June 24, 2012

Night Hike

Hi again.  Sorry for so many posts in a row, but I had to tell you what I did last night!  Are you on the edge of your chair?

We are back at “The Farm” and last night, Gerry and I went over to our neighbors’ and met up with the Rock County Conservationists and went for a night hike.  Forget the flashlight!  This was with no light but the tiny sliver of moon and the light from the cities around us reflecting off the clouds.

The purpose of the hike was to call for owls.  The first two stops we made produced nothing.  Our guide would call out to the owls and we would wait for a reply.  Nada.  A little further on though – jackpot!  We get an answering owl.  Then another owl joined in.  Naturally we couldn’t see a thing but we could hear them quite clearly.  Finally we had a third owl join in for just one call.  These three were barred owls, known by their hoot which sounds like “Who cooks for you?”

The moment of the first answering call was so neat.  The guide was right in among us (about 20 people in all) so he was really loud.  The owls in the trees were fainter, but we could hear them clearly.  Apparently, owls just sit up quietly in the trees and don’t make any sound all on their own for no good reason.  Calling them does get them talking, both to us and each other.  Who knows what the guide or they were saying to one another.  I don’t think I want to know. Something along the lines of “Listen to those goofy humans!”

Also in our group were two people who are part of the Wisconsin wolf survey – meaning they work at counting wolves.  There aren’t any wolf packs down in southern WI – just a lone wolf every now and then.  They count by going out at night, howling like a wolf and listeneng for a response.  From the response they estimate the number of individuals in the pack and their ages.

A wolf howl will elicit a response from coyotes, who are now numerous in southern Wisconsin.  The man set up a wolf howl.  (It is amazing how he and the owl caller sound just like the real thing!)

At first, like the owls, we heard nothing, but then the coyotes started to answer.  We heard both adults and pups (believe me you know instinctively that they are pups when you hear them).  And they sounded like they were headed toward us, but that was probably just that the adults were returning to where the pups were. The expert explained that their answer is their way of saying “We’re over here and this is our territory, so go somewhere else!” Amazingly, it sounded as it they were right over near our house…

The other (and last thing I am going to talk about) cool thing I learned was about fireflies.  Last night there were a ton – though we were told that in a dry year like this one, there aren’t as many as there can be when we have a normal summer.  Males are up in the air flashing; females are down in the grass flashing.  Different species have different flashing patterns and if you know your fireflies, you can actually identify them by the flash pattern.

While we were waiting and listening to the owls, you could turn around 360 degrees and watch the twinkling of the firefly lights all around you.   It was a little bit like Christmas!

The moral of this story?  Try a night hike and see what you can hear.

Posted by on June 24, 2012 in US, Wisconsin and tagged , , , , , .

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June 23, 2012

More Milwaukee Restaurants to Try

Three seems like a good number – so I’ll tell you about three restaurants I visited for the first time in the last couple of weeks.  All three just happen to be in Walker’s Point, our Milwaukee neighborhood.

The first is Braise.  http://braiselocalfood.com/  1101 S Second St.

Go there when you really aren’t that hungry, but don’t mind spending a lot of money.  Fairly faint praise, I know.  The food is delicious; there just isn’t very much of it!  Our party was 3 men and 3 women.  We women all enjoyed our dinners and went home satisfied.  The men, to a tee, all complained that they were still hungry and felt like they had to go eat again.

The dining room has these big long tables, so you dine in a quasi-communal fashion.  The tables are wide – they’re made from bowling alleys that were originally in the building.  They’re almost too wide to talk effectively across, so you might want to sit next to the person you want to talk to.

Braise is part of the slow food movement, and a big player in it around Milwaukee.  I think the restaurant grew out of the farm, so you are pretty much guaranteed organic, locally grown or raised food.  There are a lot of interesting and unusual items on the menu so don’t go looking for meat and potatoes.  One of our dishes had “garlic mustard pesto”  (Can you believe it?)

The Noble  http://nobleprovisions.com/  704 S Second St.

The Noble takes its name from “the noble experiment” a reference to Prohibition.  The place is decorated to feel like a speakeasy, and it is very small and cozy.  They have no more than 7 tables inside and another 4 on the porch.  The menu is small, but the prices are really reasonable (even for the drinks).  Look for an entree and flatbread special each day.  Some of the good things we tried were a grilled artichoke salad and a mushroom pate for starters.  Gerry had a succulent pork chop and I had great lamb chops for a second course. No reservations, so we sat at the bar until a table opened up for us. Just so you know – by 8:00pm you can get a table on a Friday night without waiting.   Some people were there just for drinks – I tried an Au Pear – like a light pear martini – which I enjoyed enough to have a second.  Gerry had two different kinds of Bloody Mary’s. This is a definite must try.  As far as the demographics go, we were among the oldest people there.  So if you’re close to my age, don’t let that put you off.  The service was friendly and our waitress quirky and fun.

La Merenda  http://www.lamerenda125.com  125 E National Ave (just off S 1st St)

One caveat about La Merenda – we didn’t actually eat dinner there.  We stopped in to see what it was like and had a drink at the bar and dessert.  We were really curious about the place – and it wasn’t at all what I had imagined.  La Merenda serves small plates.  I don’t want to call them tapas because you might think you’re in for Spanish food.  Not at all.  The small plates are international – each identified by its country of inspiration.  (They even had tostones from Puerto Rico!)  Lots of interesting flavors – and I like the small plates idea because it gives you plenty of room to try different things.  The dining room is behind the bar – it’s fairly big and even at 10:00pm it was pretty noisy and full.

As I said, we had drinks and a dessert.  My drink was called a “summer gin” .  I didn’t recognize one of the ingredients but it was like a cherry infused something that turned the drink just a little red.  It was good – If you like gin, you could try it, and then tell me what that ingredient was.

We had a delciously, decadent chocolate cake for our dessert.  Definitely didn’t need it, but it sure tasted good.

So, now it’s your turn to go out and try these places and tell me what you think.  Enjoy!

 

Posted by on June 23, 2012 in US, Wisconsin and tagged , , .

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June 19, 2012

Culver’s – Welcome to Delicious

Look for the sign! (I posted the pic after the words – and so discovered that “butter burgers” is two words.)

Fine dining it isn’t – but as “fine” fast food it might qualify.  At least for my family. (Actually for them, it might even pass for fine dining…)  Culver’s (a bit like Costco used to be) is a regional phenomenon – growing, but still limited to the upper Midwest, and as I can see from their placemat map – also Texas and Arizona.

My family has to visit Culver’s at least once on every trip – the kids probably even more often.  No it is not healthier than McDonalds.  In fact, let’s analyze:  The most popular product is what they call a “butterburger” (already the name is a clue).  A butterburger is “real midwestern beef” (I am not sure how often I have eaten “fake Midwestern beef”) on a buttered bun – plus all the extras like cheese, lettuce, tomato, etc. Naturally you can get a double butterburger, probably even a triple butterburger.  For obvious reasons, I usually don’t order one. With your butterburger, you can get fried cheese curds (definitely a Wisconsin thing – and another thing I don’t usually eat) or fried onion rings (a weakness of mine I battle to avoid) or of course, the ubiquitous french fries.  Add a soda (or a “pop” as we call it out here in the heartland) and you have one, highly caloric meal to rival the multi-national fast food chains.

Despite my tone, Culver’s is really good.  It is a “must try” if you never have.  Beyond that, you’re on your own.  Be careful.  It’s addictive.

Culver’s is also “famous” for its frozen custard.  I don’t know why it isn’t called soft ice cream, because basically I don’t know what the distinction between custard and ice cream is (I am willing to be enlightened!).  All I know is that the custard looks REALLY GOOD.  I have promised myself that if I successfully get to my target weight by the end of my summer travels to WI, I am going to treat myself to Culver’s frozen custard.

It is as good a reason as I can think of to pass up on the butterburgers and the onion rings for another two months!

http://www.culvers.com/

Posted by on June 19, 2012 in Wisconsin and tagged , , , , .

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June 17, 2012

MAM Events

Please don’t say I am posting too much, because I just wanted to get these two new pages out while there was still time during the weekend to take advantage of them.  Both are about the Milwaukee Art Museum:  The Posters of Paris Exhibition (’til September) and the Lakefront Festival of Arts (just this weekend).   Click on either link above or start by clicking here.

Posted by on June 17, 2012 in US, Wisconsin and tagged , , , , , , , .

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June 15, 2012

Summertime!

Recent quotes: “There is no place as beautiful as WI in the summer.” “I love WI in the summer.” “Wisconsin is so beautiful in the summer.” Now, of course, I could have been the source of these quotes and there would be nothing remarkable about them. These quotes, however, come from my three Puerto Rican men, ages 56, 25 and 22.
What makes WI so beautiful in the summer? It certainly could be the brilliant blue sky. The sky is as dazzlingly blue in the summer as it is in the winter, only the temperature changes. Usually by at least 80 degrees.
It could be the abundance of water, and the Wisconsonian tendency to get out onto it or into it in the summer. All that water reflects the blue sky, beautiful in and of itself, but when the shoreline (be it river, pond or lake) is decorated in green, dotted with yellow and blue flowers, it is hard to resist. The plethora of cars and trucks towing boats on the highway on the weekends, or the steady stream of boats past my windows in Milwaukee on the Kinnickinnic River is a testament to the call of the water.
But natural beauty aside, there is the festive nature of Wisconsin in the summertime. People are outside. The whole state turns inside out. The parks are as full as the lakes; the sidewalks are thoroughfares for the walking as well as the wheeled; picnicking, canoeing, horseback riding, waterskiing, baseball (watching and playing), hiking, camping, and the list goes on. Gerry says that since the summer is short, everyone tries to make the most of it. He could be right. Festive has additional meaning for us here in the Third Ward of Milwaukee – the Summerfest grounds are a short walk away. In addition to the “largest musical festival in the world” (according the Guinness Book of World Records date unknown…), the Summerfest grounds host festivals all summer long. Pick your ethnicity or just go to them all!
I think, though, that the beauty of Wisconsin in the summer is also the memories: Memories of summer camp, of lifelong friends, of being a carefree child with no school and no routine. Summer in WI evokes images of Up North (northern WI) where I, and now my sons and husband too, spend an important portion of the summer. Then there are the long walks at the farm, watching birds and turtles, fishing, swimming. The chirping of the crickets on a hot day, the bullfrogs at night, and the early morning songs of forest birds serve as the only clock you need. And warm summer nights, outside by a camp fire or snuggled in a sleeping bag, stars overhead (mosquitoes buzzing, unfortunately), all are the stuff of winter dreams.
“Have you ever watched a campfire when the wood has fallen low, and the ashes start to whiten ‘round the embers crimson glow? With the night sounds all around you making silence doubly sweet and the full moon high above you that the spell may be complete? Tell me, were you ever nearer to the land of heart’s desire, than when you sat there thinking with your feet before the fire?” (My favorite Camp Osoha song.)

Posted by on June 15, 2012 in Just me - talking about travel and tagged , , , .

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