Time for Renewal

I'm on a long weekend trip to the land of cheese, visiting a friend who is here visiting her mother. She brought her boy with her and I brought mine. And actually quite unexpectedly, I am having a more relaxing time than I've had in ages.

We got here late Thursday night, and my friend, Zru, got into town on Friday. That night we went to a local restaurant for a nice dinner--the perfect end to a nice, low-key day. Saturday, though, we picked up the pace a bit.

First stop: The Flying Pig. It's a funky little place, with metal crafty sculpture things for sale, wine by the glass, and WONDERFUL coffee. I got my usual Americano w/4 shots, and was able to officially start my day.

Next stop: Krohn's Cheese. Let me tell you something about myself: I. Love. Cheese. Without a doubt, this is one of the most wonderful things ever to happen to milk gone bad. I love smooth, mild cheeses. I am nuts over Huntsman. And I absolutely ADORE a beautiful aged cheddar. (Recently I visited a new cheese shop near home, and bought some of their 10 year old aged cheddar, @ $35.00/lb. Yes, I know: "Yikes." But it was worth every goddamn penny.) So, anyway, Krohn's has a very nice 5 year old extra sharp cheddar, for only $8.99/lb. so I bought a pound of it to take home. It's very very sharp, but smooth, without that sour aftertaste that some aged cheddars seem to have. The boy and I agreed it was a righteous cheese. Aside from that cheese, I bought another dairy's 5-y.o. cheddar, and a pound of the award winning Mozzerella. Fortunately the shop also sells ice packs and freezer bags, so we were able to keep it cold till we got back to my friend's place.

After the cheese shop, we went to The Men's Mall. That's not the real name, but what the locals call it. It's actually Mills FleetFarm. They sell everything a guy needs for his truck-driving or farming needs. It's like Walmart and Home Depot rolled into one. I found a really cute pork pie hat for my boy, but he refuses to wear a hat. I had to practically get him in a hammerlock just to have him try one on. And he looks soooooo freaking cute in a hat! The boy doesn't know what he's missing out on. I would love to have a head that fit into a hat. But between the size of my noggin, and my big mop of hair...well, I need a size 5-7/8s, which is hard to come by. (Note to self: go to the men's department of a department store and find a hat for the summer.) The most interesting items at FleetFarm were the camouflage lingerie. Camisoles, bras and panties, slips, etc., in a couple choices of color: traditional green hunter camouflage; and, BRIGHT ORANGE, so when you're lounging in the woods with your man as he tries to bag a deer, you won't be shot accidentally, since you'll be in your neon orange bikini. Mmhm...it's true.

Next stop was lunch at the Titletown Brewing Company, in Green Bay. Ok, now, folks from Wisconsin, please don't get all up in my shit about this, but I'm sorry...Titletown??? WTF? Titletown sounds stupid. Green Bay is a great name. People know that the Packers won the title. (They did, right? I honestly don't follow sports.) Yeesh. Well anyway, at least the food at the brew pub was really good. Zru and I got a beer sampler and tried a number of the varieties available. Oh, and they have a really nice root beer they make there, too.

After lunch we went to the Goodwill store and I got the boy a couple of pairs of pants (he's at that age where he's growing like the proverbial weed). Then we headed home, I took a nap, and relaxed, wondering what it might be like to live up here: great coffee, great cheese, Lake Michigan, and the Interwebs. What more could a girl want?