Play in the City

The Manfred Olson Planetarium

I’ve always been fascinated by the stars. Stars are mystical, scientific and historic. As a kid I loved learning about the constellations and the stories behind them. As an adult I love learning about space and all of the wondrous phenomena that exist and all the amazing things that studying the stars has taught us about our own planet.

FYI: My scientist boyfriend told me that the element Helium was predicted by analyzing light from the sun before it was even discovered on earth. So, looking at the stars is literally like staring back in time. We can look to see what the universe looked like millions and millions of years ago... Needless to say, stars are cool stuff!

While I've learned about the stars in our universe from my science book years ago in school, seeing Stars in the Spring at The Manfred Olson Planetarium made it more exciting and real than any of those science books ever could.

Located on the north end of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus, The Manfred Olson Planetarium hosts Friday Night Shows every week. Pressed for time, Eric and I scampered into the building that acts as the hub for the Planetarium and proceeded to a folding table in the middle of the lobby where we paid $1 apiece for the show. $1 is quite a deal!

We entered the dimly lit room and spotted two open seats surrounded by three other rows, which encircle a large projector in the middle of the round room. To my surprise the space was brimming with students, families and several couples looking to do some stargazing.

Promptly at 7 p.m., a woman with thick glasses and a fleece pullover appeared from behind a desk near the entrance and gently closed the door. “This will be a great spring for looking at the stars,” she enthusiastically announced. The woman was Planetarium director and astronomer Jean Creighton. Creighton is responsible for creating and directing all of the themed and sequential shows at UWM’s Planetarium and she was keenly interested in getting people into science.

The first part of the program consisted of a brief interactive session where Creighton used a globe to demonstrate how the Earth rotates around itself and around the sun, and how with every season’s change, the night sky also changes. Meanwhile, Creighton asked many questions that weren’t too tricky, so most of the kids in the audience willingly threw up their hands to participate, although most of the adults remained quiet.

Fifteen minutes later, the lights dimmed and we were encouraged to sit back in our comfy seats and focus on the dome ceiling. Then, the sky-blue lights faded to a soft shade of red as dusk was simulated, and then to a dark blue as night took over.

Cooking with Irish Spirit

I believe that ethnicity is part of what defines a person.

I’m of Polish-Italian decent and one of my family’s ways of celebrating our heritage is by passing down authentic recipes – kuchnia Polska like pierogi or kielbasa or golabki and Italian fare such as tortelloni alla zucca or gnocchi di semolino. While I take pride in my family’s customs, I also enjoy being cultured in others, especially their traditional cuisine.

Speaking of which, a few days ago I got to learn about the Irish, in particular, about Irish food.

Several months back The Heartland Chef, Sandra Hillmer, invited me to one of her cooking classes. She had read my December 22 post about a cooking class I took at the Milwaukee Public Market where I mentioned I was disappointed by the lack of hands-on cooking classes in the Milwaukee area and how that particular class was like paying to watch The Food Network. Sandi stated that she has been offering privately held hands-on cooking classes at her home in Oak Creek for about six years, so I decided to take her up on the offer.

Initially I thought it was a little strange that the class was held at her home, but her kitchen was specifically designed to accommodate a large amount of people and heavy duty cooking. Sandi's home was well equipped with several feet of open counter space, two ovens, stainless steel appliances, an abundance of electrical outlets and the best kitchenware any cook could dream of!

As a cooking instructor Sandi is very familiar with the deficient of hands-on classes in our area. She explained that the scarcity is due to the fact that many cooking teachers favor the demonstration style of training. However, she also noticed that most students prefer getting down and dirty in the kitchen over merely watching a chef lecture, which is probably why she began teaching. Needless to say, when I was invited to partake in one of Sandi’s hands-on cooking classes, I was delighted!

Sandi’s classes are usually centered on a theme and planned around recipes for a four to five course meal. Each class always has a very versatile menu, but the Irish Spirits class was the one that immediately caught my eye.

When you think of Irish cuisine, what particular dish comes to mind? Any? I automatically think of corned beef hash with a side of green eggs. Apparently, I'm not very cultured. But, at this cooking class we expanded our palates by creating and tasting a traditional Irish dinner composed of Murphy’s onion soup, Chicken Cashel Blue, chive smashed potatoes and Guinness applesauce cake – it definitely wasn't St. Patrick's Day pub food...Thank goodness!

Jump, Jive an' Wail

Last Tuesday, Milwaukee felt Mother Nature’s wrath as temperatures fell to an all-time low causing record low attendance for Swing Night at the Milwaukee Ale House. Despite the chilly weather and small crowd, the brewpub was definitely raising temperatures as we danced the winter night away.

On any given Tuesday night, whether it’s a smoldering 90 degrees or subzero outside, you’ll find the Ale House bustling with sneaker-wearing swingers ready to learn the basics in East Coast jumping and jiving.

Returning from a six month hiatus, Eric and I bundled up and raced over to the Third Ward for lessons at 8 p.m. We found parking unusually fast and scurried toward the warm glow radiating off the enormous copper vats in the Ale House lobby. Inside the brick and timber warehouse bar was a good mix of people: some young, some old; some flying solo, some with a group of friends and others as couples. They all were a welcoming bunch.

Since we didn’t recognize anyone, we grabbed a table for two, though most tables and chairs were stacked and moved off the wooden floor to make room around the small stage for dancers. Once we found a waitress, we ordered a pitcher of my favorite Ale House craft brew Louie’s Demise, and then patiently waited for the instructor to get us moving.

Maureen Majeski, Jumpin’ Jive Club Instructor, teaches weekly Swing dance lessons at several Greater Milwaukee area locations. Maureen has been teaching classes at the Ale House for about eight years and in that time has taught nearly 15,000 people at the brewpub.

Promptly at 8 p.m. we were summoned to the makeshift dance floor. We peeled off our coats and followed suit, ready to learn some new moves or at least brush up on those we remembered. At first, men and women were split up. It was like a grade school dance as the guys stood on one side and the gals stood across from them. At this time, we were taught the basic step – triple step, triple step, rock step – which can be a little tough at first, but it’s pretty easy to catch on.

Healthy Cooking at the Public Market

It’s said that the average person gains about seven pounds over the holiday season. If you’re like me, you’re conscious of this phenomenon and you’ve been limiting your intake of tempting palate pleasers like delectable desserts, lush red wines, and those cheese and sausage platters.

BUT IT’S SO HARD!

My calendar is packed with Christmas parties, so not only is it nearly impossible to hit the gym to work off my calorie overload, consuming large quantities of finger food and hors d’oeuvre is virtually unavoidable.

Suzanne Monroe, a certified holistic health and nutrition counselor, can relate, which is why she came to the Milwaukee Public Market last Thursday to teach us how to make (and share) healthy holiday desserts that won’t stretch our waistline. And they taste great too!

Eric and I ducked out of work a little early to get down to the Public Market in time for our class, which was scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Eric isn’t the healthiest eater I know; in fact, I’d venture to guess he wouldn’t touch low sugar or fat free foods with a 39-and-a-half-foot pole! Naturally, he wasn’t as enthusiastic about attending a healthy dessert cooking class like I was. But because I made the reservations and paid the $25 per person, he was forced to enjoy it, and in the end, he found it to be quite resourceful.

We took advantage of the free parking in the Market’s lot and scurried into the building and upstairs to the demonstration area. I was acting a little neurotic because I HATE being late, but we ended up arriving 10 minutes early and grabbed two chairs at a table near the front of the kitchen. Ten to 15 minutes later the class began and I counted about 20 attendees, plus a tardy couple who slid into seats in the back. The instructor introduced herself and then began the class shortly after.

Greeting Cards at Broadway Paper

Despite the increasing costs of cards and postage, holiday greetings still flood post offices every year at this time. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 1.9 billion greeting cards are sent to friends and loved ones every year for the holidays, making Christmas the largest card-sending occasion in the United States. (The second largest is Valentine’s Day with approximately 192 million cards given, according to Hallmark.)

I read an interesting article that reported 64% of people send traditional Christmas cards via snail mail and spend untold hours choosing, signing and addressing each card as opposed to the 16% who just send them via e-mail. I’m curious as to how many people actually burn the midnight oil creating original and personalized greetings to mail.

I love the idea of Christmas in the sense of family and friends and being reminded of them, but sometimes it seems like it has lost its sincerity. Instead of receiving homemade cards or ones that obviously took time to personalize, I often get greetings that are just stamped with a signature. Every year I either make cards in Photoshop or at least write a letter and send it with a card – even if it’s time consuming. And this year, I decided to make my Christmas cards the old fashioned way with colorful paper, a little glue and some creativity.

Saturday after Milwaukee’s Holiday Parade, I spent nearly four hours at Broadway Paper for a holiday greeting card, tag and invitation workshop.

My mom and I signed up together and met there at noon. Even though the two of us combined would be an unstoppable craft-making machine, we both wanted ideas to spruce-up our gifts and cards this year; plus it was a good reason to spend an entire afternoon together.