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Category: food

Island Lake and Maybury

Published April 13, 2009

Jon and Bob standing outside of Bob's van after a cold (but nice) day riding at Maybury. Prior to this we were at Island Lake.

Having today off (Easter Monday Holiday), I ended up heading out to some mountain bike trails with some friends from the MMBA, Bob and John. Starting quite early this morning we took off towards the west side of the Detroit area, and ended up riding Island Lake and Maybury (both loops of each), with a break to eat lunch at Leo’s Coney Island and stop by Trail’s Edge.

Since I’d never ridden either of those trails it was a nice new experience, and I’ll definitely be visiting them in the future. They are both about the same level of technical difficulty that I’m accustomed to, but much longer in length. I imagine that once the weather is a bit nicer (read: warm enough for shorts) they’ll be a whole bunch of fun.

Today wasn’t so nice, necessitating shorts and a jacket and full finger gloves. Since I only have wind/waterproof full finger gloves Bob loaned me his Fox Digit gloves, which worked out great. If I’m needing to buy some for myself I think I’ll get these.

After arriving home at 6:30ish I showered, picked up some fish and chips from Chicken Shack, then watched a bunch of Season 3 of The Office. Now, bed. I’ve got lots of work waiting for me in the morning.

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Stitches Removed, etc.

Published April 3, 2009

This morning the stitches were removed from my face (photos later), and while initially painful from the jostling and tugging during the removal it already feels quite a bit better. I’m going to wait a few more days before attempting to shave, but I think that it’ll go well. After the doctor’s office visit this morning I ended up having a rather busy, but good day at work.

This evening I did some work on my multi-speed (Specialized) bike, fitting a new crankset (more on this later) and ensuring that shifting was working as it should. I then set out for a ride through one of my typical local routes on the single speed (Bianchi), just to get back into the swing of things. It was nice to get back out and ride some after almost a week of not doing so, and the route up through River Bends Park and on some dirt (and single track) stuff went very well. It was a nicely uneventful ride; one which I hope to follow up with a ride through Stony Creek this weekend which, hopefully, will not be eventful in any way which causes me (or others) injury or pain.

This evening was then capped off with some Pirate Booty clone stuff from Trader Joe’s and a bottle of New Holland’s Dragon’s Milk while watching most of the second season of the US version of The Office. I’m actually finding that this US version is quite a good adaptation of the UK series. I think I’ll try and watch all of the episodes currently available via Netflix‘s streaming stuffs.

And now? Bed.

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Wrong Sandwich

Published April 1, 2009

What was supposedly a Leonardo da Veggie sandwich from Brueggers' Bagels isn't. It is lacking roasted peppers and cream cheese.

My lunch today, as ordered from Bruggers’ Bagels, was a Leonardo da Veggie sandwhich. This is normally a sandwich with cream cheese, roasted red peppers, and some other veggies on it. Unfortunately, what i was served appears to be another veggie sandwhich, lacking cheese and peppers and such. This, unfortunately, makes it both disappointing and rather unfilling. Suffice to say, I have Written A Letter.

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Sharp Cheddar, Edwards’ Berkshire Bacon, Garlic Mushrooms

Published March 25, 2009

Today's lunch is a sandwich of sharp cheddar, dryly sauteed garlic mushrooms, and Edwards' Berkshire Bacon.

This sandwich, along with a bottle of sugary Mexican Coca-Cola, is my lunch today. It was assembled this morning by Danielle while I showered, made from items cooked last night. The sandwich is made from a piece of generic French bread from the bakery at Nino Salvaggio in Clinton Township, sharp cheddar, mushrooms and garlic which were sauteed in extra-virgin olive oil and butter, and Edwards’ Berkshire Bacon purchased at Zingerman’s after the 27th Anniversary tasting.

This is an extremely good sandwich.

I can only think of a couple ways to make it better, and those would only be incremental improvements which aren’t really that important. Specifically, using freshly chopped garlic with the mushrooms, a less yeasty bread, and a bit more special cheddar.

UPDATE: Upon completion of this meal I have realized that it is missing something: chocolate. I could really go for some decent mint chocolate right now. Unfortunately, the bar of chocolate currently owned by me is sitting on the kitchen counter at home. This disappoints me greatly.

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Bridges Are Good, As Is Cheese

Published March 17, 2009

My bike on the 22 Mile pedestrian bridge over M-53 while heading to the Post Office and for a bike ride. This is why these bridges should exist.

Today means to me that summer is open. The weather is finally nice enough that I was able to leave the house on my bike, wearing shorts and a cycling jersey, and run an errand then go for a nice ride around the area. After dropping off these two eBay packages at the post office I headed over to River Bends, down through Utica (including some night time road riding in safe areas), then into the Clinton River trail, only to find it flooded. I then headed back through Utica, down 21 Mile to Hayes, and back home, totaling just over 20 miles averaging 14.6 MPH. Not bad for errand running and lots of street crossings.

This was a really nice ride, and (per usual) it made good use the safe pedestrian bridges along 21 Mile and 22 Mile. I’m really glad they exist.

Now that I’m home and have changed out of the sweaty (and surprisingly stinky) cycling clothes, I’m sitting here in front of a wedge of relatively stinky Stichelton, acquired Sunday at Zingerman’s. This is, for all intents and purposes, a raw milk Stilton. However, it can’t be called that because of EU regulations saying that Stilton must be made with Pasteurized milk. (See the Wikipedia article on Stichelton for more info.)

Mmm. This stuff is incredible.

UPDATE: I’m eating this cheese slowly, so it’s having plenty of time to come up to room temperature. Thus, my office is starting to smell a bit funky. Like feet. And bike shorts. In a 300 year old cellar.

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Zingerman’s 27th Anniversary Tasting

Published March 15, 2009

Vanessa cuts bread while Ari Weinzweig gives the introduction at Zingerman's 27th Anniversary Tasting.

Please excuse the terrible image, but this is from earlier today when Danielle and I headed to Zingerman’s Next Door for their 27th Anniversary Tasting. Neither of us had been to a Zingerman’s food tasting event before, but it ended up being Ari and Paul, two of the founders, telling stories about the history of the company while a number of good foods were handed out and explained / detailed, with anecdotes and stories related to each item.

There seemed to be two focuses of today food-wise, one being items they had been serving for years and which were influential early on, and the other was simply good, more recent things. It’s a very good thing that we arrived hungry, because the quantity of food served amounted to a medium sized and very delicious meal. Here’s a list of the items served, of which we each tried all of it except for the 2K Caraway Rye, as one of the other people at our table took the whole chunk:

· Sesame Semolina Bread
· Farm Bread
· 2 Kg Caraway Rye Bread
· 2 Kg Roadhouse Rye Bread
· Mushroom Beef Barley Soup
· Oswald’s Mile High Sandwhich (Corned Beef and Mustard on Rye)
· Bagel Sandwich (Cream Cheese, Red Onion, Tomato, and Cold Smoked Salmon)
· Fennel Pollen (Eaten straight, and on the Bagel Sandwich.)
· Chopped Liver (I did not care for this; too iron-y.)
· Chicken Salad
· Tongue (I did not care for this either, mostly the texture bothered me.)
· Smoked Sable
· Edward’s Berkshire Bacon
· Couscous with Harissa & Pasolivo Olive Oil
· Cara Cara Orange Salad with Chilean Vinegar Vinaigrette
· Stitchelton Cheese (a raw milk Stilton)
· Comte Cheese
· Ulmo Honey
· Hamentaschen
· Zzang Bar
· El Rustico Chocolate Bar
· Noodle Kugel

After the tasting Danielle and I purchased some Chicken Salad, Blondies, Pecan Raisin Bread (for making sandwiches with the chicken salad), bagels, Stitchelton, Ginger Beer, Gelato, Berkshire Bacon, and a jar of the harissa.

This has been a tremendous day food-wise. After returning home I ate some of the quiche which Danielle made on Saturday night (portabello, onion, and broccoli) with harissa on it, and it was incredibly, amazingly good. I should probably post a photo of it tomorrow, as I’ll probably be eating more of it for dinner.

Mmm. I am full of good food.

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Bananaphone Not Answered

Published March 14, 2009

Meijer at Hayes and Hall Road (M-59) seems to be out of bananas. This disappoints me greatly.

Tonight when I went to Meijer I found that they are, for all intents and purposes, lacking bananas. I do not appreciate this. Instead I bought grapes, butter, and beer. Note that none of these three have conjoining intended uses.

Also, this is a photo of what happens when my neighbor buys a concrete downspout splash guard thingie, doesn’t remove it when it begins to degrade, and a big storm comes through.

On a wholly unrelated note, I am listening to Stabbing Westward‘s Wither Blister Burn & Peel and I’m amazed at how bad this album really is. I hadn’t listened to it since (at least) 2003 when I ripped all my CDs into iTunes, and likely not since 1999 or 2000. Back in the mid/late 90s I listened to this regularly. Now I wonder what I was thinking.

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New Glarus Brewing Company’s Spotted Cow

Published March 13, 2009

New Glarus Brewing Company's Spotted Cow poured into a glass. It reminds me of both Blue Moon and Oberon, which means that I don't particularly care for it.

Being his favorite beer, a friend of mine’s girlfriend’s brother drives purchases a few cases of New Glarus Brewing Company‘s Spotted Cow whenever he is in Wisconsin. I ended up with a bottle, so here it is.

I’m not sure what to make of this beer, as it reminds me a bit of both Bell’s Oberon and Blue Moon. While I can see how it’d be well liked, it’s just not for me. New Glarus does have quite a few other beers which look nice to try, unfortunately I can’t get any of them here in Michigan.

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