Tourists in Milwaukee

Ollie and Ann win the prize for being the first of the Ryan clan into Milwaukee. They visited last weekend, in part as celebration for Ann's XXth(!) birthday which was Monday...

The weekend started somewhat disastrously with our Friday night visit to the Lakefront Brewery (reputedly one of the better brewery tours to do in town) but we were there for the Friday night Fish Fry - an institution in Milwaukee, and given it was a Friday night in Lent we should have steered clear!...very average food, and about 300 people all thinking they were having a good time! We got in early and got out quickly, and headed to WholeFoods where we bought some wine and cheese and retired to Casa Young for something a little more tasty....

After a visit to the Milwaukee Public Market on Saturday morning we headed out to the lake country and visited Lake Pewaukee and the village, with the obligatory drive-by of Harken Inc. We stopped in to the Wisconsin Cheese Mart downtown on the way home to try to taste some decent local cheese, but ended up buying old glass milk bottles and having fun with hats instead...
This weekend was the opening weekend of the baseball season and our local team, the Brewers (what other name would be appropriate for a Milwaukee team), whipped the LA Dodger's butts at Miller Park - sorry Mike! This is the local stadium - the roof slides back to open fully.

Saturday night we ate out at Bjondas which was disappointing sadly, but all good experience in learning to be a little more prudent when taking other people's advice about where to eat in this town (be sure to know whether those giving the advice like the same food you like!).

Probably the culinary highlight of the weekend came in liquid form - the Sunday morning Bloody Mary at Comet, our local (like 50m away) cafe round the corner. Not just any Bloody Mary - it was made in true Milwaukean style - made with beer, served with a beer chaser, and garnished with a slice of crispy bacon!

The rest of the day was spent at the Art Museum, where we delved a little deeper into the life of Irish-born English artist Francis Bacon (it was that kinda day - sorry Denise, no pun intended!) who is the subject of the keynote exhibition currently at the museum.

The visiting British curator of the show (who happened also to be a longterm friend of the artist) gave an informal presentation about his life and style. We learned that Bacon's artistic endeavors were mainly fueled by the gracious donations of the Sainsbury family, and champagne - so we headed to the local grocery where Ollie indulged us with a bottle - to celebrate Ann's pending birthday and to get us in the right artistic frame of mind!

Dinner was a simple affair at Casa Young, more pork in honor of Bacon (sorry Denise!), a 2005 Mt Difficulty Pinot and a 1997 Stonyridge LaRose.

Monday we headed to Chicago for a day of quick fire sightseeing which included a stopover at Millennium Park to see the Cloud Gate sculpture, known as "the bean" and the Crown Fountain.


We celebrated the big XX with a lunch at one of my favourite spots - Blackbird restaurant on the Westside. The birthday cake was a cheeky little number - a Meyer lemon mouse, with orange segments and slided fennel salad, with a garnish of dried olives - delicious!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ann - and thanks guys for coming!