Cleveland on the board

Scott posted about this on Cleveland vs. The World:

Vote for either Cleveland's Euclid Avenue, Jacobs Field or North Coast Harbor -- one of these will have a spot on the new Monopoly Here and Now Edition gameboard.

I started casting my votes (what fun!) and began to notice that whenever there was a sports venue in the running, it was winning. Why do so many people want sporting venues to be identified as their national landmarks? Is Jacobs Field the landmark we want Cleveland to be identified with on a Monopoly board? According to the voters - YES!

The other Cleveland options aren't that great. Does anyone outside Ohio really know what the North Coast Harbor is? Why wasn't the Rock Hall an option? And Euclid Avenue? How about Playhouse Square? I would like to write in the West Side Market or the Cleveland Museum of Art, even if it is currently closed. Any other ideas?

There is so much emphasis on sports already - you could fill up an entire board with sporting venues. If the theme is national landmarks...would it really hurt to for once to make them a bit more cultural, historical or educational? I would be the first in line to buy the Monopoly Museum Edition gameboard. lol.

Go cast your votes!

cool places to eat?

Last night I went to dinner at Fat Cats with my husband and his parents for his birthday. We had an 8pm reservation. They weren't too busy so we had a couple of drinks at the bar and we were then seated at the table next to the kitchen doors. Employees continually walked out the kitchen doors and around our tableto access the patio area. Personally, I think the kitchen door table, while a necessary evil, should be left for "walk-ins."

We ordered empenadas and calamari as appetizers. The 6? empenadas came out on a HUGE white plate with a little container of marinara. They looked so tiny and out of place on that plate. The calamari was the same calamari served at the Lava Lounge but with 2 different dipping sauces instead of green salsa.

My 3 dining partners each ordered a fish entree which they all really enjoyed. I chose the seafood linguine special - it was the same dish I ate at Halite minus some shrimp.

I just felt like the table was terrible and I was disapointed to order things on the menu that I have already eaten at other "cool places".

Pottery Sale

Yesterday I went to a little pottery sale and bought this vase and - well, I'm not really sure what the other thing is but it is really cool. The artist is Andrea LeBlond. I'm planning on setting some little pots of flowers or herbs on it. The type reminded me of the fabrics used by A Bird in the Hand to make her charming log cabin pillows - but I now see that her fabric is all numbers, not letters. Same feel though.

Spring is here!

Some photos I tood during our Easter egg hunt...we found a fat bubble bee, a real robin's egg & my niece climbing a tree!

Local Lasagna

I was inspired last week by 101 Cookbooks's Thousand Layer Lasagne. Heidi's pictures are beautiful and always make me want to cook. Inspired I was, but homemade pasta and sauce just didn't happen. I went to the Market and bought ricotta from Meister Foods and sheets of egg pasta from Ohio City Pasta. Then I went on a little field trip and picked up sauce and mozzarella cheese from Gallucci's. I rolled the pasta sheets as thin as I could with a rolling pin and ended up with about about 9 layers of pasta.

Hungry Magazine

Someone posted about Hungry Magazine on the Cleveland.com Food & Wine Forum. Cleveland Cooks is their current feature article, the author says...

"Cleveland is certainly a spoke in this food renaissance. While it is not yet a mecca, it’s no longer a one trick culinary pony. I had a chance to check out some Cleveland restaurants last week including Lolita, Great Lakes Brewing Company, Flying Fig, and Fahrenheit."

Who was the one trick pony?

Also available, a Michael Symon podcast I need to download and a review of Lelolai bakery’s coconut flan.

clothing frustrations

How is Target allowed to sell things like this polka dotted shirt for $18? Against my better judgment I bought this top a few weeks ago, in addition to 2 other equally cute ones, knowing it would take a lot of work to care for them and I probably would end up wearing them each just about 3 times before having to dispose of them. But they are so cute and light and airy and I thought perfect to wear on a hot day to work and I had money in my checking account....hmph. I couldn't even wait for a sale!

So, I washed them all in the gentle cycle last night with Woolite and hung them on hangers to dry in my closet. If they shrink the slightest bit I know they'll all be too small. If I wash them in the regular cycle all the sparkley/special like buttons will fall off. So today, at the virginal wearing of the purple polka dot top 2 buttons keep unbuttoning. Not the usual ones - the last 2 on the bottom of the shirt. I really hate clothing malfunctions!

This weekend was a bit of a blur. I worked Saturday and spent the rest of the weekend shopping for something (not from Target) to wear on an interview that I had today and also obsessing over the interview. One good thing is that I had one of the most memorable shopping "deals" so far this year - I got a suit from TJMax for $16.99. Yes, for the cost of a disposable cotton top I got a suit that "regularly retailed" for $250.00. I think it was mismarked. Maybe it all ended up coming out equal in the end.

Chili Cook-Off for Autism 2006

The Autism Chili Cook-Off was a great success! The individuals from the Cleveland Food Forum that donated all their time and energy to organize it, did a fantastic job - everthing ran smoothly. It was a large turnout. Lots of beer, chili, and fun were had by all!

I cooked my chili then dropped it off at Special Editions Catering in Rocky River. They were kind enought to reheat and transport any amateur cook's chili to the Great Lakes Brewing Co. This REALLY made participating easy. They provided all the equipment for us too - chafer, ladel, bowls, spoons, napkins, etc.

This is my chili, cooking in a crock pot. I ended up making 12 batches of chili = about 4 gallons!

This is everyone setting up their stations before the guest started to arrive.














I was put at station #10 - between the only other vegetarian chili cook (my ONLY competition) and this super nice guy Glenn who is LeBron James' personal chef. What a cool job!





























Near the end of the night...

carved stamp swap

I think this was the best swap I have participated in so far. It was a hand carved stamp swap hosted by moki. Each participant created a 1" hand carved stamp and made 25 mini stickers. Then I sent my 25 strawberry stickers to moki and received this assortment a few weeks later - one sticker from each participant, or little envelopes with 3 or 4 stickers in each. It was such an easy swap to get together and the package was great! moki created this really cool flickr "who did what" image.

This is how the Polish do it...

We made Easter kielbasa following the traditional recipe from last Christmas. Here is my pictorial documentation of the event:

Day 1

Go to the West Side Market and pick up 25lbs pork butt and 5lbs veal.



















Grind meat.




























all done!
















Add garlic, pepper and water. Knead for 25 minutes.














Refrigerate meat over night.

Day 2

Stuff meat into casings.



























Package, label & freeze.

Most Bookish

After making 2 cakes, 7 cups of red buttercream icing, 3 batches of royal icing, 3 hand-cut stencils & a lot of adrenaline....this was my entry for the Edible Book Festival. It was held on April 1st at Loganberry Books.

I won "Most Bookish"!

SP7 revealed!

Diane from Knitting Zeal was my Secret Pal! She sent really great packages and such sweet notes! Below is my final package with fuzzy pink mohair and The Little Box of Scarves - it's a box full of scarf patterns, each on its own card. Thank you Diane!!!

If you're interested...sign-ups have begun for SP8.

















*my SP7 finally received the last package I sent her. Her name is Adrienne and lives in Wolverhampton, England. Over the past 3 months I enjoyed reading her blogs and learning more about her - I found her to be very sweet and funny and thoughtful. I think that we have a lot of the same interestes and could be good friends - if we ever met!