LIFE: Grab a Cuppa Tea, Lets Have a Catch Up

So before I jump into the deep end of back to somewhat normal blogging, I thought we'd just have an easy chit-chat about everything that happened since the last time I properly shared a post back at the start of December. Truth be told, nothing much, but enough to ramble on about for a short while so here goes.

Christmas was quiet which is just how we like it. We hacked the ham to pieces to fit it into the slow cooker (and used this yummy recipe) and had enough leftovers to feed a small army. In fact I still think there's some bourbon vanilla cranberry sauce kicking around in the far flung corners of the fridge. I did manage to sneak a quick pep at Detroit's Christmas tree down in Campus Martius, one day I'll wrap up enough to get up close and person with it. Although I didn't manage to grab a photograph of the tree this year, Detroit was looking all sparkly and festive.

Speaking of Christmas, the last stitching finish of 2015 - and the last piece of stitching I've done was a pretty "Have Yourself a Merry Christmas" from the 2013 (I think ...) edition of Cross Stitcher Magazine. I'm actually on a self imposed ban when it comes to cross stitching until I get my new glasses which is kinda hard.



So no stitching has led to lots of reading and lots of coloring in - mainly because they don't cause too much eye strain at least. In fact most of Christmas Day was spent coloring in. It's true what they say about coloring in being a great stress reliever, it's certainly helping me a lot. And when I haven't been coloring in, I've been reading - working my way through an endless library of Marvel comics and some great graphic novels I've come across or received for Christmas gifts.

I'm thinking of talking more about books on the old blog, particularly graphic novels, but honorable mentions for great reads since my last Small Things post go out to;  The Shocking Story of Helmuth Schmidt by Tobin GT. Buhk, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, El Deafo by Cece Bell, Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson, The Marvels by Brian Selznick, Smile by Raina Telgemeier, Saga v1 & 2 (that's all my library has at the moment boo) by Brian K. Vaughan.

Yeah I've read a few very good books lately - if you have any book recommendations leave them in the comments!



We became sustaining Michigan Radio members during the winter pledge week. To give a bit of background for non American's National Public Radio (NPR) stations predominately run on listener donations. Plus here it's so it's hard to find news sources in America that tend to not have political bias, and Michigan Radio does the job for me. So we became members, set up our monthly donations (which I urge you to support your own local NPR stations) and ended up with a huge bistro mug that holds enough coffee to bathe in.



December also saw us eating out at some new places to me at least (Social House - West Bloomfield and The Library in Novi) and a return to my favorite burger joint, well one of my favorite places in all of Detroit - the Mercury Bar down in Corktown. Because December seems to be all about eating and then eating some more. I also had a great cup of Mexican hot chocolate from Cafe Con Leche for a Christmas Eve treat down in Mexicantown, damn that stuff was tasty!

So that was my December for the most part. January is kicking itself off in it's chilly Michigan way and I'm excited to get back into blogging. 

Rachael

LIFE: Last Year I ...

It's weird to think that 2014 is already last year. Hey I even struggle to think that 2000 rolled around 15 years ago. 2014 was a pretty awesome year, perhaps not so much for the blog, I've had my struggles with that, especially recently but personally, even with the insomnia and all the stress, it turned out pretty well. 

I'm taking inspiration from Dainty Squid's (a favorite blog of mine to read) visual documentation of the year - so here is mine, here was my 2014. 

Experienced and survived a polar vortex and the great flood 

Explored and fell more in love with Detroit and experience some of the awesome local food places the city has to offer - the Grand Trunk Pub, The Mercury Bar, McShanes, MexicanTown Bakery and Slows are all new favorites.

Went to my first basketball game, granted it was the Harlem Globetrotters, but still 

Re-found my passion for cross stitching and started designing some of my own pieces - from record players to VW Bugs and the Angel of the North

To a map of Michigan in blackwork

Finally explored the Eastern Market

Saw one of my favorite bands, Clairy Browne, live in Ann Arbor 

Saw random roadside attractions - like the worlds largest tire

Reached the 5th birthday of this very blog and shared my wisdom

Brought our very first house and tried to tame a garden, somewhat successfully 

Fell in love with purple buildings in Bay City

and old houses

at 28, carved my very first pumpkin

Had another fly by visit to Pittsburgh 

And you know what, that all probably sums up both me and my blog pretty well. I have high hopes for making 2015 super crafty, creative and green fingered in various ways and means.

Thanks to all of you - for all your supports, comments, likes, shares throughout the year. I hope you stick around and follow whatever adventures and things that come my way in the next year. I've realised in the last couple of months that this blog is never going to be big, it hurt a little, but in turn it makes you remember that for me, blogging is just a hobby, it's just a small part of who I am, that I shouldn't stress about it as much as I sometimes do. I can't glamourse living in Michigan, or make Detroit sound the most hip happening place, nor can I make the life of an expat sound incredible. But I can try and share what my life is all about and whatever makes me tick, even if that isn't always the most exciting hobbies and things that make up a person.

I wish you all the best as we start a brand new year. 

FOOD: The MexicanTown Bakery

Source

If you haven't guessed already I have a really sweet tooth, luckily my cravings are often sorted with the amount of bakeries and doughnut shops in these parts. But one of my favorites has to be the MexicanTown Bakery over in, you guess it, MexicanTown. Joe's managed to bring back some sweet treat goodies from the bakery before but this was my first trip inside and I was like a kid in a candy shop. So many choices.

Rich chocolate cake, cookies the size of the palm of your hand, covered apples to pastries and biscuits. Everything you could ever wish for and more than you could take in. So what did I go for this time? A huge chocolate chip cookie and a divinely moist chocolate cake. 

The bakery is also a great store for Mexican and some harder to find American pops (in Michigan we tend to call soda pop, so being British I don't feel out of place in this regard). While I have a liking for Mexican cola, I found it hard to turn down the offer of a Jarritos Mango drink, Joe picked up an apple soda and a couple of the Barg's red creme soda. Barg's creme soda is so hard to find in fact, that this is the first bottle Joe's seen in over four years.

It's like liquid gold.

I think it's a bit of an acquired taste, it's certainly different to anything I've tried before, really very sweet if that's your kind of thing.

MexicanTown itself is a must visit location if you're ever in Detroit, literally across the road is our favorite Mexican restaurant Armandos who do a fabulously great priced all you can eat lunchtime buffet - everything is always warm and well stocked.

Where do you like to get your Mexican fix?

View Larger Map

 

Mexicantown Bakery can be found at;

4300 W Vernor Hwy

Detroit, Michigan

LIFE: The Little Things

We can all get too bogged down with the bigger picture - exam stress, house buying, growing up, work stuff. To always feel the need to be aiming towards something, to constantly be bettering ourselves. Sometimes we forget the smaller, everyday things that big light into our lives, that make us smile.

Here are mine, what are yours?

lemon plants growing from seeds and not killing them ... yet // mango curry // starting a new cross stitch pattern // being called "auntie Rachael" // French toast // kitty purrs // pretty wrapping paper // blog comments // maps // Vernors slurpees from 7 Eleven // cuppa tea // the Mexicantown Bakery // sunny days // adding to the embroidery hoop wall // rhubarb // vinyl records // the smell of old books // playing the punch buggy game // concrete mixers from Culvers // cookbooks // deep space nine // air conditioning // blog comments // cocktails in the bath // vintage postcards // exploring detroit

LIFE: A Weekend of Spiderman, Slows and Sweets

Sum up this weekend in three words you'll find Spiderman, Slows and sweets at the top of the list. Actually you could probably throw in salad cream too because I had to get my British fix in a buy some more. While Joe's birthday might not be until this Wednesday, we decided to celebrate it early. The long weekend began on Thursday night with a quick trip to Treat Dreams in Ferndale - a glorious ice cream shop which offers ice cream made on the premises with flavours you probably wouldn't find anywhere else, like pineapple curry or brown sugar ham. There's more traditional flavours too so I opted for death by chocolate (a vegan ice cream) and a double chocolate chip which was tasty to say the least. It costs $4.60 for two scoops so a little more than you'd normally pay but worth it all the same.

Joe's birthday is always, always matched with a new Marvel movie (like every year there's always a new release just before or on this birthday - which is good because he's a huge comic book fan) - this year was no different with the second of the Spiderman movies finally hitting the big screen. Taking the day off work, we caught the first showing of the day at our local cinema (9.45am early). I have to admit to being more of a Captain America, Agents of Shield Marvel fan and in the words of the comic book fan of a husband, it was "good, but not great". So there you go.

Awesome kitty design (should call it street art others would call it graffiti) along the back of buildings where the Mercury Burger Bar is in Corktown (sandwiched between Michigan Avenue and the car park). The Big Three - my tasty meal at Slows BBQ.

The day was rounded off with a trip to Corktown to eat in Slows - a rather well known BBQ restaurant in these parts. It's taken me over two years to get down there but my word the food was delicious - rich, tender meats and great sauces. The place is more then worthy of post all on it's own so stay tuned for that. Being so close to Mexicantown we headed the short drive west to grab some more red creame soda and a tasty sweet treat from the Mexicantown Bakery - another place I'd highly recommend if you're in Detroit - it's my favorite bakery to say the least.

Tasty treat from the Mexicantown Bakery - that confectionery sugar gets everywhere, first of the new vinyl boxes filled and this weeks vinyl pickings.

After hitting and having success at some estate sales in the morning, especially when it came to rehoming some vinyl, we took a trip to Ikea. Having run out of boxes for moving the vinyl collection we found Ikea do a box that is just the kind of size for vinyl, so we grabbed ten of the Tjena boxes (if vinyl storeage is your kind of thing they seem to hold about 70 mixed single and double records, each box is $4.99, they seem sturdy enough too) which are now stacked like the tower of boxes in the living room. As for Sunday well that's always just about food shopping, chilling out watching Netflix and catching up on blogs.

This weekend of relaxing and just being us was especially important after deciding to back out of the house we had put an offer on. After appraising for lower than the offer we'd place, the seller would only lower the asking price and not do some of the important work, work that we wouldn't have the money for until probably too much damage was done to the foundation. It's the right decision in the long term and the right decision for us, just hard all the same, so the search restarts.

How was your weekend?