#6040. Have Hawaiian Ice

I have had snow cones in the past and really wasn't a fan. They are messy in their little paper cones, hard to eat because of the ice. However that didn't stop me from wanting to try Hawaiian or shaved ice. There are a couple stands around the area. A Hawaiian Ice Truck can usually be found at a couple of baseball tournaments each summer but are usually surrounded by a mob of baseball players and their siblings -- not something I want to partake in.

The hubby had a double header in Pewaukee and like usual for Saturday, I went along. Because it was Memorial Day weekend, the Pewaukee Junior Guild was having their Memorial Weekend Family Festival at the same park the baseball game was. There was the Kona Ice truck for a sweet treat.

I had plans to grab a bite to eat downtown but there really wasn't anything that I wanted -- everything was more sit down than a quick snack. Since there wasn't a big line (and too many kids), I decided it was time to try a shaved ice or Hawaiian Ice.

Kona Ice makes it easy -- they give you a choice of cups size and then fill the cups with shaved ice. You then get to select your flavors to flavor your ice. There are several do it yourself flavors -- more about that in a minute. You can also have one of 30 additional by request flavors. These flavors include normal flavors like black cherry and cherry limeade, tropical flavors like cactus juice and peach, dessert flavors like wedding cake, and even mocktail flavors of fuzzy navel and pina coloda. Since this was my first one, I wanted to stick with the traditional flavors.

I had a choice of 10 flavors including blue raspberry, lime, cherry, and orange. There were few weird ones like tiger's blood and cotton candy. I ended up going with blue raspberry, lime, mango, grape, and cherry. Except the mango, all normal traditional flavors.

Unlike a snow cone where you had a chisel away at the ice and suck up flavor with a straw, the Hawaiian ice is eaten with a spoon and there is very little flavor left at the bottom. I was in love with the Hawaiian ice. It's refreshing, not really messy, easy to consume, and comes in a variety of flavors.

There are a bit pricy for ice and flavor ($3 for like 12 oz) but on a hot summer day it's worth it. I will definitely get another but I will make sure I won't have to fend off any little kids.

#3900. Go to the D3 College World Series

Ever since I moved up here 13 years ago, I wanted to go to the D3 College World Series since it's played at Fox Cities Stadium. Every year the hubby said we'd go but would always end up busy and we'd never go. Now that the D3 World Series is leaving in 2019, I pretty much demanded we go this year. Luckily he had an early, close game tonight and it made more sense to stay in town than drive to the Brewers game.

The D3 College World Series features 8 teams -- the winners of the respective regional. Some years we get lucky and a Wisconsin team made it. This year was not Wisconsin's year and no local team made it. The closest teams were North Central College and Concordia University of Chicago both from the Chicago area. The other teams that made it were Washington & Jefferson (PA), Cal Lutheran University (CA), Roanoke College (VA), Wheaton College (MA), SUNY -- Oswego (NY), University of Massachusetts Boston (MA).

We got there and it was in the middle of the 3rd game -- North Central vs. UMass Boston. North Central beat UMass. The tournament is double elimination so no one went home quite yet as this was Day 1. We stuck around for part of the next game which was Cal Lutheran vs. Wheaton College. Cal Lutheran became my favorite team of the ones I saw. 

The hubby informed me he doesn't like college baseball because like college softball the game is usually not played between the lines but in the dugouts. It's all mind games between coaches. Honestly I didn't find it to be all that exciting. Because they were using flat seamed baseballs (I think -- it's opposite of whatever the majors use) and metal bats, the balls didn't carry very far. We didn't see a home run at all. Pitching wasn't bad but it didn't stand out to me. I don't recall much of the games themselves -- nothing really stood out to make it memorable. Oh wait there was a slide into second were the guy slide and landed on his butt. I kind of wish I had a picture of that -- I know one exists since the photographer I know said he got it.

Of course the hubby was more concerned with the umpires than the actual game. There was not a Wisconsin umpire among the crew. The hubby would loved to have grilled the UIC for a while. He did have to laugh that when the umps were not on the field, they were in shirt and tie in one of the boxes. According to one of the photographers we know, there also was an umpire in training there watching and learning. 

Don't get me wrong, it's a great experience to see young talent play in your home town. If I actually spent, more time out at the ball park, there's always the chance to talk to the players and get to know them. Between games we were talking to some people and they said they've been doing this for years and it's nice when you have repeat teams from previous years so you can see players from year to year.

I am sad that the tournament is leaving and wish I came out sooner. Maybe we will just have take a baseball road trip to Cedar Rapids some year and watch the World Series again. There's plenty of minor league action in that part of the world... 

Another Year.. another Tea Party

This year's tea party had to be moved back two weeks due to my Costa Rican adventure. It is kind of difficult to have a tea party when you are the host and you are not even home. Even with Danielle not having a screened in porch this year, we made the tea party work.

The usual suspects were invited but not all were able to attend. However, Natalie and Gavin joined us for their first tea party. Janis and Shannon made appearances again this year and Erin became a regular with Danielle and I. Almost everyone had their fancy hat. I really need to invest in another one....

The menu featured a few of the usual suspects and a few new ones. In addition to scones and cucumber sandwiches, we had fruit, pecan crumble, coffee cake, and mini Victorian Sponge Cakes. Shannon make the Sponge Cakes and they were amazing. These should be a tea party staple with the chocolate chip scones and cucumber sandwiches.

Since Danielle moved and no longer has a front porch, we just ate in her kitchen which meant we really had no need for tea pots (or no space either). It was still nice to see all the tea pots and tea cups. I really love Danielle's assortment of tea cups. I think I need to start a collection.

It was really nice to take a few hours out of our Sunday to sit around and catch up on life. Since we all have busy lives, it is nice to take a breather once in a while and visit. We probably would have been there all afternoon if we didn't have lives to attend to.

This is one of the few times I drink tea but it's worth it. I am glad I had this on the bucket list and it has become an annual event. It's one of the fun things I know I have to put on the calendar in May along with the Celcom 5K. Hopefully this tradition will continue for many more years to come.

Baseball Stadium Tour 2017 -- Wisconsin Timberrattlers

This year we started our stadium tour a bit earlier than we did last year... like 3 months earlier. Because the hubby's game was canceled, we decided to head out to the T-Rats game tonight. It was a perfect night for baseball.

The hubby got us tickets on the first base side in the first row -- my seat literally was right across from first base. This turned out to be the lucky seat of the night. In the bottom of the first, Monte Harrison hit a broken bat ground out. As he was walked back to the dug out, he picked up his bat and walked back to first. Instead of giving it to the first base coach, he handed it to me. I think the hubby was more excited than me. I was in shock. It is now hanging on the wall. Talk about a conversation piece.

Besides getting a bat and the hubby scrambling for a ball, the game was a really good game. The T-Rats won 2-1 against the Clinton Lumberkings. It was a pitcher duel. Both the T-Rats and the Lumberkings had solo home runs. The T-Rats scored their other run on a sac fly. The game itself took 2 hours and 10 minutes... most high school games can take longer than that.

We like going on Wednesday nights since it's bang for your buck night so hot dogs and sodas are $1. We can get dinner for like $6 or $7. A night at the ball park on Wednesdays probably cost about $40 with tickets, dinner, and parking. Since we like sitting in the box seats, the tickets are $14 but for front row seats, it's well worth it. The bleacher seats are less expensive but are not as comfortable. Parking is $5. It's cheap date night. We'd probably get season tickets if the hubby's schedule would allow us to go to more than a game or 2 a year.

Since the hubby is a mission to hit several ball parks including minor league parks this year, there will be a lot more baseball in future. We actually have a mini baseball road trip planned next month to hit a couple more Midwest League Stadiums. I can't wait to see other minor league parks. It should be a fun, baseball-filled summer.

6019. Drink sake

For my last night in Costa Rica, the whole group went out to dinner to Tin Jo in downtown San Jose. Tin Jo is an Asian restaurant that features Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian, and Indonesian cuisine under one roof. Each of the dining rooms are decorated for one of the countries but you can order whatever dish you want in any dining room.

We all ordered different dishes. I played it safe and went with beef and green beans. Others had orange chicken, Curry, Kung Pao, and Chicken Teriyaki. You could decide on your degree of hotness.. me being a wimp went with mild even else went with medium. Dinner was very good and I would definitely order this or try something new if I ever got back here.

Beef and Green Beans

Chicken Teriyaki

We also got an appetizer of some crunchy things with a dipping sauce. None of us were 100% sure what they brought to the table.

Our appetizer

Besides ordering Chicken Teriyaki, Nic also ordered Sake, rice wine, for the table to try. He ordered it chilled but it came warm. We each got a shot of Sake.

It tasted almost like rubbing alcohol. Most everyone at the table wasn't a fan of it. The jury is still out for me. Yes it is very dry and strong but there's something about it that makes it unique. Normally I don't like warm wine but this one is actually manageable. I would love to try it chilled.  It's probably something I won't order myself but I would drink if someone at the table ordered a bottle.

Who would have thought I would have Japanese Rice Wine in Costa Rica?

A Visit to Museo Nacional de Costa Rica

Since my weekend didn't turn out as hoped (again), I convinced Nic to go the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica or National Museum in San Jose with me. This is probably one of the few museums I wanted to see besides the churches and this would be my last chance to get there this trip.

The Museo Nacional de Costa Rica is located in an old fort. Once the army was disbanded in 1948, the fort was no longer needed and was turned into the museum. So not only do you get to learn the history of Costa Rica but you get to explore an Old Fort while you are at it. I am sucker for old Forts... that's probably my inner history geek showing through.

After paying our admission ($9), we headed into the museum. The first exhibit was (another) butterfly garden. I'm beginning to think every touristy place in Costa Rica must have a butterfly garden with blue butterflies... 3 different places and 3 butterfly gardens all with pretty much the same butterflies. Now don't get me wrong, I love butterflies, especially the blue ones, but after awhile the whole butterfly garden gets old after awhile. I tried to get them to land on me again but they didn't like me.

Then we headed into the actual fort and learned about the history of the fort and Costa Rica. You can see the gun windows, bathrooms, and prison cells from the original fort.

The Latrines 

Writing on the cell walls

Because the museum is in an old fort, the layout is difficult to follow. We ended up in a courtyard (with cannons!) and had to figure out where to go from there. It was tough knowing if we hit all the exhibits or not.

I personally liked the ancient civilization stone carvings and funeral altars. The history geek/archaeologist in me really loved that exhibit. We even saw dead bodies... hopefully they were real skeletons and not just recreations.

Altar

Funeral "Stretchers"

There was a lot to see including exhibits on work, life, government

Of course it won't be a Costa Rican Museum without an Ox Cart or 2

The view from the fort overlooking the city wasn't bad either

Nic does museums like I do. I look at the exhibits and if something catches me eye I'll read about it. I don't have to read EVERY single exhibit. I'm more of a museum browser. We probably spent about an hour or so in the museum. It was very interesting and definitely worth the trip. I would go back and check it out again if I'm ever in San Jose again and needed something to do.