Lunch at the Milwaukee Public Market

I was so excited when I woke up this morning and realized it was my Friday since I am off for the next four days! I have a huge list of various things I want to do over the long weekend, but I also want to build in some relaxation time.

Breakfast this morning was my usual yogurt and coffee. All week, I have been eating Chobani with the strawberry rhubarb crisp and it’s been great to look forward to and has filled me up. Today was the first day I didn’t eat that combination. I guess I don’t easily get sick of certain foods.

Even though it was super gloomy and windy out today, I decided to head over to the Milwaukee Public Market for lunch. It was jam packed in there, which was great to see!

I picked up a Turkey, Apple, Brie panini at the West Allis Cheese and Sausage Shoppe.

It was pretty good–I liked the flavor combination, but I could see adding mustard and arugula too.

This was my view during lunch.

I didn’t people watch because I read Water for Elephants instead. I am 70% through and I hope to finish it tomorrow!

I also dropped off a cooking class registration at the main office of the market. I signed up for the June and July Summer Harvest classes. The recipes sounded really delicious! We’ll learn how to cook recipes with “vegetables, herbs and fruits grown in Wisconsin at the peak of their flavors.” There are three total classes, but I didn’t want to sign up for August until I really know if I like the teacher. I’ll risk it being sold out by the time I decide to sign up. The only other cooking class I took at the Market was a couple of years ago and it really inspired me to think about what I was putting in my body. The teacher was excellent and I loved the recipes. That class was where I first learned about quinoa!

Of course, while at the market, one must pick up dessert from one of the various yummy bakeries. I chose a Peanut Butter Buddy from the C. Adams bakery.

I left work early today and picked up these books from the library. I want to buy the weight lifting book, but I like to preview books from libraries before I fully commit. The cookbooks were recently featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Food section, so I figured they would be great to put on reserve and check out. I’ll let you know how all three are, because I hope to look through them all this weekend.

Dinner was just a vegetarian Qdoba burrito. I only ate half and then I didn’t feel so good from it, so I ended up skipping yoga. Boo. Need to get to the gym tomorrow because I miss it!

Time to go read some other blog posts–I have way too many blogs in my google reader. Isn’t it hard to keep up if you follow a lot of bloggers?

Speaking of bloggers–most of you will probably be very interested in this NY Times article. It’s titled, “My Blog Is Also Paying My Bills.” It features Molly Wizenberg who wrote A Homemade Life, which I am currently reading in between Water for Elephants. The best quote from the article is “I tell people if they want to start a blog just to make money, they should quit right now. You have to love it and be passionate about your topic.”

Taste of Home Cooking School Recap: Brookfield, May 25, 2011

Last night, Karis and I went to the Taste of Home Cooking School/Show at Elmbrook Church in Brookfield. Head over to Karis’s blog for her recap too, but here is mine. Have you ever attended a Taste of Home cooking show in your hometown?

The show had a great attendance and it seemed like many people in the audience had been to one before. There was an expo outside of the show and it was just ok. We didn’t really talk to any vendors, but that’s not my thing either.

We did receive a nice bag of goodies when we checked in.

We also got to choose a one year subscription to either Taste of Home or Simple and Delicious. I had seen Taste of Home at the libraries I frequent, so I figured getting Simple and Delicious was the better choice, especially because the title of the magazine sounds more like my kind of cooking!

Overall, the cooking show/school was sort of disappointing because much of the time was spent giving away raffle prizes to the audience and promoting the sponsors. They had some awesome giveaway items though. Karis and I didn’t walk away with anything, but Craig’s Aunt and cousin were there and his Aunt won one of the meals to take home with her. I didn’t know she was in attendance until they said her name and what city she was from!

Our chef for the evening was Guy Klinzing. He offered some good tips on cutting fruit, looking for produce at the grocery store, etc.

We received a Cooking School magazine to follow the recipes Guy was cooking, which included Skinny Crab Quiche, Sweet Onion Burgers, French Onion Soup with Warm Apple-Cheese Sandwiches, Black Bean Stuffed Peppers, Flamin’ Cajun Skillet, Halibut Soft Tacos, Blueberry Upside-Down Cake, and Tropical Crisp.

The recipes I would like to try from that selection are the French Onion Soup and Warm Apple-Cheese sandwiches, Black Bean Stuffed Peppers, and Tropical Crisp.

If they have a show next year, my mom really wants to go with me, so I would attend again. I wish they had one that was all vegetarian recipes! I’ll just check out the Taste of Home website for some of those in the meantime!