What are the Ann Arbor Lebowskys up to now?

October Specials

2010-10-15T11:24:00.002-04:00

October specials at local restaurants are always a wonderful reason to go out to eat
Blue Tractor was no exception
BBQ Turkey.....
Before:
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After:

The turkey was chargrilled with a cranberry BBQ sauce. Pumpkin grits and beautifully steamed veg. The only reason I did finish the veg is because I stole some of Rob's spiced greens =9

Got really busy

2010-05-10T09:12:00.001-04:00

We have gotten really busy lately, but still enjoying Pintday every friday. I will be posting soon (keeping fingers crossed) about more tasty places in Ann Arbor.

Jolly Pumpkin Café & Brewery

2010-01-29T19:13:00.002-05:00

311 South Main Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103
Phone: 734-913-2730
http://www.jollypumpkin.com/
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Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales is in Dexter Michigan, with a Restaurant, Brewery and Distillery in Traverse City Michigan.
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The Ann Arbor location opened in September of 2009 and we had our first visit in October. We enjoyed our first visit and have gone back a few times so far (about 5 total visits)
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Atmosphere: 6
Warm & welcoming. We have not eaten on the upper levels yet. The pictures on the walls are playful, and the chandlers have cooking utensils hanging from them.
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Staff: 6
Interactive and happy. They know the food that they serve, having asked about items some have even said they had that item that day for lunch/dinner. Every recommendation has been excellent.
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Food: 7
Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and kid portion options available.
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The JP Buger pictured here:

* Very Rich in flavor. The cheese is like a blend of Brie and Blue Cheese.
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They have well prepared specials like the Pork Tenderloin with pumpkin spatzel. There is spinach hidden beneath the spatzel that was perfectly prepared, and the sauce for the tenderloin hand an amazing course mustard in it:

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I could go on for days with how great the food is. Here is a summery to get you up to date on our experiences there with food.
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Appetizers: We have tried the soup of the day, Tomato Basil. Wow, smooth and flavorful, and the croutons were made from grill cheese sandwiches.
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Salads: none yet (Kate is going for one of these next time)
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Sandwiches: Both Rob and Kate have had the JP Burger (Rob without mushrooms) and it is amazing. The flavor is so rich with the combination of elements no condiments are needed. The melted cambozola cheese was a lovely surprise with the flavor being a cross between brie and blue cheese. The bacon is crisp and the beef tender. No other sandwiches tried yet.
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Granite Baked Pizza: sourdough or gluten-free crust. Rob is a fan of the Carnivores while Kate enjoys the Truffle (decadent flavors).
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Desserts: I can’t believe my ice cream was vegan!! I like it better then milk ice cream, way to go with the coconut milk, it really brings out the vanilla flavor. We have had the Pumpkin-Bay Pots de Crème and Rustic Apple pie with scoop of ice cream. They do not hide the flavors behind a ton of sugar, you can enjoy the natural flavors of the dishes.
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Drinks: Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic are available. We enjoy trying one of the unique brews available. If you like a Lambic, try the Eyo.

Park It !!

2010-01-14T18:40:00.002-05:00

First let’s address the issue of Parking in Ann Arbor.
There has been talk of not enough parking… I call BS !! You could say this is a sore spot for us with the condition of the parking lot by the District Library and it being turned into a structure. The events (kept as quiet as possible) about turning the flat lot into a structure (of sorts) looks to be all about making money for the city, and no concern about the businesses that will suffer a negative impact as a result. But I digress, I am just curious as to what people mean when they can’t find parking. Sure, game day or large events will cause parking problems, but people should expect that. Anyone who has spent enough time in this city knows that there are events that cause the entire downtown to be congested. My suggestion…. Public transportation when available or take a cab. Otherwise, most of the time there is plenty of parking to be had…. Example is this photo, taken on a Friday evening just into dinner time (7:11 PM to be exact).
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This parking lot is located on Williams, between Main and Fourth, and there were 533 spots available. We were parked in the flat lot across the street which is pretty small and when we pulled in at five o’clock it was only three quarters full. Some people would say that it is cold and January, so people are not out and about. Does that mean people outside of this city want enough parking for the busiest times and not think about how that effects our city when we have to view vacant structures during the less active times of the year. There can be a compromise, but right now the city council is just looking at the money figures and not what is best for the people and the businesses.

Happy New Year ! .... now eat up!

2010-01-12T21:55:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year !!!
It is a new year, and a new approach to our blog.
As Ann Arborites we (Rob and Kate) have learned to embrace change. With that comes a rotation of delicious foods.
We usually call Friday by another name… Pintday. After work we go to a Pub for a meal and a Pint, a great way to start the weekend. We enjoy food, not in quantity, but in quality. We wish to share with you places in and around Ann Arbor that we have eaten at, and what we think of them.
We will rate each dining experience separately with the understanding that people can have bad days and sometimes need another chance to make a good impression. We will rate Atmosphere, Service and Food, along with providing comments about our experience.
Rating Scale is 1-7
1 = lowest score
4 = Average
7 = Excellent
We hope you find your days filled with friendship, fun and food =9 Now let’s tuck in.

May you rest

2009-07-09T08:27:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking of my Oma Fritzsche a lot over the last few months. Remembering going to Kerrytown with her, picking veggies from the garden, and how all her blankets had a red patch for her signature. I was mostly thinking on that red patch, and how I could do her honor and incorporate it into my art. Should it be in the name for etsy shop I will be opening soon, or literally add a red patch into my own work. When I hit the sewing machine at the beginning of July to create a couple dolls I decided to incorporate a small red tag to them to continue the tradition. I found out this morning that she is no longer with us. I will always remember the joy she brought me and will continue to do through my memories. I love you Oma.

Mr. Greek's Coney Island

2009-07-05T20:23:00.005-04:00

Located downtown Ann Arbor on State Street.

Ann Arborites have turned into foodies over the recent years, so I find it surprizing that a coney island has servived in the heart of town. After eating breakfast it is confirmed that if you want the basics done well then this is the place to stop at for a meal.

Conor O'Neills

2009-04-18T15:03:00.002-04:00

We enjoyed a great lunch at Conor O'Neills today.
Made up for the underwhelming dinner at Cafe Felix last night.
The first time Kate has had an Irish Breakfast although we have seen it many times on travel and food shows. Wonderfully Delish!
We have never been disappointed in the food at Conor O'Neill's

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Link to their website:
http://www.conoroneills.com/annarbor/

Henderson Castle

2009-03-02T20:28:00.001-05:00

Kalamazoo Michigan

Now as a Bed & Breakfast.

This was the first time we stayed at a B&B and it was sooooo much nicer then a hotel. It is like being a welcomed guest into someones home (that really want's you there). Not the cookie cutter room with the temperature that is never right. It was warm and cozy. Our innkeeper for the night was Bob and he was delightful, he made breakfast for us in the morning too, yumm.

Learn more at: http://www.hendersoncastle.com/

Found Art

2009-01-13T14:55:00.003-05:00

There used to be a website of people who left art for others as "found art". I used to leave small art around as Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) for people years ago. I have recently decided that with the tough times (hugely hitting Michigan) that people could use a little happiness added in as a surprise. The website is no longer so I am trying to decide how I want to record the parcels that I will leave for people. I think I may just upload the images to my flickr and include a link with the note I leave with the art. Maybe add a moo card as additional art with my found art info... hmmmm

Rockin' for the Hungry

2008-12-07T13:53:00.003-05:00

Ann Arbor's 107.1 radio station was at Busch's on Main this weekend to help collect food and money for Food Gatherers. We did a quick stop in on Wednesday to donate 3 bags of food, and then came back on Saturday to donate $35. It is amazing that $35 can feed a child for a whole month.

Art For Cures Auctions are up !

2008-10-17T20:25:00.005-04:00

Check out what great artwork is available for action.
100 % of the funds go to charity !!!

http://www.willartforcures.org/

Got my money's worth

2008-10-13T15:03:00.002-04:00

I went scrapbooking all day on Saturday. All funds from the cost of the day (your table space) and all raffles went to help some boy scouts attend a leadership convention.

$35 for a 6 foot table for 12 hours. Included Breakfast, drinks, lunch, snack, dinner
$16 in raffle tickets won me a book
Door prize and free stamp from Close to My Heart for being there.

Whoo hoo !

Does not Compute

2008-10-03T14:35:00.002-04:00

Parts for the new computer arrived !!!

Looks like a lot of boxes here...now it is just one box (aka case)

Rob is working on the build of the software and will hopefully be playing on it by the end of the weekend.

Kate will get his old gaming computer after it is rebuilt and then Kate's will be rebuilt into the basic back up computer.

Michigan Ren Faire

2008-09-16T20:09:00.002-04:00

The Michigan Ren Faire in Holly runs through September so get out and enjoy the fun! This weekend should be beautiful weather. I went the first weekend of the fair and it was HOT. We took George with us and he dressed in costume. George wanted to try to get this sword out of the stone, he figured the owner would want it back after someone played a silly trick on them, but it didn't budge no matter how hard he pulled. People enjoyed seeing George and got a kick out of his costume, he attracted a lot of attention with the young ladies at the maypole. We got to see the jousting and this year the knight that resides over the tourny is a lady, whoda thunk. Got my usual carmal apple, can't pass one of those up.

Red Hot Lovers

2008-08-14T10:30:00.002-04:00

It has been a while since my last post so I thought I would drop in real quick to share one of my favorite lunch places. Great Chicago Dogs and fries. Warning: their chili has beans so that means no Detroit Coneys here.

In the summer it is nice to enjoy the outdoor seating. Noon is always busy to I try and get there a few minutes before the crowd.

B Painting...Strange

2008-07-12T19:31:00.002-04:00

Went to one of my local Biggby's, again, and saw the paintings there, again, but this time something in the painting popped out at me...and image of a face, kinda...

The red dot looks like a nose on a sad face with one blue eye. The spheres to the left look like floating eyes. This could seriously scare some kids, not that kids should be frequenting a coffee shop, but strange none the less.

Nicola's Book Fairy Door

2008-07-07T06:24:00.003-04:00

I went to Nicola's just to see the Fairy Door today. I've been in there plenty of times, but always forget about the fairy door. I had my camera and George this time.

Learn more about fairy doors here: http://urban-fairies.com/

Pintday!

2008-07-04T18:51:00.003-04:00

Pintday and no work today. I ran around this morning to some stores that were open for things we needed. For dinner we met up with Jenny in Plymouth (Michigan) for dinner. We went to Sean O'Callaghans and enjoyed Pints, fish & Chips, Shephard's Pie, and desserts such as Creame Brulee and brownie.

For more info on the restaurant: http://www.seanocallaghans.com/

For more pictures of our dinner see us on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/a2lebowsky/

Buy a Gift Card and get a Free coffee

2008-07-03T17:16:00.005-04:00

We got a Gift Card at Biggby this morning and a free drink too. It won't take long to us this card up, then repeat =)

ATT DSL and Cable

2008-07-02T11:43:00.003-04:00

When we moved we were able to get ATT for our internet and cable, yippie! No more Comcast !
It was working great until last week when around 7:55 pm came around and we lost our connection. After trying to reboot the gateway it finally came back on around 8:20-ish. It continued to do this each day at the same time. After a couple calls to customer service we scheduled a tech to come out.
Friday... after hours of work, still not fixed, elevated to supervisor for a more experienced line tech
Monday ... waited for someone to come out and the same gal came right before the outage to see if she could help the tech, but she was the first to show up. She tried to figure out what was causing the outage and another tech showed up 2 minutes after the our services came back up. They messed with some stuff at our hook up point outside, this left us with absolutely no service period, Not Good. Original tech was there until 1am, needless to say Rob got very little sleep and still had to deal with the techs.
Tuesday... Very tired Rob calls Customer Service first thing in the morning, they should have already called him considering the situation. Said someone would be out between 2-4pm... 3:30 Rob calls ATT and work order is still in que... He decided to come pick me up from work in stead of sticking around the house. Got Biggby, Yay! Got a call around 5:00 that a tech was heading out, he was in Inkster so it took a while to get there. This guy was also very nice and started checking lines, connections, signal strength... very detailed. As time went on the origial tech showed up and worked with him on our service.

In the end at about 11pm we had service again.
Now were will have to see if it goes out at 7:55 again.

Dream Engine

2008-06-28T08:03:00.003-04:00

Finally had an evening that didn't rain on us!

I went into town with my friend Astrid to check out the Dream Engine performace at Top of the Park.

It was interesting, not overly exciting, but cool in its own way. I like the performance in the evening when y0u can see the colors.

Top of the Park

2008-06-25T08:41:00.002-04:00

Ann Arbor Summer festival is in full swing!
http://www.annarborsummerfestival.org/top.shtml

Last year we went to Top of the Park to see a group from Melbourne that was AMAZING !
here is a link to their site: http://www.strangefruit.net.au/

This year a unique group called Dream Engine that look amazing. Their performances start tonight. Rob and I will be going to see them on Thursday with Astrid, Kelly and JR. Then again on Friday with Astrid so that we can see both performances. I am hoping to take my friend Anne downtown on Saturday evening for dinner and Dream Engine so we can see the late performance with the added lights.
here is the Dream Engine site: http://www.thedreamengine.co.uk/

Beer Tasting Party

2008-06-22T12:13:00.004-04:00

We usually have our first Beer tasting of the year in March, but with moving it got delayed. This years first tasting was on Midsummer Night.

We Enjoyed various beers including: Expresso Love by Arbor Brewing Company, Orange Blossom Cream Ale, Cherry Chocolate, and Midas Touch by Dog fish head brewing.

The menu was a Summertime theme with Hot Dogs and Hamburgers, Chips, and Salads. We had Cupcakes for dessert =9

Dragon Cupcakes

2008-06-19T21:34:00.004-04:00

The first day of summer is almost here!

I made some cupcakes for our plush dragon friends because the first day of summer is the birthday for all dragons.

Remember to wish all the Dragons you know a Happy Birthday on June 21st.

These cupcakes happen to be red, the same color as our dragon friends, with chocolate on top because we all love chocolate =9

Cupcakes

2008-06-18T20:17:00.003-04:00

I forgot how wonderful homemade cupcakes tasted.
We moved into our new place just over a month ago. At our old place I could not bake because it set off our fire alarm from the heat going directly to it upon opening the oven. No problem here! I got the desire to make cupcakes for our upcoming beer tasting party this Saturday and was not disappointed in the results. Soft and fluffy cupcake topped with chocolate frosting, Yum!
Pictures will be on flickr Saturday in celebration of Summer, Solstice is almost here :)

Dublin Dr. Pepper

2008-06-14T21:51:00.003-04:00

My Dublin Dr. Pepper arrived today!
Isn't it just Dr. Pepper you ask.... Nope! Welcome to the world of soda with real sugar. A friend of mine in Texas sent my first half case to me and I am hooked. They do not use High Fructose Corn Syrup so the taste is lighter.
IT ROCKS!!!!!
You can order yours on their website: http://www.dublindrpepper.com/

Dinner at Casey's Tavern

2008-06-14T07:50:00.004-04:00

Friday is Pintday. We were planning on going into town for Grizzly Peak, but with the Main Street being blocked of for a festival about Ann Arbor being more Green, the rain and long day at work... we went to our Tavern of Comfort food... Casey's :)
Since I was expecting to get my steak sandwich at GP I went for the Hunk of Red Meat at Caseys. Cooked perfectly medium rare it was delicious :9 Rob got his comfort of a burger with chedder cheese and olives, with a side of chips (wonderful steak fries). Our pints for the dinner, Bell's Oberon for both of us.
Our plush monkey Nigel was with us of course, it is Pintday after all :) He was pleasently surprised that he got to see Suzanne. She is our favorite waitress at Casey's and he as a bit of a crush on her.

Strawberry Cheesecake Chill

2008-06-13T09:00:00.001-04:00

Friday morning! As usual we start our friday at Biggby Coffee on Washtenaw. I was debating if I wanted a warm drink or a Zebra big chill when our barista recommended a Strawberry Cheesecake Chill....YUM! Rob got his favorite freeze, Berry.
Our plush monkey named Nigel was with us today, because it is Pintday. Heading to a local pub afterwork on fridays is always a pleasure to look forward to. We got to Biggby's before the rush so I took some pictures of Nigel ordering our drinks and waiting for them, and of course enjoying the final product =9
Time to get some work done....

New Blog for us

2008-06-13T08:46:00.000-04:00

I had a blog before that was used for my art stuff, but figured I should get one started for what the Ann Arbor Lebowskys are up to. We have a flickr site, but sometimes you want to write without adding a picture. So lets begin!