Wisconsin and Johnsonville Part 2

Today, I’m talking about Wisconsin and Johnsonville Part 2. Yesterday, I finished with my info about the trip with my visit to the spa.  After the spa, we all had time to go back to the hotel and clean up before dinner.  Then, we were headed off to the Harbor House for dinner.  It’s a beautiful little restaurant with a view of the lake and city.

They had a planned menu for us.  We all enjoyed the same soup and salad.  We were served a crustacean bisque garnished with parsley (very rich and full of flavor) and a spinach salad with radicchio, figs, blue cheese, crispy prosciutto, and candied walnuts with a sherry vinaigrette.

For the main course, we had 3 choices: a vegetable penne, pan-seared chicken, or a filet with scallops.  I chose the filet with scallops, which was also accompanied by wilted spinach, potato puree, and black truffle sauce.  Both the filet and scallops were simple yet delicious.  The potato puree was full of flavor.  It was all so good.

Of course, our meal would not have been complete without dessert.  The choices were a warm chocolate cake or a seasonal fruit cobble.  I was all over the chocolate.  To make the chocolate cake even better, it was paired with hazelnut ice cream, candied hazelnuts, and crème anglaise.  It was sinfully good.  I devoured the entire thing.

Needless to say, we were all stuffed and happy after our meal.  After dinner, I headed off to bed.  I was exhausted after starting my day at 3 am.

The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel.  I enjoyed some fresh fruit along with a breakfast sandwich – English muffin, egg, cheese, and a thick slice of ham.  We then headed to the Milwaukee Public Market, where we learned all about Johnsonville Sausage, met Melissa d’Arabian, and cooked with Johnsonville products.

I was excited to meet Melissa.  I cheered for her to win The Next Food Network Star the season she was on and have enjoyed making her recipes, including chicken a l’orange and perfect crispy potatoes.  She was wonderful and shared tips about mealtime, such as giving everyone a task as part of the meal.

We were also introduced to a new product from Johnsonville that is just hitting store shelves – chicken sausage.  They are currently available in 3 flavors: three cheese Italian, chipotle, and Monterrey jack, and apple.  The chicken sausage also has no MSG and  0 trans fat.

We sampled all of the flavors, and they were delicious.  They are absolutely FULL of flavor.  I love all of them.  That is one thing that is so great about Johnsonville products.  They are so full of flavor, you really don’t need to add much to them to create a great meal.  Watch for them in your store.

Then, of course, we got to cook.  We broke up into groups and prepared 4 different recipes that I am sharing with you all this week.  They were all fabulous, but I really enjoyed the dish I got to prepare using the new three-cheese Italian-style chicken sausage.  I am sharing that recipe today.  I also got to cook with Shelley and Melissa from StockPiling Moms and Paula from Bell’alimento – love ya girls.  It was a blast!

Then it was time to go.  We all had to say goodbye.  It was so fun, and I met some great people.  I also got to see a new city.

So my trip home was a little crazy.  The flight out of Milwaukee to Chicago was delayed by 10 minutes, which you would think is no big deal.  However, when I got off the plane in Chicago, boarding for my connecting flight was in 15 minutes.  I took a quick bathroom break, grabbed a sandwich to take on the plane, and made it to my gate just before boarding time.

Now, the gate I was told my flight was going out of, there is an A,B,C, and D gate.  When I got to the gate, they were boarding for a flight to Aspen.  The whole gate was FULL of people, and there was nowhere to sit.  Actually, the whole airport was extremely busy.  I have never been in an airport that BUSY before.

As I arrived, I thought, “Oh, they should be boarding my flight any minute”.  So I wait and I wait and look at all the screens in the gate area and I am not seeing anything that says Salt Lake.

At that point, I was on the phone talking with my husband.  I told him I’d better go ask what is going on.  Just as I was telling him this, they announced that the flight to Salt Lake had a gate change.  WHAT?

Needless to say, I started to panic and tell my husband I’ve gotta go and find this gate FAST. As I begin to race through the concourse, my sweet hubby calls me back.  He pulled up a map of the airport on the internet and called to help me find the gate.  I managed to find it.  However, there is no one at the counter, and the door is closed.  I see a man in an airline uniform and ask him if I am in the right place.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t speak English well and wasn’t able to help me.

This gate is also FULL of people, and I race around trying to find someone to help me.  I then notice someone with the airline at the ticket counter, and she is speaking to a man I saw at the other gate.  A few more people show up at the gate.  There were 7 of us who were at the other gate and were unaware of the gate change.  The plane was almost ready to leave when we got there.

They opened up the doors and quickly got us on the plane.  I made it by the skin of my teeth!  Thank goodness!  The landing in Salt Lake was the bumpiest I have ever had, thanks to 30 MPH winds.  At this point, I was just glad to be back home.  It was a great adventure, but it was good to be home.