We woke up in Marquette, prepared ourselves for the day (rehearsal and dinner tonight, nail appointment, otherwise no plans today) and hopped outside on our way to a cute little diner Adrienne found on the internet. The walk proved to be more than I was prepared for considering we left without coffee. She still hasn’t adjusted to the level of importance that coffee holds in everyday life. We made it, barely, but we nearly collapsed from inadequate coffee consumption before we did. So we went to the Sweet Water Cafe, quaint but welcoming. They provided me with the life-sustaining drink and quickly I perked back up and questioned where we were and how we’d arrived here. I half expected to be told the Giant Eagles had dropped Sam and me off in Coffeeland.

I had it down to either Huevos Rancheros (my favorite breakfast) or their namesake (I think it was a scramble). I figured the HR wouldn’t be great because of how far north we are, but I asked the waitress for her recommendation and that’s what she recommended. I noticed the people who ordered ahead of us had ordered it as did one group who ordered after us, so at least I know that the turnover is good. It came out nicely, black beans with a mild white cheese, rice, two sunny-side up eggs, and two whole grain tortillas.
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“Eggs” is English for “Huevos”
It was served with a bottle of Ray’s Polish Fire hot sauce which deserves its own discussion. I figured anything that was “Polish fire” was going to be vodka. This was interesting, however, as I could detect no actual source of capsaicin, the biochemical responsible for making hot things hot (except anything in the wasabi or horseradish family, that’s completely different). There was heat, no question, but it was completely different. I scoured the internet to try to make sense of this. The sauce is from the UP, there’s no way they grow actual peppers up here? Anyway, I found this really great comment on their website regarding one of their ingredients.
Polish Fire
Is that a thing?
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Please turn your attention to the last paragraph. Now picture yourself a full-time employee at the Michigan DoA, and just imagine how this conversation went.
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FRENCH TOAST
Adrienne had French Toast. It was simple yet intriguing. It was expertly prepared as there was absolutely no evidence of egg drippings off the side of the toast. It was served with UP maple syrup served in an appropriately shaped maple leaf glass bottle.
After breakfast, we headed in the direction of the salon (appropriately named Salon Salon) and happened upon Snowbound Books, a cute little bookshop where we popped in to burn some time. Afterwards, I dropped her off at Salon Salon and made my way back to the hotel to burn some more time blogging, jpeg downloading, and Kindle reading. I’ve found 1984 very interesting in that I’m about 70% of the way through the book so far and they haven’t mentioned Donald Trump a single time.
Sounds like dinner will also be blog-worthy, so you could very well get a twofer today!