Sue's Diner is the fictional "go-to" eatery in the also fictional Munsonville, Michigan, a depressed fishing village in the northern part of the state, in the additionally fictional Beulah County, which is the primary setting in the BryonySeries.
Sam and Sue Barnes opened Sue's Diner on Sue's 30th birthday: October 29, 1926, according to the BryonySeries novel "Call of the Siren."
Sue had already gained the reputation of being the best cook and baker in the entire village, all skills she learned from her mother Sally Bass, who oversaw the kitchen at Munsonville Inn and previously held the "best" title.
Sue's Diner withstood the Great Depression and Munsonville's steady economic downturn through the next few decades, Nevertheless, Sue's Diner was still drawing customers from outside the village when Melissa Marchellis (the main character in "Bryony") moved to the fishing village in August 1975.
This was Melissa's impression of Sue's Diner (and then scroll past this first photo).
Her mother parked in front of a dingy, squat-looking building, Sue’s Diner. Brian turned and rolled his eyes. Melissa mouthed back, probably get food poisoning.
For a small, lakefront village restaurant, throngs of people packed the dining room. There were men in overalls and plaid shirts or business suits; women wearing faded, print dresses; and kids in jeans. Darlene asked the gum-cracking, pony-tailed hostess for a table, and the girl led the trio to a booth by the picture window overlooking Main Street. Melissa slid close to the fingerprinted window and glanced down. Clear tape sealed cracks in the vinyl blue-green seats. The table’s smooth top was speckled with gold and imbedded with coffee stains.
It was late in the lunch rush at Sue’s Diner. Sheriff Matt was sitting near the counter of the lakefront venue having a quick burger, and several parties had finally had enough coffee to order their top of the mid-day meal. Ruthie seated the two suited men. Although they weren’t really regulars, she already knew they were barely ten percent tippers. Today was slow, and half the wait staff had gone home, which meant one waitress called it a day and the hostess/manager was now the one waitress covering all the tables. This included Matt, the two cheap suits, and the party of five that had all gone to the restroom at the same time, a strange thing for them to do because Sue’s Diner only had a single restroom. (From "Ruthless")
I can’t think. I’m too hungry,
which should explain why I’m here at Sue’s Diner. But, wait, Cah…I can smell
the kitchen where eggs are beaten with milk and vanilla for French toast. I can
smell the whole ham cut off from the bone and pieced onto a buttered pan. But
none of that makes me hungrier. It’s the chicken they are preparing for lunch.
I can smell the blood. (From "The Fifth")
The next instant
there were in a different restaurant, already seated with two more guests who
were startled but not surprised at the new arrival. The waitress who poured
coffee into the four still empty cups, barely batted an eye.
“Late enough,” a short leprechaun of man said as he glared
Ed. The man wore an orange suit and matching derby hat and tie and smoked a
pipe that smelled like cherry tobacco. A woman with a notepad, pen, and smile
sat beside him.
“I went to the wrong place,” Ed explained.
“Well, I’ll be paying for breakfast, but I already
ordered your meals, as I have a store to open. I’ve ordered steak and eggs for
Patrick, rare and scrambled; steak and eggs for Karla, well done, and easy over;
mushroom stew for the nasty wood sprite…”
“Good to see you too, Eircheard.”
“…and Ed…”
Ed held up his hand. “Can’t eat
yet, sorry. I had to forfeit my rightful share of blood last night in Trudy’s
dream.”
The short man growled at the
interruption. “…. I ordered you czernina.”
“What?”
“Duck blood soup, hold the duck
broth, extra blood, cooked rare. Didn’t you tell me your wife was Polish?”
“Some of them.”
“I ordered the corn beef hash,
and the reporter here ordered pancakes with fresh strawberries and blueberries
and a side of grilled ham. Now that we got the meal introduced, it’s time to
start the meeting.” Eircheard leaned forward and folded his hands. “Each one of
you has a superpower. Mine is paying for breakfast, something that seems in
short supply around here. My name is Eircheard, I live near here, which is Sue’s
Diner in Munsonville, which is in Northern Michigan. The reporter here has a
name, but no one uses it. She’s known as The Goddess, and her superpowers are
her vast vampire knowledge and her immunity to how vampires distort time. Both she
and I belong in this time-scape and this geographic location. This contrasts
with the two of you that had a bad dream last night and prompted my leprechaun
ass to sit among you, reserve Sue’s Diner, and borrow staff from another time,
to feed you all before the place opens.”
“Wait…you said your name was
Eircheard, as in Eircheard’s Emporium?” Karla interjected.
“Please hold all applause until
the introduction is complete, but yes. That is my shop and if you know
something about it, keep it to yourself as anything you know would be in my
future.”
Pigface looked around. “So where
are we now?”
“I told you. A small, depressed
fishing village small in Northern Michigan in 2008 at a diner that will be
opening too soon if you kept launching questions at me. We’ve got to be out of
here by 5 a.m. local time; it’s 3:10 right now thanks to Santa Claus’ ability
to follow directions.”
The Goddess took a sip of her
coffe. “You were introducing our visitors from 2023?”
“Yes, I was. This is Karla Dyer
from Texas, whose superpower is finding portals and telepathy. She is
accompanied by Patrick O’Patrick, who is an expert on submarines and finding
financial activity. If things go favorably, both of you will return to your own
time and place less the time you spent here. I expect you’ll be in Texas by 7
a.m. Texas time. Now, I would say to ignore the wood sprite over here because
he wasn’t invited although we did expect him. His superpower is eating people
and being a pain in the ass, and he doesn’t have a time or place because,
according to him, he doesn’t exist except in your imagination.”
“Eating people?” Karla asked
skeptically with a sidelong glance at Glorna/John-Peter.
“I’ll explain later,” the wood
sprite told her, then looked to Eircheard and Ed. “I’m not going to say much; my
six shooters do all the talking.”
“And lastly, we have Ed Calkins,
whom I called Santa Claus a moment ago,” Eircheard spoke loudly, annoyed by all
the sidebars. “His superpower is being confused, which comes in handy more
often than you might think…”
“What’s with the waitresses’
feet?” Karla blurted out pointing to her iridescent. duck-like webbed feet.
Eircheard threw up his hands and
puffed angrily.
“They are merrows,” Ed explained
calmly. “Eircheard is far too cheap to hire human workers. Instead, he
persuaded Irish mermaids to come through his portal and fix us breakfast. Of
course, he had to borrow Sue’s Diner because he lacks the right kitchen.”
“In other words, we’re trespassing.” Pigface said as he reached for the sugar bowl.
“And breaking some labor laws too.” Ed assured him. “Are we going to get to the part where I’m ruthless?” (From "Recovering Ruthless:)
(Keep scrolling)
Today, readers stopping by the BryonySeries blog and website can visit Sue's Diner by preparing our recipe of the week, which we almost always feature on Wednesdays.
Most of those recipes come from the BryonySeries fundraising cookbook "Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from 'Bryony,'" which is a permanent fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties.
It is also a companion to the BryonySeries novel "Bryony," as it features recipes for all of the food references in both the 19th century and 1975, the time periods of the novel.
Some of the Sue's Diner recipes also come from our two other cookbooks (so far): "Squeak!" and "GRRR."
And some recipes are simply exlusive "specials of the week" - and then gone.
As Sam Barnes once said ("House on Top of the Hill," Chapter 2: Roundtable), "Sue’s Diner (is) the best place in Beulah County to eat.”
Stop in and see for yourself.
Hapy Tuesday!
No comments:
Post a Comment