Upper Peninsula visitor poll results

The results are in for the poll I had running on my Squidoo Lens - www.squidoo.com/bestofmichigan/. My question was a simple one - Have you ever been to Michigan's Upper Peninsula? The following are the results -

• Yes, but I do NOT live in Michigan - 0%
• Yes and I DO live in Michigan - 69.2%
• No, but I do NOT live in Michigan - 15.4%
• No and I DO live in Michigan - 15.4%

So none of the folks who voted said that they have visited the U.P. but do NOT live in Michigan. It is a pretty small sample size so I wouldn't take much stock in that.

Maybe what surprised me more was that 15.4% said they have NOT visited the U.P. and they live in Michigan. I am biased I guess as I love going up to the Yoop. It's like when you are talking with someone from Michigan about "the bridge" and they look at you and wonder what bridge are you talking about. Oh, only one of the world's longest suspension bridges - The Mackinac Bridge.

Should I be surprised that people from Michigan don't explore their own state? I don't think it is any different than the large number of Americans who do not explore their own country. I love to learn and see different places. I'm a history nut so I guess that makes me an oddball as someone who thinks Michigan has a lot to offer.

I don't need to see any "Pure Michigan" campaigns to get me interested in our state. Do you?

Just what is the S'more Soup in our Michigan Gift Baskets?

I was talking to a customer the other day who wanted to customize our Tastes of Michigan basket for a client. One of the Michigan products she wanted to remove from the basket was the S'more Soup because it sounded "disgusting." Well, I thought I had better clear the air about what S'more Soup is all about. On the back of the 'S'more Soup' package there is the following poem -

When you come in from the cold to warm your feet, Enjoy this little 'S'more Soup' treat. It's just for you and only you. . . I've included a delicious cookie too! Remember the nights by the fire... as the 'cold' draws near, And sip this cup of cocoa, it'll warm you up my dear.

S'more Soup is a simple yet delicious treat of cocoa with marshmallows, a cinnamon stick to stir it with, gourmet caramelized cookie, and a milk chocolate bar.

Once I explained the S'more Soup and the novelty of it all to her our customer thought it was a neat little product (we do too). I don't know, maybe she thought it was a soup that you ate out of a bowl. Chunks of graham crackers and chocolate floating in a bowl of hot cocoa with big fluffy marshmallows probably would not sound too appetizing.

You can find the S'more Soup in the Tastes of Michigan and Travel Box gift baskets.

Have a Great Weekend! :)

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! :)