Cougar Gathering: Michigan's Bday

On Saturday, the Cougar Clan gathered for Michigan's birthday.

I'm not sure who originally named our group "cougars" but it's hilarious and it stuck. Giov and I are referred to as "cubbies" because technically we not quite at cougar status.

At 6pm, we all met up at Urban Solace in North Park for some delicious contemporary comfort food. I haven't heard of this restaurant until recently but it seems to do it's part in serving local sustainable foods. Plus. Also I went on Yelp the night before and it had rave reviews. Plus plus. As it turns out, the restaurant was only a few blocks from Sea Rocket, where we ate the night before. Already there was quite a line outside the restaurant. Luckily we had reservations.


Once seated, we ordered cheese biscuits with honey orange butter. They were delicious. The biscuits were nice and tender without being too greasy or salty. We also ordered sweet potato fries with blue cheese buttermilk dressing. Even though they weren't as crispy as I would have liked, I still found these quite addicting. To accompany the starters, I had a spicy mango cocktail. Nothing to write home about. I did take a sip of someone's pear thyme martini which was yummy. For entree, I ordered the braised beef cheeks with smoked tomato jam and mashed potatoes. I know my New Year's resolution is to not eat as much meat but I couldn't resist! I'm a sucker for tenderized meat. So tender...


My dish was quite good, although I was not prepared for the size. Still, I made my best effort to finish it (only one bite left). During this time, I casually let one of my buttons around my ribs unsnap to make room for my belly. Must remember to wear looser clothes next time. By the way, this is the only picture I took all night on my camera. I'm so bad at remembering to take pics. Thank god, Goddess is an excellent drunken event photographer.

After dinner, we waddled our way next door to True North, a bar filled with unattractive people. Is that bad to say? Maybe I could be more forgiving if they weren't also sourpusses on top of that. No one was dancing! Even though the music was blasting and there was a DJ, everyone just stood around staring off into space. Of course this didn't stop us from getting our groove on. All in all, a great night.

A very happy birthday to Michigan!