What's IN/OUT this week

We’ve officially been doing Friday INS/OUTS for six months! Thanks for letting me hop into your inbox at the end of each week with my little whine sessions. 🥺

IN: The National Mustard Museum. I played hooky yesterday and drove up to Madison, Wisconsin, with a friend. Just outside of town is the National Mustard Museum, which… GREAT. I’m not sure what I was anticipating but it met certain expectations (being filled to the brim with mustards from all over the world) and exceeded others (soap dispensers that were just empty French’s mustard squeeze bottles refilled with hand soap). I came dangerously close to buying a t-shirt that said “CARPE DIJON: SQUEEZE THE DAY.” But the mediocre design didn’t justify the cost ($20). OUT: Not enough of a tasting journey. You could sample nearly every mustard that’s for sale on the main floor/gift shop, which is fantastic. And the young woman who provided the samples was nothing but kind and informative. YET! I wanted someone to ask me what my preferred flavor profiles are and offer mustard recommendations from there. Something like, “Ah, so you enjoy dark chocolate and coffee with half and half? Then we’ll want to start with the Edmond Fallot dijon from France.” Let’s do mustard tasting notes!

IN: Supper clubs. Many years ago, I happened to catch a PBS documentary on Wisconsin supper clubs, which — coming from Pittsburgh — was a totally new concept to me. Like the folks say at the beginning of the doc, it’s hard to define exactly what a supper club is. There is something of a formula: a multi-course meal with some standards, like a relish tray to start (crudités, for the uninitiated), white tablecloths, and a meat or seafood entree. In Madison, I went to my very first supper club: Tornado Steak House. It was magical. When was the last time you started dinner with a great bread plate, followed by a salad that came with fresh-cracked pepper out of the longest pepper mill you’ve ever seen? I chose the venison for my main course, which was perfectly cooked and came with an unreal red wine reduction and a pile of steamed Swiss chard, plus a side of roasted beets. I could feel my German-Finnish-Irish ancestors rejoicing as my arteries clogged. OUT: Wisconsin old fashioneds. Sorry to my neighbors to the north, but this whole brandy and 7-Up concoction? Not good. You feed me down like a king and expect me to drink like a clown child??

IN: Bar/restaurant holiday decor. I want to see lights, ornaments, garlands, tinsel, the WORKS. Sure, I have a tree up, some lights hung, etc. in my own home — but I want to drink a Rittenhouse on the rocks under a CANOPY of twinkling lights and streamers at your establishment. This year’s winner so far has been Chief O’Neill’s. Just a total dedication to the craft. OUT: The neighbor who still has the tall Halloween skeleton up in their yard. It’s not still seasonal just because you dressed the skeleton in a t-shirt that reads “Chicago Against ICE.”

IN: Holiday hustle (social). I like the busyness of the season: Hitting parties and getting gifts and cookies together. The whole ordeal is, absolutely an ORDEAL, but I like seeing everyone running around! Let me glimpse the sequin shirt you’re wearing under your puffer because you’re dashing out to a Christmas party after grabbing wrapping paper at Walgreens. OUT: Holiday hustle (work). Of course, the end of the year means a lot of deadlines and planning for time off. In fact, I’m writing this from the Metra as I head to a holiday lunch. I am doing my damnest to wrap up my work today (approximately 500 tasks) before I fly east tomorrow to spend a few days with family… and one night watching THEE Pittsburgh Steelers — IN THE FLESH. Watch for me in the crowd during Monday night’s game, waving my Terrible Towel pulling on my beer jacket.

Tell me what you hated this week!