Mackinac Island, Michigan and "Somewhere In Time"

These are the voyages of the HubPages Galley; its continuing mission, to seek out new writers and new Hubs, to serve up the Tastiest Nuggets, and to boldly read what creative writers prepare!

READERS!

Your mission is to read the 6 HubNugget Wannabe-nominated Hubs in each of the 3 popular HubPages Topics we showcase this week. Then, please vote for your favorite Hub among each set of 6. At the end of a week, your votes will select a Top 9 Official HubNuggets that will be announced in the Forum and in the HubPages Weekly Newsletter that reaches some 80,000 people. Anyone can vote; you don't need to be a member of HubPages to vote for your favorites.

HubNuggets Wannabes!

Your mission is to ask all your friends, associates, and family members to vote for your nominated Hub on this site (but please don't spam by placing your Hub link in a Comments box or a Forum post. Thanks!) Anyone can vote and no voter is required to be a HubPages member.

Best Wishes, and congratulations to you all!

This week, our trio of HN Team members that graduated from French Cooking Academy with Chef Jacques a fortnight ago [see HubNuggets Trio in France] present special banquet. We hope you enjoy it.

The HubNuggets Team operates under the direction of our leaders and guides Jason Menayan, Maddie Ruud, Simone Smith, and Fawntia Fowler. Our Special Correspondent that sometimes reports HN Weekly Missions and greets all of our Wannabes every week is ripplemaker. Various sidekicks also pop in occasionally.

One of our hobbies is Time Travel, so we honor the current HubPages Marks the Spot contest as we Chefs travel back in time to Michigan's picturesque Mackinac Island. There, we serve up our HubNuggets Wannabes during a convention of film fans annually at the Grand Hotel: the Somewhere In Time (S.I.T.) Weekend.

A clip from a recent S.I.T. weekend to the right and a romantic 5-minute tribute video at the end of this page explain it all.

Here's what occurred in preparation before you arrived:

The culinary graduates, their entourage, and their equipment arrived by high-speed ferry at Mackinac Island and the Grand Hotel. It was marvelous to see the greenspace and historic buildings and to take in the astonishing scents of fresh lake air and water as we listened to the clip clop of horse drawn carriages.

We set up HQ in the main hotel kitchen and took stock of the inventories. There was no food. The cupboards were bare. We new this mission would not be a breeze.

Suddenly, a disposable cell phone in the center of the main prep table rang. I answered it and received this recorded message:

Recorded Message: Chef P.I., your culinary mission, if you choose to accept it, is to prepare a banquet for HubPages Readers at the Grand Hotel for the Somewhere in Time weekend. You are charged with serving up 18 deluxe HubNugget Wannabes during the event.

You will have the camaraderie of your fellow Stainless Steel Chefs, Zsuzsy Bee and RedElf, with the assistance of Chef de Partie P8Bleu, who was eavesdropping on the Team's French Cooking Certifications and Pastry Chef Ringo Starr, whose specialty is the Admiral Halsey butter pie - or butter tarts (this is unclear).

Chef Ringo: Wait a mo' - I'm a Doctor, not a Chef!

Recorded Message: We thought you were a retired drummer...The Team will begin with no food, no menu, and no microwave ovens. You must serve 80,000+ Readers. Fortes fortuna adiuvat.* ...This message will self destruct in 3,2,1...Shoom!

[Microwave incinerates and phone disintegrates.]

Chef P8Bleu: Snicker snack!

Chef Zsuzsy Bee had already compiled a vivid menu of banquet courses during our studies in France - but so many people to serve! Chef RedElf and I would provide some additional wonders (My childhood cooking experiments came in useful.)

At the sight of no food in the pantry, we took a few minutes to think and came together:

Chef Zsuzsy Bee - We have at least one menu composed, we have a High Speed Ferry, and we have the island's Fort Mackinac Tea Room pantry at our disposal. I've just got off the phone -- One of the soldiers at the fort is a friend of mine from way back. He and his troop of historical actors will march the food down to us for the French Menu.

Chef RedElf - That's fast work and good connections. May we see your menu again?

Chef Zsuzsy Bee - Mai Oui! It is in the newspaper.

Chef P8Bleu: Speedy!

Come to the Banquet!

Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island

Friday September 24, 2010

A total of 18 HubNuggets Wannabes will be presented for your consideration, along with three menus of international favorites.

For your delight, The French Menu

• Calamari Frits - Crisped calamari with basil tomato sauce.
• Crepe Enchanté - Crepes with sautéed garlic chicken, onions, Parmesan, béchamel sauce; with wilted mixed greens.
• Red Snapper - Served whole with sautéed vegetables and sauces.
• Green Soup - A blend of potatoes, collard greens, and sausage.
• Rum Cake - A raisin cake in caramel sauce, with whipped cream.

Chef RedElf was eager to prepare the Canadian Fusion dishes she'd developed. She was aided by Ringo and P8Bleu as well as Ringo's old mate Paul, who was temporarily a concessionaire at the weekend event (Capt. Shirley Anderson, retired, changed the time line, so the Beatles were out of work). It was quite a prep line, as you can see in the photo.

The Canadian Fusion Menu

• Foie Gras Poutine: Russet fries with foie gras gravy and smoked Gouda.
• Grass-fed Beef Dumplings with sweet sesame noodles.
• Duck Sausage Perogies in walnut cream sauce.
• Champagne Glazed Cauliflower.
• Goat Cheese and Sage Mashed Potatoes.
• Lemon Marmalade Cranberry Sauce.

Please do us the honor of voting for your favorite!

Happily, we completed our HubNugget: Impossible mission with more fun and good reading than Food Network's Dinner:Impossible. Thanks for attending the Somewhere In Time Weekend and we hope you enjoy your last batch of HubNuggets Wannabes for dessert, below. We'll do the dishes.

Mackinac Island and surrounding territories have been home to First Nations and American Bison. However, many more members of both synods lived back in the 1770s, where our friend HubNugget Hank was suspended in time.This gave me an idea.

I'd had a mirror resurfaced recently. He was an old HubNugget friend with Alice Through the Looking Glass powers. I charged him with contacting Hank. He agreed. Mirror dialed him up and Hank sent through the following dishes from Great Lakes history, circa 1771.

The Great Lakes American Menu

• Bison Steaks with Caper Sauce.
• Lake Trout Almandine.
• Wilted Kale and Red Onion Salad.
• Pumpkin Walnut Pudding.
• Egg Pie with Apples and Currants.
• Michigan Cranberry Tarts.

*Fortune favors the brave (or bold)