This is going to be a long one, but first things first:
GO OUTSIDE AND CHECK OUT THE MOON!!!
For realz - According to the good folks at space.com, tonight is a rare night for those geekily fascinated with astronomy, like yours truly. The moon will be very slim, and to the right of it will be two super-bright "stars" that are really planets: Venus is the brightest one at the bottom, and Jupiter(!) is the next-brightest to the upper-right. I've always known you could see Venus in the sky. Or at least I've known it was something non-stellar. I was poorly misinformed a while back that the brightest object in the sky besides the moon was the sun's reflection off the space station. Not a bad theory, until I questioned it earlier this year while at NC State's planetarium show and the knowledgeable host corrected me. Either way... HOW COOL.
I can't stop staring at it. Like all of a sudden, they are going to start swirling around like a laser-pointer show or something. Of course, I had to take a picture. Couldn't get the tripod in the right spot on the balcony to get a non-flash shot, which would have also captured the shadow of the moon's full orb (also cool). So I went with flash, and at least you can see a little bit of the craters when you zoom in. Do you have binoculars at home? You can totally see craters on the moon with them! I have not done this before. Hence my elementary giddiness.
Here's my attempt at night sky photography without knowing any better how to get a more professional photo. Exibit A is the moon on the left (just seeing if you're skimming...). Exibit B is the bright spot at the bottom, Venus. And exibit C to the upper-right is Jupiter. Did I say cool? COOL.
Now that I've uploaded it, it doesn't do justice to the largeness and brightness of the planets. Boo. Maybe you can click on it and see it in better quality. Anyhoo, on with the show.
*****
SO! Where were we... Ah, Thanksgivingness. Ours was actually celebrated (i.e. "face-stuffed") the weekend prior to said holiday. I had to work on Turkey Day proper, so we went to my home-Land-of-Cleve to celebrate with my family. We had gotten warnings of proper attire for our suitcases, which meant only one thing:
SNOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!
Driving up, we didn't really hit the good stuff until about a half-hour from our destination, but it did not disappoint. It was already dark, but in the tradition of my favorite winter-evening memories, it was very heavy on the branches, making them all look fluffy white, and the sky was just a bit lighter than normal. When you stood outside, there was the familiar chilly, yet cozy, silence in the air of being cocooned in a snowy blanket. The following morning was no exception, as my favorite huge chunky snow drifted slowly and peacefully from the sky.
Then it stopped, eventually started to melt a stitch, and like an idiot, I realized I didn't get outside to take more pictures in its prime. *le sigh*
Saturday was our turkey day! A day when I usually avoid what's going on in the kitchen (I'm a non-cooker, for all the new readers out there). The mister (my resident chef) offered up his services to prepare not only our bird, but six casserole-dish-sized side items, as well. Being the culinary geek that HE is, your usual fare was not good enough. Consulting the pages of Bon Apetit and Food & Wine, the smells of this year's feast began to fill up the joint. His chosen theme was to make dishes reminiscent of what would have been had back in the day when the pilgrims were kissing up to the native Americans. (You know, prior to the whole robbing-them-of-their-way-of-life thing that followed.) The turkey was a purdy sight, slathered with a sweet citrusy glaze on the outside.
I'm serious here, people. That is the actual turkey he made. Cookies aside, there should be no question why I'm keeping him around. After dinner, we had a mini-birthday celebration for Mr. Chef. Since he did not have time (or room) to also add on the task of making dessert (JEEZ!), we purchased a peach pie and the ever-nummy Breyer's vanilla bean ice cream. One of his gifts was a pair of tickets to the following day's Cleveland Browns home game downtown, which really just made it like my birthday instead. :)
Sunday morning, we geared up. Swiss-Miss hat? Check. Ski coat and gloves? Check. Butt-warming bean-filled chair cushion? Check. Super-thick Mexican-style wool blanket? Check Check. Time to head to town!
Let it be known that I love me some Cleveland, Ohio. Trash if you will, but I'm a dyed-in-the-wool fan. Granted, I don't live there anymore and may not ever again, but I have very fond memories. Not so much the ones driving in the aforementioned snow after the holidays (when I have not-quite-as-nice sentiments about it and its determination to linger for an additional 3-4 months), but good ones, nonetheless. One of those memories was heading downtown to check out the lights and sights the day after Thanksgiving, for which we were just a bit early this time around. It was still good to see the city continuing its quest to breathe life into the heart of itself once again, as it had done in the past. New shops and restaurants, and lots and lots of renovated space in the buildings with their wonderful architecture. On our walk to the stadium, an orange awning that I never-before recalled caught my eye. Could it be a deli? We hadn't eaten yet, so we decided to check it out.
JACKPOT.
How have I never seen this or been here before??? The Sportsman's Deli. You couldn't have picked a more perfect place to gnosh before an early-winter football game in a steel-belt town. I'd show you the website, but based on the un-renovated interior of the establishment, they might not know how to operate a computer yet, let alone get that fancy. And I wouldn't want them to.
See inside the window, to the right of the neon football helmet? That's one of those old-fashioned Tiffany-esque bar lamps. Except surely no where else can you find ones emblazoned solely with the words "CORN BEEF" on one and "PASTRAMI" on the other. In stained glass. Awesome. All in a lovely shade of 70s orange to match the awning outside and Browns uniforms nearby. Inside was the warmth of grandma's sweet basement plywood paneling and tons of local sports memorabilia on the wall. Fill it up with salt-of-the-earth blue-collar good folk clad in their Brownie best, shove down a plate of "world's-finest" corned beef (yes, it was pretty damn good), and you couldn't ask for anything more on such a fine Lake Erie morning. I probably was the only chick in there besides the wait staff, but who cares. I wanna go back.
I had not yet been inside the new Cleveland Browns stadium. I have fond memories of going, very young, with my dad to watch games in the upper-deck of the old stadium, metal girders blocking half of your view, icy wind whipping around inside like a vortex, sucking down hot chocolate from our thermos, and sopping up the infamous Stadium Mustard (go order you some) on a dog or two. They were good times. The new digs were wonderful. Completely open and in the same location, but somehow the wind wasn't as menacing. You aren't allowed to bring in a thermos anymore and you go through security on your way in (compliments of 9/11), but the magic is still there. A sea of brown and orange, awesomely sarcastic and cynical fans who will never stop being fans, even when the team chokes... yet again, and the intense hatred for the Steelers, even when they aren't the ones on today's lineup. Cups of hot chocolate and gobs of stadium mustard later, we left, very satisfied.
On the way back, we stopped by Public Square and Tower City, which was once home to the wonderful Higbee's department store. We always went into Higbee's on our Black Friday visits, and I'll never forget the high, white walls, huge chandeliers, and swags of red curtains and christmas lights. I remember up on the tenth floor of the building was where kids could go in to a special store of their own and shop for their parents while they waited for them outside the doors. Today, Higbee's is sadly gone. In it's place is a less-exciting office, though they did smartly keep the white walls and chandeliers of the old days. For those of you who are huge Christmas Story fans like my Mister, you'll know that Higbee's is the department store featured at the beginning of the movie. You can see the curtains and chandeliers in the scenes where Ralphie and his brother visit Santa after the parade on Public Square. In keeping with tradition, and especially given that this is the 25th anniversary of that classic flick, they decorate the infamous window where Ralphie and his friends drooled over the Red Rider BB gun. This past weekend was the commemorative Christmas Story weekend, complete with cast reunion and visits to the old yellow house, recently bought, renovated, returned to its former color, and turned into a museum.
That night was relaxing as we headed over to Sarah's Vineyard, a winery and gallery inside an old 1846 farmhouse. We brought along a bunch of appetizers to eat while sampling a few bottles of their reds and whites. You totally feel like you're intruding, bringing in shopping bags with all your food, plates, and napkins, but that's exactly what they want you to do. Just relax. It was very nice surrounding yourself with the old wood, arts and crafts. Stay till the end of the night like we did, and you can meet Stanley and Frontenac (like the grape), the resident brother doggies.
On Monday, we drove to Medina, a town that I'd never actually been to in all my years there. It has a very cute downtown square area, and was all decorated with white twinkly lights in every shop window. Lunch was at (highly-recommended) Dan's Dogs, a diner with something like 50 types of super-cheap and super-tasty hot dog topping combos on the menu, decorated in 50s era diner style. We also stopped by Root Candle's amazing shop, which was full of fantastic home items that the decorator in me wanted to splurge on. The company has a niftly little history, as well.
It was a good weekend. Then, alas, it was Tuesday, which meant facing the 8-hour return drive home. Just in time, however, the snow came back once more to say goodbye.
