Dishing with Stephanie's Dish

Stephanie Hansen - @StephaniesDish
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I talk with Cookbook authors and Makers obsessed with food stephaniehansen.substack.com

  1. 4d ago

    Crafting Cocktails and Connection with Emily Vikre

    In this episode, Stephanie Hansen chats with Emily Vikre, owner of Vikre Distillery and author of the new book Cabin Cocktails. Emily shares insights into her journey as a cookbook writer and distiller. The Art of Cocktail Creation Emily’s fourth book, Cabin Cocktails, features 70 seasonal cocktails, including mocktails, that celebrate the beauty of outdoor experiences. She reflects on how intuitive cooking differs from the precision required in cocktail making: “I do find cooking recipes hard to write down for me. Especially because as a cook, I’m very intuitive... I go by those sensory inputs.” Emily emphasizes that while cooking can be forgiving, cocktails require strict adherence to measurements for the best results. “Cocktails can be very unforgiving if you don’t have a good recipe and if you don’t follow it,” she explains. Sense of Place The conversation moves into the heart of what makes Vikre Distillery unique: the water sourced from Lake Superior. Emily discusses how this element influences the flavor and character of her spirits on this week’s “Dishing With Stephanie’s Dish” Podcast. Stephanie Hansen (00:01.038) Hello everybody and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish, the podcast where we talk to people in the food space. And today I am here with Emily Vikre. And she is the owner of Vikre Distillery up in Duluth and also makes a whole host of beautiful, beautiful spirits. I’m a big fan. But Emily also is a cookbook writer. And in her case, she has written this is your fourth book, isn’t it? Stephanie Hansen's @StephaniesDish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Emily (00:31.574) Yes, it is. Yeah. Stephanie Hansen (00:33.814) Okay, four books and four cookbooks in particular is pretty amazing. This last book is called Cabin Cocktails, and it has 70 seasonal cocktails for year-round drinks, and there’s mocktails too, I want to point out, because a lot of people are looking for mocktail options. I’m curious, you’ve had so many books. So you I’m just gonna kind of go through your canon here. You have Camp Cocktails, which was a great book and is Emily (00:47.984) Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Emily (00:59.738) Yeah. Mm-hmm. Stephanie Hansen (01:04.03) still sold all over. It’s usually a lot of places where the True North Cabin cookbook is. We’re right next to each other, which yeah, I love. And then Cabin Cocktails, which is the new book. Then you have On the Trail, which was a new camp cookbook about easy-to-pack meals, kind of more about like taking your family actually camping and how to orchestrate that. And that book was great. And then you have another book called Fireside Warmers that had drinks. Emily (01:09.166) Yes, right. All those outdoorsy places. Emily (01:24.988) Mm. Yeah. Stephanie Hansen (01:33.354) Sweets. So you’ve done both cocktails, and you’ve done food books. Is one easier for you than the other? Emily (01:38.811) Yes. Ooh, that’s a great question. both things are things that I think cut like kind of come naturally to me to talk about, to storytell about, to develop recipes for. So in that way, one isn’t necessarily harder than the other. But I will say I do find like cooking recipes hard to write down for me. Especially because as a cook, I’m very like intuitive in my cooking. And when I’m cooking for myself or my family, I don’t measure anything, I don’t time anything. I go by those like sensory inputs. And so it’s hard then when you’re writing a cookbook to really slow yourself down and say, okay, how much did I use here? Check my time, how long did that go for? Give it to other people to test it. and because my Cookbooks right now have really been more about outdoor cooking and camping cooking, which isn’t even like the bulk of the cooking I do, but it is something that I enjoy. There is a whole part where you have to give that sensory feedback anyway, because everybody’s fires fires a little bit wild. So you have to learn to work with it. and then conversely for cocktails, I treat it much more like baking, where very precise. I’m measuring everything and so what those ones I have like the recipes kind of already dialed and written in a format that works for a cookbook already more easily. and this most recent book, yeah, just flowed. Stephanie Hansen (03:11.414) It’s funny that your your description of this whole thing is the exact reason why I have a hard time writing cocktails. Cause I feel like it’s so much easier to write a recipe than and you get like, you know, different flavor profiles and you know Emily (03:20.228) Mm-hmm, interesting. Stephanie Hansen (03:32.042) salt to taste, like okay. But like with cocktails, the level of sweet, the level of acid, the level of sour, the level of bitter feels so much more precise, just like baking to me. Emily (03:43.109) Yes, right. Cocktails can be very unforgiving if you don’t have if you haven’t developed a good recipe and if you don’t follow the recipe for sure. And you know, when people ask like, why didn’t my cocktail turn out? I’m like, well, first question, did you measure? Did you actually shake it when it’s had to shake it? you know, can you can wiggle and you can riff, but but it is. It’s like because cocktail ingredients often are complex. And very multifaceted in and of themselves already. And those are the ingredients I love to work with, but they they are the ones where a little change can make a big difference. I tell people it’s like trying to combine a curry, a stew, and a salad instead of trying to combine a meat, a vegetable, and a spice. Stephanie Hansen (04:27.904) Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And also, I mean, you are, I think, for sure, from a Minnesota standpoint, I think your gins are world class. And I’m a big fan of all of your profile of gins in the Minnesota realm. But also I think your gins stand up to a lot of gins made in America, but also in Europe. And you’re welcome. I I really I’m a big fan. But when you mix different gins, there’s also different flavor profiles. So if you’re gonna make a gin and tonic with, you know, any number of gins, it’s gonna be so different. Emily (04:57.948) Mm-hmm. Yeah. And that is a hard thing to think about when you’re writing a cocktail book for sure. And where you just kind of have to accept that there will be some variability if somebody’s gonna use Tankere or Hendrix or Vikra or The Botanist or Grey Whale, it’s going to be a little bit different. And like our Vikra gins are creative djinns, but I made all of them with the idea and the goal of being a true djinn at their So they can work in any recipe that calls for gin and it will go with the other flavors and the proportions there, which can’t be said for all creative gins for sure. but yeah, it is, it is a thing to take into consideration. And in this book, Cavan Cocktails, where it was very much pulling from you know, European cocktail traditions and opera ski and aperitivo hour and things like that. There’s a lot of liqueurs and pairitifs and amari that have very distinct flavor profiles. And so some of these recipes call very specifically for this type of amara or that type of liqueur. And then other ones I say, like you can use any herbal liqueur amongst these, because they all, you know, they’re all unique, but they all play the same violin. Maybe they have the same moves on the dance floor, even though they have their individual style. Stephanie Hansen (06:34.959) That’s a cool way to say that. one of the things I liked about this book, well, all of your books I think really have a sense of place to them, which I really like in a cookbook. It is, I think, what makes your books really appeal to me. But also the way that you position this book is more about. like what the experience is, where you are, what you might be doing, what you might be feeling. And that really does speak to, I think, how you drink and consume alcohol, like what that setting is. Emily (07:15.951) Yeah, right. I think that is you know, h having started a distillery but coming from health, I’m always thinking about like what are the potential unhealthy parts of the culture and then what are the really healthy, beautiful parts of drinking culture that have existed, you know, since humans lived together, and how can we really elevate and highlight those? And so much of that is togetherness and activities with other people and celebratory rituals and that kind of ritualized thoughtful side of it. And so yeah, this book is very much based around that. Like you’re yeah, you just were skiing all day and you’re coming in to toast to a day on the slopes or you have been out paddling all day and you’re coming back to sit on your dock together. What is the right cocktail for that moment? Stephanie Hansen (08:07.245) I think too when you drink with people that are very much interested in cocktail culture, and I I want to make the distinction between drinking culture and cocktail culture because I think l cocktail friends of mine, and I would put you in that circle, all are thinking about cocktails in the way that a chef is thinking about his meal at his restaurant. You’re thinking about how they’re gonna approach it. when it’s going to be served, what the equipment that are you know, it’s so different than drinking culture, which is just like here, let me hand you something to drink. Emily (08:46.781) Mm-hmm. Yeah, right. It’s kind of yeah, it’s exactly like that, a chef thinking about it. And I think about it sometimes too, about like that difference between going and eating an entire box of like Chips Ahoy cookies for your sugar versus like eating one beautifully, you know, naturally leavened salted butter croissant that somebody spent, you know, 48 hours working on. it it’s yeah. It’s just different. Stephanie Ha

    Crafting Cocktails and Connection with Emily Vikre

  2. Sep 11

    Lisa Steele

    Lisa Steele, author of 'In Season' and known for her expertise in eggs from her Blog, and first cookbook of the same name Fresh Eggs Daily, and farm-to-table cooking, shares her journey from chicken farming to cookbook author. She discusses her creative process, the challenges of social media, and her upcoming baking book, offering insights for aspiring food creators. Stephanie Hansen (00:00.718) Hello, everybody. Welcome to Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish, the podcast where I talk to cool people in the food space. I’ve been expanding my repertoire, but I got a cookbook that came across my desk earlier in the season. It is called In Season. It’s by Lisa Steele. She’s the founder of Fresh Eggs Daily. And this is Lisa’s second book. The first book that she has is really all about eggs. Because if you know Lisa, she is a chicken farmer. But she is so much more than that. Lisa, this new book "In Season”, 125 sweet and savory recipes, is gorgeous. Congratulations. Lisa Steele l (00:37.886) thank you. Yeah, it it is a really pretty book. I mean, I know the most important part is that the recipes are delicious, but you know, we do all eat with our eyes. And I feel like if someone’s in a bookstore flipping through the book, you know, they’re just gonna be like, I wanna make that, I wanna make that, that looks so good. I mean, it’s just so because it’s vegetables and fruits and berries, you know. So it was easy to make it like bright and vibrant. You know, my first book, All Eggs, it can get a little dull, you know, eggs are kind of tough to photograph sometimes. Hmm. Stephanie Hansen (01:08.138) Your first book though, okay, so every season I spend a bit good portion of the summer at my cabin. And your book came with me to the cabin this summer because there’s so much to do with eggs and I do a lot of entertaining there. So there’s a lot of brunch ideas. So I use that book a lot. Lisa Steele l (02:19.71) Good. And I mean the second book does have a whole egg chapter. So anyone who does love eggs, I managed to slide in, you know, like a bunch of deviled egg recipes and, you know, some baked dishes that I feel like are, you know, kind of like casseroles that are really good for entertaining, or like you said, if you’re, you know, somewhere that you have a limited, you know, cooking space or whatever. So there are still egg recipes for those people that love eggs. Stephanie Hansen (01:55.47) Can we talk about like obviously after you got done with the first book, y you had more to say and more to say that wasn’t just eggs? I loved that you expanded your repertoire because obviously you’re a cook. you know how to make and put together a book and put dishes together. What was it that kept propelling you forward, or were you just like, I’m gonna stay on this cookbook jag? Lisa Steele l (02:19.71) yeah. So after the first book came out, I mean it was it was brand new. Like you said, I was in the chicken world. I was writing books about raising chickens. I was giving talks about raising chickens and you know, COVID came along and my publisher wanted me to write another chicken book. And I had written like almost a book a year for like six years. And I said to him, I don’t really have anything more to say about chickens. Like I have a blog with a ton of information. I just couldn’t get excited about it, you know. And so I said, I really want to write a cookbook. Like it’s COVID. I feel like this might be the end of the world. You know, I wanna like Check things off my bucket list. And he did he wasn’t interested. He he said, No, you’ve got your lane. This is what you do. This is what you do. Well, you need to do it. But he very graciously let me out of my contract. you know, you know, as a cookbook author, you they have like first write a refusal, right? And you’ve got like whatever. He let me out of my contract, wished me well. and I hired an agent and pitched, you know, the egg cookbook to him. He loved it. Jill kind of was so gracious to share with me her agent. and yeah, he loved the idea of an egg cookbook. And he said, you know, it’s the next natural step for you. You know, you’ve got all these people that raise chickens and have a ton of eggs. Let’s do this cookbook. Plus, people who don’t have chickens, you know, so it’s just widening your your universe kind of. so he loved it, got right on board, and it was so much fun. you know. People say cookbooks are hard to write and it wasn’t easy and it took a long time, you know, two years, right? Start to finish pretty much. but I found it so much easier than writing like a nonfiction chicken book because each recipe is like its own little capsule. You know, you’ve got your your title, you’ve got your head notes, you’ve got your recipe and your photo, and then you move on. And like writing a nonfiction book. There’s got to be chapters and there’s got to be paragraphs and you can’t do all run-on sentences and it has to flow. And I I just found the whole cookbook process in my mind was so much easier to like wrap my head around, you know. yeah, and I loved it so much. And the book really, for someone who wasn’t in the food world at all and didn’t know anybody and nobody knew me, it really did well. And so, you know, I did get a second book deal and now I’m working on my third cookbook actually. So I was thrilled because Just to kind of leave that chicken world behind, although I still have my foot in it. I’ve had a couple offers to sell my blog. And I’m like, I don’t know. You know, that’s kind of like my bread and butter still. So I I’m still holding on to that part of it. but the food world is so fun. I’ve had so much fun. Stephanie Hansen (04:55.276) So you the first book is egg specific. This second book in season is 125 recipes with eggs, but there are other recipes too, a lot of them. How long did this book take? Lisa Steele l (05:09.813) Yeah, vegetables and berries and stuff. so it’s been four years since my first book. But for the first two years, like every week, I was bugging my agent. I was like, I want to write another cookbook. Let’s write another cookbook. And he said, You can’t. You gotta like get some traction, you gotta get some sales, you know. We can pitch one now, but you’re not gonna get as good deal as if you have like a track record. We gotta give it some time, right? So that was like the first two years. And then I just kept bugging and I was like, you know what? I’m just gonna start writing another egg cookbook. so I I started doing that. I just started creating recipes and testing them and putting them in my little files and stuff. And then finally, you know, they said, okay, we can pitch another book. And I said, okay, great. I’m like, you know, halfway done. And they said, no, no, not another egg cookbook. Like sequels don’t usually do well, whether it’s movies, books, whatever it is. you can’t write another egg cookbook. So I was like, what the heck am I gonna do? Right. So they they suggested farm to table. And I said, I hate that. that was cool like maybe 20 years ago, but it’s like so overdone. Like I just hate that phrase, like the farm to table. Cause I was like, technically everything is farm to table unless you’re growing vegetables in a lab, right? Or meat in a lab, whatever. So I was like, I hate that, but that’s what they pitched and that what was was bought. So me being me, I was like, well I’m just gonna do what I want to do anyway. So I just kept continuing on. I got the whole egg chapter in there. and then okay. You hire professionals because they know what they’re doing. And in the end, I am so glad that they pushed me in that direction because it opened up, like obviously I don’t just cook eggs at home, right? You know, so I was like, well, what else do I make? I make sandwiches, I make soups, I make, you know, so I kind of like went through my files and thought about what I ate as a kid. And like it was so freeing not to like have every recipe have to have eggs in it, you know. So I had a lot more fun with it than I thought it would. Like once I started really embracing it and being like, okay, I have to use different ingredients, you know, it was a lot of fun. Stephanie Hansen (07:13.866) As you go into the third book now, are you kind of moving away from egg specifics and what is your third book’s theme? Have you thought of it? So the the my next book is coming out next September. So once I finished my second book, I said, I don’t want to wait another four years. Like we got to keep the ball rolling, we got to keep the momentum going. And they said, Yeah, now you have a track record, you have whatever. So they almost pitched the next book as soon as I finished my second book. So it’s coming out next September, like in a year. so it is done, it is almost on its way to the printer, like working on the cover, like we’re in that part of it. I mean, I spent the last year and a half, pretty much that was my focus. It is a baking book. so going in kind of a completely different direction, there are a lot of eggs in baking, you know, so kind of I guess, you know, you could say for people who have eggs, it’s a great but I was really excited because at heart I’m a baker. I was an accountant. And I think that baking, because it’s so precise and there’s measurements and ratios and numbers and you follow instructions, like for my accounting mind, baking makes so much more sense. And I I just really love to bake. Like I find it really relaxing because I feel like cooking is like being in a jazz band. You know, they’re just like, okay, now you and you’re like, like throw in some of this, some of that. Like I don’t know what I’m doing, you know, whatever. Stephanie Hansen (08:35.723) Yes, yes. Lisa Steele l (08:55.487) But baking is like, okay, like this is a classical piece. Like this is your part a

    Lisa Steele

  3. Aug 21

    Minnesota State Fair

    The Minnesota State Fair is more than a 12-day event - it is a full-on lifestyle choice for 12 days, and Alex Lodner knows exactly how to make the most of it. Sunday’s with Stephanie this week will feature my full State Fair Guide with picks, tops and tricks for making the most of the next 12 days at the Minnesota State Fair. Upgrade my subscription now so I don’t miss the State Fair Guide. My goal with this newsletter is to help you discover new recipes and share things I am obsessed with. I also like to create short essays about what I am thinking about from time to time. It’s like the miscellaneous drawer in my kitchen: a little bit of everything, some dribs and drabs—recipes, essays, helpful ideas, occasional interviews, restaurant suggestions, and more. What will I get as a free subscriber? As a free subscriber, you’ll receive a newsletter in your inbox every week on Wednesday with a free recipe. You will be the first to know about any new classes or live cooking events I’m teaching, podcast episodes I’m releasing, etc. What else would I get if I paid to subscribe? Great question! First and foremost, you’ll get my gratitude (I appreciate your support!!). I am a freelance creator, which means I work for everyone but no one full-time, so I pay all my own healthcare, buy my own groceries for recipes and shows, and fund my own podcast. You will also get the Sunday Subscriber email in your inbox each week. You will have access to the entire archive of posts, plus exclusive content like extra recipes only for Subscribers (there are 65 currently like this Corn Shrmp and Basil Risotto perfect for Summer), and access to Stephanie’s Dish chat. .This chat lets you join the conversation, comment on posts, and engage with other people and me in the Sunday Subscriber community. I also link all my Taste Buds Episodes, Podcasts and appearance clips on the Jason Show so if you are into what I do - its all here posted each week. Subscribing is $8/month or $60/year. Whether you are a first-time visitor trying not to waste a single bite or a seasoned fairgoer looking to level up your annual plan, this episode will help you experience the fair like an insider. Perfect for anyone counting down to the fair, food lovers chasing the best bites, and Minnesota locals who want to make the most of every precious day on the grounds. Alex reveals the must-try new foods on her list, the classics she returns to every year, and the hidden gems that still make the fair feel magical even after decades of visits. You’ll discover: * Why Tuesday and Wednesday are the smartest fair days for shorter lines * How to approach the new foods list before the most popular items get swarmed * The off-the-beaten-path favorites Alex never skips * Where to find the cleanest bathrooms, quietest rest spots, and easiest shortcuts * Which fair traditions are still worth your time, from the parade to the llama spectacle to the church dining halls Original Episode Transcript Stephanie Hansen (00:00.724) Hello everybody and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish, the podcast where we talk to cool people in the food space. And today I’m talking to my friend Alex Lodner. And Alex is someone that I feel like I owe a public thank you to. She would fill in on my radio show a lot in the times when I started going to the cabin quite a bit more and started the garden. And I have become friends with Alex over the years. And Alex is also someone that whenever we think of the Minnesota State Fair, she is someone that comes to mind. She’s a fair aficionado. She really has done a lot to help with the fair foundation. And I just am loving to geek out with a fellow friend that loves the Minnesota State Fair. Thanks to coming on the program, Alex. Alex Lodner (00:37.55) Okay, I’ll take that. Anytime, of course. My favorite subject. You knew that. You knew that when you got me. Stephanie Hansen (00:53.756) I did. I did. So let’s talk a little bit about your love of the fair and how it all started. Alex Lodner (01:01.5) yeah, so you know, the fair is kind of a crazy thing, right? It’s this insane time for twelve days. I always say that I suspend my entire personality during those twelve days because I don’t like crowds, I don’t like fried foods, barn animals, you know, all those things are not something that I normally r seek out. And it just those twelve days are just magic. You just lean in and if you do it right, I think it’s a it’s a an amazing experience. I hear a lot from people who are who go once a year with their, you know, family of five and they they can’t understand why I go an average of eight times. And I always tell them it’s a completely different experience. When you go multiple times, you’re not trying to fit everything into one day. You find your secret rest spots. You find your favorite foods that are maybe a little bit off the beaten path. We always had our sec secret little spaces where we put our blanket down and let the toddler run around and So it’s a very different experience when you go multiple times. Stephanie Hansen (02:02.629) Yeah, I think so too. There was a couple of years where Steph, my radio partner on Weekly Dish and I recorded a podcast and we would meet out there every day and record the podcast. We got a lot of cool behind-the-scenes stories, and just the pace feels different. The fair is like it’s like a mini city that happens for 12 days in our state. The rest of the state, believe it or not, sort of comes to a silent pause. It has its own police force, it has mm people that sleep out there for weeks. It really is just like this weird microcosm of something that only happens once a year in our state, and it’s actually pretty joyful. Alex Lodner (02:48.458) Exactly. And I used to live a mile away. And so when when my daughter was little, there would be a little parade of strollers of us going back and forth from the fair. We’d go back to the house for a nap. We go back to the fair. And so it really again, when you’re right there, it’s a very different experience. And the only thing I would say is do not try to go to the Target Roseville during the twelve days of the fair. It empties out, there’s no produce. But other than that, it’s just it was always so fun to live in that neighborhood. You’re you’re just in the thick of it. It’s it’s really it’s quite a high. Stephanie Hansen (03:24.741) Yeah, yeah. When we think about the fare, one thing that people talk about a lot and I feel like I just want to address up front is expense, particularly in a year where people aren’t feeling flush with cash. it is an expense. It is an expense to go with your family of four or five. Tickets are, I think, $20 unless you’ve bought them in advance. Alex Lodner (03:47.392) At the door, yeah. Mm-hmm. Stephanie Hansen (03:49.002) And you know, food is gonna be expensive because we’ve seen food costs go up 33% in the last two years. There is a large minimum wage in our state. So yeah, it isn’t necessarily a value proposition. There are good values to be had and there are deals to be had. The blue ribbon book is probably the best thing to do. Alex Lodner (04:12.226) Fantastic deal. Mm-hmm. Stephanie Hansen (04:14.811) you get like a lot of discounts. There’s two for ones and just going on the right days. Like if you’re going on senior day or kids’ day. So without not I don’t want to lay belabor the costs of the fair because I don’t it ruins the experience, but it is a thing. Alex Lodner (04:29.88) But it’s a thing. It’s a definite it’s a definite factor. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah. And again, I say we used to go every day. I understand that that’s not an easy task for most. It’s because we live so close. There’s the cost of parking, there’s a cost of just driving there from Elk River or wherever you’re coming from. I have talked to the marketing department off and on in the years about doing a a punch card or a a passport of some sort, but it’s just never really gone through. Stephanie Hansen (04:58.801) Yeah, it’s a great idea. Cause I think it feels like since COVID, the fair has become even more wild because people couldn’t go for the COVID times. And so now it’s like people realize what a treasure it is and they don’t want to miss it. When you plan your state fair, and are you planning yours already for this year? Alex Lodner (05:24.59) Did you really just ask me that? I’m offended. I’m offended. Yes, I’m planning the state fair this year. Well, so here’s a side note. I’ve actually, other than covering the fair for I don’t know, almost 20 years, I’ve also worked off and on for some vendors there. And this year I’m working for a vendor there. It’ll she’ll go unnamed, but I’m working for a vendor there. A friend of mine owns a a new vendor. So I’m going to be there. Stephanie Hansen (05:25.937) I’m just asking. Yeah. Alex Lodner (05:55.519) Seven shifts, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I I will, I will. Yes. Stephanie Hansen (05:57.519) gosh, I can’t wait. Okay, you’ll have to tell me off air because I’ll make sure to pop by and see you. I over the years, so once we stopped doing the podcast I started doing the garden. And unfortunately for me, garden season in Ely is the end of August and the first week of September. So I basically front-load all my fair experiences. I’ll be out there Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. And then I’ll leave Monday evening and head up to Ely. And then that’s sort of the end of my fair time and I start harvesting everything. But I do love kind of having it in that condensed window too, because I get all the early excitement. Alex Lodner (06:37.614) You do. And yeah, you go during the busy days, don’t you? Tuesday and Wednesday are the quietest days. And one of my tips is always to go on a Tuesday and Wednesday, regardless of what deals you get. You’r

  4. Aug 14

    Potluck Kitchenware in Ely Minnesota

    Kelsey Lee, owner of Potluck Kitchenware Store in Ely, Minnesota, shares how her business navigated the challenges of wildfires, the unique culinary traditions of the Northwoods, and the importance of community and learning. Discover her insights on store curation, local culture, and must-have kitchen tools. A few items mentioned in the Podcast available at POTLUCK Pierogi Love and The Elements of Baking Visit Ely, Minnesota for fun things to do year-round! Whether you are looking for a place to stay, a delicious meal, a hiking trail, or an immersion experience, we have businesses ready to meet your needs. Original Transcript Follows: Stephanie Hansen (00:01.176) Hello everybody, welcome to Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish, the podcast where we talk to people in the food space. And today I’m with Kelsey Lee. She is the owner of Potluck Kitchenware Store. And Potluck is in Ely, Minnesota, which is my second home. And I’ve been doing a little mini-series to help people get familiar with some of the businesses that have been impacted by the wildfires this summer. The wildfires, as we currently stand, are in a high form of containment. Smoke in the town has been virtually non existent and people are coming back to Ely, but it has been a dramatic turn in what was looking to be a great summer. Welcome to the program, Kelsey. Kelsey Lee (00:41.088) Thank you so much for having me on. Stephanie Hansen (00:44.2) What does it feel like when, you know, you’re starting out on your summer and July fourth has just happened and something that you couldn’t have predicted as a business owner, like a wildfire comes into town? Kelsey Lee (00:50.389) it feels like such a jolt and especially with wildfire there’s a there’s this sense of kind of unknown danger known but unknown danger and i this was the first summer of wildfires that were quite close to town during my time of owning the business the last time we had any a wildfire anywhere near potluck or elite large I was an employee of Potluck. I wasn’t the owner. So I was making, I was sort of executing on decisions as opposed to making them myself. So, you know, your first thought is about air quality and evacuation zones and all of that. And then sort of secondarily you wonder if it means the end of the season. And for me this year, that was an especially weighty question because what I’ve seen over the last couple of years is that our what what is commonly known as our summer season, actually extends quite far into the fall. I’ve seen growing sales numbers in September and October over the last couple of years. And so you really don’t want to see your season kind of come to a close when really it’s like just getting started. But I’m really happy to say that what I’ve seen is very much to the contrary. This so two weekends ago on what would have been our blueberry art festival I saw huge numbers of people in town. I had amazing sales. I’ve talked to other business owners who had a similar experience. So it feels like our kind of recurring visitors and also our seasonal residents have really rallied to support Ely. and I personally am just so grateful for all of the messaging around Ely is open for business, like conditions here are safe, we welcome you, we encourage you to do your Christmas shopping. all of that for in my case and the case of many of the retailers I’ve spoken to has just been incredibly successful. Stephanie Hansen (02:59.584) It’s kind of funny because I am a person that does a reverse commute. I my husband lives in Ely in the summer and I usually head there on Saturday in the afternoon and come home on like a Monday or a Tuesday. And the air quality in the Twin Cities has actually been worse than in Ely. So it’s it’s been a kind of a strange summer. How hard is it? So you have a great selection of cookbooks. You really do a great job of curating. You’ve got all the cast iron things that one would expect at a kitchen store in the Northwoods, but you’ve also got beautiful dishware, some small appliances, all the cute funny towels and napkins and cocktail and entertaining things that you might use at the cabin. How do you curate the store? With such a big percentage of folks being summer residents, does it change? Think it’s a really interesting challenge. I actually love doing the buying for the store. I do it all myself because my market really exists as like three segments. And over the years of working here and then being an owner-operator, I’ve really gotten to know those segments by their general characteristics, but also individuals, right? So I’m getting feedback and product requests and things all the time. and so I think of my customer market as being comprised of seasonal residents. So people who come up for the summer, like you you have a s you have a second home, you have a second kitchen, you’re hosting, you’re cooking, you are really looking for anything you would be looking for at your main home in your kitchen, right? So like I’m I’m stocking a lot of the supplies that series cooks and bakers need on a regular basis. And then my second market are what I would say what I would call are are kind of like pass-through visitors or Are guests of the seasonal residents. So these people, they’re looking for souvenirs, they’re looking for hostess gifts. For those folks, the size and weight of items is very, very important. People are looking for something to tuck into their luggage, or they’re looking for like a last-minute gadget or something to use on a boundary waters trip. So that’s maybe the most varied kind of use case scenario in that second group. and then my third segment are my year-round residents. and their needs vary quite a bit as well. they comprise just a huge percentage of my holiday market, which has been great that we’ve brought in more holiday specific things, both decor, but really mainly all of the specialty holiday baking over the last few years. and the local market has just grown and grown as I’ve learned what people are making. and what they need in the kitchen around that time of year. Stephanie Hansen (05:55.673) What do you find are people making? Is it different than what you expected? Like are you, you know, is it bunt pans and cast iron or is it sourdough accessories and Kelsey Lee (06:09.55) Yeah, huge. I sell huge numbers of Benettons and LOMS and proofing containers and all of that for sourdough. Sourdough is big year-round, I think is really exciting to say. but what I find most exciting is that especially around the holidays, the cultural culinary traditions of this area really come alive. So people are asking for things for lefsa or Sandbuckles or I’m sure I didn’t say that quite right. or petitsa, of course. and so it’s fun to try to as I’m accommodating those requests, learn about which families have which culinary heritage, you know, and over time you sort of learn like, yes, this family, they make leftsa on Black Friday or the Saturday or whatever. So we really have a surprising range of not only wants, but really needs, you know, because many people in this area are making all of their bread from scratch. They’re making all of their yogurt. They are participating in, you know, a CSA or they’re taking like a butchering class at the folk school. And so the needs really vary, which just makes it exciting from a buying standpoint. Stephanie Hansen (07:24.78) I’ve been going to Ely for 35 years. and I can say that the culinary world there has expanded and changed, with the folk school certainly offering more classes, but also I think during COVID, a whole new type of person moved into Ely, younger folks, more families. I have seen a lot more people coming from either coasts and coming for the water, the nature, and just the lovely changing of the seasons in Ely. Has that changed things for you or made it more interesting? Kelsey Lee (08:03.153) Yes, much more interesting. And over the last year I’ve really solidified a partnership with the folk school in terms of not only sponsoring all of their nourishment program areas, but just increased communication with them about upcoming cooking classes. and this last spring we collaborated on a pie dough making workshop at one of the like spring women’s retreats at YMCA Camp du Nord up here. so I I I see the folk school as being really a critical kind of partner for people, for me to grow awareness of my business, but also as far as preserving and sharing the culinary traditions of this area. Stephanie Hansen (08:52.471) The director of the folk school, Lucy, is my daughter’s WIDJI sister. They went on a a long camping adventure together and have been friends ever since, you know, when you are in the Arctic for 30 some days with someone, you really form a bond. And it’s been fun to watch Lucy and that folk school grow. And also the Duluth folk school is also growing. So just getting that awareness of, you know, that there’s a lot of things to do in the North Woods, even if you’re not a paddler necessarily. Kelsey Lee (09:23.896) Yes. Yes, absolutely. And I see the folk school as being like, you know, if if you’re gonna connect with one touch point for activities and and even community events in the Northwoods, I think the folk school is it. Absolutely. Yeah. Stephanie Hansen (09:38.325) It’s interesting too. You know, I’m part of the pickleball club in Ely that’s fairly new. There’s also the folk school. There are a ton of events that are happening through Ely Connect, which is geared more towards new residents. I really am impressed and excited about the future of Ely just for myself as I spend more time there. And maybe, you know, at some point I’ll I don’t know, am I ever gonna retire? Probably not, but the ideas in my mind that I could and that there is a place that has such a rich learning path is really kind of fun. Kelsey Lee (10:11.699) Yes. my friends and c

    Potluck Kitchenware in Ely Minnesota

  5. Jul 31

    Dishing With @StephaniesDish

    In this episode of Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish, host Stephanie Hansen speaks with Jordyn Stocks from Paragis Outfitters Bookstore about the impact of recent wildfires on the Ely community, the role of the bookstore in supporting local culture, and the hidden gems of Ely. They discuss the diverse offerings of the bookstore, including popular book recommendations and the importance of community support during challenging times. Visit Ely, Minnesota for fun things to do year-round! Whether you are looking for a place to stay, a delicious meal, a hiking trail, or an immersion experience, we have businesses ready to meet your needs. Stephanie Hansen (00:00.824) Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish, the podcast where we talk to people in the food space, but I also talk to other people too. And I’ve been doing a little mini-series here for VisitElyMN.com to help you get to know some of the cool Ely businesses. Ely is my second home. It is the place where I wrote the True North Cabin cookbook, and it’s very near and dear to my heart. And you may have heard that they Have experienced some wildfires in the Boundary Waters Canoe area and around that area this summer. As of this recording, I think the fires are about 40 to 50% contained. Some of the evacuation areas have been lifted. And the town has just really done a great job of keeping people informed and safe. And I’m here today with Jordan Stocks. She is from Piragis Outfitters. And she particularly runs the bookstore that opened gosh, it was last summer already, wasn’t it, Jordyn? Jordyn Stocks (00:59.77) Yes, yeah. So in the new space, we’ve been there since last May, but the bookstore itself has been around in some version for over 20 years now. So it’s Stephanie Hansen (01:11.286) So what happened is is there was in the Piragis store, there was the bookstore on the second level, and they used to have another building down the street that they did some surplus kind of sales, and they’ve merged a lot of that together inside this building. And then you guys have paddle boards and canoes also across the street. Piragis sort of owns this corner that has a lot of fun stuff going on in Ely and I know that with the boundary waters permits being canceled and just opening up more recently to daytime. And I imagine we’ll get some more areas that’ll open up here as the summer progresses. Has it been a hard time for you guys at the store? Jordyn Stocks (01:54.437) It’s it’s yeah, it’s been a little bit different. It’s been a little quieter as you can imagine, in outfitting particularly without having the boundary waters open. We’ve definitely seen some slowdown in traffic there. Stephanie Hansen (02:07.315) And when you think about the bookstore, yeah. What Jordyn Stocks (02:11.732) Yeah, the bookstore and the store have maintained like we’ve still been busy. We’ve still seen traffic. you know, not as busy as it would normally be. Blueberry festival would have been this weekend, as you know. that didn’t happen. But yeah, overall it’s still been we’re hanging in there. It’s still been still been a good weekend, but yeah, quieter. Stephanie Hansen (02:35.286) It’s a good example of how smart it is for businesses to kind of silo to. Like, you know, you start with one thing that maybe is your core competency, but then to support the business through non-trip times, you know, you’ve got the clothing store and then you add the bookstore, which is kind of a year-round service business for the town in and of itself. It’s cool to have so many different facets. And I know you guys sell online too and have a pretty big online following. Jordyn Stocks (02:43.473) Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it it it does help that we have a few different things going on with the the clothing and the gifts and the gear and the books and the online presence. So that is that’s been nice to have all of that going on. And we’ve definitely seen an uptick in in online sales and phone sales. So we’re still shipping things out all over the country. We’re still selling things to, you know, fire crews that are here, local folks that are out and about. People coming up for their cabins. Yeah. Stephanie Hansen (03:37.612) What is your history with Paragas and how did you get started and land in the bookstore component? Jordyn Stocks (03:41.76) well I’ve been here. This is my third no 14th summer here. So I started out just kind of part-time evening shifts in the retail store. And then the bookstore manager at the time, she was she was moving on to I think she was going back home to Chicago or somewhere. So I was excited about the prospect of working with the books and here I am. Thirteen years later. Stephanie Hansen (04:13.856) And you are an Ely resident. Are there some features about Ely in particular or locations that you feel are like hidden gems? Jordyn Stocks (04:23.909) Yeah, so I was actually born and raised here. So I don’t know, growing up I kind of kind of probably took a lot of it for granted, but now you know seeing it with fresh eyes, I guess through people who were coming here for the first time and you know coming here repeatedly year after year. one of one of my favorite things is the the Ely Witten Historical Society. They have this cute little museum in the Vermillion Community College. It’s it’s free, they just feel like goodwill donations, it’s self guided. But there’s a lot of really interesting historical things there. They have a lot of a lot of books that were written by local folks about history and like very specific history, like the Birdside River or Winton and the lumber industry. So that’s pretty fun local history. I love the sedan mine. It’s it’s open now for underground tours again, which I’m excited to do this summer. I haven’t gone Years. Yeah, we just went. Stephanie Hansen (05:19.384) I’m trying to think. I did go to the Sedan Underground mine tour. It’s super cool. I think I went, gosh, probably when I first started coming to Ely. So maybe, you know, like gosh, 20 years ago, but it was so cool to be taken underground and through the mine system. And you went with a original miner. So they would talk about like what their day was like. That seems like a unique aspect of being in northeast Minnesota because mining was such a pillar of what was happening here at the time. And just like being underground and the constant temperature, that was one of the highlights of one of the things I’ve done in town. Jordyn Stocks (06:04.049) Yeah, yeah, it’s a it’s a very cool experience. I’d highly recommend doing that. but yeah, other than that, we’ve got a lot of great hiking trails, places to canoe and paddle and swim and do all those things. Berry picking. there’s always something to do. We’ve got a great yeah, we’ve got a great you know, local art scene with the theater and art shows, we’ve got the movie theater. It’s just a lot of fun stuff to do, always always something. Stephanie Hansen (06:38.12) Absolutely. And I know you guys for such a smallish town, your bookstore has like a big footprint. You guys have sold a ton of the True North Cabin cookbooks for me, so thank you. Also, the Moon Tav the Moon Tavern. Jordyn Stocks (06:49.271) Yeah. Yeah, of course. Thanks for coming and Yeah. Yeah, the the new one’s been popular. Stephanie Hansen (06:58.964) And also Kurt’s book, The Barrens, the Canoe Book has still done well too. So I wanna thank you for that. And I know you guys have a lot of artists that come through and authors that come through. When you’re stocking the bookstore, like who would you say is your ideal customer that you’re stocking for? Because you have like such a great romance section, a good kid section. Jordyn Stocks (07:21.126) Gosh, that that’s a tough one. and it changes, I feel. a lot of people are just are looking for a book to take out on trip with them. Something something that’s gonna like be engaging right away, something that’s engrossing. they don’t want a lot of heavy reading necessarily. But we’ve also got people who want, you know, the latest best sellers, the things they’re seeing on on book talk or the You know, Reese’s book picks or all those things. but also a lot of people looking for local history, things about the area, just something to kind of you know put them in the mindset of being here in the woods. Yeah. A lot of lot of different customers, a lot of variety. Stephanie Hansen (08:07.916) I imagine maybe that changes as you get into the winter months too and it’s more of the regular town folk versus the though you have a big visitors that come in the winter too, ‘cause we come and go snowmobiling, we cross country ski. Jordyn Stocks (08:19.792) Yeah. Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah, there’s definitely people coming all year round. It’s it’s of course, you know, a little a little more mellow in the winter, not as much foot traffic. But yeah, definitely a lot of locals will they’ll special order things, you know, they heard about on the radio or they read about in the paper, or you know, they’ve got their favorite Minnesota authors having a new book come out and they want to pre-order that. So yeah. Stephanie Hansen (08:49.877) Yes. I love that. if you could pick three books that you think are kind of buzzy right now that you see that people are excited about, we’ll we’ll throw them out there because I think I’m always looking for new reads. Jordyn Stocks (09:05.333) Yeah, so people right now are looking for Theo of Golden. I’m blanking on the author’s name, but they’re also looking for the correspondent and Calamity Club. And then the newest William Kent Krueger book, which won’t be out till August, but you know, they’re always looking for his latest. Stephanie Hansen (09:29.815) I think I’m the only one in the world that didn’t love that Theo of Golden Book, but

  6. Jul 24

    Dishing With @StephaniesDish

    Visit Ely, Minnesota for fun things to do year-round! Whether you are looking for a place to stay, a delicious meal, a hiking trail, or an immersion experience, we have businesses ready to meet your needs. Stephanie Hansen (00:00:00) Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish, the podcast where we talk to people in the food space typically, but also in the wellness spaces and all the beautiful spaces. I’m here today with Kate Kalan and she is with Etoile du Nord, which is a new spa that is located in Ely, Minnesota. And many of you know Ely is my second home. it is the home of the True North Cabin Cookbook where I wrote the books. And also I have a cabin here. And it’s been kind of a summer. So I typically go back and forth between the twin cities and here. And Kate, you and I have never met, but I’m really excited about your new spa. You guys opened, was it last summer? Kate (00:00:43) Last spring, yeah, Earth Day we opened. So we’re on summer number two now. ⁓ Stephanie Hansen (00:00:46) So so Kate, tell me about how you found yourself in Ely. Kate (00:01:40) So I was born and raised here. ⁓ I left to go to school, work in the cities for many, many years. ⁓ and then COVID happened ⁓ and I decided to come home. ⁓ So ⁓ I work remotely ⁓ up here ⁓ and I don’t know, I think it was about a year ⁓ working remotely that I ⁓ Don’t know Stephanie decided to do something different. ⁓ And ⁓ it was yeah, it was one summer my mom and I were were I was trying to get us a pedicure appointment and it was impossible. So ⁓ I was like, I I don’t know, let’s do this. I don’t know what sparked it. I think you know, my parents ran small businesses here when I grew up and Stephanie Hansen (00:02:10) Ha ha ha ⁓ Stephanie Hansen (00:02:32) Yeah. Kate (00:02:35) I think I had just been talking to like a lot of entrepreneurs at the time. I don’t I don’t even know, but ⁓ Stephanie Hansen (00:02:40) It it it makes sense though, because ⁓ what I noticed during COVID, we would come up in the winter and stay ⁓ we actually spent kind of a lot of time up here that winter ⁓ of the first year of COVID, just probably out of boredom more than anything else. ⁓ And we had free time. So, you know, the Northwoods was so gorgeous and so beautiful. I think that a lot of people came to this area. Kate (00:02:48) Yeah. Stephanie Hansen (00:03:08) In the COVID times, people came from other parts of the country. There were a lot of houses that were purchased. A lot of entrepreneurs came in. And for a town like Ely that has so much of its historical roots in mining, it was pretty neat to see all these entrepreneurs coming to town. So I when you opened your spa, I was like, hooray. And at that time too, another spa, the pebble spa, that was here closed. So people really, I think, appreciated that. opportunity to ⁓ welcome you in. And it started just primarily as nails, but I’ve noticed you’re doing more things now. Kate (00:03:45) Yeah. ⁓ we do manicures, pedicures. ⁓ this summer we brought on an esthetician. So she’s doing facials and like light chemical peels. ⁓ and then just recently this month we welcomed ⁓ massage therapists. So Jessie Brooks massage is working out of our our cozy little space. ⁓ so yeah, people are people are excited and so that makes me excited. Stephanie Hansen (00:04:12) So in the summer the population here swells, ⁓ up to like six thousand people. So it grows by like six to sevenfold really. ⁓ is ⁓ like if you and you’ve only been doing this this is your second year, I would imagine summer is a big part of the business or not. Kate (00:04:25) yeah. ⁓ we made it through ⁓ the winter, ⁓ but summer’s a completely different animal. I mean, the girls are are pretty booked and it’s wonderful. You know, we have so many seasonal people, just even from last summer who are excited to come back, which is ⁓ awesome to see. ⁓ you know, and then just the regular tourists and visitors, obviously this summer’s a little bit different. ⁓ but happy to say we’re we’re pretty steady, which has been awesome. Stephanie Hansen (00:04:59) It’s pretty interesting. I mean, I feel like the city of Ely and the folks in Ely have done a lot to spur winter tourism. I mean, snowmobiling is a big thing. We’ve got great cross-country ski trails. I mean, there’s things like Beard Fest ⁓ and they have the movie festival now. There’s also a winter festival, ⁓ ice sculptures, snow sculptures. ⁓ What do you think it would take in your opinion to get more people interested in Ely in the winter? Kate (00:05:31) I mean, I keep saying they should film a Hallmark movie up here. Like ⁓ it’s so, you know, it’s so cozy in the winter and it’s such ⁓ a special place to spend Christmas. ⁓ I just I always say this town has Hallmark vibes and so I really think they should come up here. But ⁓ you know, like you said, there’s stuff going on throughout the year. Fall is a beautiful time to visit. We’ll have the harvest moon hopefully this year, which will hopefully be bigger than ever. ⁓ they’ll have the art walk during that time. Like you said, we have the winter festival, the film festival. We have a new dark sky festival. I mean, they’re, you know, we’re really trying to get people up here year round. ⁓ obviously it’s beautiful right now and and wonderful. So I hope people still ⁓ you know, with respect to the firefighters and everything. ⁓ Yeah. Stephanie Hansen (00:06:20) Yeah, let’s talk about that for a second because this will air in the next couple of weeks. And ⁓ on July, what was it, 7th, I believe, ⁓ there was a reignition of an older fire that had started through lightning called the campfire. But also concurrently, there were 14 other fires that were going in the Boundary Waters Canoe area has been really impacted. The small business in particular, they closed the boundary waters for it looks like it’ll be a minimum of two weeks and probably a little bit longer. They are starting to open for single day permits near kind of the Tofty Lutzen area, which is ⁓ pretty far from us, about 90 minutes. ⁓ when it it’s so hard to balance because I know you live here. I have a home here we have people that are friends we have that are evacuated and then are waiting to get back to their cabin spaces. And yet it’s like you’re living in this weird universe because I look outside. It’s a gorgeous, beautiful day. It feels fine. This is supposed to be the start of the blueberry festival. But I also as I promoted art festivals myself for 25 years. And I know, you know, to bring 40,000 people to town during this whole crisis when you’ve got 850 fire people on the line trying to protect the town could be seen as irresponsible. It’s a very mixed soup of feelings. What are your feelings as we’re going into week two of this? ⁓ basically evacuation all around the town of Ely. Kate (00:07:58) Yeah, it’s hard. Like you said, I mean, there were a few days where it has never felt like that here with the smoke and ⁓ it it was eerie. ⁓ but it it’s beautiful now. The sky is clear. That’s not to say we don’t still have wildfires happening up there. Like you said, there’s like 800 firefighters in town. We have to respect their space, ⁓ we have to respect, you know, the officials’ orders. ⁓ we have to make sure they have lodging and all of that. And it’s it’s a shame that Blueberry had to be canceled. But, you know, like you said, bringing thirty, forty thousand people into town on top of that. ⁓ just I understand why that decision was made. ⁓ I just hope we can make up for it, you know, like like you can visit Ely now. ⁓ I mean, the town the town is welcoming you very much so. ⁓And and I hope like I said in the fall and just when things calm down a little bit, ⁓ people will kind of make more of an effort and and think to to come up here and enjoy the leaves and ⁓ and plan some fall activities up here. Stephanie Hansen (00:09:13) We’re getting good vibes, I think, from the city folks and the people in the surrounding areas. A lot of people wanna know what they can do to help. Is there something specific to you and your business that people could do to help? Kate (00:09:26) Come visit us, come make appointments. ⁓ yeah, our nail girls are are booking out and we’re trying to fill up our esthetician schedule. ⁓ but yeah, we’re lucky to have a lot of local clients ⁓ who are very loyal and and just summer visitors who haven’t had to evacuate, thankfully. ⁓ but there’s a lot of stuff going on in town. The Ely Community Response has a growing list of ways to help. I just saw right before we hopped on actually, ⁓ there’s like a fund that that people are working on United Way, I think. ⁓ Yeah. Stephanie Hansen (00:10:03) Yeah, the United Way of the Northeast has established a fund that is accepting donations. I’ll put a link to it in the show notes. There’s three kind of pillars, and you can ⁓ sp specify your donation to go to one of the pillars, one being the small businesses in Ely, one being ⁓ nonprofits, and then the other one to wildfire fighting in the area. So that’s pretty cool that they’ve established a line directly to small businesses. I know a lot of people are ⁓ encouraging gift cards. Do you have gift cards that people can purchase too? Kate (00:10:34) Yep. Yep. Yep. Online a lot of businesses do. Stephanie Hansen (00:10:38) Can you tell me three businesses ⁓ in Ely that you feel like you’d like people to know about? Kate (00:10:47) man, Stephanie, that’s hard. ⁓ shoot. ⁓ let’s see. I I love Insula. I I that’s yeah, I figured you would. ⁓ I love Burnside Lodge. I think you would probably love that too. ⁓ I yes. Stephanie Hansen (00:10:48) ⁓ I know it’s like saying here, pick three of your friends.

  7. Jul 10

    Dishing With Stephanies Dish

    My guest is Kurt Johnson Co-author of The Moon Tavern, A Culinary Love Story With Recipes. The Moon Tavern takes the reader on a romantic and culinary journey through the Islands of Croatia, where dark family secrets are revealed, quirky friends and relatives are found, and love is discovered.Vesna, or Ves, is a cookbook writer from Minneapolis who travels to the remote, exotic island of Lastovo off Croatia's Mediterranean coast to reconnect with her biological grandmother. She'd been adopted as a young child after her parents died in the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. Ves is also fleeing a frayed relationship with her live-in partner, Reed.In Lastovo, she meets Dinko, a single, handsome, and wealthy vineyard owner, and his cute daughter Mia. With his help with the translation, Ves discovers her biological family's history and the dark secrets of what happened during the war. Romance, travel, and cooking ensue. She ultimately learns what matters most to her: simplicity in life, closeness with family, and someone to share love with. And, of course, food! Stephanie [00:00:00]: Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish, the podcast where we talk to people in the food space and other spaces. All the spaces of all the fun things. Kurt is my spouse, Kurt Johnson, and also the co author of the Moon Tavern, a culinary romance with recipes. It is a fiction book that is available on your bookshelf now. Welcome to the podcast, Kurt. Kurt Johnson [00:00:22]: Hi, thanks for having me. Stephanie [00:00:24]: Thanks for having us. The idea that we should work on a book together. I am, as many of you listening know, a cookbook writer and my husband is a fiction writer. And somewhere along the way, we decided that maybe it would be good to collaborate together. Kurt, was it you or me that had the idea first? I think it was you. Kurt Johnson [00:00:42]: Yeah, probably. I was kind of done with my past book writing about Las Vegas and looking for something different. And we’d been traveling a lot, so going to Croatia, going to Italy, going out west, going to Turkey. So I wanted to incorporate travel with a novel, and I also wanted to incorporate food. And so I thought this would be a lot of fun. Since we’re traveling together, we have those shared experiences and you have the food experience and the food writing experience. So I thought it’d be a fun collaboration. And I’ve always liked the idea of love stories. Kurt Johnson [00:01:18]: Even my thriller books in Las Vegas had kind of a love story element. And it adds a dimension to a novel that, I don’t know, makes it cohesive, makes it pull together in an emotional arc that’s kind of fulfilling in the end. Stephanie [00:01:33]: Do you think you’re a romantic at heart, or what is it about romances that are fun to write for you? Kurt Johnson [00:01:39]: Maybe I’m a romance at heart. I may be more stoic than that, though. I just. I like the idea of seeing people get together, seeing people enjoy the same interests and finding people that can fall in love. Of course, that’s always the fun part. The hard part is once you get married and move on from there and have to deal with kids and daily life and work and all the other things that go with living life. And that’s not that much fun to write. Stephanie [00:02:07]: Yeah, exactly. We as a couple, I think I can speak for me and you maybe on this one. We’ve always had great experiences traveling. We are good traveling companions. We like the spirit of adventure. Did you know that Croatia would be the spot for the first fiction endeavor? Kurt Johnson [00:02:24]: Yeah, that was a given since we’d been there five times and four times running a sailboat and visiting the islands. And as you know, Stephanie, I’m just enamored with those islands, I think they’re so beautiful. And there was one island we discovered out there, Lastovo, which is the furthest island out. So a lot of the sailors and tourists just never get there. They stay closer to shore. So, you know, going out there the first time, this beautiful bay of Zachlopedia, where, you know, it’s a, it’s a protective cove which is beautiful turquoise water. And then taking the dinghy in, and then you walk up this path, I think it’s about a two mile hike. And then you go over this ridge and this 16th, 15th century town opens up. Kurt Johnson [00:03:10]: You know, at one point maybe it had 10,000 residents. And, and it, it, when we first saw it, I don’t know, 10, 15 years ago, it was abandoned. So it was a ghost town of 15th century buildings and churches and apartments in this beautiful valley of lush green foliage. So that’s very picturesque. We had an incredible meal there of just simple anchovies and blitfa. And for you, for you people out there that don’t know, blitfa is ubiquitous in Croatia. And it’s, it’s just spring potatoes with Swiss chard, but it’s served with everything. Stephanie [00:03:52]: It is served with everything. And they sometimes have spinach, sometimes have like another type of green, but it’s sort of like the potatoes are cooked till they’re pretty soft, and then it’s kind of mashed in a little bit. So it’s not fully a mashed potato and it’s not fully a roasted potato. It’s sort of a combination of both. But it is good. Kurt Johnson [00:04:12]: Yeah, so, yeah, that’s so, you know, it seemed such an exotic place, the island of Lastovo in Croatia, that it was a natural to place it there. Stephanie [00:04:23]: Can you tell a little bit of just an introduction of the story, like what people will find when they crack open the book? Kurt Johnson [00:04:30]: Sure. It’s about Vesna, who is. Has a breakup with her live in boyfriend, and they’d had a restaurant. She was a chef, a cookbook authority, and had a restaurant, not unlike my dear wife Stephanie. And she has a breakup and she leaves Minneapolis to go to Croatia to uncover her. Her heritage. She had been adopted from Croatia, specifically Dubrovnik, when her parents died in the Serb bombing of Dubrovnik in 1991. So she was adopted out of there and raised in Minnesota. Kurt Johnson [00:05:05]: So then she goes to Croatia and rediscovers her dark family secrets and meets Dinko Radek, who is a winery owner, and, you know, romance ensues. But she has a life still back in Minneapolis that she has to go back to and resolve. Stephanie [00:05:24]: When we talked about putting this first concept together, you know, I see the world through food. Like, literally everything in sort of my life is framed by a meal, an experience, just the way that I see the world. It’s always around food, celebrations. And so did you know that that would work for this Croatia book? Because I didn’t. When you first brought it up, I was like, I can’t be a Croatian grandma here. And writing recipes about what at the time I perceived as, like, dumplings. Kurt Johnson [00:05:53]: Yeah, I wasn’t sure either, frankly. You know, so each chapter, there’s 25 chapters, and each chapter in it has a description of cooking. And it’s all Croatia cooking, Croatia recipes. You know, all food we at over the years where we were there. And then the idea of tagging on recipes was just kind of bringing it home. Like, here’s the Croatia experience. Now here’s how Stephanie would bring that back to the real world, which is here in the United States. Stephanie [00:06:21]: We have talked about doing a series of books. What is it about this genre that you think lends itself to other titles and other characters? Kurt Johnson [00:06:29]: Well, you know, it’s an adventure book on one level, and there’s always new places to visit. So the next book is based in Panza, Italy, where we’ve been a couple times. And it’s this beautiful island off the coast of Italy in the Mediterranean. And, you know, Italian food. You go to Italy and what you remember is the pizza in Naples or the. The pasta in Rome and. And the busteca up in the hills. So, you know, a way to experience a place is. Kurt Johnson [00:07:04]: Is through food. And I like writing about new settings. You know, it. It’s not as interesting writing about Minnesota, Stephanie [00:07:11]: but you’ve written a lot about Las Vegas. You’ve had how many books about Las Vegas? Three. Kurt Johnson [00:07:16]: Yeah, three. You know, two of the. Of kind of a thriller in. Two thrillers in a series, and then a book about RVing that ends up in. In Las Vegas. And Las Vegas is a interesting place, and I lived there for five years running nightclubs and restaurants. And so two of the books are Underbelly of Las Vegas, which I was a part of in the nightclub scene back in the late 80s. So that’s just flat out fun to write about. Kurt Johnson [00:07:39]: And Las Vegas is such a weirdo place that it’s fun to bring that to life. Stephanie [00:07:45]: It’s interesting to hear you talk about that. The way you choose your stories is about place, because the first book, the Barrens, that you wrote with our Daughter Ellie, inspired by her experiences as a canoe camper in the tundra. That’s also based in Place, too. Place is sort of what starts you on these journeys. It seems like, yeah, you know something, Kurt Johnson [00:08:07]: you threw me a curveball because I never really thought about it. But you’re exactly right. Stephanie [00:08:12]: All. Kurt Johnson [00:08:12]: All these books start off with a setting, with a place, and then, you know, the plots revolve around. Around that. And there’s just so many. So many different. There’s a finite number of, really, plots you can choose from. It’s kind of like a piano keyboard has all the. The notes that you want to make up a. A music piece the same way with plot structures. Kurt Johnson [00:08:34]: And so to take it to the next level, you really have to search out characters, and the characters are in a setting, so those two are inexplicably, Inextricably. Inextricabl

    Dishing With Stephanies Dish

  8. Apr 24

    South Africa on Safari is our next group trip Destination

    Original Episode Transcript Follows Stephanie Hansen: Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish, the podcast where we talk to people in the food space. And also today, we’re going to talk travel, because whenever I travel, food’s always a big part of it. I’m here with my friend Michael Kenny, and he owns the travel agency Defined Destinations. And Michael and I met and have gone on a number of trips. We’ve gone to Croatia together. We’re just about to embark on Turkey. We are also planning a new trip that we just launched, that is a trip to South Africa. And a lot of times the best way to get people excited about these trips is to talk about them. And Michael does more than that. He scouts them out for me first. So, Michael, you went to this trip? Michael Kenney: I did. I’m your personal scout, but I love it. There’s not a. There’s not a better deal than being able to do that and then going on with you and Kurt and with everybody else. So we’ve had some fun adventures. But, yes, I recently got back with my family. We went scouted this South Africa trip out, or Southern Africa, I should say that we visit four different countries. And it was. I’ve been on a safari before, but it was in. In Kenya, which was fabulous as well. But this is a whole different experience. So I brought my wife and my two kids, and we had one of the best experiences, from seeing Cape Town to Johannesburg and then all the wildlife, different lodges and on boats. So we do all these different sorts of transportation and see four different countries. And it was unbelievable. I came back really, really excited. I was excited in the beginning, but having gone on it and then really first experiencing it firsthand was phenomenal. And. And I knew you and Kurt would love it. And of course, everyone that follows you as well. It was just. It’s really a trip of a lifetime. Stephanie Hansen: So we put the trip out there. It is a more expensive trip, and we had a limited number of seats we had that could join the trip. And, you know, I’ve never done a trip that is on the higher end like that in terms of expense. And you’re just. You have a lot of in flight situations within the country. You have a lot of different lodging situations. There’s a boat, like, in order to do all the things we wanted to do, there were a lot of moving parts. Michael Kenney: Yep. Stephanie Hansen: So we put the trip out there and it sold out, like, right away. Right. So then Michael was like, okay, do we want to try and do another one? And of course we do, because I want you guys to have as many of these experiences as we can put together. Because I think traveling this way is great. I love traveling in a group for destinations that maybe I’m not comfortable in fully by myself. So Michael has secured another trip, a second round that is the same itinerary, but they leave. I think it’s a day later. Michael Kenney: Yes. And let me just touch on that. You hit some good points in there. Yeah. One reason the trip, it’s, it’s. It’s definitely at the highest price point we’ve ever offered a trip. But I think if you’re going out there and you’re shopping in African safari, you see that as well. So the value is there with all the different. Essentially all the meals are included where we’re at on, on this trip, the inner flights inside the countries as well. From a couple smaller bush planes to the larger flights that go from Cape Town to Johannesburg, Johannesburg up towards Victoria Falls, etc. Those are already included in all the transfers. And this is a different trip too, Stephanie, because it’s not like a typical motor coach group that you’re going with all these big lodges and motor coaches coming in. This trip is. Can only take 16 people. It’s not because we design it that way, it’s the ship only handles 16 people. So if you go on our website, you take a look at it, you’ll see this small intimate cruiser on this river slash lake, Lake Kariba, which is part of the Zambezi. Stephanie Hansen's @StephaniesDish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Michael Kenney: And in the game lodge that we stayed at too for four nights as well there, there’s only eight cabins for 16 people. So it’s a real intimate experience and it will only be for our group. Same thing for your departure on May 8 and the 1 that we still have, there’s only. We just sold one another cabin online just, just now. So there’s four cabins left May 9th through the 25th of 2027. Same thing is gonna be true for that. It’s only gonna be our group as well. So there’s no other groups going to be in, on, on the ship and then in the lodge too. Michael Kenney: So it’s a real small intimate experience and it’s just real, real lovely. Stephanie Hansen: Can you walk us through like some of the high points having done this trip? Michael Kenney: Yeah. Oh, what do you start? I think this is just. Sometimes you use the word potpourri too much, but it’s, it’s really a bit of different. You know, you think you go to Africa just for the safari itself, but we go in and we visit Cape Town and Cape Town blew me away. It was one of the most beautiful cities and I’m not necessarily a city person, but it was just beautiful sitting under Table Mountain. We’ll go up to Table Mountain, we’ll go visit the areas around it, we’ll go visit some vineyards. South African wine is to die for. We’ll visit that. We have a wine tasting included. We get to see penguins on this penguin beach in South Africa, which I didn’t know there was penguins in, in South Africa. So we’re actually good to go see those. And you actually get up pretty close too, so that was a real highlight. Nelson Mandela’s home in the prison, we’re going to go visit that. So we have a cultural experience as well. But then we fly into Johannesburg. We’ll get to hear the history in Johannesburg for a night. And then we fly further north and we go into the. Our game lodge. We spend for four days right on the Zambezi River. You’ll absolutely love this place. You’re. You’re really well taken care of. You eat really well and you see the wildlife all around you right from your lodge. You sit in your plunge pool and there could be hippos down below you. It’s incredible. It’s just a real amazing experience. And then we fly to Lake Kariba, we get on the boat itself and we have four nights again. There’s just 16 of us total. And it’s. This is where it’s really different. You glide up into shore and there can be elephants, giraffes, lions feeding in the water itself. It’s. This isn’t a zoo. This is incredible. You are right there with it. That a real slow experience. You’re really able to take it in. So I invite, you know, anybody that’s watching this to go online. Just take a look at our photos. It’s free to do that and we pride ourselves. The majority of all the photos on it were taken while on the trip, especially with me and my family. So you’ll get to really see what it really was, was like. So say you’ve done a trip to Tanzania or Kenya and have done a safari. This is. This is different. You see four different countries. It’s a slower pace, smaller groups. It lovely. So those are really the experiences that I enjoyed the most, were the penguins seeing around Cape Town. Of course, the different game drives all the different wildlife. Victoria Falls, which is one of the most stunning waterfalls you’ll ever see. It was. It was really enlightening and it was fabulous and everything’s taken care of for you. So to Be able to do something on this on your own. To do the same trip would be really difficult. Putting all the flights together, the meals, what are we going to do? We’ve taken care of all of that. All you have to do essentially is register for the trip and then we can help you with getting international airfare when it does come available later in the summer for this May 9th through the 25th, 2027 trip. So it, it was just an amazing experience. Stephanie Hansen: So can you talk a little bit about the food? Because I have no idea what African food is going to be like. Michael Kenney: Yeah, I, I think this, it’s not like we’re out eating street food, you know, in some of the villages we’re not doing that. It’s all in a controlled environment from the salads to things like that because you want to drink bottled water. We never got sick while on the trip itself, but it’s, it’s real, it’s westernized, let’s say that. So a lot of meat and potatoes and fish and different things like that. So there won’t be anything a little bit, I think outside of your comfort zone. So I, we really, really. Well, like lots of beef, chicken, sometimes there’d be lamb, but you can have choices too. So they’re really great with diets with that. But again, the food was really safe. Nothing too exotic. You have a chance. Maybe you want to try ostrich or something like that. You can do that. But it’s a real, it’s really high level too. Especially at the lodges and the boats itself. All sit down plated meals. Really, really nice. But again it’s, it’s, it’s safer on the meat and potato side on that. But it’s, it’s really nice high end food which you’ll, I think I, I know you’ll enjoy. Stephanie Hansen: Yeah. And was there different fruit? Michael Kenney: Yeah, some of the fruits, I can’t remember. You’d be like, well, what is that? I don’t know. Honestly, I wish I had the list on there. Like, well, what is that? Well, let’s, let’s try it. If you’re in the markets and things like that. But they, they do, especially in the mornings they’ll bring some fruits on, on the plate and you’ll have, you’re like, well what? And you just try it. So yeah, I’m not really good to help you on that. I’m sorry. No, but it’s

    South Africa on Safari is our next group trip Destination
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About

I talk with Cookbook authors and Makers obsessed with food stephaniehansen.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Stephanie Hansen - @StephaniesDish
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    496
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Stephanie Hansen
  • Show Website
    Dishing with Stephanie's Dish