Goodies Galore

Yesterday afternoon the doorbell rang. There stood my back-door neighbor. Her husband was at the back of their car pulling out 4 ears of sweet corn. They had been in Mentone, and a man made available free corn to anyone wanting some. They picked up some for us.

I also received a phone call from a church friend that her guest for the evening had to cancel, and she had a crockpot full of chicken, potatoes, and green beans. She wanted to know if we would join them. We accepted the short-notice invitation. I had a peach pie in the oven, and I told her I would bring it. So now we have pie left to eat but not a whole pie to eat by ourselves. 

She has a garden. I left with some nice tomatoes. Mine from Michigan were already gone.

I don't know what the deal is with cheap roses. There must be a glut somewhere. Owens had a dozen for $6 again, but Martin's showed them up by offering today only a dozen roses for $2.99.

It has been a few days of shared and bargain goodies.

Holland Michigan

Holland is just a 30-minute drive from South Haven. Our plan was to stop at the Kruizenga Art Museum on the campus of Hope College to briefly look at the exhibits, ask about parking options on campus and downtown, and use the bathrooms. One side of the gallery was Mongolian Buddhist art which didn't interest us. The other side had permanent pieces from the college's collection which are rotated every term. A guest exhibit, Shin Sawano's photographic art, which according to the web site was to open August 30th was already up. I am glad it was displayed as I found it quite intriquing. He mounts some of the nature photos on thin bamboo, and pastes a background of gilded gold or silver which shines thru the image. 

Friday the 23rd turned out to be a bad day to visit the campus of Hope College. Many streets were barricaded so new students could move into the dorms. We did not explore the campus; we will have to return another time. We did get excellent advice from the museum receptionist about city parking. Hope College is just a few blocks from the central business district. 

Once we parked in a public lot on 7th Street we set out to browse the shops on 8th Street. 

Lots of shady trees and benches made the area inviting; it didn't hurt that we had ideal low-humidity weather. The downtown area is a well-kept pleasant venue.

The bank had a table outside with give-away gifts and information for Hope students to entice them to open an account.

The first shop we entered had lots of kitchen gadgets and household items. Noticeable displays of wooden items made in Holland caught our eye.

These cutting boards by Cento Anni were made just a few blocks away. Of greater interest to my husband were the bowls made by Holland Bowl Mill. The clerk told us they offer tours at the mill. We decided to go another time, not on the 24th.

Another fascinating shop is the cuckoo clock place. It also had nut crackers and wooden Scandanavian "pyramids" that rotated from the heat of candles.

There were plenty of restaurant options for lunch, but I had in mind Crane's in the City which I think is related to Crane's Pie Pantry in nearby Fennville.
I had a cup of snert (Dutch split pea soup) and a slice of rhubarb raspberry pie. 

My husband had a turkey reuben sandwich and though he ordered the same pie as me, he was too full to eat it so asked for a carry-out container. The restaurant is fairly small, and the outdoors tables few in number. Many other restaurants have better and bigger outdoor eating sites.

The last store we browsed was the Peanut Store.

Though there were shelled peanuts and roasted peanuts to buy, this place reminded me more of Wakarusa Dime Store with "penny" candies (no wide selection of jelly beans however) and gourmet chocolate pieces priced by the pound. 

After the Peanut Store, we headed back to our car and toward Kollen Park on Lake Macatawa. The Boatworks restaurant nearby would have been a nice outdoor choice. It seemed busy.

We walked the path some and sat and watched some boats.

We had brought books to read, but instead just enjoyed sitting in the fresh air watching the "world go by".

We definitely want to return to Holland. 

South Haven Michigan

We spent August 20th to August 24th at South Haven, Michigan. We have done day trips before since this is about 2 hours from our home, but we have stayed one night and two nights at two different bed and breakfast places. 

This year we stayed at Sweet Hollow Inn on the east side of the interstate highway, in the countryside a brief drive to downtown. We had perfect weather except for a shower late Wednesday afternoon and early evening. This accommodation is about half the price of Martha's Vineyard and the Carriage House, our previous B&Bs. The smaller rental fee allowed us to stay 4 nights instead of 2. We made day trips to Muskegon and Holland which we enjoyed.

Sweet Hollow is a renovated 1904 house set on expansive grounds. It is a very short walk to the Kal-Haven biking and walking trail. 
Billie and Randy, the owners of the inn, have innovatively decorated the outside.

I had hoped to read my book sitting in the arbor Wednesday afternoon after our time at the beach, but after we stopped at Sherman's Dairy Bar for ice cream and showered at the B&B, the rain began.

The tourists routinely eat ice cream at South Haven; the downtown has at least two ice cream parlors. Sherman's Dairy Bar was on Phoenix (the main drag) but east of town. This was our first stop there. We learned about "baby" ice cream portions which came in handy on Thursday at another venue. The "baby" looks like most ice cream shop's two scoops. You don't need to upsize to single or double to over-indulge in ice cream. The baby will fill you up.

We are always happy to discover new places in South Haven. This year we browsed the Eagle Street Market (an antique store). Our B&B owner suggested Maria's for dinner. The Italian food was quite good, though like most So Ha restaurants there is a wait for a table. We waited about 20 minutes; on Friday we waited almost an hour for a table at Clementine's. My husband bought two books at the Black River Bookstore (we drop in every year). 

We didn't even walk out on the pier this year. We sat along the Black River (the channel leading out to Lake Michigan) and watched the sunset the first night.

We saw no wildlife. The cats and goats at Sweet Hollow don't really qualify as wildlife.

We returned to Pilgrim Haven beach which we discovered last year.

 Some kids were playing around a floating log/limb.

 The specks in the distance are the lighthouse and tower at South Haven Beach.

We prefer Pilgrim Haven because it is not as crowded. This year they were paving the gravel parking lot so we had to find a place along the side of the road. The paving was supposed to be done by August 1st. There are smooth cement paths to the beach area which is nice for people with strollers or wheelchairs.

Sweet Hollow has 4 bedrooms to rent, each with its own bathroom. The rooms and baths are fairly small. A rather steep curving set of stairs led to the rooms; this inn was not senior or handicap friendly. Not everybody made it to the 8:30 a.m. breakfasts, but we had some company each morning. We have observed that younger couples seem unsure about eating and conversing with strangers. They don't even talk to each other much. Jake and Katia warmed up to the older couple at the dining table and then became friendlier to us as well. We ate in the sunporch several times. Thursday morning there were just 3 of us and the dining room table was set and the food brought to the table. Other mornings we all did the buffet, choosing the enclosed porch or dining room for seating.

The breakfast entrees were varied, but we were served the same mixed fruit of blueberries, peaches, and cantaloupe every morning. We had a sausage, egg, cheese casserole; individual poached eggs (cooked in a muffin tin?); cheese quiche; and baked French Toast which was rich with streusel and pecans on top. Coffee cakes or toast most mornings, yogurt and bananas always available. 

We had talked of driving north to Saugatuck for Friday's dinner but went to Clementine's in South Haven instead. We did spend part of Friday afternoon at the antique store just as you enter Saugatuck from the freeway.

I bought a canister/jar and a slip-covered book. I wish the book was a blank-paged or lined-page diary, but it is actually more like a planner.

I will cut a few photos for my folders. I may try to figure out how to gut the book and reuse the cover for making a journal.

Our last stop before heading home Saturday morning was the South Haven Farmers' Market. Hurray! Red Haven peaches are in season.

I sautéed the peppers in olive oil and added onion and sausage for our Saturday evening meal. The peppers came together as an assortment. I have never tried a purple (black?) pepper, but it was like a green pepper inside and the purple turned green when heated. It did seem milder than most Bell peppers, however. The peaches are not ready to use yet. Maybe in a few days.

Plymouth Farmers' Market

I really enjoyed my visit to the Plymouth Farmers' Market last summer. I decided I would return this year. Finally got there this morning. It is open 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. It is located at River Plaza Park on Garro Street. The booths are set up in a circle. There is a shaded area with picnic tables in the middle of the circle which is where my husband parked himself after buying a piece of cherry pie and a cup of coffee. My sister-in-law and I went our separate ways browsing to see what was offered, but we met up again several times. It is easy to spot your companion with the way things are laid out.

I bought these sausages at the grocery store. Today I was in the hunt for veggies to sautee with them for tonight's supper.

The sweet corn I will save for tomorrow night. The peppers and zucchini I will cook with onion and the sausage.

I bought extra zukes because I want to grate them and freeze to make zucchini bread this fall.

The cupcake is a sweet extra. Last year I tried the almond raspberry; this year the strawberry lemon. My husband and I shared one cupcake at lunch. It was yummy. There was a dab of strawberry jelly in the middle.

I was hoping there would be some flowers for sale. There were several sunflowers, but I decided on a small bouquet. Sometimes the Warsaw farmers' market has sunflowers late in the summer  and early fall. I bought this from a booth run by a Mennonite family. The little girl took my cash, and the mother watched as she made change.

I will probably go at least once more, though my next 2 Saturdays are busy or out of town. 

Rochester BK Drive-In and Green Oak Antiques

Earlier this summer my sister-in-law mentioned that she and her husband had driven to Rochester to have a mug of rootbeer and a hamburger at BK Drive-In. We were going to eat there this coming Tuesday, but when we saw the forecasted rain, my husband said let's go tomorrow. Today (Friday) was a perfect day for sitting in the car with the windows rolled down. Our drive on Highway 25 thru Mentone had quite a bit of roadwork. 

As it turned out, there were outdoor tables and benches if one didn't want to eat sitting in the car. Using the speaker, we placed our order. It did take awhile for the food to arrive as several larger groups at the tables were ahead of us. Note the extra touch of the dead moth entrapped in the menu case. 

The server brought a tray with hooks which she placed over the driver window. Since there were two of us, we placed our mugs on the dashboard within easy reach.

We faced the golf course with a service road between us and Highway 14 with its several lanes of traffic. On our way home after a stop at the antique store, we drove 14 over to Highway 15 to come home. Right there in Silver Lake is another BK Drive-In which is closer to us. Maybe we will give it a try sometime.

I had heard of Green Oak Antiques southeast of downtown Rochester. I don't know that I would go out of my way again to visit, but a stop after our lunch worked fine.

Not sure how to describe this place. Yes, there were some antiques, but probably as many non-antiques. When you pull into the parking area, you are greeted by a colorful assortment of decorations.

I kind of liked this little goat (one of a flock) beside the flowers.
There is also a shed with large buffet/dressers and cabinets. These are marketed to shops wanting display space that is non-institutional and inviting.
The inside has dividers and separate rooms. Yes, there were some antiques (dishes, old tools), but lots of other stuff. A large array of artificial potted succulents and plants, farm/country decor, signs with sayings, and in an enclosed "porch" Japanese fishing floats (balls), windchimes, baskets, etc.

Here is some of the porch stuff:

If you were in the market for certain kinds of objects, this might be a good fit. I am glad I know what is there; I didn't make any purchases.