I spent the first half of this week with an absurd cold, and slowly rallied enough to attend three food-related gatherings this week.
Wednesday evening held forth a Mexican feast and Beatles Rock Band, hosted by friends up the street. I thought my fake instrument was drums, but I now fancy fake bass. Perhaps next time I will try “medium.”
I was going to drive home for Thanksgiving, but me finishing up being sick and my parents getting sick precluded that. Instead I had a proper Orphan Thanksgiving with my friend Patti and her family (husband, mom, and dog), complete with dilly beans and Patti’s famous biscuits. I also got to try ABC’s Terminator, which Patti had kindly brought home in a growler.
On Friday, I attended Yourwelcomesgiving with other friends in town. A mixup at the co-op made us the recipients of not the ordered 14-pound turkey, but a 25-pound turkey. I had never seen such a turkey outside of film and Norman Rockwell prints. Delicious and absurd. A communal effort resulted in two kinds of potatoes, roasted root veggies, brussels sprouts, tofurkey casserole, two kinds of cranberry sauce, fruit and thyme sorbet, two kinds of stuffing, and of course turkey. I contributed pumpkin bread and snickerdoodles. That particular crowd always has an amazing array of homemade and carefully selected booze: this time we had some local beer, some red wines, and homemade mead.
A sad tale about the pumpkin bread. I combined tworecipes, for the bread and filling respectively, but didn’t think of the results of a liquid center in a 9×5 inch pan. The 7×3 pan turned out fine, but the larger loaf vomited liquid cream cheese mixture all over the cooling rack when I tried to turn it out. Lesson learned: small pans.
Today I went to the market and got the following:
a generous quart each of beets and potatoes: $3.50
2 garlic bulbs: $2
a dozen fresh eggs: $2.50
a quart of Winesap apples: $2.50
a giant bunch of kale: $3.75
I also went to Sparrow and got a pork chop and a couple of their awesome lamb/herb sausages.
Long story short, this week I inadvertently got a much-needed break (even if part of it involved snot). I made some decisions about future plans that I’m feeling pretty good about. And ate a lot of food.
This weekend, my friends Carrie and Joshua came to visit from Massachusetts. They drove, the brave, patient souls, and we had a whirlwind weekend of long walks, eating, and pleasantly just existing.
When I visited them for New Year’s, I was treated to beautiful homemade meals of sushi and fresh pasta, as well as a lovely exploratory walk of their town, two holiday parties and an outdoor hot tub with a neighboring wood fire. My goal was to attempt to meet this level of visit excellence. However, I—we, really—were immediately hit with a very serious problem. We had way too much food. We also planned to go biking, visit the Arboretum, visit the gems of Ypsilanti, and find the street Carrie had lived on during a very brief stay in Ann Arbor years ago. In approximately 48 hours.
In preparation for a fast-paced weekend, I had procured salad greens, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, catfish filets, potatoes, and pasta. They brought tomatoes, herbs, and bread from the CSA. They also wanted to take me out for dinner to celebrate my new job. I also wanted to take them to my usual haunts.
We spent the entire weekend eating.
Shortly after their arrival, we headed downtown for dinner and beer at Old Town. We ate ribs, a Knight’s burger, and a reuben with pitchers of Oberon and Two Hearted. We were joined over time by friends who’d planned to join us and those who were collected along the way, maxing out around a dozen. Diagrams of how people knew each other were drawn by hands in the air. Stories were told. Design theory was hashed out. Drinks were drunk. We drifted home, full of meat and hops and goodwill toward men.
After sleeping in on Saturday, and changing the tires on my bike to the lovely road tires they’d brought me, we brunched at Northside Grill, consuming two-egg breakfasts and pancakes. We headed to the farmer’s market, intent on browsing only and full of plans to tour downtown and campus. However, we were faced with raspberries and cherries. We bought them. We continued downtown to drop by The Brickyard and had a small picnic of fruit and almonds. Another friend, just returned from the meat capital of America, called to let me know he had thick cut, vacuum-sealed bacon for my visitors. We met him upstairs, received the bacon, and wandered southward toward campus. All that walking required a snack of tomato bruschetta and ABC’s Brasserie Blonde at Dominick’s.
This is where we descended into madness.
Still wanting to take me out to dinner, my guests suggested that we go to eve in Kerrytown. I reminded them that they were leaving on Sunday afternoon, so our only chance at a fish and potato dinner would be that very night. They made the obvious point that we would just have to have two dinners. Reservations for a late dinner at eve were made, and after an attempt to triangulate Carrie’s old neighborhood, we began the march home to fix dinner number one.
We drank cranberry juice and Vernor’s and made insalata caprese, garlic mashed potatoes, and milk-soaked, flour-dredged fried catfish. We all remained prone for approximately an hour, with Carrie and I elevating our various bad joints made worse by walking nearly all the way to the Zen Buddhist Temple on Packard and back, then rose and dressed for dinner number two, which consisted of really delicious cocktails, appetizers (curry mussels, chicken dumplings, and scallops), and desserts (with wine, of course). Creme fraishe was the order of the evening.
On Sunday, sure we would never eat again, we rose and began to plan the bike ride, which got increasingly short as we discussed it, despite our clear need for exercise. Then, an IM from my usual weekend brunch companion sent us rolling toward the Roadhouse for oysters, grits, eggs, huevos rancheros, and pastries. Afterwards we slowly prepared ourselves for exertion and rode the paved path around Argo Pond, stopping occasionally in search of wormwood. Successful, we returned to my apartment, packed their car, I sent them off only 2 hours behind schedule. I was left with the beginnings of bathtub absinthe, leftover potatoes and fish, several tomatoes, and a surprise bottle of 10-year Laphroaig.
These people are probably the best house guests ever.
Concord grapes ($3.00), yellow wax beans ($2.50), Heirloom tomato ($1.00), cup of Roos coffee ($2.00), half-dozen cinnamon donuts ($3.00), and interaction with nice human beings.
The Deuce is currently experiencing leftovers from Hurricane Ike Hannah. As far as I can tell, it’s been raining constantly since this morning. This theoretically provides perfect conditions for getting work done, because leaving the house might involve drowning.
Things I should work on today:
some writing for a freelance gig
some content analysis and possibly wireframes for another freelance gig
Things I have accomplished so far today:
laundry
making and consuming French toast
making and consuming coffee
watching last week’s Diggnation
finishing a cowl
In other news, I have signed up to be a correspondent for the new Ann Arbor Chronicle, a community produced site of daily local news. Look for Twitter-style updates by me and the other correspondents to appear in the left-hand column as we document interesting happenings around town.
The mural in the alley near the Michigan Theater is kind of a local institution, but based on the Snooze article, it seems the original artist is pretty cool with the role of public (i.e., transitory) art. Since the original mural series, the alley was already a palimpsest of graffiti and flyers. And gum. Is the new piece an improvement or not? You decide.
On a totally personal note, I’m flattered that one of my photos of the alley was included in the Arbor Update article. Here’s to Community Commons.
For a friend who is compiling video of things that don’t suck. Pardon the jerkiness of the farmers’ market video. Was trying to shoot subtly. You can also watch the better-quality Quicktime version.
At the farmers’ market today I got a head of green lettuce, a jar of blackberry and rhubarb jam, donuts, a bag of Guatemalan Ethiopian dark roast from Roos, and lunch from Pilar’s Tamale Cart. After my trip by the library I stopped at Primo on Liberty for some reading and people watching.
The ever-vigilant Edward Vielmetti alerted locals over twitter and plurk that The Deuce has been added to the collection of cities with Google Street View.
Today I got to hang out with ORGer Old Grimy for a couple hours as he was on his way back east. We got coffee and strolled around downtown, then headed to the school yard behind Commie High to play some frisbee with sweet Luna.
We eventually collided with a jolly game of tackle football.
Otherwise, I’m enjoying a quiet weekend and will be hard pressed to do the cleaning my apartment so desperately needs tomorrow.
Thanks to Mother Old Grimy for the chocolate chip cookies!
Hi. This blog is by Devon Persing. She mostly writes about work (information science and publishing), food, and crafts. You can write to her, if you'd like. You can also follow her on twitter or check out things she saves on delicious.
