Iron Chef Madison

This weekend we hosted Iron Chef Madison. It was great! We had 2 of our neighbors compete against each other and the secret ingredient was PASTA. Chris & I were judges, along with another neighbor Cassie. Each chef made 2 dishes for us to judge and we were so impressed with their creativity. The food was DELICIOUS!

Joe won with his Spinach & Artichoke Ravioli and Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup with Green Tea/5 Spice blend. Amazing!

How To Host A Murder

Last weekend we hosted a murder mystery party. We all dressed up as characters from the 1930's from England. Little did we know that same week "The Office" would feature a murder mystery. Nice to know we keep up with prime time tv!

Treat Treat

Tonight we went trick or treating with our neighbor Lily. The girls were so adorable in their costumes- a ladybug and a skunk. Liliana couldn't quite say "Trick or Treat" so she would say "Treat Treat" when we went to each door. The neighborhood behind our apartments has lots of older people and not too many kids. So Lily and Liliana were a hit. Whenever people opened their doors and saw these 2 cuties on their porch, their faces brightened up. They would get their treats, load back up in their wagon and ride to the next house.

After our time of "Treat Treat" we came back for some soup & salad with our neighbors and Steve and Jenny. The girls played together and had such a fun time.

After the girls went to bed, our other neighbors stopped by. They dressed up as each other and it was hilarious. Scott had on makeup and this hideous wig and then Cassie dressed up in Scott's scrubs with his name badge. Scott was totally cracking us up talking about his make up and batting his eyelashes. We laughed so hard.

It was such a fun Halloween. I love having a good time with friends. :-)

Miles, Milk and Velvet Freeze

One of Liliana's highlights is going to Panera. One of the other managers, Miles, is crazy about her. Whenever she comes in he let's her go behind the counter to the fridge and get a little box of organic milk. She lights up.
In fact, every time we drive by Panera, she says, "Miles". (She used to say "Daddy", but now it is all about Miles)

It reminds me of when I was a kid. When I was little my dad and my Uncle Bob owned a cafeteria together. I remember going there sometimes right after my Uncle Bob made a fresh pan of bread pudding or rice pudding. He would scoop me up a fresh bowl and it was absolutely delicious. I would also hang out up there with my younger cousin Mary. Once in awhile my dad would take us out for a treat to Velvet Freeze Ice Cream shop that shared the same parking lot as our cafeteria. It was the highlight of our month when we got to go get a sugar cone with our favorite ice cream. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

It's great when your family is in the food business!

A Mess and Fia

My sister, Bess, and niece, Sophia, came for a visit last week- so fun.
Liliana can't pronounce their names, so she instead of Aunt Bess, it sounds like "A Mess" and Sophia is "Fia".

Fia is 9 and Liliana adores her. It was so fun showing Madison to a kid. We visited the Mustard Museum and sampled several different types of mustard. Who knew organic mustard w/ dill would taste so delicious?

But Fia's favorite place was a local cheese shop. She loved sampling the cheeses and bought some chocolate cheese. She ate all of hers up within 24 hours, so wanted to go back to buy 3 more containers plus one for her teacher.

"A Mess" loves flowers, so we also went to the botanical gardens, which was so pretty.
They had a quilt show going on as well. I am not usually a big quilt fan, but these quilts were AMAZING. The colors were vibrant and the designs so unique. Of course being in Wisconsin one of the quilts was of these black and white cows with red trim. These folks are proud of their dairy up here, let me tell you!

We had so much fun with A Mess and Fia. We already have plans for the next time they come to visit!

Harvest Party

We had our first official Harvest Party as Madison Vineyard Church at a local Farm. It was a blast!

In Wisconsin they have corn mazes and you literally get lost going through them. We had a clue sheet to help us and we still got lost. (of course the clues were pretty tough to figure out as well). It was so much fun and I can't wait to see the new design next year and try again.

After the corn maze we hopped on the hay ride that took us out to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins and then took us around some of the most scenic hills ever. The leaves have starting turning colors and one of the trees literally had a purplish tint to it- amazing!

Next we headed over to the Barnyard area where they had all sorts of animals, pig races, fun play equipment for kids, a corn box (like a sand box, only filled with corn), and a little tire maze.

We ended the day with a camp fire roasting hot dogs and making S'Mores.

We had so much fun as a family hanging out with good friends and enjoying the fall weather. I'm excited that our Harvest Party will be an annual tradition each October- what a fun way to celebrate the season!

Omega Wine

Tonight we had one of Chris' friends over for dinner so we served a bottle of Omega wine.

Omega is my Uncle Frank's wine label and so I wanted to blog about it and say how proud I am of my Uncle and cousins who have pursued this dream.

I remember going to California with my dad to visit Uncle Frank when I was in high school. He had just bought some land in Lodi and had young grape vines he planted. Years later he has a flourishing business and now his own wine label and tasting area. We had the Chenin Blanc tonight, which was so good. But I think it was especially good to me because it is my family's wine.

Cheers to Omega Winery and the Natsis family!