Last Weekend

So here it is Friday, and I'm just getting around to talking about last weekend.

The World Expo of Beer in Frankenmuth. Um, yeah. Might just have to be the last one of those types of things I attend. I hearby declare I am too much of a lightweight for all that alcohol. Beers really do start tasting all the same once you've tried that many. And at my age, something about your shoes sticking to the floor, a band so loud you have to give yourself a sore throat to communicate with your friend, strange tattooed guys trying to hit on you, cops kindly advising you to walk in a straight line is just plain wrong on several levels.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Sunday was far more my speed. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert was discovered by Tim and added to our weekend. So glad we went. All the decades I have listened to the Star Wars tracks, I have never actually seen them played live until that day. And the Alexander Courage's Star Trek movie theme is one of the greatest movie tracks ever written, IMHO. Hopefully people will be listening to John Williams' pieces three hundred years from now. I really think they will. I had completely forgotten all about the theme from Schindler's List. Played beautifully by a concertmaster/first violinist simply named 'Hai'(?) from China. Maybe it was a good thing I'd forgotten to put on mascara that day. Might have pulled a Tammy Faye, but I managed to hold it together. Then on the opposite end of the spectrum was the difficult 'Bicycle Chase' segment from 'E.T.' Pretty awesome ear candy.

And if anyone is looking for a great place to eat in downtown Detroit, we can highly recommend Michael Symon's Roast in the ground level of the Westin Hotel. Very helpful staff, and the food did not disappoint. How I never knew this before, I don't know, but chicken livers DO go with polenta. Pretty damn well, actually. Chickens eat corn, don't they? It's a natural combo. And I'd never had GOOD polenta before then, either. I swore there was creamed corn in it, but when we questioned our waiter, he told us the corn is ground fresh weekly to the restaurant's specifications. A little chicken stock, cream, butter, and you've got magic.

I wanted to make a smart-ass comment about the steak knives in our place settings being there only as a joke. Because Tim's 'roast beast of the day' (suckling pig) and my beef short ribs could have been eaten with a fork, or in my case, a spoon. When the maitre'd came around to ask how everything was, I told him I'd never wanted to eat short ribs with a spoon before. There was all kinds of deep brown beefy goodness swimming in the bottom of the plate, and there's silly me wearing a white blouse. So he kindly offered to bring me one. Pretty sure I got my beef fat allowance for the entire year, but it was worth every tasty spoonful.

Oh, and the beef cheek pierogis with horseradish cream sauce? I could make an entire meal out of those. There must be a way to make those at home. It might take days of work, but I'd be willing to give it a shot.