Blog Meet Ups 2 and 3!

After the kids and I walked around Milwaukee after lunch, it was time to head back to the hotel and just rest.  I had about an hour and a half before I had to get ready before blog reader Kris came to pick me up.  The first hour, not gonna lie, was spent just laying in bed.  The last half hour I took a shower and cleaned myself up – felt good!  Kris is another blog reader that knew everything about me, but I didn’t really know that much about her.  But I was not nervous to meet up with her at all, and it felt like I was meeting an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long time.

Kris drove all the way from Dubuque, Iowa to meet me – how nice was that?!  She’s super fit, Vegan and I love that she chose The Comet Café to meet up, because there were plenty of dishes she and I could both enjoy.  Any dish listed on the menu that had a rabbit next to it, the kitchen could make it a Vegan dish.  I, of course, had earned a beer, so I had an Oberon – I told the bartender that I didn’t like bitter beers, and he poured me that is and was delicious.  Carrie, I could have used your expertise on the beer menu!

I’ll explain the above collage – me and Kris in front of the Comet sign.  Below that on the left – my dinner.  I was going to get a Reuben, but when the special was a meatball sub, I ordered that – holy balls was that amazing.  The marinara was awesome, the balls were tender, and ladies, admit it, sometimes you like a tender ball, but it was so big I ended up eating barely half of it.  The fries were hand cut, but again, so many, I probably only ate a half dozen.  Kris got the Heaven salad, which I think her protein was tofu?  So what this café is known for is their Turkey Balls – that would be the picture below my sub.  They take all the goodness of a Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing) then make that into balls, bread and deep fry them and served over turkey gravy.

The guy next to me got one (we were sitting at the bar so we didn’t have to wait at a table) and I said “do you mind if I take a picture of that?”  He said no problem, and after I took the picture he said “do you want to try it?”  Yep!  It was pure Thanksgiving turkey in that bite – thanks Justin from Cedar Rapids for letting me taste your balls!  And they are known for their dessert – one of their sister restaurants supplies them all – we ended up splitting a cherry peach pie, and holy shit, it was definitely insulin worthy!  Sorry the pics are so dark, but we were sitting on the bar side and not many windows!

Kris was super easy to talk to, has also lost 60 pounds (but has kept it off!) and has a son a couple years older than Hannah who has graduated and works as an engineer.  I told her next time we’d meet up in Madison so it would be closer to her house, she talked about an amazing farmers market they have there – I definitely know this is the beginning of a great friendship.  She also brought me loot!  Some Milwaukee seasoning from The Spice House, and I can’t wait to delve into this cookbook, I think there are a lot of things I can make Hannah:

Saturday night I just completely relaxed and I think I fell asleep by 10 that night!  I knew I was meeting up with Mel and Jory, long time blog friends that I first had lunch in January of 2010!  The joys of having a blog that is nearly seven years – you can just search what you did the past 7 years!   Seeing them was definitely like meeting old friends – and they chose Café Benelux.  To say this place was popular is the understatement of the century.  They had an hour wait, but Mel was smart and used an app to sign in at home, and when she saw they were close to getting their table, met me there and we only had to wait maybe 10 minutes before sitting down.  When I first met Mel and Jory, they were just boyfriend and girlfriend, but now they have been happily married for a year!

Jory wanted a bloody mary, and told me about their extensive beer menu – so overwhelming!  When I told him what kind of beers I liked, he immediately ordered me this one.  And they paid for everything which was really so sweet!  Holy cow – this Tripel Karmeliet was the most buttery beer I’ve ever tasted.  It looks like a really big glass, but it has a head on it that is nearly half the glass, so it is probably only about a 6 or 8 ounce pour.  I wish I could have had a second one, but I’ll have to keep my eyes open for it around here – so good!

I got the triple cheese burger (duh, I was in Wisconsin!) – which was delicious – brie, goat and American cheese and the burger had all these crispy edges on it – so good I think I ate nearly the whole thing.  Mel got an omelet and Jory got a poutine skillet – I don’t know If you can see it, but it has lots and lots of onions on it!  We caught up and it was such a nice lunch.  Sadly, it was raining pretty hard, and I am a nervous driver in the rain as it is, so before I knew it, it was time to hit the road – I promise our visit will be longer next time Mel!

So all in all my Spartan Race weekend was pretty much everything I hoped for!  Great race, great friends and great food!  I am happy that I got outside my comfort zone and did this for myself.  Tony obviously in the last few years of his life wasn’t very social, and I am very social – one of the reasons I am so grateful for this blog because without it, I never would have met the people I did this past weekend.  I have plans for more blogger meet ups soon – just don’t know when or where yet – I’ll keep you posted!

Thanks for taking along with me for my #adventure2015 weekend- all the texts, emails, comments of congrats, means more to me than you’ll ever know – thank you!  Now go make it a great day!