Going through old video from the Flip camera and found some fun footage D. took of last year’s Halloween party thrown by M., N., and B. at their huge Downtown loft. He managed to capture most of the revelers in costume as they entered the party. Despite wearing what will from this day on be called “the shoes that beat me”, I managed to have a totally amazing time. My costume? Think Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”.

This Summer was full of great festivals, but due to travel D. and I missed many of them. Luckily we were able to visit to the Birmingham Festival on the East Side of Toledo. We were treated to a tour from resident superstar B. R. U.–her family has been in the neighborhood for generations. She showed us all the hotspots and cute churches while relaying stories of dancing during hot sweaty summer fests as a child.

The festival is one of Hungarian roots and featured some really amazing foods. Foods that D. and I had never tried before, let alone heard of, like the “hunky turkey”.

Hunky turkey is sliced bread topped with bacon drippings, tomato, onion and green peppers. Pretty epic. But, my favorite dish of the day would have to be the cabbage and egg noodles that came in a little styrofoam bowl at the VFW–best 2 dollars I have ever spent.

Next Summer do not miss out on this festival. Great people watching (like woah), music, dancing, drinking, and food. AND, a hilarious Tony Packos pickle-eating contest.

Birmingham Ethnic Festival | Consaul and Front Street on Toledo’s East-Side

It’s been close to a year since the closing of Diva—what was once one of Downtown’s more swanky spots—and I was reminiscing this afternoon. Chef Erika Rapp made one of my most favorite dishes of all-time: acorn squash stuffed with winter root veggies and a buerre blanc. Any event catered by Chef Erika was always a delicious delight (the scallop dish above and soup below were enjoyed at a luncheon for Warhol-hanger-on, Richard Weisman in ’07).

Diva was perfect for lunch meetings, a post-work cocktail, romantic for-twos, and lively late night dinners with friends. The upstairs hosted more than it’s share of independant art exhibits and intimate music performances… positioning Diva as more than just a hip eatery. I’ll continue to miss it.

One more post for the day because I cannot, in good conscience, disregard our brunch at Michael’s. We stopped in on the way to the Farmer’s Market yesterday for a western omelet (D.’s choice) and a tuna melt for myself. Anyone want my french fries?

As always, everything was great. When we lived downtown, Michael’s was a staple providing random breakfasts, lunches (when we weren’t at Grumpy’s), and the occasional nightcap. It had been much too long since our last visit.

One of my favorite Toledo moments was a breakfast at Michael’s with our out-of-town friends who had come for our wedding reception (pic above). The smiles on our faces as we laughed through mild to heavy (depending on the person) hangovers will never fade in my memory.

Michael’s Bar and Grill | 901 Monroe Street | Corner of Monroe & Michigan

File under flashbacks: A year ago, on May 24th, we attended the I-280 Bridge Gala/Benefit which was totally awesome. The gala was held on a riverboat that travelled up and down the Maumee, under the new bridge and featured some pretty great fireworks — video from 13ABC here.

I remember my husband talking about the bridge as it was being built and before I moved to Toledo. I thought it was kind of silly that he was so excited about a bridge, until that day.

One of the coolest moments was realizing the construction workers were still on the bridge as we floated under it. There was a lot of waving and cheering back and forth… definitely one of those once-in-a-lifetime events. I’ll never forget it. I wish everyone in Toledo was on that boat at that instant.