FOOD: Hold On The Brits are Coming ... With Their Scotch Eggs

Think about stereotypical British food and scotch eggs may top your list, or at least come close, perhaps alongside pork pies, fish n chips, sausages rolls and even mushy peas. Surprisingly, scotch eggs are making a fast experience in pubs and eateries in Metro Detroit of all places outside of your British themed pubs. 

I have to be honest here, from leaving the UK to this March, I haven't eaten a scotch egg (or sausage rolls, bakewell tart .... it's an endless list). Hearing about the tend, reading all the restaurant reviews, well it was making this Brit hungry. 

But what on earth is a scotch egg I hear you non British folk cry?! Well take a boiled egg, wrap it in sausage meat and breadcrumbs, fry away and there you go. One scotch egg. Typically us British eat it as is hot or cold. It's often considered a picnic food, a snack or have with your lunch. Here in the US it's appearing more and more on menu's as an appetizer, a snack to have with your beer often served hot with a dipping sauce - think ranch, a hot sauce or mustard.

While the history of the scotch egg is a little up in the air - no ones really too sure of it's origins. Fortnum & Mason, the London department store happen to lay claim to them having invented them back in 1738. Others argue they have a more Indian cuisine background. Either way the British have laid claim to them and we just love to eat them.

Scotch eggs have become so much of a popular, perhaps we could say hipster food that Eater dedicated an entire list to finding them in Metro Detroit. One such place was One Eyed Betty's - a gastopub with lots, and lots of beers, pinball machines and as it happens awesome tasting food - including their scotch eggs - yippie! (they even have crispy Brussel sprouts as an appetizer too - apparently loving their random British foods). Served with a hot sauce, they were everything I could have wanted and hoped a scotch egg could be, and more.

Whether this is a growing tend across the US, who's to say? Maybe it's because they are a kinda quirky hand food, great to share, easily eaten and enjoyed with a beer and kinda like an all day breakfast food. I've personally seen them pop up on a menu while eating at the British (no surprise there) themed Piper's Pub in Pittsburgh, PA. Back in January 2014 the Chicago Tribune published a piece on the scotch eggs increasing menu presence with the rise of the small plate restaurant. But I'm just happy they're more readily available on my doorstep.

So I guess alongside my adventures in hunting out fish n chips, I have another British food stuff to eat, enjoy and as always, compare.

Any excuse for eating out ... any excuse ...
 
Places mentioned:

One Eyed Betty's: 175 W. Troy St, Ferndale, MI, 48220
Piper's Pub: 1828 E. Carson St, Pittsburgh, PA 15203

Rachael

LIFE: Small Things

Hello hello. How are you all? Everyone getting in the Christmas spirit?! Life here has been a mix of 5" of snow, road trips, lots of turkey and candied bacon. These small things posts always get me into the swing of blogging although I haven't done one since October - oops. I actually haven't done much blogging since October ... moving swiftly along ... here's to the happy list

• Loving Jessica Jones - although we haven't binge watched it like we did Daredevil - it's a little bit too dark for me to binge in one go, that I want to make it last. I love how they've adapted Jessica for the screen, taking the darkness in a different direction. I'd highly recommend reading Alias (although perhaps not if you don't like curse words) which focuses more on her being a PI than perhaps this adaption is showing. The Pulse - which focuses on her life a couple of months after Alias when she works for the Daily Bugle is a fun read too especially if you want to get some more gossip on the whole Jessica, Luke Cage (who's getting his own show) relationship. 
• Enjoying a fantastic brunch at Bakn in Carnegie PA - also loving their name, and if you love bacon it's well worth checking out.
• Finishing and hanging my cross stitch advent calendar all ready for December - used up some of the left over chocolate from Halloween. 
• Thanksgiving dinner - delicious!
• Making friends with other people's kitties.
• Seeing Pittsburgh's Christmas tree.
• Getting my fish & chip fill at my favorite place for my British fix - Piper's Pub along Carsen St, Pittsburgh.
• Chocolate covered espresso beans from Sanders - oh my word they are good!
• Cashmere scarves = weakness
• Sticking up our Christmas tree, living in the US it seems a lot more acceptable to stick your tree up early, I can live with that. The cat's trying to eat said tree, not so much.
• Making lots of cross stitch Christmas cards - I only tend to send them to family members - or at least family members that'll appreciate them but they are fun to stitch. 

How's things with y'all?

PITTSBURGH: The Block House - Western PA's Oldest Building

Beside the Fort Pitt Museum in Pittsburgh's Point Park, you'll come across a small building with a delightful garden and a most intriguing history. Known as the Fort Pitt Block House, this building remains as the oldest standing structure in Western Pennsylvania and the oldest building west of the Allegheny Mountains. Occasionally known as Bouquet's Blockhouse or the Bouquet's Redoubt, the building was originally built as a defensive redoubt (often one of the first lines of defense) of Fort Pitt - what was once the largest and key defensive forts of the British.

While the fort was demolished in 1792, the Block House was converted into a private residence. The building isn't on the large side so I can't imagine who cramped housing conditions must have been - records suggest it was home to various sizes, classes and social backgrounds over the decades. By the 1840's the Block House was home to multiple families - just one of many tenement houses of Pittsburgh's poor Point District population.

By 1894, Mary Schenley - a philanthropist, presented the deed to the Block House to the Daughter of American Revolution (DAR). With 16 months of restoration - removing the windows and doors, the DAR continue to this day to preserve the structure for future generations with many of the timbers, brick and stonework being original. Today the Block House is a free to visit museum. Sadly we wandered around Point Park late on a summers evening after closing, but fingers crossed for a peek inside sometime especially with it's British history.

I do wish I'd captured more photographs of the Edith Ammon Memorial Garden which is planted just to the left of the building. While small, it had quiet the English cottage garden feel yet filled with flowers native to the Pittsburgh area.



It's always great to come across glimpses of British history on my travels on this side of the pond.

SNAPSHOTS: The Strip District

In the shadow of Downtown Pittsburgh, you'll find a hive of activity - historically an area of mills, factories, warehouses and even of a manufacturing base of H. J. Heinz. Today the Strip District is alive with outdoor vendors, an eclectic mix of food stores to full wall artwork, where former warehouses are turned into marketplaces, nightclubs and restaurants. In fact it's very much like the area and spirit you'll find around Detroit's own Eastern Market. We had a super quick walk around when we ate the the infamous Primanti Brothers back in the summer of last year, it's always a place we head back to, walk or drive around while killing time. 

Admittedly driving around downtown and the Strip District makes me fall in love a little more with the city. Far too often do I crave those infamous oversized coleslaw and fries sandwiches to the views, the hills, hopefully we'll be heading back there soon until then this snapshot post will suffice. I have far so much exploring left to do there.

View Larger Map

It's always worth a visit if you happen to be in the 'burgh.

PITTSBURGH: The Point

If you're ever in Pittsburgh and fancy grabbing some fresh air among great history, you'll do well to head towards Point State Park, or if you're down with the locals, the Point. Located at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers which go onto form the Ohio River - you'll find the outlines of two of Pittsburgh's oldest buildings, the oldest building still standing, some gorgeous views of the city and a lot of old British (and French, Native American and colonial American) history.

Before redevelopment during the 1950's the Point was the hub for industry and transportation particularly in the 1930's. Warehouses, railroad yards and two bridges intersected the area. But the Great Depression and World War 2 resulted in an area heavily blighted. Through the war years local authorities set out to redevelop the site. While plans for a civic center fell through, the area was turned into a park which opened in 1974. A park fully noting it's recreational and historical importance. 

You could get knee deep in the historical details of Point Park, but I'll try and keep it short. The confluence of the Ohio river was the center for river based travel, trade and ultimately war for the British and France. With France constructing three forts within Western Pennsylvania by 1753 the Governor of Virginia sent a young George Washington to instruct the French to halt construction on their territory. Rightly or wrongly the French refused to stop on what they considered to be their land. Virginia's response at the start of 1754 was to build a small fort at the Point called Fort Prince George. But due to the advancing French army, building stopped and they surrendered in April 1754.

On their arrival the French built Fort Duquesne (pronounced du-kein) to oversea the forks of the Ohio River, yet the British tried twice to regain control. With the sounding of the French and Indian War (part of the wider Seven Years war), it wasn't until 1758 that the Brits made another attempt. William Pitt, the British Sectary of State outlined a three pronged attack upon the French including the capture of Fort Duquesne. Knowing they were outnumbered, days before the arrival of the British, the French burnt and fled the fort.



Now under British control, plans were made to build not only the largest, but the most elaborate fort in North America. Completed in 1761, the Fort was named for the aforementioned William Pitt by British Army Officer John Forbes. Moreover - the area became known as the Point and it's wider surroundings, Pittsburgh.



For a Fort it had a relatively peaceful existence witnessing only one attack - a siege by Native American Indians as part of Pontiac's War in 1768. Yet by 1772 the fort was falling into disrepair - no longer fit for purpose and flood damaged. Decommissioned and sold to save money and to help strengthen relations with Native Americans it did became the Continental Army's headquarters during the American Revolution. Still by 1792 it's official Fort life came to an end - replaced by a new and smaller Fort Lafayette further upstream. Sold off piece by piece, by 1854 all that remained was the Fort Pitt Block House (below) the tale of which I'll be sharing in more detail in another post.

Today the Fort Pitt Museum which I'm hoping to wander around on another visit, explores the history and role of the region making of not only Pittsburgh but American history and within the part itself the outlines of the forts are both marked in the grass with paved footpaths. It's actually surprising to see just how small the forts were and always interesting to see the location of not only American but British history to boot.

At the furthest tip of the Point you'll find a huge fountain one that sprays water over 46 meters into the air (somewhat weather dependent I hear). It's located at the intersection of those two bridges I mentioned and now offers the visitor an outstanding backdrop to look back at downtown, out along the Ohio River to the north shore attractions like the Carnegie Science Center and Heinz Field. It's also often the home of a festively huge Christmas tree once that season arrives.



We were saying as we wandered back to catch the T how if we ever happen to have a spare $300 dollars for a one night stay, we'd book ourselves into the Hotel Wyndham (that huge yellow building) for a room with a river view. One day, one day.

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

Fancy some fresh air & history? 

You'll find Point State Park at the intersection of Commonwealth Pl and Liberty Ave in down town Pittsburgh. 

Entry to the park is free. 

PITTSBURGH: Dinosaurs Galore - Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History is often ranked as one of the top five (or ten depending what survey you follow) Natural History Museums in the USA. With 20 galleries and over 22 million specimens, the museum is most well known for it's collection of dinosaurs. First making history in 1899 with the unearthing of Diplodcus Carnegli fossils, today the Carnegie includes the world's largest collection of Jurassic dinosaurs and the third largest collection of mounted and displayed dino's in the USA. So if you love dinosaurs like Joe does, this has to be one of the places on your bucket list.  

The Dinosaurs in Their Time was the exhibit we spent the most time wandering around. Arranged chronologically you get a great glimpse of not only the scale but of the environments and life (take the two battling T-Rex's as an example - image 2) these creatures lived in. As someone that really struggles to comprehend the scale and life of such creatures it's really eye opening and informative. Plus it's accessible to someone like me who's not as knowledgeable about dino's and even if you do, there's plenty to keep you interested.

With nearly 75% of the exhibits featuring actual fossils it's a great immerse display. Additionally through viewing windows you can watch palaeontologists working on prehistoric fossils - cleaning them up for display. 

Plus it constantly amazes me how dinosaurs are closely related to birds ... head blown. 

Entering into the Hall of Fossil Mammals you'll come across everything from the evolution of the horse (image above the fish), to mammoths, giant sloths, the Irish Elk and fishes. It certainly opens your eyes to evolutionary change and of all the creatures no longer around. 

I have to be honest, we mainly visited so Joe could see the dinosaurs and mammal fossils but there's lot of other things to spark your interest. There's actually lots of taxidermy displays in the halls of American & African Wildlife but that's really not my thing (freaks me out a lot) so we quickly bypassed those. 

If anthropology is more your cup of tea up on the higher levels you'll find three great exhibits based around Polar Life, Ancient Egypt and Native Americans. The latter I found the most interesting as it focuses on native American relationships with the natural world alongside arts & crafts but often presented within a local context of Pittsburgh. 

It's well worth spending some time just taking in your surroundings while at the museum. The grand staircases to gorgeous paneling on the lifts, fabulous artwork and tiling, it's a beautiful building and as you enter you're greeted with fabulous pieces of contemporary artwork and fountains. Plus they do this really great thing of rather than printing tickets, you get a little tag as in the first image which you can slip around your wrist or get inventive, of which alongside your museum map your encouraged to hand in to recycle after your visit. Impressive. 

The Carnegie Natural History Museum is well, well worth the $19.95 charge each for entry (ticket cost gets you into both the natural history & art museum) and you could spend hours there. We certainly would have spent a lot longer wandering around if we hadn't worn ourselves out with walking the two days previous and driving hundreds of miles in the morning before arriving. Hey we're getting old. Sadly we missed out on the gem display and all the art galleries, both of which are on my visit list for next time.

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

Fancy feeling dwarfed by some dinosaurs for yourself? 

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, 15213

Do you like your natural history?!

PS. You can also revisit my post about my visit to the Carnegie Science Museum and it's model railroad back in November 2014. 

LIFE: Travels and Ponderings on a Roadtrip

The Ohio -  West Virginia border

Last week we decided to take the long way around to our nephews joint birthday in Pittsburgh PA and spent a couple of days in Ohio. Part of Joe's birthday present was to take a trip to a theme park so the plan was for an early Wednesday morning drive down to Mason OH, ride coasters all day, spend the next day at the Zoo, drive over to Pittsburgh on the Friday and spend some time there over the weekend.

Our little trip turned into five nights, visiting five states - including two new ones for my visited list (Kentucky & West Virginia) and travelling over 800 miles in one huge circle. 

Cincinnati, Ohio

Spending a lot of time on the road with hours and hundreds of miles between all the cities you find things to past the time. Like punch buggy game (I lost), watching every single cars licence place to see where they've travelled from and wondering where they are heading to, and pondering odd things like;

• How bloody huge America is
• How the hell do you comfortably drive from California to Pennsylvania in a Fiat 500?!
• If only the camera would stop focusing on the windscreen damn it
• How road signs warning about a "bump" in the road is just an everyday occurrence in Michigan 
• Thus leading to thinking ... wow everyone has better roads than Michigan
• And public transport while we're at it
• Wait I don't know if I picked up my camera ... 
• Oh look there's a truck with a Confederate flag 
• Does eating in a McDonald's count as visiting a state?! 
• Constantly wondering how the hell houses in Pittsburgh don't slip down the hills

But at least since I ditched TMobile and switched to Boost I know have phone signal in the middle no nowhere, especially on the turnpikes to not only GPS track every single mile but to wiki search anything that makes my fancy. Always leaning, always learning ...

Ohio

Learning things like how farming is Ohio's number one industry so it's no surprise when you're driving around the state how many fields and farms you come across. While born a country lass, my life is now spent hidden away in the burbs of Detroit so it's always nice to see fields, trees and animals as far as the eye can see. As for the countryside smell, yeah not missed that so much. It was particularly eerie with the mist rising come Friday morning as we left Cincinnati and headed east.

Ohio Interstate 70 by Zanesville

Driving on American roads is always filled with history, even if it is a little more on the modern scale of things. Interstate 70 is one of America's major highways stretching from Maryland all the way west to Utah. In many places it mirrors the former path of Route 40 of which the mile marker (above) was one used for. I always have a great love for state historical societies and their plaques.

Ohio - West Virginia border

So we followed I-70 as far as Washington, PA which meant getting to tick another "new" state to my visited list - that of West Virginia. Granted it was only a 14 mile stretch but we did stop at a McDonald's so I'm counting it all the same. But even with that short drive through the state, I can certainly see why it's a state known for it's mountains and rolling hills.

The Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Sunday rolled around and it was time to head home and back to normality. We took our normal route back along the Turnpike. Normally we visit the in-laws in November/December when it's all gloomy, snowing, wet and leafless so seeing all the green fields was a particular delight. Well it was after all the rain stopped.

I actually got really excited back in May when one of my favourite blogs the Dainty Squid shared her walk around the Cuyahoga Valley National Park which lies between Akron and Cleveland in Ohio. That huge bridge in all her stunning photographs - well that's the bottom of this one I managed to catch a gloomy photograph of. We've driven over this part of the national park so many times coming back and home Pittsburgh and it's always looked so beautiful down in the valley.

Detroit, Michigan

And while I'm still suffering from post holiday blues, it is always a welcome sight seeing Detroit's skyline as we travel north up I-75. Home isn't too far away with you see those towers of the Ren Cen (told you you could spot it miles away!).

I have a lot of blog posts about this road trip in a lot more detailed planned out for the forthcoming weeks (and probably months because I'm slow at times and I love sharing details and history) so bare with me!

But let me know how you cope and past the time on road trips and when travelling?!

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.