William Hurt & Me

 

William Hurt has always been one of my favorite actors. For most of the obvious reasons, I enjoyed and related to his film work. Kiss of the Spider Woman won him an Oscar. But my connection comes from one of my most treasured films - The Big Chill (1983). 

Skip forward to 1988. I am at a "family party" in Redondo Beach, California. This family being my L.A. family from the 80s. On the far side of the room, a conversation turns to film roles that mirror someone in our gang. After glancing around the room, someone begins this conversation.

"Oh, Tim is easy."

"What film?" someone asks.

"The Big Chill."

"Oh, of course, the William Hurt character."

"You're right, I never made that connection."

"Wait, which role was that?"

"You know the rebel with the pills, the war injury, the camera."

"Right, yep that's Tim."

"Hold on," I jumped in, "this appears to be a conspiracy."

The conversation became very one-sided, basically me against anyone and everyone who had seen the film. I attempted to make some points by implying this was a Southern California assessment and those who knew me before would not see me in that role.

To prove my point I got on the phone and called one of my best friends from the early 70s in Michigan. Took a few minutes to locate this number, but he was home.

"Lee, it's Tim."

"How are you, it's been a long time."

"I know, look I will call you tomorrow to catch up, but I need you to settle an argument we are having."

"Let's hear it."

"I'm putting you on speaker.You've seen The Big Chill, right?"

"Of course, the movie where William Hurt plays you."

[inset long pause with background chorus of laughter]

R.I.P. William Hurt and many thanks.

Ann Arbor @ Curbside (February 2022)

 

Restaurants

Common Grill (Chelsea) R.I.P. We note with sadness the announcement that Craig Common will be closing his great restaurant in Chelsea after 30 years. Final date is March 13th. We wish the Commons a peaceful retirement.

UPDATE: The Common Grill will survive.

February 20-25, 2022

So many choices, so little time, six days to be exact. We managed three selections this year.

Mama Sotto (715 N. University St., Ann Arbor) Restaurant Week special - four courses $25 per person. We have consensus that both the crab soup and the dumpling soup were excellent. Tempura doesn't travel well, it needs to be hot out of the fryer and reheating makes it soggy. The seaweed salad was tasty and both of salmon & crab main course sushi were well seasoned and fresh. Big complaint, our order was short several items, there was food enough for four but not the complete order we had paid for. 

Blue Tractor (207 E. Washington St., Ann Arbor) Another special, barbeque for four $55. For the barbeque lovers this was a find. The ribs were meaty and perfectly cooked. Pulled pork was a generous serving. Mac & cheese was done with fusilli, which we prefer to macaroni. Good cole slaw, corn bread and to top off the barbeque feast - a large squeeze bottle of sauce.

Pacific Rim (114 W. Liberty St., Ann Arbor) Our clear Restaurant Week winner! We have avoided Pacific Rim for takeout because we just thought the excellent menu would not carry-out all that well. We were wrong, wrong, wrong. Here are our selections:

 

Saigon Spring Rolls 
Pacific Rim Crabcake 
Roasted Winter Squash Soup 
Winter Salad with Soy-Balsamic Vinaigrette 
Miso-Teriyaki Salmon 
Thai Bouillabaisse 
Chocolate-Passionfruit Mousse 

 Each course was as good as the last and the first course was outstanding. The squash soup was just perfect, great sauce on the crab cake. A+ for Pacific Rim. The Restaurant Week special was three courses for $28.

Boutique Foodie Destinations

Grand Traverse Pie Company (291 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor) 2 feta quiche slices ($5.49 each), one regulation regular crust apple pie ($18.99) first time we went with the standard fair instead of the crumble crust, one chocolate-cherry muffin ($2.49) for the drive home. The muffin was delicious. Quiche is always good at GTPC and comes with warm pumpkin bread. I must admit the apple pie is just too standard for me, also my fault for not ordering the crumble crust.

Argus Farm Stop (see last month's review) Argus is now a regular, if not weekly, foodie destination for us. The bread selection is the best in town.

Yoon's Bakery To experience the tastes of Yoon's one must leave our American taste buds at home. Both the sweet and the savory treats here are from the Asian palette. We had mixed reviews of four or five samples, only because we were not ready for the range of flavors. Definitely, worth a revisit and a wider selection of offerings.

Home Meal Delivery Kit

Green Chef. I don't know, it was late, I was surfing and Green Chef popped up and there was an introductory discount and I mean what can I say for $41 we got 3 meals (2 servings each). As with most of these services the key is advertised as "No more meal planning, just cooking." All the ingredients are included except salt, pepper and oil. "Dinner in 30 minutes or less." Thirty minutes does not take into account the time to read the eight step directions, nor my less than professional knife skills. But I digress. 

Green Chef is mostly vegetarian in five categories: Keto & Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian, Fast & Fit, and Mediterranean. We went with vegetarian:

1) Truffle Butter Risotto

2) Hoisin Mushroom & Edamame Bowls

3) Mushroom Curry Udon Bowls

My assessment is that each of the dishes was a bargain at the introductory price of just over $7, however, at the everyday tag of over $15 not so much. Flavor, taste and ingredients were all quality, we enjoyed each of the dishes and noted more than adequate spices and sauces. Also, several dishes took five, six, even seven pots and pans.

Not sure if we will be trying out any further meal delivery services, stay tuned. If anyone is interesting in trying Green Chef, let us know, we have some introductory referrals that can save you money on your first order.

If you are considering any or all home meal services, there are lots of comparison reviews online, we suggest this one from The New York Post 2/1/2022.