Holiday Art Festivals

Need something unique for that special someone on your holiday gift list? Look no further...




MMoCA Holiday Art Fair
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
227 State Street
Friday, November 21, Noon-6pm; Saturday, November 22, 10am-5pm; Sunday, November 23, 11am-3pm
$4 admission

• Shop for original art and gifts from many local artists and the Rediscovered Art and Treasures Sale; quilt raffle and carolers.

4th Annual Holiday Craftacular
Saturday, December 6th, 10am-6pm
Madison Masonic Center
301 Wisconsin Avenue
Free admission

• Over 60 artists and crafters featuring holiday gifts, cards, purses, housewares, clothing, body care, and more! First 50 shoppers get a free gift bag.

Beloved Farmers' Market Moves Indoors

The outdoor Dane County Farmers’ Market on the Square has come to an end for the season, which makes me want to cry. Last weekend marked the last outdoor market, and it was a sad site—it was freezing and seemingly decimated.

Luckily, a smaller, indoor version of the market is offered until the outdoor season returns next April. The indoor market will run every Saturday through Dec. 20 from 7 a.m. to Noon at the Monona Terrace (early winter market), then will transfer to the Madison Senior Center, 330 W. Mifflin St., in January through mid-April, on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to Noon (late winter market).

Although it’s definitely not the same as the outdoor market, the indoor market still features the season’s best bounty of vegetables, crafts, and homemade, home-grown Wisconsin products from over 300 vendors. Additionally, the “late” winter Farmers’ Market held at the Madison Senior Center features the very popular “Winter Market Breakfast,” which is a full breakfast that features vendors’ products as the main ingredients.

Perhaps all is not lost.

Free Beer This Weekend

99 Bottles Documentary is a documentary film that explores the history, processes, and culture of craft brewers in Southeastern Wisconsin. The film features the founders and brewmaster of 16 unique Wisconisin breweries and brewpubs. It’s a collaboration between Wisconsin-based Mutant Barmonkey Productions and Haptic Visison that began over a pint at Wolski’s Tavern.

The documentary is playing tonight and Saturday night at the Orpheum Theater in Madison. And yes, there will be free beer. Each show will feature a pair of breweries from the documentary that will sample their products thirty minutes before the show begins. Sounds a nice weekend excursion/cultural outing.

Vintage Vinyl Sale

This afternoon begins the popular annual vintage vinyl sale at St. Vinny's in Madison. I've heard great things, and have never been, so I'm pretty pumped to check it out this afternoon. Apparently the staff puts all of the great vinyl aside throughout the year and saves it for this annual sale. I'm hoping for some great finds!

St. Vincent de Paul’s 11th Annual Collectible Records Sale
Madison, WI
Basement of St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop
1309 Williamson Street
3-5:45pm Wednesday ($5 donation to enter)
9am-5:45 Thursday-Saturday (free admission)

Voting on Campus

Photos by university photographer, Bryce Richter

Free Wilco Campaign Rally Concert

This just in from the Wisconsin State Journal, and forwarded to me by my friend Margo...my favorite band Wilco announced that they will play a free concert as part of a campaign rally on Saturday afternoon. Here are the details...

A "stripped down" version of the rock band Wilco will perform a free concert at Union Theater as part of Campaign for Change, a Barack Obama rally featuring speakers Sen. Russ Feingold and Rep. Tammy Baldwin on Saturday afternoon.

Three of Wilco's six members — frontman Jeff Tweedy, bassist John Stirratt and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone — will perform at the event, which begins at noon, according to Wilco publicist Deb Bernardini.

Free tickets will be distributed on Wednesday at Campaign for Change's student office, 216 N. Henry St. and at the Wednesday Farmers' Market on Martin Luther King Boulevard. The Union Theater's capacity is 1,300.

In September 2007, Wilco's last show in Madison at the 2,200-seat Overture Hall sold out in one day.

Doors will open in Union Theater, 800 Langdon St., at 11 a.m. Saturday. After the concert, Baldwin will lead a march to the polls for voters to cast early votes before polls close at 3 p.m.

Homecoming Parade

My student worker, Chloe, riding in the parade as a member of court!

Various alumni club representatives

Short bus

Fraternity/sorority float

Students for Obama

Students for McCain

The big bus

WSUM student radio station

Formula SAE cars

Wisconsin Band

I went to go see the Wisconsin Homecoming parade on Friday night. I was especially excited to see my student worker, Chloe, ride by as part of homecoming court. I haven't had the opportunity to see the parade in several years, so I was excited to experience it once again. I almost had tears in my eyes watching Chloe go by. I definitely got emotional because I was so damn proud of her and excited for her to experience the entire weekend.

The parade was pretty phenomenal and featured many, many student and alumni groups. I think it's the perfect showcase of diversity on campus and shows how there truly is a place for everyone at UW-Madison.

The Colors of Fall Market

The Dane County Farmers’ Market season may be nearing the end, but it’s certainly not fading into the cold unnoticed. For the past two weeks, the market has been alive with vibrant colors and hearty produce. Pumpkins, squash, peppers, corn, carrots, onions, and cucumbers—glisten in the sunlight like precious jewels.

My parents came to town for the day on Saturday and our first stop was of course to the market. It was a beautiful fall morning, and the market was definitely busy and crowded as always. Before starting our first loop, my mom and I grabbed coffee and my dad, the ultimate sweet tooth, proceeded to stop at every single bakery vendor as we made our way around the capitol square. By the end, my dad had enjoyed a cider donut, a rhubarb breakfast bar, an oatmeal raisin cookie, and a large apple fritter (I helped, of course). But that’s my dad! The healthiest person alive, save a wicked sweet tooth.

My mom and I packed our bags with produce along the way. We ended up doing two loops of the market, so as to experience the full range of offerings and prices before “committing” to purchases. We came away with filled bags and stuggled to haul everything back to the car.

One of the most interesting events of the morning was that we happened to run into my brother, Kelly’s, roommate Ben’s family, who was in from New Hampshire to visit Ben’s younger sister, Cecilia, who is a student at UW. Ben is my brother’s best friend, college roommate, and current roommate and business partner in Austin, Texas. It was cool to chat with Ben’s family, and I couldn’t believe how much Cecilia reminded me of Ben! But they said the same thing about Kelly and me...

I have a few more weeks before the last market of the season on November 8, after which the market moves indoors to the Monona Terrace for the winter. It's nice to have the winter option, but of course it just doesn't compare to the outdoor market, which won't be back until April. And that just seems like an eternity from now.

The S'mores Song

Kristin and Emma enjoy subs on Picnic Point

Allie and Karen prepare to roast marshmallows for s'mores

Lake Wingra

Kristin and Emma rowing on Lake Wingra

This past weekend, Karen, Kate, and I spent most of Saturday and Sunday with two of Karen and Kate's nieces, Allie and Emma. I love these girls. Luckily, I have many opportunities to spend time with them, and they treat me like one of their aunts. I love their big hugs and smiles, and just being part of their lives and watching them grow up.

As I've said before, Karen and Kate truly are the best aunts ever. That's probably why Allie and Emma, and their sister Megan, are always so excited to spend time with their aunts, and have absolutely no reservations about spending the night away from home in Madison, even at such a young age.

It's always non-stop fun when they come to town. On Saturday night, we reserved a fire pit at Picnic Point, where we enjoyed subs from Jimmy John's and s'mores. Picnic Point is a peninsula near campus that extends into Lake Mendota, where hikers, runners, and picnickers can enjoy fantastic views of the lake, campus, and the state capitol. It's a great spot to see the city all lit up at night. We had a great time enjoying several rounds of s'mores and even made up a s'mores song, which Allie continued to sing the entire weekend. It was good stuff.

The girls slept over at Kate's new house and enjoyed "blasberry" pancakes the next morning, while Karen and I volunteered at the Trek Urban Assault race. Afterwards, we joined up again for an adventure on Lake Wingra. We rented a row boat and spent an hour exploring the lake. It was a beautiful day, and we had a lot of fun, despite making very little rowing progress and being trash talked by a little girl in another boat who cruised by us with her father in a canoe. After such an exhausting adventure, we walked to Michael's Frozen Custard, where we enjoyed great custard and many laughs over the custard that ended up all over Allie and Emma's clothes and faces. That's the problem with custard, it just melts too fast for the little ones!

It was a great weekend, and I'm excited to see the girls again this weekend for one last summer hurrah at Green Lake.

The Best of Dane County Farmer's Market

As many of you know, I am obsessed with the Dane County Farmer's Market on Madison's capitol square. It's no doubt the highlight of my week. I wanted to share with you my very favorite stops at the market, so I've been collecting pictures all summer...

My first stop is ALWAYS for coffee at Steep and Brew. I get a 12 oz. cup for $1.75 and fill it to the brim with French Roast. Definitely need my coffee before starting the loop.

Next up, I need a little treat to go with my coffee. As you know, I love scones, and fancy myself a connoisseur. There are many great scone purveyors at the market. My favorite, the name of the booth escapes me, offers orange chocolate chip scones, which are fabulous. There are also some newbies out there this year that are cooking up some very unique and tasty scones. I'd encourage you to sample a few :)

Renaissance Farm offers amazing pestos, vinagrettes, and sea salts. I love the basil vinagrette and keep it in stock for salads throughout the year. It's fantastic. Their cinnamon rolls are pretty good, too.

The cheese from Bleu Mont is my favorite. I particularly love the aged cheddar. The cheese maker at Bleu Mont has been heralded by the New York Times as the "rock star of cheese." The cheese is a little pricey, but well worth it.

Fresh veggies and fruits galore.

I also get some fresh RP pasta each week. I love it in the summer with a little olive oil and fresh veggies from my garden.

And then there's the famed hot spicy cheese bread from Stella's. If you've never tried it, you simply must. It's hot, and straight from the oven. You'll hear the bakers yelling "HOT, spicy cheese bread" from across the square.

I hope you enjoyed my tour of market favorites!

Madison's New Late-Night Food

Insomnia Cookies is one of the most recent entrants to Madison's late-night food scene. Founder Seth Berkowitz began baking and delivering cookies to the late night crowd at UPenn as a college junior. His goal was, and still is, dependable late night delivery to hungry college students, without the grease and heaviness that oftentimes accompanies late night foods. Business continued to grow, and after graduating in 2004, Berkowitz began to develop a commercial plan for expansion.

Insomnia Cookies has since expanded to 17 college campuses, including Cornell, Indiana University, NYU, Ohio State, University of Illinois, and Wisconsin. At Wisconsin, Insomnia operates out of a big van, pictured left, from 8pm-2:15am, and can usually be found on Library Mall or Francis Street (strategically located across from the Red Shed). In addition, Insomnia offers delivery within 3 miles of campus. There’s a $6 minimum delivery, and wait time runs ~25-30 minutes. Offerings include 8 classic cookies like sugar, chocolate chunk, and peanut butter ($1 each). There’s also cookies a la mode, the menage a trois “this cookie give new meaning to the word ‘threesome” ($6), jumbo deluxe cookies ($2.50), and “14 cookie cakes ($18).

In other late night food news, Pelmeni, the small store front on State Street that offered amazing Rusisan dumplings has closed its doors, and Ian's Pizza has expanded to Chicago's Wrigleyville neighborhood and also expanded hours at Madison's State Street location until 2:30am. There has also been much controversey surrounding Jeff Okafo, owner Jin's Chicken and Fish, a classic late night food cart on Langdon Street. Jin's has always had issues with the city, but this time he's truly in hot water. Apparently, Jin's received 23 parking tickets in 12 months, and Okafo has been driving without a license since 2004. As a result, in July, the city's Vending Oversight Committee recommmended that city council members suspend Okafo's vending license for six months. Council members will decide his fate on September 2.

Kristin Gets Salty

The corn "rejects"

Kristin, Kim, and Matt shucking the corn

The butter table

The salt tree

Matt and Kim loading 'em up

Matt and Kim enjoying corn and R&B music

It was a summer weekend full of festivals options. I chose Corn Festival in Sun Prairie on Saturday, followed by Irish Fest in Milwaukee on Sunday. Lots of townies, greasy food, good music, and excellent people watching.

Above are pictures from Corn Fest. It was an interesting experience. The corn was fantastic, straight from the farm that morning. By the time we arrived at the grounds around 5ish, the place was packed and there was a very long line for the corn tent. Luckily, it moved fast, and in no time, we were filling our basket with ears (10), then off to seperate areas for shucking, buttering, and salting. Love that salty goodness. I was feeling particularly salty after losing so much during my 100-mile bike ride earlier in the day, so I really poured it on. But when do I not?

I suppose corn fest was what I expected. I think it's like many things, something I needed to try once, but I'm not feeling particularly compelled to get it on my calendar right away for next year. I had fun with Kim, Matt, and Karen, but we'd probably have had just as much fun or more cooking up a huge batch of corn at home. So that's my take on Corn Fest. Gotta do it once for the experience. But once is probably enough for me. Maybe I'll host my own corn fest next year. Salt shaker necklaces for all.