This was a super busy week, and the weekend should be fun, too: I'm having lunch with a friend and her family on Saturday, and then dinner will be with one of my boyfriend's coworkers and his wife.
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| Marley Spoon steak with compound butter, mashed potatoes, and string beans |
What I've been up to this week:
- One day/night in Frankenmuth. I was invited by Bavarian Inn Lodge to stay overnight, which my boyfriend and I did this past Friday, and it was a lot of fun—you can read the review here. I'm a big fan of Frankenmuth, as it's an easy hour-long drive from the Metro Detroit area, and there is always plenty of cheese (Cheese Haus), fudge (Frankenmuth Fudge Kitchen), and all-you-can-eat (AYCE) chicken dinners (Bavarian Inn or Zehnder's) to eat. The Lodge ended up being fun too, as they have four pools, three whirlpools, mini golf, and a Family Fun Center, so I'd recommend it.
- Cooking. I had Marley Spoon this week and I believe HelloFresh the week before. Last night I got back from a movie around 8pm and didn't really have the energy to cook, but I wanted to have a meal for lunch today, so I cooked the meal pictured above, which was steak with "compound butter" (Tuscan seasoning, grated garlic, salt, and pepper), string beans, and mashed potatoes; it was pretty good except I think I oversalted it. Next week I have Dinnerly, which I believe is arriving Monday or Tuesday—I like them as a more "inexpensive" meal kit (although now it's up to around $55 per week, vs. $70 for HelloFresh, but I never pay full price for these; I believe I got it for $14 this week, for three meals aka six servings).
- Seeing movies. I saw Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret at the theater last night and loved it; I'd give it 4.5/5 stars. It will definitely appeal to tweens, adults, and everyone in between, as I vividly remember being an 11-year-old girl, but from its reviews (99% critics and 95% audiences on RT, I believe, though those numbers may be flipped), it seems like people of all ages and genders have been enjoying it. Tonight I'm going to go see Love Again at the theater, too, the new Priyanka Chopra (Jonas!) movie.
- Watching TV shows. I binged Jewish Matchmaking in two days this week (Wednesday + Thursday), and it was fabulous, so now I need to catch up on season 2 of Indian Matchmaking. The new Queen Charlotte Bridgerton show came out yesterday too, and I'm also behind on the Grease prequel and Love and Death.
- Going out to eat. In Frankenmuth, we headed to Bavarian Inn that Friday night for dinner—I alternate between them and Zehnder's for AYCE chicken, usually, and this time since we were staying at Bavarian, I figured we'd go there, although that dinner was not comped. We did have a "buy one, get one half-off chicken dinner" coupon that randomly showed up in a local coupon mailer, though. On Saturday for lunch, we went to Prost Wine Bar, for some wine and charcuterie, which is slowly becoming my other favorite Frankenmuth restaurant, and our Friday lunch coming into town was Halo Burger, in Birch Run. I used to love Halo Burger when it was in Novi and Troy, but unfortunately those were shut down a few years back. I will say that I ordered their mushroom & swiss burger and Culver's is better, but their onion rings and cheese curds at Halo were very good. On Saturday night, we didn't feel like cooking, after Frankenmuth, so we ordered Domino's delivery for dinner—their pizza is usually just okay, IMO, but I really like their cheese bread.
On Sunday, some friends and my boyfriend and I headed to Chartreuse, in Detroit—it was our first time there, and their second, I think—and everything was very tasty. Chartreuse does tapas/family-style meals, for the most part, although you could always order a larger dish for one person, too. My favorite dishes were the pork belly—it was somehow crispy on the outside and tender on the inside—their steak, and their version of a Bumpy Cake, for dessert.
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| AYCE chicken dinner at Bavarian Inn, Frankenmuth |
