This is Home

I was planning on telling all of you more about my European adventures, but then I saw the prompt for Juliette, Faith, & Allie's link-up.  Today for the Blog Everyday in July challenge, you're supposed to talk about your city.  And that made me think just how much I missed my hometown! After eighteen days of travel, I was definitely ready to get back to the familiar (but oh, so sad to leave the views and the food and the history and the . . . oh. Sorry.).  So, let's talk about the familiar!

I've lived in this small city an hour outside of Detroit for my entire life! (Well, minus 1.5 years of my life, but I don't remember them, so let's not consider that.)

Sometimes we get these really incredible sunrises that make me want to sing.  Except that would ruin the moment.  So I don't.  

Being located in Michigan means that my hometown sees all two seasons: winter and construction season.  Kidding, kidding.  We get a gorgeous range of new buds in the spring, green, green in the summer, crunchy leaves in the fall and an eternal winter that lasts twice as long as all the other seasons combined.  You do the math on that one.  

We have a cute little downtown with cute little shops and cute little parades that big city people think are lame, but I deem "cute."

Proof: My friend, who is from a much larger city, and I biked down to watch the Memorial Day parade that lasted pretty much all of seven minutes.  I loved it.  She didn't.  Oh, well. Can't please everybody.

We were a little late to the fro-yo game, but I am now proud to say that my hometown has not one, but TWO fro-yo shops.  You're pretty much ready to make my town your next vacation spot, aren't you?

If not, maybe this will convince you: we have a food truck! An actual, real life food truck with actual food that actually is pretty good.  I was really hesitant to go at first, but I'm really glad that I did.  It's so unique and becoming a definite feature of my town.  I hope it sticks around as long as I do!

More cool things about my town! In addition to our cute little downtown area that gets all dressy for Christmas and summer, we have a super classy strip mall.  No creepy abandoned buildings here! Everything is new and exciting and busy nearly all the time.  

Annnnd, for all you outdoorsy people, we have a metropark with lots of hiking trails, fishing spots and beaches to get your tan on.  Golf courses and ski hills? Yep, got those too.

If you aren't as in love with my city as I am, that's okay.  You have to live it to love it in my opinion.  However, I will offer one more point that may sway you: 

we have pie. 

How I Made BBQ Modern Art

Any Michiganders out there? More specifically, any Detroiters? Have any of you heard of this littleee place called Slow's Barbecue? Yeah, I thought so.

For those of you who aren't fortunate enough to live in the snow banks for six months out of the year, Slow's is nationally recognized for being one of the best BBQ joints in America. After what my tastebuds experienced last night, I can soundly attest to that! 

I've tried to eat at Slow's multiple times, but was always deterred by a long wait list. With a little time to spare before the Red Wings game last night, we could afford to wait. 

The restaurant itself is so gorgeous. Playing with a mixture of textures and hardwood colors that you would never imagine to combine, it's upscale while still maintaining the atmosphere of a BBQ joint. Sorry, no pictures. You'll just have to go yourself to see!

I split a slab of the highly awarded ribs with a friend and we used the two sides that come with entrées to both order the famed mac&cheese. I was super hungry, so as soon as the waiter brought our drinks (get the lemonade; it's delicious!), we asked if our sides could be brought out first so I wouldn't die of starvation. I mean, it had been around two whole hours since I had last eaten. I know, crazy that I made it that long, right? 

When we asked him, it actually turned out that our food was on its way to our table at that moment. It had to have been less than six minutes from the time we ordered to the time we got our food. It takes longer than that for my family to order at Jimmy John's! Take that Freaky Fast! 

First things first, I dug into that mac&cheese. It.Was.So.Good. Like, I can't even describe it and since pictures are worth a thousand words, I'm sure this picture will do it more justice than any of my stammering will. 

Shhh! Do you hear the angel choir serenading? It was that heavenly. So obviously, I recommend it. 

Next came the star of the show (as if the mac&cheese wasn't good enough already): the ribs. Slow's is very unique in the aspect that they don't put sauce on the meat for you. They put the sauce on the table and allow you to experiment how you wish. 

Since this picture isn't going to win any prizes anytime soon, if you can't tell, the flavored are apple, North Carolina (NC), spicy, and sweet.  And yes, I arranged them in alphabetical order because that is how I roll. 

I set up a taste test with my naked ribs (that sounds wrong . . . awkward) and the contestants that I thought I would like the most: apple and sweet. 

And I was so right. Apple BBQ sauce is one of the very best sauces that I have ever had. Sweet was also great, but apple was something more unique and I loved that. I eventually did try the spicy and NC, but my original suspicion that they wouldn't be up my alley was right.

After devouring some of the most tender, flavorful ribs that I have ever had, I became an artist. Behold my modern art! 

                                                                  

No one has ever accused me of being a neat eater. 

Love, 

Allison 

Road Trippin' to Grand Rapids

One thing to know about my family: We LOVE hockey.  Like it's beyond the healthy level of appreciation for a sport, but we don't care.  It's what I was born and bred into; it's in my blood.  So taking advantage of the extended President's Day weekend last week, we took a road trip to Grand Rapids to cheer on the Grand Rapids Griffins.  

Before the game, we wanted to grab a bite to eat. So after walking around the slushy streets arguing about where to eat for nearly 45 minutes ("hey, haven't we passed by here . . . twice?), we headed into Peppino's Pizzeria . . . and waited for about another half of an hour.  

But it was so worth it.  We split two pizzas, a Hawaiian one and a BBQ chicken one.  The BBQ one might've been one of the best pizzas that I've ever had, and let me tell you, I have had a lot of pizza in my lifetime.

So. Delicious.  I had BBQ sauce all over my cheek and didn't wipe it off until I had finished my slice because I didn't want to ruin the beautiful moment there is between a girl and her pizza.  

Then we got to go watch the Griffins get crushed 0-3, but we won't talk about it.  It's all good though because I devoured some Superman ice cream which made my day.  (Obvious hint: there's no picture.  It was gone too fast.) 

The next morning, the slushiness of the previous day had turned into a beautiful winter wonderland overnight.  

I really do love the snow.  It is absolutely gorgeous.  However, it's time for it to go away.  My poor chapped lips can't take this brutal cold anymore! 

We took refuge from the wind in our unofficial favorite Grand Rapids restaurant: Sundance.  I say unofficial because there hasn't been an official vote, but we have eaten here three times out of two Grand Rapids trips, so I'm pretty safe in saying that it's up there on the list.  

After that, we said goodbye to GR because there's stuff called responsibility to take care at home no matter how much we didn't want it to be true.  I think my stomach cried as we got on the highway, leaving all the amazing food behind.  True story.

Love,

Allison