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January 02, 2005
Happy New Year, Go Away
See, I just got back from a long weekend in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin with mi chavo. Omigod. It is amazing to have the opportunity to leave everything behind you and focus on nothing but your love.
We stayed at The Barbican, in the Villa Suite. Sigh. It was great to have that much space for ourselves. It was so peaceful. It was so perfect.
Except, of course, for the parts that weren't. The mattress was springy - clearly hadn't been changed in years. The whirlpool tub's jet system made an annoying high pitched sound when turned on. And like every b and b, the Barbican doesn't have DVD players in the room. Right. But we took my laptop up and were able to watch some movies that way.
Now the food is quite amazing. Thursday night, we went to The Inn at Cedar Crossing for dinner. I had the most amazing food. I ate elk (elk!) with sun-dried tomato and the most amazing strudel ever (it included cheese, grilled onions, and mushrooms). Mi chavo had the duck confit and enjoyed it. The only bad part of the meal was the initial wine we ordered. We ordered a bottle and it tasted sour. Mi chavo tried to get them to take it back, and when they refused, we decided to just order another two glasses. Then they decided they could take back the unpoured part of the bottle and just charge us for two glasses. So we paid for four glasses of wine and drank two. Eh. The dessert was good too. Afterward, we went back to our suite and had some champagne while watching Beauty and the Beast (in honor of Jerry Orbach).
Friday, we had lunch at Perry's Cherry Diner (with good malts) and watched a bunch of What Not to Wear. Then we got dressed fancy schmancy and went to Sage Wine Bar. Giggle. Here's where mi chavo became my saint. First, we had crab cake appetizers. We ordered a Cote du Rhone wine, which was beautiful. For dinner, I ordered a veal chop with mashed butternut squash and mi chavo ordered quail with mashed sweet potato. Partly because we both drove up to Sturgeon Bay, my hands were hurting a lot. So, mi chavo cut my veal for me. While he was cutting, I tried a bit of his quail and felt like I was in heaven. I was overwhelmed by the meat I had already eaten (a cheeseburger at lunch in addition to the elk the night before) and when I told mi chavo that I preferred his quail to my veal, he asked if I wanted to switch meals. So then, because my hands still hurt, he proceeded to cut up the quail for me. Oh my goodness. Afterward, we had coffee and mi chavo tried the creme brulet. Then we went back to our suite and um, I fell asleep. But I did manage to wake up in time to kiss mi chavo on the stroke of midnight (CST), helpfully counted down by Conan O'Brien.
Saturday we had soup at the Inn at Cedar Crossing for lunch and um, I was having stomach issues. So we watched True Hollywood Story for several hours and then tried to find a simple place for dinner on New Year's Day. By simple, I mean meals less than $20 a piece. The only place fitting that description that was open was Applebee's, so that's where we went. Afterwards, we watched Pirates of the Caribbean.
Today, I was still able to watch Meet the Press and The Chris Matthews Show, despite the strange channels we were dealing with. Unfortunately, we were not able to see Ebert and Roeper, but mi chavo was a perfect gentleman about it.
He continued to be a gentleman when I insisted that I wanted to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Now, the only Cracker Barrels I've ever eaten at were in the South on my drive to DC from LA, and they were amazing. Well, it turns out there aren't so many Cracker Barrels in northern Wisconsin. In fact, there are none. 170 miles later, on the outskirts of Kenosha, WI we found a Cracker Barrel with a 20 minute wait. We waited, eagerly anticipating our lunch. I ordered Vidalia onion rings, and the Sunday Special Chicken Dinner. Mi chavo ordered the Chicken Fried Chicken dinner. Per usual, mi chavo made the better choice. My chicken had too much breading and no gravy, while his had gravy to spare (so of course, he spared some for me). So, after sorta stuffing ourselves, we left the infamous Cracker Barrel. Yes, I was disappointed and yes, mi chavo laughed at me because he knew the poor quality of Cracker Barrels in the Midwest.
My roommate just confirmed that Cracker Barrels in the South are good stuff. Oh well. At least I got a lil bit of nice smelling lotion made with goat's milk.
I'd say more about how amazing it is to spend the weekend alone with your love, but frankly, I'd rather get back to being with him.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Posted by cj at January 2, 2005 05:48 PM