Bailiwick (bay-li-wik) - One’s area of activity, interest, or expertise.
Kathleen Witman has made Oshkosh her Bailiwick. She set out to showcase the places and people who make this community an amazing place to live, one small workshop at a time.
A few weeks back Kathleen invited me to observe, and take a couple tastes, a workshop on how to make fajitas and salsa at La Avenida Mexican Store & Deli. As I had learned in a previous post, owner Dora Fabian has an infectious joy in her store and I knew this would translate exceptionally well to a hands on demonstration.
When I arrived a couple participants were already there peppering Dora with pre-workshop sneaks. Kathleen was able to maintain some classroom decorum and keep the snacking at bay. The aroma was already getting hard to ignore and at 5:30 my stomach was letting everyone in the room know my minutes of observation only were drawing down quickly.
The rest of the group arrived and thankfully the cooking began. In a Bailiwick workshop each participant is expected to jump in, chop, blend, slice and dice. Some took their responsibilities to a repressed place in their psyche. It didn’t take long before the classmates were all clamoring for the recipe and a list of products used. Dora and her store would make a tidy profit this night. I know I bought food to go and everything on her ingredient sheet.
That is the really neat thing about a Bailiwick Workshop, everyone walks away enriched. Kathleen’s workshops will show you wine making, how to fix a leaky faucet, hardscaping your yard, how to put a flourish into that plain cake and even the techniques involved in tossing pizza dough in the sky without it landing back on your face.
Check out the Bailiwick Workshop’s website to get a current list of scheduled workshops, but also sign up for the email list so you can find out early what is coming in the months ahead. These learning sessions are kept small and fill up quickly. The cost is amazingly low and often allows a “friend” discount if you sign up for two.
Perhaps after one or two of Kathleen’s courses, you will finally find your Bailiwick.
Another specialty is soup. My favorite is the homemade chicken dumpling. I ordered it so fast I missed the tomato florentine. Next time. And while the frozen custard special was Tin Roof Rusted, I passed on it in favor of my old standby…a hot fudge chocolate frozen custard sundae with pecans.
Have you stepped outside today? It is downright balmy out there. As we look back from next week it will have seemed tropical. Who needs the islands when we have high’s above 30°? Okay, dumb question.
A longing for Spring occurs every year around this time in Oshkosh. We hear from our southern friends of enjoying the sun and temperatures. Of sitting on their decks soaking up the abundant warming light. That longing inspired “Perpetual Echos,” by Michelle Tobia. Her exhibit is now showing at the UW-Oshkosh Reeve Memorial Union’s Steinhilber Gallery.
![[9] Alone On The Ice](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5050/5342622767_d94fe75780_t.jpg "[9] Alone On The Ice")
![[9] Alone On The Ice](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5283/5342619489_1d9017176a_t.jpg "[9] Alone On The Ice")
