West Side Market and other adventures

So far, Diana and I have mostly managed to not have a boring weekend. We've actually spent time together for six straight weekends, which is very exciting, and admittedly a little scary. But in a good way. We don't really plan stuff out, and yet we end up doing cool things even when we plan to do nothing.

This weekend, we headed out to the West Side Market on Saturday morning. Even though I used to live just a few miles away from it, I can't remember going there since I was very young. It's really quite a treasure, and in a Wal-Mart world, a real thrill to see that such a place exists and thrives.

The inside of the building is pretty sweet, especially the brick ceiling. For something that was intended to be very much a utility kind of building, it's really quite stunning.

We were greeted by war protesters when we got there, which was a pleasant surprise. I didn't think anyone gave a shit anymore. Of course, given all of the urban alt crowd people and upper-middle class neo-hippie types there, I suspect they were kind of preaching to the choir.

You can find quite a few things there that you just can't get in your average chain store, and everything is super fresh. Meat, baked goods, produce, and even a place with all kinds of unique seasonings, rice, couscous, beans, etc. Hey, you can even find an entire pig (which is kinda gross)...

And of course, I'm dating a woman who really loves her cheese.

Since we were so close, I really wanted to swing by the old house. It's strange how I just don't feel particularly safe in that neighborhood anymore. Although like so many Cleveland neighborhoods, there are little pockets of well maintained houses and new businesses, with miscellaneous empty lots and not-so-well maintained houses in between. Anyway, I saw 3411 W. 47th Street once more. The place I lived for my first 14 and a half years, got robbed, played in the sandbox, climbed the apple tree and played Atari in the basement. Everything about the place seemed so different when I lived there.

Back in the 'burbs, later that day, we went to the regular grocery store to pick up a few things. We already picked up corn, curry couscous and saffron rice, and Diana got some raspberries as well at the market. I wanted to grill some pizzas (the woman loves cheese!), and I wanted some "safe" wine, so I got a bottle of White Zinfandel. Wine snobs hate it because it's popular and mass produced, but my Wine for Dummies book says to disregard the haters. It's a good summer wine, chilled. We both found it strange as we entered the grocery store, doing something so domestic.

Dinner was turkey burgers, and the curry couscous and corn from the market. This wasn't a well-balance meal per se, but it was very yummy.

The rest of the night involved hot tub action, The Big Lebowski and some deep discussions about growing up, family and our little neuroses. It's surprising that we have a lot of those in common!

Sunday, we finally did the nothing we were hoping for. It started with some sticky buns that Diana made. Damn those were good, and I wanted more, but my healthy side, however small it might be, resisted. I actually turned on the fire place because it was so damn cold. We eventually grilled those pizzas, watched a couple of episodes of On The Lot and some the mens final from the tennis tournament in Cincy that Diana was at earlier in the week. Her boy lost. We're going to that same venue for the AVP in a couple of weeks. Over the entire weekend, we did a fair amount of laptoping and knitting and other solo yet together stuff, and that demonstrated some ability to just "be."

I'm really enjoying the newness of this relationship. I know there's a "honeymoon phase" generally associated with this kind of thing, but I feel like we're creating a good foundation for things to come. We're both cautiously optimistic and at the same time, scared it's just all going to come to a screeching halt. Isn't it unfortunate that we're conditioned to have that mindset?

Next weekend, we have nothing planned, except Diana's brother is having a party we'll probably go to. Will we get through a weekend without adventure? Tune in next time... :)