From the Twin Cities I headed out one morning with one of my favorite eating and traveling companions: Karin. Lover of good tunes, black coffee, afternoon crafting, fine stationary, and the perfect J Crew ensemble…
After a detour through some Mississippi river towns we headed east to Madison, Wisconsin: home of government protestors, college students, a mean badger mascot, the best Target I’ve ever been to, and some terrific food. The top photo shows one of the state’s culinary treasures: the fried cheese curd. It seems appropriate to start this post with the curd since Madison is located in the dairy belt, surrounded by some of the finest cheesemakers in the country. These particular curds were on the menu of a restaurant called Graze, and they were of the more gourmet variety, at least compared to the first fried cheese curds I ever had at the Minnesota State Fair. Those were more like the midwestern version of a mozzarella stick. The ones I had at Graze were a whole different situation, they were made with curds from Sassy Cow Creamery, and were so light and airy, it was like a puffy melted cheese dream. Which I think describes how Madison takes what is traditional about midwestern food fare and makes it feel new and fresh. 
Here is the entrance of Graze
