Food, Fare, and Edible Ailments

Rice Cake w/Provolone & Sausage

2012-01-30T20:45:00.001-06:00

Bomba di riso is what this is called in Italian. I like to call it delicious. Or delish-e-o-so, much more Italian. And apparently a word I cannot spell.

Pat's parents gave me an Italian cook book for Christmas. A picture cook book, AKA the best kind. What's even better is that I really like Italian food but rarely make it. Well, besides boring spaghetti. This book was motivation, people!

Looking through the first time this really jumped out at me. I'm not sure why, but think it might be because it reminded me of the inside of a rice ball. Oh, rice balls, how I love thee.

I started out by cooking Arborio rice and when it was done stirring in egg, Parmesan, & nutmeg. For the filling it was cooked peas, Italian sausage, provolone, ricotta, & prosciutto all mixed together. In a springform pan put a bottom layer of rice, all the filling, and then the rest of the rice. Bake and enjoy.

I really liked it. Cheesy and creamy but the top had good crunch. When I had it for lunch at work the next day it was good cold too.

The only bad thing was my pan was apparently 10 inches around instead of 8 so it was flatter and didn't have as much filling. Next time I'd probably bulk that part up a bit. If this is a taste of the recipes in this cook book I'll definitely be making more!

Koppa's for lunch...

2012-01-29T18:37:00.001-06:00

Yesterday trying to think of a tasty quick lunch, Carla mentioned the perfect idea. Koppa's. I recently had my first experience with their sandwiches, and it was definitely a good one. I've wanted to explore that sandwich menu more ever since my first sandwich, the Baaron Rodgers. Carla ended up ordering that sandwich for her lunch and I ordered the Rimpish.

We also purchased some Jalapeno Kettle chips and took those suckers home. Carla was full of good ideas that day, as she said we should make Bloodies too. We got home, whipped up some bloodies, situated our sandwiches and caught up on Parks and Rec. during consumption. Everything was super tasty, and we were stuffed. I can't wait to eat more of their sandwiches.

A Palomino Brunch

2012-01-24T10:53:00.002-06:00

I was just going through old pictures and realized I never posted about this. We went to Palomino for brunch one day, which is now like 1 or 2 years ago. I don't know what Carla ordered, but I ordered their take on Biscuits and Gravy. It was served over a bed of tots, to be expected there. Everything was good and tasty, but this was a real heavy take on this breakfast staple. I was kinda wrecked for a few hours, I pushed myself too far. I remember it being a nice summer day and we went over to South Shore Park and just laid on the hill. I needed to digest and it felt great laying on the grassy hill, in the sun, with a nice breeze off of the lake.

Biscuits'n'Gravy over a bed of tots.

Featured Post: The Melthouse Bistro

2012-01-23T11:08:00.000-06:00

The good: Big menu, tasty eats. The 'bad': Confusing mixture of self service and full service.

Okay, well, that's pretty much my review for the Melthouse Bistro. For those who care for some more detail, read on my friends. I definitely had a different mental picture of this place before going. I was expecting a more dark cafe/bistro type of restaurant from the sound of it. Walking in, you approach a large menu on the wall next to the ordering counter. I hadn't expected that, and there menu is huge so you need to take a little time. As we are reading a waitress approaches and offers to seat us, with menus.

We sit. We study our menus. We ordered their jalapeno cheese curds and beverages. Another reason where there was confusion between self and full service were for the beverages. Typically when low or out, your waiter/waitress will offer a refill - this never happened when she came around. I asked for more water. Later when I got up to use the restroom I had passed the drink fountain where people are able to get their own beverages.

The food was pretty good I'd say. The cheese curds were pretty tasty. A bit squeaky, a hint of jalapeno, and the marinara sauce was really good. The sauce was a little lighter than your typical marinara sauce, and just a really nice flavor to it. My younger brother, whom we took out for a belated birthday meal, ordered the "Pilgrim." This was their featured grilled cheese on the menu. Containing "Wisconsin Gouda, Smoked Turkey Breast, and Spinach smothered in Cranberry Mustard and Sage-butter on Honey-wheat Bread." His was sans the cranberry mustard, but he did enjoy his sandwich quite abit, however there was a lot of spinach on it.

The Grub.

Carla ordered the "Sergeant Pepper" sandwich. This sandwich has "A tasty offering of Wisconsin Pepper Jack and Cheddar Cheese, Roasted Cauliflower and Red Peppers with Tempura Fried Onions on Sourdough Bread." She thought it tasted good, but two comments were that she wished they had sliced the cauliflower thinly, rather than small chunks. The other being that the "tempura fried onions" were essentially just normal onion rings. Oh well, either way, the sandwich was good.

I ordered the "Lil Kahuna." These were four little slider sandwiches with " Wisconsin Pepper Jack, Pineapple, Sautéed Bell Peppers and Smoked Ham on Country Buttertop Bun." I really enjoyed my little sandwiches. The pineapple gave it a nice burst of flavor, but not being a 'heavy' addition to the sandwich for how much delicious flavor it provides.

Our final confusion of self vs. full service was when the bill came. You are just handed a print out receipt with no credit card book. So I walked up to the counter to pay, and was told that the waitress would come to the table to collect payment. So I went back, sat down, she came and collected payment. The receipt that you sign had no line for a tip, which I was kind of baffled by. Even if it's not always full service, a restaurant typically has a tip line. Luckily Carla had cash on her so we could leave our waitress a tip, as she was always prompt on everything and very friendly.

All in all, our food was good - we enjoyed everything and were glad to have finally tried it. We did learn that it would be best suited for a lunch situation, which you may already be assumed as it's a grilled sandwich place. I do feel execution could have been done a little bit differently/better on some things, but no true complaints. Either way, we all left full and happy. I would happily return, although definitely for lunch.

Sweet Potato Enchiladas

2012-01-20T19:44:00.005-06:00

I love sweet potatoes. LOVE them. They're just so versatile. When I heard someone else talk about sweet potato enchiladas I knew I was going to hunt down a recipe and make these ASAP. And I did. And they were quite good.

I had planned on making these for dinner one night and then Patrick ended up coming over. My original plan was for straight up sweet potato (AKA vegetarian) enchiladas. Patrick shuddered at the mention of a completely vegetarian meal and somehow convinced me to add chicken. That being said it turned out to be a delicious addition.

The filling was sweet potatoes, cream cheese, garlic, green chilies, onion, and S&P. It kind of looks like weird gross baby food. But tasted way better. Creamy and cheesy with lots of flavor and just a little spicy.

Patrick was in charge of the chicken breasts since he insisted we add them. He just panfried them with some seasonings and then we cubed them up before putting them in the 'chadas.

We had small tortilla shells and we sprinkled some chicken, scooped some sweet potato mixture on top and then rolled them and put them all in a pan. We ended up making a few minus the chicken, per the original plan. I wanted to taste the difference. And can handle a meal with no meat involved.

The red enchilada sauce was store bought with a few additions to kick it up a notch. We poured that all over the 'chadas and then sprinkled scallions and cheese over the top.

Overall it was a tasty dinner. I liked the addition of chicken and having the option of no chicken as well. The recipe made a lot more filling than I anticipated so I have some in my freezer. I'll be making these again, and soon.

Out back at the Shack...

2012-01-18T23:39:00.000-06:00

Looking back through some of my old phone pictures from the summer time, I seem to run into my occasional margarita run at JJ's. It is typically before eating a mediocre Tex-Mex meal at JJ's (which tastes darn good after a few drinks), but it is one of my favorite spots to sit back and bask in the warm setting sun. In between JJ's and [JJ's] Waterfront is JJ's Sugar Shack. There is a small patio, some tables/chairs in the grass and then the marina.

More often than not you get bang for your buck and get served a strong margarita, which hits the spot after a day of activities and belly craving food and beverages. Carla and I typically take a stroll out on the pier, often sitting at the end, and watching boats go in and out. With lots of beautiful/impressive sailboats and yachts, it's a relaxing way to sip a cocktail and enjoy life. Mid summer you can typically feel the stickiness of sweat forming, and every sip of your margarita is a little sip of refreshing bliss. If you are eating at JJ's, you typically have a good buzz going by the time you get your table and the A/C inside feels like heaven. If you're up there in the summer, I most definitely recommend stopping by for a 'rita. Here are some pictures that I've taken while stopping by.

P.S. - Two posts in a row about booze...hmm...

Name Your Poison

2012-01-17T21:29:00.002-06:00

Most days I work early. And a lot of times I get home about the same time I left for work. Major ugh.

Sometime during the day I sometimes (usually?) day dream about kickin' my feet up and chillaxin' with a cocktail when I get home.

This gin is currently my gin of choice. Slightly flowery/herbally/black licorice-y its real smooth. This tonic is also my new favorite. No high fructose corn syrup and less sweet than my usual, Shwepp's. My only beef is that it seems to go flat a lot quicker. Usually I go with a lime, but a lemon was all I had. Works for me.

Enough writing for me and reading for you. Go have a drink, I am.

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24 more days until the Bahamas

2012-01-13T10:38:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago in my yearly winter get away desire I was looking at warm destinations on travel websites. This happens every winter, but the trigger never gets pulled. Well, this year the prices just seemed too good. Even though we've had an usually warm winter so far, I wanted to briefly escape it. We ended up booking a cheap package in early February.

After booking we realized our departure date is Super Bowl Sunday. Well, let me say this, I have no problem watching the [Packers in the] Super Bowl at some beach bar with delicious cocktails and seafood snacks. I can't wait to get my paws on some fresh conch, and various other seafood treats. If you don't know this already, I'm a total sucker for seafood. I wish I lived near an ocean. Getting these truly fresh treats is heaven for me.

The snow finally came and it's nice to finally have some white cover, but lets be real, winter lasts a little too long these days and white sand beaches with turquoise blue water is a nice refresher for everything. I have a feeling that a [Packers victory in the] Super Bowl will much sweeter beachside.

We'll be sure to post our eats while down there, so be ready.

Paradise Island

Koppa's, why did I wait so long?

2012-01-10T15:49:00.000-06:00

They also have daily specials
worth checking out.

Well, today I got lunch from a place I've been wanting to try and never found time for. I finally thought of grabbing a sandwich from Koppa's for lunch today, looked up their menu online and knew this was gonna be a difficult choice. I've heard from many that they serve good stuff, and it just never clicked in my head when I was thinking about food.

Well, today it clicked and a co-worker and I got our lunch from Koppa's. I ordered the Baron Rodgers, and she ordered the Bread Favre. You can see both descriptions in the picture, and boy oh boy were these suckers tasty. I particularly liked the mustard/horse radish, the cheese, the bacon, and the turkey. For the same price of Jimmy Johns you get a much higher quality sandwich - and it's bursting with flavor. Literally, bursting.

There is a $20 minimum for delivery orders which stinks if you are getting lunch solo, but if you can run over there quickly to pick it up I highly recommend it. I am surely going to be stopping back in the future and explore their menu. You should too.

SheboyAGAIN

2012-01-08T17:57:00.000-06:00

How do you spend a perfect Saturday, especially in an unusually warm winter in Wisconsin? Well, for us it often is a day trip...sometimes somewhere new, sometimes to our good ol' spots. This Saturday we opted for Sheboygan. A nice little drive north out of Milwaukee and you are able to do all sorts of wonderful day trip activities. You have Kohler-Andre State Park, downtown Sheboygan for perusing shops and nibbling delightful dishes, Kohler for more nibbling and perusing, and various other parks in the area.

We planned on leaving early so we could hit up are all time favorite Sheboygan restaurant for breakfast. This place is nothing new to anyone who actually reads us. You probably didn't guess it, but Field to Fork. Always delicious, always a great time. We arrived later in the morning to get our breakfast fill. It was the most crowded that we have ever witnessed, but that doesn't take a whole lot of customers. We sat in the second floor seating area for the first time - with a good view to the window in the floor to their cheese cellar.

After ordering their breakfast special for the day, Steak and Eggs (the waitress was able to add many more delicious details than I can remember), the waitress returned to our table with extremely unfortunate news. The were out of fixins for that meal. I had to go over the menu for another minute to figure out what I wanted quickly. It was a tough call, because I got really set on a hearty steak and eggs meal and imagining how well they would prepare it. I ended up ordering their breakfast burrito.

It was good, but not great. Part of me may have been dwelling on my loss of steak and eggs (maybe if we didn't have to spend thirty minutes at the bank before leaving I could have ordered it - CARLA!!!), but I do think there could have been more flavor. I think this is my first time not being completely into my dish here. I've always totally loved everything I've ordered. Per the menu, "Two scrambled eggs, chorizo, vegetable hash and avocado. Topped with Saxon Creamery Big Ed's cheese. Served with fruit garnish and tomatillo salsa." Certainly nothing to complain about, but nothing really bursting with flavor.
Carla, who may have inspired my Mexican breakfast order, ordered the Breakfast Tacos from the get go. According to the menu, these guys go like this - "Corn tortillas filled with scrambled eggs, local quesadilla cheese and homemade chorizo. Topped with sour cream and tomatillo salsa. Served with fruit garnish." She said the flavor was good, but nothing special - the Salsa was the best part.

With how both of our breakfasts went, we felt lunch is certainly a step above than our breakfast experience. Certainly not bad, but our lunches have always had that "wow" factor. I think the steak and eggs would have provided that, but alas, their normal breakfast menu wasn't as appealing to me as their lunch. However I'd like to try their frittata, and they do have deep fried french toast. I wonder how that is.
After breakfast, we were kicking around for a while. We went over to Sheboygan Falls to see what that was like. Hoping to find some nice little stores to peep, and walk around. Well, we never stopped for anything [except stop

signs]. We drove all the streets of their downtown, about 6 of them, and nothing enticed us enough to park and look. So we moseyed our way over to Kohler. Always fun to be had checking out the Kohler Show Room. Kitchens and bathrooms that dreams are made of I tell ya.

We slowly drove through the strip mall in Kohler, and wanted to check out two places. Well, we went in the first one and didn't leave for a while. We entered the Craverie. This place looked pretty ridiculous from the get go. The open kitchen where all their desserts and candies seem to be made, the cases filled with delicious looking candies and whatnot. We looked at their shelves stocked with all sorts of recipe books for desserts, baked goods, etc. Everything is certainly pricey, but also tasty. We each picked one consumable item off the shelf, and ordered a mocha to sit and relax. Carla purchased a box of their "Rare Facets". Quite honestly I have no idea what they really are and they looked like fancy rocks. Here is a little bit of information on them. I purchased some of their shaved chocolate for hot cocoa, which they used to make their mocha. It was tasty.

After sitting for a while paging some magazines, enjoying their nice leather furniture, and a cozy fire a little bit of hunger came to our bellies when we were looking at the lunch menu. It was small, but delicious looking. Splitting a sandwich seemed like the thing to do, and it was. We ordered the "Honey-Smoked Ham, Pepperoni, Turkey, and Swiss Sandwich."

It came with a nice portion of meat, great for the not terribly hungry sandwich splitting couple. I always like sliced pickles on a sandwich and the mustard was quite tasty. It's their simple deli sandwich, and it's done right. Fresh bread, good meat, and tasty condiments. It sealed the deal on this becoming an instant favorite place in the Kohler-Sheboygan area. So, all in all, the Craverie is definitely a place worth checking out if you are in the area.

Green Tomato Pie

2012-01-07T16:15:00.001-06:00

This is long over due. I've made it really clear how much I love green tomatoes, right?

This was from a late season crop of green tomatoes. I got the idea when someone at work had a GT tomato pie. Apparently tho, most GT pies are you sweet like an apple pie. Weird. I didn't wan that so I sort of made my own based on a bunch of recipes combined.

Sliced tomatoes, lemon juice, feta cheese, S&P, bacon, crumbled crackers and breadcrumbs. Baked and enjoyed. It was good but I plan on doctoring it up this year for sure. Can't wait.

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Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T09:26:00.004-06:00

What did you do last night? I stayed at home by myself. By choice. Don't hate.

My big to-do was making these fabulous cupcakes. Old Fashion cupcakes to be exact. As in the cocktail, not like what your Grandma might make.

You see I got this new cupcake cookbook for Christmas. From myself. Most cupcakes include booze. Or bacon. OR BOTH. EEEK!

I love me an old fashion to drink, so why not a cupcake to eat? Side note: I drink Southern Comfort Old Fashions Sour. These cupcakes are all about the whiskey. Hmmmmm.

The cupcake part was very basic. Definitely an orange twist. Cake flour, sugar, butter, orange juice,etc. It got fancy after the baking part. Poked some holes in the top and poured whiskey over to let it soak in. (I used "Buffalo Trace", I don't think it really matters what you use though.)

The frosting is where things get crazy. A good amount of whiskey and bitters. I could smell the booze while mixing. Is that a good thing? Well, I frosted all the cupcakes and then sprinkled an "orange sawdust" on top. It's really just zest & sugar, nothing too crazy.

The verdict? Yum yum yummers! A light, very moist cupcake with orange whiskey frosting. Oh yeah baby! I'll be making these again for sure. One question: Can you get drunk off of cupcakes?

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A Lil' Door County Dinner

2011-12-30T09:28:00.000-06:00

I am up in Door County for the New Year weekend with my brother Adam and his girlfriend Amy. If only we had some actual snow up here it would make for the perfect laid back New Years get away. Last night we were all taking it easy, listening to some tunes and working on a puzzle.

Amy was kind enough to cook us boys some dinner. I'm not sure of everything that went into it, but it was truly tasty. My contribution was cooking the Italian sausage. All other usual suspects were included. Simply looking at it got your mouth to drool. The splotches of fresh mozzarella are what really get me...Mmmm.

Thanks for dinner Amy! I look forward to the left overs.

Foil Baked Salmon

2011-12-26T21:14:00.000-06:00

Holy smokes, it has been a while since we've posted. Yikes. Can I blame the holidays? Well, that's not even the reason. Lets just say it is.

Anywho, today at work I was browsing the internet and there was a link about meal ideas for a week. I clicked on it just to see if there was any good stuff. The first image was pistachio crusted salmon. All I could think is "Yum, I want that." It really got me in the mood to cook some fish, I rarely do.

After getting home from work, sorting through my holiday treasures, and cleaning I began to think of dinner. Since I had a hankering for a fish dish I hopped online and looked up recipes. I wanted something simple and tasty (Well, why would you cook something intentionally untasty? Hmm...). One of the first recipes I looked at had me sold. It was very simple and didn't require much so I didn't really need to get anything special for the dish except for the fish.

While the oven was heating to 400 I was preparing a little 'salsa' to put on top of the fish. I diced up some tomato, sweet onion (it called for shallots - but the grocery store was out apparently), lemon juice, oregano, and thyme. Also added was some olive oil to help prevent sticking. I mixed it all together, spooned over the top of the fish, and wrapped it up. Let 'er cook for 25 minutes, and enjoyed the smell pulling it out.

The fish was very juicy and flakey, I was very happy with the result of the consistency. The toppings provided a very simple, yet delicious, flavor to the fish. It was a nice change up for me to make at home, and it has helped motivate me to cook with fish more. For some reason there is hesitation with getting more experimental with fish and I'm not sure why. With this cooking method it's hard to screw up, and easily modified to your taste. You can really do any number of things with it, putting it whatever you may choose. I like that. I like fish. Twas a good dish.

Dinner - 12/5/2011

2011-12-06T16:24:00.000-06:00

Yes, I know. Very creative title, thank you.

Carla made a tasty dinner last night, showcasing her homemade pesto which was awesome. We put it over a baked potato (sliced, and stuffed with thin slices of garlic cloves), and it was deeee-lish. We also had chicken breasts which were simply seasoned and baked, and a side of bruschetta. As an observer, mostly (I DID slice the garlic), it seemed like a simple meal to prepare and was ready very quickly.

I know she's posted about her pestato (yep, just made that up. Pesto+Potato=Pestato), but this was my first time consuming one. Twas delish and would love to have another sometime in the future. Keepin' 'er short and sweet today folks. That's all.

Izumi's good; lots of wasabi bad.

2011-12-04T13:44:00.000-06:00

Last night I went out with my brother Adam and his girlfriend. We went to Izumi's, which we all have previously been. They recently added a lot of small plates to their menu, tapas style, both hot and cold. I only ordered miso soup and some sushi rolls but they were more interested in getting the small plates. I sampled a little bit of what they ordered, but the three small plates that they shared were both cheaply priced and loaded with flavor. Next time Carla and I go back, we will definitely have to share some of the small plates.

After a few drinks and most of the way through dinner I dared Adam to put what was left of a wasabi ball onto one piece of sushi. It was most of the portion of wasabi and he loaded it right on. I knew this was going to be great entertainment with a number of possible results. Almost immediately after placing it into his mouth he lets out a slow and steady breath of air, he may as well have been spitting fire by the sound of it. It quickly escalated from there to eyes watering up, moving around uncomfortably, and the possibility of gagging was increasing. He removed the wasabi from his mouth, took a couple of big gulps of water, and I was able to calm down a bit and wipe away some of my tears of laughter. It could have been an epic scene had it not been removed, but that's one thing I love about wasabi - once it's out of your mouth the heat dissipates very quickly and you're back to normal right away.

Pumpkin Treats

2011-11-24T14:25:00.011-06:00

Let me start by saying I've been without a computer for a month or so, so I have quite a few over due posts. Look out world, Carla is back in blogging action!

Fall has been upon us for quite awhile now, and pumpkin is one thing I look forward to cooking and baking with every fall. It's sweet, it's savory, it's sweet potato-y. There's not a lot you can't do with pumpkin. And it's pretty good for you, lots of fiber and vitamins.

First I made some pumpkin whoopee pies. I attempted some last year that were good, but I had a better idea this year. I made a vanilla cookie this time and changed up the filling a bit. The cookie itself was delicious, fluffy and nice flavor. The filling was pumpkin, cream cheese & maple. Same as last year, but I substituted half the butter for pumpkin for a LOT more pumpkin flavor, and it also brought down the sweet factor which was nice.

I had some pumpkin left over from the whoopee pies so I decided to make some pumpkin black bean quesadillas for dinner one night. I don't have a picture, but boy, were they good. Really easy to make too. I spread pumpkin on one tortilla, then sprinkled black beans, onion, red pepper, and shredded cheese and topped it with another tortilla shell. Then I just heated 'er up, cut and ate. Yum. I'll totally make this again.

I also made some pumpkin bars. Partly just cause I wanted too and also because I had A LOT of filling left from the whoopee pies and decided to use it as frosting. These were really good too. These bars called for a half cup of oil, which was kind of gross to me. So I substituted (homemade) applesauce for half the oil. Did you know you can use applesauce in place of oil? I only did half, cause I wasn't too sure how it would affect the recipe. Next time, I will probably just use all applesauce. Can't tell the difference and a little added flavor. Well, with the same pumpkin cream cheese frosting these were, I would venture to say incredible. Moist bar, flavorful frosting.

I'm not sure if I'll make anymore pumpkin stuff this year, but I do know all these things truly cannot be beat.

Brussels Diner - Home of the Original Hash Brown Sandwich

2011-11-18T08:58:00.000-06:00

This past weekend on our way home from Door County we stopped at the Brussels Diner for breakfast. Anyone that is used to driving up to Door County on the old highway 42 is used to passing this place (amongst some other great restaurants that you now have to specially venture off to, such as the Dykesville Bowl). This was my second visit there, and hopefully not my last. I saw that because the rumor that we overheard while there is that the couple who owns the restaurant is splitting up. The fate of the restaurant sounded unsure. Hopefully it stays around.

We all ordered different versions of the hashbrown sandwich. I went for the Northwestern version. This sucker offers Canadian bacon, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, Swiss cheese, and of course the eggs in there. Truly a behemoth breakfast, at an extremely affordable price. You could feed a family of 4 with one of these. The original comes in a half order (huge) and full order (really huge). The specialties, like the one I ordered, come in one size which is between the half and full. If memory serves me correctly, they are all hovering around the $7-$8 range. Can't go wrong, I just hope you're hungry!

Northwestern Hashbrown Sandwich- Brussels Diner

Grilled Turkey, Bacon, & Pear Sandwich

2011-11-07T22:16:00.001-06:00

I love all these things: bacon, cheese, turkey, and pears. Oddly enough these all ended up on this delicious sandwich.

Not too much to say here folks. A little bit of mayo on the bread, and a titch of brown sugar on the bacon.

Turkey, bacon, Swiss cheese and sliced pears. All stacked and grilled to perfection between two pieces of french bread. Yum. Try it!

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Czarnuszka Soup Bar

2011-11-02T11:56:00.000-05:00

Even though you are probably still trying to figure out how to pronounce it properly, Czarnuszka is definitely a place worth checking out in Ephraim. It's still a fairly new place, as it opened this year and offers up excellent homemade soups. They open year-round and I'm sure it's going to be a popular place to warm up in the winter months.

I can't really remember what soups we got. I believe mine was spicy bean and sausage soup and Carla ordered some type of vegetarian/vegetable potato soup. We also bought a small vegetarian sandwich to munch on. The soups were of course served with delicious fresh rolls. We both enjoyed each the soups very much and will definitely return when soup is our fancy.

ppulse.com

You may have seen the Rhythm Chicken before, he's been known to play around Bayview and Door County parades. He just may, or may not, be the owner of Czarnuszka. However, as I read in an article in the Peninsula Pulsa but couldn't find, he does serve Rhythm Chili every Saturday. The recipe was given to him by the Rhythm Chicken himself.

If you'd like some more information on Czarnuszka, here is another article the Peninsula Pulse wrote up early in the summer. OnMilwaukee also has a blog post about it, here.

Gourmet Camping

2011-10-28T17:33:00.001-05:00

I went camping with my brother and Mom a few weekends ago. It was fun and pretty cold at night, but luckily my brother cooked us up one heck of a tasty dinner.

I was totally fine with our usual 'chonder bundle' for dinner. Hamburger with a bunch of veggies wrapped in foil and tossed on the fire. Being real, usually the meat is too well done and the potatoes are sometimes still crunchy, but hey, it's cooked over a fire and still tastes great.

Brandt, (Mr. Gourmet himself) had other plans. Not satisfied with the prospect of over cooked meat, he decided he was going to do fish.

He offered to make Salmon for him and Mom and Trout for me. Of course he insisted on doing all the veggies separate, which worked well. We had zucchini, carrots, potatoes & onions seasoned up real nice. The fish was fabulous, cooked perfectly with light seasoning and some dill. Flaky and slightly smoky it really hit the spot.

Considering the amount of time it took us to get the fire going, it was worth it for this meal. We enjoyed a Hinterland pale ale with dinner too which paired quite well. I can't wait to see what we eat next year....

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Bruschetta Breakfast Sandwich

2011-10-18T00:09:00.002-05:00

I left Door County early yesterday morning with having only eaten an apple cider donut from Seaquist and drinking a cup of coffee. I decided to take the pretty lake way home and got hungry quickly.

I decided to stop at Cafe Tlazo in Algoma (LOVE!) for a quick bite. I have stopped here a few times before, and usually end up getting my food to go. Yesterday was no different. If I am never not in a hurry I would enjoy eating a meal here as it feels quite comfortable inside.

I just got a breakfast sandwich with bruschetta, spinach, cheese and egg. Perhaps not the best choice as I was trying to eat it while driving and it proved to be quite messy. The mess was worth it tho, the flavors were great, and it really hit the spot.

I'm glad I thought to stop here and can't wait to stop again.

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On the news...

2011-10-13T12:10:00.000-05:00

Man, Carla's family has sure been getting the airtime on TV lately. As you may recall, Carla's brother-in-law was on the news for the Hometown Hero segment. Just the other day Real Milwaukee stopped into Anodyne to learn a little bit about the roasting procedure and making drinks. Well, none other than the best to help Tony make his mocha. You can watch Carla's segment below.

To watch the other parts, click here. The segments are linked above the video box.

Featured Post: Restaurant Saveur

2011-10-06T11:10:00.000-05:00

Recently...well, a while ago, Carla and I celebrated 3 years of awesomeness. We needed to go somewhere great up in Door County, and that we did. We thought about where we have never been and what is superb. Well, the restaurant that took the cake was Restaurant Saveur.

Looking at a sample menu online, it was quite convincing. Another place we were considering was Top Deck at the Gordon Lodge. With a meal out of the picture but wanting to enjoy their beautiful view, we swung by for a couple of drinks before dinner. We had never been, but heard great things. Rumors are true, the view is about as perfect of a view one can have up here. It's a small, cozy restaurant with a very comfortable atmosphere.

Concluding our little happy hour, we headed down into Bailey's Harbor to get dinner. We sat at their bar for a couple of minutes enjoying the slightly eccentric surroundings. Our table was ready, so we carried our drinks to the table to drool over their menu.

We had a couple of ideas for an appetizer, one of which being their Fried Green Tomatoes. Well, there was no debate at all - Fried Green Tomatoes. Carla turned me onto FGT's fairly recently, and it was definitely love at first bite. She made some at home that I really enjoyed, and we've had them at a couple of restaurants, every time seemingly better. Restaurant Saveur's were no let down. I could have enjoyed a platter of these for a meal.

Our entrees were equally as amazing. I know I was debating between a few, all of which had certain qualities that were making it difficult to choose...I wanted to try everything! I ended up choosing their pork entree and Carla picked their Tempura Cod entree.

Per the menu, Carla's dish consisted of "Fresh Hawaiian Coral Cod tempura, coconut jasmine rice, fresh pickled green papaya salad, passion fruit and guava gastrique." I only tried one bite, and it was definitely very delicious. The delicate frying was done very well, and very flaky. The seasoning not too powerful and everything came to a very full taste.

My dish went like this, "Grilled Niman Ranch rack of pork, fresh ravioli of sweet potato and toasted pecan, roasted poblano and jalapeno cream." The roasted poblano and jalapeno cream was one of the things that was drawing me to to this dish. When this dish was served, ohhh boy - it was on. The pork was so juicy and tender. Absolutely amazing. The cream gave it GREAT flavor and a perfect little zing. All around, an absolutely amazing entree.

All in all, we both fell in love with our meals and this restaurant. I can't wait for another occasion to get a nice dinner. This will be a place to keep in mind in the future. It's a restaurant that makes it difficult to want to try new ones. So celebrate something, and go!

Fried Eggplant

2011-10-05T21:31:00.001-05:00

We have eggplant in our garden. I'm not quite sure why. It's good and all but I have never heard my brother rave about it. I myself have had one too many greasy, somewhat flavorless eggplant dishes as a vegetarian.

So I found people who love eggplant more than I do to pawn it off on. One of those people told me how he cooked it. Sounded too good to be true so I had to try it.

I peeled and cut it into thick strips. Rolled the strips in flour, dipped them in egg, and then rolled 'em in breadcrumbs with some spices. Got a pan hot and added some oil. When the oil got hot I tossed the little guys in and fried them for a few minutes, until they were soft.

I dipped them in some dressing and they were very good. Don't knock the dressing, it was all I had and I love dunking little nuggets of flavor like these in something. They were good without the dippage too and I have already made them a second time. I love new snacks!

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Lemon Pistachio Cake

2011-09-24T15:06:00.001-05:00

I made this last Sunday. It's green and yellow and Sunday's are Packers day. I hadn't made a cake in awhile either. This was interesting to me because it was a layer cake of sorts; lemon cake with a pistachio crust. Weird and zesty sounding.

I started by making the pistachio layer/crust. Pistachios, powdered sugar, salt, flour and a lot of butter ground up real fine in the food processor. Pressed it into a springform pan. It was about an inch thick and baked up very dense.

Next up the lemon cake. Lots of lemon zest, a good amount of fresh lemon juice, flour, buttermilk, sugar, some levening agents. I really like baking with buttermilk. It really keeps things moist. I poured this batter right on top of the pistachio layer and baked it up.

After it was baked I poured a lemon glaze over it and it soaked into the cake. This cake had a slight cheesecake texture. Yum.

End result: delicious. Moist zingy cake on top of a nutty crunchy crust. No complaints here. I would definitely make this again. I would add a little more salt in the pistachio part and maybe try it with a chocolate cake on top. Oh, the possibilities.

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Salad me!

2011-09-18T10:54:00.001-05:00

So I've been trying to eat more salads for lunch and whatnot. So far my favorite one is the Greek Salad over at Drink Coffee. I'm here almost daily drinking coffee, eating bakery, and occasionally staying long enough for lunch. Not a whole lot else to say other than "Yum!"

Cheese Curd Juicy Lucy

2011-09-14T19:43:00.002-05:00

Juicy Lucy(JL): Hamburger with cheese in the middle. AKA really good idea. I attempted these once before and the result was so-so. Not enough cheese and it melted to quickly.

Fast forward a year and enter Renard's Cheese. My sister had some cheese curds from there up north a few weeks ago and I somehow had the idea of using them for round 2 of my attempt at making a JL. I stopped and got (or should I say stocked up on) some cheese and cheese curds on my way home that day. I spent exactly $22.......on cheese.......wow.

Today was the day for my JL. I seasoned my burger simply, garlic, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce,cumin and pepper. A mound of cheese curds in the middle and wrapped the meat around them. Result = awesome. Flavorful burger and warm gooey cheese in the middle. Baller!

I can see myself making this alongside a bloody mary while watching football this fall. Did I mention Renard's makes their cheese curds fresh every morning? A-ha. Rad. The only change I would make is to cook it on a lower heat so the cheese got even more melty and delicious. If that's even possible.

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Tuna & White Bean Crostini

2011-09-10T12:17:00.001-05:00

I've been on a bean kick lately. I think partly because I'm trying to eat more veggies and less meat, and partly because they're just good.

Can of tuna, white beans, garlic, fresh basil, s & p, and mix together. Slice some nice crusty bread and place tuna/bean mixture on top of bread. I sliced a fresh from the garden tomato and put a slice on top of each piece and then put some Parmesan on top. Then I broiled them til the cheese was melty.

I got this recipe idea from a magazine, it was suggested as an appetizer, but I decided to enjoy it as a meal on a warm summer night a few weeks ago. Very easy to make and quite tasty, I'm sure I will make it again, real soon.

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Breakfast @ Honeypie

2011-09-04T10:31:00.000-05:00

Recently in town for a wedding, I was looking for some good Sunday morning breakfast before hitting the road back up to Door County. I was originally just planning on walking over to the Plaza Cafe by myself, but it turned out that Adam was also interested in getting some breakfast. After a short discussion we landed on Honeypie.

We both ordered their Eggs Benedict. Using homemade biscuits as the bedding, instead of the traditionally used English muffins, there were some sliced sausages, eggs, and homemade hollandaise sauce. Of course paired with a side of some tasty breakfast 'taters. Everything tasted superb, as it always does there. It had me quite full for hitting the road, but I survived.

There is a reason that this fairly new place has quickly become a popular mainstay in Milwaukee. If you haven't been here yet, change that - go.

Featured Post: Hat's off to Chef's Hat

2011-09-02T11:28:00.001-05:00

The other week when Carla was up, made a stop at one of our favorite places up here...Chef's Hat in Ephraim. We've previously mentioned Chef's Hat in a post, but they really deserve their own. This particular visit was my second visit in two days. The day before Carla was up, I had grabbed lunch their.

I'll first start off with my lunch. Both days sitting outside was quite necessary. On a beautiful day it's hard to beat their outdoor patio. Nice little gardens, lush grass, and a beautiful view of Eagle Harbor.

For my lunch I ordered their gorgonzola roast beef sandwich. Holy Toldedo, this sucker was GOOD. Per the menu, "Sautéed onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and tomato on toasted bean salsa bread with gorgonzola." Everything about this sandwich was superb. The bread was fantastic, the veggies fresh and bursting with flavor, as well as the beef being so tender and flavorful. I hadn't been anywhere special in a while, so I really enjoyed this meal. I'm always ready to return and explore their menu.

The following morning, Carla was up in the Door and we were on a quest for breakfast. We had actually first ventured down to Fish Creek to scope out the Cookery. We were planning on eating there, as neither of us have patronized the place since the original burnt down. We got to their door and realized they only serve breakfast to the public on weekends. That sucked. So we moved down the road to Pelletier's and the White Gull Inn. However, we weren't really feeling either of those. So we decided to backtrack and get a bite to eat at Chef's Hat. What a good choice that proved to be.

We sat down, perused the menu. We immediately ordered coffee and a cinnamon roll. The cinnamon roll is the best I've ever had. A common problem is over sweetness, and the frosting being so heavy and grossly filling. Their cinnamon roll was fluffy, not terribly sweet, and the frosting was more of a glaze. Perfect.

For breakfast, you really can't go wrong ordering one of their "Chef's Scrambles." I ordered up the Greek scramble, "spinach, tomato, and feta cheese sauteed in olive oil." You can add meat, I picked the andouille sausage. Every day you have a unique selection of fresh baked breads. I chose the Rosemary Olive Oil bread. Everything was super tasty, and perfectly filling. Although I have a picture of Carla's scramble, I can't tell which one she ordered. I do know she enjoyed it very much and I do know she picked the bean salsa bread.

We both left very happy, full, and anxious to return in the future. I have a feeling this is a common sensation for exiting patrons. If you're in the area, it is absolutely worth stopping for. Great quality, preparation, and freshness all for your everyday diner price. Can't beat it.

Birmingham's, I'll be back

2011-08-29T19:46:00.006-05:00

I stumbled into this small supper club/bar this past week. By stumbled I actually mean I totally planned on eating here and had my fingers crossed it would be good.....it was.

Let me preface this post by saying I've driven past Birmingham's several times in the past year as it is on my new favorite route to Door County: County B. Last fall Pat and I found this new route because I wanted to show him Horseshoe Bay, on "G". County G ends at County B and we thought "why not try it out?" Ummmm, best decision ever. It's such a pretty drive, winding along Green Bay never too far from the water, we dubbed it "Highway 1 of Door County." Since then, I have taken it at least one way when I go to DC, and it usually ends up being when I am going home at odd times of the day, when bars aren't open. Hopefully. You never know in the north woods.

That being said, it is located in Sturgeon Bay, just out of town and north of historical downtown "Sturg." The night I was going North I had a plan, and it revolved around County B, Birmingham's, and a sunset over Green Bay. Yip, if I planned it right, it just might be perfect....it was. I ended up leaving Milwaukee about 5, and hauled so I could be at this specific park/marina in Sturg by sunset. I'll go ahead and pat myself on the back, I could not have planned this any better. I parked my car by the water at 7:30 and walked to the breakwater just in time for this sunset. So pretty! After staring at the water and basking in the beauty I was hungry and ready for some grub.

I actually had to backtrack to go here, but I was determined. There were several cars out front of this smaller place, I assumed locals and was hoping for a good experience. I walked in to find some old timers at the bar (pouring after 4), a man with a strong southern drawl, and some pre-season football on the t.v. *Love*.

I sat down at the bar, got comfy, and ordered a beer. I had previously viewed the menu and knew I was going to order a burger, but looked at it anyway. It seems they have a decent menu, but on Mondays it burger and sandwich day. Burger it was.

This is when it gets even better. I'll set the stage for you. I'm sitting, waiting for my meal and watching the football game. Turns out it was a Bears (wa waaaa) game, bummer but no biggie. Another local "Sarkis" walked in and everyone started hootin' n' hollerin' about him showin' up. I pretend he is a local real estate mogul cause I see his name on lots of "for sale" signs. Beers and more cocktails later, he beckons "Brad" (bartender and I'm assuming owner) over and says "give (name I didn't catch) a call and tell him "THE BEARS STILL SUCK!!!" Brad obliged, picked up the phone, and lots of bantering proceeded. This is exactly why I love the north woods folks. Stuff like this happens all the time.

Then, my cheeseburger came. I notice it's on bread, weird, but who am I to judge? Two bites in and I stopped eating to tell Brad how delicious this burger was. Seriously, charred and crispy on the outside, pink and juicy on the inside. Flavorful and chunks of fried onion on top. The cheese was so melty and gooey I wondered if it was perhaps Velveeta, but didn't bother to ask. I merely ordered another beer and devoured this thing.

After more convo and me people watching it was time to go. It was 9:00 and I still had 40 miles to go. I could have stayed all night. I'll tell you what, a cheeseburger and 2 beers for $10.25? You betcha I'll be back for "the best burger on the peninsula" (as I heard someone inside say).

Give'n 'er da beans @ Mike's Port Pub

2011-08-25T10:57:00.000-05:00

So yesterday Carla and I tried a place that we have driven past countless times and never stopped for. I have been curious for a while, as I've never done anything in Jacksonport other than go to Cave Point and Whitefish Dunes State Park. Both of which we did yesterday.

After a short walk around Cave Point, we drove into Whitefish Dunes to go swimming and lay on the beach. Well, the swimming was fun but cold. Huge waves were rolling in at the brisk temperature of 54 degrees. It didn't stop us from submerging our bodies and playing in the waves, and we lasted much longer than I thought.

I enjoyed this sign.

We worked up a little appetite and knew we wanted lunch, so why not finally try Mike's Port Pub? We pulled into the lot, wondering if they were even open because there were no cars there (as usual). Walking in, you knew you would get comfortable fast...it's that type of place. We sat down at the bar, ordered a beer and looked at the menu.

We enjoyed our beer and cheese curd appetizer on our little bar boards over the unfortunate ending of the Brewers game. Mike (himself!!) and his wife were both serving us, and chatting with us. It was a very homey place, and they advertise their homemade chili, soups, and cold salads. I'd definitely like to try some of those sometime, because with your sandwiches you are served either baked beans or the cold salad of the day. It was a nice change up not having french fries or potato chips as your side, rather a nice little homemade side.

I ordered the "Blazin' Burger" and Carla ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. Honestly, neither of which were special. The Blazin' Burger was no where near blazing, only having jalapenos and pepperjack cheese on it, but certainly not bad. And the chicken sandwich seemed plain and nothing special. Expected for this type of place. However, the baked beans that we both ordered for the side were fantastic.

I have a hunch that the chili/soups/cold salads are what make this place best for stopping at, and the other stuff being absolutely standard. Which is no issue up here. I enjoyed the inside, being kept company by the owners is nice, and it was a perfect place to sit and relax after being wiped out by the waves and sun.

Behemoth Breakfast Sandwich

2011-08-14T11:48:00.001-05:00

Perhaps more brunch than breakfast this sandwich was piled high with all sorts of stuff.

Green peppers and green tomatoes from my garden, mushrooms & onions from the farmer's market, bacon, Parmesan, and a fried egg. Yup.

It's like bountiful garden sandwich in my stomach right now. Boy, she was a tasty one.

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Raspberry Rhubarb Galettes

2011-08-10T21:20:00.001-05:00

I've been wanting and meaning to make these for some time now. They are basically tiny pies. You see, raspberries are my favorite of all the berries. I like rhubarb too. And pie. Basically if you like these 3 things these galettes are win win win.

We get a vegan version of these from East Side Ovens at work and those are pretty good. Buts let's be real. Vegan? Been there, done that and have moved on to bigger and better thing. AKA, butter.

If I'm making pie crust I'm using butter. I'll also own up and say I actually did not make the crust for these myself. Sad I know, but I had some crust in my fridge that I needed to use. It definitely contained butter.

These were so easy to make I could hardly believe it. Roll pie crust very thin and cut into small circles. Mix raspberries, cut rhubarb, sugar, flour, and salt together. Scoop onto crust and fold. Bake. Eat. Love.

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Hometown Hero

2011-08-05T09:27:00.000-05:00

Local Firefighter Gets Chance To Fly With The Thunderbirds - Video - WISN Milwahttp://www.wisn.com/video/28772969/detail.htmlukee

This is my brother-in-law, Brian. He was chosen because of work he did at a fire in December.

I'm aware this has nothing to do with food, but this blog is half mine so I can post (half) of whatever I want. Haha, but really. Patrick said "that's like, every guy's dream", so I'm pretty sure he won't mind that I posted this.

It's a tractor! It's a cake! It's a tractor cake?

2011-08-02T20:35:00.015-05:00

If you are a boy in my family, chances are you like trucks. And John Deere. So is the case when it comes to my little nephew Zach. He's a cutie and he just turned 3. His party was John Deere themed, of course and my Mom had the brilliant idea to make a tractor cake.

I'll admit, she suggested it and I committed to helping her but in my head couldn't quite wrap my head around how we were going to do this. Lucky for me, (luckier for Zach) she became slightly obsessed and brainstormed the cake outline. Complete with scanning in a picture of a JD tractor and jotting down her ideas to send my sister and I. This was going to be fun, perhaps a challenge, and I was all in.

To get it started Mom and I each baked 1 9 x 13 cake, I made vanilla and she made chocolate. Our plan was to cut the tractor pieces and stack them to "build" the tractor. We made a "glaze" to spread onto the cut cake pieces (before frosting) to seal in all the crumbs so the frosting didn't get crumby. That was messy, but ended up working quite well and definitely made a difference. Mom made the delicious frosting and we colored it green, yellow, and blue.

After cutting the cakes to size we glazed them and started stacking. Then we frosted the layers together and it began to take shape pretty quickly. My Mom also had the great idea to use chocolate donuts for wheels, a pretzel rod for a smoke stack, and to make a wagon with leftover cake, complete with pretzel sticks for "logs".

About an hour and half and a lot of frosting later we had this John Deere cake. It came together better than I expected, honestly. We cleaned up the cookie sheets and began crushing chocolate cookies to spread out on them for "dirt." Yes, my Mom thought of everything.

We somehow got it to my sister's house safe and sound the next day, I think having it on 2 cookie sheets is what saved us from disaster. Zach was at the door eagerly anticipating the arrival of his John Deere cake, and judging from the look on his face, I can only imagine he was thinking "oh my nerves!"

Al Johnson's: Where you can get anything buried in whipped cream.

2011-08-01T09:43:00.000-05:00

The other day our family did our first outing to Al Johnson's of the summer. I'm surprised it took us until almost August to do so, but that's okay. We arrived later in the morning, pushing lunch time. Some of us ordered breakfast, and some of us ordered lunch. Under this grass roof, it seems like anything can be ordered with a mountain of whipped cream. As you can see, Elliott enjoyed a little hot chocolate and some pancakes WITH his whipped cream.

Sandwiches @ Shoreline

2011-07-30T09:09:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's taken me until this summer to ever eat anything from the Shoreline Restaurant in Gills Rock. I've always known it's a favorite place for many people, but I just never ventured through those doors until about a month ago. Since then, I've came in for lunch two more times.

This particular visit Carla and I went while she was up, and we got some grub. We started off with their smoked whitefish dip, served with fried pita pieces. This is truly one delicious appetizer. The dip is delish, the pita pieces are, as Tony the Tiger would say, "Grrrrreat!" If you're not digging in too deep with your pitas, you'll definitely have some extra that is definitely worth dipping your french fries in.

For my meal, I got the perch sandwich and Carla got a whitefish sandwich. They are pretty basic and straight forward sandwiches, but very delicious. I'd have to say it's mostly the dip that did us in, because you get a lot of it, but we left very full. I think I left a few last bites on my plate and Carla ended up taking home half of her sandwich. (By the way, how did that go reheating it?)

After my first visit I quickly realized why it was a favorite place of many, and I think it's starting to become one of mine.

Spy flowers

Take Along Bloody Marys

2011-07-28T21:22:00.005-05:00

I don't think it's a secret that Patrick and I enjoy a good bloody. It's also not a secret we enjoy some Door County fun. Combine the 2 and you've got yourself one fun Fourth of July!

The past few year's I've been fortunate enough to make it up to DC for the 4th. Also a plus is most of my family has been able to join. Even better was this year Patrick was able to join us for the parade fun too. Yay!

We always go to the parade in Bailey's Harbor, and after we hit up the food vendor's and craft fair. Maybe it's a north woods thing, but there are several stands around selling bloody mary's and other drinks. We usually would buy a drink or 2 and then watch the parade. Awesome.

THEN, last year my brother had the brilliant idea to make our own bloodies and take them along. We figured we could make them better and doing so would also save us a couple bucks. Talk about brilliant.

We split up what to buy, and the morning of we measured vodka and Bloody Mary mix and poured into our large bottles. Then we loaded up our little shoulder pack cooler. I even got Miller Lite ponies for chasers. I go all out sometimes. Also in here are some beers and OJ w/peach schnapps for the non-bloody drinkers. We don't discriminate.

There was a decent sized group of us so there was just a couple of cocktails each, which was perfect. After the 20 minute parade that is way to spaced out to seem longer we walked over and all got a delicious lunch of burgers,brats, and cheescurds. The perfect start to the perfect Summer! Bloodies! Yum!

Pesto Chicken

2011-07-25T16:45:00.001-05:00

I have a secret love affair with pesto. For real. I'm obsessed. Everything in it I love and it just tastes so darn good. Pesto screams "Summer!"

I made pesto for the first time, and it's so easy I can't believe I never made it before. Basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan, lemon juice and olive oil. Puree and eat off spoon. Done!

I marinated some chicken breasts in the pesto and then grilled them. Very juicy and pesto-y.

On the side I made cous cous and stirred some cherry tomatoes and fresh basil in. We also enjoyed a nice Caesar salad. And perhaps some delicious white wine.

All in all, this was pretty much Summer on a plate.

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This witch...

2011-07-17T10:49:00.001-05:00

I bought this apron for Carla recently. I saw it in a store and it was impossible for me not to buy. Cute, funny, and true. I just had to, and I did.

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Pizookie

2011-07-14T09:14:00.002-05:00

Pizza + Cookie. Pizza cookie. Pizookie.
Cookie dough in a pizza pan baked half way, served warm with ice cream on top. Heaven.

There is a pizza place in Phoenix that has this for dessert. They offer more than 1 cookie dough option and multiple ice cream options too. Most of the time when I ate there it was because I wanted this for dessert. Let's be real.

I can't believe it took me 3+ years to make my own. It's so easy and so so good. Last night my sister was over for dinner so I made this for dessert. I made chocolate chip cookie dough, made cookies with some and put a chunk in a bowl for us. Baked it up half way, crunchy on top and all gooey in the middle. Scooped some banana ice cream on top and ladies and gents, we had ourselves one tasty little treat.

To my advantage Kayla ate a bunch of dough and was full so she only had a couple of bites. If I had been thinking ahead I would have saved more dough so I can make this real quick anytime. Not like having to make another batch of dough will stop me. But for now, it's your turn. Try it, you'll love it.

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Gettin' Tow Showed

2011-07-11T21:55:00.007-05:00

My Dad and Brother are both in the trucking industry. They both work hard and every Father's Day weekend they attend the annual Wisconsin Tow Show in the Dells. It's always a good time and the rest of us are lucky enough to tag along.

Like I mentioned it's in the Dells, at a snazzy water park hotel, The Chula Vista. I went up Friday morning with my other brother's family and we enjoyed the day swimming and relaxing, getting ready to party (get tow showed) later that evening. Nice.

Friday a lot of tow trucks and exhibitors start rolling in and a lot of coolers start getting filled with "blue smoothies" aka Busch Light. These guys are off for the weekend and know how to party! The towing association also knows how to keep everybody happy, providing a trailer of beer with tappers on all sides. That can also equal trouble for some, as it did for me a few years ago. You see, I said the famous last words "I'm not even gonna drink, I'm just going to sit back and watch." Fast forward 4 hours, more than a few too many beers, and I was hammered. That my friends is how one gets "tow showed." To be clear, that is the last time that happened, I just can't party like I did when I was 28.

There is also a big pig roast Friday night and is quite good. Keep in mind these people are cooking for at least 200 people, so a lot is store bought. I witnessed the giant bucket of potato salad being emptied and then had a hard time eating it. The pork on the other hand is a full on pig. Roasted for hours and shredded it doesn't disappoint. They offer a plain pork and a BBQ pork. I opted for half and half on my sandwich and it was a real good choice. They had some really good baked beans too, 2 varieties of beans and some hamburger in there. Yum.

There were some desserts to enjoy as well, but I did not have any. I was busy peeping all the tow trucks and waiting for the light show. Yes, the light show.

All in all, it was another fun year at the tow show and for the record I was in bed before midnight.

Chili Dog in the Park

2011-07-07T19:05:00.001-05:00

I live down the road from the Botanical Gardens and tonight there is an old time country western band playing here. My Mom asked me if I wanted to go, how could I not?

First things first, dinner and beer. I got a good ole chili dog, as you can see. Not a usual choice for me, but Pat would have been all over this I'm sure. Nothing special but still good, chased down with a summertime fave, Spotted Cow.

A perfect evening to be outside, some good music, and great people watching. All the cotton-tops dancing kinda makes me feel like I'm in some weird movie. I won't even talk about the lady who just showed up with her dog strapped in a stroller.

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Featured Post: JJ's Waterfront

2011-07-06T12:14:00.000-05:00

Well folks, let me just say a week or two ago I had one of the best days EVER. I'm in Door County for the summer - and Carla is not. This was her first visit up for the summer and we did a day long extravaganza of hiking, swimming, drinking, and eating. It was perfect.

It started off with a short hike down to the Mink River, which Carla had never done. I've been doing it a lot recently to go fishing. It's just a bit more than a mile through beautiful woods, and dumps you out right in the middle of the Mink River estuary. Along with good fishing is good views. It's a beautiful setting in which you can catch a lot of wildlife if you just hang out. Recently I had a bald eagle fly very low overhead, that was awesome. So we just hung out there for a while, soaking up nature (and thinking of you - Adam.)

After we completed that little journey we went up to Carla's family's place on Europe Lake and went for a dip in the swimming pool like water. After all was done and said we headed back down to Sister Bay and swung by the Door County Ice Cream Factory to split a Beach Club sandwich. We took our sandwich to the Sister Bay Town Park and just sat in the grass as families around us were playing in the grass/beach/jumping off the pier. It was such a beautifully warm and sunny day, and I'm pretty sure it almost made Carla move back up.

After our little lunch and a little bit of walking around I mentioned that we should check out the Ridges in Bailey's Harbor as they have a large sand beach and it is similar to Sand Bay because it's clean sand that stays very shallow for a long time. So went down their and checked out the scene. A couple of families on the beach, some kids swimming. With our suits in the car we decided we may have to take another dip as it was hot and the water felt good. So we suited up and took a little dip, the water was a good bit colder and once we got waist deep decided maybe we should just sit in the shallows and take it easy. And that we did, we were sitting in the shallow water and hung out. I even caught a fish with my hands. It was a baby lake fish...I don't know what kind, but it seemed like it would one day be a biggin'.

At some point, sitting in that warm mid-afternoon water we decided Margarita's and JJ's marina tiki bar were a good idea. So we drove back to sister bay and got ourselves a couple of margaritas sitting in the marina and soaking up the sun. It's one of the best places to just go, sit, and enjoy a 'rita. Surrounded by beautiful sail boats and other large boats/yachts, it is such a peaceful and enjoyable way to enjoy a tasty beverage. We sat there for a while watching boats go in and out.

After we concluded our business on the pier, in front of the restaurant that we would shortly be eating at (Waterfront), we went back home and cleaned up to get ready for dinner. Carla had been there once before, but I had never been. I was excited to get some nice grub. I spend so much time alone up here that I can't say that I go out to even decent dinners or make anything all too special for myself. I was not only excited to have special company with me, but to be going somewhere good.

View of Waterfront from the pier, and a cocktail!

We come back down to the Waterfront and we grabbed ourselves a cocktail at the bar before sitting down to dinner. Across the bar from us was a large family celebrating their parents 35th year anniversary. We definitely got caught up "people watching" them and were trying to make up stories of their lives/personalities. But the reason I bring them up is that they turned out to be 1 of 3 groups that we overheard that were celebrating their 35th year anniversary. Weird.


Views from the table...my favorite being the 3rd picture.

We finally sat down to our table in their dining room right on the marina, and it was about as beautiful of a view as you can get up here. The marina in the foreground, surrounded by water and distant bluffs with the sun illuminating the sky with beautiful colors. For our appetizer we had a pork belly concoction of some sort, I unfortunately cannot remember the details (par the course w/ me) other than that it was delicious. It's safe to say we chowed that dish down, as our day had been full of activities and little food so far.

For my entree I had the grilled tenderloin. Per the menu, "bechamel creamed spinach, potato gnocchi and roasted shitakes, braising juices." It was very juicy and very flavorful. It was kind of heavenly for me as I hadn't had anything like that in a long time being up here. I was also really into the spinach, extremely delish all around.

Carla ordered their Perch "Fry." The description on the menu says "jalapeno pickled cucumber tartar, twice baked potato cake, chorizo rye slaw." This was a truly delicious fish entree. There was a nice amount of spice, and was bursting with flavors. Both of our meals were superb, leaving both full and happy. I would definitely return in the future. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day with Carla.


Walking back to car after dinner.

Strawberry Balsamic Flatbread

2011-07-01T21:09:00.001-05:00

I just made this tonight, after drooling over it for 2 weeks. The main thing that was holding back was working with yeast. I haven't done that since 7th grade home-ec, and that's well, longer than I care to admit.

The thing that intrigued me was strawberries, goat cheese, and fresh mint. Oh yeah, and balsamic vinegar. Yum.

I figured I'd give it a shot. I started out with yeast, water, and flour. After the first rise, and crossing my fingers that I didn't kill the yeast, I added orange zest, olive oil, sugar and more flour. Then I kneaded it for 5 minutes. Let it rise again. Then I rolled it out and let it rise again. Yes, 3 rises. Sheesh! Then I drizzled olive oil and spread strawberries on it. After baking I sprinkled goat cheese, fresh mint, and balsamic vinegar on it.

I was surprised for 2 reasons: 1. It turned out. 2. It was very good. The sweet strawberries, slightly sweet bread, creamy cheese and bright fresh mint. Combined, make for a delicious bread. Versatile too, could be a dessert but could also be served with a meal. The texture or this flatbread was nice too, crunchy on the outside, soft inside.

I would totally make this again but more likely I would try my hand at another variety of flatbread. Or maybe, just a regular bread. Who knows?

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Corky - Supporter of Local Beers

2011-06-26T10:45:00.000-05:00

I just found these pictures on my computer, and they are pretty old. But how could I not share these? Carla's cat, Corky, was caught playing in an empty box of Schlitz. He supports local beer. He's a pretty cool cat.

Sea Salt & Chocolate Ganache Banana Cupcakes

2011-06-21T10:30:00.001-05:00

I'm in love. With a cupcake no less. These make me happy. I made them 2 weeks ago and still think about them and smile. Could it be, I'm smitten with a cupcake?

Start with a super moist banana cupcake. It's a new recipe, and has sour cream in it. Yum. Great banana flavor too. A few chunks of banana here and there too.

I melted some bittersweet chocolate and stirred whipping cream in to make a poor man's ganache. Before it firmed up I sprinkled sea salt on top. Dude.

The salty-not-so-sweet topping and the moist banana cupcake action made for the perfect bite. I only wished they were bigger. I still probably would have eaten 2 and not even cared. I'll be making these again!

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Lunchtime Bites @ the Harbor Fish Market

2011-06-21T09:04:00.000-05:00

We've definitely previously posted about this place. I've been there a couple of times for dinner, once for brunch, and the other day was my first time for lunch. After hiking a few miles between and around Cave Point Park and Whitefish Dunes Park we were looking for our lunch fix. Coming through Bailey's Harbor we thought about it, and I at first rejected the idea saying it was probably going to be too expensive for lunch. We tried thinking of other places in Bailey's Harbor that we've never been, then decided to just LOOK at the Fish Market menu. Luckily, it was very reasonably priced and most items weren't much more than any other normal lunch restaurant. SOLD!

The view from my seat

PICKLE ATTACK!

We opted to sit outside which was a great choice. We were basking in the sun, with a cool breeze coming in off the bay. Adam and I had both ordered the "Grilled Tuna Sandwich," which was quite tasty. There was one set back to the sandwich, we both thought that there should have been more of the sauce on it. The sandwich was concocted of "Ahi Tuna simply grilled finished with cucumber/wasabi mayonnaise on a soft Kaiser roll." Like I said, it was definitely good and tasty, but a little more of the cucumber/wasabi mayo wouldn't have hurt.

Once again, this place hit the spot and gave us reason to return. Definitely one of my favorite "nicer" places to grab a bite in Door County as it's simply good quality and offers great seafood dishes.

Stillwater....Still good.

2011-06-20T12:08:00.000-05:00

A few days ago some of the fam and I stopped at Stillwater in Fish Creek during a little shopping outing. It's probably been a couple of years since the last time I was there, and we were all definitely satisfied. I only went because I wanted a quick meal before going in to work, and some others joined along to satisfy a common hunger situation that arises mid-day, often known as lunch time.

I ordered their cheese burger basket, which was tasty and filling. Nothing truly special about the burger, but it was just a solid burger with tasty fries served at a small out door shack. It came w/ the works, just how I like. I know a walleye sandwich was ordered, and was rumored to be quite delish. There were both a chili cheese dog ordered and a regular hot dog. It looked like they use a decent wiener and both looked tasty. I have dubbed my youngest brother, who ordered the plain hot dog, the "'chup king." You will see why, when you see his application of ketchup. He is also often referred to as condiment boy as he loves all sorts of dipping sauces and at any given meal you will find the sauce bottles closest to his plate.

Anywho, Stillwater is right in the middle of downtown Fish Creek and it is a small outdoor shack with a covered patio for eating. It's not that quick, but that's good - they make everything to order and it's definitely tasty. I don't get down to Fish Creek all to often, but I'll have to make sure to stop by in the future.

The Best Hot Dog in the World

2011-06-13T21:12:00.014-05:00

Two things you should know about Iceland: it rocks hard and Icelanders love their hot dogs. That was reason enough to get me to go!

First of all, hot dogs in Iceland are called "pylsur". We saw signs for pylsur everywhere. The premier place to get one (or 2 or 3) is a little shack by the harbor. Every time we walked by there was a line, of both cars and people. Needless to say, we didn't wait long to try one. And then went back 2 or 3 times for more. And now crave them often.

Let's talk about the "dog" itself. Pork, beef and lamb are in this sausage. Yum. A different taste than any I've had in the U.S., but the snap. The snap was where it's at. Major snappage I tell ya.

On to the toppings! I love onions in general, but on a hot dog I love them even more. Two kinds of onions, raw and fried are on here. The fried onions were off the hook. For me, they made the pylsur. If given opportunity I would have eaten them out of a bucket.

And finally, the sauces. There were 3: 1. Your typical ketchup. Yum. 2. Pylsur mustard-definitely not "yellow" mustard. Yummier. 3. Remoulade-a mayonnaisey sauce with great flavor. Yummiest.

Couple o' Pylsurs +
Ice Less Coke =
One Happy Patrick!

Bill Clinton dubbed this "the best hot dog in the world" a few years ago. I must say, I never agreed with Bill before, but this time we see eye to eye. So, thanks Bill, for pointing us in the right direction to eat what was in fact, the best hot dog in the world.

My First Door County Love...

2011-06-13T11:49:00.000-05:00

That's right folks, my first Door County love is the Tuna Melt at Drink Coffee. A few years ago during the summer, much of my time was spent at the old Drink Coffee so I could use internet...drink coffee...each this sandwich...and secretly admire my second Door County love. My partner in crime on this blog, Carla.

I've posted about this sandwich before, and I'm doing it again. It's my first one in a long time, and it's as tasty as ever. However, I am going to have to try the "Almost Famous Artichoke" sandwich sometime. It's been calling me for a long time, but I always stayed loyal to the Melt.

Maybe next time...

Lunch by the boat

2011-06-12T13:25:00.003-05:00

So I needed to eat lunch, as people regularly do. However, I wanted to go check in with the boat. You know, just see how she's doing. All was well, so I sat down at the picnic table and ate my beach club from the Ice Cream Factory. Tasty as always.

I suppose I should have parked my car so that it wasn't blocking our boat...oh well, maybe next time.

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Brew

2011-06-10T10:47:00.000-05:00

Okay folks, I know it's been a very long time since I've posted anything...over a month in fact. In case you didn't know, I am now officially in Door County for the summer. Right now I am sitting at Brew enjoying my coffee and a lemon poppy seed muffin. I was here yesterday morning, and will probably be here tomorrow morning. They really dominate the Ellison Bay scene. Mink River Basin is a main stay up here, which we have previously blogged about and within the past couple years the have opened up their coffee shop right next door - Brew. You see a lot of same faces in the morning here, and then at night at MRB.

Just wanted to let you all know I am still alive, and maybe I'll actually get around to part 2 of the Iceland post

Tuna Pasta Salad

2011-06-09T21:57:00.001-05:00

Let's face it. Everyone's Mom has a recipe for tuna pasta salad. It's cool, but my Mom's is better than your Mom's.

It's simple. Small shell pasta, can o' tuna, onion, peas and mayo. Cook the shells, cook the peas. Rinse the shells, rinse the peas. Put all in a bowl and stir together. Yummers!

Remember those hot days we enjoyed this week? Oh, it seems so long ago. Those are the days you make this cold, refreshing, light pasta salad on. Hopefully we have more days like those this Summer.

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Cream Cheese Walnut Cookies

2011-06-04T18:01:00.001-05:00

Dear Martha Stewart,

Why? Why do you create such goodies? Goodies that have 1 full pound of butter plus cream cheese in them? Don't forget the toasted crunchy walnuts, that's besides the point. Also, why do you make them into a slice and bake cookie, so they are in my freezer taunting me to bake some more?

Just wondering,
Carla

Geez, talk about to good to be true, all that butter and crunchy sea salt and walnuts. Look out, these are subtly good. Almost like a shortbread. Yum!

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Iceland Part 1

2011-05-25T20:42:00.013-05:00

Disclaimer: A lot of food pictures were accidentally erased from Pat's phone. Read, close your eyes, and imagine the deliciousness.

First things first, we dropped our luggage off, scoped the apartment and went in search of some grub. Having been up for a long time and the time change throwing us off we were hungry for some lunch food. That didn't happen, but Icelandic pancakes did. Thin, with some blueberries and whipped cream, these were pretty tasty. Very similar to the Swedish pancakes I know and love from Al Johnson's, we scarfed these in no time. On to to our next adventure!

Night 1--After scouring Reykjavik and figuring out the lay of the land, scoping restaurants, and wiping the smile off our faces it was time for some dinner. We walked down to the motorcycle square to eat at an Italian restaurant. Kind of a strange choice for a first meal in Iceland, but a good one.

We got some fungi bruschetta for an appetizer, very good. Mushrooms, garlic and good bread. We knew dinner would be good. Pat had the grilled minke whale, a traditional Icelandic meal. It was served with a Brenavin glaze and veggies. He enjoyed it, I did not. I wasn't down with the texture. At first bite it had a good steaky texture and flavor, and then you got a (weird) seafood aftertaste. Let's just say I was glad it wasn't my dinner!

I had grilled halibut with chimichurri sauce. Fish was delicious. Light and flaky with a nice crisp to it and the sauce was slightly spicy with a lot of flavor. The first of many fish meals for me. After this we knew we had a week of good eatin' ahead of us.

Our second day we took a bus to see Gullfoss and Geysir. We were there in the afternoon and per a recommendation decided to get some lunch in the cafeteria, lamb stew to be exact. Lamb, carrots, potatoes, and broth, with a roll on the side. Really, really good soup. It warmed us up on this overcast and chilly day.

Returning to Reykjavik around dinner time we pounded the pavement looking for dinner and quickly decided on Prikid, a divey bar we quickly dubbed "The Palomino of Iceland" upon entering. Burgers were in order, I tried the "sweaty" burger. Not the greatest name for something you're about to eat, but really good nevertheless. Topped with all the usual suspects plus a fried egg, sauce, and bacon, this had my name all over it. One of the better burgers I've had in life and I ate every last bite. Patrick had the "Royal with Cheese", a burger topped with lettuce, onion, tomato, and thousand island dressing. He was pumped about it, something about a Pulp Fiction reference. He can tell you more about it, we definitely left full and satisfied.

Thursday, our third day we picked up our rental car and headed East. After chillaxing at the Blue Lagoon we continued on and ended up stopping for some snacks and chocolate milk at Bonus, one of their grocery stores. There ended up being a little deli next door where we got some really good, really simple sandwiches for the road. Every place we went to had really good bread. It's weird to say I miss the bread, but I do. It was that good.

Sandwiches were good and we had a very nice little picnic here, in front of Skogafoss. Not too shabby my friends, not too shabby. After hiking and staring at the scenery we kept going East and ended up staying in Vik overnight. Unfortunately we got there too late and the one restaurant in town was closed. Luckily we had LOTS of snacks, so we had "Cool Americans" and Pringles for dinner. Dinner of champions, I tell you.

So as to not make this ridiculously long, I'll cut it here for now. Stay tuned for more posts about our trip, hopefully we'll get our act together and get them up quicker than we got this up. Lots of good food and fun adventures for y'all to read about, I swear!

Dal

2011-05-25T20:32:00.001-05:00

Man oh man have we been slackin' in the blog department. For real. Life's been busy the last few months, and especially since we got back from Iceland. This isn't some delicious Icelandic meal, but merely some Dal. Still delish. But more Indian influenced. I think.

It's red lentils cooked with jalapenos, onions, tumeric and garlic. Near the end of the cooking I stirred coconut milk and shallots in. Served over brown rice it is fragrant and bursting with flavor. Yes, bursting. A warm meal on this Fallish May night.

I'm well aware it looks like baby poop and all I will say is it smells and tastes way better. Make it for someone you like and refer to them as "Dal face". Just trust me on this one.

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Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies

2011-05-15T07:49:00.001-05:00

It's been awhile since we've posted and this is something I baked awhile ago. Something for you to read while we get our Iceland blog done I suppose.

Chocolate & peanut butter are an age old combo and truly delicious together. RIGHT? I think so, and was very excited about these.

A basic brownie recipe with peanut butter swirled in.....off the hook. Pretty straightforward, just the way I like my brownies. Oh wait! The pretzels on top, almost forgot. They added just the right amount of salt and crunch factor. One bite and I was all set, these were very rich.

Next time I would bake them in a larger pan as they were very thick. One last side note-in Iceland pretzels are called 'salty stick's. Love it!

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F,F, & E A Goes International...

2011-04-28T18:59:00.003-05:00

This coming Monday Carla and I are off to Iceland for a week. YES, we are excited for our massages in the Blue Lagoon (picture and another picture), and YES we are excited to see some pretty sweet waterfalls and hopefully some cool grass covered houses, but we are going to need to eat between all of the action and we are pretty excited for that.

Iceland is proving to offer plenty of good looking/tasting options....and some not so good, well, one especially - Hákarl. If I could only have one memory from Iceland, I might choose witnessing Carla try this. To put it bluntly, Hákarl is fermented shark. First, lets go over the process and see if you still want to put this in your mouth and stomach. The reason it is fermented is because the shark (Greenland shark) is poisonous to eat fresh. So they take this very large shark, behead it, remove the guts bury it on a slight hill with gravely sand. They then cover it with sand and gravel and put stones on top to press the juices out. Depending on the season it will remain underground like this for 6-12 weeks. But that's not all folks, it is then cut into strips and hung to dry for months. During this time a nice brown crust forms, which must be removed before consumption. It is then served typically as gelatinous cubes and eaten with a tooth pick. It smells retched, and will definitely trigger a gag reflex in most people...especially new comers. Icelandic culture has associated eating this with hardiness and strength.

Although the smell is reported much stronger than the actual taste, it definitely doesn't sound too delicious. Carla's "guy," Anthony Bourdain, said this was "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing" he has ever eaten. Anthony Zimmern of the show Bizarre Foods said the smell reminded him of "some of the most horrific things I've ever breathed in my life." He also mentioned it was a "hardcore" food that was not "for beginners." Well folks, Carla (Hákarla??) says she is dead set on trying this and I'll be sure to video tape the whole thing. I can only imagine how many hilarious outcomes this will have.

Anywho, enough of the gross food. Let's talk about the interesting and the delicious. We've been scoping out menus of restaurants in the Reykjavik area, and have been trying to plan on some meals. It is expensive to eat out there, but the quality is supposed to be top notch and tipping IS included in the price, so there is no real need to tip - which helps. They are known for everything being so pure, clean, and pristine. No pesticides used anywhere, hormones, chemicals, etc.

A while back looking at menus some things that stuck out to me that seemed interesting were horse steaks. I'd definitely be willing to try this. It's not too out there, and I can see it being good. I mean, look at these lil' fellers, how could they not taste good? How about Puffin? An all dark meat bird that is a little cutie...they are basically screaming "EAT ME!" I did notice on menus that there is a definitely more worldly controversial item, which would be whale meat. Out of just these three, I am very intrigued and interested in all. Obviously we can't go out to nicer dinners every night to enjoy everything we want but we can't say there aren't options. (Doing some searching around while writing this, I found this video...the title of it pretty much captures everything I've brought up so far. Okay, and I just found another video, this one makes me excited to watch Carla try and eat it...oh boy.)

On the cheaper side of the spectrum there is always a good Plysur....er, hot dog. That's right, they love hot dogs over there. That is a food I know I'm always willing to chow down on. They have hot dog stands and hot dogs available all over the place, and they are supposed to be pretty darn good. The only actual stand that we are for sure planning on visiting is Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur. Direct translation: The best hot dog in town. In the hot dog community of Iceland, this small stand seems to receive a lot of attention. It's in downtown Reykjavik, and the tables have little hot dog holders on them. I can't wait to eat one of these lamb/beef/pork hot dogs. The meat combo is supposed to be great, and I read that they are boiled in a beer and beef stock mixture. They are supposed to have a nice'n'snappy skin too.

This trip is right around the corner and we are very excited to get there. I have no doubt that we will be getting into bed each night being tuckered out from our daily activities and being full of [mostly delicious] items. We will be sure to keep a detailed log of what we eat and post about it here, so stay tuned!

"Milk Drinks"

2011-04-26T18:38:00.001-05:00

White Russians. Who doesn't love them? Sweet and creamy and pretty good at getting a girl tired for bed, it's the perfect after dinner drink.

Why do I call them milk drinks you ask? Let me tell you....

As little girls my sister and I were all rambunctious over at Dad's house. On any given Saturday night after dinner Dad would be sipping on one of these. We would of course ask what he was drinking to which he replied "a milk drink, want to try it?" A-doy, of course we did! After letting us try it and us thinking it tasted like chocolate milk we would ask if we could have one. So he would whip one up for us, sans the vodka. We would drink them and get all tired and Dad would think "Gee that made them calm down fast."

Fast forward 10 years to me being an (of age) adult, drinking a White Russian and thinking "this is a milk drink!" I once asked my Dad about it and he legitimately didn't know there was alcohol in Kahlua, he thought it was only in the vodka.

I say whatever, thanks Dad for turning me on to such a tasty drink!

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Biscuits 'N Breakfast Sammies

2011-04-22T10:42:00.005-05:00

I made some delicious cheddar and black pepper biscuits a few weeks back. They seemed like a total cross between a classic biscuit and a scone, but boy were they good. Buttermilk kept them nice and moist and with a good amount of shredded cheddar and black pepper, these were flaky and flavorful. Yum. Truth be told, fresh out of the oven I ate 2, you know to "test them out."

Then, I realized I was actually really hungry and it was about dinner time so I decided to bust out some Canadian bacon and an egg for a breakfast sandwich. So simple, so good. My only complaint is that I made the biscuits too little, the bacon and egg were huge compared to the biscuit itself. I swallowed this guy down with a beer (it was DINNER, I swear), and then had another biscuit, straight up.

Four biscuits later, I was stuffed. Totally satisfied with the biscuits, and still thinking about the sandwich I'm glad I have a few stashed in my freezer. You never know when you'll have the desire to eat a bunch o' biscuits!

Featured Post: Oscar's Pub and Grill

2011-04-19T18:13:00.000-05:00

The Menu

Well folks, it looks like Milwaukee has a new "Best Burger" contender. With ties to Sobelman's fame and crowd we have a new burger place on the map. It's only been open about a month, but we just heard about Oscar's Pub and Grill the other day. In fact, the day I found out about it Carla and I ventured over to check it out. It's too bad Carla wasn't very hungry...she didn't order a burger.

We sat down and we were quick to be served by proud owner Oscar (himself!). I was their on a mission, to try their bloody and a burger. My less hungry companion ordered a bloody and some nachos to snack on. Instantly I could tell this was going to be a good bloody. Carla and I remarked on the full piece of bacon laid on top, the mozzarella cheese ball, as well as other garnishes. He told us something along the lines of "Yeah, we like to try something different. Hopefully you enjoy it." And that we did. Also included in the garnishes of the bloody were your usual suspects...celery, olive, and a pickle. Around the rim of the glass was a generous application of coarse salt...mmm. It was love at first sip. These suckers were LOADED with flavor that you don't find in many bloodies, and a delicious spice to it all. Everything was bold, but smooth. I was sold.

For my burger, I went with the "Big Gringo." On top of the 8 oz. patty is "Wisconsin white cheddar and American cheese, thick hickory smoked bacon, on a buttery brioche bun." It was one of the more 'simple' specialty burgers. I didn't want to get a crazy burger, because I think the more simple a burger is the easier it is to tell the quality of the burger. I was falling into all sorts of love at this place, and the thing that sealed the deal was the burger. The meat was very flavorful and juicy, the cheeses were delicious, and the bacon was fantastic. And then there is the thing that brings it all together, the bun. What is also nice is that your standard order of fries isn't you're STANDARD order of fries. They are fresh hand cut fries that really help enhance the whole burger-meal experience. I want to try "Oscar's Fries" next time. "Chipotle-Cinnamon sweet potato fries, with chipotle aioli sauce." Sounds very different, and very good.

I've only been to Sobelman's a few times and I have always enjoyed them thoroughly. Although it's been a while since I've been there, I instantly thought I enjoyed this burger substantially more than any burger I've had at Sobelman's. My first bites had lots of "wow factor" that just wanted me to chomp more out of the burger. In fact, it was so good that we came back the next day with Carla's brother for dinner.

This time I tried the "Big O." Per the menu, "Chipotle jack, smoked gouda, hickory smoked bacon, chorizo, fried onions, jalapenos, with a side of guacamole." This one was going for a little bit of spice factor, which was right up my alley. Right away when my food came I dipped my finger into the guac and tried some out. It looked mighty fine and the fresh veggies added to it gave it a nice crispness. As expected, this burger delivered. Another tasty one down the hatch.

Carla ordered the "Big Foot." This burger featured crumbled blue boursin cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion. I'm pretty sure Carla's first words were "Oh man!" She was in loved and complimented the burger afterwards saying it was "super good."

All that being done and said, this is a welcome addition to the Milwaukee burger scene. We highly recommend checking Oscar's out and it may have you reevaluating your list of favorite burgers in town. I'll be surprised if it doesn't make it to a person's higher ranks.

Bella's Birthday - Izumi's

2011-04-16T13:22:00.000-05:00

Recently we celebrated the birthday of Carla's niece. For her sweet 16 we celebrated with dinner at Izumi's. We even got their private room which was pretty awesome. It's not a sushi celebration without over-sized bottles of Japanese beers. We started off with some appetizers. We wanted to get a couple orders of bacon wrapped scallops but I guess they ran out of scallops and only were able to fulfill one order. I forgot what else we had for the apps. But then some ordered seaweed salad and others (such as myself) got miso soup.

Sushi and Sashimi were both present on the table. I ordered their Spider Maki and Alaskan Maki. Both were delicious. On the right side of the photo you can see my thick soy sauce and wasabi concoction. There wasn't much soy sauce at that point...it was just a spicy paste. Mmmm....

Surf & Turf Ka-Bobs

2011-04-13T11:44:00.000-05:00

Remember this past Sunday? The amazingly beautiful and refreshing Sunday that gave us a glimpse of the coming summer weather? I was dreading being at work that Sunday, but after work I joined the party in making the best of the day. I headed over to Carla's and we all formulated a dinner plan, surf & turf ka-bobs. We quickly ran over to Sendik's to get the essentials and came back to still enjoy the late afternoon sun by cracking open some beers and throwing around the frisbee in the front yard.

Included on the 'bobs were Jumbo prawns, steak, mushrooms, onion, green pepper. We slightly seasoned the steak before cutting it into chunks, rubbed a little oil on the veggies so they wouldn't stick to the grill and threw them on. Not too much longer later they were finished and looked mighty fantastic.

All I know is that I [we] are ready for summer. Bring it!

Raw & Cooked

Red Lentil Cakes

2011-04-11T09:09:00.005-05:00

I've been on a kick of trying to eat healthier. I think it's the swimsuit season coming up. It probably also helps that fruits and vegetables are starting to come back into season. I'm totally into asparagus right now. Yum.

On a different note I made red lentil cakes the other night. I'd say they were a cross between potato pancakes and a veggie burger. Chock full of red lentils, rice, onion, garlic, basil, breadcrumbs, cheese and a little egg, they were quite flavorful.

Sometimes when making a new recipe I think I've read it all and have all the ingredients and sometimes that's not true. Like when I was making these and realized I needed shredded mozzarella. Course of action: Grate string cheese!

With the tomato salsa on top and coconut milk sour cream on the side, these were delicious. No meat required, just a good beer, such as Ambergedden.

Finally, Spring!

2011-04-10T16:04:00.001-05:00

Not gonna lie folks, I spend a lot of time outside in the Summer. A lot of that time is spent sitting in my yard in a lawn chair with a beer or cocktail in my hand. Don't judge.

After waiting out a really long Winter, the first 75 degree day of Spring is here. To celebrate I decided to try my new lemon infused vodka.

Perfection

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Jake's

2011-04-08T16:52:00.001-05:00

When I dip, you dip, we dip - pastrami dip!

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Milwaukee Public Market

2011-04-05T09:59:00.000-05:00

I've always liked the Milwaukee Public Market, but haven't stopped by in quite some time. Quite honestly, I had no idea you could get meals at the seafood place in the market. Stopping there for lunch, I was sold on eating there when I found out you could sit down and order food.

The first thing that struck my fancy was the Smoked Salmon Bagel sandwich. I wanted something light and easy, and this sounded right up my alley. A bagel sammy, lettuce/tomato/onion, cream cheese, and smoked salmon. The bagel was perfect for the sandwich, lightly toasted but not too tough or thick. I'm sure the cream cheese contributed to this, but it had a very "smooth" overall flavor that I really enjoyed. It was a perfect light lunch, that was actually quite filling. Also pictured is Adam's shrimp salad sandwich on a croissant. He seemed quite satisfied with his choice as well.

This visit definitely inspired me to make my way down their more often and not only get more food there, but at the other places as well. For those of you who haven't stopped there yet, you definitely should.

In-N-Out

2011-04-04T17:06:00.001-05:00

I don't eat a lot of fast food, but man, I love eating at In-N-Out. It's just so GOOD. And also such a treat since we don't have them in the good ole Midwest.

We ate here when I was in California a few months ago. Luckily I ate at this exact location a few years ago so we didn't have to drive around searching for one for 30 minutes like last time. Whew!

You see here 3 fries and 3 burgers. I wish I could lie and say I ate it all like I wanted too, but that would just be wrong. I just had one of each obviously, and enjoyed every bite. The fries taste like real potatoes and most still have a little skin on. The burger is hard to describe, way better than most fast places, but nothing extraordinary. Unless you get it 'animal style.' Yummers!

Next time you're in CA, AZ, or NV do yourself a favor and eat In-N-Out.

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Chicken...Rice....ROGER [THAT]!

2011-04-01T08:24:00.000-05:00

I first had this recipe with Carla a long time ago when we were up in Door County and made a dinner with limited supplies. It's a basic and simple chicken and rice recipe that should be a pleaser for most anyone. Especially enjoyable on a chilly evening.

I made it the other night by laying down a bed of white rice, a small jar of mushrooms+juice, chopped onion, chicken broth, all topped with two seasoned chicken breasts. You can throw this all together in 2 minutes, and just pop in the oven at 350 for an hour and you're set.

Like I said before, this is a great winter time dish that has a soothing/warming effect. I know it's not really winter anymore, but it's still pretty cold out. Last time we didn't season the chicken so it was lacked some flavor, but this time around the seasoning added a lot of welcome tastiness and the chicken was very juicy from cooking in the rice/broth/mushroom juice. Gotta love some good juicy breasts. Pulled one out, plopped it on a warm bed of rice and I was set. Yum!

Bruschetta...Dinner at Last.

2011-03-30T15:12:00.007-05:00

Last week was crazy. Busy and weird. Pretty much every night I got home late with take-out for dinner. Not my usual M.O. That being said, I was stoked for Friday night because my only plans involved some wine, making dinner, and my couch.My wild west wine

For some reason I was craving spaghetti for days. Weird. I also wanted to make an appetizer and dessert. I was pullin' out all the stops. I decided on bruschetta for an appetizer and, after finding a rogue pear in my fridge, a personal pear streudel for dessert. Yum.

I had a few pretzel rolls in my freezer so that's what I made my bruschetta with. A little different than garlic bread, but still good. With tomatoes, lots o' garlic, basil, olive oil & some balsamic vinegar, I knew this would be good. Topped with some feta and it was delicious. Full Disclosure: I put these slices in the oven under the broiler and started playing with my cat. Next thing I know, my fire alarm was going off. Whoopsies! I might have had to cut off a little burn here or there, but luckily it wasn't too bad.
I'll save you the details on my spaghetti, it was quite good, but it's not like I made the sauce or anything. I doctored the sauce up a bit, but still wouldn't go so far as to say it was outstanding. My little pear dessert was quite delightful, I only wished I had some ice cream to have gone with it. All things considered, I would say my night was perfect.

Who lives in a pineapple in the oven? Our dinner!

2011-03-29T12:45:00.001-05:00

Okay folks, here was an exciting new recipe for us to try. I found this randomly on the internet about 2 years ago and saved it. We've wanted to try it for a long time but never have. Thinking of what we wanted to make for dinner the other night Carla asked if I wanted to try that "Pineapple chicken recipe?" I was like "Um, heck yeah!" Knowing that it took a while to cook, we went to the store right away. We got the fixings to make the sauce (yum!), chicken breasts, and two pineapples.

Right when we got home Carla started preparing the sauce and I started to core the pineapples. I've never done this before and it's safe to say I improvised a little, and it luckily all worked out okay. It was a very tasty preparation for dinner, since we got to nibble on fresh pineapple chunks. I was in heaven.

We didn't make the sauce as the recipe stated, and left out one ingredient completely. That was fish sauce, we didn't feel like buying it because we didn't see any future use out of it. We used sweet and sour, sake, soy sauce, lemon juice, white vinegar, and Thai chili paste. I feel in love w/ the sauce when I first sampled it. Kind of thick, tasty flavor, and pretty spicy. I was sold, and I knew this meal was going to be tasty. I wish we ventured on our own for the veggies inside. As the person who made this online did, there were only onions and green onions inside. One of the things I would change next time is to include some more veggies, maybe some pepper/s.

Anwho, we laid down a little bed of the onions in the bottom of the pineapple. I had, kinda, tenderized the chicken to make it a little thinner and flexible. I say "kinda" because Carla somehow doesn't have a meat tenderizer and I was smashing it with an ice cream scooper. It "kinda" worked. I took the chicken breasts and lined the inside walls of the pineapple. The rest of the onion mix was then added and the sauce was poured on top of it all. We had realized we probably should have added a little sauce to the bottom and as we added the mix. To make sure the sauce got all over, we mixed around the onions inside and made sure everything was coated.

Once all was done and said we placed the pineapple tops on, and put in the over at 350 degrees. We checked in on it in 30 minute increments. After the first 30 we took the tops off because we deemed that unnecessary, figuring it would cook better being open. After the next 30 minutes we pulled them out and checked in on them. We both added more sauce, it was just too good not too.

We threw them back in the oven for the last 30 minutes, and finished catching up on Modern Family/Parks and Rec. When we pulled them out, everything smelled great and looked fantastic. I liked how some of the juices/sauce boiled over and onto the cookie sheet we had them on. With the heat it kind of turned into a thick glaze and we were scraping it off the sheet to drizzle over the top. We set them on our plates and ate of the pineapples like bowls.

I think my favorite aspect of the meal was how JUICY the chicken was. Easily the juiciest chicken I've ever consumed. Cooked in the sweet/spicy sauce, infused with pineapple flavor it was totally heaven. The veggies were good as well, but like I said earlier I wish we added some other things into the mix. All in all, it was a fantastic meal but the next time we make this there are two things we would like to do. One is to include more veggies in the mix, and the second is have a rub on the chicken. After consumption that was one thing we both said. We think that some type of rub on the chicken would greatly enhance the flavor of everything.

I was glad we finally tried this, and would definitely recommend you make it and play around with the recipe. I think you can get real creative with this recipe and do a lot of different things to have a great outcome.

Cake, Yogurt, Pears

2011-03-25T15:37:00.004-05:00

My Mom, Sister, and I watch the Oscars together every year. Not because we've seen a lot of the movies, but it's an excuse for us to get together, eat lots of snacks, and talk about fashion. Since we are so fashionable, you know. I love pears, and had come across this recipe awhile back. It sounded too good to pass up but I needed a reason t0 make it and people to share it with. Enter said "Oscar Night".

The cake was a buttermilk cake, very similar to a plain ole vanilla cake. I guess I was expecting something spectacular, and the cake was average.

I poached some sliced pears in white wine with some cinnamon, lemon zest, and sugar for awhile. After taking the pears out I boiled the wine mixture down until it was thick and syrupy.

The yogurt was actually supposed to be creme fraiche, but since I don't live in Europe, I made a similar "sauce" with greek yogurt and heavy cream.

To eat: Slice of cake, pears on top, drizzle with wine syrup & yogurt.
Final Verdict: Good, but not as good as I had hoped. Not sure I'd make it again, instead I'll move on to the Carmelized Pear Tart recipe I ripped out last week.

Meatloaf and Potatoes!

2011-03-23T19:39:00.004-05:00

Just so you all know, I love meatloaf. Something about it, I don't know. It's meat in loaf form. Yum. When Patrick and I first started dating I was living in Ellison Bay and he was in Milwaukee. I was making meatloaf for dinner while we were talking once, and I expressed my love for the 'loaf. Since I was living all alone, I froze half of said meatloaf. Sometime later on that fall we were once again talking and I stated that I was having meatloaf for dinner. Then the jokes came. He did not know/would not believe it was frozen and that I didn't make a new meatloaf every night. He still razzes me about it. Boys.

My current meatloaf recipe is different than any I've had. It has apple juice and cottage cheese in it, but you would never know. It's super good, definitely not your Grandma's dry bread crumby situation. This time I also added a little bit of bacon to the mix, all sliced up. Wowzers. The best idea ever. Not at all overwhelmingly "bacony" but more like "what is that flavor, and why is this meatloaf so moist?" Man, I'm writing this now wishing I had some stashed in the freezer.
I will admit I changed potato side dish mid-preparation, but it was definitely the right choice. These potatoes are officially named "Carly's Potatoes." You see, I was a SUPER picky eater when I was a kid. My Dad made these one night and I liked them so much, I actually asked for seconds. They're so good and easy I make them 20 years later. Usually I don't even peel the potatoes, but it was too late this time around. All you have to do to make Carly's 'Taters is clean and slice some potatoes, (kinda thick on the slice) and put them in a pan that has melted butter in it. Sprinkle with S & P, and bake for 40 minutes till they are soft and crunchy on the outside. They melt in your mouth,. Make them. Now.

The sauce was a mix of a bunch of sauces and red things in my fridge, with a little brown sugar mixed in. A little sweet and spicy deal.

All I'm gonna say is after this meatloaf experience I might just make it everyday.

Snack at work...

2011-03-23T13:57:00.001-05:00

I love these nuts! I'm nuts for them!

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Steak Pita Sammies and Mans Best Friend...

2011-03-22T20:50:00.000-05:00

So last night I had a hankering for making a pita sandwich for some reason. I was trying to think of something to make and browsing random recipes. Then there was a pita sandwich that I stumbled upon and I liked that concept. I knew I wanted a pita bread, and stuff on top of it. I opted to get a small steak and slice it up to cook the pieces of meat. It's almost like a steak type gyro.

I made it two different ways. For one I cooked mushrooms, onions, and the steak all together. The other one I cooked the mushrooms and steak together, later adding raw onion for crispy crunchiness. Both were very tasty and satisfying. While warming up the pita in another pan I added a little bit of mayo to the center, as well as some Sriracha sauce for a lil pizzaz. Then I added the meat/mushrooms/onions, some tomato, and then Swiss cheese. I put a lid over the pan and let the cheese get gooey.

One may say, "It was love at first bite." The steak was juicy in both, the cooked onion and mushrooms together were great. All flavors mixing and creating a delicious juice to it. The one with the raw onion was great because I'm a huge fan of onion and that potent onion crunch can't be beat. The mayo gave it a smooth sauciness and the Sriracha added a flavorful spice to it.

This definitely satisfied my random desire for a pita style sandwich and I can see myself tinkering around with this idea more in the future. It's also apparently dog approved. My brothers dog doesn't typically hang out in my bedroom too much when it's just us in the apartment. She'll come in but usually stay in the comfort of her crate...or our couch. But with some leftover meat/onion/mushroom scrapes in the pan I threw some in her dish while she wasn't looking. It was a very pleasant surprise for her as it's not common for her to get human food and next thing I know she is sticking to my side. I'll conclude this post with a picture of her laying next to me at my computer.

Maeby

Door County Day Trip...

2011-03-15T22:14:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Carla and I did a day trip up to Door County. It recently occurred to us that we have never done a Door County day trip together. We've each done it plenty of times before, but never with each other. So we acted on that and went for the day, since we both had off.

On the way up we stopped at one of our favorite places, Field to Fork. We've written about them a few times before, always being for lunch. Well, since we hit the road earlier in the morning we were in Sheboygan still in time for breakfast. They had a pretty appealing breakfast menu, and I ordered their Sunrise Sandwich. I ordered mine on a biscuit with ham, but the menu listing goes like this: Farm fresh eggs, Widmer's cheddar and your choice of
Willow Creek Farm ham, bacon or sausage on your choice of a homemade buttermilk biscuit, English muffin or City Bakery hard roll.

I wouldn't have minded some type of breakfast 'tater on the side, but oh well. It was tasty and hit the spot, but nothing special. I'd like to try some of their other breakfast items and see how they hold up in the breakfast world. My previous lunches I've had there have made me felt like "Wow, this is good. I have to come back." Breakfast really didn't have that effect on me.

Carla ordered up their French Toast. Per the menu, "Crème brulee- caramelized French toast made with Trattoria Stefano's famous bread, seasonal fruit garnish and local syrup." I'm not one to order French Toast at a restaurant but this was some of the better looking French Toast I've seen. It looked crispy, crunchy, and tasty.

I tried a couple bites and really enjoyed, as did Carla. She said it was very good, reminiscent of the real thing. "Kinda carmely, kinda burny." But mentioned it was a little too sweet with the syrup, and too dry without. She is more set on Field to Fork being a lunch destination. I'm kinda with her on that, their lunches have impressed me much more than this breakfast did. That being said, I'd happily try some other breakfast items.

We kicked around in Door County for a while. Stopped by Bea's in Gills Rock. Went up to the tip of the peninsula and turned back around and worked our way back down. We quickly stopped by Europe Lake, which the ice was starting to melt. In Sister Bay we stopped by Drink Coffee to say hi to Rachel. After that we just cruised down 42 until we got to Egg Harbor and got lunch at Casey's. I've only been there for dinner, so lunch here would be a slightly new venture.

We went with the intent to get some of their tasty deep fried pickles, but upon looking at the menu we were finding other items too tasty to pass up. We decided to go for their corn nuggets. As the menu says, "salty and sweet deep fried cream corn." Neither of us have ever had this and were intrigued. We failed to take a picture, but I thought they looked like kids mac and cheese bits after you bit into them. But they tasted corny and delicious. We were pleasantly surprised and would definitely consume again. It's a shame we were on our way back to Milwaukee, because a tasty bottle of beer would have been perfect with this. Notice I specified bottle, as they do not have any tap beers here.

For lunch we each ordered the same thing. The Carolina Style BBQ Melt, with brisket. As the menu states, "Your choice of Beef Brisket or Pulled Pork Topped w/ Cole Slaw, BBQ Sauce & Swiss Cheese on Texas Toast." Well I'll be darned, this sucker was tasty. I really enjoyed the BBQ sauce, mighty fine if ya ask me. We both ate it open faced, and both really enjoyed it. The brisket was nice and smokey, the slaw was a nice cool and creamy delight, and everything just paired up perfectly. Don't be confused by the slaw on the side, because there was definitely slaw hidden under the brisket as well. This stuffed us well before hitting the road again.

Upon exiting downtown Sturgeon Bay Carla decided she must nap for the few minutes it takes to get to Renard's Cheese. I like that she even seemed to have fallen asleep in the few minutes it took to get there. Well, we get out of the car and into the store and bought ourselves some cheesey goodies. I got some "baked" cheese which I have fallen in love with recently. Carla got something else, I forgot what. Anywho, we exited the store and next stop, Home.

We had a great little Door County day. Something doctors should prescribe.

Funfetti Cupcakes! (Happy Birthday Sean)

2011-03-13T20:57:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was my brother Sean's birthday. He's a cool cat and a real nice landlord. I wanted to make a tasty treat to celebrate. Being a product of the late 80's, I thought there could be nothing he would like more than Funfetti.

Let's face it, Funfetti is GOOD in that from-a-box way. I might have begged my Mom for one of these as a kid and she never caved. I had settle for homemade. How tragic!

Pretty straight forward here, just followed the directions on the box. I wanted to add some pizazz so I baked them in ice cream cones. Very colorful. I couldn't bring myself to use packaged frosting, (I had to draw the line somewhere). The frosting is a simple powdered sugar & milk deal.

Sean & I both agreed these bad boys are just as good as they were when we were 7.

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Italian Wedding Soup

2011-03-09T18:37:00.001-06:00

I love soup. LOVE it. In my book it's one of the only reasons Winter is (sometimes) alright. I have made many different soups in the past few months, this one being one of the better ones.

I started off with some Italian sausage and added onions, garlic, celery, carrots, and potatoes. Let all that cook in broth and white wine for a bit. At the very end I added a little heavy cream and a good amount of spinach. Voila! In not too much time I had delicious soup that would feed me for a week, with some in the freezer for a later date.

And, a special shout out to Pat's little brothers for making the fab cup/bowl/kool-aid pitcher guy that became the vessel that brought this soup to my lips.

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Sunday lunch...Fox and Hounds.

2011-03-07T20:27:00.003-06:00

Sunday started off like any other day really. Sipping some coffee, whether it be at work or at home. Thankfully this was an "at home coffee sipping session." A much more relaxed environment where you can enjoy the coffee, and better coffee than what is at work. Around 11 A.M. Carla and I decided that we needed to replenish our bodies with food. At first, our minds were in breakfast mode. Quickly realizing it's already later in that day and will soon be lunch time, Carla proposed the notion of it being nice to go somewhere that requires a nice little drive.

First idea up was one of our favorite places, Baumgartner's. Located in quaint town of Monroe, it's really not that far of a drive. (Can't wait to go back in summer and mosey around town.) Then we were thinking of maybe Port Washington, or somewhere of the like. All of a sudden Fox and Hounds popped into the good ol' noggin and I was sold. Carla had never been there and it had been a while since I had last been.

We got ready, started up the car, and headed out near Holy Hill. Not too far at all, but still a nice little Sunday drive to a location that we don't typically venture through. We got there around 12 or 12:30 I would estimate, and we able to sit right away. We were seated right by their fire place with a toasty fire going and we were anticipating a nice 'chow sesh.'

Our waitress asked if we needed anything to drink, that is when we simultaneously turned to each other each knowing we were about to ask the same question. "Do you want a bloody?" We just smiled and ordered some bloodies with a spotted cow ("Spotty cow" according to Izumi's menu) chaser.

These were served up and we had already picked what we would be eating. Opting out of the brunch buffet we were going for some sandwiches, but not without an appetizer of course. The irony of Carla asking if we should get the stuffed portobella mushrooms was great. The night before, trying to think of a dinner that we don't typically do, I proposed the idea of creating some sort of stuffed portabella mushroom cap entree for dinner and Carla shot it down. "I don't really like mushrooms." Even though I've incorporated them in a number of dishes we've had. Anywho, I WAS interested in those and we ordered them. They were mighty tasty. Stuffed with crab "and topped with a bearnaise sauce and shredded parmesan cheese." It really was a "mushroom lover's delight."

Oh ya, before we get on to the lunches let me backtrack a sec. The bloodies were nothing special. They were pretty bland. I had even resorted to trying to scrap the celery salt around the rim of the glass into the drink to hopefully add more flavor. Oh well.

We knew what sandwiches we were going to get for lunch, but we liked the idea of having a bowl of French onion soup as well. So when we ordered we both requested that. However, instead of the $1.99 extra the menu said the waitress told us it was $5.99 extra for the French onion...oh well, we wanted it. It was definitely tasty. Carla commented it was very salty, but neither of us really minded. We both agreed the French onion soup from the Golden Mast a few weeks back was definitely better.

We had gone for lighter sandwiches. I ordered their club sandwich, which contained all the usual suspects. Carla ordered the BLT, also with the usual suspects. They came with heaping piles of seasoned fries (which were very tasty). We each munched on our fries and consumed half of our sandwiches. We had definitely ordered more food than originally planned but it was definitely worth it. Everything was tasty, and we had an enjoyable time.

On a side note, I would like to let people know I appreciate a good bathroom and the one I used there delivered. Going downstairs by their basement pub, I went into the "Hounds" labeled door and was greeted with a nice scent and a homey feeling. It felt like you were in a log cabin bathroom. I contemplated not leaving. Alas, about 30 seconds later my business there was complete and I was on my way.

When all was said and done, we departed and tracked down a dive bar on Little Friess Lake that we would like to check out sometime. After that we proceeded to take a bit of a "scenic drive" taking some side roads to an alternate highway and taking our sweet time on the way home. Fox and Hounds will definitely continue to be on our radar in the future.

California, You Taste Pretty Good

2011-03-02T22:05:00.010-06:00

I went to California last week to visit one of my sisters. Also with me were my Mom and oldest sister, Jill. Lots of good times and good food were had by all. I hope you have a second because this puppy is kind of long, but still a really interesting read.

After many flight delays and a steady rain we arrived in Capitola, just in time for lunch. We had never been here but were told to stop by a coffee shop named Mr. Toots. Hungry and chilly I immediately chose the quiche of the day which was mushroom and cheese. Let me tell you, it was just what the doctor ordered. It kinda tasted like pizza, but way better and now I'm totally on the mushroom bandwagon. Mom got a bumbleberry pie, who knew that was even real? It was good, quite similar to blueberry. We also were told to check out Gayle's Bakery. OH MY GOSH. This place was a sight to behold. Super cute and the most perfect looking and smelling bakery ever. A must visit on your next trip through cute Capitola.

Our next stop was Monterey and seafood was on my mind. I like fish, but I'm probably the pickiest seafood eater ever, much to Patrick's dismay. But yo, if I'm ocean side, I'm eating fish, bottom line. We found a restaurant off the touristy wharf and surely felt like a bunch of locals. My cousin was also joining us and drinks were tasting good. We ordered some fried calamari as an appetizer upon the recommendation of our waitress, and it was off the hook. Huge and flavorful it was definitely the best I've ever had. Jill and I had halibut over scalloped potatoes in butter sauce. Equally as delicious as the calamari. Mom had a "local" fish, Sand Dabs, that was sauteed with fresh linguine on the side. She told me yesterday she still thinks about it, must have been good. Somehow between the laughs and drinks I failed yet again and took no pictures of the main meal. Geez.

Breakfast the next morning was super good too. A little spot that boasted "the best breakfast in Monterey." Judging by my meal, that could be true. I opted for the "California breakfast", poached eggs, hollandaise, croissant bread, Canadian bacon, and avocado with crispy hash browns on the side. Yum. I could eat that for breakfast everyday.

After breakfast we went down to Cannery Row and walked around, reading all the little information tablets about the old canneries. In the rain of course, so we needed a little warming up. Lucky for us there was a Ghiradelli shop! Score! We ordered some hot chocolate and sat outside on their patio (under patio warmers) to take in the ocean. Beautiful. The most scenic hot chocolate I ever did drink. *sigh*
After our warm up we were off to Santa Cruz for some walking and dinner. The drizzle had turned to full on pouring rain by dinner time and not a lot of people were out and about. That was nice for us as we were able to get a table at a bar on the pier. After some really good zucchini sticks I ordered a fish sandwich. I believe it was Snapper, and good thing I got cheese on it. It was fine, just not the most flavorful thing I've ever eaten. As in, I don't even know if they put salt & pepper on it. Oh well, with the onion and pepper jack cheese, it ended up being just fine. Still better than most fish sammies in WI.

Our last night we got pizza with my cousin and his gal pal in Oakland. We had been there once before with them, and the pizza is quite good. I personally am a big fan of the name, 'Leaning Tower of Pizza.' Very clever. We got a few pizzas, only 2 I remember. Mom got one with a whole wheat crust, zucchini, onions and spinach. Good but a little bland. Off the menu we also had one called "the tiger" or something close to that. It had sausage, mushrooms, garlic and some other stuff. I liked that one better. Beer was also half price for pitchers so it was only $6 I think. Love that.

All in all it was a delicious vacation, and I wish I didn't have to go all the way to California to eat all this good food. I'm just glad I have an excuse to go out there fairly often.

Breakfast!

2011-02-28T10:50:00.002-06:00

I work early most days so breakfast is usually not a big deal. But I love breakfast, so imagine my delight when I was done with work at 9 a.m. a few weeks ago. Making breakfast was surely on my mind.

I had a lot of leftover veggies so I fried up sweet potatoes, spinach, onions, and garlic with some cheesy fried eggs on the side. An everything bagel with some baller veggie cream cheese on it and coffee completed my tasty meal.

It might not seem like much, but I enjoyed every bite, such good flavor. I also had enough potato leftovers for an open faced egg bagel sandwich the next morning. Yum!

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A lot of stuff from this past month...

2011-02-21T19:47:00.001-06:00

Okay, not much posting has been done. Partly due to Carla being in California but I still haven't written anything as of late. I'll just go ahead a plow through a number of items I/we have consumed recently. I am going to apologize in an advance for any details I may forget about things.

We'll start of with good ol' Cafe Lulu. Carla and I ended up here one for a mid-afternoon later lunch if I recall correctly. We definitely started off with some tasty Bloody Mary's. We sipped these as we perused the menu, trying to figure out what delight we would each consume. I ended up ordering one of their specials for the day, fish tacos, and Carla ordered their "Chipotle Chicken Pita."

In regards to my dish, I DON'T KNOW WHY I EVER ORDER FISH TACOS IN WISCONSIN. I regret it every single time. I'm living in the past with my fish tacos on the pier in San Clemente. I went most of my life not ever having consumed fish taco's and our January '10 trip to California resulted in me ordering these around at few places. (Which ps - don't forget to check out our "Where We've Been" page/map. It shows all the restaurants we have posted about.) Anywho, I've ordered them a couple times ever since and have not been pleased with the results. This particular order was definitely better than JJ's in Door County, but it's still just not right. One of the biggest noticeable differences is that the ones I've ordered back in Wisconsin are using lake fish. Which I'm not ripping on lake fish, it can be prepared perfectly fine - but fish taco's don't seem to work with it. They were okay, but I don't want to settle with "okay" when I'm eating. By the end of he meal there was full blown regret, but that was my fault.

Carla's chipotle chicken pita contained, per the menu, "Grilled chipotle-marinated chicken breast topped with a chunky black bean salsa and seasoned with a cumin-lime drizzle." This dish certainly offered much more of a delicious flavor, and I know she enjoyed it. It definitely stuffed her, it was a lot of food for her. I sampled some, and was pleased - especially since I was in the middle of 'enjoying' my lack luster fish tacos. One thing that I will never stop enjoying is an order of Lulu's homemade potato chips and blue cheese dip. So delish. With your meal you can either get the chips, Asian slaw, or half of each. I'm not too into the Asian slaw and stand by the chips. Carla always go's for halfsie on each.

Next up is a venture to Karma. My brother Adam and I went over here one weekend afternoon when there was a very windy snow storm coming in. We wanted to plop down with a Bloody Mary (shocking) and get our grub on. After enjoying our bloodies we each got a beer and an order of their chicken nachos (the small luckily). Loaded within: "Homemade tortilla chips, cilantro chicken, pepper jack cheese, jalapenos, served with both black bean salsa and salsa fresco."

These were certainly delish, and quite filling - especially since we had burgers on the way. I wasn't feeling like a big, messy burger as many can be. I opted for a more simple route. I went with the mushroom and Swiss burger. It was certainly tasty. When all was done and said, I was leaving quite stuffed. I believe Adam ordered the Karma burger. "...topped with jalapenos, bacon, cheddar cheese, and topped with a bbq sauce." I think he enjoyed the flavor but that sucker got messy and he didn't care for that. Either way, we left having consumed a Bloody Mary, couple beers, and some tasty food. We hit the gusty road after that.

This next meal takes place at a restaurant the my family really enjoys, and this particular outing was a family outing. On this visit to Palermo Villa I ordered my favorite dish that I've had there (which isn't too many, unfortunately...I order this too often.). My favorite dish here is their "Eggplant Parmigiana." Per the menu, "center slices of eggplant are breaded and fried then baked with tomato sauce, Romano and mozzarella cheese and served on a bed of Fettuccini." Ladies and gentleman, this dish is a savory voyage of consumption. It's so good that it's a problem, I don't branch out from it too often. I don't go to Palermo Villa too often, so it's been long enough to have it again and really enjoy it again. They are also known for having great pizza, which I've had once and was great.

Since I have it pictured, I will also include my younger brother John's meal. He ordered up their Veal Parmesan. Per our gchat as I'm typing this his meal was "life changing" and "The cheese added a nice ooze factor to the meat and the sauce definitely played a huge role." So it's safe to say that Palermo Villa is a tried, tested, and true place to go when you're in the mood for Italian/pizza. It has been voted as Milwaukee's best Italian food and as they say on their website, "a little slice of Italy on Milwaukee's east side."

My next item to post will have to be the delicious rendition of a classic breakfast item at the Cafe Plaza, once again. This time I went there alone, because I woke up hungry and had no one to go with. As I've previously stated, one thing I love about the plaza is that it has the diner counter and that it is definitely a 'neighborhood' establishment. You see familiar faces, and everyone chats. I love that. Right when I walked in I saw a gentleman who lives in the building I work at. I sat by him and we chatted for a bit before he left. It's always easy for me to jump into conversation here since I already know a number of the waitstaff and the manager.

Okay, onto the food. I ordered their eggs benedict, and it didn't let down. Their hollandaise sauce was very tasty. I know there is something in particular that I love about it, but can't think of. I think it may have had something to do in regards to consistency, or something of that nature. Gotta love the cafe potatoes as well.

I'll skip ahead a couple of weeks and also include my breakfast from a couple days ago. After waking up and desiring breakfast I asked Adam if he'd like to join me. He said his buddy Nick just asked him to go and we were all planning on going. Then Adam must have "wussed" out and he bailed so it ended up being me, Nick, and his friend. I was delighted to see that Nick was familiar with staff here helping reinforce my fondness of the community feel here.

I wasn't sure if I should get a more traditional breakfast, or get something in sandwich form. I ended up going for the "Breakfast Club." It just sounded to delicious to pass up. (Upon going to their website to get the fixings for this sandwich, I realized they have a neat picture of the counter.) Per the menu, this triple decker sandwich consists of "scrambled eggs, prosciutto ham, Nueskes bacon, goat cheese, lettuce, tomato, and basil alioli."

I'd have to say the highlights of this sucker for me were the prosciutto and goat cheese....and the basil alioli. This sandwich was just what I was looking for. It packed a punch, but wasn't too heavy. I also ordered the cafe potatoes, which is par the course of me.

Next up is our Valentine's Day date. I wanted something good but downtown Milwaukee wasn't doing it for me. We've been to a lot of places, and I wanted something out of the ordinary for us and didn't mind driving for this date. I don't mind a little car time with 'Carcar.' Well, I picked the Golden Mast on Okauchee Lake in Oconomowoc. I've been here a handful of times before, and always have enjoyed it. It's a neat building, with a scenic positioning on the lake - unfortunately not too scenic in the dark. Prior to making reservations and looking at their site for contact info I looked at some of the Weissgerber families other restaurants. For a moment I was debating between this and their restaurant the Seven Seas. I settled on the "GM" because I kind of knew what to expect in terms of setting and quality. I didn't think the other would be bad at all, but I knew the atmosphere here was great.

We got in a little early to enjoy a cocktail. We sat in their bar area and enjoyed their comfortable chairs, surrounded by rich wood tones, near a fireplace, and looking into their wine cellar. After our drink we were seated in a comfy booth, and had it been lighter out it would have been ideal for overlooking the lake.

For an appetizer we ordered up fried provolone salad (or something?!). Seeing as their menu was totally different this night, I can't find it online. It sounds kinda weird, but it was totally delicious. I think it was provolone cheese at least, but it was breaded, fried, and served with a cherry tomato salad. I am ALL ABOUT cherry tomatoes by the way. The waitress said the cheese would make you forget about cheese curds. That was false, however, still good. But CLEARLY she has never had some good ol' Wisconsin cheese curds at two of our favorite places - Field to Fork and The Dykesville Bowl. However, everything together was very delicious and it was a nice/light appetizer for an upcoming delicious dinner.

We each ordered their French Onion soup. I think the Golden Mast was the first time that I ordered some real/good, well, I suppose real good French Onion soup. That was a number of years ago when I was just a wee teenager, but it kind of blew my mind. It sparked my fondness for the soup. I was definitely getting it again, as well as Carla and we both enjoyed the heck out of it. Carla shared a story about another place she got French Onion soup once that was served with a scissors to cut the cheese. I'd like to go there, that sounds right up my alley.

I ordered the roast duckling. Let me some everything up (whether it be for your convenience or me not remembering everything about it.), it was very good. It came over wild rice, with some veggies, and gravy or some sort. The duck had a delightfully crispy skin and succulent juicy meat.

Carla ordered the grilled grouper which came with a mustard glaze and mango salsa. She thoroughly enjoyed this dish. I tried one bite and really enjoyed it as well. She enjoyed the fish being firmer and not a strong 'fishy' taste. The mustard glaze added tasty flavor, but the mango salsa is what really made it for her. I wish I would have tried some more of hers, I'm sure it would have had me debating which dish between our two that I would enjoy more. Maybe it's good that I didn't eat more of hers.

My next bit is a little sandwich I made recently. I wanted a lighter dinner this night, and I was feeling a BLT type of sandwich. I went to the grocery story and got some bread, lettuce, tomato, 3 slice of Nueske's bacon, and cheese. I lightly toasted the bread, mixed some Sriracha sauce with mayo, laid down some Romaine lettuce, a couple of tomato slices, santa fe turkey, and some of the 'salsa cheese' I bought recently. I then cut some of the cheese to eat with some Triscuits. I also only put two of the slices of bacon on the sandwich, as they were large and enjoyed one strip by itself (this was planned).

The sandwich was tasty for being basic. I enjoyed doing my own Sriracha mayo, giving it a nice flavor and spice which accented the salsa cheese which had a bit of spice as well. As you can see in the picture, I enjoyed a tasty Lakefront Brewery IPA with this dinner.

Well folks, I guess that will wrap this novel length post up. Thanks for reading if you did. Carla will be returning from California tomorrow and will hopefully have some posts from her adventures on the West Coast. 'Til then, keep eating...and enjoying.

Snickerdoodles!

2011-02-20T12:23:00.001-06:00

So I'm out here in finally-sunny-but-not-quite-warm-California, and heard about the snow in WI. Figured I'd tell you about what I made the last blizzard we had.

A nice lady let me stay at her house so I could walk to work and as a thank you I made her some of my favorite cookies, Snickerdoodles. Buttery, crispy, and rolled in cinnamon sugar these are a fav for me to bake and eat.

Dream of these and maybe it will get you thru the current snow. Meanwhile I'll be soaking up some 40 degree Cali sun!

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Super Bowl = Super Food

2011-02-13T19:43:00.009-06:00

Football is all about the snacks in my book, so the biggest game of the season means the best snacks of the season, right? I think so, my friends, I think so.

We used the recent 2 feet of snow to our advantage as you can see, with an outdoor beer garden. Nice and frosty, and you burned some calories walking the extra steps outside to get another. We had a pretty good selection this day, with my personal fave being the good ole Miller Lite. Don't knock it, and the thing I'm gonna say is if I'm watching sports I want to drink 12 beers, not 6, which I can do with the M.L.

I had a hard time deciding what the main meal should be, I was dead
set on build-your-own-english-muffin pizzas. BUT THEN, I thought of......chili dogs! Oh yeah, this was the best idea ever. I got some nice all beef hot dogs and let my chili simmer all day in the slow cooker to break down a little bit. A lot of chopped onions and cheese later and we had ourselves a tasty little half time.

Knowing me I had to have some sort of dessert, and felt I owed it to the Packers to make it green and gold. For weeks I was thinking of lemon and pistachio cupcakes. The day before I switched gears and settled on a giant cookie frosted Packer style. One giant sugar cookie and quite a bit of frosting later, I had this tasty situation. Sure, it needs a little bit of work, and the yellow frosting looks like queso sauce, but it tasted good. The frosting was light, which is good cause there was quite a bit of it on there.

In addition to all these snacks we had a lot more. Chips & salsa, queso, shrimp, and artichoke dip. I went to bed stuffed this night, and dreamt about all the snacks I consumed, I think I woke up with a smile on my face. Now I just need to find a new reason to snack my life away every Sunday!

Hot sammies...

2011-02-10T16:28:00.001-06:00

A while back I bought this "Wickles" sandwich relish that I've been wanting to use. Yesterday, having a hankering for a sandwich and a few extra brat buns to make little subs with, I decided today was going to be the day. I got some peppered ham and cheese at the grocery store. I went for a new cheese that seemed like it would have an interesting flavor for the sandwich, and that it did. It was "Salsa" cheese. I still haven't looked at whats in it, but it has alright flavor and a little spice to it.

My idea was to throw a couple pieces of ham, per sandwich, and warm it up in a pan. After the ham heated up a bit I spread some of the relish around (after trying it of course. It was a nice sweet/spicy combo.), then I added some chopped red onion, and the sliced cheese. I then put a lid over the pan and let it sit for a minute to let the cheese melt.

When all was said and done I use a spatula to lift the innards of each sandwich out, and stuffed them into the buns. I now had two tasty small 'subs' for lunch. They were perfectly fine, however I did feel like another addition or two could have really enhanced everything and taken it to another level. The peppered ham paired up with the sweet/spicy relish really well, and the spice from the cheese paired up nicely with it all. I was initially debating if I should have added some type of sauce to he bun like mayo or mustard. I am out of mayo so that was out of the picture. I did have a couple of mustards but none of them seemed like the would have enhanced this sandwich, if at all. I'm not sure right now what would enhance this, but that's for future though. For now, those two little guys were perfectly tasty and did the job.

Pesto Baked Potato

2011-02-07T19:57:00.002-06:00

I came across this recipe a few weeks ago and it immediately made my mouth water. You see, I'm a pretty big fan of pesto AND baked potatoes, but it's not often that I actually eat them so I had nothing to lose.

The potato I sliced most of the way through all the way down and stuffed sliced garlic in each slice. Topped it with butter, s&p, and olive oil and baked it for an hour, basting it every 15 minuted or so with the melted butter.

The pesto was a bit different. Instead of basil & pine nuts it was spinach & cashews. Of course a little bit of lemon juice, garlic, Parmesan cheese and olive oil were involved too.

End result? A crispy garlicky potato topped with a nutty garlicky pesto. A win win dinner indeed.

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Meatball Sandwich!

2011-02-03T21:02:00.005-06:00

Meatballs are good. I like them in a sandwich. I started thinking about the good ole chili sauce and grape jelly combo the other day and immediately my mouth started watering. I was trying to hold out for the Super Bowl, but failed completely. Really the only reason I was trying to hold out was so more people would help eat them and I wouldn't feel gross about eating meatball sandwiches for 4 days. I got over it though and I'm set until probably next fall when football starts again. But let me tell you about this sammy....

It's super easy and pretty good. Total "party food." I just bought a bag of frozen meatballs, a jar of chili sauce, and a jar of grape jelly. Mix the sauce and jelly together on the stove and then I put it all in a slow cooker on low for a few hours. You can also just put it all in a pot on the stove and cook it for 15 minutes, but I had places to get to so did the slow cooker. In a little bit you have yourself a sweet and spicy saucy delight! For real. I put these on a roll with a little mayo and proceeded to eat 2 big sandwiches, I guess it had been too long and I was pretty hungee. You can also switch the jelly for canned cranberry sauce, I've never tried it, but would guess it would be more tart. I will say, this time around I felt like it was a little too grape-y, and next time would cut back on the jelly a bit.
I told my friend Scott about this meatball sandwich a few years ago and he and his girlfriend made it and enjoyed it so much, she knit me a sandwich! SO RAD!!! That's what you're looking at, a much prettier recreation of this fabulous sammy.

Cruisin' next to Elvis

2011-02-02T11:03:00.001-06:00

What makes waiting in the drive thru line at McDonalds better? That would be Elvis of course. To keep it food related I got a fish sandwich and a cheeseburger. But I just wanted to share my Elvis experience.

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Burger Me.

2011-01-27T19:54:00.000-06:00

This is my second burger, in just as many days. The one above I made. I'm not sure why I had such a hankering for a burger after having one for dinner last night, but I did. So I went to the store, bought enough beef for one burger, a bun, a new onion, some mushrooms, and some Bolthouse Farm smoothie type beverages for my mornings at work. Anywho, I sauteed the mushrooms and onions together, sprinkled some garlic salt around. Used a couple various seasonings on the beef and grilled it up. Shortly before removing from the grill I put the mushrooms and onions on top of the burger and some pepperjack cheese.

My burger from the night before was from Trocadero, and mighty tasty. I also opted for the sweet potato frites...can't go wrong with those! I ordered their "Gastro Burger," which per the menu is something like this (well, it is this): "Cheddar, thick-cut bacon, caramelized onions, and Sriracha mayo." All served in a mighty nice bun, I would have to say a highlight of this burger was the Sriracha mayo. I'm a big fan of it, as it provides a decent little spice with great flavor. I also like how universal it is. The bacon was also very tasty and thick, as advertised. I have been here before for brunch, but this was my first time for dinner. I did once go for dinner fairly recently with some other people, but they decided to leave before being waited on because i wasn't "exciting enough" for a Friday night. I personally didn't care, but apparently I'm boring.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

2011-01-26T16:29:00.004-06:00

I've been thinking about making these cupcakes since Christmas. I wanted to make it layer-cake style, but my younger Sister informed me she wouldn't eat carrot cake...because of the carrots. Sheesh! Patrick is also not so into "cooked" carrots, so when he was in FL a few weeks ago I whipped these bad boys up. Carrots, cinnamon, raisins, & walnuts are all up in these, with a classic cream cheese frosting, what a combo! These had a real nice crumb and flavor. The orange pile you see on some of them is carmelized shredded carrots. Kinda sweet, kinda crunchy, kinda unidentifiable, it was good, but I definitely need to work on it a little bit. Overall these were a hit and with the carrot factor I might feel a tad less guilty eating 2 in 1 day.

Cafe at the Plaza

2011-01-25T18:21:00.000-06:00

I can't believe this is only my second time going here for breakfast. Last time was a couple years ago, and I think it was the first for Carla as well. I've had some of their lunch options to go before, but from what I've had their breakfast is better. They also recently underwent a little makeover on the menu and inside. All I could tell that was different was the center counter in the kitchen, otherwise everything seemed the same or similar. I know they have additional seating further down the hall, but we didn't venture down there.

I don't know about you guys, but I love sitting a counter at a cafe/diner and mingling with waitress...luckily for me I knew about half the people working and I felt like some popular local. It was my thirty minutes of glory, as once I walked out those doors I went back to my totally uncool regular life. But you most definitely can't complain about eating a tasty and fair priced breakfast, while enjoying conversation with staff and surrounding people.

One of the newer things you will find on their menu is alcohol. I don't believe they served alcohol previously, but you can now order bloodies and beer. I definitely would like to try one of their bloodies, but when we went were were not in the mood to kick off the day with booze. We just wanted a warm and filling breakfast, and that is what we got.

I ordered their biscuits and gravy which was par the course, which is a good thing. Their breakfast potatoes we served a bit differently than expected, and it was for the better. They were nice and thin, and offered a lot of flavor. Rosemary is always welcome in my breakfast potatoes, as are the onions and peppers that joined the party. I'm even going to go out on a limb and compliment their pepper. I might be crazy, but I definitely turned to Carla and told her how much I liked their pepper. I even picked it up and stared at it. I couldn't distinguish any unique characteristics about it, but it seemed to pack a flavorful punch that encouraged me to sprinkle a little more over my eggs.

Carla ordered their corned beef hash. She said this may have been the best order she has ever had. Per the menu "Two eggs any style, corned beef, potatoes, peppers, spicy sauerkraut." I think it was the spicy sauerkraut that sucked her in and sealed the deal. I only tried one bite and it was dense with flavor and seemed very filling. I'm not a sauerkraut guy, but from what I had I enjoyed theirs. (I know, I know, I'm from Wisconsin, I'm supposed to load that stuff on crap but I've tried. I've given it many chances and it doesn't do it for me.) Carla's ordering of poached eggs in her dish has also secretly inspired me to do so more often. She had opted for the fruit dish side which I snacked on a bit. Your standard fruits made it into this dish, and I especially like the apple strings, or whatever you'd like to call them. A nice way to get the apple flavor without having to take a big bite.

The Cafe at the Plaza is really a nice little gem nestled in downtown Milwaukee. Often unmentioned by folks for breakfast places, but definitely worthy of the mention. Even though I don't frequent, I always refer people to this place. It's a classic diner type of restaurant pushed back from the lobby of the Plaza Hotel that gives you an atmosphere that is disappearing everywhere.

Oh Applebee's....

2011-01-22T10:53:00.003-06:00

You have a purpose in my life, however I'm not sure exactly what that is. Definitely not to be a frequent establishment to take care of my hunger, but you do serve a purpose to me. I visited last night with Carla and her brother Sean. We went to use up some gift cards that they had. Can't turn down free drinks and meals, right? Not that they are Applebee's super fans, but they get annoyed with my exaggerated hatred for Applebee's. They seem to end up there occasionally, but afterall, it is the neighborhood bar and grill. They stand by "Whatever, it's not that bad." (Great logic to go to a restaurant, right? But hey, we all have our guilty pleasures don't we?) And they also reassure that the people watching is phenomenal...and they're right.

Shortly after sitting down at the bar there, an apparent regular (who Sean and Carla have seen before) sits down next to us and proceeds to drink his regular drink, Brandy on the rocks. He seemed to know all the bartenders and other customers. On the other side we had two girls who clearly worked together and went out for the first time. It was apparent they didn't know each other well at all. They ordered some fruity cocktails, and one proceeded to slam hers and leave after twenty minutes meanwhile the other girl barely took a sip of hers and just proceeded to sit 'los lonely' for the rest of our time there.

Where the people watching gets great though is when two cops come through the doors and quickly locate management. They are talking in the back area, cops are walking around seemingly looking for someone. And then they start talking to a table of three elders. To spice things up two more cops show up and every one in the Applebee's was sucked in to the 'drama.' We had no idea what was going on and proceeded to make up elaborate theories and hypothetical situations.

After eating our food, which was entirely okay, we asked our friendly bartender what happened. Apparently one of the old guys at the 'elder table' called a black man a racist term which started a ruckus between the two. That must have happened shortly before us arriving because we did not witness any of that, but I can only imagine how interesting that would have been to see.

Free food, good people watching, and a police presence helped Applebee's score a few points with me. I may be back....

Taco Tuesday...and Wednesday.

2011-01-19T20:11:00.002-06:00

Last night I made tacos, and tonight I am having the left overs. Inspired by my brother Adam I used a 50/50 mix of ground chorizo and ground pork. Diced up some jalapeno to cook with the meat. Shredded some pepper jack cheese. Cut up some tomato. Diced some onion. Some Spanish rice. Did a dollop of Daisy, and added a little hot sauce. Nothing special, but still tasty.

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5 days of Disney

2011-01-18T21:13:00.004-06:00

Okay, so this post is probably going to have more pictures than words but hopefully that's okay. You may or may not know that I recently went on a [magical] trip to Disney with my family. It was a stupendous five days of Disney and I had a lot of fun and consumed a lot of food - some good, most nothing notable.

Turkey Club

In the Magic Kingdom. Random kid shoe 'chilling' with the apple juice.

"Something" Tavern in the Magic Kingdom.

Delicious looking cupcake.

Oh boy, there is caramel in there!

Morning bakery options

Banana Nut Muffin and OJ

Ham, Egg, and Cheese breakfast samm...added tabasco.

Black and Tan

Fish and Chips

Shepards Pie

Steak Salad. It was all crammed into a tiny plastic container. Ate it out of big metal bowl.

Mmm...desserts.

Mickey Cupcakes

Waffles with bananas and caramel sauce

Cornbread...yum

Bunch-o-BBQ

Very let down by this [in the airport]. Totally 'express' style.

Thanks for the tips, but it doesn't make me feel better about the 2.5 hour delay.

Work. Packers. Classic Slice!

2011-01-15T20:28:00.002-06:00

I'm working during the Packers Falcons play off game. It's dead and I'm hungry. Solution? Classic Slice! The La Dolce pizza. tomatoes, fresh garlic, basil, and fresh mozzarella. Yummers! I can only eat 1 piece now, cause then it's floor moppin' time. Don't worry tho, as soon as I get home it will be pizza, beer, and game time. YES!

Milwaukee Beer Soap...

2011-01-14T17:02:00.000-06:00

I know this isn't exactly food but it is beer related and that's good enough for me. One of my Christmas presents I received this year, from my 'Love.' (For those of you out of the loop, that is not Carla.) She gave me three different types of beer soaps made by Milwaukee Beer Soap. I don't know HOW she knows that I like beer, but I most certainly do and this gift rocks. I first saw Milwaukee Beer Soap about a year or so ago, and gifted a bar to Carla for her birthday.

Anywho, the three I received are Oatmeal Stout, Clean and Sober, and Solomon's Bay Rum.

Ingredients for Oatmeal Stout: Saponified Olive, Palm, Coconut, and Castor Oils, Brown Oat Stout, Oatmeal and Fragrance Oils.

Ingredients for Clean and Sober: Saponified Olive, Palm, Coconut, and Wheat Germ Oils, Amber Ale, and Peppermint Essential Oil.

Ingredients for Solomon's Bay Rum: Saponified Olive, Palm, Coconut, Castor, and Sweet Almond Oils, Golden Ale, and Frangrance Oils.

I am yet to use them, but I have finally placed them in my bathroom (as I finally got around to cleaning after the holidays). They all smell great and I can't wait to use them up. Now the question is, which one should I use first?

1 Christmas, 2 Delicious Meals

2011-01-10T21:06:00.007-06:00

I believe I previously mentioned I ate 3 delicious meals over the Christmas holiday, but I will only talk about 2. Luckily Patrick already wrote about his families, not too mention I failed to take any pictures.

I'll start out with Christmas Eve and Dad's prime rib. There are 2 things you should know about prime rib and me. 1. It is solely responsible for me not being a vegetarian anymore and 2. The last time Dad made it was when I was living up north. I had it in my cart at the grocery store and someone thought it was my baby. Nope just 12lbs of prime rib, lady.

He usually makes this rotisserie style on the grill, but made it in his brand new oven this time around. Considering it was literally the first thing he cooked, I was impressed. It was PERFECT. It melted in my mouth, just a butter knife was necessary, and the coloring/marbling was ridiculous. It had been too long since the last time we had it. My brother-in-law made some mix veggies and we also had some twice baked potatoes. Both were delicious as well. In my holiday high ball glass I had a Southern Comfort Old Fashioned that sure made me feel good, and made me forget my leftovers. Oh well, hopefully it won't be that long til I eat this again.

On to Christmas Day and brunch at Mom's. Boy, was there a spread. I don't have a very good picture (shocking), nor does it include all the food. In fact, I didn't even eat all the food she made. Geez! What was I thinking? Mom made an egg bake (possibly a frittata) with broccoli and cheese, a spinach salad with clementines, and a Canadian bacon & apple strata. Not tasted/pictured was a blueberry baked french toast. I didn't try the french toast because I had seconds of everything that I originally put on my plate. All were that good. My favorite was the strata, with it's savory/sweet combo. And I'll probably make spinach salad more often after eating hers.

Not that there wasn't already enough food at Mom's, but she also made a trifle. Dessert with brunch? Heck yeah! I have wanted to make one for years, as has she. Part of the reason I never have is because I don't have the right dish to serve it in. Kind of ridiculous I guess. Mom's was with strawberries and kiwi, very holiday colors appropriate. I believe she made the pound cake herself, and definitely made the custard from scratch. It was rich and the flavor was so so good. Perhaps the only problem was that I was still pretty full so I couldn't fully appreciate the deliciousness. I should have gotten a to go box, you know, "For Patrick."

Speaking of pictures, get ready for an improvement. I bought a new camera that can take pictures of us eating underwater, and I'll also be getting a new phone in the next few weeks. Yeah, we're takin' this to the next level in 2011.