Monday, September 30, 2013

HELLO CLEVELAND!!!

Happy Monday to you...


This weekend we went to Cleveland! We wanted to do some fun Ohio things and see some of Scott's family that lives there!  We left Friday afternoon - I drove most of the way because Scott worked from the car! We grabbed one letterbox on the way. First thing we did was go to The Melt. It has been on DDD but we have been - three times now - to every location they have!! They are opening a new one in December so we will have to go back!! Every location is fun and delicious!! 
pumpkin pie martini

hard apple cider

Meatloaf Fight Club

as big as your head

mushroom melt

cartoons on the walls

lots of light up lawn ornaments
The meatloaf sandwich is a triple stack with homemade meatloaf, pan fried potato pancake croquets, hickory bacon, chipotle ketchup, romaine, tomato and muenster!! The mushroom melt is garlic mushrooms, balsamic fig jam, arugula and provolone. They were both delicious!
Saturday Scott and I went to the West Side Market  - one of my favorite places to go in Ohio!!!





pistachio canoli

snuggle - it has nuts and flaky pastry - fantastic!







The market is fabulous!! It's only open certain days of the week. This time we bought bread, homemade noodles and gnocchi, beef jerky. We think next year we may come up to bulk shop here - bring it home and freeze stuff. We also buy dried strawberries - most wonderful and these tiny bananas - delicious!!

After that we went to Lucky's Cafe- also been on DDD - this is our second visit. I always get the mac and cheese - for breakfast! It has brie in it - best ever!!

they grow a lot of the stuff they serve!


hash
They are a little over-priced - hash was $18 yikes. I don't like applesauce - but I like theirs. You eat it with the mac and cheese - mmmmm
After breakfast I took Scott to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!  They let you take pictures now! He loves that place. We are now members! I left him there and I went to Crafty Ewe it is a GREAT place!! They have every new pattern I've seen on Norden Crafts!! Tons of threads and fabrics!! I was there looking at every little thing for over an hour!!

  
no kidding!!
I did buy a few things
The little package is the fabric for the turtles. The other fabric is for Blackbird Designs "Away We Ride"
It is surprising how much money three things can cost..... I wish I lived closer to Crafty Ewe!! The store in Bloomington is quite lovely though and very close to my new house!! 
Did you know that the house from "The Christmas Story" is in Cleveland? I went over to see - they have the house tours, museum and gift shop!


I tried to go letterboxing by myself - did not work. A lot of road construction going on in the town and there were SOOOOO MAAAANY people in town. I could not find parking - some of the routes were closed. Plus, it's no fun to go alone. I went over to where Scott was. They allow pictures now...


The birds on the balcony apparently are used to being fed...


We met Scott's Aunt Elaine, Uncle Phil , 2 cousins - Christine and Marybeth, 2 second cousins - Paige and Nathan, and Grandma for dinner in Canton - did I get any pictures? I did not  - just of this interesting piece of art in the restaurant - Grinders

After dinner we went over to Grandma's place. She lives in one of those assisted living places - in her own apartment! She will be 93 this year and looks great! She gets out and does lots of fun things! Scott and I love the place she lives and we wonder how old you have to be to get in one of those places - we are ready!! They recently remodeled her room - real nice! We had a good time - love to see these people!!

Sunday Scott and I went letterboxing in a local cemetery. We had been in this one before but there were new boxes so we had to go back!


It is a beautiful cemetery!!
On our way out of town we went to a new DDD (new for us)  Parkview Nite Club I have not been able to get their website to work for days so the link is to an article about them on the Discovering Cleveland site.
The food was better than I expected!



BBQ brisket

BBQ pork

The BBQ sauce was different on each sandwich - very tasty!!! This was our 49th DDD - crazy!!
We had an uneventful ride home - a little rain.

yes, that is a big football!!

It's Monday again. I hope you all had a good weekend!!

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Weekend fun

Hello!
I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I love Autumn - the leaves here are trying to change. I can't wait to see this area - the area around the house we are trying to buy is FULL of trees!! Exciting!! We started Saturday off at Shapiro's with bagels and coffee. Scott ended up getting the lox plate - so tasty!! Who could pass up a cupcake?
Especially a cupcake ON a cupcake? Of course I got one!! Scott got a mocha cupcake but I didn't get a picture of it!!
 We went to a park in Indianapolis called Holliday Park - WOW!! There is a great playgound, nature center, trails, gardens, and the white river runs at the edge. There are also ruins - this is from the site....

"In the 1950s, the St. Paul Building, at 220 Broadway in New York City, was torn down to make way for a modern skyscraper. Karl Bitter, one of the outstanding architectural sculptors of the late 19th century, had designed the facade of the original building, including three massive statues made of Indiana limestone called “the Races of Man.” To find a new home for the sculptures, the building’s owner, the Western Electric Company, held a competition among U.S. cities, which were required to submit plans for their display and preservation. Indianapolis proposed to place them in Holliday Park, which was then an arboretum, and the city was ultimately awarded the highly prized sculptures, valued at the time at $150,000."
These are the pictures I took...








The trails there are fantastic - no letterboxes though. We had a great time hiking the area! Even the weather was good.
We went to to the Artspark at the Indianapolis Art Center   and saw this lovely piece of art
It is on Roadside America and in the Visit Indy guide! I love it - it would be fun to have one in my yard!! We ate at another DDD place here in Indy - Zest Exciting Food Creation - now I have to admit that because of the name I was not real excited to go - that is why it is one of the last ones for this area. The other one is The Barking Dog Cafe - the name also is a turn off. However, the food was amazing!! I am not kidding - FANTASTIC!!!



Queso Fundido - (House made chorizo, chili spiced chips and salsa rojas

pub burger with truffle-asiago pommes frites

 
three napkin burger with mac and cheese

 The three napkin burger is BBQ, white cheddar, smoked Gouda, creamy bleu cheese, apple wood smoked bacon, grilled red onion on a sesame bun!! Scott says it's the best burger - ever! My burger - no not a hot dog  - asiago, dijonnaise, and house pickles on a pretzel roll. So when I was looking at the menu I saw prezel roll and decided I wanted that. When it came it looked like the picture and I must have looked confused - Scott said "is that not what you ordered?" I told him I didn't know - he laughed at me. But now looking back at the menu there is no way that I would have expected it to look the way it did. It was AMAZING!!! The "house pickles" are onions and cucumbers marinated in pickling liquid - I would sell a kid for a jar of that stuff!! The dijonnaise has mayo and basil and tomato and is fantastic but I couldn't reproduce it! I love truffle oil french fires - and the fries were crispy mmmmmm. The meal was wonderful and we ended up bringing almost all my fries and half of each burger home!
I wanted to visit another statue I had seen in the Visit Indy guide - off this site I got this picture

because when we went it was dark - and they do not have the statue lit - what? I think it needs lighting. I will go back sometime and get my own day time picture!! I think it is called "free money, female tourist, male tourist"
 Here is my picture of it - in the dark!
When we got home the mail had the pattern I had won from Norden Crafts!! On Norden Crafts facebook page five days a week they give away patterns - new ones - some autographed!! They have you send them the name of your favorite shop and they send it to them. I chose 123 Stitch I fully expected to pay shipping - but they looked my name up in their computer and sent it to me for free!! What wonderful people!! I sent them a thank you email. What pattern did I win?
an autographed copy of "Moonlit Midnight" by Blue Ribbon Designs
How exciting!! It's a great pattern - I can't wait to make it - after my sheep of course - *sigh* 
On sunday we went to Andserson Orchard I saw something in the Indy guide about caramel apples - but we didn't go to the one they recommend, it was further away and you had to pay to get in because it's a learning park. I googled caramel apples and found this farm - not 30 minutes from here!! Next weekend they are having a festival. What a lovely place, packed too!!
delicious




alien gourds

mmmm caramel
We bought some tomatoes, apples and Anderson Farms honey! They had bigger pumpkins too. The bees around all the trash cans was crazy - there was kid next to us that was trying to eat something with apples in it and he was surrounded by them. We had a good time! We drove out to see the new house after and drove around town again.
This is my friend Kristen - she got one of the squirrels I made - she sent me this picture - hilarious!!
I have a 7th follower -  My friend Becki (we met her and Kristen at letterboxing camp) They love us because we gave them a Wunderbar - you can give one to anyone in the world and they will love you forever ha ha  - but it's true - best candy bar EVER... ever!!!
Kristen and Becki

That's it folks - I hope you enjoyed the pictures and I hope you have a wonderful week!!