I go all out with some blueberry pancakes
On the way to the airport, we stop to purchase Cheese Curds, and Cheese Whips. Can't go to Wisconsin and not come back with Cheese!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Goodbye Wisconsin!
Ah, time to go home! We squeeze one last meal outta Green Bay before being stuck in a Milwaukee airport for 3 hours - Breakfast at Nicolet Restaurant!
I go all out with some blueberry pancakes
On the way to the airport, we stop to purchase Cheese Curds, and Cheese Whips. Can't go to Wisconsin and not come back with Cheese!
I go all out with some blueberry pancakes
On the way to the airport, we stop to purchase Cheese Curds, and Cheese Whips. Can't go to Wisconsin and not come back with Cheese!
Seven C's
Sunday! Not a bad day considering it was working in a weekend. I began the day by treating me to some breakfast: two eggs sunnyside up, hash browns, toast.
Our last day of recording went by really smoothly and quickly. The weather was great. We got lunch to go from Kavarna. I forgot to take a picture of the actual food. I had the rabbit, which is a sandwich of lettuce, tomato, onions, cucumbers in a light vinaigrette. This came with some kettle chips, and we shared a white macademia cookie.
We celebrated the end of the trip by going for frozen custard, which apparently is pretty big in Wisconsin. In case you don’t know, frozen custard is ice cream… richer and creamier. We drove out to Zesty’s, listening to the Glee soundtrack (I’m sure to Matt’s concern).
Zesty’s has an old soda shop type of feel, with great colorful decoration on the walls. They also sold your regular French fries and burgers fare.
We both chose to have the Seven C’s, which I learned consists of chocolate custard, cashews, caramel, cookies, chocolate chips, and chocolate fudge nuts. I ordered one scoop and Matt ordered two, but we received two and three scoops respectively. Score!
Sinfully delicious doesn’t begin to cover it. The hardest part of it all was having to stop myself from eating the full two scoops.
For “dinner” and since we had taken care of desert already, we headed to Titletown – a brewery a couple of blocks from our hotel. (Don’t drink and drive, kids!) Great crowd was there. Can I say that Green Bay probably has more bars/pubs/breweries per capita that New York City does? One in every block friends, one in EVERY block! Almost. In any case, the locals were friendly and they didn’t mind that we asked to have the tv’s showing the Mets-Yankees game. We tried several of their beers, with my favorite one being the “Irish Blood” something or other. Great after finish.
After several drinks, cursing out Jeter and drunkenly making the lame joke that Feliciano Rodriguez is probably Alex Rodriguez’ cousin some food was ordered. We had the fried cheese curds as appetizers
and the bison burger as my main entrée. The burger was a bit rare for my taste, but I was just tipsy enough to not care.
And then the Mets win! 6 to 4. Closer than I’d have liked, but a win is a win.
Our last day of recording went by really smoothly and quickly. The weather was great. We got lunch to go from Kavarna. I forgot to take a picture of the actual food. I had the rabbit, which is a sandwich of lettuce, tomato, onions, cucumbers in a light vinaigrette. This came with some kettle chips, and we shared a white macademia cookie.
We celebrated the end of the trip by going for frozen custard, which apparently is pretty big in Wisconsin. In case you don’t know, frozen custard is ice cream… richer and creamier. We drove out to Zesty’s, listening to the Glee soundtrack (I’m sure to Matt’s concern).
We both chose to have the Seven C’s, which I learned consists of chocolate custard, cashews, caramel, cookies, chocolate chips, and chocolate fudge nuts. I ordered one scoop and Matt ordered two, but we received two and three scoops respectively. Score!
Sinfully delicious doesn’t begin to cover it. The hardest part of it all was having to stop myself from eating the full two scoops.
For “dinner” and since we had taken care of desert already, we headed to Titletown – a brewery a couple of blocks from our hotel. (Don’t drink and drive, kids!) Great crowd was there. Can I say that Green Bay probably has more bars/pubs/breweries per capita that New York City does? One in every block friends, one in EVERY block! Almost. In any case, the locals were friendly and they didn’t mind that we asked to have the tv’s showing the Mets-Yankees game. We tried several of their beers, with my favorite one being the “Irish Blood” something or other. Great after finish.
After several drinks, cursing out Jeter and drunkenly making the lame joke that Feliciano Rodriguez is probably Alex Rodriguez’ cousin some food was ordered. We had the fried cheese curds as appetizers
and the bison burger as my main entrée. The burger was a bit rare for my taste, but I was just tipsy enough to not care.
And then the Mets win! 6 to 4. Closer than I’d have liked, but a win is a win.
Working Saturday
Saturday in Green Bay was very, very good: had to get up early to be at work by 8:30, but this worked out okay – one set of participants cancelled, giving us an hour to relax at 10, and then the last set of participants showed up an hour and a half earlier, which actually worked very well – they were ready and prepped to go into the recording room by noon and that translated into us being finished with our workday by 1pm. Score!
The weather wasn’t great but it was getting sunnier by the second. We decided to go for lunch before heading out to explore Green Bay. Our choice this time? Kavarna, a vegetarian café in downtown Green Bay. All of their selections looked awesome and the place was packed when we got there – always a good sign. I ordered a cup of tomato, “chorizo” and parsley soup, and a bean burger with onions, lettuce, tomato, garlic cream cheese in a soft bagel.
On the way out we got cookies. Mine was white macademia. We ate our cookies while walking around the downtown district. Not a very busy area by any standards, but very cute with stores like “Hat-Cetera” and “Sassy girl.”
We got in the car and headed north to Door County, specifically to Cave Point Park. We hiked along Lake Michigan for a couple of hours, stepping mostly on eroded rocks, but once in a while finding strips of sand completely covered with thousands of small shells.
At one point we ran into a seagull that didn’t like us very much, but we stayed clear of his rock and it helped the situation. At one point we stopped to sun bathe a bit and enjoy the sound of water lapping on rock, of the seagulls calling to each other, of the nearby trees dancing with the wind. The lake looked like the sea – there seemed to not be an end – and the water had various colors, depending on how deep the bed was, going from extremely clear to light green to green blue, to deep blue. I can only imagine what it looks like in the middle of summer.
After the 45 minutes drive back to Green Bay we struggled to find what to eat – the Italian restaurant our contact had recommended was closed. The Thai place we found online was also closed. Finally we settled on a Mexican Restaurant (I know, after that whole week of Mexican at Brownsville,) but at least this one was open and came highly recommended by yelp users and what not.
I had the two “mini” ground beef burritos. These babies were drenched in melted Mexican cheese and really weren’t much more than ground beef in a flour tortilla with lettuce and cilantro and tomato on top. I was very disappointed. However, it was all fixed when I stole one of Matt’s corn tortilla, and made myself a ground beef taco. And THAT was delish. We were stuffed.
The night ended with the Mets beating the Yankees 4 to 3, and with the voice of my Cariño. Oh yeah.
The weather wasn’t great but it was getting sunnier by the second. We decided to go for lunch before heading out to explore Green Bay. Our choice this time? Kavarna, a vegetarian café in downtown Green Bay. All of their selections looked awesome and the place was packed when we got there – always a good sign. I ordered a cup of tomato, “chorizo” and parsley soup, and a bean burger with onions, lettuce, tomato, garlic cream cheese in a soft bagel.
On the way out we got cookies. Mine was white macademia. We ate our cookies while walking around the downtown district. Not a very busy area by any standards, but very cute with stores like “Hat-Cetera” and “Sassy girl.”
We got in the car and headed north to Door County, specifically to Cave Point Park. We hiked along Lake Michigan for a couple of hours, stepping mostly on eroded rocks, but once in a while finding strips of sand completely covered with thousands of small shells.
At one point we ran into a seagull that didn’t like us very much, but we stayed clear of his rock and it helped the situation. At one point we stopped to sun bathe a bit and enjoy the sound of water lapping on rock, of the seagulls calling to each other, of the nearby trees dancing with the wind. The lake looked like the sea – there seemed to not be an end – and the water had various colors, depending on how deep the bed was, going from extremely clear to light green to green blue, to deep blue. I can only imagine what it looks like in the middle of summer.
After the 45 minutes drive back to Green Bay we struggled to find what to eat – the Italian restaurant our contact had recommended was closed. The Thai place we found online was also closed. Finally we settled on a Mexican Restaurant (I know, after that whole week of Mexican at Brownsville,) but at least this one was open and came highly recommended by yelp users and what not.
I had the two “mini” ground beef burritos. These babies were drenched in melted Mexican cheese and really weren’t much more than ground beef in a flour tortilla with lettuce and cilantro and tomato on top. I was very disappointed. However, it was all fixed when I stole one of Matt’s corn tortilla, and made myself a ground beef taco. And THAT was delish. We were stuffed.
The night ended with the Mets beating the Yankees 4 to 3, and with the voice of my Cariño. Oh yeah.
Taste of India
Our second day in Wisconsin. Since there’s no way I’ll make it back to the room in time to watch Friday Night Lights, we ventured a little further in town to get us some Indian food. Tonight’s choice? Taste of India, which received a lot of good recommendations from the locals.
It was a fairly big place, with an area reserved as a buffet for lunch time. Loved the giant tapestry above some of the tables – gave a good feeling of privacy.
I ordered the Aloo Ghobi, extra spicy, and some beautiful jasmine rice with a side of Garlic Naan.
The Aloo Ghobi was perfect – easily the best I’ve ever had and it was just spicy enough. The generous serving of Garlic Naan was crunchy and warm yet soft enough. If you’re ever in Green Bay, WI, make sure you stop by Taste of India.
It was a fairly big place, with an area reserved as a buffet for lunch time. Loved the giant tapestry above some of the tables – gave a good feeling of privacy.
I ordered the Aloo Ghobi, extra spicy, and some beautiful jasmine rice with a side of Garlic Naan.
The Aloo Ghobi was perfect – easily the best I’ve ever had and it was just spicy enough. The generous serving of Garlic Naan was crunchy and warm yet soft enough. If you’re ever in Green Bay, WI, make sure you stop by Taste of India.
Let's go for lunch
Lunch hour arrived and since it's such a short trip we decided not to brown bag it. We drove down from our recording location to Z Harvest. Since time was of the essence we got our meals to go.
I had a nutty salad in a bed of greens with feta cheese, tomatoes, onions drenched in a light balsamic vinagreitte. I also had the perfect sized cup of chicken tortellini soup, with sprinkled cheese on top and a stick of seasoned bread.
It was delicious. It also made it very hard to go back to work – all I wanted to do was take a nap afterwards. If someone tells you that listening is not hard work, they don’t know what they are talking about, at all.
I had a nutty salad in a bed of greens with feta cheese, tomatoes, onions drenched in a light balsamic vinagreitte. I also had the perfect sized cup of chicken tortellini soup, with sprinkled cheese on top and a stick of seasoned bread.
It was delicious. It also made it very hard to go back to work – all I wanted to do was take a nap afterwards. If someone tells you that listening is not hard work, they don’t know what they are talking about, at all.
Hello, Wisconsin!!
Arrived in Green Bay, WI and did some research on the local cuisine. Figured it’d be nice to start with something cheesy, Wisconsin being the dairyland capital of America and all that. Plus it needed to be something quick and close the hotel since it was the Season Finale for Grey’s Anatomy.
So we chose Jake’s Pizza place, where EVERY order takes 45 minutes or whereabouts. People tend to call ahead before stopping by for dinner. It was about five minutes away from the Hotel and Jake’s had a good laid back attitude, welcoming you with a bar, but giving way to comfortable booths and tables. A back room had a PacMan console and a pinball machine in case the 45 minutes started to feel long. Thankfully I never run out of things to yap about and so we had a good time waiting for our meal. We began by getting awesome cheese bread in a garlic sauce. The garlic sauce wasn’t that great, but the dough hardly needed it.
I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Pizza.
Unfortunately the chicken wasn’t that great, but the cheese and the buffalo sauce coupled with the pizza sauce and the awesome dough made up for it. However, I still couldn’t finish it, so I took the rest home.
I spent the rest of the night screaming. At my TV that is. Grey’s Season Finale was amazingly good, having me scream in shock not five minutes after the episode began. It was a two hour event and I love how Shonda got almost every single person in the cast in a position where next season things will have to be dealt with – changes are a’coming, and in a good way! In any case, our first night in Wisconsin? Not bad at all.
So we chose Jake’s Pizza place, where EVERY order takes 45 minutes or whereabouts. People tend to call ahead before stopping by for dinner. It was about five minutes away from the Hotel and Jake’s had a good laid back attitude, welcoming you with a bar, but giving way to comfortable booths and tables. A back room had a PacMan console and a pinball machine in case the 45 minutes started to feel long. Thankfully I never run out of things to yap about and so we had a good time waiting for our meal. We began by getting awesome cheese bread in a garlic sauce. The garlic sauce wasn’t that great, but the dough hardly needed it.
I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Pizza.
Unfortunately the chicken wasn’t that great, but the cheese and the buffalo sauce coupled with the pizza sauce and the awesome dough made up for it. However, I still couldn’t finish it, so I took the rest home.
I spent the rest of the night screaming. At my TV that is. Grey’s Season Finale was amazingly good, having me scream in shock not five minutes after the episode began. It was a two hour event and I love how Shonda got almost every single person in the cast in a position where next season things will have to be dealt with – changes are a’coming, and in a good way! In any case, our first night in Wisconsin? Not bad at all.
Havana, Alma de Cuba
Date Night! I chose Cuban food. We made our way to the West Village to Havana, Alma de Cuba. Sat up front, next to a man making cigars.
We chose to share our meals. Ropa Vieja con arroz blanco. La ropa vieja was in a cup made out of thin green plantain chips, resting on top of a bit of fufu.
There was also albondigas, and maduros
And finally some Moros, Yuca Frita, y habichuelas negras
Pair this with some delicious red sangria,
and some wonderful company and you have the perfect night.
We chose to share our meals. Ropa Vieja con arroz blanco. La ropa vieja was in a cup made out of thin green plantain chips, resting on top of a bit of fufu.
There was also albondigas, and maduros
And finally some Moros, Yuca Frita, y habichuelas negras
Pair this with some delicious red sangria,
and some wonderful company and you have the perfect night.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Saying Goodbye to Brownsville
So on our way to the airport we stopped by El Taquito Cafe on the outskirts of Brownsville for Breakfast. It was still dark outside when we arrived and at first we thought the Cafe was closed even though it advertised being 24 hours in the weekend. Luckily we moved in closer to investigate.
I had Los Huevos Divorciados. Eggs, with green sauce, red sauce, potatoes, beans.
Perfect way to start your day with a kick.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Workday #197
So I've worked at my present job now for 10 months... but with weekends and vacation days and what not, yesterday was workday number 197. All in all it was a good day. Although like any place of employment my job has its downsides, I LOVE my Job, like seriously I do. It takes me to all these places I'd otherwise never see, I meet awesome people, get a chance at some great food, I get to accumulate frequent flier miles.
Yesterday was one of those good days: After a good, thorough morning workout, Workday was long, full, but also very smooth and I got the job done happily. I met me some extremely cute little old ladies that make me smile just remembering them. We had a simple lunch that consisted of bread and hummus and cucumbers, since I forgot the peanut butter that is a key ingredient in a PB&J Sammich.
After work we stopped at a WalMart and purchased some shorts and some chanclas and rode for about 30 or so minutes to South Padre Island, TX. Beautiful Sand!
It was gorgeous. I didn't get in the water to swim right away, but walked on, letting the waves kiss my feet before I found me a good corner where I attempted to build a sand castle, without any tools but
my hands, and a business card. Enter the StoryCastle!
Not so bad, considering!
After all that work I went in the water to de-sand, but didn't really swim - the waves weren't that big/exciting, but the water was close to warm and it felt good against my body.
After quickly changing by the car we drove around until we found The Big Donkey, one of the restaurants in South Padre that had been recommended to us. I had the blackened fillet o' fish (what kind of pescado? I don't remember!) smothered with onions, mushrooms, peppers and garlic. It came with a side of rice. I like the way they cook Mexican rice around here. It doesn't have the flavor that most Tex Mex places in NYC (and everywhere else I've been so far) has.
Whatever the fish was, it was very fresh, but also kinda bland. What I really enjoyed was the awesome smothering factor of the peppers and onions.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped by a Dairy Queen for some soft serve vanilla ice cream.
Yeah. I love this job.
Yesterday was one of those good days: After a good, thorough morning workout, Workday was long, full, but also very smooth and I got the job done happily. I met me some extremely cute little old ladies that make me smile just remembering them. We had a simple lunch that consisted of bread and hummus and cucumbers, since I forgot the peanut butter that is a key ingredient in a PB&J Sammich.
After work we stopped at a WalMart and purchased some shorts and some chanclas and rode for about 30 or so minutes to South Padre Island, TX. Beautiful Sand!
my hands, and a business card. Enter the StoryCastle!
After all that work I went in the water to de-sand, but didn't really swim - the waves weren't that big/exciting, but the water was close to warm and it felt good against my body.
After quickly changing by the car we drove around until we found The Big Donkey, one of the restaurants in South Padre that had been recommended to us. I had the blackened fillet o' fish (what kind of pescado? I don't remember!) smothered with onions, mushrooms, peppers and garlic. It came with a side of rice. I like the way they cook Mexican rice around here. It doesn't have the flavor that most Tex Mex places in NYC (and everywhere else I've been so far) has.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped by a Dairy Queen for some soft serve vanilla ice cream.
Yeah. I love this job.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
100% Natural
Yesterday we drove down Boca Chica Boulevard in Brownsville, TX and found "100% Natural." They gave us pickled jalapeños instead of chips.
Suffice it to say, it be spicy.
Then I had the Soya con Carne Cheeseburger and a salad.
Our food earned us a "nieve de yoghurt con todo."
Delicioso.
Then I had the Soya con Carne Cheeseburger and a salad.
Our food earned us a "nieve de yoghurt con todo."
Delicioso.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Searching, Searching
Didn't leave for dinner until 7:10 - Should've left earlier and then I wouldn't have missed Glee! But, we left at 7pm looking for Ultimo Taco somewhere in Brownsville. It had been highly recommended to us, and since we're used to relying on good ole google, we didn't ask for the whereabouts. Oops.
We headed for Downtown Brownsville first, figuring there we'd find Ultimo or at the very least some other restaurants. But the Downtown area was more of a commercial place. We drove and drove and next thing we noticed we were literally at the Mexican border. Since neither one of us carried passports we turned around and searched and searched for Ultimo Taco. We finally found it, hiding behind a Jack in the Box. Looked like a serious "real" place - but they didn't have anything that seemed suitable for a vegetarian so we continued to drive around to see what else we could find. Enter Asian Buffet.
I was a little apprehensive... I'm not really the Buffet type. I was ready to eat some cooked-five-hours-ago Lo Mein, but was extremely glad to find that they had a grill... you brought in the raw ingredients for them and they'd make you happy. It was kinda like a cheaper less sophisticaded version of Mongo's from MN. I got me some cellophane noodles, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, pepper, with delish soy sauce, spicy sauce and garlic. Much better than I expected indeed.
However by the time we made it back to the hotel, Glee was over. I guess you win some, you lose some. Let's see what Brownsville brings us tomorrow!
We headed for Downtown Brownsville first, figuring there we'd find Ultimo or at the very least some other restaurants. But the Downtown area was more of a commercial place. We drove and drove and next thing we noticed we were literally at the Mexican border. Since neither one of us carried passports we turned around and searched and searched for Ultimo Taco. We finally found it, hiding behind a Jack in the Box. Looked like a serious "real" place - but they didn't have anything that seemed suitable for a vegetarian so we continued to drive around to see what else we could find. Enter Asian Buffet.
I was a little apprehensive... I'm not really the Buffet type. I was ready to eat some cooked-five-hours-ago Lo Mein, but was extremely glad to find that they had a grill... you brought in the raw ingredients for them and they'd make you happy. It was kinda like a cheaper less sophisticaded version of Mongo's from MN. I got me some cellophane noodles, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, pepper, with delish soy sauce, spicy sauce and garlic. Much better than I expected indeed.
However by the time we made it back to the hotel, Glee was over. I guess you win some, you lose some. Let's see what Brownsville brings us tomorrow!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Back to Texas
So I'm back in Texas - Here for a week, so expect tons of Mexican and Tex-Mex food!
After flying for about 7 hours we made it to Harlingen. I expected a tiny nowhere place, but it's pretty sprawling. Tons of palm trees lining the highway near the airport and beautiful one flight homes. Before heading to our final destination (Brownsville) we stopped for dinner at Las Vegas Cafe.
I wasn't very hungry so I stuck with soft beef tacos, rice and beans, giant cup of water with lemon.
Tacos. Yum.
After flying for about 7 hours we made it to Harlingen. I expected a tiny nowhere place, but it's pretty sprawling. Tons of palm trees lining the highway near the airport and beautiful one flight homes. Before heading to our final destination (Brownsville) we stopped for dinner at Las Vegas Cafe.
I wasn't very hungry so I stuck with soft beef tacos, rice and beans, giant cup of water with lemon.
Tacos. Yum.
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