Frozen Tundra

I know I don't exactly live in a frozen tundra. But man it sure feels like it today. 12 degrees, windy. I just want to stay indoors all day!

I was in Boston last week. I would've normally enjoyed flying out to somewhere that I'd never been before, but freezing outside when it's 20 degrees really doesn't inspire me to explore. I did manage to make it to Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution one evening. But it's really hard to do much when the sun sets at 4:30. Lets just say that I got a lot of "night" shots. Without a tripod, I don't know if I'll get many usable pictures.

Zagat.com isn't really as useful as you'd think either. It seems that they only rate places well if they have a $20/entree or higher price tag. And when you have $40/day for all your food including tax and tip, that really makes it hard to find a "good" place to eat dinner! Nonetheless, I made the best of it! Blue Ribbon BBQ in Arlington, MA was fantastic. Their ribs fell right off the bone, and their pulled pork was delicious (it was called Kansas city burnt ends though)

The Sam Adams brewery tour was probably the best I've been on to-date. It is their smallest brewery, because it was their first, but that makes it all the better. A lot more things are done by hand and all the R&D happens there. How'd you like to taste beer for a living? Well... it sounds better than it probably is, but still! My favorite part of the tour was when they let us take dried hops and dissect them. Then we were told to rub them between our hands and take a good sniff! MMM beer smell! The tour was free. We got a free glass to take home as well. And we also got a voucher to get a full sized pint glass for free with beer purchase at Doyle's (the first bar that served Sam Adams) Since I hadn't eaten lunch that day, I went to Doyle's and ordered a Bison burger with a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat beer. That beer was a very good wheat beer. It didn't taste sweet, and it actually didn't have much of a hops flavor either. The best way I could describe it was having a "rich" flavor with cherry essence. It is an easy drinking beer with much more flavor than MGD or Bud. I'll probably try to find some of that beer in the future, because I think a lot of people would like it, even non beer drinkers!

So I guess even though it is freezing outside you can still enjoy life a little bit. Just a little though!

Milwaukee

K and I went to Milwaukee this weekend and we had a blast! She had been wanting to go on a mini-vacation for the longest time and we finally settled on Milwaukee a few weeks ago. The crazy thing about this town is that it appears to have all the fun and conveniences of Chicago, but practically no traffic. During the short time we visited, we found the beach, a ritzy mall, breweries, bars and clubs (with a young crowd even), an art museum, a public market, distinct, higly rated restaurants and even an ultra modern 5 star themed hotel! And this was all in under 36 hours!

We started our trip by taking a brewery tour at the Lakeside Brewery. It's really a great tour because for $6 you get 2 pints of beer and a glass pint to take home. I love these kinds of tours because they always try to keep you entertained. Our tour guide was constantly making jokes and was very animated. I'd recommend this tour to anybody my age!

Next, we checked into the Iron Horse hotel. This hotel is a motorcycle themed hotel, hence the name Iron Horse. The decorations in the hotel are all dark and modern. You feel like you're in a different world in this hotel because of all the unique design elements they use in their rooms. They serve you hand and foot at this hotel as well with programs like the "Desires" program where they give you complimentary beverages and will give you recommendations for things to do based upon your tastes. Soon, they'll be opening up a massive hot tub that converts into a pool during summer months. I might have to come back to try that one out! I'd recommend this hotel to anybody that wants to have a unique hotel experience.

After the hotel check in, we headed to a famous German restaurant Called Mader's. Their dishes seemed pretty authentic to me, but I've only been to Germany a few times, so who knows. They also had a couple more unique dishes such as their rueben rolls, which were basically egg rolls filled with sauerkraut and corned beef that you could dip in either a sweet and sour or mustard sauce. For the price though, I might be tempted to try another restaurant as none of their food really wowed me. Milwaukee has several German restaurants. So I'll be tempted to try another the next time I visit.

Next we went back to the hotel to prepare for our fun night out. But at this time I realized I didn't pack any shoes other than sneakers and I only brought t-shirts as well. So with quick thinking we decided to run to Target and pick up a couple club-appropriate items. After all that fun we noticed it was raining and had to re-evaluate our plans. Since we were not familiar with the roads and we'd have to drive at night in the rain most likely with a drink or two in us, we chose to only visit the night life within walking distance of the hotel. We first went to the packed hotel bar downstairs. K tried a gingersnap martini and I had a beer. The crowd was mostly young and everybody seemed to be having a good time. We next moved onto a Jazz club where they had a cover, but they let us in for free since it was our first visit. It was a great experience even though the crowd was older and there was smoking. It was nice to go to a "different" type of club. After that we decided to call it a night.

The next day we packed up our stuff and headed to the public market. Th is place is somewhere everybody who visit's Milwaukee should see. They have the best bakery C. Adams Bakery. We were both sad that we didn't have more time to sample the delicious baked goods. We purchased a cheese danish there among other things that was so buttery and full of cream cheese that we couldn't believe our taste buds! We also went to a Mediterranian/Indian booth where we pu rchased samosas and Egyptian rice. Both were pretty good. The market also has a candy vendor, fish, meat, bread, cheese, juice, and wine vendor along with a full-fledged restaurant upstairs. Being Wisconson, you can be sure to find some very unique cheeses along with all the variety of cheese curds you could ever want. I bought ranch and cajun flavored varieties.

The last stop on our trip was the Milwaukee Art museum. This museum is probably one of the most architecturally stunning buildings you will ever visit in your life time and it is worth seeing for that reason alone. But the art exhibits could easily keep you occupied for days! This is another must see for tourists! To round off the weekend we took a scenic drive up the lakefront to the largest beach we've ever seen along Lake Michigan followed by a surprise run in with the nicest looking upper-class neighborhood I've seen in a long time. 95% of the houses in the area had a timeless and warm design, while at the same time being extremely luxurious, especially the houses on the lake front. We even saw one house whose lot was surrounded completely by a brick wall with two separate servants quarters!

All in all we had an excellent trip and we look forward to exploring more of Milwaukee next time. This city has to be one of the best the midwest has to offer and it can definitely keep you occupied no matter what you are into!