Friday, Jan. 13
Greetings from Atlanta, Georgia, and the AmericasMart Gift Show. I love the energy and excitement of new products, new artisans and vendors, and all the buying and selling of such unique finds. There’s just no telling what you might find! There was also a Footloose flash mob this year (click to watch) , and while I can assure you that neither Christy nor I were in on the “mob,” we enjoyed it just the same.

HumaniTrees, by Joan Klostermann-Ketels, was one of Susan's picks for adult readers.

Even in the midst of this huge retail show, I’m reminded of what a small world it is! I was placing an order for some of the Tree Adventure’s best-selling plush animals and meanwhile, Diana Fusco of Atlanta is telling me how much she loves Arbor Day Farm since attending a wedding at Lied Lodge a short time ago. It’s fun to make those kind of one-on-one, personal connections, despite being far from Nebraska City.

Saturday, Jan. 14

How exciting today has been! I’ve been finding so many great new items around each corner that I see a sale in our future to make room for it all! Today I met Allen and Diane Davis from North Carolina who had beautiful wooden wine stoppers at Market. The photos I snapped don’t do them justice, but these stoppers will complement nicely Arbor Day Farm’s wine selections. Fun side note: Diane has a wonderful Shag Bark Hickory tree in her yard that she got some 10 years ago from the Arbor Day Foundation as a bare root tree. Another wonderful story!

Books for children and adults are the #1 best-selling item in our gift shop at the Tree Adventure. Today Denise Crawford of Atlanta showed me some of her newest titles, hot off the press! A few of my selections: “Friends of a Feather,” by Arlen Cohn, will keep the younger set entertained with fun, googly-eyed birds on every page; and “HumaniTrees,” by Joan Klostermann-Ketels, shares inspirational quotes and beautiful images of trees, branches, and trunks, revealing nature’s fury and grace deep in the woods. Look for them arriving in our shops in February and March.

Leaf-shaped sticky notes.

Another of my favorite finds today: really cool sticky notes in fabulous leaf shapes and  all sizes. The shading and textures are very true-to-life; looks like the real thing, right off the tree. Rochelle helped me choose just the right mix of colors, shapes, and sizes. Makes a great (and useful) gift idea. I know our shoppers enjoy items like these.

Sunday, Jan. 15
Yes, after two days in Georgia, I’m starting to talk with a southern drawl now. I’m sure my husband will get a kick out of that.

A gnoming we will go! I found some terrific new gnomes for our gift shop and for the ever-popular Gnome Hunt activity at the Tree Adventure. We would never have guessed that it would be so popular when we

Allen & Diane Davis show their collection of intricate wooden wine stoppers.

first offered it in 2010, but now it’s one of our most-booked activities. Travelocity was right… there’s just something endearing about those little gnomes.

Monday, Jan. 16
Heading back to The Good Life of Nebraska today. We’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with such kind and hospitable people here in Atlanta. I truly think this has been the best Market experience ever. We can’t wait to show you all the new items, coming soon to the Tree Adventure and Lied Lodge gift shops.

Until then,
Susan (and Christy)

Nebraska’s Outstanding Nature Tourism Entity in 2011, and we hope you’ll visit soon.

For those of you who might have missed it, the video below hits all the highlights of his presentation. It’s lengthy at nearly 14 minutes, but if you’ve got the time, we think you’ll like it.

Let us know what you think!

Give this one a try and let me know how you like it.

Hazelnut Flourless Chocolate Bouchons
2 lbs. melted chocolate
2 cups crushed toasted hazelnuts
1 cup whole toasted hazelnuts
1 tsp. salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2 vanilla beans
1 ½ cups sugar
1 oz. powdered gelatin
6 egg whites
Cocoa powder

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over low heat for approximately 15 minutes. Combine salt, cream, milk, vanilla beans, sugar and gelatin in a sauce pan and bring to a scald. Be careful not to boil. Set aside to cool. Slowly stir the cream mixture into the melted chocolate and reserve at room temperature; add the crushed hazelnuts. Chill a bowl and the egg whites, and then whip the egg whites into stiff peaks. Fold into the ganache. Spray a silicone mold with pan spray and dust with cocoa powder. Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes or until picks come out clean. Chill the mold. Remove for serving, and garnish with toasted hazelnuts.

Enjoy!
Chef Matt

Matthew Taylor is the Executive Chef at Lied Lodge & Conference Center in Nebraska City, Nebraska, where local, sustainable entrees are served daily. You can catch him doing a live cooking demo at this year’s Wine Under the Pines Festival on Saturday, August 6, 2011, at Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard, Nebraska City.  Have a specific recipe you’d like to see featured on this blog? Let us know.

Maryland Blue Crab Cakes
2 lb. blue crab meat, well drained
¼ cup raw garlic
1 cup panko crumbs
2 whole eggs
½ cup red bell pepper bruinoise
½ cup carrot bruinoise
½ cup red onion bruinoise
2 jalapeños, seeded and bruinoise
¼ tbl Old Bay seasoning
2 lemons zest and juiced
1 orange zest
½ cup flat leaf parsley, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Kernels from 2 ears of fresh sweet corn

Procedure:
Heat olive oil on medium flame in sauté pan. Add garlic and sauté until aromatic. Add the peppers, carrot, onion, and jalapeño to the pan and cook gently until just sweated together. Add Old Bay seasoning and parsley, cook until just aromatic, about 2 minutes. Combine all ingredients to mixing bowl and stir together well. Adjust seasoning and panko until the mixture forms small cakes that stay together well and are not too moist or too dry. Form cakes into small cylinder shapes Reserve cakes to order.

Until next time,
Chef Matt

Matthew Taylor is the Executive Chef at Lied Lodge & Conference Center in Nebraska City, Nebraska, where local, sustainable entrees are served daily. Have a specific recipe you’d like to see featured on this blog? Let us know.

Chef Javier Wong and Chef Matthew Taylor spent hours cooking together in the Lied Lodge kitchen.

To make a long story short, an international film crew stayed at Lied Lodge last month while working on a tourism documentary about Peru, South America. They stayed for many days, put in incredibly long hours shooting in Peru, Nebraska, and brought with them some of the finest chefs in the southern hemisphere to star in the film:

Chef Christian Bravo, the award-winning chef and restaurateur of Lima, Peru, hailed as one of the best gourmet chefs in South America;
Chef Javier Wong, internationally known as “The God of Ceviche,” who owns and operates one of the most exclusive restaurants in all of Peru, and
Chef Ivan Kosac, a molecular gastronomy guru who has worked and trained in France and Spain.

Being a chef myself, I was familiar with the collective reputation of these three chefs and their elevated standing in the world community of gastronomy. I was thrilled to have such talented and well respected chefs in house for a few days, and our time in the Lied Lodge kitchen together are some of the most cherished memories of my career.

Chef Wong's signature dish: ceviche.

ocean and forest conservation practices to customers and technique.

The creative director was so taken with the instant rapport between us that he wrote a special segment into his documentary that includes Chef Wong and I cooking together in the Lied Lodge kitchen. The production crew flew in fresh flounder and limes from Peru. Chef Wong brought a liqueur called umeshu to create his signature dish, ceviche. We began cooking and again the language and art of the dish took over; we were slicing and filleting as if we had worked together for years. The dish was a masterpiece and the culinary team here at Lied Lodge had the privilege of watching a master in Chef Wong and tasting his excellent work.

At the end of the experience, each chef presented a gift to the other chefs. I heard Chef Wong commenting on the quality of my Japanese Shun knives, so I boxed one up and presented it to him. He was so taken with the gesture he gave me a hug the size of Texas. He quickly returned the favor by ceremoniously offering up his chef’s knife to me. The other chefs joined in and presented me with a chef’s coat embroidered with the flag of Peru. In return, they were given some of our house-made bison salami, which they prized as “one of the best things we’ve eaten in the United States.” I was honored and overjoyed with the entire experience.

We made fast work of friendships and blasted through barriers of language and thousands of miles. One of the most touching moments of the experience was when Chef Javier Wong touched my chest and said, “The work the Arbor Day Foundation is doing is saving the planet and is never to be taken lightly.” He has since contacted me to find out more about working with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant trees in Peru.

This particular experience in the Lied Lodge kitchen is one I will cherish for the rest of my career. What a weekend!

Chef Matthew Taylor is the Executive Chef at Lied Lodge & Conference Center at Arbor Day Farm, Nebraska City, Nebraska.

• New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale - Ft. Collins, CO
• Boulevard Stout - Kansas City, MO
• Lucky Bucket Brewing Company - LaVista, NE
• Schilling Bridge Scottish Ale – Pawnee City, NE
• Nebraska Brewing Company - Papillion, NE

As Benjamin Franklin once said: “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
We’ll raise a glass to that, Mr. President.

And the winner is…  

Alicia Kenealy with her first place trophy.

Congratulations to first place winner Alicia Kenealy, whose recipe for creamy chicken tortilla soup earned her $100 in cash and the honor of keeping the traveling trophy for the next year.  Alicia said her recipe came from a friend who is a chef, noting that the secret ingredient is swiss cheese. Alicia is the assistant for the Lied Lodge sales team.    

Susie Wirth (at left) and Susan Freshman shared second place honors.

Two contestants tied for second place in the challenge. Susie Wirth, Nature Explore Outreach Director, and Susan Freshman, manager at Arbor Day Farm Tree Adventure, split the cash prize and honors for second place. Susie’s recipe for chicken and wild rice soup was “passed up” from her daughter in Knoxville, while Susan’s cheeseburger soup likely originated from a Taste of Home magazine published many years ago.

The Arbor Day Foundation Employee Soup Challenge has been an employee favorite in the non-profit’s Lincoln office for several years; this was the first year that the contest also took place in Nebraska City. 

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup:

Preparation Instructions:
Prepare seasoning mix according to package directions. In a skillet, add seasoning and diced chicken. Cook chicken thoroughly. Drain and set aside.
In large pot, sauté onion in butter for about two minutes. Stir in flour until blended, then gradually stir in the broth. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for two minutes longer, or until thickened slightly. Add tomatoes, Velveeta, cheese and salsa. Cook on medium-low until cheese is melted. Stir in heavy cream and add the chicken to the pot. Heat through but do not boil. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes to thicken. Garnish with crushed tortilla chips.

In particular, the trees in the Lied Lodge arboretum put on a spectacular show of reds, oranges, and yellows for a few short weeks every October. Call us “tree nerds,” but it’s typical for employees to say to one another, “Hey, did you see that sugar maple on the west side of the parking lot? Yesterday it was nice, but today it’s just phenomenal! My camera phone doesn’t do it justice, but here’s a photo I snapped while I was walking in today…” And then we whip out our cell phone and scroll through a few shots. Tree nerds, indeed. 

Last week we got a nice employees-only tour of the arboretum — we called it a Tree Walk — hosted by our on-staff arborist, Rod Edwards. Certainly Rod knows his trees, and he shared lots of interesting tidbits about this variety and that variety, and the benefits of planting this certain tree in this specific place. But what I’d forgotten was how Rod was actually THE GUY who planted most if not all of these trees in the arboretum that we were enjoying. Rod has been on staff at Arbor Day Farm since Day One back in 1993. He dug the holes for those trees; he toiled over the plan of which tree goes where; he sourced the nurseries from where those saplings came. Heck, he probably helped dig the hole for the foundation of Lied Lodge itself. He’s spent countless hours — years, really — nurturing the arboretum so that a staff member like me and thousands of guests can enjoy these trees everyday, year-round. 

Great job, Rod. We all say thank you. 

Beauty like this deserves to be shared. Check out our Flickr album of fall foliage at Arbor Day Farm . 
Feel free to post images of the fall color in your corner of the world, too. 

Amy Stouffer works at Arbor Day Farm as an executive assistant and marketing/web coordinator. Fall is her favorite season, the ginkgo is her favorite tree, and she fills her spare time with a variety of creative pursuits.

It rained on us a bit, but that didn’t put a damper on the fun. And let’s face it — Arbor Day Farm is the complete opposite of most people’s work environment, with all that green space and fresh air, and all those trees…

We put together this short video highlighting Bring Your Kids to Work Day 2010; kids say it best, don’t they? Enjoy.

Watch the Video — “Bring Your Kids to Work” Day, Arbor Day Farm Edition

It all started on a cold winter day in December with a little movie called “Swiss Family Robinson.”  This 1960 Disney Classic would spawn my ingenious idea that would later unfold at Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City, NE.  As I sat on the couch with my girlfriend Melanie that day, I was informed multiple times how amazing the tree house in the movie was.  Being an interior designer, Melanie deeply admired the craftsmanship of that tree house, noting the clever design by the Robinson family.  She pointed out the awesomeness of it every chance she could.  By the end of the movie, I had no doubt that she genuinely wished she could live in a tree house.  As the credits rolled, I had my “Ah-hah!” moment.  That was it.  The engagement idea I had been searching for. 

I knew then and there that I had to propose in a tree house.

Disney's 'Swiss Family Robinson' inspired Brian's unique proposal idea

With the help of my friend Google, I searched the globe for the perfect tree house.  After almost deciding to fly out to Washington state, Google mentioned a place called Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City.  This was quite an improvement in location. I was filled with hope when I discovered that there was a 50-foot tall tree house smack dab in the middle of the Tree Adventure.  Without hesitation, I sent out an email proposing my engagement idea to a very helpful woman named Jennifer.  She was intrigued and wanted to discuss the idea with some of her colleagues.  Eventually I was introduced to Susan, and we began hashing out some ideas.  She was incredibly friendly and so easy to work with.  The emails flew back and forth as we made arrangements for the big day.  I made a trip down to the Farm a couple days prior to get comfortable with the surroundings.  It was a beautiful place, and I was feeling pretty darn good about everything.

After months of planning, May 15, 2010, came at last.  It was time to execute.  Two days earlier, the forecast was calling for a 50% chance of storms.  But as Melanie and I hopped in the car and headed down Highway 2, there were no ominous clouds in sight.  Those extra prayers I put in to the Big Guy were coming through.  As we cruised along, Melanie was all sorts of antsy.  I assumed she must have had an inkling about what was going to happen, although she knew nothing of my secret plans.  She asked me where we were going at least 20 times, and she couldn’t stand the anticipation.  Eventually we pulled into Lied Lodge in Nebraska City.  What a cool place.  We were both impressed by the originality, cleanliness, and upscale feel.  After dropping off our bags in our room, I informed Melanie that I had reserved her a surprise pedicure in five minutes at the hotel spa.  Surprised and excited, she headed out the door and down to the spa. Meanwhile, it was time for me to meet with Susan at the Tree Adventure and double check on all the plans over at the Farm.  Susan greeted me with a big hug and a smile.  I think she was as excited as I was.  We went over the plan one more time, making sure everything was ready.  Things were feeling right.  It was almost go-time. 

She said yes! Melanie and Brian after their treetop proposal

I picked Melanie up from the Lodge and we headed over to the Farm.  I expressed my concern to her about the Tree Adventure closing soon.  I told her I hoped there was still time to check it out.  We parked the car and strolled up to the entrance.  We walked in and were immediately greeted by Susan.  She told us that the Tree Adventure normally closes in 10 minutes….(look of distress on Melanie’s and my face)….BUT since they had a Girl Scout troop coming in later that evening, we could go ahead and take a walk around.  Yes!  Saved by the Girl Scouts!  Well, not quite.  Susan and I actually arranged that little situation as part of our plan.  She directed us outdoors and Melanie and I were off on the trails. 

We had a wonderful time hiking through the Tree Adventure.  We explored the wilderness, took pictures, and acted like goofballs as we trekked along the path.  I’m sure the birds and squirrels above in the trees were wondering who the two hooligans below were.  Eventually, we neared the end of the path.  Melanie asked me what we were going to do for dinner.  I told her I didn’t really have any plans and that maybe we could try to eat at the hotel restaurant.  With a ring of disappointment, she said, “Really?  You don’t have any plans?  Well, yea, I guess we could eat there.”  Little did she know, there was an incredible feast awaiting her in just a few minutes. 

We came to the last intersection of the trail.  We turned right (Melanie tried to convince me to go left) and made our way up the hill.  We reached the top and there it was, the 50-foot tree house in all its glory.  Melanie’s face lit up as she simply said, “Wow.”  After scoping it out, we started our ascent up the stairs.  We reached the summit and the moment of truth.  Melanie turned the corner and noticed the table sitting in the corner with a bottle of wine and two wine glasses.  She walked over to it with a big smile on her face.  She then turned around to find me on one knee in front of her, with a beautiful vintage ring in my hands.  I was so calm and collected up to this point, but now found myself shaking like a leaf!  I expressed my undying love and asked my Mellie to marry me.  

The perfect picnic for a perfect day

“Yes, of course I’ll marry you!”  

And with those words, she granted me the happiest moment of my life.  She slipped on the 1920s vintage ring (Melanie loves antiques and sells vintage clothing) and gave me a huge hug – and of course a nice smooch.  It was a beautiful scene atop that tree house as the sun was beginning to set.  

After our moment, I mentioned to Melanie that I had one last surprise for her.  We walked down the steps of the tree house to the platform area where a delicious picnic awaited us.  It included smoked meats, cheeses, crackers, organic fruit salad, Persian Baklava, organic dark chocolate, pecans, and wine.  I bought most of the food from the farmers market that morning.  Melanie was once again filled with awe and surprise.  We sat, ate, and took everything in.  We were both extremely happy and excited.  The weather was near perfect.  We couldn’t have asked for a better day.  (A background note – as we were hiking on the exploratory trail, Susan set up the wine at the top, and picnic below for us.  She was such a great help.) 

We finished our evening at Lied Lodge, and enjoyed the brunch buffet in the morning before heading out.  It was a wonderful weekend, and it  would not have been possible without the help of Susan, Jennifer, and the rest of the superb staff at Arbor Day Farm.  

Thank you so much for being a part of our engagement.  We will never forget our incredible day. 

Sincerely,
Brian Recker and Melanie Gillis 

Brian Recker is the K-5 Physical Education teacher for Syracuse-Dunbar-Avoca Public Schools.  He has a passion for teaching others how to live a healthy lifestyle.  He has also become an organic gardener during the summers, practicing sustainable farming methods.