Tuesday, July 17, 2007

the comfort


i may get to sit on the couch tonight. after my 8 hour workshop at work, then my chiro appt, and target, and dinner, maybe while laundry is going... i could sit on the couch. you don't know how exciting that is for me.

bryan's dad and his wife took us to dinner last night for bryan's birthday. we went to mader's, a german restaurant founded in 1902. it was nothing extraordinary, but it was good. they don't do anything crazy and new to the food. it's what you'd expect to have in your grandmother's kitchen if your grandmother was german. nothing surprising, just well executed german food.

we started with the Sausage and Cheese Platter (Grilled Usingers sausage and knockwurst served with Swiss and Cheddar cheeses). the crackers and cheese were disappointing - i expect to get better cheese in wisconsin, especially across the street from the usinger cheese shop. but the sausages were tasty. bryan had the Bavarian Sauerbraten (Marinated for ten days and oven roasted. Both served with red cabbage and spaetzel. Served with our ginger snap sauce.). the roast was perfect - moist and tender. the sauce was good as well. it was more stock-y than mine, which tastes more like the gingerbread and vinegar, but it was still good. we did prefer my sauce, however. hannah had the kid's menu version of Kassler Rippchen (A delicacy from Kassle. Smoked pork loin served with applesauce and mashed potatoes with a light smoked thyme veloute.). the sauce looked much more like a white gravy, though i did not taste it. hannah was thrilled by the crispy, bacon-like fat on the loin, which she smushed into her potatoes. that's my girl. ;) she liked it a lot, and ate pretty quickly. i had the Wiener Schnitzel (Strauss Veal cutlet lightly breaded and pan sauteed, served with chive buttered Spaetzle and lemon.). the veal was super tender, and the breading nice and crispy. the spaetzle was a little dry but had good flavor. linda had the Beef and Mushroom Strudel (Beef sauerbraten with grilled red onions, sauteed mushrooms and smoked ham rolled in crisp phyllo pastry baked with enthal cheese. Served with ginger brown sauce and julienne vegetables.). it was very good, very flavorful, and big!! bill had the special, which was a sausage and schnitzel platter.

for dessert, both bryan and hannah had the cherry strudel with ice cream. i had the apple strudel sans ice cream. it hit the spot. linda had the molten chocolate cake, and bill had a cream pudding. linda was very happy, since she and bill had seen an ad for mader's in the back of a magazine they picked up on the miller brewery tour yesterday, which had a picture of the molten chocolate cake. she had been drooling over it, so she was happy to have had the experience of dining there.

kate came with me to the doctor's yesterday to hear the baby's heartbeat. she was totally wowed. so weird and so neat! i'm glad she got to experience it.

pictures from the party are forth coming, probably late this week.

wish me luck with my plan to try to relax some tonight.

No comments: