Conejitos Place rocks

Conejito's Place
539 W Virginia St
Milwaukee, WI 53204

I find myself craving a certain kind of mexican food - the low-key family kind- nothin fancy, no salsa bar, sour cream bar, or fancy-pants fajitas. I can get your standard taco truck fare in New York pretty easily-tacos and tamales that are as good as any i’ve had in the East Bay where I grew up. At Conejitos I was psyched to find the kind of homey Mexican meals I miss. Such meals can be found at places like La Pinata in Hayward or Juan’s in Berkeley and all over the west coast- fluffy rice served with refried pinto beans alongside a saucy entree.

The X-Games were on the big screen tv, and some kid just broke one of his vertebrae on the ramp as we sat down to eat. I ordered beef enchiladas and a Negro Modelo. Usually served on a hot ceramic plate at most places, my beef enchiladas at Conejitos arrived on a standard paper plate. It’s like homey food downplayed by taco-truck-like presentation. But no matter. The enchiladas were delicious- shredded, spiced beef rolled like a fatty in a corn tortilla, covered in an exceptional enchilada sauce and sprinkled with white cheese. I didn’t use any salsa or hot sauce for this meal, though now, after going to a Milwaukee BBQ later that evening and having everyone tell me I should have tried it, I regret not tasting the hot sauce. Anyways, Cold Negro Modela at my side, I dug into that meal, and the next thing I knew I was full. By the time I looked up at my date, she had finished her margarita and chips with guacamole, and our asses were ready to hit the road. Bonus!-The meal was less than $20! BTW, can anyone hook me up with one of those Conejito’s t-shirts? (size Medium).

Markley's

160 Wayne Street
Sandusky, Ohio

This place was originally a "Cupie" restaurant, but it's been Markley's-- with the movable storage container look-- for as long as I can remember, which means since the 1960s. It's a place you might not even consider going into, unless you were attracted by that big "M" which looks like a big upside-down W. If you are in downtown Sandusky, Ohio, though, for any reason, in the morning, this is the place to go. It's just a good solid diner/lunch counter, with pretty good diner food, cheap, and it's an interesting place to sit and observe the locals.

The best thing about Markley's is how little it has changed. There are two sisters who work as waitresses who were working there when I was first a regular in 1980. I stop in only a couple of times a year now, but the one waitress always remembers me and asks how I'm doing. The other best thing is the donut machine, which is near the front door. If you can get there really early, like 4am, you can peek in and see the donuts dropping in the hot fat, being flipped over, and then plopping out to cool. They are not open yet, unfortunately, when the donut machine is running, like they used to be. But maybe that will change.

Markley's is for sale, or was the last time I stopped through. It sounds like they're trying to find a buyer who'll keep running it the same way as always. Maybe that will happen, but I'm a little worried. If I had a spare quarter of a million I'd buy the business and keep it exactly the same-- except I'd open for breakfast while the donut machine is running.

Melissa's Curried Califlower with Couscous

1 large head of cauliflower-chopped into florets
1 cup fresh tomato-chopped
3/4 tablespoon mustard seeds
1/2 tablespoon cumin
3/4 tablespoon graham masala(available at any middle eastern store)
1/2 tablespoon turmeric
one cinnamon stick
one small onion-chopped
2 cloves garlic-chopped
1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced
4 tablespoons olive oil (or whatever oil you want)
1/4 lemon
1 cup water
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Heat oil in pan and add mustard seeds. Cook the mustard seeds until they pop,(they will start jumping out of the pan at you.) Add a few tablespoons of water to cool it down, then add the onions and garlic over a medium heat and cook until onions become translucent usually about 8 minutes, stir them around so they dont get stuck and burnt in the pan. Once onions are translucent add 1/2 cup water, cauliflower, cinnamon, cumin, graham masala, sugar, soy sauce, and ginger. Cover and let cook for 5 minutes, if you run out of water add more. Then add tomatoes cook until everything is tender. Stir everything around and taste, see what flavors are missing and then correct it, does it need more soy sauce, masala powder etc. Squirt one lemon wedge over the dish and serve with couscous...and whatever else you want.
dont eat the cinnamon stick!

For the couscous I usually make about one cup of Tri-color couscous made by the brand Rice Select. It's duram wheat with sundried tomato and spinach flavor, and it's tasty, and will take you less than a few minutes to make, you just add boiling water and butter to it.

An added zip to this dish is to put a dollop of Face greek strained 2% plain yogurt on the top. It's so good.

Cup Of Joe's

6 Cleveland Street
Lily Dale, New York 14752
716.595.3775

An Experience

Lily Dale is a spiritualist community of the "Modern Spiritualist Movement" in Western New York, an hour south of Buffalo, 25 minutes east of Lake Erie. Psychic mediums live here in story book houses set close together on dirt roads. They stick pieces of paper on the front doors for visitors to sign up for private readings. The town (only about 4 acres square) is on a lake and has it's own beach, a small (haunted) hotel you can stay in for $50/night, a town library (filled with books about new age crafts, astrology, ghost sitings etc.), a town historical museum, pet cemetary, two swans named Lily and Dale, and many make shift chapels "for the national religion of spiritual healing".

There are 3 restaurants in town, and the most unique of the eateries is a cafe called Cup of Joe's. Cup of Joe's is located inside Joseph Shiel's home, Joesph Shiel is a registered medium in the town of Lily dale and has his own website http://www.joeshiel.com/. His historic house is located on Cleveland St., the main dirt road. Inside, the living room has tables for seating and wall space for curated art shows. The current show housed watercolors of mandalas with titles like "New Energy". Through the living room is the kitchen and Joe's wife standing behind huge stacks of trays filled with fresh homemade baked goods- peach ginger scones, chocolate covered black current biscotti. The kitchen was beautiful and smelled like a hot oven baking. Everything was delicious, and the coffee was strong. Probably the best cup of coffee you can get in Lily Dale, and while you are there you can sign up with Joe for a reading. They also have live music.

After our coffee we headed down to the woods for a scheduled meeting at the Inspiration Stump, believed to be an ENERGY VORTEX. There were about 10 long benches set up around the stump, and many people (mostly middle aged woman) joined us on the benches. The town's local mediums were shuttled in on golf carts, and stood close to the stump. The mediums began talking to the crowd, picking people at random and telling them that dead people from their past were communicating to them.

"Lady with the hat there, do you have a woman with gray hair from your past? She misses you, she had a dog and was very kind".

"Lady there in the red shirt and glasses, I see that you feel stuck in your life, you need a career change, or a life change, something new, perhaps a move?".

"Woman in the robe, your husband is still in love with you."