Weekly Randomness for Friday, April 22, 2016

Sometimes it snows in April

Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad

Sometimes I wish life was never ending,

And all good things, they say, never last

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• Another re-examination of old theories, and another lesson in humility to the data
• A presidential kind of graveyard

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• Used to be foodie heaven was only during the growing season. Now it's year round if you know where to look. Here's the guide.  
• One-man-band, rather Seussian to me, don't you think?
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• Earth Day is our anniversary. Best gift? Go clean up something! 
• Speaking of anniversary, looks like Deadpool!
• Hitting the links for the first time if the weather holds. And hope I don't embarrass the sport...

Winter Omelet

Nothing beats cold weather like a big breakfast!

Asparagus*, mushroom & swiss cheese omelet with maple-linkies** alongside.

*Yes, I do recognize that asparagus is not technically winter food... but a girl can only go so long with something green on her plate!
Well, something that's supposed to be green. 

**We are hooked on Jones Dairy Farm sausage goods - must try if you can. It's a reason to stay in Wisconsin. Doesn't quite make up for the cold... comes close.

Magnet Monday: WiscSymbols

Cheesy Refrigerator Magnet for Monday, December 1, 2014
"Wisconsin", American Robin, White-Tailed Deer, Dairy Farming Capitol, Wood Violets, circa 2007 (?)

In honor of deer season. We see our fair share of urban park deer here; most are skittish and harmless, but not all. They can be a real nuisance, crossing neighborhood streets willy-nilly and giving new meaning to the phrase "garden fresh salad bar" (stay out of my hostas!). 

I'm pretty sure we picked this magnet up at Mitchell Airport here in Milwaukee. If I were to guess further, I would say we were waiting to leave on a flight rather than waiting for someone to arrive. Taking a small reminder of home along for the trip. That does seem awfully cheesy, but I'm proud of our dairy history and charmed by the robins and violets. Deer, as long as they don't treat my garden as a smorgasbord, are fine too. 



Magnet Monday features a selection from our semi-vast and ever growing collection of cheesy refrigerator magnets. Without doubt the perfect souvenir. Only slightly less cheesy than collecting snow globes but maybe a lot easier to smuggle in your bra. If need be. Which I hope it never is. Unless it's really worth it.

I am part of the first great cause.

Last post: Thanksgiving. And now: Spring.

Although you might think it's November and not April. Snow is falling heavily outside; looks lake effect. Big, fluffy, walnut-sized globs of snow. At least it's not sticking. Much.

Some weeks ago, geekMan and I picked up a scrapbook at an antique mall. It's an old, paper-covered ledger book filled with newspaper clippings dating to the 1920s, '30s, and early '40s. Mostly OpEd pieces, words of wisdom, points of advice; some interesting essays about the lack of US involvement in European conflict prior to WWII. And a lot of poems, a good portion of which are in German. I've decided that the collector of these scraps is a woman. Clippings of "Meditations of a Married Woman" by Helen Rowland give that much away. It surprises me how modern the ideas are, and I'm not sure if that's reflective of the collector or the times she lived in; or maybe where she lived, here in Wisconsin.

I find kindred interest in many pieces. Most don't have author's bylines. One I liked does: Ella Wheeler Wilcox. She was prolific, and best known for the lines: "Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Weep, and you weep alone" (Solitude). Turns out she's a Wisconsin poet. Maybe kindred after all.

I Am  by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I know not whence I came,
   I know not whither I go,
But the fact stands clear
That I am here
   In this world of pleasure and woe,
And out of the mist and murk
   Another truth shines plain-
It is in my power
Each day and hour
  To add to its joy or its pain.

I know that the earth exists,
   It is none of my business why.
I cannot find out
What it's all about-
   I would but waste time to try.
My life is a brief, brief thing,
   I am here for a little space,
And while I stay
I would like, if I may,
   To brighten and better the place.

The trouble, I think, with us all
   Is the lack of a high conceit:
If each man thought
He was sent to the spot
   To make it a bit more sweet,
How soon we could gladden the world,
   How easily right all wrong,
If nobody shirked
And each one worked
   To help his fellows along.

Cease wondering why you came;
   Stop looking for faults and flaws;
Rise up today
In your pride and say
   "I am part of the first great cause.
However full the world
   There is room for an earnest man;
It had need of me
Or I would not be-
   I am here to strengthen the plan."

poem a.k.a. Why and Wherefore
copyright 1896

Oh, the Irony

Extra Aged Pleasant Ridge Reserve by Uplands Cheese in Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

Does anyone else find irony in the fact that the cheese judged Best in Show at the recent American Cheese Society competition was made from RAW milk, and yet trying to buy raw milk by my own consumer choice is illegal? I'm dumbfounded by the prohibition on raw milk sales. You would think that allowing the sale is tantamount to forcing raw milk on everyone. It's called consumer choice. I would like to exercise mine; you know, take it out for a walk now and then. To buy some raw milk.

Photo from Wisconsin Cheese Talk, sponsored by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

Pass It On: Heavy on the Cheese Please!

Living in Wisconsin has always been associated with eating cheese, and with good reason. People in other states ridicule us as "cheese-heads", but frankly I think it's because their jealous.

Every local grocery store carries wonderful local cheeses; even the gas station stop-n-shops carry cheese curds and string cheese from the dairy up the road. So of course, we have a dairy marketing board, and of course, they have a website. Only for them, being cheesy is a good thing.

The Wisconsin Dairy Marketing Board has a lot of recipes and ideas about serving cheese (you mean you can't just lop off a piece and eat it??). It's given me a new focus in the kitchen: to recreate every recipe from their recent 30 Days of Mac & Cheese promo. Cheesemo indeed!