2012 Silver Spoon Awards Party

Thanks to an opportunity given by the fabulous social media peeps at Cleveland Magazine, I was able to win two tickets to this year's Silver Spoon Awards Party...

...where local restaurants set up stations...



...and put out plenty of grub for hungry people like me to grab.

And, boy-oh-boy, did I grab quite a bit of it, although I should apologize for the photos in advance.

Being that I was starving and trying to eat one plate before getting another at the following station, I rushed with the picture-taking. And I didn't realize that my phone camera was set to flash instead of auto.

My apologies.

In my defence, I would like to point out that there was reason to move rather quickly in this process...

Readers, please meet the other hungry food grabbers.

But I did want to share all the photos of the food I ate (save the nachos, which Julia ate) so that you can be amazed at my ability to eat so many dishes in an hour's time and still feel absolutely wonderful.

Enjoy!

Impressive, huh?

Oh yeah...

...there was also dessert.

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Author's Note: I've decided not to credit any of the restaurants because the photo quality is simply so bad. I would like to say that I enjoyed Pier W's scallop over quinoa. I would also like to say that I was looking forward to Sweet Melissa's petit fours, which were nowhere in site! Fortunately, they had a good chocolate chip cookie (but don't make that cannoli filling anymore...bleh).


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Complaining and Praising - exercising balance

Just like Catwoman is demonstrating in the above pic, it's always best to direct yourself toward the brighter things in life.

Today's been a weird day where I've found myself annoyed, frustrated, angry and stressed. Such a crazy combination (although they are all of close relations).

I'm actually feeling a lot better as I write this and this is great because I want to be fair about a gripe I've had recently with a restaurant in Bowling Green called Uraku.

When the restaurant first opened back in 2001 or 2002, it was absolutely fantastic! I was a grad student at the time and many of the rolls then were incredible with fresh ingredients, good portions and interesting combinations.

I remember how one roll had eel and pear...it was phenomenal!

Other rolls were made at the hands of an artist with either caterpillar or dragon shapes, thanks to the use of shrimp or pieces of fruit.

They were a blogger's dream come true!

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But when I took Julia there last year, I noticed that the place had changed. Apart from the interior being completely different, it became hard to find rolls that sounded great because 90 percent of them contained the dreaded crab stick.

Actually, if we look at the special roll menu together...

...we can see it's actually 83% - 20 out of 24 rolls...

...although many have crab sticks twice.

Still, I recently decided to give the place a second shot after a road trip of festivals.

One roll had crab stick and the other did not...

...and it looked okay at first (although this wasabi is an old batch...really hard).

But, as I ate, I started to examine more closely.

I ordered two rolls: Spicy Mango and Blue River.

Spicy Mango has crab stick, cucumber, avocado, white tuna, mango and sauce...

...but looks like this.

Portions of all ingredients were small, white tuna was unnoticeable and the mango wasn't yet ripe.

Blue River says it has eel, cream cheese, cucumber, avocado and sauce...

...and although I'm happy mine came with shrimp...



...portions of ingredients were still small while not having any cream cheese or cucumber at all.

Maybe they gave me the wrong roll completely, but that still doesn't justify how little fillings there were.

In fact, there was so much rice involved in these rolls that I started poking out the middle...

...and ended up with this.

Maybe I should have eaten sushi in Toledo or Findlay instead. Or perhaps I should have guessed this was more steak-country...

...especially after seeing this cool bull statue in Gilboa.

And I may have let this go if I thought Uraku was having a bad day, but I really don't think that was the case. I think it's just how they make sushi and that just makes me sad, especially when I think of how great it used to be!

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But I don't want to end the post this way. I want to learn from Catwoman and see the brighter things in life as she does.

That's why I want to touch on the great restaurant experience I had yesterday (on Mother's Day), when I took Julia to India Garden in Lakewood.

Here, we have always...

...always...

...had a great meal.

And although I'm not generally fond of buffets, I must say that the lunch buffet we had here...

...was incredible.

So, if you like Indian food and have never been there, get your butts out there and split some naan!

I mean it! ;-)

A graduation, some birthdays, and a reason to diet.

So let me start off by saying that I did NOT lose last year's festival weight by springtime.

Since Christmastime, I've attempted to diet, only to find myself eating out more often than desired, celebrating something via yummy food, and just not exercising as vigorously as I could.

But this last week was a tipping point...

...with a weekend in foggy Chicago...

...where we celebrated Julia's sister's graduation from Columbia College (Go Becca!)...

...with musical performances...



...art...

...and decadent food...

...like Gemini Bistro's giant chocolate chip cookie in a skillet with homemade caramel, hot fudge, candied walnuts and ice cream.

Oh my God - was this good!

In fact, I somehow managed to have chocolate chip cookies at least three times this weekend - the others being from McDonald's en route to Chicago and from one of the exhibitions at Columbia College.

If there's one thing I realized this weekend, it's that I love chocolate chip cookies!

Of course, it didn't stop with cookies.

I also had...

...this Salmon BLT from Wilde's...

...and this sundae with homemade chocolate-covered honeycomb from Margie's Candies.

By the time I returned, I already felt a bit bloated, but it was pointless to diet just yet...

...there were two birthdays to celebrate.

For my brother's birthday, we headed to Cleveland...

...for a fine drink at the Velvet Tango Room...

...and then to dinner at Cowell and Hubbard...

...where I got some delicious beef ceviche with mango, corn, fried shallots, and other things...

...and some HUGE pieces of sweetbreads.

My brother went for the marrow...

...and veal.

All rather tasty although the marrow was a bit bloody and I had a chewy/stringy piece of veal.

The following day, Julia and I took my mom (and aunt) out for her birthday at Greenhouse Tavern...

...where I went with the decadent goat cheese raviolini with morels and asparagus...

...a delicious beef tartar dish (I've been into raw meat lately, I guess)...

...and a rather interesting dessert playing off "ants on a log" (celery sticks, peanut butter and raisins).

With nuts and poached raisins in the middle of the plate, the squares consisted of a mild peanut butter flavor and a celery gelatin (gelee) on top that was really really different.

Definitely an experience.

But even now, as I write this, I feel as if these decadent ways are being purged from me through my typing fingertips...at least for the time being.

Now, I am eating healthier foods with more raw veggies and leaner meats.

I am pushing myself to exercise more and burn more calories.

I am taking in more water and flushing those toxins.

And I WILL lose weight before the festival season overtakes me completely.

Because who knows when I may need to look my best in the near future...

...especially if I can get myself on TV more often.

(fingers crossed!)

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