Awesome Raspberry Dinner and Dessert

Football night! That means we weren't going to spend much time in the kitchen (even though the kitchen is in the same room as the tv, but still), so we put a big chicken breast in the oven for half an hour and popped some rice in the rice maker. When the chicken was almost done we smeared it with raspberry preserves and rosemary, cooked it some more, and then we devoured it all.

I added another dollop of raspberry preserves just for fun.

Verdict: Easy and DELICIOUS!

Well, watching football is a surprisingly draining activity, so we had to keep up our strength. We took some crescent rolls and filled them with chocolate, chocolate and brie, or brie and raspberry preserves.

I know, it doesn't exactly scream appetizing.

Verdict: Gooey and delightful.

Bath Time!

Now, both Odin and Thor (but mostly Odin) have had unfortunate incidences with the bathtub, but today was the day that they had their first official baths! We asked for volunteers and Odin bravely stepped forward, poor misguided dude. It was quite an undertaking, dunking his butt into the warm water, lathering him up, then rinsing him off, but he put up a brave front with minimal lashing out. Here is the aftermath.

Odin suffering from PTSD and Thor being confused.

Then it was Thor's turn. Now, Thor isn't the most graceful cat under stress, so we immobilized him by grabbing the back of his neck and his lower legs. Thankfully he used his free claws and gripped the edge of the sink as we washed him. There was nothing but pure murder in his eyes.

He's plotting his revenge.

Downtown Adventure!

The other day Heather had time off work, so we went to explore downtown Madison. We were both impressed with how easily the traffic flowed around the capital building as well as the beauty of the place itself.

Gorgeous!

After admiring the various food trucks and general cleanliness, we found this little gem.

fromagination

The shop is called fromagination, a luxury cheese shop that had all kinds of delightful things. There were various cheeses from all over the world (not individually wrapped, but as part of their original wheel). That being said, the prices were quite high, but there was an insane amount of variety of goat and cow cheese. There were also all kinds of crackers, jams and assorted cheese-related paraphernalia. Price-wise, this shop was a bit crazy, but the variety was excellent.

After that we went to the Wisconsin Historical Museum and saw all kinds of cute exhibits. It was pay by donation, so it was certainly worth the cost!

Well, we've been discussing getting a tv since we moved here, and that day was just the day to do it. We went to a Target, the only place we had found the tv we wanted at a reasonable price, and bought it.

Da da daaaa!

We looked up the consumer report for all the tvs in our size/price range and the Sony Bravia scored the highest. What you don't see in the picture are the rabbit ears we have on top of the cabinet so we can watch the local channels. We're not about to pay for cable or satellite, thank you very much. So, that's how we spent a very exciting day downtown!

We are currently watching the Colts game, as you can see. That is actually one of the main reasons we got the tv to begin with, to watch football. We're odd aunties.

Thor!

Onto our second member of the Auntie Establishment, Thor. Like his brother, Thor is a tabby, but he's blonde and white. Unlike his brother, he's not a very confident guy, but he does have quite a magical ability to see objects that don't actually exist but should be chased regardless of the fact that they are invisible to everyone else. He is also quite a cuddler and likes to have his belly rubbed.

This is not his best look.

There was a noise and it scared him.

Thor in a rare moment of curiosity about something that actually exists.

Thor relaxing.

Odin!

The first member of the Auntie Establishment we'll introduce is Odin. He's a grey and white tabby cat born on 6/6/2011 adopted on 9/6/2011. He's the leader and is more confident than his brother, but that can mean he is also the investigator of objects that shouldn't be touched.

Oh, look a beautiful sheer curtain. I MUST TOUCH ALL OF IT!

Odin likes to chill out on the couch, basking in the warmth of the laptop's exhaust fans.

He can be pretty cute when he's tired.

Basically, we can only get clear pictures of him when he's sleeping.

Sometimes he's almost too cute for words.

cheese: part 1 of many

So today I (Heather!) had time off and we decided that we were going to go out and explore Wisconsin. We've been here for 22 days and haven't really seen very much although we've wanted to. Usually on the days we have off, we've been running errands, doing things around the apartment, or resting. But Caro found a cheese map so we decided we were off on an adventure.

Caro outside Circus World

Heather outside Circus World

Our first stop was Baraboo where we stopped to see Circus World. Baraboo happens to be where the Ringling Brothers base was in the winter time. They had all kinds of pictures, circus wagons, and some beautiful art. Because it's off-season there was less to do, but we were there for about an hour and a half and we loved it. We decided we had to go back in the summer time when they have animals and the whole thing is up and running. (It also happens to be in the book 1001 Things to Do Before You Die.) We bought a beautiful poster to frame for our walls too.






Then we grabbed lunch at a little place in Baraboo that was delicious and very hometown America. We sat on wood benches and the booths were small but really cute. We both really enjoyed our food.

Then we were off on our cheese adventure! On the internet there is a map of Wisconsin and it's marked with all the places that make and/or sell cheese. So we chose one of the closer ones to where we were and headed there. The first place was in Wisconsin Dells. From what we could tell, it's basically a huge tourist place like Florida or Gatlinburg. It was kind of surreal when we drove through it at first because there were hotels everywhere and mini golf places and everything else. Luckily it's off-season so it wasn't too crazy.


The cheese place we stopped at was Market Square Cheese.

Caro posing with the gigantic piece of cheese, oh, and a mouse.

Heather posing like a cool kid with her mouse buddy.

It was full of all kinds of touristy stuff, but most importantly CHEESE! We sniffed around before we decided on our purchases. The place was kind of expensive, so we sort of shared looks while we picked out what we wanted. The guy behind the counter was pretty nice and let us sample. He told us that the cheese we were going to try wouldn't taste right because it was room temperature, but we tried it anyway. We picked out a blueberry cheddar (which was good even cold), a brie, and a summer sausage and they took credit. I would stop there again and I think Caro would, too. They had a really nice selection and the people there were friendly.




Then we decided we would head further north and we headed to Rudolph. We went to Wisconsin Dairy State Cheese Company.



It was in the middle of nowhere. Legit middle of nowhere. On the way back we had to take a dirt road. But the selection of cheese was huge. They were less expensive and the selection was probably twice of that as the first place we went. They even had cute cheese boxes. But we were less impressed with the feel. The display cases for the cheese had a very sterile feel to them, as did the giant viewing window to see the cheese actually being made (which was a cool touch, but we got there too late to actually see any action). We also went to pay and they didn't take credit cards, so luckily we had some cash. They only take cash or credit. I would probably not drive all the way out there again.
We bought some asiago, 7 year aged sharp cheddar, goat cheese with chives, gruyere, and port salut.



After that it was about 4:30 so we headed home. We stopped to eat on the way back. All in all it was a good day and now we have some delicious cheese.