Go Blue. Don't look the gifted Dairy Queen in mouth

 

 

A pretty accurate statement is to say that I spent my day packing today. And eating. And packing. And eating. And then I packed some more. For lunch, Scott brought me crispy chicken burger and apple pie from MacDonald's. The chicken burger was actually a bun cut in half with crispy chicken. No sauce, not even a slice of pickle or tomato. The reader would also notice that I did not even bother taking a picture. The apple pie was good. 

For dinner we went to the Mexican & Guatemalan restaurant again. We ate a lot of tacos, which were super delicious. And after that it was time for Dairy Queen again with Scott's mom and aunt. Turns out we managed to introduce the Dairy Queen's smallest portion - mini to the ladies. They had thought the smallest size was "small" :) Anyway, we got our blizzards and the girl behind the counter asked if we wanted a free Reese's blizzard too because they accidentally made the wrong one intially for us. Of course I wanted it. Because there's simply no such thing as too much Dairy Queen blizzards.

Go Blue. Beating that old Trum

 

After shopping, the plan was to go to the Dairy Queen in Howell, but since Scott was hungry, we went to MacDonalds instead, and after that, we wouldn't have been able to fit any ice cream. Back home it was.

In the evening we went (again) to eat at Knights and to celebrate Scott's upcoming birthday as well. I took the steak and since you could choose any side dish, I chose the fruit salad. Scott once again had onion rings with his steak, and Scott's mom had baked potatoes with her fish. All the steaks were accompanied by the usual vitamin shot in this country - overcooked and unseasoned vegetables. No wonder Americans don't appreciate veggies if they're served such miserable carrots and green beans. Oh, and since it was birthday, we got a dessert for free. Creme Brulee :)

But I really wanted to write about public toilets once again. OMG - those giant cracks between the door and the wall, from where you can just casually look in, what is being done on the toilet... Just the other day, there was such a gap in one place that I could fit three fingers there side by side. And the annoying self-flushing, where during one session this damn toilet can be rinsed three times. And then those where the toilet does not have a lid (in other words, ALL the public toilets), but to press the button to flush you have to bend over the toilet more or less just having your face above the toilet. In this country, even with the best of intentions, it is not possible to use a public toilet without inhaling the flushing drops. And the toilet paper rolls are still about knee high. The only positive things are that there is a free toilet in more or less every major store, and there is usually a larger stall that you can use without touching the walls or the toilet seat.

By the way, we went to TJ Maxx one day and a message came over the speakers to keep social distance from other visitors. US sems to be still living in 2022.

I can't remember right now if I already wrote that TJ Maxx has a new line of scented candles. Suitable for the housewife who doesn't like to cook, but would like the house to always smell like mashed potatoes. The new varieties were mashed potatoes and Mac'n'cheese. While the mac'n'cheese still had a more or less ok smell, the Americans' mashed potatoes smelled as horrible as their gray oatmeal cooked without salt tastes. I would however understand if they offered fried potatoes and onion scented candle. That already has a good ring on it.

Go Blue. Squirrels. So many squirrels.

 

Yesterday and today we had a trip to Ann Arbor planned. First thing in the morning we headed to Detroit for brunch at the Dime Store. A loyal reader surely remembers that this is one of my three favorite brunch restaurants. And this is probably the only place where I ALWAYS get the same food - eggs benedict with salmon and hollandaise sauce on English muffins. It's just such a great combo. I had fruit salad as side instead of fried and it was delicious. Scott wasn't very happy with his chicken sandwich, but the fries with bacon were good.

We drove to Ann Arbor, did some shopping at TJ Maxx and dropped things off at the hotel. We drove to our Old Woodland home to have a run in the woods. Around here, the pollinating gardens have also become very popular. Flowers bloomed over my head and the whole view was brightly colored. And squirrels! I saw several dozen brown, gray and black squirrels on my 8km run. A couple of chipmonks were also running around.

Coming back to the topic of the breakfast, only around five o'clock, after my run, I started to feel hungry again.

Rebecca invited us to Knights for dinner, and as it is customary in this country, one portion would feed a small African village, so when I left the restaurant, I was so full and was carrying a box of fish, buttery roll and fries for my morning snack. Because, well, I still mostly wake up before the crack of dawn and with an empty stomach.

Fortunately, plans were made for this morning as well, and at 8 o'clock we were already at the door of the Great Traverse Pie Co. I had peach pie and cherry coffee. Super good.

We went shopping. We walked in the city. We ate cupcakes. Despite the fact that our favorite, Cupcake Station, had been replaced by Bakehouse 46. The cupcakes were still good. We did more shopping. And walked some more. For late lunch we chose Zingerman's sandwiches. For some reason, I had been thinking about these sandwiches for months, and they were just as delicious as I remembered.

Since Dexter's Cider Mill is closed on Tuesdays, we didn't stop there and drove straight back home.

Go Blue. When Halloween is life

 

 

The last time we were in the USA and Michigan was two years ago, but when I got here yesterday, it still feels like we haven't been away in the meantime at all.

The first enthusiasts already have their skeletons sitting in the front yard, but at the moment there are only a few of them. At the same time, all the pop-up Halloween shops are open, where you can get everything from costumes to decorations and life-size skeletons and straw men. All regular stores also have a considerable selection of Halloween-themed items. Probably, however, in the next couple of weeks, Santa hats will be placed on the pumpkins, and Halloween and Christmas will start to share the shelf space.

I recently saw an American woman on Instagram who "invented" a perfectly affordable, no-bake cake. She explained that the inspiration came from the honey cake made by his Polish grandmother and somewhere else, which I can't recall at the moment. And the cake she invented was ... drum roll ... a cookie cake. Yep, the same thing that Estonian children grow up doing and that the majority of 7-year-olds can put together on their own. In any case, it seemed to me that this cake is still not very well known in the US if 30-year-old ladies consider making it an achievement worthy of Gordon Ramsey's creations. And so I packed two packages of Kalev cookies from home. For Saturday dessert, I made a cookie cake with whipped cream and cherry filling. I chose canned cherries from the store, where it was written in large print that no sugar was added. I imagined a pleasantly tart cherry filling... I opened the jar, tasted it and couldn't even identify the cherry at first, because the amount of the artificial sugar substitute was clearly overpowering any cherry. In any case, the cake turned out quite well.

The Sunday morning biscuits didn't rise as much as they should have, but the raspberry pie for finner made up for it.

Bright lights, Toronto nights. The Mug Race

I had noticed that the Niagara Falls Starbucks mug was particularly beautiful and in colors that I don't have yet. It's safe to say I was very excited already in advance about my new mug. I went through every Starbucks in Niagara Falls and the result was zero mugs. After returning to Toronto, I stepped into every Starbucks on my way, but it turned out that Toronto and Canada mugs are also facubg the shortage. So this morning I had to do a very focused Starbucks tour, a mug race to be more specific. I managed to score one Toronto mug and one pumpkin ceam cold brew during two hours.

I packed my things, including the last piece of Japanese cream cheese cake, and went to the airport. It turned out that passport and all other immigration procedures for travelers to the US will already done on the Canadian side. So I was able to simply walk through the airport in Detroit, and without further interviews or interrogations, I stepped onto the ground of the United States.

We made a stop in Dairy Queen, had our blizzards, made a few more stops, and ended up at Scott's mom's. And as t has become customary, it was bedtime at 9 pm for me.

For those interested, this post also includes a few pictures of my hotel room in Toronto, the list price of which is 450 euros per night. Fortunately, I didn't pay that much, but even for the amount I paid, I would have preferred not to have a pigeon feathers in the room.

Bright lights, Toronto nights. Niagara and Uncle Tetsu

Since I went to sleep at half past eight last night, I woke up at 1am. And 4am. And 5am. I guess I didn't fall asleep much after five anymore. I listened to the pouring rain and watched the lightning. Since the weather forecast promised bright sun and around 86F for Toronto, I obviously only packed summer clothes. I already started to make a plan in my mind, where I can buy rubber boots and rain jacket to go to Niagara.

When I went out at 7am to get breakfast at the diner around the corner, the streets were dry and the sky was clear. Go figure.

I had bought my bus tickets for today to go to Niagara Falls. At half past noon I got off the bus and was instantly fascinated by the foamy and clear blue water that fell down in the horseshoe falls. I enjoyed the falls from every possible angle that Canada allowed and also went up the Skylon tower. While in the past I have looked at Canada across the river when I was in Detroit, today I looked at the USA across the river while I was in Canada.

There was a Dairy Queen on the way to Skylon. Already excited, I thought about the menu and which blizzard to take, only to find the door locked and lights out. I thought about buying a mug from Starbucks then, but it turned out that there is still a post-pandemic supply crisis in this country, and instead of a Niagara mug, they think I can drink coffee from a paper cup probably.

In Toronto, I did a quick tour in my neighbourhood, bought Uncle Tetsu's Japanese cheesecake and, since today's breakfast was significantly worse than I thought, also a couple of yogurts. Couple of years ago in Bangkok, we also went to Uncle Tetsu's to buy the same cake and it was so delicious. When I noticed that in addition to Bangkok, he also bakes in Toronto, it was clear that I would not miss eating this cake again. Half today, half tomorrow morning. Life is a Japanese cheesecake. By the way, this cheesecake shop is right next to Kaka Sushi (translation from Estonian: Poop Sushi) , "eat as much as you can". Hope, you won't have any difficulties finding either now.

I went up to the roof of the hotel to enjoy the city views and then returned to my room to go to sleep.

Bright lights and Toronto nights. Waiting for Godot

 

When I arrived at the airport in the morning, I was greeted by the usual state - dozens of people in line, while at the security belt there was one free slot after another. I still fail to understand, what are they all waiting for, just standing in line and not moving forward to empty security check? Godot? Handheld leading? In any case, lately I've started to just walk past the travellers as soon as I see that there are several free slots along the belt.

The flight departed on time, but it seems that the headwind was too strong for this tiny plane, so we still arrived 20 minutes late. My 50 minute transfer turned into a 30 minute run through the airport and through passport check. I got on as the second to last and had to chase a Lithuanian guy from my seat. Another delight for the last boarder is that there is zero space for luggage in the overhead lockers. The passengers had all very comfortably squeezed their blankets and pillows in there, and except for one lady, no one raised even an eyebrow even when I pulled them out and asked whose they were. At least I could place my bag relatively close to me.

For the first time I flew across the Atlantic in a tiny, 3+3 seat plane. The toilet was just so big that to pull soe toilet paper from the roll you had to squat between the toilet and the door with your back straight and then practically tear a strip from the roll that was placed mere centimeters from the floor. Trying it any other way, you would have either hit your head on the door or the toilet seat lid. An hour after taking off, the toilet was already in its usual puddled state, and while travellers using the toilet in socks are nothing new, I don't think I had ever seen someone go there completely barefoot. But it seems that he didn't see any problem himself, because throughout the rest of the flight he cultivated a lifestyle close to nature, went barefoot in the toilet and didn't waste water by flushing. I regretfully happened to visit this room once right after him...

At the beginning of the flight, the flight attendant announced that on today's flight we have meat stew with rice or lasagna as our choice of the meal. An hour later, that promise had been erased from their minds, and everyone was given the same box of food without asking for any preference. In the box, a sight of meatballs, mashed potatoes and green peas opened up. Let it be said that this meal was actually very tasty for airplane food. The Indian passengers behind me asked what kind of meat was in the food, was it pork? The steward replied that it's "normal meat".

Immigration was quick, more like a walk through. I took a Lyft and drove to the hotel.

I decided to make good use of the additional seven hours due to the time difference and walked to the park by the river, where beautiful views of the city skyline opened up. On the way there and in the park I met a couple of squirrels and one rabbit. Very cute.

On the way back, I grabbed a chicken wrap from a Lebanese bistro that could probably feed a smaller Rwandan village and even share with the neighbors. Half went into the fridge. And by 20:30 I was fast asleep.