"Mini beer," free CDs and more – get the goods in this week's OnMilwaukee.com Recommends.
"Mini beer" shot – For most things, but not all things, we humans find small synonymous with adorable. Such is the case with this shot, which I tried recently at Rumor Upbeat Lounge, 161 S. 1st St. It's not made with a drop of beer, and yet it looks like a "mini beer." The cute concoction is mostly Licor 43, a vanilla-based liqueur popular in Spain and Italy, and served with a tiny bit of cream or half-and-half on top to resemble beer foam. Now all I need is a mini beer bong. Or not. – Molly Snyder
Good Land Records and Friends: Summer 2012 (Good Land Records) – This free 18-track CD is from the usually vinyl-focused Brew City label, Good Land and features 10 tracks from its stable of bands, including Trapper Schoepp & The Shades, Archie Powell & the Exports, Time Schweiger & The Middle Men, Jetty Boys, Midnight Reruns, Direct Hit!, The Figgs, Mike Gent and Pete Donnelly and spices them up with eight more from Smoking Popes, Tommy Stinson, The Obsoletes, The Etiquette and others. It was a great soundtrack to the Milwaukee summer and it'll be no less fun as fall begins its descent. If you can't find it locally at places like Bull's Eye Records, behind Comet on Irving Place, visit goodlandrecords.com. – Bobby Tanzilo
Make Your Own Po'Boy – I tried this while in Charleston and it got rave reviews from my crowd. You need great bread, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. A great baguette fits the bill. Then you need fixin's. I used shredded lettuce, some sweet pickles and thinly sliced tomatoes. Then I made a sauce out of mayonnaise, french dressing and a little salt and pepper. I loaded up the bread with all this and then came the biggie – fresh medium sized shrimp, peeled and de-veined, washed in a little egg and rolled in a great seafood breading mix. Put them in a pan with very hot oil and let them cook for a minute or two. You'll be able to tell when they are done when they kind of curl up on you. Put a bunch of shrimp on the sandwich, close it up and let folks go crazy. You'll feel like a great Southern chef. – Dave Begel
"21 Jump Street" – "21 Jump Street" sat atop iTunes for so long that I just had to rent it. I knew next to nothing about the '80s TV show of the same name so I can't compare the two; I only recommend that you watch the movie, which is about two cops who are sent back to a local high school. It's a fun, mindless adventure that pokes fun at your typical action-adventure flick and doesn't go so overboard as to totally dumb itself down. There's even a twist or two in this 109-minute flick. We all need a fun rental for the weekends, and I'll firmly stand behind "21 Jump Street." – Jeff Sherman
