Mother's Day at Clear Bottom Lake, Rockford, Michigan

Garrett and Laurie's daughter Lisa and friend

Clear Bottom Lake from the cottage

Susie spies a cousin

John Ten Have (left) and friend Jim Jack

Jim and his stepson Scott (Jennifer's husband)

Scott and Jen

John and son-in-law Scott

Laurie Ten Have-Chapman between son Joe and daughter Maria

Food in Grand Rapids - tip o' the iceberg

The variety, quality and sheer volume of food available in Grand Rapids is nothing short of amazing -- pastries so far have yet to be explored and we'll get to that later this summer.

But otherwise, breakfast, lunch and dinner is available in so many places and of such high quality that it makes the move from Providence all that much easier.

Oh, and one place I didn't photograph this trip -- in early May -- but I posted on it before is Nonna Cafe in Ada. Outstanding.

Rose's for lunch

Marco's for dinner:

morels in puff pastry

risotto

Widow's Luncheon: pastries by the French Tarte:

Licari's for lunch with Virginia and Chuck:

Marie Catribe's for brunch, yes that's right with Chuck and Virginia:

Next up in June: that incredible chocolatier in Grand Haven and our search for French pastries.

Stay tuned!

Van Halsema Sisters

Love knows neither time nor space -- Bernice VandenBerg and her older sister Betsy DeKorne:

A trip to Grand Haven to walk the pier and see the Big Lake

A gorgeous day to be at the beach. So we pulled out of Eagle Crest onto Leonard Street which took us all the way to Spring Lake, stopping just once in Lamont to look for a few 3rd Michigan infantry burials at Maplewood Cemetery.

From Spring Lake we crossed the bridge into Grand Haven, turned down Jackson Street (did not follow the signs to the waterfront) and pulled into the parking lot at Chinook Pier. Other than the burned out hulk of the public restrooms across from the fishing boats gearing up for the tourist season, everything look pretty much as it did the last time we were out here.

We strolled all the way to the end of the pier. Lots of other folks had the same ideas, and there were alredy quite a few -- mainly kids -- in the water as well. Susie even popped her toes into the surf.

The "Pere Marquette" forever idle at Chinook Pier

Coast Guard interpretive board along the boardwalk to the lighthouse

Grand Valley State University research boat

Birthday dinner at Metacom Kitchen in Warren

By last Saturday evening my body had conveniently moved to the recovery phase from some nasty respiratory virus that had plagued me for most of the week. Most importantly for a planned birthday dinner, my appetite was back -- as things turned out, I was going to need it.

We arrived at Metacom Kitchen right at 7pm and were seated at the food bar, in the back of the restaurant overlooking the kitchen. For the next 2-and-a-half hours this would be home. . .

1st: Duck Skin Salad

2nd: Chicken and Mushroom soup

3rd: Vitello Tonnato (my request)

4th: Salmon Belly a la Planche

5th: Seared Scarlet Snapper

6th: Torchon on Foie Gras

7th: Moroccan spiced tenderloin of Colorado Lamb

8th: Chocolate Ganache

The food was incredible: creative, delicious, and well-presented. The quality of the food was almost surpassed by the wonderful service. In a world where restaurants abound, many of them outstanding, Metacom is simply and absolutely one of the best.