Digging up Bob Dylan’s Minnesota roots exposes an icy truth
Travel: On the Road in Minnesota
If you want to understand the story of a man named Zimmerman, visiting the northern town of Hibbing, Minnesota offers stone cold insights into the emotional desolation and snowy emptiness that shaped the Nobelaureate's inner space and artistic obsessions.
By Rod Mickleburgh
On a bleak, wintry weekend in November of 2014, my brother and I made a pilgrimage to “the north country fair, where the winds hit heavy on the borderline” in search of the roots of Bob Dylan. It was an unforgettable trip that richly increased my understanding of the mysterious forces that shaped a relatively ordinary teenager in the Minnesota town of Hibbing and helped turn him into the Shakespeare of our age.
We set out Friday morning from my brother’s home in Thunder Bay. Once across that “borderline,” we travelled south along Highway 61 (Revisited). There was no sign of a promoter putting some bleachers out in the sun. We were soon in Duluth, where Dylan was ...
Canary Islands provide a volcanic perch on life’s big picture
Travel: Canary Islands, Part Two
When you’re a senior tourist, it’s not easy to travel and often harder to trust, but there’s safety in a group -- and often a police escort -- through streets where pickpockets prey upon open backpacks and dangling cameras.
Visiting the Canary Islands without a flap
Travel: Canary Islands
The Spanish archipelago off the coast of Africa offers a unique blend of imported white sand beaches from the Franco era, a 1000-year-old fig tree, and a food mix that includes authentic tapas and branded American burgers.
First Place Finnish
Travel: Celebrating Finland's 100th anniversary
Rod Mickleburgh returns to the land of his ancestors to discover an almost genetic propensity to fight for social justice and a rather bizarre predilection for odd sports
By Rod Mickleburgh
You may have missed it, but the land of my ancestors recently celebrated it’s centennial. On Dec. 6, 1917, small but mighty Finland officially severed itself from Russia, becoming an independent country for the first time. Russia’s new Bolshevik rulers did not protest. I remember leafing through one of my great aunt’s photo albums and seeing a grainy picture of the raising of the Finnish flag in their small community for the first time. A bit more than two and a half years after independence, my mother was born in the fishing/farming village of Sideby. When I first visited “the relatives” in the winter of 1971, I was given the very room where her birth took place. Under the mountain of blankets my two great aunts supplied, I remember ...
Blueberry Peach Pie Overcomes All Kinds of Crumble
Recipe For Life: Blueberry Peach Pie
A humble pie made with peaches isn't just a perfect summer dessert, it's a fitting metaphor for life, and one that career-long food writer Louise Crosby is looking to realize through personal reinvention.
By Louise Crosby
You probably already know that one of the best things about summer is home-made fruit pie. Peach pie, to be specific, although pies made with peaches and blueberries, or peaches and raspberries, are special too. Juicy, sun-ripened peaches only come around once a year, so when I spied a quart from the Niagara region at the local farmers market the other day, I bought it straightaway and headed for the kitchen.
Helping me with this little project was the wonderful Art of the Pie, by Kate McDermott. With detailed instructions on every possible aspect of pie-making, and gorgeous photography by Andrew Scrivani, whose work appears frequently in the New York Times, this is the only book you will ever need on the subject. It ...
Lady Marmalade meets chicken in bittersweet love affair
Recipe: Marmalade Chicken
A mixture of marmalade and grainy mustard slathered on a thigh or drumstick makes for lovely, burnished chicken pieces, glazed, juicy and succulent, with just the right mix of tangy sweetness. Yum.
By Louise Crosby
(June 5, 2017) At the rate things are going, there may not be many warm, dry days of summer this year, which means we have to make the most of every moment. And in the food department, that means eating well without spending hours in the kitchen. As the beloved English food writer Nigel Slater puts it, “sometimes we cook purely for the pleasure of it, understanding the provenance of our ingredients, choosing them with great care, thoughtfully taking them on the journey from shop to plate.” Other times, he says, “we just want to eat.”
Well, here’s the perfect recipe for those times when we just want to eat, and fast. This marmalade chicken, from Mr. Slater’s 2013 cookbook Eat: The Little Book of Fast Food, will have you fed and ...
A Shout-out to salty, sweet, tart Steelhead trout
Recipe: Steelhead Trout with Honey or Maple Glaze
Catch this fresh fish dish cooked in a sweet, garlic glaze for an easy dinner that comes together fast enough to feel the warmth of a late spring sunset
By Louise Crosby
(May 6, 2017) -- We like to cook here at Kitchen on Fourth, but like everyone else I know, we aren’t inclined to spend every day slaving over a hot stove. There are (so many) times when a quick and nutritious meal is a godsend. So when my friends in Nova Scotia shared this simple recipe for trout, which they discovered on the Epicurious website, I headed straight for the fish store and in short time was serving up a delicious dinner.
The glaze for this trout is a perfect balance of salty, sweet and tart, and it comes together in minutes. Most, if not all, of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry. It can be poured over the fish on foil, which folds into a handy packet, or it can be poured over the fish in a snugly-fitting baking pan, which is ...
Super-Food Bowl: Spicy Quinoa Salad
Recipe: Spicy Quinoa Salad with Cilantro and Lime
The International Journal of Epidemiology found that eating 10 servings of fruit and vegetables a day – one serving would be half a cup of cooked or raw vegetables, or one cup of salad greens – could significantly lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and early death
By Louise Crosby
(April 5, 2017) -- Mindful of the need to eat more fruits and vegetables each day, I get excited when recipes like this one come along. It checks a lot of boxes. It’s super healthy, loaded with broccoli, quinoa, pumpkin seeds, avocado and sieved hard-boiled eggs as a garnish. It’s quick and easy to put together, even for lunch on a busy day if your quinoa is already cooked. And it’s delicious, aromatic of garlic and cilantro, tangy with lime, and mellowed with olive oil and creamy, salty feta. There is also heat in the form of chilies, should you desire.
Yes, we need to eat more vegetables. A review published in the Internati...
Get warm and cozy with Welsh cakes
Recipe: Welsh Cakes
A cross between a thin biscuit and a crumpet, these traditionally Welsh treats are sweet, studded with currants, and aromatic of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice -- making them the perfect cold weather companion to a pot of tea and a warm comforter
By Louise Crosby
What to do when your town has been walloped by a ferocious late-winter storm and it doesn’t make sense to leave the house? When all the cold and blowing snow threaten to bring your spirits down? You make Welsh cakes, of course. They fill the house with a lovely smell, you get to practise your photography, and finally you get to eat them, preferably with a pot of tea.
Most people I know have never heard of Welsh cakes, but I remember a time when they were sold in packages of six or so at the supermarket. You can’t find them anywhere these days, but they’re easy to make. Traditional to Wales, they’re a cross between a thin biscuit and a crumpet, sweet, studded with currants, and aromatic of ...
Beat midwinter blues with tender roast chicken
Recipe: Parmesan Roast Chicken with Cauliflower & Thyme
Fill a roasting pan with chicken, cauliflower and some select savoury goodies and say goodbye to the bleak midwinter blues
By Louise Crosby
This is a tricky time of year. Some days are so balmy you don’t need a coat, the snow evaporates before your very eyes, and you feel giddy at the thought of spring. Other days it’s back to the deep freeze, the long johns, and those heavy, awful boots. Yup, last week I was re-potting house plants on my back deck while the cat basked, belly-up, in the sun. This week, with daytime highs averaging -10 degrees C, I’ve lost interest in doing much of anything, especially outdoors. Such is life at the end of a long winter in Canada.
But even as the mood swings from euphoric to resigned, I have managed to cook, since mucking around in the kitchen usually results in something good to eat, and we need to eat no matter what the season. And this Parmesan Roast Chicken with Cauliflower ...
