FOOD: Mad Hatter Afternoon Tea

All things Alice in Wonderland greet you once you step inside Birmingham's Mad Hatter bar and bistro. From the doorknobs, to walls of mirrors, clocks and the red & black upholstery and furniture throughout, you'll feel like you just fell down a rabbit hole and earned yourself a spot for some delicious afternoon tea for your troubles. 

It has been far, far too long since our last afternoon tea adventure to The Whitney and after coming across Mad Hatter on a visit to Birmingham in December, the bar and bistro ended up on our to try list. Feeling a little homesick, Joe booked us a reservation for afternoon tea a couple of weeks ago. 

Everything Mad Hatter is very whimsical but without going too overboard. Table are adorned with pretty mismatched tea cups and saucers. Tea is presented in quirky teapots and food is severed upon traditional three tier serving platter to round things off. 

With our teacups filled with hot cinnamon spice tea, it was time to dig in. We started with the traditional finger sandwiches (think cucumber with minted cream cheese, artichoke, smoked salon and caper - my favorite and roasted pepper and hummus) all small, but all very filling.

Now, as with my fish and chips adventures in the US, I always love to see how the US takes on and caters British food traditions to the American market. Scones being one of them - because you know as Brits, we're rather picky about them. According to the menu the scones presented are the choice of the chef, we were served chocolate chip and poppy seed. Probably not something you'd see on traditional afternoon tea back in the homeland. Served with mascarpone cheese and lemon curd, I have to be honest, they were delicious and make a nice change from the norm. 

To finish things off, the top tier was filled with wonderfully cut and presented fresh fruits surrounding a selection of cakes - chocolate brownies, lemon tarts and a wonderful Oreo dessert.

Everything is served with your choice of tea. With fourteen regular teas, alongside decaf there's probably something for everyone from the Mad House Blend, Chocolate Mint to say Chinese Flower to name but a few. We even purchased a caddy of the Hot Cinnamon Spice to take home with us it was so delicious. Even better, you can try multiple tea blends throughout your stay. 

For $24 per person, you'd be hard pressed to find something so delicious and well serviced (our server was both friendly and very attentive throughout our stay). The venue is also a bistro and bar and it has me very tempted to return, for more tea drinking and the rest of their menu. 

Plus anywhere with a chandelier comprised of tea cups and spoons is a winner in my book. 

Mad Hatter Bistro: 185 N. Woodward Ave, Birmingham, MI 48009. 

Afternoon tea by reservation 11am - 3pm. 

Are you a fan of afternoon tea?

Rachael

FOOD: From Tarts to Tacos

Moving to America opened up an whole new world of cuisine, especially Mexican food. Whether it's cheap and cheerful fast food or authentic dishes from Mexicantown, Mexican food has found a special, and happy place in my stomach. 

We were looking for a new place to try out for date night and the idea of platters of tacos I admit was what won me over in trying out Ferndale's Imperial a fully serviced bar and all things Mexican restaurant.

To picture Imperial, think of California street tacos in a bar playing Johnny Cash.

It's bare bones, it's simple, it has a touch of rock n roll.

And tequila. Lots of tequila.

Hot dogs and tacos.

Up front you're greeted with a communal seating arrangement, with long wooden tables to share, make new friends and chat the night away. If a more private, darker feel is your jam there's the same but small wooden tables over looking the patio.

Food is presented family style - everyone's order on the same place adding to friend making atmosphere. Perfect too for a date night, perhaps a little awkward those not too comfortable with sharing their grub off of the same dish. 

While the menu is on the small side, what they do do, they do it well and also have separate menus for late night and brunch. The Sororan hotdogs (particularly the Bakersfield being my favorite bite of the night). While many may be put off paying for chips and any of the salsas they do, for around $2 - $5) they are well worth the pennies.

Detroit Tart (left) & Whiskey Sidecar Cocktails

In comparison to their food menu, they have an extensive drinks list particularly when it comes to beers and liquor. But with a great selection of $8 - $10 cocktails I was happy to try them out. And if tequila is your liquor of choice, you'll find some great picks. My favorite being the Detroit Tart - great in name and taste.

Imperial : 22828 Woodward Ave, Ferndale MI 48220 

Rachael

FOOD: Toast

Walk into Toast, a breakfast & lunch diner in the Detroit 'burb of Ferndale, you'll be greeted to walls decorated in a funky street art style, old style tables and quirky vintage toasters lining the walls. Offering an impressive breakfast and lunch menu, Toast has become the toast (yes pun intended) of the town, even before being voted one of America's top 100 places for breakfast. 

Toast became our destination for brunch over my birthday weekend. We'd heard great things about it, but not being ones to dine out for brekkie, it had always passed us by. But anywhere with crowds and queues outside can only be a good thing even if you're lacking in patience like myself, so when the mother in law was in town, it was our brunch destination of choice. 

From waffles to burritos, all kinds of omelets to an ever growing adult drink menu (think cucumber mimosas and adult coffees) alongside the standard juices and hot drinks. The strawberries atop my waffle were fresh and sweet, and the thick slice of cinnamon bread a side to Joe's Petoskey omeltte (think dried cherries, brie, bacon and caramelized onions mmm) was delicious. The place is loud, it's quirky, it's full of personality and very charming in it's appeal. It's certainly popular with the locals, with a 20 minute wait outside for seating on a somewhat warm September morning it wasn't too bad, there's always mug fulls of coffee to keep you warm in your waiting.

For two people not really huge breakfast fans any place that makes us want to return surely as to be a hit.

View Larger Map  |  Get Directions  |  View Bird's Eye

Fancy checking it out for yourself? Well you'll find Toast at;
23150 Woodward Avenue
Ferndale, MI 48220

LIFE: The Butterfly House

One of the many advantages of having zoo membership is that we can pop in whenever we fancy and not have the pressure of having to see everything, every time. After hearing that the three newest penguins editions had been released into the penguin habit we thought we'd try and spy them. We couldn't, baby penguins kinda look too much like adult penguins. But anyway, on the same trip we took a walk though the butterfly house.

With bright sunshine, 90F heat outside the Labor Day weekend happened to be great time to visit and the butterflies were in their element. For whatever reason, even if my camera wasn't on it's last legs, it's always struggled a little in the butterfly house, but the photos didn't turn out too bad if you don't look too closely that is. 

The Detroit Zoo have a great balance between butterflies as an exhibit and helping the native butterflies. Not only do the zoo offer guides on identifying species found in Michigan but also on how to encourage butterflies into your garden. With the zoo landscaped in such a way that butterfly gardens and especially the Monarch Way Stations decorating the borders, it really does make it all seem to very possible to create in your own space.

LIFE: Among the Wetlands and Tigers

Perhaps it's because of how colourful the zoo is at the moment, or how the trees are just starting to turn that burnt orange on the tips of it's leaves against the deep blue skies. Maybe it's from seeing the animals a little more attractive as the days turn cooler, but popping to the zoo for a long walk, breathing some fresh air and hiding away from the suburban world - the freeways, the honking cars, the endless rows of houses, that surround it, the zoo has become a favorite place of mine of late. 

I guess going so often as we do, we have the time and the chances to explore and take in everything other than the animals - the flowers, the landscaping, the wetlands, the wild birds that make the zoo their home.

Without a [working] netbook it's hard to find the time aside from working to be on the [desk] computer and type away for blog posts, it's nice just to have photographs from wanders and adventures from life on my doorstep to just stop and share.

Where's your favorite place to escape?

LIFE: Photo an Hour, August 2015

Another photo of an hour join up for 2015 has just rolled around. You might have caught me sharing my Saturday if you follow me over on twitter or Instagram. The day was pretty unplanned, uneventful and I was somewhat in a grumpy mood for whatever reason, but here's my day either way.

9 am // starting the day poking around my veg patch - checking to see if my brocolli seedlings planted out earlier in the week were still alive (they are yey), picking some hot peppers (double yey), the norm.

10 am // from poking veg patches to poking estate sales, shifting through old boxes of someone's old, unwanted family photographs

11 am // driving under the hazy skies of Detroit, colder more like October days earlier in the week merging with more normal August conditions means crazy humid hazy skies 

12 pm // popped into Target, new shoes, new bed sheets and new notebooks. Happy times.

1 pm // the weekend always calls for bacon, for lunch a yummy BLT.

2 pm // took a drive to get some more of the weekly shopping chores done, getting stuck in traffic and hitting all the red lights.

4 pm // (missed 3 pm shopping oops) on a whim Joe brought some scratch cards, I lost, he made up the $5 spent on them.

5 pm // tea made up of warmed up leftovers from the night before. Classy.

6 pm // finishing off the final rows of stitching on Mr Dinobot cross stitch - eventually I'll get around to explaining the whole piece once I get it framed and photographed.

7 pm // final book of my library haul is due back this week, better get it finished!

So that was pretty much my day, how was your Saturday?

VINTAGE: The One Golden Arch of McDonalds

America is a great place if, you're like me and love nosing out of the car window at random business and road signs. Neon, huge, spinning, flashing, America has them all. When some of them are on your doorstep you take them a little bit for granted, and I thought it was high time I got around to working out why two of the local McDonald's restaurants signs only had one of the arches in their signs. Plus they look rather vintage - double winner. I got a couple of questions about why the single arch was used when I shared the above photograph across social media, so I thought, why not blog about it. Why not indeed.

To back up a little, the golden arches we associate today with the fast food chain is known globally. But that hasn't always been the case. in 1948, eight years after brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald opened their barbecue resturant, the Speedee character was launched, a character reflecting the Speedee Service System of their production line principles. He was later replaced with Ronald McDonald. Sadly signs featuring Speedee are even harder to find than the single arch, but you can stumble across one in the automotive section of The Henry Ford Museum over in Dearborn (shown below).

So between Speedee and the golden arches during one short interval in 1962, the single arch came about, many featuring a crest design upon the red advertising space. Here in Metro Detroit we are rather spoiled in being home to two (one in St Clair Shoes - pictured, and Warren) of the few remaining. This modernist transitional sign is own back lit (very popular in post World War II USA) and constructed of plastic panels upon a metal frame with the red advertising space midway. 

Sadly with McDonald's popularity, growth, redevelopment, finding early signs is growing increasingly tricky with some suggestions of only around 11* still used for their original advertising intentions, the majority lost to scrap yards or incorporated into private collections.

So there you have it, a little bit of history about that infamous branding you might just happen to pass every day.
  

* The 11 "known" single crested arches can be found in Lancaster, PA, Magnolia, NJ, Green Bay, WI, St Clair Shores and Warren, MI, Huntsville, AL, Independence, MO, Winter Haven, FL, Velleville, IL, Muncie, IN and Pine Bluff, AK.

LIFE: A Day of Wolves and Warthogs

In recent weeks the Detroit Zoo opened their new wolf two acre enclosure. The two grey wolves - Waziyata and Kaskapahtew have been making themselves at home, but of course on our visit they were busy napping and keeping cool in the bushes. Luckily though we managed to spot the fives baby Warthogs - all of which are named after Games of Thrones characters, Daenerys, Sansa, Cersei, Tyrion and Hodor. A little over two months old they were delightfully rooting around in the soil and being terribly cute when we visited at the weekend. 

Visiting the summer months, the zoo at this time of year is filled with all the baby animals making an appearance and everyone else trying to cool off. Whether it was the adorable Prairie Dog families to the Grizzly Bears cooling themselves in the pool. 

I'm looking forward to seeing the wolves a bit better next time!

DETROIT: Why Would You Come to Detroit?

Why would anyone come to visit Detroit? Why would I even move to Detroit (a question I get asked a lot). Surely it's that zombie wasteland we hear all about on the media, right?! There's even locals in the burbs that won't venture into Detroit proper (urgh pet peeve). 

But I mean it's not like we have; 

Fun places for big kids

Pinball machines (M-Brew) and skee ball (Marvin's) anyone?

 

An island park larger than New York's Central Park who are you trying to fool?!

Belle Isle - an island in the middle of the Detroit River, offering views of both the American and Canadian riverfront with museums, aquariums, gardens and beaches.

 

There's nothing to see here, literally 

Detroit is one of the few cities with a international river front - home to a river walk, a state park, a gorgeous view to special events. You can even wave at Canadians. It's not that 75% of the liqueur smuggled into the US passed over the Detroit River during prohibition or anything. 

 

Nor is it home to some important pieces in America's history

from the car JFK was shot in, the Lincoln's death chair, to the infamous bus Rosa Park refused to give up her seat upon, they both and more have a home at the Henry Ford Museum. 

 

Nor will you find America's oldest aquarium, nope 

The Detroit Aquarium, found upon Belle Isle (mentioned above) was opened in 1904 and was the oldest continually opened public aquarium in America. In recent years, it's been getting a new lease of life.

 

And the views aren't worth mentioning ... 

Whether it's driving along Woodward, from the 13th floor of the Greektown Casino or walking along the riverfront, Detroit has a pretty impressive skyline. 

 

It's not like there's anywhere decent to eat 

Be it great BBQ at Slows, a tasty burger at the Mercury Bar, to endless Coney's and diners, there's something for everyone. It's not that Detroit has it's very own style of pizza which inspired many of the big Midwest pizza chains or anything ... 

 

A market in the middle of an urban wasteland? What madness are you on ... 

Stock up on Michigan made goodies, vintage treats to thousands of with the sweet smell of flowers to food and street music fill the air around the Eastern Market. I'm personally super excited about stocking up on flowers once spring fully rolls around!

 

"Art" to spark a debate ... 

Whether it's a sly street cat in Corktown or a Chimera it all sparks that old graffiti verses street art debate. 

 

The buildings are nothing fancy either  

From big to small old buildings are finding new leases of life. Office buildings are being converted into apartments, new sports arenas are being proposed, new building ideas drawn up by the week. Old houses, long empty and trashed and finding loving new owners breathing new life into them. But it's about the small details as much as it is about towering skyscrapers, there is detail everywhere. 

 

They really don't know how to make doughnuts around here either

Dutch Girl Donuts at 7 Mile and Woodward - Best. Donuts. Ever. 

 

Everyone has a rival, even the food places ... 

Detroit is all about it's food. Everyone tries, everyone has their options it's either all about the American or all about Lafayette either way, you'll enjoy a tasty Coney dog or three. 

Because it's just a zombie wasteland right?!

Source

Yeap, there's nothing to see here, move along

But that's fine, I'm happy to enjoy this all by myself!

Detroit is all about misconceptions. Too many misconceptions that people believe to the point they avoid the city like the plague. Even locals.

For me, one of the reasons why I try and share positive Detroit posts here is to challenge those misconceptions. Whether you live down the road and get too scared to drive south of 8 mile or you live in the UK and all you see is the constant stream of Guardian articles about the city. Like seriously, the Guardian seems to be all over Detroit the last couple of months. The misconceptions need to be challenged, and often. But I always feel the need to justify why I like Detroit, why I would go out my way to share nice things, why would I stay in the area. If you follow me on twitter you know I'm constantly sharing Detroit related articles, sound bites - new places to eat, stores, things to do, things that are happening? Why (because it's somewhat of a bookmark for myself) but also because I'm proud to be around a city that's changing for the better.

Thanks for letting me harp on about Detroit all the time! 

Why Would You Come to Detroit was written to link up with Something Beautiful and Reckless Blog to celebrate everything 313 - March 13th, Detroit Day.