8 tips for visiting the Bristol Renaissance Faire

Bring sunscreen, water, cash, & imagination

Last weekend, we drove 50 minutes to Kenosha to the village of Bristol for the annual Renaissance Faire. I hadn't been in years, but from what I recall, not much has changed. Still, attending as an adult is inherently different. You're responsible for your own sun screen and it's a lot easier to say "no" when you ask yourself if you can have that expensive floral head wreath that you're never going to wear again. Here are some other tips and tidbits from me to you.

#1 Buy your tickets at Walgreens. You'll save $4 on a $24 ticket. Also, know going into it that parking is $5. The Faire is open from 10:00 to 7:00. Arrive early — it only gets hotter and more crowded.

#2 Sunscreen. Apply in heavy layers and often. This place looks lovely and shady, right? And at times it is! And at other times *cough*JOUST*cough* you're left baking in the sun and dripping sweat. So carry your sunscreen with you. 

Also water. You're not supposed to bring in food or beverages, but I read before going that water is $3/bottle. There are some bubblers, so you can always refill your from-home bottles there. 

#3 Plan your day around side shows you want to see. We came upon shows in progress, and by that time it's standing room only. You also kind of feel like you're late to the party on the inside jokes. So if you want to really enjoy a side show, arrive in time to snag a seat and see it from the beginning. 

#4 Arrive at least 30 minutes early for the joust — at least. We arrived about 30 minutes early and the stands on the shady side of the arena were already packed. So we were stuck sitting in the sun. Cue the melting and burning! Don't get me wrong; the joust is worth your time the beating sun, but it would have been better in the shade. 

#5 Relax and enjoy the people watching. We happened to be at the Faire on Costume Contest day — so there was even more spectacle to be had! Some of it was downright breathtaking — others were breathtaking for a wholly other reasons. And some of it seemed to say "I'm taking my shirt off because it's socially acceptable here." However you look at it, it's some grade A people watching. God I love people.

#6 Let the kids play games — but know that they cost money. And you need to bring cash. There are a couple of ATMs on the grounds, I heard, but better to just come prepared. For a taste of the prices: Adam did knife throwing ($3 for 6 knives), Jacob's ladder ($2 for 3 tries at climbing), and archery ($3 for 6 arrows/$5 for 12 arrows).

#7 Make way for the professionals. This pirate-looking guy sure schooled Adam on Jacob's Ladder — and look! No hands!

#8 Keep a keen eye for photo ops. If you're not careful, you might miss a camouflaged performer, pretty little nook, or Hobbit hole.

Strawberry basil lemon cobbler

Give fresh ingredients a sweet makeover

One of my lovely and talented coworkers brought in a strawberry basil lemon pie several weeks ago, and we ooh-ed and aah-ed over the depth of flavor and deliciousness. Those strawberries with that basil and lemon! Thank you to the genius who discovered this winning combo.

Well, I've never made a fruit pie before and wasn't up to the task of homemade crust on a lazy Sunday afternoon. But I really, really wanted that strawberry/basil/lemon yumminess in my mouth — and to share it with my family. So I used the pie recipe's filling and added my own sweet topping for a cobbler-style fruit dessert. It turned out pretty delicious, though I will say it's best eaten right out of the oven. That shouldn't be a problem though, right?

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STRAWBERRY BASIL LEMON COBBLER

WHAT YOU'LL NEED
FRUIT FILLING
2 cartons strawberries
1 small package basil 
1 tsp lemon zest
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt

BOTTOM CRUST (optional)
2/3 to 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 to 2 TBS sugar
1 TBS butter, melted

COBBLER TOPPING
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar

raw sugar & vanilla ice cream for serving (optional)

WHAT YOU'LL DO
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the softened butter, flour, and sugar for the cobbler topping. Pinch off small pieces of dough and use your hands to roll each into a ball. Use your fingers to press each dough ball into a flat disc. Plate the dough discs and chill them in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

*Note: I didn't do the fridge step, but would try it the next time to keep the topping looking more cobbled rather than melted together.

2. Trim the tops from the strawberries and quarter each. Set aside in a medium bowl. In a food processor, pulse the basil leaves until they're roughly chopped. Add the sugar and pulse until smooth, creating a basil sugar. Add the basil sugar, lemon zest, and salt to the strawberries. Mix well and let stand.

3. Grease a square baking pan. Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter for the bottom crust. Press into the bottom of the pan (this is to soak up some of the strawberry juices — you can omit the bottom crust if you want). Layer the strawberries on top of the bottom crust. Place the chilled dough discs on top of the strawberries for a cobbled effect. Sprinkle with raw sugar if desired. 

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour, baking until the cobbled topping is golden brown and the strawberries are bubbling. Check on the cobbler at 30 minutes to make sure it's not browning too quickly. Allow to cool, then serve with vanilla ice cream. 

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I'm not sure if "cobbler" is the right word for this — some might say "crisp." I read an article once that said your stance on cobbler vs. crisp depends on where you live geographically. But it doesn't really matter — you'll just end up calling this delicious. Or, as my  mom said through a mouthful of delicious, "You can make this any time!" 

July 2015

A few of my favorite things

Chowing down on turtle sundae pie.

"Now don't you feel American?" Hot dogs & burgers at Northpoint.

Catching up with friends at Wednesdays at the Shell. 

Finally trying Barnacle Bud's and kayaking down the Milwaukee River.

Making & eating a ridiculous amount of these breakfast cookies.

Root beer & giant pretzels at the Estabrook Beer Garden.

Discovering our new favorite brunch spot: The Cafe at the Plaza.

Camping and fish boiling in Door County with friends.

Seeing the costumes of Downton Abbey at the Paine Center in Oshkosh.

Mixing up a fiesta-y take on chicken salad.

Newaukee Night Market

Shopping, eating, & people watching in downtown MKE

Last week was the second Newaukee Night Market of the summer. Basically they shut down the stretch of Wisconsin Ave along Grand Avenue Mall and bring in food vendors, local artists, and all kinds of entertainment for a pop-up market in the heart of downtown.

First order of business: Bring cash. Adam and I went home hungry because every food vendor we approached was cash only. I don't know that they are all necessarily cash only — maybe we just had bad luck. But the cash-only food looked and smelled absolutely amazing, so we will for sure be bringing bills and pigging out next time.

If you're a shopper, make sure you get there earlier. I found that as it got darker, it got harder to shop (some booths didn't have the best lighting). And the shopping is so worth it. Handmade Milwaukee merch, soaps, candles, jewelry, drawings, paintings... The list goes on. As we walked around, all I could think was "I wish I had gobs of money to support all you local geniuses!" Alas, no gobs of money here.

Beyond food and shopping, there's entertainment throughout the market. We passed a giant game of chess, an ice sculptor, and breakdancers turning flips and handstands to a DJ's beat. There were a lot of people — and a great mix of people. The entire scene felt like a coming together to support local businesses, celebrate summer in Milwaukee, and breathe some life into an otherwise sad stretch of this downtown street. Here's hoping this effort by Newaukee leads to more great things for city center — I know the Night Market certainly shined a spotlight on all its potential. This year's final two Newaukee Night Markets are August 19th and September 16th.

Cilantro-lime jalapeno chicken salad

Spice up chicken salad for a fiesta in your mouth

I'm a big fan of chicken salad — it's probably one of my favorite sandwich fixings. You never can tell about those deli meats — that's what I always say. But a beautifully shredded chicken salad with the right mix of mayo and crunch and spices? Yum. This particular chicken salad (which I've doctored up) gets some south-of-the-border flair with the addition of three kinds of peppers, lime juice, and cilantro. It's a little tangy & spicy and a whole lotta fresh & delicious. 

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FIESTA CHICKEN SALAD

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

1 package chicken breasts

1 jalapeno, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

1 small can mild diced green chiles

1/4 red onion, diced

handful of cilantro, finely chopped

1 lime, juiced

1/3 cup mayo 

1 TBS dijon mustard

1 tsp cumin

salt and pepper to taste

WHAT YOU'LL DO

1. Salt and pepper the chicken breasts, then place them in a slow cooker with some chicken stock for moisture. Cook on low or high. Once cooked through, shred the chicken. 

2. In a large bowl, mix the lime juice, mayo, mustard, and cumin. Add the chicken, diced onion, diced peppers, and can of diced green chiles. Add cilantro. Mix together, adding salt and pepper to taste. 

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You could also try using plain greek yogurt in place of mayo, or a mix of the two. Of course this chicken salad would be awesome on some good crusty bread, but in an attempt to make healthy choices I served it on a bed of spinach instead. First, I dressed the spinach with a sprinkle of olive oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper, then placed a whopping dollop of chicken salad on top. In an ideal world, I'd garnish with chopped or sliced avocado. Mmmm fiesta in your mouth.

The Pancake House

A place for Dutch Babies & the best bacon

The Pancake House. Okay, so this isn't a revolutionary breakfast joint. I'm sure you've all been there at least once if not many times — they're all over the place after all. And they serve the best bacon: Nueske's bacon. It's thick-cut and Mmmm. Eat it. Eat all the bacon.

Alright, so everybody loves bacon. But there's one menu item that I think is still flying under the radar, and so I must preach. Two words: Dutch Baby. On more than one occasion, I've mentioned the Dutch Baby and gotten blank stares. No babies were harmed in the making of this breakfast — it's just a pancake the size of a baby. Or the size of a skillet, really, because that's how Dutch Babies are made. 

Basically you whip up runny pancake batter, pour it into a hot skillet, and stick the entire skillet in the oven to cook the pancake. The batter will creep up the sides of the skillet, resulting in thin, crispy edges. The center of the Dutch Baby might puff up, but it will deflate once it's out of the oven. Then you douse the Dutch Baby in butter and powdered sugar and top with a lemon wedge — maple syrup optional. It's amazing, and you can find it at The Pancake House. The Dutch Baby can and probably should feed two people... But really, you might just want it all to yourself. 

Dressing Downton

Downton Abbey costumes come to Oshkosh 

When I first heard that the costumes of Downton Abbey were coming to Oshkosh, I was all "Exsqueeze me? Baking powder?" The exhibit is only making a handful of stops in the U.S. and Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is one of them? Alright then. Surprise aside, I knew my mom and I would have to make the journey to see those gorgeous gowns up close.




When we arrived at the Paine Art Center and Gardens, it suddenly clicked as to why this exhibit is stopping in Oshkosh. The Paine is a drop-dead-gorgeous mansion — an English-style country estate in the middle of Wisconsin, totally in sync with the era of Downton. The house was built in 1925, commissioned by the Paine family as an ode to their English heritage. The architect purposely designed the house to include varied architectural details to give the impression that the house had been built over three centuries of evolving English styles.

The house is a museum normally with lovely botanical gardens, but the costumes of Downtown are taking over the place from now until September. Guests tour the house as they normally would, but with exquisite Downtown garb strategically placed throughout.

As Downton fans, I can't stress enough how worthwhile a trip this was. As a lover of this era's architecture opulence, visiting the Paine would be worthwhile even without the Downton lure. The gardens and the manor itself are breathtaking. Of course, security personnel thwarted most of my attempts to sneak a photo, so I don't have much to show in the way of interior pics. But trust me when I say it's every bit as grand as Downtown, if decidedly more Wisconsin-sized.

But with Mom as a lookout, I was able to snap a couple quick photos (Rebel's my middle name). The exhibit showed everything from outerwear to men's evening wear to those Crawley sister dresses we all drool over. Each of the costumes was accompanied by a little plaque with some info about the piece. Most also included a photo of the costume being worn in the show, making the magic all the more real.

We were told when we arrived that these are all the actual costumes worn by the cast (no faking!), and that all of the costumes were made to the actors' measurements. Therefore, the mannequins are true to size. Let's just say Michelle Dockery is a waif. A talented, beautiful waif for whom I have insane dress-up envy.

While most of the pieces are entirely new, some of the costumes incorporate bits of clothing from the era. We saw one gown with beading from the early 1920s; the costume designer had used the beaded overlay and constructed a new lining to complete the costume. I think my favorite pieces to see were Cora's flower show ensemble and the Dowager's signature purple frock. Of course security was tight around this room, so alas, no pics. You'll just have to go see for yourself. And save room for the gardens! They're enchanting. Dressing Downton runs through September 20th & opens at 10:00 AM daily.