Valparaiso, IN

Since both my daughter Jess and I enjoy cooking and baking, one of our favorite stores is The Chef's Outlet located at the Lighthouse Place in Michigan City, Indiana.

Last Saturday was a beautiful day in Valparaiso, Indiana and we decided to take a drive to the Lighthouse Place Outlet Mall. Boy, are we ever glad we did! We found one of the best buys ever! One of our stops is always the Chef's Outlet. Every time we go in there Jess goes right over to their selection of knives. She has dreamed of owning her own set of Henckels knives forever but they are a bit out of our price range.

While I am looking around the store, I happen to overhear one of the sales persons tell another customer that they have a couple of sets of Henckels Knives on sale. Of course, my ears perked up. I cannot believe the price he just quoted! It's about 1/5 of what they normally sell for. So, of course, I grab Jess and tell her, "you've got to come over and look at these sets." They are kind of toward the back and not priced in any way.

I look around for a salesperson and check on the price. Sure enough, he explains that Henckels has just introduced a new line of knives so these were sent to them as clearance items. You have to understand that the sets were not the bottom of the line knives, but professional level knives. I could just see Jess drooling over her dream knives.

So, I glanced over at my dear husband and he knew what I was thinking and just nodded his OK. We grabbed a set and bought Jess her very early Christmas present. I can't remember the last time I saw her so excited.

Some of you may not understand the excitement over kitchen knives but if you are a cook, I'm sure you do. If you are in the market for knives, head over the the Chef's Outlet at the Lighthouse Place Outlet Mall in Michigan City and hopefully they still have a set left for you.

After the first 20 minutes of the V.U. Crusaders vs IU South Bend Titans game, I sat wondering how was it even remotely possible that the Crusaders came within 11 points of 6th Ranked North Carolina only a few days earlier? They were missing shots, they were sluggish, they were out rebounded, outplayed, & out scored in every area of the game. (Let's give some credit to the Titans).

In my previous years of watching Valpo play, they had times as a slow starting 2nd half team. After a 10-4 spurt, the Crusaders were down 43-34 and I was thinking "uh-oh". During a time out, I turned to the friends behind me and my wife and said "McPherson is a 5th Year Senior, he needs to step up & take control of this game and team with leadership" .....and he did!!!

Valpo went on a 21-0 run! It all started with Howard Little and Eric Buggs defense to start the 2nd half ! This combined with one of the most impressive 3 point shooting bonanza I have ever seen by Brandon McPherson. Having season tickets in the front row, it was an absolute treat to see him right in front of me knocking down 3pointers... 4 in a row! It was as though the basket was 10ft wide:) Whatever he threw-up, WENT IN! Brandon ended the game with a career high of 25pts.

Valpo won the game final score = 78-56.

This is a young team and there are 2 players that, in my opinion, will need to step it up and be the Leaders - McPherson and Little. Both these guys are very solid players and with their leadership and hard play as examples, Valpo may just have a pretty good year !

Editorial By Jeff Safrin

The Baptist Children's Home in Valparaiso, Indiana provides help to hurting families by providing foster care and group homes for the children. Support for the ministry comes from various sources including volunteers and churches.

Here's one way you can help them out. The Baptist Children's Home is needing to restock their Food Pantry and could use a variety of items including:

Canned goods such as fruit, soup, vegetables, spaghetti sauce

Staples such as flour, brown sugar, cake mixes, powdered sugar

snack items for school lunches

cleaning supplies

paper products

If you can help by supplying some of these items, contact The Baptist Children's Home in Valparaiso, Indiana at 219-462-4111. The Children's Home is located at 354 West St. in Valparaiso, Indiana.

Faith Evangelical Bible Church in Valparaiso, Indiana will be having a Thanksgiving Eve Service on Wednesday, November 25, at 7:00 pm. Join us for a time of celebration and sharing as we praise God for the blessings we receive from Him each day.

Faith Evangelical Bible Church is located at 305 East 400 North in Valparaiso, Indiana. Here's a link to our website for information on all our services and ministries.

Our next FC Tucker/1st Team Real Estate office meeting is coming up and we're having it at one of my favorite hang-out places in Valparaiso, Indiana, Evelyn Bay Coffee Company! How good is that!

It's a bit funny that I enjoy going to Evelyn Bay Coffee Company so much since I am not a coffee drinker. I guess that just says even more about their great atmosphere, food, customer service. and wireless internet! By the way, they also have an assortment of teas. The combination of all that makes it an ideal place to sit back, get some work done, and enjoy a cup a hot tea or coffee. Did I tell you that they have a separate room that you can reserve for special occasions such as parties or office meetings?

You're probably wondering why I even tried them in the first place since I don't drink coffee. Well, my daughter Jess, is an avid coffee drinker. She loves a good, fresh cup of coffee several times a day. On most Sunday mornings, we meet up at Evelyn Bay before church to sit, talk, and catch up on things. She drinks her coffee and I enjoy a yummy scone.

If you are in the Valparaiso, Indiana area and have not tried Evelyn Bay Coffee Company yet, you are missing out on something good!