How I Learned to Love Lansing

I've done my share of complaining about Lansing. But I'm starting to feel like I really belong here. Part of it is because Anthony owns the house. We know we're going to stay there for at least a few more years. And we're both very happy with the house, we love our neighbors and every time we turn into the neighborhood we both do this little happy sigh and relax. I swear my tension level drops about 20% when I pull into the driveway. And now that I have a job I feel more invested in the community. Especially working at the hospital which in a lot of ways is the center of the community.

Part of it is also because we've found some really wonderful things here. Horrock's, the market where we buy our fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy products. Fresh local products for a great price make it so much easier to eat well. We also found several amazing places to eat out.

One of our favorites is Restaurant Mediteran. It's downtown so it's within a 15 minute walk or so, and a 5 minute drive. The man who owns the place runs it with his wife, she does a lot of the cooking, while he does the serving. The food is an interesting mix of Middle European dishes. The food is so fresh and the salads are always just a little bit different. Whatever fruits and vegetables are in season they incorporate into the dishes. There's an amazing salad I've gotten a few times that at first glance seems like a Cobb salad, but is actually far more interesting. One of our favorite dishes is pork medallions with a mushroom sauce over spaetzle. Probably not the healthiest dinner, but the taste is unbelievable. And at least I know what's in it. No mystery gravy made mostly out of unnatural ingredients. The owner is fabulous, after dinner he always brings us dessert. He picks out something from the refrigerated case to surprise us, and never charges for the desserts. One time it was tiramisu, another time a strawberry rhubarb pie. We leave huge tips and always come back again, so his strategy is definitely working. Although he never seems to do it just because he wants us to come back. In fact, he really seems to just enjoy how much we love the dessert.

Anthor place we love is Ukai, a really fabulous sushi place in Okemos. They just recently opened a second restaurant called Ukai Two on our side of Lansing, so that's on our list of places to go. In fact, I may request dinner there for my birthday. We celebrated my birthday and our anniversary at Ukai last year, but now that the new place is open I think we may give it a try. All of the reviews so far are really positive so I don't think we'll be disappointed.

There's also the most fabulous pet store ever. Preuss Pets is in Old Town (a really neat area on the North side of Lansing). They had been in this part for years, but in the Okemos/Haslett area. A couple of years ago they moved to Old Town and it's incredible. More fish than even Anthony would know what to do with, a huge mural on the outside of the building, a man made river that runs through it, rabbits, birds, cats, reptiles, rodents, etc. The animals are well taken care of, the people who work there are friendly and knowledgeable and its just a fun place to be. More like a zoo and aquarium than a pet store.


Tonight there is a really fun sounding celebration downtown called Silver Bells in the City. There's a light parade, lighting of a huge Christmas tree in front of the capitol, fireworks, cider and doughnuts, and shops stay open late. It's apparently been going on for years although I hadn't heard about it until this year. I'm debating if I should go or not. Anthony is up north camping with friends and it just isn't quite the same to go by myself. I don't mind going places by myself, but it would have been nice if we could have gone together. We're close enough to downtown that I could walk from the house, but it isn't really safe enough for me to go by myself. As much as I hate to be limited just because I'm a girl by myself, I have to be reasonable. And not put myself in positions where I could get mugged and/or worse. I could drive to the library and then take the bus to right in front of the capitol. But I'm not sure if I'm motivated enough to go by myself. Hmm. Maybe I'll see if the neighbors want to go.

I also found a really great website the other day for the various Art and Cultural Venus in the area. There were a lot of places I'd never heard of, and I want to try to get to more events in the next year. There are even plays and concerts with free admission, so I can't use lack of money as an excuse. I'd like to try going to something once a month. Maybe Anthony and I have a "date night" (cheesy as that sounds) once a month and go to a museum, or a concert or play or to the planetarium. I've complained that there isn't enough to do in Lansing but I haven't been taking advantage of everything it has to offer either.