Dairyland initiation

It was a wonderful weekend in Madison with Haydn here. There was lots of basketball, time spent on the couch watching basketball, homecooking, take-out buffalo wings, and a bit of snow and ice. Haydn had his official Wisconsin initiation on Friday night and embraced the culture wholeheartedly. Friday was dinner at Madison scenester/hipster (yes we have such things!) restaurant Nattspiel, with "eclectic" global cuisine accompanied with rap music -- mom loved that, heh. Yes, Laura, I did have the Three Cup Chicken upon your recommendation, totally yummy combo of asian spices and loads of chicken and rice and a little cucumber salad for contrast. Interesting.

Then, Haydn and I met up with Kathie and Uz for an old-fashion Madison kind of night. A stop at Genna's -- where they still ID us, god bless 'em -- and then on to the Paradise, aka the 'Dise, to get taken to school and back by Kat and Uz in a game of foosball. We had my favorite favorite beer, New Glarus Spotted Cow (altho it must be a kissin' cousin of Cooper's Pale Ale), and then we ordered a basket of fried cheese curds. What is a cheese curd? -- basically a cheddar cheese nugget, and then it was deep fried and we used Ranch dressing as a dipping sauce. I never claimed it was healthy living here, just good living.





The best part, despite Haydn's hesitancy, he loved the cheese balls. Now he understands.

We did some wandering of my favorite spots and at the Memorial Union, the lake was still frozen and the sunburst chairs still stacked away for winter. But with temps in the mid-40s, it won't be long til they're out there eating ice cream, drinking beer and skipping class.





My next adventure takes to me the birthplace of the American Revolution, Boston, also known as where Ann lives, learns, and keeps it real.

--tara