April » 2010 » happyinCLE

yum and yum

one major plus about living in the cle is experiencing our restaurant explosion. in the past few years, the cle has been on a roll. just think about the places and chefs in our fine city that have caught local and national media attention. we are seriously becoming a foodie metropolis.

last night was the first time i went to amp 150, which is located in the cleveland airport marriott. i must admit, this particular trip may include a biased opinion since we dined with our friend justin, who just so happens to be the foursquare mayor as well as chef ellis cooley’s favorite customer (or at least it seemed so). i am extremely happy that i had the chance to try the velvet mushroom soup, which will no longer be on the menu in the next few weeks. i think i could eat that soup for lunch every day. go have a bowl before its too late. after that, i can’t even really say how many other dishes we tried. i lost count after 6. needless to say, our group was there for 3 hours and as lzone would say…it was “totes ridic.” and you must get dessert. specifically, the milk chocolate pana cotta. lzone was so excited after one bite that she spilled it all over the table. it was that good.

amp 150 booth. best place to sit.

tonight the family went out to my fav restaurant, l’albatros, for my momma’s b-day. once again, this zack bruell masterpiece never seems to disappoint. my entire family had nothing but good things to say. naturally, since i chose yet another terrific dining destination which they had never been. the next time we go i must try the mussels. must. try. mussels. happy b-day mom!

l'albatros' very sexy dining room.

tomorrow will hopefully include a trip to chinato, which will be my first time. i will let you know how that goes! since its another bruell project, i expect nothing but amazingness.

word of the day – confit

one too many

as i am writing this, my mind is still somewhat fuzzy from the past three nights. but i need to get back on track. so let’s go last week of april!

friday night we met up with our friend robbie and his friend jay for some burgers and such at heck’s cafe in ohio city. we then continued on to the pl pad for some drinks before heading back out. continued on to three other adult beverage clubs (maybe that’s what the “abc” in abc tavern stands for!) and definitely should have stopped after the second stop. in the words of b. zone, we were all most definitely “over served.” i kind of don’t remember latter parts of the night. whoops.

on saturday i worked with the ski family on our colburn house project. i am glad to be working on house remodeling projects, as my dad is teaching me a little of this and a little of that. it will def come in handy for my own home repair projects. that night, the nug and i went to a b-day party for kate and jennie at kate’s new condo in rocky river. great place. great people. good times.

on a side note, i can’t help myself when buying friends childish b-day gifts. i bought them a goodie bag with dum dum pops, plastic jewelery, swirly straws, hats and over-sized cards with unicorns and princess paraphernalia. why not?

ended with a sunday full of cleaning and prepping for a lee fisher house party. friends and family came to show their support for lee and his run for senate. more good times with good people. remember to vote! the night ended late and once again…one too many.

word of the day – another

lzone, me, lenny, john and max

justin, bzone, uncle tom, me and auntie di

lzone loves the peanut oil warning. some people are allergic!

a public service announcement

: me in my c.l.e. clothing co. tee. holler.

it’s already tuesday. i need to keep up on this blog thing! and instead of explaining my past weekend to you, i would rather take this opportunity to tell you what i did last night. however, i will give you some bullet points that would describe my weekend:

reddstone happy hour
cleaning the hizzy
bar/club fun
bar/club drama
unlimited bread sticks

so last night the nug and i went to the franklin blvd. block club meeting to get the 411 on recent neighborhood news and rants. we have only been to a couple, but if you live in the city of cle, i highly recommend that you join a block club. while we all are networking through the online social media wave, we also have to remember that we still need to actually converse with people in person! it’s another great way to meet your neighbors and make new friends, along with the opportunity to get your thoughts and concerns out in the open with your local peeps.

moving to the detroit shoreway neighborhood was the best decision i ever made. attending the block club meeting last night confirmed that decision once again. street clean up activities to urban garden planning and new business announcements to historical house restorations were topics of discussion. i had the biggest smile on my face when a local family came to speak about their new restaurant, frank’s falafel house. so if you happen to be driving down franklin blvd. or w 65th this june/july, make sure to stop in for some mediterranean inspired sandwiches. also found out that the owners of the abc tavern in oc are opening a new restaurant on detroit next to the cleveland public theatre. expected to open sometime this fall, the appropriately named, xyz tavern should be the next hot spot in the detroit shoreway hood!

so my point? get involved with your community. meet new people. take some time out of your hectic schedules to participate in a street clean up or charity event. be a neighborhood ambassador! support the city in which you live to make it just a little better. enough of us trying to make it a little better will make the city a lot better. duh.

the grass is greener

a view from the patio.

i am currently sitting outside on the patio. music is filtering through the air, along with chirping birds and the occasional passing of the rapid (the cle version of a nyc subway). it’s amazing how fast the trees and flowers bloom in these few weeks. not only does mother nature awaken, but the people of the city also do just the same. we come out from our winter hibernation, filled with this new found energy.

i feel like this spring and summer will be pretty redic. some exciting things are planned for this season. of course there will be boating and many patio happy hours, along with some concerts and the usual annual cle events (i.e. ohio city home tour, ingenuity, made in the 216). its also the second summer here at the new(ish) condo, which has been nothing short of awesome sauce. while we can’t install the $25 kmart pool in the empty unit next to us this year, i feel a hot tub is in the near future. anyways, remember to vote for the next party theme (post above) and have a fantastic weekend!

word of the day – tranquil

party poll

i feel another party coming. i cannot wait until september for the 2nd annual white party, so at some point this may or june, we will host some kind of shindig. during some recent discussion of theme options to friends and family, one particular theme seems to be the rising to the top. i will obvi not say which one it is, since i want you to provide your suggestion. either way, i am sure any one of these options will be a blast (but i still think one of these is perfect for the next bash). i think all of the themes are self explanatory, but if you need a better description, leave a comment or message me on facebook. this should be interesting. take the party poll by selecting an option below. peace out party people!

[poll id="2"]

spaces and cool faces

photo courtesy of photographer, frank miller.

this past friday night, nugget (i will explain the nug to you later) and I headed to spaces for their annual artmart opening. i was glad to see such a great showing of art enthusiasts and cle friends out and about. my neighbor/friend frank miller had some pieces in the show which included some cle scapes and a great lakes christmas ale bottle photo that sold in a flash. frank is quite the talented photographer, but he is also simply a terrific human being. also ran into too many people to mention who put the spaces events together. they really have a great crew at that gallery which was reason for me to start volunteering there for their annual benefit. the spaces annual benefit is a crazy good time and you should go. just saying.

we also met up with our friend kristy and her friend mel, who coincidentally lives in my hood. detroit shoreway shout out! after spaces we had dinner and drinks at luxe which never disappoints. if you have not been to luxe you should make it a point to go this spring/summer and be sure to sit on the patio. not only is this marlin kaplan creation beautiful, the service has always been exceptional in my past experiences.

the weekend also included a trip to crocker park, which is really quite torture for me. the only reason i go to that white bread palace is for urban outfitters, h&m, trader joe’s and apple. living in the city really makes you appreciate diversity. even if that may include the random crazy folk that occasionally make your day a little uncomfortable. i would take that over being surrounded by a&f drenched west side kids and their cookie cutter lifestyles. and they all look just the same.

word of the day – blob

beat up that beat

so i was driving home this afternoon from work, naturally singing with a little bit of seat grooving, when i realized that i basically listen to mostly hip-hop, r&b and rap music. i mean, i really listen to a little bit of everything but in the recent months it’s been a whole lot of funky beats and sweet soul. actually, the more that i think about it, i really have been listening to this genre of music for years. a part of me really wishes i could sing. when i hear the voices of ne-yo, robin thicke, bobby valentino, j. holiday and trey songz i can’t help but belt it out with them. now my voice is absolutely horrible, but i don’t care. but it’s more than that. it’s those damn catchy beats that really make you shake your head, tap your feet or bounce that booty. which leads me to another reason why i like this type of music so much — dancing! i am not afraid to do it. i know some of you have seen me in action. i do like to dance and i actually think i am pretty good at it for a white boy.

what is your favorite type of music? have a favorite artist? what about your favorite song?

currently, i am obsessed with “nothing on you” by b.o.b. and “tie me down” by the new boyz.

word of the day – perculator

initiate blog sequence now

that's me. christening my yacht. well in this instance, my blog.

i am a few years late, but here goes nothing

so let me start by saying this. i love CLE and everything about it.

while i will write about my daily ventures to and from the great places we have here, i do not want to steal any thunder away from the other cle bloggers that also promote our fine city. my friend alexa (also known as clevelandsaplum.com) owns that territory. and she does an amazeballs job at it. while i think of myself as a go-to for everything cle, alexa really has been everywhere. mostly bars, though. she does like her booze. but seriously though, she kind of owns this city. or at least she does on the internets. but hopefully i will share similar yet different bits of cle gravy from a male perspective. although, i wouldn’t consider myself a guy’s guy. but i digress.

hopefully i will bring some kind of relevant information to your day or perhaps some giggles. i am here to have fun and share some of my life experiences with you. that’s what a blog is all about, right? oh, and i am also going to end each post with the word of the day. this may end quickly followed by a new blog post ending, but i like this idea — for now.

word of the day – meatball