Irish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day

There's a semi annual tradition in my house for St. Patrick's Day- dress up like a crazy person and head downtown to hit the bars before most people roll out of bed.  I am 50% Irish (my grandparents came here in the late 40's - grandma is still an Irish citizen), so I feel obligated to celebrate this holiday with my closest friends and thousands of strangers every year.

As a general rule, I don't drink that much (a drink or two here or there), I don't like crowds, and I don't like drunk people, but there's something magical about St. Patty's Day.  It brings people of all ethnic backgrounds together to celebrate.  And it brings a whole heck of a lot of people to downtown Cleveland. 

I support local businesses as much as I can, and I really like seeing SO many people in downtown Cleveland on St. Patrick's Day.  I'm sure if you work in a restaurant or bar downtown, you might not agree with me, but if you're an owner, I bet you appreciate the business.  I didn't even have one drop of alcohol last year and still managed to have a great time. (the people watching alone is worth the Rapid ride)

Every year I buy myself a new shirt to wear on St. Patty's Day, and this year I will be proudly sporting a shirt from C.L.E. Clothing Co.  When I saw this shirt, I just had to have it. 

C.L.E. Clothing Co. shirt and swag

This completely goes against the strategy I've used in past years - trying to find a unique shirt to wear out, but...I'm excited to represent the CLE and Ohio this St. Patty's Day.  I hope to see this shirt on dozens of people downtown!

How will you be celebrating St.Patrick's Day?

Review: Lunch at Flour in Moreland Hills

If you know me in real life, you know that I am generally pretty happy with my job.  I get to travel occasionally and check out vegetarian food around the country.  I get to surf the internet at work (I work in emarketing).  And I have a boss who isn't a fan of standard catered lunches.  In the past year alone I think we've gone to Chinato, L'Albatross, Crostatas, XO, and a bunch of other "nicer than normal" places for lunch.  And I say nicer than normal because for me, a standard lunch is a microwaved Amy's vegetarian meal.

Last week some of my extended team headed to Flour in Moreland Hills for lunch.  My boss is a big fan of pizza, and since they offer wood fired pizzas, we thought this would be a great place to go.  He ended up having to cancel, but we decided to go without him. 

What struck me about Flour was how nice the interior is.  It's very swanky.  Which probably explains the price point for lunch entrees.  Pizzas start at $11 and only go up from there.  (we went to Mama Santa's a couple months ago and I think $11 could have paid for 2 pizzas)  Sandwiches are also around $10.  But this was on the company's dime, so we weren't all that concerned.

A few people asked for recommendations and our server steered them towards pizza.  People asked about the sandwiches and our server again reiterated that the pizzas were probably the best option.  More on that in a minute.  I didn't want pizza, so I ordered a chopped salad which consisted of iceberg lettuce, capers, blue cheese, roasted red peppers, and olives.  (on in my case, an olive - literally one)



I know many people who are lettuce snobs and won't eat iceberg lettuce.  I'm not so picky.  But for $9, my salad was kind of underwhelming.  And not so great tasting.  I always say it's hard to mess up a salad.  But this salad was definitely not good.  Maybe the combination of flavors didn't taste right together, but the only taste I got in my mouth was rotten.  Glad I carry gum with me everywhere I go because I had to get that taste out of my mouth.

The folks who ordered pizzas were a bit happier.  As the bill payer, I was unhappier when I realized that a few of the pizzas ended up being around $20 after people added toppings.  $20 for a lunch sized pizza!?  Mama Mia!

A few people ordered sandwiches at the table. And they wished they'd gotten something different.  Especially the person I car-pooled with who had to stop at a gas station bathroom on the way back to the office because his stomach was upset.

Overall, we had a less than great experience at Flour.  Although the pizza did look good, I'm not sure that I'm in any hurry to rush back when I can get a completely good pie closer to home and for a little less dough.  And you couldn't pay me to eat a salad there again.

The Long Road to the Mill Creek Half Marathon

If you're not interested in hearing about anything not related to veganism or vegetarianism, feel free to click off the page now. 

Thumbs up for a post about running

Last May, I ran in the Cleveland Marathon.  It was my second attempt at running in the Cleveland Marathon.  In 2010 I trained and trained and trained and trained for the full marathon only to get injured on my last run before the race.  Not a 20 mile run, but a 2 mile run.  It was really disappointing.  I didn't even attempt to run in the because my ankle was so sore that I could barely put weight on it.  I've been plagued with ankle injuries since I started running, but this injury was really devastating. 

So I nervously trained for the full marathon again in 2011.  Determined to finish.  No matter what.  And finish I did!  I took 15 minutes off my time and was floating on cloud nine once I finished.  Or something like that.  The weather was actually pretty awful last year, and I was drenched from rain and sweat and I kind of thought I had hypothermia.  While I should have spent the day celebrating (after a nice hot shower) I spent the day on the couch.  I cooked myself dinner and went to bed early.  It was very anticlimactic.  I didn't even get to wear my medal. 

Review: Average Eats at Fire in Shaker Heights

I've been traveling a lot for work lately and I've barely had a chance to catch up on life.  Things like laundry, cleaning my house, seeing my friends, or going out with my boyfriend.  Although we live together, we've both been so busy that we haven't spent much time together, so this past Friday I scheduled a date night for us at Fire Food and Drink in Shaker Heights.  I'd been to Fire before for brunch with my best friend.  To be honest, all I remember about that meal was how comically small my salad was and that it was great to see my friend. I'm not sure that my date with my boyfriend was much more memorable.

I started off my Friday evening with a cocktail - a Dark and Stormy - which is the rum version of a Moscow Mule.  It's made up of rum, ginger beer, and lime juice. It was no Moscow Mule, but it was good.  (and for $9, it should have been good)

I was hungry like the wolf so I gobbled down the free bread that was brought to the table in a paper bag.  I was more than a little embarrassed when our waiter scolded me for reaching for the plate he'd brought for dipping oil instead of my own bread plate.  Sorry, guy.  Didn't see my plate.  No need to make me feel uncomfortable, though.

Shortly after the bread incident, our server brought the mushroom salad I'd ordered.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I thought I'd get something a little more exotic.  Especially since it was $9. This was basically some arugula, sliced button mushrooms, and a little bit of Parmesan cheese. 

I ordered the winter vegan dish as my main meal.  It consisted of winter root vegetables, tofu, some little pancakes, and a smear of almond puree that almost tasted like hummus.  It was very onion heavy, in my opinion.  There were huge chunks of slightly undercooked red onions.  The tofu was a little bland, too.  Overall, it was an ok dish.  But for $23, I expected better.  I'm not all that price sensitive when it comes to food - I will pay top dollar for a good meal - but I couldn't tell you why this vegan dish is so expensive.  Did the price of tofu go up and someone forgot to tell me?  





My boyfriend had what he described as a "good but not great" clam pasta dish.  Again, I think we both expected more of a "wow" factor for the price.  We talked about our meal on the way home afterwards and both agreed that our meal was good but nothing was a standout.  Now that we've checked Fire off our list of places to go to, I'm not sure we'd be in any hurry to go back.  And that was disappointing for us since we'd heard such good things about the restaurant.

Oh well.  That's part of the fun of trying new places.  Sometimes you find things you love and sometimes your meal is a clunker.  



Review: The Hipp in Mid Town Cleveland

This past weekend was my birthday weekend, and I had overly ambitious plans for things I wanted to do and places I wanted to see.  After party rocking on Friday night in Tremont, most of those plans went out the window, but I was able to muster up enough strength to head to Mid Town to check out The Hipp.  

The Hipp's cool wall mural



Located in a building adjacent to the Agora concert hall, The Hipp is the brainchild of Sandy Madachik and Jae Stulock, best known for their vegan and vegetarian friendly food truck, Umami Moto. (which is my favorite CLE food truck, BTW - their massaman curry is incredible)  The restaurant is housed in a space that has hosted more restaurants than I can name here, but I'm hoping that The Hipp has better luck.



Interior of The Hipp

My boyfriend and I dropped by for lunch on Saturday at an off time - after 2:00 pm - and we were the only people in the restaurant.  But considering that this was The Hipp's first week in business, I didn't expect it to be hopping. But I do hope business picks up in the future.  Since we were the only people there, we got to talk to Sandy for a little about the restaurant and the businesses nearby.  I'm not familiar with Mid Town, but apparently it was a flourishing neighborhood at some point.  Now, it's in "transition," like so many other Cleveland neighborhoods, but hopefully things are on the upswing there. (sometimes it just takes a couple businesses to bring a neighborhood back - who would have thought the Gordon Square area whould be so built up?)

Review: Lava Lounge Happy Hour (Sorry for Party Rocking)

My theme song for the night.

I think I've mentioned that to me, birthdays are kind of a big deal.  Life is very short.  Too short to stress out about getting older, in my opinion.  I generally try to throw some sort of birthday bash every year, and some are more elaborate than others.  I turned 31 this year, which is awesome, but has no real significance, so I decided that a mini bar crawl (or night of mayhem as my running club friends like to call them) this past Friday in Tremont was the way to go. I wanted to start the night of with a classy vibe, so we all met up at Lava Lounge.

To be honest, I was a little nervous about my venue choice.  The last time I'd been at Lava Lounge, it was summertime and I was with a large group of friends and we were thoroughly grossed out by a couple making out at the corner of the bar.  It looked like the man was going to swallow the woman.  It was gross.  (she was also eating chicken wings while making out with him which made the situation even more bizarre)  But I was excited to try out the Lava Lounge happy hour because it features my favorite drink - the Moscow Mule - and vegetarian food options.  Plus, they have happy hour even on Fridays (until 8 pm).

My boyfriend and I arrived first, a little after 6:30.  The place was bumpin'!  Apparently the word is out that Lava Lounge has a great happy hour.  While we were waiting for my friends to arrive, I ordered $5 hummus of the happy hour menu, along with the first of (too) many Moscow Mules.  The hummus was fresh and garlicy, and the portion size was large.  (some places skimp on happy hour plates, but not Lava Lounge, apparently) 

How will you be spending your Valentine's Day?

Valentine's Day is my most favorite holiday.  No sarcasm.  I mean, what's not to love about love and a holiday that celebrates gluttony, pink things, and glitter?

Ironically, I have no fancy plans for Valentine's Day.  But I am holding a ladies only party tonight at my house featuring board games, appetizers, decadent desserts, booze, and a little bit of glitter.  Or maybe a lot of glitter.  I have decorations fit for a second grade classroom and treat sacks to distribute to everyone, along with prizes for the best (or worst) holiday inspired outfit.  I can't wait!

My most romantic Valentine's Day was years ago when I was working at a job I didn't particularly care for on an odd shift.  I came home miserable from work and my boyfriend had gotten take out vegetarian sushi from Sushi Rock (this was obviously a really long time ago, before Sushi Rock turned lame) and had dinner waiting for me along with my favorite white wine.  It was great.  My second favorite Valentine's Day memory is from when I was in college.  I was dating someone horrible, and I jokingly said to one of my best male friends, "I'm going to marry the first person who buys me flowers."  He also didn't care for my boyfriend at the time, and convinced my boyfriend to buy me a big balloon bouquet while he bought me an amazing bouquet of flowers.  He's gay, so we'll never get married, but I appreciate him for saving me from myself!  

My boyfriend and I have been dating (off and on) for what seems like forever, so the things that might impress other people (flowers, candy, spending too much on dinner) don't impress me much.  We are spending our Valentine's Day with a  bunch of friends, playing bar trivia.  Just like every other Tuesday.  But that's what's fun and works for us.  What are your holiday plans?

Recap: Mad About Mushrooms Cooking Class at The Chubby Cook

In January, I blogged about the fantastic raw foods class I took at The Chubby Cook in Beachwood.  I have been traveling like a maniac for work and have missed out on quite a few other classes I would have liked to sign up for, but this past Monday, I had the opportunity to take another class.  It was called Mad About Mushrooms and featured a smorgasbord of mushroomy dishes. 

My prep station

I realize that not everyone likes mushrooms.  Which, as a girl who can eat an entire container of sliced mushrooms in one sitting, seems crazy to me.  But I know that we all have our own tastes.  I've learned over time to ask people if they enjoy eating mushrooms when I have them over for dinner, because more than a couple people have turned their noses up at what I consider to be the best recipe I've ever made - Heather's Mushroom Gnocchi.

The fruits of our labor. And what we had for dinner.

In this hands on class, we all got to try our hands at making a variety of mushroom dishes - everything from Caesar salad with grilled mushrooms (minus the Worchestire sauce, obviously), to polenta with mushrooms in a fig and port wine sauce, to mushroom Bolognaise (which I plan on making for Sunday dinner this week), and baked mushrooms in a rich gravy.  I got a bunch of great recipes to take home and I learned two very important things - 1. I should never use a normal sized Santoku knife because I will probably lose a finger and 2. you shouldn't scrub mushrooms - just lightly wipe them off with a damp towel.  Why a damp towel, you ask?  Because they absorb lots of water (which can make them rubbery when you cook them) and the dirt they is on them really isn't "bad" dirt.  Mushrooms are grown in a sterile environment, so even if you don't get every particle of dirt off, it's not going to hurt you.  This was a life changing revelation for me and my mom.  She's made fried mushrooms for holidays for as long as I can remember, and collectively, we've spent hours peeling and washing mushrooms to get the dirt off.  D'oh!



I think they need bigger plates. I could have eaten so much more. Oh wait, I did.

If you're not familiar with The Chubby Cook, it's an excellent cooking school/catering company/homestyle meal provider in Beachwood.  There are always vegan and vegetarian cooking classes on the schedule, as well as some more traditional, meat based classes.  I know this bothers some vegans and vegetarians, but it doesn't bother me.  And although you might not agree with me, I think it's a little ridiculous to not attend a class at a school that doesn't exclusively offer vegan and vegetarian classes.  (Although if you are looking for something like that, check out Foodgazi.)   The Chubby Cook himself, Scott, has been nothing but supportive of the vegan and vegetarian community in Cleveland.  But to expect him to try and run a profitable business offering only vegan and vegetarian classes in meat and potatoes Cleveland right now seems unreasonable right now.  But that's just my $.02.  I like to put my money where my mouth is, and I will continue to take classes at The Chubby Cook, and I will encourage my vegan and vegetarian friends to do the same.  Change doesn't come overnight.  Cleveland will probably never be an all vegan or vegetarian city, but we need to support the people who are helping our cause and encouraging people to be more open minded about eating plant meat based meals.