Camacho Watcho

Growing up in central Illinois, I have been to Chicago many times. In fact, a couple years ago I traveled to Chicago for work every week for a year. I flew in, took the train to the Sears Tower, stayed at a hotel a couple blocks away, occasionally took a cab to one of the many unique neighborhoods for dinner and then flew home. I had seen and done many things in Chicago over the years but I hadn’t really opened my eyes to it for a really long time. With this in mind, on my recent Chicago visit my sister and I planned a whole day for taking a photo tour of Chicago. The day we chose was Tuesday…which ended up being a drizzly, overcast, cold day. It wasn’t ideal, but we set out anyway.


The same year that I was traveling back and forth I read a book by Erik Larson, “Devil in the White City.” If you haven’t heard of it, it is a book that follows the architect for the World’s Fair of 1893 as he planned and built the “white city” and a serial killer who was loose in Chicago at the same time. I found the history completely fascinating and it made me appreciate the architecture of the buildings that were created for World’s Fair, such as the Museum of Science and Industry, that still stand today. The train ride from Midway to the Sears Tower had a whole new meaning for me, but I still hadn’t visited any of the Fair’s buildings. So on our photo tour, an obvious choice to visit was the grounds of the Museum of Science and Industry and the Osaka Japanese Gardens which were built as part of the Wooded Island for the Fair.



After the Osaka Gardens we headed downtown to Grant Park and the Agora structure, which is 106 headless hollow structures that appear to be wandering about and to Millennium Park to view the “Cloud Gate” structure, or the “bean” as most people call it. I didn’t know the history of the “bean” before, but I am now so amazed by it. It is a seamless structure designed to showcase clouds floating among the Chicago skyline from every angle viewed and is also meant to be a gate by which visitors could pass under and view their reflection floating much the same as the clouds. Amazing.



Our intentions were to tour and photograph the whole day, but we found ourselves very cold and very hungry and after a couple hours sought warmth and nourishment at Penny’s Noodle Shop. Fresh ingredients put together to create subtlely spicey and flavorful food. Although it wasn’t the day we had planned, we had a great time and, of course, you can’t go wrong with a day that ends with Thai food.

To view more pictures from Chicago, click here.

I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Iowa City and Chicago so I’m trying to get back into sorts. It was a great trip and I had a great time catching up with family and friends!

I also used this trip as an opportunity to break in my new camera that I am totally in love with. With this in mind, my sister obliged me by taking me on a photography tour of Chicago. We had overcast skies and drizzles while we toured but it was fun nevertheless. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to photograph the “bean” in Millennium Park on a Tuesday with no other tourists around. So I was able to get this shot of me, the bean and the Chicago skyline. I hope you enjoy!

I was visiting home last week in the lovely town of Morton, Illinois. I had a great time with friends and family and arrived back to Minneapolis exhausted! I did visit a few restaurants and, of course, the Pumpkin Festival…all of which I will write about soon. However, for today I thought I would just share a few highlight pictures of my trip home.

Good homecooked eats by my parents…

A fantastic chocolate cream pie from my Grandma…

Lots of fun babysitting and playing with my nephews…

Especially this rousing game of hide and go seek…(he was so hard to find!)

As a note, you’ve got to try the tomato and watermelon salad in the top picture. A link to the recipe is here…I love the mix of the tomato with the sweet watermelon (in yellow), but the star of the salad is the tarragon. Yum!

I’ll be back soon with more from my trip home…

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.

Our recent visit to the Iowa State Fair was a first for me. Although I have been to the Minnesota State Fair, I felt the need to go to Iowa to visit the only state fair listed in the book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. With the hype of that book, as well as our friends’ build up, we had some pretty high expectations for both the food and the spectacle.

We ate a LOT of food – steak sandwich, fried pickle spears, funnel cake, pork chop on a stick, taco, corn dog, pork tenderloin sandwich, and corn on the cob – and washed it all down with several beers, very large diet cokes, and the occasional sip of water. Besides the food, we also saw the animals, including a 1,250 pound boar, many cows, sheep and the largest bull. And the people watching…oh what a spectacle!

But back to food…the highlight of the trip was the corn dog. I don’t know why I always think something is going to be better, but time and time again the corn dog pulls though. Other good eats were the steak sandwich, funnel cake, fried pickle spears, corn and pork tenderloin. The disappointments were the taco and the pork chop on a stick. There was nothing special about the taco, certainly not the “best in taco in Iowa”. After trying it, my friend John said he’d had better at Taco John’s (yikes!). The pork chop had potential, but ours was a bit dry. That just doesn’t cut it when eating pork in Iowa.

All in all, we left the fair happy…six hours, lots of grease, sunburns, $80 spent in food/beverage and full bellies…our high expectations were definitely fulfilled by this weekend getaway. Check that off the list of things to see before I die.

Addendum: I realized after posting this, that I forgot to mention the cheese curds we ate. These were actually the most disappointing…lightly breaded and hardly fried. They were also yellow cheese – overall not good…at all.

Most people think that living in Minnesota is nine months of unbearable cold and three months of unbearable hot, humid weather. Add to that statement brisk, clear fall days and cool, wet spring afternoons and that more accurately describes Minnesota weather. But this does not mean that the weather is bad, it is the extremes in weather that make each season uniquely its own for enjoyment.

While I do enjoy each season in its own right, what I want to talk about is summer. Minnesotans love the summer. It is inevitable that if it is a nice day, most Minnesotans will be outside enjoying life…exercising, lounging around, doing water sports, you name it. But one of the favorite weekend activities for Minnesotans is going north to a cabin for a weekend getaway.

We were recently talking to some friends from Atlanta, describing this “going north” concept and they said, “isn’t Minnesota north enough already?” I had never thought of it like that before. And yes, that is true that Minnesota is pretty far north, but if you journey just a bit farther you will find a cabin subculture where Minnesotans go to play.

This past weekend was the scene for an annual cabin party event with good friends. Each year 15-20 friends gather at a cabin just outside Alexandria for good times. We eat, drink, ski, tube, play games, laugh…I won’t go any further in describing the weekend than that. (Although there are many a good story to be told). We’ve celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, marriages (Way to go Luke and Georgann for spending the first part of your honeymoon with us this year!), and friendship. It’s a tradition that has lasted 10 years and will hopefully last for a long time to come.

So when you think of Minnesota weather, don’t just picture the cold, winter days. Think of all the Minnesotans up north on a lake in the summer, drinking a cold beer and hanging out with good friends.

When thinking of Philadelphia, I naturally think of Philly cheesesteak, the Liberty Bell and the Declaration of Independence. After that, however, nothing much comes to mind. That’s why I was so pleasantly surprised by the food scene that I experienced while there.

When traveling to another town, I’m usually the first one to do research to figure out which restaurants I would want to try. But this time was different…perhaps it was because my last day of my job was the day before we left, or just because I had low expectations for the food, but regardless I did absolutely no research.

My good friend Greg, however, had done his homework and set us up for dinner the first night at a fantastic restaurant called Rx in West Philly. Located in a former pharmacy building in an interesting neighborhood, Rx is a great restaurant for locally grown/produced food. And it’s BYOB – love it.

I absolutely love the atmosphere inside this restaurant. Some might say it’s a little cramped, but I thought it was a wonderful setting of bistro tables and decoration that created a cozy feel. Looking around the restaurant, the walls are painted a buttery yellow with white crown molding, accented with hunter green. On one long wall is a dark wooden bookcase with built in mirrors, glassware, and antique recipe books and cooking utensils. Contrasting the antique feel, contemporary art by local artists hangs on the walls, which changes the feel to a more modern and vibrant atmosphere.

Our group settled in at our table near the kitchen with five bottles of wine..what can I say…we were thirsty. With one glance at the menu, I knew I was in for a treat. That night was a special, which was an appetizer, entree and dessert for $25. I started with the Rx salad, a wonderful mix of greens, candied pecans, red pepper and a crostini with chevre. My next course was the winner of the evening – chicken with tomatillos, pepitas, sweet corn and chorizo hash and a cilantro crema. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water…absolutely fantastic! And for dessert, I had their pecan pie. They claim that it is the best they’ve ever tasted, and I have to agree. It was yummy! Other dishes that were a hit at our table was the ceasar salad (the interesting part is that the croutons are really cheese curds) and the NY Strip steak with truffle butter. Another ‘wow’ goes out to that one!

All in all, I loved Rx…from the atomosphere, to the BYOB, to the fantastic, local food. I would definitely eat there again next time I’m in the Philly area.

Click here for more Philly pictures.

Rx Restaurant
4443 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA
215.222.9590

Life is full of lessons. Sometimes you have to search for the meanings they bring us and other times they almost reach out and smack us across the face. Who would have known that there was a little life lesson in handling rental car keys? Not me.

Kyle and I recently returned from a week long trip to Hilton Head, where we sat by the pool, drank beer and grilled dinners for seven straight days with our friends John and Kate and their son Ben. Life was good; it was the ultimate in relaxation. Little did we know that life was lurking in the shadows, just waiting to teach us a lesson on our last day.

Our last day brought us an early getaway from Hilton Head and the need to hang out in Savannah, GA before our 7pm flight. We arrived to Savannah with visions of a relaxing drive through town to view the historic homes and a long, very late lunch. Those sweet, sweet naive dreams….

We parked the car and decided to walk through the historic district, which consists of about 8 or 9 plazas hinged along subsequent blocks. Roughly 25 minutes and 8 blocks later, we were on our way back to the car when the sky opened up with lightning, thunder and a sheet of rain that caused us to seek shelter in the doorway of the nearest building.

Okay, so you’re thinking…what does this have to do with rental car keys? You guessed it…as soon as the rain cleared, we headed back to our car. Upon the approached I noticed Kyle frantically searching his shorts pockets and the backpack he was carrying. I knew we were in trouble when he turned to me and asked, “um…did I give you the keys the car?”

The next hour is somewhat of a blur, consisting of huge claps of thunder, lightning streaking the sky and a total downpour of rain. I recall calling the Savannah Welcome center, the police and Budget rental. I recall standing alone on the front steps of a large, historic building getting pelted by rain and trying to save our computers and camera from being ruined. I then recall giving up and walking out in the somewhat lessened downpour to continue the search for the missing keys…I must have looked like a mad woman pacing around getting drenched, but not noticing since I was staring at the ground in search of the keys. All the time I kept remembering the Camacho family story of losing our car keys at the bottom of the Wisconsin River…I couldn’t believe it was happening again!

I then recall calling Kyle to ask how his search was going…only to find out that he was still seeking shelter a few blocks away because he didn’t want to get wet. Let me say that again…he was still seeking shelter because he didn’t want to get wet. Very quickly after hanging up with me, he was out in the rain in an earnest search for the car keys. It is truly unbelievable that Kyle found the keys. As a last resort he wandered into a tea shop where we had previously stopped for about 2 minutes and asked if they had found any keys…and they had.

The lesson learned is really this…when renting car do one of two things: 1. Remove the second key from the key ring and put it in a secure place (not inside the car) or 2. Put a contact phone number on the key ring so that someone can call you if they find your keys.

Quite the drama to end our week of relaxation. So life goes…

First of all, thank you so much for all the recommendations of places to visit in the Napa/Sonoma area. Although we could not visit them all, we did hit several and we had a great time!

Going to wine country can be daunting with so many wineries to choose from. We had been to the Napa area once before and spent most of our time in two valleys – The Russian River Valley and Napa Valley. We decided for this trip, we would focus the first day on Sonoma Valley and the second on Napa Valley.

Our first day was a short day, as we started in San Francisco by picking up some good friends from the airport and then made our way up north. Our first stop was Matanzas Creek Winery, located near Santa Rosa. It is, of course, a winery but it also is known for its lavender fields. This is actually why I wanted to visit Matanzas Creek, as I had read the lavender would be in full bloom during our visit. The setting is beautiful with the road winding around the lavender fields and then ending at the base of a beautiful wood building. Inside, we had our first flight in our wine country tour and also sampled the many lavender products. Although we didn’t buy any of the wine, we did purchase some cooking lavender, which I am looking forward to experimenting with soon.

After our wine, we took some time to wander through the lavender fields. With the lavender blowing slightly in the breeze and the sun shining bright, we all took a sigh of relief and realized that, yes, vacation had officially started.

Our next stop was to pick up some sandwiches at a nearby deli to take to Gundlach Bundschu Winery, located just east of downtown Sonoma. We really loved this winery. First of all, it is a sustainable, organic vineyard, which I think is really interesting. And secondly, it was such a laid back winery experience, which is such a breath of fresh air in wine country. We quickly side-stepped the tasting crowd, bought a bottle of Tempranillo and settled outside on a hill to eat our picnic lunch. Nothing can be better than drinking a bottle of wine and knowing that the grapes were grown and the wine was made on the very farm you are sitting on. Truly amazing. After lunch we took a walk down to through portion of the vineyards – no guide, no fuss, just a leisurely stroll amongst the vines. Lovely.

Once the crowd was gone, we went back to the tasting room to try more of their wines. I really loved that as you were tasting, they would take out a map of the farm and show you which plot the grapes were grown on that made the wine you were drinking. We decided on a couple bottles to buy and were pleasantly surprised when they packaged them in a Gundlach Bundschu bag. The bag holds up to six bottles of wine and is reusable or, if preferred, completely recyclable. These guys have got their act together.

After a quick nap at our B&B, we headed back to Sonoma to wander the plaza before dinner. Unfortunately the stores were closed, but I’ll have to make a note to do a little shopping there on our next visit.

Dinner reservations were at a restaurant just off Sonoma Plaza at The Girl and the Fig. Now, I know that I tend to get excited about food and restaurants, but I want to make something clear…All four of us left this restaurant agreeing that this was one of the best meals we had ever had. Ever. I know it was partly the combination of being on vacation in wine country with great friends, but we all agreed that from the setting to the food to the service, it was fantastic!

We were seated outside on a large patio with lush plants and blooming flowers throughout and two fireplaces and strings of lights that set the scene so perfectly. After much pondering of the menu, my friend and I decided to share several items. We started with steamed mussels with garlic, leeks and herbs and also a cheese and cured meat sampler. The mussels were so fantastic that after we finished them, we mopped the sauce up with the grilled bread and then wished we had more. Our next course was a fig and arugula salad with toasted pecans, chevre, pancetta and a port vinaigrette. Yummy! Our main entree was the flat iron steak served with green beans and a truffled goat cheese macaroni and cheese. I would have licked my plate clean if it would not have been impolite. Dessert (yes, we ate dessert after all of that) was shared among us all – a plum crumble and a chocolate tart. This was all washed down with two bottles of wine and some coffee. Two and a half hours later, we stumbled out of The Girl and the Fig. Bellies full, we were ready for a full night’s rest in preparation for our adventures in Napa the next day.

We spent a long weekend in California last week – visiting both San Francisco and the Napa Valley area. It was a much needed respite and a great time with friends.

Our first day was spent in San Francisco and, while I had hoped to do a little more sightseeing, the day got away from me due to work so I only had a little time before dinner to enjoy the day. The first stop for me was Chinatown. Last time we were in San Francisco, we spent a little time in this area, but really did not concentrate much on it. It was late afternoon, I was hungry, and I was determined to eat some good Chinese food.

I wandered through the streets of Chinatown, enjoying the sights and sounds and stopping into a few stores. Interestingly, several stores were sensitive to cameras and would not allow pictures to be taken. In particular, there was an entire store of what looked like variations of ginger root and other assortments that I was interested in. But, as soon as the camera came out, I was chastised…so I left.

Searching for that perfect place to get a late lunch, I ran across several options. There were tea shops (both regular and bubble tea), food stands, and other traditional looking restaurants with many tourists enjoying a bite. The options that I went for, however, was the least visually appealing one that I could find. In fact, it was the one with large glazed birds in the window that apparently had done a great job driving away tourists, since I was the only one there.

Despite the lack of tourists, however, the place was plenty crowded. I walked in and was immediately draw to two large tables, filled with plates of prepared food, located near a food preparation counter. There was a woman sitting nearby as well who appeared to be “guarding” the food in some fashion. I could not figure it out. Although I was curious to find out the meaning behind this, I went ahead and sat down to order my meal. I grabbed a seat near the back of the restaurant, to get the best people-watching vantage. Observing this large display of food and seeing people come in and out of the restaurant, I had a sudden “ah ha” moment…it was a version of take out! The premise, however, is that each portion is served on a regular plate, so that when the to-go patron comes in, they pick the plate they want and go to the service counter where it is put in a to-go box and bagged up. Interesting! I don’t know why it took me so long to figure out, but well, it did.

Once this mystery was solved, I was free to observe the other patrons of the restaurant. One table that I enjoyed, in particular, was a table of 6 or 7 old men sitting near me. They were doing nothing much…sitting around, some casually eating a bite, some drinking tea, others drinking beer…some reading the newspaper, others staring into space. Occasionally they would say a word to each other, which would strike a brief conversation, but this would end quickly and each would return back to their own doings. I was amazed. It was apparent that these old men had been coming to this restaurant for such a long time and were so comfortable with each other’s presence, that it was just habit to be there reading the newspaper, drinking a beer, and not talking. I both found comfort in these actions and felt sad as well. I am certain that these old men were not sad or resentful of being there. Nor did they seem resentful that they were not talking, but it did make me want to get together with a group of my best girlfiends and spend time…only we would be talking, all as one group, to share everything that is current in our lives. I left Chinatown, excited for the upcoming weekend with good friends and more adventures to come.

After Chinatown, I walked along the Embarcadero, past several piers and watching the trolley cars until I met up with Kyle. From there, we decided to hit the Castro District, which is a predominantly gay neighborhood of San Francisco. We didn’t do much, but walk along the streets and enjoyed the livliness of the area and its distict flair and pride of its residents.

We didn’t have much time in San Francisco on this visit, but I enjoyed the hours that I did spend. Our last visit was much more focused on Alcatraz, Haight-Ashbury and the Golden Gate Park. This was a relaxing break from the touristy areas, but also allowed us an opportunity to explore some great areas in a city that is full of culture. I’ll continue soon our Napa/Sonoma part of the trip…pictures galore!

PS – I just re-read my post and realized I didn’t say much about the food! Imagine that! I did enjoy my meal in Chinatown (BBQ pork and white rice) although I do wish I had gone with the beef and vegetables since the next table was enjoying it so much! We had a great dinner that night at really cool place, so I’ll dig up the pictures and share soon as well.