My friend Natalie came to town! She, Jana and I had dinner at John’s Place in Roscoe Village before meeting up with a few people–including some new friends–on the adorable patio at Volo for drinks. Catching up with people is one of my favorite things!
On Day 291, the hubs and I had an amazing meal at The Cook’s House in Traverse City. We found a place to stay on AirBnB–an over the garage studio just south west of down town. We were able to walk right over to the restaurant, which looks, in fact, like a cook’s house.
Outside a few steps lead up to the porch and through the open front door into what would have been someone’s living room. Instead a woman behind a tiny bar greets us and motions us to a table by the big bay window overlooking the porch. There are a few tables inside with an open view into the kitchen. Cookbooks line the shelves along with wine glasses and alcohols. And if you are lucky enough to sit by the kitchen, you have full access to the chef for conversation while he prepares your meal. It is so cozy, I imagine the chefs just going upstairs after service for a glass of wine and goodnight.
We were sitting near the door–which was good because I don’t think they had A/C–in full view of the kitchen and earshot of the lively conversation he was having with the table nearest him. At one point, a sous chef left the kitchen, through the restaurant and out the front door, to pick some herbs from the garden and then put them in a salad or on a fish. We enjoyed a fresh, farm-to-table five course tasting dinner in this relaxed and fun environment. A definite must go if you are in Northern Michigan!
It’s 2:19 am in Michigan and I’m in a sleeping bag in an airstream. How did I get here? I wasn’t supposed to be in Michigan until tomorrow (later today). An impromptu night drive instead of an early morning one seemed more appealing. So frantic packing and tying up loose ends followed by 6 hours of driving (including a few stops) in a Prius with four humans and a lot of bags and we are here, ready for tomorrow’s adventures.
The hubs and Chad talk about Mike and Joe like everyone who went to the University of Illinois knows who they are. Like most people in Chicago of a certain age (read early to mid 30’s) worship these cover band gods. This may be true but only because Mike and Joe allow these Illinoisans to cling to their music the way they cling to their college years and lost youth. So you can imagine my disappointment when the legends themselves played at the Southport Festival to a crowd of only 100 or less. Though there were some definite rockers of the early 90’s reliving senior year of high school through this duo’s soothing covers of DMB and Third Eye Blind (the hubs and Chad included). Ok, fine. I was totally jamming out as if my high school boyfriend was introducing me to Weezer all over again. Playing The Sweater Song is what did it for me Mike and Joe.
After the first 24 hours back on methotrexate, my energy was a little low but I was up enough to go to a play. The hubs and I went to Othello the Remix created, written and performed by the Q Brothers. And I am glad we did.
The Q Brothers take Shakespeare and urbanize it by setting much of it to rap music. Sometime they keep his language and sometimes they use the story and write their own. With Othello, they set the story within hip hip culture using a combination of Shakespeare’s language and their own. Othello is an insanely popular rapper who worked his way up the ranks, Iago a member of his crew and Cassio the new “pretty boy” with a huge jump start to his career displacing Iago for the second slot. And the story goes the way we know it to from there.
Going to see Q Brothers shows, I am always excited by how diverse the audience is both in age and race. They attract an audience all their own to Shakespeare. And the people are always jazzed, sometimes clapping or bobbing along with the beat. I love this kind of energy in the theater, regardless of the criticisms I may have of the show (like the fact that no actor played Desdemona-she was an imagined/off stage character and recorded voice on a sound cue which is pretty problematic in Othello, especially the death scene). They also really engage and play well to a youth audience in a way that “straight” Shakespeare often does not.
Despite my Desdemona issue, it was a fun and satisfying new take on Othello that I’m excited has extended so many times!
year of fun 