We had the wonderful job last night of mapping out our wedding food, it didn’t suck. We are choosing to keep the main stage event quite small, with a larger party later in the day at McBob’s. Our Milwaukee Hawaiian O’hana will be feeding us and entertaining us with song and dance. We couldn’t be more thrilled.
As much as we want to avoid a formal affair (I’m way too old for the white dress and can’t remember the last time I stepped into a church) we DO want to take very good care of our friends and family who will be coming. SO, we’re going whole hog on the food. For realz, we’ll have hog (well, Kalua Pork, close enough.) Uncle’s David and Guy of Ono Kine Grindz have put together a Pu Pu assortment and Dinner menu that is sure to be da best. We’re very excited. Next stop will be grabbing my friend and acting wedding planner, Amber, to pick out the best wines for the day. Giddy up.
Anyways.
We go from Ono to ucky. This morning I tried a little breakfast concoction that was suggested to me; oatmeal with protein powder mixed in. Sounds mildly acceptable. After all, it’s only food. I can trick my mind into thinking it tastes ok? After all, poor little Oliver and his orphanage crew ate gruel every morning, surly I can eat this. Ironically enough, gruel is exactly what the recipe looks like once the boiling water is added. Hokay, hang in there, I can do this. I take my first litle taste. Huh, not good, but not pukable. I decide to take a normal sized bite. OH, THERE IT IS, pukable. Yuck. Not even happening. At. All.
I can eat my protein. I can eat my oatmeal. I can even eat them at the same meal. But not mixed together. Nope. Not happening even one bit. Even the thought of trying that one again makes me sad (yeah, drama much?) I like food. Glorious food. It doesn’t have to be steak and eggs every morning, but it can’t be gruel. Or I’ll have to start singing like orphans as I come down the stairs for breakfast and I really don’t want to subject my dogs to that. It’s pretty bad.
3 of my favorite things: Bigg, Lakefront Brewery and Milwaukee Brewing Co beers (these are the owners, not the bier’s.)
I’ve written (numerously) before about how much we enjoy the local craft brews here in Milwaukee. My first favorite upon arrival was Milwaukee Brewing Co. Their beermasters are on their game and I have yet to taste a MKE brew that I haven’t enjoyed. When we were out and aboot one night, I noticed the Lakefront Brewery’s Fixed Gear tapper at the bar. I thought, let’s try that. And of course I loved it. I also enjoy their IPA, I haven’t tried their ESB but I do enjoy me an ESB so it’s on the list.
Anyways.
Liking them on the FB means I get to see upcoming releases and special events. I noticed last week or so that the Milwaukee Ale House up in Grafton was hosting their March Beer Dinner. Beer Dinner? Ummmm, yes please. That was before seeing the menu. A five course dinner with a pre-dinner drink that included cake at the end paired with the only barley wine that I’ve liked, to date. Cake. Beer. Tons of food in between, giddy up. Talking Bigg into it was as hard as tagging him on their FB post and he had us signed up in record time.
Our pre-dinner drink of MKE’s Outboard Cream Ale with cider and ginger liqueur at first taste was ok. A bit watered down. But then Matt told me to stir it up to get the ginger and cider taste. I did and OHHHHHHHHHHH! Nummy! I see pitchers of this in our summer future. Delicious, refreshing, and here’s a bonus; we had an empty chair at our table so we had an extra drink (this was before we knew we could ask for a big glass of anything we wanted. Rookie mistake, we’ll know more next time.) Talk about our table, of course ours was the most fun. The three gentlemen closest to us were fun, funny, and incredibly interesting. We stuck around afterwards for at least another half hour or so just talking with them. Sitting at a dinner with a table of strangers is a bit on the scary side, but it’s worked out well for us.
Anyways, moar food and bier!
Our Charcuterie course, my favorite. Moussse, Pate’, pork rilletes, and bread. And Lakefront’s My Turn John dark lager with cherries.
I had to google Charcuterie after we got home. All I knew in that moment is that I wanted more. The man across the table from me only ate about half of his, I was ready to grab the rest of it. It was by far one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. The Beer Cheese Soup we had for our next course had a slice of pork belly in the bowl before they came around and poured the soup in. Pork Belly, in my cheese soup. Yup.
Our Smoked Trout course was paired with the Fixed Gear Red Ale, I really love that beer. OH! It had picked apples and they were fantastic. This is something we’ll definitely do at home when Bigg is smoking a pork shoulder to have with sandwiches. I had never heard of such a thing but it sounds incredibly easy. I can’t recommend it enough.
Our Steak course was absolutely stunning…
It was very good but came out a bit on the cool side. That was probably the only bummer of the night. I quickly moved on from my disappointment when I realized that I was about to get cake. CAKE! I was skeptical of the Barley wine, so far those that I’ve tasted are too sweet for me. We’ve been in the liquor store when there have been tastings and Matt will try it, look at me, and quickly shake his head. If HE thinks it’s sweet, it’s sweet. But this one was very, very good. Good enough that we’ll pick some up. The HoHo cake was good. I don’t think it’s the best cake I’ve ever had (Marie Fitzsimmons in Dassel, Minnesota. That’s the best cake I’ve ever had. Giving someone a Marie cake means you care enough to give the very best. Fact) but our cake was just fine.
Overall it was an incredible and interesting dinner. The only thing wrong with it was that my Strongman was still starving afterwards. What do you do when your Strongman is starving after dinner? Finish the night at McBob’s, duh. A Highlander and half a Patty Melt later and he felt much better.
OH! Here’s a bonus. When I went to go grab my eggs this morning out of the fridge, the Growler of bier we bought on our way out (and that I had ‘forgotten’ about) was sitting there. Score!
I fear the man who drinks water and so remembers this morning what the rest of us said last night.
We headed on down to Springfield, Illinois this weekend for the Shamrock Games thrown by Merl Lawless and the Ancient Athletic crew and as before, it was awesome. It’s an indoor games thrown on the State Fairgrounds. Last year I remember how excited I was to be indoors on my first full games, until I realized that the coliseum actually RETAINS the cold. Heh. So I was prepared this year. The fact that it wasn’t snowing on us made my day, the other fact that it was a bit chilly was ok. It wasn’t snowing on us, remember?
Last year’s Shammies fell on my birthday and was the weekend immediately following our trip to Finland. To say we were both tired afterwards was a gross understatement. I remember getting back from Springfield around 11:00pm. We made it out for a birthday drink but were so tired I don’t know that a word was spoken. Heh. This year’s games were a bit different in that Iowan A.D. Mark McVey ran our group tightly and efficiently and we flew through the 8 events in record time. We started promptly at 9:30 and even with a lunch break were done by 2:00. Eight events, lunch, fun girl chatter and STILL finished in minutes over four hours! SRSLY. Last year we were the last to finish, a good hour after everyone else, they were almost done breaking down the field by our last WOB throw. THIS time we were one of the first groups done (we started with Sheaf, that was helpful. I still suck at Sheaf, that was not as helpful) and had at least my first beer done before others started finishing up. It was awesome.
We had a great post games BBQ meal with Jeff Armstrong, Jason Clevenger, and Rhett Bobzien that was filled with so much laughter I thought I gave myself a hernia afterwards. My Bigg man drove all the way home while I slept through most of the trip and by the time we got home and unpacked the gear and the car, still made it to bed at a decent hour. Score!
Anyways. Back to the Games.
Having five events under one roof can be a bit exciting. The heavy hammer was in the middle of the distance trigs so when we were competing on that side you would hear various shouts of, “Hammer ON!” or “Weight ON!” to ensure we didn’t kill each other. As Merl opened the games, he spoke of the new hammer cage that was used at The Arnold and was tested as an errant hammer tried to make it’s way to the crowd. Denied, the cage held. Which is a good thing because as we were out in the Heavy Distance weight field ready to shag a throw, one of the Super A’s let go of the hammer and according to my scientific (and scared shitless) calculations, that thing was heading right for us had that cage not held. Now, it got knocked down and they had to tie it back together, but it held. Thanks gawd. I was appreciative of those shouts, it made us perk up and be ready.
While on the heavy hammer, we had some more. Now the Super A’s were on the WOB and I don’t remember which group was on the Sheaf, right next to the WOB. There were shouts and grunts coming from both sides. My first two throws were ok, not good releases though. I really want to get this Hammer thing down and was fairly determined to have a good 3rd throw. So as I waited for Mark to make his way into a safe position, I was thinking about a few different things when I heard a huge shout and some noise towards the WOB. It was Nathan Parker (an amazing thrower and Arnold Champion) hitting a PR of 15’1″. I kind of heard it but was focused on my throw. I choked up a bit on the handle, put my weight further back towards my heels and put together a pretty decent throw. 57′ and change exceeded my goal and I was very pleased. The thing was, as soon as I released it, I knew it was a good one. Good throws just feel good. I don’t know yet how to explain that. Effortless, I’ve written about that before. Mechanics coming together, it was nice. I looked back, saw where it dropped, and gave a shout of my own. Good throw.
I have a long ways to go with this event but it was a good start. I need more speed but I’m pleased with the swings and release. Something to build on.
It was a great event, with great ladies and awesome prizes…
…of which the Oz man has already staked his claim on this one.
I also had a wonderful Birthday the next day and am so thankful and touched at so many who took the time to wish me well. We still get one more birthday dinner tomorrow night at the Milwaukee Ale house for a five course dinner with Milwaukee Brew and Lakefront Brewery beers, sooooooo, awesome! I may shout again at that one, we’ll see.
There are days where we just need a little Johnny Cash. This, is one of those days. Johnny Cash,Ring of Fire.
It’s a big weekend, lots of Highland Games officially kick off the 2014 season and I want to wish all the ladies out in Arizona at Women’s World Championships far throws and many smiles. Some of the strongest in the world are getting in one more rest day before the World’s Strongest Man contest kicks off tomorrow in L.A. We’ll be keeping an eye on the “unofficial” updates while throwing at the Shammies tomorrow in Springfield. We’re hoping for big things from our favs, Loz and Big Z and will be cheering for our Minnesota boy, Dave Ostlund as he storms into World’s for his Strongman comeback!! Go Dave!! Go Loz!! I’m also wishing Loz’s wife to be, Liz, to have an amazing time on her first trip to ‘Merica! If someone doesn’t take her to In’N’Out on her stay, I will take it as a personal ‘merica fail on all of you. (Ya, drama much?)
Enjoy your weekend!
You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.
tosabarbell 