Tuesday, February 5, 2008

February Fun

So here we are on the fifth of February anticipating the biggest snowfall of the season. Claiming 8 to 10 to possibly 14" of snow. Yesterday it was rainy and gray and managed to reduce the amount of snow piles we already have from last week's 8" of the white stuff. But now everything is really wet - hopefully we won't get freezing temperatures turning every into ice underneath the snow.

Mike got back from CA on Friday. We decided to do a typical Milwaukee thing and went out for the Friday Night Fish Fry at Colonel Hart's in Wauwatosa. I had the perch and Mike had the cod - Wisconsinsites understand how that works. Colonel Hart's is the quintessential Milwaukee tavern - lots of great old sports memorabilia, mostly local; bar with a wide variety/good mix of patrons; good jukebox; friendly staff and great pub grub. Only knock on it is the smoke - it never fails that the guy or girl next to us lights one up, and being kind to their friends, lets the smoke go in our face. The fish fry was good, but I think my perch was too big - I like the little ones that I can just pick up and eat.

Saturday, we finally went to Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin - I have been there a couple of times, but was holding off on "really seeing it" until Mike came along. We went to the Discovery World Science Museum first and spent quite a bit of time playing with all the gizmos and gadgets. They have some interesting exhibits. We also went into the HIVE (Human Interactive Virtual Education) and had asteroids and planets zooming all around us. You go into this structure that looks like a bee hive, put on special 3-D glasses and get immersed into a virtual environment. Pretty freaky stuff. We really enjoyed the Reiman Aquariums - they did such a fantastic job with the design. And we got to "pet" a huge sturgeon. It's skin was like sandpaper. The rest of Pier Wisconsin is really interesting as well with an area dedicated to the Great Lakes and ships/shipwrecks on the lakes. Great addition to Milwaukee's choices of things to do, especially with kids.

After visiting the museum, we went to Water Buffalo for lunch. Great food. I had an awesome BBQ Pork Sandwich with Bacon (everything tastes better with bacon!) and Mike had a really good Corned Beef Sandwich. I think they are doing things right at Water Buffalo - nice location on the river; love the decor; both the service and the food was great.

We walked around the Third Ward for a bit, stopping at Harlequin Bakery for an after lunch coffee and a little something sweet. We both opted for a brownie - Mike had the blonde and I had the regular. mmm - they do good work! It was also fun to watch the people across the street at Fred Astaire Dance Studio learning their moves.

We did a bit more shopping/looking at Sprout, a children's store with alot of really cute things, the new Anthropologie (love it) and also two galleries. We were really intrigued by VP Gallery - they are one of the few photo galleries that have photos from LIFE magazine reproduced from the original negatives and are Wisconsin's only Master Dealer for these photos. They are also an exclusive dealer for Limited Edition photos from the National Geographic Society. In the gallery is Steve McCurry's photo of the Afghan Girl that amazes so many people. It is mesmerizing. We were also really taken aback by a set of three photos from Babe Ruth's last visit to Yankee Stadium. Would love to have the set. Good incentive to make some $.

We met up with Mike's sisters at the new Urban Outfitters on the eastside. After a bit of shopping, we went to Cafe Brucke, one of our favorite little cafes in town. It's so quaint and is a nice place to go anytime of the year. In the summer it is nice to sit on the sidewalk and in the winter it's a nice cozy little restaurant. A little bit of Euro-flair on the eastside of the Mil. Amazing selection of Belgian Beer. We shared a bottle of wine and the girls had a cheese & sausage platter and veggie sandwich. Mike & I were both stuffed from lunch, but it sure looked good.

All in all a nice day to see what's going on in Milwaukee.

Sunday was Superbowl Sunday so had to plan our day accordingly. With hesitation, Mike agreed to go see The Bucket List. The critics hated it. And we know what to think of critics... What a great movie! I would certainly recommend it. After the movie, we made chili and homemade bread and got ready to watch one of the best Superbowls in a long time (outside of the Packers, of course). Good job for the Giants. I am glad they won as they beat the Patriots the same way they beat the Packers - consistent defense and pressure on the QB. I was actually glad to see New England lose as I am getting a little sick of the "Boaston" attitude - they can't win everything!!

Time to get ready for the snow...

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