Hey, Fall! We're Waiting For You Over Here!

Despite the fact that it's going to be October in mere DAYS, the Wisconsin weather (as usual) hasn't caught up. Today was nearly 80F, which if you ask me is so last July. I am DONE with being sweaty and my bangs flipping in a hundred different directions from humidity, and alternating my two pairs of shorts. My oversized sweaters are hanging in the closet; my tights are calling my name. I am READY for fall! 

In honor of near-October, two friends and I went apple picking. Ideally one would don a pair of Hunters and a comfy sweater, pick apples, drink hot cider on a hay bale, and enjoy the crisp breeze blowing through one's hair. Instead I was pouring sweat, dying for cold apple cider, and swatting mosquitos off my legs and neck. 

However, despite these unsavory summer-like conditions, we were troopers, and we made the most of our apple picking afternoon.

First we got lunch from the Elegant Farmer deli, then we gathered our baskets (half-peck each!), before venturing into the orchard.

There were quite a few varieties of apples available, thought not my two favorites: Honey Crisp and Pink Lady. Instead we got Golden Delicious for baking, as well as Granny Smith, Macoun, and Jonathan. Because I am really an eight-year-old boy at heart, my favorite thing about apple picking is that I get to climb trees that must have been designed by God solely for climbing. Perfectly spaced, thick branches. The biggest apples just in my reach if I climb up a few feet. Apple picking heaven.

The more apples we gathered, the more difficult it became to balance baskets, purses, water bottles, and the like. In what was probably an Abbott and Costello comedy act at one point, I dropped an apple off the top of my basket. As I leaned down to pick it up, another fell off. I turned to pick that up and another fell off. Yeah. A Cambridge education really got this one far.

In the end we all somehow managed to carry our massive baskets of apples to my car. We were only minorly injured by falling apples and no one fell off a ladder (mostly because we were too afraid to climb them). All in all a successful trip. We ended the adventure in the Elegant Farmer shop with apple cider, apple ice pops, and apple pie. Fall may not have arrived yet, officially, but that doesn't mean we can't indulge in her bounty.

If you've got a great apple recipe to share, put it in the comments below. I've already used the Granny Smiths in some braised cabbage, but the Golden Delicious need a home!

Beautiful Milwaukee

I have to admit: I've spent a lot of time lately mourning the loss of my beautiful St. John's College and the surrounding city of Cambridge. But these past few weeks back in my hometown of Milwaukee have shown me the stunning wonder of my own city. So this post is a dedication to the city of Milwaukee, an old friend, practically a family member, certainly a first love, as far as cities go.

Anaba Tea Room
Thankfully I got a little taste of England when a few friends and I went to Anaba Tea Room for high tea. I have to admit, I've had a few high teas in my life and this one really took the cake. Just look at those delicacies!

We got to enjoy our tea in the sunshine of Anaba's gorgeous rooftop dining area, and afterwards we explored the rooftop garden right next door to us. Take that, London!

Global Union

Cambridge and London were two of the most international cities I've had the pleasure of visiting. I loved all the different ethnic foods, hearing people speak multiple languages out on the streets. I loved having friends from Belgium, Australia, Germany, Wales, and France. So I was pretty excited about a free Milwaukee event happening in Humboldt Park near my house: Global Union! A few friends and I brought blankets and camped out on the big hill in front of the stage. We munched on homemade tacos, maple kettle corn, and some good ol' Milwaukee beer. We listened to Qawal Najmuddin Saifuddin & Brothers, a Pakistani band. After we listened to the Black Gospel quartet, Masonic Wonders. The air was crisp and cool, the sun was warm. We people watched, dog watched, caught up on the recent events in our lives, and generally enjoyed Milwaukee on the cusp of fall.

Doors Open Milwaukee

As an unemployed post-grad, I'm all about the free stuff. So on top of free Global Union, I was going to take advantage of FREE Doors Open Milwaukee, an event that allowed the public to visit museums, historical sites, and public buildings for free! Our first stop was the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, which I was able to get a glimpse of during a recent production of Hamlet performed there. I'm ashamed to say I've driven past the gorgeous tiered gardens a million times and never visited the museum. Look at what I was missing out on!

Next we went to Clock Shadow Creamery and Purple Door Ice Cream. We sampled a handful of delicious quarks and cheese curds while we waited in an extraordinarily long line for ice cream (clearly everyone was taking advantage of Doors Open and the warmish weather). In the end it was worth it for my dream-worthy salted carmel ice cream. I gobbled it down so fast I didn't even get a photo!

After enjoying our ice cream we trekked up five flights of stairs to another rooftop garden which gave us great views of the Fifth Ward and into Bay View. I think that when I'm rich and famous (notice the optimism of "when") I'm going to have a rooftop garden, complete with beehives, just like this one! 

So I must admit that being home is really lovely. The plus side of being an unemployed post-grad is that I have the privilege and time to romp around Milwaukee, enjoying all it has to offer. Though I may miss Cambridge a lot, I'm certainly blessed to be spending my time now in my wonderful home.

Hey, Milwaukeeans! What's your favorite part of the city? Any suggestions for my next tromp around town? Leave 'em in the comments below!

Life in a Northern Town

We all have our escapes, don't we? Our little slices of paradise. Those places to which we run off to get away from the world. Some people love the bright lights and small cafes of Paris. Some love the Bahamas: sand and sunshine and the water. Don't get me wrong, I'd take a vacation to either of those places any day. But when I really want to get away from the world, I go someplace a little bit closer to home, the home of my aunt and uncle, my home away from home, you could say. 

Nestled in the northwest of Wisconsin, right by the Minnesota border, is a small town of less than 2,000 people. It has one bar, one tiny library, one high school, one pickle festival every year, and endless miles of beautiful forest land. A ten minute drive outside of this "town" is a gorgeous three-story house with cathedral ceilings, a screened-in porch, a loft, a sprawling garden, a little pond, and fifty plus acres of open fields and cool forests. This house is surrounded by other houses. These houses have swimming pools and horses. They have chickens running through the yard and plants that reach up to the living room ceiling. They have big windows and arbors. They have fawns padding through the garden at dawn and vultures riding the thermals at sunset. 

In this town, in this house amongst other houses, I read books to the sound of warblers. I write stories sprawled out on the smooth wood of the wraparound porch. I make pastas and salads with vegetables from the garden outside. I take photographs and play Italian card games and sew and swim and ride horses and snowshoe in the winter and kayak in the summer and walk around barefoot and laugh. 

This isn't the Bahamas or Paris or any tourist destination you would find on the map. But it's a place where I slow down. Where I turn off my phone. Where I focus on myself, my work, my life. My life a little simpler, a little more relaxed. My life in a northern town.