Mount Mary University reMARK Dec. 2015

Winter 2015 Mount Mary University

Milwaukee’s Spice Scene p.12 Make a Mason Jar Masterpiece p. 22

What’s So Hot About Sriracha? p. 19

Local Food Stylists 10 | Milwaukee’s Female Chefs 14 | Eat to Savor 26

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

STAFF

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Brittany Seemuth

ART DIRECTOR Sophie Beck

O

ur publication is like a tried and true WEBSITE MANAGER recipe. We started off with a new recipe Shannon Molter when we transitioned from a newspaper to a BUSINESS MANAGER magazine format. It was new territory – we had Nhung Nguyen never tried that style of cooking before. We blended in a new ingredient to our recipe when we SECTION EDITORS Carayannopoulos Samantha Mandich Shannon Molter launched reMARK, which focuses on a particular Christina Samantha Mandich Nhung Nguyen area of study on campus. We are excited to share our latest (and most delectable) recipe with you – WRITERS an issue dedicated to food.

Christina Carayannopoulos Samantha Mandich As the home to one of the most prestigious Heather Briley-Schmidt Shannon Molter Emily Chapman Nhung Nguyen dietetics programs in the state, Mount Mary Natalie Guyette Chloe Seeger breeds a lot of foodies. On page 6, we explore some Megan Ivanyos Brittany Seemuth of the work students in the dietetics department Denisse Hernandez Shannon Venegas are doing to spice up the menus in the dining hall.

Hayley Hove As the semester winds down, you might find yourself struggling to find time to finish your homework, much less prepare a meal. Learn DESIGNERS how to make a fast and easy Mason jar meal on page 22. Want to bake for the holidays but Sophie Beck Brigit Kreienkamp Emily Chapman Sheila Suda forgot a key ingredient? Check out “So you forgot the eggs again? Substitutions in a pinch,” Natalie Guyette Dalas Xiong on page 18.

Denisse Hernandez With its various festivals and diverse restaurants, Milwaukee is a food lover’s city, and female chefs are making their mark. In “Milwaukee’s Women of Taste” on page 14, we profile PHOTOGRAPHERS three women who are leading the culinary scene in Milwaukee. At a time when it was unusual Sophie Beck Nhung Nguyen for women to work in the professional kitchen, most of the women profiled in the article were Natalie Guyette Brittany Seemuth Hayley Hove just starting out, or trying to. The head chef of Balzac, Rebecca Berkshire, recalls working for free, biding her time until she was taken seriously in the kitchen.

FACULTY ADVISERS Much like the Wisconsin cranberries featured on page 17, this issue marks a bittersweet Linda Barrington transition for me. After three years as editor-in-chief of Arches, I will be stepping down at Laura Otto the end of this semester to work at Buzz Monkeys, a public relations firm in Wauwatosa. Two Arches is written and edited by the students of Arches staff members will take over as co-editor-in-chiefs: Shannon Venegas, a graduate Mount Mary University, who are solely responsible student in English who is working toward a certificate in secondary English education, and for its editorial content.

Nhung Nguyen, a self-designed fashion journalism major who owns her own hair styling Arches is a member of the business in South Milwaukee. I am excited to see how they will take the “Arches recipe” and Associated Collegiate Press. make it their own.

As I embark on my new career, I know I’m going to miss Arches tremendously. Thank you to the Arches staff members for their energy, support and dedication. Your hard work makes this publication — the voice of Mount Mary’s student body — an ongoing success.

Winter 2015 Mount Mary University

Editor-in-Chief seemuthb@mtmary.edu

Contact Arches at Arches, Mount Mary University 2900 N. Menomonee River Pkwy.

Milwaukee, WI 53222 414-930-3027 Email: mmu-arches@mtmary.edu Stay updated at www.archesnews.com

Milwaukee’s Spice Scene p.12 Make a Mason Jar Masterpiece p. 22

What’s So Hot About Sriracha? p. 19

Mount Mary University archesnews.com

Local Food Stylists 10 | Milwaukee’s Female Chefs 14 | Eat to Savor 26

COVER DESIGN BY SOPHIE BECK

FOLLOW US! @MountMaryArches

LIKE US! Arches

CONTENTS | WINTER 2015

14 9 Campus 4

Stop Donating Your Leftovers!

(No, Seriously.)

6

Dining with Dietetics: Foodies Team Up to Create Diverse Dishes on Campus

26 Trends 19

What’s So Hot About Sriracha?

22

Put a Lid on It! Meals for Your Busiest Semester

Local Foods

Creative Works

Focus on Milwaukee’s Food Styling Industry

Student Designs and Short Prose

9

12

Fresh Matters at the Spice House

14

Milwaukee’s Women of Taste

17

Eat Like a Wisconsinite: It’s Not All About the Cheese

Cooking Aids 18

So You Forgot the Eggs Again?

24

Perspectives 26

Eat to Savor: Wolf Peach Challenges Diners to Slow Down and Think About Food

28

You + Food: The Relationship You Never Realized You Had

29

Horsin’ Around: Mindful Eating, Mindful Feeding

Food 2015 | reMARK

1

The Women Behind the Magazine Nhung Nguyen

Brittany Seemuth

Business Manager Fashion Journalism / Communication May 2017

Editor-in-Chief English / Communication May 2016

Christina Carayannopoulos

Writer / Designer English / Spanish May 2017

Hayley Hove

Shannon Molter

Samantha Mandich

Writer Fashion Merchandise / English / Business May 2017

Website Manager Communication / English December 2015

Art, Review Editor Fashion Merchandise / Business May 2017

Brigit Kreienkamp

Dalas Xiong

Designer Art Therapy December 2015

Designer Graphic Design May 2016

Emily Chapman

Megan Ivanyos

Shannon Venegas

Designer / Writer English / Art / Spanish May 2017

Writer English May 2016

Denisse Hernandez Designer Art Therapy / Fine Art May 2017

Archesnews.com

Art Director Graphic Design May 2016

Natalie Guyette

Creative Works Editor English December 2015

2

Sophie Beck

Writer Writing / English Education May 2017

Heather BrileySchmidt Writer Business / English December 2016

MOUNT MARY UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE PROGRAMS Did you know that 525 Mount Mary students are enrolled in master’s or doctoral programs?

Continue your Mount Mary education and advance your career by enrolling in one of our graduate programs. Each of our graduate programs educate students who are committed to being critical and creative scholars, ethical and just human beings with a global perspective, and leaders who put knowledge into transforming action.

Mount Mary Graduate Programs • Professional Doctorate of Art Therapy • Post- Professional Doctorate of Occupational Therapy • Master of Arts in Education • Master of Arts in English • Master of Business Administration • Master of Science in Art Therapy • Master of Science in Counseling • Master of Science in Dietetics • Master of Science in Occupational Therapy You’re invited to attend an upcoming Open House or stop by the Office of Graduate Admissions. We’d love to talk with you about your educational and career goals.

Or, explore our programs online at mtmary.edu/grad

CAMPUS

Stop donating your leftovers!

THE BREAKDOwn Diabetes: Working Wellness in Waukesha Together Group (DW3T)

(NO, SERIOUSLY.) Team Food Subcommittee Words Shannon Molter | Design Natalie Guyette

Would you feed yourself or your family the food you have donated to a food drive?

This is a question the organizations leading the Health on the Shelves campaign want you to consider the next time you donate food.

Their goal for this campaign is to improve the quality of food donated to food pantries. This has allowed the Mount Mary dietetics students and faculty, as well as graphic design students to work towards this goal in our community.

The Problem Over a seven-month period, the Team Food Committee conducted research on 143 food bags at two food pantries in Waukesha County. Once analyzed, they found the food contained low nutritional value with high levels of sodium and saturated fats. This resulted in a negative impact on people’s health.

The small amount of nutritional foods donated to food drives are usually reserved for people with heart diseases, diabetes and high blood pressure.

“We didn’t want the nutritional foods to just be for people who already had a disease because we want to help prevent other people from getting these diseases in the first place,” said Lisa Stark, chair of the dietetics department and professor at Mount Mary.

“This created a need to increase the healthy food items they have at the pantries.”

It is common for people to donate leftover food that they won’t eat to a food pantry. Some people even donate sweet and sugary items, thinking it would be a

4

Archesnews.com

How

health on the shelves began The DW3T group’s first task involving this campaign was developing grocery store checklists in January 2013, which was possible through a grant from the Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program. The Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program is through the Medical College of Wisconsin and has the mission to support Wisconsinbased community coalitions pursuing health-related issues. treat for the food recipients.

“Many of the people who rely on pantries and food stamps as a regular source of food may be overweight because of the low quality of foods available to them,” Stark said.

The Campaign on Campus Stark teaches community nutrition, a dietetics course, and runs the dietetics undergraduate internship program. The dietetics students have been involved with the Health on the Shelves campaign by developing handouts, recipes and lesson

• Mount Mary University • Waukesha County UW-Extension • The National Kidney Foundation of Wisconsin • The Salvation Army • The Food Pantry of Waukesha County • NuGenesis • The Medical College of Wisconsin • ProHealth Care plans for the food pantry recipients.

Many of the recipes developed by the students involve ingredients commonly donated to pantries.

“One of our popular recipes is pumpkin and bean soup because in the fall, a lot of people donate pumpkin,” Stark said.

The students also conduct nutrition lessons at the pantry to teach people how to cook the recipes.

“There were 1,600 people that got educated between August and December 2014,” Stark said.

In spring 2015, Stark teamed up with the graphic design students in the 3-D design course to develop marketing materials for the campaign.

Laure Leplae-Arthur, adjunct graphic design instructor, taught the class and assigned a real-world guerrilla-marketing project for the students to compete to have their work chosen for the Health on the Shelves campaign.

“Guerrilla-marketing consists of unusual marketing pieces that attract attention and are close to the consumer,” Leplae-Arthur said. “They are tactics that are a little bit unconventional and get people’s attention.”

The students developed a variety of marketing materials for the campaign.

HEALTHY FOODS TO DONATE TO A FOOD PANTRY

VEGETABLES & FRUIT qq Canned fruit (in juice or light syrup) qq Canned diced tomatoes qq Canned vegetables (low sodium) qq Pasta sauce qq Raisins qq Salsa qq Soup with vegetables qq 100 % vegetable or fruit juice

GRAINS

qq Whole grain cereal (no sugar added) qq Brown rice qq Barley qq Bulgur qq Popcorn (light or 98% fat free) qq Graham or whole grain crackers qq Whole grain of gluten-free pasta qq Quinoa

qq qq qq qq qq qq qq

PROTEIN

Canned chicken or tuna (in water) Dried or canned beans Lentils Nuts (unsalted or lightly salted) Powdered milk Soy milk Peanut butter

More checklists at http://www.waukeshacounty.gov/UWEX/WNEP/HealthOnShelves/ They presented their completed pieces of work to Stark, and she selected three of the pieces of work to be used for the campaign.

One of the pieces of work selected was a giant sticker to be placed on the inside of an elevator door to grab attention. Another piece was a large grocery bag, which was a place for donations to be placed.

Shelby Loosen, a senior graphic design student, created the third project selected, which were mirror clings in the shape of food cans.

“I was asked to do more work for the campaign over the summer, which was

Shelby Loosen, a senior graphic design student, designed these cans as part of her 3-D design class for the Health on the Shelves campaign.

mostly working on redesigning my design to fit their needs,” Loosen said.

Stark compensated the three students with gift cards. These gift cards and the cost to develop the finished pieces were funded by the CHANGE Coalition, a group seeking to improve nutrition and physical activity in neighborhoods surrounding the Hank Aaron State Trail.

This semester, Leplae-Arthur is teaching the graphic design portfolio class, and they have been challenged to create a logo for the Health on the Shelves campaign.

Leplae-Arthur sees her students have benefitted from completing these projects.

She said it is different than just schoolwork; students are learning how to work with actual clients.

“Working with this campaign taught me how to work with a committee of people, and gave me a professional outlook on graphic design,” Loosen said.

then made an announcement for a food drive and put up posters, mirror clings and the special donation bins created by the students,” Stark said. “We have not gotten the results from the post-survey yet, but we analyzed the food every week and most items looked like they were from our healthy foods list.”

The Health on the Shelves campaign leaders are targeting businesses to encourage employees to donate healthy food options during company-sponsored food drives. Any businesses interested can access the free grocery checklists and fliers on the campaign’s website, http://www. waukeshacounty.gov/UWEX/WNEP/ HealthOnShelves/.

“It is very exciting to help other people see what the need is for nutritional food and have them think about what they’re donating,” Stark said. “This is what ends up on their neighbor’s dinner plate.”

Campaign Implementation The students in the community nutrition course researched the best places to collect food donations in the area, and found that local businesses would be the best option.

In September 2015, Sigma Group, a local engineering firm, implemented the guerrilla-marketing materials made by the graphic design students in its offices and conducted a food drive.

“We did a pre- and post-survey with them [Sigma Group] to find out initially what foods they had been donating, and

Food 2015 | reMARK

5

CAMPUS

Dining with Dietetics Foodies team up to create diverse dishes on campus Words Hayley Hove | Photos Hayley Hove | Design Sheila Suda

6

Archesnews.com

At left, the Wisconsin-themed meal features a hearty meal of chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, apples and rice.

Above, the Wisconsin tailgating dish includes a brat, cod, potato pancakes and green beans.

At right, dietetics students, Alexa Eisenberg, Mandy Mindin and Kelli Dunham serve a Halloween-themed meal in the Alumnae Dining Hall.

E

xpect to hear the chatter of students, experience a longer than normal wait and feel excitement upon entering the Alumnae Dining Hall on the dietetic department’s themed meal days.

These meals are an opportunity for the students and staff at Mount Mary University to experience something a little different than the typical food served by Food Service Incorporated. Junior and senior students in the department handpick recipes, get to practice their cooking skills for about 250 people and offer everyone something delicious.

Abby Radish, a senior majoring in dietetics, has been the only traditional student in the program for the past five years.

“Any event that can serve the Mount Mary community and family and friends provides a really neat experience that not every university campus has to offer,” Radish said.

The girls of the group all share a similar passion.

“We’re foodies, and we just want to change things up a bit,” Radish said.

According to Pat Kempen, dietetics instructor, the department is required by The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to ensure that certain competencies are met for dietetic graduates and at least 1,200 hours of supervised practice are accomplished by each student.

This meal project covers many of the competencies that the students are required

to learn in one large project.

“It also allows all group members to bring to the food service concepts and tasks they learned about in the classroom, such as menu planning, food and supply budgeting, recipe extension, food production, food procurement and management,” Kempen said.

There are four themed meals during the fall semester. The planning for the themed meals started the first few weeks of school.

According to Kris Bennett, a junior majoring in dietetics, the class was thrown into the planning process.

“Planning starts right away,” Bennett said. “It is our biggest project of the entire semester.”

There are two sections of the class – juniors and seniors – each with different roles.

“Our biggest priority as seniors is making sure the juniors understand the process of it all,” Radish said.

Five juniors make up the production side of the meal and four seniors manage, designating different roles with specific expectations for them.

This team gets its group assignments in the beginning of August and starts brainstorming meals for the upcoming semester.

The first part of the process is to pick the theme, then pick the recipes and adapt them to feed 250 students.

Radish explained that the senior students’ experience is unique because they work with the chef directly to help the juniors move

forward with their planning of the themed meals.

“It’s kind of cool because you wouldn’t usually talk to the food service, and the Mount Mary food service staff have been really good with us,” Radish said.

After the dietetics students create a purchase order, it gets approved by Penny Schultz, food service director.

“We have to do what FSI provides,” Bennett said. “All the food is directly from FSI, and no other outside food provider.”

When parts of the recipe are not approved, the students must decide to either substitute the ingredient or remove it, while keeping a good quality product in mind.

“The original recipe I worked on was the black bean corn salad and there were avocados in there, but because of the season and the price, they had to be taken out of the recipe,” Bennett said.

Some alternatives that the students have worked with are frozen ingredients. This keeps the costs down.

“There were a couple of other things that we probably would have picked fresh ingredients for, but they told us that we needed to do frozen ingredients instead because of cost,” Bennett said.

Themed meals on campus can be based on anything. Recent ones have been holiday inspired or celebrate Wisconsin pride.

On Oct. 27 the theme was Halloween, with foods like “Goodbye Vampire Garlic Chicken” and “Monster Mashed Potatoes.”

On Nov. 3, the themed meal was “On

Food 2015 | reMARK

7

CAMPUS Wisconsin.” Tailgating and party food was served such as brats, potato pancakes, green beans and cod. On Nov. 10, there was a Mexican-themed meal.

Bennett’s group planned and prepared the Mexican–themed meal. The options differed from the typical Taco Tuesday put on by FSI. Foods like quinoa and a fruit salsa were some of the options that students could choose from.

After every themed meal, the dietetic students gather feedback so they can make changes for future years.

“We review them and kind of get to see what they liked, what they didn’t like and what they would like to have next year,” Radish said.

Bennett said the students find enjoyment in the teamwork.

“Everyone can bring a different perspective,” Bennett said. “One of the girls on our team is vegan so two of our options that we have on there are vegan.”

According to Linda Gleason, dietetics instructor, the themed meals benefit future dietitians because it provides opportunities for teamwork, managing a project in a reallife setting, leadership and creative problem solving.

“A lot of people think of dietitians in a clinical hospital setting,” Bennett said. “But

IRELAND Winter 2017

Dietetics students Rebekah Genich, Carly Michelz and Kris Bennett stand behind the students enjoying the Mexican-themed meal: Mandy Mindin, Kelli Dunham, Alexa Eisenberg, Brenna Sunderland-Saied and Miyoshi Pokrand.

they are in food industries all over. There are dietitians in your grocery stores, at the corporate level, there’s dietitians at Sysco.”

According to Radish, the group of girls within the dietetics class are all in it for the same reason, and finding that path together is what it is all about.

“Everyone is really invested in the program and in dietetics it doesn’t really matter your age,” Radish said. “We have our own little dietetic community.”

FRANCE Paris, Fashion Winter 2017

SPAIN Summer 2016

email Nan Metzger at metzgern@mtmary.edu for more information

Wednesday Wine Night Special $10 off bottles of house wine

Call Us Today!

(414) 431-1014

8

Archesnews.com

2995 S Clement Ave Bay View, Wisconsin 53207 www.tenutasitalian.com

Focus on Milwaukee’s Food Styling Industry Words Megan Ivanyos | Design Dalas C. Xiong

nz Jennifer Ja

If you have ever wondered why the food you made didn’t look like the image on the recipe, don’t feel bad. The people behind food photos in magazines and packaging are professional food stylists and food photographers.

Food stylists use basic art and photographic techniques to arrange food so it is attractive for photography, video or film. Extra considerations are made for food that is quick to melt or wilt.

Jennifer Janz, self-proclaimed Fabulous Food Stylist, is a veteran in the food game with more than 20 years of experience. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from UW-Milwaukee, Janz made her start in graphic design. She soon discovered it was too sedentary for her, so she switched to photography. Today she has been featured on more than 50 magazine covers, including Taste of Home, Healthy Cooking and Simple & Delicious.

Sonja Haag is just starting her career, but has already made her mark locally. Haag earned a bachelor’s degree in photography from Carroll College and studied in Florence as part of the program.

Haag and Janz both said that food styling and photography is its own art form. They said clients have a unique set of needs for photo shoots, but there is a shared motivation between the client and photographer.

“We’re really trying to draw somebody in to do something else,” Janz said.

That “something” may be buying a product, reading an article or hiring a caterer.

Haag works with local businesses such as Private Palette, where she is a personal chef. She also captures weddings, conventions and other special events.

Sonja Ha ag

Food 2015 | reMARK

9

LOCAL FOODS

Sonja Haag

“I’m capturing images of the client and their friends, of them enjoying the evening,” Haag said.

“I’m also capturing the event from start to finish, like the large table of appetizers, how it was set up, all the little details of the night.”

Haag can then sell those images to the client along with the business that catered the event for their promotional purposes. Haag is also hired by restaurants, such as Tenuta’s Italian Restaurant in Bay View, to capture the atmosphere as well as the menu items.

“They [Tenuta’s] wanted their images to say ‘we’re more of a fine dining, full experience kind of spot,’” Haag said. “You come and bring someone you care about and treat them. Very clean, white, crisp, lots of light in the shots.”

Janz has taken photographs for magazines, cookbooks, television commercials and videos, including local Cousin’s Subs advertisements.

She specifically does a lot of packaging work and styles food how the client wants it to be seen, from frozen meals to canned products to cake mixes.

“I’m really going through boxes and boxes looking for the best shaped ones,” Janz said.

Janz does not just work with food

for humans either. She shot dry cat food where she had to sort through the different shapes and colors of the product.

“I had to pick out ones [pieces of cat food] that were formed the best to look like hearts,” Janz said. “We’re talking hours here. I take a paint brush and dust off any of the crumbs that were on it.”

Sorting through cat food is just one of the less glamorous aspects of food styling and photography.

Janz turned down a job to style a cellphone in Jell-O in a way where the phone still worked. She did take on the challenge for a shoot involving food coming out of a garbage disposal. They asked her to use fish bones, egg shells and orange peels.

“They wanted it to look pretty, not disgusting,” Janz said.

According to Janz, temperature sensitive foods like ice cream, melting cheese and chocolate are hard to work with.

“That’s probably the biggest difficulty … Coming up with a way to accent it in a way that’s pretty,” Janz said. “Because people in their brain think ‘oh that garnish is beautiful’ so they feel better about the food, even if the food is ugly.”

Haag had a slightly different

Tips for Better a st. Take ng is be or outside. ti h g li l Natura indow near a w picture

1 2 3 10

Archesnews.com

adows. ssive sh e c x e above. r Watch fo the picture from g Try takin e steal th atware fl t d le n t a o Do n plates eep the show. K ple or white. im bowls s

approach when she shot the bar food for G-Daddy’s BBC on North Avenue.

“I just had to get close up and almost dirty with it, you know, really emphasize the indulgence of it all,” Haag said.

Janz acknowledged that food styling has changed over the years to a more natural and relatable style, such as crumbs on the plate and irregularly cut pieces of food.

“Anything that brings the viewer into the photo,” Janz said.

Janz feels social media has changed what is acceptable.

“People enjoy seeing what other people are eating for dinner,” Janz said.

Food styling also has its share of specific trends too.

“There’s a big trend now with grilled meat to make it really black and I don’t think that looks appetizing at all,” Janz said.

Haag pointed to trends that she has noticed recently.

“Using any edible plant or flower and really making a meal look like a piece of artwork, very delicate, like small bites of things placed meticulously on the plate like it’s your canvas,” Haag said.

Haag said she can appreciate all of the styles, but has her preferences.

“I tend to gravitate towards more of a home-cooked style, you could say,” Haag said. “So you’re seeing someone in their space, meaning their home kitchen … and maybe you’re not seeing the end result of the plated meal, but you’re seeing a certain process of meal prep.”

Janz has seen the evolution of unheard of health foods that are now in the mainstream, like quinoa and chia seeds.

“It’s interesting that people that used to not care seem to be taking interest in their health and that food actually has something to do with their health,” Janz said.

Janz created an international Facebook group for food styling enthusiasts, called “Food Styling Critique.” She has learned a lot from the members, but said there is always more to learn about food photography.

“I definitely have not even scratched the surface of what’s out there,” Janz said.

Jennifer Janz

Food Phot os

4 5 6

Use the rule of th photog raphy p irds, a basic rinciple grid line usin s image. for placing the g central

Use pla te proport s and bowls in ion to th e small p lates fo size of food. U r small food ite se ms.

Keep s ho you tak oting. The mo re photo e, the m s ore like to get a ly you a good p re hoto. z ja Haag and Jennifer Jan

Photos provided by Son

Food 2015 | reMARK

11

LOCAL FOODS

FRESH MATTERS AT THE SPICE HOUSE Words Emily Chapman and Denisse Hernandez | Photos Natalie Guyette | Design Denisse Hernandez

C

lose your eyes and concentrate on the rest of your senses.

Now imagine walking into a universal haven of fragrances and scents — a combinations of flavors that stimulate your mind and your taste buds.

That’s what it’s like to walk into The Spice House.

Ruth and Bill Penzey, Sr. opened The Spice House in Milwaukee in 1957. In 1992, they sold the business to their daughter Patty and her husband, Tom Erd. Despite the change in ownership, they continue the mission to provide customers with fresh spices.

Michael Kutka has worked at The Spice House for 17 years. He began as an inventory specialist before he became a manager. He said his experience as an inventory specialist has helped him in the various positions he has taken, including that of manager.

“We try to keep our inventory as low as possible, so we always have a turnover and always have fresh spices,” Kutka said. “That was a good skill to have in maintaining low quantities … without ever running out.”

He said the mission of the shop is to always have the freshest spices possible and to “always do grinds and blends in small batches, so we have a constant turnover.”

“I think of it as a world tour in one room because it really is that small of a world,” Kutka said.

Nathan Villa is also a manager at The Spice House. He has worked there for six years. Before working at The Spice House, he worked in information technology.

“Interacting with people is one of the best things about it,” Villa said. “You’re always working with another person. You’re not just staring at a computer screen or sitting in front of a desk all day.”

The establishment has been located on Old World Third Street for the past 40 years, but its

12

Archesnews.com

Nathan Villa and Michael Kutka, managers at The Spice House, explain the process of mixing and grinding spices.

exact address has not remained the same. It was located in the spot of Lucille’s Piano Bar and the spot of the Wisconsin Cheese Mart before moving to its current location, 1031 N. Old World Third St. in Milwaukee.

“The owner of the Cheese Mart still tells us that when he goes into the back room, there’s still an aroma of spices,” Villa said.

“We haven’t been in that building for over 20 years.”

The Spice House does not have a warehouse where it grinds and packages all of its spices. Instead it grinds and packages each spice within the store. When grinding spices, employees begin with the ingredients of the spice in their whole form and handle them as little as they possibly can.

“We want the natural flavors to really shine through,” Villa said.

“Which is why we do everything in the small batches … As you take a spice or an herb and you break it apart and grind it up, it starts to lose its potency right away.”

For grinding spices, there are two different options: the hammer mill or the bell mill.

“The hammer mill doesn’t really generate any heat,” Kutka said. “It just mashes the spices and knocks it apart, so that’s our ideal way to grind spices … We also have another mill called the bell mill and

that has two steel plates that grind together. If we were uninterested in fresh spices, we would be doing everything that we could in the bell mill because we would get the most spice out of the whole spice. But because it’s not the best way to grind, we use the hammer mill.”

Even though they grind the spices as little as possible, the flavor of the spice changes each time because each crop is a little different. Spices come from seeds, berries, bark, roots and pits of various plants.

“By blending the spices, we ensure that we got a real consistent flavor and quality throughout all of our seasonings,” Villa said.

The Spice House only carries spices that can be used for culinary purposes. Two of its newer blends are the Berbere blend, an Ethiopian blend, and the Shawarma blend, an Eastern Mediterranean blend. The Berbere blend was created directly because customers requested it.

“There’s so many people from so many different places around the world, and there’s so many varieties of herbs in particular that are extremely localized,” Villa said. “They only grow in one little place and never leave that place.”

The recipe for the Jamaican jerk spice is an altered version of the family recipe of a man that used to live in Jamaica and became involved with The Spice House.

“The story that Tom and Patty, the owners, love to tell is how they tweaked this blend,” Kutka said. “Every Saturday, they were out in the alley cooking Jamaican chicken for people to sample. The overall consensus of what people liked best was what we ended up with. It is one of our most popular blends.”

Many politicians and local celebrities have walked through the doors of The Spice House. One of its most notable customers was Julia Child. She visited the store twice and contributed her recipe for the French Four and More blend, which was her take on a classic French seasoning.

The Spice House supplies a number of restaurants in the Milwaukee area. They also donate the coarse grind that comes from using the hammer mill to food pantries, churches and other charity organizations.

The Spice House’s dedication has transcended time. Food and Wine magazine declared it as one of the top eighteen spice stores in the world.

“You can’t find the quality and variety anywhere else that you will find here,” Kutka said.

Dietetics Food 2015 2015| |reMARK reMark

13

LOCAL FOODS

Rebecca Berkshire Head chef, Balzac

Milwaukee’s Women of Taste Words Natalie Guyette | Photos Natalie Guyette | Design Natalie Guyette

;Z

When you picture a chef, you might imagine a domineering male donning a white chef ’s coat, armed with a butcher’s knife, ready to dice, slice and mince anything in sight. Things have changed largely because of female chefs who believe women have a place not only in the domestic kitchen, but also the professional one. These three local female chefs are making their mark in the Milwaukee food scene.

14 Archesnews.com

Rebecca Berkshire is obsessed with food. She reads about it. She cooks it. She consumes it. Even her wardrobe reflects it. She wears a silver knife necklace during the interview.

Berkshire, head chef of Balzac, a restaurant and wine bar that strives to make elegance simple and accessible, started menu planning before she could even drive.

“I wrote menus for the whole family for the whole week, and before I was not old enough to have a driver’s license she [my mother] would drop me off at the store and let me do all of the shopping for the week,” Berkshire said. “That was a lot of creative control I had for being a young person.”

In addition to manning the kitchen at the restaurant and wine bar located just off Brady Street, Berkshire writes the menu and holds the title of general manager, for now. Berkshire will also be easing into the title of director at several other restaurants within the company.

As writer of the menu, she keeps herself up-todate on the latest food trends by reading blogs, cookbooks by famous chefs and cooking magazines. Noted favorites? Bon Appétit and Lucky Peach.

“Bon Appétit has a lot of the realistic trends, like ‘this is what people really are eating’… Lucky Peach is more cerebral,” Berkshire said. “It’s more about food culture and that’s a much different read.”

Her start in the industry came early, and not without perseverance. She started as a busser in high school at what was Heaven City, located in Mukwonago, which she describes as a “high-end restaurant that focused on Midwest cuisine before eating local was a thing.”

Heaven City was where Berkshire’s obsession for food began.

“After a couple of months there he [the head chef ] let me take shifts in the kitchen on Saturdays, for free,” Berkshire said. “I worked for free! I started peeling potatoes, odd cleaning jobs. It was kind of torturous. Then I’d go home, get cleaned up, come back, and bus for the rest of the night. I did that for a couple of months until he finally let me really get in the kitchen. Women weren’t really in the kitchen at that point either.”

From there she dabbled in the Milwaukee scene and tried her luck cooking in casinos in Las Vegas, where she said she got a taste of the corporate world, but didn’t like it. Then she moved to New Orleans for a bit, and eventually found her way back to Milwaukee.

Thoroughly immersed in the food-related world from the start, it seems only natural that Berkshire might eventually wonder if there was something else for her out there.

“I thought at one point I wanted a family and this was too much,” Berkshire said. “Too many hours and not flexible in the right kind of way. So I left and went

to beauty school. I knew within a week that I had made a mistake, but I stuck it out and finished school. I worked in a salon for six months to the day. I told myself I had to do it for six months …

I came straight back to the restaurants. I’m just kind of meant to be in this business.”

As a seasoned member of the industry, Berkshire notes several changes in the female-to-male ratio in the kitchen.

“When I started, women didn’t work in kitchens at all,” Berkshire said. “Now, there are a lot. I feel like that is something that is exciting. I have two women who work for me in the kitchen.

When I started, it was a lot harder for women to break into the scene as young women. It was man’s work. It’s nice to see the change, and not just lady cooks, but lady chefs. They are the ones in charge.”

When Berkshire isn’t found at Balzac crafting menus or dicing up food in the kitchen, she can be found skating for Milwaukee’s Brew City Bruisers, a local roller derby league. She said despite these two large commitments, she still makes time to cook for herself.

“I can cook here all day and I can go home and cook dinner,” Berkshire said. “Granted, I’ll probably be tired when I’m doing it, but it’s kind of an obsession. I don’t ever not think about it.”

Balzac 1716 N. Arlington Pl. 414.755.0099 balzacwinebar.com

Karen Bell Owner-chef, Bavette La Boucherie Karen Bell’s appreciation of the restaurant industry came as a result of experiencing restaurants as a child.

“I think before I fell in love with food I probably fell in love with restaurants, what they are and what they are capable of being to people,” Bell said. “And also the total experience you get when going out to eat. My family would go out to eat quite a bit when I was younger and I always enjoyed that experience.”

Bell is the owner of Bavette la Boucherie, a modern take on the traditional butcher shop, located in the Third Ward. She attended college at the University of Madison where she cooked lots of pasta and eventually decided to pursue an English degree.

After realizing that pursuit wasn’t going to hold her attention, Bell looked toward alternatives, remembering how much she enjoyed waitressing at 15 years old.

“What I thought it was that I really wanted to do was something with restaurants or food or maybe even catering,” Bell said. “I hadn’t really focused on it that much at that point … So I decided I would go to culinary school. The first day of school I knew that’s what I was going to do.”

Her post-graduation travels included, but are not limited to, Chicago, San Francisco and Spain, where she opened her own restaurant. Her current ideas on food are a reflection of her travels.

“I feel like my cooking is an influence of everywhere I’ve lived and been and that’s pretty diverse,” Bell said. “Whether you realize it or not, I think everything’s kind of an inspiration or influence on you. Just different flavor profiles, different ingredients, different techniques, you absorb it all.”

San Francisco’s thriving food culture, centered around seasonal vegetables and year-round farmer’s markets, offered her a vision of sustainability and the desire for fresh food. The time she spent in

Spain made traditional Spanish ingredients not only accessible but an easy reality.

While in Spain, Bell opened up Memento, where she served food made with many traditional Spanish ingredients, but prepared in her own style.

“I didn’t go [to Spain] with the intention of opening up a restaurant,” Bell said. “I was only going for a year, but a year turned into another and another and another. I’ve been the only woman cook in a lot of the restaurants I’ve cooked in in the states, but I didn’t feel it as much as I did in Spain … That was such a rare thing there to be a women restaurant owner, then also a chef, and an American.”

Back in Milwaukee, Bell channels a strong emphasis on sustainable practices and reducing waste in the food industry through Bavette. She noticed a lack of a consistent and reliable meat source in Milwaukee, outside of the seasonal farmer’s market offerings.

Bavette la Boucherie buys its meat in the form of whole animals from local farms to reinforce Bell’s values.

“If you’re in this industry, obviously the most important thing is that food tastes good,” Bell said. “…We also have a responsibility to be aware. I’m not telling people exactly how to eat, but if some fish is endangered I’m personally not going to serve it.”

In her cooking, Bell likes to keep things relatively simple, allowing ingredients to “speak for themselves” rather than veiling them with other sauces or fancy flavors.

“I value honesty and being true to oneself and I think that’s reflected in my food or food in general,” Bell said. “The way I cook comes from me.”

Bavette La Boucherie 330 E. Menomonee St. 414.273.3375 bavettelaboucherie.com

Food 2015 | reMARK

15

LOCAL FOODS Yollande Deacon Owner-chef, Irie Zulu Yollande Deacon has always sought out connections.

She decorated her new restaurant, Irie Zulu, located on 7237 W. North Ave. in Wauwatosa, very consciously, with pieces that have a purpose and a story.

“Every piece is meant to transport you somewhere,” Deacon said. “What I value is real art, real connection, something with a story, something of a significance.”

The lamp shades that hang from the ceiling are all made from kente, a prominent patterned cloth identifiable from Ghana. The essential African masks that hang on the east wall represent fertility, longevity, success and pride. The decor tells as much of a story as the food.

“People think pieces of art are just hanging in the living room and they don’t even know who made it or what it means,” Deacon said. “Everything here means something.”

Deacon was born into a family of restaurateurs in the mountains of Cameroon, West Africa. Her village, Mbouda, was a farming community.

“When you live close to nature, in that environment you’re automatically connected to the food,” Deacon said. “I always had a lot of passion for sustainability, good food, and agriculture because I was born on the farm.”

After coming to Milwaukee in 2001 to study business and finance at Marquette University, Deacon felt compelled to stay.

At Marquette she met a Jamaican student whose mother’s cooking was reminiscent of her own home, particularly the big meals she prepared on Sundays. Her initial arrival in Milwaukee was hard, but the Jamaican student, who later became her husband, made adjusting easier.

“I was so confused,” Deacon said. “He just said, ‘Oh, how can I help you?’ Then we never separated … He taught me English because I didn’t speak any English when I moved. He showed me the bus routes. He stayed up at night when I was catching the bus. He taught me how to drive.“ Irie Zulu is the name for the junction of Deacon’s own West African cooking and her husband’s Jamaican background.

16 14 Archesnews.com

Before opening the restaurant in early November, Deacon had been selling her Afrofusion product line of Jamaican and African spices on afrofusionbrands.com and in several retail stores.

“This product line and the food that I cook here is meant to establish a connection with people and tell them the story of my people on a plate,” Deacon said. “I value culture and that culture is expressed on the plate, in the decor.”

Deacon identifies with and supports neighborhood organizations that believe in real food as much as she does, like Victory Garden Initiative, Wellspring, Alice’s Garden and Walnut Way. When living in Africa, she spent summers at her grandparents’ home in another agricultural region of Cameroon called Mbanga. Her summers revolved around the growing, harvesting, selling and cooking of food, which influenced her appreciation for those who grow it.

“When I say I’m cooking, I’m really cooking – chopping vegetables, washing them, stewing them,” Deacon said. “Everything you’d eat here is real, living food that is harvested in our community as much as possible … Food that is touched by people who are passionate about their culture, just like my grandparents and myself.”

Though the American kitchen differs

greatly from the African kitchen in many ways, Deacon has found different means to blend the two. She comments on the efficiency of the blender versus her method of using a stone to grind. When making some of her soups, she still likes to grind several ingredients by hand because she said it “becomes very intimate.”

This reinstates her desire for a deep connection to food, earth and her culture, no matter the location.

“The tools change, but the flavor doesn’t,” Deacon said.

Irie Zulu 7237 W. North Ave. 414.509.614 afrofusionbrands.com or iriezulu.com

EAT LIKE A WISCONSINITE It’s not all about the cheese Words Christina Carayannopoulos | Design Brigit Kreienkamp

Wisconsin is not just the dairy state. Did you know it is also known for its vast supper clubs, weekly fish fries and bountiful cranberries? The state upholds these traditions that are just as important to its history as the dairy industry.

Supper Clubs Supper clubs are restaurants that offer a fine dining and social experience. They are often located on the outskirts of towns and only open for dinner. A person who has never been to supper clubs might associate them with older generations because of their history.

“In general they’re not very trendy places, many of them have been around for 60-70 years,” said Therese Oldenburg, founder of Wisconsin Supper Clubs, Inc. “It’s that quintessential dining experience with a white tablecloth and a candle on the table.”

Wisconsin has more than 340 supper clubs, according to Oldenburg. Wisconsin’s first supper clubs date back to the ‘20s, when they served as stopping points for gangsters during the prohibition. When prohibition ended, supper clubs were many of the first establishments to receive their liquor licenses, according to Wisconsin Supper Clubs, Inc. The cuisine often features chicken, prime rib, steak or fish, and most Wisconsin supper clubs are known to have an all-you-can-eat fish fry on Fridays. Supper clubs are also known for having relish trays brought to the table; they offer salad bars as well.

“It’s a place of tradition,” Oldenburg said. “You have your prime rib on Saturday and your fish fry on Friday.”

Fish Fry Fridays In the Christian tradition, Friday fish fries are often associated with Lent, but in Wisconsin, a fish fry is a weekly occurrence.

A standard fish fry meal in Wisconsin contains fried white fish, some form of potato, tartar sauce, cole slaw, a lemon wedge and either rye bread or a dinner roll.

“The key to a good fish fry is to find the right balance between tradition and personalization,” said Nick Scheeler,

executive chef at The Packing House, located at 900 E. Layton Ave. in Milwaukee.

The Packing House was voted as the best fish fry in the city by locals on WISN.com’s 2014 A-List. Scheeler said it’s “tradition” that sets its fish fry apart from its competitors.

“Our fish fry has utilized the exact same recipe for over 40 years with only very minor changes,” Scheeler said. “A good portion of our individual taste also comes from our dedication to making everything possible from scratch.”

Cranberries Wisconsin is also the number one cranberry harvesting state, producing more than 60 percent of the country’s crop, according to the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association. In fact, in 2004 the cranberry became the official state fruit of Wisconsin, according to Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center.

Cranberries are a naturally tart fruit, which might make them seem difficult to eat. Mary Brazeau Brown, president of Glacial Lake Cranberries, Inc. and owner of Honestly Cranberry LLC, countered this view.

“They’re tart and as a grower, I appreciate that true tart taste,” Brown said.

Honestly Cranberry was created out of that appreciation for the fruit. The company’s website, honestlycranberry. com, allows other cranberry lovers to purchase bags of dried cranberries with no sugar added.

Cranberries are typically associated with cranberry sauce, a timeless holiday tradition in American culture.

Brown said the holidays are the perfect time to incorporate the treasured fruit into seasonal meals. “I celebrate that,” Brown said.

Perhaps Wisconsin should be thankful year-round for its official regional fruit, which brings families together during the holiday season.

Food 2015 | reMARK

17

DIET

So You Forgot the Eggs Again?

Substitutions in a Pinch

Words Heather Briley-Schmidt | Design Brigit Kreienkamp

H

ave you ever started baking those vanilla cupcakes you have been saving in the back of your pantry for a rainy day and then realized halfway through that you don’t have eggs? No sweat, grab a can of diet soda and continue on your baking way (one can is equivalent to two eggs). Nothing should stop you from creating whatever masterpiece you desire, not even a missing ingredient. These substitutes will ensure that you will never go another night without your favorite dishes.

Note: Substitutions are designed to carry you through in a pinch. Results will be similar, but they will not work or taste exactly the same. Substitutions from Gwendolyn StohsKrause in her column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

18

Archesnews.com

=

T

1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar plus milk to make 1 cup

1 tablespoon corn starch

rn Co rch

Sta

=

2 tablespoons flour

Flour

T

T

1-1/4 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup liquid

=

1 cup buttermilk

T

T

1 cup honey

=

1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried herbs

t

1 tablespoon fresh herbs

What’s So Hot About Sriracha?

LOCALS DISH OUT THEIR TAKE ON THE SRIRACHA CRAZE Words Nhung Nguyen | Photos Nhung Nguyen | Design Dalas C. Xiong We see it in the oriental aisle at the grocery store. We see it on tables at Noodles & Company. It’s the clever packaging that catches our eye – the signature green cap against the clear bottle exposing a bold, rich red – a complementary color combination. The simple icon, lodged dead center on the bottle: a rooster.

Sriracha was originally made in Thailand. It debuted in the United States in 1983 after David Tran, owner of Huy Fong Foods, Inc., developed the flavors of this sauce to suit his personal taste.

According to Donna Lam, executive operations officer of Huy Fong Foods, Inc., Tran was born in the year of the rooster in Chinese astrology, hence the famous logo.

But what makes this hot sauce so popular? Two local experts from two different realms in the culinary world explained what they think is so hot about Sriracha.

A Gateway Drug Upon hearing the name Sriracha, Dan Jacobs, executive chef at Odd Duck, located at 2352 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in Bay View, let out a lively chuckle, reminiscing on his experiences with this fancy sauce while working in Chicago.

“I remember 10 years ago, working at restaurants, we were putting Sriracha with tuna tartrate, avocados and making coconut sorbet to go with it, to cool it down,” Jacobs said. “That was cutting edge in like, 2003.”

Now, he said he couldn’t fathom sending that out on a plate. Jacobs has been cooking since he was 19 and lately, he has been burnt out on the idea of Sriracha.

Jacobs’ style has evolved from cooking with Sriracha to experimenting with Sambal Oeleck, an Indonesian style, chunkier chili paste, also made from Huy Fong Foods.

Pork Katsudon Rice Bowl Pork Katsudon Rice Bowl

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Crispy Pork Belly

The above dishes from Odd Duck restaurant in Bay View contain Sambal Oeleck, a sauce similar to Sriracha that is made from a variety of chili peppers.

Food 2015 | reMARK 19

TRENDS

“It’s [Sriracha’s] kind of like a gateway drug,” Jacobs said.

“It introduces you to a slew of other things. It introduces you to Sambal or introduces you to Chinese fried garlic chili paste or fermented black bean chili paste.”

Sriracha has pushed Jacobs to infuse Asian flavors in with his traditional dishes. Some of the dishes on Odd Duck’s menu incorporate Sambal in the main entrees or sauces.

Dan Jacobs, executive chef at Odd Duck in Milwaukee, says Sriracha has inspired him to experiment with Asian flavors.

Chris Foley Line Cook, Hinterland Erie Street Gastropub “It [Sriracha] became popular when people put it on pizza.”

David Langella Barista, FSI at Mount Mary University “Not sure if you’re into the E-Cigarette thing, but they have hot sauce juice that people drip on their E-Cigs. It tastes hot and they have little Sriracha bottles for the juice.”

Rebekah Genich Dietetics major, Bartender at BelAir Cantina Tosa “I use it [Sriracha] on everything! I use Trader Joe’s brand because there’s no preservatives in it. A dead giveaway is refrigerate after opening [on the label], otherwise Sriracha lasts forever.”

Marie-Claire Nellis Fashion merchandise management major, Irish foreign exchange student at Mount Mary University “We use HP sauce [in Ireland] – it looks like barbecue sauce, but it’s not. We would have it sitting on the table beside ketchup.

It’s like brown sauce and peppery and sometimes you mix that into things.”

20 Archesnews.com

Just a Condiment

Although Jacobs is not actively using Sriracha in the cooking at Odd Duck, there is always one token bottle in-house for staff members to put on their food, in addition to the flavors that have already been established.

As for personal use, Jacobs keeps a bottle in his kitchen. Whether it be in egg foo young or on chicken nuggets, he uses Sriracha as a condiment.

“It’s like a squirt here or there,” Jacobs said. “It’s never a base for something. Sriracha mayo is still my favorite thing to dip French fries in.”

Chicken Brand Tony Kora, sushi chef at Rice n Roll, located at 1952 N. Farwell Ave. in Milwaukee, comes from a Thai background and is very familiar with the chili sauce.

“Sriracha is the name of a province in Thailand and the type of pepper that is grown there,” Kora said. “I’ve been eating it since I was a kid.”

Although there are many different kinds of Sriracha brands out there, the kind that most people recognize has the green cap and rooster from Huy Fong Foods.

According to Kora, the unique packaging is what made the product so popular.

“I call it the chicken brand,” Kora said. “This specific brand stands out by the way it is advertised.”

Kora started out in a New York City seafood restaurant in 2005. He moved to Chicago two years later and worked at a sushi restaurant. This inspired him to open Rice n Roll in February 2015.

The cuisine at Rice n Roll is a combination of Japanese and Thai cuisine. Kora and his team utilize

the resources they have to add notes of Thai flavors to the sushi that is served. They add Sriracha into some ingredients in the signature rolls and sauces at the restaurant.

Kora makes his own specialty house sauce that contains Sriracha and is served with the sushi or other Thai options.

“Six or seven years ago when I became a head chef, I wanted to come up with my own recipe of a hot sauce,” Kora said.

“My hot sauce is a little sweet with a spicy aftertaste. That is where the Sriracha comes in.”

Kora doesn’t use Sriracha directly in all his cooking but adds it to tuna, which is present in some appetizers and spicy tuna rolls. He also uses the chili sauce to top off sushi rolls when customers want the extra heat.

Tony Kora, sushi chef at Rice n Roll in Milwaukee, uses Sriracha in his sushi rolls.

Stuffed Avocado

Spicy Tuna (left) and Call Me Crazy (right)

Food 2015 | reMARK

21

TRENDS

Put a

Lid on it!

Meals for Your Busiest Semester

Words Chloe Seeger | Photos Sophie Beck | Design Emily Chapman

The fast-paced lifestyle that many people have today has created a demand for cheap, simple meal choices. Many turn to fast food, which is high-calorie with large portions. Mason jar meals can take the added stress of “what to eat?” and turn it into a fresh, modifiable opportunity.

Mason jar meals range from savory to sweet and can be assembled in many different ways.

Start with a clean, glass Mason jar.

Wide-mouth jars are easier to fill and empty. An 8-ounce jar is closer to a snack portion or a small meal. The next size is a pint, or 16-ounce jar, which holds enough food for a big meal. The quart or 32-ounce jar would be the biggest meal size.

Many of these snacks or meals can be made by substituting ingredients, utilizing leftovers or even using up things in the fridge or pantry.

How to Make a Mason Jar Meal Layer the mason jar from wet to dry so the dry ingredients stay crisp and not soggy.

• Start with dressings, vinaigrette or salsa on the bottom.

• Then layer the next wettest ingredient, like cucumbers or olives.

• Next comes the dryer elements, like cherry tomatoes or sliced turkey.

• Keep the dryer ingredients, like lettuce or croutons, on top.

Jar meals are made at home but can be taken many places. Made for traveling, the jars can go from work to school. Be cautious of the things that need to remain refrigerated when taking them on the go.

Because the jar is glass, there is no need to microwave plastic. The glass jars are dishwasher safe, stackable, and not to mention inexpensive. Jars average 79 cents per 12-ounce jar from Farm and Fleet.

Benefits of Mason Jar Meals There are many benefits to making Mason jar meals, including: • Since you can make the meals ahead of time and store them in the jar, there is less morning hustle with this method, which prevents last-minute drive-through trips when it is meal time.

• Portions are easier to control and manage when you are making and personalizing your own meals.

• Mason jar meals are convenient: After large, nightly meals, the leftovers can be layered in the jars, stored in the refrigerator, and reheated in the microwave or convection oven the next day.

22

Archesnews.com

Make a Mason Jar

Masterpiece

Romaine Lettuce

Alfalfa Sprouts

Sunflower Seeds Celery Sticks

Carrot Sticks Snap Peas

Banana Peppers

Grape Tomatoes

Cucumbers Ranch Dressing Scan here for Mason jar meal recipes.

Food 2015 | reMARK

23

e v i t a e r C s k r o W ign

Des

S

ie oph

k

Bec

This section is where we feature your work.

We accept artwork, photography, poetry and short prose. We are giving a voice to the student body of Mount Mary University.

Memoir Daddy’s Little Girl

S

unflower seeds. This simple ballpark snack may not seem significant, but the seeds bring back my earliest memories of my dad. Dad played on a softball team from 1999 to 2007, and I was at every game. I would take handfuls of the salty seeds and stuff my cheeks until I resembled a chipmunk. We shared seeds of all flavors: original, ranch, dill pickle, barbeque, and even bacon. I was able to keep a softball scorebook before I learned to write in cursive. When I was four years old and chewing seeds, I would sit in the dugout and look up at my daddy. I knew that one day I would be just like him. I grew up in the ballpark with my dad, and we grew closer with each seed we spit.

Barbeque sauce. Many people love it, but I do not. The next culinary phase, that thankfully did not last long, was that of barbeque sauce. When I was about thirteen, my dad discovered this new fad. I may have been in a rebellious stage, but I still wanted to be just like my daddy, so I faked my way through the year of barbeque sauce. Grilled chicken and hamburgers have always been our favorite meals; this was tested when Dad began using the dreaded sauce. He would douse our sandwiches with its thick, dark, unpleasantness. I would stare at my food with a dull smile and tell him how great it was.

Barbeque sauce proved how much I wanted to be like my daddy.

Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. The best phase by far was that of hot sauce. Shortly after the year of barbeque sauce, we discovered the most wonderful thing on the planet: Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. The company slogan is “We put that on everything!” This is the literal truth for my dad and me. We put the sauce on chicken, pizza, pasta, eggs, casserole, and anything we came across. Grilled chicken was always our favorite. The fresh chicken breast, when put on the grill, made the most amazing sizzle. The juices hissed and called out “eat me, eat me!” as they cooked. A giant glob of Frank’s was then dripped across the entirety of the breast. When the chicken was perfectly tender, it was time to eat. Dad has always been right: “Eating is the best part of the day.” Hot sauce was the bond between my father and me for so many years, even when I was a very rebellious teenager. No matter how often we get under each other’s skin we always come together to eat and add a drop of Frank’s.

Culinary milestones have kept Daddy and his little girl so close. From savory seeds to barbeque fakelove to obsession with hot sauce: an unbreakable bond has been formed. I am Daddy’s little girl.

24

Archesnews.com

Payton Hintz

Payton Hintz is majoring in graphic design and minoring in writing for new media.

She is on the volleyball and softball teams at Mount Mary.

She grew up in the rural farm town of Almond, Wisconsin.

She has a strong relationship with her family, especially with her dad. He is her inspiration for this piece.

CREATIVE WORKS

Sister T

Tea Packaging Design for Mount Mary Homecoming 2014

Lauren Wiech (artist of Sister T & Ketchup or Mustard)

Lauren Wiech is currently in her third year working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree in graphic design with a minor in fine art. She said she evolves as a person as her work progresses. She stylistically loves hand-drawn graphics and Adobe Illustrator is her favorite design program.

Ketchup or Mustard

Graphic Panel for Food, Literature and Popular Culture class

Food 2015 | reMARK

25

PERSPECTIVES

Eat to Savor

Wolf Peach Challenges Diners to Slow Down and Think About Food Words Brittany Seemuth | Photo Sophie Beck | Design Sophie Beck

Seared duck breast with gnocchi, parsnip, apple-pork rind crumble and an apple cider gastrique.

26

Archesnews.com

W

ith a name like Wolf Peach, prospective diners are lured into the restaurant. From the restaurant’s interior, views of the Milwaukee city line can be seen that would make any native proud and any outsider wish she had grown up here.

The first few words out of our waiter’s mouth were “the pork from tonight’s special is from the chef ’s family’s farm.”

I was sold on Wolf Peach.

To start, my guest and I ordered an item under “Breads + Spreads.” This was sourdough bruschetta with a layer of goat cheese, raw and roasted beets, and drizzled with dill oil. The goat cheese and beets contrasted one another, yet created a perfect earthy taste.

Next we ordered an item under the “Fish” portion of the menu. This was smoked rushing waters trout, mizuna (a Japanese mustard green), honeycomb, radish, a deep-fried baguette and coal-roasted lemon puree. This item is dairy-free and comes out looking like a salad more than a fish dish.

This is when I realized the implied challenge that Wolf Peach presents to the diner: control your own bite. The restaurant’s challenge to the diner is to think about food and the flavors of each bite. This is because you are not plated a heaping pile of food; instead, each key element of the dish is separated on the plate, forcing you to think about what you want on your palate. In this dish, the honeycomb was isolated from the fish and greens, so you choose the ratio of honey to fish and to greens.

Who would have thought honey pairs well with fish? The honey in this dish balances the flavor of the trout perfectly. The pepper was also a nice element, cutting through some of the noise of the honey and wild fish.

For the main course, we ordered under the “Meat” portion of the menu: Seared duck breast with gnocchi, parsnip, apple-pork rind crumble and finished in an apple cider gastrique. The duck was amazing, although the gnocchi seemed overcooked. I think gnocchi should have a slight bite to it, but my dining companion mistook the gnocchi for mashed potatoes. The gnocchi did not make or break the dish though – the duck was perfectly cooked.

Wolf Peach is located in Brewer’s Hill, which is one of two residential areas from Milwaukee’s original settlement in the 1830s. The area is modern, yet has a quaint feel. It is described on the National Registrar as “ … the most remarkable assemblage of architecture of its type remaining from Milwaukee’s early years,” so you should visit the area if you have not already – it’s quite remarkable.

As I walked into Wolf Peach, my attention was divided twice

by the chandeliers and atmosphere – at one table there was a family with three young children celebrating the mother’s birthday and at another, two women in their early 20s having cocktails. This is a place where diverse age groups gather under one roof to dine, separated by tables, united by food.

According to the menu, tomatoes were once the “poor man’s food” of Europe because the acid in tomatoes reacted with the pewter aristocrats dined on. This caused lead poisoning. Peasants ate on wooden plates so they were not affected by this reaction.

In European folklore, it is said witches used tomatoes to conjure werewolves. The Latin genus name for wild tomatoes is Lycopersicon, meaning “Wolf Peach.” The restaurant “pays homage to rustic European cuisine that draws inspiration from regional ingredients.”

Instead of dividing the meal up by courses like the typical service style of restaurants, Wolf Peach’s style is called “como viene,” meaning, “as it comes.” As soon as a dish has been cooked, it comes out. It does not sit under heat lamps, waiting for the diner to complete a soup course. This is done to ensure the dishes are as fresh as possible.

I find that many people eat with little enjoyment. As a college student, sometimes I have to force myself to sit at a table for 15 minutes to eat, not on my laptop responding to emails, and not consuming a microwaveable meal. Wolf Peach gives the diner this challenge: Eat to savor. When you think about each bite you take and understand that it is coming to you from local farms and purveyors, well, I can’t think of a better way to eat than that. We all should do that more.

Photos on this page provided by Wolf Peach.

Food 2015 | reMARK

27

PERSPECTIVES

The Relationship You Never Realized You HAD Words Samantha Mandich | Design Dalas C. Xiong In today’s society, it seems as though there are more diet fads than there are fashion fads with all of the detoxes, Weight Watchers, and the South Beach Diet.

I know people who go through diets on a weekly basis. On Monday they are on an allliquid diet and by Friday they have switched to eating for their blood type.

Society has instilled in people’s minds that there is a certain way to look and there is a “magic” way to achieve that look. Many of these ways are dangerous and unhealthy because most people are so eager to get this desired look in the shortest amount of time possible.

We live in a world that is ruled by food, whether we are eating too much of it or not enough. Powerful women in society are not judged on what they have accomplished, but by how they look, how much they weigh, whether or not they have gained or lost weight recently, or what they have done to enact such changes.

As a fashion major and enthusiast, I have witnessed first-hand the way that the industry can so strongly affect a person’s relationship with food. Models, especially runway or high fashion, are known for being stick skinny and if they are not up to the standards of the certain designer or photographer, they won’t get jobs.

Agencies will openly tell a model that she is not skinny enough and needs to lose weight, which only increases the number of people who have an unhealthy relationship with food.

Eating disorders are becoming increasingly common: According to the National Eating Disorders Organization, 30 million people suffer from eating disorders in the United States – 20 million women and 10 million men.

The organization states on its website, “By age 6, girls especially start to express concerns about

28

Archesnews.com

their own weight or shape. Forty to 60 percent of elementary school girls (ages 6-12) are concerned about their weight or about becoming too fat. This concern endures through life.”

This statistic is a horrifying realization that we live in a society where at such a young age, individuals are already concerned with their food intake and body image.

Personally, I have struggled with my body image for a very long time. Lacking in the chest area, a little extra in the thighs and stomach, I always felt out of proportion. I’ve tried certain workouts, diets and cleanses.

Like so many others, I let food rule my life by counting calories, taking diet supplement pills, or eating whatever was the new popular healthy food. I don’t think I understood my body until I fully understood food.

What tastes the best is usually what is unhealthy for you. Things like fast food, candy and junk food – they are all convenient and delicious, but end up leaving you more hungry and less energetic.

I realized that I didn’t have to rule out all bad foods, I just had to portion them and limit myself. I found as many foods that I could that were good for me and that I enjoy, and mix them in with a little of the more unhealthy things that I craved. After exploring new recipes and new foods, I discovered things I loved, like hummus and Greek yogurt, that were nutritious and also changed my mentality that unhealthy has to taste better than healthy.

I think it is most important to set realistic goals for yourself and learn to love your body.

Don’t go on diets that you know you will not be able to stick to, especially ones that are bad for your health or you don’t enjoy. Find a routine involving exercise and food choice that will work for you and really benefit you in a positive way. This is how I realized that having a healthy and loving relationship with food is the first step to having a healthy and loving relationship with your body.

Horsin’ Around Mindful Eating, Mindful Feeding Are Americans passing their bad eating habits onto animals?

Words Shannon Venegas | Design Dalas C. Xiong

When I picture a happy horse, I often imagine one grazing in a lush, green pasture. We see that all the time, don’t we? Almost every horse picture on a wall or scene in a calendar shows a shiny horse with black-painted Kentucky fencing in a pasture full of grass.

I used to think lots of grass was the best thing for my horse. However, the horse industry is seeing a rise in metabolic issues in horses and laminitis, an inflammatory disease commonly found in horses, and some of it has to do with this insistence by so many horse owners to feed their horses loads of rich alfalfa hay, pasture and grain. They think it makes their horse happy, but sometimes it just ends in severe, or even fatal, illnesses.

My vet once asked me, “How do you think horses once survived? It was on stray grass and weeds and whatever they could find. They weren’t used to eating such lush grass.”

And isn’t the same thing happening with us?

I often study in Parkway Place, and I listen to all of the ordered items called out by the cook: chicken fingers, specialty fries, chicken fingers with specialty fries, wings, pizza, more chicken fingers.

And it’s not just at the Mount Mary grill. Take every county or state fair in the country, for example. Us Americans, and especially us Midwesterners, love

to deep-fry everything. We fry every vegetable under the sun, Oreos, Snicker bars and even slabs of butter.

While these fried-food items are something we claim to be proud of, I can only imagine what they are doing to our bodies. Just as too much rich grass can affect a horse, the same is true with rich, fattening food for Americans.

Sometimes I wonder how we arrived on this greasy, slippery slope. How did we progress from a farming-based nation that subsisted on whole grains, local meats and fruits and veggies to a nation that lives on fast food, easy-tomake dinners and processed food?

Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken was born in 1890, so you could start there. Or you could go back to the 1830s when French fries became popular in Europe. Or, speed up to the birth of McDonald’s in 1940. Somewhere along the way, we veered off the healthy path and deep into the thick woods of clogged arteries and cholesterol problems.

I will not claim to be exempt from this. I love my veggies and cheese fried — it’s the best way to have them. At least, I love them when I am eating them. Then, as the grease starts to settle into the lining of my digestive tract, I vow I will stop this self-destructive path of eating. I promise myself that I will go on a cleansing diet and start to shop and eat healthier. That is until I get

home and dig into the chocolate chip cookies, and the problem starts all over again.

According to the World Health Organization website, the United States is not the most obese country in the world, but it’s near the top, with 33.7 percent of Americans over the age of 18 who are obese. In addition, 67.3 percent are considered overweight. This is a pretty scary statistic. This isn’t just something that affects a small percentage of people, and this number doesn’t even include children.

I bet if you did a survey of the horses in the U.S., you would find similar numbers. I was in Mexico recently, and I thought the horses looked a bit on the thin side. The truth of it was, though, there were no ribs showing — they weren’t skinny. I was just so used to seeing the overweight horses in the U.S. that they looked thin to me.

I think what it all comes down to is limiting our indulgence, or, if you want to get biblical, our gluttony. Whenever I feel like stopping for food or a “treat,” I ask myself, am I really hungry or do I just feel like eating? This is the only way I can start to feel better, both physically and mentally. Call it a sort of body cleansing, something many of us could probably use.

Food 2015 | reMARK

29

Mount Mary University archesnews.com