1. Take a Cooking Class at Glorioso’s Appetito & Sage Harvest
BRIANNA SCHUBERT, ASSOCIATE DIGITAL EDITOR
On Friday, my mom and I went to a cooking class at Glorioso’s Appetito & Sage Harvest. We made creamy tuscan chicken and mushroom risotto. It was so much fun to learn how to make risotto – it takes a lot, lot, lot of stirring – and we also made a cream sauce from a roux, using burst cherry tomatoes and heavy cream too. The class was super fun, and I learned a lot. Plus, they have a bar so you can get delicious drinks (Ciao, Aperol spritzes!) to enjoy while you cook. The instructor was super helpful, and after we were done making the food we got to eat it in the dining room, along with some fresh pastries for dessert. We had a blast, and the food was delicious. I’m already looking at the schedule of upcoming classes so I can schedule another one this summer.
2. See Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical
EVAN MUSIL, ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
Now, I know what you’re thinking: why did I, a childless man in his 20s, see Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical? Well, I wanted to see my first First Stage show, and what better choice than a musical adaptation of a book series I read ardently as a kid? And it was a good choice – the cast was full of energy that gave each character grin-inducing charm. The handcrafted sets are styled like lined paper and looked straight from the books. The script was packed with popular moments from the series, and despite its brisk 60-minute runtime, the show felt rather evenly paced. Best friend Rowley and the eccentric Fregley were especially fun to watch, as the actors fully embodied their characters through each line and quirky mannerism. (There are two casts during the run – I saw the “Cheese” cast at my show.) And the main character, Greg, sang wonderfully throughout, even with few moments to rest. All in all, it’s an entertaining family-friendly show, although you don’t need a kid to see it.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
3. Ponder Puppets at the Milwaukee Film Festival’s Opening Night
ARCHER PARQUETTE, MANAGING EDITOR
Once again, my little omelets, that time has come. The Milwaukee Film Festival is here. Thursday’s opening night screening of Shari and Lamb Chop kicks off the three weeks of festivities, and I for one, am quite excited. As a pale little gremlin, I’ve always found great solace in the darkness of a movie theater, and I plan to spend many hours enjoying the films the folks at the festival have pulled together this year. In fact, I will be writing a lil’ somethin’ somethin’ called “Archer’s Agenda” each Monday with the movies I’m most excited about that week. You should read it, if you have masochistic tendencies.
4. Go Buy a Merriam-Webster Dictionary
CHRIS DROSNER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR
The big news in the nerd circles I run in (well, one of them) is that the Associated Press is changing the dictionary on which it builds its widely followed style guide. If this sounds like a lame thing to get excited about, skip to the next restaurant or coffee rec or whatever follows this blurb. But I gasped audibly when I saw the AP email that it was switching from Webster’s New World dictionary as the foundation of its style to Merriam-Webster, effective May 29. I think about AP style every day; I know it inside and out – but still look up just about everything, because that’s what editors do. I’ve spent the weekend imagining what the meetings leading up to this change were like. Did Old Man Merriam grease some palms? Did Webster press its luck one too many times with hyphenated prefixes? Why does it take effect on a nondescript Wednesday? Anyway, the pedants among us will need to have a fresh M-W copy on hand. You’ve got seven weeks to get the best deal.
5. Make Banana Brownie Cookies
ANN CHRISTENSON, DINING EDITOR
I hate wasting food. That includes a bad banana with a greasy black peel. Now, I have a weird thing about bananas – I like them to be a little green, just a shade underripe. Once they start developing brown spots, I’m done. This presents a problem when I’m shopping for bananas because there’s a very short window for the banana that I like to eat. Consequently, my freezer is full of brown bananas – destined for some future banana bread that I may or may not make. So here’s the deal: I just found a recipe that takes care of at least one of the black, greasy bananas I accumulate – banana brownie cookies by one of my favorite bakers/cookbook authors Yossy Arefi. A few things I like about this cookie recipe: it’s egg-free (I don’t always have eggs on hand), it makes a super fudgy cookie, and it literally takes less than 10 minutes to mix up the dough by hand. The recipe requires you to buy Arefi’s book, Snacking Bakes – or check it out from the library. If you like to bake, this one is a keeper compendium of low-lift recipes that I have found to be really simple and delicious.
