It's blueberry picking time again in Michigan

I spoke with a neighbor today and he said that he bought about 30 pounds of already-picked blueberries the other day from Leduc Blueberries up in Paw Paw. This got me to thinking that I had better see if our favorite blueberry patch was open for picking yet. I spoke with a super nice lady (I believe it was Victoria Locke) at Locke's Fruitful Acres in Decatur and she said that the Duke variety of blueberries are on right now and that picking would begin tomorrow at the picker's own discretion. By this she meant that the Duke variety is a smaller somewhat tart blueberry and if folks come ready to pick the big sweet and juicier varieties they'll be disappointed.

The larger and sweeter variety (my favorite) might be ready for u-pick as early as next weekend. I am ready and waiting :).

Is there anything tastier than fresh Michigan blueberries heaped up on your cereal or ice cream? Perhaps only freezing some of those same wonderful berries so the experience can be parceled out all year long ;).

Some of my favorite summer foods from Michigan

I picked up a pound of Michigan Sweet Cherries today and it got me thinking about all of the yummy fruits and veggies that are grown here in Michigan.

We had a good three week season for our strawberry patch this year and no sooner did the strawberry crop wind down when the red raspberries started ripening. I am still working on expanding our meager raspberry patch, but those juicy red berries are worth it. I picked a handful or so a day this week and hoarded them in the fridge.

Last night I cooked up a batch of tapioca pudding and we had it with red raspberries on top. Oh man, that was good.

Michigan blueberries will be coming on in full force in the next week or two. A couple of small local patches are already producing tasty berries. I have made a note to call our favorite blueberry patch and see how the berries are coming along.

My potatoes are doing great in their containers. I'm eagerly anticipating a wonderful crop of Red Garland taters.

We've got tomatoes galore coming on as well. Sweet 100s, Big Boy, and other plants all have green tomatoes on the vine. In another week or so I'll be harvesting my first crop of cucumbers for this season and brewing up a batch of wonderful homemade pickles.

Yes, life is good (and tasty) here in Michigan. By the way, those cherries were delicious. I almost ate the whole pound of them on my own, but managed to practice some restraint ;).

Ugh! The real demolition has begun at Tiger Stadium

Wow. The photos of the gutting of Tiger Stadium are helping to make the finality of the end of the road for the old ballpark sink in. You can read updates on the demolition and see a couple of pictures of the gash carved out of the portion of the stadium between the centerfield bleachers and left-field at the Detroit Free Press.

Tiger Stadium Demolition

Tiger Stadium, originally uploaded by &Martin101.

You can see this machine begin to rip into Tiger Stadium. This area is between the centerfield bleachers and the seats in left-field.

There's no going back now. In less than a month we'll know if even a portion of it will be saved as a museum or something. After that, Tiger Stadium will be no more.

Please, please, please do not put some awful looking Wal-Mart or some monstrosity in it's place.

Use this tip for the tastiest grilled burgers ever

While I was at the local grocery store over the 4th of July weekend I was struck by inspiration. I had a hankering for grilled burgers and while I had the burger in one hand I glanced up and saw breakfast sausage. They have their own recipe and make the sausage back in their butcher shop (can you believe that they still have an on-site butcher? I love it!) so it is fresh daily. Anyway, I would consider the sausage variety to be on the mild side. That's okay with me as I don't care for overly spicy sausage.

Alright, back to my tip - I was inspired to mix the burger with the breakfast sausage and see what kind of grilled burger it would create.

The results were excellent. With the added charcoal flavor (yep, no propane grill for me) my sausage burgers were quite possibly the tastiest grilled burger I have ever had. No, I'm not exaggerating - they really were.

So there you have it. My burger grilling tip. Enjoy :)

Video of Paradise, Michigan fireworks show from last year

Paradise, Michigan shows how to finish off a fireworks display in this video taken from the 2007 fireworks show. For those of you who cannot wait for your local displays tonight - here's a little taste.

Happy 4th of July!