Zingerman's Bake!

My friend, Lisa, and I had signed up this summer to take a class at Zingerman's bakeshop in Ann Arbor this fall called Amber Waves of Grain: American Breads. We attended the class in November and what a great time! We expected to learn about how to make bread from scratch and our expectations were exceeded. Not only did we learn about baking bread (and walked away with three terrific recipes), but we were very entertained and the snacks were tremendous. Our instructor was Alejandro and he explained things very well. He had two assistants (I believe they were Candie and Shelby) helping so we didn't have to do any "work" such as clean up and measuring. All we had to do was blend, knead, shape, wait and eat!

We made a whole grain "Margaret" bread, a bakehouse white, and a cornbread and took home five loaves total. All the breads were delicious and we got to try a slice at Zingerman's. There is no comparison to mass produced prepackaged bread. All the ingredients in our bread were easily pronounced and understandable (flour, sugar, eggs, butter, yeast, honey, etc.).

My perennial dining companion was very impressed. I will absolutely start making my own bread as I have time.

I would highly recommend their classes. They were well organized and efficient as well as entertaining and effective. Plus, they ended on time and were a great value.

Visit Zingerman's:

http://www.bakewithzing.com/index.php

Arbor Brewing Company

My perennial dining companion and I had friends over on Saturday night and needed to find a restaurant that offered contemporary and healthful food. We knew the beer at the Arbor Brewing Company was good and decided to believe the reviews and head on out to Ann Arbor. Our plan worked out wonderfully! The 30 minute wait for a non-smoking table (not bad for a Saturday night) was happily spent as the four of us each had a Sacred Cow IPA. Once seated, we split the appetizer of house-made red bell pepper hummus. For dinner, I ordered the crumbled black bean tacos which came on spinach tortillas with vegetarian charro beans and cilantro lime rice. Amazingly tasty. My perennial dining companion had the fish tacos and my girlfriend had the blackened chicken tacos. We were all thrilled with our choices. My friend's husband had the Drunken Chicken with Goat Cheese and Pesto sandwich which looked tremendous. Our server easily accommodated our myriad requests (extra pesto, more jalapenos).

I am especially impressed with the Arbor Brewing Company's move to organic and local offerings with thoughtfulness to the food itself.

You should visit. We will be back.

http://www.arborbrewing.com/index.php?site=brewpub

The only game that counts Uof M 2, OSU 0

I know the University of Michigan is not having a great year in football. The games have almost become painful (and I'm a lifelong fan) and the punter (an amazing Zoltan Mesko) has been the best player game in and game out. That said, the offense had sparks of life in the defeat at West Lafayette this weekend and the healthy Brandon Minor was tremendous! But the defense was abysmal and you should be able to win any game in which you score more than 40 points.

At the greatest game on earth (with apologies to Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilley, and Abby Wambach and my second favorite sport of soccer), Michigan's men's ice hockey team triumphed over arch-rival Ohio State on two consecutive nights at Yost Arena in Ann Arbor. On Friday, Michigan topped OSU 4-3 on the ice. At Yost in Ann Arbor on Saturday (a game my perennial dining companion and I were thrilled to be at and I was still hoarse from cheering Sunday morning, I must say), Michigan thumped Ohio State 6-1, surviving and thriving in the challenge of multiple power plays, cheap hits, and marginal referees.

Bryan Hogan was brilliant in goal and the line of Palushaj, Miller and Caporusso was tremendous. Last night was the first time I had a chance to see the new freshmen and I was impressed. I think the hockey program is in great shape (even given the loss to the Phoenix Coyotes of Chad Kolarik and Hobey Baker award winner Kevin Porter - last year's senior stars and Max Pacioretty to the Montreal Canadians a year early).

For those of you who haven't seen a hockey game at Yost before, being in the crowd is an experience not to be missed, assuming you are of a certain age. That age could be either old enough to appreciate the wit of the cheers and jeers issued by the student section (an uncanny, unified mass of sound) or young enough not to understand or question. Plus, as an added bonus, the alumni pep bend was in the house tonight and ROCKED it. The conductor, a gentleman well over 50, danced and shimmied his way through the band's repertoire, earning cheers from the student section. Great stuff all around!


Read about the game: http://www.mgoblue.com/ice-hockey/article.aspx?id=154352