One thing I love about Caltech summers is the free time. While learning during the year is also great, classes, extracurriculars, and research leave very little time to take a vacation (though there is plenty of free time to fill with hanging out with friends and small day trips).
This past weekend, however, I was able to take a day off of SURF to go on a fun adventure to Michigan for my cousin’s bridal shower. Though I was only there for a few days, I was able to do some pretty cool stuff.
On Thursday night, I took a red-eye from LAX to the Detroit Airport. After sleeping a few hours on the plane, I was ready to take on the day! The first thing I did, after greet my mom and my aunt, was to get ready to go to Zingerman’s Deli, one of the most famous food markets not only in Michigan, but in the world! Their food really lives up to their good reputation. Missing my New York typical deli foods, I ordered blintzes, a polish farmer’s cheese filled crêpe. Since Zingerman’s has their own creamery, the cheese was extra luscious. Plus, it came with some locally-made mixed-berry jam!
Zingerman’s also has a little chocolate and coffee shop nearby. Their menu would make any Starbucks lover swoon: from chai and matcha lattes to coffees from Brazil to Sumatra and many places in between, they have nearly everything coffee and tea related! Their chocolates were not to shabby either! I got a box of truffles with flavors including pear ginger, chai (if you couldn’t already tell, I love chai), and lavender.
My aunt and cousins were invited to a wedding which gave free ice cream to its guests, so after Zingerman’s, we headed towards Blank Slate Creamery, Michigan’s version of Afters or Fosselman’s, Pasadena’s local, more up-scale ice cream shops (on a side note, one perk about being here over the summer is Tom Mannion, our director of student activities and programs, gets us Fosselman’s ice cream every Wednesday). I got some sort of banana peanut butter chocolate concoction (three of my favorite foods!), and loved each lick! I definitely recommend going to Blank Slate if ever in Ann Arbor.
Here’s the exterior of Zingerman’s. Image from Zingermanscommunity.com.
This day was definitely a great way to kick off my trip to Michigan! Stay tuned for more adventures in my next blog post!
