Tag: #bananapeel

#over50chicagolifestyle, over 50, Uncategorized

Looking for a snowy good time? Try Winter Miracles at Door County

Jane Bokun

By Jane Bokun

Some people may not think Door County, WI. when they think of a winter playground, but they would be dead wrong. In the summer, it’s yachts moored in sparkling blue water and tony restaurants. But in the winter, the cold, blue waters of Lake Michigan turn to magical, ice palaces and places to bring home the day’s catch after ice fishing.  

Indeed, here in one of the coldest winter spaces, there’s time for ice fishing, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and even fat-tire biking. But Door County is considered the Cape Cod of the Midwest and has it all. It sits on mammoth Lake Michigan, which covers Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois.  I am particularly interested in ice fishing because I haven’t done that yet. Luckily, what I notice is you don’t have to be perfect at any one of these sports. Bucolic Door County has a large retiree population and a lot of the people who come to this area to retire, or purchase second homes, like to laugh a lot.

I asked Destination Door County Chief Communications Officer Jon Jarosh, if the tentlike ice huts were heated and he said it was quite comfortable and safe in the cozy huts. Novices like me even find there are plenty of fishing guides to help get the huts ready and help with your fishing expeditions. They bait your fishing poles and then you can catch walleye, northern pike, perch, or brown trout. The area is also becoming known for getting some prime, popular whitefish. I’m familiar with catching fish as a relaxing, Zen hobby as my dad often took my family fishing on Lake Michigan in the summers. After we caught our wriggling fish, we would watch as my dad fileted them while we said, “gross.” My mom then cooked them to a golden brown and our trophies were delicious.

Door County has lots of romantic Bed & Breakfasts and hotels to accommodate newcomers, according to Jarosh. I’ve also done some snowshoeing and cross-country skiing and found I can handle the white snow packed Wisconsin hills with only some deep breathing – and silent praying.

“It’s better than skiing down a mountain,” I tell myself. It may also be more challenging then say, laying out in the sun sipping on a Pina Colada.

After some grunts and groans, it might be time for a spa, I lovingly say to myself.

“I’m trying to live in the moment.”

 In Door County, I choose The Spa at Sacred Grounds. There are a few spas here and it makes me want to stop and visit them all, (I love a fancy area) but I’m on a mission.

The Spa at Sacred Grounds in Door County

Although Wisconsin is thought of as a state known for friendly farmers and the popular Green Bay Packers football team, it can also be glamourous here. Art galleries, specialty pubs, wineries and large homes are no strangers.

Once you get to The Spa at Sacred Grounds, in Door County’s Ephraim, the first thing to notice is the place exudes calm. It’s open all year around. On the grounds there are tall trees and myriad plant life. It feels strange because you want to sit at a comfortable table in the woods and never leave.  It feels otherworldly.  When you’re, like I often am, feeling nothing but problems and anxiety, The Spa at Sacred Grounds is an oasis of therapeutic peace.

Kim Maedke-Shumway, a Door County native, was a customer at the spa for 18 years before she became owner.

 Helping others gave the trim, dark-haired woman a new sense of confidence and she already knew what made people happy. She started out with unique massages, facials and spa treatments. It’s a day spa so there is no hotel backing up the property. Inside the spa, there’s a pristine library and yoga studio where classes are held. There’s a private log cabin where some massages are performed as well.

“I thought if I can do for one person what this spa has done for me, I’d be doing well,” she says with tears in her eyes.

After a day at the spa or shopping in fun stores like Bliss, a luxury co-op made of several clothing and design stores, it’s time to try other winter activities. There are 250 miles of snowmobile trails; candlelight skiing in January and February; sleds and tubing at Peninsula State Park; romantic sleigh rides with Mayberry’s Carriages; Classes such as weaving and philosophy at The Clearing Folk School; and even a fish boil every Friday night at the well-known White Gull Inn.

There also are trolley rides that include specialties like cocktail and ghost tours found at Door County Trolley.

It can be tiring, and some homemade cherry wine might be in order from Lautenbach’s Orchard Country Winery. I love tangy cherries and have tried the wine flights which are delicious. Lautenbach’s, open year around, focuses on all things cherry which is my absolute favorite. Besides wine, you can get cherry strudel, pancakes, drinks and more.

For those who want to try this little-known jewel in winter, it’s easy to get to from airports in Chicago, (about four hours); Milwaukee (about two hours) and Green Bay (about an hour). Rental cars are also easy to procure.

Before this winter excursion, I always thought I was a summer girl, but this trip to winter Door County was life changing. You might want to meet me in Door County for very, very slow candlelight skiing and a generous poor of cherry wine.

northwest Indiana, over 50, Uncategorized

Photo apps put pictures in your hand

Jane Bokun

By Jane Bokun

As grandparents, or grand anything, (in my case it’s aunt), we know the pictures we take are precious and may never come again. It’s true every shy half-smile we catch of our young ones, or even perfect faces covered in pasta sauce, make us feel truly connected – no matter where we live.

As heady as those connected moments as soon as we take our photos, they’re going to neverland in the backs of our phones. I never take them out and I want to start. With the aid of today’s apps and devices, we can do more.

If you haven’t done it, back up your computer or smartphone photos. It’s the most important thing you can do to make sure you can always enjoy your images. Luckily, there’s a painless way to back up your photos, and that’s to set up automatic backups. To do that you can go to settings and click on iCloud backup (http;//www.icloud.com). Then turn it on in settings. In the long-term, it’s always best to back up your files and photos.

Besides the iCloud, there are free solutions to back up your pictures including Google Photos for Android or iOS and Amazon Prime Unlimited Photo Storage via the Amazon Photos app. Options with small subscription fees include Dropbox.

If you’re not thinking about messing around with apps there are devices where you don’t have to download anything. A top device for many people is the Photo Stick (www.photostick.com). It works with any phone and can save up to 60,000 photos & videos (8G, 64G, 128 GB). Best for us grands, its easy-to-use and there’s no software or app to install. It also automatically backs up thousands of photos and organizes them for you. Easiest, it’s basically a USB Flash Drive and costs about $35. Lastly, if you want to store your photos on your computer, connect your smartphone to your PC with a Lightning Connector or mini-USB cord.

After you’ve backed up your precious pics, it matters what device you’ve used to take your pictures. Some people who use actual cameras such as the Canon, most likely store photos on disks. But, if you use your Android smartphone or iPhone camera as your only camera, it’s so easy to snap a photo and forget it. Recently, my sister-in-law sent me the cutest picture of myself and her puppy and I never even realized I was in any photos with her dog. Now, I’m obsessed with a photo I never even knew I took and there could be thousands more. I should also mention that I rarely take a good picture.

There are things you can do to save your pictures until you want to take them out and look at them again.

“Collecting photos over time is like a digital diary,” says phone enthusiast Brooke Pospychala, a lively Chicagoan with thousands of pictures. “I love that I can look at a photograph and be transcended to that moment in time that I may have forgotten about otherwise.”

After everything is backed up, there is clean-up for your photos. Find your pictures wherever they are all located on your camera. Do they all get saved to a photo file? That’s great, go to that file and delete the ones you don’t want, or that are grainy, or don’t picture you in the fabulous light you want. It’s like cleaning up your junk drawer. You’re going to feel like a new, well organized human being. If you’ve got birthday party, graduation party or any parties, keep just a few of those photos.

For those of you who are afraid to try new things. Just do it and then you can brag about it. For example, downloading apps. This is the dirty secret of many of us in our sixties. My 66-year-old sister who works in tech is afraid to download an app.

“I don’t know how to do that,” she always says.

I know her knowledge is limited because I bought her a Google Nest to listen to music and hear the weather although it still sits in the box. It only required an app and she won’t download it.

Here’s how anyone can download an app:

  1. Using an Android phone, you can first open Google Play, or, the Play Store app. Then, find the name of the app you want. When you find it, click install.
  2. With an iPhone, downloading an app is much the same process. You can google the name of the app, or click on the App Store icon, download the app and click install.

You can use an app called Flickr (http://www.flickr.com) which lets you share and host hundreds of your photos. Best of all, it’s free. The app, Purrge (http://www.purrge.com), lets you delete lots of photos in no time at all. It’s faster and there are a lot less steps. It does have a fee.

Now, you’re really ready to save your precious pics for all time, or the next family group text. My brother commemorates birthdays by sending each family member a collage of photos he has taken of them throughout the years. I thought, “what a lot of work.” Now, I realize it’s a lovely way to pay tribute to chubby-cheeked grandkids who are now teenagers, or those you love.

Now that you’ve got a handle on saving and collecting your photos you can start thinking about creating albums or archives of pictures you can share with others. There’s a device now, called Bevy (by Lineage Labs) that collects your digital photos and organizes them saving you the time. It’s both a device and a service that collects photos from your family that can be stored in one place.

It might be a lot to learn, but it’s worth it. For some photo collectors, it’s a labor of love.

Uncategorized

Disney has culinary magazine

Jane Bokun

By Jane Bokun

Have you ever patted your tight, huge stomach after having eaten a delicious meal at Disney and thought, “I wish I could make this at home?”

Now you can with Delish Magazine done by Disney Staff. It’s a product of my friend Charles who works in public relations for Disney and it’s a winner. It’s got 50 secret recipes from Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom. There are even drinks to complement each season. You can do a Disney feast without leaving your home.

Disney’s new food magazine

(From the blog) For Walt Disney World Resort, Disney Springs has a few new openings you’ll definitely want to have on your radar. Starting last March, Disney eaters can indulge in all the DOLE Whip your heart desires with the brand-new Swirls on the Water. This kiosk will feature delicious flavors as well as signature items like DOLE Whip Lime & Habanero Soft-serve Nachos featuring waffle cone chips topped with DOLE Whip lime and habanero soft-serve, mango boba pearls, Tajin spice, raspberry sauce, and whipped cream, or the 50th Celebration Cone with a DOLE Whip lemon and cookie dough soft serve swirl. You can also try the DOLE Whip Flight featuring all six of the featured swirl flavors and those over 21 can indulge in the Sangria Float featuring DOLE Whip and red wine sangria.

Now, I like all older women, love Sangria. It’s got that hint of sweet, but overall savory taste. I plan to remake the DOLE Whip sangria. If you’d like a copy of Delish Magazine by Disney, please leave me a message on the blog at http://www.bpeeled.com.

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How I got my man, a Valentine’s Day love story

Jane Bokun

By Jane Bokun

For Valentine’s Day, I wanted to share a blog for those who think they can’t get a man after the age of 30, or, by roughing up a man and dragging him into your cave.

It works. I tell you and here’s how it happened. I met a man in a bar, and we danced, and he said maybe we could go out sometime and gave me his card. I had moved from Arizona to Chicago and was 30 years old. My more than pragmatic father who lived in Chicago, was telling me my sell-by date was past and I was feeling every bit of it.

Sad bride who didn’t plan her own wedding

Soooo, I called this guy’s office. He was a chemical engineer and had an office, I was thrilled. I figured if he didn’t like me, I would never do anything so ballsy and unladylike again. Like every woman my age back then, I had a check list of who I would marry. I thought he was handsome, check, had money, double check, and a job, super double check. Pretty slim desires. I didn’t realize back then that he wouldn’t always have a job and sometimes I would have to shoulder the burden of keeping things going with my reporting job. It became even harder after I had a child, but I loved my job and my child. Sometimes my husband not so much.

I digress. We moved to Tampa together and he asked me to marry him after only six months, “good enough,” I said. We then lived together for four years with no talk of marriage again. I was okay with that until my father mentioned that time was ticking. I talked to my fiancé and he didn’t seem to want to go down that long, long aisle. Neither did I, really.

Here’s what I did and I don’t recommend it. I booked a church, a restaurant on the beach and got a wedding gown. I sent out invitations and thought, if he doesn’t show up, were breaking up. It was pretty nerve racking. It’s the day I came to call, “the day I married myself.”

I did the wedding just the way I wanted: jazz music, free flowing booze and an elegant dinner. I really could have married myself and been happy.

I told my father, if he doesn’t show up, we’ll have a party!

Long story short, his car broke down and he still showed up. We’ve been married now for almost 30 years. It’s one way to get married that can work for all communities, including LGBTQ. You don’t have to have a willing partner, but I bet it’s better.

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Another job for seniors – DoorDash

Jane Bokun

By Jane Bokun

‘How hard could it be?’ I stupidly thought.

Go to a restaurant, pick up a food order (with a mask) and deliver said meal to its new owner. No real friendship making or hand holding and it takes about 15 minutes to deliver an order. That’s if the order and the restaurant are in proximity. Some can be miles away from each other and there’s a time limit. There also are lots of people waiting to give you a good or bad review.

“Be kind,” I told one Indian gas station worker when I delivered his chicken dinner. “It’s my first time.”

I’ve decided to always end my deliveries with “it’s my first time” even when I’m a grizzled door dasher.

I’ve seen lots of young people, my own recent Northwestern graduate and more, do the DoorDash and seemingly not have a problem. But I’ve done it three times now and my heart is still pumping out of my chest. I delivered a meal to a man who asked me to leave it outside within a massive apartment complex and I’m still not sure he got it.

“I made $40,” my son told me.

“That’s pretty righteous bucks,” I said.

Even DoorDash, in its brochure, says it might not be easy.

“Our goal is to grow and empower local economies, according to Door Dash literature. To do this, we start by helping the merchants – the local businesses that create 60%+ of the jobs in every city.”

They stand behind their newbies, too. I recently left an establishment because I couldn’t figure out the order. They didn’t even scold me.

It’s clear. For the person in between jobs looking to quickly make some money with very little commitment, it’s a natural progression. For seniors who are bored and like a little chump change, and still drive, it can’t be beat.

Uncategorized

Try take-out Ramen noodles in Chi-town

Jane Bokun

By Jane Bokun

Super bored like I am during Covid? Try Ramen noodles.

Ramen noodles, once a staple of college campuses before everyone worried about salt content, have found a home and some true believers throughout the city of the big shoulders. Variations run from basic chicken to a gourmet Ramen dinner. It’s so in demand that in the past two to three years, the not-your-grandmother’s Ramen shops have become wildly popular for take-out of course.

Yummy Ramen noodles

Jinya Ramen is a Japanese chain serving noodle soups and other foods in a modern restaurant with a Ramen bar right in the middle. The chef at Jinya told us that his favorite food is Schezuan Chicken, but he serves other favorites such as a variety of tonkotsu-based ramen but also offering variations on paitan (chicken-broth-based ramen), a few sides (or “tapas”), and rice bowls. Jinya Ramen also features pork based varieties of Ramen with honjuku egg and wood ear mushrooms. In fact, Jinya Rameen is fast becoming one of the largest and fastest-growing ramen chains in North America, with some 17 stores in six states and Canada. LBD Hours are Monday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. until midnight on Friday and Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at 553 W Diversey Pkwy, (773) 857-5140. $$$

At Momotaro in Chicago Chef Mark Hellyar spent time living in Japan and got immersed in its culture. The upscale restaurant features a farm to table Japanese concept, Hellyar says. In fact, he said he sources the food from fresh Japanese markets throughout Chicago. His colleague, Chef Jeff Ramsey – the only American-born chef to receive a Michelin Star in Japan – heads up the sushi bar. Momotaro also contains a subterranean Izakaya and an elegant second floor private space that overlooks the main dining room. We tried the Unagi Don which is barbecued eel rice, shiitake, kanpyo, and sansho pepper. The healthy restaurant also offers traditional fare such as the Alaskan King Crab with red chili kosho butter. D Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 5 to 10:30 p.m.; Friday 4:30 to 11:30 p.m.;  Saturday 4:30 to midnight; and Sunday 4:30 – 10:30 p.m., 820 W Lake Street Chicago, (312) 733.4818. $$$$

Looking for the next big thing? Pokiology may become known as the science of eating this delicious raw fish salad and Hawaiian staple. In fact, the new restaurant recently opened in early August at 4600 N. Magnolia Ave., Suite C in Chicago. Here, the poke bowls, which generally feature cubed raw fish in a marinade will surely be the next big thing in fast food. The new culinary phenomenon, Poke, has landed on food-trend lists for 2016, with people liking its convenience and healthy ingredients. We tried the ahi tuna over brown rice which was both tasty and a feast for the eyes. Bowls come with additions such as avocado, crab meat, wasabi and more. Drinks here include healthy juices such as apricot and guava. The meal itself or Poke, has a protein served over rice or salad. No guilt in this trendy eatery. Meals range from $10 for a regular portion to $16 for bigger sizes. Pokiology, open for L, D from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. (773) 961-7624. $$

If you like your Ramen with a touch of elegance try OIISTAR in Wicker Park.  Here, the ladies that lunch can enjoy a full bar and even cartoons. There is danceable house music that makes patrons want to sip their Ramen a little bit faster. Here, there are homemade noodles with broth made daily. We tried the Goki, bbq beef, lettuce, cilantro, onion, sriracha, and cream fraiche. We also enjoyed the Ramen Tikkamen dish with chicken, masala, bean sprout, nori, and roasted sesame. Oiistar owner Chef Sunny Yim combines traditional Japanese ramen noodles with French and Italian touches. The daily-made pork stock is cooked for almost a full day to create four signature ramen dishes. Those looking for a tasty start to their meal will be pleasantly surprised by the wide variety of appetizers and signature steamed buns. L,D Lunch is Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday – noon to 3 p.m.; Tuesday / Wednesday – 5:30 to 10 p.m.; Thursday – 5:30 to 11 p.m.; Friday / Saturday – noon to 11p.m.; Sunday – noon to 10 p.m.; closed Mondays, 1385 N. Milwaukee Avenue 773-360-8791. $$$$

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Nuts & Bolts – A Lesser Sign of Aging

Jane Bokun

By Kathy Bryson, Banana Peel guest columnist

Aging is a funny thing. It sneaks up on you, small and ignorable. You think you need the gym when you get thicker around the middle, but you don’t worry about it because you’ve finally gotten to a point in life where you can afford a gym! Then suddenly you pull a muscle, and two days of ice packs and Advil remind you that you’re not as young as you used to be.

For me, the eye-opener came after a day’s recovery from painting.  That’s when I started to plan home improvement, starting with buying a mesh garden cart to haul heavy things. I found one online and had it delivered. I’ve built IKEA furniture. How hard could it be?

A model of Kathy putting together IKEA furniture. Time, tide and IKEA wait for no man.

I didn’t make it past the 1st step. Whether it was lack of strength or loss of dexterity, I could not screw the nuts on the bolts. I thought, “Oh man, they sent the wrong size” and fired off an email complaint to the online store. But, since I didn’t really want to send everything back, I also called my brother.

My brother is actually improving with age. He’s gone from being a know-it-all to being an invaluable resource.

“Send me a picture,” he said and then explained, “That’s a locking nut. It’s not too small. It has a rubber gasket inside to keep it from coming off.” Then he explained how to use two wrenches to get the thing on.

Well, that was good to know. The fact that the locking nuts have been around since 1931 was a little harder to take. I mean, I have put together a lot of IKEA furniture and have an impressive collection of Allen wrenches to prove it. It should not take me three hours and two phone calls to put together a little cart. But then it occurred to me that I’d moved pass college-age furniture into the adult leagues and felt better – until I realized I owed the online store an apology!

About Kathy Bryson – As the writing tutor and sometimes professor, Kathy Bryson works regularly with students who reminder her not to be an old fart. She’s also an award-winning author of tongue-in-cheek fantasy who appreciates a good joke. You can learn more about her work – academic and ironic – at www.kathybrysonbooks.com

northwest Indiana, over 50, public school teaching, Uncategorized

Jobs for the over 60

Jane Bokun

By Jane Bokun

I know I haven’t written for a while and that’s because I was out working jobs for you. It’s so you know where to go when retirement sneaks up on you and you spent your last dime on car insurance. Since I moved back to my hometown with an eye toward leaving, I have been trying to work in menial labor to see if it’s everything everyone has said.

Substitute teaching is truly awful. I would say, the awfullest, but that’s putting it mildly. So, first up, let’s try on the substitute teacher. It’s the best and by best I mean you get to sit down. I had always been taught to believe this was a cushy babysitting job for the elderly who had spent all their younger money. It would be perfect for the almost-dead.

Me before teaching…

I started substitute teaching at a local public school (I went private myself). The children talked throughout the teaching and I said nothing. They danced, jumped on each other and even air dropped movies and games on the wall. What did I say? Nothing. It was like watching a car accident, I really didn’t want to get involved. That went okay for a month and then they decided to make me a full-time substitute teacher when a real teacher had foot surgery. It was clear she didn’t want to come back and I really didn’t blame her. The classes were either too large or small and the teacher was remiss with lesson plans. She was on pain killers, she explained.

One of the things I was looking forward to was teaching journalism. I spent about 25 years in the field and I never thought it was a job. It was my chosen career and I thanked God everyday for it.

However, when I went to teach journalism, I found the children had been teaching themselves and they didn’t really want to have a record of it. They tweeted sports news every once in a while in case Don Lemon was listening. But they had no actual newspaper on their school site. They stood on desks and bounced on balls and screamed, but they had no real news and most importantly, no deadlines.

I wanted to teach them what a great career journalism could be if done right. They told me to sit down and shut up. Some people and some environments are unteachable, I thought. I kept trying although they seemed to need medication. I got it. They had been given too much freedom with no real direction. That is the problem with most things, but I would say public schools most of all.

One day I was called to the principles’ office to tell me there was a racist incident in my class. At the time, I thought it was a joke. Some kids were playing their own music when other kids told them they didn’t like their music. They wanted to hear K-pop. I, of course, didn’t say much. When does the babysitting kick in? I asked myself. I had already driven to the teacher’s house some miles away to take her and her son to the dentist.

When I got back to the classroom, an almost college sports star asked me, “is Miami a city?”

“I quit,” I said.

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Kevin Hickey: Owner of The Duck Inn talks turkey

Jane Bokun

By Jane Bokun

Michelin Star Chef Kevin Hickey had to travel the globe to find the success he wanted right back where he started.

“I had to come back to Chicago to get my Michelin Star with the Four Seasons,” Hickey says.

Indeed, the now seasoned chef started out at the Four Seasons restaurant when he was just 25 years and stayed with the company for literally the next 19 years. He only left the company to come back to Chicago and buy his great grandmother’s restaurant: The Duck Inn in Bridgeport.

“The Four Seasons raised me,” Hickey says.

But, after getting out of college at Stout in Wisconsin and achieving his dreams through the Four Seasons, Hickey and by then, his family, were ready for something new. Enter The Duck Inn, a tavern and restaurant in Bridgeport that opened in 2014. The Duck Inn is also the culmination of some lifelong dreams and ambitions for Hickey: owning a restaurant on the very street where he grew up in Bridgeport.

The Duck Inn has gotten excellent reviews, but patrons can find Hickey toiling nightly. His specialties are duck fat hot dogs and rotisserie duck. Sometimes people can find his wife Javalen and son Declan.

Savory Duck Fat Hot Dog

“People love the hot dogs,” Hickey says with a smile. “They’re very popular.”

And that’s going some for a chef that’s gone around the world living in places like London and Dublin only to head back to his roots in Chicago.

“I’ve always had a knack for cooking,” Hickey says. “My mother who was in politics, never cooked. She used to give my sister money to go get us something to eat. She would pocket the money and I would make something to eat.”

Our favorite thing was Stauffer French Bread Pizza and I could recreate the flavor profiles till they tasted exactly like Stauffer, Hickey says.

Now that he has the Duck Inn, Hickey says he does not take it for granted. He even still has a hamburger sandwich – something that was on the first menu of his great grandmother’s restaurant – on the menu.

northwest Indiana, over 50, Uncategorized

Restaurant provides comedy with Polish sausage

Jane Bokun

By Jane Bokun

At Big Frank’s Sausage in East Chicago, Indiana you can get more than Polish sausage, there’s big-time, nightclub-like entertainment as well.

“We started doing some comedy shows in the restaurant,” says owner Stan Stefanski.  “I knew one of the comedians and set up a show. On the ticket, along with the shows, there’s a full bar and Polish food buffet in the modest restaurant on 1417 Carrol Street in East Chicago.”

“We plan on doing another comedy event in the summer,” Stefanski said.

Comedian Nick Gaza often shows off his comedy stylings at Big Frank’s Sausage. He often brings in friends from shows such as Comedy Central.

“The comedy was great,” said patron Pam Grkinich.

Right now, Stefanski is focused on the restaurant and its beefy golabkis (or hamburger and cabbage rolls) along with fluffy pierogis and potato pancakes garnished with sour cream and apple sauce. Big Frank is not around. He’s the restaurant’s namesake and brother of Stan. He also provided the secret sausage recipe.

“We’ve been open for about five years and so far, the restaurant’s been successful,” Stan Stefanski said.

Indeed, customer Ismael Bonilla eats frequently at Big Frank’s along with his friend. George Hook.

“I’m a vegetarian and Stan suggested I try the mushroom pierogis,” Bonilla said. He also likes the cabbage and noodle dish.

Along with potato, sauerkraut, spinach, meat, mushroom and cheese pierogis, there are belly buster subs, homemade Polish sausages, deli dogs, pizza and much more. Food can be eaten in or taken out of the restaurant. There also are Polish groceries, deli meats and homemade sausage to take-out. Patrons wanting to join in Big Frank’s events should check the web page at http://www.bigfrankssausage.com.

“There’s something for everyone here,” agreed George Hood.

When opened: July

Location: 1417 Carrol St., East Chicago

Phone: (219) 378–9556

E–mail: stanstefan@msn.com