• Since I worked this morning and then ran errands in Petoskey all afternoon, Dan gave me the night off from the kitchen. We went to the lounge at Audie's to have a bite to eat while we lingered over tall, cold pilsner glasses of AmberBock.
  
  We love the lounge because it's the perfect setting to visit with friends and neighbors in a casual, relaxed atmosphere. You also have a choice from three different menus: The Family Room, The Chippewa Room and The Welcome Lounge menu.
  
  
  My first course was the incredible Baked Swiss Onion Soup. This soup always reminds me of a trip I took to the "old" Montréal when I was in high school. I never thought to again have onion soup like I found in a French restaurant there until I tried Edgar's recipe that you see here.
  
  Although it's actually a dead-ringer for classic French Onion Soup, since Edgar is a Swiss chef, I guess he figures all the best recipes must be "Swiss" by default as well. ;)
  
  Nonetheless, c'est magnifique!
  
  
  Dan and I shared the "main course"— a heaping tray of "Nibbles and Bits," which is actually from the Chippewa Room appetizer menu but works perfectly as a stand-alone meal for two.
  
  There is a selection of fresh fruits, including honey dew, cantaloupe and watermelons, pineapple, grapes, apples and oranges, and also chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, deep-fried mushrooms, shrimp cocktail and Oysters Rockerfeller.
  
  It was a feast for the eyes and the tummy. Best of all... I didn't have to wash the dishes!
  
  Life is good.