New thing #19: Little tiny cabbages

For most of my life, I've hated cabbage. Raw, boiled, pickled or stuffed - blech. And that also goes for their nasty little cousins, Brussels sprouts.


Alright, to be honest, I had never actually tasted one of those. I can't remember if my mother didn't cook them, or if she just let me off the hook when they were served (6th child burnout). Either way, I couldn't understand why anyone would want to eat a food that smells like feet. Even if it's packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals.


Now that I'm committed to a healthy lifestyle, I'm trying to have an open mind along with my open mouth. I've learned to like plain Greek yogurt, blueberries, chick peas and kale. I've actually become a connoisseur of coleslaw, although I still hate cooked or pickled cabbage. Then one day The Girl, an adventurous taster, said that she liked Brussels sprouts. So armed with a recipe I swiped off Pinterest, I headed to the market and bought a bag.


I decided to roast the sprouts with garlic and olive oil. The recipe said to cut them in half, but I quartered them to reduce the chance of a gag reflex. They caramelized nicely in the oven, filling my kitchen with that lovely feet smell. (Side note - while these were roasting, The Boy came into the room and asked me if I was making banana bread. Either he needs his olfactory senses evaluated, or I need a new banana bread recipe.)

We had the little cabbage cousins for dinner with some grilled chicken thighs and a vegetable pasta salad. I ate them, but I didn't really like them until I mixed them in with the pasta salad. They are okay as a background filler but definitely not a headliner for me. And since I served 8 ounces of Brussels sprouts to four adults and still had leftovers, I don't think I'm alone in my opinion.

New thing #18: American Coney Dog

I think every town in SE Michigan has at least one Coney Island restaurant. Since I'm from upstate New York, I couldn't figure out why there was so much interest in a faded amusement park town near Brooklyn. I'm guessing it's because Coney Island, NY is famous for 'introducing' the hot dog to the USA. And a staple of every Coney Island restaurant is a coney dog, a natural casing beef hot dog topped with a meaty beanless chili, a strip of yellow mustard and a sprinkle of chopped white onion, served in a warmed steamed bun. These restaurants are also known for great Greek and Mediterranean food, and for serving breakfast all day long. I love Greek food. I love breakfast. So although I've eaten at several different Coney Islands,  I've never gotten around to actually trying the coney.

nom nom nom

Back in Buffalo, if someone came to visit and wanted to try chicken wings, we'd take them to the Anchor Bar. To try a classic coney, Senior & I went to the place where the Detroit coney originated - American Coney Island. This is a cool little restaurant at the corner of Lafayette & Michigan Avenues in the heart of the city. We got a window seat with a great view and placed an order for two coneys, a small Greek-style salad, and a side of shoestring fries (which we rated a respectable 58 on the Jubie scale, where the highest possible score is, of course, a 69). Our coneys looked just like the picture and were nice and messy to eat.  The hot dogs made a satisfying pop when you bit into them. The chili was mildly spicy and heavy on the beefy flavor, almost like a gravy, and subtly flavored by the mustard and onions.  It was good, but it would have been better with ketchup.  Sorry Michiganders... is that irreverent?

New thing #17: Perfect Eyebrows

Zip, zip... perfect!

One of the indignities of growing older is when your eyebrow line begins to fade. Hair disappears from the outside and turns a wiry gray on the inside. But those stray hairs that start at the eyelid and sprout up to your hairline? Those never go away. It takes diligence to keep them under control. And with the crop I was cultivating, it was time to call in the pros. 

I've plucked and I've waxed, but today I wanted to try threading. There is a salon near the mall that specializes in this quick process where a doubled strand of thread is twisted across your brow, catching a whole row of those stray hairs and whipping them out by the roots. 

Penny is the fastest eyebrow threader in the Detroit Metro area. She has you help pull your skin tight, grasps one end of the thread between her teeth and rolls the rest around your eyebrows like lightening. The sensation is similar to waxing without that dreaded wait for the wax to be ripped off. And in the time it takes to wax one eyebrow, you are fully groomed and out the door.  Ten dollars, ten minutes, and I was good to go with crisp, clean perfect eyebrows.  Penny recommended I come back in three weeks for a touch up, and admonished me to not touch my brows in the interim.  I will take her advice!

New thing #16: Reiki

I really wanted to love Reiki. I've heard the treatment described as "a wonderful glowing radiance" that flows through your body. With chronic pain in my shoulder from years as a desk jockey, and discomfort from recent minor surgery, I was in need of a little healing therapy. So when The Girl invited me to a psychic fair that included Reiki practitioners, I was all for it.

Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It's based on the idea that there is a universal energy that supports the body's natural ability to heal. The practitioner channels this life force and helps transfer it to the patient. My treatment began in a tranquil room, with dim lights, soothing music and soft incense. I was instructed to remove my shoes and coat, and lie face up on a padded table that was covered with a beautiful quilt. The practitioner, a quiet woman about my age, asked if it was alright for her to place her hands on me. She covered my eyes with a soft cloth, and began pressing lightly on the top of my head. Over the next 20 minutes, she alternated between gentle pressure on my shoulders, hips, feet, legs and hands, and waving her arms in the air above my body to "attune the energy".

At first I didn't feel anything. Around the time she got to my ankles I did feel a brief warm, comfortable all-over "rush". Then my stomach started to gurgle like a percolator, which totally distracted me from my mojo moment. It was pretty uneventful after that. When the treatment was done, she took the cloth off my eyes and asked me how I felt. I laid there for a minute, not sure if we were finished or not, then got up and thanked her for the session. I was kind of bummed. I didn't feel any more relaxed or relieved of any pain. I'm still open-minded about alternative therapies, but today this one didn't work for me. 

New thing #15: NAIAS

The North American International Auto Show, one of the largest media events in North America, is held in Detroit every January. The leading automakers display their latest product launches and concept cars. More than 700,000 people attended the show this year, the most since 2005. But even though I've lived in the metro Detroit area for nearly ten years and I work in the automotive industry, I had never attended the show. I'm not a "car" person. Usually the only thing I notice about someone's ride is the color.

So on a lazy Sunday morning, Senior and I headed downtown. We parked at Greektown Casino and rode the people mover to Cobo Hall. People watching is usually prime on the people mover, but today was pretty dull because everyone looked like us, middle class cul-de-sac-ers bundled up against the cold. 

The Auto Show, however, lived up to the hype. Everything was bright and modern with an energetic vibe. The OEM's outdid themselves. The Ford booth was an interactive playground, complete with virtual rides and game shows. GM let you get in touch with your inner artist by drawing on their dry-erase grafitti wall and making customized buttons. You could dance with a virtual hamster at the Kia booth, simulate an IMAX theater experience in the Lexus booth, channel your inner IKEA in the Volvo booth, and gawk in the Mini booth at the race track that ran up to and along the ceiling. Hundreds of people wandered through the hall, listening to the animated and well informed spokespersons and watching the entertainment. Detailers worked feverously to keep up with the fingerprints and smudges on the displays, and the insidious smell of cinnamon roasted almonds permeated the hall. It was a really enjoyable show!

Oh, and there were a whole bunch of cars there too. Mostly white or gray ones.

New thing #14: Holly Hotel

My girlfriend shared her great Groupon deal for a chef's selection dinner at the historic Holly Hotel, followed by a show in their comedy club. The Holly Hotel is over 100 years old and has been called the most haunted historic building in Michigan, so the six of us were ready for ghost sightings during dinner.

We were greeted with the scent of cinnamon and cloves as we entered the ornate and beautiful dining room. Although it was January, vintage holiday decorations still stretched up to the high ceilings and over the intricate trim. We were quickly seated in a quiet corner and the evening's menu was explained. The chef would improvise an eight-course gourmet menu featuring local ingredients and a selection of wines. I'm addicted to Food Network cooking shows, so I was really excited to try some new foods.

One of the most charming parts of the dinner was the place settings. Silverware stretched as far as the eye could see, the linens were starched, and a mixture of vintage china was used for each course. The portions were perfectly sized so we felt satisfied but not stuffed.  Our attentive waiter described each course as he brought it to the table:

• 1st course, amuse-bouche: A "mouth amuser" to wake up our taste buds. This was a duck, raisin and apple salad served in a phyllo dough cup with a balsamic reduction. It was absolutely delicious. 
• 2nd course, soup: The flavor of the parsnip, carrot & curry soup with fresh spinach was good, but the presentation fell a little short. It looked like lumpy gray wallpaper paste. 
• 3rd course, salad: A fairly ordinary but tasty salad of winter greens that could have used a little more dressing (unusual for me to say, I like a dry salad).
• 4th course, fish: This was gorgeous - a small piece of braised whitefish was topped with crab salad and some garlic sprouts, sitting in a muddy red sauce. Many in our group said this was their favorite course. 
• 5th course, intermezzo: Time to cleanse our palates with a refreshing coconut/pineapple shaved ice.
• 6th course, entree: Shredded lamb in a pastry shell was perfectly cooked and served over minted parsnips with hosin-mole sauce. It was the best lamb I've ever tasted, and probably my favorite course. 
• 7th course, cheese: A light and airy Stilton mousse served on a toast point and garnished with a dollop of strawberry preserves. 
• 8th course, dessert: This was a rather strange personal-sized pumpkin spice cheesecake, topped with with a cinnamon schnapps reduction and PopRocks candy. My girlfriend pointed out its uncomfortable resemblance to Fancy Feast, but it actually tasted pretty good. 

After dinner we moved to the lounge to enjoy coffee and live music before the comedy show. Space was at a premium here, and we were wedged in so close to the entertainer that we could have been his backup singers. He was a good sport, and it wasn't long before we headed down to the comedy club located in the basement. If you've ever been in the basement of a turn-of-the-century home, you can imagine what this was like. A dark, cramped space with low ceilings and way too many occupants to be within the fire code. I don't know how they get away with it. The saving grace was that our table was right next to the emergency exit. The show started soon so we settled in to watch.  The warm up guy was funny, and the "special guest" comedian was very funny. But the headliner was only a mildly funny illusionist who spent a great deal of time pulling an audience member's ring out of an orange. Or something like that. Meh.

Before calling it a night, we all went to the bar next door to catch the end of the football game. We knew we married great guys when they missed most of the Lions first trip to the postseason in 12 years and didn't complain about it. The Lions didn't win, but it couldn't put a damper on a memorable evening of great friends and lots of laughter. But sadly, no ghosts.

New thing #13: Spring in winter

Never in my 50 years have I gone outside for a run on the first Saturday of the new year. For one thing, it's usually too snowy and cold here in my native Northeast. For another, running has only recently become a passion of sorts. But this is a special year, and temperatures 30 degrees higher than usual prompted Senior and I to put on sneakers, grab the pup and head out to enjoy the day.

There's a cute little township park about a mile from my house. It has lots of baseball and soccer fields and a small pond, and no admission fees. I always like to see the green space when I pass by, but I've rarely gone in since my kids outgrew recreational sports. Senior had been there recently though, and found that they had cut some new trails through the woods surrounding the playing fields. With this in mind, we headed down the hill towards the park to do some exploring.

Sunlight filtered down through the tall trees on the well-marked trails.  A thick layer of wood chips kept our feet dry as we wound through the woods and up and down some challenging hills.  We followed one trail up a really steep hill to a dead end.  At this point we did a little off-roading. Along one side of the park near a subdivision, we came across a lean-to in the woods.  We were glad to see kids are still using their imagination!  A little further on we hit a marsh, and decided that mucking across to get back to the main trail would not be the best plan. We backtracked and picked up a new trail, hiking most of the park before heading back home. Along the way I learned what a Shagbark Hickory looks like, and how to finesse a farmers' blow. It was a fantastic afternoon.

The last quarter mile towards home was uphill, and into a wind that finally remembered it was January instead of April. But that didn't put a damper on our enjoyment of this once-in-a-lifetime glimpse of Spring in the middle of our Michigan winter.

New thing #12: Icky medical procedure

I wasn't sure I wanted to publicize this new experience since it's quite personal. So without too many gory details, I had a procedure done which required me to lay on a table and have needles stuck in parts that have never been exposed to needles before.

As I was waiting for my turn, I thought about my mom. She had treatment for similar symptoms back in the mid-70's. But her ordeal included surgery, an extended hospital stay and several days of recovery. Mine involved 20 minutes of computer-guided treatment, some minor discomfort and a couple ice packs. I'm grateful for those who have supported and conducted the research that led to this technology. And I will continue to be vigilant about my health, even if it's icky to do so.

New thing #11: Boom Boom Pow

Thanks to Brad, Jackie & their buds for letting me blow stuff up!

 

New thing #10: Weihnachtsmarkt

Several people had told me that if I got the chance I should visit a Weihnachtsmarkt - a traditional German Christmas Market. So before flying home from Germany, I tagged along to the Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt with my friend Jens, his mom and stepdad.

The Christmas market takes place on the main square in the heart of the old town. We took the train there on a cold, wet night and joined the crowds walking towards the symbolic Nuremberg Christmas Angel with her white and gold dress and golden crown. Along the way we passed outdoor stands selling fruit, sweets and and cups of hot Glühwein (spiced mulled wine). We also passed several street musicians, including two different Santas playing accordions. One had a little dog with him, dressed in a matching Santa suit. Once we entered the square we were able to watch the artesians at work, crafting and selling handmade ornaments of glass and wood, weird little dried-plum figurines, all sizes of Nutcrackers and clever little smokers. I made room in my suitcase for one of these funky little incense burners!

My Smoker!

We also sampled the food - Stollen, a bread studded with rum-soaked dried fruit; Lebkuchen, a type of gingerbread which has a communion wafer stuck to the bottom for some reason; all types of spiced nuts; macaroons the size of your hand; and really delicious Nuremberg Bratwurst, which is three little grilled sausages on a hearty roll - so good! We didn't get a chance to try the Feuerzangenbowle, a huge kettle of hot spiced wine with a tong across the top. They soak a big hunk of sugar in rum, place it on the tong and set it on fire. As it burns, the rum-soaked sugar drips into the wine. It looks really cool, but the line was huge and the area so crowded you could barely move. We settled for some Glühwein, which did wonders to keep the cold away while hot, but tasted kind of gross after it cooled off. I'm not a big fan of sweet wine.

We took a short detour on the way back to the train station to stroll through the Handwerkerhof ("Crafts Yard"). This cool little area, surrounded by the towers and walls of the medieval city fortification, is where craftsmen have set up workshops in little houses. We saw wax artists, bag-makers, potters, silversmiths, glass painters, doll makers and more - and every one of them was closed for the evening. Just one more reason to make a return visit to this great city!