Virtual Running Date No. 11: In the great Northwoods

Hello Crushers!

If we were on a running date, I would tell you how I was fortunate enough to spend Memorial Day weekend up north at my family's cabin in the great Northwoods of Wisconsin. We have a cabin on a small lake, but that just makes for an extra peaceful weekend (except when we were sawing down dead trees so they wouldn't fall on anyone/thing or yelling, "I caught one!").

My favorite place!

Not only were we celebrating a day that honors all of the men and women who serve and protect our country, but we also got to celebrate my grandpa's 97th birthday and my parents 34th wedding anniversary while we were there. So much delicious food and fun. And a few tears when we watched the Memorial Day special on TV (I love Gary Sinise!). It's an annual tradition, and I somehow always forget to have tissues!

If we were on a running date, here are a few things that we would probably see as we ran along the main road (HWY 51 and then the lake road to access the boat landing: deer, deer prints, more deer, birds of all sizes, deer, some footprints that I hope didn't belong to a bear, and probably more deer prints. We had beautiful weather so our runs had perfect temperatures for a 3-miler. Hear that? We only ran 3 miles! Ha!

If we were on a running date, I would tell you how I was kind of ashamed that the hills were killing me. I ran 13 miles the weekend before. Why was a 3-miler feeling like a 7-miler?! Probably because all of the fun celebratory food that we ate... Oy.

If we were running up north together, I would tell you about some of my favorite kitchen stores in town (Minocqua, WI). First is Anne Marie's store that is filled with gorgeous china from all over the world, serving wear, accessories and the best smelling coffee in the northwoods. How cute are these? And these? And these?! Second, is The 13th Colony, which I must admit that I know the owner's daughter, that has the prettiest tables I've ever wanted to set a Thanksgiving dinner on. Then there's the Ages Past Antique Mall which has gorgeous serving bowls from who knows when! Then, just because I like to stare at the gorgeous clothes and pretend I can afford the purses, I visit J. Christy's. So cute!

If we were running up north, I would tell you how my family devoured a pan of the lemon bars I made. I would also tell you how we had jambalaya (my quick version, not mom's from-scratch version not linked), and grilled burgers and brats. So good!

And because this is a food blog, I would love to tell you about these grill recipes that I want to try this summer after we finished running (yes, they're all from www.skinnytaste.com):

1. Grilled Pineapple
2. Buffalo Turkey Burgers with Blue Cheese Broccoli Slaw
3. Spicy Black Bean Burgers with Chipotle Mayonnaise

I love grilling season!

How about you? What would we talk about? Do you have your own up north? What summer foods are you looking forward to?