Living Simply
Driving around Hudson, Wisconsin today, we found a few homes tucked away in the trees.
We’re finding that we like the areas where the homes are tucked away instead of in a large community.
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| Hudson, Wisconsin on Cover |
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| Hudson, Wisconsin on Cove |
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| Hudson, Wisconsin on Cove |
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| Hudson, Wisconsin on Cove |
It’s hard to find a good place to eat in the Woodbury, Minnesota area. They mostly have a lot of fast food or franchise-type restaurants.
After viewing a couple homes in Hudson, Wisconsin, we headed into their small town looking for a place to have dinner.
Fortunately for us, the place we were going to eat was having a large dinner party and was closed.
Then it happened. We found the Agave Kitchen located in downtown Hudson, Wisconsin. The food was delicious and was similar to what we are used to coming from Seattle, WA which has so many good restaurants to choose from.
When you enter, there is a bar area with booths off to the left. In the back, which is where we sat, there are more booths. The noise level may have been high had we been sitting closer to the front of the restaurant, but in the back, it was fine.
They have a mini menu that you can order things from (and it’s cheaper) which worked great for me because I didn’t want a big meal.
We decided to start with a couple appetizers. (So much for a small dinner … )
Our first appetizer was the portabella mushroom fries.
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| Portabella Mushroom Fries |
My husband and son ate them up rather quickly so I have to assume they were good.
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| Agave Kitchen Onion Rings |
The waitress had warned us that the onion rings were not round. So — who cares? What she should have warned us (me particularly since I don’t like spicy food) was that they have a bit of a spice added to them. I couldn’t figure out what it was. However, they were so good, I kept eating them in spite of the spice. Delicious! Even if they are a little greasy.
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| Agave Kitchen Filet Mignon Sliders |
I had never had a “slider” before. These were tiny and served with carmelized onions and bleu cheese crumbles topped with green olives. Again, delicious. I was not disappointed that they were tiny either because they filled the empty spot in my stomach just fine.
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| Agave Kitchen Chicken Enchilada |
This looked way too cheesy for me but … it got eaten. The enchilada has shredded chicken mixed with a creamy verde mushroom sauce, covered with more cheese and then baked. It also came with rice and beans. The sides looked a little dry to the eye.
This Washington Post article details Jared Loughner’s last day prior to the Tucson shootings portraying him as being scary and acting odd.
Haven’t seen or know what’s going on in Chernobyl recently?
My son went there in May 2010 and has posted comments and pictures.
Click here to view.
While looking at homes, I saw a house that had this humongous bathroom in the master suite.
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| Minnesota House Bathroom |
The master suite had a door that you entered through to get to the bathroom. The bathroom is as large as a small bedroom and had a huge tub. The window is plexiglass so that you can’t hear any noise from the bedroom.
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| Woodbury, Minnesota |
I am standing in a parking lot looking up at the trees.
The snow bank is really high as we’ve had many days of snow.
This January we have had snow every day except the 12th. Not a lot of snow — just a little at a time.
The search for a house continues.
We received a counteroffer on the house we made an offer on in Hudson, Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the woman only came down $5K and took the washer/dryer along with the water softener out of the mix. She even wants to dig up the dog fence and take that with her too.
The home is way over-priced and the comps in the area do not support her high sales price. We were told that she can’t go any lower on the sales prices because she’s building a townhouse and needs the money to close on that.
We ignored her counteroffer and wish her well.
We hope to make an offer on our 2nd choice this Sunday.
We have been to the Outback Steakhouse before and decided to try it again. This time we had a little challenge in getting the food right.
Being a creature of habit, I ordered the same thing as I did before, the Outback Special which includes a 6 ounce sirloin with 2 sides. I selected the Sweet Potato and the Blue Cheese Pecan Chopped Salad.
They always serve a wonderful warm bread with soft butter on the side.
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| Outback Steakhouse bread |
Then the Blue Cheese Pecan chopped salad is served. This is always one of my favorites. It has the right amount of “bite” to it.
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| Outback Steakhouse Blue Cheese Pecan Salad |
Lastly, the sirloin is served. I always ask for it to be cooked well done — no pink! When I received it, the first thing I did was cut into the steak. Sure enough, it was not well done. Back it went. The manager personally delivered the next steak and kneeled next to the table while I cut into it to make sure it was well done. Nope! Back it went. The third time they got it right.
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| Outback Steakhouse Sirloin with Sweet Potato |
I always forget to ask them not to put brown sugar and butter in the sweet potato. A sweet potato tastes fine with no added flavoring.
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| Steak fried steak |
When we received the bill, the manager had deducted the price of the sirloin.
Since I’ve had a few blog posts regarding TSA searches, a friend sent me a link to a company that sells “4th Amendment” under clothes so one can protest in silence. I had a good laugh with this.
Click here to view the link.
Still waiting to hear on whether the offer we made on a house has been accepted.
I continue to believe we made the right decision in making a lower-than-asked-for offer. Although the home is beautiful and has lots of updates, the comparable homes in the area are larger and one even took 2 years to sell because the seller priced it too high. Just yesterday, a larger home came on the market just down the block from the one we made an offer on — larger, with a pool and $120K less. Ouch!
The seller can’t be happy, but God has affirmed our decision in the offer we made. An answer to my prayer since I asked Him to guide us.
Thank you for the guidance Father!
