Three great meals and a concert

Saturday, January 20, 2024

We were in Eau Claire for the chamber orchestra today. We cleverly got Erbert and Gerbert’s subs last night for our breakfast. I know, not the most obvious choice, but delicious. We had planned an early dinner, so we wanted to eat an early lunch, so we got two sandwiches last night so we could have an early lunch. Keith woke up and said he was ready for lunch – he thinks he was dreaming about his sandwich – so they became breakfast sandwiches. It turned out perfectly, because our friends, Tom and Louise, drove over from Woodbury for the concert and we met them for lunch. Since we were eating light, we got three appetizers and all shared. Louise ordered the gyro nachos, which would have never caught my eye on the menu, but were really good – we couldn’t stop eating them.

The concert was good. It was the annual children’s concert. Some high school kids played first, then a woodwind quintet played (and it was kind of a disaster, because there were sung parts that no one could hear and the music was sort of atonal – not a toe tapper for kids), then the orchestra played a piece that highlighted each family and instrument with different Beatles tunes. Keith’s tune was Penny Lane, so he got to play the piccolo solo bit and it was very good. I toured Tom and Louise around the Pablo Center. It is really a nice facility. They went on to see Louise’s dad and Keith and I went to Wissota High Shores supper club when they opened at 4pm.

We almost didn’t go, because we weren’t exactly starving. When was the last time I ate three times in one day? I have no idea – not recently, I’m sure. The thing that was calling to me was not a steak, but the salad bar! I didn’t know I really love a salad bar until they went away. I made a terrific salad of everything for the first round, then went back for a little salad of the best parts for the second round – spinach, banana pepper, dried cranberries, red onion, croutons, and a dash of French dressing. It truly was the most bizarre mix. I loved it. The highlight of the meal, though, was the green stuff. There is a fluffy looking green “salad” on the salad bar. Keith LOVES it. He swears he could make a meal of it if they would give him enough. He doesn’t know what it is. When I asked, he guessed, “Half Jello, half salad, half adhesive.” Other than faulty math, I was most interested in the adhesive aspect. He demonstrated how sticky, and yet stretchy, it was. He showed me tiny squares of green jello and something that might have been a bit of pineapple and then maybe a marshmallow. Maybe someday I will try it, but there are so many other choices…it’s hard to know. He didn’t take a picture of the green stuff, but did take one of his smoked prime rib and duchess potatoes, so that’s the potd.