As I mentioned before, we woke up to the smell of breakfast downstairs. The reviews I had read online raved about the food at the Bellaire Bed and Breakfast. I was excited. We learned that there were a number of food allergies and dietary restrictions that our chef had to accommodate. My excitement started to dwindle when I discovered there was someone who was vegan and someone else who was dairy free. What kind of gourmet breakfast can you prepare with those restrictions!? Ross and I eyed each other as we tried to figure out who the culprits were.

Surprisingly, our chef rose to the challenge and we were presented with delicious food. The oatmeal bake, topped with raspberries and blueberries, was served along side vanilla bean ice cream (optional, of course). Ice cream…at breakfast. My favorite part of this meal, however, was the fruit salad which was served with coconut flavored balsamic vinegar. Yum! Our hosts told us they purchase the vinegars from Fustini’s in Traverse City. I wish I would have known about this when we were in Traverse City! Ross didn’t care for the coconut flavor, but I’m sure we could have found one we both liked.

Anyway, once our tummies were full, we headed out for our final excursion: Mackinac Island.

We took the advice of others and drove over the Mackinac Bridge to St. Ignace in the Upper Peninsula and then took the ferry from there to the island. It was a chilly, but pretty ride across the bay. Once we arrived, I confirmed K‘s description of the island: it smells like poop and fudge. Yup.

Our plan was to rent bikes and do the 8-mile loop around the perimeter of the island. We stopped a few times along the way to see a few of the popular sites. Like Arch Rock:

This is Ross conquering his fear of heights (kind of) as we climbed the 300+ steps to see Arch Rock:

We took another breather along the shore that faced the Mackinac Bridge. Ross decided to get creative with his photography:

Once we finished the loop, we went off the beaten path to see some of the other famous spots of the island like Sugar Loaf  { below }.

We had a map, so we had an idea of where we were going and how to find our way back. I don’t think either of us expected to work so hard, though! Maybe I’m just out of shape, but my legs were killing me! We had a real workout and returned our bikes exhausted. But since we hadn’t seen the famous Grand Hotel, we continued our tour on foot. It really is a pretty hotel, but since we weren’t paying customers and were far from following the required dress code, we viewed it from a distance and made our way back to town to purchase some fudge and catch the ferry back to St. Ignace.

On our walk back to town, we passed this lovely home of a Hoosier:

I think we both took a quick cat nap on the 20 minute ferry ride. We were warned that everything on Mackinac is very overpriced, so we planned ahead and brought some snacks. We only purchased our bike rentals and fudge. By the time we returned to St. Ignace, we were pretty hungry. So, we decided to grab a bite to eat at a local dive, Java Joe’s. We had heard mixed reviews of this place. Despite the name, we had heard the coffee wasn’t very good. But we took a chance and ordered some food. Hit the spot. We felt a little reenergized to drive back to Bellaire.

By the time we got there, it was pretty late and we both felt pretty gross from a long day of riding bikes and hiking around Mackinac. So, we showered off { see tub below! } and walked around downtown Bellaire. Most of the shops were closed, but we managed to walk through a few quaint shops that were right up my alley (not so much Ross’s…).

We decided we needed more food. Moka is a cool, little, corner coffee shop in downtown Bellaire. We split a pizza and each got a local beer. This might have been my favorite dinner. It was unplanned and comfortable. We had great conversation. We thanked each other for a fun little vacation. I told Ross I purchased his 30th birthday present early…tickets to see the top 8 from “So You Think You Can Dance”. He was surprised…and excited!  I was planning to tell him the week before the show in October. Apparently, I cannot keep surprises a secret for very long.

Breakfast the next morning was a perfect start to our day of driving south to Plymouth! Michigan, you are a lovely state.

Before we left Traverse City, we stopped at Stone House Bread for some freshly baked bread. Delicious. Then, we drove (almost) all the way up the peninsula to Northport. We were pleasantly surprised that they were having their weekly farmer’s market and bought some cherries for our picnic lunch.

I had read good reviews of the tasting experience at Black Star Farms, so we made that our first stop. For $5 you can taste 5 wines and receive a souvenir wine glass. When it comes to wine, Ross and I have different preferences–I like sweet, he likes dry. So, we tasted very different wines, but both liked the award-winning Cherry.

Black Star Farms is also home to Leelanau Cheese. We sampled a few pieces with our wine, thought it was yummy, and bought a wedge to go along with our bread and cherries. Perfect winery picnic lunch.

Our next stop was Shady Lane Cellars. It is a MUCH smaller operation, but in a very good way.

The tasting room is a renovated and converted chicken coop! Appropriately, their house wines are called Coop de Blanc, Coop de Rouge and Coop de Rose. Clever.

We decided to split a tasting here. Those little servings start to accumulate and you eventually have quite a bit of alcohol in you! I can see why many people opt to rent a limo or do one of the winery tours where transporation is provided for you.

We were done after two wineries…and completely exhausted. But we still had to drive to Bellaire, check in to our Bed and Breakfast, and then drive to Charlevoix to meet up with our friends, K & D, for dinner.

As I mentioned before, we checked out of our hotel on this morning. We wanted a beach experience for a few days–although, we hardly spent any time there…note taken–but were open to a new experience for the latter half of our trip. I stumbled upon a stunning Bed & Breakfast in Bellaire–about half way between Traverse City and Petosky. The location was perfect for our evening plans as well as our day trip to Mackinac Island the following day.

My first time at a bed & breakfast occurred about two months ago. It was a wonderful, relaxing experience with a few girl friends in East Lansing. This was Ross’s first experience and he might have been slightly timid towards the idea of staying in a house and eating with total strangers. However, neither of us have anything bad to say about our stay at the Bellaire Bed & Breakfast. If the rest of our family lived closer and we were looking for a unique way of spending some time together, this is the first place I would recommend. Our hosts, Jim and Dave, were kind, courteous, welcoming, helpful…they thought of every detail to make their guests comfortable and look for a reason to return.

We were greeted by Monica who showed us around the house–this is the library with current magazines and unique treasures from your hosts’ travels around the world…I call it the “heart of the home”…this is the dining room where breakfast will be served at 9 a.m….the last one to sit becomes Jim’s “food buddy” and is in charge of making sure the food is eaten by everyone else…if you’re hungry by 2 p.m., you’ve been too polite…Jim is an award-winning gardener, so feel free to take in the grounds during your stay…will you be joining us for our daily wine and cheese gathering on the terrace?

That place is a well-oiled machine! But everyone is very down to earth and the people we met during our stay were all very nice, easy to talk to, and helpful when it came to dining and route suggestions.

We stayed in the Vintage Room because it was the cheapest one and offset the cost of our pricier room in Traverse City. It was small, but perfect for our stay. It did not have a shower, but the private bathroom housed an claw foot bath tub with a european shower head. So, we made do.

We were able to stay for the wine and cheese gathering, but opted for the peach tea instead of the wine. We had enough of that for the day. We met Jim and Dave, got a glimpse of their springer spaniel, Tuck, and King Charles Cavalier, Chip, who were let out briefly, grabbed an umbrella from the hall tree inside (just in case), and were off to Charlevoix.

Charlevoix is such a pretty town. I would live here in a heartbeat (except for winter). With Round Lake to the east and Lake Michigan to the northwest, it is a charming harbor town. The downtown is separated from Round Lake by this beautifully designed park:

We arrived a little early, so we took in the harbor and then spotted our friends doing the same thing.

We ate dinner at Whitney’s of Charlevoix. Ross had the Shrimp Creole, which he said was ok, but not great. I don’t eat seafood. And since this was an oyster bar, I knew I would have a limited selection. Lo and behold, the vegetable risotto saved the day. And it was good. I would have had seconds if I could.

We walked to the beach of Lake Michigan and took our first and only photo of the four of us. Seriously. We’ve known each other for five years.

And we got a pretty good one of just the two of us, too!

On our way back to town, we admired the stone houses designed by Karl Young. Kinda cool. Kinda strange. And we ended our evening with K & D by getting some ice cream from Kilwins. Mmmm…

Thankfully, we did not need the umbrella. We returned to the B&B and slept like rocks until the smell of breakfast woke us up the next morning.

This is what our second day looked like:

• Devotional: It was a cool, windy morning and the waves of Grand Traverse Bay were impressively strong. But that didn’t stop us from bundling up and taking a seat on one of the lounge chairs to read our Bibles. It was a great start to our day.
• Traverse City: By the time we had walked around downtown the night before, most of the shops were closed. There were a few I wanted to go back to so we made time after breakfast to return. This was not Ross’s favorite activity, but he indulged me nicely.
• Sleeping Bear Dunes: We were told that we MUST go to the Sleeping Bear Dunes. And were pleasantly surprised at how close they were to where we were staying in Traverse City. The drive was beautiful and relaxing. I had collected an array of maps and magazines that helped us figure out how we would attack the massive national park in a few hours. But first, we stopped at the Visitors Center which was conveniently located right on the way to the park entrance. We bought our park pass and were on our way to the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive to take in some of the park’s feature attractions. There were 12 stops along the drive where you can get out and take photos, but the most impressive to us was #9, the Lake Michigan overlook. It was just stunning. Michigan is a beautiful place. This stop is also the place where many successfully run, roll or brace themselves down a huge hill of sand to the shore and then attempt to make the trek back up again. We opted out of this adventure since we did the 1.5 mile trail at stop #7. The Cottonwood Trail was a strenuous one, but we made it! We brought a ton of snacks from home, so we just snacked throughout the day instead of eating a big lunch.

•  Glen Arbor: On our way to Pyramid Point, we came across this cute little town with many art galleries that feature local artists. Somehow we missed the turn off for Pyramid Point despite my array of aforementioned maps and our GPS. I had read that this landmark offers a really beautiful view of the Manitou Islands. But, since we were pretty pleased with the view we saw from the Lake Michigan overlook, and we were feeling pretty tired, we decided to head back to Traverse City. Glen Arbor, like Traverse City and every other little town we walked through, was adorned with flower boxes filled with coleus plants. They are such a simple, bright pop of color. I would love to do something like this on our garage windows some day:

• Union Cantina: We were exhausted by the time we returned to the hotel, but we washed up and headed back downtown for dinner. We originally had a reservation at the acclaimed Trattoria Stella, but since we’re pretty much always in the mood for Mexican, we opted for Union Cantina which we had walked by a few times. We split the taco salad with chicken as well as some tacos with chicken. Lots of chicken, yes, but it was SO good! Ross enjoyed a margarita and I, a glass of their house sangria. I love good food. I loved the interior design, too.

• Horizon Books: Our last stop for the night included more coffee at the Shine Cafe located inside Horizon Books. It was here that I found what I had hoped to find at some point during our trip: an inexpensive piece of art to commemorate our trip. J&S framed an entire notecard set in their living room with $4 paintings-turned-notecards. I was stoked when I stumbled across this soft pastels-turned-notecard of the Cottonwood Trail we hiked earlier that day. It’s by local Traverse City artist, Lisa Wilkins Schulte. The colors are perfect for our bedroom. I’m hoping to frame it with an oversized mat and hang it among a few other meaningful pieces of art next to our bed.

• Confession: We actually ended our night watching an episode of “Beyond Scared Straight” on A&E. (I think this confirmed our decision to not have cable.) Have you ever seen this show? It’s crazy.

Remember Parker? Yep, he’s still around, and he’s never far when Analiese has a cup of cereal. She often and accidentally shares her Cheerios with Parker. Here Analiese is giving me a bite as Parker watches very closely.

All of the meals were ground beef/turkey based. So, the first thing I did was cook all of the meat and put it in the fridge until I was ready to separate it out for each recipe. If I had done it Pamela’s way, all of the meat would have been cooked the night before and would have made the actual cooking day a lot shorter. However, because I was doing this in my ninth month, I just didn’t have the energy to cook 6 pounds of ground meat and onions after going to the grocery store on a Friday night. (We’re in the middle of last season’s 24 and it’s SO easy to be persuaded to watch another episode…or 2…or 3…) The shopping part could have been done a few days prior as well…just to spread out the work involved in the whole process.

Anyway, here are the ingredients (most of the canned goods came from my stockpile downstairs and I had most of the spices in my cupboard already):

And…here’s what I made (I couldn’t find all of the recipes online…sorry!):

• Turkey Lasagna
• Cheesy Chili-Mac (delish…we had some for lunch when I made it)
• Beef and Cheese Enchiladas
• Shepherd’s Pie (will make mashed potato topping when it’s time to bake the dish)
• Not So Sloppy Joes (x2) (we love this recipe!)

Of course, there are accessories and sides to each of these meals that will need to be purchased or made later, but it’s nice to know that we have a variety of home cooked meals ready to go in our freezer.

By the way, the whole process (not including grocery shopping) took about 5 hours. And that’s making one meal at a time because I can only use 2 of the 4 burners on our stove. Such a pain.

It’s been quite some time since I last posted a non-Weekly Parker post. Actually, it was on September 11, 2009, when I posted this insightful tidbit. Well, I’m back! Actually, you can thank Heather for keeping the blog interesting and keeping it going.

Anyways, what has brought me back to posting? Heather has been napping for the past couple hours and I already took out the trash and packed lunches. So, I start looking at our blog, updated a link, checked out Google Analytics for the site, and then had a snack.

Can you guess what the snack was? Yes, Nutella. Don’t forget about Nutella. We did, for a year or so, and then last week at the grocery it basically jumped into our cart. It’s very yummy.

Answer: Smitten Kitten’s Cubed, Hacked Caprese salad

I’ve been on a gotta-have-some-GOOD-food kick lately. And when I stumbled upon this recipe, I decided to forget about that whole couponing thing and just get the ingredients I needed to make this. (The fresh mozzarella did come with a $4 coupon off your next purchase coupon…)

I used my new “Elite” Cuisinart Food Processor to make homemade pesto (note to self: always use less garlic than the recipe calls for). Add a little red wine vinegar and…voila!

Deb from Smitten Kitchen calls this a “springboard” salad. I had never heard that term, but totally dig the idea. Once the basic dish is prepared, you can serve it in a variety of ways. Deb outlines 7 different ways to eat it. I chose to serve it with toasted bread sprinkled with olive oil (no salt…there was plenty of flavor in the salad itself).

Also on the menu for this week:

• Tomato Pie
• Quesadilla Pie

I just love the dishes I discover on Simply Recipes. The tomatoes from the vegetable garden we inherited with the house are all ripening and I’ve needed to find ways to use them hide them in dishes that are so good Ross can’t complain that he’s eating tomatoes. We had the Quesadilla Pie tonight. Even though I had to rush the baking time a bit to get Ross off to Bible study in time, it was still delicious. I love Mexican food, but can get bored with the basic quesadilla, burritos and taco salad. This new dish will fit right into the rotation!

Ok…time for some coupon clipping. I’m way behind!

The main reason we were there this time, though, was to attend the wedding of our dear friend, Jen DiAngelis (now Quie)! Jen is the epitome of elegance and sophistication. So, it was no surprise at all that the wedding was just as beautifully done.

Some friends from IU stopped at the Olsen household for a quick dress change before we headed to Cincinnati along with the Balls. We don’t have too many opportunities to dress up, so it was fun to do my hair (with my mom’s help) and feel prettier than I do in stretchy gaucho’s and a tank top (which has been my go-to summer attire). Thank goodness I happened to have a dress that could accommodate a growing baby bump!

I had the pleasure of assisting Jen and Christian with everything paper for their wedding. It was so much fun designing everything from the invitations to poster-sized seating chart to a unique photo guest book (my favorite piece!). One of these days I’ll start that business of mine officially!

Even though it flew by, we had a great weekend. It ended especially well with my favorite meal prepared by my mama – beef burgundy. Or as they refer to it in Julie & Julia, “Boeuf Bourguignonne.” So so so delicious. Had leftovers tonight.