Wisconsin
another round of thank you’s
*Thanks to Al for Windy City fun as usual. Feasting and catching up continues to be fun year after year. Who would think two girls could clear a table at Osteria like this at lunch time?
*Thanks to JW and Nelsy. I’d expect nothing less than a tour of another house renovation, a 4-wheeler show and a beer with some pizza. Good old Kaiser’s Pizza & Pub in Gurnee, Illinois. Here’s a photo from the walls for your archives:
*The final midwest thanks goes to Bill and Julie for my Wisconsin Capital area burb stay. Holy cheese-fest and gorgeousness!
Love you guys. It’s was great spending time and feasting with you all!
August 1, 2010
In
Wisconsin
get up and out in madison
I just finished up an 11 mile bike ride with a couple of friends on the Capital City Bike Trail. This is after going for a run around lunch time. (I’ve got to do something to burn off all this great food I’m eating on the road!) The city of Madison and surrounding towns have more parks than I’ve ever seen in my life and so many bike trails it’d take months to hit them all. It’s so green, lush and corn-field covered here it’s like being in the movies. The exact replica of my summers growing up in Vermont, just a few less mountains. This is the haven for Locavores, the fit and the want to be outside adventurers. If you can hack some cold winter temps and a bit of snow, like a mid-sized city and are an active person- I’m not sure you’d be able to find a better place than Madison to live in the states. I’m super excited I have good pals here so now I have an excuse to come back again to visit soon!
meet jack
Here’s another ditty! My second road person named Jack!
Jack works at a place called Ian’s Pizza. I wandered into Ian’s randomly during a late afternoon last week. I was greeted by the friendliest chatty young guys you could hope for as a first time customer walking into a place. This isn’t the typical pizza joint that the staff half mumbles hello and chucks your pepperoni slice at you. These guys were great sales people, knowledgeable about all the ingredients and aware of everything/everyone that was there. I chose a slice covered with pesto and fresh tomatoes and they informed me that the pesto was made from fresh basil that came from a farm in northern Wisconsin. They offered to make any kind of slice I wanted or add any additional toppings on my slice but I stuck with my initial choice and it was fabulous. On my way out the door I spotted this guys t-shirt that said “Get your mac on” and then realized one of their pizzas was actually mac n’ cheese pizza. Whoa. I introduced myself and asked what his name was and if I could take his picture to post here and he happily agreed. He then grabbed a slice of the mac n’ cheese to pose with:
I paid another visit to Ian’s (different location) late night a day later with some friends. Even though my second time round the place was swamped with stumbling wasted college kids and the line was 20 deep, the staff showed no signs of annoyance or frustration. They were again smiley, helpful, efficient and cranked out the hot slices accommodating every customer perfectly with exactly what they wanted. I grabbed a few slices so we could try the bbq chicken, the mac n’ cheese, and another pesto tomato. All delicious.
I’m a huge fan of Ian’s. Not just because of the yummy pie, but because of the fantastic, friendly service and overall vibe of it. The staff all clearly love their jobs and they sell a quality, fresh product. It’s a pleasure for a foodie like me who’s on the road, eating food in all kinds of places, to watch a well-oiled machine of kick-ass food and service. I’ve found you usually only get one or the other, not often both. Ian’s covers it.
Go Ian’s and thanks to Jack and Tyler at the State Street location. Keep smiling and doing what you’re doing!
cheese head
Some long time friends of mine moved to Madison abut a year ago. A perfect stop on the way to Alaska to see their new home and catch up. Another friend from back in VA happened also to be visiting this weekend, and yet another in the group of our old pals is in town for work so it’s a big ol’ reunion of fun. We all went to The Old Fashioned in Capital Square for lunch yesterday. The place was packed and staff was friendly. This is where we ordered fried cheese curds for an app. (Yeah, I know. I have blown any kind of balance in my diet during my stay in Wisconsin. Talk about an all-out cheese fest. I’m glad I can still strap on my running shoes and pound the pavement from anywhere for free.) Here’s my sandwich:
Grilled cheese with cheddar, swiss, hickory smoked red peppers, cukes and tomatoes. This was one of the best fancy grilled cheese sandwiches I have ever had. The fresh local veggies stuffed in there put it in that category. It’s such a spoil to have fresh produce included in what you order in a restaurant. The melty cheese and butter help too of course. As if I wasn’t full enough after that sammy, I had to grab one of their enormous chocolate chip cookies to go. I couldn’t resist! They had plates and plates of these coming out fresh all over the bar area on plates for self-serve. When the bartender said; “That’s one American dollar please!- and help yourself!” I wanted to kiss him. It was delicious. The chocolate chips were still warm and melty as we gobbled it up.
I highly recommend this spot if you’re up for lunch out when you visit Madison. The prices are more than reasonable and every last thing coming out of the kitchen looked delicious. The kind of lunch stuffing that you need a nap after. Good food, full belly and catching up with old friends sure makes for a spectacular Friday afternoon!
July 31, 2010
In
Wisconsin
to market to market
I’m off to the biggest farmer’s market in the country around Madison’s Capital Square. What a green and gorgeous place this is. There are more parks and bike paths in this midwest city than you can imagine. There’s certainly no excuse not to get out and be active here. Being from VT I love it. It feels like a slice of home in the summertime with farms abound, miles and miles of corn fields and kids playing outside with grass stained knees.
Off to scour the market. I’ve got some photos of Wisconsin characters I will upload and share later…
July 30, 2010
In
Random babble, Wisconsin
lets get ready to rumbaaaaaaaallll!!!
Hello Madison Wisconsin!
Even though I was excited about my arrival here and seeing old friends, I ended up sitting at their kitchen table last night looking at maps and mileage to Alaska again feeling like someone just kicked me in the gut and told me there was no such thing as Santa Claus. I still have 2,900 miles and 75 hours driving from here to get to Alaska. Holyfegginsh*t.
Being the last U.S state I will be in before hitting up Canada, The Wisconsin state motto of “Forward” is just what I needed to read this morning after staring blankly at my computer screen last night and the sleepless night that followed. Seeing/knowing and actually doing are oh so different. If I’ve never had this lesson before- oh am I getting one now. I can’t quit. I won’t quit, but I will run out of money either before I get there or as soon as I cross the state line. This is going to make for some crazy good stories. I’ve planned and thought and contacted, but as we all know in life- 90% of “plans” usually get thrown out the window. This last HUGE leg of my trip is likely going to come with me throwing an eff-bomb or 50, some tears, exhaustion, confusion, doubt, loneliness, frustration and all those other words and things that happen when we attempt to reach a goal. (But the wahoo! parts too of course.) I can’t lie, I’m freaking out a little. Ok maybe a lot- but I’ll be damned if my happy ass isn’t standing on the Frontier State line by my 32nd birthday.
Here’s to screw it, just do it and owning all the rewards and consequences along the way. (Am I some kinds of bad-ass? Probably not, but I’m going to try to be anyway.)
“Forward” it is.