the beauty and bounty of brennan's.

whenever i go home for a long weekend, or even just a couple days, there is a mental to-do list that is full of things that i can't wait to cross off. one of these things is going to brennan's.


i showed at least 4 people the wonder of brennan's just this past summer and i can't wait to show the light to others. when i went there this past weekend, i brought my camera. i've always wanted to take pictures of their produce because it's always so beautiful, but then as soon as i busted out my little orange digital camera, i could feel the employees' eyes on me with every shot i took. a part of me felt bad, but the other part of me wanted to yell at them, "don't judge me! i love food." so here's the montage of photos i took without their direct 'permission,' but with the shared feeling of appreciation for thier divine produce and cheese:

these are plumcots.. plums + apricots... obviously. ha!

these were a different variety of plumcots and they were HUGE. like just a little smaller than a softball, it was ridiculous!

who has peaches this beautiful and this chin-drippingly good in OCTOBER?

uh. brennan's.

rows and rows and rows of apples.

since being in my introduction to wines and spirits this semester, i look at grapes in such a new light.

habaneros and some sort of long, skinny, wrinkly chiles. i forgot what they were called, but they look intriguing!

anybody know what "fiesta cauliflower" tastes like? all i know is it's orange and named after a party, so, i mean, i feel like it's gotta be good.

rutabegas like you wouldn't believe.

cheese, cheese and more cheese. normally they have at least 6 different kinds to sample, but i was there at like 10:30am so maybe they don't do cheese that early. i normally only go in the summers when i'm home, when 11 is the earliest i leave my bed, so i wouldn't know when they bust out the cheese samples.

on this particular october morning, i definitely could've gone for some cheese. #truewisconsinite :)

if you can't read those, they are marbled cheddars: riesling, irish beer, merlot, and champagne. despite the price tag, i was still tempted. think about it: beer cheese soup using irish beer cheddar? sign. me. up.

probably moldy and smelly and so so sharp, but i would still like to bite into that.

"the best around!!" <-- more like the only ones around who dare to let cheese sit around for more than a decade.

so many kinds!

in addition to the best produce, the largest cheese selection, a better-than-average wine selection, and a local-beer-lover's paradise, they also have a prime butcher in the back of this little gem.

with so many cool things to look at and so many sample to take advantage of, it's pretty clear to see why it's always something i have to squeeze into my time home. i wish i could just go in there and eat a bunch of samples and call it lunch (which i have done on more than a few occasions), but then i feel like i need to buy something. guess that's just my conscience kicking in. wish i could yell at that too.

"don't judge me! i love food."