For our anniversary last week, my wife and I tried a place we hadn't been to before but thought would be special and not too expensive. Our expectations were exceeded by Polly's Restaurant & Pub. Polly's is at 201 North Appleton Street (see map) next to Apollon and across from the Appleton Public Library. I kick myself for not going there sooner!

Polly's has a casual environment with a tropical decorating theme, heavy on parrots with a couple of quirky four-foot-tall Christmas nutcrackers near the window. Quirkiness is something I like in a restaurant! But not as much as I liked the food. Polly's gets my award for the best appetizer in Appleton: steamed mussels in a tangy curry sauce loaded with exquisite fresh garlic. There are several versions of their mussels to choose from, but I can't imagine anything could be better than the curry form. In any case, the mussels were more tender than any I've had in recent memory. Many places overcook mussels, resulting in a rubbery mass. But Polly's were perfectly and lightly steamed, making them tender and succulent. Mmm! And the curry sauce was so good, I would enjoy a meal with nothing but the curry and some rice.

The soup and salad that came with the entrees were excellent. The soup was a perfect Manhattan chowder nicely seasoned with a fresh, heart taste from the tomatoes and other veggies mingled with seafood. The garden salad was above average, with a balsamic vinaigrette just the way I like it - a bit heavy on the balsamic side.

For entrees, I ordered blackened mahi mahi with a raspberry sauce - wonderful mixture of flavors and nicely cooked. The veggies were also great, although the spears of asparagus were raw - I prefer them cooked and somewhat tender.

My wife had a shrimp jambalaya with jumbo shrimp nicely grilled. It wasn't the best jambalaya I've had - but were actually nearly full just from the one appetizer we shared, the bread, the soup, and the salad. It was good - but those mussels were a hard act to follow.

No room for dessert, but I plan to go back and may be able to learn more.

The great food and casual environment, coupled with good service, puts Polly's on my list of great spots for entertaining visitors and having serious discussions or just plain fun.

I dropped by my favorite swampy real estate this week, Heckrodt Nature Preserve, and took the following photos. Wonderful place! The flowers, by the way, are marsh marigolds, one of earliest blooming wildflowers in Wisconsin.

Had a call this week from a worried Hmong woman I know who was locked out of her van. She wanted to know if I could help. Opened up the yellow pages and gave her the numbers of two local locksmiths: Axxess Security Service (920-738-7788) and Armor Lock and Safe (920-733-6616). She tried the first one, Axxess Security Service, and got help within a few minutes and was soon safely back in her vehicle. Cost: $42. Not bad for emergency service.

Axxess is next to Good Company at the intersection of Richmond and College Avenue.

Glad I could help by simply turning to the Yellow Pages!

People coming to Appleton have often told me that they had positive experiences with their realtors. I think we have some really outstanding people in the business, and I'll be featuring a number of options here in the coming weeks.

When we moved here, we went through one of the largest and most popular firms in town, Coldwell Banker. Jill Rooney was our agent, and we were very pleased with her work. I've met several other fine agents for Coldwell on other occasions, and have only heard positive reports (as far as I can remember).

Coldwell has impressed a number of folks in the area with their commitment to the community. At a personal level, as an amateur magician, I'm happy to report that Coldwell is helping a small group of local magicians by offering a spacious meeting room for us for our monthly meetings. More significantly, right now Coldwell employees are building a home for Habitat for Humanity. They also have a foundation (the TREG Foundation) that donates money to a variety of causes.

The Hearthstone House is a significant historic landmark in Appleton, being the first house in the world to have its power come from a central hydroelectric station. Completed in about 1882, it used Thomas Edison's lighting system, with fixtures that have been preserved and can be seen today in the home. Tours are offered Tuesday through Saturday, with a small admission fee. For details, see the Hearthstone House page at FOCOL.

It's a beautiful place and well worth visiting. A lot of people also enjoy volunteering there as tour guides and assistants. And there are occasional open houses and socials there. Great place!

As reported in the Post-Crescent, Just Desserts is an exciting culinary event coming to the Fox Valley on April 28, 7-10 PM at Bridgewood Resort Hotel in Neenah. This fund-raising event, featuring 20 exotic desserts to sample, will benefit Reach Counseling Services. Tickets cost $25 a person or $45 for a couple. For advance purchase, go to Reach Counseling Services, 1244 C Midway Road, Menasha. Phone 920-722-8150. (They also have offices at 36 Broad St., Oshkosh.)

One of the things I really love about Appleton is the tradition of integrity and honesty among its residents. Theft does occur, but it's rare, and the vast majority of people are remarkably decent and honest folks, in my opinion.

The exceptions, though are painful. Tonight's local headline story is the conviction of an ex-principal from West High School in Appleton. Chad Welch faces probation and jail time for theft of almost $25,000 from the Appleton School District while he was principal. How sad! After all the years of school and work it took to reach that position, he has thrown away years of good income in a respected position for a small handful of cash.

I hope we will all be reminded of the importance of constant honesty in our work, and the need to resist temptations to take advantage of employers or others. A small amount of greed can do a lifetime of harm (or even more harm than that, depending on your religious views).

Here's a night view of Apollon, the Greek restautant near the library and a great place for fine dining.

You don't need a florist to find fresh flowers in Appleton now. This week the daffodils emerged, starting around Tuesday, as I recall. Here's a fresh shot from my front yard (click to enlarge slightly):

If you are looking for florists, we have a lot to choose from. Most recently I've used Memorial Florists and Greenhouse at 2320 S. Memorial Drive (near Valley Fair Mall) and KaBloom, a store in the strip mall just west of the Darboy Wal-Mart on Calumet Avenue. Very happy with both. Sorry to see the KaBloom has closed.

Plexus, a major company in nearby Neenah, Wisconsin appears at the top of the list for "Who's Who in Contract Manufacturing" in the April 17 issue of Investor's Business Daily, one of my favorite news sources and one of the most valuable information sources for investors. (See page A12.)

Way to go, Plexus! For those of you smart enough to have invested in Plexus, your investment is up about 400% in the past year. Not bad!

Though there is still a lot of work to do, I've begun a new photo album of Appleton, Wisconsin and the Fox Cities area that adds over 100 new photos to the galleries already associated with my main Appleton page. I'm also working on a gallery of homes in the area to supplement what is available from local realtors. Stay tuned.

High Cliff State Park, just about 10 minutes from Appleton, is a large state park on the shores of Lake Winnebago with dolomitic limestone cliffs towering over the lake. Near the highest point is a 40-foot observation tower, shown below, that provides a beautiful view of the lake and part of the Fox Valley. The view shown below is looking toward Appleton and Menasha.

Lake Winnebago covers 215 square miles of Wisconsin and is one of the largest inland lakes in the U.S. The park also has ancient Indian effigy mounds, including several animal shapes. High Cliff Park is a great place for hiking, exploring, camping, bike riding, picnicking, and even swimming (when the water is warm and not too rich in algae). And it's a great place to find wild grapes in the fall.

Wisconsin has some of the nation's most interesting mushrooms and other fungus species. Those picture above were photographed on a tree about 90 minutes north of Appleton. Wisconsin's woods are beautiful places and offer one important benefit over many other states in the US: almost no venomous snakes. There is a small species of rattlesnake in the distant southwestern corner of the state, I hear, but harmful snake bites are essentially unheard of. We do have an occasional mosquito, I'll admit - but you won't find may places with more enjoyable outdoors than Wisconsin.

Here's a yellow mushroom photographed in the same region:



And here's one from High Cliff State Park:

The photo above shows giant bags being filled with sludge from the bottom of Little Lake Butte des Morts, part of a massive clean-up effort for the Fox River system that will cost local businesses over $1 billion. Cleaning up what? Trace amounts of PCBs dumped into the Fox River decades ago. From my perspective, it's not clear that they pose any danger buried in river sediments, but no expense is being spared to remove huge mounds of sediments for processing. It's a controversial issue.

The photo was taken last fall from the west side of the 441 bridge, looking to the south.

The Hmong community in the area is reeling after a tragic murder-suicide by a Hmong man in Oshkosh. The story includes a lengthy standoff with police and grave danger faced by a surviving woman hiding in a closet, communicating with the police by cell phone. A high-tech robot was brought in to survey the house to help the police make plans for their assault, but the murderer had already killed himself and his wife by then.

I just tried La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant in Appleton on Friday night with a group of six people. It exceeded my expectations. I had huarachitos, made from nopalitos - a cactus leaf that looks like a thin prickly pear leaf without the spines. It was combined with some of the best fresh, grilled shrimp I've had, and the whole dish was a delicate taste sensation. Others were also impressed with their more familiar dishes.

One detail I noticed was that the homemade tortilla chips were much better than average.

Pleasant interior, good service. One negative: the horchata was made from powder rather than from scratch, an important point for horchata aficionados.

La Fiesta is at 139 West Calumet Street on the south side of Appleton, near Oneida Street. Phone: (920) 734-3517.

I received email asking if the area had a dog park. Yes, Appleton has an official dog park. It's the Outagamie Pet Exercise Area at the corner of Highway OO (Northland Avenue) and French Road in the northeast corner of Appleton. Open daily from 7am to sunset. It's part of the Outagamie County park system. Call (920) 832-4790 for more information.

I see lots of people (and pets) using it. It's a pretty area with plenty of trees and fence posts. If only they would add a few fire hydrants, it would be perfect.

As a child, I always loved the occasional trip to Baskin Robbins. There's still one left in the Valley (2436 W College Ave. - hard to find!), but I worry that business has become slow. They've got fine ice cream, but there's a newer place that has just earned my recommendation for best ice cream joint in the Valley: Goosebumps Ice Cream and Italian Ice at 320 South Kensington Drive, Appleton, near Menards. From College Avenue, take Kensington south as if you were going to Menards and immediately turn right on the access road, and you'll see Goosebumps next door to Subway and just west of Taco Bell.

I took my family to Goosebumps tonight and was impressed with the super-premium quality ice cream (the highest grade with the lowest amount of air) and Italian ices that are shipped in from New York. These are specialty treats to be proud of. They have an impressive variety of flavors and a wide selection of hand-dipped waffle cones featuring chocolate combined with other goodies like crushed Snickers bars, for example. I tried the Almond Joy ice cream and also the Cherries and Cream ice (an ice with some cream - smooth and tangy!). We also took home the popular Mango Ice that I tried later tonight - great flavor and texture.

I spoke with the owner, Mark Beilfuss, and learned a few things about their impressive operation. Goosebumps has an exciting business model that Mark wishes to expand as a franchise. It's been in operation for 3 years, with Mark just recently purchasing the business from the people that masterminded the operation and worked out numerous details.

Great ice cream, ices, cakes and smoothies in a pleasant shop. Goosebumps has my vote for the dessert place and ice cream joint of choice. Give it a try, and tell them Jeff sent you.

In Tuesday's election, Appleton voters said no to the referendum for a softening of the smoking ban. Restaurants, bars, and other business will remain smoke free - though I think we'll continue to see a few "smoke easies" in town. 57% of Appletonians voting rejected proposed changes in the smoking ban. Voter turnout was heavy, as reported by the Post-Crescent, with over 20,000 voters going to the polls (there were 11,559 no votes versus 8,674 yes). Unlike some other parts of the state, Appleton always has a voter turnout that is less than the total number of registered voters and certainly less than the total number of residents, even during Presidential elections - something we're proud of. We're also proud to report that the number of recorded votes is not substantially greater than the number of recorded voters - take that, Milwaukee!

Bar and restaurant owners are fuming over the smoking prohibition. They are so upset about it that they will seek to have it implemented across the state. That sounds funny at first, but it makes sense. Appleton's smoking ban puts them at a disadvantage relative to other communities. Well, why not even the playing field and impose the same smoking ban all over the state? Of course, then businesses near state borders will be at a disadvantage relative to other states, so we'll then need to go national. And then we'll see bar and restaurant business going to smoke-friendly Mexico and Canada, so an international effort will be needed to crack down on smoking - and soon or later we're going to have to invade some country on the other side of the world that doesn't cooperate with United Nations anti-smoking resolutions. Tobacco, you see, is a weapon of mass destruction. . . .

Spring is here, and that means it's time to get out and watch the fish spawn. Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources has a page on fish watching for ten kinds of fish. Of particular note is the information on sturgeon, the amazing ancient giant that dwells in the Lake Winnebago system. Lake Sturgeon can be watched as they spawn in mid April to early May. A good place to see this near Appleton is in the Wolf River at the Highway X crossing between New London and Northport. These huge, ancient fish aren't especially tasty, I'm told, but are incredible to see.

Below are 30 mystery images from the Appleton area (click to enlarge). How many can you identify? The one who can identify the most wins a prize: fame and glory on my Appleton Website, your choice of 3 8x10 photographs from my photo galleries plus 2 ounces of silver coins (to encourage you folks to consider silver as an incredible investment opportunity). Contestants have until May 15 to identify as many as photos as possible. Previous winners are still eligible to participate! The person who gets the most correct is the winner. If there is a tie, the person with the earliest submission wins. To participate, send me email (jeff at jefflindsay.com) with the subject "Appleton Mystery Photo Contest" giving your description of where these photos were taken. You should give enough detail that a person could go there and find the scene ("west side of Appleton" is too vague, but "west side of Richmond Avenue about 1 block north of Glendale" is good).

Note: one or two of the photos might be just slightly outside the official Appleton city boundaries (e.g., in Grand Chute, Menasha, or Town of Menasha).

April 4 Update: Photo #30 is now showing. Hint: it's from an alley in the heart of Appleton. (And, after a little cropping, rotation, and color enhancement, makes a lovely 11x14 print!) One more hint: photos 7, 8, and 10 may be just slightly outside Appleton's boundaries.

You may wish to review the photos from The First Appleton Mystery Photo Contest and The Second Appleton Mystery Photo Contest.

Pheasants are among the many birds that inhabit the Appleton area, though they are not frequently spotted. Here is one that was in my neighborhood last summer.

I love the hoar frost that is created several times each winter when fog from Lake Winnebago moves into the Valley on a cold night. Here's sample of the boar frost built up on the bark of a tree by my home from a cold morning this winter. (Click to enlarge.)

The smoking ban is on the ballot Tuesday, along with a variety of local officials. Information on the election is available at The Post-Crescent. Don't forget to vote!