At the beach

Earlier in the summer, Sona and I hiked at Governor Nelson, and there were some cool windsurfers taking advantage of the windy day.

Elise's visit

Elise visited from Milwaukee last weekend. She arrived around 10:30am, and we chatted and caught up. Then we made fish tacos (with tuna steaks and grilled, not fried). 

We hit a few garage sales, and since she'd never been, we went to Olbrich Gardens.

Muppets

Chicken pho

The Daleys and I took in Muppets in Space on the Memorial Union Terrace awhile ago. Beforehand, we attempted to try the bánh mì (a French-influenced Vietnamese sandwich) at the Viet Hoa Market in Monona. Alas, they were out of the sandwiches by the time we arrived. (They said to call ahead next time, and they'd make some.) I am not deterred, though. I shall try again.

Book of Mormon, the El, + Deep-Dish 'Za

On the El train

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting The Windy City to see The Book of Mormon. In the cab on the way to the show, the driver suggested that we take the El* instead of a cab, which was very kind. It saved us money and time since the ride was going to be about an hour and a hour downtown in rush-hour traffic. We made sure to give him a generous tip, so he wasn't being too slighted by offering the suggestion. Plus, it was a special treat for me because I'd never ridden the El before.

For dinner, we stopped at Trattoria No. 10. We had the baby spinach salad with crispy pancetta, radicchio, pears, goat cheese, pistachio, and goat cheese vinaigrette and black--hooray for squid ink--tagliatelle with scallops, shrimp, calamari in a tomato-fennel saffron sauce.