Kickapoo Country Fair

A few of us trekked out to La Farge this weekend for the Kickapoo Country Fair, which was organized by Organic Valley. Full disclosure: I'm a big Organic Valley fan, partly because I eat a lot of their food, partly because my aunt and uncle are Organic Valley producers, and partly because I think they have been one of the major pushers of Wisconsin leading the way in organic agriculture in the past decade. The fair was on the grounds of their headquarters.

As always with sustainable agriculture events in this state, the fair drew a fascinating mix of ol' fashioned farmers, foodie/yuppies like ourselves, hippies, and the various dashed combos of the above (hippie-farmers, yuppie-hippies, yuppie-farmers, foodie-hippies, etc.). It would be very easy to do a rural sociology thesis on the interactions among these strange bedfellows. What do the farmers think of the yuppies with their literary events and "Child Nurturing Tent"? What do the yuppies really think of the farmers - not just the barefoot, liberal, college-educated ones, but the old school, church-going, many-children-having, high-waisted-Lee-jean-wearing, manual-laboring, fifth-generation-on-this-land ones who are mostly in organics because the milk check is bigger? And what does anyone really think about the dude with the sketchy dreadlocked beard that could have been housing several species of rodent? This odd conglomeration is either a brief blip of artificial togetherness that will fade as the food-eating public outgrows the current "green" fad, or it is the nascent networking of a new social order that will move all of us away from a culture and an agriculture of consumerism and degradation to one of respect, sustainability, and community that I believe all of these disparate groups are so diligently searching for. I'm betting my career and my future children on the latter. One can hope.

There was a breakfast, farm and headquarter tours, nature walks, kids' activities, a workshop series, and a whole lot of other things we didn't participate in. We did, however, check out the information and vendor booths (my favorite: the goat cheese fudge + history lesson on the round barns of Vernon County), gaze at antique tractors and other history displays, see the rather paltry animal barn, and eat pretty much every type of food they offered. Our submissions to the suggestions box for next year: more food and some cows to pet.

We saw keynote speaker Jean Feraca, host of NPR's Here on Earth. She addressed the importance of the family table as the center of children's education about food, family, nutrition, civility, and many other topics whose mastery would help the next generation solve problems as diverse as childhood obesity, farm worker rights, and environmental degradation. It was a good talk, if a bit repetitive. Ms. Feraca has many good points, though her speaking style is an acquired taste due to her tendency to sometimes come across as a bit like Janice on Friends.

The true highlight of the day was a reading by Michael Perry, author of Population: 485 and Truck: A Love Story. I previously expounded on his lyrical greatness, and he did not disappoint in person. I laughed and I cried and I enjoyed shutting my eyes just to listen to the rhythm. Wow. He has three main qualities that I envy and seek to emulate:

1. He straddles multiple worlds with grace.
2. He can write sentiment without sap.
3. He is utterly hilarious.

Yet another lovely day in the country and beautiful Wisconsin weekend.

Play at American Players Theatre

A couple of weeks ago, we went to see Merchant of Venice at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green. APT is an outdoor amphitheater in the woods. It had been a few years since I saw a play there. I'm honestly not a spectacular judge of classic Shakespearean acting, as long as it's not utterly horrific a la Keanu Reeves in Much Ado About Nothing. (The mere mention sends me into convulsions. We read the play and then watched the movie in English senior year. ~Shudder~) To my amateur eyes, this production was very good, particularly the last act. As with performances of all kinds, comprehension and appreciation improved after the intermission drinks. We ordered tickets early and got them for $23 apiece. Normal ticket prices are somewhere in the $35-41+ range. When night falls, the fireflies go sparkly and other, less flashy bugs flit through the lights. If you're not into Shakespeare, APT might not trip your trigger. But, if you like seeing plays at all, this is about as good of a venue as you can get.

Wisconsin in the summer ...

... is truly a fabulous place. On Friday, Witty decided that, after reading many descriptions of summer beers, she needed to try some of them. So, I lit the tiki torches, got some beer of my own and some chips and salsa, and turned on a great 80s radio station on my deck. She came over along with Lucia and Vavra and we chilled out there till 11 p.m., drinking interesting beers and enjoying the wonderful weather.

On Saturday, Loud had the great idea of having a beer tasting evening with a theme - all WI beers, all one type of beer, etc. Of course, we'd have to give them all snooty wine-like descriptions too. I think that would be fun. I may be hosting one towards the end of summer, depending on how everything shakes out.

Canoe trip down the WI River

Last weekend we spent 2 days on the beautiful WI river doing mainly two things - drinking and eating.

I think there was also some paddling involved, but not much :)

And now pictures! Thanks to loud for telling me how to upload them a couple of weeks ago. Without her this post would not have been possible :)

Each day started off with our 9am morning constitutional:

Picture most likely to end up on a tourist brochure (of B&M):

The scenery:

Some of our motley crew:

Me, looking goofy after a full day of drinking:

It was a really fun time, however I was glad to get home on the second day to have the use of running water and indoor plumbing so I could wash all the sand off and to use sunburn soothing stuff since all of us are apparently incompetent when it comes to putting sunscreeen on our entire body. We more prefer the red/white spotted look. There were some pretty funky designs. Too bad they weren't intentional ;)

The Second Annual Deep Fry Extravaganza

Yes, it's officially an annual thing now. Let me see if I can remember everything we had this year:

Turkey (so damn good), chicken, fish (best batter award for this stuff), squash, cheese curds, pizza, mushrooms, onions, cherries, peppermint patties, twix, cookie dough, brownie bites, apples, beef/cheese stick combo, cheese-stuffed jalapenos, cheese and rice balls (yummy!), tortillas with salsa.........did I forget anything?

My faves: turkey, squash, onions, fish, mushrooms, cheese and rice balls, and snickers.

Lessions learned (in addition to the good points already discussed by Witty and Lucia):
1) Food should spent less time in the holding area. They should go straight from staging to the deep fryer. The more the things sit around, the more batter drips off.
2) More batters are needed, and they need to be a bit crispier and stick better
3) Have less stuff. Or, at least, a smaller quantity if we still want to have the same amount of variety.
4) Being around the deep fryer to see things in action is essential.

However, the snicker's bites worked a lot better than last year. Tiki torches kept the bugs away, and a general good time was had by all. Most people cleared out by midnight or so, and I think we finally went to bed at 2am. Pretty much the only cleanup that was needed was doing about 4 loads of dishes, which makes me very happy.

However, last night I was definitely feeling a salad for dinner, and my fridge contains lots of leftover chicken and fish. I also have some leftovers that didn't get fried and various containers that I don't think are mine. Let me know if they're yours and when you want to get them :P

Sadly, I don't think I have any pictures, but Lucia painted a pretty good one with the docker's-commerical-without-the-acutal-dockers reference.........even though I never would have come up with that :)

Oh, and Ding convinced me to go browse wedding dresses at a cute store in Verona with her when she goes to pick up her dress in a few weeks. I do beleive I was already feeling the effects of beer + having eaten no food all day when I agreed to this.

It was a good weekend

Friday - Mallards game. Frogs did a good job, but I need to refute a few points. There was absolutely NO "accidental" purchase of too many beers. We purposefully took advantage of an unexpected 2 for 1 offer that happened while we were sitting close to the line.



Te-te - should be pronounced Tay-tay. And it was a great nickname for Vincente. He was our favorite player on the other team.

I feel incredibly cheated by our lack of karaoke for the night. I suspect that next Friday night I will try to sweet talk someone into going to the Doghouse for some free drinks (as promised by the karaoke man) and the karaoke man all to ourselves.

One of the best quotes of the night - as we pull up to Beck's bar (gosh, bar review is a whole 'nother review I should do) - is Loud spotting pickups, motorcycles and the general trashiness of the bar, telling us "I think that my people are different than Lucia's people." Ah, my people. They were there in full force.

The Art Fair on the Square was fun! I bought two woodcut prints, one of a coffeepot and the other of a bottle of Whiskey and a rocks glass full. I have put them up on the wall in my kitchen already, and have titled the grouping - Subsistence Living.
I will have to post pictures later as I am too lazy to do it now.

My thoughts on deep fat fry night -
1) I am blown away by how great it is to be an adult with such a great group of friends. We aren't beautiful, but it seems like we live a Dockers commercial. We get together (piling 20 or so people on Kitty's deck) drink beer out of bottles, smile, laugh, eat some good food, and enjoy late afternoons that descend into cool nights.
Okay, the Dockers commercial never includes dual deep fryers. We have to make it 'sconnie somehow.
2) My mother was wrong. Fried brownies are good.
3) I was amazed at the success of the pizza. It was awesome.
4) Future parties should include more variations on the pizza theme, different batter or even breading options, and I think that we have to make one more charge at the cookie dough (perhaps just not a standard dough, maybe some differences in the composition ... like less butter).
5) I am guessing that every food stuff I see from now on will be evaluated for possible fry party fodder.

Baseball, art, fried food, fundraiser, festival, oh my

What a full weekend!

Friday night was a Mallards game. There were cheesy games with cute kids, speculation on the hotness of "Te-te" (poor, poor man), accidental over-purchasing of beer, recollections of the glory days of high school softball, speculation on whether single women can apply to be host families for the players, and, oh yeah, a baseball game. The Mallards lost, but the game was fun. It's a good, low-key, cheap, kid-friendly fun night out.



I hope to go back. In a valiant search for karaoke, we followed the game with stops at two bars - one in a bowling alley and one on the side of the road between McFarland and Stoughton. The first bar had a mediocre country band instead of karaoke, and the other had shut down karaoke early because nobody showed up. Sadness ensued.

Saturday, we went to the Art Fairs On and Off the Square. There were many beautiful pieces, and Lucia and Loud came away with some great finds. (Photos, please?)

Saturday night, Kitty hosted the second annual Deep Fry Extravaganza. It was good and greeeaaaasssy! As always, the turkey was fabulous, as were the chicken and fish. Interesting newcomers this year were fried beef- an cheesestick combos (held together with a toothpick). Good, but the cheese in that batch and the subsequent tortilla chips all tasted pretty beefy. The fried summer squash was sweet and wonderful. The brownies and cherries were my favorite fried dessert items. The most refreshing deep-fried treat was the peppermint patties. What did everyone else love? We still haven't perfected the cookie dough. Among the deltas we've noted for next year are: advanced pre-fry freezing techniques for the dessert items, separate fryers for each food category or at least more well sequenced frying selections, and a greater variety of batter flavors and consistencies to better complement each item. Yes, we're that dedicated to deep-frying: we believe it's an art. Future business venture: the "You Bring It, We Fry It" food cart.

Today, I worked a shift at REAP's Pie Palooza fundraiser. We sold out tickets early. Though the wait was long, everyone came away satiated. As always, such good food!! I walked across the street to check out the Fete de Marquette festival afterward. The music had just started, so there wasn't much of a crowd yet. Folks who were there last night said the music was great, and many people were dancing. It's a new festival, so I don't think it's gotten the ooomph behind it that the other East Side festivals have yet.

Up next: A play at American Players' Theater in Spring Green and a canoe trip on the Wisconsin River.

a brief shopping tour in Madison

Furniture Shopping - here are some of your options and my opinions:

Steinhafels - a great classic. I feel that this can't be beat for high quality and a classic to conservative selection. Many 8 way hand tied pieces, lots of warranties on frame, mechanics, fabric, etc. You can customize most of the furniture with different fabrics. Their sales seem a bit lame, but regular. The furniture is some of the more expensive in Madison. cookies and coffee in the showroom.

American - furniture, but also sells appliances and tvs. I find the selection to be... well, lower end looking, but their stuff seems pretty study and affordable. I bought my mattress set and entertainment center there. they are doing fine as of right now. - overall, gives me a bachelor man vibe.

Ashley- without a question, cheap. But, the quality is not bad and durability impressive for such inexpensive furniture. No options though, what you see is what you get. My leather couch is from Ashley, 700 bucks. good deal for something that I plan on moving to the basement before long anyhow. I have had it for a year or two and it isn't broken, the seats aren't sagging, and no leather damage.

Twisted Twig - umm, you know those people that get a theme idea for a room and go completely literal with it? Yeah, these people did it with the cabin thing. If you want an "Up North" room, head here. I only found one thing that I could even picture in my home:


Century House - This store focuses on Scandanavian furniture. If that style will work in your house, then you should definitely head over. Their stuff is beautiful. There is also an adorable Century House gift shop next door. Seems like a great place to head when you need a birthday present.

Don's Home Furniture - This store focuses nearly completely on wood furniture. Not a huge upholstered selection. But, their stuff all has the maker indicated and seems of very high quality. I found a couple dressers that I wanted, but it is a bit expensive, so nothing has made its way into my home yet.

If you have suggestions for stores for me to review, please comment and I will make every effort to visit and write them up here.

The most common Summer Things

For those of us from Wisconsin or other points within driving distance, much of the summer is spent going to those huge family weddings that Kitty just cannot understand and family reunions. These events are pretty fantastic, even better than the festivals, camping, etc., for me. However, I do recommend experiencing them in moderation. As with good chocolate, they can become cloyingly sweet after too much.

Edit: Yet another fabulous family reunion - not in Wisconsin, but definitely full of the Wisconsin spirit with all that humidity and beer!

Getting caught in the rain

Going to the beer tent at the Monona 4th of July festival is a good idea. Not wearing a rain coat or bringing an umbrella to the beer tent while its raining is a not so good idea.

Lucia, Loud, and I decided to go to the beer tent July 3rd after a couple of stressful days at work. Hooray for the holiday! By the time we were ready to head over to join in on the festivities, it was raining rather heavily. Loud and I did not think ahead and bring an umbrella or even a garbage bag to protect our luckily dark colored cotton clothes. Lucia planned ahead and was nice and dry in her lovely rain coat.

We looked like we just got out of the shower when we arrived at the beer tent. Although, we were soaked our spirits weren't dampened. We indulged in a few cheap beers, had some laughs, and waited for Lucia to bring the car close by before Loud and I left the tent. The beer tent definitely always equals a good time.

Raising Cane's!

Ok, this is a little sad. It's the middle of summer (well, nearly), and this is my first blog. Actually, it's my first blog EVER, so that's very exciting. So not sad at all, I guess. Although, I did make an attempt once after hours at work...I was never able to get things working right. (Blogger technical issues FAQ -- you lie!)

The title of my this post is Raising Cane's, which I first heard about in Sioux Falls, SD on a business trip from a co-worker from Lousiana. This is a fast food franschise that basically only serves fried chicken fingers. If I remember the story right, it started off as a business school project, but didn't make the grade. The professor failed the project, but the founders went on to start up the first ever Cane's, which is now a successful franschise.

I mostly thought these were in the South...as the person who was telling me about this is from the South and speaks with a twang. (Actually, Raising Cane's was just a smaller part of a rather lengthy conversation on fried chicken. God love the Foodies!) I'm not a big on fast food...actually, i really dislike it in general (except for In and Out, which deserves a whole other post on its own)...and I absolutely DETEST most chicken (exceptions include fried chicken, and chicken cooked by my mom or fiance), so I was a little skeptical about the place.

Amazingly, one of my best friends, we'll call her HighHeels, luvs fried chicken fingers and she lives near a Cane's in MN. (She used to love the weird spongy fried "chicken" fingers from the movie theater we frequented in college...ick. Oh, and she likes the "chicken" rings from White Castle...double ick). HighHeels claimed that these are really good...but, with the recommendation from my southern friend, I was willing to give this a shot, so we went and ate.

AND THEY WERE AWESOME! THEY WERE THE BEST CHICKEN FINGERS I'VE EVER HAD! Hot, fresh, really juicy...so juicy, with a light batter, and not too salty. The special sauce was really good too! According to the website (http://www.raisingcanes.com/), the chicken is never frozen...so it's got to be somewhat local, right? I feel kinda bad posting here about an experience that I didn't even have in WI, and so out of line with the whole local foods, farmers' market, organic feel of the rest of the blog. Don't get me wrong, I'm into that stuff too! But this was just so good! God! I'm craving them already. The crinkle cut fries were awesome too! 98% of the time, crinkle cut fries are soggy...but Cane's were as crisp and delightful as I could hope for.

God, I liked these fingers so much, that I've even thought about opening up a store. Not the first time I've considered joining a franschise...the first time was when I went to my first Oberweis store...which is all about local, organic food...I highly recommend checking them out.(http://www.oberweisdairy.com/web/default.asp).

Anyways, as soon as I got back home to WI, I had to tell my fiance (the B of B&M) all about it. In a strange twist of fate, it turns out that some of his old childhood friends have a friend who opened up a Cane's in Vegas. They are definitely eating there during the next Dudes Vegas trip in Aug.

OMG!!! I just had a thought! I can probably get B to make chicken fingers for the Deep Fry party. Oh yeah!!!! Woot!!!

If you think I'm nuts because I just wrote a whole post on chicken fingers...just wait. I haven't even delved into my Madison eats yet...you can look forward to learning more about Arbat's next time!