SUMMER CAKE: We topped off dinner (on W. 25th street with my parents at Market Garden Brewery) with some late-night baking. Rather, I baked while Ryan watched a movie and ate frosting. I tried out a new recipe called Hummingbird Cake that’s from a 1978 issue of Southern Living. It’s a banana/pineapple/cinnamon cake with cream cheese frosting. Perfect for a Saturday in late July. Here’s a link to the recipe. Click on the “Julia’s Cakes” button.
If you’re in the neighborhood tomorrow, and you’re looking for some pre-Taste-of-Tremont revelry, stop by for a piece. Happy Saturday, friends! Make your nights as fine as sifted flour.
BIKES: Last night Ryan and I were going to go to Little Italy. Instead we rode our bikes around Cleveland for three hours. It’s pretty interesting to see C-town up close and personal. I mean, if you got out of the boats and walked around It’s a Small World, it’d probably look different, too (smaller somehow?). Anyway, we stopped in some pretty rad locations, made it home in time for dinner at Lincoln Park Bistro, and ran into a few friends along the way (good to see you, Kevin, LIG, Adam, and Adam’s sister). Here are a few things you can check out on your own bicycle trip around Cleveland.
RYAN MILLER, local bike model
YELLOWCAKE: this lovely gypsy boutique is hard to keep track of because it keeps moving, but it’s worth it if you like cupcakes, charming skirts, and fabulously-decorated girlstores. Right now, it’s on W. 25th Street, right next to Joy Machines and Ohio City Burrito.
JOY MACHINES: This jazzy, new, local bike shop is run by two guys you will love to trust with your bike. Adorably amiable and seemingly knowledgable: nice combo.
DREDGER’S UNION: We stopped on 4th street to check out the Danielle Deboe’s stunning new store. The inside is gorgeous, like a miniature old-Cleveland department store packed with local designers and trendos from out of town. This place is perfectly done.
MORE OF THE UNION: The downstairs-in-progress at the bottom of the grand staircase looks like the Cleveland entrance to Hogwarts.
THE HERMIT CLUB’S HERMITAGE: I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t completely understand what the Hermit Club is, but it’s located in an uber-German looking building hidden in a corner of Playhouse Square. It appears to be some sort of secret theatre club that’s been around since the early 1900s.
EUCLID and E. 6th at 7 p.m.(ish)
OHIO CITY FARM: I can’t believe I never noticed this before! We stopped to check out this 6-acre urban farm in the middle of Ohio City. It’s near the Market, right behind the CMHA Riverview Complex.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” (723)
If 6 hours of Harry Potter filmery sounds spellbinding to you, check out Capitol Theatre’s Harry Potter release this week. They’ll show Deathly Hallows Part I at 9 p.m., and Part II follows at midnight. I’m kind of addicted to this place — Ryan and I have been there three times in the last two weeks.
GO TO A FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND: Don’t worry if you missed the Memorial Day kickoff to Cleveland’s 4-month stretch of festivals: there’s still time to partake. Festival season is one of my favorite things about living here, and one of the best parts about summer in Cleveland. One of my favorites (because it’s on my block) is Taste of Tremont, a maelstrom of some of the midwest’s best restaurants in a crowded, hot, fabulous street fair that takes place next Sunday. Also, Lilly has a chocolate eating contest. Why do we love festivals? Because streets are closed to cars and open to hundreds of wandering people. Because old people will teach you how to polka. Because gluttony is required. Because it involves the lost pastime of curb sitting. Because people wear costumes and play accordians. You can’t really go wrong. (Photos: Ryan, Jen, and Mark participating in some recent festivalry). Here are some of our favorites:
- Memorial Weekend: The Greek Festival at Annunciation Church in Tremont
- July 17: Taste of Tremont
- August 12 – 15: The Feast of the Assumption in Little Italy
- Sept. 2 – 4: St. John Cantius Polish Festival
- TBA Early September: St. Rocco’s Italian Feast
The death of Phonographic Arts:
Budding from bricks:
1972: Year of the duck
Luigi: lost/Sign: preserved
Bird-sky pie:
The natural ashtray:
Shark rights propaganda:
Mom o’ Jesus (cracked):
Shadows and Tall Trees:
Green leaves, green door:
Anyone who’s ever gone for a walk with me knows that I’m a slow movin’ lady. Melissa and I used to walk so slowly when we lived in Athens that we would find ourselves sitting on a stone ledge abandoned by the rest of our friends wondering when we stopped moving. It’s summer time, so I have plenty of time for slow walkin’. Check out the detritus of human oddity and activity that I found while I was slothing around in my neighborhood today. Look for more tomorrow…
Robobike:
I bought you this fence:
Graffiti and vines hang out:
Day Light:
FREE MUSIC: Aside from the bad-assery that comes from being an independent bookstore that stays afloat and has a Walt Whitman quote cut out of metal in front of it, Tremont’s Visible Voice Books also has music on its garden courtyard pretty much every weekend in the summer. Last weekend Ryan and I were wandering by on Friday night when the sound of bluegrass pretty much fish-hook-in-the-lipped us from across the street. The patio was so packed people were standing by the gates overflowing onto the sidewalk. According to Greg (whose shirt identified him by another name altogether) the band is called Front Porch and made up of a bunch of BW professors. The only drawback? They ran out of wine glasses. BYOG, indeed. Anyway, if it’s a nice night, and you’re looking for some free music, a copy of “Light in August,” and some porch sittin’, this is your place.
FUN CLEVELAND NEWS: Check out this article on all-kinds-of-creative Danielle Deboe who’s trying to bring retail back to downtown. If 10 percent of us were this innovative, the world would be more jarring, clever, and colorful. Also, check out the “100 days in Cleveland” project in which a local artist tries to draw something fabulous in Cleveland every day for 100 days. You can also buy prints on Etsy.
AVETT BROTHERS: Ryan and I headed south to Columbus last weekend to hang with Kyle and go to the Avett Brothers concert since they didn’t make it to Cleveland this year.
Good news: the Avett Brothers are still banjo-rific. The banjo, I woul
d argue, is the merriest instrument. And when I’m 95 and dying happily in my sleep while dreaming about my grandma making me a birthday cake, I hope a banjo is playing. The Avett Brothers are, of course, a magnet for other siblings. In addition to Kyle and I, this fun couple from Akron (right) were also brothas and sistas hanging out. Siblings!
SOOOO-CRATES: One of my philosophical seniors sent me the link to this page after we read “The Allegory of the Cave” in class. It’s one of the funniest Web sites I’ve seen in months. Thanks, Philsophy Bro, existentialism has never been more hilarious.
FIRE JUMPING: I’m looking forward to seeing some pals at the Warrior Dash this weekend. I’m maxing out at about 20 minutes of running, so a 5k that involves barbed wire, mud, rivers, and a cargo net should be a harrowing adventure. Luckily, I have no exams scheduled for Monday. I’m pretty jazzed to head down to southern Ohio for the first time in years.
Cheers, friends! I hope you are well.