4840. See the frozen waterfall at Wequiock Falls

 A friend posted about their afternoon at Wequiock Falls on Facebook and I was like I want to go. They falls were still frozen and I've not seen them frozen. I asked Shannon if they were interested if going with me. They were.

On our way bac from Cave Point, we stopped at Wequiock Falls County Park to see the waterfall. Being such a nice day, it was quite busy. We had to park on the road and over to the falls. I've been there once before with Rick and Shannon but never when the falls were frozen. 

There is an observation deck that you can climb down to see the falls from. You can also walk all the way to the bottom and the carefully walk across the mud, snow and ice to get a better view of the falls. That's what I did. You had to be patient and navigate around people as well. It was worth it though.

The frozen falls were gorgeous but starting to melt. This was probably the last weekend that there would be frozen especially with temperatures in the 50s to start the week. 

I just wish we were there with less people so I could have taken pictures in front of the main falls. There was a photo shoot going on as well so I didn't want to disturb the either. 

After taking the picture in front of the side falls, I opted to slide down the incline on my butt versus trying not to slip going down the ice. It worked well. I almost made it back to the stairs without falling then my foot slipped and my hand (and phone) landed in a cold puddle of clay. We both survived and was able to wash most of the gunk of my hands in the creek. When we got back to the car, I used water and tissues to clean up better.

It was definitely a sight to see. I have to remember to go check out Wequiock Falls every year in winter and maybe Fonfrek Glen as well. 

827. Carve my initials in a tree

 I always though it would be cool to carve my initials in a tree so it went on the bucket list. Little did I know it was going to hurt the tree. For this reason alone I never did it.. not even to the giant half dead tree in my parent's backyard.

While walking the trails of Cave Point, an opportunity presented itself to carve my initials in a tree. The dead had fallen over and was already dead. No killing of trees for me.

However, I was expecting to carve my initials in a tree today so I didn't bring anything with to carve my initials in a tree.. pen knife, pocket knife, nail, etc. 

Luckily this tree trunk was quite soft and I was able to carve my initials into the trunk using my finger nail. I had to rush since Rick and Shannon started back without me. The "A" was easy. The "L" was a little more different. You can see the "A" really well in the picture.

The bigger question is will the tree still be there the next time I go to Cave Point? Will I be able to find my initials amongst the hundreds of other initials? Time will only tell. Maybe next trip I will come prepared to leave a more permanent mark.

4901. See the ice formations at Cave Point in Door County

I had a friend go to Wequiock Falls and post pictures of the frozen waterfall. I wanted to see the frozen waterfall before it melted. I messaged Shannon asking if they wanted to go to Wequiock with me. She agreed and asked if I wanted to go to Cave Point in Door County as well. I was like I will never pass an opportunity to go to Cave Point. 

I went back to Cave Point back in 2015 with the hubby. He was not as impressed with the crashing waves as I was. I really wanted to see nature's fury of ice formations on the cliffs. Based on the geological make up of the cliffs, the waves crash up quite high on the cliffs even on what would seem like a calm day.

It was a fairly warm day for end of February. The waves were crashing and spraying quite high up the cliff.

The ice was fascinating. I didn't want to get to close to the edge to get pictures. Knowing my luck, I would slip and end up the lake. 

Cave Point park is fabulous any time of the year. The crashing waves, the hiking trails, the views. It is just outside of Whitefish Dunes State park so you can walk into Whitefish Dunes State Park from the trail of Cave Point. 

If you are on your way up to the Door Peninsula, take a detour and check out the waves at Cave Point. It's a just outside of Sturgeon Bay and near Door Peninsula Winery on the lake side. It's always great to get and enjoy nature.

How To Throw a Lasagna Party

 Danielle wanted lasagna and invited several people over for a lasagna dinner party. Here are my instructions to throw a lasagna party

1. Invite a bunch of people over asking them to bring an appetizer, wine, dessert, etc

2. Make an insanely huge pan of lasagna.

3. When everyone arrives, gorge oneself on appetizers leaving no room for the insanely large pan of lasagna while drinking wine

4. Send everyone home with leftover lasagna.

Wait you mean we are supposed actually eat the lasagna at the dinner party? Well, then I'd suggest you not tell Janis to make an Italian charcuterie board full of yummy bite size snacking goodness.

The Charcuterie Board 

When Janis asked what she could bring, I said to make a charcuterie board. She makes awesome charcuterie boards.

The board was filled with salami, ham in lieu of prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, almonds, raspberries, Italian bread, pears, Parmesan, cream cheese with pepper jam, and olives. It was great combination of items to make stackable appetizers of your choosing. The tang of the pepper jam made everything so much better.

The Fruit Platter of Sorts

Erin decided she would bring the fruit so I could try a new fruit. Unable to find starfruit, she brought dragon fruit. Besides dragon fruit, there were blueberries, strawberries, grapes, and honey dew melon. 

The Wine

Danielle, Janis, and I all brought wine. Danielle stuck with dry reds that work well with Italian. Janis brought standard box of Franzia white. I brought the Red Moscato that I got in Lynchburg  The Red Mosacato was not as good I as I remembered it. It was pretty sweet and I actually made it into a spitzer with some champagne. We definitely did not go through all that wine. I limited to one glass since I had to drive home and have dinner with grandma. 

The Lasagna

The lasagna that we didn't eat was roaster pan for of Italian goodness. I can't give away all of Danielle's secrets but it does have both ground beef and ground sausage in it and lots of cheese. 

We didn't let sit long enough before cutting so it was not perfectly cake like. 

We also had Brazilian cheese balls that Danielle made. I attempted my garlic knots and their were an epic fail. I guess that recipe was not supposed to be double. They would just not get done. I finally gave up and headed over to Danielle's with half cooked garlic knots that made it in the garbage can.

Erin also brought some yummy chocolaty peanut butter bars for dessert which did get entered with our snacking.

Even though we didn't eat the lasagna and half of us had to leave early, it was a great afternoon. We had a chance to catch up, enjoy each other's company, and eat some good food. We definitely to have more of these dinner parties.

21 in 2021: Try a new Fruit -- Dragon fruit Trials

 Last year when I made my 20 in 2020 list, I added try a new fruit. Due to the pandemic and pure laziness on my behalf that never happened. So I put it on my 21 in 2021 list. Erin said she was going to bring star fruit to our next gathering for me to try. 

As we planned the lasagna party, Erin said she was bringing fruit so I could try star fruit. However, it is February in Wisconsin and exotic fruits aren't the easiest to come to by. I told her if she couldn't find star fruit that dragon fruit, jack fruit, or prickly pear would also work. I said to text me from the store and I would let her know if I've eaten the fruit in question.

She didn't find star fruit but got dragon fruit instead. I got a text asking "yellow" or "red". I didn't know there was a difference. I picked red since that is what was pictured in my mine mind. 

Erin took care of peeling the dragon fruit beforehand. She said she had to Google how to peel a dragon fruit. I would had to google it as well. Janis cut the dragon fruit into pieces at the party. She cut them into round slices.

A dragon fruit is similar to a kiwi and a pear. It a soft fruit with many seeds. 

If you eat a dragon fruit with it hitting the front of your tongue, it really has no taste. Since it's not really a sweet fruit, the flavor comes from the side of your tongue. I really didn't get much flavor either way. This was probably a good thing since it wasn't absolutely disgusting. It was actually quite interesting. The seeds didn't really bother me. 

I think I would have liked it to have more flavor. It was kind of blah tasting to me. I would definitely eat it again. Since it is on the softer side, it might be good in a tropical fruit salad with mango, kiwi, passion fruit, and some fresh coconut. Maybe I can convince Erin to do that for our next get together minus the coconut for Danielle.

I still want try star fruit and other exotic fruits. Stay tuned for more fruit trials. 

4747. See the Ice Sculptures downtown Appleton

 Every year the city of Appleton places ice sculptures on College Ave. They are carved by local artists. I've checked them out before. Since I really wanted good bagels, I had to head down town to pick up bagels at Bagelicious. I figured since I was already downtown, I might as well walk College Ave to see the ice sculptures. 

The ice sculptures were placed the entire length of College Ave from State Street to Drew Street on both sides of the street.. roughly a 3/4 of a mile. Many local businesses also had special deals for the ice sculptures. 

I was disappointed that many of the ice sculptures were advertisements for the business that sponsored the ice sculpture. I would have preferred to see more animals and abstract shapes... not squares that depicted the name of a business craved in ice.

There were some repeats from other years

My favorite definitely was not square.

I did not walk all the way up to State Street since I didn't think there was anything up that way. Because of this, I miss this sculpture.

Even though we were outside, most people wore masks and kept a decent distance apart. I am fast walker and got chided by a lady because I was too close to her. I eventually was able to pass her. 

I am glad I decided to head out and check out the ice sculptures. It was a nice morning for a walk and it was great to get outside. I will try again to see them every year to see if they are still so boxy or if they are actual sculptures. 

Neenah Sweet Heart Stroll and Shop

 Every Valentine's weekend, Appleton puts on a Death By Chocolate event and every year I say I want to do it. Last year Danielle and I said we were going to do it next year. Fast forward, twelve months and we are still in a pandemic. Appleton moved their Death by Chocolate "virtual" by offering a 12 piece chocolate treat box for $25. I was going to order one until I saw that Neenah was doing a similar event called Sweet Heart Stroll and Shop which replaced their soup event. The Sweet Heart Stroll and Shop was $20 for 15 treats, 2 beverage samples, and $5 in Neenah cash to be spent downtown. That was  a no brainer. Danielle was unavailable to stroll with me but Tara was.

We started at the Future Neenah office downtown where we picked up our passport and for our goodies. Then it was off to collect treats. I explained this was like trick or treating for adults at area business. Each of the 17 business that participated would stamp our passport and then provide us an individually wrapped treat or beverage sample. Most of the business were within the 2 blocks of downtown. A couples were within fairly close walking distance.

Tara and I opted to start at the far end and work our way back. This proved to be a wise choice for two reasons. 1. Most people started downtown and worked their way out. 2. We didn't have to walk back to our cars after collecting our last treats. At the Double Tree, we also were granted access to the craft fair that was going. It gave us a chance to warm up after walking there. The worst walk was up to the Tailored Hide because the sidewalks weren't shoveled. Maybe we should have driven to that one since it was a good 6 blocks each way.

We thought about having lunch at Greene's Pourhosue but it was quite busy and we would have waited for a table. We opted to do lunch at home after. The hot chocolate with fireball was good though. It warmed the insides but should not be followed with fruit mash up tea from On Wisconsin Nutrition. The tea was excellent but did not agree with the fireball. 

15 treats may not seem like a lot until you start collecting them. Good thing they provided a bag.

This was a great event especially to get people to shop local. I hope Future Neenah continues with it in some fashion even if they bring the soup event back post-pandemic. I prefer sweet treats over soup any day. My only complaint was that there was not enough chocolate treats but it's not a bad thing. If both the death by chocolate and the Sweet Heart Stroll happen next year, I may have a hard time choosing which one to do.

6537. Make milkshakes

 Trying to come up with things to put on your Christmas list is always a challenge. I've had a milkshake maker on my Amazon wish list for years. Since I didn't know what else to put on our combine list, I brought the idea up to the hubby. I showed him a picture and he said okay. I don't think he really expected to me to put it on the list or to actually get one. 

We got a Hamilton Beach Classic Drink Maker from my parents for Christmas. It is about $40 on Amazon and comes with the metal mixing cup. Now we just needed ice cream. Besides the cup, everything else is plastic which is kind of disappointing.

After purchasing some vanilla ice cream for the hubby, we decided to make milkshakes one night. The hubby was in charge of making them. It was essentially 3 or so scoops of ice cream, some milk, and splash of vanilla. 

The Classic Drink Maker worked very well for his vanilla shake. He got the consistency he liked (runny) by moving the mixing cup around as it mixed. 

My chocolate brownie shake turned out pretty good as well. The mixing head doesn't break up the chunks of brownie very well so they sink to the bottom of the glass. I ended up spooning that out since my metal straws didn't suck them up either. 

The next time we had shakes, I had a Dr. Pepper Cherry Shake. Instead of using milk, I used Cherry Dr. Pepper and added Maraschino cherries as well. It was AMAZING. The only thing I would do different would be either to chop up the cherries into tiny pieces so they get sucked up in the straw or just use the cherry juice in addition to the Dr. Pepper. The hubby was skeptical but once I told him I loved it, he wasn't so skeptical about my creation.

I also tried to do a mint shake but the hubby put way too much milk in it and it was literally thicker milk and had no mint taste whatsoever. I did not have mint extract in the house so that probably didn't help. Next time I will try it with the mint extraction and less milk.

We do need to get some actual old fashion milk shake glasses. The coke glass and pint glasses we've been using work in a pinch but the taller milkshake glasses would make them even better.

The milkshake maker has become a very useful gift. I don't know why I didn't ask for it sooner. It saves us a trip to Culvers or DQ just for a shake when the hubby wants one and nothing beats a good homemade shake with real ice cream.