Category Archives: Michigan

Healthy Deli?

Yes, it seems like a contradiction in terms – healthy deli – but apparently some Jewish delicatessens are making a stab at providing more healthful food – some even going so far as to ban salami. (Say it’s not so.) A story in the NYTimes about this featured several delis I’ve been at or near recently, including Kenny & Zuke’s, a deli we visited for breakfast last month in Portland. Apparently the thing to have there is the specially-made pastrami – we came close. We ordered a corned beef sandwich which we happily shared – it was huge – in the Denver airport during our trip home.

The story also mentioned Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor which we visited last summer – who knew they made their own cream cheese although I wasn’t surprised they made their own rye bread. (I think we were supposed to have pastrami there too – again, we had the corned beef. Noticing a trend here?)

And earlier this month, we were on the lower East Side of Manhattan, standing outside of Katz’ s deli debating whether to join a long, albeit fast-moving, line at Saturday  lunchtime. We decided not – and I guess this is good since the article seemed to single out old-school delis like Katz’s as, of course, serving stuff that’s not good for us (even if it tastes good.)

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Filed under DINING, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Portland

searching for that cottage up north part 2

So far, I’ve very impressed with visitupnorth.com – which I’ve been using to find a place to rent in northern Michigan this summer. Within a day of emailing the website, a very helpful woman emailed me back – asked a few more questions and prompted produced several viable ideas (both a place that rents by the week and options if we want to stay just a few days) and valuable information (like how far such-and-such a cottage is from town and a public beach).

What did we do before the Internet? Actually I know what we – or I – did. Fifteen-or-so years ago when I was first looking for a place to rent with friends in upstate New York, I called the local newspaper to see what their want-ads offered and I looked at tourism information brochures. The one place I rented came virtually sight unseen – the owner sent me some fuzzy photographs. What a change.

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Filed under Michigan, summer vacation, vacation rentals

Searching for a cottage up north (i.e. northern Michigan)

I’ve just cracked open a new vacation-planning effort – a summer trip possibly to northern Michigan. By this time, our summer plans are usually more solid – but with one kid going off to an as-yet-determined college with an as-yet-determined start date, I’ve had to hold off. Now I’m wondering if I’ll be too late to find a place – especially one in the third week of August, which for now (and this could change) appears to be our best bet for everyone to get away. I do have some good websites to start my search: VisitupNorth.com and Leelanau Vacation Rentals.

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Filed under Michigan, summer vacation