We celebrated Courtney’s birthday last Tuesday with a night out at Playhouse Square. We headed west after work. (thanks Mom and Dad for taking in Grace and Sophia for the night) and checked into the Wyndham where we were greeted with a glass of wine in the lobby, very nice, and quickly relaxed in our great room overlooking playhouse square. We walked across the street to Cowell and Hubbard around 6:00. Cowell and Hubbard is Zack Bruell’s latest that we haven’t been to so were excited. The restaurant used to be a high end jewelery store back in the day when Euclid Avenue was the place to be. After decades of neglect the space is beautiful now, very modern, casual, an open kitchen and totally packed and hopping on a Tuesday evening. Yea Cleveland! We were psyched to see Zack in the kitchen when we walked by when getting seated. In fact, after the hostess walked us to our table I asked if we could move to a different table where we had a good view of the open kitchen and Zack in action. Yes I’m a loser, but definitely got a better table. Dinner was great. Courtney had a kale salad with pistachios and prosciutto followed by shrimp linguine. I had a romaine wedge with blue cheese and then cod over pureed parsnips, spinach and beurre blanc. Everything was great… the cod was the star. We splurged and split a mocha creme caramel for dessert that was awesome as well. I highly recommend and am looking forward to going back. They were great at making sure everyone was on time to make their curtain time as well.
We had tickets to Once and enjoyed it very much. Courtney is a big fan of the movie and the sound track so was particularly excited. The set was great, the mood was casual, the songs were great. It’s hard to explain. Sort of the anti-Wicked sort of musical. Again…I highly recommend.
A Seattle woman, unhappy with her marriage and depressed from the death of her child two years prior, takes off on a whim to Alaska to visit where her Mother grew up. She meets someone there, deals with her past demons and becomes involved with the local folklore of the indigenous to look for closure for the death of her son. Not nearly as good as Stein’s previous novel, actually this was an old novel recently republished, but an interesting story nonetheless.
The new drama teacher at a high school puts on the play Lysistrata, a Greek drama where all the women stop having sex with the men until they stop the war they are in. During the time of the rehearsals of the play all different couples in the town stop having sex as a result of women losing interest, unknown to them that this is also the plot of the play. An interesting read. I liked it and liked the author.
A ten year old girl is growing up with a dysfunctional mother and big sister in California. The Mom starts to lose it and the two girls go stay with their dysfunctional Uncle in Richmond, Virginia in stereotypical southern fashion. Jeanette Walls first pure fictional novel is unfortunately disappointing.
Memoir of author’s grandmother’s life growing up and living in the early 20th century in the southwest. A remarkable woman who grew up dirt poor, was a teacher and a very independent woman for the times. An enjoyable read from the author of The Glass Castle.
Story of a physician who grew up in Ethiopia along with his identical twin. Amazing storytelling of his very dramatic birth, growing up, politics, medicine, and family dynamics. A great story and well written.
A retired British major lives in a scenic country village in England and tires of the pace of modernity…or jumps on board?, dealing with his London based son, the death of his brother, a new lady friend and the possible destruction of his beloved village. A fun novel.
We went to Johnny Mango for an early Sunday Brunch this past Sunday. Johnny Mango is a small place in Ohio City that we have been wanting to go to forever. It has a nice casual vibe with not many people there as we were there by 9:30 AM. I had their whole wheat waffles with a plum/lemon sauce. They were excellent. Courtney had a chorizo, potato and cheese omelet and Sophia and Grace each had a breakfast quesadilla. They are known for their fresh made juices. Sophia and Grace each had a huge orange juice that they gulped down and I tried the apple, cranberry and ginger that was great as well. We will definitely try to go again when we are in the neighborhood… hopefully for their Taco Tuesday and margaritas.
