Monona Pancake Breakfast - December 11

The Monona Grove Optimist Club is hosting a Pancake Breakfast with Santa on December 11 at the Monona Community Center (lower level).



Date: Sat - 12/11/2010



Time: 8:00 AM


Location: Monona Community Center - Senior Center

Join the Monona Grove Optimist Club for the 3rd Annual Pancake Breakfast with Santa on Saturday December 11, 2010 from 8 am - 10 am at the Monona Community Center. All you can eat pancakes!

There will be a coloring contest for the kids and an opportunity to get your picture taken with Santa!
Cost is $5 per person, $2.50 for children ages 3-10, 2 & under are free.

***

Pancakes? And for all these years I thought Santa liked cookies and milk.

Barkley's New Diet

Charles Barkley, once known as The Round Mound of Rebound, was on PTI today looking noticably slimmer. Kornheiser asks him what his secret diet is. To which Barkley replies, "If it tastes good, I spit it out!"

Now if he can just fix that golf swing.

28th Annual Chili Cook-off is TODAY - Saturday, October 2

The  MGBMA Annual Chili Cook-off takes place today - Saturday, October 2 - on the grounds of the Americinn in Monona at the corner of Broadway and Monona Drive.

Chili day is a fun day for the chefs, their helpers and the general public.  The chefs take their chili seriously, and no two chilis are the same...some are just a little hotter than others.  Many participants set up signs and displays and wear crazy costumes.  Cooking starts at 7:30 am.  Judging starts at noon.  Chili samples may be purchased for 50 cents each (after noon).

And there's more than just chili...



•Lioness Raffle and Bake Sale

•Classic Car Show

•Pony and Horse Rides

•Face Painting

•Live Music by Chameleon (Classic Rock)

•Food (Chili, Chili Dogs, Hotdogs, Brats and Snacks)

•Beer, Soft Drinks, Bottled Water

•Babcock Hall Ice Cream

Monona Farmers Market - For Everyone

The following message floated in through the electronic mail slot the other day from Ross Cohen, the manager of the the Monona Farmers Market announcing that the market will accept Wisconsin food stamps beginning September 12.

[BEGIN MESSAGE]

Did you know that in Wisconsin 333,000 citizens currently receive an average of $170 each month in food stamps? That is over $56 million in government subsidies each month, all of which could be used to purchase soda and candy bars if that’s what the people chose to buy. This is why; when I became the Manager for the Monona Farmers Market this year I made it my top priority to be able to accept EBT (WI Food stamps) at the market.

I am pleased to announce that thanks to a donation from the Monona Hills Living Community and a generous grant from an anonymous donor through the Madison Community Foundation to fund the equipment needed, the Monona Farmers Market is now accepting EBT (WI Food stamps).

This is extremely important because it insures that all residents have access to the local, sustainable, and healthy food that is available at the market each week. This opportunity will also allow for WI tax payer dollars to remain in the local economy and to support our local family farms.

On September 12, the Monona Farmers Market will be kicking off their EBT acceptance program as well as holding their annual Art and Crafts Fair.


The Monona Farmers Market is located at Ahuska Park on E. Broadway from 9-1 every Sunday, May-October. For more information please visit www.mononafarmersmarket.com.


Ross Cohen
Monona Farmers Market Manager

[END MESSAGE]

Where the heck is it?

600 E. Broadway at Ahuska Park.

When?

Sundays from 9 AM to

May 2 - October 31, 2010

9:00 am to 1:00 pm

at Ahuska Park

Brat Fest Versus Marathon

I suppose someone somewhere might not know that our late mayor, Monona's own Tom Metcalfe started the World's Largest Brat Fest, although it wasn't the world's largest in 1983. This year they will sell approximately 48 trillion brats.

The Governor's furlough gift on Friday robbed state workers of a chance to participate in Take Your Brat to Work Day. 

What do you read when you're at Brat Fest? How about Bratfest at Tiffany's?

Who doesn't like Brat Fest? Well, at least some marathon runners according to this quote from the WSJ: 

"We as the production team liked the idea of ending at Brat Fest because we kind of wanted that finish-line festival," he said. "But the runners seem to have a disconnect with it. For many of them, it's like, ‘If a marathon is considered a healthy race, then why end up at a brat festival?' "

Someone call the whambulance.  

Ah-ha, but are marathons really all that healthy? Consider the fate of the first guy who ran one. Phidippides collapsed and died after running 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to deliver the news of a big Greek victory (and the Greeks haven't had a big victory since). In fairness, in the previous two days,Phidippides had just run two 140-mile journeys delivering messages and then fought a day-long battle before being called upon to deliver the victory message. In other words, he was the kind of person who participates in iron man contests today....

And running up and down The Hill didn't do Sean Connery any good.

But seriously, while training for a marathon is undoubtedly good for you, there have been questions raised whether actually running in one is in fact bad for you.

More debate on the topic: 

http://www.smartplanet.com/business/blog/smart-takes/are-marathons-bad-for-you-scientists-cite-heart-damage-in-debate/1306/

and

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/phys-ed-how-do-marathons-affect-your-heart/

What put me off, however, was the seeming attitude that marathon-runners might get get fat cooties if they mix with brat-eaters. In the words of Rodney King, can't we all just get along?

Help Wanted - Monona Farmers Market

The Monona Farmers Market is looking to hire a Market Manager.

 

To view the job description go to http://www.mononafarmersmarket.com to download a pdf of the job description.

 

This is a contract position at $13/hour for an average of 8 hours a week April - October plus additional hours during the off season.

 

The job is also advertised on Craig's list and on the UW  job center site.

Community Supported Agriculture in Monona

Monona resident Lisa jo VonAllmen sent the following message and information about a Monona area CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that is different from your standard CSA. http://www.simplywi.com/content/4732

Contact info is on the web site.

Read on...

Greetings friends,

Do you try and feed your family organic food? I know I do, I try... but it isn't always easy to get or affordable for my budget. I'm excited to tell you about a friend of mine who lives in Monona. She has been working very hard over the last few years creating a new breed of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Her company is Simply Wisconsin www.simplywi.com and her mission is to to ensure everyone has access to organic produce that is fresh, local, and affordable. The reason I say this is a new breed of CSA is because she pulls from about 30 farms, most of them Wisconsin Farms, a couple from MN. By doing this she is able to offer more varieties than a single CSA farm can. In addition to the produce share she also offers CSA shares for meat, cheese, eggs and pantry items!

I'm really excited about this concept so I have volunteered to have the CSA pick up site at my house on Rothman Place! I think other folks in Monona/Madison might be excited about this too so I wanted you to know about it.

Ordering is easy too you can order by mail, in person, phone, fax, email, or Google Checkout (which is similar to paypal) via the web form. Here are the details...

*Complete the form and get it to me or Deb in person or by mail – we can accept check payment or credit card payments, or members can be invoiced. Members are eligible to receive the $50 early sign-up discount if you sign-up and pay in full prior to 2/1/10.

Contact info is on the web site.

*Complete the form and fax it to (608) 237-2082 – we can accept check payment or credit card payments, or members can be invoiced. Members are eligible to receive the $50 early sign-up discount if they sign-up and pay in full prior to 2/1/10.

*Send either of us an E-mail with all pertinent information – name, address, phone, E-mail, and desired share(s) – we can accept check payment or credit card payments, or members can be invoiced. Members are eligible to receive the $50 early sign-up discount if you sign-up and pay in full prior to 2/1/10. *Sign-up and pay online via Google Checkout – they must have or establish a Google Checkout account (which is similar to PayPal) – the link for the online sign-up is:

http://simplywisconsin.smallfarmcentral.com

Members are eligible to receive the $50 early sign-up discount if you sign-up and pay in full prior to 2/1/10. If you sign-up online, you need to select the shares you would like, and check the “No . . . Share Thanks” for the shares you do not want. The sign-up and checkout procedure need to be completed to be completely registered. Anyone who has problems signing up online should contact Deb directly, as I can work you through it or correct any mistakes from here her office. Thank you for your time I know we are all so busy. My hope is that this will be one less thing you will need to worry about... the 'dreaded food shopping'!

And - friends, it will be wonderful to see you at the pick site - my house starting in June. Bring the kids and stay and play for awhile too!

Lisa jo VonAllmen

Monona Pie Party Results

We can all belong to the Pie Party. And a whole bunch of us did. Some 250 pies were consumed and best of all, the party raised $5500 to fund early literacy computer stations for the Monona Public Library.

Some of the pie names:

Bernie Madoff Ponzi Pie (an empty pie plate)

Nuts for Literacy Pie

Cinderella Stayed Home Pie

Beet It Pie

Plato Pie (I mistakenly heard "Play-Doh" when this pie was described to me by John DeBacher. I always liked the smell of the stuff, but it is a modeling compound and not as tasty as Greek Pie.)

Monona 2020 Olympics Chocolate Pie and

Maywood Turtle Pie (two).

To see who won, you are going to have to click over to the Pie Party web site.

Pie Report

Still waiting word on the money raised at the Monona Pie Party for the Monona public library early literacy offerings, but I can report my personal findings.

Chad Speight's spouse the inimitable Sue Carr told me that Chad baked a pedestrian pecan pie. Huh?! Thought bubble: Geez, Sue's calling Chad's pie pedestrian? Not much of endorsement. And then an even worse thought occurred to me: the pie was made of pedestrians mixed with pecans! I mean, this event is a big deal, but do we need human sacrifice and cannibalism? I was much relieved to learn that he was just having a bit of fun at his own expense. (You know, because of the urban myth that he lost the election because of his support for sidewalks.)

The volunteers did a fantastic job. Phil McDade did a great job auctioneering and causing runaway pie/price inflation. Did he say Sunny Schubert's pie was half-baked? Noooo, I'm kidding, but he did say it was "hand-baked". Ouch! How do you "hand-bake" a pie (or anything else) without burning your fingers off? Just askin'.

I also learned to be careful how many pies you bid on because you will probably win some of them. This thought didn't arise until I had bid on about 49 pies (OK, I bid on seven pies and used the truth/squared exaggeration rule of blogging.). I won two for a mere $12 each and picked up an unclaimed third one for $10. They were numbers 55, 95, and 98. A berry pie concoction, a pumpkin pie, and a walnut/chocolate cookie-pie that is insanely good. The first two are good, but didn't cause an altered state of consciousness. Psst, that's a good web site.

(Apropos of nothing: Check out the Acidemic Film Blog on films that cause altered states or that should be watched while in said state. The blogger describes himself as a "moody pseudo-shaman in semi-recovery".)

I will declare the event a huge success regardless of how much money was raised. Popular? The Main Hall at the Community Center was a bit of a tight fit for all the customers, volunteers, and pies. Curtain call for the volunteers who made this event happen again. Encore! Encore!

Itsy bitsy, teensy weensy suggestion: It would be nice if pies came with a pedigree sheet; who made it, what's it called, the back story, and so forth.

Eat Pie, Help the Library and More - Saturday

Don't forget the Monona Pie Party...

It benefits the Monona Public Library, but pie is served at the Community Center.

An added benefit this year I do not have an entry, so there's less chance of food poisoning.

Date: Saturday - 10/03/2009
Time: 1:00 PM
Location: Monona Community Center, 1011 Nichols Rd.
Link: Click here to read the details

***

But BEFORE you stuff your pie hole, be sure to Push, Pull, or Pedal Benefit for the Herma Heart Center of Wisconsin-Milwaukee...

Look at it this way, pushing and pulling and pedaling will make room for pie later (and less guilt!).
Time: 9:00 AM
Location: Dream Park (Winnequah Park), 1012 Nichols Rd., Monona
Link: Click here to read the details

Registration online is slick and simple and the $25 will help save a young life. (Forget for now how crazy it is to fund health care this way.)

***

Finish the day with a toasty bonfire, wonderful horse divers, drinks, and screeching bagpipes at “Pipers in the Prairie & Festival Fire” – A Harvest Celebration at Aldo Leopold Nature Center...
Date: Sat - 10/03/2009
Time: 4:30 PM
Location: Aldo Leopold Nature Center
Link: Click here to read the details

Green Tuesdays: Films & Lectures on Sustainability

FREE - MONONA PUBLIC LIBRARY - 6:30 P.M. TO 8:00 P.M.

Next Tuesday, September 29: Winterizing Your Home

Chad Speight of Chad’s Carpentry. The typical US home consumes twice the energy it should. A properly sealed and ventilated home is more comfortable, healthier, more durable, and much cheaper to heat and cool. Learn the difference between insulation and air sealing, and important tips to make your home a better place to live.

Special Green Wednesday, September 30:
Michael Pollan Community Read Panel Discussion

Join sustainable food experts in a group discussion of the works of Michael Pollan. Pollan has been a journalistic leader in writing about humankind’s relationships with our food systems, nutrition science, and plants.

This program is the culmination of the Community Read on Pollan’s books: The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food, Botany of Desire, A Place of my Own, and Second Nature. Instead of reading and discussing one book, this one leaves it up to participants to choose any of Pollan’s books. Green Wednesday will be a discussion, co-hosted by The Natural Step Monona and the Monona Public Library, with a panel of local food and sustainable food experts: CSA farmer, Steve Pincus, of Tipi Produce; Steven Buchholz of Crema Cafe; Kate Heiber-Cobb, Permaculturist of Sustainability on Stilts and the Madison Area Permaculture Guild; and Denise Thorton, journalist and author of the Digging in the Driftless blog.

Green Tuesdays are on the second and fifth Tuesdays of the month, from September through May. The series is free and open to the public. Sessions start at 6:30 and run until 8:00, with engaging and fun conversations often pushing the conclusion a bit past that hour. The Monona Public Library is at 1000 Nichols Road.

Whole Foods serves treats, so come early for delightful food and drink.

Green Tuesdays: Films & Lectures on Sustainability is the enlightening and entertaining series of lectures, films, and conversations on sustainable living brought to you by The Natural Step Monona and the Monona Public Library.

Upcoming: the films Up Close and Toxic (10/13), Kilowatt Ours (11/10), and Mama Earth (12/8).

Green Tuesdays: Films are supported by the Dane County Environmental Council.

http://www.tnsmonona.org/ or call 663-2459
http://www.mononalibrary.org/
www.county.dane.wi.us/commissions/environmentalcouncil

Green Tuesdays: Films & Lectures on Sustainability

FREE - MONONA PUBLIC LIBRARY - 6:30 P.M. TO 8:00 P.M.

Next Tuesday, September 8: No-Fear Home Canning

Dana Johnson will show us that canning doesn’t have to be scary. She will give a step-by-step demonstration of canning tomatoes the easy, no-fuss way (and touch on pickles, applesauce, jams and jellies, and fruits). You’ll gain the confidence to preserve your garden’s bounty – food that couldn’t be more locally grown – and provide food for your family throughout the winter.

Green Tuesdays are on the second and fifth Tuesdays of the month, from September through May. The series is free and open to the public. Sessions start at 6:30 and run until 8:00, with engaging and fun conversations often pushing the conclusion a bit past that hour. The Monona Public Library is at 1000 Nichols Road.

Whole Foods serves treats, so come early for delightful food and drink.

Green Tuesdays: Films & Lectures on Sustainability is the enlightening and entertaining series of lectures, films, and conversations on sustainable living brought to you by The Natural Step Monona and the Monona Public Library.

Upcoming presentations: Winterizing Your Home with Chad Speight of Chad’s Carpentry (9/29), a special “Green Wednesday” Community Read Panel/Discussion on the works of Michael Pollan (9/30), and the films Up Close and Toxic (10/13), Kilowatt Ours (11/10), and Mama Earth (12/8).

Green Tuesdays: Films are supported by the Dane County Environmental Council.

http://www.tnsmonona.org/ or call 663-2459
http://www.mononalibrary.org/
www.county.dane.wi.us/commissions/environmentalcouncil

Monona Pie Party Returns!

The famed Monona Pie Party returns for a third year. This year the pie party committee is working with the Friends of Monona Public Library to raise funds for the Early Literacy Program.

Mark your calendars: Eat Pie: Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. at the Monona Community Center, 1011 Nichols Road, Monona, Wisconsin.

A ten dollar suggested donation lets you carm pie in your pie hole to your heart's content. Twenty bucks for the whole family.

Bourbon Street Grille Denouement SURPRISING UPDATE

UPDATE: The city clerk called this morning with the news that BSG's seller's permit has been reinstated by the Department of Revenue. Apparently they paid whatever they owed this morning and cleared up whatever needed to be cleared up to be reinstated by the state. This action by the state does not reinstate their alcohol licenses, but it does make BSG legally eligible.

Original post:

A surprising development occurred late last week when the city clerk was notified that the state Department of Revenue (DOR) had revoked the Bourbon Street Grille's (BSG) seller's permit at the end of May 2008. Under state law, cities are prohibited from issuing permits to a business that lack a seller's permit (s. 77.61). In other words, during the entire pendency of the current liquor license proceedings against BSG, they in fact were not eligible for a liquor license due to a lack of a state-issued seller's permit.


The state erroneously sent the original notice of revocation to the city clerk of Madison in June 2008. Apparently, the Madison city clerk did not send a copy to the Monona city clerk. The state discovered that BSG was still open for business from news reports about Monona's liquor license suspension proceedings. The state then notified the city of Monona and directed that no licenses be issued to BSG until a seller's permit has been issued. The DOR states that it will not issue a seller's permit until all tax matters have been resolved.


Liquor licenses run from July 1 to June 30. Based on the letters from the DOR, the BSG was never eligible for a 2008-2009 liquor license.

At tonight's city council meeting, the council voted down a proposed settlement agreement that had been negotiated by the chief of police with BSG before the chief knew that BSG lacked the basic state permit to sell anything, let alone alcohol.

Stuff the Ballot Box

From the Naturally Mutual Friend :


For those of you who haven't already heard, there is a proposal to put a small organic farm on the White House grounds (MD: Hmm, with chickens??). There is a vote going on for the "White House Farmer" and Claire Strader from Troy Farm in Madison has been nominated. She'd be perfect because Troy Gardens is not unlike what is being proposed for the White House grounds. You can vote for her at http://whitehousefarmer.com/?page_id=119

Take Food to the Polls

From Second Harvest:

Election Day Food Drive-Nov. 4, 2008

Take non-perishable items to your polling place on Election Day, November 4th, 2008 to benefit those in need in southern Wisconsin. Most needed items include complete meals (stews, pasta meals), meals in a box, canned fruit, canned tuna fish, peanut butter and jelly, breakfast cereal, pasta sauce and dry pasta, beans and rice, and crackers. Thank you for your support!

Participate in the Election Day Food Drive

New Organic Store in Monona

The Herald-Independent brings this welcome news: Organic General Store gains zoning approval

The Monona Plan Commission approved a zoning permit for Susan Patterson's "Simpler Ways" retail store, September 22. According to application materials,
the store will specialize in organic grocery items, natural health care products and gluten-free and specialized diets. The "country-styled" general store, located at the former Char's Floral and Send It Now property, 5728 Monona Drive, will also include a child's play area and a health reference space. Patterson noted that she would like to eventually add a commercial kitchen for preserving and baking within a year.

How Could I Miss the MGBMA Chili Cook-Off?

Addled by the collapse of the Brewers and the financial markets, I forgot about the Monona Grove Business Men's Association Chili Cook-Off! The 26th annual. My bad.

Here's a Cap Times story with plenty of and Jeff Richgels's photos: view them here

Here's the official Monona Grove Business Men's Association web site.

Pie in Your Eye

The Monona Pie Party came off as a great success last Saturday. Monona Pie Party - Home

By the numbers:

• 98 pairs of pies
• approximately 400 people to ate and bid
• raised approximately $4,700 for the Winnequah Tile Mural Project

Baker's Choice Award Winner!
Libby Howting's "Pecan Pie"

The Bakers' Choice runner's up:
-Kristin Sobol's entry "Pork Apple Sauerkraut Pie"
-Kristin Sobol's entry "Pear & Hot Pepper Jelly Pie"
-Sue McDade's entry "Lemon Truffle Pie"

Monona Pie Party Cookbooks
You can order Monona Pie Party cookbooks using the directions at www.bestpieparty.com.


"Top fundraising pies" is sum of the auctioned pie price and the dollar votes (or equivalent) from the sampling pie voting container.
1st Place goes to: Kristin Sobol's "Pork Apple Sauerkraut Pie"
2nd Place goes to: Sue Manning for "Grandma's Louisiana Pecan Pie"
3rd Place goes to: Pat Coyne for "Crummy Apple Pie"

Honorable mentions:
Jessica Ace for "Buffalo Chicken Pie"
Michelle Gronski for "Kaula Kissed Chocolate Pie"
Deb Lyons-Zaber for "Raspberry Pie"
Bonnie Mitchell for "Raspberry Pie"
Joel Overdier for "Apricot Tart with Chevre Brulee"
Wayne Kimmell for "Wish I was in Key West Key Lime Pie"
Sandra Homberg for "Brandy-Apple Pie"
Cathy Bernards for "Candy Bar Pie"
Judy Pincus for "Northstar Cherry Pie"
Emily Townsend for "Crinkle & Smoothy Pie"
Liz Primozic for "Political Pie or "Yukon Gold vs. Sweet Potato"
John DeBacher for "Aunt Ann's Crumble Apple Pie"

Hmm, neither the Sarah Palin Pie to Nowhere baked by Karl Rove nor the Uber Liberal Southern Peach Pie baked by yours truly made the cut. Oh, well, as the Brewers say there's always next year.

And we're looking forward to it, Sean.

Eat Pie, Make Art

Reminder: Eat pie

Saturday, September 13th, 2008
Time: 1 pm. to 5 p.m.
Location: Winnequah School, 800 Greenway Road


Contact: Sean Jindrich 256-0993
Contact Email: seanjindrich@yahoo.com
www.bestpieparty.com

Kerouac did.

"I went to sit in the bus station and think this over. I ate another apple pie and ice cream; that's practically all I ate all the way across the country, I knew it was nutritious and it was delicious, of course."—Jack Kerouac, "On The Road."


Even my pie will be better than Mark Twain's recipe:

"Construct a bullet-proof dough. Toughen it and kiln-dry it a couple of days. Fill with stewed dried apple; aggravate with cloves, lemon peel and slabs of citron; add two portions of New Orleans sugar. then solder on the lid and set it in a safe place until it petrifies. Serve cold at breakfast and invite your enemy."

—Mark Twain, "A Tramp Abroad."


See my earlier post: Eat Pie, Help Winnequah School