The Friday Five, 10/16/20: 5 things I've been up to this week

Quarantine, end of week 31. I had my Ann Arbor "staycation" last week and have also been eating out a LOT this week ... however, I've also been doing a lot of walking, so I suppose that's good.

Crumbl Cookies, Ann Arbor
Crumbl Cookies, Ann Arbor

What I've been up to this week:
  1. Ann Arbor staycation. As I mentioned above, my boyfriend and I did a 1-night stay at Weber's in Ann Arbor, from Friday to Saturday. I needed a vacation, and Ann Arbor is one of my favorite places. On Friday night, we got dinner at Blimpy Burger, one of my favorites (and they had picnic tables outside, yay! I didn't think they had outdoor seating) then a drink at "The Grotto" (formerly "The Beer Grotto"). We also stopped at Crumbl Cookies (see above), which were pricey but delicious. Crumbl is a chain but they just opened their Ann Arbor location two weeks ago, and it's their first Michigan location. We also tried out the pool at Weber's which, to my surprise, ended up being saltwater. The next day, we had brunch at the hotel restaurant, which I had heard was really good; met up with a friend on her balcony to hang out for a bit; and then headed home.
  2. Seeing the Northville skeletons. Some friends and I did this last year, and one of the friends and I wanted to do it again this year, so three of us checked them out and also had an early dinner at Browndog, one of my favorites. The Northville downtown businesses put on a fun display with skeletons in all sorts of clothes and contortions—i.e., one of the physical therapy businesses had their skeleton wearing a cast - and my friends like to imitate the skeletons too, which makes for some wacky photos, lol! Browndog was good as usual too.
  3. Using up Royal Oak dollars. A few months ago, the city of Royal Oak had a promotion where you could sign up for $20 in "Royal Oak dollars," to spend at select businesses downtown. My boyfriend and I each did the promotion, and we used ours at Ale Mary's and Vera Asian; however, my parents' also did the promotion and theirs were expiring this week, so my boyfriend and I got to use them. We did Mesa dine-in on Tuesday (patio) and we got takeout from City Ramen yesterday. Both were good; I will say that City Ramen's broth is better than Kaizen's, down the road, but they charged us a $1.50 "take out fee" which I thought was a bit ridiculous ... I know businesses are hurting but honestly if they had added those fees to their meal prices, I would have been fine with it. 
  4. Getting my flu shot. I made an appointment to go to my favorite local CVS. They were a bit disorganized and never even gave me my $5/$20 coupon or whatnot ... but at least now that's one more thing off my list. 
  5. Eating other tasty food. On Saturday night after our Ann Arbor staycation, we tried out Cadillac Straits, in Madison Heights, because I had won a $50 gift card through Madison Heights Restaurant Week. They did have an outdoor patio but it was more like just a strip of sidewalk ... i.e., we dined about 1 foot away from my car. The food was okay but I probably wouldn't go back again, though "The Fig Lebowski" (lol) flatbread pizza was excellent. On Wednesday, I met a friend at Bobcat Bonnie's in Ferndale; they are currently working on adding a tent and heaters to their outdoor patio, so their current setup is actually a tented patio that I think the Thai restaurant next door was using previously (I wonder if they are paying them rent or something?). Bobcat Bonnie's never disappoints, and their happy hour deals are excellent, too: $6 for cocktails and shareables, so I got a Mai Tea (boozy! but delicious), their Captain Crunch chicken fingers, and their Brussels sprouts with honey sriracha. 
"The Drunken Muppet" boozy milkshake at Browndog, Northville
"The Drunken Muppet" boozy milkshake at Browndog, Northville


Popular Posts

Review: Polar Pizza at Baskin-Robbins

Upcoming and GIVEAWAY: Mamma Mia! at the Fisher Theatre, Detroit, April 23-28 {ends Dec. 12}

REVIEW and GIVEAWAY: Allegiant Nonstop game center (Warren, MI) is fun for the whole family