Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Eats

I wanted to let you all know about an upcoming event that I am unfortunately not able to attend this year. I look forward to the Case Western Reserve University book sale every year and try to make a festive day out of it. My friend C. joined me last year, and we spent a delightful afternoon/early evening hanging in Cleveland Heights. I’ve also been known to treat myself to a lunch on the garden patio at Guarino’s in Little Italy, just me, a plate of pasta, and my new purchases.

The CWRU book sale is gigantic. It literally fills up the entire gymnasium and is extremely well-organized. The books are divided into genres, and each genre gets its own section and own check-out help who mark down your purchases for that section on the form you get when you walk in. Once you have your fill of books you head to the front to pay for your books at the main check-out.

I particularly enjoy the music section and the paperbacks in the back, but I also browse the cookbooks, history books, and German books. The rare editions and coffee table books are always interesting. In the past I’ve found a rare German dictionary set for a song, an ECG self-assessment program, and started my Les Roberts collection. Last year I scored 12 Vienna Masters Series CDs for $1 each that rounded off my collection of classical music that I started in 1989 (with only one duplicate, which I gave my father) in addition to a ton of paperbacks and some books on World War II and the art of spycraft. I guarantee that there are sections for every single taste.

The Book Sale is being held this year from June 2-5. It is open Saturday from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. for the preview price of $20 (this attracts mostly collectors and the truly zealous) and admission is free from 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. It is open Sunday and Monday from 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. and Tuesday from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Prices are reduced on Monday, and Tuesday is “Box Day” – $5/box.

C. and I met at the Mad Greek parking lot, so we decided to enjoy a nice meal there as well. The patio had just opened for the season and it was a gorgeous day, so we sat outside. The servers brought our delicious drinks first, which we enjoyed in the sun. I ordered a Mango Madness and Caroline ordered the blueberry mojito. Both were very refreshing and potent. The server soon brought us our samosas, which we split, and our entrees (vegetarian Indian food for her and the Island of Minos Stir Fry for me). We enjoyed the delicious food and chatted about the book sale and our purchases. It was a delightful afternoon.

So mark the dates in your calendar. If you love books this is one sale that you simply can’t miss! Add a trip to one of the local restaurants afterwards and you’ve got a quintessential Cleveland day that rocks!

Contact info:

Case Western Reserve University’s Adalbert Gymnasium
2128 Adelbert Rd.
Cleveland, OH 44106

I belong to a tea group through Meetup.com. Every few months one of the co-organizers hosts a tea at her home that simply rocks. Space is limited, and her teas fill up very quickly. When I told Crystal of Eat*Drink*Cleveland about the tea she thought it might interest my readers and encouraged me to post about it. Maybe it will inspire you to host a tea of your own.

J. goes above and beyond when it comes to the teas she hosts at her house. We have enjoyed a Mad Hatter Tea featuring food inspired by Alice and Wonderland and a Peter Rabbit Summertime Tea featuring food inspired by the characters of Beatrix Potter.

J. and her husband worked hard to prepare the food for this tea, while her daughter M., who attended culinary school, helps put everything together and serve the food so that J. can visit with her guests and be the ultimate hostess. Everything was as close to being authentic as possible from the food to the teas to the music. She had a CD of music that played on the Titanic playing when we walked in. We were handed a handout packet entitled Boarding Pass (printed a likeness of the actual boarding pass) featuring the menu, authentic menus from first, second and third class and various historical facts. Most of the recipes she found came from Tea Time Magazine.

Our first course was champagne punch accompanied by marinated fruit shots, which were fruit skewers marinated in a tea-infused simple sugar. The champagne punch was made with tea, ginger, a bunch of other ingredients, and three bottles of champagne. I preferred drinking it over the tea this time since it was such a warm day.

The second course was the scone course. She had made three different scones – a white chocolate and champagne scone, a chocolate coconut almond scone, and a raspberry ricotta scone. The scones were served with butter, clotted cream and raspberry preserves, which we could add or not depending on our preference. I would be hard pressed to choose a favorite, but my favorite scone was the chocolate coconut almond scone.

The third course featured assorted tea sandwiches that were inspired by food that had been served on the Titanic. We enjoyed marinated shrimp on crostini, goat cheese and olive tapenade sandwich stacks, bacon and cheddar tea sandwiches on toasted pita rounds, crab salad in cucumber boats, pear and blue cheese canapes, curried chicken and apple toast cups, and lamb with mint pesto on crostini. Again, all of the sandwiches were delicious, but my favorites were the pear and blue cheese and lamb sandwiches.

The fourth course was the dessert course. She served Victorian poppy seed bundt cake with a lime glaze, lemon berry ladyfingers, black forest trifle, chocolate eclairs and ‘white on white confections’ (mini-cupcakes with white sprinkles). I had started to hit the wall at this point, but if I had to choose a favorite it would be the mini-cupcakes. They were moist and delicious.

Three different teas were served at the Titanic Tea: RMS Titanic tea, Buckingham Palace tea, and Queen Catherine tea. The RMS Titanic Tea Blend is a Harney & Sons loose commemorative tea blend created to honor the 100th Anniversary of those who perished when the Titanic sank. The tea blend features Chinese Keemun and Formosa Oolong. A portion of the sales will be donated to The Ocean Conservancy. Buckingham Palace Tea is served at the Buckingham Palace garden party every May. The tea blends Ceylon Earl Grey with a soft jasmine from Fujian Province and a malty Assam. Queen Catherine is a Harney & Sons loose tea blend of three Chinese black teas in honor of Queen Catherine, who introduced her love of tea to the British. Not being a fan of Earl Grey, I chose to drink the RMS Titanic Tea.

To view more photos, visit http://www.meetup.com/No-Hats-Required-Tea/photos/7477542/.

The latest Emerging Chefs dinner was a Corks & Cupcakes tasting event, capitalizing on the cupcakes craze. The event paired a selection of Italian prosecco, whites, and reds from Tuscany Distributors with divine cupcakes by Lilia Lipps of Indulgence Cakes. This event was held at the Shaheen Modern and Contemporary Art in Downtown Cleveland at the corner of W. 9th and Superior Avenue (at the foot of the Detroit-Superior bridge). It was, as promised, “a night of beautiful art, wine and dessert all served with Cleveland flair.”

We started with an amuse bouche course entitled “Lure Me In,” which featured a coconut macaroon with lemon curd and red wine caviar and prosecco (my favorite wine of the night). I’m a huge fan of the bubbly, and this prosecco was light and not too sweet – just how I like it. Most people nibbled on the macaroon and sipped the lemon curd and red wine caviar off the spoon, but I was tacky and poured the lemon curd on the macaroon to enjoy both flavors at once. It was delightful. The coconut macaroon was light and moist, and the lemon curd and red wine caviar was a delicious accompaniment.

The second course was “Take Me on a Picnic.” The cupcake was a cheddar cupcake topped with a candied pecan, honey blue cheese frosting and a crisp cheddar wafer.  I couldn’t really taste the cheddar or the blue cheese, but the honey and candied pecan really shone. My friend M. ate the cheddar wafer separately and said it was deliciously intense. The flavors blended really well together, and the result was a tasty little picnic treat. It paired really well with a Lugana Base white wine, which I enjoyed immensely as well. In fact, I bought two bottles of the prosecco and a bottle of the white at the end of the night.

The third course was “Wine Me, Dine Me…Make Me Sparkle,” which featured a cannoli cupcake and a red wine named Sangue di Giuda (Blood of Judas). The cannoli cupcake is an orange-scented cake with ricotta chocolate chip filling that is dipped in chocolate ganache and topped with almond cream. The cannoli cupcake was deliciously moist and decadent. I’ve recently started to appreciate almond paste and marzipan again after overdosing on it when I lived in Salzburg, Austria for a year back in 1989-1990. The almond flavoring made the cannoli cupcake shine. I will be ordering this one from Indulgence Cakes in the future.

This was also about the time that the service really started slacking. The cupcakes and wine started being served with a time lag, so we could no longer enjoy the wine with the cupcakes. It also seemed as if the servers started deliberately skipping our table, which was in the middle, and serving everyone around us first. Glasses and plates could have been cleared during the lulls between the courses, but instead were cleared by the server when she brought out the cupcake plates. The result was a delay in bringing out the wine and tables that were very cluttered with empty glasses and plates. By the end of the night I was fed up and have to admit I wasn’t very nice about it, but since the servers never cracked a smile I don’t feel too bad about it. As a former server I know how to recognize good and bad service, and no matter what happens you always need to serve with a smile (even if it is insincere). I decided never to attend another stand-up Emerging Chefs event as a result (the lack of chairs didn’t help – by the end of the night my feet and lower back were killing me).

The intermezzo course “Give Me a Break” claimed we would be served sparkling spring water with a sprig of mint and mint julep panna cotta. The mint julep panna cotta was absolutely divine. I had to use the stem of my spoon to enjoy the panna cotta at bottom of the glass. It was so refreshing and delicious that I simply didn’t want to waste any. I was dying of thirst at this point and had been looking forward to the sparkling water and mint. Sadly, we had to accost a waitress to get some water and the water was served with no mint.

The third course was “Butter Me Up, Buttercup,” which featured a salted caramel cupcake and a Pinot Nero Rose. I became a fan of salted caramel thanks to Jeni’s Ice Cream, and this cupcake more than did the flavor justice. The cupcake was moist and caramelly – not to mention beautiful to look at with the crystallized sugar garnish. I’m not a fan of sweet wines (and had had two cocktails at a happy hour at Myxx beforehand), so I stopped drinking the wines at this point. I had a sip of the Pinot Nero Rose and it was good, but I left my half-finished glass on the table.

The final course was the one I had most anticipated – “Marry Me at Breakfast” featuring a decadent dark chocolate and bacon cupcake with an espresso butter cream frosting. I would marry anyone who gave me this cupcake for breakfast! At this point the room had cleared out, so I was able to enjoy two of these bad boys. I will be buying this one again too! It was heavenly – pairing dark chocolate, bacon and espresso. The Giome cabernet-merlot blend was a bit peppery, so when paired with my second cupcake it really made the course shine. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

Overall I enjoyed myself. The cupcakes were delicious, and the gallery setting was very enjoyable. I had a lot of fun chatting with the girls from Scene Magazine, Crystal from Eat*Drink*Cleveland and several other people at our table, including our baker Lilia and her husband and Kimberly of Smitten in Cleveland and her husband.