A winter visit to South Haven

We are usually only drawn to this coastal Southwest Michigan town in the summer when all the shops are open, and we can walk out to the pier to the lighthouse, admiring along the way the big pleasure boats coming in off the lake or docked at the marina. With its location on the shore of Lake Michigan, South Haven is a popular destination in the summer for visitors from Chicago and all over Michigan. We are only a little less than an hour away, but winter driving on that side of Michigan with its lake effect snow doesn't make it very inviting. Also, some of the shops can't afford to stay open after the summer tourists leave, followed by the Christmas shoppers, so they close for the winter. Some do stay open, though, as well as some of the restaurants. I had taken note of one in particular during one of my summer visits, that I hoped to try soon. I had a chance when a late summer lay-away purchase that was ready to come home with me gave me an excuse to make a rare January trip to South Haven. We stopped first at The Perfect Setting to pick up my long awaited necklace. This small jewelry shop has always been a favorite stop for my girlfriends and me. It is part of the collection of shops called Old Harbor Village on the Black River on Williams Street. Here we find unique and beautiful handcrafted jewelry with stones set in sterling silver and gold. The pieces here are not cheap, but most are within reach and are fun to look at, wish for, and sometimes purchase. My necklace was purchased on one of those such days with a friend when we were "just looking and wishing."
We both admired the beautiful purple and turquoise quartz necklace, and while trying it on, my friend suggested I buy it. After protesting that it cost too much, she then asked questions of the sales girl. "Do you have lay-away?" "You do?" After a few more questions I was talked right into it. Lay-away! Isn't that great! Customers here will also find the sales staff to be very friendly, personable, and helpful. Our January visit this month was by appointment only. They are closed from January through March, except by appointment.

After my husband and I made our pick-up here, we headed over a couple of streets to Tello Italian Bistro on Phoenix Street. We were immediately impressed with the ambiance. It was dark, cozy, and elegant looking. We were also lucky to be here on a day and time when there was only one other table besides us. Our waitress didn't smile much at first, but we were polite and friendly anyway, so she opened up more, and became more talkative and helpful throughout the rest of our visit. I started out with a salad of baby greens, goat cheese and pine nuts, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This was simple, but good. We both were very pleased with our entrees. My husband chose Lasagne al forno. It was tasty, but very different because of the bechamel sauce and Bolognese with pork, in addition to the beef. We both have enjoyed Bolognese in the past, so I chose Parpadelle Bolognese which was pasta with the Bolognese sauce of pork and beef. These were both served with fresh parmesan. My Pinot Grigio, that I ordered, was a nice complement to my pasta. We skipped dessert, but they had several tempting ones to choose from including Tiramisu and Canoli, both made with mascarpone cheese. Maybe I can try one of those on a future visit.

I am very much looking forward to summer, with or without another trip here, but South Haven will again be on our agenda.

The Perfect Setting, 515 Williams St., South Haven, MI, ph. 269-637-8385

Tello Italian Bistro, 524 Phoenix, South Haven, MI, ph. 269-639-9898

Another Christmas is done

Last night we finally took our tree down. I knew it was time, but unlike some people, I'm never anxious to get it down right away. It's only after Christmas when the rush is over that I can finally spend time at home and enjoy it. My husband took this picture of our tree closing in on some of the ornaments. Each ornament has a special memory associated with it, either of a Christmas past, or of the special place where it was purchased.

Chicago

My husband and I started a tradition the Christmas after we were married three years ago. Each year between Christmas and New Years we like to spend a couple of days and nights in Chicago. This year with money being a bit tighter we had to cut back somewhere. Even though we were able to get a pretty good internet deal at the Affinia Hotel, we had to carefully plan out our meals so that we could stay within our budget, but still eat well. The last couple of years we've made a point to try out one of Chicago's many famous steakhouses. This year, though, we decided to try some of the less expensive places that we had been wanting to visit. For our first night we decided on The Cheesecake Factory. It was a long wait,
as we anticipated, but we made it our last destination of the evening, and it was very close to our Hotel. We were seated in a nice location, as it was right in front of the windows which looked out onto the large Christmas tree in the plaza of the John Hancock building. What we didn't anticipate was the very large portions! I ordered the Crispy Chicken Costoletta. I was served what seemed like several chicken cutlets that were lightly breaded and sauteed until they were crisp and golden brown. They had a delicious flavor, and were served on top of a lemon sauce. My husband had the meatloaf that came with mashed potatoes and gravy, and vegetables. His was also very tasty and plentiful. The next day we visited the Chicago Art Institute. I was very impressed. I didn't know this museum was home to so many famous paintings. One of my favorites was Two Sisters (On the Terrace) by Renoir pictured here.

I was amazed that they let people take pictures of the paintings. Here is another one, this time of me standing in front of one of the museum's tapestries.
My husband has been telling people it is a picture of me in front of our dining room area rug.

We decided to walk all the way back down Michigan Ave. this time instead of taking the free Trolley, which we took on the way over.
This way we could see more and stop off anywhere we wanted on our way back. I had always wanted to see "the bean," which is really called "Cloud Gate." This is up behind the skating rink in Millennium Park. You can walk under it and look at your reflection both above and next to you.
Before climbing the steps leading to "Cloud Gate," we first stopped to watch the skaters. It looked fun, but was also very crowded.

We had skipped breakfast and lunch today, so by this time we were very hungry. I had been curious about trying the Grand Lux Cafe because it sits above Ann Taylor, and has huge windows that overlook Michigan Avenue.
I asked about sitting by those windows, and my request was granted with only a slightly longer wait. It also helped that we were there very early in the evening before the dinner rush. Again, this place also had large portions. In fact, the menu was very similar to The Cheesecake Factory. Only after later looking at their website which was also curiously similar, did I learn that the two restaurants were created by the same founder. The decor of the Grand Lux is a venetian style. Very opulent with marble floors and tabletops. There were quite a variety of choices on the menu, so it was hard to decide. On recommendation from our waiter I chose what they call the "Sunday Night Pasta." It has meat sauce with chunks of beef short ribs, steak, and mushrooms, served over any pasta you choose. I like angel hair, so chose that. It was good, but very filling. My husband had the fish and chips. This was good also, and was served with a peanut cole slaw that tasted fresh and looked very appealing, and also fries. The view was great. Especially at night with the white christmas lights of Michigan Avenue in the background.

The next day our plan was to do some shopping, which on our budget meant mostly looking. Oak Street shopping is fun and different because of all the designer boutiques that line both sides. My one Oak Street purchase was a pretty snowflake charm from the Juicy Couture boutique. Other than that there was plenty of shopping along the Magnificent Mile. We had already stopped at Neiman Marcus our first night because I was on a quest to purchase a beautiful, but rather expensive ornament I had seen there on an earlier trip. I knew it would be on sale, but since it was already a few days after Christmas I was afraid it would be gone, which it was. Before we left town, we decided on pizza from Geno's East since it was right next to our Hotel. Unfortunately, our pizza was not like I remembered from earlier visits a few years ago. It was just ok, but not great. Maybe it was just a bad night, but we both said we would go back to Giordano's next time where we enjoyed delicious pizza the previous two years. I don't want to completely write Geno's East off because they are legendary and have been good in the past, so we may return during some visit in the far future.

The Art Institute of Chicago, 111 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60603-6404

The Cheesecake Factory, 875 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611, (312) 337-1101

Geno's East, 162 E. Superior St, Chicago, IL 60611, 312-266 DEEP (3337)

Giordano's, 730 N. Rush St., (312) 951-0747 (many other locations)

The Grand Lux Cafe, 600 North Michigan Avenue at Ontario, Chicago, IL 60611, (312) 276-2500