I spent all day Friday breaking in our oven by making granola, cupcakes, a three layer cake, and cookies. I hadn't made anything other than granola since we moved in so it was nice to get back into the swing of baking. The layer cake was for our friends' birthdays which we celebrated on Saturday night. I was really pleased with how the cake turned out (pictured below) so I'll post the recipe later this week.
Friday night we met friends for happy hour at Vinology (club soda for me and wine for everyone else) and then moved onto one of Ann Arbor's newest restaurants, The Raven's Club for dinner. The Raven's Club invokes the feeling of a speakeasy/1920s social club and has a beautiful bar area. It's easy to tell that the owners put a lot of thought and effort into the decor. The menu utilizes recipes from the early 20th century and cocktails from the Prohibition era. Joe had a bourbon cocktail and lamb/pork belly cabbage rolls with an arrabiata sauce. His was so good that I ate almost half of it. I ordered shrimp and grits because I was curious to see how they would put a spin on this lowcountry classic. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. It didn't invoke any of the traditional shrimp and grits flavors and neither the grits nor the okra were cooked to a proper texture. Overall though, we really liked the Raven's Club and are anxious to go back and try more of their menu items.
Saturday morning we made our usual farmers' market trip and then spent the rest of the day doing chores around the house (cleaning the gutters - poor Joe!). This week's market highlight was the organic strawberries from Tantre Farm. In the evening we went to Zukey Lake Tavern with eight other friends for the birthday celebration I mentioned above. For anyone who lives in the Ann Arbor area, I highly recommend making the 25 minute drive out to Pinckney and enjoying some of Zukey Lake Tavern's pizza and beer on the rooftop deck. It's a perfect way to spend a summer night with friends.
On Sunday my friend Katie came over and brought Baby M some adorable new outfits. We then went to lunch at Frita Batidos, a cuban-inspired restaurant by Eve Aronoff. I've been dying to try Frita Batidos since it opened a few months ago. I absolutely loved the chorizo frita and the orange and nutmeg scented churros. The twice-fried plantains were too greasy, but did have a good garlic flavor.
We wrapped up the weekend with a yummy, belated Father's day dinner at my parents house followed by packing for me. It's only Tuesday, but I'm already looking forward to next weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment