We met our friends Bob, Don, and Mark at the Milwaukee Center for a ‘fashionably late’ – as the save the date card said – holiday gala of food and sparkling cocktails to benefit the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin Medical Center.
Everything was included with our ticket purchase, and many of the Milwaukee area’s 
best restaurants offered more than generous nibbles ranging from lightly seared ahi tuna on crispy flat bread to seasoned goat cheese stuffed vol-au-vents (no, I did NOT say Voldemort – look it up). I trusted Mark that the oysters on the half shell were nice – to quote Oscar Wilde “I want my food dead. Not sick. Not dying. Dead.” We snagged a table in the corner across the rotunda from the bar and within easy access of the two main food corridors (the roped off tables in the center were for folk with budgets larger than ours).
I think my favorite (aside from the generous servings of YES Vodka) was the smoked salmon cheesecake/pie thingy (it was so noisy it was hard to hear the chef) – tho’ the shrimp over penne with blue cheese sauce had be a close second – we were all given one shrimp atop the pasta, but the head guy took a liking to Rich and his sweater and gave him two. Harrumph.
The evening wrapped up with a preview performance by the Milwaukee Repertory Theater of The 39 Steps, which looked like a lot of fun, but Rich hadn’t really been feeling that well all day (I think that extra shrimp pushed him over the edge), so we thought it best to head home.
I know we’ll be going again this coming holiday season, you should be looking to put it on your calendar as well.