Today we did not need to move the boat, so we caught
up on our blog posts and boat cleaning.
We visited the Ship’s Store and then walked a mile into the town of
Grand Rivers, KY, to explore. It was
quite hot and uphill all the way, so we stopped into the first place that
appeared to be open, Sugar and Spice, to cool off. It was dark inside and at first we did not
see anyone. The building is actually a
house that has been converted to what was once a small bakery shop. However, instead of pastries in the cases
there were knickknacks of all sorts, with more on small tables. Still more were hanging from hooks, including
plastic flowers, baskets and various other items. A voice called out from the small office on
the left and a woman stood up and slowly walked out to greet us. “Sorry, but I was gardening all day yesterday
and I am not moving very fast today.”
Her name is Marilyn Kunz, alias The Happy Cooker, a long-time owner and
chef of The Mansion at Golconda and a former chef at the Commonwealth Yacht
Club at Green Turtle Bay. Marilyn
proceeded to give us the history of the house and herself, some of which I will
share.
She took us to the rear of the house where there is
a professional kitchen and dining area.
Her husband was in a sitting room off the hall watching the Cubs on
TV. Turns out the Kunz’s are from
Chicago and lived at Harlem and Foster for many years before moving to Golconda,
IL, to open a restaurant. When the
restaurant got too much for her, they relocated to Grand Rivers and started a
small bakery and catering business in the former home of Bill and Patti
Tuller. Bill and Patti own and operate
the famous Patti’s 1880’s Settlement, a restaurant with a series of gift shops,
a miniature golf course, animal pens, small café, wedding gazebo and
gardens. We are not sure why this is,
but Patti’s has the log cabin construction and look of the 1880s. More about Patti’s later. We sat and talked with Marilyn for about 45
minutes. These days, Marilyn caters for
groups, holds cooking classes and cooks 3 different meals every day that people
can order and buy. As she spoke, it was
very clear the Marilyn LOVES cooking and LOVES to talk about it. She has a following in Grand Rivers and even
other states. You can learn more about
her at her web site, www.happycooker.com. We decided to order one of each of her 3
meals for this week to take back to Chicago with us – she will cook them, freeze
them and give us instructions on how to reheat them.
We walked the rest of the town in an hour or so,
stopping into the few shops and Patti’s 1180’sSettlement as well. As I wandered the few antique stores, I
recognized glassware that my grandmother had in her house, such as a covered
candy dish and figurines. We had ice
cream from Craig’s Creamery to cool us off before walking back to the marina.
We made a reservation for dinner at Patti’s and they
sent a van to pick us up. Everyone
inside Patti’s is dressed circa 1880, meaning long flowered dresses for the
women (we saw mostly women) waiting tables and working in the shops. Patti’s is famous for a 2 inch thick pork
chop that is absolutely huge. Randy
ordered this and I ordered catfish, another house specialty. Our appetizer was shrimp in a cheese sauce,
and I mean cheese sauce! Very rich. Another specialty is flowerpot bread – they bake
bread in an actual flowerpot and serve it with strawberry butter. Everything was very good, but we could not
begin to eat it all. However, we had to
order a piece of their famous pie to go.
Our choice was Kentucky Chocolate Pecan.
When we were ready to leave the van brought us back to our boat; full
and happy.
Finally, on our way back to our boat, we saw Help me
Rhonda with their Gold Looper Burgee – they crossed their wake and have now
completed their loop. But they are not
ready to stay on land yet and plan to continue cruising the river system. We also saw Mooring Dove who arrived with
them. There were also several other
loopers near us on the dock, including Shady Acres, who we briefly met in
Alton. I expect when we come back in
late October there will be many more loopers headed to Mobile.
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