I Got The Cook Books

Mom And Her Girls

In redoing the recipe website and blog, I had to completely redo my Mom's cookbook pages.  While most of the site had been updated at one time or another, I have resisted doing Mom's cook books because, well... it's a real pain in the butt.  I have had to retype every single recipe title, and manually link every one to its page in the book.  There are hundreds upon hundreds of pages - and even more recipes.  But it will have been worth the trouble when I'm finished

My Mom was a great cook.  She really enjoyed being in the kitchen and creating fun dishes.  No small feat for a woman with six kids to feed every night!  And she was innovative.  She could look at a recipe, figure out what she had on hand, and rework it to fit what she had - or what she liked.  Dinner was always an adventure in our house.

And Desserts.  We had dessert virtually every night.  She also loved to bake, make fudge, whatever... Dessert was important - and I still have dessert every night!

Re-typing all of those recipe titles has really sent me spinning down Memory Lane!  How I remember her Chinese Casserole and fabulous soups and stews. And her Pineapple Meringue Pie...  My version of "comfort food" is decidely different than the boxed Mac and Cheese of so many people.  Mom made REAL Macaroni and Cheese - from scratch - with whatever pieces of cheese she had leftover in the 'fridge.  It was just the best.

It was great growing up in San Francisco, because we had access to so many different ethnic cuisines.  I was weaned on exotic-spiced foods and it definitely paved the way for my culinary journey through life.  there is nothing I won't try - and very few things I don't like.

Mom gave me her cookbooks a few years before she passed away.  She also had 4 daughters, but she knew I was the one who would appreciate them the most (that, and the fact that we have no kids meant they might stay intact for another generation to enjoy!)  I scanned the books immediately, and gave a copy to all my siblings - and then posted it on the web.

10+ years have taken their toll on the tables and layouts of the original compilation.  Within a few days I should have new, neat and clean links to everything!

And in the meantime, I'm copying down recipes and page numbers because there are an awful lot of recipes I want to revisit really soon!


Posole

Wild Rice In a recent issue of Smithsonian magazine, I spied an article about Native Harvest and the White Earth Land Recovery Project in Minnesota. They spoke of having real Wild Rice - actually wild and collected by canoe (not cultivated as with wild rice sold in the stores.) Intrigued, I went to the website. What fun for a foodophile! Real, natural, minimally processed food! I ordered a couple of pounds of wild rice - and a couple of bags of hominy.

Hominy is not something I grew up with in San Francisco. Other than hominy grits when I was in the Navy, it just wasn't part of my dietary routine. But my grocery store treks and natural curiosity about food found me buying dried hominy every once in a while - and then wondering what to do with it!

Posole has been the usual dish - it's a stew of sorts, usually made with pork and peppers, simmered for hours and just plain ol' good. The native harvest hominy looked interesting - and am I glad I bought some!

It is probably the closest thing our ancestors had when they arrived here many moons ago! Just flat-out great!

So... I made Posole.

I didn't follow a recipe, I just threw things into the pot. I simmered some pork for a couple of hours until it was fall-off-the-bone tender. I added onions, peppers, garlic, tomatoes... LOTS of chipotle powder and other chili powders from the cabinet, salt and pepper, and a bit of cloves. I then added the cooked hominy, and let it simmer even longer.

What a treat.


Mommie Dearest

20070916-1_cran.jpg

Okay - a strange title for a foodblog, but I could really use a mommy hug right now. It's been one hellava summer. Victor's surgery, my wisdom tooth, then - and I'm sure it was from the pain meds and a complete change in diet for me - I was in and out of the hospital most of the week with bleeding intestines.I have no food restrictions, I can eat whatever I want whenever I want. I just have to stay away from NSAIDS - pain meds that are blood thinners. I didn't. My bad.

And then, to make a bad summer worse, my Unkie Dick passed away this morning. Only 77. Besides being just a fantastic and wonderful guy, he was also my very last uncle. I'm not ready to be the oldest generation. A mommy hug would be good right now.

But... Since mom is with Unkie Dick, I had to do the next best thing - make a dessert like she would have made.

My mother was queen of desserts. We had dessert virtually every night - and with six kids in the family, that was quite a feat. She could whip up something in a heartbeat, from scratch cookies to pineapple cream pie - or her most excellent fudge. And, as a modern housewife, she always had cake mixes in the cupboard. But a plain ol' cakemix cake was not mom's style. She had to doctor them up, create something new and wonderful. In short, experiment and have fun.

She had a Duncan Hines recipe pamphlet that she gave me with her cookbooks - and needing a mommy-recipe, I pulled it out tonight. Glancing through the recipes, I found a perfect "Mommy Dessert" - Buttery Cranberry Cobbler.

  • 1 pkg Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Butter Recipe Golden Cake Mix, divided (I used America's Choice yellow cake. Better ingredients)
  • 1 cup quick cooking oats (I used old fashioned, I never have quick cooking in the house)
  • 3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened and divided (I used butter)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 can (16oz) whole berry cranberry sauce

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch pan.

2. For topping, combine 1/2 cup dry cake mix, oats, and 1/4 cup butter in medium bowl with fork until crumbly. Set aside. (I added 1/2 cup walnuts - mom always improvised!)

3. For base, cut together remaining dry cake mix and remaining 1/2 cup butter with fork until crumbly. Stir in eggs and water until mixture is moistened. Spread on bottom of pan. (I used the mixer. Mom never followed directions, either.)

4. Stir cranberry sauce until smooth. Spread over batter in pan. Sprinkle with topping. bake at 375F for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

I cut the dessert into 8 pieces - in honor of the 8 of us who used to sit around that table every night - and actually juuust a tad more generous than mommy used to be. It came out great! In fact, I may just have to go back for seconds.

It was the perfect mommy-hug. Thanks, mom.


Dinner with Linda and David

Linda and David

One of the great joys of moving to Pennsylvania was meeting up with people from Victor's past... and the greatest joy of them all was meeting Linda and David. Victor has known Linda for nigh on 50 years. They grew up together, their mothers played bingo together, they worked together... Linda was our real estate agent when we bought our house back here and David arranged our home loan. Friends, indeed.

And what's even more fun is they both love to eat just as much as we do. We have two main dinners a year - one in August where we celebrate Linda's and my birthday, and one around Christmas. Summer, their house - winter, ours. Linda and I exchange fabulous presents and ignore Victor and David's birthdays. True friends!!

We were a little late in the birthday celebration this year because of Victor's foot surgery, but we headed down to their house tonight knowing that a treat was in store for us - and boy oh boy was it ever!!

We arrived right at three o'clock and were greeted platters of salami and cheese, breads and crackers, a smoky red pepper hummus, a variety of olives... the perfect nosh after an hour drive.

Linda and David live way out in Oxford - where local fresh from the vine tomatoes and picked 10 minutes ago corn abounds! The fresh tomato salad and corn on the cob were, of course, the perfect accompaniment to a succulent pork roast and some of the best ribs I've ever eaten. David really knows his ribs - and these were perfection! A barely perceptable sweetness coupled with a great smoky heat had me going back for more - and more - and more!

Just perfect. There was a Caesar Salad as well as Oven Roasted New Potatoes - perfectly roasted with fresh garden herbs - to round out the table - and me.

Steaming cups of coffee and espresso - and fresh Fruit tart, a medley of fresh melon, and decadent fudge brownies finished me - and the meal - off.

The fun part will now be planning dinner for their visit to us this winter... I have no idea what it's going to be, but i have a tough act to follow.

Damn, this is fun!


Tortuga Rum Cake - Sicilian Style!

Tortuga Rum Cake

I love the internet! The other day I received an email from a woman in Sicily asking about the Tortuga Rum Cake recipe. From Sicily! Clear across the world!

Her name is Daniela and lives in a village at the foot of Mount Etna. How cool is that? She had a question about baking powder (lievito in Italian!) While she has a fantastic command of English, the phrase had her stumped. It took me a few minutes searching Google to come up with the correct term (my Italian is pretty much limited to "ciao") and we've had a few emails back and forth since. A girlfriend of hers has raved about the cake forever, so she decided to make it for her. A true friend, indeed!

I've always said that food is the great equalizer - that food truly does bring people together. And here is but more proof. Meeting real people from real places. Bringing the world together, one recipe at a time!

Sicily has always been on our list of places to see - and it's just been bumped up a few notches!

I just love the internet!


Birthday Dinner

Birthday Dinner

Happy Birthday To Me! And what a fun birthday it has been!

It's been a crazy few days around our house... Wednesday, Victor had surgery on his foot. He had a Retro-Calcaneal Right Heal Exostectomy… Roughly translated, he had a bone spur on his heal that had gone around his achilles' tendon and they had to go in, cut the achilles’ tendon, scrape a bunch of crud, and sew it (and him) back together. He’s in a knee-high cast for the next 4-6 weeks, and lots and lots of therapy after. He's not exactly the most mobile person right now.

Yesterday, just to add a bit of misery to the household, I had a wisdom tooth pulled. We had already taken the time off to go up to New York to visit friends and celebrate the 34th anniversary of my 21st birthday.But... it was not to be.

Trust me... I would have rather been up there!

Fortunately, the surgery came out fine - as did the tooth. Between Victor's vicodin and my percoset, things have been going swimmingly along. The house has been full of family and friends, the phone and doorbell have not stopped ringing - plants and flowers and chocolates and a huge Edible Fruit Bouquet... and even an ice cream birthday cake!

The house finally cleared out and I decided I wanted a nice birthday dinner - and since Victor is out of commission as a cook for a while, I headed off to the kitchen...

We made a great stilton and arugula soup at work last week and I bought the fixin's thinking I'd make it at home. Instead, it became Chicken Breasts with a Caramelized Onion and Stilton Sauce served on a bed of sauteed Arugula and Baby Bella Mushrooms, topped with Caramelized Onions and Currants. Can you say "yummy" boys and girls?!?

I also made a classic pommes anna. Butter and potatoes. How decadent! It was just what the Doctor ordered.

It was one of those use every pan in the kitchen meals, but it was worth it!

And I made a Fresh Peach Pie for dessert.....

Happy Birthday, indeed!


Sausage

Homemade Sausage

 

I finally did it! I made sausage from scratch! I have been wanting to do this for years, and just never got around to it. Many moons ago, my sister-in-law, Debbie, gave us all the attachments for the KitchenAid. And I do mean all... So, I finally ordered casings from Ask The Meatman, and to work I went! What a blast!

I bought some nice, fatty pork - about 10 pounds total, and a huge tray of boneless chicken thighs...

The pork was ground (using the large-hole attachment) with onions, garlic, cracked black pepper, salt, and LOTS of fresh basil, oregano, rosemary, and parsely from the garden. I then added a bunch of pine nuts after it was all ground up.

The chicken was ground (using the smaller-hole attachment) with salt pork for fat, chipotles in adobo, more garlic, cumin, a combination of several different chile powders, smoked paprika, and a couple of handfuls of dried mixed berries.

Sausage

The mysterious part is I couldn't find the sausage attachment! I have never used it and it has been in the bottom cabinet with all the other attachments to the KitchenAid since we moved in. The pasta attachment was there, the grinder attachment was there, the slicer attachment was there, the food mill attachment was there. The sausage stuffer was not there. I checked every other cabinet, pulled everything out, searched the basement - all to no avail. So... off to the local Kitchen Kapers and for a mere $9.99 plus tax, I bought a new one - which means I shall find the old one any minute!

So... I ended up stuffing about 15 pounds of sausage - and I have several on the grill right now.

 

I'll let ya know how they turned out!

Sausage

 

 


Advance Planning

Marinades

10 minutes in the kitchen this morning will save me lots of time today and tomorrow... I made a couple of simple marinades! (Well, actually, I put some chicken and a brisket into ziplock bags and added some stuff.) Really easy!

At yesterday's grocery shopping spree, I bought 4 chicken breasts and a small beef brisket. I love bbq'd brisket, and chicken is a mainstay in our house - so many things to do with it. And since it's hotter (and muggier) than hell outside, grilling is the only way to go.

I bought a 4-pack of avocados the other day and want to use them up before they turn into guacamole on their own, so I thought grilled chicken on a bun with sliced avocado and tomato would make a lovely lunch. (I also bought a packageof ww buns, and wanted to use them up before they turned into hockey pucks...) A nice Mexican-inspired marinade would work well with the avocado... So... into the ziplock went a bit of safflower oil, garlic, cilantro, cumin, and chipotle powder, salt and pepper. Done.

I had originally thought simple BBQ sauce would be fine for the brisket, but since I'm doing Mexican for lunch, Asian would be better for dinner. Into the next baggie went soy sauce, safflower oil, a bit of sesame oil, star anise, szechuan peppercorns, chopped garlic, and rice wine. Also done.

For tomorrow's chicken, I went out to the herb garden and picked fresh basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, and parsley. Into the baggie it all went with more fresh garlic, olive oil, and some white wine. It should make a pretty good addition to a big green salad.

10 minutes, three meals, and I'm now ready to lounge around the pool. Oh. Wait. i don't have a pool. Maybe I'll start grilling that chicken for lunch!

A couple of hours later and I'm feeling juuuuust fine! the chicken sandwich came out most excellent! I made an adobo mayonnaise by adding a bit of adobo sauce from the canned chipotles in adobo that were in the 'fridge. A bit of avocado and we had great, sloppy sandwiches!

About 3pm I'll put the brisket on the grill to s-l-o-w cook!


Viva Las Vegas!

What does Vegas have that Atlantic City will never have? Fabulous Buffets and Glamorous Showgirls, to begin with...

We just got back form a five day trek to Las Vegas, meeting up with 15 friends from around the USofA we rarely get to see - and never all in one place. What a blast we had!
The last time I was in las Vegas was circa 1978. The first time I was in Las Vegas was 1967. To say it's changed a bit is an understatement! My (very fuzzy) recollectiuons of Vegas were mainly downtown - The Strip was too far away and the casinos pretty far apart. My how times change.....

Trying to get dinner reservations for this many people would be impossible most anywhere on earth, but in Vegas? No problem - just head to one of the bazillion and one buffets. Thursday night we started of at the buffet at the Paris Hotel - Le Village Buffet. The buffet is set around a city-scenr, with storefronts and shops containing the many different cooking stations from the various regions of France... The Paris website states: "Le Village Buffet brings to life five provinces of France through culinary expertise and visual attention to detail. Each station is themed for a particular province and features an intricate facade designed to replicate the architecture of that region. Meals are prepared as they are ordered to ensure the quality and freshness of each selection." And believe it or not, it's actually true! We feasted on every conceivable food, prepared with an attention to detail that is lacking in most restaurants these days. Seating is in courtyards or gracious sitting rooms with fireplaces.

And desserts...

There was a building in the center of the courtyard that served up some totally incredible desserts - and we all know my weakness is desserts. Under normal conditions, I'll pass on dinner and head right to the desserts - this time around, though, I had a hard time because the other food was so great.

After several hours of food and laughter, we headed off to see Folies Bergere at the Tropicana Hotel. A flamboyant only-in-Vegas style show. Huge red leather booths, showgirls dressed in nothing but sequins and feathers... It was great!

And more buffets... Paris was the best of the dinner buffets, by far. The following night we headed to Cravings at The Mirage, because we all had tickets to see Cirque Du Soleil's Love - the Beatle's show. (More on that in a minute...)

The Mirage buffet was good - not fabulous, but good. It had the requisite mountain of shrimp and crab legs on ice (and just what is it about shrimp and crab that makes people go crazy? It's cooked, frozen seafood trucked in by the ton, fer crissakes!) and carvinfg stations for prime rib (another over-rated meat unless it's an inch-thick center cut from a prime 109 rib!) But I digress, again...

They did have a really good selection of Chinese and Asian foods, and fresh sushi, egg rolls... all the requisite items.

And a huge array of meats and fowl, salads galore, several different vegetables - and an impressive dessert display. I was just this side of stuffed when we went off to the the show...

And what a show it was!

Of the six Cirque shows I've seen, this was by far the best! But... as far as food goes, the worst - and the best - were yet to come.....

Saturday night was a show at The Flamingo - right next door to our hotel. The Flamingo has been around forever, and one would think that with all of the new kids in town, they'd be on their toes. As far as their Paradise Garden Buffet goes, they were flat-footed. It wasn't "bad" but it certainly wasn't what i was expecting from a legendary hotel. Bugsy Seigal would not have approved. As I said, it wasn't "bad" but not as good as I expected. It was also the least expensive of the ones we went to. A plus. It, too, had the requisite mountain of shrimp and crab, and the prime rib and the turkey, as well as a fairly large array of other dishes. It just seemd to lack pizzaz... But the desserts were good.....

Sunday brought us to the show-stopper buffet - Todai. What a surprise! It was a surprise, because I am 1) skeptical of chains, and 2) particular about my sushi. Todai not only exceeded my expectations, it made me wishing there was one close to me - I'd visit it weekly!

There was an array of sushi that knocked my socks off! Eel, roe, salmon, tuna, every fish imaginable, every combination imaginable - all being made in front of our eyes. At least 40 different varieties of sushi alone! And... if you didn't see what you wanted, they would make it up for you!

There was tempura, there were steamed buns, soups, egg rolls, crab cakes, there was every conceivable seafood... It was unbelievable!

Our waiter was a hoot. Young, funny, just sarcastic enough. He was definitely part of the fun. But the real show was the food. The block-long buffet was constantly and continually being replenished with fresh offerings. We literally ate for hours.

By Sunday night, the last thing we wanted to see was another buffet... Our numbers had dwindled to 9, so we headed down to our hotel's Steak House to see if they could seat 9 without reservations. One look at the completely a la carte menu had me heading for the door. I don't mind spending money for good food, but... $35.00 for the steak, and then $7.95 for a starch, $7.95 for a vegetable, $15.00+ for a salad, appetizers... Adding coffee and dessert would have required a second mortgage! I just wasn't in the mood to drop a hundred bucks per person for dinner. We headed across the casino to the dining room to try out the $14.95 Steak or Prime Rib dinner special. We were glad we did. We were seated right away in one huge booth. That in itself was fun, because we actually got to talk with everyone! The salads were simple iceberg lettuce, but the steaks were all cooked perfectly. My extra rare was perfectly mooing, the medium rares and even the medium well's were all done to perfection. They have a damn good grill man! They also served what may be the hottest horseradish I have ever eaten! Damn, it was good! So, for $22.22 per person, we had our last meal together.....

If you've never been to Vegas, you have to go - once. I can't say I'll be back soon, but what a great time - and gastronomic adventure!


Easter

We have an annual tradition at our house. Every Easter Saturday, Victor's family arrives en masse and we 1) eat pizza and 2) color Easter Eggs. In that order (tradition, ya know...) This year was no exception - except for the egg-stravagant egg coloring-and-decorating kits this year!

Remember back in the days when Paas Coloring Kits consisted of a couple of dye tablets and a wire dipping tool? Times have changed. First off, I couldn't even find plain ol' dye kits at the local grocery store. Everything is theme kits nowadays. I guess that ol' wax crayon just doesn't cut it for kids of today.

One thing I did notice at the store this year was a decorate your own Peeps kit. Four white Peeps with a tube of coloring gel. I must admit that I cannot abide Peeps. I've never cared for that marshmallow-ish sweet whateveritis confection. But... we were having kids over. I bought two packs - along with two tie-dyed kits and two sparkle kits.

The family arrived with even more coloring kits! There was even one from Williams-Sonoma that had to cost a fortune. We used to just punch out the holes on the back of the box. Now there are special drying mechanisms. Progress, I guess... And the Peeps were just as I expected - nasty. But with a couple of cans of spray food coloring and some decorating gel, they at least looked fun!

We decorated about 4 dozen eggs. Dots, glitter, sequins and feathers - and at least one that was dipped in every color and came out a lovely mud brown - another tradition, of course! This is a creative group! We sat around the table for a couple of hours, laughing and joking, admiring - or making fun of - the various eggs created. It reaaly is a fun time.

We pretend this is for the little kids, but the reality is the adults have more fun than the kids do. I wonder what strange decorating kits will be available next year?!?


Tipping The Scales

20070208-scale

I got on the scale this morning. While I won’t bore you with the actual number, let us just say that there was a “2” involved. It is my (not so humble) opinion that seeing a “2” as the first number on a scale is not a good thing – especially if you’re a mere 6’ tall. Actually, that “2” has been there for a while… and another “2” is getting closer every day. Too close.

I’ve always been a bit overweight – except, of course, during the ‘70s… I weighed less than 150 pounds when I came back from Southeast Asia in 1973. Naturally, illicit substances were the cause of that. And through the ‘70s, the 165 lbs was maintained by a steady diet of hard work, Bombay martinis, disco dancing, and lovely white powder. That is what youth is all about.

At some point, I left youth behind me. And the pounds started to slowly arrive. Oh, they’re clever, those pounds. They don’t just show up one day and say “Look! You’ve gained 50 pounds!” No… they s-l-o-w-l-y drop by. Too slowly to notice right away, and too slowly to think about doing anything about them. And then one day, you get on a scale and see a “2.”

It’s time to do something about them. My real problem with food is that I just eat too much. Portions are too big. I cook like I’m still in the Navy – for two of us! Hell – at any given moment half the neighborhood could drop in unexpectedly for dinner – and everyone would go way full. I cook like I’m still in the restaurant business, expecting 300 patrons to come in and order the Veal Marsala. Did I mention portion control?!?

It doesn’t help that I’m surrounded by food all day, either. A bite here and a bite there translates into a pound here, and a pound there.

Because portion size is my real enemy, we actually took a look at Nutri-Systems online today. They’re all about portion size. And microwave ovens. And little plastic trays. They have a special “Men’s Program” that states “Hey guys, let's be honest. A man wants to eat real food – hot dogs, burgers, pizza and lasagna. You know, man food, big taste, hearty portions.” Right off the bat I knew I was in trouble. But… I decided I’d look over the menu, at least and see what they had to offer for $326 dollars for 28 days worth of food.

While many of the items looked reasonably good, ingredient-wise , I kept reading ingredients and maltitol, sorbitol, isomalt, high fructose corn syrup and/or partially hydrogenated fat were just too prevalent for me. I don’t eat a lot of prepared food in the first place, and I just don’t see putting all of this stuff into my body when the purpose of losing weight in the first place is to get healthier. We decided that perhaps, this wasn’t the right way to go.

Back to portion size. Back to finding alternatives to that cake, pie, or ice cream that is always in the house.
It’s time to see “1” again.


Eating in San Francisco

Another trip to San Francisco – and another all-out foodfest! What is it about traveling home that brings out the glutton in me?

We landed at 11am on Thursday, after a fairly uneventful flight from Philadelphia (okay, after boarding, they discovered we had a leaking fuel pump on the plane and United brought over another plane – only an hour delay in leaving…) and after picking up a car and checking into the hotel, went to pick up Pop for lunch.

We headed to the local IHOP. It’s been a while since I’ve been in an IHOP, and this particular one in San Bruno hasn’t changed much on the inside, but the menu has definitely improved! It was high noon on the west coast, but I hadn’t really had breakfast, yet, so I decided to blend the two with their new Bacon and Egg Burger. I hate to admit it, but it was really good! I ordered the egg over easy to the shock of the waitress (who had to let me know it would run all over the place – the whole idea!) and it did, indeed, make a bit of a mess. A yummy mess, I might add. Victor ordered waffles and Pop had a burger. We ate like there was no tomorrow!

Going out with Pop is always a treat – his. He flat-out refuses to let one of his kids pick up the tab. One would think that after almost 55 years I’d be used to it – but I always try and grab the check. The man is fast at 83!

After lunch it was back to the hotel to unpack and get ready for dinner. We were meeting our friends Christi and her mom, Pat at Nick’s Rockaway in Pacifica at 5:15pm.

Nick’s hasn’t changed much over the years. It’s still an adequate 1950-s Italian-ish restaurant with a killer view of the Pacific. Our waiter, Jim, was another story. Fun and talented, he really made the meal a memorable one. I opted for a Crab and Shrimp Louie – an old San Francisco salad one cannot find east of the Pacific Ocean. Iceberg lettuce, hard cooked eggs, beets, tons of crab and bay shrimp… Tres fabu!

Of course we had to spring for desserts, too. Tradition when eating with Christi and Pat is ordering desserts and then taking a bite, passing to the right, taking a bite, passing to the right… We ordered “Banana’s Foster” that actually was banana fritters – OMG good!

Saturday breakfast was at Big Joe’s in San Bruno. It’s an institution in SB with food that’s hard to beat – and prices that are cheap, cheap, cheap. I had the requisite bacon and eggs with hash browns and sourdough toast. I got 6 slices of thick-sliced bacon and perfectly cooked over easy eggs. Buttery hash browns… It was perfect. As usual.

Saturday night took us to Celia’s Mexican restaurant in San Bruno. I’ve been going to Celia’s since first stepping into the original Celia’s when it was a mere storefront on Judah Street. (I also went to grammar school with the owner’s son many moons ago…) We were actually supposed to go to my grammar school's 40th Reunion that night, but Pop had other plans for us. 40 years ago I would have done what I wanted. Funny how priorities change as we age.

But, back to dinner... One “Perfecto Special” later, I was stuffed beyond belief. Carne asada, flautas, enchilada, chile relleños, taco, burrito, rice, and beans. It was perfecto, as usual!

Pop’s birthday – and Super Bowl Sunday – brought all of us to my brother’s house for a day of serious eating! Debbie made chili - a recipe she found that called for Kobe beef (she didn’t use it…) And Mike mde ribs… fall-off-the-bone ribs… and Phoebe’s baked beans, and fresh Dungeness crabs from Eileen. Susan brought jalapeño chicken wings. And chips and dips, and guacamole… more food than we could possibly eat. But we did try.

And then not one, but two birthday cakes!

I was pleasantly miserable until the cakes came out. I had to go for it. Both cakes. Not small pieces.

Pass the Bromo.