Delicious things

I don't always appreciate the amazing food I have in my hometown. Like organic strawberries, soft as cream, only hours off the vine. Or Garlic scapes from--literally--my own backyard, the cut ends weeping garlic water.

But sometimes, I need an Ann Arbor fix.

In my current hometown, you must keep your eyes open to find the good things. But in Ann Arbor, you could put on a blindfold, spin around, go in a random direction, and find something delicious.

You'd even be safe from most cars, as the drivers are conditioned to avoid arrogant students.

We were in Ann Arbor on Saturday for aikido, so I convinced The Mister to take a side trip to Zingermans before we left. After all, I had a gift card to spend.

Zingermans lets you taste everything, and has plenty of people behind the counter to help you out. Poor fella, he offered to let me taste everything. I told him "I appreciate your willingness, but for both our sakes, I'm gonna stick to three cheeses and a couple olives."

I picked up several nice things, but my favorite was the Remeker, or as I like to call it, "Scotch Cheese." It's got a tangy, carmely, nutty flavor that reminded me instantly of a good lowland scotch. Because it was aged, it had that crunchy, crumbly thing going on that I usually equate with a good Parmesan.

I've got one more day of the cheese left. This is a beauty that doesn't keep terribly long, nor should it. Tomorrow, I'll be trying it with scotch after dinner.

So, I guess the moral of this post is to appreciate what you have locally, but don't be afraid to travel a bit to seek out new things.

Oh, and if you like aged cheeses, if you can afford it, and if you will be home to accept the delivery, get this cheese shipped to you.

Improv recipe: Butter, Scotch and butterscotch

I was talking with a Facebook friend the other day, and he mentioned that butterscotch doesn't taste like butter or scotch. I disagreed. I thought it tasted a fair bit like butter.

Anyway, it got me thinking. So when the grocery store had butterscotch chips on sale today, I decided to pick up a bag and see if I could make a butterscotch sauce out of butter, scotch and butterscotch.

I only made about a half cup of sauce, and eyeballed the proportions, but, for the most part, it came out well. Well enough for The Mister and I to fight over the last of the sauce during dessert.

Just watch that you don't burn the butterscotch chips in the microwave. Also, make sure you add enough liquid to them. If you don't, it will get gritty and clumpy. If this happens it's an easy fix, just add a little more butter or scotch and stir until melted and smooth.

Butter and Scotch Butterscotch Sauce
Enough for 2 generous servings

1/4 cup butterscotch morsels
1-2 tablespoons butter
2-4 tablespoons scotch.

Let butter come to room temperature. Put butterscotch chips in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 20-30 seconds at a time, stirring, until butterscotch chips start to melt. Add 1 tablespoon of butter, and microwave for 10-15 seconds more, just until the butter is melted, stirring. Don't worry too much if it seems clumpy and grainy. Add 2 tablespoons of scotch and stir. If it's still grainy and isn't coming together, add a bit more butter and/or scotch until it gets smooth.

Serve over ice cream or pound cake.