vanity plates, fried dill pickles, and Blatz

I hate most photos taken of me, so it is with great trepidation that I post this photo taken by Andy before our thrift trip yesterday. I do enjoy seeing the photos that other bloggers (most, I suspect, much younger than me) post of themselves rocking the vintage. Although on most days I'm at home alone working all day, and thus, not dressed in anything particularly interesting, I do like getting "dressed up" whenever I go out. Which means wearing vintage dresses while thrifting. Here is dorky ole me in a purple print nylon 1950s or 1960s day dress that came from an estate sale. Tights, sweater and belt are all Target. Vintage oxfords were a thrift store find.


(Speaking of dressing up, apparently the American public no longer likes to get dressed, at all, to go out. I saw so many people out and about yesterday in their pajamas.)


Andy pedicabbed on Friday night, and he was all sugar/carb-deficient, so our first (and most important) stop yesterday was at Hilltop Bakery for him to grab an eclair.

We then proceeded to thrift our little hearts out. This made me laugh.

Andy pointed out that they were likely just hindered by the letter count limitation, but that didn't stop me from annoying him by singing, "WARE-ee-ores! Come out and play-ay!" for half an hour.

World's Cutest Terrier.



We found lots of boots and shoes, including these 1950s men's blue suede oxfords. Also, one of my two favorite finds of the day, this old Sylvania sign.

A good part of the reason for our trip yesterday was to check out a new-to-us restaurant, Barski in Baldwin. I read about it here on grgrub.com (all you Grand Rapids-area folk should bookmark it: it's a great, honest restaurant review site). The review said the chef/owner had worked at San Chez, that they had fried pickles and great burgers, and local beer. We needed no further inducement.

(Fried dill spear and my beer of choice.)


Barski has an unpretentious, sports-watching, hunters and fishermen hanging out, kinda vibe. The bar and restaurant are all one open room so there was a little bit of smokiness (yep, no smoking ban in western Michigan yet), but it didn't bother me or even uber-smoke-hater Andy. (We sat kind of near the bar, too.) The burgers were delicious (any menu header that says "burgers contain bacon" is a good sign in my book). The fries were served with garlicky aioli. The pickles were delicious, but I prefer them in slices, rather than spears. (Is it frightening that I have a preference at all when it comes to deep friend dill pickles?) They had Bell's Oberon, PBR, and Sam Adams Lager on tap plus many other local beers in bottles. The menu includes a couple Polish specialties, which are bizarrely difficult to find in Polish-heavy western Michigan (unless, of course, it's Pulaski Days). We'll definitely be stopping by again.


And here is my second favorite find of the day. Andy was totally unimpressed with it (I think he was just jealous that I found it), but put it on and wore it the rest of the day. I don't know if this means he's keeping it or what, but I think it's awesome. Don't you?

xo
K

weekend with dad!

My dad came to visit us for his birthday! That's him, with Andy. Did you see the childhood pic of him I posted a few posts back? Doesn't he look just exactly the same? Cute, right? I call my dad Hoss because he worked on a ranch in Montana when he was a youngun. He's a wonderful, sweet guy--which makes sense, since he sells sugar.

Anyway, he was only here for a few days, but we had so much fun. Here, he and Andy are watching some fisherman reel in a GIANT king salmon on the Grand River downtown.




I had to walk away because I was fearful I would have to see some terrible scene, with the fisherman bashing the huge fish in the head to kill it...but he ended up letting it go.





Here's a pic of my shoes and the hem of my raincoat. I like to think of these vintage oxfords as my "lady cop shoes," but Andy keeps calling them "nun shoes." I think he is doing this just to make me mad...but he is the one who found them.

Love the typeface on these bricks.




This was Lucy's favorite. Obviously.

Leftover ArtPrize piece. Kind of Wicker Man-ish, dontcha think?




Here's Nessie in the Grand. Now she's over by the zoo.




Three different delicious shades of beer at Founders.




We went thrifting with Hoss. Luckily, he enjoys thrifting, too--up to a point. And the Birthday Boy brought us good luck! We hit several stores where I usually don't find jack, and I hit the jackPOT in nearly all of them! Or, at least, found something worthwhile. You'll see the fruits of this thrifting shortly. I'm hoping to get it photographed soon, weather/new indoor photo lab permitting.


We took Hoss to dinner at our new favorite Grand Rapids joint, Corez Wine Bar. First, I have to say: neither of us is much of a wine drinker. I do not know how to pick a wine. Sometimes I like a red, sometimes a white. I think I like dry, but maybe I like sweet and sparkly. I don't know; I am confused. Well, someone at Corez writes up the wine list in a totally funny and approachable way that makes it slightly less confusing. My dad, who does like wine, got a kick out of it.

Also, Corez has great food. Really, really great food. In two visits, we've eaten/tasted: BLT risotto, shellfish stew, steak, gnocchi, savory pumpkin panna cotta (!), olives, stuffed dates... everything was fantastic.

But the kicker (for me) was that they have a Classic Cocktail list. I know this is probably no biggie to those of you in Big Cities. But around these parts, a vanilla-melon-pomegranate concoction frothed up in a fancy glass still counts as a "martini." So when I see a drinks menu that actually includes a Manhattan made with Bulleit bourbon and fancy bitters, and a Negroni--well, I'm sold. Dad and I loved the Manhattans we had pre-wine.

If anybody ever wants to come visit us in fancy Grand Rapids (we have an ArtPrize now!), we'll take you to Corez. Not that I'm bribing people to come visit me. Yet.

xo
K