I am in love with a Detroit Grocery Store: Aldi. http://www.aldifoods.com/

Well it is actually an international grocery store chain; however, two locations exist in Detroit proper and many in the Metro area. I would be so bold as to say that Aldi changed my life in actually making eating well a financial possibility. It is hard enough to make ends meet and food isn’t something that you can easily cut down on – I tried.

I usually frequent the Aldi at Mack and Alter – their staff is the most fun and friendly – or the one in Highland Park. The food at Aldi is delicious, includes some hard to find imports, the stores are clean, food is cheap, and Aldi offers a no-nonsense shopping experience. There are very few shelving units and not too many choices. Most of the food is stored in their original shipping containers. This makes getting in and out of the store with all you need about the same time as it would take to cross a parking lot at a superstore. It is environmentally conscious in that you may use empty containers to carry your food out, they charge for paper and plastic bags so you are more likely to bring your reusable bags with you to the grocery store.

I really hope that they open one in downtown Detroit very soon.

I have been doing Yoga on and off at the Boll YMCA for the past three years now. I remember when I took my first yoga class, it was during a yoga course I took through Wayne State. The class was held at a run of the mill college gym. I thought it a very un-inspirational place to partake in such a spiritual practice; however, I was hooked after the very first class. I remember looking in the mirror and not seeing myself, but seeing Indian classical dancers I had grown up watching. I also remember how determined I was to hold and strike poses despite excruciating pain. Today, I also practice in a gym, but a lovely one at the YMCA with a city view; however, I also now know that fancy surroundings are not what make a yoga practice. Tuesday nights are very calming, spiritual, and you are eased into some intense poses you never thought you could make. Tuesdays and Thursdays at lunch are torturously athletic, mat drenching, and I lose all sight of the spirituality until I reach the end and am shocked that I survived. I love my Detroit Yoga and I love everyone who makes it out each week to share both the spiritual and the athletic.

I spent the day on a wonderful urban exploration jaunt with a fine upstanding graffiti artist. We met and explored the acres, 35 to be exact, of abandoned factory known as the Packard Plant.

The plant has seen better days. The inevitable and unstoppable scrappers are devouring the structure. Driving rusty pick-up trucks with unstable trailers and armed with torches the secretive workers are removing the support beams. I am no structural engineer but I suspect this may accelerate the natural spiral of decay.

This is readily visible in the numerous imploding warehouses and sagging bridges. Few, like two, businesses soldier on in the decaying buildings. Unfortunately, this awesome relic of manufacturing might has caught the eye of movie editing hack Michael Bay. He’s hoping to distract movie watchers from his lack of a plot or even simple continuity by blowing the Packard Plant up.

I don’t know if I mentioned it before in my intro post, but I spent the past year or so living in lovely Los Angeles. The city was great and I loved practically every single thing about it. I moved back because, well, I was about 2,000 miles away from everyone and everything I have ever known. Hey, Im young and I’ve got time to do foolish things like that.

But that’s all beside the point. I found a neat tool online that lets you compare your neighborhood to other neighborhoods in well-known cities across the country. Needless to say, I promptly looked up to see where I fit in with my LA folk and if I did an upgrade or downgrade (but I didn’t see Warren or my old LA ‘hood listed… so I’m kinda shady on where I stand still). For example: Detroit to LA, Detroit to NYC (Manhattan), or Detroit to Chicago just to name a few of the examples you can do.

Check it out and see where you would fit in if you lived somewhere else – you might be a little surprised.

After reading Scotter’s post on opening of the Woodbridge Pub I decided to mosey on down and see what kind of sustenance I could devour. Actually, I had been planning to go there anyway to see a fall photography show put on by some fellow Exposure Detroit members. The pictures and ambiance were spectacular. It has a really homey feel, with rich wood tones and tin ceilings.

The food was decently priced, as were the drinks. I got the Detroit Hipster burger, which comes on a ciabbatta bun, with a whole portabella mushroom cap, and a pesto infused mayonnaise sauce (I copied that part from the menu, I don’t even know what it means). It was delicious, if a bit messy. I can’t wait to get back and sample some more of the wonderful food!