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Malahide Castle, Ireland

TRAVEL TIPS
Get good advice on Travel Hacker with their 40+ Safety Tips for Solo Travelers.

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A new budget travel blog on my RSS reader is Less Than A Shoestring. One of my favorite tips: The Three-Day Rule.

TRAVEL DESTINATIONS
Madison, Wisconsin is a fun place to visit (and according to cousins, it's a nice place to live, too). Ben at Vagabondish recommends things to do in 36 Hours in Madison, Wisconsin. Doug and I might have to road trip out there and test Ben's ideas.

Travel Hacker provides another great resource with the Top 50 Biking Vacations, all over the world.

Will you be in Rome before March 20th? Intelligent Travel recommends the exhibit of frescoes from Pompeii at the National Museum of Rome.

Ben from Euros Ate My Dollars describes Traveling in Barcelona and gives some tips based on his experiences. The stories from Ben and Brittany are always entertaining, and this one doesn't disappoint.

Need some destination ideas? Check out Jack's article on Eyeflare about 3 Islands in the Mediterranean.

TRAVEL FOOD
Greg from Vagabonding begins! shares pictures of food that he has tried during his travels. The dumpling soup and sushi look delicious, but I'll pass on the deep fried snake and catfish head.

For more travel articles, check out the section marked From other Blogs in my sidebar.

Good eating at Shady Grove

A beautiful drive through the countryside led us to Shady Grove, a restaurant outside of Ellsworth, Wisconsin. Located in a small building that gives no clues to the delicious meals offered inside, Shady Grove is a hidden treasure among the farmlands of Pierce County.

We joined two other couples for a wonderful evening of food and conversation. Ellsworth is known as the Cheese Curd Capital of the World, so we decided to start off with deep fried cheese curds for an appetizer. I think we came close to inhaling them, they were so good. The cheese curds come from the local Ellsworth Co-op Creamery.

Several of the ingredients on the menu are local, including produce, honey, and caramels, as well as the bison rib eye steak from Buffalo Hills Ranch in River Falls. Even our beer was brewed in Wisconsin. We ordered the Fat Squirrel Ale from New Glarus Brewing Company. It went down easy, very smooth, with a hazelnut taste. Something to look for in Wisconsin liquor stores.

Most of the entrees were around $19. The most expensive dinners were the Filet Mignon for $23 and the Cold Water Lobster Tail for $22. The favorite meals at our table were the oven broiled lobster tail and the wild caught, fresh Alaskan Salmon and Halibut, which were "shallow poached in wine and stock."

There is a tempting selection of desserts. We chose the Lemon-Berry Jazz (lemon mousse, curd and blueberries in a flaky crust topped with blueberry sauce) and Chocolate Beyond Reason (layers of mousse, ganache and whipped cream in a chocolate cookie crust). Both selections were rated well by our group.

The interior of the restaurant is cozy, with seating for about 45 people (my estimate), and casual. It feels a bit like a lodge up north. You can dress up or down and fit in. There is also a small bar area. The restaurant is only open for dinner, Tuesday through Sunday.

Shady Grove is an excellent place to go for a special meal. I usually don't like to recommend restaurants, especially if I've only been there once, but some of our friends have been there a few times, and they say the service and quality of food has met their expectations each time. I'm more than willing to try again.