After deciding last month that my artist dates don’t have to be more solo time, I really enjoyed a bus trip with my sister and a bunch of other women to a few stops in Middleton, Wisconsin. The first stop, and the place where I took part in some cooking art, was Frostwood Farms Kitchen.

An event space, the restaurant buys some of its locally-sourced produce from St. Isadore’s Garden in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, a few miles to the southeast. St. Isadore’s is part of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, where the garden also supplies food for its foodbank.

On the day we visited the restaurant, we were treated to fresh chips and St. Isadore salsa with tomatoes from the garden and a fabulous raspberry mind spritz mocktail. (I had two.) Lunch was a melt-in-your-mouth, marinated, grilled flank steak with garlic and herb butter, all served atop an heirloom cherry tomato salad with baby mozzarella cheese, arugula lettuce, red onion and cucumber drizzled with a balsamic dressing.

The food was prepared by Frostwood’s chef and Columbus, Wisconsin, native Matt Schieble, and his students. He attended Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago, Illinois, in 2001 before traveling to Vietnam and Hawaii to learn about more cuisines and cooking styles.

My mouth still waters as I remember the flavors and textures of that amazing lunch.

But the fun part came with the do-it-yourself dessert. After we ate, we gathered around a three-station stovetop where prepared crepe batter awaited us. We watched a pastry chef show us how to cook the batter on a buttered, hot pan. She also showed us how to lift the edges gently with a long, thin offset spatula, and to keep an eye on the browning edges and bubbling middle. When the crepe was completely loose from the pan–something we could easily test as we shook the pan gently as we cooked–it was ready to be flipped.

And flip she did, with a confident one-handed gesture. She made it look so easy. My sister managed to do a perfect flip with her crepe, the first in the group to do it. I didn’t have the courage to commit. My crepe half flipped and folded onto itself. I was happy it stayed in the pan instead of landing on the floor. At least I could still separate the uncooked side and finish it properly.

And, of course, since the pastry chef made the batter, the finished crepes tasted great. Enough that I’d like to give them a try at home. (Even if I end up using a spatula for my flipping.)

I was, at one time in my newspaper career, mistaken for a food writer so opportunities like this are lots of fun for me. And they stimulate an “artsy” part of my brain.

The next two stops–Clausen’s European Bakery (with apparent German roots) and the garden center across the street–were also lots of fun. I brought home a few baked goods, including some yummy lemon shortbread bites, and an outdoor compass that was on sale for half price and faithfully points north on my deck.

All of it, along with fun conversations with my bus mates (who included one of my sisters), refreshed artist me in the way intended by the solo artist’s dates recommended by Julia Cameron. (See last month’s post for more details about that.)

I took another artist’s date last weekend at the Freeport Art Museum. Our fearless instructor Barry Treu showed us how to paint vases and flowers on black canvases. I had no idea canvases even came in black. He cut vase stencils and we traced them in pencil, then tried to use the black background to help create shadows in the image. It was fun. I hadn’t been to one of his classes for at least a year, so my fingers were pretty clumsy with the brush. Barry suggested that I get a small kit and practice brush strokes at home. I think I will, and in doing so, enjoy a few solo artist’s dates without leaving my house. (And I clearly need the practice.)

À bientôt!