Yes/No Detroit

Today is my last day of work for 2024—I restart on January 6th—and I'm looking forward to getting some sleep. I have a fun day planned today, also: I'll be back in the Clawson/Troy area to do some errands, and then will get Pink Garlic takeout for dinner, which is one of my faves. Sidecar Slider Bar, Birmingham What I've been up to this week: Dining out/getting takeout. Last Friday, I worked in the office—we are required to come in once per month, and it's in Birmingham—and had lunch at Sidecar Slider Bar, one of my favorites, with a coworker friend. My husband and I do DoorDash a lot from their Farmington location, but the cheese curds were *extra* poofy and delicious on Friday since they were nice and fresh. On Saturday, I had Hungry Howie's takeout with my parents, and on Sunday, my husband and I got Portillo's takeout—we both had a free sandwich coupon to use, that we got at a Yelp event at the Sterling Heights location in *January 2023*, which was expiring ...

This was a nice short week; I worked Monday through Wednesday, had Thanksgiving with my family and fiance yesterday, and today we are headed to Indiana to see his family / have a second Thanksgiving with them. A5 Wagyu steak at Mabel Gray, Hazel Park What I've been up to this week: Date night out last weekend.  Last Saturday, two friends and my fiance and I headed to Mabel Gray; one of the friends had snagged reservations when they opened, I think 1-2 months ago. This was my second time at Mabel Gray but first time doing the tasting menu, and it was pretty tasty. There were a lot of good dishes but one of my favorites is pictured above—an A5 Wagyu steak (I think possibly my first time having Wagyu). After Mabel Gray, we headed to Bad Luck Bar, in Detroit, which had been on my list for a while but I hadn't been yet. It's almost like a speakeasy—it's off an alley near the Campus Martius/Woodward area, and then the door was locked so we had to call for them to let us in. I...

Happy New Year! The only thing I'm asking of 2021 is that it is better than 2020, and considering 2020 was a dumpster fire of a year, I really don't think that's asking too much.  Pierogies from Srodek's, Sterling Heights What I've been up to this week: Doing some grocery shopping.  I've been trying to keep busy since I'm off work this week, so I've been doing things I haven't done in a while or have wanted to do. Example: On Monday, I went to Kung Fu Tea to get bubble tea (not technically groceries, I know), and I actually went IN to Target to do some returns; I also went into Kroger since I had a gift card to use. On Tuesday, I went to Srodek's in Sterling Heights (on Mound Rd.) to buy some pierogies. I bought the two pictured above, which FYI come frozen, as well as some kolaczki (really delicious raspberry cookies/pastries) and some other things. On Wednesday, I went to Whole Foods for an Amazon return, but I also had some coupons for vegan h...

Didn't really do much this week, but it has been nice to have two days off of work ... since I'm not traveling at much (read: at all) this year because of the pandemic, days off work don't happen as much. (not counting my colonoscopy because ... that definitely wasn't a vacation ...)  Brown sugar bourbon meatloaf from HelloFresh What I've been up to this week: Cooking.  I had a HelloFresh box last week, and Dinnerly this week. I debated if I needed a box this week or not because of Thanksgiving, but I didn't stay with my parents this year (and won't be for my Christmas break, too) because of the pandemic so I got my box on Monday instead of Tuesday this week, and already have cooked two of the three meals. HelloFresh is always a treat for me because it's a bit more expensive than Dinnerly ... I've been getting Dinnerly for $18.96 a box which is a fantastic price (it's $38.96 normally) and I did HelloFresh for $35.96 this week, an old discount tha...

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #Turduckenforme #CollectiveBias I recently headed to Potbelly to try out its new Turducken sandwich, as well as its Pumpkin Pie Shake—perfect foods to get in the mood for Thanksgiving next week. I live in Michigan and it's already snowing here ... in November ... If you haven't heard of a Turducken sandwich, it's legendary: turkey, duck, and chicken, all wrapped up in one sandwich. Potbelly's Turducken sandwich features a combination of these three meats, toasted with cornbread stuffing and topped with cranberry honey sauce, mayo, lettuce, cheddar cheese, tomato, and Italian seasoning. For its Pumpkin Pie Shake, Potbelly blends a whole slice of pumpkin pie into a hand-dipped milkshake, with vanilla ice cream. Yes, you read that right: AN ENTIRE SLICE of pumpkin pie. If you're impatiently awaiting your Thanksgiving meal, the T...