Sleeping Bear

As you can imagine, we are very excited about Good Morning America recognizing the Sleeping Bear Dunes in our corner of Michigan as the "Most Beautiful Place in America," and are quite honored that Mario Batali helped promote this event from our small cafe on August 17th. A gigantic thank you to Mario, Susi and the boys (so fun to have Leo at the shoot!) and to ABC's Sabrina Parise, who was just super! The resulting traffic and media coverage has been so great, and I just saw that the H&V is featured in the latest issue of Northern Express Weekly in the TASTEmakers section along with Tandem Ciders (BOTTOMSup). In excellent company, I say.


We also loved the shout out Mario gave to Abra over at Bare Knuckle Farm during his live Skype interview--so wonderful. (Actually, being the sap I am, it sort of melted my heart). We have a number of real-deal, not-just-for-show working farms here in the Leelanau peninsula who truly and tirelessly dedicate themselves to growing and producing amazing food including Bare Knuckle, Isadore Farm, Jonali Farm, Farm 651, the CSA/Bakery (Jen's croissants are to die for!) at 9 Bean Rows and more. If you would like to learn more about Leelanau County's local food producers, visit the Leelanau Farmers Markets site for a full list of participants and get thee to the market! You won't be disappointed.

Since all the buzz last week, we have been overwhelmed with visitors at the cafe and have been trying to squeeze in a little time to gear up for a few big events this fall including the Epicurean Classic in September. Our gardens at home have gone feral and the tomatoes are ripening faster than we can eat them--time to start making sauces and salsa! No rest for the weary, but we love what we do and are having fun making future plans. Stay tuned!

Never tickle the nose of a sleeping bear. (German Proverb)