I so dearly love a cottage in winter!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

How to get Laid with Food (again, rated G)

When we arrived on the island our first meal was lunch at Hotel Iroquois.  This is one of my favorite places to have lunch.  The food is great and the alfresco atmosphere is absolutely perfect.  Luke had "Mackinac Whitefish Sandwich with Homemade Cheese-Dill Bread and French Fries" and I had "Vegetarian Focaccia Sandwish with Grilled Portabella Mushroom, Provolone Cheese, Roasted Red Pepper and Lemon-Basil Aioli Sauce".  It was delicious, but I was so excited to be there that I forgot to take pics.
For Dinner our first night we ate at the Cuhady Steakhouse located in Michael Cuhady's library at the Inn at Stonecliffe.
Michael was originally from Kilkenny, Ireland and left during the potato famine.  He became a gazillionaire as a butcher and later as the first person to ship meat on refrigerated wagons.  His summer "cottage" was finished in 1904.  It is a beautiful ride up into the island to eat here and while the food was amazing, again, I did not take pictures.  It was mouth-melting steaks, as promised.  And the atmosphere is romantic.  We made friends on the way up.  They were celebrating their first anniversary.  Imagine our surprise when champagne was delivered to our table, compliments of the newlyweds!!

Breakfast the next morning at the Bay View.  Oh wait!!!  First, when we got back to our room after dinner at Stonecliffe, we had a lovely surprise....an adorable chocolate cake for two from the Bay View to celebrate our 10 yrs!!!  Ok, so now on to breakfast.  Fresh squeezed orange juice...you know, like from a real piece of fruit.  Rose, the kitchen Goddess of the Bay View makes everything from SCRATCH.  And every morning, you get a 3 course breakfast.  Every evening, she has bistro style desserts that would put some well-known big city bakeries to shame!  Breakfast is served in a sunny solarium with a view of the fort and the bay.

Lunch the second day consisted of the Taste of Mackinac.  For $15 we got more food that we could ever eat and all the drinks we could manage.  There were representatives there from most of the major MI microbreweries and wineries...handing us cup after cup.  I loved sampling the best of all of the eateries of the Island.  I will say that everything from Millies was FABULOUS and we also really liked the food from Mary's.  Both are really good lunch choices.

Dinner this evening is brought to us by The Grand Hotel.  We were seated by the window.  Sigh.  You pay a flat rate upon entering the dining room.  This includes your 5-course meal and gratuity.  A bottle of MI wine is extra! 

The main dining room is done in kelley green and white and aqua.  Holy Smokes!  I LOVE this color combination.  I have been given many confused looks when I try to explain my love of these colors together...I guess the Grand Hotel and I get it!

Again, I forgot to take pictures of our appetizer.  I had "Vegetable Spring Roll, Duck Leg Confit, with Five Spice Cream" and Luke had "Chilled Jumbo Shrimp with Farro Verde and Sweet Chili Sauce".  There are not words.  For the soup course I had "Wild Mushroom and Onion Soup with Artichoke Tapenade" 

Luke had "Roasted Chicken Broth with Vegetable Mirepoix and Cheese Ravioli"

My Main Course "Braised Veal Osso Buco Milanese with Crispy Grits Cake,  Lemon Parsley Gremolata"

Luke had "Roasted Rack of Lamb with Pistachios, Chickpea Ragout, Rosemary Port Glace"

My Desert....um, chocolate cream tart

Luke's desert...

Here are some pics from inside the Grand.

The size and scale of this is hard to capture on film, er, um, phone.

The carpets are AMAZING!  Whimsical and sophisticated at the same time!  After dinner, we wandered through the Grand's Museum of Art.  There were also drinks and dancing to a live band in the ballroom.  We met a very fun family on the way back from dinner and they paid our carriage fare, much to our surprise.  So we hopped out, told Dorris and Larry (our noble horse-power) goodbye, and went into the Bay View.  Dessert this evening was homemade strawberry shortcake.  Oh my gosh.  Desert after desert...well, this is VACATION!

Breakfast our last morning at the Bay View.  Then we were on our way off the Island to Bellaire, MI.  Bellaire is in the Traverse region.  It is full of cherry and apple farms.  My favorite things about this area, though are the hills and lakes.  There are lakes every where.  Huge, Huge lakes.  Torch Lake and Lake Bellaire are BEAUTIFUL.  They make our dirty little, drunk filled, cottage stacked Lake fill-in-the-blank seem like the ghetto.  This is our favorite area to ski in the winter as well, it is right outside of Schuss Mountain.  The next blog will tell more about our amazing accommodations in Bellaire, but this is about food, so lets get on with it...

If you are ever within even an hour of Belliare, you MUST eat at LULU's.  You MUST.  We had the best food of our entire trip here.  Really.  Even better than the Grand.  Yes.  This was the most fabulous thing I ate the entire trip...appetizer  "GOAT CHEESE CAKE Watercress, Tomato Pepper Conserva, Fig Jam, Grilled Baguette"  I had already split it and so you cannot see the amazing presentation, but trust me, it was mind blowing.  And that paled in comparison to the way the goat cheese melted in your mouth.  The accompaniments were the perfect pairing of acidic and sweet.  It was perfection.

I had a nightly special of Halibut.  I cannot find the description anywhere, but they use local produce and it was again, the best of the entire trip.

Luke had "GRILLED HANGER STEAK
Parsnip Whipped Potato, Shiitake Mushroom, Brussel Sprout, Butternut Squash, Bacon Onion Jam, Rich Demi Glace"  I am not sure why the presentation is such a mess, but this must have been after he started devouring, because everything comes out of the kitchen looking like a work of art.  Also, we had a few cocktails (seriously, I only had 2) and we could barely walk home.  So be careful of the sneaky bartender!

That Completes our Culinary Tour!  I will wrap up the series with a look at the architectural drooling that I had time for in between all of the eating and hiking, in How to Get Laid in a House!  Until then, enjoy your peanut butter sandwich and cheetos for lunch...haaa!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

How to Get Laid: The View (Rated G...come on people)

You all know we went to Mackinac Island for our 10th anniversary.  It is a super special place to us because this is where Sir proposed to me.  One thing I have learned in 10 years is that getting up at 3a.m. can be waaaay more fun than going to bed at 3a.m.  Five hours, and a beautiful drive later, you arrive here...Mackinaw City (and yes, the city is spelled Mackinaw while the island is spelled Mackinac PRONOUNCED THE SAME...if you use the c sound I will smack you...you know I will...there is a whole big story about why, but you will have to go yourself to get it!).  When you arrive in Mackinaw City, you have to take a ferry to the Island.  We always use Sheplers.  This is the view from their waiting area.  Beautiful boats.
After a quick ride...we arrived and this is a our hike to our dear Bay View B&B.  A little jaunt past the Yacht Club.
Home...our dearest Home!!!  Why is the Bay View so special???  1.  It is on the water.  Many of the B&B's are across the street.  2. The food....more on that in the next post.  3.  It is small.  Each room is completely unique and beautiful.  If you are staying on the Island without kids...this is where you should stay.  Take my word for it.  If you are staying on the island with kids, please stay at a hotel in town.  4. Rose!  To know her is to love her!

Our room...because I know you voyeurs want to know....
Full of gorgeous antiques.  The island has a strict Victorian policy.  There are not any steel and chrome polished rooms or buildings here. 
Well, it is perfect, what can I say.  At night we open the windows and you wake to hear the clopping of horse hooves on the street in the morning.  NO CARS.  NO Sirens.  Sigh...
Our view from our room.  Did I mention that it was 66 and sunny???  SERIOUSLY!
More view from our room.  The looong building at the top with the line of yellow umbrellas is the fort.  This was a pretty grand view.  The house across the street with the red window umbrellas is the Yacht Club.  The house next to it is privately owned....Brigadoon.  It has super cute boxers that sit on the front porch and watch the people walk by (real, alive boxers with cropped ears).



It was Lilac Festival week.  Due to "global warming" if you know how to read and "just strange but totally normal weather patterns" if you are a Republican (haaa! ok, sorry, just couldn't resist) half of the lilacs were already done blooming...but the other half were in full bloom and it was PERFECT!  We would just be walking along and whifffff...the smell was overwhelming!  The island is covered in lilac bushes and trees.  It has many varieties that are unique to the island itself and do not exist elsewhere in the world.

Some flower gardens.  Totally typical of all properties on the island.

Hello, yes, we are meandering down to lunch...

Lunch with a lighthouse view???  Of course.


 So, a few words...if you have not been to the island.

1.  If you take kids, go to the forts.  There is one in Mackinaw City and there is one on the island.  They are the bomb.  There is also Historic Mill Creek that is a great way to spend nearly an entire day.  Get the three pack pass. 

2.  If you want to ride bikes, take your own.  They are expensive to rent.

3. If you are smart, you will neither rent bikes nor bring your own.  You will see all of the tourists on bikes.  You will also see them walking their bikes for the most part.  The island has a strange anomaly of being completely up hill no matter where you are going.  Big, steep hills.  Just walk.  Trust me.  The island is covered in trails and shortcuts that you cannot use on a bike.  And walking up a hill expends waaaaay less energy than riding or walking your bike up it.

4.  Staying on the island is a completely different experience than visiting for the day.  I would recommend both.  It is only 5 hours away.

5.  The town is full of shops.  PLEASE DO NOT TAKE YOUR KIDS SHOPPING ON VACATION.  No matter what you tell yourself, your kids DO NOT like shopping.  YOU like shopping.  Suck it up.  Go hike and play.  Come back with your spouse or girlfriends and shop.  Put your big girl pants on and resist the temptation.

6.  This is not a bikini, sweat fest.  Please remember to bring a sweatshirt.  If your idea of a dream vacation is sweating, shopping, and putting on clothes that are too small, puh-lease keep your vacation plans in FL, which is probably your FAVORITE place to go anyways...


And next time...How to Get Laid with Food.....