This Reminds Me

Archive for the ‘Tasty Eats’ Category

My Fellow Americans:

I played hooky today to take the girls to the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum in Austin.  There’s a Walter Chronkite exhibit in addition to the permanent Presidential/Texana displays.  Awesome!

Not a bad drive – less than two hours.  And blessedly overcast as Texas awaits the arrival of Hurricane Alex.

Great Minds

I explained to Hannah:  I was in second grade when JFK was assassinated.    A neighbor – Bobby Dyer – shared the news as I rode my bike home.  I called him a dirty liar and beat him up.    A few years ago, I entered the Kwik Copy he managed with his wife.  He recognized me and quickly hunched and raised both fists.

We talked a lot of WWII history on the way home, including PT109, LBJ and his fellow Congressmen called home after a few months of military service, the role of the GI Bill in post-war America, etc.

A wall of campaign buttons.  I have dozens (hundreds?), the oldest of which is a 1900 McKinley/Roosevelt.  At the 1984 RNC in Dallas, I had an opportunity to buy a Lincoln  Daguerreotype for $125 – and I didn’t.  I wish I had.  Those were the days when I had time and money.

The Civil Rights displays totally mystified and captivated Julia, whose best friends (and our next door neighbors) are black.

Tricky Rachel, who says she’s not a crook – though not all my change comes home from the grocery store

Animatron Lyndon cracking jokes freaked the herd of daycare kids.

Lois liked the memorabilia in the Cronkite exhibit, including NASA models of space craft.  My dad worked at NASA and we had two of those models.  I have no idea where they are now.  (sigh)

Lots of Cronkite’s notepads, teletype sheets, spirals, etc. on display.  Julia said, “Mom, his handwriting looks like yours,” to which Rachel responded, “No, you can read it.”

A little post-museum break for Hannah.  Julia was confused by the fountain geyser, thinking it was somehow related to the coming hurricane. Lois somberly confirming with a “Yes, Julia, it is – and we’ll probably have a tornado, too” didn’t help.

Many out-of-state plates in the parking lot, including those belonging to Twilight fans.

Ever heard of Flip Happy Crepes?  It’s about two miles from the museum.  Keith watched a “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” episode featuring the Flip Happy trailer, crew and delicious crepes!   We messaged poor Keith several photos while he slaved away at work, munching the lunch I packed before we left.

Flip Happy’s owner – Tessa – featured on the Bobby Flay program graciously stepped out for a photo.  Nice lady.  And tasty, tasty eats! Necessary to build our strength before an afternoon stop at the Tanger Outlets on the drive home. Everything at the Old Navy Outlet – 40% off today.  We did damage.

A great museum, fantastic exhibits, wonderful lunch and jaunt through the outlet mall – well, my fellow Americans - “That’s the way it was.”

Keith’s Big Green Egg stand/table/holder/thingy is now in use.

It’s simply gorgeous.   The concrete top flecked with broken glass and rocks looks and feels like marble or granite.

The top is smoooooth and cool and beautiful.  Never guess it was concrete.

The stand even rolls.  Right now, it’s flush against our deck Keith rebuilt a few  years ago.

The deck, the stairs, the cobblestones – all his doing.  My job is to bring ice water.  I’m such a help.

Let’s see it in use.  Ribby, briskety use.

Ummm.

Dinner is served.

Keith wanted to try an all-day turkey smoking on his Egg, so we did a “dry run” of Thanksgiving tonight.

The turkey – brined for 24 hours – was anything but dry.  Keith boiled Kosher salt, sugar, allspice, cloves, peppercorns and onions in water, plus added herbs from his garden-  rosemary, sage, thyme and oregano – to complete the brine.  That’s butter dotting the skin to give it that lovely golden glow.

This fragrant still-life is entitled, “View of Turkey Through an Egg Vent Hole.”  I keep telling the girls – Marry a man who can cook!

A-well-a Everybody’s Heard About the Bird…but those onions are m-i-n-e.  Forget flowers or chocolates.  Keith romances me with extra onions any time he grills or Eggs meat.   The way to my heart is strewn with 1016′s.

Our favorite Julia Child quote:  “The food was just lovely.  You could tell someone’s hands had been all over it.”

Turkey gravy, made with those luscious drippings, which Hannah described as, “All my hopes and dreams in a pan.”

If you ever suspect I’m dead, wave a serving spoon of Spinach Madeline under my nose.  No response?  Dig a hole.  Judy’s slightly-spicy creamed spinach recipe is an absolute family favorite.   Well, except for Julia – who suffers through the one bite she must ingest.  Here’s the recipe – I’ve never served it or given the recipe to anyone who didn’t rave about it.  Rachel, Lois and Hannah stand at the counter with crackers when we prepare it, eager to scoop any time I’m not looking. I leave plenty clinging to the sides of the huge mixing bowl for my “laborers” to enjoy.

Some of my best recipes are from my sister Judy – and the very, very best ones are given over the phone beginning “Well, I don’t really have a written recipe for that.  I just sort of start with….”

Dinner time!  Monday night is almost always tacos, hamburger stroganoff, red beans and rice, or spaghetti – so turkey, mashed potatoes and Spinach Madeline was really uptown.  Keith built our kitchen table, BTW, about 15 years ago from the red oak floorboards of a friend’s sagging tear-down house.    For Thanksgiving, we break out the china, plate chargers, cloth napkins, etc. but antique Fiestaware (which I bought at garage sales when it was cheap, believe it or not) and Costco paper napkins are in use every day.

In a couple of weeks, I’ll call Lackland Air Force Base and reserve our two airmen trainees for Thanksgiving day, as will our good friends John & Linda, with whom we’ve shared Thanksgiving for several years.   Keith and I will start compiling the menu, and dropping grocery lists into Excel by day/store.  I’ll look around with dismay – figure out how much of the house we have to shovel out – and sigh deeply every evening.

But you know – we do have a house to shovel – and friends – and nearby grocery stores – and jobs so we can shop in them – and a family that is my heart clustered at Keith’s hand-crafted kitchen table.  So I will rinse the plates tonight, and repeat next month.

Because I’m already thankful.

The purses…..the Talavera…..the dresses…..they were calling to us.   ”C’mere, girls….c’mon…..come back to see us….special price, just for you….best price for you, lady….come in, come in…”

So we answered the call this Spring Break weekend and headed to Progresso, just across the border in the all-important Rio Grande Valley area of South Texas that supplies most of our fruits and vegetables.  And knock-off Prada bags.  Keith found us a strict maximum-of-five-guests motel room for $89/night (including breakfast) so by packing light, stopping at Wal-mart to replace the pajamas he forgot, eating breakfast in shifts, sneaking in an air mattress and quickly shoving Julia in the closet or behind a sister whenever staff was around – we managed two nights in one room pretty darned economically.

I really push the girls to take securely-closing backpack purses.  Leaves your hands free to signal, “That’s too much!”  The bridge between the U.S. and Mexico seems a lot shorter earlier in the day, when you’re not toting 10 lbs. of Talavera and the morning breeze is still blowing.

Some of my happiest memories are of wandering Laredo with Judy and Sarah, and later with Keith and the girls – but no more.  Drug lords have destroyed Laredo for decent people, including tourists, as they have with so many other border towns.  While the girls were distressed at the soldiers manning armored vehicles and automatic weapons at the entrance to Progresso - I found them – and the signs scattered about that explained their presence – vaguely comforting.  Maybe the Mexican government is serious about keeping criminals from taking over Progresso.  They were certainly searching enough cars for drugs – and that’s on their side of the border, apart from the checks on the U.S. side.

Rachel, Lois, Hannah and I all bought new purses.  Prada, Chanel, Dooney & Burke and D&G were the most prevelant. - some Kate Spade – even a few Juicy, though they were way too high ($75)  because of scarcity.  Good quality, though, I’ll say that.  Our purses’ average cost was about $20, with matching wallets going in the $5 – $10 range.

The heroes of any shopping trip in Mexico:  Plastic-webbed shopping bags.  They sell for about $1 – $2@.  We’ve had ours at least 15 years, maybe longer – I’m not sure they can be destroyed. You can tell the experienced shoppers on the bridge walking over because they bring their own.

Hannah and Rachel, who lamented, “My lips wouldn’t fit.”  Personally – not knowing whose lips had been masked before – I wouldn’t have even tried it on.

Question:  “For my room?”  Answer:  “No.”

Keith will – from time to time – catch a scene like this and mutter, “Stinks around here,” meaning, “She’s so spoiled.”  I generally respond, “What’s your point?”

Lunch time!  And tank you, too!

A cold bottle of Coca-Cola Light – the best!  Fun to have a bottle instead of a can.  Filtered ice cubes, of course – we always ask.  Unfiltered could mean a very, very long night in el bano.

Cabrito, we think.  Which we didn’t order.

Julia was fascinated by this artist hand-painting scenes on the bowls of bent spoons and even asked to have this picture taken with him.  I’m going to count the silverware when we unload the dishwasher tonight.

Car Wars.  When you’re trying to turn attention away from the fight you just started, break into “Jesus Loves Me” at top vocal capacity.

Lois can read in a moving vehicle, an activity guaranteed to have the rest of us reaching for the plastic bags.  She’s re-read the “Zombies Survival Guide” in preparation for the 2010 release of “World War Z,” which she and I intend to see opening night.  We both belong to Lost Zombies and maybe this summer, we’ll finally make our own video to post.  We meant to last summer, but what with battling the Solanum virus and all….

Home again!  And Talavera critters waiting to join the herd on the back fence.  The alligator was almost as challenging to tote across the bridge and pack for the ride home as was the snake five years ago.  We bought two cheap ($3@) blankets, strictly for packing.

Hasta la vista, Progresso – see you next year?!