...cleveland yoga

a-MAZ-ing yoga studio.

I was totally sad at leaving SF at the fabulous yoga that abounds there (notably Be Yoga). Imagine my surprise at finding a kick-ass studio in Cleveland.

Cleveland Yoga is owned and operated by Tami Schneider, one of only 8 certified senior-Baptiste yoga teachers in the US. She's fantastic and so is her group of co-instructors. Every class I feel challenged to do my best, pushed to the edge. I come away with an amazing feeling of acocmplishment and increased flexibility and strength and balance.

Yoga isn't just about the asanas (poses). There is an equal emphasis placed on the breath and on being present, acknowledging how your body feels here and now. The study of Yoga is the Self.

It's a wonderful compliment to my other favorite intense physical activites, crossfit and running.

And it is one I will hopefully be able to teach starting next summer. I was accepted into the Cleveland Yoga Teacher Training, beginning Jan 18th! I'm blessed and quite excited to delve deeper into my study of yoga and learn how to lead others through a class. (In particular I see Yoga for Crossfit Classes in my fortune telling ball).

Don't worry, there will be plenty of posts documenting my progress through the course in the future :)

...costume

I LOVE halloween. Not just because of the plethora of chocolate. It's one of the few chances I get to dressed up, other than when I did theater.

This year, we're staying in and handing out candy to the neighborhood kids. But I still put on a costume. It's a repeat from a few years ago, and I'm kinda surprised I was actually able to relocate it after the move across the States. Right now I'm rockin a superwoman costume and I share a beer with my better half. Better yet, about an hour ago my 6 year counterpart arrived at the door: supergirl! She had a pink puffer jacket on to ward against the chilly night. She totally got extra candy.

Happy Halloween!!!

...Crockpot Chili

So, I knew that when we moved from palo alto to Cleveland the weather would be, shall we say, less than perfect and at times chilly. After a relatively mild October, fall finally showed up this week with morning temperatures into the 30s. Brrrr.... I awoke Thursday AM to a chill in the air, overcast skies, and the day off. Can't think of a better day to try my hand at making some chili, something I had never done before but had been meaning to try out!

With my morning coffee in hand, I googled some recipes online. A search for "mexican crockpot chili" and "paleo crockpot chili" yielded some promising results. I omitted beans, and blended a few recipes to come up with one that I hoped would make a dericious dinner later that night. 

The Recipe:
2lb ground beef
2 medium onions
1 grreen bell pepper
6 stalks celery
1/2 jalapeno
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 4oz can trader joe's fire roasted green chiles
3 tablespoons ancho chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
2 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce
garlic
salt and pepper to taste

D and I had signed up for a CSA over this summer that had included 1/8 of a cow. In other words, we have a lot of grass-fed ground beef in our freezer right now (although less than you might think after a few months of paleo eatin'). I threw one of those packages into the microwave to defrost while I chopped up all the vegetables.

I browned the meat, then removed it from the pan. In went the onions, pepper and celery. After the onions were getting soft, I added the garlic, gave it about a minutes then added back the beef along with the chili powder, oregano, and cumin. I sauteed it for a few minutes, then removed from heat and into our slow cooker.

To that I added all the rest of the ingredients, and stirred it together. I set the cooker on LOW for 8hours and left it on the counter to go do all my other errands of the day.

After two hours or so I checked on the connoction. It tasted good, but still something was missing. Back in May, D and I went to a tiny authentic mexican restaraunt in Southern Utah when we were hiking around Bryce and Zion canyons. Nestled on top of the Chicken tortilla soup I ordered was a chipotle chili in adobo. It gave the soup a wonderful smoky flavor. I figured that smokiness might lend itself well to the chili so I lovingly placed two large chilis right on top of the cooking food and replaced the lid.

Later that night, when D got home from work we made a fire in the fireplace (!) and I served up two big bowls of chili garnished with some chopped cilantro. D put some sliced avocado on his too. His verdict: "this is amazing". The adobo added a wonderful complexity to the rest of the flavors. We both gobbled it down and then played some crabbage err cribbage by the fire. It was a wonderful fall night. And a recipe that I'll have to repeat in the future!

Crossfit

Today is my one year crossfit anniversary. Yeah, many people don't remember their first day of their workouts, but crossfit isn't any workout. I remember heading to the CFPA box after an interview, nervous and excited about what the day might bring. There were barbells, kettlebells, pullup bars...and a roomful of extremely friendly people that immediately made me feel welcome and were quick to answer all my questions about what a Burpee is, what TGU stands for, how to do a "kip" on a bar. I can't remember what the skill was for that day, but I remember the WOD: 10->1 pushups alternating with 1->10 pull ups. Looking at it, it didn't seem all that hard. But boy was I in for a surprise. I set up my green band and waited for the clock to count down 3...2...1... and we were off. And before I knew if I was hurtin'; my arms were on fire, I was in pain but there were a group of people cheering my on and I sure as hell wasn't going ot quit until I was done. My pull ups and pushups weren't the "best quality" but I finished the WOD. And felt the high that comes with knowing you pushed yourself the hardest you could for those minutes. Yeah my biceps were barking and calluses were planted on both my hands. but I felt alive and on a high from my accomplishment.

These feelings have lasted the whole year. Yeah, crossfit and I have had our ups and downs. Last december I wound up with a tibial plateau fracture (stayed tuned for the post: C is for CRUNCH) and was sentenced to 8 weeks of not putting any weight on my Right leg. I was pretty downtrodden about my newfound gimptitude until Tim quipped at the CFPA christmas party that i could still do crossfit, we would just have to be creative about it. So I hopped over to Sport Authority and bought a small skateboard and would row one legged when the rest of the class would run and do one legged deadlifts when my gymmates got to use both their legs. But eventually my orthopedist cleared me for nonrestricted actionand I was back to serious crossfitting, wall balls and all.

My ohio license FINALLLY came through at the beginning of September and I started working, then we went off to cape cod for a week. Dan and I had a blast doing Fight Gone Bad at Crossfit Distinction and then we were off to Jackson...which was GREAT except for when "Colter" succeeded in bucking me off onto my Left side. I was ok except for some seriously bruised rib which screamed in protest whenever I tried to do a pullup or situp let alone a snatch. Reluctantly (I'm a terrible patient) I put myself on "crossfit rest". Four weeks later, however, I feel ready to go and hit the gym with a vengeance yesterday.

Was it my best WOD? nope. Am I ridiculously sore today? You bet. Did I love it?Hells yeah.

The WOD was 3 round of 300ft KB waiters walk, 30 pullups and 15 thrusters. After 6 weeks of hiatus, I was down to a thicker band than I was used to and had to scale the Thrusters to 55 down form 65 but I pushed thorugh. It felt so great to be doing a WOD with other crossfitters, with our coaches cheering us on, doing one (or 15) more reps even when all I wanted to do was be DONE. 18+mins wasn't a great time, but still I finished and today my quads were on fire as I limped around the ED.

You know what I can't wait for? To do another WOD tomorrow.

...coffee

i. love. coffee.

the smell of the beans, the taste, the caffeine buzz. nothing's better on a blistering summer day than a cup of iced coffee, and nothing warms the core like a cup of hot joe when the winter winds are whipping around outside.

I wish i could say that I remember my first cup, but alas, such a transforming memory is lost. I know it occurred somewhere around my junior year of high school. Until that point I was a tea drinker. My mother grew up in Ireland, so naturally her kids had tea growing up. Not just any tea mind you - irish breakfast tea with milk and 2 sugars. but then.... i found coffee.


yes, this substance is the first thing I grab in the morning and depending on the day, midmorning, afternoon, after dinner. I'm an addict.

now I take my coffee seriously. not any ol cup of joe will do if I have any say about it. Dunkin donuts is for the weak. And no thank you to sugar and creamer. Occasionally I'll indulge in a bit of soy milk. But I prefer it black. Better to taste the beans :) My current fav? Philz' Ambrosia. Philz is a San Francisco based company. If you visit any of their fine locations (my first trip was in teh Mission; but the Palo Alto one was much closer) they will make you your cup just for you. Yup, their motto isn't one cup at a time for nuthin. D an I love their beans so much we have it shipped to us in Cleveland each month. Yum.

Runners up? Peet's Major D and Cleveland's Phoenix Coffee.

Damnit writting about this is making me thirsty. Time to turn on the kettle.

...Cats

Last week, D wasn't the only one that came home to Cleveland Heights. He flew in from Jackson on a blustery Friday afternoon. I picked him up - Cowboy hat and all - and on the way back we paused to pick up two little cats from a rescue organization called Lucky Paws Animal Rescue.We had picked out these girls right before we left town and the lady who had them in her foster home was gracious enough to take care of them while we were on vacation. Annie (the kitty formerly known as Jill) and Grace (the kitty formerly known as Drew) were loaded into my car and arrived in their "forever" home.

Now, adopting a cat (or two) is a lot harder than you might think. From San Francisco to New york to Cleveland and everywhere in between, there are a lot of shelters and rescue organizations. Luckily, D and I were on the same page about what type of cats we wanted. Two, so they could keep each other company. Outgoing, so they wouldn't get scared when we had people over. Young adults, who unlike kittens would be more willing to tackle the "Mickey" mice under the Fridge. (Whose poorly thought out late night snack of my Godiva chocolate pretty much sentenced him to a feline presence to contend with). The trick was to find some that we could call our own.

Our biggest resource was Petfinder, an online database of pets that are ready for adoption. Here you can find, cats, dogs, birds, geckos, pigs... if it's domesticated, it's on that website. We looked over the pictures and descriptions of what seemed like hundreds of feelines and narrowed down a few that seemingly would be a good fit. However, they were dispersed amongst several rescue organizations.

That's when phase two of the search kicked in. Each organization had an application for potential cat owners, asking why you want a cat to what you do for work to what you will do with the cat on vacation etc etc. Then the phone calls started. This was the "screening" process where not one but two separate women associated with each organization called to ask pretty much the same questions on the application, making sure I gave the same answers. I dubbed them the "kitty police" when talking to D about it. Yeah, I know they are well meaning, but there was an excessive amount of promising not to declaw the cats that had to be done.

Well, we managed to pass the screenings and made an appointment to go view some kitties one Friday night. (Actually this was right before we hit up The Greenhouse Tavern - see prior posting). The coordinator warned me that M, the foster woman's home we were heading to had "a lot of cats". And boy was she right. M probably had 30+ cats around available to be taken home. A rainbow of cats swirled around us in her driveway, weaving in and out of our legs. We paused and waited to see if any would stand out to us. One or two came up initially, but they were almost "too" friendly, climbing up my back and asking for attention incessently. Others were too young or too old. But pretty quickly a little black one attached herself to D, cuddling up to him. I could tell we had found at least one of our kitties. She was so sweet!

We learned this little girl was about 2 years old, and had been in foster car for most of her life waiting for someone to adopt her. She had a brother there, an orange tabby. Despite multiple tries, he remained uninterested in us and constantly walked away. We wanted cats who would be happy to sit on the couch and provide company to whoever was home if D or I were working in the hospital. His indifference led us to bypass him and keep looking. Luckily, another orange tabby showed up. Technically she's a "dilute" tabby, a softer version of her bright orange counterparts. This girl siddled up to me, meowing hello. A few minutes more and we were sold. Lil black "jill" and orange "drew" it would. A perfect pair right before halloween.

One more thing remained: names. Jill and Drew, especially Drew, had to go. But what to call these girls? Definitely nothing cutesy like "muffin" or "snowball". On the other end of the spectrum, we quickly nixed fang and killer. We've both had pets growing up with "people" names, so that was a logical place ot start. In honor of our love of crossfit, we named them "Annie" and "Grace". These are both named WODs. Annie is 50-40-30-20-10 of Double unders and situps and Grace is 30 clean and jerks for time. Yup, we're totally crossfit nerds. and proud of it!

Well, one week into our cat adventure and we couldn't be happier. Yes, they have their quirks. About once a day Annie launches into a "meow attack" where for no apparent reason she tries to talk to us for a few minutes straight. Grace will occasionally spaz out and run under or behind a large piece of furniture, then emerge minutes later and trust us to rub her belly. All in all it's a pleasure to have them scurrying about the house, especially when D is working late.

We like to think that these girls have hit the cleveland cat adoption jackpot :)

...Climbing

...Climbing a trail to an Alpine Lake!

It's hard to pull myself away from horseback riding at the Triangle X Ranch in Moose, WY.  However, Jackson has a plethora of other outdoors activities to offer: fishing, float trips, running, biking and hiking in two of the nations premiere national parks. D, the Captain and 2 other guests at the ranch CF and BF decided that this year we would tackle a hike in Grand Teton National Park.

The Park includes the Teton Range, the youngest set of mountains in the Rocky Mountain Range. It is named for the "Grand Teton", the tallest peak of the range at 13,775 ft. The French traders who passed through the range selling their fur dubbed the Grand and the two other surrounding peaks "les trois tetons" aka "the three breasts". This has led to countless awkward interactions amongst parents and their inquisitive children who would like to know what "tetons" means.

After perusing a book of hikes in the region, we settled on one that would take us to Amphitheater Lake.  The trail starts at at 6700ft and winds up 4.9 miles to our destination, an alpine lake at 9,700 ft.  Much of the elevation gain is along a group of switchbacks.

Sunday morning, we filled up on a typical "ranch" breakfast of eggs and bacon. At the end of the meal, the Captain made himself a sandwich of french toast, bacon and an egg and stashed it away for lunch. Once our bellys were full it was time to drive over to the park. We made one pit stop at Dornan's for another cup of coffee and were soon inside the park.

We passed Bradley and Taggert Lakes and pulled into the parking lot at Lupine Meadows. By 10am we were on our way! The trail ascends fairly quickly, but the switchbacks are cut widely into the mountainside for a pleasant walk. You don't feel like you are climbing as quickly as you actually are. We were afforded great views of the lakes below and the whole plain that swoops over towards Jackson.

Just near the top we were rewarded with a close up view of Disappointment Peak, Grand Teton and Owen Peak. A little further down the path was the first lake, Surprise Lake. The water was crystal clear albeit freezing from the snowmelt and high altitude. Several people were enjoying the scenery although it didn't feel crowded at all. D and I perched on a rock jutting into the water and took in the view. There's nothing like being outside on a perfectly clear day!

We lingered at the lake for a few mintues, taking in the sight and then put on our packs again and continued the 0.2 miles to Amphitheater lake. We made it! The approach to this circular lake is flat about half of the way around. The remainder of the banks quickly slope upwards to steep rock faces. A natural Amphitheater with peaks of the Tetons still towering over us even at this height up the mountainside. We ate lunch, then relaxed. D and I walked a bit around and found a butterfly flapping in the water. D rescued it with a stick and dryied out its wings in the mid-day sun. Slowly the little insect began flapping again and was ready to take flight when we were ready to trek back down the mountainside.


The way down was just a lovely as the trek upwards. The morning haze had cleared and we were able to see further across the plains. We noted that there were four separate fires up and down the opposite range.

About half way down the slopes D spotted a delicious snack: huckleberries! This cousin of the blueberry (and state flower of idaho!) is a darker purple than it's more famous brethren but just as tasty. Yum! We had a taste of a few to carry us the rest of the way to the car. We arrived back to the lot at about 5pm, tired but content. It was a great day spent with wonderful company in one of the best places on earth.

...Carmichael Trail

D and I arrived at the Triangle X ranch on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon and immediately felt our spirits lift. There is something about Jackson and the ranch that is truly magical. It is full of raw nature, plenty of outdoor activities, and folk that share a love of both. There is an innocence about the ranch that is hard to describe. You feel like you can go on riding horses, hanging out at the lodge, staring at the Tetons, drinkin’ beers with the wrangers for weeks on end. Is the rest of the world truly continuing on out there? It feels as if it has melted away. Surely it is not waiting on the other end of my return flight.

Monday night, we celebrated our first full day of riding at the ranch by sharing some drinks with the head wranger T.J. and an old guest of the rest Hans. Hans is originally from East Germany and lived through World War II.  Every year he comes to the ranch for a solid month to ride horses. He is a solid, quiet man with a wonderful German accent. When he speaks that reminds me of my grandfather, who had a similar accent even though he grew up in Austria. He sat on T.J.s couch all night nursing a glass of red wine, all the while quietly stroking the feet of the wrangler’s border collie Piper.

Right before D and I headed back towards Goodridge cabin for some shut-eye, T.J. announced, “Did I mention that there’s going to be an all-day ride tomorrow? Carmichael pass. Tell your folks.” He had promised Hans he would lead him on this route and impromptu invited a few more quests along.

So the next morning, Hans, D, D’s parents K and R and a wonderful woman named Roberta from PA trailered our 7 horses and headed up the road to the start of the “Carmichael Trail” which begins at Carmichael fork in the shadow of Mount Leidy.

An all day ride is usually a longer loop that gets into the back country, with a lunch stop. This trail started off with a climb through some trees up to a service dirt road and then began meandering through some trees but also some highland hills and meadows. K pointed out different varieties of plants including wild fennel, delphiniums. (She’s a superb gardener and botanist).

One point along the trail at about 11 o’clock, we had to cross a little stream, but the step down into the water put the horses up to their knees in mud. T.J’s Patience sprung across but  K’s Velvet put her feet in, sunk more than her liking and sprung out again. The little black mare then decided she would have nothing to do with crossing that stream. T.J. tried riding her across, coaxing her, pulling her, getting Patience to pull her. Finally, the rest of us rode across up into a nearby field that was beyond eyesight from the creek crossing. Velvet did what T.J. expected – she found a way across rather than be left behind by her herd mates. What T.J. did not expect was that she would leap across a bit upriver, easily springing across a deeper ravine. Silly Horse. At least she was across and everyone was unhurt. We carried on!

About 2/3 of the way along the trail, we stopped for lunch. It was in a secluded meadow with orange red tall grasses and brush surrounded by deep evergreen trees. There was not a cloud in the sky. An abandoned hunter camp was nestled on the other side of the pine trees. Here, we perched upon some logs and ate our bag lunches while soaking up the warm rays of sun filtering through the pine trees. It was blissful. After we finished eating, and were just enjoying the peacefulness of the forest, D suggested we go feed the horses the remaining apples out in the field.  

We sliced up a few red delicious apples and fed them to the surrounding horses. They formed a ring around us trying to get the treats. We quickly ran out. We turned to face down the meadow and began remarking what a special place this was and how lucky we were to see such a slice of the world that very few humans have laid eyes on. Certainly only a few a year. I commented “oh I think  we’ll be coming back to the ranch together for a long time.” He looked at me funny and said “You think?” I immediatlely smiled and replied, “Oh, I know we will.” A big smile developed under his thick mustache, and he put his arm around me. Then he began to fumble in his vest pocket. He said, “I have  a question for you,  actually it’s a big question.” And the next thing I knew he was down on one knee in the middle of this beautiful open field surrounded by horses and asked me to marry him.   There was not a doubt in my mind that the answer to that was yes.  Absolutely. Yes.

I recognized the ring nestled in the black box:  it was my grandmother’s engagement ring. She passed away this January and my aunt had quite very thoughtfully given it to me. It gives me comfort to think that her and my grandfather would have loved D and would be so happy to know that I can now wear her diamond. He slipped it on my finger and we both stared down at it with big ol’ grins on our faces.

Now, apparently I nearly gave his parents a heart attack in my first few minutes of a future daughter-in-law. I took off the ring because it is too loose (my grandmother’s finger was bigger than mine) and didn’t want it to slip off my finger on the ride back. With it in my pocket, I put my riding gloves back on and we returned to the rest of the riders. When we got to the logs, everyone was just staring at us. I think we were both waiting for the other to start talking. His parents, who knew that he was going to “pop the question” as the ring had been hiding in their room for the first two days of our trip, couldn’t tell what had transpired with my gloves on. Did he ask her? Did she say yes? We finally burst out with the great news and heard his Dan give an enormous exhale. Ooops.

I must admit I was a bit impatient for the remainder of the trail to pass behind us so that I could call my parents and tell others. Even so, there wasn’t a moment that a huge smile left my face. I’ll never forget my trek on the Carmichael trail – and I have quite a special momento on my hand to remind me. More importantly though, I'm with my cowboy. Now and always.

...Chicken in Bread

Last night D and I had dinner with our good friends T and P. Destination? The Greenhouse Tavern on 4th St in Downtown Cleveland.This restaurant is part of the farm to table Slow Food movement, that means that the chefs create their menus using ingredients from the local lands. The result is a fresher menu that is more sustainable and less bio-costly than shipping in food items from around the world. And let me tell you - it is delicious!

Our first trip to this eatery was the week we landed in town back in June. We were staying at a hotel right down the street and after perusing the Yelp! listings settled on this place for a bite to eat after one of D's orientation days. All the reviews kept commenting on how amazing their chicken was: .  however, they had run out of birds by the time we came to order (hey, they get em locally and when they're out...that's it. No running down the street to pick up one at the local supermarket). If memory serves me correctly we shared a fabulous grass-fed beef burger but we left wondering what all the hubbub on the chicken was all about. Well last night we found out!

More on that in a bit. The rest of the meal deserves a discussion too. The restaraunt also prides itself on a seasonal craftbeer selection and well chosen wine list. D had a can of the Tallgrass IPA and I had a near-perfect Sangiovese.

After putting in an order for the chicken (the menu warns to order early as this bird needs a good 40+ minutes in its 40 cloves of garlic), we split two "firsts": Pickled Beets and Beans and Whole Grilled Padron Peppers. Both were very well done. We had some sauteed shiseido peppers at a french bistro in Cape Cod last week that I prefer in flavor to the padron, but the garlic-cilantro sauce that was on the padron peppers was a great addition. We sopped up the remaining bits with slices of bread. Yum!

And then came the chicken. This 1/2 of a bird (T and P joined us by sharing the other half) was wrapped in brioche bread, rosemary and 40 cloves of garlic before being baked in the oven. The result was heavenly. The meat was so incredibly moist and flavorful from cooking within the dough. And the bread was probably the best garlic bread I have ever tasted. T and P were in agreement. I totally applaud Jonathon and Amelia Sawyer's tavern! We'll definitely be back. 
We left very full and happy. Who knew chicken in bread could be so tasty?!?

...Culinary Tour!

For my 31st...err 6th 25th... birthday this past July my brother's wonderful fiance Gibby gave me a gift certificate for a tasting tour of the West Side Market in Cleveland. What a perfect gift for two foodies new to the city! D has vacation this month, so we figured that this would be the perfect day to cash in and explore what the Market had to offer.

 We met our tour guide Kathy right across the street from where the market sits on W25th and Lorain. She told us that the market dates back to 1840 when two Clevelanders donated the land to create an open air market. In 1912 an indoor market with it's hallmark large clock tower keeping time above was built for a whopping $600,000. According to The Inflation Calculator that would be $13, 379,905.27 today. Yikes! Since then the market has grown substantially with over a 100 vendors selling everything from "raw" to "finished" products. In other words, you can buy all the ingredients to make your dinner or just buy it already prepared for you. With this historical background set, we ventured inside.

 We passed through two sets of heavy doors into the main chamber of the market. It's a beautiful space, with an intricate brick ceiling but what struck me first were the dozens of stands, all with bold signs advertising their food items. There were olive stands, cheese stands, fish stands, chocolate popcorn falafel bread meat jerky coffee stands. And at least 2-3 of each. Between them lines of people meandered between the aisles and contemplating their purchases.  Where to begin? D made a solo trip to the market earlier this summer, and commented that it was a bit...well, overwhelming. Luckily we had Kathy to guide us through!

First stop: juice stand. The farmer's market version of Jamba Juice, these ladies puree up veggies, fruits, wheatgrass for delicious beverages. We had a cherry lemonade that was quite refreshing! Did you know it takes about 3/4 lb of fruits or veggies to make one 8oz glass?

With juice, follows pastry. Apricot Danish that is. D and I split one of these (non-paleo) gems, finishing them off as we exited the main building into the fruit arcade across the alley. This smaller L shape space hugs two sides of the Market and houses all the fresh fruits and veggie stands. There were rainbows of produce up and down the aisles. Yellow bananas, red apples, green cucumbers, purple eggplants.

We didn't stop at a fruit stand first, however, but a honey stand. The owner runs an apiary in a nearby suburb. Each honey harvested at different times of the year had distinctive flavors. Yum. Not as good as my cousin V's Ithaca honey however. He showed us a picture of his "bee beard". Apparently if you strap a queen bee in a little box under your chin all the other bees will swarm around your neck. Sounds terrifying. No way will you ever see ME doing that. But it makes for an interesting picture.

We then walked a few stands down and had delicious strawberries. Further down the line was a stand of dried fruit and veggies. D and I agreed that we would have to get out his dehydrator and try our hand at home-made sweet potato chips (stay tuned!)

No, the next stop was not raw fish (those catfish are nasty suckers!) I took this snapshot while we were waiting for our treats from Maha's falafel shop. For those of you from Stanford, these stand owners have no relatives in california - but they do make damn good falafel. Reminded me of the morsels I used to love from L'As du Falafel in the Marais. I was barley patient enough to let it cool down before scarfing it down.

The next few stands are a bit of a blur. I seem to recall: homemade apple, cashew and peanut butter; cheese samples; mexican potato cake (it's blue!). We found a stand that was selling farm fresh eggs too. The keeper had a 4x6 snapshot of the flock of chickens that produced them. Adorable. Yes, I said adorable. Chickens are damn cute! and their eggs are dericious. :)

Luckily one stop included Czuchraj Meats (yeah, we couldn't say it either). This meat-eater's mecca of Old World Smoked meats sells a beef jerky that The Food Network's Michael Symon proclaimed "It the best thing I ever ate." he was totally right. Try the Peppered Beef Jerky. You can thank me later.

Tucked into the corner right next to the Cafe entrance is "The Olive and The Grape", a mecca of olive oil, vinegars and sea salt. My favorite: a fig infused balsalmic vingear. Sadly, it was everyone else's favorite too and they were sold out of it. :( But I scored a plain balsalmic which is still amazing.

What would a food tour be without a last stop involving dessert? Campbell's popcorn shop specalizes in hand-dipped chocolates, popcorn balls, candy and caramel apples. I can't recall the exact number but they sell thousands of pounds of popcorn each year. They gave us a sample of a "Buckeye". This Ohio State candy is essentially a peanut butter ball dipped in milk chocolate. Like many things in Cleveland....well maybe I won't say that. Let's just leave it that I would rather have a reese's peanut butter cup that one of these bad boys again.

And thus concluded our tour. These two foodies were full of good food and information. I highly recommend this experience to anyone even remotely interested in food or history (check out http://www.cloud9living.com)

Tour or no tour, come down to the West Side Market the next time your in Cleveland.  Even if you don't know what you might want for dinner, the vendors are happy to help you out with suggestions:

...CREATE!

As in today I have CREATED a blog :)

Welcome to my blog of "C" Stories that will include a variety of topics from Crossfit to Cleveland to Cooking to Chickens (!) to Cultural Activities to camping to ... basically whatever might be going on in my life! Hopefully it will provide y'all to keep up with what I'm exploring.

Right now I will explore the roads of Cleveland home from work to our house as the CT results I was waiting for finally materialized. Tomorrow is a day off! Hooray!