Linked 52 - Looking In...

Yesterday was our 26th Anniversary, and we spent the evening dinning at Travail Kitchen .
Our Chef son, Andy, gave us a gift certificate to this restaurant for Christmas, and this was the first we've had the time (and wonderful excuse) to get there. He told us to get something we hadn't had before, which was pretty easy, because I don't think I have had anything that was put before me before, well, at least not in the way it was prepared.

We got the 10 course tasting choice. Oh My Gosh...it was all so very, very excellent.

We were seated at a bar-like table right by the open kitchen, so we're able to Look In and watch them prepare all of the intricate little morsels and pretty designs.

The Chef above was so cool and calm. He just smoothly made his masterpieces. It was like a Zen thing to him.

This Chef on the other hand was getting more and more stressed as the night wore on.

They used what appeared to be embroidery hoops to make sure their circles were the correct size.

Everything was so scrumptious and we had a great time. Thank you Andy for suggesting we do this.

See what everyone else had to say about Looking In...

stacey

michelle

heather m

jenn

jessica

kristin

sara

janet

lesli

amanda

amanda k

naomi

rose

tracey

rhonda

carla

lena

heather a

veronica

heidi

Now, because I wasn't able to send the pictures I took of the different courses to Andy (the file ended up being too big), I am posting the delicious courses we had here. 

Don't ask me what they are, because there is no way on God's green earth that I could tell you.

Andy, you were right about the tattoos. One guy that could have been a Tortuga Twin had his kitchen knives   tattooed on his arm (with some other stuff) it looked really cool.

You'll be happy to know I had enough restraint to forego the chocolate cake and let Dad eat it instead!

Sunday - Wednesday alphabet...G

Today is Sunday, which means, the letter for today is G...


I found a few Gs while on my mini vacation this weekend in Madison, Wisconsin.

We went to the Henry Vilas Zoo (we always go to the zoo, always) an old, small, quaint little zoo that reminds me a lot of Como Zoo in St. Paul, MN. It is located right in Madison, with Lake Wingra on the south side and a neighbor hood with closely set homes on the north. Even if they wanted to expand, it would be impossible, there is NO room to do so, they are however doing some remodeling/renovation for the polar bears and their friends, which should be pretty exciting.
There were three giraffes in one exhibit, we figured one was Mom (she looked like she could have used a Calgon day) and two siblings (sorry, didn't look close enough to see if they were sisters or brothers). We figured they were siblings by the way they were acting (pretty much a been there, done that sort of thing). They were standing on opposite sides of a fence, and would take turns smacking each other with their heads. They weren't putting a whole lot of effort into it though, more like they were trying to see who would start whining first and get Mom mad. This one is just going in for the smack!

We had dinner on Friday night at Bunky's Cafe and started out with an appetizer of 

Stuffed Grape Leaves. They were stuffed with rice, tomatoes, parsley and the chef's secret spices (I wasn't overly fond of the secret spices, but David loved it), with a cucumber yogurt sauce. 

This place was so cute, with mismatched plates and utensils, silver serving dishes on the table with salt, pepper and sugar, one wall displayed assorted mirrors and another old matchbooks. It was really nice and they even had a decent gluten free menu. I would love to visit there again, but Madison has so many intriguing places to dine, that I would probably check out one of them first.

While waiting for a table (it just happened to be Graduation weekend for all the colleges in Madison)

I noticed a wall full of framed reviews that you can read all about.

Saturday's dinner was at a pub called The Great Dane Pub We wanted someplace that had an outdoor patio and the reviews I read listed an outdoor patio, but when we walked up to it, the sidewalk was empty, so we were hoping there was one in the backyard. The noise level when we walked through the doors was deafening, but luckily they really did have a backyard patio and we were able to get seated right away. 

It was beautiful! Located on the lower level, it was L shaped and surrounded by two story brick walls covered in ivy. Our server Ashley was the BEST server we have ever had and if everyone else shows her that by leaving the kind of tip we did, she should be doing well. This place also has a gluten free menu, and insanely decent prices. I asked for the bartender to make me a fruity drink with dark rum, her choice. I was brought a luscious red/orange drink that was excellent. Ashley asked my name and I told her Janet, and she said they would name that drink after me. ( I'm really kind of doubting that, but it's nice anyway). This is one of their water glasses.

On our drive both to and from Madison, we saw lots and lots of varying shades of green fields, mostly farm fields and I absolutely love rolling farmland so I was mesmerized the majority of the ride. So you think we could have stopped just about anywhere and taken a Good picture???? Didn't even cross my mind, not even while I was trying to take some out of my window.

O, I have to add this, even though it does not start with G...we saw at LEAST two dozen dead deer on the sides and median of the highway, two live ones that were headed for traffic and decided at the last minute they would rather live to see their young grow up, several dead raccoons, a dead badger and something that we think was a dead coyote. All in Wisconsin, and one dead deer just as we crossed over into Minnesota (we figure he was a Wisconsin  resident that might have been trying to visit relatives over here in Minnesota!)


Now roll on over to Kira's blog and see what her letter G looks like.