This might as well be considered a two-minute Pack Attack warning, even though as my wife always points out when her Vikings falter, that can take a lot in Real Time. So when the quarter turns, just check out the fridge, cupboard and even freezer …
How to get comfort food and of course the accompanying drink, and still keep your wallet comfortable. Here are some ways where having such at your party is not as financially burdensome as say, concert tickets, unless just maybe they’re old warhorses that are NOT touring in support of their latest release.
Better yet, to lead-off, yes it’s a baseball reference teamed with the football being played by the Packers minutes from now, and gives you a chance in a good way to raid the refrigerator, these two EBT-based offerings I’ll reference are next to freebies, as the alcohol end believe it or not is legit as far as paying by food stamps, even for the alcohol value.
— So you can have a rimless margarita, but take care to cut it off at a very small shot glass full, or half-full if you’re an optimist, unlike most drunks that are even among the most giddy. Marsala wine or also cooking wine are covered by EBT for free because they have a legitimate chef-like purpose (OK inflated metaphor), and the alcohol value if that’s what you’re after is primo. But a big proviso, dilute the following big time because it is so salty, and thus is telling the dangers of the salty sea with nothing actually to drink via both the Old School metal song and ancient poem, Rime of the Ancient Mariner. And this could be a glass half-empty, to follow my lead. Pour into a small glass a quarter of the wine, still potent but not like I would take advantage of that, and mix in the majority to near filling with water and Coke, then add a bit of rum (all to taste). Its You Better You Better You Bet, and there can even be the accompanying salted nut roll drink in a glass, as touted by a recent edition of a St. Croix Valley magazine. Note: If your guests have refined tastes, in other words are picky, definitely sample this yourself first before freely giving. Saving a bunch of dough isn’t worth an unhappy houseguest, take it from having my in-laws over. Maybe during a timeout for a commercial? An appraisal? Quality control? Maybe even keep it for yourself?
— And then this Bananarama for pennies, maybe what you see on the ground walking inside with mask — hopefully not obstructing your downward view — to pay for your gas (lets face it we all do this) to see coins on ground that can be scarfed up. The key to the mix is a scant bit of liquor that mixes in real fruit, and you can enhance that with a real banana, to go with the banana cream pie “lick,” my buddy’s favorite word of description. Then top it off with cream from dairy, after all this is Wisconsin, even though not East Enders. So how is this even more a near freebie? You can add vanilla extract, which has almost as much alcohol as the liquor itself, and stretches your budget as well as your taste buds (?!?), and in this way, like the above recipe, is free via ETB so mix it in for added flavor. And Kwik Trip, around most any corner, can trump this in two ways. There are bags of several pounds of, really, day-old bananas and not later, and they are only a mere dollar! They cut their losses and you get enough bananas for a chimp to live on for days or more. And if a chump, you can also buy them by the pound for a mere 39 cents, or less when on sale, if your party is small. (For other comfort food purposes, to supplement, that same price exists for potatoes and onions, everyday). But back to the evening of what is already in your fridge, as far as the food end, likely get on the street tacos theme that’s being embraced by virtually all of the late night clubs, cut such tostada-type-things into quarters and pour on all those Mexican faves, meat, cheese, salsa and hot sauce (just what is the difference?), peppers and other vegies, (sour cream and/or guacamole), even spritz of orange, that are sitting in there by the gallon behind the milk. You have a bunch there already, but just in case you need specific examples, I’ll follow up soon with all the crazy ideas you would expect from this site. Think of an offbeat form of garlic that really enhances, I was told, my make-shift garlic bread. Think dark.
— Then there are more crackers and slash other finger food. Bananas coins again, s’mores style with with heavy cream and other dessert style toppings such as syrup(s) and honey and even even peanut butter, all on top of graham crackers, and maybe include some cream cheese. Sprinklings to taste. And also cucumber flats on saltines, (some might like trimmed vegetable edges as well as peel the bananas, of course), on top of any kind of cheese, or more than one, and virtually all colors of spicy mustard or the like.
Seattle Grunge versus down home Wisconsin? At Starbucks, or possibly in your cupboard already, there is Caffe Verona, which may indeed be too sweet roast to be grungy, as in sweet with dark cocoa, and that may fuel your party with something more tasty than usual coffee, approaching the form of that killer dessert — come on, as a hostess, that you really want that to top things off. The brew started in Seattle decades ago, before grunge, then spread to the namesake variety out west, which also is the name of a town near Madison. (see below). The form of key ingredients at one point took the take of an 80/20 “blend” as that is the coffee industry term ordained down in Columbia, I think. It could also be referenced as having the beef that’s well seasoned for your nachos, (and sorry Wendy’s, because you have the ratio better), and thusly could be likened to 3.2 beer Over There. Yes, it calls itself very dark roasted as coffees go, but I have always been one to not fear the darkness, to a point, So Isn’t It All Dark? You get the Pink Floyd reference from Dark Side of the Moon.
That town near Madison From Above, is what you could do on your notorious Wisconsin Death Trip via the song, as it is based from where Ed Gein took people apart, and you don’t even have to go Milwaukee and Dahmer. (No, I am not suggesting cannibalism. That’s up to a select few heavy metal bands I will review later on, not as bad of bands as they might seem). So when you go to Verona, stop off where the Wisconsin River diverges westward, and is not too far north of V, and we’re not talking about the old TV series. That’s where much of the mint from the US is grown, as Wisconsin is indeed more than just dairy. Where do you think you get your ginseng? How to use this in recipes? So like money, this is still Being Minted, so tune in later. I do, although you might not see this, have a word limit; but wait, that was in newspaper days when the price of news-printable paper skyrocketed for decades, more then the federal debt. And you thought it was the Internet that keeps papers from being viable?