Slice of Gingerbread Ice
I love hockey. And truth be told, I love the Village People. What a fun concept. And what a fun concept to bring them both together on a winter's night. The kids and i joined Sammy's Tae Kwon Do group on an outing to the Bradley Center last week to enjoy some fun on the ice. unfortunately, this was the first night we'd ever gone to an Admirals game where they lost. But, the Village People concert was supposed to make us feel better. But we were sitting behind the stage so while we got to see their well-toned derrieres, we barely heard a thing. We got the monitor feed. Pshaw. We moved up to seats more in front of the stage, but the sound mix still sucked. And the Village People's music is the kind of stuff you need a great sound mix for. So we didn't even wait for "YMCA" even though it was YMCA night at the Bradley Center. We just left reluctantly.
So of course last Saturday I had "Macho Man" going through my head, an earworm more potent than Eduard Khil. "Hon," Brian said, "Sounds like you need some FZ." And so I did. rounded up a last minute sitter, so I only caught two band at this year's Zappafest, but they were Dr Chow and theDanglers, so all is right with the world again. And the Danglers are playing for my 50th birthday Saturday night, along with Floor Model, so that helped remind me how much I appreciate them.
But today was a lovely day, really. Slice of Ice opened today -- the outdoor skating rink across the street from the PAC -- as I've often called it, our own little piece of Rockefeller Center. And it was, as the kids called it, Hollywood Snow -- just softly floating flakes over a Christmas-lights sprinkled night, with the elegance of a Nutcracker audiences spilling out into the street. (Only downer was just getting there and having to sit through opening day ceremonies which includes a figure skating demo. We didn't come here to watch, we came to skate!) But other than that, once again, the Starbucks there had their A-List crew working (even though I was asked "What would you like sir?" "Uh, I'm a 'ma'am'") and then becuase it was opening night, every mascot in town was there. The Sausages were there, the mascots from the Milwaukee Wave and UWM Panthers -- but get this -- none of them were on skates until Bango the Buck showed up. But Bango's a really athletic mascot anyway. He'd left, and then Roscoe (from the Admirals) turned up -- and being a hocket mascot, he was clearly the best skater of them all. The kids had a good time high fiving them. Sammy had a dreadful wipeout and has a nasty bruise near his eye, but he's sitting on the couch as I write this, with a fresh ice pack, and hoepfully a story to tell. Most likely, that story is about the one skater who we overheard fretting about how she was going to get home in all this snow. Hel-LO: this is Wisconsin and it's December 9. This isn't a blizzard, people. It's snowfall. That tends to happen this time of year here in 43 degrees North. If you're at all deserving of your Wisconsin driver's license, this shouldn't be a problem.
We decided (well, I decided) we/I didn't feel like cooking, so we popped into the Milwaukee Pubic Market where Sammy and I munched on lobster and calamari at the St Paul Fish Company lunch counter ( both were outstanding, and very reasonably priced) and Stella had the always excellent Chicken Soup from the Soup Company. We heard some excitement and applause coming from upstairs; there was a Gingerbread House contest! We went to check it out and found everything from traditional gingerbread houses to gingerbread apartment buildings and log cabins and lodges. My favorite is pictured here: a gingerbread Red Arrow Park, complete with ice rink and Starbucks and 1001 building in the background. It was really good, not necessarily the best, but a lovely little replica of this picture perfect holiday evening spent with the kids: truly a slice of a slice of our ice.
So of course last Saturday I had "Macho Man" going through my head, an earworm more potent than Eduard Khil. "Hon," Brian said, "Sounds like you need some FZ." And so I did. rounded up a last minute sitter, so I only caught two band at this year's Zappafest, but they were Dr Chow and theDanglers, so all is right with the world again. And the Danglers are playing for my 50th birthday Saturday night, along with Floor Model, so that helped remind me how much I appreciate them.
But today was a lovely day, really. Slice of Ice opened today -- the outdoor skating rink across the street from the PAC -- as I've often called it, our own little piece of Rockefeller Center. And it was, as the kids called it, Hollywood Snow -- just softly floating flakes over a Christmas-lights sprinkled night, with the elegance of a Nutcracker audiences spilling out into the street. (Only downer was just getting there and having to sit through opening day ceremonies which includes a figure skating demo. We didn't come here to watch, we came to skate!) But other than that, once again, the Starbucks there had their A-List crew working (even though I was asked "What would you like sir?" "Uh, I'm a 'ma'am'") and then becuase it was opening night, every mascot in town was there. The Sausages were there, the mascots from the Milwaukee Wave and UWM Panthers -- but get this -- none of them were on skates until Bango the Buck showed up. But Bango's a really athletic mascot anyway. He'd left, and then Roscoe (from the Admirals) turned up -- and being a hocket mascot, he was clearly the best skater of them all. The kids had a good time high fiving them. Sammy had a dreadful wipeout and has a nasty bruise near his eye, but he's sitting on the couch as I write this, with a fresh ice pack, and hoepfully a story to tell. Most likely, that story is about the one skater who we overheard fretting about how she was going to get home in all this snow. Hel-LO: this is Wisconsin and it's December 9. This isn't a blizzard, people. It's snowfall. That tends to happen this time of year here in 43 degrees North. If you're at all deserving of your Wisconsin driver's license, this shouldn't be a problem.
We decided (well, I decided) we/I didn't feel like cooking, so we popped into the Milwaukee Pubic Market where Sammy and I munched on lobster and calamari at the St Paul Fish Company lunch counter ( both were outstanding, and very reasonably priced) and Stella had the always excellent Chicken Soup from the Soup Company. We heard some excitement and applause coming from upstairs; there was a Gingerbread House contest! We went to check it out and found everything from traditional gingerbread houses to gingerbread apartment buildings and log cabins and lodges. My favorite is pictured here: a gingerbread Red Arrow Park, complete with ice rink and Starbucks and 1001 building in the background. It was really good, not necessarily the best, but a lovely little replica of this picture perfect holiday evening spent with the kids: truly a slice of a slice of our ice.
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