Monday, November 16, 2009

Over the river and through the woods.

I went to Wisco this weekend to visit my grandmother. She is a not-old-74 (particularly not-old considering that I'm 30), who has a wide variety of cultural commitments that fill up her days. She is always going to the symphony, the ballet, the theater, to lecture series or book groups. She fits more culture into a month than I have into the past ten years combined. Although, to be fair to myself, I have a job.

Anyway, grandma and I were planning on going to see a dance performance by a troupe called Luna Negra, from Chicago. I suspect that grandma was not particularly interested in their style of dance, a folk Cuban dancing judging by the description, and my presence gave her an excuse not to go. Instead, we went to get a delicious hamburger and custard for dessert. I almost never eat hamburgers but I love them. Its a quasi-tradition that we go out for a burger when I'm in Wisco.


And, custard is definitely a tradition. Hell, custard might even be a cult in Wisco. There are various camps among those in the Milwaukee area as to whether they prefer Gilles' or Kopps or one other custard stand I can never remember. Note: proper pronunciation is not Gill-ies but Gill-es', named after the Gilles family. I am on the losing side of proper pronunciation but wanted to note it for the record. My family are Gilles' loyalists, as my mom and her siblings went to school with GIlles kids and my grandfather patronized it essentially from its establishment. Bud Selig is probably the most famous Gilles' customer. Anyway, a trip to Wisco is not complete for me without a junior turtle sundae at Gilles'. Its incredibly bad for you but oh-so-delicious.

As is typical, the trip to Wisco was a quiet one. Sat around, watched football, and chatted with grandma when I wasn't ingesting more calories in a meal than a normal week. And a bonus: Wisco is a powerball state so I diversified my lottery playing by buying a ticket while I was up there. Can't put all your eggs in one lottery basket.

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