Yet Another Cool Place

As much as I have hissed and spit about my move to Madison, I have conceded all along that this is an ultra cool town.  There are so many hip, trendy spots here.  While I love Columbus, Ohio because it's home to me and the place I feel most comfortable, Columbus doesn't have anything on Madison in terms of flair.  Easton?  Perpetrators. Madison?  Dammit-- give me a pair of Birkenstocks and a tree to hug.

Tonight, Scott and I checked out a place called Barriques, which is a coffee shop and wine bar.

http://www.barriquesmarket.com/

The outside of the Barriques we went to (there are about 5 of them around town; we went to the one in Fitchburg) is non-descript in a strip mall kind of way.....

....but the inside is warm and inviting.  There are wooden beams and exposed brick.  The photo below is the counter where you can order wine by the glass, a variety of traditional and blended coffee drinks, beer, deli foods, and desserts.  It's somewhat reminiscent of Stauf's in Grandview (for those of you from Columbus who read this blog), but to me it's better because of the wine bar element.  You know I do like my cocktails.

Scott had a micro brew; I had a glass of wine; and we shared a rockslide brownie.  Oops.  As usual, I took a bite before I snapped the picture.

There are a few traditional wooden tables and chairs inside Barriques, as well as some cushioned lounge chairs and leather sofas.  There are also tables set up outside.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures of the indoor or outdoor seating areas.

We did get some good shots of the impressive wine selection in the store.

Scott, of course, took the best, most artsy picture of all.  He is quite the talented photographer (Mr. Creative/I-Write-With-My-Left-Hand).  Seriously, he may have missed his calling.  He is amazingly talented in a whole host of creative ways and I don't think he is even remotely aware of it.  Isn't this a cool picture?

 

In addition to the huge wine selection, Barriques has a wide variety of speciality beers.

How about this one for $13.29  a four-pack?

Damn.  For $13.29 a four-pack, it better pour itself and run the vacuum cleaner.

Barriques also has gift items, specialty foods for purchase, and a number of very nice cheeses-- some to the tune of 20 bucks/pound.  Hmmmm.... let's see..... if someone could get 20 bucks/pound for me they would get......well.....I think it would be about a million dollars.

This next photo is of a bricked archway in the store.  Pretty neat.

This is the coffee section of the store.  I got a little glare from the evening sun coming through the window on this one.

Bags of coffee on the floor; quite rustic.

It wouldn't be a mid-west coffee shop without posters hanging inside the front door and local-alternative newspapers for the taking, right?

The beer Scott ordered at Barriques was Doppelbock (not to be confused with Doppelganger-- did I spell that right?  does anyone watch How I Met Your Mother??)

I'm generally not a big fan of these types of beers, but I had a sip of Scott's and it was quite good.   Scott picked up a 6-pack to bring back to the apartment.  Speaking of blonde beers, I remember a time in Santa Barbara, California when I was hanging with my BFF Eric and we were drinking Santa Barbara Blonde beer.  That was a great day; hanging with my best friend, having a few beers, being in Santa Barbara--- Santa Barbara is the kind of place that, if you've never been there, you can't even imagine it.

But, back to Madison, Wisconsin in the Midwest.  A far cry from Santa Barbara.

Barriques was a good stop.  I have really enjoyed the many new things I've tried since I've been in Madison-- including Barriques.  It exceeded my expectations.  While there, I was comfortable and relaxed.  It had a great atmosphere.

I enjoyed being at Barriques with Scott, my husband, companion, and best friend like no other.  But, I could also envision myself having a nice, relaxing time there with some of my girlfriends--  like the ones who always seem to find a way to make time for me when I come home to visit.  Here's to you Renee, Jeano, Kim and Renee.... once I get settled here, you all need to make a road trip and hang with me in Madison.  It's a good time, waiting to happen.

I love my girls!!  The picture above, taken when I was home in Columbus this past weekend, will always make me laugh.

Eric, Stefanie--- once I have a place to call home you need to bring your behinds from Cali and Flo-Rida to visit too.  We'll put Barriques on the "to do" list if (when) you come to visit.

I Could Not Make This Up

At the company I work for, if an employee needs to take more than 14 consecutive days off work, he/she must formally apply for a leave of absence.  So, for example, if a person is taking a 3-week vacation-- gotta apply for a leave.  Having surgery that will require a month or two of recovery time?  Gotta apply for a leave.

As an Area Director and now as a Senior Director, I have to review all employee requests for LOA's.  That means over the years I have seen a lot of them.  Most of the requests I have seen are either related to a medical situation or employees who are traveling out of the country.  A couple weeks ago, however, I reviewed a request for a leave of absence for a reason that, in almost a decade with the organization, I had never seen before.  Here is an exact quote from the employee's leave of absence paperwork in the section that asks the employee to explain why the leave is needed.

"I will be taking my goats to show at fairs in Wisconsin and Illinois." 

Taking a leave of absence to show goats at fairs.  Just when I thought I had seen and heard it all.

What is my mantra?  (Say it with me now.....)

Only in Wisconsin.

(How did I end up in this place??)

Wisconsin Country

If you follow my blog, you know very well by now that I spend quite a bit of time driving across the Wisconsin countryside.  Last week, I drove to La Crosse for the first time.  La Crosse sits on the Mississippi River.  On the other side of the Mississippi River from La Crosse is Minnesota.  That gives you a bit of an idea of the geography.  Driving back to Madison from La Crosse on Rt. 14 took me through idyllic Wisconsin countryside.  

 
When you think of Wisconsin, isn't the picture above exactly what comes to mind?  Well, exactly what comes to mind, sans cows.  And cheese.  And beer.  Anyhow, the countryside was beautiful.  It's a lovely time of year here in America's Dairy Land.

Speaking of America's Dairy Land and cows, a couple weeks ago my travels across Wisconsin took me to a place named Plymouth.  As you enter the small town, this is what greets you.

 
Yep.  A big old cow statue.  What do I always say? 

Only in Wisconsin.

(How did I end in this place???)

  

Farmer's Market, Part 2

(Disclaimer:  This isn't really about the Farmer's Market.  But since I had a post entitled "Farmer's Market, Part 1", I thought I needed to go ahead with a "Farmer's Market, Part 2" post.  The association to the farmer's market is loose, at best.)

The post before last, I described the experience Scott and I had attending our first infamous downtown Madison farmer's market.  It was really cool.

Really cool, but really crowded.  Kind of like being herded.

As we shuffled along with the crowd taking in all the farmer's market had to offer, we noticed that Brocach was open and hoppin'.  Brocach is an Irish pub & restaurant on the capitol square.  Here's the link if you want to take a peek: Brocach

Scott and I decided to venture in for brunch.  It was a little after 10 AM.

We sat down and when the server came over, I thought I would try to be brunch-appropriate so I ordered a Mimosa.  Scott ordered a Guinness.

Really?  A Guinness at 10 AM?  (A Guinness any time for that matter...yuk... I prefer beer that I don't have to cut with a fork/knife and chew.)

Anyhow, I made the comment out loud.  "Really?  A Guinness at 10 AM?"  The server responded, "Sounds good.  We get that all the time."

Really?  You get that all the time?  People ordering Guinness at 10 AM?  Well, all right then.

As I looked around at the other folks in the restaurant, I noticed the server was right.  Scott was certainly not the only one having a Guinness.  For brunch.  At 10 AM.

Now, I'm not a big fan of Irish food.  Brocach, however, has a lovely brunch menu with not-your-typical- run-of-the-mill ingredient combinations.  For example, Scott and I decided to split a sweet potato, feta cheese, and caramelized onion quiche.  Sweet potatoes, feta cheese and caramelized onions?  Who would have thought??  Can I just tell you-- it was the bomb!  OMG.  It was so good.  It was served with greens with some kind of light dressing and super thin potato crisps.

Dang, that food was good.  It was so good in fact (and I should be embarrassed to admit this), Scott and I went back the next day, Sunday, and had brunch at Brocach again.

The (not-so) funny thing about when Scott and I went back to Brocach on Sunday is that it was the day of the Madison half-marathon.

Scott and I parked the car in a parking ramp just off the capitol square.  When we got to the square, it was packed with people who had come down for the mini-marathon; either to participate in it, support people who were participating in it, or vendors.  We weren't exactly sure which direction to go to get to Brocach, but we knew either direction we picked would take us there since we would just be walking around the square.  Even if we didn't pick the most direct route, we would end up there eventually.

We went left.

That's all well and good.  And we did end up at Brocach.  Unfortunately, we had to cut across the mini-marathon finish line to get there. 

Couple things:

#1  It is very difficult to get the timing right to cut across the finish line of a marathon.  Since the runners come in at all different times and speeds, it's kind of hard to figure out when to make your move to cut across.

#2  I commented to Scott, "What's wrong with this picture?  All these fit, healthy people are out here running in a mini- marathon and the fat kids (us) are trying to cut across the finish line to get to brunch."

Scott chuckled.  I frowned, mostly at myself.  And then we ended up in Brocach for a repeat performance of the previous day.

Actually, just the drinks were a repeat performance.  I had 2 Mimosas.  Scott had 2 Guinness---what is the plural of Guinness?  Is it Guinnesses?  Guinnei?  Or, is it like the plural of "deer"?  Whatever it is, he had 2 of 'em.

We did order different food on "Day 2:  The Fat Kids Cut Across the Mini-Marathon Finish Line to get to Brunch".  I had a breakfast sandwich that was somewhat traditional in that it came on an English muffin, but somewhat non-traditional in that the egg on it was poached.  I do enjoy a properly poached egg, which is hard to do and rare to find.  The breakfast sandwich isn't really visible in this picture, but those super yummy  potatoes that came with it are, as well as the nice salad they serve with a lot of the brunch platters at Brocach.

Scott ordered Eggs Benedict.  Most of the time the meat on Eggs Benedict is Canadian bacon, which for all intents and purposes is ham to me.  But, as I mentioned earlier, Brocach has a lovely brunch menu with not-your-typical-run-of-the-mill ingredient combinations.  There are a variety of meats you can select with your Eggs Benedict at Brocach.  Scott chose crab cakes.  Once again:  OMG.  It was the bomb.  Perfectly poached eggs with crab cakes on top of an English muffin with Hollandaise sauce.  I have a tear in my eye.

 

So, the "Farmer's Market, Part 2" post probably should have more accurately been entitled "The Fat Kids have Brunch at Brocach, Parts 1 & 2". 

A final comment for now about Brocach.  The day that Scott left Madison to return to Columbus, a friend of mine from Columbus (who works for the same company as I do) came to Madison on business.  While she was here, we spent time together in the evenings socializing.  We ended up at Brocach one evening for dinner.  Not because we wanted to, but because this place...

...the Tornado Room, a seedy looking but highly recommended restaurant downtown, was too busy to seat us.  Since it was getting late in the evening, we opted to go some place else close by-- which happened to be Brocach.  I won't bore you with more pictures of the food at Brocach, but I do want to show you this sign that my friend and I saw upon entering the restaurant.

 

Is it just me, or does "Engine Research" and "Party" seem like an oxymoron?

Plan B

Plan A is always my first choice.
You know, the one where
Everything works out to be
Happily ever after.

But more often than not,
I find myself dealing with
The upside-down,
Inside-out version
Where nothing goes as it should.

It's at this point that the real test
Of my character comes in...
Do I sink or do I swim?
Do I wallow in self-pity
And play the victim
Or simply shift gears
And make the best of the situation?
The choice is mine.  After all....

Life is all about
How you handle plan B.

                             ~Suzy Toronto

Farmer's Market, Part 1

Madison is known for having one of the best farmer's markets in the country.  The first time I came to Madison back in 2006, I heard about it.  At that time, I was staying in a posh hotel downtown called The Concourse.  Actually, I'm not sure I would characterize the entire hotel as posh, but I was staying in the Governor's Club, which was all posh.  You know, posh like you have to have a special key card to put in the elevator to get to the Governor's Club floors.  Posh like if you want ice, you don't get it yourself- you call the concierge.  Posh like free top shelf cocktails in the lounge every evening.  Posh like a big, thick terry robe in the room and marble floors in the bathroom.  I loved it so much, I wanted to live there forever.  It was perfect for a princess.

The Concourse Hotel- Governor's Club   

But, I digress- as I often do.  This is about the farmer's market, not the heart's desires of a princess.  I will comment, though, that every true princess story involves top shelf cocktails and a good concierge.  

Anyhow, not only did I hear about the infamous farmer's market  when I was in Madison back in 2006, I think almost every person I have talked to since I moved here on December 31 has mentioned it.  The farmer's market is held every Saturday from, like, April to October and I believe the hours are 6 AM- 2 PM.  "Go early" I was told, because it gets packed with people.

So, last time Scott was in Madison, we ventured downtown on Saturday morning to the farmer's market.

OMG.

It was incredible.  I've never seen anything quite like it.  There were tents set up on the square all around the capitol building and there were, literally, thousands of people.  As I have said before, one of the things I appreciate about Madison is the aliveness of the downtown. 

There were beautiful fresh vegetables. 

    And plants for your garden.

And gorgeous flowers.

And homemade breads and rolls.

There was also honey and maple syrup.....and gourds.

My, those are some big gourds!  (why am I blushing??)

There was so much great stuff at the farmer's market, it was hard to take it all in. They even had jewelry for sale.  One of the things that made the experience enjoyable was the musicians who were set up at various intervals around the square playing music.  No matter where you were, you could, at the very least, hear a hint of music in the air.  It was mostly classical, string instrument music- which made for a lovely, pleasant atmosphere.  These aren't great pictures, but they show the gist of it. 

OK, so I'm guessing the guy on the ukulele wasn't playing classical music but a lot of the other musicians around the square were.

Some vendors bring their goods to the farmer's market in trucks like this.

Others have slightly nicer trucks.

So, there is part 1 about the farmer's market in downtown Madison.  Super cool.  Super funky.  So Madison.  It's that kind of place.  Kind of makes me want to put on a tie-dyed t-shirt, burn some incense and eat a granola bar.

I do wish I had gotten better pictures.  Maybe next time.  I should let Scott take all the pictures.  He has a real knack for it; part of his creative, artsy, I-write-with-my-left-hand thing.  He took this picture of the capitol building. 

Groovy.

BTW- I have to admit I'm surprised I didn't get more comments on the previous post about Willy's Weenie Wagon.  Am I the only person who thinks Willy's Weenie Wagon is funny and who blushes at big gourds??

My Travels Across the Wisconsin Countryside

Since arriving in Madison this past January, I have made many work-related trips to an area called Portage, Wisconsin.  If you follow this blog, you may remember me mentioning traveling to Portage in a post from February entitled, "So....."

I travel so frequently to Portage that I now say to the secretary in the office as I'm signing out, "I'll give you three guesses where I'm going but I bet you'll get it on the first one."  She smiles and says affirmatively, "Portage."  That's right.  I'm agoin' to Portage.  Again.

Usually when I go to Portage, I drive straight up I-39 from Madison.  Yesterday, however, my GPS (for reasons I won't explain here) took me a different way.  I'm not sure what way I went.  I did eventually end up in Portage, but it wasn't by driving straight up I-39.  Instead, the route I followed yesterday had me driving through the Wisconsin countryside.  Lots of farms.  Lots and lots of cows.  As I often say, it is Wisconsin after all.

As I was driving through some very small town of which I do not know the name but where the speed limit decreased to 35 mph, a little somethin' somethin' caught my eye off to the right.  I chuckled to myself as I drove past it and then immediately decided, since I was slightly ahead of schedule, I needed to turn around and take a picture.  Oh hell, who am I kidding? I would have turned around and taken the picture even if I wasn't slightly ahead of schedule.  This was too good to pass up.  Here is what had me chuckling on my drive through a small town in the Wisconsin countryside on my way to Portage:

It's kind of hard to discern in this picture, but this is a big camper trailer that someone has converted into an over-sized food cart.  As you can see, they even have a little table with an umbrella and chairs set up out in front in case folks want to sit down and eat right there.  The painting on the big-camper-trailer-over-sized-food-cart is a great big hot dog.  Look closely, see it?

The fact that there is a big-camper-trailer-over-sized-food-cart painted like a great big hot dog in a small town in the Wisconsin countryside is funny to me.  What's even funnier to me is the name of it.

An Act of Kindness

It's no secret I have struggled immensely with my move to Madison.  In the midst of the struggle, there have been some good things though.  For example:

• I have discovered a lot of new, interesting, fun places in Madison.  It's a great town.  I've been more adventurous than ever before.
• I have persevered through dark moments, the depths of which no one but me will ever fully understand.  I proved something to myself about my own resilience.
• I have met some good people. 

With regard to meeting good people, here is a case in point.  I supervise one of the office managers in our Wisconsin operations.  She is a great lady.  As I have gotten to know her, I have grown quite fond of her.  She does excellent work and I like her as a person.

A couple weeks ago, I shared with her that Scott was coming to Madison to visit.  I (sort of) jokingly said to her, "I guess this means I need to shave my legs from the knee up."

Scott was scheduled to arrive around 6:00 PM on Friday, May 21.  That afternoon, the office manager caught me in the hallway at work and said quietly, "Are you going to be here for a little while?"  I told her I was.  She came to my office, on the stealth, about 4:30 PM.  She presented me with 2 gift bags.

What?!  Presents for me??

I had no idea what the presents could be.  It wasn't my birthday.  Not my employment anniversary with the company.  No holiday.

Well, we all know the best way to find out what a present is:  OPEN IT!

So I did.

In the first bag was a bottle of wine.  A really cool looking bottle of wine.  A Riesling in an electric blue bottle called "Relax".  The office manager told me it was for Scott and me so we could "Relax" and enjoy our time together. 

In the other bag, which was a super cute flower bag with beaded fringe....

...was a  mini chocolate torte with strawberries, a lilac scented candle (because she remembered me saying I love the smell of fresh lilacs), a box of chocolates and...

...this is the funny part...

...a mini bottle of shaving cream and a pack of razors- you know, so I could shave my legs from the knee up.

Wasn't that so cute? 

I was deeply touched by her thoughtfulness in giving me these gifts.  It was completely unexpected and such a pure act of kindness of heart extended from her to me.  Everything she put in the gift bags had been carefully considered and selected deliberately.  It was a little romance package for Scott and me to share.  She gave it because she was genuinely happy for me that Scott was coming to town and she genuinely wanted us to relax and enjoy our time together.  That kind of genuineness is a beautiful thing and can be hard to find.  

Oh, I almost forgot to mention this about the chocolate torte.  The container it was in had an indented spot on top for a mini-fork.  The office manager had gotten a second fork (so there would be one for Scott and one for me) and she taped it to the top of the container next to the other fork.  Since she had to "steal" the extra fork, she referred to it as contraband, which made me laugh. (oops- I'd already had a couple bites of the torte, using a "real" fork, before I took this picture....) 

Here is a picture of the whole collection.

I really couldn't believe she did this for me.  My eyes welled up with tears.  I told her, "I've really struggled with my decision to come to Madison but if I hadn't, I wouldn't have met good people like you and that would have been my loss."

And I meant that.