Pure Wisconsin

A couple Saturdays ago I went with a group of friends to a Beer and Cheese Festival in a huge convention center in Madison. It was basically like Disney World for adults. 

I had gone to two Wine and Cheese Banquets before at Bucknell. They did it each year for graduation - so I went twice, one for my boyfriend's (who graduated a year before me), and once for mine. It was definitely a nice banquet they put on for graduating seniors. They gave you 3 free plastic cups of wine. You gave them 4 years of the third-highest tuition in the nation.

The Wine and Cheese banquet was naturally more sophisticated - so I naturally liked the beer and cheese one more :) I have this theory that everything is more fun if you're allowed to wear jeans. Everyone I went with was new to this Isthmus festival, so we did have one regret: we forgot out pretzel necklaces.

That's right - all the experienced Wisconsinites, in addition to stuffing their faces with cheese and beer, wore homemade strings around their necks with PRETZELS. It took serious self restraint not walk up to a stranger and eat pretzels from their necks. Because when you have an eternal supply of beer, cheese, and even some specialty tables with sausage, butter, and chocolate - pretzels are the only missing piece.

Well, that, and brats:

I've only had one brat in Wisconsin so far - at a Brewer's vs Phillies game with my boyfriend in September. He bought me a brat, and on the 3 second walk back to my seat, I dropped my brat on the cement. So he went back and bought me another brat, and missed something super exciting because of it.  Then I got nominated for the world's best girlfriend. Oh wait, that was when my mom and sister sent him birthday cards and gifts but I somehow didn't manage to get a card out in time. :)

Fortunately, I managed not to drop my tasting glass at the Beer and Cheese festival - every time someone broke (and shattered) a glass - the whole huge room of people cheered for their clumsiness.

If only I had managed any applause when I ruined my brat at the Brewer's game.

Hope your Januaries are going well...It's almost month number 2. One month closer to summer :)