2021 Year in Review

Despite the pandemic, I managed to knock a few things off the bucket list and have a few adventures. I made 5(!!!) trips to Door County and crossed off many of my Door County bucket list items.

Official Bucket list Adventures -- not bad since there we really didn't go to any place new this year

1. Carve my initials in a tree
2. Make tamales
3. Go to Juneteenth
4. Go to Hannibal, MO
5. Go to the Audubon Nature Center
6. Play horseshoes
7. Plant a flower garden

Unofficial Bucket list Adventures – 69

States -- 5
WI
IA
MO
NE
IL

Again not bad since we really didn't go to any new spots and stayed close to home.

Counties -- 98

Baseball States -- 4
WI
MO (2)
NE
IA

Major League Stadiums – 3
American Family Field (7)
Kauffman Stadium
Busch Stadium

Minor League Stadiums – 5
Fox Cities Stadium (4)
Pohlman Field
Werner Field
Modern Woodman Park
Perfect Game Field*

Counties with sports
1. Milwaukee
2. Outagamie
3. Winnebago
4. Manitowoc
5. Portage
6. Shawano
7. Rock
8. Brown
9. Eau claire
10. Ozaukee
11. Door
12. Calumet

Counties with pizza
1. Winnebago
2. Outagamie
3. Brown
4. Oconto
5. Eau Claire
6. Door*

Counties with ice cream
1. Brown
2. Eau claire
3. Milwaukee
4. Sheboygan
5. Door

Football stadiums
1. Lambeau
2. Arrowhead

OVRs - 2
1. 16-18 Year old in Green Bay
2. 15 Year Old in Eau Claire


States with Pizza
1. WI
2. NE
3. IA

States with Ice Cream
1. WI
2. IA

States with mini golf
1. IA
2. WI

National Parks
1. Effigy mounds
2. Gateway Arch

National trails
1. Ice Age Trail

State parks
1. Peninsula (2)
2. Harrington beach

State Forest
1. Northern Kettle Moraine

*New in 2021

Hopefully 2022 brings some more adventures.

My Adventures with Buddha's Palm

I am not an adventurous eating. However, when Stacy said she bought this fruit and then discovered there are only two ways to eat the fruit and I needed to try it, of course I did.

For Halloween Stacy bought Buddha's Palm. It is a yellow citrus fruit with tentacles that kind of look like goblin fingers. It smells good and makes a great centerpiece. That is all it's really good for. You really can't eat it. 

After some googling, Stacy discovered you can candy it or infuse alcohol with it as well. She opted to candy. So that's how I ended up trying Buddha's palm. She candied it and brought me some. She also used the candied liquid as a simple syrup in a drink and it was really good.

What does Buddha's palm taste like? Citrus peel. It is like you are eating the peel of a lemon or an orange. It is tart yet sweet because it's candied. It was actually really good and I will enjoy the Buddha's Palm that she left me. 

Would I buy it myself? Probably not. I don't need a good smelling centerpiece and I have no desire to candy the fruit itself. But if someone else buys it and candies it, I will have no objection to eating it. 

So the next time you are wandering through the produce island of Woodman's and see Buddha's palm remember unless you want to candy it or infuse alcohol with it, you might want to pick up a different fruit.

5155. Go to the Sheboygan County Historical Museum

 Every year when Stacy and I do cookie baking we try to have an adventure. There were several options and we decided to fly by the seats of our pants. One of the options was the Sheboygan County Historical Museum. I have never been and they had a H.C. Prange Company Christmas Decoration Display. I remember Prange's and wanted to see their decorations. 

The museum is broke into three buildings -- the museum, the cabin, and the Taylor house. Admission is $9/adult. Masks are currently required. They open every day at noon. 

We started in the main museum. The Christmas Decorations were impressive.

The rest of the museum gave you a history of the area from the stone age to the industrial age. I personally liked the Flintstone exhibit. 

There was a nice display about all the fires and disasters in Sheboygan. The fires spanned 120 or so years. 

Santa had his own little workshop as well. He was a bit lonely when we walked by. 

After checking out the museum we checked out the cabin. There were old time wooden games in the small cabin. I tried to catch the ball in the cup and Stacy played with the Jacob's Ladder.

Our last stop was the Taylor House. The house is gorgeous. It was a self guided tour. The only part of the house that was open to the public was the kitchen. It was beautifully decorated.

Also in the Taylor house was a penguin scavenger hunt. Thirteen penguins were hidden throughout the house. Each penguin had a letter attached and you had to figure out the phrase. There were small prizes if you wanted to take one. We figured out the message. The "F" threw me for a loop though. Luckily it didn't stump Stacy. 

Overall it was a good choice of an adventure. It was fairly quiet and on the way back to Appleton. It is definitely worth checking out any time of the year but the Christmas displays make it even better. I'm sure I will check it out again in the future.. and maybe even get a personal tour.

6855. Make a lattice top pie

 I like a nice lattice top pie since it looks pretty and very professional especially on a cherry or blueberry pie. Apple and peach definitely need two crusts. When I was tasked to make the cherry pie for Thanksgiving, I knew had a to attempt a lattice top pie. 

I hate make pie crust and decided to use the Ninja to make it easier. I added the flour and shortening to the food processor and pulse. Then following the directions in my Betty Crocker cookbook, I quickly added water and it actually formed into a ball. I divided it in half and rolled out the bottom crust. It turned out okay. Rolling things into a circle are not my forte and like usual I rolled a bit too thin and had to patch spots.

The filling was a basic cherry pie filling of Door County cherries, sugar, flour, and butter for some reason. After a quick call to mom to confirm that I needed to drain the cherries, the filling came together quickly and got poured into the pie plate. 

Then it was time to attempt the lattice top. I attempted to roll out the other crust in the circle but still haven't mastered this. Then I cut the dough into strips.

I laid several strips across the pie.

Then came the tricky part of doing the weaving. I did pull back the vertical strips and wove the horizontal strips through it. I had to remember over and under. It was not as easy it sounds. As you can tell my strips were too thin and broke in places and I had to patch jobs. For my first attempt, I was impressed.

In the oven it went and after about an hour, the masterpiece was done. It may not look pretty but it sure tasted good.

I told the hubby I need to make more pies so I can practice making crust. It was not flaky (I think due to the food processor) and the edges weren't pretty. I have no objection making pie and the hubby I don't think would mind either. 

Partaking in some Holiday Fun

Last year Appleton did a holiday event called Light it Up Appleton. It involved a treat crawl, lights, music, and other holiday fun. It was chilly last year and I wasn't up to dealing with the cold. This year, they were doing it again. The weather looked good I asked Tara if she wanted to join me. She did and we celebrated our birthdays while roaming downtown collecting treats.

Light It Up went from 3-7 and was a very family friendly event. I was mostly interested in the treat crawl. Picking up a map at Houdini Plaza, we wandered College Avenue collecting treats from a dozen different businesses. Every business had a different treat. Some were pre-packaged such as a Rice Krispie Treat or a piece of candy. Others were homemade including truffles and cookies. Doughlicious was giving out cookie dough samples. Crazy Sweet had candy corn for adults and build your own treat for kids. 

At D2 Sports Bar, they had a smores bar set up on the patio with individual smore making kits including individual wrapped graham crackers. By far this was my favorite stop. We happened to save the best for last. 

There was also an ornament scavenger hunt in the windows of businesses downtown. We tried to do this but quickly abandoned it. The ornaments were small and there were a lot of people roaming downtown to scour windows. It was a good idea but we forgot to check many windows. We did find a few of them.

At Copper Rock Coffee Company, besides getting a cookie, you could write a letter to Santa. You could also take a picture with Mrs. Claus.

There was a magic show at Hypnosis Institute. We were on a mission and didn't stick around.

In Houdini Plaza, there were inflatables, food trucks, live music, and a craft. 

You could do carrot toss. It was cornhole with carrots on a snowman instead of bean bags. I wasn't very good.

You could also get your picture taken on a sleigh or inside an igloo with a penguin. Of course being me, I went with the picture with the penguin in an igloo. When else can you say you got a picture with a penguin in an igloo. 

We left as it started getting busy and too peoply. It was a fun afternoon. We joked that Appleton put on a treat walk just for our birthdays. It is the perfect event to kick off the holiday season. It gets people downtown and gives them opportunities to shop for gifts. I hope this event continues.

Checking out Crumbl

 Several member of the Brenda Novak book club, including Brenda, raved about Cruembl cookies. They claim to have the best cookies around. Crumbl is chain gourmet cookie shop that started in Utah by two cousins back in 2017. I didn't expect it to make it to Northeast Wisconsin so soon. I only learned about them earlier this year in my Facebook group.

Well it turned out we were getting a Crumbl store sooner than I expected. Of course, I wanted to check it out. Find out if it lived up to the hype and expectations that everyone raved about.

After meeting Heather for dinner at Qdoba by the mall, we headed next door to Crumbl. The line was out the door. So despite the chilly weather, we got in line. The line was only about a dozen people and it moved relatively quickly. The store isn't very big so you can't have very many people instead even if there wasn't a pandemic going on.

The unique thing about Crumbl is that they have a rotation of cookies every week. They have two standard flavors, sugar and chocolate chip, and four weekly flavors. This week's flavors were Double Chocolate Chip, Carrot Cake, Smores, and Apple Pie. Each cookie is $3.94.  A four pack is $12.63. A six pack is $18.76 and a dozen will set you back $33. I felt that it is a little pricy for one cookie but they are LARGE cookies.

I went with a four pack because of price and flavors. I went with the four flavors I knew we would like. Double Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip, Smores, and Sugar. Two flavors for me and two for the hubby. They are severed warm, except for the sugar cookie, in a pink box. They will show you your cookies before they give them to you.

In my opinion, it did not live up to the hype. Don't get me wrong, the cookies are good but pricy and very rich. I could only eat half a cookie at time. Even the hubby said the same thing. I can make cookies much cheaper. I feel that this is a very millennial place. However it is worth checking out. 

I would go back if the opportunity presented itself (like my free birthday cookie). I definitely would not get a box to bring to a gathering. Maybe I am just frugal and would rather spend my money on other things than $4 cookies. To each their own I guess. The concept is great and they way they make their cookies is fascinating. It's not a place I would be running to every week to get a cookie. Hopefully it makes it and people continue to enjoy their cookies.