8
The food looks wonderful but the lodging looks terrible.
An airstream trailer, a tent area, and 3 rooms? People like rustic that much?
I am a former tent camper who liked to eat at restaurants when possible. But if spending a thousand dollars, i would want to be on a comfortable place to relax.
I would eat until comatose!
15
Lovely article. Our children go to college in the UP, and we are there often. It's a place beyond superlatives.
Also, thank-you for explaining the Viking cap - Yoopers and Wisconsinites look askance at folks wearing that logo. Go Pack.
10
Friends, experiences like this are available in every state in our great country. This doesn’t have to be a movement; just going outdoors and walking around and realizing that we are part of a system is enough to awe inspire anyone. It is costs little to nothing to start this experience. People today in general are disconnected from the rest of the world and thus the reason for much of the insanity.
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Love reading about these remarkable women and wish them all the best.
I lived in a cabin in the woods for a few years and found it to be one of the best (and most sobering) experiences of my life. Though I'm back in city life, I always long to return.
They are doing something beautiful and I hope to make it out there someday.
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There was a chef in upper New York State doing this a few years back, Damon Baehrel. He was concocting amazing dinners with foraged and locally caught ingredients.
10
This is the most fascinating read I've had in a long time. Thanks Kim Severson!
39
What in heaven's name is that item that looks like decorated jacket buttons??? I've never seen that shade of aqua/turquoise blue in a food. There's blueberries, but they're much darker and leaning toward black. Is it food coloring?
1
I am married to a Yooper and have spent a lot of time up there. Good luck to them, but - there's one airport that still leaves travelers over an hour's drive away. The average monthly income of a Yooper is right about at the low weekend price for this restaurant. This isn't close to the "population hub" of Marquette, which may have a few logging company CEOs who could afford it. Due to mining, you really shouldn't eat local fish. So this isn't even beginning to be for "da locals." How sustainable is having to import by air all of your clientele?
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I mean, it sounds like it’s more of a B&B professional cooking than just a restaurant in the woods. The whole business model for those places is flying in all their clientele.
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@Griffin Oh c'mon! Eating local fish is just fine and perfectly healthy, despite the tailing effects of past mining in some spots. Ain't died yet from good old Yooper salmon and whitefish!
27
@Emma Gregory Well, there's also the epic snows up there - it has snowed in May, June, August, September, October, all lake effect and heavy. This B&B is 67 miles from the nearest airport, and all the roads are 2 lane, paved if you are lucky. Selling game is against the law. Plus, as anyone who has actually done much backwoods cooking knows, you want coals, not flames,for cooking, and, backwoods or no, if you are charging money for food, you cannot have vermin in your kitchen, and mice are everywhere in the woods.
32
This isn’t so much about cooking, cuisine and social justice for marginalized groups as it is about Instagram opportunism, narcissism and the most insanely open form of elitist Manifest Destiny available today.
Travel anywhere outside of enlightened rural bubbles like this, where guests might spend up to $1k for exceptional experiences and you’re face to face with hundreds of thousands of citizens struggling to survive on small town pizza and Dollar General groceries.
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@Darko Begonia This. All day, this! It is not uncommon in my neck of the woods to see someone late at night walking in the middle of nowhere carrying Dollar General bags of food because they have no vehicle, share transportation to commute hours to a low paying job, get home late, and live in a food desert. I don’t begrudge these two their ideals but neither are they “pioneers”.
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@Darko Begonia The locals will definitely not be attending the dinners there, but it's not at all rare in the UP to find expensive "cabins" in the woods owned by rich city folk.
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@Darko Begonia
Finding any jobs, much less those that pay benefits, is very difficult in rural areas like the Upper Peninsula, Catskills, Adirondacks, Smokies, etc.
Do the staff of Milkweed Inn (dishwasher, prepper, waiter, cleaners, etc.) receive minimum wage, plus medical and other benefits? Do they get tips based on the exorbitant cost of the meals?
If so, great.
If not, they are subsidizing the outrageous lifestyles of the 1% who can afford such an expensive experience, as well as the get-away-from-it-all-but-have-your-cake hopes of the inn's owners.
The NYT gives a lot of ink to income inequality, but one hopes this idyllic-sounding story that glorifies catering to the 1% is not in any way based on exploitation of the poor underclasses.
31
It sounds intriguing, but way beyond my price range. Nonetheless, I welcome both to the Water-Winter Wonderland and hope their venture works for them. The world is lots better for the likes of people like this. Thanks for reporting this.
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It is my hope that Iliana Regan and Anna Hamlin find true success. Milkweed Inn and the food and how these two are combining them are a wonderful concept whose time has come. I hope my library has Regan's memoir so I can read it. But I'm still stuck on the "inflatable kayaks." The Funko and the road food, and even the Mario Stars and Yoshi eggs, yes, but I hope Milkweed Inn is long-lived enough that the '"inflatable kayaks" go by the wayside.
8
The article describes Ms. Regan's book as "...perhaps the definitive Midwest drunken-lesbian food memoir."
I am not familiar with the genre, didn't know it was a genre, and was surprised to learn, as the description implies, that there is more than one "Midwest drunken-lesbian food memoir." If the book is one of a kind, then of course it is definitive.
Makes me wonder if there are Southern, Western, New England, French, German, etc. drunken-lesbian food memoirs. I no longer live in NYC, so perhaps I am missing out on more than I realize.
As someone who now lives in a quieter place where local food sourcing is an everyday thing at home and in restaurants, I do hope that the $600 tasting dinners include a whole lot more than one thin slice of duck and one even thinner charred carrot.
Even with the astronomical prices, I also wonder whether the business model of a seasonal, hard-to-reach inn with 3 guest rooms, a platform tent and a tiny trailer can generate enough profit to live on, or much of a profit at all.
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@Mon Ray Growing up in Colorado and living in NYC for the last thirty years, I'm sympathetic to your skepticism.
Even the Swedes have expensive restaurants. What they are doing in the restaurant business echoes the NYC art market: get the PR (good and bad and everything in between), then winnow your clientele down to the few and exceedingly prosperous. In order for you, the chef and owner, to become prosperous as well.
Having lived in Queens for the last twenty years, I thrive on the storefront places all over Queens -- virtually every kind of Asian, some Mexican -- because it's usually a family running the place and the experience, depending, can change your life or be mediocre. Whatever: it's always an adventure and it's always cheap by almost any metric.
My biggest concern -- i.e., loss -- once I move to New Mexico. I'll adjust, but I certainly will not seek out the Davos crowd when I get there.
32
@Mon Ray The drunken-lesbian food memoir reference produced an eye roll, but the photo of the walleye "smoking" over a fire was puzzling. Fish can be hot or cold smoked, but first it has to be cleaned, filleted, brined, then placed over smoke, not directly over a fire. Those fish looked like they'd be seared outside and somewhat raw inside. Maybe the addition of a high or lowbush cranberry/crabapple sauce would work miracles. But seriously, best of luck to the couple.
14
@DJE, good point. Those fish aren’t smoking at all. Years ago I remember cooking chicken that way, hanging next to a fire. It’s a kind of slow roasting process.
5
What an inspiration to use local ingredients! The duck came from just outside Chicago, from Timberfeast Farm. Love the idea of smoking it.
13
Ms. Regan's story has inspired me to be more proactive in my cabin cooking adventures. After finally making a sauerbraten from venison hunted by my neighbor and so delicious even I ate it I am now inspired to tackle a roast from wild turkey that my same cabin neighbor says he will shoot for me but is doubtful can be made edible. No Michelin stars for me but there really is good eating to be had from the woods.
41
@Barb Davis There sure is! My dad hunts for birds (duck, goose, turkey, pheasant) and we both forage for mushrooms. On my plane ride back home to New York state from California, where I grew up, after the holidays, I enjoyed a sandwich made with Afghan bread and wild goose breast. Divine! The trick is either barbecuing it or cooking it low & slow for many hours.
10
@Reader Eating off the land is great and healthy too. Tell your Dad thanks for being a conservationist and supplying natural food that some corporation didn’t raise full of stuff that is harmful to you.
4
@Barb Davis No surprise there Barb. That's we started in our existence; we must have been reasonably good at it in order to talk about it as we speak some 500 generations later.
3
Aside from a gazillion other reasons, I would go simply for the moose tartar. That would be a peak culinary challenge for me.
12
Love stories like this!
It's my hope and prayer that someday that working poor who yearn to experience a treat like a $759-$1k outing will be afforded the opportunity, since such an opportunity can both be a life changing experience it can be the story that lives on in the life of families for generations.
25
@Beth Grant-DeRoos I join you in that prayer. Just a week/weekend would be a life-changing experience for children. It's my prayer to do just that, on a smaller scale.
1
@Beth Grant-DeRoos All they have to do is give up a couple family trips to Disneyland.
11
@Beth Grant-DeRoos The 'working poor' do not yearn for this kind of treat. They have access to parks and rivers and probably cook simple food if they have family who remember the old recipes.
I hope they are successful. Interesting vision they have there.
Best of luck!
26
"The Milkweed Inn is all Pendleton blankets, deer taxidermy and wood smoke. The water pressure is great, and the basement is filled with new fishing gear and inflatable kayaks."
"She had two walleyes hanging by their lips over a fire outdoors..."
Walleye is the best fish I have ever had. My husband and his friend caught them on Lake Sacandaga, filleted them on-site, packed them in ice and drove the almost 3 hours home, where we sauteed them for dinner. Out of this world delicious!
Sign me up.
47