SERVING GREAT PIZZA FOR 65 YEARS! ~ PG. 10
Expert Advice
Roofing
Justin Reynolds Manager
Q: Should we be concerned about the amount of snow and ice accumulating on our roof?
A: Since the first week of January, our total amount of snowfall has been significant. Since the weight of snow and ice is substantial, we recommend removing as much of the snow and ice as possible. However, safety should be your foremost concern. Emergency room personnel can tell you many stories of unfortunate homeowners injured while climbing a ladder or getting onto their roofs to remove snow and ice. Therefore, we recommend purchasing a ‘snow rake’, a long handled shoveling device, designed to pull snow and ice off the roof while you stand safely on the ground. Please be aware, however, since a snow rake is made from aluminum, you must kept it away from any electrical power lines on your roof.
Sherriff-Goslin Roofing Co. Since 1906 342-0153 800-950-1906
Member Home Builders Association of Greater Kalamazoo
Hearing
Health Food
Mark Sawall Owner
Q: What’s NEW for the NEW Year at Sawall’s?
A: WE ARE CELEBRATING OUR 89th YEAR! Sawall’s has been through a lot over the last eight decades & five generations and this last year without exception has amazed me. THANK YOU to all our loyal employees and customers for all you goodwill during 2024. From the Sawall Family to all of you and the Kalamazoo Community...THANK YOU for your kindness and friendship and thank you for supporting local small businesses everywhere.
Mon-Sat. 8am-9pm, Sun. 10am-6pm
Sawall Health Foods
Oakwood Plaza • 2965 Oakland Dr. at Whites Rd. • 343-3619 • www.sawallhf.com
Financial Services
Counseling
Kim Powers, Owner, Licensed Professional Counselor
Q: What should I do to lift the weight of my hidden addiction?
A: It is a brave choice to admit you have developed behavior that has become a stronghold. The next step is to choose a safe space, person, or professional to learn skills to overcome and manage the behaviors and hold yourself accountable to your goals. You can find the victory, strength, and encouragement to overcome! There is freedom in the light.
Heart Soul Mind Strength LLC Faith. Acceptance. Empowerment. Purpose. Www.HeartSoulMindStrengthLLC.com 510-827-1305
Transitions
Q: How is a cochlear implant different than a hearing aid?
A: A hearing aid amplifies sound, similar to turning up the volume on a speaker, so the sound travels through the inner ear to the auditory nerve. In contrast, a cochlear implant bypasses the damaged parts of the ear and directly stimulates the auditory nerve with electrical signals. Unlike hearing aids, cochlear implants create a new way for sound to reach the brain.
If managing daily conversations and life situations is difficult for you despite using a hearing aid, a cochlear implant may help restore clearer sound and improve your quality of life. It’s estimated that less than 5% of adults who could benefit from a cochlear implant have one. To find out if you’re a candidate for cochlear implants, an audiologist must perform a hearing assessment to check your hearing levels.
Call Bronson Constance Brown Hearing Center at (269) 343-2601 or visit bronsonhealth.com/hearing.
Bronson Healthcare
bronsonhealth.com/hearing
Chuck Henrich President & Owner
Q:
What exciting changes are coming for 2025?
A: With all the new contribution limits associated with company retirement plans coming into effect January 1, along with new IRA rules, and changes with earning thresholds and tax bracket income limits, please reach out to us so we can help you with your 2025 financial planning.
Our office has enjoyed answering your questions throughout 2024 and helping you figure out how to put all the retirement pieces together so you can enjoy a successful retirement. It’s always a pleasure helping folks put together their retirement income and investment plans and we look forward to doing the same in 2025.
Southwest Michigan Financial, LLC
The Atriums • 4341 S. Westnedge #1201 269-323-7964
Q: May I still travel if I live in an independent living community?
A: Many residents continue to travel after moving into senior living. In fact, some communities provide discounts on monthly service fees if you intend on traveling for a month or more. Contact your community’s resident liaison or other staff member to understand your community’s policies on travel.
Friendship Village “Where Connections Matter” 1400 North Drake, Kalamazoo 269-381-0560 www.friendshipvillagemi.com
Diana Duncan Director of Sales and Marketing
Amy Boyce, Au.D Bronson Constance Brown Hearing Center
The New “Information Age”
I recently stumbled upon some old college papers that got me thinking about how difficult it was to gather all the information.
The search began by heading to the library and thumbing through the large wooden card catalog cabinet.
Books were found and the all numbers were written down on little slips of paper with small pencils.
If the books were still on the shelf, they were taken to the counter, where we presented our library card.
The librarian pulled out the borrowing card and stamped it with the date due.
If more up-to-date information was needed, this involved the Readers Periodical Index, which included thousands of magazine articles by subjects. After jotting down magazine titles, dates and page numbers, you headed to the bound volumes. You then were challenged with copying large, musty books on a small copier at 5 cents per page.
needed. They filled a 10 foot section of a thick bookcase with each volume weighing about 10 pounds. The sets very expensive and only updated every so many years.
While growing up, I remember A & P offering a different encyclopedia volume each month for
In many cases, encyclopedias were
49 cents if you bought $20 worth of groceries. We were always concerned that we would be on vacation in the summer and miss an important volume like “M.”
Sometimes a door-to-
door encyclopedia salesmen would grace us with their presence.
Dictionaries were also important and weighed about 50 pounds and had their own library pedestal or table.
So much of this has changed.
Wikipedia and Google have wiped out most needs for an encyclopedia or dictionary.
Books are now looked up on a computer screen but it is sometimes confusing.
When I recently looked up the book, “30 days in a Mad House,” by Nellie Bly, the computer listed several choices but none were the actual book I was looking for. There was a book on CD, a graphic novel and MelCat library loan option in Bay City.
Now, high schools and colleges are dealing with reports turned in and written by A.I. (Artificial Intelligence).
A few months ago, as an experiment, I asked A.I. to write a history of Long Lake, where I live. I quickly received a 500 word, well written and researched story of the history of the lake that would have taken me hours to write.
Nobody knows what the future holds.
We will just have to wait and see!
Steve Ellis, SPARK Publisher steve@swmspark.com
FROM THE EDITOR
Matt and Ron Smilanich in front of Bimbo’s Pizza.
Photo by Steve Ellis
Let it snow, and blow, and drift
Lee A. Dean screendoor @sbcglobal.net
During the holiday season, Andy Williams can be heard crooning about how this is “the most wonderful time of the year.” If the subject is the holidays he may have a point. However, for me, this is decidedly not the most wonderful time of the year. Try as I might, I cannot shake my negative attitude toward winter. Blood thinners make me more sensitive to cold temperatures. Arthritic knees do not improv e in Arctic conditions.
Winters were more fun when I was a kid. My brother and I constructed elaborate snow forts with tunnels. Our dog, a frisky German shepherd, would dive into snowbanks and follow us into those tunnels. Even better, I was too young to drive. There were no worried about sliding off the roads or getting stuck. If Mom or Dad did get stuck, my brother and I enjoyed pitching in to help on another rescue mission.
But now, 60 years on, I can do without any part of winter. This is true even with the positive influence of my wife, the Viking Goddess. We have a mixed marriage. Her Swedish blood helps her enjoy the cold weather. My English blood yearns for Fort Lauderdale.
Understanding this genetic difference helps explain the difference in attitudes. The average January temperature in Sweden is between 23 and 28 degrees F. In the UK, the temperature range is 36 and 45 F. Imagine a marriage between our two ancestors. The subject of a summer vacation comes up. “I think Spain would be nice this time of year,” I say. She replies, “I was thinking more like Lapland.” Adios, beaches. Hello, trying not to step in reindeer scat.
Music is usually a source of comfort, but winter warps my sense of hearing in one diabolical way. The songs I love come out sounding differently.
• Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” sounds like “Isn’t She Shoveling.”
• I hear “Baby It’s Cold Outside” as “Baby It’s Cold Outside, Inside, and On All Sides.”
• “We’re Off to See the Wizard” turns into “We’re Stranded In A Blizzard.”
Entire lyric verses get the cold shoulder, such as this famous one from the 1970s: Drifts to the left of me
Snow squalls on the right Here I am Stuck in the driveway with you I deliberately avoid song titles such as “White Room,” “Cold, Cold, Cold,” and “Cold As ice.” Likewise, I will have no part
of listening to anything by the great blues guitarist Albert Collins, who was known as the Iceman or my much-loved New Zealand favorites, the Chills. These days, I am trying to learn new ways to cope. I want to purchase and wear –every day – the shirt that says, “Yes, I’m cold.” Extra care is needed while taking every step outside. A friend in Grand Rapids just fell in her driveway and posted a selfie. She looks like somebody whacked her with a 2-by-4, including an impressive shiner. And she loves winter!
The Viking Goddess and I have our seasonal rituals. After she’s done cooking a meal, she announces, “Hot stove!” I immediately race to the kitchen, open the oven door, and let the wonderful hot air blow up my back. While this is going on, she races into the three-season porch, and exults, “This is SO refreshing!”
My vehicle does not have heated seats, so she bought me a seat warmer that plugs into the cigarette lighter. If you ride with me in winter and the inside of my car smells like a bakery, the reason will be my toasting buns. I crank that bad boy up to 90 degrees and blissfully head out into the white maelstrom.
Positive self-talk is another tactic that has mixed results. There is always room to say, “It could be worse. We could be in
International Falls or Houghton.” But I never say it, for fear the VG will immediately check out that community’s visitor’s bureau website and look for the “winter vacations” pulldown.
My self-talk is more likely to take the form of a GIF that shows a person struggling through thigh-deep snow and repeating this mantra: “We don’t have earthquakes. We don’t have hurricanes. We don’t have alligators.”
There is one sublime part of a very cold night. When it’s bedtime, two humans and four cats find a warm place and snuggle down together, in the feline version of a three dog night. The cats are great heat sources and they feel the same about us. We’re due to really get pounded this winter. As of this writing (Dec. 5), we are in the second major snowstorm. Maintaining a good attitude will be challenging. Yet there are rays of hope.
After visiting a company that I serve as a chaplain, I pulled my vehicle onto a snow-covered and slippery road. White pellets were flying in my direction, threatening to turn me cross-eyed. Then, for some reason, I started singing, “Let It Snow.” Where did THAT come from?
There are better angels of my nature, even during winter. They may be wearing snowmobile suits and have wings covered with ice. But they’re still angels, and until April arrives again, I’m going to need them.
“Feeding the Body and Spirit”– Carol Friesen
By Jim Coppinger, Milestone Senior Services Volunteer
Carol Friesen, PhD, RDN, has only been in the Vicksburg area for a short time, but as soon as she arrived, she began looking for ways to help improve the quality of life for people who live here.
Originally from Minnesota, Carol spent most of her life in Indiana, working as a community nutritionist and university professor in dietetics and nutrition. She taught at Ball State University, where she served as Graduate Program Director for the Nutrition and Dietetics at Ball State for twenty-six years before retiring in 2022.
Carol was inspired to pursue this field by her high school home economics teacher, Judy Mohr, whom she considers one of her greatest mentors. It was Mohr who told her, “Carol, you should become a dietitian.” And so she did—without ever regretting it. Carol says her mentor’s influence left a lasting impact on her, shaping her own career-long goal of mentoring her students, which she found the most rewarding part of her teaching career.
Carol and her husband, Aubrey, raised two children, a son and daughter, both of whom hold PhDs in scientific fields. Aubrey, who holds a PhD in animal science, works for Zoetis, a global animal health company. When Zoetis transferred him to its Kalamazoo headquarters in and Carol relocated here area after her retirement in 2022.
When Carol moved here, she knew no one. Being a people person who thrives on social interaction, she felt lonely. To solve that and fulfill her passion for helping
others, she contacted Milestone to see what volunteer positions were available.
Meals on Wheels turned out to be a perfect fit for Carol. Not only does it align with her background in nutrition, but she enjoys both the driving and the social interaction that comes with her delivery route in the Vicksburg area. She says she loves it, especially the people she delivers meals to. According to Carol, these bonds form quickly, and she believes that Meals on Wheels nourishes more than just the body—it delivers nutrition for the human spirit as well.
Carol also enjoys gardening, and she and her husband tend a large vegetable garden at home. They raise a bounty of fruits and vegetables through the season, sharing much of it with family and friends. On summer and fall weekends, they visit u-pick orchards and farms, and Aubrey loves to can and preserve their harvests—ensuring that their pantry and freezer are always stocked with healthy fare.
Carol says that the true abundance in her life comes from her desire to improve the lives of others. “What greater purpose could anyone have,” she asks, “than to contribute to the betterment of life for all people in our community?” We couldn’t agree more!
Milestone Senior Services (previously known as Senior Services of Southwest Michigan) is an AmeriCorps Seniors grantee. AmeriCorps Seniors empowers people age 55 and older to serve their communities. RSVP helps people find a volunteer opportunity that fits their passion. There are currently opportunities in Kalamazoo County and a few in Calhoun County. Volunteers are needed with Meals on Wheels, Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes, Telephone Reassurance for Seniors, Milestone Home Repair, and more. Regular, flexible schedules available. Contact RSVP at 269-382-0515 or apply to volunteer at www.milestoneseniorservices.org.
Chilly for Chili?
By Laura Kurella
Soothing, earthy, and sometimes a little spicy, nothing warms the tummy (and heart) quite like a well-made bowl of chili.
January always has me hankering for chili so it was wise that they made it National Chili month, and my mind won’t stop pondering on it until I make a good batch of it, too.
Growing up with this as my chili baseline, it was hard for me to eat other people’s chili because they were heavy on heat and spiciness, and light or even vacant of the oh-so-savory flavoring that Mom’s had.
Mom’s chili was thick, hearty, meat-forward, and well balanced with a super comforting-savory flavor. It was so satisfying that you couldn’t eat
more than a cup’s worth before feeling full. When I asked Mom what she did to make it so much more flavorful, she said, “I made it from scratch.”
Mom used fresh-ground round, fresh onions and garlic, parsley and thyme, and a fresh bottle of cumin, black pepper, chili powder, cayenne powder, paprika, celery flakes, thyme, and oregano along with the best tomato paste she could find. When I asked her why she used tomato paste instead of other tomato sources she said that it came down to the best flavor. “Tomato paste is made from the finest Roma tomatoes that go straight from the field into the cannery, so when you buy paste, you get the best tomato flavor there is!”
Caramelizing onions and searing the meat over a high heat were her “flavor steps” that she said many tend to skip, “and when you skip a flavor step you bring a dish a step down from where it could have been,” she’d say.
Mom’s basic chili method works with any meat, ground, or cubed, and is best when two yellow onions are added per two pounds of meat, along with a quart of homemade beef broth, and a small can of quality tomato paste.
I’ve also come to learn that the nature of pepper spices make it best to prepare chili at least one day in advance of serving it to give the spices a chance to fully bloom.
Healthy, hearty, and oh-so delicious, here now is Mom’s magical way to celebrate National Chili Day. Enjoy!
Laura Kurella is an award-winning home cook who loves to share recipes from her Michigan kitchen. She welcomes comments at laurakurella@yahoo.com.
Kurella’s Comforting Chili
Prep time: 30 minutes; Cook time: 5 (or more) hours. Yield: 8 servings.
2 pounds beef brisket (or favorite cut/grind)
2 yellow onions, diced
2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
1 to 2 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon Ancho chili powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
6 ounces tomato paste
1 quart chicken stock or your favorite beer
15 to 30 ounces cooked kidney or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
Preheat oven to 335 degrees. Prepare brisket by cutting meat into 1-inch cubes, cutting away fat into large chunks. Dice onion, mince garlic, and rinse and strain beans.
In a preferably cast-iron Dutch oven over highest heat, sear fat chunks well on both sides. Remove to a plate then sear meat chunks the same way, removing after searing.
Add onion to empty hot pot and cook over highest heat, stirring, until onions begin to develop some caramelization. Add garlic and cook for a minute, stirring, then add cumin, Ancho (or favorite) chili powder, smoked paprika, crushed red pepper flakes (optional), brown sugar, vinegar, salt, black pepper, tomato paste and 1-quart hearty chicken stock (or your favorite beer), and kidney or pinto beans.
Stir ingredients together then stir in meat. Top with fresh thyme and parsley then cover the top of the chili with the seared chunks of fat. Cover with lid then place in preheated oven to slow cook for 2 hours. Remove the lid and gently stir the pot, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot so that nothing sticks. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and return pot, covered to oven to roast for 2 more hours, stirring like before every hour to ensure nothing sticks on the bottom. Add more liquid, if needed.
Remove pot from oven and remove any stray spice stems and any remaining fat chunks.
For highest quality flavor and texture, move chili to a glass storage container and refrigerate overnight before serving.
Serve with sour cream, grated cheddar, chives, and scallions. Leftovers freeze well for about 6 months.
During the early years of the 20th century, the musicians of Benton Harbor’s Israelite House of David performed for millions all over the world. Music was a fact of everyday life for House of David members, and almost every Israelite was involved in some form of musical expression. Adults played in men’s bands and women’s bands. Children played in children’s bands. They formed comedy musical acts, string bands, marching bands, jazz bands, and dance orchestras. Large brass bands were immensely in America at that time. The 20-member House of David brass band toured the vaudeville circuits during the fall and winter months before returning home to Benton Harbor for the summer. Musicians then entertained visitors at the colony’s popular Eden Springs Park or went back on the road as baseball players in the colony’s famous ball teams. But by the end of the First World War, America was losing its innocence and musical tastes were changing. In February 1917, the Original Dixieland Jass Band released “Livery Stable Blues,” the first jazz record ever made. This ushered in a new era known as “The Jazz Age” and popular music would never be the same. Realizing the need to keep up with the changing times, the House of David touring band was reorganized in 1920 as two smaller jazz combos, the “Syncopep Serenaders,” led by trombonist Manna Woodworth, and Ezra “Cookie” Hannaford’s “Original House of David Band.” Both groups featured a “jazzy” mix of brass and woodwind instruments, driven by the syncopated rhythms of banjo, piano,
The House of David Bands
by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library
and drums. The music they played was known as “hot jazz.”
Early jazz was chock full of “pep” and “ginger”— brisk tempos, sudden breaks, quirky sound effects, and crazy on-stage antics—much of which can be directly attributed to the novelty acts on the vaudeville circuits. And because the House of David men wore long hair and full beards, they were seen as an oddity and promoted as a novelty act. Witnessing these “long-haired bewhiskered sheiks of jazz and syncopation” perform was simply irresistible, and their popularity skyrocketed.
The late 1920s marked the end of the House of David road bands. Legal troubles plagued the colony, and bad press took its toll, but music would continue to be an important part of the entertainment at Eden Springs Park and other local venues.
Much of the known history of jazz is written in early sound recordings. Sadly, there were no such commercial recordings made of the House of David bands. Contemporaries with much less fame and probably less talent made many of the early jazz records that exist today. Because their recordings survived, these other bands are known now as the pioneers of jazz. Except for a few picture postcards, the House of David road bands remain largely forgotten.
Portions adapted from “Israelite House of David – A Musical Tradition” (2001) by Tom Meldrim and Keith Howard.
More at kpl.gov
Book Reviews
The Last Murder at the End of the World
Stuart Turton
The Last Murder at the End of the World is Turton’s third book and perhaps his best yet. An unexpected blend of psychological thriller and science fiction, this title grips readers right from the beginning. The story takes place on an idyllic island that is the last stronghold of humanity after a deadly fog has engulfed the planet. There are one hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists living harmoniously together, with the villagers content to follow the rules of the scientists that have kept them alive. Until one of the scientists is found brutally murdered, and this has triggered a timer. If the murder isn’t solved in 107 hours, the security system will drop, and the fog will overtake them. As if that isn’t enough tension, the security system has also wiped everyone’s memory of that night. Someone is a murderer, and even they don’t know it. If you like murder mysteries, dystopian futures, psychological thrillers, or unreliable narrators, this is the book for you.
Randall Munroe
Randall Munroe, creator of the online cartoon xkcd, has received many questions over the ears asking What if? What If? takes ridiculous scientific questions Munroe has received or encountered over the years and answers many of them — questions like: If every person on Earth aimed a laser pointer at the moon at the same time, would it change color? What would happen if you made a periodic table out of cube-shaped bricks, where each brick was made of the corresponding element? What if a glass of water was, all of a sudden, literally half empty? There isn’t a dud question in the lot, and all are within the bounds promised on the book’s cover. Each response is clearly written and embroidered with witty and appropriate cartoons, many of which do the “a picture is worth a thousand words” heavy lifting you’d expect. What If? is a great book for science geeks and general readers with an interest in scientific concepts.
Book Reviews by the Portage District Library staff
Butler’s Breakfast & Lunch
By Richard Martinovich
Author Horatio Alger inspired the notion that hard work and perseverance can lead one from humble beginnings to success. You might say Butler’s Breakfast and Lunch is a Horatio Alger story!
Owner Will Butler was 16 yearsold when he started washing dishes at Michelle’s Restaurant on Sprinkle Road in 2009. Shortly thereafter, he ascended to a cook position. Four years later, Will was promoted to manager at Michelle’s and in 2021 offered an opportunity to become a partner in the parent company EMA, hoping to make the Sprinkle location his own. But in December 2023 the Michelle’s brand was retired, and Will seized the chance to open his own restaurant in
the same location. On January 1 2024, Butler’s Breakfast and Lunch officially opened.
Over the last twelve months, Butler’s has been a big hit with customers, the reviews extremely positive of the menu offerings, and service.
“The best part of running Butler’s is watching the public enjoy my passion for cooking while
being able to employ so many people I love!” says Will.
Two popular menu selections are the Strawberry Cheesecake French Toast – fresh strawberries and a cheesecake drizzle over the top, crushed graham crackers, and a dust of powdered sugar. And
the Ultimate Biscuits and Gravy -- biscuits and gravy topped with chopped bacon, cheddar cheese, two chicken tenders and choice of eggs.
Breakfast is loaded with skillets, omelets, pancakes, waffles, French toast, Eggs Benedict, Chorizo breakfast tacos, a Smothered Breakfast Burrito -- stuffed with sausage, potatoes, onions, cheddar cheese and eggs! Lunch selections are many; burgers, wraps, “Butler’s Handhelds” -- Carolina Chicken Sandwich...two crispy chicken tenders, tangy gold Carolina sauce, pepper jack and pickles.
Butler’s is open 7am to 2:30pm Sunday through Thursday, with extended hours till 8pm on Friday and Saturday, where dinners include Pot Roast, Meat Loaf, and New York Strip Steak! Delicious desserts, and kids menu available!
Butler’s Breakfast and Lunch, “Where Breakfast Meets Family.”
TRIED AND TRUE RECIPE CONTINUES TO MAKE BIMBO’S PIZZA A HIT!
By Dave Person david.r.person@gmail.com
Riding the crest of the wave of the pizzeria popularity of the 1950s, Robert Smilanich and his sister’s husband, an Italian with the nickname of Bimbo, pulled up roots from the small town in Minnesota where they operated their first Bimbo’s Pizza and headed for the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Smilanich never made it that far, however, falling in love with Kalamazoo, where the restaurateurs spent the night before the intended last leg of their trip together to the other side of the state.
Instead, Smilanich said goodbye to his brother-in-law, who continued on to Ann Arbor, and purchased the 1889 Arlington Hotel, opening his own Bimbo’s Pizza on the ground floor of the building at 338 E. Michigan Ave., on Dec. 19, 1959, alongside his wife, Jennie.
That restaurant, using the same pizza recipe that launched the business 65 years ago, continues to thrive today, owned by Smilanich’s grandson, Matt Smilanich, and his wife, Gayle.
Bridging the gap between grandfather and grandson was Ron Smilanich and his wife, Sue, who also owned the pizzeria for several years.
“Kalamazoo’s been good to us,” says Ron, 76, who provided Spark magazine with the family history of the restaurant.
Ron and Matt, 42, say the restaurant has been successful because of the crispy, thin-crust pizza they make using their own dough and sauce, prepared daily in the restaurant, and covered with sliced – not shredded — mozzarella cheese, along with other toppings, and cut into squares, not the traditional slices.
“Nothing’s changed with the pizza” Matt says.
“We like to say it’s just traditional,” adds his father, who, although retired, still puts in time at the pizzeria four or five days a week.
The Smilanichs say the pizza is true to its Italian roots. In fact, the restaurant’s slogan is: “A treat in Michigan smuggled out of Italy.”
Not only has the pizza remained the same through
the years — “If you want deep dish, you’re not coming here,” Matt says — but also the menu has not expanded. All that is offered at the restaurant is pizza, cheese bread and soft drinks.
Bimbo’s sells roughly 1,200 hot pizzas per week, Matt says, and sells or ships about 1,000 frozen pizzas per month. Frozen pizzas in two-, four- and eight-packs can be ordered online through goldbelly.com.
“We ship them directly ourselves,” says Matt, adding that orders come in from all 50 states.
The Smilanichs pride themselves on their community involvement, sponsoring youth sports teams for many years.
Ron is a former regional commissioner for the Ameri-
can Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) in Kalamazoo, successfully coached girls’ soccer at Kalamazoo Christian High School for 18 years and was inducted into the Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Bimbo’s currently sponsors youth baseball and hockey teams, 4-H clubs and the Holly Jolly Trolley, which trav-
els through downtown during the Christmas holiday season.
The Smilanichs also have invited school groups to the restaurant over the years, allowing students to make their own pizzas, although that activity has been curtailed quite a bit since the Covid pandemic five years ago, Matt says.
In addition, Bimbo’s caters special events, such as weddings and celebrations of life, Matt says.
In 2023, Bimbo’s began hosting a Christmas party for veterans through the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Battle Creek, serving its pizza to some 75 veterans that first year, he says.
About a decade ago, Matt and Ron spearheaded the transformation of the upper floors of the former hotel into six apartments, which they rent out as the Arlington Lofts.
Robert Smilanich and his brother-in-law, who opened several Bimbo’s locations in Ann Arbor and other locations, were on the cutting edge of the pizza-restaurant business in the1950s.
Ron says there were only two other pizzerias in Kalamazoo about the time his father moved here: Cekola’s Pizza, first sold out of a family store at Gull Road and North Street in 1954 and still in business as Jac’s Cekola Pizza at two locations locally, and Bruno’s Pizza, established in the early 1960s and recently closed.
The same year that Bimbo’s was launched in Kalamazoo, Mike and Marian Ilitch opened their first Little Caesars Pizza restaurant in Garden City, near Detroit, before developing it into a pizza empire.
Some longtime Kalamazoo area residents might recall more local Bimbo’s Pizza locations as Robert Smilanich at one time had four restaurants in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek in addition to his flagship location. Eventually, the others closed and the family concentrated on the East Michigan pizzeria.
Matt says Bimbo’s enjoys “a very regular customer base,” although new people come in all the time, many from out-of-town. Recently, a couple from Detroit drove to Kalamazoo just to have pizza at Bilbo’s, he says.
Matt has a long way to go before he thinks about retirement, and it’s too early to tell whether his son, Lucas, 15, or daughter, Lexi, 10, will be interested in taking over the business.
“I don’t have any idea what’s going to happen,” he says when asked whether the restaurant will survive for another generation.
Celebrities that came to Kalamazoo
George Gipp Comes to Kalamazoo
George Gipp was a college football star, later immortalized by Ronald Reagan in “Knute Rockne All American.”
Gipp was born in Laurium, Michigan in 1895. He came to Notre Dame, intending to play baseball but was recruited by Knute Rockne to play football, despite never playing before.
During his Notre Dame career, Gipp led the Irish in rushing and passing in 1918, 1919 and 1920. His career mark of 2,341 rushing yards lasted more than 50 years.
George Gipp and the Notre Dame freshman team came to Kalamazoo on November 11, 1916 to take on the the varsity Western State Normal College (Now WMU) team.
Western State had not last a home game in a few years and was expected to hold their own against Notre Dame and captain George Gipp. It was brutal game
and tied 7-7, late in the 4th quarter. Gipp had gained 174 of Notre Dame’s 216 yards and played every play on offense and defense and also kicked and punted. With the ball on their own 38 yard line, Notre Dame lined up for a punt. Instead Gipp, dropped kicked the ball through the goal posts to the surprise of both teams and coaches for a 62 yard field goal.
The kick was the longest field goal of the year and to this day, the second longest drop kicked field goal of all-time Notre Dame won the game 10-7 and this further cemented Gipp’s legacy as one of the greatest player ever.
On Sunday, Gipp had dinner at his brother and wife’s house in Kalamazoo on Bulkley Street near KCollege.
Barely four year later, George Gipp died on December 14,1920, two weeks after being elected Notre Dame’s first All-American.
Gipp contracted strep throat and pneumonia while giving punting lessons after his final game on November 20 against Northwestern University. Since antibiotics were not available in the 1920s, treatment options for such infections were limited and they could be fatal even to young, healthy individuals.
Gipp’s hometown, Laurium, built a memorial in his
honor and he is buried in nearby Lake View Cemetery in Calumet.
It was on his hospital bed that he is purported to have delivered the famous,”win just one for the Gipper” line: “I’ve got to go, Rock. It’s all right. I’m not afraid. Some time, Rock, when the team is up against it, when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they’ve got and win just one for the Gipper. I don’t know where I’ll be then, Rock. But I’ll know about it, and I’ll be happy.”
Rockne used the story of Gipp, along with this deathbed line that he attributed to Gipp, to rally his team to a 12-6 upset of the previously undefeated Army team of 1928.
later
The phrase “Win one for the Gipper” was
used as a political slogan by Ronald Reagan who in 1940 portrayed Gipp in the movie.
WILD ONES Wild for Monarchs
By Llse Gebhard
In 2012 the national organization of Wild Ones joined forces with Monarch Joint Venture and Monarch Watch to “bring back the monarch” in an effort to save America’s favorite butterfly. The Bring Back the Monarch program’s goals are to restore 20 milkweed species to their native ranges throughout the United States. Since milkweeds are the only plants on which monarch females will lay eggs and the larvae will feed, it’s vitally necessary that we restore milkweeds and replace onarch habitats lost to development, roadside maintenance, and agriculture. And since adult monarchs need nectar to reproduce, this program also encourages the planting of nectar-producing native flowers.
events and for establishing Monarch Waystations on public and private locations; establishing or overseeing the establishment and registration of Monarch Waystations at schools and public spaces; advising individuals on planting Monarch Waystations on their property; and giving Monarch Larva Monitoring Project workshops and coordinating the established sites.
Wild Ones’ efforts would be called Wild for Monarchs and its major emphasis was, and still is, to increase the number of milkweed plants across the US. Wild Ones members and the then 50 local chapters would work at the “plants-roots” level to educate the public and to plant local varieties of milkweed.
Locally, the Kalamazoo Area Chapter of Wild Ones set up a Wild for Monarchs Committee with activities that include giving presentations on monarchs and landscaping for butterflies with native plants to various organizations, mostly in Kalamazoo County but also in surrounding counties; coordinating the collection
of milkweed seeds and other native species; preparing milkweed seed packets for distribution at events and locations like libraries and nature centers; growing milkweeds and other native plants for free distribution at
If you have already planted milkweed and nectar plants in your yard you can register your yard as a Monarch Watch Waystation at www.monarchwatch.org. You can also purchase a Monarch Watch Waystation sign and place it next to your native planting, letting people know that those “weeds” were planted on purpose to help monarchs and all the other pollinators.
Volunteers are needed to at least continue some of the activities of the Wild for Monarchs Committee. Contact Wild Ones at info@kalamazoowildones.org, or visit our website.
Above: Planting a Monarch Waystation with students at Northglade Montessori Magnet School in Kalamazoo. Photo: Donna Partin
Right: Processing Common Milkweed seed at Riverview Launch’s greenhouse
Photo: Larry Wolf
Langeland Family Funeral Recognizes Exceptional Hospice Caregivers
On October 9, 2024, Langeland Family Funeral had the privilege of recognizing another year of exceptional Hospice Caregivers. Since December 2015 Langeland Family Funeral Homes has given people in our community the opportunity to recognize how a Hospice Caregiver goes above and beyond in their hospice care. These individual awards are presented monthly to a worthy hospice caregiver and every October the monthly winners are invited to enjoy a special evening recognizing their special contributions and to be present for the award of the Langeland Hospice Caregiver of the Year.
This year Heather Phillips, a social worker at Heartland Hospice, was selected as the Langeland Hospice Caregiver for 2024. She initially received the monthly Langeland Hospice Caregiver Award for June 2024. She was nominated by Jackie Kline, the Bereavement Coordinator for Heartland Hospice. Jackie shared this in her nomination how Heather is known for responding to the comment that she has a busy day ahead, she says, “That means I get to help more people”.
Heather has worked at Heartland Hospice since July 2023. She was attracted to work in hospice care because of her strong passion for working with the elderly population and supporting families through the end of life; helping her patients have the best quality of life through this difficult time. Heather says the most gratifying part of her work is forming relationships with patients, which often results in becoming part of their family. She finds it especially difficult when a patient does not have any family of their own, so she and her team do their best to support them and become like a family to them.
Heather shared a very special connection she made with one patient who needed to move into a facility where she could receive 24-hour care. It took several conversations to help her agree to the move since she had been living alone for the past 35 years and was very anxious about this transition. After the move Heather visited her and found the facility had placed a roommate in her patient’s room. Heather anticipated this could be a very hard challenge for someone who is used to living by themselves. When Heather asked how this was going the patient responded with overwhelming thanks because her new roommate
had become the best friend the patient had ever had. She added that if Heather had not helped her make this essential transition, she never would have met her Best Friend.
Heather attended the Hospice Caregiver Award Banquet with her husband David and her Grandma Judy who have been such a great support to her over the years. It was so special for her to be able to share the evening with these amazing people. Heather lives in Paw Paw with her husband David and her stepchildren Andrew and Ava. Currently Heather is continuing her education towards a Master of Social Work. She enjoys spending time with her family and in her spare time she volunteers as a softball coach and enjoys interactions with people of all ages.
Finally, Heather talks about how working in Hospice reminds her of the importance of staying in the moment and helps her focus on what the most important things in life are. She tries to live each day with this in mind: Tomorrow is never promised, and each day is a gift. If you know of a hospice caregiver who is exceptional in their work, you can nominate them for the monthly Hospice Caregiver Award by going to Langelands. com and clicking on Hospice Caregiver Award or by going into any of the Langeland locations and filling out a nomination form.
KNC Offers Winter Foraging Class
By Tom Springer, Vice President of Development, Kalamazoo Nature Center
No, winter foraging isn’t an oxymoron. And no, outdoor gourmands needn’t limit themselves to snowball aperitifs during the frosty months. While many equate foraging with spring mushrooms, summer blackberries and fall walnuts, the winter woods offer their own bounty. “You’d think there’s nothing to eat outside in winter, but there’s actually much more than people realize,” said Shaina Alvesteffer, conservation technician at the Kalamazoo Nature Center. Alvesteffer will
explain the “much more” during her Foraging the Edible Wilderness program, set for 11 a.m., January 25 at KNC’s DeLano Farms. To sign up, visit naturecenter.org/ programs/know-your-nature. Alvesteffer says that seats fill up fast, and class size is capped at 20.
During her class, Alvesteffer will demonstrate how to forage wild edibles for consumption and décor. For the foodie portion, the class will gather ingredients for a fresh-brewed herbal beverage.
“We’re going to collect pine needles that we can use to make tea,” she said. “We’ll add in twigs of spice bush for flavoring (a taste similar to allspice) and rose hips from multiflora rose, an invasive species that’s easy to find.”
Foragers will steep the ingredients in hot water over an outdoor fire to prepare the tea. Since a little evergreen flavor goes a long way, Alvesteffer says two to three pine needles are enough. (Anyone with a pine tree in their backyard can do the same by pouring hot – but not boiling water– over needles in the bottom of a teacup.) From a health standpoint, pine needle tea packs a potent punch: a serving has five times the Vitamin C content of lemons. The same goes for the multiflora rose hips. They’re high in Vitamin C,
as well as anti-inflammatory agents, and add a floral note to hot drinks.
The class will also teach foragers to harvest Asian Bittersweet. The vine was introduced from China in 1879 and has spread unabated in the fashion of invasive menaces such as purple loosestrife and garlic mustard. Nonetheless, it’s an attractive plant that closely resembles the native American bittersweet. The silvery, ½-inch diameter vines produce peasized red berries, surrounded by orange petals in the fall. The vines are easily woven into circular shapes and make for a cheery wreath to hang on a door or wall. In Alvesteffer’s foraging classes, she
makes a point to focus on sustainability. She stresses that foragers should only gather from a plant’s surplus. Plucking too many leaves, or digging too many roots, can harm or even kill a plant. Similarly, gathering too many nuts or fruits in one place can deprive birds, animals and insects of a crucial food source. “I’ll only take one in 2o of the pinecones I find in one spot and leave the rest for the critters,” Alvesteffer says. “If I’m going to gather bark or sap, I look for downed branches.”
Speaking of pines, Alvesteffer can’t wait until spring when budding pinecones shed yellow pollen. It’s emitted by male cones, which at this premature stage resemble a rounded clump of purple-pink erasers. They come off easily with a twist, and a quart jar of them yields enough pollen to sprinkle on pizza, pancakes or sliced bread. The pollen itself contains anti-aging properties and nine essential amino acids.
As for pine pollen’s culinary appeal, it depends on who you ask. One online source described it as “flavorless yellow dust,” while others claim that it’s “cheesy or yeasty.” While there’s no accounting for taste, Alvesteffer says it’s a marvel that, “anti-aging anything grows on trees and that you don’t have to buy it at a health food store.”
Tom Springer is vthe author of “The Star in the Sycamore,” and “Looking for Hickories.”
Movie Reviews
(2023)
Monster is the latest drama from acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters, Nobody Knows). A carefully crafted tale centering on the complexities of youth, the story begins as windowed mother Saori (Sakura Andô) grows increasingly concerned about the behavior and apparent secretiveness of her middle school aged son, Minato (Soya Kurokawa). In the deft hands of Kore-eda, the perspective shifts from Saori to Mr. Hori (Eita Nagayama), one of Minato’s teachers who appears to be at the root of the issue, and then to Minato himself. As details slowly emerge and the fractured perspectives are reconciled, evidence of an objective truth is carefully revealed. The film’s evocative score is among the final projects of renowned composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (The Last Emperor, The Revenant) who passed away in March of 2023. The winner of the Best Screenplay award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, this is one that I’ll be thinking about for a long while. – Submitted by. Patrick J.
The Match Factory Girl (1990)
From Finnish writer/director Aki Kaurismäki, The Match Factory Girl sees our female protagonist (Iris) drearily going through the motions at her factory job day after day, only to come home to an equally depressing domestic environment where she silently eats dinner with her zombie-like mother and stepfather. After a one-night stand, Iris naively hopes for something more from her paramour, a brutish white collar office worker who wants nothing to do with her. Confronted with one too many cruelties, Iris plans her
prised of joyless exploitation. The harshness of life in the expert hands of a master of deadpan humanism like Kaurismaki’s, is made palatable through his sympathetic treatment of Iris’ miserable life, a form he’s perfected over the years in his oeuvre. It’s also a deeply feminist work, that while thematically gloomy, somehow retains a viewer’s interest with a kind of hypnotic, pokerfaced minimalism.
Submitted by. Ryan G.
A Christmas Story Christmas (2022)
Humorist Jean Shepherd’s writings are not known for mawkish sentimentality. They include In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, a collection of semiautobiographical stories which form the basis of holiday movie favorite A Christmas Story. The nostalgia A Christmas Story evokes is never melodramatic; its Depression-era family of four faces nothing in the way of personal tragedy as the holidays approach. What’s strange about new sequel A Christmas Story Christmas is that its central plot – oldest son Ralphie (played again by Peter Billingsley) returns to his childhood home in the wake of his father’s passing – is tinged with sadness. There are moments of levity, including a sledding dare and a bungled Christmas eve attempt at “obtaining” a replacement Christmas tree star, but the humor seems muted compared to the original film’s (cutaways to its clips can’t help but remind). Still, the sight of old friends and rivals reconnecting for more winter adventures is heartwarming, even as heartbreak is the reason for reunions. Curio more than classic, A Christmas Story Christmas may cast its own modest charms on fans of the original. –
Submitted by. Karl K.
HEALTHY LIVING
New Year, New Opportunity.
This is the time of year that everyone seems to come out with talk of new year resolutions to either stop a bad habit or start a new good one.
It makes sense. New Year. An opportunity to start fresh. Yada, yada, yada. That’s not just an American thing: It could be the most singular human commonality across the world; people all around the globe looking toward the new year for renewed ways. And in my mind’s eye, I imagine all of humanity going to bed New Year’s Eve with at least one thought of how they will try to make the next year better for themselves, their family, and their concentric communities.
What an amazing, synchronized wave of mental focus!
According to Irish tradition, on New Year’s Eve, people open their front door at midnight to symbolically “let out the old year” and then immediately open
the back door to welcome the new one in, signifying a fresh start and good luck for the coming year.
I love the imagery and symbolism of it! What if we applied this idea, not just to the physical door of our dwellings, but to the entrance of our minds and thinking? What if we let out our negative thoughts in the same way? Shoo them out? Not just the light ones. The reality check is that some negative ways of thinking we have to get behind with all our proverbial mental weight and push out as if it was an old beat-up raggedy couch or even heavier yet, one of those 1980’s solid wood entertainment centers. (Apologies to those who still have and love theirs.)
What if, the resolution that we make this year, is to go to bed each night taking inventory of our negative thoughts, and way of thinking, such that we can push them out of our minds, to make way for positive approaches to how we think about this, that, and the other? How cleared could our minds be?
Actually, every day that we open our eyes, not just New Year’s Day, is an opportunity to start our lives with more positive thoughts than negative. And to see our world, through a healthier lens of positivity.
Yesterday might have been the best day to start a new healthy habit —but we all know, the second best day to start one is today.
Fill your heart with them. Fill your mind. Find your Joy.
Happy New Year!
Submitted by Vicky Kettner, Association Director of Marketing, Community Relations, and Member Engagement at YMCA of Greater Kalamazoo. As with any new exercise or diet, please consult with your doctor or dietician to determine the right regimen for your personal health situation.
Tales road FROM THE northern ireland
By Steve Ellis
After spending three nights in Edinburgh, Scotland, chronicled in the December issue, Jackie and I packed up our bulging suitcases and walked to the bus station. We boarded a bus for the west coast of Scotland, about a 4.5 hour ride through the countryside. We switched buses at Glasgow to head southwest to the small coastal town of Cairnryan in the Loch Ryan Bay, where we caught a ferry to Belfast across the Irish Sea
The Stella Ferry Line was much more impressive than we ever expected. It was like a luxury cruise ship, with bars, restaurants, movies and even bedrooms with beds and spas. The 2.5 hour trip flew by as we sat in the cozy ship, watching the sea through a large port hole window.
We arrived in the dockyards of Belfast and grabbed a bus to the center of town, where there were many graffiti covered old buildings and alleyways. Our hotel was about a 1/2 mile walk. It was a little rainy and dreary as we walked a few blocks, ending up at Whites Tavern the old set tavern in Belfast, that opened in 1630. We had a wonderful diner of fish and chips-a heaping plate of a delicious haddock, salad, smashed peas and fries, washed down with a Harps, a great Irish lager made by Guinness. A group of five young men sat across
from us playing wonderful traditional Irish music. The mother of one of the musicians and her sister shared a table with us and she mentioned that her son was the young man playing the squeeze box, an accordion type instrument.
The next morning, we got up early and had breakfast and headed to the rental car lot. I was a little nervous, driving in a large city on the left side of the road with the steering wheel on the left side of the car. The car did not have GPS so it was a little challenging with all of the signs and round-abouts.
We took M-3 and M-2, north about an hour and a half to the Dunluce Castle, one the greatest restored castles in Ireland. It is located on a steep cliff in the remote Northern Coast in County Antrim. The castle was originally built in the13th century by Richard Og de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster. The castle was abandoned in 1690 and has deteriorated and been scavenged ever since.
It was very cold and rainy when we were there in August with nothing else nearby. We could not imagine, what it would have been like, living there in the winter, 500 years ago. The drawings in the visitors center showed us how large and extravagant this castle once was.
A major archaeological excavation in 2012, found significant remains of the “lost town of Dunluce”, which was razed to the ground in the Irish uprising of 1641.
We drove a few miles to the small town of Bushmills, home of the Old Bushmills Distillery which formed in 1784. As we walked to the Distillery, we admired the many large banners, pointing out the local history and celebrities such as Johnny Cash and John Wayne, who had connections to the village. One banner explained that the term “hillbilly,” is a term for Irish immigrants from the mountains that came to the the U.S.
The Distillery, with its many historic displays, is well worth a visit.
Our next stop was the Giants Causeway on the coast. This natural landmark is made up of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns. The Causeway has over 2 million visitors each year and has been voted the United Kingdom’s 4th greatest wonder.
We parked and walked down a long winding road in pouring rain and 30 mph winds along with hundreds of others. At the bottom, we walked and climbed on the flat, slippery rocks. Down the road is the Kerrick Rope Bridge, a short rope bridge at the bottom of a cliff leading to an island. I walked in the cold rain to the bridge only to find it closed due to high winds.
The weather let up and we drove 50 miles or more along the Causeway Coast Route, that has been voted one of the “world’s prettiest drives” and we would totally agree. Narrow roads, lined with stone fences, wind their
way through mountainous fields of green, ending at cliffs high above the rocky coast.
We drove to the town of Ballycastle, to our hotel only to find that we were booked in Ballygalley at the Ballygally Castle Hotel, another 40 miles down the winding rainy coastal cliffs in the rain.
We finally arrived at about dusk and noticed a handful of brave souls swimming and surfing in the sea. A worker at the hotel explained that the temperatures rarely get above 59 degrees, but swimming it is a local tradition, year round.
Our breakfast the next morning was in Larne at Ann’s Pantry, a wonderful bakery voted the best in Northern Ireland. We purchased a very tasty bag of scones and sausage rolls. We exchanged some currency for coins at the post office next door, to bring home as souvenirs to Jackie’s grandkids.
We drove the inland route back to Belfast to the impressive Titanic Belfast museum that opened in 2012. The museum is located where the Titanic was built and launched. The museum guides you through eight different galleries, explaining the history of Belfast and the building, launching and sinking of the Titanic
We returned the rental car in Belfast and headed to Dublin by bus, to explore Dublin and the west coast of Ireland, which I will feature in the next issue.
