Category Archives: Food

Ypsilanti’s first Annual Cider Fest is this Saturday

By Mark | November 1, 2018

A while back, I’d heard from from a friend that the Michigan Brewers Guild had put out the word that, going forward, they wouldn’t be allowing cider makers to participate in their big, annual Ypsilanti Beer Fest. Being skeptical by nature, and knowing how much cider is increasing in popularity, I just assumed that this […]

Also posted in Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged beer, Besnick Aliko, Brewers’ Guild Beer Summer Festival, cider, cideries, College Place, festivals, Jesse Kranyak, West Cross Street, Wurst Bar, Ypsi Cider Festival, Ypsi festivals | 7 Comments

There used to be four times as many grocery stores in Ypsilanti as restaurants

By Mark | March 9, 2017

Remember how I was telling you a few days ago that I’d gotten my hands on a 1933 Ypsilanti phone book? Well, here’s a little something that I thought you might find of interest. Back in ’33, there were roughly four times as many grocery stores in Ypsilanti as restaurants. Granted, the shops in question […]

Also posted in History, Ypsilanti | Tagged 1933, evolution, family dinners, family size, fast food, grocery stores, home cooked meals, mole people, nutrient sludge, restaurants, sludge, subterranean living | 40 Comments

Super Bowl food ideas

By Mark | February 2, 2016

About a year ago, a friend gave me a homemade antenna he’d made for his television out of a piece of scrap lumber and a few feet of wire. Well, a few days ago, on a whim, I plugged it into the TV we have hooked up to our DVD player, and, much to my […]

Also posted in Mark's Life | Tagged Super Bowl | 15 Comments

The Festival of the Honey Bee, and the campaign to make Ypsi more pollinator-friendly

By Mark | July 14, 2015

A few weeks ago, the Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation awarded a grant to local bee activist Jamie Berlin to help ensure that Ypsilant’s Festival of the Honey Bee can continue on into the future. Following is my discussion with Jamie about how the festival came about, what we can expect from this year’s event, and […]

Also posted in A2Awesome, Environment, Uncategorized | Tagged apiary, Bee City USA, bees, Bike2Bees, Colony Collapse Disorder, First Fridays, First Fridays Ypsilanti, food security, honey bees, Jamie Berlin, Karl von Frisch, Lisa Bashert, Meghan Milbrath, pollinators, The Silence of the Bees, Ypsi Food Co-op, Ypsi Melissa | 11 Comments

The state of breastfeeding in Washtenaw County

By Mark | July 16, 2014

A few weeks ago, after a hard-fought campaign by public health professionals and women’s rights advocates across the state of Michgan, Governor Snyder signed into law the Breastfeeding Antidiscrimination Act (SB 674), essentially giving nursing mothers in our state the right to breastfeed publicly without fear of arrest. In celebration of this fact, I reached […]