Sunday in MKE

Sunday we went to brunch and head back to Madison. I don't have any pictures of the detour around I-94 though.

Sassy, like a cow

On Saturday afternoon we had a grand adventure at The Sassy Cow Creamery.

It was their grand opening celebration, so we were treated to not only free milk, ice cream, and cheese, but a tour of both the farm and the processing plant as well.

They have a stock car sponsored by them and Thonys Think Tank, which has the unfortunate distinction of having poor grammar on their portion of the car. I immediately thought of "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" when I saw this one.

It was a fantastic time, and I was happy to see a thriving family farm.
There was a 5 day old calf, and they had a contest to name her. M chose "Mary", which I suppose we could consider a deceptively simple selection.
Later on we got to see some just-about-to-calve cows, including one who was about to give birth - was actually starting to give birth. I myself was a bit freaked out by it, if only because it reminded me of the last time I gave birth (to M). It was a long time ago, but I won't soon forget the experience. Ah, the circle of life.

The Sassy Cow Creamery processes milk from Baerwolf Farms. Brothers Rob and James are the farmers, and only milk from their cows goes through the dairy.
Chuck the Plant Manager took us through for a tour of the processing facility, which is right behind the retail shop.

They process both organic and conventional milk there, and it all starts here, where milk is pumped in to one of two tanks (organic in one, conventional in the other). Chuck explained that organic milk is always run first and on clean equipment so that no conventional milk is in the product.

There were huge pallets of plastic bottles which looked really cool.
Then we walked through some rubber mats with "soapy" water in them. Chuck explained that the footbath was part of the food safety precautions they took in the plant, because of the potentially dangerous bacteria Listeria. So we all left slightly soapy-looking foot prints in our wake.


All of the processing equipment looked really interesting. We learned how the milk comes in and goes out at 40 degrees, but in between is heated to 166.9, which is the pasteurization point. It goes from that temperature back down to 40 degrees by being run through a chiller.And this thing has something to do with the butterfat content of whatever they are processing, but I can't remember what it does. Basically it sounds as if they separate the milk from the cream and then mix them back up in the right proportions (for skim, 2%, etc.).


The freestall open barn was interesting. The cows who were close to giving birth were on hay but the other cows we saw were "sand bedded", which was supposed to be comfortable for them. The cows were pretty non plussed by all of us walking through, and some were even comfortable getting pet on the head or neck.



Baerwolf Farms/Sassy Cow are going to be coming to the Cows on the Concourse with many other dairy farms and cows on Saturday June 7. It's a fun time with lots and lots of dairy foods to eat and cows to meet. Definitely recommended, especially if you can't get out to the farm.

I picked up some locally produced cheese and the ever-tasty Potter's Crackers from here in Madison, as well as a half-gallon of milk. It tickles me to drink milk from a farm I've seen, touched, and smelled.

Sassy Cow Creamery Milk is sold in Madison (I saw their Organic stuff at Woody's East for a mere 5.79 USD a gallon), and around Dane county. Check out their website for more info about the farms and dairy.

I definitely think a visit to The Sassy Cow Creamery is in our future again, even if they are not having a special event. It is a short drive with some really pretty scenery, and I'm sure we can find more places to visit nearby.

See Palmer's post for more pictures (including the cow about to give birth).

Lunch

I had: Sushi from the cart on the corner of King and Pinckney.

Arch had: Coffee and a ham sandwich*.

*(metaphorical).

A Great Success

Okay, so I didn't win *anything* in the raffle, and there were only three porta-potties this year (I swear there were at least 4 at past events), and I couldn't inveigle anyone in my family to come. Besides those small things, the 11th Annual WORT Block Party was a raging success. I even remembered to wear sun screen on my face so I only have the lightest hint of colour from my hours in the sun.

I think it is fair to say that this Block Party is a must attend tradition for me. Palmer had to be in Chicago, so unfortunately I was on my own for a chunk of the day, but there was plenty to see and do and tons of folks to talk to.

First off, I have to say that WORT volunteers are amazing. I can count myself in their number in an extremely limited capacity, but I see the same dedicated people at event after event, promoting the station, doing community events, and generally just being a presence off air. This was a great block party to be a part of and the block party goers and vendors were all pretty swell.

Cindy is the sweetest poodle. She was rocking a skull and crossbones doggie sweater. Last year I saw her hanging out in the basket of her human's bike. She's a WORT Block Party regular, too!


It was such a fun day! The weather was odd, partly cloudy most of the day, sometimes quite chilly until the sun came out, but it stayed dry. The music was fun, and I took pictures of all the bands but none of them came out very well. The Nob Hill Boys started the day off with bluegrass and had the crowd eating out of their hands by the end of the set.

Conspicuously absent from my photographic record are any pictures of the "No Crap on Tap" beer table, brought out by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters. Considering how much time I spent near it, I don't know how I got away without even one photograph. How odd.

I did, however, get a picture of my first beer and my lunch. The beer was a Flanders Ned Red from Grumpy Troll in Mount Horeb. It was fresh and tangy with a sour flavour. Really nice beer. Went perfectly with my Dorowat on Injera from Buraka (so happy they were there this year).
I ran into lots of folks I knew, some who I inveigled to come down to the Block Party, some who were staff and volunteers at the station, and the rest just folks I've known from as far back as 18 years and as recently as a month. There were tons of families there, including one with a two-year old who was such a fan of Rockin' John that he made him a card. I overheard his folks saying that they listened to his show every week and the kid couldn't get enough. He was pretty thrilled to meet his radio hero.

Here are the friends of mine I managed to take pictures of, I'm kind of bummed that I didn't take *more* photos. I guess after 3 Grumpy Troll Beers (the Flanders, the Spetznaz Stout and the ass-kicking Maggie IPA) and a delicious Lake Louie Brew that I couldn't even finish, I wasn't much for picture taking.

E and M enjoying a Family Farm Defender's Grilled Cheese sammy.
Miss P and I in and end of the day embrace.N rocking the giraffe umbrellaMe and Palmer's friend K
All in all it was a fabulous day. I highly recommend putting this on your to do list for 2009.

Northside Farmer's Market: the non-review

So Palmer and I managed to get ourselves to the Northside Farmer's Market this morning, and it was cold and rainy, and frankly, I had no patience for taking pictures or noting exactly what vendors were there.

I *do* know that I was able to use my Quest card to purchase tokens which I exchanged with vendors for food items. I picked up a bag of really nice (well washed) spinach, two bags of rhubarb, a few nice hot house tomatoes, some delicious italian sesame seed cookies (which were, apparently, my Mother's Day gift to myself, as I ate them all), and some green onions.

I used the tomatoes and spinach for M Day brunch, and I'm looking forward to making a crumb topped rhubarb pie tomorrow.

At some point later in the season I'll do a proper post with pictures and more of a rundown of what's available at the market. Today there were a lot of gorgeous flowers available, but I'm just not shopping for plants at the moment.

One nice touch were colourful paper bags with "Happy Mother's Day" stamped on them and little pansie plants inside, free for the taking. So I have one plant to try and keep alive. Wish me luck.

Quest for local foods

So, in case you didn't know, the Dulcinea is flat broke. Well, not busted, but due to medical complaints she hasn't been working for a while. Wisconsin Foodshare is back in play for our household (money for the little one, but not for me), so I'm looking forward to using our "Quest" card (the electronic replacement for paper food stamps) at the Willy St. Co-op to buy local foods.

The other place I'm even more excited about is the Northside Farmer's Market, where you can use your Quest card to purchase tokens and use those with each vendor (for qualified items).

The Northside Market is on Sundays, and I haven't gone this year (this past Sunday Opened the Market). Perhaps this week, as I'll be in the market for fresh local eggs and honey, never mind some good locally produced meat and whatever vegetable matter has become available thus far (ooh, it looks like RHUBARB and SPINACH are expected!!!! Squee!).

I'm really looking forward to it.

Local Eats

I've been focusing on eating more locally produced things, which means getting my chocolate from Gail Ambrosius, my beer from anywhere in Wisconsin (more on beer another day) and this evening, my ice cream from The Chocolate Shoppe, via Woodman's.

Green!

Veggies at Viet Hoa Grocery store on Monona Drive.

OMG, You GUYS!!!!!111!!!

It's been way too long since I have posted. The Dulcinea has been through all kinds of self-inflicted mess lately. Or biochemically inflicted mess, or meteorologically inflicted mess, take your pick.

Anyhow, today Palmer and I very nearly signed the lease for our new place. Very nearly but not quite as the landlady couldn't make it. But I cleaned my apartment and we are on for tomorrow!

Tonight is the 2nd Most exciting night of the month, as PROG is playing at the High Noon Saloon.
Although there is a rumour that they will not be playing "And You and I", it should still be good fun and I heartily recommend the show.

I'm planning on spending more time blogging here, but plans are easily foiled, so we will see. At the moment it's time for leftover Thai curry and sticky rice and maybe a game of Wii bowling to get me ready to ROCK later on tonight. Yes, life is good.

ETA: Forget Wii Bowling, Wii Boxing is where it's at. Wow, what a way to get out my aggressions.

I can't be the only one

...who walked out of Sweeny Todd really wanting a meat pie.

New Post / Inka Heritage

Man, I've not done much of anything but sleep lately. Been sick, getting better, still feel like hell.

One thing I can do is rec a restaurant: Inka Heritage.

Check out their website. They've a gallery with pictures of many of the dishes. The one with the egg and the fried plantain is the Lomo Inka Heritage, which Palmer got, and that was tasty. The plantain in particular was very delicious.

I had the Lomo Saltado, which was very very tasty.

A nice place to bring folks from out of town, take a date or treat yourself. Yum!

Wasting away

I've been on this mission lately, tracking every thing I eat and trying to keep that mission (fairly unsuccessfully) from becoming an obsession. I've lost three lbs this week and before you congratulate me, I'm actually pretty freaked out about that. Three lbs a week is normal for the first and second weeks of a new weight loss effort, but the third week? That makes me nervous. Partly because it's not very safe for me personally (I can get all kinds of weird around this, it's happened before), partly because there's no guarantee I'm not losing muscle or even bone.

I'm taking a new medication which lists weight loss as a prominent side effect, and seeing as I'm getting random finger and toe tingling (another cool one), the rapid weight loss could be part of it. I'm just not understanding how eating three meals out yesterday (okay, dinner *was* only half a milk shake, not a proper dinner at all) could result in such a loss over three short days.

The other thing that comes with this drug is increased risk of osteoporosis, which has gotten me eating more calcium, in some sort of effort to prevent it from leeching too much from my blood. Who knows.

It's just that I don't want to let my desire to wear my awesome cute smaller summer clothes trump my knowledge of health and nutrition, and considering that my stupid nurse practitioner (the one who prescribed me these pills of doom/joy) was confident that her story of a patient of hers who lost 30 lbs in a month on the drug was "motivational", I'm not sure where I'll go if I do have a concern. My new and awesome Physician's Assistant, I guess.

So far I've been doing this for 23 days and lost 11 lbs. That should taper off ANYTIME now. Maybe Thanksgiving weekend will slow me down a bit. I just don't wanna lose all of my cuddly charm. No one would like that, most of all, me.

Ooh Pasties!

No, not pasties, pasties! Pervert.

Specifically, Cornish Pasties. This weekend is the Mineral Point Cornish Festival and Palmer, M, and I are heading out Saturday to enjoy the culture, primarily through food.

There is a Miner's buffet featuring Beef Pasty, Beef Pie with Dumplings, Beets with honey and horseradish (yum), and something called figgyhobbin, which absolutely intrigues me.

Why Cornish Fest? Well, firstly there is almost no reason to miss cultural celebrations with food, but more importantly, my youngest is a bit Cornish (indeed, his grandfather has visited the town which bears their surname - I've seen the picture), and I like the idea of learning more about that part of his background. Plus, FIGGYHOBBIN.

Mineral Point is just far enough away to seem like a drive and close enough to not feel too far away. It has a bunch of old buildings and I'm looking forward to seeing people dressed up in 'traditional' Cornish gear.

That tasted so damned good

It made me want to jump back and kiss myself, this lunch I ate today:

Yesterday I picked up a bunch of groceries at Willy St. Co-op. I don't shop there often (once a month, I'd guess), but when I do, I get something delicious that I can't get elsewhere.

This time, I picked up some Willy St. Guac (insanely expensive) and some of their Salsa de Cilantro, which I'd never tried before.

Anyhow, long story short, both the guac and the salsa were excellent. I'd go so far as to say that they were both sublime. Srsly.

With some blue corn chips and some really flavorful organic celery, it was a pretty tasty lunch.

Tonight we're heading downtown to see Palmer's bff, Matt Rothschild, and before hand we are gonna try out that new Neopolitan pizza place.

If I were a good blogger, that last sentence would have three links in it. But I am in a hurry, so it doesn't.

Also, Palmer is turning 35 tomorrow! Boyfriend Birthday Blogging imminent.