Celebrations

Last Thursday we drove the short distance to Windsor, Ontario, Canada to celebrate our son Steve's 57th birthday.  We were all anxious to go over the new Gordy Howe International Bridge that opened in July.  It was a cloudy, rainy afternoon so the photo wasn't the greatest taken through the car windshield.

The Cook's Shop, an Italian Restaurant, was our destination.  It was our second visit.  The kids took us there for our 40th wedding anniversary in 2006.  It's located downtown Windsor in the former VMY Hotel building [which now consists of commercial tenants and residential apartments]. The restaurant, which opened in 1980, is located in the lower floor of the building.

~ One of two entrances to the restaurant ~

This was our table for six - Steve, Sharon, Brooke, Dominic, Jerry and Me.   Our reservations were for 5:30 p.m.  The restaurant was filled when we left, which was surprising for a weeknight.

Our meal began with a delicious complimentary petite loaf of bread [made in-house]. The photo below is from their website.  Our loaf came with a dish of tomato selsa [chopped tomatoes, basil and balsamic glaze] instead of butter.  

Steve ordered Calamari as an appetizer for our table.   Previously, I've only had batter fried calamari but they char-grilled theirs.  Dominic and I were the only two who liked it prepared that way.  

Jerry and I ordered Lasagna, Brooke, Dominic and Steve ordered Shrimp Linguine, and Sharon got Gnocchi.    Everything was very good.

We came back to our house through the Windsor-Detroit tunnel and Steve opened his gifts. He was very pleased with the replica of The Ark of the Covenant.

Around noon on Friday we left for Zeeland to visit Jeremy and family. Right before our departure the mailman delivered a new cookbook I ordered.  I've been following Mrs. Lacy's Magnolia House Tea Room [restaurant] on Facebook and Instagram where Faye Schulz [the owner] provides amazing demo reels.  I read the cookbook all the way to Zeeland and it didn't disappoint.  There are several recipes I want to try.

On Saturday I went to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for her Baked Potato Soup and Macaroni and Cheese for our dinner that night.  Everyone liked it.

Ellie and Landon had a Halloween Party to attend that evening.  Ellie was Clark Kent/Superman and I'm not sure who/what Landon was because he didn't put his costume on before they left home.

Unfortunately, it started raining just before it was time for children to go trick-or-treating. Jeremy and Jerry sat underneath the overhang on his front porch distributing candy while Samantha and I stayed indoors.

We went to church with them on Sunday morning [Ridge Point Community Church in Holland] and headed back home afterwards.  

Once home, it was time to take down the Halloween banner and put up the Thanksgiving one, which will be here before we know it.

We enjoyed the Baked Potato Soup so much I made another pot when we got home.  The recipe is very similar to the Bennigan's copycat recipe that I already had.

So now we begin the month of November...