24 in 2024 -- Try a new cocktail -- Kentucky Mule

 I have always wanted to try a Moscow Mule mainly because I think the copper mugs are cute. Okay so probably not the best reason to try a drink. Apparently I'm more interested in the glass than the actual drink This has back fired on me. Alas.. I digress. 

We met the hubby's buddy for dinner at Stone Yard. It was Derby Saturday and they were having a drink special called a Kentucky Mule. Sounds like a Moscow Mule so it probably comes in the copper mug. I order it not even knowing or caring what it was in it. 

It turns out a Kentucky Mule is just a Moscow with Bourbon instead of Vodka. According to Liquor.com it is Bourbon, Ginger Beer, and Lime Juice. Bourbon probably is better for me anyways, since Vodka makes me loopy. 

The Kentucky Mule was good but not worth the $7.50 price tag. This is why I don't normally order drinks when I go out because I think anything over $5 is expensive. I could barely taste the bourbon which made it nice and smooth going down. 

It was actually the perfect drink to sip while watching the photo finish of the Kentucky Derby.

A Kentucky Mule sounds easy enough to make. I may have to pick up some ginger beer when we go to Twiggs next time.  I definitely would make one a home or for girl's night. 

24 in 2024 -- Visit at least one new brewery -- Bare Bone Brewery

 When I was talking to Danielle about this book challenge Brenda Novak is doing, I told her I wanted to do the things WI is famous for -- Beer, Brats, Cheese, and Packers. She said I should go to Bare Bones Brewery in Menasha with her. I always wanted to check it out but not being a big beer drinker and the hubby isn't a beer drinker at all, it is difficult sometimes. 

Bare Bones Brewery in Menasha is actually just a Tap Room. Their main location is in Oshkosh. The tap room is open Wednesday-Sunday. Hours vary by the day of the week. It is located right downtown. There is street parking or the ramp/lot behind the buildings.

Bare Bones has a dozen different beers on tap. There are 3 regulars -- Dog Daze, Amber Ale, and Oshkosh Lager.

Danielle had a buy 1 get 1 free coupon from some Menasha establishment passport otherwise we might have done a flight. I am either a sour or shandy kind of gal. I've started to figure out what I like. We both decided to go with Dillion -- a fruitier beer. That was a great idea until the tap ran out and she didn't have to another. So I randomly picked Bare Bones Switfy's Irish Red. 

I decided I am not a fan of Irish Reds. It tastes too much like beer. I didn't even finish it. If I had more time, I might have nursed it and finished it. However, the quarter of a pint was starting to get to me and I had to drive home. 

Water to the rescue. Good old Menasha Tap Water.

Our lovely bartender did give us the glass of Dillon since it was too much beer to waste. The Dillon was actually very good. I would have finished that pint no problem but I had to drive so I left most of it for Danielle.

Bare Bones is a lovely place to hang out. It has regular bar seating but it also has some couches for more comfortable seating. It is actually the perfect place to hang out on a rainy Sunday afternoon. There were a few TVs with the hockey game as well as the Brewers game on.

There is a small brewing operation in the tap room as well.

I will definitely be back and I might even have to take Stacy the next time she is town. It is definitely worth checking out. 

24 in 2024 -- Try a New Restaurant -- Random Lake Pizzeria

My brother kept telling us we needed to try Random Lake Pizzeria. The hubby had no game so we took a drive. We stopped at Johnsonville Village to check out the brat products, picked up some string cheese at Cedar Valley Cheese, and even stopped to visit the my parents. We planned on doing Random Lake Pizzeria for dinner on our way back to Appleton. 

Random Lake Pizzeria is located in Random Lake in Southern Sheboygan County. It is opened Wednesday-Sunday with hours varying on the day of the week. It is not open later than 9 PM. Luckily we were there by 5 PM. If you weren't looking for it, you might not find it. It's in a small building set back from the road. Luckily, I was advised of that.

We stepped inside and was told we could sit anywhere. This restaurant reminds of me of something you'd find on the beach. Very laid back and casual. The decor is more Southeast Asian than beach but it works. It is not something I would expect in a small town  in Wisconsin. I found it kitschy.. the hubby not so much. 

We ordered pizza and cheese bread. They also have pasta dishes. The cheese bread was almost on Vienna Bread. It was a thinner sliced bread than I am used to for garlic bread but it works.

The pizza was okay. The sauce was very mild. It kind of reminded me of Sammy's in Neenah but not really. The crust was slightly thicker but still crunchy. It is definitely unique.

Everyone said we needed to get the ice cream. It is made fresh daily. They have chocolate, vanilla, and the flavor of the day which was Peanut Butter Cup. I went with chocolate and the hubby went with vanilla. I was expecting plastic bowls that I could take with if I didn't finish it. Instead it came in metal bowls with metal spoons. We got a single scoop and it was more like 3 scoops. It was fantastic. 

Our only compliant, as the pizza snobs we, the place did not smell like pizza. Usually a pizza place smells like Italian seasoning and pizza. This did not. It was rather disappointing but it does explain the boring sauce as it was not heavy on the spice either. In our opinion, a really good pizza place should smell like pizza and Italian Seasoning.

The ice cream alone is worth a return trip. We can take or leave the pizza. I think Cranky's just has spoiled us and it's tough to find really good pizza. Just because we are not a huge fan of the pizza, doesn't mean it's not good. It is but we prefer a little more flavor. Definitely get the ice cream.  

3651. Have pizza in New Mexico

 We are pizza snobs and are on a quest to find the good pizza whenever we travel. I decided to try to have pizza in all 50 states among other things. Since we were actually staying in New Mexico, I decided we should have pizza for dinner. The hubby agreed. It doesn't take much convincing when it comes to pizza but he was hesitant about finding good pizza in New Mexico. I figured since we were staying in Las Cruces, a college town, we might have some luck. With the help of Trip Advisor, I narrowed the pizza choices down to 4 and by process of eliminating, I settled on Luna Rossa Winery and Pizzeria.

Luna Rossa was only 2 minutes from our hotel and open until 9 on Saturdays. It served pizza along with out pasta dishes. The pictures of the pizza looked appetizing. It is located on the southwest side of Las Cruces off of I-10. 

We started off with an appetizer. The hubby got cultured. Since these were true Italian appetizers, there wasn't any garlic bread or breadsticks. We went with the bruschetta. I don't like tomatoes and figured I would just brush off the tomatoes. There was no need to brush off the tomatoes. Even with the tomatoes, the bruschetta was fabulous. The hubby even agreed. The bread was perfectly done and the mozzarella was fresh which helped mask the tomatoes which we diced nice and small.  

Then our pizza came. It only came in one size -- 12 inches. We went with the Salsiccia Piccante or spicy sausage pizza. The sausage was not that spicy. It was absolutely amazing pizza like straight from Italy pizza. The crust was thin and chewy. It was near perfection even for these pizza snobs. 

Since Luna Rossa is also a winery, I had to have a glass of wine with my pizza. It was really only a tasting room as the actual winery is about an hour west of Las Cruces. The wine menu featured a variety of reds and whites both sweet and dry. I went with a Moscato. It was really sweet but also good. In hindsight I probably should have gone with the Zinfandel or even the Gewurztraminer something more semi-sweet. 

The one thing that sold me on Luna Rossa for pizza was they also had gelato. I told the hubby we are having gelato with our pizza. My poor, uncultured husband had no clue what I was talking about until we got to the restaurant and he saw all the flavors of gelato. We both had gelato for dessert. He had French Vanilla and I went with Chocolate Brownie. There were several good options to choose from including Stracciatella which I had in Door County and enjoyed. Of course you can never go wrong with any flavor of gelato. It was the cherry on top to a great meal.

Yes, it was a very pricy dinner for us but it was well worth the $55 price tag. I highly recommend stopping at Luna Rossa if you are ever in Las Cruces. Maybe one day I will check out the actual winery in Deming. 

2532. Go to Brown v. Board Education National Historic Park

Since this is our 5th trip to Arizona, we are running out of things to see along the way in Nebraska and Kansas. I discovered that we could go through Topeka and I could add Topeka to the list of state capitols that I've been to. I could also go to my first NPS in Kansas -- Brown v. Board of Education. So that's what we did.

Brown v. Board of Education is in downtown Topeka. It is the original school building that Linda Brown attended kindergarten in back in 1949. It was the start of desegregation in schools. It is open Tuesday-Saturday 9-5. Parking is across the street. There is no entrance fee. 

You can only visit the first floor of the old school building. Most of it is original but after the Topeka School District closed it, the building was bought by a construction company and when they left they took pretty much everything that wasn't nailed down. Three of the classroom are used for displays and then the kindergarten room is set up like when Linda Brown would have attended.

The displays talked about segregation and other court cases that were vital in this pivotal time in US History. Some of them were interactive but it was just a lot of reading. Yawn. I like to look at things and not read things. I did not find it all the exciting. I don't think hubby did either. It was all very well done and very informative. I just didn't want to read especially on the first day of vacation.

The kindergarten room would have been cool if there wasn't a field trip monopolizing the room. We really couldn't look around too much.

I did find the little bubbler very cool. 

You can also take a Topeka's Civil Rights History Driving Tour found on the NPS app. Due to time constraints and the hubby's lack of fondness for history, we skipped that. It has 14 different stops around Topeka that were important to Civil Rights.

I think anyone passing through the area should stop at Brown v. Board of Education to refresh their Civil Rights History. It is fascinating and the building is cool too. Just be prepared to do a lot of reading. 

24 in 2024 -- Try at Least One New Food -- Melon Tasting

 Erin knows that I am usually game to try weird fruits. Before our Galentine's Brunch she sends a text saying "I have picked up some strange melon's for Amy's strange fruit goal." One was a Kiwano Melon from Africa and the other was a Pepino Melon from Ecuador. Both are more of a cucumber melon from what I learned on Google. She found both of them at Pick n Save. 

When we got to to her house, she had both melons cut for us to try. 

The Kiwano Melon was bright green and full of seeds. It definitely looked like a neon green cucumber. Erin said it was a pain to cut that she made her husband do it due to the prickly skin. She kept getting poked. 

Verdict; This was actually very good. Google said it could taste like banana and passion fruit or cucumber lime. The first bite I took did taste like banana but the rest was more cucumber melon. It reminded me of a lime Jell-O shot. If you don't like Jell-O because of the texture, you probably won't like this fruit. The fruit slime, as we called it because it reminded us of Ghostbuster slime or Nickelodeon slime, was even good as a yogurt topping.

The Pepino Melon reminded me of a honeydew melon especially in texture. This one you could eat the skin on. 

Verdict: It lacked flavor. It was boring. Given the choice, I would take the Kiwano melon. It just did not wow me. The others felt the same way.

Both fruits were definitely an adventure. I would actually buy the Kiwano melon in the future, especially if I was having a gathering and wanted to serve something different. It would also be good on a St. Patrick's Day board based on the color. 

I am not sure what the next fruit Erin will discover for me to try is but I'm sure it will be interesting. Maybe I should tell her Prickly Pear. 

5078. Go to Acoca Coffee in Appleton

 Heather and I did the West End Death by Chocolate this year. I gave her the option of coffee or root beer because one stop was Acoca Coffee and another was Stone Arch.  Heather said coffee as I figured she would. I always wanted to check out Acoca coffee anyways.

Acoca Coffee is on College Ave downtown Appleton. They are open 7-4 Wednesday to Monday and closed Tuesdays. They roast their own beans and brew each cup to order. They also are very welcoming to all people and identities. 

I ordered a raspberry and vanilla chai latte. Heather ordered a dirty chai. 

They gave us a number. We grabbed our chocolate and a table. They have high tops and low tables with plenty of seating. It is another great place to grab a cup of your favorite beverage and hang out.

They accidentally entered a strawberry and vanilla chai latte. I don't do strawberry so they made me the correct one. It was very good. I would definitely come back. I balked the price briefly (over $8) but then I remember the flavors are extra and it's a local business. It is definitely nice to be able to splurge on a $8 chai now and again. We just don't tell the hubby.

My only "complaint" is it seemed dark in there even with all the windows. I also noticed this at Copper Rock. I'm not sure if this is just a coffee place thing or I just like a lot of light. It is not creepy dark just more of a dark ambiance. Maybe that's how coffee shops are supposed to be or maybe it's just me. I'll just take my cup of chai or hot chocolate and go enjoy in the sunlight. Definitely no vampire blood in me.  

If you haven't check them out yet, grab yourself a cup.