#ThankGodItsMonday! I LOVE Mondays. They’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you. Therefore, happy Monday and thanks for visiting.
We’re in the midst of The Dog Days of Summer – observed annually, July 3rd through August 11th. We’re also 55 days away from the official start of fall but nothing triggers happy Americana memories like Michigan’s nostalgic, sweet summertime.
You probably won’t find nostalgia any sweeter anywhere else than on Mackinac Island – literally and figuratively. A couple years ago, Michigan’s Mackinac Island [Was] Named ‘Best Island In The Continental US’ (ClickOnDetroit.com; 07/13/2022). Michiganders always knew that – now the world does too.
15 Famous Michigan Foods That Are Truly Delicious, by the staff at ThumbWind.com (Sept. 25, 2020), really nailed a great list of some of my own family’s favorite foods; many of which Mom imitated, as the Secret Recipes DetectiveTM. She loved to replicate famous foods from famous Michigan places, as well as nation-wide.
One of our favorites, mentioned in their “list”, Mackinac Island Fudge, is also Michigan’s unofficial state dessert, according to an article at Slate.com, The United Sweets of America (Aug. 24, 2014), by L.V. Anderson.
#MackinacIsland
Likewise, Thumbwind.com’s “list”, Top 13 Best Foods Which Made Michigan Famous, created by the Thumbwind staff (Sep. 25, 2020), agrees that Mackinac Island Fudge is the #1 favorite.
Mackinac Island is a very nostalgic place – the summer vacations I spent there with my family are my favorites. Once you get past the smells left by the horses, it’s actually quite wonderful – all the fudge shops and restaurants vent their mouth-watering scents into the streets. Plus, there are flower gardens everywhere.
One summer, we happened to stay at the Grand Hotel, when “Somewhere in Time” was filmed. We saw Christopher Reeves (from a distance) a couple times – but we actually met and talked to Christopher Plummer and Jane Seymour, between scenes. That was especially memorable.
Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 235). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)].
SOMEWHERE IN TIME – MACKINAC ISLAND
OUR RESERVATIONS WERE made in February, that year, to spend the Fourth of July week at The Grand Hotel on historic Mackinac Island in Northern Michigan.
We had heard, when we arrived, that Universal Pictures was filming a movie with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour and that our 2-day stay at the hotel might be disrupted from the usual routine we were used to when we stayed there.
The place was booked, and we were lucky to have those 2 days because other customers had canceled. The scene when we arrived was one of spectators and glamorous Hollywood activity in the lobby and on the grounds.
Paul was just teeing off at the green next to the golf pro shop, the next morning, when we heard a sympathetic moan from the beautiful leading man, himself, as he locked up his bike and headed across the street to the filming activity. I know I should have run after Christopher Reeve for his autograph, but I was in shock!
Later, in the hotel lobby, we watched the scene when Christopher Reeve [checked] into The Grand and, later, when he and Jane Seymour [took] a buggy ride away from the entrance of the hotel, with Christopher Plummer looking on. Take the time to enjoy seeing the movie they were filming – we’ve seen it 4 times and can’t wait to see it again!
It’s for everyone who has ever been in love – or who has ever visited lovely Mackinac Island, as we do every summer. In one scene of the movie you’ll notice, on the main street of the village, a sign over a shop that reads “Murdick’s Fudge”, a recipe which I have coveted for years.
Finally, after dozens of tests, I came up with the secret for purporting this product at home; although, I’ve only given you the chocolate flavor here – they have a dozen other flavors to enjoy. It whips up in 5 minutes and, a week later, it’s still smooth and creamy.
Mom has duplicated about two dozen treats and dishes from the restaurants and shops there, including the luxurious Grand Hotel’s dining room. I’m still working on a “Master Index” list of all her copycat recipes from all of her books and newsletters, so it might be more than that.
Unfortunately, even when I “finish” this master list, based on her books and newsletters that I have, it won’t be “complete”, as I don’t have all of her work – especially not, when it comes to her newsletters.
Next Sunday celebrates American Family Day, among other things. Plus, as it will be August, it will also be Family Fun Month and Happiness Happens Month, which basically go together, hand-in-hand. Only 4 to 5 weeks left before the kids go back to school. Thus, this is when Michigan families take advantage of summertime, the most.
My favorite summer vacations, when I was young, were in Michigan’s “the-tip-of-the-mitt” and the Upper Peninsula – looking for Petoskey stones along Lake Michigan beaches, climbing over the rocks at Tahquamenon Falls, exploring the forts in Mackinaw City and on Mackinac Island, and seeing the ships go through the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie.
Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island were the best places of all. It offers an amazing experience that takes you on a journey through time, to Michigan’s earliest known history of settlers. With all the terrific sights to see there, you can’t pack it all into one day.
Things To Do In Upper Peninsula, from TripAdvisor.com, offers over 800 great suggestions. They also recommend over 60 Best Upper Peninsula Hidden Gem Attractions to visit. At OnlyInYourState.com/Michigan, 16 Places In Michigan You Must See, by Serena Maria Daniels (March 9, 2021), also includes Mackinac Island.
Gloria Pitzer’s National Home News (National Home News, St. Clair, MI; Vol. 5, No. 9; September 1978, p. 11)
AT HOME – A Back-To-School Barometer For Veteran Mom’s
SOME MOTHERS ARE GIFTED at retaining certain pieces of information that they can tell you in the second week of June the exact date, time and hour of the day in September when school opens again.
Others rely on newspaper headlines, the calendar, their neighbors, but the best of all barometer for deciding when it’s time for the kids to go back to school is a series of events in the lives of mothers who know that the family that plays together gets on each other’s nerves… After a while!
You know it’s time for the kids to go back to school when you’re 13-year-old passes up a phone call from a boy to voluntarily wash the dishes because she’s bored. You know it’s time for the kids to get back to school, when the sound of a child licking a postage stamp gives his mother in the next room a tension headache.
When the city declares your backyard a dangerous intersection because of excessive mini-bike traffic through your flowerbeds, you know it’s time for the kids to go back to school.
When you’re 16-year-old prefers to take out the garbage to lifting weights because he doesn’t have anything else to do, the vacation has out-lived its original purpose.
You know it’s time for the kids to go back to school when your own mother calls to apologize for not having had the children at her house for a few days but mentions something about Christmas vacation being just around the corner.
You know it’s time when the words to a record album your teenager has been playing all summer begin to make sense to you. It’s time for the kids to go back to school when you read in the paper that the teachers in your area still haven’t settled their contract with the school board.
You know it’s time when even the neighborhood kids start to call you ‘Mother’ and you discover you like it. It’s time when you find six of them even walking AROUND your newly planted bushes rather than THROUGH them.
Most mothers can tell when it’s time for the kids to go back to school when they see Christmas merchandise being marked down on the counters of their favorite store and all the Halloween favors have already been sold, and it isn’t even Labor Day yet!
Mothers can tell when it’s time by the number of Kool-Aid stains on the living room rug that begin to take on the interesting arrangement of a free-form art exhibit.
You know it’s time for the schools to open when the 15-year-old, who wouldn’t wear shoes all summer, suddenly takes an advance on his allowance to get himself six peers of socks and a haircut without being told to.
It’s time when a mother has made so much lemonade and spread so much mustard on sandwiches, that she can’t see the color yellow without feeling sexually attracted to a school bus! It’s time for the kids to return to their little red schoolhouse and their little reading books when they start leaving the house WITHOUT slamming the screen door!
You know the time is right if you have a high school senior, who for three years enjoyed every chance he had to get OUT of school but develops a sudden nervous rash when he hears school might not open if the teachers strike…
Michigan’s nostalgic, sweet summertime creates cravings for those simpler times, as depicted by Norman Rockwell, before the large growth in technology. See next week’s blog: “The Simple Life”.
Thank you for reading my memories of Mom, her memories, and other related things. For questions or comments, you can email me at [email protected]. I’m also on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective.
IN CLOSING…
In honor of July, being National Horseradish Month, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for “Horseradish Cream Sauce”; as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 191). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)]. As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to share it.
P.S. Food-for-thought until next Monday…
July’s observances include: National Baked Bean Month, National Culinary Arts Month, National Grilling Month, National Hot Dog Month, National Ice Cream Month, National Independent Retailer Month, National Blueberry Month, National Picnic Month, and National Peach Month.
Today is also… National Lasagna Day, National Lipstick Day, and National Chicken Wing Day.
Tomorrow is… National Cheesecake Day and National Father-in-Law Day.
Wednesday, July 31st, is… National Avocado Day, National Raspberry Cake Day , and National Mutt Day.
Thursday begins the month of August, which celebrates… National Dog Month, International Peace Month, National Back to School Month, National Brownies at Brunch Month, National Catfish Month, National Goat Cheese Month, National Golf Month, National Panini Month, National Sandwich Month, and Romance Awareness Month – among other things.
August 1st is also… National Raspberry Cream Pie Day, National Girlfriends Day, and Respect for Parents Day. Plus, as the first Thursday in August (for 2024), it’s also… National IPA Day.
August 2nd, is… National Ice Cream Sandwich Day. Plus, as the first Friday in August (for 2024), it’s also… International Beer Day and National Water Balloon Day.
August 3rd, is… National Georgia Day, National Watermelon Day, and National Grab Some Nuts Day. Plus, as the first Saturday of the month (for 2024), it’s also… National Play Outside Day (which is the first Saturday of EVERY month), National Jamaican Patty Day, National Mustard Day, and Mead Day. Additionally, [for 2024] it’s also the start of.. Twins Days, which is always the first full weekend (Saturday-Sunday) in August.
August 4th, is… National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Plus, as the first Sunday in August (for 2024), it’s also… National Friendship Day and National Sisters Day. [NOTE: On this day, in 2008, my brother, Mike, launched TheRecipeDetective.com’s original website.]
Additionally, as the start of the first full week of August (4th-10th for 2024), it’s… International Clown Week, Simplify Your Life Week, and National Farmers Market Week.
…31 down and 21 to go!
