Wisconsin Part Two: The Gadgets

The cheese was unique to Wisconsin, but gadgets are unique to my tech-savvy brother. And man, did we make use of some fun ones!

Brother bought a Samsung smart watch to encourage him to get his steps in every day. That led to the discovery of some beautiful hometown trails. 

The Traeger grill led to some tasty cookouts:

Lamb kebabs

Grilled chicken

I made some tasty cocoa with his electric kettle that heats water to a precise degree.

He made us banana ice cream with his Creami.

(This seriously had the consistency of soft serve ice cream, and it was just mashed and frozen bananas.)

I'm probably missing some gadgets, but this is a pretty good list, don't you think? (We may or may not have some of these items pegged for future wish lists.) In all seriousness, though, this was a dream of a trip, and we are so grateful to my brother for his hospitality!

All the Cheese

We just returned from a lovely trip to visit my brother in Wisconsin. This trip ticked all the boxes: good food, special times with family, and lots of outside time and exploring new spaces. I would totally go back, like tomorrow. But anyway. Brother said I should name my trip recap "cheese and gadgets," so in his honor, here is part one: the cheese.

We ate, like, a lot of cheese. There are stereotypes about Wisconsin cheese, and then there is the real thing. Yes, cheese is really a big thing up there! I mean, have you every seen this big of a cheese aisle in your grocery store? This photo was one side of the aisle, and this was at a budget store!

Needless to say, we picked up some cheese at the store, and tried it later at home.

Bread cheese (fried on the stove)

But before that, we visited a local farmer's market and bought some local stuff

Yes, the curds squeaked when we ate them. It's a freshness thing?

Spicy cheese roll with havarti

We ate fried mac 'n cheese bites at brother's company picnic.

The boys loaded up their baked potatoes with some shreds when we grilled out.

Brother got a pesto grilled cheese and shared when we went out for coffee at Barrique's Market.

We got all the cheesy appetizers at dinner:

Bavarian pretzel with cheese sauce and fried cheese curds at Great Dane Pub and Brewing

And plenty of cheesy entrees:

Texarkana burger (with sharp cheddar) and waffle fries

Irish road reuben (with melty Swiss) and house salad

Big dog smash melt (with sharp cheddar and white American cheese)

We tried goat cheese with marinara at Sugar River Pizza Company for lunch another day.

As well as some green goddess pizza

and ricotta be kiddin' me pizza.

We snacked on some tiramisu we made with marscapone cheese at brother's house.

And yes, we brought some smoked gouda cheese home. I don't think we're cheesed out yet?

Whirlwind Weekend

We took a whirlwind trip this past weekend, flying out Friday night and back Sunday morning. I never thought I would take such a trip. I never thought I would be so willing to travel wearing a mask, but you know what? It was totally worth it!

We traveled this weekend to attend an event at my brother's work. We rarely get to see him, so when he invited us, we jumped at the chance. Normally, our vacations are about eating and seeing the sights. This time, it was more about soaking up time together. We still did a little of our "normal," though.

Eats

More bao from Dumpling Haus (I went there last time I visited, and we had to go again.)

Taco bao-definitely different, but surprisingly tasty!

Treats

A walk to see the lake

Complete with fall colors

Cheese curds (a Wisconsin must)

Using my brother's Japanese fire table after a walk in the cold.

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Most of all, though, it was just good to be together!

Wisconsin: Goodbyes

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip, and saying goodbye was extremely difficult. I consoled myself in part by writing notes to my brother and stashing them around his kitchen. I also took a photo of his filled kitchen cabinet to remind myself that I was leaving him better stocked with food.

My flight out of Madison was early Friday morning, so Brother and I snapped a quick picture and then dashed out.

I flew through Denver this time and had a little shorter of a layover. Seeing the snow-capped mountains out the terminal window was fun.

Back in Phoenix, it was time to grab my luggage and head back up the hill. My poor college-era suitcase is in an even greater state of disrepair than when I started (read: full of plastic shards due to an ever-breaking-down hard shell), but it made it. The dog wasn't too interested in my coming home, but at least he was still there.

And that's a wrap for this my Wisconsin, aka @myarizonaadventure goes North.

Wisconsin: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day dawned fairly late (at least for us 5 am risers) and started with a jog at the apartment gym, since I was too scared to go outside in the cold. Afterwards, I settled in with this muesli breakfast.

Brother eats frozen berries, granola, and yogurt every morning, and after trying it, I have to say he's onto something. I might need to add this into my breakfast rotation at home!

We finished the cookies and had a little time before we needed to cook dinner, so I asked Brother to bundle up and go for a walk outside with me. Lo and behold, the sun was out, and it was beautiful!

Brother lives downtown, so we had a nice walking path and some beautiful houses along the way. 

Thanksgiving dinner was ham, green beans, and mashed potatoes. The ham and mashed potatoes were great. The green beans (usually my favorite part) however, were lackluster. Oh well. We dished everything up and ate at the granite island in my brother's kitchen.

I took a nap post dinner. I know that's a "no-no," but I did it anyway, and enjoyed it. In lieu of dinner, we had dessert and coffee and played a game of Carcassonne.

One game of Carcassonne was enough for Brother, who has memorized most of the pieces. I, however, didn't want to call it a night, so I asked to do something else. He pulled up some Penn and Teller Fool Us re-runs and we watched those for awhile. Then I tried to console myself and pack up, as I needed to leave in the morning. That didn't work so well.

More on goodbyes tomorrow.

Wisconsin: Day 3

Day 3 was baking day! Brother graciously took the day off his real job, so we went to work in the kitchen. We indoctrinated the new mixer by making cheesecakes.

Then we prepped pie dough for a chai spice apple pie. I made the leftover pie dough into chai spice cinnamon rolls.

We started on white chocolate cranberry cookies, but had to pause because we realized that we had no baking soda. We managed to get lunch (leftover curry for me!) and finish the pie before walking to the movies.

I'll admit that I'm a baby about the cold, so when Brother offered his sherpa hat, I accepted. We laughed about my get-up and what brother dubbed "all the colors," but you know what? It worked. And I was in a better mood because I wasn't cold.

Brother and I have very different tastes in movie, so I was glad to find a movie we could both watch. Complicated movies make my head hurt, and for some reason, I always seem to get sleepy during the action scenes, but I actually enjoyed this movie.

Murder on the Orient Express is based on an Agatha Christie book and has quite the complicated plot. I had an existential response to the movie, wondering if it is ever okay for people to get a second chance because someone lies for them. You'll have to see the movie to understand what I mean.

We intended to go to pizza for dinner, but we were tired, and while at Target to pick up the forgotten baking soda and a can-opener, we decided to get frozen dinner food. I got a chicken broccoli alfredo steamer. Brother got a frozen pizza. Brother snacked before dinner and ended up only having corn. I had my full meal.

It was relaxing to eat at home and not cook, since we'd worked at that basically all day.

Wisconsin: Day 2

We rose bright and early Tuesday morning so that we could head to brother's work. He lives about 30 minutes away and arrives by 7 am. Hats off to him!

I crocheted and listened to podcasts while brother went to meetings. Some of my latest favorite podcasts are:

The Chasing Joy Podcast
Sounds Good

Brother graciously took half a day off work to show me his workplace. It's pretty cool! Granted, I had to endure 30 degree cold temperatures and wind (I know, that's warm for Wisconsin, but it was cold for this sunshine girl.). First stop, seeing this tree house built with scrap lumber from the actual buildings.

Then we saw the farm campus. (Each campus has a theme.) I asked brother to take pictures of me in front of the buildings, rather than just taking scenic shots.

Each campus has a cafeteria, and we dined at one. This white bean chowder was spicy, and to be efficient, brother picked the same thing, and it was too spicy for him. I felt really bad about that!

After lunch, we visited the fountain. Brother tells me it runs until it freezes over, which is apparently a real thing up north. One stream that feeds the fountain was already partially frozen. There's a pond which eventually freezes hard enough for ice skating.

Another campus we visited had a Lord of the Rings theme. Here I am in the grip of an Ent:

Brother said we didn't see all of the campus, and I believe him! Still, we walked over four miles to see the parts we did.

We climbed quite a few stairs, as shown by the elevation map. We also went down a slide. (How cool is it that a workplace has a tube slide for adults?)

Post tour, we rested a bit at home and then hit up the grocery store for some needed Thanksgiving supplies. Let's just say the cupboards needed a little stocking:

We shopped at a two story Target. When we got to the escalator with the cart, Brother had to show me that the cart had its own escalator:

The city-folk probably laughed at me as I took pictures of the cart, but hey, I've never seen a cart escalator before. Have you?

Dinner was vegetable bao zi at The Dumpling Haus. Brother knows that I like trying new food, so he intentionally took me to exotic restaurants.

Post dinner, I sorted food and organized the kitchen. Then it was to bed for me.

Day 3 to come tomorrow.