Yes it's the holiday season, full of good cheer, family, friends, music and at times popcorn. Now I don't think I'm wrong in saying that almost all of us have at one time or another have had a run-in with this seemingly innocent holiday treat. "Gourmet" popcorn of the cheese/candied/buttered variety has been gracing my family's holiday events for as long as I can remember.

As a child I learned quickly that the flavors I liked, namely anything but the candied popcorn (I thought it was too sweet), disappeared quickly so I adopted a half-baked popcorn eating strategy which involved my six year-old self running off with the whole tin. Much like Robin Hood I would steal this tasty snack from the parents to share with the kids, that is until the folks got wise to me and soon the popcorn was placed out of reach of children. If the Nacho cheese flavored popcorn featured in this video is any indicator my parents took away that flavored popcorn just in time... You can skip the popcorn sales pitch at the end unless you want to buy a barrel or two.

Well I adapted and took to eating just about anything else: sweet treats, cookies, carrots, chips and salsa, honey glazed ham, cheesy scalloped potatoes, salad or Sushi. Yes that's right sushi, it is family tradition at my humble home that we provide a smattering of California, cucumber, avacado and salmon rolls at our Christmas eve party along with more traditional foods. What are you're unique traditions? We would love to hear about it!

Well Food Lovers, there's a lot to look forward to in the upcoming months. Especially the holiday that makes a Foodie out of just about everyone: Thanksgiving! In order to prepare you (and ourselves) to savor every delicious morsel that passes your lips next Thursday, we're going to provide you with Thanksgiving recipes and article for before the big day, and maybe even a few for after (some creative ways to use those leftovers). So we won't skip straight to Christmas like the stores, after all, who doesn't like thinking about all that food?

That's not all either, shortly after Thanksgiving we will start our two month weekly review of a cookbook. It's called Freshman in the Kitchen, written by Max and Eli Sussman. So every week for eight weeks, we'll pass around the book to a new writer and they'll tell us about their experience and of course the end result of a recipe from the book. It's tons of fun for us and sure to be entertaining (especially if I cook something...) so be sure to tune in and see how it's going!

Last Saturday, I had the immense privilege of going to the farmer's market with several of the writers from the College Cooking section and my fellow editors Sara and Zak. It turned out to be a perfect fall morning!

We Started our excursion off with a trip to Ann Arbor's own Afternoon Delight (which is spectacular by the way) on East Liberty. After happily filling up on pancakes the size of plates, blueberry muffins the size of coffee cups and all manner of eggs, a very content group of CuiZiners ventured back outside and headed off to Kerrytown! At the farmer's market we found everything from  thumbnail sized potatoes to freshly baked bread. I also got a sneak peek at what certainly promises to be fantastic coffee for my upcoming coffee tour of Ann Arbor! It was a fantastic time, thanks to all that made it!

Cathy's photos from that day! 

Veronica Thompson

So here’s a morsel that will make your mouth water!

I had the spectacular chance to study abroad in Florence, Italy for six weeks and stumbled upon these brightly colored sweets. You’ve heard of gelato right? The creamy and cold, ice cream-like dessert that packs enough sugar to give an elephant a head rush? Well a few brilliant street vendors have put it in popsicle form! As with any gelato they were fantastic!


Now here’s something you might not know, Italians INSIST that gelato is NOT ice cream. If you ask for ice cream, the man or woman behind the brightly lit counter piled high with bright piles of crazy flavors, will tell you as much. They take pride in their gelato, and for good reason too!

Gelato is much smoother and slightly softer and less icy than American ice cream. Not to mention it also comes in a huge spectrum of flavors! From cookie flavor, to honeydew, to the best dark chocolate that I have ever encountered! I’ll take gelato over boring old ice cream any day, maybe an Italian gelato maker will adopt me…

I died and went to sugar heaven! Gelato- Lemon flavored and definitely worth the 2 Euro!

By Veronica Thompson


Hello fellow foodies!


Welcome to the very first post on Wolverine CuiZIne! 
We're very excited about the upcoming year. While we haven't got much up here now, starting in September we will start publishing our articles!  


You can expect:
 -Delicious Recipes
 -Scintillating Secret Tips and Tricks 
 -Restaurant Reviews: Ann Arbor
 -Tempting Information on Healthy Foods
 -Sumptuous Articles on International Foods
 -And so many more Delectable foodie conversations!


I will be posting under the Coffee Corner category but there is much more to come!


I hope that you will follow our fledgling magazine as we work our way into the campus! 


Thanks!
Veronica
Co-Editor and Chief