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If sugar maples are running, it must be spring
By Jim Lundstrom
Imagine you’re a Wisconsin school kid in 1893 and you’re asked to vote for a state tree. You’d feel honor bound to come up with the right tree to symbolize your state. There’s the mighty oak, the urban elm, the tidy pine – all beautiful in their own right and very worthy trees.
But you’re a kid, so you vote with your taste buds. You vote for the majestic Acer saccharum, aka the sugar maple.
While some of those Wisconsin school kids might have been thinking about the beauty of the sugar maple’s flaming fall foliage, it’s a pretty good bet most of them were thinking of the secret sap their families extracted from the trees every spring to create maple syrup and sugar; the striking fall foliage was just icing on the cake.
Those kids were way ahead of the curve. Fifty-five years later, Wisconsin children were again asked to vote for a favorite state tree, and again the sugar maple won (followed by white pine and birch). The Wisconsin Legislature heeded that vote and adopted the sugar maple as the state tree in 1949.
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There’s a new brand of fresh craft beer in town known as Old Bavarian. You can find it on tap at only two places, both of which share the beer’s name – the Old Bavarian restaurant and bar on College Avenue in Grand Chute and the O.B. on College in downtown Appleton.
The story of Old Bavarian beer will warm the heart of any homebrewer who has ever dared to dream about one day brewing beer on a larger scale for the public.
Steve Olson of Menasha, an award-winning home brewer and founding member of the Appleton Libation Enthusiasts brew club, has been wowing judges and beer lovers for years with his British and Belgian beers. His desire to go commercial with his beer making is well known.
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By Tom Jensen
The word is out and it is nothing short of spectacular. Well, maybe exciting is more like it. The Lemongrass – formerly of 4390 West Greenville Drive, Appleton, is merging with The Seasons American Bistro located at 213 South Nicolet Drive, just south of the Fox River Mall.
Bob and Jessica Doller coin it “East meets West.” Jessica adds “In order to make time for our new family, we are excited to announce that in mid-March we will be merging our two restaurants.”
She goes on to say, “Patrons will be offered the Seasons and Lemon Grass favorites along with new creative menu options at a lower price point for everyone to enjoy.” The power of the Lemon Grass lunches, combined with the classy atmosphere of the Seasons dining evenings, seems like it makes sense. But can they pull it off?
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Oil and vinegar obviously make up a huge part of cooking and the food world, so there is a lot of depth and ground to cover. As usual I will only cover the basics, leaving it up to you to get more involved in the subject.
Oil: It’s difficult to think of any savory cooking techniques that don’t start or include oil of some form or another. Braising, stewing, frying all start or use oil in the process. Sautéing, deep frying and wok cooking use oil as well.
So what is oil exactly? Oil is basically purified vegetable fat that is usually liquid at room temperature. Are you shocked to here that oil is fat? Well don’t be. Most people do not make the correlation between oils and fats, although they are basic relatives. The major difference being oils are liquid at room temp and animal fat is generally a solid. Okay, so there are many different types of oils for many different uses. I am not going to be covering health pros and cons or any other dietary info, just types, cooking temps, uses and smoke points. Here are some of the most common, with their properties.
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