Friday June 12, 2015
Today my husband, Andrew, and I drove up to Northeast
Ohio to do a little sightseeing on the eve of the big ‘Parade the Circle’ event
held annually in University Circle, Cleveland.
I’m not sure I’d call us foodies, but we do enjoy
seeing and sampling a variety of food. Hence, I figured Andrew would enjoy
visiting the historical and much loved Cleveland landmark, the Westside Market.
It certainly is far superior to our much smaller North Market. The Westside
Market is Cleveland’s oldest publicly owned market and consists of two
buildings – the main one and the arcade portion. One building contains fresh
produce stalls. Walking through it feels very much like a European (or even NYC
for that matter) market where the various vendors yell down to you – “hey lady,
how about some strawberries?” Since it was going to be quite a hot weekend and
we didn’t have adequate cold storage, we knew we couldn’t really take much home
with us, so we didn’t buy any of the colorful nutritious food they were
hawking.
My favorite building was the arcade portion where
they sell meat, bread, and all manner of lovely desserts. They’re both a
delight to the eyes as well as the taste buds. After walking around for about
an hour browsing and photographing all the heavenly delights, we made our lunch
choice – pasties from an Irish booth (Reilly’s) selling their version of the
Cornish Pasty. I had a turkey & swiss while Andrew went for the traditional
pasty. Andrew said they were closer to the ones I attempted to make a month or
two ago, but still tasted good, even if they weren’t quite authentic. Our
runner-up choices were the crepes booth (Crepes de Luxe) or the Mexican booth (Orale
Contemporary Mexican Cuisine) selling every variety of enchiladas, etc.
Of course we weren’t going to leave without having
dessert, so it was an agonizing choice for me to make. I knew I only had one
shot at getting it right, so I took my time backtracking and zigzagging around
(no doubt annoying Andrew since he knew what he wanted straight away). I wanted
to get something I couldn’t easily find at home, and also something nostalgic
like kuchen or kolachkis. I finally settled on a chocolate Russian teacake and
Andrew had a monk. A monk is chocolate cake and chocolate mousse with whole
raspberries in a soft folded chocolate shell. Apparently Cake Royale, where he
purchased it, is famous for them, so I think he made the right choice (I
sampled it and can whole heartedly agree). My Russian teacake was good, but
quite messy. I decided to save half for later.
When we were done there I remembered seeing a bookstore
near the brewery (we were scheduled to visit later in the day at 3pm), so I
suggested we kill some time in there. According to their website, Horizontal
Books is the latest bookstore in a long line of bookstores that have been in
that space, and is owned by a couple Case Western Reserve graduates. We were
greeted upon walking in and asked if we had ever visited before. We both said
no, and then the employee proceeded to explain the pricing guide. If you
purchase only one book, you get 50% off the cover price, two books, 60% off,
three or more books, 70% off the cover price. All the books are new –
remainders and overstock, and they certainly varied in quality of content, but
I still found a handful I was interested in purchasing (and even put a few
back). All total my three came to a little over $20, so I didn’t think I did
too badly.
We both got a little wet as the heavens opened just
as we were making our way to the brewery (and Andrew had dashed to the car to
stow my books). Thankfully it was pretty warm inside many of the rooms, so we
both dried off by the time the tour was over. There were perhaps a dozen of us
being led around by our guide, Alex. Unlike the free Sam Adams Brewery tour we
took in Boston last year (where it was all the beer you can drink and a free
sampling glass), we had to pay ($8?) and didn’t get a free glass, and only a
limited amount of beer, but Andrew still thought it was worth the price of
admission, so it didn’t matter.
Having already been on one brewery tour I felt pretty
well versed in the whole brewing process. Andrew, who has already brewed his
own beer on at least two occasions, is practically an expert. Hence, we knew
the various ingredients that go into brewing – hops, malt, barley and yeast.
Also, we knew that ale ferments at a higher temperature than lagers, so ales
float at the top of the tank, while lagers sit at the bottom.
“It was interesting because at the Sam Adams Brewery
they were using hop flowers, but at the Great Lakes Brewery (and the brewery in
Columbus where Andrew made his stock), they were using pellets (which is the
same thing, but compressed so they take up less space),” Andrew observed.
Probably the most exciting thing was when we were in
the stock room and Andrew saw a Crown forklift, which is the company he is
currently contracting for at Leading Edje. He quickly snapped a few pictures
with the same enthusiasm Japanese tourists shoot ordinary subjects to the bewilderment
of other Americans.
After a brief visit to the gift shop (to mostly buy
souvenirs for our neighbors who are also microbrewery enthusiasts), we left
Ohio City to drive to University Circle to check in to our hotel.
I booked us into the Glidden House Hotel because of
its excellent location right in the heart of University Circle (across the
street from the Botanical Gardens and down the road from the Western Reserve
Historical Society museum). I wanted somewhere we could park and leave our car
while we enjoyed the festivities on Saturday. Of course I shouldn’t have
assumed that we could leave our car all day, but fortunately the staff said it
was okay as long as we kept our parking permit in the window.
It’s a wonderfully charming century building with
classical art deco windows and details throughout the property. I loved having
our breakfast out in the atrium breakfast room. The only downside to staying in
such an old building was the lack of water pressure in our shower. By the time
I got the temperature right, the water would slow to a trickle, so it
definitely took some trial and error to get enough water to come out so I could
at least wash my hair. As soon as I was done I yelled for Andrew to get in so
he wouldn’t have to struggle with the taps like I did.
Friday evening we had dinner in Little Italy (a short
walk from our hotel) at Mama Santa’s as recommended by my friend, Leslie (who
is also Italian and has visited many times). I ordered the Manicotti and Andrew
had the Chicken Cacciatore. I didn’t want to order anything too large since I
knew we wouldn’t be able to keep any leftovers, so the Manicotti was perfect
since it was just a couple slices. Poor Andrew was a bit intimidated by the
amount of food on his plate – half a chicken with a side of spaghetti. I give
him credit for nearly finishing it all, though it meant he wasn’t as
enthusiastic as me when it came to having an appetite for visiting the local
bakeries afterwards.
We stopped in Presti’s and Corbo’s and bought an
assortment of treats including a small portion of tiramisu and a couple cheese
kolachkis, all of which we later ate back at our hotel. The rest of our
leftovers were left with mom and dad (mom seemed pretty excited by that as she
eyed the macaroon I bought).
Earlier in the evening Andrew noticed a shop (called
Moonstruck) with some interesting masks hanging just outside the door, so we
went in to take a look. It was one of those places that sells antiques and
oddities as well as upcycled and homemade items. I bought a couple old pieces
of printing press type once I managed to find my initials (CM). I also bought
an antique, Realorama slide viewer,
which is not only a wonderful piece of bakerlite to add to my collection, but
is still viable for viewing my big box of slides.
On the way back to our hotel we noticed lights and
music coming from the direction of MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), so we
wandered over to check it out. It seems they were having an open gallery night
for their How to Remain Human exhibit. There was a cash bar and a table selling
food and even a band. Since we didn’t have any other plans, we decided to stay
awhile and look around the museum. I’m glad we did because I saw some cool art.
One of my favorites was a small black and white painting called ‘untitled’ (Coffee
Maker) by Mary Ann Aitken. I also liked a cartoon by a local artist by the name
of Derf Backderf. In one panel a couple garbage collectors find a shoebox of
photos discarded on the curb. One of the men starts looking through the photos
and says he doesn’t feel right tossing out the box because maybe they were
thrown out by accident. The other, more experienced trash collector sets him
straight, “…used to think that way. After a few foreclosures you realize it’s
pointless to worry about it. Think of the economy as a giant digestive tract,
and we’re here at the ass**** of the free market to clean it all up.”
Back at the room I sat down to write in my journal
while Andrew watched an old Peggy Cummins movie on TCM called “Gun Crazy,”
which is apparently her best known film. I liked the scene where she is holding
a gun while standing outside a bank waiting for her husband who is inside
conducting a robbery. The policeman, a Barney Fife type, admires her pistol and
asks her what kind it is and they get to chatting about it. She asks if she can
see his gun, but he declines saying he never lets anyone touch his gun. I think
her husband eventually comes out and she probably kills the policeman. I had to
laugh at the whole absurdity of the scene with the policeman admiring a gun
being held by someone standing outside a bank. It smacked of the kind of humor
we’re used to seeing in a Hal Roach or Charlie Chaplin film.
Saturday June 13, 2015
Woke quite early to the sound of rain pelting the
windows (we had a corner room, so two windows). I was optimistic it would stop
by the time the parade started since that was still several hours away. We both
showered and then went downstairs to enjoy our free breakfast buffet while we
ate in the quaint atrium.
We were both surprised by how few people seemed to
know about the Parade the Circle event, especially as the hotel was right in
the heart of it. We chatted with a lady on Friday who was part of a wedding
party and she seemed a bit worried by the news (rightly so), especially
considering parking was going to be difficult with so many roads closed during
the parade. However, we did hear the two older couples sitting at the table
next to us discussing it over breakfast, and one of the hotel staff said she
attends every year rain or shine. I was hoping it would be shine rather than
the latter.
Since we still had a couple hours before the parade
and at least an hour until we met my friend, we decided to walk over to the
Western Reserve Historical Society museum. I wanted to ride the old Euclid
Beach Carousel and see my favorite set of stainless steel cars in the basement.
I convinced Andrew to photograph me while I looked like a complete dork (but
didn’t care since there were no kids there and just an Alex Dunphy lookalike
manning the booth).
We eventually met up with my friend, Leslie and her
husband, Jay. It didn’t take much convincing to talk Leslie into joining me on
the carousel while our husbands pointed and laughed (and photographed us).
After we were done reliving our childhoods, we went outside to stake out a spot
on the grass. Of course it was a good spot until some tall people arrived who
were joining the rest of their party, so we had to bounce back and forth to see
between them. It should be a rule that unless you have a child you’re trying to
assist or you’re someone who’s taking pictures, you should have to remain sitting
or go in the back. Also, if you’re over 5’6” you definitely need to stand in
the back. It’s just plain rude to be tall and stand by the curb!
I was aggressive enough to just dart in and out of
the crowd and only got tapped on the shoulder once to move, so I was confident
I captured the photos I wanted to get (until my two batteries died and I was
stuck with the digital camera with almost no zoom).
Everyone was right who said it’s quite a long parade
(and starts at noon). The various sections are distinguished by different
colored flags so you know where one ends and another begins. There were eight
different banners and I think we decided to finally call it a day about halfway
through so we could get lunch before the afternoon was completely over. Leslie
and I got wraps while the guys split up to get pizza and hotdogs. Poor Jay had
the longest wait and his hot dog wasn’t even that impressive (at least compared
to the monster size one I had at the Henry Ford Museum).
I was glad we could see some of the different floats
and creations afterwards as people set them down to seek out sustenance. We
weren’t the only ones posing for pictures near them, which was also frustrating
waiting our turn when kids would run in front of us. Also frustrating when
giant kids (I’m looking at you Jay!) photobomb you. : P
My overall thought about the parade is that it’s a
grand spectacle and a long one at that. I reckon it lasts approximately two to
three hours. One would be advised to get your food beforehand or pack a picnic
lunch and stake out your spot early. In comparison to the Fourth of July Doodah
Parade in Short North, it’s a much longer, PG (family friendly) version of our
little, somewhat political, and always controversial parade. As I’ve never been
to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, I can’t make a comparison, but I bet it’s
similar.
By midafternoon the sun had come out and was heating
things up, so we parted ways and headed out to Madison to see my parents.
I had mentioned to my mom that I’d quite like to try
a bottle of the Gewurztraminer wine that Ferrante bottles. She was thinking of
going to Ferrante’s too, so it was definitely one of those like-minded moments.
After consulting her entertainment book for winery
coupons, my mom decided we should visit a new winery first – the Hundley
Cellars where we split a bottle of Traminette after sampling all their
semisweet wines (and a sip of Andrew’s Chardonnay). I enjoyed sitting out on the
patio in a mixture of sun and shadows drinking away the rest of the afternoon.
The plan was to go to Ferrante’s and see how long a
wait it was to get seated for dinner. We lucked out and didn’t have to wait
long at all. In fact, we had just enough time to look at everything in their
gift shop before dad’s buzzer started vibrating and we were seated. We were
torn between the Gruner Veltliner and the Gewurztraminer, but ended up going
with the Gewurztraminer, which was a good choice. Funnily enough, three out of
four of us ended up ordering the lasagna, which is what Andrew fancied but didn’t
want to jump on the bandwagon, so he ordered one of the chicken dishes instead.
Mom and I decided to stop eating about halfway through our meal so we could
save room for dessert at our next winery, so mom got a free (though she &
my dad paid for it) lunch of our two leftover pieces of lasagna.
Our last stop of the evening was to a winery called Kosicek
Vineyards. Apparently their specialty is apple streudel. My mom had a coupon
for a free slice if you buy a bottle of wine or something, so we all split a
bottle of their I-90 (eye) wine. By this point I was pretty stuffed, so it was
all I could do to drink about a half of glass so we could bring home the empty
bottle with us. I felt a bit like Dawn French in the Christmas episode of “Vicar
of Dibley” when she has a meal at each of her friend’s houses on Christmas Day
and practically crawls home because she’s so stuffed from her polite overeating.
Hence, I wasn’t surprised when I saw that I had gained a couple pounds over the
weekend. Andrew was surprised that we visited so many wineries in the same day
with my parents. We have each done that separately, but never together. Next
time I think I’ll have to call it a day after maybe the second bottle of wine
as I seem to have turned into a bit of a lightweight. : P
Have a good week everyone!
