Ahhh To Be Sure, to be sure

To be sure…New Scandinavian Cooking host Andreas Viestad on PBS showcases a rich visual tour of Nordic cuisine, culture and history.

Simplicity and self-reliance are recurrent themes in his show.  He uses a healthy blend of pioneer spunk and cutting edge savvy.  Whether he is popping over to a Norwegian Red for fresh milk, foraging for native plants and herbs, stretching mozzarella curds, incubating yogurt or whipping up butter - I’m always in the mood for giving my busy suburban life the boot to race off and life on his glacier.  

To be sure…My children call him a terrible butcher.  He’ll hunt a deer in the snow, carve it, devour the fresh raw ingredient.  Against stunning backdrops in Sweden, Denmark and Finland, he’ll voyage on the seas for Plaice or Whiting.  He‘ll fillet the fish, sprinkle lemon juice on the flesh which has cooked for moments in the heating element  (the Sun) and munch away.

To be sure…If you are in the mood for some tasty food - The Finnish Bistro in St. Paul, on Como Ave., is a reflection of the woman who created the Taste of Scandinavia locally.  The daily menu feels like it was made with ingredients right out of the garden, and much thought and intelligent is put into every dish.  This means, it is modern, up-to-date, and youthful.

On one of those shows (on New Scandinavian Cooking) I learned that  Hops are the key ingredient in making beer.  At a certain time of year, hops are used at a few different points in the process to add aroma and bitterness for balance flavor in brewing.  I believe I saw the host pour hot liquids over the cones (the flower) to extract the flavor.  

To be sure…I have no interest in brewing.  Hops (Humulus Lupulus -- Zones 4-8) are best known as a key beer ingredient, but they are also fantastic as a fast-climbing vine.  Mine was purchased at a Cub Foods Garden Center a few years ago and it grows from 12 to 16 inches a day, and they top out between 25 to 30 feet in the season.  At this time of the year, until fall, my Hops vine produce large leaves with chartreuse cones.   The pretty feature of the vine is the hops itself.  This is the flower, also called a “cone”.   I only have one plant and it grows vigorously.  If you want hops, make sure you procure a female hops vine.

To be sure…my hops vine is beautiful and I love vines.  They provide shade, cover unsightly walls and fences, hide unwelcome features and adds character and can give you an ancient feel to any garden, pergola or shed.  I love them not only for shade, but love how they can create a sense of enclosure, a vantage point, a hint of a secret garden, or a sense of having a fort for children.

To be sure…it is the only vine in my yard that is NOT affected by the Japanese Beetle.  All other vines,  Engleman Ivy, Boston ivy, Trumpet vine, and wild ivy are sporting the lattice-work from our beetle friend…all are affected except our Hops.  

To be sure…my neighbor Dave Peters has used my hops before in brewing.  He’s a poet of the soil, our language, the codes of brewing-  lending to an air of wildness and the art of homesteaders.  A bottle of his best brew in the fridge ‘tis like a warm smile welcoming townsfolk home to what promises to be an equally colorful neighborhood experience throughout the summer.   

To be sure…I also wish he was a sheep farmer, a beekeeper, butter churner and baker.   Who know?  There may be some homesteader friends in NW Minnesota or Alaska or Saskatchewan that still live this simpler life; one that us city slickers often may mock as backwards and of yesteryear. But, to be sure, in all of our advances in technology and medicine, it takes the slower, more contemplative and frontier spirit to inspire us as harvest time and October advance in browns and gold.