Madison Food

I'm writing this on a quiet Sunday morning; the classical music covers the sound of the washing machine and the chicken stock is quietly simmering away. The chores are mostly done and I finally have the time to sit and write the posts that I could not share with you due to the censorship brought to you courtesy of the Chinese government. So here below is a short list, some with photos, of the reaaaaally good food that I encountered on my brief stay in Madison Wisconsin- the home of cheese, but oh so much more.

• Summer Saturday mornings in Madison are all about the farmer's market. Located around the center square of town, it provides a meeting ground for friends and a really great selection of local foods. We were there on probably one of the first ones for this year. Vendors offers popping corn (bought some curiously red colored kernels), sausages (home of the brats (pronounced brahhts) after all), cheese -of course-, vegetables such as beets and asparagus, cut flowers and baked goods. One of our close friends who comes to market for all of the good things listed above, always leaves it with a Whoopie pie in hand. These are apparently an east coast specialty- but that matters not to the locals since these pies are delicious. They are really a cake sandwich with a creamy icing center. One of the vendors offered three types: the traditional chocolate ones, vanilla and red velvet. We succumbed to the irrestible lure of the velvet whoopie pie. And without any regrets, I might add.

• The popcorn Chicago style in the airport. This company specializes in a cheese and caramel corn concoction that is surprisingly good. I first encountered this blend at a popcorn store in downtown Chicago at Thanksgiving a couple of years back- we ate it with our gloves on while walking around.
  

• Pizza- not once but twice. The first pizza was at a local Madison institution. It is tucked in the basement of the Italian Centre. You would not know it was there, but clearly the locals do since there is always a line up for tables. We had a celebratory pizza and local beer, post graduation ceremony. The second at Pizza Brutta was a portobello and light cheese creation. Both had exquisite crusts.

• There were large containers of Jamaican food at the grad party: a pulled pork, some jerk chicken, a vegetarian dish and the required rice and beans. Everything was mouth watering but the star of the show was the fried plantains. Too bad they were such a popular choice! No photos- too dark, and much too cold to remove hands from pocket to do anything but eat.
  

• Sweet potato curry at the laotian restaurant was amazing! Just when you thought that it was all about the sweet mushiness of the potato, the bite of the chilies reminded you that this was not your mother's sweet potato side dish at thanksgiving. There was also some asian green eggplant in the dish for extra texture. I know that there were other dishes, but I just don't remember them.

• The superlative palak paneer which was blended with a generous, and tasty portion of ginger than other spices. In fact we also ordered their ginger nan bread. Despite the table skepticism that it would be too odd to be delicious, it was fantastic. Now that I have found this idea, must persuade other Indian restaurants to do it.

• .... and the brats. It was my superb luck to have been in Madison during their annual brat fest. A huge number of volunteers get together to cook and serve and put together a three day festival to accomplish two things: to break (continuously) the world record of brats eaten in a specific period, which we did, and raise money for local charities. Excellent way to accomplish the latter since they tapped in to the competitiveness of the locals and combined it with their love for sausage. I topped mine (like last time) with sauerkraut and mustard and paired it with this year's vintage of Pepsi. Great tradition for me!

Madison wasn't all about the food- but it featured prominently. I had considered doing a separate posts for the activities, but I just decided to nix that idea. Given our cravings for really good food while in China, I think that I will leave this post as a capsule the dominant memories of this trip that I will share with you.