Kitchen Chick

Dancing Crane Honey — Raw Honey from Ann Arbor

Raw Honey from Dancing Crane Honey Farm

I'm not obsessed or anything (Honest! I can quit any time!) but whenever I travel to places where honey is made and sold, I can't resist stopping for some local honey. I went to the North Market in Columbus and came home with a jar of honey. I went to Tennessee to visit relatives some years back, and came home with a jar of sourwood honey (and an embarrassing addiction to roadside boiled peanuts, but that's another story). However, Southeast Michiganders don't have to go far to find small production, raw honey. Michigan is the 9th-ranked honey producing state in the US (there are even beekeepers in the U.P., but they have to use reinforced electric fences to keep the bears out — apparently, the stereotypes about bears and honey are true). 

A week ago, we attended the Dancing Crane Honey Farm open house at the Ann Arbor home of husband-and-wife owners Dr. John Piette and Joanne Kimata. John grew up helping his Uncle Joe in Wisconsin keep bees. In 2003, he and Joanne founded Dancing Crane. Their bees feast on clover, goldenrod, and wildflower nectar just outside of Ann Arbor on an organic farm and also in the field of a retired couple who were farmers and raised horses. Their honey is raw, unfiltered, and cold-processed. It's been sold to customers on every continent except Australia and Antarctica (so far), but if you live in Ann Arbor you can go pick it up yourselves and save on shipping.  And it's really, really good...

John and Joanne's son Jordan explaining how bees build honeycomb on the frames.  Each frame already has a honeycomb pattern on it; the bees then extend the comb out from there.  If they didn't have the patterns, they'd still build the characteristic hexagonal-grid combs, they'd just build them wherever they felt like it.  This is a family activity and the kids know their stuff.

The house was packed with friends and customers. Beekeeping paraphernalia was displayed around the living room. We were drawn immediately to the large dining room table covered with jars of Dancing Crane Honey.  Among other things, they had a taste test pitting honey from Dancing Crane (as well as two other SE Michigan-made raw honeys) against a jar of generic Grade A grocery store honey. 

It's a very effective demonstration. I went through the samples from left to right as advised by the instructions and without looking at the brand names. Let me say: the taste difference between raw honey and generic pasteurized grocery store honey is immediately obvious. Each of the local raw honeys was full of different floral flavors, beautiful on the tongue, and a pleasure to eat plain or on a cracker.  (We did like Dancing Crane's best, but we liked all of them.)  By comparison, the grocery store honey I grew up with is insipid and boring.  I'm convinced, and I think you will be too if you try it.

Another interesting thing they had was an array of research articles investigating the potential health benefits and medical uses of honey. Both Piette and Kimata work in health care; Piette is a health services researcher. They made a point of supplying an unbiased selection of articles, which we skimmed but don't feel qualified to summarize. For now, let's just say that the evidence suggests that honey is useful in at least some contexts, and I'll see if they'd be willing to compile or point us toward a summary for a future writeup here.  One warning, though — while raw honey is a wonderful thing for most, it is not suitable for people who are very young, very old, or have compromised immune systems.  (In the meantime, you can find more information about honey and health here.)

Dancing Crane Honey is an all-volunteer farm (they welcome volunteers to help them at the hives as well as during the annual honey harvest), and all revenue beyond operating expenses goes to selected charities. Their honey sells for $7.50 for a one-pound jar, or $20 for three. This year's charities are VNHelp and The Degenhardt Foundation. Past charities include Doctors Without Borders, and Heifer International.  They still have honey left this year, but it's going fast.  My recommendation:  try some.  You'll never go back to the generic stuff.

Dancing Crane Honey Farm
734.332.0737
[email protected]

Want to know where queen bees come from?  Click to see the extended post...

Mélange Meet & Greet

General Manager Terry Martin shows off one of the fine selections from Melange's wine cellar.

Last week I received a call from Constance Crump. Would I like to attend a Meet & Greet at Mélange? Sounded like fun to me!

I slid out of work a bit early (5:30 is normal for me, so 5 is early!) and headed into town. North-bound Main was a parking lot at 5:15pm. (Is it like that every day?) I managed to skirt around it and scored a primo street spot on Liberty.

Mélange is right near The Ark. The main entrance is a beautiful staircase with bamboo stalks lining one wall. (The handicap entrance, a must if you need to avoid a long staircase, is through The Ark.) The restaurant is all muted oranges, yellows, and browns. It takes a moment for the eyes to adjust, but the effect is a very cozy and private feeling. That modern glassed-in wine cellar you see above divides the bar from the main dining room.

Mélange recently launched a new menu under Executive Chef Sam Ness, who has worked, among other places, at Nobu in New York. In addition to their pan-Asian menu, they have a full sushi bar. The sushi we had was excellent, and the menu selection is extensive, with both traditional favorites and some exotica. Sushi prices are surprisingly reasonable. (And during their 5-6pm happy hour, you can give their sushi menu a try at half-off.) Their dinner menu also looks good — watch for a more complete review of Melange when we go there for dinner...  soon, I hope.

I enjoyed a glass of Two Brothers Big Tattoo Red 2005, a nice easy-drinking red with lots of berries in the aroma. The eponymous two brothers, Alex and Erik, created this wine to honor their mother, who suffered from breast cancer. For every bottle sold, they donate 50 cents to the Arlington, Virginia Hospice and to a breast cancer research foundation in their mother's name.

I'm actually sad to say that we didn't get to meet everyone at the meet-n-greet, but here are a few I'd like to give a shout out to...

Myrna Rugg (pictured at right with her husband Rick Cronn) is the Treasurer of the Ann Arbor Film Festival. I know it's a great film festival, but what I didn't know is that the AAFF is the third oldest film festival in the world, after the Venice Film Festival and Cannes. They made news in 2006 when state legislators attacked them for showing "objectionable" films and attempted to pass legislation to single out the AAFF and deny them state arts funding. In turn, the board voted to forego state funding so that they can continue to uphold the Festival's artistic integrity. They are seeking community support so that they can continue to bring independent and experimental film and video to Ann Arbor.

The 46th Ann Arbor Film Festival will be held March 25-30, 2008 at the historic Michigan and State theaters.

If you'd like to support the AAFF and see this wonderful world-famous film event continue, you can make a donation. (The AAFF is non-profit. All donations are tax-deductible.) As an added bonus, with your donation you get to vote for what "Act of Audacity" the AAFF crew will perform in public. If you were one of the lucky people to see the Glam Rock street performance on Oct 17 (I was not, sadly), you saw the first Act of Audacity.

When I started Kitchen Chick back in 2004, there were only two AA food blogs (that I knew about!) — mine and The Ulterior Epicure, who has since graduated and moved on to parts elsewhere. Since then AA's food blogging scene has grown a lot, though oddly I have yet to meet any others in person. (Hint hint - blogger meet-up and holiday cookie exchange, anyone?)

But last night I had the luck to meet Maria, Shana, and Anne who blog about food and the AA restaurant scene at The Gastronomical 3. (pictured left) They're giving the Annabella Chardonnay 2005 a try (crisp, sweet, lots of tropical fruit aromas and an oak finish). Go check them out.

And finally, none of us would have been there but for Constance Crump. Long time Ann Arborites may remember her and the Crumpettes' food adventures in the Ann Arbor News. Thank you, Connie!

Kitchen Chick in metromode

A big thanks to Tanya Muzumdar and metromode online magazine for the shout out. Check out Tanya's article on gourmet and speciality grocery stores.

And here are the Dan Dan noodles and the Burghul Mufalfal recipes she refers to. (It's 3:30pm and I haven't had lunch yet. Both those noodes and the burghul are looking mighty tasty at the moment!)

I have to say that I'm delighted to learn about Plum Market and See's Candies. I fell in love with See's Milk Chocolate Bordeaux chocolates a year back when a friend had them at her wedding. Mmmmm. These were heaven.

Cafe Habana — off to a good start!

Ajiaco, "national dish of Cuba," is a traditional meat and vegetable stew served with a tasty wedge of yuca bread.

The Ann Arbor-Ypsi area no longer lacks for good cheap taquerias, but we are short on other Latin American cuisines — so when the sign for Cafe Habana went up in the former Shalimar space on Washington Street, we held our breaths.  It could be good, or it could be... meh. You just never know, and we didn't want to get our hopes up too high. We are happy to say that we were very pleasantly surprised with what we found, both inside and on the menu.

A few weeks back we walked in for dinner during their soft opening. The restaurant been transformed into a fresh chic look with a warm Cuban art-deco interior (cool posters!). The menu features a mix of traditional Cuban and South/Central American inspired dishes. Both the Ajiaco and the Ropa Vieja (pictured below) were excellent, as were the chimichurri and mojo sauces we tried. 

Ropa Vieja — the name translates to "Old Clothes" in reference to the shredded appearance — shredded beef in a spicy tomato sauce with yellow rice and tostones (fried plantain chips)

The appetizer taco al pastor was a fancied-up version of what you'll find at taquerias, and quite tasty — though, as everywhere in Washtenaw County, they aren't allowed to make it correctly thanks to the Anglo-centric Health Department.  The churros (pictured after the cut) were nice, and after acquiring the addiction in Madrid, it's great to be able to get churros con chocolate locally.  And the mojitos — exquisite, and respectably strong, as you would hope for from a Cuban restaurant.

The next day I talked a co-worker into going for lunch. We ran into another friend (Hi, Ed!) on the street, and the three of us gave the lunch menu a go. Cafe Habana also offers salads, Cuban sandwiches, and lunch portions of some of their dinner entrées. There was a mix-up in the kitchen with our orders, but the staff handled it with great professionalism. Oh, and our sandwiches were tasty.

In fact, I have to say between the two meals that the only thing that disappointed us was the Pan Cubano appetizer:  three small pieces of grilled bread and chimichurri sauce. The bread and sauces were wonderful, but I felt three dollars should get you more than three small, albeit tasty, pieces of bread. If they were smart, they'd give that bread and sample bowls of the chimichurri sauce out for free just to get people to try an unfamiliar taste that would likely get them hooked and ordering expensive steaks...

On the whole, however, the prices are quite moderate, and lunch is especially affordable with bocadillos (sandwiches) in the 6 to 9 dollar range.

Pan con Bistec — hanger steak with lettuce, tomato, grilled onion, (and jack cheese usually, but this one was ordered cheese-free), on Cuban bread and with that awesome chimichurri sauce.

And the breakfast menu...?  That looks very promising, too. The Heuvos a la Flamenca with roasted tomato sauce, fresh peas, chorizo and potato croquetas is probably at the top of my list, but the Torreja (custard-griddle Cuban bread with fruit salsa and fried plantain) sounds delicious, too. I can't wait to try it! But plan for a late breakfast. The earliest they open is 11am weekdays and Sunday at 12 noon.

Cafe Habana
211 E. Washington St.
Ann Arbor
734.332.6046

Bánh Xèo — Vietnamese Rice Crepes

I've been a fan of banh xeo since I was a kid and my mother took me to WE Restaurant in Pontiac, Michigan. (Any Metro-Detroiters out there remember "WE"?) These bright yellow crepes look like they have eggs in them, but they don't. Turmeric gives them that color. They're stuffed with bean sprouts, shrimp, often pork (though not this time), steamed mung beans, mushrooms, and onion and served up with lettuce, mint, cilantro, and a dipping sauce.

Crispy rice crepe and tasty shrimp and vegetables and pungent salty-sour-sweet dipping sauce... Mmmm...

Of course with all crepe-type foods, one of the main tricks to learn is how to not let the crepe glue itself to the pan. I don't use non-stick pans, so this is definitely a challenge for me. It's starting to become an intuitive feel for how hot the pan needs to be and how oiled it should be.

When I've made them a few more times and feel more comfortable, I'll post a recipe.

If you haven't had the joy of trying Vietnamese rice crepes before, I know of two Vietnamese restaurants in the Ann Arbor-Ypsi area that serve banh xeo: Dalat in Ypsilanti and MisSaigon at Stone School and Ellsworth.