You’re working long hours, no time to plan. You come home and the last thing on your mind is being romantic. You just want to de-stress. But wait — it’s Valentine’s Day! On a Tuesday? Fret not, my friends. In this recipe, I show how passive time and simple ingredients can be used to wow your sweetie (or angel, sugar bear, etc.) as if you had it planned for weeks. You did, didn’t you? You may have some of the necessary fare already in your refrigerator.
Cancer may have taken Nancy Koehler’s mobility and some of her hair, but she won’t let it steal her sense of humor. As executive director of the Deaconess Foundation, Koehler has been a driving force behind garnering donations for the newly built Linda E. White Hospice House, set to open in January. She recognizes that working so hard to fund a facility that will help terminally ill patients die with dignity is both ironic and reassuring.
It was shortly after 6 p.m. on an August night in 2015 when Evansville native Jerad Eickhoff made his way onto a pitching mound in Miami, Florida. It was the first time he would pitch for the Philadelphia Phillies. “When I first took the mound, it was just a surreal experience,” says the Mater Dei High School and Olney Central College graduate. “My whole life I had dreamt of that moment, and there I was, toeing the rubber, facing Dee Gordon of the Miami Marlins.”
My heart was racing. My knees were weak. I had a difficult time catching my breath. But three minutes later, I exited the chamber at Evansville Cryo feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, and invigorated. Shanen Franklin, who owns Evansville Cryo at 3000 N. Green River Road with his wife Susan, says the nervousness experienced prior to the first cryotherapy session is actually worse than the session itself.
In September, I accepted an invitation to visit Belterra Casino Resort & Spa in Florence, Indiana. With work underway on Tropicana Evansville’s $50-million investment to move the casino ashore, I was curious about what Indiana’s nine other casinos were doing. I knew Belterra was a Pinnacle Entertainment property, and I had been impressed the prior year by one of its sister establishments — Ameristar Casino Resort Spa in St. Charles, Missouri.
What do you take for granted? When you are younger, the world is limitless. No place seems too far away to visit, if not now, at least in the future. But time takes its toll, making travel and daily life more difficult. Most residents in nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the U.S. have to face this, and many never get to revisit old or visit new places. The Charles Ford Retirement Communities of New Harmony, Indiana, however, is changing this and making the world limitless again for its residents.
Evansville left its mark on the brewing world long before Carson’s Brewery or Tin Man Brewing Co. made it big. The F.W. Cook Brewing Co. — famous for its Pilsner beer with a distinct taste and sparkling and foaming qualities — opened in a cornfield in 1853, but was razed in 1965 to make way for the Evansville Civic Center, 1 N.W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Selected by the readers and editors of Evansville Living, these local businesses, restaurants, people, and events are the best of all our city has to offer. Donut Bank Bakery
In business, if you have a good name, you stick with it. When times change, you evolve. Julie Keown, Pam Cardin, and Laura Smith have done just that with Gehlhausen Floral, 735 S. Green River Road. Founded in 1925 by two brothers, Gehlhausen Floral originally was a hardware and lumber store. As times changed, so did the company, moving from lumber to paint and wallpaper. Charles Haury, a salesman for the Gehlhausens, purchased the store in 1977 and welcomed his daughters Julie Keown and Pam Cardin to the staff shortly after.
Clint Vaught situates a glass mug and a ceramic funnel onto a shiny white scale. He fits a filter into the mouth of the funnel and rinses it with hot water. Then comes the freshly ground coffee. Then more water in a steady, precise stream designed to extract the complexity of each ground. This is the attention to detail in one River City Coffee Co. pour-over. Add an espresso bar, brewed coffees, a host of teas, and an assortment of house-made syrups, and you’re at 223 Main St. in the back of River City Mercantile.
“Chaos was the name of the game,“ says Amy Payne, who moved 11 times in 12 years and had three babies in the span of three-and-a-half years. “For my own sanity, I had to learn how to organize. I found it brings me great peace and comfort.” It also led to her career as a professional organizer, certified by the National Association of Professional Organizers. In 2011, she started Lasting Order, a company offering assistance to residential and business customers in and around Evansville to get and stay organized.
Walton’s International Comfort Food is not the only trendsetter occupying the former Packard dealership building on Parrett Street. In November, chef Tim Mills opened Fidel’s Bourbon Bar and Cigar Lounge in the upstairs floor of the restaurant. “Fidel’s, as of right now, has the largest bourbon selection in the Tri-State, next to Madeleine’s Fusion Restaurant (which Mills also owns) and the Miller House in Owensboro, Kentucky,” says Mills.
Before stepping inside Walton’s International Comfort Food, 956 Parrett St., patrons get a sense of just how different the restaurant is by simply looking at the building. A large movie-theater marquee advertises specials and events, while the front bumpers and hoods of cars jut out from the side of the building in Haynie’s Corner.
If you want a dish that will warm you up on a cold winter day, then a trip to Spice Café for Creole jambalaya is a must. Created upon a base of what is referred to as the “holy trinity” — onions, bell peppers, and celery — owner and chef Illya Williams adds his own unique mixture of Andouille sausage, seasoned chicken, tomatoes, and spices to create his hearty, thick stew. Served over white rice, the dish is healthy and offers a kick of flavor.
What are the two best winter words? Without a doubt, for me, they are “spring’s coming.” But for school-aged children, the best two winter words are “snow day!” With a forecast of two to three inches of snow the day this issue of Evansville Living went to press, the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation issued its early morning statement to the delight of the more than 25,000 students in the county, many of whom likely already were awake, checking their Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram feeds under the covers for the good news.
Arazu on Main, 415 Main St., is now open for lunch and dinner Monday through Thursday, and dinner Friday and Saturday. Offerings include dishes with Mediterranean flair, including appetizers, flatbreads, salads, sandwiches and pita platters, kebobs, and dinner entrées featuring umami pork, Thai-style fresh wild salmon, and more. BRU Burger Bar has opened at 222 Sycamore St., in the former Greyhound Bus terminal Downtown.
Go ahead and eat dessert first. And second. And last. At the 20th Annual Lampion Center’s A Chocolate Affair from 7 to 10 p.m. Feb. 4 at St. Mary’s Manor, 3700 Washington Ave., guests are treated to the finest chocolates served by 10 local businesses. The evening also includes live music featuring Team Skelton’s Montourauge and a silent auction that benefits Lampion Center’s work. Tickets are $75 for guests 21 and over.
Take pause for this cause, as Another Chance for Animals hosts its third annual Paws for a Cause Big Show Extravaganza from 6 to 9 p.m. March 11 at Tropicana Evansville, 421 N.W. Riverside Drive. This year, the event is set to showcase Haute Dogs and Kitty Couture Fashion Show, dinner, an auction, and live music provided by Allen Tate & Chuck Gee, Rapture, and Tony Henning. Proceeds from the casual evening benefit Another Chance for Animals, dedicated to the rescue, care, and placement of homeless animals in the area.
Long lines, cramped seating, and screaming babies are common complaints for modern-day airline passengers. Things were quite different in the fall of 1928 when Interstate Airlines began flights in Evansville. Earlier that year, Evansville was located on the airmail route from Chicago to Atlanta, with connections to Louisville, Kentucky, and St. Louis. In addition to mail, airlines also provided passenger service.
With each passing year, we mourn and celebrate the lives lost of members of the community who made a difference in their places of work, to civic organizations, and to their families and others. We pored through death records and obituaries to find notable men and women who helped shape the Tri-State through their contributions.
When Shen Yun dancers take the stage, their acrobatics defy more than just gravity. They also defy a Communist government that bans Shen Yun’s very performance. Shen Yun returns Feb. 25 and 26 to Aiken Theater in the Old National Events Plaza, 715 Locust St., with an all-new, visually charged performance. Shen Yun last performed in Evansville in 2014.
If there is one sure thing in Southern Indiana, it is that when the high winter waters of the Ohio River recede in the spring, views of the waterway include stacks of driftwood along the shores. Most people find little use for driftwood; some may collect it, but most haul it away to be burned or disposed of. When carpenter Curtis Wasmer gathers river wood, he crafts it into unique art.
Miranda Lambert doesn’t need wind machines, outfit changes, or laser light technology to keep her crowd entertained. The strength of her songs and stage presence is enough. I couldn’t agree more when she sings “We Should Be Friends” — it’s a let’s-go-to-the-shooting-range-with-our-sparkly-nail-polish-on kind of fun.
To show how stories in the January/February 2017 issue of Evansville Living fit into the broader world, this edition of Link Up brings the Internet to you.
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