Heading Home
I enjoy the annual trek to Door County, Wisconsin every year. I like the shopping, the sights, hiking through the state park and talking with the innkeeper in the morning before the rest of the guests come down for breakfast. After a week I am ready to come home. I miss the cats, cooking my own meals and sleeping in my own bed.
C is usually a little sad when we pack up the car to go home. I feel bad for him, so this year I thought I would help by making the trip home a bit more enjoyable. I suggested that we try to hit every cheese factory we could find on the way home. I had a name for it, it would be the Wisconsin cheese tour. He seemed to think that was all right.
We packed up the car,said goodbye to the innkeeper and headed to the first stop, a place called Good Eggs. It's a little stand open from 7 am to 1 pm that makes custom omelets and then wraps them in a burrito to eat. When C craves eggs (breakfast at the B and B is muffins, fruit soup,granola and cereal) this is where he goes. I had one with peppers,green onions,black bean salsa and of course cheese. It was wonderful.
Then we headed to an artisan cheese shop that some cheese we wanted. Just before we got there I realised that I had left my purse at Good Eggs. The good news was that a call confirmed that it was still there. The bad news was that we were now about 45 minutes behind schedule.
Since most cheese shops close at five and it was one o'clock by the time we got to Sturgeon Bay, we decided we would hit what we could.
We stopped at Renard's just outside of Sturgeon Bay. I found several things including a Cow Pie. Cow Pie is a candy that you cannot find anywhere else except Wisconsin. It's made in Baraboo. (Baraboo is fun to say.) Outside the shop there is a mouse statue. I posed with it and C took a picture. We also got a bag of curds. Real curds. Real curds are not covered with bread and fried. Real curds are not coated with anything except a bit of whey, are preferably warm and squeak when you bite into them.
Our next stop was Belle Plaine, which is south of Shawano. We usually stop there to stock up every year. I picked up all of our favourites Gouda, Brick,some Cheddar and some smoked string cheese. I also picked up something called Blue Cheddar. It's a combination of blue cheese and Cheddar.
We stopped at Nueske's. It is actually a meat market, but I have had so many people tell me to stop there that I asked C if he minded a quick visit. I poked around a bit and came out with some applewood smoked turkey breast. We did need sandwich meat for the week.
By this time it was too late to stop anywhere else. It was also getting dark and C and I were both getting a little hungry. The next large city we would come to would be Chippewa Falls. It's a pretty little city. We drove around the downtown area looking for a place to eat with no luck. We decided to go back through town the way we came. We had seen a few places where we could stop.
We chose to eat at Red Apple. It was a good choice. The walls were adorned with pictures of famous Green Bay Packer players including several of Brett Farve before fame went to his head. We felt right at home. We were shown to a large booth and given menus. I looked over the hamburger selection and the turned to the sandwiches. One of the selections was a Monte Cristo. I almost screeched with delight. Few restaurants offer a Monte Cristo on the menu. It is my favourite sandwich. (For those of you that don't know what it is it is a turkey,ham and Swiss sandwich with bread that has been dipped in an egg batter and grilled. It is served with either strawberry or raspberry jam.) I also upgraded to the onion rings. C had a basket of walleye fingers and the batter fries. (Why do they call them Walleye fingers? As far as I know fish don't have hands.)
The food was really good. C and I shared the fries and rings which were both excellent.While we ate several big screen TVs were showing the Wisconsin-Michigan football game. The cheers of devoted Badger fans filled the restaurant.
We paid our bill and headed out. We decided that if we were ever in Chippewa Falls during mealtime we would head to the Red Apple. It was a good way to finish our trip.
C is usually a little sad when we pack up the car to go home. I feel bad for him, so this year I thought I would help by making the trip home a bit more enjoyable. I suggested that we try to hit every cheese factory we could find on the way home. I had a name for it, it would be the Wisconsin cheese tour. He seemed to think that was all right.
We packed up the car,said goodbye to the innkeeper and headed to the first stop, a place called Good Eggs. It's a little stand open from 7 am to 1 pm that makes custom omelets and then wraps them in a burrito to eat. When C craves eggs (breakfast at the B and B is muffins, fruit soup,granola and cereal) this is where he goes. I had one with peppers,green onions,black bean salsa and of course cheese. It was wonderful.
Then we headed to an artisan cheese shop that some cheese we wanted. Just before we got there I realised that I had left my purse at Good Eggs. The good news was that a call confirmed that it was still there. The bad news was that we were now about 45 minutes behind schedule.
Since most cheese shops close at five and it was one o'clock by the time we got to Sturgeon Bay, we decided we would hit what we could.
We stopped at Renard's just outside of Sturgeon Bay. I found several things including a Cow Pie. Cow Pie is a candy that you cannot find anywhere else except Wisconsin. It's made in Baraboo. (Baraboo is fun to say.) Outside the shop there is a mouse statue. I posed with it and C took a picture. We also got a bag of curds. Real curds. Real curds are not covered with bread and fried. Real curds are not coated with anything except a bit of whey, are preferably warm and squeak when you bite into them.
Our next stop was Belle Plaine, which is south of Shawano. We usually stop there to stock up every year. I picked up all of our favourites Gouda, Brick,some Cheddar and some smoked string cheese. I also picked up something called Blue Cheddar. It's a combination of blue cheese and Cheddar.
We stopped at Nueske's. It is actually a meat market, but I have had so many people tell me to stop there that I asked C if he minded a quick visit. I poked around a bit and came out with some applewood smoked turkey breast. We did need sandwich meat for the week.
By this time it was too late to stop anywhere else. It was also getting dark and C and I were both getting a little hungry. The next large city we would come to would be Chippewa Falls. It's a pretty little city. We drove around the downtown area looking for a place to eat with no luck. We decided to go back through town the way we came. We had seen a few places where we could stop.
We chose to eat at Red Apple. It was a good choice. The walls were adorned with pictures of famous Green Bay Packer players including several of Brett Farve before fame went to his head. We felt right at home. We were shown to a large booth and given menus. I looked over the hamburger selection and the turned to the sandwiches. One of the selections was a Monte Cristo. I almost screeched with delight. Few restaurants offer a Monte Cristo on the menu. It is my favourite sandwich. (For those of you that don't know what it is it is a turkey,ham and Swiss sandwich with bread that has been dipped in an egg batter and grilled. It is served with either strawberry or raspberry jam.) I also upgraded to the onion rings. C had a basket of walleye fingers and the batter fries. (Why do they call them Walleye fingers? As far as I know fish don't have hands.)
The food was really good. C and I shared the fries and rings which were both excellent.While we ate several big screen TVs were showing the Wisconsin-Michigan football game. The cheers of devoted Badger fans filled the restaurant.
We paid our bill and headed out. We decided that if we were ever in Chippewa Falls during mealtime we would head to the Red Apple. It was a good way to finish our trip.
For the same reason they call them 'buffalo wings', silly.
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