I have to pick up three smelly, stinky, cranky from lack of sleep due to having fun scouts (all teenagers d*mn it) from camp. I plan on driving up the day before from MKE and staying in Iron Mountain, MI. There are a couple of cheese places I remember from last year, I refuse to stop at neuske's due to the very high prices, I refuse to stop in Sartori due to the misleading billboard (VISIT OUR CHEESE SHOP!) that was a very small dorm fridge with a glass door and a dozen cheese in it at best.. This year I do plan to stop and try pickle soup. I may also feed them with a drink full of melatonin so that they sleep for the long trip back. Something like the Neurosleep that works great for me.

Actually decent. Little produce, but a couple of BBQ stands, some of the best smoked trout I have ever had (the salmon was OK to better than average. Next week I am getting a couple more packages of the trout to see if I can duplicate his formula), Elk products, flowers, honey, etc. Not in the same league as West Allis, but there were several people there promoting it - I am assuming they are trying to make it bigger.
Tuesdays 7am-8pm

You can skip the Brown Deer market. Two stands were there last week.

Have a laugh - a few years ago one of the other early arrivers at work came in FURIOUS. Her husband apparently bought a truck load of cabbage a West Allis . A WHOLE truckload that was dropped off in their driveway. Apparently he had the thought of making saurkraut for all of the relatives. I made a few calls to friends and had lots of clean 5 gallon buckets put behind a couple of businesses and she borrowed my truck to pick them up. She was kind enough to give me a 5 gallon bucket worth when it was ready. I donated it to a local church for their picnic. From that point on her husband was referred to as "the da*m fool I married". I didn't mention the $10K Kimchi unit I was asking the wife about. Or the $1500 doughnut maker to replace my $150 unit. Or my $500 chocolate tempering machine, my eight bread machines (yes, all but one bought from thrift stores for different purposes), my two kitchenaide mixers. etc. She might have gotten up with my wife and teamed up on both of us!

From the topic on the LTH forum:

A side trip to Freeport revealed the Union Dairy, aka Alber's Ice Cream:
815-232-7099
126 E Douglas St
Freeport IL 61032-4116

Lino's is an Italian place on State Street in Rockford, looks like they're trying to channel Olive Garden's ambiance (faux stone work -- bonus for naked cherubs) with old-skool (sic) red-sauce Italian. I wasn't impressed with their meatballs (too pasty) but otherwise good stuff, and friendly service:
5611 E State St, Rockford, IL, 815.397.2077

Alpine View is a family dining place with an Omega-like menu and dessert case, although seems to be more Italian than Greek. Low prices, decent food. Prime Rib on weekends for $11.99 is nicely roasted and a generous portion. Fried chicken was crisp and tasty. A few points off for foil-wrapped baked spuds, and a very dull-tasting pecan pie. Nice escape from the chain restaurants.
1710 S Alpine Rd
Rockford, IL 61108
(815) 227-5400

Vietnamese Restaurant (forget the name) has good Goi Ga –chicken salad and Banh Xeo – viet crepe
324 7th Street
Rockford, IL 61104
815.964.5353

Da Catch
1528 Kishwaukee St (at 15th Ave)
Rockford, IL 61104
(815) 963-9460

Stockholm Inn
2420 Charles Street
Rockford, IL
(815)397-3534

That's the place, but my understanding by the end the menu was a clone of his other two places. He gave up on Bill Curtis' beef.

In the former Sobelman's location.
No idea on the opening date other than around mid-August.
From the MKE business Journal.

May that be years from now ;)
One time when I was 16 my mother was on a drunken rant and went "when you give me grand kids" and me being sick of these went "would you like to meet him?". It was amazing. I left quickly, and a few hours later my father woke me up going "you ever pull anything like that again....." Then hugged me and left.
As of the 17 year old party I was part of where the boys did nothing to appreciate the girls yesterday, and I "tried" to help. One young lady went to her mother and told her that she should be dating me because I was cool. My wife turning purple and the woman blushing had me tell the kid "run, run like the wind" which diffused the situation.

I apparently am taking a retiree there. If anyone wants
(Mesquite/apple/cherry) please post here. Also if you want cherry or Carmel coating for popcorn, let me know.

Probably rare for this board, but if you have any concession equipment, Valley will troubleshoot/clean for $45/hr. I am so going to do this for my huge popcorn machine. I picked up a popcorn machine from a multi-plex that was remodeling. I just happened to be there with my old truck when two folks were carrying it out. A promise of $20 to put it in the truck bed was enough ;). The thing cannot fit in my current car it is so large.

Regretfully, no. My teenager who has just had the end of school for this year does not like fine dining. Mostly because of the embarrassment his mother provides anytime she opens a menu. Or has to make a decision. Or get anywhere on time (we have lost reservation due to the "time" thing).

Sorry, rant off, I wish we could enjoy the promotion.

OK, the solution is in Oshgosh. After driving past Vally Popcorn for years (easy to see from the highway, difficult to get to), a gallon of decent quality Coconut oil is $16. Their prices also put Knight's Popcorn to shame.

Not being a Madison regular, I would be interested in hearing an answer as well.

Kid's surgery went fine. Scared us though. My knee surgery due to being hit by a useless POS doing over 100! And pulling into the slow lane to pass without seeing me doing 50! In the speed trap is still in the courts.

His lack of insurance and his rep (progressive insurance) (may Flo rot in hell forever!) has caused major issues. I miss my Honda element. Best darn thing ever, I was hoping to keep it to give to the kid as it was listed as the best teenage learner car. Progressive offered a major screw job for it being totalled.

*blush*
Not always though, why the pressure smoker. Like when the kid told me as he was being taken to school that he signed me up to feed 50 people on his tennis team that night at 6. I picked up three pork roasts at 3:pm, marinated in the vacuum tumbler, put into two loads in the pressure smoker and delivered at 5:45.

I prefer the dust for the Cameron smokers, pellets for the pressure smoker, and wood chips for the "real" smoker.

Yep, smoker nerd.

OK, nobody has replied. However, I will be going to
http://www.allthingsjerky.com/

in the next couple of weeks. If anyone wants lots of sawdust, please let me know. If you are familiar with the Cameron Smokers, this is 1/10 the cost.

Just as an FYI f you see a Cameron Smoker, several friend who love tea smoked chicken have bought them just for this reason. N e need for foil over your wok.

I have posted about the place in Appleton that does inexpensive sawdust. A local group that supports vets that are trying to deal with handicapped issues has asked me to help with fundraising. I will be bringing three (there are old marines, retired marines, but once a marine, always a marine) marines up to Appleton to get lots of dust, and they will be making smoked salt and such with some of my equipment. It will be a couple of weeks before we get set up, but please visit us at several of the local farmers markets.

They will be doing smoked salt and jam. Both sugar and Splenda jam.
All profits being put to the local vocal memory history organization. To be honest, my wife volunteers for this group and tries to organize the last WWII vets as life passes.

Hah! Glad to understand "meat" "meat" is not what MKE stands for. Seriously. I asked my teen if he wanted this, and he did the best thing I ever wanted to hear "I will eat any thing but you have to understand. Taste/enjoymrnent is more important.

Cermak market now has lots of good smoked fish, including eel.

Not sure where it is going in, but the outfit that licensed Ryan Braun and Arron Rodger's names is going in where COA is going out.

I'll take Fowler's review and go there to try it out, but I will admit to being skeptical since they have no connection to Sprecher's other than licensing the name and using their products.

Despite the fact that Trader Joe's went in and extended my father's life for years (one of the things he missed when we moved him here, but by gosh he missed Stew Leonard's), (Trader Joe's opened up early for him before the grand opening, gave him such a huge "opening" gift that it was shared with his assisted living place, and made allowances for weekly trips by that place), Bayshore is turning in to more and more of a disappointment. Lousy traffic pattern, outside mall in the winter, huge amount of crime, etc. turning into the same type of place that Mayfair turned into.

Of course, just being able to go into an Orvis again is wonderful. Not that I spend anything there other than getting some $20 cases, but I enjoy it.

FYI

My departed father's old church in NY called to ask for 100 lbs of smoked salt for their fund raiser since it was a "best seller". My source for smoking sawdust is no longer, I really do not want to drive to Appleton just to get some from the Jerky store for $3/lb. in the past I have used an old vitamix to make sawdust from wood chips, but right now I am too busy (lazy) to do that. Any wild game/sausage folks know of a sawdust smoker source by MKE?

I just picked up a pregnancy cravings book called "barefoot in the kitchen" at a thrift store. Let me know if you want it. I picked up 200 cookbooks this week so I obviously won't miss this one.

Benji's deli on Oakland, john's sandwich shop in tosa,
And a friend suggested moe's pub on Bluemound rd.

I just got an email that they are having an exotic meat cookout on may 9th from 5:pm until 7:pm.
Camel, rabbit, venison "and more". I'm sure we all have had rabbit and venison, but camel would be new for me.
Apparently they also sponsor a race car which will be making an appearance.

I live just outside of Milwaukee, but would suggest Louisville as a destination. I used to live there and think it is a more interesting city if you have a limited time. If you can extend your stay, Milwaukee cannot be beat.

It wasn't just beef, but elk, ostrich, etc. as well as some pheasants from the cooker (bird parts, not jerky). But yes, I was astounded as well.

I was upstate and saw a billboard for the place.
Worth a quick stop in if you drive that way on the way to Lambeau field.

All things jerky
637 N westhill Blvd
Appleton, wi 54914

The web site is their name (no spaces) dot com.

They had many jerky types to sample, equipment to make it, a selection of local pickled produce, some interesting pepper and hot sauces, and bulk sawdust of various flavors.

The family in front of me spent $500. I got out for under $20, but will be back later this season to stock up on sawdust at $2.99/lb.

From an email received today:

Enjoy food, friends, and a sneak peek at the very first issue of Edible Milwaukee at this exclusive event on Saturday, May 18th from 7:00-10:00 p.m. at Great Lakes Distillery, 616 W. Virginia St, in Milwaukee's Fifth Ward.

Experience Milwaukee's premiere distillery, page through your own copy of Edible Milwaukee, and indulge in delicious bites from Atomic Chocolate, Buckley's Restaurant and Bar, Chef Gregory Leon, Harvest Cafe - Watertown, Martha's Pimento Cheese, Maxie's, The National Cafe and Catering, Odd Duck, Sazama's, Wolf Peach, and Valentine Coffee, and more. There will be plenty to please every palate, and a cash bar will be available thanks to the talented staff at Great Lakes Distillery.
Enjoy food, friends, and a sneak peek at the very first issue of Edible Milwaukee at this exclusive event on Saturday, May 18th from 7:00-10:00 p.m. at Great Lakes Distillery, 616 W. Virginia St, in Milwaukee's Fifth Ward.

Tickets for the friend-raiser, which are $50 in advance, can be purchased online by visiting
ediblemkelaunchDOTeventbriteDOTcom. A limited number of tickets will also be available for $75 at the door.

All proceeds from this event will benefit Edible Milwaukee's mission: to amplify Milwaukee's achievements to food fans locally and nationwide; to highlight the unique cultural makeup of the cit and pay homage to each group's contributions to our foodscape; and to honor Milwaukee's historical food traditions, whether they are in the past or being revitalized by new producers.

Send me an email to exvaxman at sign yahoo dot com and I can forward you my friend's living local suggestions. Too large for this forum. She did give me permission to do this.

However, I will be out of town until late tomorrow. Due to my anniversary and my better two thirds.

Bad news
From my friend:
No. Her best bet is to order them. www.southerncandymakers.com