More awesomeness...I'm ordained!

Absolutely Awesome

This is hands-down one of the most magically inspiring concepts for a festival to yet come down the pike...and they have the coolest posters of all time. Go here and abide.

This one is by illustrator extraordinairé, Tina Kugler!

Mini-Vacation...We're back

The Steel Bridge in Sturgeon Bay

Last week Kim and I closed shop and headed to Sturgeon Bay for three days and three nights of focused R&R (Glen did come in to open the Stump a couple of those days we were gone, but I haven't yet talked to him to see how things went). We stayed at one of our favorite resort hotels, the Bridgeport Resort in Sturgeon Bay, and in one of our favorite rooms there. It's a spacious, three-room suite with a gas fireplace in each room (living room, bedroom and bathroom, with the bedroom and bathroom fireplace being double-sided and thus servicing both rooms). The very large bathroom jacuzzi is a bonus too. It's also nice and quiet, which is what we were looking for, and reasonably priced...and the people at the Bridgeport have aways been very courteous.

We visited a couple of wineries in the Door on Wednesday. Simon Creek Winery, just south of Jacksonport on the lake side. It's in a beautiful countryside location, surrounded by snow covered vineyards, with an equally impressive retail and tasting space. The people were warm and welcoming, and the wine was great and reasonably priced...we especially enjoyed the Peninsula Gold, their Port and the Cherry wine. We plan on getting their wine in at Stumpjack and are excited about being able to add it to the wine list.

Inside Simon Creek Winery

After Simon Creek we headed north and hit Stone's Throw winery near Bailey's Harbor. This was also a very attractive site, but unfortunately our experience there was not as enjoyable as it should have been. There was an aire of elitism about the place and the gal who hosted the tasting for us, while not impolite or rude, seemed rather too formal and harried, as though we were an intrusion. I also did not like their ridiculous policies of holding my credit card while we did the tasting (do they have numbers of people doing a $4 tasting and then running out the door without paying?) or of having wine crackers available to cleanse the palate on Saturdays only! Good grief...whoever is making those policy decisions needs to seriously rethink their customer service philosophy. The wine itself, at least the ones we tasted, was all right...nothing that made you go "mmmm, I want a bottle or two of this to take home," and was rather overpriced for the quality (that's just our opinion, of course).

Getting back to Sturgeon Bay we pulled into the Nightingale Supper Club, a place that came highly recommended by our friend Wencel Svatek. Wencel told us that their prime ribs and steaks were awesome and he wasn't kidding. I had what I now deem as the best prime rib I've ever had, taking the top spot on my list over one I had in Wisconsin Dells many years ago. This thing was huge...I measured it with my finger on the dish and it went up to my second knuckle(!) with maybe a tablespoon of fat total. And prepared absolutely perfectly. Kim had a smaller prime rib and she was gaga over hers too. It's an old time supper club, so the decor was nothing especially memorable, but the staff was super nice and the food was outstanding and the price was right. We'll definitely eat at the Nightingale again.

Nightingale Supper Club

Back to the hotel we just lounged in bed watching back to back episodes of Futurama (I love that show, and never get to watch tv anymore so that was a treat) and a great old silent picture, The Red Mill, on TCM starring Marion Davies. Thursday afternoon we took the scenic route along the bayside edge of the peninsula up to Sister Bay and dinner at the Mission Grille, another favorite dining spot. Duck and lamb and a couple of glasses of good wine set us right. The Mission Grille is consistently good and is also a very attractive space.

Each day I enjoyed one of four fine cigars I brought with. Peace and quiet, great food and wine, good cigars, Futurama and TCM channel...Kim and I had a very nice week.