Gloria Ferris

As I walked up to the door at Talkies yesterday, it looked awfully desolate for a Saturday morning. Imagine my surprise when the note on the door said “Power out, I will open as soon as it comes on”.
I thought this situation sure complicates things. Meet the Bloggers was scheduled to begin at noon at Talkies. Since I was incredibly early, I needed to find somewhere with power to wait. The West Side Market loomed large in my sights, and I immediately thought of a place to wait The Market Cafe Restaurant. I always meant to eat breakfast there some day but whenever we go to the market we always seem to end up at the bratwurst stand.

Yesterday will not be the last day I eat at The Market Cafe Restaurant. May I suggest the Eggs Benedict? I am a connoisseur of that dish if I say so myself. That had to be some of the best Hollandaise sauce ever.
I settled in with my paper and a cup of coffee to wait until it was almost twelve o’clock.
Luckily, for me my timing was good and I met George, Roger,Bill and Jeff talking outside of Great Lakes Brewery. We decided to drive down to the Town Fryer but before we left we all went into Great Lakes. Lucky thing that we did because Russell of BuckeyeSenateBlog fame and his wife Francie had driven up from Central Ohio. We spent the afternoon in the Great Lakes Pub and although it wasn’t one of our usual places we managed to have a very productive afternoon.

As we left, we noticed that Talkies still did not have power. I had talked to the owner earlier and she was quite perturbed because not only were we scheduled to be there, but she had several other things scheduled to take place at her coffee shop. She said that this loss of power had been happening altogether too frequently and she was thinking of switching from CEI, but just when she thought she would do that the businesses in the area that had CPP started having outage problems.

Granted, yesterday was an extremely windy day, but when we as customers of CEI and Cleveland Public Power pay the highest electricity prices in the state, shouldn’t we have reliable service? Why do we have such high rates but have outdated, old equipment that can’t stand high winds, icy weather, and wetness. Is it time to place this wires underground? Wouldn’t we all be safer if they were underground? Don’t we deserve to have an upgrade in service if we pay the highest prices in the state? If our dollars don’t go to capital improvements and maintenance, where does it go? At first, I only thought of my inconvenience because of the power outage, but what about that business owner whose entire day was disrupted with no revenues and what about those residents that shivered in their homes on one of the coldest days we have had this winter? I think that it is time that we ask our utility companies some hard questions concerning why our electric system is so unreliable during bad weather. Goodness knows, we have enough bad weather in Greater Cleveland.

Tim and I were in this Southeast neighborhood for a friend’s mother’s wake. Since we hadn’t been in the neighborhood for years, we decided to take a drive through the neighborhood on the back streets. For those of you who are not familiar with the area, Mill Creek Estates is on the northeastern edge of the neighborhood. There are some really nice side streets as wel, such as Tioga. As we were driving around, I asked Tim if he remembered that little bar/restaurant where he took me for a fish fry on one of our first dates. He said, “oh yeah, it was right on the crest of Warner Road. Let’s eat dinner there. I thought it wouldn’t be there because this was twenty-two years ago.

It was still there!When we walked in the door, it was liking walking back in time. High tin ceilings, green checkered tablecloths, and stools and chairs right out of the 1950’s but The Cozy Inn has touches even older than that. The clock over the doorway to the kitchen says in neon “The Cozy Inn est. in 1933″. The amazing part of all of this is that Millie the daughter of the original owners still owns the bar with the help of her daughter. Talk about a family business! Photos on the wall attest to the evolution of the business.

Not only does Millie still own the bar she still cooks. Why is that so amazing? Millie is 89 years old and does the cooking four days a week. Her knees just won’t let her cook every day of the week. Her daughter usually helps her out, but tonight she was all alone. Believe me, Millie has not lost her touch. The best fish fry in town just might be served at The Cozy Inn at 4568 Warner Road. The fish was crispy on the outside but flaky on the inside, the coleslaw was shredded thin and had a very light taste. The french fries were fresh and not the least bit greasy.

Tim and I decided it certainly won’t be another twenty-one years before we venture back to the Cozy Inn on Warner Road. And may we suggest that you try it too.

Normally, Tim and I don’t do very well when we write out a list of New Year’s Resolutions based on self-improvement. This year we jointly wrote out our New Year’s resolutions and this is number 1 with us. Shop Locally. I added a codicil to share what we find on this blog. Here is the first entry THE SAUSAGE SHOPPE. Those of us who live in Ward 15 are an incredibly lucky group of people. Pick up any newspaper today and if there is an article about health and nutrition it will say somewhere in the article cut down on perservatives, nitrates, and msg. This business has been in our neighborhood at 4501 Memphis Avenue for years. The lunch meats, sausages, and other treats contain no nitrates, no msg, and no preservatives. The sausages and lunch meats are made on the premises. So everything is fresh, fresh, fresh and not always available.
They have a great catalog on their website.There is a great selection and although prices may be higher than what you find elsewhere, Tim and I find that they are much more satisfying than other processed meats. So if you are looking for healthful alternatives in the food you eat and you also like to shop locally–the Sausage Shoppe is the place for you.