I recently began an adventure on my blog, Food Floozie, to find food and fun for less than $5 per person... I'm serious! This is feasible!

The feature is called Frugal Floozie Friday, and I'm happy to take suggestions if there's a great secret treat just waiting for me to discover it.

This week's venture took Jeremy and me to B-24's Espresso Bar, which is also a soup/sandwich shop and ice cream parlor, not to mention just being a comfortable place to hang out and chitchat or read or "coffice" (coffee + office).

B-24's serves hot fudge sundaes made with Sanders hot fudge. If you've ever tried it, you know that this Detroit-made product is so supreme, so rich, so luscious, that you will never want to eat any other brand.

I'm serious — give me a jar of the Milk Chocolate variety (which has a hint of a caramel flavor to it), a spoon, and some privacy... doesn't take much more to make me happy in this life!

My maternal grandmother would come to visit us in New York City when I was growing up and always brought some of this with her. Truly, I cannot tell you how much I adore it, both on its own merits and because of the memories. So already, I had to love a place that served this beloved Michigan product.

That they serve the hot fudge over two scoops of ice cream only makes it better.

That they top it off with a slew of whipped cream and a cherry only enhances it.

But that B-24's serves this enormous quantity of coma-inducing lusciousness for only $3.99 makes it perfection.

This is a feast that one could, theoretically, eat by oneself... Jeremy did it, after all. (20-year-old young men excel at such tasks!) But it's really perfect to share with someone you love — a cheap date, but of the most romantic kind.

So, not only did we stay within the $5 per person budget that Frugal Floozie Friday requires; but this is something you can actually feed two people with for that $5 bill! Really, does it get any better than that?

Actually, it can: go on Friday nights from 7:30-9:30 p.m., and enjoy performances by local talents at Open Mic Night. (I'm trying to persuade Jeremy to bring his guitar down there and perform, with or without one of his buddies.)

Coffee is provided by area roasters: Mighty Good and Roos Roast from Ann Arbor, and Chazzano from nearby Ferndale. Michigan-made Faygo sodas and Vernor's ginger ale are displayed proudly in the cooler.

And the very name of the shop is a tribute to the B-24 airplanes that were manufactured at the nearby Willow Run Airport, which produced nearly 8,700 of the bombers during World War II.

B-24's celebrates all the very best that this area has to offer!

B-24's Espresso Bar
217 W. Michigan Ave.
Ypsilanti, MI 48197

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Mary Bilyeu has won or placed in more than 60 cooking contests and writes about her adventures in the kitchen. She was thrilled to have her post about Scottish Oatmeal Shortbread named as one of the daily "Best of the Blogs" by the prestigious Food News Journal.

Go visit Mary's blog — Food Floozie — on which she enthuses and effuses over all things food-related. Her newest feature is Frugal Floozie Friday, seeking fun and food for $5 or less ... really! Feel free to email her with questions or comments or suggestions: yentamary@gmail.com.

The phrase "You Should Only Be Happy" (written in Hebrew on the stone pictured at the top of this post) comes from Deuteronomy 16:15 and is a wish for all her readers as they cook along with her ... may you always be happy here.