Bonus Blog: Eleven Days, No Kitchen, Best Food of the Summer

I didn't cook a single meal for eleven days and it might have been the best food I've had all year.

My youngest and I hit the road from the Twin Cities and made our way to my sister and brother-in-law's in Oshkosh for the Fourth of July. They just got a new pontoon, so we spent most of the weekend cruising around instead of standing at a stove, which felt like exactly the right way to kick things off.

Walleye Bites, a One-Pan Wonder, and a Bar You Can Best Reach by Boat

One afternoon we docked the Fox River Brewing Company (home of the Blu Bobber beer) for walleye bites, and I'm still thinking about them. There's something about eating good fried fish on a patio with the boat tied up right there that makes it taste better than it probably has any right to.

Another day we cruised out to Sometimes Bar on Lake Winnebago, which might be my favorite kind of place: you can access it by car, but going by boat is the better experience! That alone made the craft cocktails with plastic lizard garnish (no idea why?) taste even better!

But the real standout was my sister's doing. She threw together an Italian sausage and peppers, all one pan, right on the grill. I've got a picture of it and I keep looking at it like it's going to cook itself again. Simple, a little smoky, gone in about four minutes. That's the kind of food that actually belongs at a lake house.

We also made a stop at Leon's for frozen custard, a proper Wisconsin classic. I grew up going to that car-hop style dessert stand, and pulling in still feels like time travel a little. You can check-out their flavor of the day on their Facebook page or opt for what I got - a turtle sundae that did not disappoint. Some things really do hold up.

A Lake Town on the Way to Milwaukee

From Oshkosh we drove down to Sheboygan for a slower afternoon walking the lakefront before continuing on to spend the week with my older daughter, the one who just got married, in Milwaukee.

Then My Daughter Fed Me for Three Nights

Getting to just hang out with her and her Frenchie, Wally, was its own kind of gift. But she cooked for me three nights in a row, and I am still not over it.

She's turned into a genuinely great cook, and I say that as someone who used to be the one feeding her. There's a specific kind of pride in watching your kid make you dinner and having it actually be good. Her garbanzo bean salad with avocado was the one that got me. I wasn't expecting much going in, chickpeas and avocado felt almost too simple, and then I took a bite and had to ask her twice what was in it.

A Girls' Lunch in Pewaukee

One day we took a little day trip out to Pewaukee for lunch at Artisan 179, right on the Pewaukee Lake waterfront. We grabbed a spot on their patio, ordered tempura cauliflower, and had wine in the middle of the afternoon like the responsible adults we are not always pretending to be. A proper girls' lunch, and exactly the kind of stop that makes a road trip worth it.

Back to Oshkosh, and Then Home

We circled back to Oshkosh for my niece's high school graduation party. Hot, crowded, loud in the best way.

Eleven days is a long time to live out of a suitcase. By the end of it, my daughter and I were both just ready for our own beds and a day with nothing on the calendar. But I came home without a single recipe to test and a whole list of food I didn't have to cook myself. Sometimes that's the better trip.