Return to productivity

After a rather long hiatus, ethni-city, Milwaukee is back with a vengeance! The mission of this blog, so to speak, is to inform people and further incite them to experience things in their own city that they may not necessarily think would be interesting, but finally, are. The next few posts will be on businesses in the Silver City neighborhood, namely the area on National Ave. between 31st and 39th streets in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.



The neighborhood is under the jurisdiction of the Layton Boulevard West Neighbors Association, who is doing some really great work. To read about their projects, please go to http://www.lbwn.org.

Enjoy the next few posts and please feel free to comment on things you find interesting, odd, normal, intelligent, dumb, insulting, complimentary or any other adjective you should think of whilst perusing these pages.

Happy reading!

-Brett

Wild foods in urbania? Wild Grapes and Chicory

Just adjacent to my current neighborhood, Silver City, I have come upon small portions of vine, which I know to be wild grapes. The leaves cannot be mistaken, with their three separate points, the middle one higher than the two flanking it on either side. The deep purple, almost black berries grow in small bunches, and like the domesticated larger concords, often hide under a layer of leaves, so that, in order to find them, one must poke and prod. It’s really a shame, however, that I am extremely loath to eat these, since the part of the city in which I live has been an industrial wasteland for so long. Many are the chemicals that have probably leached into the groundwater and thus polluted any of the plants that have come to depend on this water. One has to wonder how many families could be fed just by wild plants alone, were the city not so polluted.


The very fact that so many dandelions and plantain plants have been poisoned by weed killer and that so much car exhaust settles on the leaves seems to make this a moot point. Too, bad, though, because these greens are extremely rich in vitamin A and protein, much like spinach. The grapes are rich in vitamin C.

There are two herbs known to dwell in urban areas that make wonderful tea: gill-over-the-ground and yarrow. In addition to these is the ubiquitous chicory. With its pale-blue flower, there is so much of it that this could constitute an industry in itself in the Menomonee Valley.

One day this summer, on my way back from biking, as I rode along the almost abandoned industrial throughway from 6th St. to the Pick and Save on 19th and National, I decided to stop and pick some of this root, well-known especially in Louisiana. The road workers may have thought I looked pretty strange, but I didn't mind.

It took some work, but I finally pulled up enough of the stubborn taproots to make one tiny cup of chicory. Home I went with the roots peeking out of my tan shoulder bag. I washed them and cut off the endings. I roasted them in the oven at 350° until they were a rich dark brown. I cooled them off and then ground them in a standard hand-held coffee grinder. I decided to make the chicory in my one-cup Italian stove-top espresso maker. I mixed it with some soy milk. It was delicious! It has a smoky flavor that does bare some resemblance to coffee. Of course, it is the roasting that creates the taste. Dandelion roots can be put through the same process.

The fact that this drink seems to bring to the mind and palate the flavor of Americas’ favorite upper has to do with the fact that we are extremely overzealous with the roasting of our beans. Anything liquid burnt tastes like coffee. In fact, the coffee known as Ethiopian Sidamo contains a very brazen blueberry note, when the bean is not roasted for so long and at so high a temperature that the subtleties of the bean are lost. Many coffee beans from Central America are known for their citrus notes and an espresso I drink regularly (The National Café on 9th and National) is supposed to evoke not only Merlot, but chocolate and fruit. Now, not everyone will smell these with their “pif”- the French word for a nose that knows-, but we can all appreciate taste and smell if we concentrate on these senses that, along with listening, are very often lacking nuanced distinctions in our society. We’re all too quick to assume that we should just wolf down our food and drink to achieve the result (satiety and quenched thirst). Unfortunately, but for a growing minority, we are all product and no process.

Wild foods

At one time, we lived in a government-subsidized townhouse on the edge of the city of East Moline, Illinois. Because it was a new development, there were woods directly behind almost every outer row of homes. This was a boon for children who spent much time outdoors, as we all did for lack of anything else to do. I was one of these.

I spent many hours in the summertime traipsing through fallen tree trunks and small streams, giving way to yet another outlet for my culinary curiosity. At the tender age of ten, I clearly and distinctly remember the moment when my mother brought me to the bookstore to buy a copy of the Audubon Guide to Wild Edible Plants. The rich photos in the middle of the book had grabbed my attention, and I had to have it. Anyway, I had already seen some of the plants in the book, and wanted to know more.

From an adult perspective, it really seems unsafe at the very least that my mother allowed me to cavort in the woods alone, knowing fully that I was in search of edibles, and that some could be poison. I survived, very obviously, since this is not being written posthumously. I soon after acquired a copy of Stalking the Wild Asparagus, by the famous and much revered wild foods expert Ewell Gibbons. (I just recently read a short biography of this man, and it appears that part of his fascination with wild edible plants came from his own stint under the same watchful eye of poverty that kept watch over me when I was young.)

In the winter time there was a sledding hill that every child had descended at one time or another (against the warnings of all adults). At the bottom of this hill was a chain-link fence, and beyond was a stream. In the summer, the stream was full of cattails. I had read in the books that cattails were the wild equivalent to corn on the cob. Since I adored this vegetable, how could I not taste this plant growing so abundantly in such close proximity to our home?

I slowly climbed down the steep incline, slipping and sliding on the bare patches of dirt between what I had thought were groundnut plants, but in actuality were rue. Finally arrived at the bottom, straining to reach over the chain-link, I snipped a good ten cattails, still green and tender. I climbed back up the hill and crossed the street to our abode. I do not remember my mother objecting, so she may have been upstairs. I carefully followed the directions in the book, and snipping off the extra stem, I washed and boiled the spikes. When they were tender, I lifted them out of the pot, and dowsing them with salt and slathering them butter, bit into one. It was delicious. Everything in my mind wants me to remember a nutty overtone, with a texture quite unlike anything I had eaten previous. I cannot be certain of the accuracy of my souvenir. I should like to try them again some time.

Rural coffee shops? More than just for cows...

I am aware that the title of this blog implies exclusivity given to the region of Milwaukee, but I just had to write about the thriving coffee shops of the area where I sort of, well, grew up (cognitively that is, since I only lived there for 4 years).

Yesterday, I decided to get into the car and make the 3-hour drive to Lancaster, WI. You may be curious to know how a Jew ends up in Lancaster. Well, this is for another time and another place; I will just say that my mother ended up there, and that is where I go to visit her, shaking off my urban (is Milwaukee so urban?) coat and donning an eerie rural exterior that brings back memories long ago stored in the lower pyramidial tracts of my gray matter. In other words, I haven’t thought about this stuff for quite a while. It’s extremely Proustian to be here.

In any case, every city dweller knows that there is access to coffee at almost any moment, holiday or not. This has not always been the case for the denizen of the small town. My memories of coffee as a high school student in Platteville, WI, boil down (nice pun...) to a black plastic pitcher with free refills of dirty, brownish water, sometimes only made stronger tasting by the injection of carbon caused by some negligent person who didn’t think to take the carafe off the burner. This was coffee. The highly caffeinated robusta beans charged us with some sort of wonderful euphoria, then the cramps set in.
These days, there ARE coffee shops in small towns. The words coffee an shop, when put together, used to evoke danishes and coffee cake in metal and plastic containers on the counter and 5-cent lunches. To those in Amsterdam, it is code for another establishment type... Today, I can happily relate that there is actual espresso being served in these places. It may not be ideal, but it tastes stronger than the coffee anywhere else. There is even Wi-Fi as an added bonus.

At the very moment I am writing this, I am comfortably anchored to a chair at the Badger Brothers Coffee, on Main Street in Platteville, WI. It's a very relaxed place, with music from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" playing softly in the background and one or two customers busily typing on their laptops. The interior has been painted a light chocolate-caramel color and the tables and chairs,as well as the floor, are wood. There are "antique" computers on shelves, used only as decor (one happens to be an Apple IIe, I think). Every time a customer enters, the owner calls out their name, making it known that this is a community that invests time in each other. It's quite a place. Now, of course, I don't get the impression that being in a hurry would go over very well, but then again, that's not the pace of life around here.
Badger Brothers Coffee, LLC

Baby Bok Choy and Unicorn Meat

My favorite meal to make when my other is not in the house is one of the simplest concoctions I have the good fortune to eat.

I go to the Asian International Market on 34th St. and National Ave. in Milwaukee’s Silver City neighborhood. The couple who own it are from Laos and have taken it over from the current owner of Thai Barbecue, a restaurant right next door.

This small, intimate grocery has quite the selection of comestibles from Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, reflecting the cultures of the people who shop there. At the very front of the store, across from the cashier, are pre-made dishes in plastic containers, perfect for a quick lunch on the go, or for taking home to heat up in the microwave. There are also sweets, like the steamed sweet coconut rice wrapped in banana leaves and deep-fried sesame balls. Near these treats is a large assortment of candy from various Asian countries, including Japan.

Behind the cashier you can find beauty and health products from Thailand, and on the same wall, toward the back of the store, is a refrigerated section containing drinks (various cans of iced coffee, coconut juices and others to tantalize your palate). In this section you can also find tofu, and at a reasonable price.

As you forge ahead, you find fish sauce, soy sauce, hot sauce (of course the famous sriracha and its generic equivalents) and other bottled goods. There are canned exotic fruits and in the very back of the first part of the store are frozen fish, seafood, and even giant water bugs, favorites in parts of Thailand, deep fried and served with sauce. Right in front of this second refrigerated unit, you will find tea and coffee.

If you are looking for fresh produce, you can go to the second room of the store. There you will not only find aromatics like mint, galangal and cilantro, but green mangoes, all kinds of greens and even congealed pork blood. Incidentally, this is the section of the store to find rice products such as spring roll skins and different kinds of rice (jasmine, etc.).

Once you have explored this place, you can stroll in confidently and buy the things you need.

As I wrote above, my favorite dish to make is extremely simple and you may find all of the ingredients at the Asian International Market.

Tofu and baby bok choy stir fry
Serves 1-2 people

Ingredients:
- 3 Thai chilis, fresh or frozen, chopped (I find that buying a full package of them and freezing it after using what I need works very well. You can keep them in the freezer for a long time and just use two or three every so often)
- a scant ¼ cup of soy sauce
- a scant ¼ cup of seasoned rice vinegar
- ½ tsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp very thin ginger batons (more if you love ginger)
- 4 or 5 bunches baby bok choy, end cut off and chopped or any bitter green (winter cress, etc.)
- extra firm tofu cut into strips 2 inches long, one inch wide and ½ inch deep (about 10 strips)
- 1 tsp sesame or peanut oil for frying
- one cup jasmine long grain rice
- 1 and ¾ cups water

1. Start rice in rice cooker. Pour rice in with water and turn on cooker.

2. Make the sauce:
Put the chilis, soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar and ginger together in a medium glass bowl and whisk well. Taste to make sure the sauce fits your palate. Some people like it saltier and some more with a vinegar taste. Still others like more sugar and less chili, etc.

3. Prep the baby bok choy and soak in water in a big bowl.

4. Heat non-stick deep rim frying pan with the oil on medium-high heat. Make sure that the oil is hot before putting in the tofu.

5. While the pan is heating, dry the tofu with paper towel to make sure that all of the moisture is gone, otherwise it the oil will splatter.

6. Fry the tofu, making sure to brown both sides (about 3 minutes or so on each side).
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7. Drain the bok choy and use salad spinner to take away remaining moisture.

8. When tofu is ready, pour in bok choy and shake pan a bit to mix around the tofu and the bok choy.

9. Pour in sauce and mix thoroughly. Fry for another 3 minutes on the same medium high heat.

10. Transfer tofu and greens immediately to medium bowl and leave sauce in the pan.

11. When rice is done, let sit for 3 minutes so that it becomes a bit sticky, then serve tofu and bok choy over rice. Season with hot sauce if desired.

This is a very versatile recipe. I have used collard greens, Chinese broccoli, carrots, and cabbage. I have served it over rice vermicelli, as well. Try it and see what you can come up with.

For dessert, I will sometimes buy a tricolor (coconut milk, various jellied shapes made of agar-agar, and taro). You can find this in the refrigerator at the front of the first room at the Asian International Market.

Milwaukee's Asian Markets

The next few posts on this new blog will be descriptions of certain of my favorite Asian markets in Milwaukee. Always good for an experience that will make you forget you're in the US, these markets also provide great value for foodstuffs that are available at places like Whole Foods, Metro Market and Sendiks for at least half the price. You may argue that it takes more gas to get there, depending on where you live... That may be true, but if you stock up, you'll save and get to know your city!
-B

Paht Chee and the jamboree

Once we were past the border, it was time for the exploration we had been so eager to experience. The first vendor we encountered was a Mexican juice stand. Now, we were just not thirsty, but the thought of returning some time during our tenure here was not out of the range of possibility. We marched apprehensively on.

The festive qualities of this place reminded me of an open air market in any of the number of countries I had been to in my travels, but with a complete air of American 'flair', if one can use this word to describe what I was experiencing. Americans know how to take something completely universal and make it into something that only smacks of fried food and baseball caps. This place was truly the most melted pot I had been to in a long time, with the exception of maybe NYC.


Walking in and out of the jam-packed aisles of what some would call junk (of course not me), it occurred to us that interviewing the people that make this place magic might be of some interest. After all, the merchandise was really not what made the atmosphere; it was the people selling it. We met a woman that sold perfume, who told us with some kind of irony that she only did this when she wasn't on duty as a health inspector for the city of Chicago: we weren't quite sure what to make of that. In addition to this hawker of cheap scents, we met two people who would then become the subject of this posting: Gina Alenas and her husband, Alex DeJesus.

Gina and Alex came to the US separately from the Philippines and met in Chicago in the 80s. After marrying, they embarked on the adventure that one might call the American dream: they began selling Asian merchandise at the Fair. Gina was the more verbose one, telling us that on top of selling statues and bamboo, she is also an expert in Paht Chee and Feng Shui, and that if we knew of any way to help her business, she would appreciate it. She also recounted with enthusiasm her plans to open a Feng Shui consulting business in Milwaukee on Vliet St., around the corner from the Times Theater. If you're in the neighborhood, you may want to check it out to see if she's there yet. We could all use a bit of advice when it comes to arranging our living quarters. If interested, her booth number at the Fair is #776 and her phone number for Feng Shui consulting is 224- 650-0513. You can see more of her wares at http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Feng-Shui-by-Alena__W0QQ_armrsZ1.


After our in-depth conversation with Gina, we did indeed return to the Mexican Juice stand and have a jamaica.
This drink made from the hibiscus flower is extremely refreshing and can be made easily at home. The flowers can be bought at El Rey markets everywhere in Milwaukee. Indeed, this was a great end to a great day!