For Lent if you get tired of fish, try muskrat

Um, yeah. So I came across this video from the Detroit Free Press where columnist Mike Wendland reports that

It was French fur trappers who introduced the muskrat as a food source to southeastern Michigan in the 18th century. French settlers later appealed to their bishop to allow muskrat to be a fish substitute. And every Lent, there are still those who love their rat.

The 2.5 minute video shows how Kola's Food Factory in Riverview cooks them up. From what I could see in the video it appears the entire (skinned) muskrat is fried up in a skillet with a ton of butter. Mike Wendland interviews a patron at Kola's eating a muskrat and the guy offers him a bite.

The look on Mike's face says it all. Plus the comment of his, "it tastes just like squirrel" won't exactly get me interested anytime soon.

I knew that folks still ate muskrat. I just didn't know that there were restaurants here in Michigan that served it up.

Interesting. But you won't catch me eating anything with "rat" in its name.

Watch the video here at www.freep.com.

Jackson State Prison to close in July

A cost cutting measure has one of the 5 prisons in Jackson scheduled to close by July 1 of this year. Approximately 1,500 prisoners would be released (if they have served their minimum sentence) and put on parole. 425 jobs will be affected with the majority offered jobs at other prisons, but layoffs are not being ruled out either. Michigan's prison population is one of the highest in the Midwest at 51,000 inmates. My question is this - does Michigan have much stricter laws than other states or a higher concentration of criminals?

Another question I have is how can the state undo what the courts have done? Judges and juries have had to make decisions that put these people in prison and now the state is negating that and paroling them.

Something is very wrong/strange with Michigan's prison system. Our state's population is steadily declining yet our prison population keeps rising.

Yet another aspect of our state that needs fixing.

Read the full article in the Detroit Free Press.

Get your super delicious paczki's today

The paczki. Wonderful fruit filling wrapped in a heavy dough that weighs in at over 400 calories. But they are so delicious!

My favorite places to get them are still in Lansing. Roma Bakery makes a ton of paczkis every year and they get snapped up pretty quick. Quality Dairy was another great place to get your paczki fix.

Quality Dairy had the best donuts any time of the year. Yum! I can almost taste one now.

I better eat some breakfast. All this thinking about paczkis and donuts is making my stomach rumble.

Gift baskets ordered today will ship tomorrow due to President's Day

Due to President's Day, the Post Office is closed today. As we ship a large percentage of our gift baskets via the USPS I thought I should mention that the shipment will be delayed until tomorrow, February 20th. Have a Great Day! :)

Michigan gas prices are just under $2.30 per gallon

Michigan gas prices went down just a bit to an average of $2.29 as of this morning. One year ago we were paying $2.17. Just one month ago we were under the $2 threshold at $1.95. That was when we hadn't had our winter yet and the mild weather had helped push demand for heating oil and natural gas down which gave us the lower gas prices.

On a positive note, Spring officially begins one month from tomorrow on March 20. With warmer temperatures expected this week lets all 'think spring!'

Gas price data courtesy of AAA's Fuel Gauge Report.

Snowy and cold Michigan weather makes me wish I had a Stormy Kromer

Just what is the legendary Stormy Kromer you ask? Well, back in 1903 retired semi-pro ball player decided he had lost one too many hats due to the wind whipping them off. He enlisted his wife to add earflaps to one of his old baseball caps so when he was riding in his locomotive his cap would not blow off.

Folks took notice of his little invention and it wasn't long before the Stormy Kromer Cap Company was started in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 2002 production of the Stormy Kromer was moved to Ironwood, Michigan after production in Wisconsin ceased.

It seems fitting that a product meant for extreme weather should be made in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Original Stormy Kromer retails for $29.95 and shipping to the Continental U.S. is only $2.50.

Time to go do some more shoveling.

Visit the online store for Stormy Kromer.