Madison

We went to Madison, Wisconsin to have lunch with a rocking family we know there and we really had fun after what started out as a horrendous morning (overnight some piece of shit took property from our car. There is nothing I hate more than a thief) and we had to drive over an hour each way with no music and no NPR. Not a happy car ride.

Anyway, we drove up to have lunch at Monty's Blue Plate Diner (menu here) and even tho we had to wait an hour to eat (we didn't really plan that so well) and were ravenous by the time food was placed in front of us, the food was yummy and we managed to remain calm and civilized.

Monty's is a place I wish was in my own town because they have choices for this frustrated vegetarian - Monty's had more than one or two or three choices! That is a rarity for restaurants. I usually have one choice of a vegetarian dish on a typical menu so this was quite refreshing.

My friends all had breakfast. Their exceptionally cool kid had a Mickey Mouse pancake. How fun is that? My husband had the dill and feta burger and spicy waffle fries. Very good, he said.

I had the best selling vegetarian meatless loaf, which was really more like a veggie casserole thing. It was made from carrot, onions, mushrooms, cheese and the like, served with a big mountain of real 'with the skin on' mashed taters and everything was smothered in ginger-cashew gravy... yum! My husband even had about 4 bites and he's a card carrying carnivore!

I also added a buttermilk biscuit because, come on, biscuits rock and after discovering we'd been burgled the night before, I needed some comfort food.

Afterward, we went to a place called Java Cat that had homemade gelato! Mmmmm. Too many flavor choices tho and I ended up with Malted Milk (which was fantastic) and Chocolate Chili (which I should have taste tested first because it was so f'ing spicy that I had to give it to my husband to eat. Seriously, I can take a little spice and heat but this affected my vocal chords for the rest of the day!) The shit just parked itself in the back of my throat to make me feel like a cat with a prickly hairball. They also had live harp music which was delightful.

Then, we went down to the square, where the hip and happening hang! Madison is a college town and people there just love to get together and soak up some culture and people action.

We visited some cute shops full of interesting goodies. My husband channeled my dad and waited outside every time we went in somewhere. (it's true when they say you marry your father)

We used the parking garage and when I expressed my concern to my friends that I only had 9 dollars in cash to pay for parking, they laughed and said 'this isn't Chicago' - we had to spend 85 cents for the convenience of the garage - that is a deal!

I've been to Madison a few times and I've enjoyed myself every time. I do recommend it and I hope to be able to spend more time up there to check out more local restaurants as being a veg head up there isn't that weird. Ok, I'm still weird in general but my being a vegetarian doesn't cast me out as much up there.