20 More Days before leave for Wisconsin and "The Lake"

I made my last batch of Arizona salsa this morning. Hopefully it will last until we leave because I don't want to make any more salsa until I can make Wisconsin salsa. Same recipe...different states. I did stock up on pequin peppers to bring along. You can't find that sort of thing in Wisconsin. No way, no how. I may actually buy even more to bring to my sister who lives in Eau Claire. Last year I was lucky if I could find fresh cilantro. The grocery stores in Rice Lake are just as big as the stores in Arizona so they do have potential but you're more likely to see a large variety of mustard and there is an amazing variety and supply of cheese. But there aren't too many "imported" items more common to the southwest. However, they are a lot bigger then the one grocery store in Birchwood which still has its original wooden floor and is just a mile and a half from "The Lake". I'm not going to say anything bad about The Store. I love that store. But I won't be going into The Store in Birchwood to look for anything as exotic as an Anaheim Chili Peppers. They have a nice selection of emergency grocery supplies such as matches, mosquito dope, B & M Baked Beans, hotdog buns, bratwurst, hotdogs, marshmallows (big and small), J-ello (all the basic flavors, especially the green stuff), Ketchup and mustard, milk, coffee, cream, cereals and microwave popcorn but I don't think chili peppers are one of those emergency supplies. The two grocery stores in Rice Lake have more of a variety but they did try to pass off a jalapeno pepper as a chili pepper last year. Finding cilantro there was even more of a hit or miss. They kept trying to pass off the Italian Parsley for Cilantro. I won't even tell you how much it costs a person to buy a lime in Wisconsin. Maybe I'd better add limes to my packing list. They keep fairly nicely in the fridge.

Should I warn you that though Wisconsin is a dairy state, the cost of milk is amazingly high? Good thing we don't drink that much of the stuff anymore now that most of the kids have moved away. We pay half as much for milk here in Arizona. Poor desert cows. Wisconsin cows always look so happy grazing in the verdant fields. There are no verdant fields for desert cows. My mother, on a visit to Arizona, mistook one of the local dairies here for a feedlot. The only verdant fields here in Arizona are part of the golf course. The only grass you'll see has been carefully planted, groomed, and irrigated by someone. I won't get into that. That should be the subject of a whole new blog. "Why Do People Plant Grass in a Desert?"

As you can see my thoughts are turning to Wisconsin. I've already started on my packing list. I just need to go out and buy more pequin peppers and add limes to my list. I'm willing to pay the additional cost and buy the Wisconsin milk produced by the happy Wisconsin cows while I'm living in Wisconsin.