Welcome to Elkhart Lake

Even though our address is Plymouth Wisconsin we actually live closer to Elkhart Lake. We are less then 2 miles from Elkhart Lake and about 5 miles from Plymouth. I am not sure why we have a Plymouth address because the next house to the north of us has a Elkhart Lake address.

Elkhart Lake is an artsy fartsy type of town. To put it another way their shit don't stink, at least they don't think so. When you drive into town the sign says population of just over 1000 but on the weekends when the rich from Chicago comes to stay at the Ostoff Resort and the surrounding area the population swells to over 2000. I like the town because it has tried to hold on to its past. Around town there are a lot of the old houses still left and most of not all are well kept. Around the town fringes the newer subdivisions and condos have sprung up but it still maintains that small town quiet rural setting.





If you have been following this blog you will know every Saturday we take a trip to the dump to take our garbage becuase we do not have garbage pickup here. It just so happens on our way back from the dump (or the recycling center as they probably call it in Elkhart Lake) we stop in Elkhart Lake at the local farmers market. It's called a farmers market but there is a lot of junk (opps I should say arts and crafts) being sold there too. I enjoy going there for the produce. We will normally buy all of our onions, green peppers and various other produce there. Today we even bought some homemade maple syrup. (Oh how I love that stuff. I pour it on ice cream, pancakes and anything else I think I can get away with pouring it on.)



The farmers market isn't as big as some others but they still have quailty produce.

There is one of the old style ice cream shops in Elkhart Lake too. Once inside it is like you just stepped back into time.


Every now and then we will drive up there on a nice evening and belly up to the ice cream bar. An older lady owns it and she has been there everytime we have stopped for ice cream. The service can be a little slow at times but you got to remember it is only one old lady running the place. But then again the pace is slow in Elkhart Lake anyway.

Like I said earlier the Ostoff Resort is the major attraction for people. This is a large resort that sets on the banks of, ......can you guess? If you said Elkhart Lake you would be correct. I was told when I first came here that the lawyers from Chicago that can't afford Door County come here. I don't know about that but from what I see the people that go there are to bad off.

There are always a lot of classic cars around. It is not unusual to see anything there.



This car was sitting across from the junk, oops I mean farmers market one day when we were there. I am assuming it is a 1967 Jaguar from the license plate. It was in perfect shape. But like I said it is not unusual to find cars like this in town on weekends.

On our visit there today look what we found.......


Anybody recognize it?



It's a mini, a real mini. It even has the steering wheel on the opposite side. It was listed for sale and it said it was a 1962. It was in fairly good shape for a '62. I looked inside of it and all there was was a speedometer and nothing else. The shift stick you operated with your left hand and the knob had the british flag on it. It was definitely the basic of transportation.

Well that is the town of Elkhart Lake or more like the village of Elkhart Lake. During the week it is a quiet town and on the weekends turns into a resort town.

Here is a little extra I thougt you might be interested in our Saturday night meal.


It started with a little bit of boneless, skinless chicken thighs cooked on the grill and ended up as a pita pocket sandwich.

In all the excitment......

...........this week I almost forgot about posting last Saturday nights meal.



It is kinda like a fish taco. If you have ever had a fish taco they are pretty good. I forget everything in a fish taco but this has grilled fish, cole slaw, and a guacamole mixture of some sorts. We will certainly be making this again.



The original recipe calls for halibut but since I was too cheap to pay over $10 per pound for halibut I substituted pollock instead. It still came out pretty darn good.

And look what else I snuck a picture of.....


The wife doesn't like me taking pictures of her stuff but when she wasn't looking I snapped this picture. Turned out pretty darn good. The frosting has a lot of orange juice in it. I think it came out of her Taste of Home magazine she gets.

I have been eating on it all week.

Sunday Dinner - 4 August 2008

When I woke up on Saturday I still hadn't decided what was on the menu for this weeks Sunday Dinner. I have been busy working on the new whippy dip for Midland and I really haven't given it much thought. I also knew on Sunday I would get out of bed around 6:30 am and not finish the drawings for the whippy dip until later that night. That is the way it always is because I never get the answers I need until the eleventh hour and I am left trying to finish everything in one weekend.

Imagine my surprise and delight when the wife came into my office and said "Honey will you make me this this weekend?" She had picked out one the simplest meals there is for cooking on the grill. What was it you ask? Take a look........

Ribeye steaks marinated in bourbon.

It is not very often we get steak around here but when I saw what she picked out I thought that will be perfect for Sunday because I knew I wouldn't have all day to prepare our Sunday Dinner. My only requirement for this Sunday was she had to make the salad to go with it. It wasn't a problem because she had a salad or two from here latest Taste of Home magazine she wanted to try.

With all that being said let's get started.

Here are this weeks supporting cast for this weeks Sunday Dinner episode.....


Well actually these are the ingredients for the marinade this week. I know, I know, if you are paying attention you will notice that is a bottle of whiskey in the picture. The reason why is because that is what I had. Besides what the hell is the difference between whiskey and bourbon anyway? I have told you before my distaste for Jack Danial's but for some reason it really works good in marinades for beef products.

Once all ingredients are mixed together the marinade will look like this........


Now here is the star of our show this week.........


Ribeye steaks, my favorite of all he steak family. When I buy it I always buy it with the bone in.

Next put the steaks in the marinade and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. About a half hour before grilling take the steaks out and let them come up to room temperature.

While this is happening it is time to soak some wood chips and this weeks choice is.........

Now what else do you think I would use when JD is the main player in the marinade?

If you have been following my post in this blog all summer you now know what time it is. It is time to "FIRE UP THE GRILL!!!!!!!"

You have to use enough charcoal to get the grill good and hot because we are after those picture taking grill marks on the steaks. You know the marks, the ones where there is no doubt that baby has been cooked on the grill.

While the grill is getting hot it is time to prepare the steaks.....


You may be wondering why are the steaks sitting on paper towels? Well this my friend is how you get those picture taking grill marks. To get the grill marks the meat has to be completely dry of any moisture. While the steaks are coming up to room temperature I pat them dry at least 3 different times.

I brush oil on the steaks and season with the ingredients you see in the picture. once this is done it's out to the grill. I put in the water soaked wood chips an slap the steaks on the grill and close the lid.

Oh how I love to see the smoke coming out of the grill. That smoke equals flavor you just can't get on the stove or in the oven.

I let the steaks cook about 4 minutes on a side......

....until medium rare, at least for me. Medium rare for me is 130 degree internal temperature. The wife likes hers more towards medium so I cook hers to about 136 to 137 degrees.

After cooking this is what I am left with.............


Mmmm, so good. I think it deserves 5 out of 5 forks. I am telling you if you ever open up a steak restaurant you will have to turn people away if you make this steak with this marinade, it is simply that good. This is as good as any steak you will ever find in the best of steak houses. This is the other reason I don't order steak at restaurants because it is one item I think I can do better than they can.

One more look.....

You gotta love those grille marks.

If you decide to try this make sure the steak you use is at least 1 to 1-1/4" thick. The thicker the steak the easier to cook. And I should also mention this will work just as good on new york steaks, porterhouses, and t-bones. Like I have said before use what you like and like what you use. This applies to everything except Jack Daniels.