2015 Year in Review

As 2015 draws to a close, I want to take a minute or two to think about things that I did and saw. 2015 certainly was a busy year with many new experiences and fun things done.

By the numbers:

• 18 Items crossed off the original bucket list
• 46 or so Items crossed off the expanded bucket list 
• 7 states (no new ones)
• 5 new counties in WI
• 3 new counties in WI that I've seen a sporting event in
• 13 5Ks completed... that's over 40 miles (or 3 1/2 marathons)

Out of the 10 Things I set out to do in 2015, I accomplished 9. I did not make it to the Mayville Schoolhouse Museum. We drove by it but I did not actually go to it.

There were also 9 official bucket list items crossed off that I didn't plan on completing when 2015 started. I really didn't expect to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or Amish Country when the year started. I am glad we were able to go to those places because who knows when the next opportunity to head that way will be.

If I had to pick my favorite thing that I did all year, it probably would have been go to Packer's training camp. It wasn't planned and was a last minute decision but it made my summer. My tea party was quite fun too.

My least favorite experience of the year probably would be the Glo-Runs only because they were over-hyped and turned out to be a great disappointment. To me, it was just another 5k nothing special except it was at night. Personally I prefer doing 5Ks in the morning. I have more energy.

I am thankful for my friends, especially Danielle and Stacy, who willingly come along on these crazy adventures and don't think I'm crazy (yet). Sometimes it is more fun to have a partner in crime in these adventures.

2015 was a great year and I am hoping 2016 will be just as fun

#899 Go to Wisconsin Dells for weekend

Last Christmas my brother thought instead of exchanging gifts between us siblings we should spend the weekend in the Dells this year and just exchange gift cards. Finding a weekend that worked for everyone, especially the hubby was easier than we thought. The hubby had a basketball game scheduled in the Dells and it was T’s weekend off. My brother booked us a condo at the Wilderness on the Lake.

Photo Courtesy of Wilderness Website

The biggest problem with doing a weekend in Dells in December is very little is open. With the nice weather this year, it would have been nice if mini golf or some of the off the wall attractions were open. Besides hiking at Devil’s Lake, the other things I really want to do in the Dells Area are the Clown Hall of Fame and the UFO Museum were closed for the season.

Because the hubby had a basketball game in Manawa on Friday, we didn’t get to the Dells until 11 on Friday night. We stayed up a little bit catching up with everyone that was still up. Then we crashed. So nothing exciting happened on Friday.

On Saturday, Shannon made us breakfast of waffles, bacon, and sausage. Then we made plans for the day. Some wanted to go to the waterpark or shopping. I wanted to go to Devil’s Lake. We split up and some went hiking and the rest went to Ripleys. After hiking, we stopped at the outlet mall. The hubby got a new jacket and I got a new Adidas sweatshirt. The outlet mall is an outdoor covered mall so it’s still chilly but you’re still protected from the elements. There was even a fire at one end.

Hiking the Ice Age Trail

Devil's Lake

Once we were done shopping, we stopped at Hot Dog Avenue for lunch. If you weren’t looking for it, you might miss it. Hot Dog Avenue is set back a bit from the road in between two hotels. It is a Chicago hot dog stand with Italian beef and other sandwiches. The food is good. I was slightly disappointed that I didn’t have a Vienna hot dog in my Chicago Dog but it was still good. The hubby had a Philly steak, which he said was very good. B&T had Italian beefs which is the whole reason we stopped here. They wanted the Italian Beef Sandwiches. The fries were very good. I’m very particular about my French Fries and these exceeded my expectations.

Photo courtesy of Hot Dog Avenue website

After lunch, we headed back to the condo and changed so we could go to the water park for a little bit. We hopped on the shuttle to take us over to the Wilderness and the water park with the wave pool. T wanted to go to the wave pool. I just wanted to go down a slide. I figured the hubby would enjoy the lazy river.  We could find a spot to put our stuff by the lazy river so we walked over the wave pool. After finding a spot to put our stuff, the waves were almost over. We waited for the next set of waves. Once the waves started, T and I let the waves wash over us from behind. BIG MISTAKE. I had a wardrobe malfunction that the hubby had to fix. Hopefully I caught it before I flashed too many people.  Once my strap was back in place, we headed back to the lazy river. I got to go down a slide. It was super fast and by the time I got used to the speed, it was over. I didn’t’ feel like climbing all the steps again to go down again. We tried to find tubes for the lazy river but there were none. We just hung out in the hot tub until the hubby got pruny. The hubby ran into his old baseball partner. He can’t go anywhere without knowing someone. The water park was ok. Way too crowded for my liking and not a whole lot of fun. There were other water parks we could have took another shuttle too but they were probably just as crowded.

Photo Courtesy of Wilderness Website

Once we got back to the condo, it was nearly time for the hubby to go to basketball. We headed over to Just a Game Fieldhouse for Marshall vs. Wisconsin Dells Girls. We met his partner there. I watched most of the game. It was a good game. After the game was over, we checked out the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame which is housed in Just a Game. It was nice to recognize a few names and see who has been added since the last time we were there.

Old School Scoreboard in the Lobby

We stopped at Moosjaw for pizza. The best things were the quick soda and the homemade soda. The pizza was awful. The crust was dense and it seemed like it was baked all the way through. We asked for light sauce and it was still way too saucy for our liking. I could pick out individual pieces of shredded cheese yet so you know it was completely melted. It was warm not piping hot like pizza should be. The hubby thought the sausage and pepperoni was something you’d find on Tombstone or other frozen pizza. The sausage looked good and I thought it was the best part of the pizza but it was too commercialized for the hubby. He believes that if you are going to claim to have homemade pizza, you better have homemade or at least fresh sausage and not sausage you buy in bulk from the cheapest distributor. Yes, we are pizza snobs.

It was not as good as it looks

Once we got back to the condo and everyone else tricked in, we did the gift card exchange. We ended up initially we 2 Kohl’s gift cards but traded one of them for Walmart. That would work. The gift cards were a good idea in theory but too many people ended up with the ones they brought.  

After watching the Bucks beat the undefeated Warriors, we called it a night. In the morning we headed out early as I had plans to have Christmas with a couple friends and the hubby had basketball. We stopped for a quick breakfast at McDonald’s. Then it was onto Goody Goody Gum Drop for a quick candy stop. We weren’t impressed. It had a lot of gummy and other similar candy but the chocolate selection wasn’t that impressive. There were maybe 8 kinds of mini truffles. The dark chocolate selections were ok but nothing really that Grandma would eat. The hubby didn’t get anything for himself. I guess we are spoiled with Oak’s.

Trees in Goody Good Gum Drops

Overall it was a nice weekend. I’m sure we’ll do it again. I know I want to get to the International Clown Hall of Fame and the UFO Museum. I don’t need a whole weekend to do that. I can pass on the water parks. I do want to ride the go Karts at Mt. Olympus. Sounds like another bucket list adventure waiting to happen.

#499 -- Hike at Devil's Lake

When I wrote the bucket list, I heard about Devil’s Lake and the hiking there. I was never there but it sounded like something fun to do. My family, even though I was a Girl Scout and my brother an Eagle Scout, were never big outdoorsy people. We didn’t camp. We didn’t take trips to the beach. We didn’t spend the day in a state or county park. Vacations were usually to cities… Orlando, Branson, Colorado Springs.  As I was writing the bucket list back in 2000-2001, I included many outdoorsy things because I like the outdoors, hiking, and just exploring the world around me.

Devil’s Lake is a state park near Wisconsin Dells. If I went to the Dells, it was usually to go to Noah’s Ark and not to go hiking. Now the Dells, is a place I can’t go there from here kinda place. It’s a 2 hour drive because there is no direct route and minimal 4 lane highways. It’s just not a place I go to regularly anymore…usually we’re there for basketball.

As the weekend in the Dells with my brothers approached, I noticed the weather forecast was going to warm for December and thought it possibly I could get to Devil’s Lake on Saturday.  I mentioned this to the group beforehand and no one was as excited by this as I was. They wanted to go to the waterpark and shopping. On Saturday morning, I convinced Tanya to come hiking with me. The hubby took Bob, Tanya, and me to Devil’s Lake. The guys didn’t want to hike but decided to hang out by the lake.

It probably wasn’t the best day for a hike weather-wise. It was foggy and misty out. You could barely see the cliffs on the other side of the lake. The fog did make for some cool pictures though. The temperature actually was perfect for hiking despite the damp conditions.

Tanya and I headed out from the lake and went over the tracks, even though we were told not to walk on the tracks. We couldn’t find a trail. The map we had didn’t really help. The trails weren’t marked very clearly where we were. We followed the road and found a steep short trail to the nature center. From there we followed the road again. This wasn’t quite what I had in mind. I wanted a trail to follow.

Finally we found some hikers and asked them where the trail was. We must have looked like idiots because the trail was right across from the parking lot we were standing in. He said we could follow the trail or climb the stairs to the top of the bluff. We decided to climb the stairs. When I think of stairs, I think of actually wooden steps and not rocks that are placed, or fallen, haphazardly in a general stair pattern.  

WHAT.A.WORKOUT. I was huffing and a puffing by the time we reached the first “landing”. The views were great. We did climb to about the third “landing” and decided to head back down.

Once we were safely back to the bottom, we followed the trail back to the lake. The best part of this trail was that it is part of the Ice Age Trail which meant I got to cross two things of the bucket list. Since the Ice Age trail is several hundred miles, I decided any part of the Ice Age Trail counted. Maybe one day I will actually a good chunk of the trail and not like a ¼ mile of it. When we got back to the lake the guys thought we walked around the lake since we came from the opposite direction we started. Um… that’s 10 miles. We weren’t gone that long.

I was glad I could finally say I hiked Devil’s Lake and got to see the beauty of the state park. I wish it was closer as I would be there all the time. It is a gorgeous park with great trails even though we only hiked a small portion of it. Maybe one day I’ll make it to the top of that bluff.

Holey Moley Donuts

When planning our cookie baking weekend, Stacy decided we should at least go to Holey Moley for Donuts. All I needed to read was donuts. I like donuts especially good donuts. She said they open at 6 am and stay open until they run out. We stopped Sunday morning on the way to lunch since it is located in the Third Ward downtown Milwaukee. I was really looking forward to trying Holey Moley.

What I was not expecting was to pay $2.25-$2.50 a donut. Luckily Stacy got a 1/2 dozen first and I learned that these things were not cheap. I got 4 donuts for just over $10. I could get a dozen at Manderfields for that price. I get it that they were "gourmet" or craft donuts so I was willing to pay a little more but I still thought it was a bit steep for a donut.

By the time we got to Holey Moley, it was around noon and they had about 6 varieties left. Every day there is a new selection. I was excited to see Boston Creme. I wanted to try the salted whiskey chocolate even though I hate salt. I thought about the chocolate cherry until I saw the dried cherries on top. It was not what I was expecting. The other donut I decided to get was the gingerbread even though I am not a huge fan of gingerbread. It was the only other one that sounded remotely appealing.

I brought my douuts back home to share with the hubby. Maybe sitting 8 hours in a cardboard box affected the taste but let me tell you, those donuts were not worth $2.50. I forgot when something says "salted" there's actual salt on top. UGH. GROSS. All I tasted was salt. The donut was ok. I didn't taste any whiskey which was disappointed. The Boston Creme was also disappointing. It's the one the hubby tried (I had the other the next morning) and he was not impressed. The filling was not the traditional Boston Creme filling. It was thicker and reminded me of glue. It had a flavor to it that I couldn't recognize just turned me off to the filling.

After eating the other 2 donuts, I didn't have high expectations for the gingerbread which was a good thing because the gingerbread was so overpowering that I found it nearly inedible. I had to eat it in small increments and never even finished the donut. I let the hubby tried it and he choked it down. I do have to say it was still fresh the next day.

The gingerbread donut....at least it looked good

I guess we are not craft donut people. If I worked in Milwaukee and someone brought Holey Moley donuts in, I wouldn't say no to one. Even if Stacy or someone else said let's get donuts from Holey Moley I would be willing to go and give it another shot. I just know I would be getting 1 donut and eating it fairly quickly. For now, I will stick with my Manderfield donuts.

#390: See a match of Comedy Sportz in Milwaukee

When playing our cookie baking weekend, Stacy said we should have time to do some exploring. I asked her a few days later what she came up with and one of the suggestions was Comedy Sportz. Stacy specifically looked into Comedy Sportz because she thought it was still on the bucket list and the last time we tried to go it was closed. The plan became to go to Comedy Sportz after making the cookie dough for the 7 PM show.

Sign in the Lobby of Comedy Sportz

Comedy Sportz is an improv comedy show where 2 teams compete against each other for points based on the audience’s response. I’ve seen Comedy Sportz road show while at college but I wanted to see an actual match. A match consists of 2 halves of comedy routines. Each half is broken down into 3 skits that each team has to perform. Sometimes the opposing team chooses the skit other times they get to pick what they want to do. Either way there will be a ton of laughter

Stacy made reservations for the 7 pm show since they wanted to charge us a $1 to order tickets online. When we got there, the ticket guy picked up the ringing phone and said something like “Hi this is Mike. Today’s my birthday. Can you hold?” Then he turns to us and said “You’re supposed to say Happy Birthday.” Stacy said Happy Birthday. He goes it’s not really my birthday. Even the ticket guy is a comic. Instead of handing you a ticket with your seat on it, they give you a wristband with your seat number scribbled on it.

In case you need a pick me up in the bathroom

Inside the theater there are 3 sections which are color coded with about 7 rows of seating and several tables on the floor in each section. We found out seats and it was a tight squeeze between the people on either side of us. Each row has a counter with chairs behind so you can eat and drink during the show. 

In case you need to know how much you weigh while in the bathroom

The show begins with the referee explaining the rules and fouls. He explained that it was audience driven and no two shows were a like since all the suggestions came from the audience. He then brought in the players who came bearing gifts. After all the players were introduced, it was time for the match to begin. We were laughing from the beginning. One skit had us provide Christmas movie lines that they had to pick up and use in the skit. The last skit of the night had us all rolling on the ground. Two players acted out a scene and then the referee would call freeze. The players would freeze in whatever position they were in and the next 2 players would have to come and take over the scene starting in the frozen position. Let’s just say the tiny guy had lift up the big guy in a fancy dance move when taking over for the frozen players.

For $12 it was cheap, clean fun. They make sure there is no profanity or anything since it is a family show but it isn’t strictly a G-rated show more like a PG-13 show. Too bad the closest one is in Milwaukee because I would go more often if one was closer.

Birthday Freebies

The other week on Facebook, a friend asked what the best birthday deal you found was. I had to say Kohl’s. That got me thinking. Every November my inbox starts to overflow with birthday deals and coupons…many of which I use. I try to use them all but sometimes, the requirements are not worth it or there are just so many days in the month.

Here’s a list of what I have gotten this year or know of. Just about all of these require you to sign up for their mailing lists.

Restaurants Meals

Noodles and Company – Free Bowl of Noodles. You have the entire month to use it. Plus you get multiple coupons  throughout the year for Buy One, Get One Noodles.

Red Robin – Free burger. Most burgers or chicken sandwiches qualify. You have the entire month to use it. You have to be a Red Royalty Card Holder. It gives you perks throughout the year, every 10^th burger is free, and a portion of your purchase and can go back to the school of your choice.

Q’doba – Buy One, Get One Entrée. Since my birthday is towards, the end of the month, I have the 2^nd half of the month to use it. Not too many other email perks but lots of update emails. I believe all your rewards are on your card.

Fuddruckers – Free burger. Again I get this one in the middle month of the month and have until the middle of the next month or so to use it. You do get some additional perks throughout the year but mainly informational emails.

Dickey’s BBQ – Free Sandwich. This another one that you have 2 weeks to use it. I almost lost mine this year when I deleted it by accident. Good thing for auto-recover. There are several other perks through the year as well.

Buffalo Wild Wings – Free snack size of wings (Boneless or traditional). This is probably my husband’s favorite one. I don’t mind it either.  It’s good for 2 weeks. Plus you get free wings and things throughout the year.

Denny’s – Free Grand Slam. It is only good on the day of your birthday. Other perks are 20% of your bill like every month. I have never used this one mainly because I usually have to work the morning of my birthday and am not a big fan of the grand slam. It’s always an option though.

IHOP – Free Pancakes. This is one I do not get. I actually just never got around to signing up for it. You also get free pancakes right when you sign up and again on your sign up anniversary. This one I may wait until summer to do so we can have free pancakes in summer too.

BJ Clancy’s – Free meal on your birthday after 4pm with the purchase of at least 2 beverages and another meal. There are quite a few options to choose from plus you get ice cream for dessert. This is where we normally go for our birthdays.

Other Restaurant Freebies

Texas Roadhouse – Free Appetizer with the purchase of an entree. We use it if we’re there. I’m not going to run out just to get some free onion rings. Besides I don’t want to ride the saddle.

Applebee’s – Free Dessert with the purchase of an entrée. Again this one of those, if I’m there I’ll use it but I’m not going to make a special trip for a free dessert.

Longhorn Steakhouse -- Free Dessert with the purchase of an entrée. Again this one of those, if I’m there I’ll use it but I’m not going to make a special trip for a free dessert.

Olive Garden -- Free Dessert with the purchase of an entrée. Again this one of those, if I’m there I’ll use it but I’m not going to make a special trip for a free dessert. I am not signed up for Olive Garden’s emails but I saw this one of Facebook this morning.

Panera Bread – Free Bakery Item. I would use this if Panera was actually convenient to me. Hopefully this year. It automatically gets load on your card.

Pizza Hut --  Free CinnaStix. We normally don’t order from Pizza Hut but I have the coupon just in case.

Black Otter – Gift Certificate to use on a future purchase if you come in on your birthday. We actually did this one year for the hubby’s birthday. Normally we got to Clancy’s.

Luigi’s in Menasha – Free Mini Cannoli on your birthday. I stumbled upon this one by accident. We ate there last night and I told the waitress I don’t get dessert if I don’t clean my plate even if it’s my birthday. She asked if it was my birthday and I said it was tomorrow. She said close enough and brought me a Cannoli.

Ice Cream and other Snacks

Cold Stone Creamery – Buy One Get One Ice Cream. It’s only good at a specific location. We moved and the mall location is no longer convenient. Besides I feel that it’s my birthday and I should be able to get a free scoop by myself if I’m at the mall and not have to drag the hubby or someone with just to cash in on some free ice cream.

Baskin Robbins -- $3 off an ice cream cake. Free scope of ice cream. The nice thing with Baskin-Robbins, you can register the entire family with 1 email so everyone gets a free scope on their birthday. They don’t bother you the rest of the year.

Downtown Neenah Dairy Queen -- $5 off a DQ Cake. I am not sure about the other Dairy Queens but I know the Downtown Neenah DQ offers this. I know other DQs give out free blizzards.

Auntie Anne’s Pretzels – Free pretzel the month of your birthday plus other perks throughout the year. It’s all done through their app now.

Beverages

 A&W – Free root beer float. I’ve never cashed in on this one mainly because my birthday is in November. I think it’s too cold for a root beer float. I’m thinking this year may be different.

Starbucks – Free Beverage. Here’s the catch, need to register a gift card/app. That’s not a problem. This year I only had 3 days to use my free beverage. That’s tough this time of year with Thanksgiving.

Dunkin Donuts – Free Beverage. Good for 3 months after your birthday. You need to be enrolled in their rewards program but you receive free beverages after 200 points. You get points for everything you buy. Plus you get a survey for a free donut on the bottom of every receipt.

Shopping

Kohl’s – $10 to spend the month of your birthday if you have a Kohl’s Credit Card. You also get the other perks of Kohl’s Credit Card throughout the rest of the year. I don’t use my Kohl’s card all that often but it’s nice to have just in case.

Shopko -- $10 off $50 during the month of your birthday if you sign up for the rewards card. I normally don’t spend that much at Shopko at one time so I have actually never used it. You also get other discounts throughout the year including your anniversary month.

Younkers/Boston Store -- $25 off $75. I don’t spend that much there to justify printing the coupon plus with all the restrictions on it, I don’t find it worth it. No rewards card or credit card necessary. I just got a ton of emails from them with coupons.

World Market – This year I got 15% off my entire purchase. Last year I got $10 to spend. I didn’t make a purchase all year so maybe that is why. I also get other discounts throughout the year.

Godiva – $10 to spend the month of your birthday.  I only signed up for this to get my free chocolate every month…then the store in Fox River Mall closed. Now I only get the $10 to spend and have to pay shipping.

Old Navy – 10% off my entire order.

Other Coupons

Cottonelle – Sent me a $1.00 off a 12 pack toilet paper... and with Walgreen's having $3.99 toilet paper this weekend, I can score a pretty good deal,

Kellogg’s Family Rewards – 100 bonus points and $20 Shutterfly Credit

Swagbucks – 55 swag up on my next gift card.

Driscoll’s Berries -- $0.50 off coupon for any Driscoll berries.

I know I have gotten Solea, Chili’s, and Perkins in the past but don’t recall getting an email this year but I may have deleted them by mistake. This is only the emails that I received. I know there are other places, both local and national, that give out birthday deals. Who knows maybe next year I will have more. Free stuff is never a bad thing unless you don’t want your inbox filled up with tons of emails that you have to weed through. 

Kitchen Adventures: Cookie Dough Whoopie Pies

At cookbook club the other night, I was looking at cookbooks for next month and picked up The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook by Lindsay Landis. The recipe I first turned to was for Cookie Dough Whoopie Pies. The hubby loves cookie dough and has been asking me to make whoopie pies forever. When we first moved into our apartment, I picked up a whoopie pie pan and 3 years later it still hasn't been used..until today.

I think my biggest reason for not making whoopie pies was that I thought they were too much work. I only have 1 small whoopie pie pan and I didn't want to be tied up in the kitchen all day making whoopie pies. To alleviate this problem, I cut the recipe in half since I don't know what we were going to do with 20-24 sandwiches except feed my coworkers. The recipe itself was pretty easy. When I cut the recipe in half, I figured we would have about 10 whoopie pies. Um, yeah my calculations were way off. I got 4.5 whoopie pies out of the half batch. Either I made mine bigger or my math was way off.. 4 is actually a really good number for us. We can try them and don't have to worry about them going bad since they only last about 3 days.

Whoopie Pie Pan

I did tweak the recipe slightly since the hubby doesn't like dark chocolate. I used regular cocoa powder instead of dark cocoa powder and omitted the espresso powder. I had to pick up the marshmallow creme. I came home with marshmallow fluff and momentarily panic. Google reassured me marshmallow fluff and creme are the same thing. It's like tissues vs. Kleenex.

I had the 1/2 whoopie pie and it was scrumptious. I'm hoping the hubby agrees.

Cookie Dough Whoopie Pies -- from the The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook

Ingredients (makes 24 sandwiches according to the cookbook)... If you want to make a half batch, see the note at the bottom for the conversions of the odd measurements.

For Cookies:
2 Cups Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup dark or Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup whole milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla

For Filling:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow creme or fluff
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, and espresso powder. Stir in sugar. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in milk, oil, egg, and vanilla.

Put the wet ingredients in a well in the dry ingredients

Stir until flour is incorporated and no large lumps remain; mixture should have the consistency of thick cake batter.

Line a baking sheet, if you don't have whoopie pie pans, with a silicon mat, parchment paper, or just spray with cooking spray. Drop batter by the tablespoonful approximately 2 inches apart. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until cookies are set. Let cool on baking sheet about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter.

To prepare filling, beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in flour and salt on low speed until incorporated.

Add marshmallow creme and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Stir in chocolate chips.

To assemble whoopie pies, sandwich 1 heaping tablespoon of filling between two two cookies.

Press until filling spreads evenly to the edges Repeat with remaining cookies. Refrigerate in an airtight container, whoopie pies will keep for up to 3 days.

I'm guessing you could freeze the cookies until you are ready to use them and then just making the filling.

Now that I know how easy this are, I have a feeling my whoopie pie pan will get more use.

**Note** If you want to make half the recipe, here are the conversions for the odd measurements.
1/3 cup = 5 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon (2 1/2 Tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon for half the recipe)
3/4 cup = 12 tablespoons (6 tablespoons for half the recipe)
1 egg = 3 tablespoons when beaten (1 1/2 tablespoons of beaten egg)

If you don't have whole milk, you can substitute 6 tablespoons evaporated milk and 6 tablespoons water for the 3/4 cup whole milk.

Freaky 5K

I needed a 5k to do in October. So far this year, I have done at least one in March, April, May, June, July, August, and September. I had one planned for November. January, February, and December are just too cold. I found the Freaky 5k in Appleton among others. It was on Halloween and it didn’t require me to drive an hour or more for a race. Then another racing friend of mine told me there were killer hills andit made the Firecracker in Kaukauna look easy. I don’t do hills.

When we had our fantasy football draft in August, I jokingly mentioned to my sister-in-law that she should come do the Freaky 5k with me on Halloween. It has killer hills. She has never done a 5k before but recently has started running for FUN. She thought it was a great idea and wanted to sign up for it. All I’m thinking was what did I get myself into…..

The weather all week was gorgeous. The forecast for the race was RAIN. I did 1 race in the rain this year, I really didn’t want to do another.  Being the Freaky 5k on Halloween, costumes were encouraged. I seriously thought about going on as a referee until the forecast called for rain. There was no way I was running 3.1 miles in the rain in wet knickers.  However, I learned my lesson from the last soggy race I did, wear a poncho. Luckily we had 2 ponchos and I could give one to my sister in law. Who cares if it was a Jacksonville Suns poncho.  It kept us dry.

After parking several blocks away and having to walk in the rain to the starting line at Pierce Park, there was at least a pavilion to stand in until race time. Weather wise I still think the Beer Run was worse than this. I wasn’t wringing water out of my jacket during the race. The poncho really did help.

I kept with my sister-in-law for about the first eighth mile or so and then I had to walk. She kept right on running. I did my normal race routine of running/walking.

The “killer” hills weren’t as bad as I expected. There were 2 of them in the entire race. You start at Pierce Park, go down past the Yacht Club, and back up around Xavier High School, and back to past the Yacht Club up to Pierce Park. The first hill we had to go up was pure torture which was surprising since it was still in mile 1. It was steep and it nearly killed me…and I walked up it. As I trudged along, I had to remember I still had to go up the hill at the finish. I tried to pace myself to make sure I walked up that hill. That hill w

asn’t nearly as bad as the first one and I even ran up some of it. It was more of a gradual steep incline.

Despite the weather and the hills, I still finished in 42 minutes 15 seconds about 30 seconds or so off my personal best. My sister-in-law beat me by exactly 10 minutes. People say this is one of the worse courses for a 5k. I may have to agree but it wasn’t that bad. Holly said I would regret doing the Freaky 5k but I really don’t. I actually kind of enjoyed the challenge of it. Was I worried that Holly said it nearly added 9 minutes to her time. Sure but as long as I didn’t finish last and I was done in under an hour, I didn’t care. I was really happy with my time. Guess what, I’ll probably suffer through it again… maybe even in costume next year.

Road trip to Sturgeon Bay

A couple weeks ago, after we opened the bottle of Witches Brew from Door Peninsula Winery, the hubby was like we should go to Door County and get some more wine. This surprised me since he didn't really like wine until I brought some home in August and he never wants to go to Door County. Looking at the calendar, today was the best opportunity to get there before every weekend was taken over by basketball and the Packers were off.

Our first stop of the day was Door Peninsula Winery, of course. He wanted another bottle of Cherry and wanted to try the peach and mango. Initially we weren't going to do the wine tasting but decided we better make sure we liked the Apple and Mango. So after waiting for a spot to open up at the tasting bar, we both tried the Schoolhouse Apple, Sweet Apple, Mad About Mango, Panacea Peach, Pear, and Razzle Dazzle Raspberry. The hubby also tried Peninsula Pink and Blackberry. I tried the Hallowine and Christmas White. He fell in love with the blackberry wine. I had to choke down the Hallowine. We ended up buying 4 more bottles for ourselves....

After we stocked up on wine, we decided to head to Cave Point County Park to see the best kept secret of Sturgeon Bay. We didn't go more than a mile before we had a detour. We stopped at Schopf's Dairy View County Store. This was on my bucket list and it was right on the way. It is a working dairy where you can watch cows being milked as well as what looked to be play area for kids, corn maze and other fall activities. We watched the cows being milked and the hubby even saw a steaming cow pie. After we watched the cows, we enjoyed some ice cream. As the hubby said, it was the best ice cream he had a long time. I would have to agree. The chocolate was dark and rich but not too creamy. The cookie dough was creamy. It was flavorful... way better than the stuff we had in Ohio. I would definitely stop and get some ice cream again.

Once we finished our ice cream, we continued to Cave Point County Park. The fall foliage was really colorful on the drive into the park. For Sturgeon Bay's best kept secret, there were a lot of people there. The park itself is not that big. On windy days, the waves crash over the rocks and the sight is unbelievable. We weren't so lucky but it was still very picturesque. If I was by myself I would have climbed down the rocks but that would have freaked the hubby out so I just got as close to the edge as I could and took pictures. We walked down a trail for a little bit but that's not the hubby's thing. I appreciated the effort he made. I know he enjoyed the park even if nature isn't really his thing.

By this time, we were hungry and decided to go to lunch. Before we left we figured out where we wanted to eat. I googled "places to eat in Sturgeon Bay" and used Trip Adviser's list of places to eat. We settled on Greystone Castle Bar. Then I just looked in the Our Wisconsin's Magazine Best Places to eat in each County magazine and discovered it was 1 of 2 places listed in Door County. The menu includes the best prime rib sandwich in Sturgeon Bay as well as Buffalo, Elk and Venison Burgers. The decor of the corner bar is stuffed wild animals. Elk, bear, deer, fish, even a skunk adorn the walls. If you decide to sit in the both in the back, your head will be inches from an Elk head or two. I had my first buffalo burger. Honestly I wasn't overly impressed. It was good but I missed the greasy burger. The hubby has added this to his list of places to eat in Door County

Then it was time to head home. On the way home we stopped at Renard's Cheese, a place I always wanted to stop at. All you need to know is Squeaky Cheese Curds 7 days a week. Yes, this is a cheese lovers dream. We could get fresh cheese curds on Sunday...and fresh foot long mozzarella whips. The mozzarella whips beats the ones we get on the cheese tray at Christmas all to heck. The hubby is already figuring when he has games Door County to get more cheese.

It was a nice day for a drive. We had fun. It was nice to do something out of the ordinary for once. I can see more random Door County road trips to get cheese and wine in the future.  And I managed to cross off two bucket list items.

#188. See an Eclipse -- Take 2

The first lunar eclipse I remember watching was when I still lived at home back in 2014. I remember looking out the living room window at the moon. Fast-forward 11 years and I had another opportunity to see a lunar eclipse with the blood moon.  Because it was a lunar eclipse and blood moon, there was much hype about it. And like everyone else, I wasn’t going to miss it…especially if the end of the world was coming like some predicted.

Around 7-7:30 I went outside to check the progress after seeing a post on Facebook telling me to go look at the moon. To me, it looked like an ordinary full moon. I went back inside. About a half hour later, I went back to check and the eclipse had started. So I grabbed the camera, my book, a lawn chair, and my blanket and set up camp in the garage.

 

The stages of the eclipse

It was very cool to watch the eclipse happen and the moon turn red. I personally thought the moon was going to be bigger or closer to the horizon. The moon didn’t seem any bigger than normal. When the hubby came home, he joined me in watching the moon turn red. Even he was impressed.

The Blood Moon

I am no astronomer or astronaut but any time I can enjoy Mother Nature’s planetary show from my backyard, I try to catch it. The viewing window or the sky conditions don’t always work out in my favor but tonight they did. Now I just need to catch a glimpse of that annual meteorite shower in August, I’d be in business