The Second Drive-In

It's pretty rare to find a drive-in restaurant (unless you're Guy Fieri, apparently) which is why it's crazy that Oshkosh has not one but two! Yesterday we went to Ardy & Ed's and today we went to Leon's. We preferred Ardy & Ed's for a couple of reasons, but drive-in #2 was also cool.

The first reason that I liked Ardy & Ed's more was that there was more stuff I could actually eat there. Leon's wasn't very veggie-friendly; they didn't have any real options for me, just a hot ham & cheese sandwich that I had to order sans ham. It turned out to be a slice of melted cheese on a hamburger bun. It only cost 84 cents so that was pretty cool, but not the most filling lunch. I got a frozen custard sundae -- the hot fudge brownie sundae -- to fill me up the rest of the way. I didn't get dessert at Ardy & Ed's so it's hard to compare them, but I did enjoy my sundae.

Another cool thing to happen this week is we ended up with DVDs from a previous residency. They're super professional looking. I don't have a DVD drive on my laptop, so I can't play it, but Jas and I watched parts of it on his computer and it looks awesome. The videographer included lots of special features and fun extras so I'm glad that if I was going to end up with a DVD of any of my residencies it's this one!

Oshkosh B'gosh

In this round of "Thomson Wrote a Blog Post About Something That Happened Yesterday", let me tell you about my Wednesday.

Jas and I did our regular Wednesday routine of breakfast, gym and The Flash before heading to the Oshkosh outlets. It's a giant outlet mall. Yay shopping! Jas needed some new sneakers and he was my ride, so I went along. I did get a bouncy ball at Old Navy (because it was 25 cents and a freaking bouncy ball) but the coolest part for me was taking a picture outside of the Oshkosh B'gosh store because who gets to say they saw Oshkosh B'gosh in Oshkosh?

After the outlets, I needed sustenance, so we drove to Ardy & Ed's Drive-In, which was another place the kids had told us about.

It was an honest to goodness drive-in restaurant! We didn't have to get out of the truck to get our food, which was great because it was raining and I don't like getting wet. I got the deluxe fish sandwich with fries AND a postcard. Ok, the postcard wasn't part of the meal, but they did have postcards there!

After that, we went to the EAA AirVenture Museum which is a museum for old and new airplanes. Jas did the flight simulator and flew us into a tree... And a building... And things he probably wasn't supposed to fly into. They did have a movie about a big flight convention thing where a whole ton of people flew 1940s airplanes from Hartford, WI (where we were two weeks ago) to Oshkosh, WI (where we are now). It obviously didn't take them two weeks to get here, but it was kind of cool. I got a postcard here as well.

After that we went to work, because, contrary to popular belief, doing strange stuff and eating good food actually isn't what we get paid to do (I sure wish it was though!).

I Licked the Bowl

Jas and I agree on a lot of things (it's what makes us such good partners) but the thing we probably agree upon the most is that eating is our number one reason for existing. Everything else in the universe is nice too but eating is definitely at the top of our to do list. We also agree that this job is perfect for people like us -- people who love food (and maybe theatre and kids sometimes) -- because we get to try so many different dining establishments!

Yesterday we discovered what I would say is a top 10 of the tour. Maybe a top 10 of life. We always ask the kids during auditions, where do we go to get sugar? Ok, that isn't actually what we say, we say something along the lines of "Jas and I aren't from around here, so we don't know what there is to do in the area BUT there is one thing we really love and that is ice cream, so when I say go and not before, we'd like you to talk to your neighbor -- that's the person sitting to your left or to your right, not your actual neighbor who lives next door to you but is sitting across the circle from you -- about where your favorite place to go get ice cream is and what we should get when we go there." There is always at least one kid in the group who doesn't like ice cream and suggests that we go somewhere else and this week, they suggested that we go to Tamara's Cake Guru, which we did yesterday.

Ok, they didn't just suggest that we go to Tamara's, they told us that this place has like 50+ flavors of jumbo filled cupcakes and that we needed to go there.

So, we did that and I'm not sure what we were expecting, but we got a lot more than we'd bargained for. First of all, they don't just have 50+ flavors, they have 500 rotating flavors! Not all are available at once, obviously, but the ones that were available yesterday were insane. I got two cupcakes because with that many choices, one wasn't enough. I settled on triple chocolate (because chocolate) and the lick the bowl cupcake, which is basically like a pint of Ben and Jerry's half baked ice cream except in cake form.

Let me break down the lick the bowl cupcake. It was a chocolate cupcake with a cookie dough filling, brownie batter frosting topped with a scoop of cookie dough and a mini-brownie. Holy crow. I don't know how I ate the whole thing in a single sitting but I did it! I took a before picture where it is pretty in all of it's confectionery glory and then I took an after picture where it looks like the victim of a particular gruesome snack time incident.

So, yeah, I "licked the bowl." And I probably would have licked the counter top and maybe the floor if there'd been any cupcake there as well.

I'm also proud to report that the triple chocolate cupcake was as good -- chocolate cupcake, chocolate frosting, chocolate filling and a chocolate coma for yours truly! Happy eating, everyone.

We Might Have a Slight Taco Problem (And Everything Else That Has Happened Since I Last Posted)

So, I've had all sorts of internet issues and haven't been able to post all of my photos or any of my thoughts for a while now! During my week in Hartford, I had internet but it was slow and I wasn't able to upload any photos, so here are photos of my yummy cupcakes in Milwaukee and second trip to BelAir Cantina.

Classy Girl Cupcakes

After Milwaukee, we headed to Western Springs, IL, where I had WiFi but no time. I don't know how I went a whole week without blogging, but more importantly, I don't know how any of you went a whole week without reading!!!

So, here is my week -- the Sparknotes version:

Sunday: We drove to Western Springs and then drove to O'Hare to pick up our friend, Taylor Ann. I then took Jas and Taylor Ann to Portillo's because I know my tour partner and I knew he would love everything about that place. He got cheese fries and I got a cake shake. Last time I went to Portillo's, I got a regular vanilla shake, but this time, I went for their special, which is a slice of chocolate cake blended up in a shake. It was insanity. I think the deliciousness alone took a year off my life (the unhealthy factor took off at least three). After that, we bummed around the city until dinner time where we went to Lou Malnati's for some Chicago deep dish and a reunion with my original tour partner extraordinaire, Mandy Belscamper!

Monday: Auditions and laundry day. Nothing incredible happened here except that we introduced Taylor Ann to jalapeno popper mac and cheese! So yes, I guess that technically, something beyond incredible actually happened.

Tuesday: After rehearsal, we went back into Chicago to the Lincoln Park Zoo. I kind of used this week as an excuse to relive some of the best parts of my visit to Chicago in February. I took Taylor Ann and Jas to get pizza at Pequod's and cupcakes at Sweet Mandy B's. They approved of both! I got two cupcakes at Sweet Mandy B's this time and while I was on the fence about them last time when I just got a chocolate cupcake, their snickerdoodle and red velvet cupcakes were both amazing.

Wednesday: We were lazy. Jas and I realized that we were both exhausted and needed some serious downtime so we all just watched TV.

Thursday: This was the day that Jas had been waiting for since before I knew him. Thursday was the day where Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice came out. Thursday was exciting for me for another reason! I went to the Seven Dwarfs Diner in Wheaton, IL! That doesn't sound like a big deal but it was because Wheaton is where my dad lived until he was eight and Seven Dwarfs is where my Uncle Rob had his first job! I got a grilled cheese sandwich and fries PLUS some very yummy chocolate ice cream. After dessert, it was time to go to the movie... actually, after dessert, we still had like three hours, so we went to Target and then we went to the movie. We went to a really nice movie theatre; Jas bought our tickets and went all out! Apparently he refused to let there be any confusion, so he got us reserved seats, but not only were they assigned, but they were huge, reclining leather seats. It was a very, very, very comfortable way to watch a movie.

Friday: SHOW DAY! We didn't do anything too crazy because we had a show to put on! Still lots of fun though! (We went to Giordano's for deep dish... that makes three deep dish pizzas in one week. No complaints here).

Saturday: SHOW DAY 2.0! This show was extra special because Mandy came! Yup, tour partner #1 saw me in a show with tour partner #3 in a theatre that was run by a former TAD while another TAD friend was standing in as our light board operator. It's a small world out here. I only got to see Mandy for like a minute but I'm so glad that she came and got to see me play my dream role of Sinbad the Sailor (small cast, long story). After the show, we packed up and headed to Jas's homestay where we cooked dinner, ate cake and watched Inside Out.

Sunday: AKA Today. We got up early, drove past O'Hare to pick up Taylor Ann, then drove Taylor Ann to O'Hare and then headed towards Oshkosh, Wisconsin (which is where I am now). Now, it isn't Easter Sunday without tacos, or at least that's what I'm telling myself because our drive to Oshkosh took us straight through Milwaukee which means that we needed to make our third pilgrimage to BelAir Cantina. We might have a slight taco problem... Although in terms of being addicted to things, taco addiction is highly treatable -- with more tacos. I don't think they understand just how much their tacos mean to us... I've already told Jas that if he ever goes back there without me, I will be deeply hurt and upset. I tried three new tacos today and of course I have photographic evidence. I got the black bean and corn taco, port-queso taco and the caulifornia taco (yes, caulifornia and not California because cauliflower). I think port-queso (mushrooms, queso fundido, black beans and radish chimichurri) took the crown today, except in reality, I'm the winner here because I got tacos. BelAir should probably be paying me instead of the other way around at this point... I then finished the drive to Oshkosh while Jas slept through all of the nasty, gray weather.

For those of you wondering, yes, Oshkosh B'gosh started in Oshkosh, WI or if you're Jas, Oshkosh B'gosh is actually a clothing company and I'm not just making fun of the name of our residency...

Frozen Custard is My New Religion

Today was show day, which meant that tonight was eat-whatever-I-want-for-dinner night. I had leftover mac and cheese pizza and some veggies that I'd made earlier in the week but I wanted something sweet, so I made Jas drive to Culver's because it was time to try some of their frozen custard!

I decided against a backwards dinner -- with dessert coming first, so that meant buying a pint and taking it with me. Culver's has a flavor of the day but when the day is done, they pack the rest of it up for sale, so I basically had 17 days worth of flavors to pick from -- that's a lot of flavors! Ok, I'm not actually sure I had all 17 options because some might have already sold out, but they take their custard seriously here. In fact, today's flavor was Cookie Dough Craving and the flavor I ended up getting was Crazy for Cookie Dough, and yes, there is a difference!

Jas got fried cheese curds and I don't think there have ever been two more dairy obsessed people than us right now. Getting frozen custard at Culver's might have been the best and worst decision of my life. Best because it was delicious and I'm a lucky girl, worst because I now know just how heavenly it is and am going to want to go all the time. And heavenly really is the word for it, which is why I'm creating a religion dedicated to frozen custard (just don't tell the people who are paying for my trip to Israel!).

Fish Taco Friday

Jas and I drove back to Milwaukee from some sweet tacos! Actually, maybe they were spicy? Meh, some were sweet and some were spicy and all of them were fish tacos, because, ladies and gentlemen, it's fish taco Friday!!

BelAir Cantina was so good, we just had to go back, plus they had all-you-can-eat fish tacos for $11 today. I actually opted out of the all-you-can-eat bargain because I knew I couldn't eat more than three tacos of any variety, so I paid a little extra and got three awesome tacos -- the baja tilapia taco, the mango tilapia taco and the lobster shrimp taco. Tacos are awesome. Jas and I are now talking about developing a gun that shoots tacos! Solve war and world hunger at the same time!

I'd love to include some pictures from yesterday's and today's adventures but for whatever reason, my homestay's internet doesn't want to load Gmail -- every other website is fine -- but that is where all of my pictures go and that makes it very hard to upload said pictures. Perhaps there will have to be a post with all of my backlogged photos in a few days when we head to our next residency... Oh well, happy Friday, everyone.

Classy Girl

Today, Jas and I braved the 50 minute drive to Milwaukee in the name of full bellies. I promised Jas a trip to Ian's Pizza and I delivered (they also deliver if you live in the Milwaukee area). What we didn't realize was that Ian's Pizza appeared to be in the Irish Pub district of Milwaukee and today is Saint Patrick's Day. Let's just say that we saw a lot of incoherent people wearing green at 11am.

We got some mac and cheese pizza! It would have been better if we hadn't been surrounded by loud frat guys while we were eating but ya win some and ya lose some. We also came up with the brilliant idea of getting a pizza to go because... we really don't have to justify that decision with a reason at all, the reason is pizza and pizza is always a good reason.

We walked from Ian's Pizza to a cupcake place I'd read about online. The List I've compiled has a lot of cupcake places on it but none for Milwaukee and what I really wanted were cupcakes, so I went on Google and found Classy Girl Cupcakes. Classy Girl Cupcakes is perfect for me because I'm a classy girl -- also any place that sells cupcakes is my type of place... I got two cupcakes: red velvet and raspberry truffle. I didn't get any of their jumbo filled cupcakes because I couldn't justify spending $5 on one cupcake when I could get two equally delicious looking cupcakes for the same price. They also sold little cheesecakes but I went with the traditional cake because cake... They were awesome; red velvet was the better of the two and I'm starting to believe that red velvet cupcakes are seriously the way to go!

We drove home with our delicious pizza, although not all of the pizza made it back to Hartford with us (...Jas...). We then did rehearsal things and work stuff because we have, ya know, jobs! Tomorrow we'll be back in Milwaukee again because we need to revisit the BelAir Cantina for some more tacos.

P.S. I have pictures from Classy Girl but the internet is slow and I am tired so you'll have to wait, rabid readers.