Escape to Wisconsin: Did I Come for the Company, or the Food?

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food."
~George Bernard Shaw

NavyGuy's family has a long running joke that all we ever do when we vacation, celebrate holidays, or get in a group of more than three, is eat. I would argue it's less a joke and more a rule. One I wholeheartedly and without question follow. So it should really come as no surprise (tee hee hee), that much of my trip back to Wisconsin was spent eating. There are many delicacies that I can't get out here, so I have to fit in as many Wisconsin dishes as possible whenever I'm home. Here's a glimpse at my diet for the five days I was home...

-a fabulous Friday night perch plate, complete with beer battered perch, french fries, and rye bread. Wisconsin. Friday. Fish. Say no more.

-Culver's hot dog, french fries, chocolate custard, cookies and cream custard, and chocolate oreo volcano custard. Yes, Culver's must have figured out my surprise visit and planned two of my absolute favorite flavors of the day. That makes up for the fact that they changed their previously delightful hot dog! I know! Scandal! They used to have a wonderful hot dog on a normal bun, and now they've switched to a random weird roll in place of the bun, and they cut the hot dog in half! In HALF! I choked it down, but the magic is gone. (Apparently my mother knew about this travesty ahead of time, but felt she should keep the info from me lest I launch some sort of protest outside the restaurant and get us both arrested for disturbing the peace. Whatever, the police and judge would have totally been on my side once they heard the circumstances. In HALF!)

-Fond du Lac Chinatown Kitchen Sweet and Sour Chicken. Oh lordy. I don't actually eat the sweet and sour sauce (leading NavyGuy to claim I'm simply ordering Chinese chicken nuggets), but the fried rice, egg roll, and deliciously fried chicken pieces are enough to make me melt into a food coma. All the Chinese restaurants out here stink; the fried rice isn't greasy enough, the egg rolls have too much cabbage (or whatever that stringy stuff is), and don't get me started on the subpar sweet and sour chicken.

-French toast, hashbrowns, sausage, and bacon brunch at MOH's house on Sunday morning (have you noticed that there pretty much hasn't been a single vegetable on the list so far... hehe, oops). She invited the fam over for some quality baby Lily time, and offered to feed us as well!

-Grilled pork chops, homemade bread, carrots, and twice-baked potatoes (ha! veggies!) at Uncle J's and Auntie T's house Sunday night. Uncle J missed his calling and should have opened a restaurant years ago, because the man can cook like no other. I don't even like pork chops, but Uncle J sprinkled some magic on them or something cuz I cleaned my plate! (And scarfed down a brownie and two chocolate covered strawberries for dessert - ooo, fruit!)

-Monday night was fettucini alfredo a'la HistoryGirlie. I had scooted back up to her neck of the woods to hang out for the night, and got the royal dinner treatment (including garlic bread and beans... which little Kitty proceeded to mush into her hands, face, and hair). Dessert was the mini-chocolate chip cookies that come in that fun plastic tub from Pick'n'Save (a Midwest grocery store). HG and I gave Kitty a bath (okay, I sat on the counter and told random stories while HG did the real work), watched Elmo, and finished our gossip session.

-Q'doba chicken burrito (plus chips). And a side of salsa. So technically we have Q'doba out here, but it's a 70 minute drive away, whereas the one in Fondy is three minutes from Mom's house. Also the reason why I went to Target twice while home - because it's less than five minutes away.

Are you horrified? Or impressed? You should know that I gained more than two pounds (but less than four) while on my Wisconsin food binge, which I consider a successful vacation. Aside from the Culver's hot dog incident, the only other food disappointment was discovering that Panchero's on the east side of Appleton had closed. Discovering this after Mom and I had driven across town and I had gotten my mouth all watery and excited for tacos. And then discovering that NavyGuy knew it was closed and kept the information from me!!! What is it with people not telling me about changes? It's like they think I can't handle change...