1. Vote!
EVAN MUSIL, ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR
Maybe you’ve heard, but there’s an election happening this Tuesday. And while the presidential and Senate races tend to get the most attention (and make up the bulk of your mailbox), it’s an important election for state and local positions, too. Voting is the defining element of a democracy, and it’s worth the small amount of time and effort it takes. Wisconsin is one of several states that allow same-day voter registration, so even if you’ve never voted before, you can take part. You can find your nearest polling place and study what’s on your ballot by visiting myvote.wi.gov/en-us/Find-My-Polling-Place.
2. Bake Some Lemon Ricotta Cookies
ANN CHRISTENSON, DINING EDITOR
I vote for cookies and I’m fairly nonpartisan about it. My family’s holiday cookie tray has varieties on it I’m not particularly fond of, but other people are, so that’s enough. In the last few years I’ve been auditioning recipes ahead of time to see if they could make the cut. Here’s one example: lemon ricotta cookies. Lemon is a popular flavor on the cookie tray and last year I tried something new, for us: thumbprints topped with homemade lemon curd. The reaction was positive. But I wasn’t ready to commit to it for another year. Hence, the latest experiment: a round, cakey blob of a cookie dipped in lemon icing and sprinkled with lemon zest. I’m selling it short by calling it a blob, but facts are facts. It’s a blob. A tasty blob, though. One thing I’ll say for this recipe, though, is you need to keep these cookies in the fridge. It makes them less sticky. I didn’t want just my own input. I brought them to two tough critics – my niece and nephew (the latter of whom has a particular interest in lemon-flavored foods). In short, my niece loved them, but my nephew was critical. His comments: “mushy,” “really sticky and hard to hold overall.” He did, however, “love” their flavor. In the cookie’s defense, my nephew tried them when they were room temperature, which accentuated their stickiness. My take is I’d make these again. But just for me, not the holiday cookie tray.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
3. Shop at Mooi
BRIANNA SCHUBERT, ASSOCIATE DIGITAL EDITOR
I had so much fun popping into Mooi in Tosa Village this past weekend for some much-needed retail therapy. They have tons of cute paper goods, candles and more to stock up on holiday gifts or get yourself a little treat. I walked away with an adorable new magnetic grocery list notepad and a few gifts for my mom and friend’s birthdays. Definitely check it out if you’re in the area!
4. Read Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
ARCHER PARQUETTE, MANAGING EDITOR
This novel was recommended to me by one of my many business associates. Normally, I don’t read books recommended to me because of my misanthropic, vaguely hipster streak, but the way she described the plot seemed so bonkers I had to give this one a read. And my friends, let me tell you that Piranesi is quite good. I got through the book in a marathon session because I absolutely needed to understand the secret to the story’s central mystery.
So now, as my associate did, I’m going to try to explain what this novel is about as best I can. A man narrates the story in journal entries. He lives in an odd place that he calls “the House,” but from his description it seems more like some sort of massive labyrinth that doesn’t quite behave by the laws of physics. He’s alone except for occasional visits from a man he calls “the Other,” who he thinks is his friend, but their interactions make it clear to the reader that he does not have our narrator’s interests at heart. Is the narrator a prisoner? An experiment? Is something supernatural afoot? It’s unclear, and Clarke does a masterful job of teasing out the tension in unravelling what exactly is happening in this twisty tale.
