Hooray for adventurous wives.
Blue Fairy's predilection toward dragging me off on adventures to spike my curmudgeonly inertia payed off once again today. We went off in search of another entry in the Stearns' Road Food book. In this case, the Bay Bakery in Silver Springs, an upscale suburb of Milwaukee. After a few mis-directed turns, we got there, to find a pleasant little village center shopping district leading straight into a lake front district of multi-million dollar homes. I feel I understand the word "Yuppie" a little better now.
After ogling the "event cakes" which rivaled anything you'd see on "Ace of Cakes", we settled on an apple fritter, white chocolate ganache tort with raspberry filling, and a couple of cookies. The fritter was perhaps the best we've ever eaten. We took the tort with us to Starbucks to have with coffee while we worked a crossword from our book of New York Times puzzles. We were right behind a yuppie in a Hummer, onto which I wanted to put a bumper sticker stating "I am personally responsible for the Iraq War".
Afterward we went to a nearby open air mall and paid a visit to Trader Joe's, just to see what they carried different from the ones in Indy. It was huge. Also, bra shopping with my wife at the one and only Cacique store we had ever seen.
We had made a point of asking people as we adventured about what was good nearby, and kept hearing about the Bavarian Inn nearby, which had a Sunday brunch. By the time we finished looking at bras (and shoes), it was 1 PM, and late enough to eat after our morning pastries. We decided to risk it, without the help of our Road Food guide. Damn, we made the right decision.
Highlights of this meal included smoked salmon, multi-bean cold salad (of which I am not usually that big a fan), hot German potato salad, incredible pan fried liver and onion, Rouladen (thin sliced beef wrapped around pickle and onion and bacon in a thick gravy -- doesn't sound that great, but it is), and eggs benedict. And it turned out they had Franzischkaner Hefe Weizen on tap, which I've had before, and will have again, and which always sends me to Nirvana.
We were overstuffed, just trying a little bit of everything, and sat in the car under a tree for a while recovering.
We were in desperate need for a few supplies, and made the mistake of stopping at a local Wal-Mart, overstuffed with running Latino children among other people, and seriously burned off much of our hard earned mellow from the morning.
The conference opens tonight, and we are planning our further side-trips for the week, which may include brewery tours, cheese tours, and a tour of the Jelly Belly factory, as well as more expeditions in search of food ecstasy. Good thing the hotel has a gym, because I'll need it to work off our little trips.
After ogling the "event cakes" which rivaled anything you'd see on "Ace of Cakes", we settled on an apple fritter, white chocolate ganache tort with raspberry filling, and a couple of cookies. The fritter was perhaps the best we've ever eaten. We took the tort with us to Starbucks to have with coffee while we worked a crossword from our book of New York Times puzzles. We were right behind a yuppie in a Hummer, onto which I wanted to put a bumper sticker stating "I am personally responsible for the Iraq War".
Afterward we went to a nearby open air mall and paid a visit to Trader Joe's, just to see what they carried different from the ones in Indy. It was huge. Also, bra shopping with my wife at the one and only Cacique store we had ever seen.
We had made a point of asking people as we adventured about what was good nearby, and kept hearing about the Bavarian Inn nearby, which had a Sunday brunch. By the time we finished looking at bras (and shoes), it was 1 PM, and late enough to eat after our morning pastries. We decided to risk it, without the help of our Road Food guide. Damn, we made the right decision.
Highlights of this meal included smoked salmon, multi-bean cold salad (of which I am not usually that big a fan), hot German potato salad, incredible pan fried liver and onion, Rouladen (thin sliced beef wrapped around pickle and onion and bacon in a thick gravy -- doesn't sound that great, but it is), and eggs benedict. And it turned out they had Franzischkaner Hefe Weizen on tap, which I've had before, and will have again, and which always sends me to Nirvana.
We were overstuffed, just trying a little bit of everything, and sat in the car under a tree for a while recovering.
We were in desperate need for a few supplies, and made the mistake of stopping at a local Wal-Mart, overstuffed with running Latino children among other people, and seriously burned off much of our hard earned mellow from the morning.
The conference opens tonight, and we are planning our further side-trips for the week, which may include brewery tours, cheese tours, and a tour of the Jelly Belly factory, as well as more expeditions in search of food ecstasy. Good thing the hotel has a gym, because I'll need it to work off our little trips.