Tones of Home

During my last few years in high school, and overlapping into every trip back to Kalamazoo I made during my first two years at EMU, I tended to frequent a particular coffee shop called "Boogies." Now, Kalamazoo is famous for a couple of things, such as: poverty, PCB (look it up) and 24 hour coffee shops. Boogies, at that time, was my favorite of those shops.

Well, years went by, and Boogies went out of business. This saddened me at first, but then I latched onto The 4th Coast as my main go-to coffee house (pictures of that will have to be taken the next trip I take). The space, however, was always destined to have something to do with roasted beans, and it changed owners several times (my favorite interim occupier was Ali Babba's Hookah Lounge, though a place like that was never going to survive in a city like Kzoo). Now it is "The Strutt," and I must say, they've done a lot of good to the place. They expanded the space a bit, added a small stage, have live music every day, got their liquor licence, and turned it into an all purpose venue/hangout. It's really quite nice. Here are a few shots (sorry, I was too lazy to walk around and get things from multiple angles, so these are all taken from the same spot on a couch.

First off, the fireplace. It was always there, but I never remembed it being in use in the olden days. It's a nice, warm, homey touch.

There is no space left undadorned. Everywhere you look ther is something to catch your attention just enough to not make it boring, but not so "cathy" as to perpetually distract you. I quite like it.

Overall, I recommend you look it up and give it a try if ever you're in Kzoo for some inexplicable reason.

Be My Franken(VALEN)tine

First off, sorry about the delay in posts. The muse has not struck me? I've been under the weather? I dunno. I definitely missed an opportunity there when the weather was awesome. In any case, I'm back.

So, Valentine's Day happened recently. Being single, this day usually sucks. However, I decided to make the best of it by spending the weekend in Kalamazoo with my friend Kary. Among other things, we sang, we danced (to rave music at a Sushi bar in downtown Kalamazoo of all places . . .), we ate foods, we watched movies, and we made muffins. Also, I caught a cold that is currently kicking the ever living shit out of me. Sorry for not being as witty as usual.

This is Kary and her cat Max. I might come back and photoshop this one to recess the background a bit more and do some other color enhancements.

Max is a cuddle slut (quoth Kary). he also has green eyes. My green bag reflected in them was pretty cool.

This is her screen. It's pretty, especially from this angle.



There will be another post in Kalamazoo, taken the next day at a coffee shop. Look for it soon.

The Cuisine of K-zoo

Every year, usually on December 26th, I travel to my old stomping grounds in Kalamazoo. My primary objective on this trip is twofold: 1.) Spend the day with Kayleigh, who also visits our old home town this time of year, and 2.) Eat. This year was no exception. The following are a few photos of the foods we ate.

Bilbo's Pizza in a Pan is easily the best pizza I've ever had (in Michigan). It's almost the best pizza I've had period, but there's a close contender in Pizza Luce in Minneapolis, and then, of course, there's Chicago style Chicago pizza. Kayleigh and I always eat there when I come out to visit. The following is the remnants of some cheesy garlic bread.

Then we move on to the main course: stuffed spinach and mushroom pizza in a whole wheat crust. My god is it delectable.

The past couple of years we've ended up at a little place called The Corner Bar in downtown Kalamazoo. We often meet up with a few friends there, play cards, reminisce about our high school adventures, and eat fried foods. Here are some friend zucchini, a new one we tried this year. Delicious.

Of course there's always the beer. Even though Kalamazoo has some great brew pubs, like the renowned Bell's Brewery, the Corner has the widest selection of beers we've seen in the town. In the foreground is my Bell's Amber Ale, and in focus is Kayleigh's Great Lakes Porter.

Fried Pickles are probably Kayleigh's favorite. I don't think I actually ate any this year, though . . .
Oh, and everything comes with ranch, seen here refracted through a beer glass. Kinda cheesy, I know, but I need to experiment with these sorts of things.