Ann - Arbor - Lansing

June 2

Another wonderful day.  It began with a visit to the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market and Zingerman's Deli.  Too early in the season for veggies, the market was filled with the smells of ham and bacon and there were lots of samples to try.  We also tasted a couple different cheeses, all natural peanut butter, sausages, and chocolates with bacon as part of the ingredients (the special event for the day, sponsored by Zingerman's was called Bacon Camp.)



Zingerman's is a must visit. The Deli was the best we've ever seen.  You could spend hours just perusing all the different cheeses and breads.  They also have a large menu and people were lined up placing orders.  It was a perfect summer day to sit outside and eat the treats from the Deli.  We bought some large pretzel sticks and 1/4 lb of  Lardo.  We had seen a sign advertising this special pork product at the Roadhouse restaurant yesterday.  It can be used like butter on toast.

In the afternoon we went to Lansing visited the Beale Arboretum at the University.  From there we drove to the Potter Park and Zoo, where we parked the car and got on our bikes. We managed to get in a nine mile round trip bike ride on the paved River Trail. The runs from Michigan States campus to the downtown area.




We followed the river across numerous bridges and wooden extensions that went under bridges in to the downtown and the capitol.




 We had a hard time finding the Cooley Garden. It doesn't seem to be well known with the people in the area, but we were impressed with its formal design and feeling of a sanctuary or a secret garden. This may have been enhanced by its proximity to the big GM plant looming next door. The contrast between nature and industry was dramatic.


We finished up the day at the Travelers Club International Restaurant and Tuba Museum in Okemos. This is one of the most fun restaurants we've encountered.  Tubas of all sizes and ages line the walls.  The restaurant began in 1983 when a couple of people met and decided to share their love of world cuisine with others.  Every month or so they focus on a particular region of the world.  June is focused on Asia and at the time of our visit the featured cuisine was Filipino.  Kate especially likes to try new foods and since one of our friends is a former intern from the Philippines, she chose the special. It included a chicken dish that was cooked with coconut milk and curry or tumeric - it gave the chicken that golden yellow color. This was served with Filipino rice - a white rice pilaf, with raisins. Another dish was a miso soup with spinach and wheat noodles. Dessert was a corn pudding. She ranked everything excellent. I ate a chicken breast done in a black bean sauce and a spinach salad with a dressing that they make on site and was spectacular.  It was a red dressing, but not a French style.  A Scottish Ale by Founders was an excellent addition to my meal.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Munger Trail - Willow River to Moose Lake

Image
The Willard Munger Trail - named for one of the environmental heroes of MN is our neighborhood bike trail and the place I get my biking exercise and conditioning.  I thought it would be good to share some of its highlights and pleasures.  So here is a look at the trail and what I enjoy. The small towns that prospered during the days when the trail was a railroad track and the country moved by Steam Engine are just a shadow of what they used to be, but that shadow is filled with surprises and fun places to explore if you give yourself the time to engage in the setting, as well as the peddling.  Willow River is our little home town and the Mercantile is over 100 years old and still meets many of our needs.  It is a place for refreshments and Peggy Sue's is a local restaurant that makes a great lunch or dinner stop. There is also a local park that provides you with a sense of the RR past. The trail is very straight like most RR grades and lacks hills except between Rutledg
Read more

Sense of Place

Image
GOING NATURE’S WAY By Kate Crowley I am intrigued by the idea of Sense of Place; to feel completely ‘at home’ in one particular place.  I have read that people who grow up on the Great Plains feel claustrophobic when they are in forested environments and in reverse,  people who have grown up surrounded by forest find the openness of the plains unnerving, with nothing to break the view to the horizon. I grew up in the city, but the Minnehaha Creek and Parkway were just two blocks away and I spent countless hours playing and exploring there.  The city lakes were within biking distance. The Mississippi River was just blocks away from the apartment where I lived the first four years of my life.  When I was 36 I married Mike and moved to our current home and it was perfect.  When my dad first visited us in our new home, he said, “Kate must think she’s died and gone to heaven”.  This is where I am supposed to be.  Scientists who have studied the evolution of humanity have proposed
Read more

Rain threatens birds

Image
WINGIN’ IT By Kate Crowley As the floodwaters recede, a stunned and relieved populace can finally stop holding their collective breath. Throughout southern Carlton County and all of Pine County there is a sense of disbelief that only four years after a major flood event, it has happened again.  At our home we measured over 8” of rain in less than 24 hours. This is what the word deluge was meant to describe. Others said it felt like they were in the middle of a monsoon. Thankfully there was no loss of life in our region, but property damage and loss was significant for people who have in some cases finally recovered and remodeled after the flood of 2012, which was said to be a once in 100 years flood when 8 to 10 inches of rain were spread over three days. Here in Willow River, there was fear that the small dam holding back the waters of the river would fail, with catastrophic results. Roads throughout the two counties (and into Wisconsin) were hard hit and the cost to repair
Read more