Anna Lardinois tingles the spines of locals and visitors to Milwaukee through her haunted, historical walking tours known as Gothic Milwaukee. She is the creator of the self-guided walking tour collections Walking Milwaukee: Downtown Edition and Walking Milwaukee: Tosa Edition. The former English teacher is an ardent collector of stories, an avid walker, and a sweet treat enthusiast.

The Osthoff Resort was built in the late 1800s as a retreat for wealthy travelers. Located on the shores of a glacial lake, the Osthoff quickly became the “it” place to escape the summer heat for city dwellers from Chicago, St. Louis, and Milwaukee. Today, more than 100 years later, the Osthoff still offers a sense of place and respite in the village of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Rebuilt in 1995 by new owners, it quickly became a AAA Four Diamond resort hotel.

One of the hallmarks of the Midwest is gathering - and eating - together. Whether it's family or a chosen family of friends, we love to sit down to good food, laughter, and great conversation. However, each area in the Midwest has different traditions - and Wisconsin has a unique one: that of supper clubs. The state is covered with them - homegrown, comfortable restaurants that serve excellent, tasty, homemade food with such friendliness that other restaurants will start to look rude.

When we were in Milwaukee last weekend visiting family, food was never far from our minds. This could be because we are food people, or because Milwaukee has more great food than you can imagine, or a lovely confluence of the two. We were “researching” an article on great eating in Milwaukee for i8tonite.com - my Cheat Sheet to Eating in Milwaukee, and had great difficulty narrowing down the recommendations.