The first thing we did early in the afternoon on friday was drive to Madison. Even though I have lived in Milwaukee (only 1.5 hours away from Madison) for a few years now, we have never been to Madison. How Crazy. It turns out that that city is WAY cooler than Milwaukee and I was envious that we couldn't have lived there instead for the last 4-ish years. Anyway, we went to our hotel and unpacked. We turned on the TV in our room and it just so happened that a commercial came on almost right away about an "Electronic Liquidation Sale" at the Madison Aliant Energy Center. I turned to Paul and asked jokingly: "Is this what we are doing this weekend?!" Paul laughed and said: "Oh yeah, you figured it out! Bummer." I assumed he was joking (or rather hoped) and then we got ready to leave. I was going crazy trying to figure out the surprise. I also had no idea what to wear for such a surprise occasion, so Paul caved and told me to wear "nice clothes but jeans are okay" and that it was indoors. So off we went to our mystery place.
Paul gave me the GPS and I navigated. Soon, the GPS told us that our destination was on our right, and guess what it was? That's right, the Madison Aliant Energy Center! I freaked out. "Paul," I said as calmly as I could, "are we REALLY here for the liquidation sale??!" I was trying not to sound disappointed, but really, if that was the surprise, I was pretty bummed. Paul just chuckled. The sign at the front of the building flashed different events going on in the same building, so I started reading closely as we waited in a long line of cars to enter the parking lot. The first sign was about the liquidation sale. The second sign flashed about a Clydesdale Horse show. I looked up at Paul and again asked as nicely as I could if this was the surprise. Again, I was trying not to sound disappointed because really, Paul should know by now that I don't really care about horses. Paul just chuckled again. I was really starting to go crazy. Then the next, blessed sign came up: "Food and Wine show" and I shrieked in delight. I KNEW that it was the surprise. Paul knows how much I love food and wine. :) Paul grinned then and I was actually wonderfully surprised and excited.
On Friday night and Saturday and Sunday afternoon, we spent all of our time in this gigantic room tasting tons of different wines and spirits as well as lots and lots and lots of cheese, sausage, crackers, pastas, etc. It was mainly cheese, though. It's crazy, I always told Paul that my version of heaven was one where I could drink all the wine I wanted and eat cheese nonstop. This was heaven on earth! Except it will be better in heaven: I am lactose intolerant and since Paul didn't warn me, I did not have my pills along. Every night was a bit of agony on my stomach, but it was still worth it. There was this cool demonstration kitchen where chefs showed us how to make fancy meals and then let us sample them. We got to try a cool bruschetta with figs on it (weird combo but tasted great!), some fancy chicken dish whose name I have already forgotten, some fancy meatballs with fennel sauce, some delicious Pakistani food, and some shrimp and pork dumplings. Yum! We also watched a bit of "dueling chefs" which was a competition. It was fun to watch but it kept making us hungry and we weren't allowed to sample the foods they made, which was a bummer.
All in all, the weekend went by way too quickly, and we ate WAY too much food. It was the best romantic surprise weekend ever! I am so happy that Paul decided to plan this for us to do. We bought a few things but for the most part, we ate so much of the foods at the 3 day food show that we did not see the need to buy more, even though it was all so delicious. Like I said earlier: It was heaven on earth...I just could have done with the lactose intolerance problem! :)
sounds like fun! very envious!
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