One, two, three, four.

Get my shoes then out the door.

Five I'm alive, six, seven, eight feelin' great.

Nine, gonna shine, life is good I'm doing fine.

Ten, Gonna do it right then do it again.

Yeah yeah.

I look up to the sky with all the beautiful color but, there's more than just for me so gonna share it with another.

I got to show, to give, let out, I want to sing and shout.

Take a look and see A beautiful morning that turns into beautiful evening.

And together make a beautiful life.

And if you want see, then come along with me.

That's right.

Hello and welcome to Experience Michiana I'm here in Saint Joe, Michigan, and if you love chili you're going to love what we're talking about a little later on on the show.

Kelly also was out and about this week to find out about a new opera called The Gift.

But first, it's all about food.

This week, Courtney and I went out the Paddy shack in Granger, and we tasted some delicious ice cream.

Well, ice cream Dave screams.

We all scream for ice cream.

Oh, no.

Yes, we do.

I love ice cream.

And I'm so excited to be here at one of my favorite local ice cream shops at Paddy Shack.

And Michelle is the owner there.

And you guys have some big, exciting things happening.

Thank you, Courtney.

We do.

It is a national holiday and it is ice cream for breakfast.

I mean, come on.

You can't have a better day than that.

You need the best excuse to have ice cream any time of the day.

But for breakfast, you come here all the time.

I do.

I was in some place last week.

Yeah, I live, like, 7 minutes away, so I have no excuses.

So I told my wife I was coming here.

She said I had to bring some home, so.

Good idea.

Okay, so I got to bring some home.

And this is a good thing You guys actually have pints to go to, right?

We sure do.

Every flavor of ice cream that we scoop, we have a pint available.

Now, what makes your ice cream so unique besides the fact that I love it and it's so creamy and good?

Well, just on point.

They are creamy and good.

We have a super premium ice cream, so which means kind of higher fat content, less air built in there.

It comes from a dairy in Madison, Wisconsin, called Chocolate Shop Ice Cream.

So they know what they're doing there in Wisconsin.

We're super proud to be providing their ice cream here in Granger in the area.

And it's high quality and lots of fun flavors.

So I remember that national ice cream for breakfast is February 4th, right?

Correct.

Because it's also my mom's birthday.

So I can never forget and I can never forget it.

So obviously, it's a little bit of a marketing thing to get people out to eat ice cream in the middle of February or the start of February, because obviously people think about ice cream, they think about summer, but you're open all year round.

We are open all year round and you hit on.

There it is a very popular day for us.

We ice cream in the winter is not always on the top of people's minds, but separate.

Courtney So for me, my family, I love that we actually do have quite a following in the winter and we have customers that will say, I'll see you in the winter and not in the summer.

So it is kind of fun to see those rotations of customers.

And you guys have grown over the years.

I know you used to be located next door.

How has that gone for you over the years that you've been a part of the Michiana, a community?

So being able to expand into more seating has like it just makes it more community building.

We've had teams come in here, we've had after school plays come in here, concerts.

We it's just nice to have the availability that people can know that there's plenty of room for them to sit down and enjoy each other's company without feeling a little bit rushed to scoot out.

Now, I know that on February 4th, for this special day, you're going to have a special menu item, which we're going to try make, right?

We are.

Okay.

So breakfast typically follows along with waffles.

So we have fresh made waffles and then the customer gets to choose any ice cream to put on top.

And then we have loads of toppings which include like your, your yummy like bananas and strawberries.

But there's also Fruit Loops and of a crazy apple chocolate sirup.

Actually, chocolate sirup is more popular than regular sirup on a Saturday.

That makes sense.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Plus, if we put strawberries on it, then it's healthy, right?

That's.

Yeah, that's the main thing.

So I'm excited to make milk in the batter.

Okay, let's make it.

Yeah, let's go for.

Okay.

Yes.

All right.

grab a waffle here.

All right.

All right, So now you guys don't have waffles all year long, but you do make your own waffle cones here, right?

We do make our own waffle cones.

Yes.

That was something that we added when we moved over here.

And it is very well-received.

The the waffle cones are very well received.

And it it just.

How does it make us smell that you just can't stop thinking about until it adds something else, I think, to the ice cream experience, when the waffle cone is made fresh.

I don't know.

I don't know what it is.

It just makes it better, I think.

Now, you haven't had it yet, but there's a little surprise in the bottom of their waffle cones, too.

Oh, right.

I don't know if you want to tell but this one is right here.

And you can get that.

Is it like chocolate at the bottom?

I can't tell you.

You have to have a waffle cone.

Okay.

Ice cream.

We ice.

We all ice cream.

Do you guys have here?

So we carry 32 flavors of ice cream.

Okay.

Three of them are nondairy.

So we have two Italian ices and then one based ice cream.

And so those are for the the people that just are a little bit lactose intolerant where the egg can't have eggs, anything like that.

And so it's a great option.

And my youngest really likes carrot mango.

Oh yeah, it's funny.

So orange is a favorite color for a lot of kids.

So those orange ice creams tend to just fall, even though the moms are usually like it's carrots and I like, but it's mostly mango.

It's like, don't tell them as long as they're eating it, be quiet.

It's just orange.

Goodness in there too.

And you guys do something special, too, with your paddy scoop.

We do.

So we decided that we needed a little something extra.

So on every ice cream cup or cone, you get to choose another flavor to put on top.

And it's about the size of a large cherry.

So it's kind of fun.

It's called our Paddy Scoop.

Now, while this is cooking, tell me a little bit about why you called it the paddy Shack.

Well, paddy, so is the paddy stack.

So it is kind of a roll off of our our name.

Our last name is Padrnos, and that is my son's middle name.

Our nickname is paddy, paddy and his best friend and as well, I guess his best friend as well.

And so it's just kind of fun, too.

And it rolls off your tongue really easy.

paddy Shack.

And then, of course, you know, my husband is kind of a fan of Caddyshack.

Yeah, I like it.

It's not because I'm from Ireland.

You didn't name it after me.

I'm sorry.

That's okay.

If we would have known, we probably.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

I did suggest as well before we started recording that you should get like a mobile unit and call it the paddy wagon.

So I think you should do that here.

Okay, We do have paddy pies.

Okay.

Yeah.

There you go.

Yes, I like it.

It's a good name.

Oh, right.

That was fast.

All right, so one fresh waffle here, so you'll have these available and going for the breakfast day.

Yes, I will make them to order so that it is nice and warm.

I try to stay on top of it.

And what time do you open on that?

On that day?

We're going to open at 8 a.m..

Okay.

Yeah.

And we'll be serving the breakfast until 11 a.m..

Okay.

Perfect.

Is that your normal hours?

You don't know.

Everybody gets breakfast right now, do you?

After dropping the kids, the school would stop in for ice cream.

You never know.

You never know.

I love ice cream.

I feel like I've.

My wife is pregnant and I feel like I'm the one who got the.

What do you call it?

That craving.

Yeah.

I've been lucky.

So.

Okay, so now you choose any flavors of ice cream?

Oh, I don't know.

Yes.

And so we've got 32, so it's kind of fun to look at the fun flavor colors and I know one of my favorites is, well, Peppermint Stick, but this just got serious is that would you would believe that out what I'm actually going to do I'm going to try the mint.

No, that's my well, okay, now we can both have it.

I love my I split it up.

I'll split it up.

Mint.

Mint.

No, have some.

There's enough for everybody.

This is such a hard job.

It's such a hard decision to.

Okay, now I will get this stuff.

Now I'll try the mint as well.

Don't give me too much.

Honestly, I have still work to do today.

I can now you can give me this.

This.

This just got serious.

This is one of our most popular flavors.

It's salted caramel sea salt, fudge cashews.

Now, what's your favorite ice cream?

So I my standard go tos are strawberry and peanut butter cup.

Okay.

But the my staff will say, Mrs. C, I hardly ever see you get those flavors.

I because I like kitty kitty bang bang.

Which is a cheesecake ice cream.

Yeah I like the mint as well, but and then all the seasonal ones, I just dig it and you can change out your ice cream regularly.

We do.

So since we have 32 flavors, we usually have about 20 that stay put and then we rotate the others.

Okay, so and it gives a nice variety.

And like the mint, we don't always have mint avalanche, which is has Andie's mentioned grasshopper cookies in it?

We might have a all or we might have that one.

A different version of a mint.

So.

All right, so what do you have on your breast?

So right now we've got sprinkles.

There's Oreos, Froot Loops, strawberries, m&ms, Cinnamon toast, Crunch, apple jacks, bananas, cherries, whipped cream, marshmallow, peanut butter, chocolate.

Yes.

All right.

Just let's start with the sprinkles.

All right?

Listen to sprinkles.

I look nice.

Yes.

Oh, this spoon is not going to do for.

That's all right.

They're perfect.

Yeah.

And then what else would you like?

What's this one?

This is Oreos.

Okey dokey.

Never say no to Oreos.

Oreos are vegan, by the way.

Okay, that's cool.

So is right.

Right now.

How much are the waffles for breakfast day?

So breakfast are 795.

Okay.

For the.

The waffles, the ice cream, juice and coffee.

Oh, yeah.

So we'll have juice and coffee.

Oh, yes, a whole big breakfast.

So these are bacon on the side.

More good.

Well, I think we are thinking about adding bacon.

Yes, I love it.

I will be There can't be baking this.

Oh, gosh, yes, I did have a bacon donut before.

Bacon on a double.

So I think.

Oh, I think.

Yeah, it was awesome.

It felt weird to do it, but it felt like I was cheating on life.

But I think it would work with this one.

Would you like it?

I'm going to do marshmallow and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

All right, so you're here next.

You know, I get nervous ordering, you know, that I have like, ordering.

So.

Yeah, I really do.

I order the wrong things all the time, like the fear of missing out like it.

It's funny when my husband and I order stuff, I usually get, you know, whatever I get.

And then he's like, Oh, my was okay.

And I'm like, Yeah, I mind.

Oh, okay.

Anything else?

This is pansies whipped cream cherry.

Oh, I think this is all I can eat.

I feel like, Do you like whipped cream?

No, I don't.

Okay.

Neither is my wife.

I was wondering.

Oh, I'll take a tiny bit of the whipped cream.

Oh, all right.

Awesome.

The forks and things are over there.

Okay, here's the real challenge.

We have to eat it without utensils.

Okay.

The silverware.

Sorry.

People in America don't say utensils.

All right, All right, let's go get some silverware.

All right, All right, let's go.

All right.

Oh, we me a you know, I just.

I just like this so much.

I'm going to finish it just to make sure.

Oh, thank you.

I realizing, oh, was stolen, so I'm running in.

Come out here.

Where can they get information on Facebook, Instagram?

We'll have all the information.

It is Saturday, February 4th, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.. Come out.

We'll have all of the staff members here to serve and enjoy each other's company.

Hey, it's great that aligns on our Saturday to, you know, forget people.

The first stop is, okay.

All right.

Awesome.

Yes.

And this mint avalanche is honestly amazing.

I love it.

Thank you.

All right.

I feel like we need to turn the cameras off for what I was about to do to this.

The South Bend Lyric Opera is presenting the gift at Indiana University South Bend on January 27th and 28th.

And we are so pleased to have the composer, the librettist, I guess that's what you call it.

But Dr. Paul Herman is joining us today and before we talk about the gift, we have to talk about your story because you are a doctor.

You have lived here in South Bend.

So how does a doctor compose an entire opera?

Well, I grew up playing the piano and singing in choirs.

And as I grew older, I got interested more in musical theater and opera.

And when I was a practicing physician, I started performing with the local group and actually managing Indiana Opera North, which was the previous opera company before South Bend Lyric Opera.

And I started taking some music lessons composition when I retired and I got the inspiration for writing a musical from watching my daughter dance in The Nutcracker at Southold.

And I said, Well, here's a ballet company.

They do this every year with all these children and family members, and they make their money for the entire year.

We need an opera just like that, or should I say a musical theater or a light opera.

And I thought of a story which was the Gift of the Magi, a beautiful story about two people who give up their most precious possessions for love.

And I wanted to include the community, children and their parents, just like they do in The Nutcracker.

And I wanted it to be successful and enjoyable, so hopefully that it would be profitable for a small opera company.

Absolutely.

Now, how long did it take you from start to finish?

You take the Gift of the Magi and turn it into an opera.

Well, it was about ten years before I even started it because I had the idea and I was still practicing.

But then when I retire, I started working on it in earnest and that was over ten years ago now.

And I worked on it on and off.

I made a demonstration recording and put it away for a couple of years.

But I've always had a close association with harmonies at Indiana University, South Bend, and I've also known Emanuel for a long time.

So we were just waiting for the right time to try to present this.

And this happens to be the time that's so inspiring.

A lot of times people come to the place in their life where they're retiring and they kind of feel like, What's my purpose now?

It's so inspiring that you found another purpose at this time in your life.

Well, it has been a positive in my life, yes.

So tell us a little bit about the gift.

I know that you mentioned that it's taken from the Gift of the Magi.

How did you take that story and incorporate it into an opera?

Well, the story is only two pages long and it only has two characters.

A boy and a girl.

So I said, Well, that's not enough to have an opera about.

No, but actually that is the second half of the opera.

But I had to develop other characters, primarily the mother and the father.

The mother who supportive of the the daughter and the father who is not.

So the first act is basically preparation for the second act.

It's an outdoor party scene with in the Snow with where we introduce the boy, the girl, the mother, the father.

And it's also a community scene where the community chorus comes out and the children's chorus comes out and they have a lot of fun singing, a lot of fun songs and carols and hymns and that sort of thing.

But we meet the characters and we see the conflict, and I don't think I give too much away to say that at the end of the first act, the boy and the girl run away.

Oh, now he didn't go away.

In the second act, a boy and a girl are together, but they are visited by two people.

I would say first the spirit of the mother and then the father comes to confront the daughter.

And I'll be giving away too much to say that it also has a happy ending.

Yes.

No, that sounds absolutely wonderful.

I I'd like to know what was it like composing the music?

Because I'm pretty sure that that had to be quite a journey.

Well, if I have a talent, it's for writing.

Good songs for singers, because I know singers and I know their voice.

And I wanted this to be a challenge, but not too difficult for good singers.

And as I wrote it, I wrote it to be less and less and less operatic so that the singing never gets in front of telling the story and the emotions of the story.

That's what's most important.

And I don't want people to be turned away by thinking, Oh, this is an opera because it's really a musical with good singing in which the focus is the singing.

Mm hmm.

Tell us a little bit about the cast.

Well, the cast is fabulous.

Okay.

First of all, we have three women singers who are part of South Bend, Lyric Opera, including Victoria, who grew up in the South Bend area.

Elkhart area, went to AUC speed and got her masters at Indiana to Indiana University, Bloomington.

The other singers are from the Chicago area.

William Powell is a bass who sings in Chicago, a young bass bar.

The father is Shayne Pylos, who's a graduate student at the University of Illinois.

Champagne and he just completely peated in the finals of the Metropolitan Opera Condition competition this week.

And the other singer is Brendan Brandy Sing, who's a graduate student at Northwestern.

So these are all fine young singers and they mesh well together.

Yes.

And what about the musicians who will be playing?

Well, the orchestra is concept 21, which is a local contemporary music ensemble, which was started by Henry Munoz Munoz and plays both in the Chicago and South Bend area.

One of their missions is to encourage young composers, which I am not, but young composers, and to play their works and they played at the opera last December, a year ago, three Decembers.

And they enjoyed playing opera and they decided to play this one also.

So they're all local community members also.

And of course, all the chorus members, child children and adults are also local.

So it's a very much a local production, a local production and also a family friendly one.

Very much so.

Yes.

It's meant to be fun and enjoyable.

Now, I just myself, we we had a concert this past weekend in and the area and I know that watching it all come together, it literally brought tears to my eyes.

What is it like for you to sit in the audience and to see everything that you have put together, everything that you have birth into this opera?

How does it feel to see it all come to life?

Well, at first it was a little nerve wracking, but I'm happy to say that it's come together and it's gone well.

I knew I had written a good story, good songs, and had gotten good singers, but I was nervous about the fact that I'm not an instrumentalist and I had to write all the parts for all the music, the instrumentalists and the musicians.

And I was very nervous about that.

But it has gone well.

We've worked everything out and it's I had been listening to the music on a computer for ten years and to hear it live and and in certain moments I choke up.

I completely understand.

I hope the audience will do so, so well from everything you said.

I'm sure they will as well.

Paul, thank you so much for being with us again.

The gift is being presented at Indiana University South Bend on January 27 and 28.

And Paul, how can they get tickets?

They can just come the night of the performance or they can go to the website for South Bend Lyric Opera and order tickets there.

All right.

All right.

Well, thank you so much.

Paul and I break a leg.

Thank you so much.

You know, this year we went on a bit of a mission.

We started off by saying we have to go and try as much food as possible 2023.

But obviously, while experiencing michiana and I'm here in, say, Joe, Michigan at Kingfisher, cocktails and tacos.

I'm here with Jay, the owner.

How are you doing?

I'm great.

How are you doing?

I'm good.

So this is your third restaurant actually, in the local area.

So.

So what made you want to do cocktails and tacos?

Well, we we actually launch canned craft cocktails at our brewing location in Benton Harbor.

And they went over so well that we wanted to kind of have a place to showcase them here and then for tacos.

Our team just really loves tacos, a lot of the ideas.

And so we put all together in one spot.

And who doesn't love cocktails and tacos, right?

Like, it's a winning combination.

Now, Danielle, your entire job is focused around trying to get people to Saint Joe, trying to experience Saint Joe and try and put on events.

So what is happening this Friday?

Absolutely.

So we are so excited to welcome back Chili Tours.

So this is a really fun adventure On Friday night.

You can join us from 5 to 8 and taste over 25 chili so they're just come down town started the welcome center.

Grab that map and you can vote for your favorite.

All right.

Now, obviously, you're one of the locations.

So what is different about your chili now?

I wish television had the had invented smell right now, but so what have you done with this That's different.

So this is our smokehouse chili brisket.

Chili.

So I said a key ingredient here is the smoked brisket.

I'm going to say freshly smoked yesterday.

And and it just taste delicious.

I mean, you get all the flavors, the smells combined with more a traditional chili background.

And I feel like it can't go wrong.

It's beautiful.

Danielle Unity.

I don't know.

Maybe the only walk we're on eating right now.

So it really is, though.

And actually it's a great idea because obviously the temperatures, it's cold this week, it's the winter, it's always cold.

And what better way to warm up and walk around?

So it's like a chilly tour.

So how many stops did you say?

25 over 25.

So I think we round out it's actually 32.

So yeah, there's like 29 physical stops.

A couple of places are hosting additional restaurants inside, but yeah, you get to try different restaurants.

Um, different stores are hosting area restaurants.

So really it's a taste of Southwest Michigan this Friday.

So when you stop at these places, how much does it cost?

Like everyone dictate their own prices or kind of a set.

Yeah, it's a set price.

You actually to start at the welcome center.

So for $5 you get a map, it's a list of the participating locations and then it doubles as a voting ballot.

So you to start and end at the welcome center.

So it's just $5.

$5.

Oh, so you don't have to pay once you're trying all of them.

You do not.

Oh, that's awesome.

So what does it mean to businesses like Kingfisher to actually see, say, Joe today, trying to, like, get people to come here?

It's great.

It's Angel Today does a great job of bringing different events into town.

And this is having a entertain here, which, as you can imagine, is a slower time for us.

So we really appreciate just some event to dry people down here, try out different locations and then, you know, if they want to have a cocktail as well, that's great for us.

Well, I was talking about my wife and I love coming up here.

And actually we always come up in the winter because it's kind of hard to get parking in the summer.

But we love it in the winter.

And it's just it really is a beautiful town to walk around.

I feel like Saint Joe doesn't always get the credit that it deserves as being a lovely lakeside town.

Right.

Danielle, I know you're passionate about it.

Definitely.

So we to celebrate being year round, which is really great.

So like Jay said, it's kind of January and nothing really is going on.

We tried to do a big event every month of the year.

I think April is the only one that we don't have something going on.

So we love being a beach town, but we also love being a year round town.

So we want everyone to come join us all the time.

It's beautiful seeing the lighthouse in the winter and just seeing the whole area in the winters.

I don't know.

I think you should definitely check it out and check out the chili tours.

So you talked about two awards.

What are those awards that people can vote on the back of their map?

Definitely.

So our People's Choice Award, it's literally a schooner full of chilies that you can win for that.

So that is going to be determined on Monday.

And then we've got judges walking around doing the Chili Pepper Award.

So that is a giant chili that's going to be on the trophy.

So we're really excited.

But there's two chances to win and have bragging rights for the year.

Well, I'm going to vote for you.

Just people's choice.

Okay.

I mean, the only one out of the 30 people I've tried so far.

But now it really is something about chili.

You know, when I first moved to the United States, I had no idea what chili was.

And I just kind of it's one of those things that's slowly grown on me.

It's kind of replaced as an Irish person.

It's replaced.

You know, for me, Chile's like the American version of that, like Winter hates you up.

It just there's something about it.

It feels like a food hug.

I don't know.

So, Jay, as a business, what does this actually like?

Does this actually increase business for you in January?

Like to see these events going on?

Like, do you see a lot more traffic?

And.

Yeah, it absolutely does.

I mean, people come out for the events.

They're really popular and every year they're very consistent and people just loving coming down here and we do see increase in traffic.

So it's much appreciated.

So when people have paid $5 at the welcome center and they can come in here and try chili for free, how do you then try and like cultivate that into them being a customer long term?

Because obviously you don't make money out of that part of it, right?

So this the samples are, you know, fairly small.

So hopefully we they can come here and get a sample and then they'll buy a drinks may stay for a while.

We also do to go cocktails which is allowed on Saint Joseph's social district so you can get a cocktail to go with you to continue on your tour.

So that's one way that it helps us out.

And, you know, tacos are portable too, So you'll snack in between your chili.

The chili tour this Friday, January 27th.

What time is it up from 5 to 8.

Okay, so you go to the welcome center.

Where's that in the town?

We're just actually a block down in the old bank building, right on the corner of State and pleasant state and place.

And then you go there, you get $5, you get your map, which also doubles up as a voting card.

And then you just go around and eat lots of chili.

That's like the cheapest dinner you'll ever have.

Right?

And you get to experience a great town with great people.

So make sure you're here Friday night.

So thanks to Jay and Danielle and make sure you come to Saint Joseph, Michigan, for their chili tour that is going on.

And you know, even if you can't come to the chili tours, make sure and check out their website and find something that you can come and see because it really is a great town full of great people and great businesses.

So until the next time and experience, michiana, we'll talk to you then.

Experience Michiana is made possible in part by the Community Foundation of Saint Joseph County and the Indiana Arts Commission, which receives support from the state of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.