15 Most Played Songs of 2008

1 - The Magnetic Fields - Three-Way -26

2 - Josh Pyke - Memories And Dust - 24

3 - Unrest - Isabel - 14

3 - The Zombies - Whenever You're Ready - 14

3 - Ian Hunter - Fuss About Nothin' - 14

6 - The Magnetic Fields - California Girls - 13

6 - Harry Nilsson - Rainmaker - 13

6 - Buckcherry - Crazy Bitch - 13

9 - The Flaming Lips - Turn It On - 12

10 - Whiskeytown - Drank Like a River - 11

10 - The Undertones - Teenage Kicks - 11

10 - Grant Lee Buffalo - Change Your Tune - 11

13 - Band of Horses - Is There a Ghost - 10

14 - Liz Phair - What Makes You Happy - 9

14 - Joy Division - Transmission - 9

Yum Burger

I haven't had a burger and fries in months. I hadn't even thought about one when my perennial dining companion suggested a trip to Mason's, a small bar in Livonia. We both had a burger and split an order of chili cheese fries (what a treat). Good food, good prices and good fun. We watched the first period of the Wings/Blackhawks hockey game (Wings win 4-0 I think) and had pints (served in Mason Jars) of Labatts. Great night out. Mason's doesn't have a website, but you can click here for directions and reviews:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&q=mason's+bar+livonia&fb=1&view=text&latlng=3912726036668338911

Drop in Hockey

The folks at Suburban Ice in Farmington Hills saved me from a sports-free weekend by opening up one of their rinks to Women's Drop In hockey this morning for an hour and a half. We played four v four and had a great workout and a good time.

Running Outside in Shorts in Michigan in December!

Running outside in shorts in Michigan in December is worth noting. We had 57 degree temperatures in southeastern Michigan yesterday and the sun felt WARM! All right, you folks in California and Florida may be able to run in shorts year round outside, but I bet we in Michigan appreciate it lots more!

Wicked Snow, Wicked Food, and just Wicked Good

We bought our tickets to Wicked at the Opera House in Detroit months ago and have been looking forward to the show for weeks. As the day drew near, the weather forecast continued to look more dire. And go figure, the first real blizzard of the season was destined to fall on my most anticipated night in December. And fall with a bang it did, dumping 10 inches of snow (beautiful stuff if you aren't driving) on the metro Detroit region and potentially inserting a snag into our evening downtown. But I got out of work on time and worked my way home to change clothes and let my perennial dining companion navigate downtown. The city looked festive, with holiday lights everywhere and the fresh layer of snow covering the ground.

Our first stop was Angelina's, an Italian Bistro next door to the Opera House. I had heard only good things about the restaurant and rightly so. We had a wonderful experience. The interior is modern and brick, but with an eclectic chandelier in red and yellow hanging in the corner that I asked the host about (it turns out some of the restaurant staff made the piece and it's in the style of a famous glass artist I haven't heard of). The service was very good and efficient and moved us along at exactly the right pace to arrive at the Opera House on time (we had been asked when making our reservation if we were seeing a show that night). The food was excellent. We started with the La Angelina appetizer, which was a wonderful assortment of house-made items such as a fish sausage, pickled cauliflower, cheese, balsamic-dressed greens, and smoked salmon. I had the butternut squash ravioli, which was perfect and served with rapini and coated with a beautiful almond amaretto sauce. My perennial dining companion had the linguine with little neck clams which he enjoyed as well. We ended the evening with coffee (very good) and the gelato sampler. We will be back. The bar looked like a great place to sit and enjoy an appetizer and glass of wine and I think we need to try that soon. This restaurant is worth a drive through the snow. Visit soon:

http://www.angelinadetroit.com/Angelina_Italian_Bistro/Angelina_Home_Page.html

On to Wicked! We had seen Wicked a couple years ago at the Majestic, and while we really enjoyed it, we weren't expecting the show at the Opera House to so exceed our previous experience. The Opera House is an amazing venue for this type of a show and the performers had their A game on. Glinda was performed by an understudy, but we wouldn't have known that without the program insert. She was terrific, both comically and vocally. Elphaba was tremendous as well. The songs I had heard so many times seemed fresh and new. The show was magical and I highly recommend seeing it, if tickets are still available.

http://www.nederlanderdetroit.com/engine.cfm?i=34

Great food and great entertainment in a city lit up for the holidays and covered with snow. Take a trip downtown and enjoy the season!

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