We just had Spring Break. In the past we took the kids on a road trip. The last two years, however it wasn’t in the cards. Last year, we moved. This year, there were other forces at work. This does not mean, however that we didn’t go anywhere or do anything, we just used our house as home base and played tourist in our own area. This allowed us to get some projects done around the house in the morning while leaving us with enough energy to play in the afternoon.
Before the kids were born, I purchased two books;  Wisconsin Curiosities and Oddball Wisconsin. These books have become a checklist of things to do. It’s how I find out about cool places like the Mackenzie Center in Poynette. The draw for this place is the Conservation Museum. The books label it as a museum of aliens and oddities. In reality, the aliens and oddities are 3 jars of mutant animal fetuses. The museum was full of slightly molted looking taxidermied birds and fish strung up on fishing lines. The highlight of it was when we heard a bang and found my daughter picking herself up off the floor. Apparently she had seen the color red in an exhibit and wanted to get closer to it, not realizing there was glass in front of it.
Other than the Conservation Museum, there is also a logging museum, the game farm, the maple sugar shack, and the fire tower. We were lucky enough to be there while the trees were being tapped.
As we walked up to the sugar shack, there was a man on the chair and a man behind a huge wood fired kettle. As we talked to them we found out that they’d been boiling sap since about 6 that morning and they were about 40% done. The kettle had originally contained 100 gallons of sap and would boil down to about 3 gallons when it was perfect syrup consistency. He brought over some foam from the top to let us taste the sweetness.
As we licked our fingers, my middle son asked how hot the fire was. “About 915 degrees.” was the reply. “That’s twice as hot as you need to burn books.” I stated. Then realized how weird that probably sounded. We left that area and went over to look at the ancient log where I explained to the kids about logging in Wisconsin.
“Wisconsin used to be full of trees that were that big,” I told them. “And then the logging companies came in and clear cut most of the state.” I’m sure they were impressed by my knowledge.
Our next stop was the logging museum. I told the kids about what rough places the logging camps were. Again, they were impressed.
The next stop was the fire tower. Some of us don’t like heights, but we all climbed up as far as we were able. The view from the top was amazing.
All of this is to tell you that we met a guy on the way back down the trail. He was walking up the trail as we were coming down. His camera was a different version of mine and we started comparing features. Mine was a little bit better, but his was a better deal. We discussed photography for a while. He was impressed at all this new technology and how he could connect his camera to his phone and his phone to his printer so he could print out pictures immediately. I’ve found that frequently, the discussion of technology leads to conversation about the old days.
Our new friend was raised by a father who had gotten out of the military after World War II. He explained the implications of this and made us aware that kids these days are too soft. He told us about biking from Madison to DeForest to work on farms for $3/hour. It was enough money to be able to take a girl out for a burger. He told us that he always tried to find a rich girl so she could drive them around since he didn’t have a car. He explained how he worked in a factory his whole life. “Those people won’t think twice about stabbing you in the back for 25 cents more an hour. Even the guys that you’ve thought were your friend for 15 or 20 years.” He also explained to us that he never really cared about food. He only ate to survive. He was sure this was why he ended up with his health issues.
I think these bars might’ve changed his mind about the purpose of food. Butter Squares are sort of a combination of shortbread and toffee in flavor. They are hard in texture, but not toothbreakingly so. Butter Squares melt in your mouth as you bite into them. Their richness makes them pair perfectly with a cup of coffee or tea as an afternoon snack. If you try them, post a comment and let me know what you think.
For other tea time treats, try Danish Puff, Easy Bars, and Banana Bread.
Butter Squares
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Butter
- 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 3/4 Cup Flour
- 1 9 3/4 oz Bar of Milk Chocolate Chopped
- 3/4 Cup Almonds Roasted and diced
Instructions
- Cream together butter and sugars. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Stir in flour. Spread into a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Put chocolate bar on top of hot bars and spread to frost. Top with almonds. Cut while warm.
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