Jess Tron

It's tea season, and there's nothing quite like a cup of chamomile at bedtime. Whole flower, loose chamomile, that is. The grocery store only has tea bags, so where can I find whole, loose tea?

Duh! They've got that at Molly Bea's!

Tonight is leftover night at my house. Being that it's gotten cold, most of our leftovers are soup. I like making something fresh to go with leftovers, so I was thinking bread...no, biscuits. Yum! And, seeing as how I'm a total nut about whole grains, I want to try out a new recipe for whole-grain biscuits using old-fashioned oatmeal and whole wheat pastry flour.

Hmm...whole wheat pastry flour...

Oh yeah! They've got that at Molly Bea's!

My friend had a problem. At least, he thought it was a problem. It went something like this:

"I have to cater a banquet with a Japanese menu for this class I'm taking. I've got this recipe for these amazing gooey dough balls with a red bean paste in the center...but...where the heck around here am I going to find adzuki beans?"

To which I promptly responded:

"Oh! They've got those at Molly Bea's!"

Have you caught on to the theme yet? Molly Bea's Ingredients in Chesterton (right across from Jewel on Indian Boundary Rd) is a foodie's (meaning "my") dream come true. Bin after bin of specialty flours, whole grains, beans, loose teas, fresh-roasted coffee, spices, nuts, dried fruit, herbs, and candy...all available in bulk, by the pound, in bags that you pack for yourself. It's the place to go if you're looking for that hard-to-find ingredient, or if, like my dad, you like to create your own trail mix to keep in a jar on your desk. They even have a station where you can grind your very own peanut butter. And, if you're looking for that perfect gift, they've got kitchen gadgets, cookbooks, fun chocolate bars, gourmet sauces, honeys, syrups, and on and on and on. I pretty much go crazy every time I'm in there. As they put it, "Whether you are a cooker, a baker, or eater...there's something here for you."

Just be warned: Don't go to Molly Bea's when you're hungry*!

*Not that there's ever an excuse to go to Molly Bea's hungry when Third Coast Spice Cafe is just a few doors down...But that's for another blog. (*suspenseful music here*)

It's Sunday morning, one of my favorite times of the week. I have a Sunday morning routine, you see. It goes something like this: Sleep in*, lay in bed and doze a little longer, mosey downstairs and enjoy a leisurely breakfast with a good book, look at the clock and realize that it's already after 7 AM, hustle through my morning ablutions, and head to Evelyn Bay Coffee Company for another leisurely breakfast with my favorite person in the world: my mother. After we've sat and chatted over scones and soda (for her) and bagels and coffee (for me), it's off to church (a truly wonderful place which deserves its very own series of posts).

Evelyn Bay Coffee Company is, without a doubt, one of my favorite places in Valparaiso. No, there is no bay - this is corn country, after all - but, for me, the name is simply synonymous with delicious coffee, delectable artisan baked goods, and delightful people who have truly become great friends. Evelyn Bay is part of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, so they are dedicated to brewing only the highest quality, freshest coffee available, and their house blends are AWESOME! Used to be, I'd just go there for coffee...but then I discovered that they their breads, bagels, muffins, and scones are delivered fresh from the artisan Labriola Baking Compay in Alsip, Illinois every morning, and now I'm a die-hard bagel addict. And, as if that were not enough, their menu of sandwiches, salads, and wraps are now among my favorite lunches. It's a good thing that Evelyn Bay is only a few blocks from my house (lucky me!), because I'm not sure my gas bill could survive my daily (sometimes twice!) trips to Evelyn Bay otherwise.

There's always something happening at Evelyn Bay, too. They have movie nights, board game nights, Twitter Happy Hours, and even concerts from Valparaiso's own mayor, Jon Costas. And, now that they also serve Valparaiso's own Valpo Velvet Ice Cream, Evelyn Bay is everything that is delicious about Valparaiso under one roof.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a bagel. You're welcome to join me, if you like!

*Sleeping in, for me, is anything past about 5:30 AM. Call me strange - I know I am.

I went for a drive today down unexplored streets. It wasn't quite planned - one of those days where one plan leads to another, which doesn't really work out, so another idea is birthed...and then a few random turns later, you happen upon downtown Porter, Indiana (that tiny city tucked between Portage and Chesterton) and find yourself enraptured. Here was the very definition of quaint, and it was all unmanufactured. There were old, brick businesses on one side of the street and a railroad track on the other: no questioning that this town grew from a train station where ladies in white gloves were helped down by porters unloading trunks and dodging the parasols and top hats waving to greet old friends. One or two blocks over is bungalow town, where the infection of the Chicago bungalow craze left its mark on Porter, only to capture my heart 80 years later. A bungalow is a simple structure - a blank slate that is no more than anyone needs, but can become whatever a person can dream.

I am and have always been a city girl, and I truly believe that I always will be. Nevertheless, there is an undeniable charm in a small town that has been left to itself. The Porter library is still in a building with a real front porch, while Interstate 94 zooms underneath an overpass only a few streets away. Porter is only minutes from the beach, but the trees in town are mature, apt for climbing, and guaranteed to create a multicolored landscape come fall.

When I wandered into Porter, Indiana this afternoon, I felt that I had stumbled into a long-forgotten historical romance. It is a secret hideaway that has been kept, not artificially preserved. Such places do still exist, and they should be treasured.