Best band in the land!

Image credit: Cass Tech Marching Band brought to you by the Association of Bands

I got a real treat today when I was working an assignment and got to hear the Cass Tech Marching Band -- also known as the best band in the land -- perform.

Cass Tech is a high-achieving Detroit public school that's been around in various locations and in some form since 1861, according to the school's Web site. The storied band has won numerous awards.

I'll now declare that my future kids, in addition to studying the violin, playing soccer and learning Spanish, should be part of a rollicking marching band. (I love talent!)

More bakeries...

I spotted this one on my way back from getting my hair trimmed and had to stop. (Let me just say that thank goodness I got married last year. Living here among all these bakeries could be bad news for my svelte figure.)

Once inside Al Hallab, I chose an assortment of middle-eastern pastries and cookies, and my mom and I test-tasted them when I got back. We agreed that some were too sweet, but that the cookies with pistachio were the best.

Better to try them and find a few things you don't like than not to try at all, right?

That reminds me of the time I tried steak tartare in France on a special night out to a restaurant with my host family.

Imagine my surprise, when after eating all the fru fru French cuisine, I spotted steak on the menu. And how I wanted a hearty, thick steak.

Well, I was just a naive 20-year-old and had no idea my French family was so in awe of my derring-do, even exclaiming what a good americaine I was that I would try something like that. In support, the whole table ordered a round of steaks tartare.

I soon learned why they were so amazed when my "steak" turned out to be a plate of raw ground beef with a raw egg on top. Yes, it had a few rows of spices on the side for flavor...but still!

I new you were dying for this...

Sun-dried tomato and basil aioli (for your next burgers)

1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1/3 cup hot water
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1 T. garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups vegan mayonnaise
2 t. balsamic vinegar


In a small bowl, place the sun-dried tomatoes, cover with them with the hot water, and set aside to rehydrate for 10 minutes. Transfer the rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes and their soaking liquid to a blender or food processor. Add the basil leaves and garlic and pulse a few times to roughly chop everything. Add the soy mayonnaise and balsamic vinegar and process to combine well. Transfer aioli to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Yield: 2 Cups
courtesy of the Vegan Chef

Mmmm.

Patrick cajoled me into leaving the office for lunch even though I had a perfectly good lunch packed. (Thanks, mom.) It was hard to resist because it was absolutely gorgeous -- 70s and sunny with a gentle breeze.

I proposed that I take my lunch and my little portable picnic blanket, which I have been taking into the office for just this occasion, and he could buy a sub at Jimmy John's. But he wasn't in the mood for a sub. He suggested Thai, but I wasn't in the mood.

We walked along the downtown streets in mild disagreement until I spotted Foran's Irish Pub, and said, "Let's go there sometime after work." Patrick said, "How about now?"

What a great find.

It's a charming little place with a wooden bar. I also love that they support local grocers and vendors. (That's good for my carbon footprint.)

Patrick had a black raspberry Faygo soda along with his Better Made chips and burger. Foran's also uses Avalon bread (I still have to blog about this) and other foods from Eastern Market. Bell's and other Michigan beers were on tap.

The 128-year-old building has been many a thing, including "a ticket office for the Grand Trunk Railway System, which laid the oldest railroad tracks in Detroit," according to a story in the Detroit News.

That's all nice and well, you say. But how was the food, right? Well, hold your horses. I'm getting there.

I was just about to say that the food was awesome. In how many Irish pubs do you find a burger with avacado and tomato-basil aioli? Not many, I would guess. Yum! I had a burger, too, if you must know. Next time, I can't wait to wash it down with a good ol' Michigan beer.

Don't have a mother's day gift yet?

Photo from the Detroit Opera House Web site (home of the Michigan Opera Theater)

If you're stuck without an idea for a creative gift...

Drive to Detroit and take your mom to the opera. The Michigan Opera Theater has a deal where you get a free ticket for your mom when you buy one. (Heck, just show her the photo above. It was really enough to sell me.)

I'm pretty excited, and I hope my mom likes it. It's not the only gift I want to get her, but I think this could be a really fun girls' afternoon for us -- tea and sandwiches or cheese and champagne or a light lunch and a funny, romantic opera.

We're going to see The Abduction from the Seraglio by Mozart.

From NPR:

Abduction is the crazy story of two men rescuing their lovers from a Pasha's harem, but the way Mozart blends high comedy with touching tragedy signals his new maturity as an opera composer.

Perhaps you remember the scene from the movie Amadeus when the emperor said, "Too many notes. Just cut a few and it will be perfect." Well, he was talking about this opera. As the story goes, Mozart's retort was: "There are just as many notes as there should be."

I guess we'll see Sunday.

Off Broadway or Broadway that's a little off?

If you think the symphony is lame, people, think again. The parents, Patrick and I saw a terrific, funny show called Forbidden Broadway yesterday at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

And if you love musicals, as I do, you'd probably get quite a kick out of the show, which parodies dozens of Broadway shows, like Annie, Lion King, Les Miserables, Cats, West Side story and way more. The four people doing the show were obviously amazingly talented to be able to do all the songs, voices and characters in the two-hour piece. And the DSO was awesome to be able to perform all the music of so many different musicals in one night. What a treat!

What was probably the most fun was trying to be the first one to guess which show the stars were parodying. By the time we left, my teeth actually hurt was smiling so much.

Sweet ending!

We stopped off at a Mexican restaurant with our buddy Louis after the bike ride.

Louis knows the best places for chicken soup, tacos, margaritas, mojitos, etc. And he rocks the juke box.

(Thanks, Louis. Great suggestion, particularly the margaritas!)

Morning ride

So we decided to take a chance and go for a ride in Detroit today with a bike group we read about on the Web. They're called "Detroit Bikes!" , which is part of the group Detroit Synergy.

Bottom line is that we had no idea how it was going to be when we got there. Would there be two starry-eyed people seeking to take a peaceful ride through the roughest streets of Detroit? Ten people who all knew each other and shunned non-Detroiters?

Or would they be rabid bikers who eschew any four-wheel vehicle owners and curse our SUV (even though it gets decent gas mileage for an SUV)? And would we want to turn around as soon as we got to Clark Park, a place where some of the Detroit crew we know can rattle off names of past weed dealers from back in the day who have "worked" there? (Chewey was one them, apparently.)

The answer to all of those questions is "no." They were a great mix of people who just seemed like they wanted to get together and bike. They also have a mission through Detroit Synergy to get people reacquainted with the city streets.

It was an awesome ride through Southwest Detroit, which, as I've mentioned, is well-known for its Mexican bakeries and restaurants. Our first stop was a little Mexican bakery, pictured somewhere on this blog. We also passed historic St. Anne's Church built in 1701 and Woodmere cemetery, dedicated in 1869.

Best of all was that we took part in something really inspiring. Here's the mission of Detroit Synergy:

"We generate positive perceptions and opinions about Detroit by bringing together a diverse community and building upon the City's strengths and resources to realize a common vision for a greater Detroit."

Right on!

On the Road

A quick sidebar on the road...

A small bakery.