Ann Arbor foodie day

A few times a month, I'll have 'foodie' days with friends (and yes, they are as great as they sound ;) I always make myself a promise that I'll run a few extra miles the following day so I don't feel as guilty.....and it gives me motivation as well for the next outing. We'll usually pick an area or cuisine and spend most of the day trying out new dishes, catching up, leisurely walking around and having a few drinks. I spent several years living up in the Ann Arbor area, and miss it tons, so I'm always looking for an excuse to come back. I had been wanting to check out  Mark's Carts which just opened for the season, along with Frita Batido's for awhile, so we opted to spend the day there. Ann Arbor is the perfect place for a foodie day because:

 1) It's home of the Wolverines (GO BLUE!!)
 2) Their culinary scene is pretty impressive
 3) Since it's a college town, they have a good range of cheap eats to fancy pants dining
 4) Most areas are very walkable with lots of things to do, which helps in between your food stops

The morning started off with the requisite Starbucks, then the drive out from the D. What could be better than a sunny, crisp Saturday in AA? This bad boy:

Cheese Dream is one of my favorite food carts in the area. This nutella and Zingerman's cream cheese sandwich melted in your mouth.....and all over my hands..... but was worth every messy minute.

After I cleaned up my face from Cheese Dream, we tried a pork belly mini sandwich. Some of the best I've ever had from a food truck before - seasoned and cooked really well.

And this is where I lost it......my willpower that is. Frita Batidos is the B.O.M.B. So she didn't go that far on Top Chef, but Eve Aronoff knows her stuff. I loved her former Ann Arbor restaurant Eve's, and I'm pretty much now smitten with Frita's. This photo (taken on my iPhone) doesn't really do it justice, but it was one of the best meals I've ever had in Ann Arbor, and there's been a lot of those.  This was the chorizo frita with sweet chili mayo and avocado spread, topped with shoestring fries on fresh brioche. The aptly named, "Best Snack Ever" was a bowl of layered coconut ginger rice, black beans, melted muenster, and cilantro lime salsa. We washed it down with a Coconut Cream Batido, a tropical milkshake made with fresh fruit, crushed ice and sweetened milk, with or without rum. Everything was so fresh and served at the right temperature. The batido tasted better than most of the watered down fruity drinks I've had at even high end beach resorts over the years. I honestly wanted to go take a nap in my car so I could come back back later and try more. So, if you're ever in the mood for Frita's, let me know so I can join you!

Glowing Easter!

So, I take my Aunt Val role pretty seriously. Over the past 5 years, I've spent countless hours looking and preparing for fun, unique, cool ideas to do with Josh and Megan. Superhero capes, gingerbread houses, pirate theme parties, dressing up as the Easter Bunny, etc. Luckily for me I don't get embarassed that easily, so I'm willing to do basically anything to make them laugh or ensure they have fun. I just stumbled upon this post for creating a Glow in the Dark Easter Egg Hunt, and I'm going to make sure the Easter Bunny stops by their house and does this :-)

                                                     Light up your Easter Egg Hunt this year!

The perfect cheese board (even for a klutz in the kitchen)

Thank you, Glitter Guide for saving my next party: How to build the perfect cheese board. (and it's super easy!!)

                                                                            YUM!

Santorini

This photo probably explains why Greece is on my bucket travel list. The Grace Hotel looks spectacular..... I'm not sure I could afford the rates, but I can always hope......:) Happy Travels!

Ten Things

I don't have a daughter, or any kids for that matter, but I'm saving this for when I hopefully do someday. Such a beautiful and smart letter by Kate Elizabeth Conner. Ten Things I want to tell teenage girls.

Relationship advice

One of the best pieces of relationship advice I've heard.

Piglet n' Pooh

Source: Modern Hepburn

Chalet Amazon Creek

How awesome does this place look? Adding to my travel list stat!

                                                               Chamonix, France

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I love food. A lot. Probably more than the average person. But I hate cooking. Haaaaate it. I'd rather be cleaning the toilet or getting a root canal by Freddy Krueger. Which makes it even more weird that I have a secret crush on chefs. Go figure. (and bald guys) I do enjoy our family cooking rituals - making Christmas cookies and gingerbread houses with the kids, pierogi making parties, etc. It's just the "I have a free day so let me spend the day in the kitchen cooking!" idea that I have no interest in.  I grew up with a family and friends that were fabulous cooks (hi dad!) and were always using me as a guinea pig for new recipes, or dragging me along to funky little restaurants or new places that were opening up. And I loved it - talking about exotic foods I had never heard of before, and trying foods that I didn't even know how to pronounce let alone eat (why are there so many forks anyway??). So I might have let myself become lazy in the kitchen over the years because, well, someone was always doing it for me. I'm not trying to sound like a spoiled brat by saying that because believe me, my parents raised me to be an insanely hard worker and I knew how to do laundry, dishes and vacuum before I could walk. (that may also explain my obsessive cleaning tendencies too, but that's another story). My college boyfriend was also amazing in the kitchen and would whip me up a meal just because or make me homemade chicken noodle soup when I was sick (looking back now, what guy actually does that?? in COLLEGE?!)
My job after college required me to plan and attend many events and do a lot of traveling. For those of you not familiar with the events world, what that means is that you eat like shit. Some of it is good shit, but most of it bad shit. You run around during set up eating whatever you could scrounge up (i.e. candy and caffeine - Hai Starbucks!!), then secretly grab a fancy appetizer that you have no clue what you're eating at an event that doesn't really fill you up but gives you enough of a boost that you don't pass out after working for 14 hours. This was my 20's. I did also throw the occassional dinner party with the ex-boyfriend, but that usually meant me finding a cool recipe and him actually cooking it.....or that I just wanted to decorate or style the table.  (I did however always clean the dishes afterwards - I'm all about equality :)
Even now, I love to host people for brunches and dinners at my house, but if I'm actually cooking (from scratch and not just microwaving, re-heating or putting some Trader Joe's wine and dips on the table), it's a struggle. But I do it because I enjoy having people over and  entertaining. So......here was my attempt at corned beef and cabbage this year.  It actually was pretty good, and people went back for seconds! It's not as good as my aunt's, and probably will never be, but I did have fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it. At least that's what they said to my face :) Happy St. Patrick's Day!

My life

Erin Go Bragh!

These are are a few of the Celtic crosses that I've collected from family trips over to Ireland over the years. I started collecting them when I was in my late teens, with the idea that I would have a wall of crosses one day. I probably have about 100 or so (not all from Ireland - I have several from Scotland, England and other places I've traveled), and sadly I don't really have enough space in my house or even an empty wall that would work. So for the time being, I only have about a dozen or so hung up. These are some of the most meaningful and sentimental ones I have and remind me of special times with my family, especially my grandmother who has since passed away. I still miss her laugh and her travel stories every day, and I know she would have loved to have seen these all together :) Slainte!

Oink

Word.

What do you long for?

My life in a nutshell.

I heart Liz Lemon.

Winning

Go ahead, make me happy.