Arborific

There’s a bit of a rivalry between East Lansing and Ann Arbor. I don’t know all of its nuances, but from what I can tell, U of M is the turtle neck-wearing elitist and MSU is the down-to-earth, good old boy. After visiting Ann Arbor a few times now, I can say I really like the city. It has a very vibrant downtown area and the city is brimming with entrepreneurs and high-tech companies. It’s like a tiny slice of Boston or New York was transplanted into Michigan.

Since Julie had a flight to Jacksonville early this morning and the weather reports were calling for several inches of snow, we decided to stay in a hotel between Ann Arbor and the airport instead of waking up at 3am to drive from Lansing.

While I was at work, Julie found a cool tile factory called Motawi that makes artsy tile. She got a tile that will be a centerpiece in our kitchen.

After work, we ate at Zingerman’s deli. I had never heard of it, but, apparently it is well known and is one of Jeffry Steingarten’s (the cranky critic on Iron Chef, food columnist) favorite restaurants. It’s basically a super-gourmet deli. The staff are extremely friendly and let you sample anything. We tried some cheeses straight out of France and some chocolate-covered bacon. I had the best Reuben ever. The corn beef and sauerkraut had delicate tastes and simply melted in my mouth. The cakes we had for dessert, however, were just OK. It was a great experience, but definitely not cheap, as far as delis go.

At the hotel, I enjoyed the whirlpool and then digging my car out of 10 inches of snow. Julie enjoyed being stuck on in her plane on the TARMAC for 2 hours this morning. Now she’s in sunny Jacksonville. Lucky!