Whether you're hungry, need some home repair or a vacation, here are a few tips and suggestions we think you might enjoy.
Calamari appetizer at Ryan Braun's Waterfront -- I've been disappointed at enough celebrity/jock restaurants over the years to lower the bar of expectations upon arrival. Braun's new place, 102 N. Water St., proved a pleasant surprise earlier this week. Entrees were solid, but the calamari was terrific. Many places toss out some rubbery bits that taste like the debris from the bottom of a fryer. This version was warm and tasty. Have some on the riverfront patio and you may be able to trick yourself into thinking you're oceanside. -- Drew Olson
Eric Church's "Hell on the Heart" -- Summer usually brings several solid "boy meets girl" county tunes, and this season it's Eric Church's "Hell on the Heart" leading the pack. It's a highly contagious number that's singable, fun and even a bit funny (‘she's heaven on the eyes, but man she's hell on the heart.") Joe Nichols' "Gimme that Girl" is another fun, summer tune that's rising the ranks in iTunes and on country radio. -- Jeff Sherman
Gene Tempel Home Restoration and Masonry -- If you, like me, prefer to hire small, quality businesses for home repairs, consider this guy. He has 15 years of experience tuck pointing, rebuilding porches, sealing basements, tiling, roofing, pouring concrete, installing glass windows and more. A few friends were extremely pleased with recent jobs by Gene and I wholeheartedly agree. Best of all, his prices came in about $10 an hour under other quotes. Affordable, high-grade work is rare, so here's a lead on some. Track down Gene by calling (414) 248-2351 or e-mailing him at genetempel@gmail.com. -- Molly Snyder
"Beatles Gear" by Andy Babiuk (Backbeat Books) -- If you're a Beatles geek like me, you nearly freaked out when Mark Lewisohn wrote his book about the studio sessions that resulted in all of the Beatles recordings. It was packed full of details about the ways the Fab Four and George Martin (and their engineers) created those landmark discs. So, a few years later, when Babiuk turned his focus to the gear the Beatles used, we further geeked out of our minds. Backbeat has a beautiful new hardcover edition of the book, which puts every guitar, every amp, every drum kit under the microscope. It's not enough for Babiuk to say John Lennon had his Rickenbacker 325 painted. He finds the guy that got it painted and names the gig at which it was likely first played after being painted and then includes a photo of a vintage poster for that concert. Because the Beatles took their recording sessions and gear seriously, Babiuk take the instruments seriously and that makes for interesting reading. So does the fact that he's not a total gearhead. He links the gear and their changes to the Beatles' music and career, so this isn't like reading some sort of technical manual. I'll devour this for months. -- Bobby Tanzilo
SodaStream Genesis -- We get a lot of interesting products shipped to our office to review, but occasionally one comes along that really fires me up. The SodaStream Genesis home soda making machine is one of the cooler inventions I've evaluated. It looks a bit like a coffee maker and holds a 14.5, exchangeable carbon dioxide container. To make your soda, you fill up one of their one-liter carbonating bottles with water, screw it on to the machine, then depress the top button until it "honks" about three times. Then, you mix in a capful of their pre-mixed soda concentrates, swirl it around, and you've got fresh soda. It's good thing they make a bunch of diet flavors, because all of sudden, I find myself drinking a lot more soda.
So far, I've tried a bunch of the flavors, including diet cola, energy drink, diet pink grapefruit and orange mango. In all, they offer a few dozen varieties, as well as "essences" that emulate flavored sparkling waters. It's really quite good, giving prepackaged soda a run for its money. Even the cola flavor doesn't taste generic, and the energy drink tastes exactly like Red Bull. Notably, even the non-diet flavors are a little better for you, as they don't contain high-fructose corn syrup: the cola contains 34 calories and nine grams of sugar, versus 100 calories and 27 grams of sugar in Coke.
Now, the machine isn't cheap; the Genesis costs about $130. However, between the cost of exchanging the CO2 bottles and buying the mix, the SodaStream soda comes out to a price of 24 cents per can or $1.34 for two liters. If you are a canned soda drinker, you'll amortize the cost of the machine quickly; it's closer to a wash if you buy two-liter bottles. That said, you control the strength and carbonation of this soda, and honestly, it's a lot more fun to make your own soda. It's also more eco-friendly, wasting far less packaging. You can buy (and exchange) the SodaStream components online, but locally, the product is now available at Brookfield's Bed, Bath and Beyond. -- Andy Tarnoff
Wyalusing State Park -- Some of my best childhood memories come from this 2,628-acre jewel of a state park, situated on a 500-foot bluff overlooking the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers. Located just south of Prairie du Chien, Wyalusing has over 100 campsites, more than 14 miles of hiking trails and enough breathtaking views to fill several memory cards -- especially from Point Lookout. Next time you need some R&R, make the trek to Southwest Wisconsin ... you won't regret it. -- Andrew Wagner
