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Category: food

Burgrz is Good

Published July 16, 2010

(Please excuse the crap photo, as it was taken under the fluorescent lights at my desk.)

For lunch today I ended up going by Burgrz, a new hamburger place on Walton in Rochester Hills, roughly in the same plaza / parking lot as Trader Joe’s. I was initially hesitant to go there thinking that it’d just be just like Five Guys (which I find a bit greasy and salty but otherwise dull), but after reading the menu and seeing a much more expansive selection (including veggie burgers) I decided to go on.

After looking over the menu I ordered a veggie burger (not sure how this is different from the BOCA Burger, which is also on the menu) topped with sautéed mushrooms and blue cheese with a regular size order of fries. After being told that the zip sauce is a home-made sauce with soy sauce, honey, and cayanne I asked for a bit of it on the side. What I received is as you see above, a nice looking not-squished burger (detail of the patty here), fries, and a small container of sauce.

The burger was good, and I ended up topping it with the zip sauce which went nicely with the mushrooms and blue cheese. At room temperature it was a little runny and didn’t stick well on the burger so I ended up mopping most of it up off the foil wrapper as I went, but it tasted good so I didn’t mind. The waffle-cut fries were crispy and properly salted, and I received a few more of them than I could eat. It would been nice to have fresh-cut fries instead, but properly cooked frozen ones (like these) aren’t anything to complain about.

All in all, I think that Burgrz was much nicer than Five Guys, and is a place that I actually want to go back to. Ordering was fast, food took about 5 minutes to receive, and the place looks nice inside.

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Cock ‘n Bull Ginger Beer

Published July 11, 2010

Here’s a bottle of Cock ‘n Bull Ginger Beer, purchased at the gas station at the corner of Grange Hall and Mackey Roads after Erik, Kristi, and I rode the East Loop (Gruber’s Grinder) at the Holly-Holdridge Mountain Bike Trails, which are more commonly known just as Holdridge. This was a quite challenging (but fun) trail, which took us 2:20 to complete the 15.5 mile route riding at a quite relaxed pace. It has everything from flowing sections of hard pack through the woods to 6′ high piles of field stones and reasonably high log piles. (Photo of Erik going over the biggest of the log piles.)

After the ride (and purchase of snacks) we headed over to Wildwood Lake in Holly Recreation Area and swam for a while to cool off (photo). Unfortunately while out swimming (and taking underwater photos) my supposedly waterproof to 10′ Olympus Stylus 850 SW sprung a leak. The camera started complaining that the memory card’s contacts needing cleaning, and after I opened the memory card / battery card compartment I found it to have water in it. It’s now sitting in a container of desiccant, so hopefully it’ll start working again soon and I can just put it to use as my standard travel point and shoot / bike jersey pocket camera.

Despite our snack of good soda and potato chips, having just biked for 2:20 and swam for 45 minutes we were getting a bit hungry, so the next stop was Union Woodshop in Clarkston, MI. This offshoot of Clarkston Union, one of my favorite America food restaurants, has a menu of great looking BBQ dishes and is some place I’d been wanting to try for a while.

With $0.87 glasses (mason jars, really) of Badass Beer (yes, the Kid Rock stuff, a passable lager) on special during the final game of the World Cup (which Spain won) we each ordered pulled pork with a variety of side items. I chose mac and cheese (ala Clarkston Union) and sweet potatoes (with roasted jalapeno and a hint of maple), which can be seen here along with some corn bread and sweet butter. Typcial of most midwestern restaurants portions were large enough to ensure leftovers. I’ll definitely want to go back there, but the typical 1.5 hour wait on most weeknights may make this difficult. I guess we’ll just have to plan for mid-afternoon on a Sunday again.

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Sun Tea

Published July 5, 2010

Having today off and feeling like rejecting a few more British conventions I decided to make some sun tea. Four tea bags, water, and sitting in the sun for a couple hours mostly did the trick, but I probably should have left it for longer. Oh well, I’ll just have to make another batch tomorrow or Wednesday.

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Squished Squirrel, Squished Banana

Published June 25, 2010

Riding to work along the Clinton River Trail this morning I happened upon a squirrel, which is not unusual at all, until I ran over it. Typically animals see you coming and do their best to dash off to hide in the woods, but this squirrel, laying in the middle of the 12′ wide gravel path, ducked down, waited until I got within 15 of it, dashed off into the brush, then immediately back out in front of me, running in a small circle twice directly in front of my tire before I hit it. Thankfully only my front tire hit it†, and when I looked back I caught only a brief glimpse of it ducking back into the brush.

While squishing the squirrel (and throughout the ride) I was apparently also squishing my post-ride banana. While the skin didn’t rupture, a fair part of it was mashed into a nice banana gel which tasted surprisingly sweet and good. It was a bit of a hassle to eat, but the taste made it worthwhile. I think that a bowl of well-mashed banana, topped with (real) whipped cream, and some nice oaty biscuits (HobNobs?) could make for quite a treat.

UPDATE: Now that I think about it, hitting the squirrel felt not unlike the time I hit a discarded banana in the road. A little slick, a slight sliding/rolling feeling, and an ever so slight bump.

† Front wheels generally have less weight on them, and while I definitely hit a squishy part of the squirrel, there wasn’t a noticeable thump or bump as I went over it, so hopefully I hit a less-essential part and its still alive.

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To Work and Back

Published June 8, 2010

With the weather forecast saying that rain shouldn’t start until after 7pm it seemed like a good weather day for bike riding. Despite having my car back I fitted the pannier setup to my bike, and set out for work. I set out just after 7am, arriving at work just over 1:06 later. As the day wore on and rain got closer, the forecast rapidly changed to having rain arrive sooner, so I left work a bit early, riding quick, hitting rush-hour traffic, and made it home in four minutes less than it took to head to work. After getting home I was then able to finish up work before heading off to the grocery store, then to Sherwood Brewing Company to meet some friends for dinner and beer.

Here’s a couple photos from today, all of them better than the weird, blurry, self-shot photo of me riding on the Clinton River Trail, somewhere between Hamlin and Adams:

· Riding down the Clinton River Trail, heading east, between Hamlin and Adams.
· My bike propped up against a column under Rochester Road along a branch of the Clinton River. I stopped here briefly while riding home from work.
· My bike outside of VGs on the bike rack which they installed after I asked them to fit one. I rode up to buy beer and bagels after riding home from work.

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Hash Browns for Dinner

Published May 30, 2010

After a nice bike ride I couldn’t think of what to have for dinner, and this is what resulted: hash browns, fried up in butter, with onion, roasted garlic, rosemary, spicy chicken sausage, and sweet corn, topped with mild cheddar. I’m eating this with a glass of Bell’s Kalamazoo Stout, a very nice, malty, licorice-y stout that goes wonderfully with savory food.

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Lumberjack Route at Big M and North Country Trail

Published May 24, 2010

This weekend Danielle and I headed up north to the Manistee area to meet a bunch of Trail’s Edge folks at Big M to ride this year’s route for the Lumberjack 100 Mountain Bike Race. After doing one lap of this 33 mile course I’m quite certain that there’s no way I’d be able to complete the three required for the race. It’s a hard trail, almost all tight, winding single track with unexpected sand at the bottom of hills.

At one point I was coming down a hill, only to see Nick and Erik standing at the bottom of the hill. It turns out that Bill (pictured on the right) had slid a bit in some sand and hit a tree hard with the side of his head, leaving him sitting dazed on the ground. As I tried to assess where I should go and slow down I too slid in the sand, but instead spun my front wheel around and stopped against the tree, hugging it and holding on to stay upright. Just as I came to a stop I watched my front wheel roll up towards Bill, only to stop an inch from his helmet and face.

Thankfully I didn’t hit him, as that would have made an already bad situation even worse. Even more thankfully, after sitting for a while Bill was able to get up and ride out, feeling only a bit shaken and showing no obvious signs of what I knew to look for indicating serious brain injury.

After the ride we headed over a nice, but older campground a few miles from the Big M ski area where we’d reserved a number of campsites, and a cabin for the less hearty of the bunch. Tents were set up, a fire was made, food was cooked, and beer was drank while sitting around. We ended up eating a spectrum of food, from locally made beef jerky and kielbasa to spanish tortilla, a mini-keg of Oberon to Trader Joe’s house-brand Pilsener, from Annie’s Cheesey Lasagna made with high quality turkey in a dutch oven to sandwich cookies and M&M’s.

The following morning, after eating breakfast at a local diner and breaking down camp, some of us headed over to the Marilla trailhead of the North Country Trail to do some riding there. Erik, Kristi, and I took off together, but with the terrain there being almost all bench cut trail leading up and down the sort of hills that I normally don’t ride, I soon turned back. If I was in better shape, or maybe if it was a bit cooler or less sunny, or maybe if hadn’t ridden one of the hardest long rides of my life the day prior I would have ridden more, but I’m glad that I headed back when I did. Once back at the trail head I couldn’t stop sweating, and only felt better 20 minutes into the drive home in a car with the air conditioning on high.

Here’s some of the photos I took this weekend:

· Joe, Jon, Marty, Nick, Kristi, and Bill as we are about to leave the Big M parking lot to ride the Lumberjack race route.
· Bathroom break. There were an equal number of people using trees along the right side of the trail, but the lens wasn’t wide enough.
· Consulting on the route while standing in some CCC pines.
· Sandy downhill where Bill crashed and I almost ran into Bill due to my inability to stop safely in the sand. I ended up stopping against / gently hitting the tree on the left.
· Kristi, collapsed on the ground, after riding up a hill that everyone else walked. Erik then helped her get unclipped.
· Typical Big M Ski Area signage.
· Bratwurst boiling in a cast iron skillet before being grilled.
· Bratwurst on the grill as a paper plate burns and Tak and Nick sit in comfy chairs.
· Kristi and Bill along the North Country Trail right near a bench overlooking a wonderful hill.
· Sign pointing back to the Marilla Trail Head from the North Country Trail. Much of the riding was sandy like this.
· Riding back to the Marilla trail head on the NCT alone, as I turned back before Erik and Kristi.
· This bridge was not far from the trail head, at the bottom of a ravine.
· Some inconsiderate person tucked a dirty diaper under the bridge on the North Country Trail.
· Looking over the handlebars down from the spur of the North Country Trail leading back to the Marilla trailhead.

I’m hoping to get up there to ride the NCT once more, this time a bit better prepared both mentally and physically. With all the bench cutting the trail is a little more intimidating than I’d expected, and with all the climbing it’s a bit more grueling than I’d hoped for.

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Morels at River Bends Park

Published May 18, 2010

it’s interesting what one finds in the woods. I found these today while Nick, Marty, Pete, and I were doing initial flagging for a mountain bike trail in River Bends Park. I think they’ll be cooked up in some very nice pasta and a cream sauce, or perhaps served over toast ala this meal in Brussels.

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More Beer Photos: Golden Cap, Mama’s Little Yella Pils, Ranger IPA

Published May 16, 2010

I’m really sleepy tonight so I’m not going to write much about these beers, except to say that I liked each and every one. The Pils was particularly great, as I don’t get to have a proper Pils very often and Mama’s Little Yella from Oskar Blues Brewery definitely was one. Oh, and that Ranger IPA? Quite nice… Very hoppy, almost pine-ish, but quite pleasant to sip.

So, here’s just a few quick photos of new (to me) beers that I’ve had recently:

· New Holland’s Golden Cap Saison Ale.
· Oskar Blues Brewery’s Mama’s Little Yella Pils.
· New Belgium’s Ranger India Pale Ale.

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