Camacho Watcho

Have you ever asked your friends “if you were stranded on an island and could have only five foods, what would they be?” I asked this to friends a few times and I’ve thought about that question myself even more. I’m pretty set in a few of my food needs, but others may vary slightly each time I think about it. Staples for me are bread and cheese. The fruit (usually strawberries) and the veggie (usually tomato) may vary slightly but I never waver on the need for bread and cheese. If you’re curious, I usually am also pretty set on my need for eggs. There you go, if I were stranded on an island and could eat only five foods, they would be bread, cheese, eggs, strawberries and tomatoes.

To feed my need for cheese I frequent the Surdyk’s cheese counter, where heaven awaits me. I am amazed at the cheese mongers’ knowledge of cheese, not only to recommend but also to identify and describe almost each cheese perfectly. Amazing! I love to try as many samples as I can (without being obnoxious), narrowing down to 2 or 3 kinds to take home with me.

Although I love cheese so much, I had never visited a cheese factory or even paid much attention to the many dairy farms as I’ve driven through Wisconsin. This inspired Kyle and me to go out of town for an overnight trip through the dairy land of Wisconsin. Hence the motorcycles part of the title…we went on Kyle’s motorcycle. We had some great recommendations for cheese factories (thanks Jim!), but we found that many cheese factories are not open on the weekends. We did get to go to three cheese factories and we enjoyed ourselves a great deal, but unfortunately, we did not get to see any cheese being made.

The first cheese factory we visited was Bass Lake Cheese, just outside the Twin Cities in Somerset, WI. Bass Lake is a small factory and cheese store located in the rolling hills of western Wisconsin. We tried several cheeses, thanks to the friendly woman behind the counter, and we walked away with three lovely varieties of cheese involving truffles, merlot and cranberries. I recall an hour after we left Bass Lake, I leaned forward to tell Kyle that I could still taste the truffle cheese from our tasting. Strong, stinky and oh so good!

After Bass Lake, we drove to Chippewa Falls and stopped for lunch at Lucy’s Delicatessan. Located right on the main street in Chippewa Falls, Lucy’s has a great selection of hot and cold sandwiches, pizzas and salads. I decided on the carnitas tacos with a side of black bean salad. The tacos were good, although I thought the pork was a little too sweet tasting. And I noted that this is first time I have ordered tacos and had them served with a toothpick in them. Very interesting spin on making tacos into a deli counter item. We stayed to rest a bit and to plan the next part of our drive and then headed out on our way.

The next cheese shop, Lynn’s Dairy, was located in Granton, WI. There really is not much to see at Lynn, but I loved the simplicity of it. This is not a cheese factory that is catered to tourists in any way. It is simply a cheese factory and a counter to sell their cheese. There is not much customer service and there are definitely no tastings. We couldn’t leave empty handed, however, so we bought a feta and a blue cheese for the road.

Our overnight in Marshfield was a very pleasant surprise, both with the inn where we stayed and the microbrewery where we grabbed dinner. If you can believe it, there are not many choices for hotels or bed and breakfasts in that part of the state (not great restaurant choices either!). We had previously checked most of them out and were planning to just settle for a Motel 6 or something just to have a place to rest our heads for the night. Luckily, however, we stumbled upon Anna’s Inn. Located just outside of Marshfield, Anna’s Inn is one room for rent in an addition above the garage of a farmhouse. The room is spacious and the grounds are beautiful, with a barn, firepit and small pond right in back of the house. Every detail had been considered by the owner from the white robes hanging on the back of the door to the fully stocked refrigerator and basket of goodies for us to eat. We loved how relaxing and perfect our stay was and we even loved being woken up by the roosters the next morning. It sure beat the Motel 6 or any other place we were looking at to stay!

The next day we drove southwest until we hit the river just north of Winona. We followed the river on the Wisconsin side, stopping only in Nelson to go to Nelson’s Creamery for lunch. This was our third cheese factory that we visited and we loved it as well. Just the opposite of Lynn Dairy, this is a more commercial setting with a full lunch counter, large wine and gourmet food store and lovely patio out back where you can enjoy lunch under the shade trees. We shared a pizza, chatted with some great people we just met to compare notes of restaurants and other places to try in western Wisconsin, and then headed on our way. The day was perfect for a motorcycle ride, which was evidenced by the many motorcycles we saw as we were out.


All three cheese factories were unique and interesting to visit. I would love to go back on a day when cheese is being made and I can see the process in action. Regardless, a couple days out on the motorcycle with the wind in you hair and sun on your face is a fantastic way to spend a weekend. It truly was a lovely weekend of cheese and motorcycling through western Wisconsin.

Straight from our Minnesota State Fair binge, we went to our Cooking Club on Friday night. The menu was set by RJ and Katie - a good old fashioned seafood boil! The ingredients for the boil were crab legs, shrimp, andoullie sausage, carrots, onions, potatoes, and corn. The accompaniments to round out the menu were cole slaw, cornbread and semifreddo for dessert.

Seafood boils are a ton of fun! You get a big ‘ol pot of water, add plenty of seasoning and then boil the ingredients…voila! RJ and Katie have a huge pot and propane stand made especially for this type of thing, but we ended up bringing it inside and putting the pot on the stove to speed up the boiling process. Nevertheless, it worked great!


One of the best things about a seafood boil is that it is just plain messy. Between cracking the crab legs open, dipping the meat in melted butter and the eating the corn, you end up with greasy, yummy fingers…and no one cares! You can choose to use silverware for the potatoes, carrots and sausage, but everything is cut bite size anyway, so you also have the choice to just eat with your hands. Which is exactly what I did. Sitting outside on a warm August night while eating a messy seafood boil was just perfect.

Kyle and I were in charge of making the dessert, a lemon semifreddo with summer berries. It was a lot of fun to make and, wow, was it good! Light and airy, with just a bit of tartiness…yum! I would definitely make it again!

To kick off the long Labor Day weekend, Kyle and I headed to the Minnesota State Fair on Friday afternoon. We hadn’t been to a fair in years and here we were hitting our second state fair in a month. The grease, the sun, the beer…borderline body abuse.

Since there were only two of us at this fair, we were not able to sample as much fair food as we had on our list, but we still ate quite a lot. We had a pronto pup, corn dog, cheese curds, deep fried pickle slices, fried fruit on a stick, and a nectarine. Okay, that does sound like a lot of food actually.

The first debate we had was whether we preferred the pronto pup (below) or the corn dog (above). Before moving to Minnesota, I had never heard of a pronto pup. It’s basically the corn dog’s cousin, but made with a flour batter instead of cornmeal. Both are fried and served with ketchup and mustard, but we both decided we prefer the corn dog. It’s firmer, heartier, and a bit sweet, which tastes great alongside the hot dog.

As for the other food we sampled? Best cheese curds I had ever had! They were crispy, greasy (a requisite) and the cheese tasted really fresh. The fried fruit on a stick was a let down. It just tasted like warm fruit in a doughnut batter, which sounds good in theory but really doesn’t execute well. Deep fried pickle slices…these were good. They were crisp and served with a side of yummy ranch. Unfortunately we preferred the deep fried pickle spears at the Iowa State Fair (they were a bit lighter but just as crisp and they had dill in their batter!), so I can’t say they were the best I’ve ever had. Lastly, the nectarine. We were trying to decide how to end our state fair eating and were thinking of mini donuts or cookies…then we walked by the Global Market fresh fruit stand and decided that a fresh (non-fried) nectarine would be the perfect ending. Juicy and sweet, it hit the spot.

Minnesota vs. Iowa State Fair
I’ve gotten a few questions of how the Minnesota State Fair compares to the Iowa State Fair and which I like better. Historically, they are about the same age. The Iowa State Fair has been held since 1854 while the Minnesota State Fair has been running since 1859. The Iowa Fair sits on 400 acres (160 acres is campsites) and the Minnesota fairgrounds is 320 acres. The Minnesota Fair’s record attendance is more with about 1.68 million in 2007, while Iowa’s record was in 2004 with 1.05 million. (Information from Wikipedia).

As far as attractions go, it is a tough call, but I have to go with the Minnesota State Fair. Overall, the exhibits are beautiful and really interesting (horticulture building and the miracle of life buildings are amazing) and the International Bazaar, with its ethnic food and displays, is right up my alley. I also loved that the Minnesota State Fair had recycling bins everywhere and a corn cob compost center. Although I do prefer the Minnesota State Fair, both fairs were fun and I would definitely go back to either…but with all the fried food, thankfully they are only held once a year.