For my 72nd birthday, my sweetie pointed the Jeep east to head for Lake Orion, an hour and a half drive from here. This town, in the far north ‘burbs of Dee-troit, near Pontiac, is pocked by many little lakes that many live around. They’re nice lakes, too. Bob Seger lives less than 20 miles from the Lake Orion venue. The goal of the trip was seeing Robbie Fulks at 20 Front Street, which might have been a machine shop once upon a time but now is a fine coffee shop and a performance space greatly enhanced by some curved heavy wooden pews that I’m sure started in a church somewhere (1). The nearby lakeside restaurant (Orion Boat House (2)) and luxurious country B’n’B (3) made the outing all that much more special.
Robbie’s used to commanding a stage all my himself, and did so admirably. I don’t think he required the stage floor marks the management had provided. Most of the small crowd knew his songs, enough to sing along when required and then hum to ourselves the rest of the time. You can hear all his songs from this set on Setlist.Fm (4), but can you capture a Robbie concert with just recordings? The biting wit, those flashing eyes, those dramatic pauses. Robbie is best experienced live, but please go out and buy his records! (5). His songs are sweet, humorous, and poignant, exhibiting superb musicianship all along the way.
How did this son of York Pennsylvania become a leading light in bluegrass? When Robbie was 13, his dad took a position at a Quaker school in Durham, North Carolina and settled outside of Creedmoore, just between Durham and Chapel Hill (6). That’s an area known as the “Research Triangle”, with Winston-Salem as the 3rd corner, full of eggheads but with enough bluegrass and old country music for young Robbie to cut his chops. Dad was also a major musical influence, a bluegrass musician himself, who had Robbie playing banjo three years before he took up guitar. With his genes and his deep interest in reading, he proved Ivy League smart and went to Columbia. The NYC music scene proved more attractive than the classroom. He spent a lot of time trying to sign up for lessons with Dave van Ronk in Greenwich Village, never connecting with him by enjoying many opportunities to play there. He left Columbia after 2 years, hung around NYC for another year, then split for Chicago where he joined a bluegrass band, Special Consensus.
He finally got a record contract in the late 90s, but still had to spend 3 years in Nashville writing songs for a Music Row publisher to make ends meet. They never sold a song of his, and Robbie documented an experience in a song (7). During those years, Robbie fronted a series of hard-hitting country-rock bands across America and beyond, his blistering guitar chops and madcap levity (the latter frequently testing, if not violating, standards of taste) winning him a modest-sized but ardent fan base. Robbie’s groups geared themselves to the alt.country base, satisfying a small bunch, but seldom selling 10,000 albums. In 2009, Robbie got sick of it and decided to return to his bluegrass and country roots, performing solo or in small groups. That’s how we always see him.
He seems a man at peace these days. He wasn’t expecting that move to LA to take, but seems to love it there. Of his two boys, one is a math whiz able to criticize his dad on his economic decisions, while his younger is a musician. His current tour has him playing with all sorts of great musicians, from Bill Kirchen to Mary Gauthier. Maybe he’s 60 and never been on Ed Sullivan, but I think he knows how good he is and he is happy to display that for his public. Please join us.
Too hot? Tempted for take-out again? Michigan’s Gretch shut down everything 5 years ago and we’re still adjusting.. So much no touch you couldn’t tell what’s touch into what. Keep Mr. Corona away! With it, the cornocopua of take-out offers variety that maybe ol’ home cookin’ doesn’t. That same March was when ordered begain to change starting from March—May 2020, in the early months of the pandemic, spending on delivery through third-party apps started to become more popular for both full- and quick-service restaurants (1). At quick-service restaurants, third-party delivery spending in the United States tripled from about $0.4 billion in the December 2019–February 2020 period to about $1.4 billion 3 years later (October–December 2022).. Although total spending through apps has declined since peaking in early 2021, it remained higher through the end of 2022 than before the pandemic, with the increase more pronounced for quick-service restaurants than for those offering full service (2). Caution persists with bag pick up or direct pick up from the server recommended.
Habits to obtain this slate of food were hard to break. Homemakers tried to duplicate these and other treats, but home cooking expenditures flattened to pre-COVID levels by October 2024 (2). Families blessed with a library of cookbooks can tip back to treats of their youth. Then there’s that usage to make the same treat you’ve been ordering. Why not have as much curry as you want? For us, that treat’s an easy one: right from the Jamaican Jerk Pit comes a curried meat and beans dish (3)
That used to be a curried goat dish, but no more than just dishes with meat.
While making curried Korean lamb slabs as a trial, which came out well, we decided that much more fish might be available and stretched out to this new recipe. So, we stuffed in a bunch of tilapia, a lovely bland fish that marries with the curry and vegetables. I’m sure goat will work if I can get my hands of it.
“Curry” is a big deal in this recipe. The name comes from ‘cairn” by which Brits whipped up a collection of spices like they and already know (4). Here is my recipe.
Getting ready for this recipe caught up with a shirt that could save Clorox and other items to get it straight. My own pants got so much turmeric, they required special treatment. But all is clean.
The counter takes its toll. No goat there (that’s for another day). Ya go through a lot of Curry Powder. A little hot powder helps, so from Mexico we dig out some some Chimisa.
Once you’ve got the spice, then there’s the rest
After that, the recipe is straight forward and even. No restriction on eating some of the curried fish.
Do this with it:
-season goat or tilapia with salt and pepper. set aside.
-heat oil med, add meat, sauté
-continue till meat is brown
-add curry, Chimisa, stir for 2’
-add garlic, ginger, white pepper, onions, thyme, paste, scallions and Scotch Bottom
-stir for about minutepour into
– pour in just enough water to covert goat/meat and bring to a boil, simmer till tender )2 hours or more).
-about 15-20 minutes before removing from stove, add potatoes and boullion. Cook till potatoes tender.
-adjust cover tight
-get cover right
Here’s an all goat reciped by anther purveyor (5).
And here’s what ya get:
Mm mmm mmm.
I found that Jamaican Jerk Pit finishes their “specials” board with that goat (6)!
Here ya go folks. Plop this in and play it (or at least click on the links)(1)*. It’ll make you happy and I sense we all need more of that kind of thing. You’ll be hearing what Kathy and I heard at every Friday happy hour at the Firefly Club in the 90s. It was wonderful. The proprietress of the club, Susan Chastain, had been a barmaid at the other jazz club in town, the Bird of Paradise, and the owner decided to let her sing. She decided she could do better and the Firefly Club was born. Beside a great selection of locals, she drew some major jazz names whose posters adorned her wall. Wynton Marsalis would stop in after his gigs at Hill Auditorium, as did many lesser lights. The Easy Street Jazz band (2) was led by Paul Klinger, who had an administrative post at the U. He could do trumpet and played a great bari sax, all the while seeking out obscure sheet music for the band. They played Friday afternoons. On piano, he had Professor Jim Dapogny, who made his academic hay in the music school as the world’s expert on Jelly Roll Morton. On his own, he’d organized the Chicago Jazz Band, a more high-powered organization with several records (3). Here’s one of their albums. They’ve recorded 10.
Jim became a good friend then passed several years ago of the metastatic colon cancer he’d had for a decade (4). As we were both “doctors”, we enjoyed swapping jokes and insults around that topic, although I always called him “Professor”. Rod McDonald, who’s still alive, on guitar and banjo, has been a stalwart research scientist in pulmonary. Mike Jones, clarinet, now deceased (Parkinson’s), supported his music habit as an ophthalmology technician while Chris Smith – whose dad Bob played with Kathy’s uncle Bob in a much-loved band the Gaslighters at Bimbo’s pizza parlor in the 60s and 70s – playing trombone and tuba, paid the bills as a tech in our pathology department.
Here’s a Gaslighters album from 1975 (autographed!):
Listening and clapping as they crunched the peanut shells on the floor, the patrons would laud them. Here find the excerpts from their album
Chris’ “office” was on the rounds I made in the hospital and I stopped into see him often. He now teaches the jazz course in the music school Dapogny used to teach, introducing the music students to old time jazz and making them play it, at least once a year on a public stage at the Blue Llama, AA’s current premier jazz club (5). The Firefly lost that title when the State closed Susan down for taxes in 2009 (6). Worried there’d be no place to play – at least not as cool – the band found Zal Gaz Grotto on the west side (7). Paul died in June 2019, followed by a lively memorial service at the Zal June 19 (8), where all these bands have played since the Firefly closed This music ain’t Vince Giordano (9), but it’s pretty good and plenty happy. I hope you’ll give it a listen.
If you want to hear them live, most members of these bands continue on as members of the Easy Street Band (now led by trombonist Terry Kimura, who was a shaky, nervous, skinny music student when Dapogny first put him in front of the band). He’s gained some weight since, and is very much in charge, with a sense of humor we didn’t appreciate back in the day. He maintains the band’s very active Facebook page (10).Phil Ogilvie’s Rhythm Kings (Phil is fictional, but theband says he lives in Florida) show up on Sunday afternoons to play their 20’s and 30s repertoire. Chris Smith, pushing their rhythm section with his tuba, leads the band now . Mondays are traditionally the evening where jazz musicians stretch out, taking a break from theirreular gigs, and in AA they can do that with the Paul Keller Orchestra, a full powered big band (11). Paul is the Godfather of AA jazz, responsible for many young careers when he’s not touring as Diane Kraal’s bassist.
Easy Street (Klinger’s band) came and went, all 40 plus years of them, before social media really got going. Here they are ~2010.
But thanks to their fans, they’ve got 32 entries on YouTube, including 2 full albums (1). Plenty of tunes to keep your toes tapping and your heart light. Listen away! And if you ever land in AA, check out Zal Daz Grotto. It’s in a brick ranch house that looks like it escaped the bulldozers that “developed” Stadium Drive. Their auditorium, where the bands play, reminds me of my junior high school, although we didn’t have a reproduction of Gilbert Stuart’s George Washington in the corner of the stage. There’s a bar and a small kitchen. Yes, they’re a Masonic outfit.
You won’t have to wear a fez to get a drink, but you’ll have to have a membership card! Like mine! But the bartender will want you to present an up-to-date card. No other rituals were performed while I attended. You don’thave to know the secret handshake – like got my Uncle Jim his job at Interior – to get in.
*I implored you to listen, but now you have to work. Here are links to their 32 YouTube entries (after references).
Laura Beth Wyman. Paul Klinger’s Easy Street Jazz Band at Zal Gaz Grotto in AA. MARGIE – Easy Street Jazz Band (July 2015). YouTube. (features stalwarts on clarinet (Toledo’s Ray Heitger on clarinet) and NYC’s Duke Heitger on trumpet). https://youtu.be/76f8QhHor8U?si=32xyjjKNCaQ4mymB
The beauties of fresh live things coming together in the farmers markes. Include brand new things just waiting for each other. Those potatoes just barely out of the box(“new potatoes”) whereas peas from the pod are also “new”. Awaiting is a nice fish, available from the freezer at the market. And voila, we got “peas and new potatoes” and spring is here
Peas and new potatoes 1 # small potatoes, quartered 1 C shelled peas 1 T butter 1 T all purpose flour 1 C milk S&P to taste
Step 1. Place potatoes in large pot and cover with salted water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer till tender, about 15-20’, drain
Step 2. Meanwhile, bring in a medium saucepan of water to a boil; add peas and simmer until just tender, about 6-7 minutes. Drain and set peas aside.
Step 3 add butter to the same saucepan, melt over medium heat. Stir in flour to make a thick paste; gradually whisk in milk, stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add potatoes and peas, simmer, stirring often, until potatoes are heated through, about 5’. Serve immediately.
Note: one pound of fresh paes equals about 1 C of shelled peas.
Too hot? Tempted for take-out again? Michigan’s Gretch shut down everything 5 years ago and we’re still adjusting.. So much no touch you couldn’t tell what’s touch into what. Keep Mr. Corona away! With it, the cornocopua of take-out offers variety that maybe ol’ home cookin’ doesn’t. That same March was when ordered begain to change starting from March—May 2020, in the early months of the pandemic, spending on delivery through third-party apps started to become more popular for both full- and quick-service restaurants. At quick-service restaurants, third-party delivery spending in the United States tripled from about $0.4 billion in the December 2019–February 2020 period to about $1.4 billion 3 years later (October–December 2022).. Although total spending through apps has declined since peaking in early 2021, it remained higher through the end of 2022 than before the pandemic, with the increase more pronounced for quick-service restaurants than for those offering full service (Z). Caution persists with bag pick up or direct pick up from the server recommended
Habits to obtain this slate of food were hard to break. Homemakers tried to duplicate these and other treats, but home cooking expenditures flattened to pre-COVID levels by October 2024. Families blessed with a library of cookbooks can tip back to treats of their youth. Then there’s that usage to make the same treat you’ve been ordering. Why not have as much curry as you want? For us, that treat’s an easy one: right from the Jamaican Jerk Pit comes a curried meat and beans dish
That used to be a curried goat dish, but no more than meat.
While making curried Korean lamb slabs as a trial, which came out well, we decided that much more fish might be available and stretched out to this new recipe. So, we stuffed in a bunch of tilapia, a lovely bland fish that marries with the curry and vegetables. I’m sure goat will work if I can get my hands of it.
“Curry” is a big deal in this recipe. The name comes from ‘cairn” by which Brits whipped up a collection of spices like they and already know. Sukhi. What is your comprehensive curry guide. https://sukhis.com/full-curry-guide.
Here is my recipe (next page).
Getting ready for this recipe caught up with a shirt that could save Clorox and other items to get it straight. My own pants got so much turmeric, they required special treatment. But all is clean.
The counter takes its toll. No goat there (that’s for another day). Ya go through a lot of Curry Powder. A little hot powder helps, so from Mexico we dig out some some Chimisa and some curry power III toast gently (frying pan or 200 X 300)¼ C turmeric3T coriander2 T cominos1 T white peppercorns1 T whole clove2 T ginger1 T cardamom2 t cayenne1 T mace1 T fines herbes1 T fenegreek seed grind in spice grinderstore in airtight container. will last indefinitely
Once you’ve got the spice, then there’s the rest
After that, the recipe is straight forward and even. No restriction on eating some of the curried fish.
JAMAICAN CURRIED FISH 3 3 1/2 #tiliapa or goat frozen green peas, ¼ – ½ cooking oil 1 C rice or cauliflower rice 2 t minced garlic 1 med onion, sliced wrap in cheesecloth; peas and rice, shallots, chopped thawed4-5 T curry powder cook all 12-10’ w/ Chimisa Brand Med Hot 1 t white pepper 1-2 t fresh thyme 2 green onion sliced 2-3 med potatoes 1 T tomato paste 1 Scotch bonnet pepperSalt to taste 2 C chicken broth
season goat or tilapia with salt and pepper. set aside.
heat oil med, add meat, sauté
continue till meat is brown
add curry, Chimisastir for 2’
add garlic, ginger, white pepper, onions, thyme, paste, scallions and Scotch Bottom
stir for about minutepour into
pour in just enough water to covert goat/meat and bring to a boil, simmer till tender )2 hours or more).
About 15-20 minutes before removing from stove, add potatoes and boullion. Cook till potatoes tender.
Too hot? Tempted for take-out again? Michigan’s Gretch shut down everything 5 years ago and we’re still adjusting.. So much no touch you couldn’t tell what’s touch into what. Keep Mr. Corona away! With it, the cornocopua of take-out offers variety that maybe ol’ home cookin’ doesn’t. That same March was when ordered begain to change starting from March—May 2020, in the early months of the pandemic, spending on delivery through third-party apps started to become more popular for both full- and quick-service restaurants. At quick-service restaurants, third-party delivery spending in the United States tripled from about $0.4 billion in the December 2019–February 2020 period to about $1.4 billion 3 years later (October–December 2022).. Although total spending through apps has declined since peaking in early 2021, it remained higher through the end of 2022 than before the pandemic, with the increase more pronounced for quick-service restaurants than for those offering full service (Z). Caution persists with bag pick up or direct pick up from the server recommended
Habits to obtain this slate of food were hard to break. Homemakers tried to duplicate these and other treats, but home cooking expenditures flattened to pre-COVID levels by October 2024. Families blessed with a library of cookbooks can tip back to treats of their youth. Then there’s that usage to make the same treat you’ve been ordering. Why not have as much curry as you want? For us, that treat’s an easy one: right from the Jamaican Jerk Pit comes a curried meat and beans dish
That used to be a curried goat dish, but no more than meat.
While making curried Korean lamb slabs as a trial, which came out well, we decided that much more fish might be available and stretched out to this new recipe. So, we stuffed in a bunch of tilapia, a lovely bland fish that marries with the curry and vegetables. I’m sure goat will work if I can get my hands of it.
“Curry” is a big deal in this recipe. The name comes from ‘cairn” by which Brits whipped up a collection of spices like they and already know. Sukhi. What is your comprehensive curry guide. https://sukhis.com/full-curry-guide.
Here is my recipe (next page).
Getting ready for this recipe caught up with a shirt that could save Clorox and other items to get it straight. My own pants got so much turmeric, they required special treatment. But all is clean.
The counter takes its toll. No goat there (that’s for another day). Ya go through a lot of Curry Powder. A little hot powder helps, so from Mexico we dig out some some Chimisa curry powder III toast gently (frying pan or 200 X 300)¼ C turmeric3T coriander2 T cominos1 T white peppercorns1 T whole clove2 T ginger1 T cardamom2 t cayenne1 T mace1 T fines herbes1 T fenegreek seed grind in spice grinderstore in airtight container. will last indefinitely
Once you’ve got the spice, then there’s the rest
After that, the recipe is straight forward and even. No restriction on eating some of the curried fish.
JAMAICAN CURRIED FISH 3 3 1/2 #tiliapa or goat frozen green peas,¼ – ½ cooking oil 1 C rice or cauliflower rice 2 t minced garlic 1 med onion, sliced wrap in cheesecloth; peas and rice shallots, chopped thawed 4-5 T curry powder cook all 12-10’ Chimisa Brand Med Hot 1 t white pepper1 2 t fresh thyme 2 green onion, sliced 2-3 med potatoes 1 T tomato paste 1 Scotch bonnet pepper Salt to taste 2 C chicken broth
season goat or tilapia with salt and pepper. set aside.
heat oil med, add meat, sauté
continue till meat is brown
add curry, Chimisastir for 2’
add garlic, ginger, white pepper, onions, thyme, paste, scallions and Scotch Bottom
stir for about minutepour into
pour in just enough water to covert goat/meat and bring to a boil, simmer till tender )2 hours or more).
About 15-20 minutes before removing from stove, add potatoes and boullion. Cook till potatoes tender.
adjust cover tight
get cover right
Here’s an all goat reciped by anther purveyo, followed by other recipes.
I’ve written about my late fathers so much I thought this year I’d let others carry the emotional ball. Leave it to the fat guy, Matt Watroba of Folks Like Us as he got into the sentimental stuff. And boy, there’s a lot. But nobody pulls those heart strings about my dad like Steve Goodman and Guy Clark. Steve pulls a little but real talking about his dad “flying a B-24 over the Burma Road in the big war”. Dad was almost a paratrooper, till the Army noticed his glasses, and it was his brother – my Uncle Bob – who sat backup in a B-24 on the Burma Road. And he got it right at the end “there’s no more charming guy in this whole world than my old man.” And Guy’s extended grief for his dad rested in a special knife, the likes of which we had (and I broke).
I face this Mothers’ Day as a full blown orphan for the first time in 15 years. It’s a situation I thought I’d be facing for the rest of my life after May 17, 1963 the day I found my mom stretched out and dead on the couch when I came home for lunch. My parents never made any secret I was adopted, so I realized I might have another family somewhere. Several years after my dad died, I got up courage to ask a private investigator to transform my adoption papers into a real contact. His quick success found me with a living mother and father and 10 half sisters and brothers. But having. a mother again, especially one with whom shared with me so many traits, and who quickly became interested in my life, was the supreme joy. I thought I’d have her a little longer, as her own mom beat 104. Mom missed that by 13 years. While her spirit never wavered, consequences of aortic stenosis (a heart valve malady) and measures to manage it left her ever more frail. It turns out I have aortic stenosis, too, but my cardiologist says I’ll die with it and not of it.
Let’s go back to the time when Little Bobby was but a “clump of cells”, two beautiful ladies in waiting.
As Mom awaited her adopted child, she and my Dad had a plenty good time. She, like my dad, was quite the athlete. They tore ’em up on the golf course. To support herself, she sold real estate. It turned our the last development her firm pushed was a property in Wyoming (10 miles from GR) available for development when the spring feeding a gypsum quarry burst, so there was our house on Big Spring Drive!
Mom Marlene was in sales, too. When she learned she was pregnant with me, she took a job selling magazines in Philadelphia, getting out of Dodge while in tow. This handsome picture of my ever classy mom likely includes me in there somewhere.
The golfer got me to about 10, leaving me with only memories, all I had to late middle age when it exploded on me again with real relationships with real live people. That may be it, but another gift of reconnection is all those people who loved the same people you did, and with those memories, with which the lost shall never really be.
So, to many how many mothers you’ve know, Happy Mothers’ Day to them all.
The setting is Weber’s Inn, Ann Arbor, for the weekly Monday meeting of the UofM Club of Ann Arbor, which since joining several years ago, I’ve called the “geriatric advisory council to the athletic department”. Yes, Kathy and I lowered the average age when we joined several years ago. The Club collects dues, and funds scholarships and awards. The biggest is the “Michigan Man” award, given annually to the Michigan athlete whose performance on and off the field marks him as a true “Michigan Man”, posessing a set of intangible attributes that identify a man as one who would have inscribed “Go Blue” on his headstone. Among my wife’s Kathy’s duties, since getting on the board of the Club, is handling the speakers we invite. Football and basketball have their own channels, but then there’s the “Olympic Sports” (a better euphemism than “non-revenue sports”). So, although Blake’s appearance was pre-arranged, Kathy still had to shepherd him in and out.
Here they are:
Anyone who only knows about Blake from watching our games is missing the full measure of the man. Nevertheless, see here 15 minutes of football highlights (1). Harbaugh knew he had something special in Blake when, as a freshman, he clocked a 4.0 in the 40-yard dash and a 4.00 in the classroom. Yes, he was a damned important component of the team that won the Natty, but there’s so much more to him that my heart burst with pride as he delivered his remarks. . The resolve for this team to gird up for a Natty run may have started in November ’22, when Blake’s amazing season was cut short by a hit on his knee. He would have won the Heisman had he finished the season uninjured. Instead, Blake continued with many teammates seeing the 2023 season as “unfinished business”. Blake became the touchdown machine. Red-zone difficulties? Give it to Blake. Two years earlier, he was the “lightning” to the “thunder and lightning” of him and Hassan Haskins, now with the Tennessee Titans. Blake’s breakaway runs in ’23 were less common, but he mounted enough touchdowns to claim the Michigan record. Yet it was his performance off the field that was even more impressive. Blake did well with NIL, handsome dude that he is, but chose to funnel his funds to community projects. He handed out 150 turkeys and 150 gallons of milk to needy Ypsilanti residents at Thanksgiving ‘22, then came up with 600 turkeys for them last fall (2).
Blake’s comments to the assembled geezers were magnanimous, of course. He’d take no individual credit for the success of his team, instead insisting the whole effort was a team project. He was just named the Big 10’s Medal-of-Honor recipient, an honor handed out since 1915. The Big Ten Medal of Honor is awarded to one male and one female student from the graduating class of each member institution who has demonstrated excellence on and off the field throughout their college career. The highest honor that a student competing in conference athletics can achieve in the Big Ten, the award was established in 1915 and was the first award in intercollegiate athletics to demonstrate support for the educational emphasis placed on athletics. During the past century, the Big Ten Medal of Honor has been awarded to more than 1,300 honorees. These individuals have translated their campus experience into success in all walks of life (3). Blake said he looked forward to his time in the NFL, seeing his 18 teammates on the boards as future competitors but also still friends. When asked about how his life would change upon becoming a pro, he went on about a project he had in mind. He’s set to develop a camp in the area for inner city youth. One of the things he wants to do is instruct them in “lost skills”, like changing a tire. He already has a name for the place. When he was growing up on a farm in Virginia, he liked to chase and capture frogs. So the name: Camp FROG, all caps because that’s an acronym: “Forever Relying on God”. The devotion of this team did not get a lot of press. But from the get go, they were a team bound in religion. Their head coach is a devout Catholic (despite that one divorce). How that translated to a whole team praying together prior to a game hasn’t gotten out yet (4). Yet hearing players in their post-game comments dedicate their success to the “glory of God” should have been a hint something was going on here. Just look at one of the t-shirts the boys were selling to get a little of that NIL money. See our all world QB JJ with backup QB Jack Tuttle, who started at Indiana in ’22 but transferred so he could work with Harbaugh. Jack stuck around and is in the mix to replace the departed JJ his year.
New coach 36 year old Sherrone Moore shows full commitment to Michigan traditions of smashmouth and God. So we of the faithful expect continued success, God willing.
In looking for a dinner spot to warm up for Lyle Lovett at the Masonic next July 23rd, I thought about that little place that only fed what its 8 bar stools could hold, way in the back of the Hotel Siren across from the Opera House, Albena (1). We’d been there 3 or 4 times, having stumbled on it on Yelp looking for something else. A little “review” of that first experience was one of my first blog posts (2).
But, we’ll have to sit for Lyle with somebody else’s victuals in our innards. From my Google update on Albena, I found from their web page that feedings didn’t start till Thursdays at 6 PM. July 23rd is Tuesday and the concert starts at 7. Anything less than two hours would be unfair to Chef Libar’s preparations. But I found worse news in the search. According to a Free Press article, Mr.& Mrs. Lipar closed up shop March 16th (3). A telling phrase from the story is that the price for one of their 8-12 course tasting dinners had risen to $250 per person, more than I ever paid. It still would be worth it for a once-in-a-while, but that’s a steep ticket for a night out in Dee-troit, although you might be saving on the “…and show” for such dates. No show at any of the local stages could match what Garrett and Tiffany had put on. Here we see the stars of the show, from the Free Press Article.
Chef and co-owner Garrett Lipar named the place after his Albanian grandmother. Nearly 5,000 Albanians live in metro Detroit’s Macomb County, 4h largest concentration of Albanian settlers in the country (4). I had an Albanian Iman for a patient. In 1929, Albanian Muslims helped cover the mortgage on St. Thomas Orthodox Church, established by Albanian Christians. There are Albanian Sufists, who enjoy a retreat at the First Albanian Bektashi Monastery (Tekke), which opened in nearby Taylor in 1953 under direction of Baba Rexheb. Now with all those Albanians, there are some true Albanian restaurants in the area. Right on State Street is Ann Arbor is aMa Bistro (5). A perusal of their menus might make you think you’re in any of the many Greek greasy spoons that dominated Ann Arbor in my heyday, but look close and there’s Fhurghasa, Bhurani, Khina, and Petuilla (fried dough) to get you down and ethnic.
Garrett and Tiffany strayed far from the Karaburun Peninsula for their dishes. What drove their choices seemed to be what was freshest and most local. As such, any lucky ones sitting on those stools at their bar got what seemed like a nonstop array of treats, with wines perfectly paired. I frankly don’t know when I’ll see such personal excellent treatment again. I’m thankful for the brief few years I was able to experience it at Albena. Talented chefs like Garrett emerge on the pop-up tour, so maybe one of us will be lucky enough to find ourselves at a Garrett Lipar catered event. He and Tiffany have a new baby to tend to, so a new restaurant may be a bit off, but I’ll be watching.
If any of you paid attention to my January 2020 blog and went for a meal, lucky you. You’ll not eat like that again for a while.
*(from the Albanian) bye, bye Chef Lipar (&Mrs.)
addendum: see an 8-course meal prepared for us by the Lipars, sometime for us inlate January 2021, introduced in Quaddese** (6).
** Quaddese: a dialect spoken around West Quad, especially Chicago House, in the early 70s. Yep, the “Honors House”. See reference (6) for an example of correct usage.
The counter takes its toll. No goat there (that’s for another day). Ya go through a lot of Curry Powder. A little hot powder helps, so from Mexico we dig out some some Chimisa and some curry power III toast gently (frying pan or 200 X 300)¼ C turmeric3T coriander2 T cominos1 T white peppercorns1 T whole clove2 T ginger1 T cardamom2 t cayenne1 T mace1 T fines herbes1 T fenegreek seed grind in spice grinderstore in airtight container. will last indefinitely 
The counter takes its toll. No goat there (that’s for another day). Ya go through a lot of Curry Powder. A little hot powder helps, so from Mexico we dig out some some Chimisa curry powder III toast gently (frying pan or 200 X 300)¼ C turmeric3T coriander2 T cominos1 T white peppercorns1 T whole clove2 T ginger1 T cardamom2 t cayenne1 T mace1 T fines herbes1 T fenegreek seed grind in spice grinderstore in airtight container. will last indefinitely 
Bob Ike's blog 