Food Snobs

There's no cooking like home cooking. Seriously. Over the years, we told our kids that they ate pretty darn well and that someday, they'd realize it. I think that as they left home, they did come to realize that it was true, at least to some degree. During the 15 years that I taught early morning seminary, Rene made breakfast every day. While he did insist on serving hot cereal a couple of times a week, the other days he made good old-fashioned farmhouse type breakfasts--bacon, hash browns, pancakes, omelets, fruit, etc. While we generally did not have a lot of meat, we did have veggies and fruit of all kinds, canned and from the freezer. We made our own cider , dried our own apples and canned apple and peach pie filling. Mmmm...besides canning our sour cherries, we found a yummy recipe for sour cherry jam. It's still one of Joanna's favorites.

There were some notable failures, the aforementioned huevos rancheros being one. I also once made an eggplant dish that no one liked. My mom, who was visiting, ate it to set a good example but told me later that it was disgusting. Once Rene grew a bunch of Napa cabbages and those were not popular either.


Our recent trip to Chicago brought this topic to my mind. We went to dinner with a group from Rene's work at Geno and Georgetti's, a famous Chicago steakhouse.


Afterwards, Rene and I realized that we both thought it was okay, but not great. I had lamb chops, which were tender in the lean parts, but awfully fatty. The house potatoes and salad were pretty average. Calamari--meh. My favorite was the creamed spinach. It was really yummy.

The taxi ride back to the hotel was exciting, though. That guy went 50 mph on city streets, weaving in and out of traffic.

We rarely ate out when the kids were little. In fact, for many years our end of the school year treat was the annual trip to McDonalds. We still do not eat out that often. I guess maybe we are food snobs. We're pretty content with our own cooking.

Millennium Park

Awesome! Why are the trees yellow and orange? Ya got me there!

Beauty

This week, I went with Rene to Chicago, where he attended some meetings and a trade show. We stayed in a hotel right downtown, so it was handy for me to walk wherever I wanted to go. One morning, I walked the mile south to Millennium Park and just past it, the Art Institute of Chicago. I spent about four hours at the museum and enjoyed it. I saw some beautiful and famous paintings and some not so beautiful but still famous paintings. Since they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I thought I'd post pictures of the two paintings that spoke most strongly to me. Why? I guess because I have some kind of emotional attachment to the subjects and found the paintings interesting.

Yep, one is a painting of two potatoes and the other is one of four in a series by Homer Winslow about croquet.

While I was in the Contemporary wing of the museum (think Picasso, Dali, and even more abstract and bizarre art), I overheard a little 3 or 4 year old girl say to her mom, "Mommy, when can we go back to where the grownups did the paintings?" Ha ha. It was hilarious and so true.

One of my favorite things at the museum was the "miniatures". I couldn't take my own pictures of them because the glass cases reflected badly, but here are some taken by others. These are rooms on a scale of one inch to one foot. One woman commissioned architects to make these for her. They are like dollhouse interiors, but on a very elegant and upscale dollhouse. There were kitchens from Virginia, parlors from New Hampshire, kitchens from Georgia, etc. There were also rooms from periods of European history. They were all simply awesome! It would be so fun to be able to indulge yourself in a hobby like that.

Least Favorite Breakfast, EVER!

No, not according to me. When the kids were little, we made this a time or two because it uses lots of tomatoes and we had all the other ingredients. Although Rene and I thought it was okay, the kids despised it, pronounced it disgusting and even went so far as to tell everyone on the bus what a disgusting breakfast their parents had fixed for them. Even now, they pretty much shudder when we mention it.

Well, we had Huevos Rancheros for breakfast today and it was yummy. What's wrong with you guys, anyway?

Grillin'

When we got up a week ago, we noticed that the stove was flashing "F1". After a little research, we discovered that it was the electronic control panel and would cost about $350 to replace. The stovetop works fine, it's the oven that's not working. We were a little disgruntled--it's been an expensive summer!--but by the end of the week, we had visited our local Sears store where we purchased a whole new stove for $399, including taxes. Unfortunately, because I don't like black or stainless steel appliances and white doesn't match our refrigerator and microwave, the new stove had to be ordered in bisque and won't be here for 10 days.

Well, we are not among those who never use their oven. We bake a lot. What were we to do? Here's our solution:
Both of these lovely items were cooked on our gas grill. The bread turned out great and was delicious. The blonde brownies were a little overdone on the edges and a little underdone in the middle, but overall, very edible. I have to give Rene credit for operating the grill. I feel good now. In the case of emergencies, I'm glad to know that we can still make bread and yummy treats. (As long as the propane tank is full, that is!) And by the way, the stove is no longer flashing "F1". It is now flashing "F3".

The girls' wedding reception at our home was last Saturday night. The weather was nice, which was good because our air conditioning went out that morning. It was fun to be together again and everyone was good help. Our friends and family were so supportive and it was a lovely evening.

There were two special "surprises", although I knew about both of them. Our dear friend Pam flew to her daughter's in Minnesota and they drove over together with Jenny's sweet little baby girl. Also, my brother Phil, his wife Julie and some of their family drove all the way from New York City for the evening. We enjoyed seeing them, visiting with them afterwards, and going out for ice cream with them later that evening. What a measure of support that is!! Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures. Fortunately, our friend Leesa, who is an awesome photographer, came and took pictures. I'll post some when I get some.

Cake Artiste

Our daughters' wedding receptions this summer were really lovely. One of the best things about both were the cakes. Both were made by my sister, Emily. She is always so willing to come and to help with the cakes, making sure the bride gets exactly what she wants. The two cakes were very different, but both were beautiful and yummy! Emily had to battle obstacles both times, too. At Joanna's, it was very hot and humid, even inside Emily and Preston's apartment, where the cakes were made. At Sarah's, it was also hot, but the since the reception was outside, the hot, hot weather was a major concern.

Emily is also really good help with the food, clean-up, etc, at a wedding. She dipped all the strawberries for Ben and Shannon's wedding and the whole Pitts family helped out at Emily and Preston's. Thanks so much, Em! Love you!