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

Dim sum refers to a style of Chinese food prepared as small, bite-sized or individual portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates. Dim sum is served in most Chinese restaurants on carts. The fully cooked and ready-to-serve dim sum dishes are wheeled around the restaurant for customers to choose their orders while seated at their tables. The most unusual dishes can be ordered from the servers and are made to order in the kitchen. The dishes are tallied on a bill that is left on the table, and are priced according to size.

Dim sum is traditionally served with tea. In fact, the drinking of tea is just as important to dim sum as the food. More traditional dim sum restaurants typically serve dim sum until mid-afternoon.

Dim sum is a great choice when you dine with several people, and it’s a fun thing to do on a Saturday or Sunday morning. The first time I went to Li Wah we had a nice-sized group and sat at a round table with a lazy susan in the middle. We could select the dishes and rotate the lazy susan to get what we wanted.

I usually meet my friend G. for dim sum during the week. G. speaks Chinese, so it is always a treat for me to listen to her order in Chinese. We have similar tastes, so I generally rely on whatever she wants to order. We order a bunch of steamed goodies like pork and shrimp siu mai, pork or shrimp dumplings, turnip cakes, char siu baau (steamed BBQ pork buns), or sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves (so good!) and then order some egg tarts, jin deui (a chewy dough filled with red bean paste, rolled in sesame seeds, and deep fried) or steamed buns for dessert.

The check is then divided by however many people are in attendance. It is always a surprise how stuffed we are and how little we spend in the end. You can sit there for hours and walk away paying less than $20.

The most important thing about enjoying dim sum is to go in there with an open mind and just try as many dishes as you can. Once you have learned what you like and don’t like you can then start being choosier. For example, I cannot and won’t eat chicken feet, even though they are a dim sum delicacy.

Contact info:

Li Wah
2999 Payne Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44114
(216) 589-9552
Open Mon-Thu, Sun from 10 am – 12 am and Fri from 10 am – 1 am

Bo Loong
3922 St Clair Ave NE
Cleveland, OH 44114
(216) 391-3113
Open Mon-Thu, Sun 10 am – 2 am and Fri-Sat 10 am – 3 am

Hansa Import Haus has been a Cleveland legacy since 1957. Its current owner is Boris Music, a native of Slovenia, who also runs a travel agency out of the store. It’s a great store full of hard-to-find treats from Germany and other parts of Europe. Customers are greeted with Old World murals decorating the walls, German music playing throughout the store, and smells of fresh lunch meats and cheeses. Hansa gets fresh bread delivered to the store every week from the Dimpflmeier Bakery in Toronto, Canada and Reinecker’s Bakery in Macedonia, Ohio. The selection of wine and beer (German beers as well as beers from Central and Eastern Europe) is incredibly good. Beer available in single bottles, four or six-packs and pony kegs.

In the real world (and not this virtual world) I am a German translator by trade. I began studying German in high school here in Cleveland and eventually earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in German (and Russian) and German translation, respectively. Cleveland has a very strong German heritage, and I grew up at the Donauschwaben German-American Club in Olmsted Falls. I lived in Germany for six years, and when I moved back in 2001 I was thrilled to learn about Hansa Haus in Ohio City. I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of it before that. Hansa Haus sells lots of European specialties, including (but not limited to) beer, wine, chocolate, candies, honey, condiments like mustards, ketchup, curry ketchup, shashlik sauce, jams, coffee, cookies, vinegars, herring, dairy products, sausages and wurst (if you like carpacchio, try the Lachsschinken – it’s amazing), and breads as well as Hungarian paprika and other spices, Persil detergent, Fa deodorant, Niveau creams and lotions, and many more items. The coolers hold juice, herring, fresh cold cuts, cheeses, European butters (the Sauerrahmbutter is my personal favorite), and Quark (a European farmer’s cheese that is a cross between creme fraiche, yogurt and ricotta cheese). They even sell beer glasses and mugs, German magazines and curios such as bread boards, knives, Feuerzange [a metal grate mounted on top of the bowl to hold the sugar pyramid or Zuckerhut] for a Feuerzangenbowle [Flaming Fire Tongs Punch], Jausenbretter [wood boards that the Germans use to eat the evening meals of cold cuts and bread] and much more. The varieties of chocolate is worth a blog post all by itself. Hansa sells all the big brands, such as Milka, Lindt, Mozart Kugeln, Toblerone, Ritter Sport, KitKat (not the kind you can guy here!), and other rare chocolates such as Kinderschokolade, Katzenzungen, etc. The chocolate varieties range from raisin and nut to strawberry yogurt and dark and milk chocolates. Chocolate with cookies, chocolate with corn flakes, chocolate with spices. It will blow you away. The Milka Tenders (think Ho-Hos but better) are also pretty amazing. You’ll be amazed when you walk in and see for yourself how big it is.

I love coming here right before Easter or Christmas and stocking up on the holiday chocolates (the German liquor-filled chocolates at Christmas are a particular favorite of mine), chocolate bunnies or Santas, cookies (Lebkuchen, Dominosteine, Stollen), and chocolate Advent calendars. The last photo here was the aisle of Christmas goodies back in November of last year.

Contact info:

Hansa Import Haus
2717 Lorain Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44113
(216) 281-3177

The star here is the chili, made from hand-chopped meats, fresh chiles, and proprietary spice blends. There are five “gourmet chilis” to choose from, including Texas beef, chicken verde, hot pork, spicy veggie, and spinach paneer. The spicy veggie and spinach paneer are vegetarian-friendly The chilis are served eight different ways – in a cup or bowl, on macaroni, on nachos, on rice, on a chili dog, in a burrito or as a sloppy jose. They also offer beef & cheddar, pulled pork and BBQ chicken sandwiches, which would pair nicely with a cup of chili. It is BYOB-friendly if you want to enjoy a beer with your chili.

As soon as I saw it on the menu online I decided to try the sloppy jose. Being a fan of hoagie buns, this was right up my alley. I could choose from any of the chilis and then could add toppings, including cheddar cheese, red onion, sour cream and jalapenos (baked beans are 50 cents more). I ordered the chicken verde (the mildest of the chilis) with everything but the jalapenos. I am going out to dinner that night and didn’t want to have heartburn or an upset stomach. It was served with a fork, which I quickly learned I would need. I tried to eat it as a sandwich and succeeded in making quite a mess. This sandwich was delicious. The chili was very flavorful and, for being a mild chili, had a nice heat to it. Combined with a can of Mountain Dew my bill came to a whopping $5.

I also splurged on a side of cornbread, which was $1.75. It was worth every penny. The cornbread was dotted with bits of corn and jalapeno and was more savory than sweet. It was also extremely moist.

I also had the pleasure of trying my friend’s spinach paneer chili (not pictured here), which featured spinach, Indian spices, and cubes of fresh Indian cheese (paneer). Wow, that was good. Despite being a meat lover I can appreciate a good palak paneer, and this spinach paneer did not disappoint – with chunks of paneer in a spicy spinach-based chili. Yum!

This little neighborhood gem is only open for lunch and closes at 4:00 every day. It features free wifi and plays some righteous bluegrass-rock music. My friend G. was loving the old-time music. We all felt very comfortable and will definitely be going back.

Contact info:

Palookaville Chili
3900 Lorain Ave.
Cleveland, OH
216-961-4810

Our first visit to Jezebel’s Bayou started off rocky and just stayed rocky. I had made a reservation for 11 people for 1 PM several days beforehand, so it wasn’t like our big table was a surprise – or at least it shouldn’t have been. As I was driving to meet my friends on that rainy Saturday afternoon I got a call saying they were standing outside the restaurant and the door was locked (the hours on the door indicated they opened at 11, but maybe they hadn’t gotten around to changing the hours on the door). I called and was told that the chef had arrived late that morning from shopping and that they would be opening at 1 or 1:05. When I got there they were opening the doors and letting us in. They never seemed to hit their stride after that. To make a long story short, our lunch took 3 hours.

However, the drinks were potent, which made up for the long wait. It might have been the fact that we were “day drinking” on empty stomachs. Several of my friends got pretty crocked on Sazeracs while we waited, and I got pretty buzzed from my hurricane. I had to walk away from it at one point to visit the other end of the table, because I needed to slow down. My $9 hurricane was made with Myerʼs Dark Rum, Bacardi, 151, orange juice, pineapple and grenadine and was absolutely delicious. It wasn’t served in a hurricane glass, but that certainly didn’t detract from the drink itself.

The food itself was really good. I started the meal by ordering the Alligator Voodoo, which are farm-raised alligator strips served with a Jalapeno Remoulade sauce. They were pretty moist, and the dipping sauce was very flavorful. I would definitely order this again. The New Orleans BBQ shrimp appetizer seemed a bit pricey for just four shrimp, although my friend A. said they were good. I’ll probably order them as an entree in the future. The onion rings, dipped in a Dortmunder Gold beer batter and served with a warm white Cheddar fondue sauce, on the other hand, were plentiful and delicious. I couldn’t stop eating them off my friend’s plate. That fondue sauce was divine!! My friend E. also thoroughly enjoyed his raw oysters on the half shell.

I ordered the Shrimp and Crawfish Creole for my entree. Whooeee, was it spicy, which is just how Creole and Cajun food should be. I ordered it because it was served with steamed rice. I was glad it came with the rice, because the rice offset the heat a bit. The shrimp and crawfish were perfectly cooked and the tomato-based creole sauce was very flavorful.

I will also be ordering the Sweet and Crunchy Praline Salad in the near future. It is gorgeous and features mixed field greens, mandarin oranges, sun-dried cherries, white cheddar cheese, and sugar-spice pecans with a white French dressing. It was light and flavorful and the pecans were delicious.

The owner came by at some point to welcome us and make sure everything was okay. He was so sincere we didn’t have the heart to complain about the unorganized service or slow kitchen. And we were enjoying ourselves, even if several of the folks had to be in Akron at some point. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere that afternoon and just enjoyed the company, so it wasn’t that big a deal to me. I just won’t be going back again with a large group. The smaller tables seemed to be taken care of just fine, having arrived after us and leaving before us.

Several of my fellow diners were also surprised when they got their bill. It certainly wasn’t a cheap lunch, but it was a delicious and enjoyable one. I’m glad I have a New Orleans restaurant so close to home. I plan to give dining service one more try, and if it is just as slow I will simply stick to carry out in the future.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Contact info:

Jezebel’s Bayou
12718 Larchmere Boulevard
Cleveland, OH 44120
(216) 721-3877

Tom at Exploring Food My Way did a good review of Swensons and the Galley Boy back in 2009 here. Be sure to check it out.

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/.

I recently attended a pie-making class at The Chubby Cook presented by the proprietor of Humble Pie Baking Company (and my friend) Diane. Her pies are simply amazing. I have been buying her pies at local farmer’s markets and craft fairs. I am not a fan of pie crust. I worked as a waitress at Baker’s Square for five years, and I always threw out the crust after eating the pie innards. Not her pies! They are light, tender, flaky and crisp. I wanted to learn how to make her pie crust, so I jumped at the chance to sign up for the pie-making class.

The Chubby Cook started out as a local food blog, but Scott branched out and opened his own carry-out restaurant/catering venue, which has now morphed into a catering venue and cooking school. It is located in the shopping strip across from Moxie’s (just down from Hiroshi’s Pub). The facilities were nicely arranged and very clean. I joined my two friends there and met some of the other attendees. We all had a ball.

We were greeted by Diane and Scott and offered a glass of fresh cider from the orchard where Diane gets her apples. We put on our aprons and read through the recipe handout. Diane started out by showing us how she makes a pie: cutting the butter and lard into the flour mixture, letting the dough rest, rolling out the dough, placing it in the pie pan, making the filling (lots of apples with cinnamon and butter!) and crimping and fluting the edges. I could have been happy just eating the filling by itself.

While her pie was baking in the oven we were turned loose to make our own pie. We followed the same steps Diane used, but we had to peel the apples first (she was peeling apples when we walked in). I got fancy and added leaves made from the extra crust dough to mine to differentiate my pie from the other pies. While our pies were in the oven, we dug into her pie and she showed us how to make crust in a food processor. She was an excellent instructor. Everyone’s pies turned out beautifully.

Many attendees really appreciated all her tips like using half lard and half butter for the crust, where to purchase lard and all her tips on locally sourced produce. We all went home with our own steaming apple pie in a glass pie plate. Everyone who tried my pie that weekend absolutely raved about it. I went back a week or so later and picked up some pie crusts that she had dropped off for us. They are now in my freezer, and I can’t wait until the summer to bake and fill them! I walked out of The Chubby Cook covered in cinnamon and flour, but absolutely relaxed and ebullient. I can’t imagine a better way to spend a snowy morning than baking pies with friends.

If you haven’t attended a cooking class, The Chubby Cook is a great place to start! Check out his class calendar today!

Contact info:

The Chubby Cook
3365 Richmond Road, #225
Beachwood, OH 44122
(216) 342-4840