Tag Archives: michigan

Springtime in Ann Arbor

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I feel like I shouldn’t even write this next sentence, because it’s just so inherently obvious to everyone, but – Michigan weather is crazy. This should be no surprise to me, as I’ve lived here most of my life, and yet year after year I find myself annoyed by it. Like a week or so ago, well past the midway point of April, when I woke up to snow flurries. Great job, Michigan.

Suffice it to say, I think winter dragged on for way too long this year, and I’ve been waiting (and waiting) for sunnier days to arrive. On Tuesday, I finished taking a final and walked outside and suddenly: springtime! Now, you can never be too sure in Michigan (I wouldn’t rule out having a snow day tomorrow, quite honestly), but I think the weather has finally turned for good.

Whenever I can’t handle studying any longer, I take a walk. And so this week, I have been taking lots of walks, and because the weather is nice, my walks have been lovely. The air is warm, the flowers are in bloom, and seemingly every house you walk by has a porch filled with drunk frat boys hanging off it (ah, undergrads!). Springtime is here, and we’re all pretty pumped about it.

In celebration of the season, here are a few iPhone pictures, snapped on my daily walks.

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So for all of my fellow mitten residents, are you excited it’s finally spring?!

Four Hours in Detroit

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One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is how I’ve lived in southeastern Michigan for roughly 23 years out of my 26 on earth, and yet I’ve only gone to Detroit a handful of times – and basically just to go to Comerica Park (and Eastern Market once).

Randomly, last weekend, two friends and I decided to go explore Detroit for a few hours. What I loved about this was that we did both tourist-y things (like the Ren Cen and RiverWalk) and completely non-tourist-y things (like driving through some of the neighborhoods where my friend works). We saw the good stuff and the bad stuff, and though Detroit always gets a bad rap – there is lots of good stuff. I won’t pretend to magically understand Detroit after a few hours, but I’m glad I saw a little more this time around.

Along the RiverWalk:

The Ren Cen:

Around Hart Plaza:

The Spirit of Detroit Statue:

The Guardian Building:

Eastern Market:

Dequindre Cut:

Packard Plant:

Heidelberg Project:

The old Detroit train station:

Comerica Park + Astro Coffee:

A2 Bucket List: Zingerman’s Deli

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Number 1 on my Ann Arbor Bucket list was to have a sandwich at Zingerman’s.

What can I say about Zingerman’s that hasn’t already been said somewhere by someone else? It’s an Ann Arbor institution. It’s delicious. It’s a tad bit pricey. Aziz Ansari loves it. And, it is fantastic.

First, I spent some time browsing around the shop. So many cool products for sale. It’s times like these I wish I was still employed and could spend $40 on a bottle of olive oil.

Then, while I waited for my sandwich, I stopped by their bakery next door and grabbed some gelato. Back story: I read in People magazine that Mario Batali loves their ginger gelato. My first reaction was: that’s disgusting. Ginger gelato? I mean, doesn’t that sound kind of strange? My second reaction was: I’m going to try it and find out for sure.

Verdict: it’s pretty tasty, actually. A little too ginger-y for me, but I guess that’s kind of implicit in the name. It’s definitely not a gelato I’d select on a regular basis, but it was an interesting experience. I’d give it an unexpected thumbs up.

Finally, the main reason for my visit – a sandwich. I chose the #27, “Pat and Dick’s Honeymooner,” which is described as “smoked turkey breast, Wisconsin muenster & sweet-hot honeycup mustard on grilled challah bread.” It was yummy, but the “sweet-hot” mustard was a little heavy on the “hot” for me. I also got a gigantic pickle. When they asked me if I wanted a “big” pickle, I forgot that when they say big, they aren’t kidding. That thing was huge. But delicious. (I really want to say “that’s what she said” right now, but that’s way too immature, right?)

Anyway…here it is:

And that was my glorious day at Zingerman’s. 6 down, 54 to go!

Friday Afternoon Shopping in A2

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My class schedule shakes out so that Tuesday and Wednesday are pretty awful, but the rest of the days of the week aren’t too shabby. And, in particular, Friday is awesome – just one class, first thing in the morning, and then freeeeeeedom!

Right now, things aren’t too crazy. The reading isn’t unmanageable, the panic about exams/internships/everything hasn’t really started yet, and I still have time to actually, you know, enjoy Ann Arbor. And so I do.

A couple weeks ago, I had to go to my bank (which inconveniently only has a branch on Main Street), so I decided to take the opportunity to browse through some stores on the way. I didn’t buy anything (after all, I’m a poor grad student), but I had a lot of fun browsing. And, as I was walking, I kept seeing restaurants and shops that are either new to Ann Arbor or that I simply hadn’t noticed before – there’s so many more places to visit!

First stop was Avtomobile (which I gather is actually pronounced automobile). This was a really cute store – a fun mix of random vintage things and Michigan-themed gear.

They also had lots of fun little treasures:

I loved this stack of Michigan sweatshirts:

And they make their own Michigan graphic t-shirts. These were pretty awesome; I almost caved and bought one:

Next stop was Cherry Republic, which features cherries in pretty much every imaginable configuration. I love stores with Michigan-made products.

They also had cherry soda, which I wanted to buy for the name alone – Boomchuggalugga. Awesome.

And, how polite of them:

Then, it was off to 10,000 Villages, which has long been one of my favorite stops on Main Street. They always have such unique products from artisans all around the world.

I loved these heart shaped stones:

And I thought the packaging on these chocolates was really fun:

Finally, I passed by the Selo/Shevel Gallery, which always has the best window displays. I didn’t actually go inside, but I had fun checking out the displays. This one was my favorite:

And finally, I went here. But that’s the subject of a whole ‘nother post :)

Detroit’s Eastern Market

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Confession time: when people ask me where I’m from, I’ll tell them that I’m from a far northern Detroit suburb, or that I live about an hour from Detroit – but sometimes I’ll add the qualifier, “but it’s not really that close to Detroit.” I say it as a defense mechanism, I guess – as though my geographical proximity to Detroit is something to be ashamed of.

The thing is – it’s easy to get down on Detroit, and people do it all the time. But there are also plenty of things to celebrate about it, and maybe we should start focusing on those too. I was reminded of this fact during the Super Bowl, when they showed the Chrysler commercial about Detroit – my Facebook newsfeed exploded with all my friends posting status updates filled with Detroit pride. And I was reminded of this again today as my mom and I visited the Eastern Market.

I kept hearing about the market from various friends, and when my mom mentioned hearing about it earlier this week, I knew it was finally time to go. First – I was amazed by the size of it. It’s a serious farmers’ market. Second – I was blown away by the prices. They were so super reasonable; I wish I lived closer so I could go there more often! And third – the atmosphere was fantastic. Street musicians, vendors chanting out their products, and so many different, diverse people roaming the booths. Who knew Detroit had something like this, the kind of place that leaves you happy and hopeful and energized? And yes, it is something to be proud of.

My mom and I loved the market – we explored a lot of it, but I think we both felt like there was still more we could have covered. I definitely plan to go back! We came home with a ton of loot – we’ve already put some of it to good use, and I can’t wait to use the rest. Here’s what we bought:

  • Zucchini
  • Sweet corn
  • McClure’s pickles
  • Blueberries
  • Cherries
  • Zingerman’s soft pretzels
  • Asparagus
  • 2 house plants
  • 6 perennial plants

And here are some other things that caught my eye -

Love sunflowers – so bright and cheerful and fun:

Psychedelic roses. I want to know how they made these:

Tons of fresh asparagus:

There were so many cool looking small plants. And, I’ll say it again – the prices were unbelievably reasonable:

Peppers in so many bright colors. I swear to you, I did not know that orange peppers existed before today:

McClure’s pickles – I had to buy a jar of these. I love how fresh and natural they taste – so different from supermarket pickles. Also, I did a quick nutrition fact comparison – and it’s mind-blowing how much less sodium these pickles have compared to supermarket ones:

Tons of veggies:

And I just thought the “hot” and “sweet” signs were cute:

So, yeah, go Detroit.

Antiquing in Holly

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On Tuesday, my mom, my sister, and I headed to Holly to do some antique shopping. The cool thing about Holly is that, right downtown, there are 3 large antique malls all within walking distance of each other, plus several other cute shops in the area. So, there’s no shortage of great places to find little treasures.

I went with two specific items in mind. I didn’t find either of them. And you know what? I’m not really disappointed about it. I think the thrill of this whole antiquing business is the hunt, so I’ll just keep looking. And, yep, that also meant I went home empty handed, because I was determined not to buy anything unless I really loved it. But that’s okay – there was no shortage of wonderful things to look at.

I found myself fascinated by the sheer volume and scope of these stores. I love seeing collections of things – something that’s a typical home artifact (say, a cup or a matchbook) looks ordinary in and of itself, but when you see it in bulk, as a part of a collection, it suddenly looks pretty cool. And wandering around these shops made me want to collect things – to find some random, quirky object and start scouring stores until I came up with my very own collection. I’m not sure if I’ll actually do that, but it’s a thought.

The other thing that intrigues me about this whole vintage/antique-y thing is how mundane most of the stuff in these shops is, if you really think about it. Sometimes we would walk by a display, and my mom would point something out and say “oh, my mom had that” or “my grandma had that.” We even found a Pyrex bowl that we have in our own home, and that I in fact use almost every day to cook with! It makes me wonder what seemingly ordinary objects from my life right now might one day be looked at as cool vintage finds. You never really know, I guess.

I took a ton of pictures while we were browsing. Here are just a few of the things that caught my eye:

Like I said, I was fascinated by items in bulk. Case in point: rolling pins.

Love all the collections of buttons/beads/bright shiny objects in jars:

My favorite kitchen displays were the ones that had large quantities of products in one color. Like, yellow!

This is one thing I toyed with buying. Love the bright blue.

I swear, we saw billions of salt and pepper sets. I thought this one was funny:

I took this picture out of pure nostalgia. Why did I have so many trolls as a child? And why did we think they were so cute?

Love vintage labels. I have no idea what I would actually do with any of these things, and yet I kept finding myself wanting to buy little canisters and jars and tins.

Saturday Morning in Ferndale

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On Saturday morning, my mom, sister, and I headed out to Ferndale for some shopping. The first thing I have to say is: Ferndale. Who knew? It has a cute little downtown, lots of interesting shops, and just a nice overall atmosphere. Definitely a worthwhile place to spend a lovely Michigan summer day (and by “lovely,” I clearly mean, so damn humid I wanted to die. What’s up with the weather this summer?)

Anyway. We spent most of our time exploring the Rust Belt Market, an indoor arts market. There was an interesting mix of vendors selling all kinds of things – from jewelry to soap to clothes to photographs. One thing I really loved was that many of the booths were distinctly Detroit-orientated, with photographs and pieces of art celebrating the city. For a place that many people are down on, that was awesome to see.

I snapped a bunch of photos of cool things that caught my eye:

After the market, we headed to lunch at Rosie O’Grady’s, and then grabbed miniature cupcakes from the Cupcake Station.

That’s a chocolate cheesecake for mom, a samoa for Janelle, and a red velvet for me. And as a sidenote, the cupcake had the best frosting I’ve ever tasted. So if you want art and incredible cupcake frosting, go to Ferndale, folks. You heard it here.