Apple Pie

I am making my first scratch apple pie today. I have made the dough for the crust and it is sitting in the refrigerator doing whatever it needs to do for the next hour or so. I bought galas and pink ladies, for some crunch and flavor. We shall see. The dough did not form a nice ball before I divided it and may have been handled too much for consumption. Will it be as hard as a rock? Hmmm. I have been inspired after reading John T. Edge's Apple Pie book. I am going to add cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla to the filling. I am not experimenting with Red Hots or green chiles or anything fancy today. Just your basic apple pie. My own american story.

The Great Flood

Got caught in the great flood 06 near campus. Streets were flooded, the water kept pouring from the sky and up and over anything in its wake. Scary!

Caspian Cafe

In honor of the greater State St. area, I present the new location of the Caspian Cafe. It is even easier to get to now, the Persian tea is super and I just had a great lunch there. There are three daily specials offered in addition to the regular menu items and everything looks fantastic and tastes even better. Today's specials included enormous meatballs stuffed with peppers, currants, hardboiled eggs and more, served with a rice pilaf, a spinach phyllo entree and an eggplant tagine of sorts that had so many more ingredients I can't remember any. I had the cafe sampler that included falafel, hummus, baba gannouj, tabouli, fluffy bread and yogurt salad. A+++

Opera Rain

What a bummer. Opera in the Park got rained out. What's a little weather advisory? I had my bag chairs. I had my picnic basket. I had my Quizno's BLT and entertainment magazines. Very disappointing. Rescheduling on a Sunday night doesn't do it for me. Who wants to fight the crowds out of a filled to capacity park at 11:00 pm on a work night? So I went to the movies instead. Go see Wordplay. Cross Swords fun for everyone.

The Plaza

What could be more perfect than a Plaza burger with an order of fries and extra Plaza sauce on the side? I really do not know. Except maybe the tuna melt on whole wheat with fries and extra sauce. Or an order of fried mushrooms with extra sauce on the side. And a pitcher of Point beer.

Jamba Heaven

Beat the heat with my new favorite, Jamba Juice. I can't believe that I have never tried this nectar before - it is delicious! I had the Orange Dreamsicle. It was orange juice, soy, protein powder, orange sherbet and some other heroin that makes me want to have it three times a day. I also tried a protein pizza stick. Super yum. A bit spendy, but highly recommended.

Art Fair on the Square

Festival season! Art Fair, then Maxwell Street, Taste of Madison - the square is bustling and crazy. Art Fair this year seems busier than ever, tons of food stands and music in the streets.
Great weather this year, too.

On other fronts, green tea ice cream has been spotted at the new super-sized Chocolate Shoppe. Hooray.

Holiday Week-end

Happy 4th of July week-end! Even though the 4th isn't until Tuesday and I have to work Monday. State St. is all torn up and in total chaos, but as much fun and craziness as always. I am sure farmer's market today is just nuts and that there will be tons of events about town. Which is why I am at home, typing away at the computer. ha! Not much to report - except that I had forgotten how nice the Fanny Garver gallery is - needed a "ruby" gift for my parents 40th wedding anniversary and they had a wide variety of very pretty, useable art. Highly recommend.

Ice Tea

There is nothing more refreshing than ice tea. Michelangelo's does a superb job with this - they serve jasmine tea iced. Delightful. Thirst quenching. Full of antioxidents.

CowParade

The CowParade is so much fun - I love wandering around during my lunch hours checking out the various downtown cows. The half and half cow is clever! My favorite so far is the mirrored cow on the square, but the chocolate milk cow is a very close second. The bumper cow is hugely popular with the kids. Nothing beats a yellow plastic steering wheel.

Fat Elvis

In honor of our recent trip to Graceland, I have to address the incomparable Fat Elvis ice cream at the Chocolate Shoppe. It is amazing - banana ice cream with creamy chunks of peanut butter and bitter sweet chocolate. A perfect mix. Not quite the same as a peanut butter and banana sandwich on white bread fried in a stick of butter, but a pleasing alternative.

Library Mall

Library mall is one of the best restaurants in town. It is so fun to wander down there at noon, where all of the studnets are playing frisby and laying on the grass (as opposed to the drunks laying on the sidewalk up near my neck of the woods) and sample the many food carts. I haven't seen the greek cart lately, but Buraka is there, as well as a jamaican cart, sushi, thai, chinese, soul food and more. Mr. Loose Juice is also back. Hey, Carl, when are you opening the Rye back up? We are still waiting!

Bratfest Revisited

Happy Memorial Day!

This is the first time we have attended the new and super-sized brat fest at Colliseum Island. Eh. So you can buy a $5 cup of beer. And you can sit on the grass and listen to some local bands. I can do that at the Union every Friday night! It was something to do, and it is for a good cause, but it just ain't what it used to be.

Yogurt at the Farmer's Market

I love the yogurt at the Farmer's Market. I have not tried the Murphy Farms (home of the best cottage cheese on earth) because that is only available at the downtown market, but I have been gobbling up the Sugar River yogurt from the Westside Community Market like crazy. I love the Westside Community Market, otherwise known as the Hilldale defectors market. Murphy Farms, the Sugar River people, the good apple lady and my favorite maple syrup guy are all there. There is plenty of room to run around on the grass and the parking is plentiful. The old Hilldale market had gotten to be a cramped mess. Boo hiss! On other Hilldale defector fronts, the new Chocolate Shoppe at Midvale Plaza is open for business and booming. They have been open one week and we have already been three times. No peppermint stick, though. I am also going to request that they add the green tea ice cream from the State St. store (a special request from downtown patrons when Chocolate Coyote closed). Hooray for ice cream!

Chicks and Gifts

I ran down to the b-side during my break to buy the new Dixie Chicks album, Taking the Long Way. Here's to free speech! I also stopped in to Twee to pick up some taffy. For $1.50 you can purchase more taffy than you should eat in one setting. The raspberry/lemon and key lime are currently my favorite. But I always end up buying questionable flavors like chocolate chip cookie and buttered popcorn. When I know I like the tangy flavors. Blech. And watch out for the red licorice flavor. It is super stale. Some like the teeth crackin' taffy. I do not. Consider yourself warned.

Other recommendations: the MMoCA gift shop has so many excellent items - cards, jewelry, bags and household accessories. A wonderful place to buy gifts (for yourself) and others.

Mango

There is a new store opening on the 100 block of State Street called Mango Boutique. I was hoping that it would be related to the sensational international chain Mango, but I am not getting my hopes up. We cannot even support a decent H&M in this state. Still, it is nice to see new development on State Street. I have also heard that the post office from the now defunct U-Square is moving to State, as well as another Starbucks.

La Brioche

I still remember when La Brioche was on State St. It was in the spot where Ian's is now. My two favorite places! I can't even remember all of the other incarnations after La Brioche left: a coffee shop, a juice bar, a vegetarian restaurant and Madison Masala among others. There is something so magical about their pastries. I always get a black and white cookie and a brownie. If we are picking up pastries for the week-end, I like chocolate croissants and morning buns. Mitch likes fruit danish and mini chocolate chip cookies. But we have tried just about everything and it is all spectacular. We went through a phase where we were obsessed with the macaroons. My sister loves the florentines. Vive la brioche!

Sushi Carts and Sesame Noodles

The special of the day at the Sushi cart on the square at MLK near Starbucks on Friday was spicy tuna roll for $4.99. This came with avocado and cucumber rolls and was beautifully presented. The guy in line next to me got the tempura and that looked really good, too. And just so I never forget: 10# (or seemingly) of the most delicious cold sesame noodles on earth are just $3.75 from Asian Kitchen under La Bamba and Wasabi. I laugh every time I pass Riley's thinking of our freshman year bank statements being mailed to our parents with numerous Tyme withdrawls from the corner with a "Wines of the World" location indicator. ha.

MMoCa

The new Museum of Contemporary Art is gorgeous. Some of the art is kinda weird. It always was, but there is more of it to notice now in the bright, shiny new facility. It took several attempts to find the Henry St. gallery with the Frida Kahlo, and the glass stairs are a little scary - I really had to concentrate. It was raining the day we went to visit, so the rooftop garden wasn't much fun to spend time in and I was a little afraid of slipping, but I am excited to have this new facility in our town and plan to take lots of visitors. On the same day we went to MMoCa, my sister and I had dinner at Takara. We each ordered the beef negimaki Bento boxes. They are expensive but worth it. And the presentation is exquisite. Highly recommend.

Mourning the Rye

A bunch of us are still mourning the Rad Rye. Where can you get a good sandwich and decent soup on State Street? We were walking near Overture last night after having pizza at Sal's/Casa Bianca/Pizza di Roma (who can keep track?) and saw the glassy corner filled with stairs where the Rye used to be and paused for a moment. Then we discussed the possibilities of the new Food Fight restaurant going in and were optimistic, but not placated.