Eats around A2, part 3

And the final installment of my eating adventures in Ann Arbor!

R, C, and I had a farewell brunch at Cafe Zola which was amazingly delicious. I believe R said she liked both Cafe Zola as well as Angelo's and C and I hadn't tried Cafe Zola before we marked that as our destination for the day :) R and C both had the strawberry and banana crepe and I had the Istanbul omelette. The crepes sounded so tempting but savory wins over sweet for me when it comes down to brunch. The omelette was delicious, there was eggplant and other vegetables inside the fluffy egg, topped with a chunk of feta cheese. mmm...so good! Needless to say, if I were still in A2, I'd be going back there :)


Istanbul Omelette


Inside the omelette!


Strawberry and Banana Crepe

The RF research team and I had a farewell lunch at Sadako during my last week in A2. It was somewhat fitting since I think the first time I visited A2, my cousin and her family took me out there for dinner! I had the U of M lunch set which was 3 pieces of salmon nigiri and 6 pieces of California rolls topped with salmon. Mm I love salmon.. it was decent and pretty good for the price, also much more filling than it looks, as sushi always is. Sadako is definitely a decent alternative from Za's, Jimmy John's, and other places around S. University, and E. University.



On my very last night in A2, E was kind enough to respond to my distress call and come over after lab to help me clean my apt. We were at it for a good 2-3 hours! Thank goodness for friends is all I have to say :) To close out the night, at 11pm we ordered a bacon, chicken, and pineapple Sicilian deep dish pizza with a cajun butter crust from Cottage Inn. I couldn't leave A2 without trying pizza from the chain that first opened there! Pizza after working hard at scrubbing the bathroom, kitchen, floors, etc tastes divine... We had great fun sitting on the floor of my kitchen/dining room, using the pizza box and paper towels as plates, huddled around my comp listening to music and looking at my old photos. I like that when I have pizza, it usually comes with that laid back and relaxing atmosphere :)



I must say, looking back on it, I had a pretty good time in Ann Arbor, despite many stressed-filled nights and the incredibly long winter. I only wish I got to explore more of the eats while I was there!

Pizza!

I've been wanting to make my own pizza at home and kept putting it off because I didn't have a pizza stone...and...I couldn't take it anymore so I went ahead and decided to just go for it ^^;



I don't have a stand mixer...or any mixer at all at the moment, so I mixed it all by hand...in a bowl that was probably 5x too small. All I can say is that my shoulder was sore for a bit after I made the dough, and there was flour all over my kitchen. I really can't wait till I move home and have all my baking equipment, not to mention a regular kitchen, at my disposal :)



I topped my pizza with a tomato sauce which was just tomato paste seasoned with salt, pepper, and whatever seasonings I had and then topped it with chicken and bell peppers. mmmmm...but I think I could use more work withe making the crust and get a pizza stone! lol. You can find the pizza dough recipe at 101 Cookbooks!