Of Elves and Type 1 Diabetes

Sometime after you have children, your expectations of Christmas change.  I’ll admit that even into my early 20s, I really looked forward to seeing what gifts I would receive on Christmas morning.  Once I had my wonderful children, the focus immediately changed from my enjoyment of Christmas to their enjoyment of Christmas.  I find that that feeling has grown each year.  This year that was especially true, as it has been a difficult year for all of us.

The most poignant moment of Christmas this year came in the form of my daughter’s Christmas letter to Santa.  Katie is eight now, and in some earlier conversations this year, you can see the cracks in the foundation of belief.  Brendan, age five, is still in solid Santa territory, but I wondered if she was just keeping up appearances for her brother’s sake.

On Christmas Eve, Katie spent some time that afternoon crafting a rather lengthy letter to Santa.  She’s a super-smart, ultra-polite kid and she had some questions for the big man.

Here is the text of the main letter:

Dear Santa,

My name is Katie, but I know you know that and I know that you know what I want for Christmas.  So that’s not why I’m writing you this letter.  I just want too ask a few questions if you don’t mind.  How many toys can one elf make in a day?  How many elfs do you have?  Where do you find elfs?  How dose (does) your slegh (sleigh) fly if it’s the raindeer (reindeer) then how do they fly?  Do the raindeer like to fly?  I am sorry if I asked to many questions.

From,

Katie

Now, aside from the grammar and spelling errors, this is a very complicated letter for Santa and his 6 foot 2, midwestern elf who crafts response letters to answer. BUT THEN THERE WAS THE PS.

So, about an hour later, Katie inserted a scrap of paper into the handcrafted envelope on the mantel.  I was told I should check it out by my sister-in-law.  And there it was:

I just lost it right there.  Normally, I’ve been able to keep it all together this year concerning the diabetes.  Yes, it totally sucks, and I am so grateful to live in a world where Type 1 Diabetes is manageable, but there is no escaping it.

Even on Christmas.

I am pretty sure I know where the question came from.  Katie and I both LOVE the movie Elf, and if you have seen the movie, you know that Buddy and his elf kindred eat nothing but the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup.  I imagine she was curious HOW an elf would be able to manage diabetes.

Anyway, Santa’s 6 foot 2 midwestern elf took dictation from the big man himself and crafted a response letter answering the questions which you can see below.

In case you can’t see it, the letter reads as follows:

Dearest Katie and Brendan,

You have both been So Good this year!  Katie, I know it has been a rough year, and I am so proud of your bravery.  Brendan, you too have been such a wonderful and loving boy!  I am proud of you too!  I have little time, so I’ll answer questions quickly!

I have 10,000 elves who make 200 toys a day.  That’s 700 million toys a year!  Elves come from every country on Earth!  Reindeer love to fly and I raise them on a secret farm!  (I won”t tell you where!)  As to your last question, yes, some elves have diabetes.  It is difficult for them as they love sweets.  I think they are some of my bravest elves, but like you, they have great spirits, and a Wonderful attitude!  Brendan, keep up the good work in kindergarten!

Merry Christmas,

Santa

Overall, I don’t know much longer Santa will be a part of Katie’s life.  But, I will say that her letter will be the most lasting memory I have of this Christmas.

If you have a child with Type 1 in your family, you know Christmas can be a difficult time.  However, as Katie reminds us, elves would have an even more difficult time with type 1.  I think the important thing is to be like Buddy.  Keep a positive attitude, sing loudly, and enjoy life as best you can.  I know Katie is following that path.  I hope your family had a marvelous Christmas, and here is wishing you all a very happy and healthy new year.

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Christmas Presents

Tags

America's Test Kitchen, Apple Pie, bacon, Christmas, Creamy Maple Syrup, Creamy Maple Syrup with Bacon, Elf, maple syrup, Pancakes, Prime Rib

Sometime after you have children, your expectations of Christmas change.  I’ll admit that even into my early 20s, I really looked forward to seeing what gifts I would receive on Christmas morning.  Once I had my wonderful children, the focus immediately changed from my enjoyment of Christmas to their enjoyment of Christmas.  I find that that feeling has grown each year.  This year that was especially true, as it has been a difficult year for all of us.

The most poignant moment of Christmas this year came in the form of my daughter’s Christmas letter to Santa.  Katie is eight now, and in some earlier conversations this year, you can see the cracks in the foundation of belief.  Brendan, age five, is still in solid Santa territory, but I wondered if she was just keeping up appearances for her brother’s sake.

On Christmas Eve, Katie spent some time that afternoon crafting a rather lengthy letter to Santa.  She’s a super-smart, ultra-polite kid and she had some questions for the big man.

Here is the text of the main letter:

Dear Santa,

My name is Katie, but I know you know that and I know that you know what I want for Christmas.  So that’s not why I’m writing you this letter.  I just want too ask a few questions if you don’t mind.  How many toys can one elf make in a day?  How many elfs do you have?  Where do you find elfs?  How dose (does) your slegh (sleigh) fly if it’s the raindeer (reindeer) then how do they fly?  Do the raindeer like to fly?  I am sorry if I asked to many questions.

From,

Katie

Now, aside from the grammar and spelling errors, this is a very complicated letter for Santa and his 6 foot 2, midwestern elf who crafts response letters to answer. BUT THEN THERE WAS THE PS.

So, about an hour later, Katie inserted a scrap of paper into the handcrafted envelope on the mantel.  I was told I should check it out by my sister-in-law.  And there it was:

I just lost it right there.  Normally, I’ve been able to keep it all together this year concerning the diabetes.  Yes, it totally sucks, and I am so grateful to live in a world where Type 1 Diabetes is manageable, but there is no escaping it.

Even on Christmas.

I am pretty sure I know where the question came from.  Katie and I both LOVE the movie Elf, and if you have seen the movie, you know that Buddy and his elf kindred eat nothing but the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup.  I imagine she was curious HOW an elf would be able to manage diabetes.

Anyway, Santa’s 6 foot 2 midwestern elf took dictation from the big man himself and crafted a response letter answering the questions which you can see below.

Overall, I don’t know much longer Santa will be a part of Katie’s life.  But, I will say that her letter will be the most lasting memory I have of this Christmas.

And with that out of the way, it’s on to my second favorite thing about Christmas.

Massive amounts of amazing food.

I get A LOT of food around Christmas.  It’s one of the perks of being a teacher.  I get cookies, candy, and different mixes as Christmas presents each year.  It’s rather overwhelming, and each year I take a large portion of the Christmas bounty to Michigan to share with my wife’s family.

I had two excellent mixes this year.  The first was an awesome beer bread mixture that we had with dinner my first night there.  The second was a gift from our pastor’s wife.

Carol is a marvelous cook.  We’ve always had excellent meals over at their house.  As a matter of fact, I just finished snacking on her incredible antipasti about 10 minutes ago.  Anyway, this Christmas she gave us a variety of goodies:

Chocolate Hazelnut Pancake Mix

Creamy Maple Syrup

and for the win,

Creamy Maple Syrup WITH BACON.

Now, I’ll tell you, creamy maple syrup is incredible.  It’s pure maple syrup that is heated and combined with heavy cream.

Tree goodness+Cow goodness=AWESOME

I had it on waffles and thought, “This is amazing.”

Tree goodness+Cow goodness+Pig goodness=CHRISTMAS MIRACLE.

We had the Chocolate Hazelnut pancakes Christmas eve morning.  I heated the Creamy Maple Bacon Syrup carefully in the microwave, stirring occasionally, making sure it wouldn’t get too hot or overflow in the microwave.

Then I put it on the chocolatey pancakes.

BEST.

PANCAKES.

EVER.

I’m pretty sure standard pancakes are ruined for me now.  I even had regular maple syrup on a waffle a couple of mornings later, and I’ll admit, it was a bit of a letdown.  It was so perfect.  The salty bacon mixed in with the creamy sweet syrup, blending with the rich pancakes made for a breakfast experience I’ll long remember.

On Christmas Eve, we had the traditional dinner of oyster stew.  I posted a bit about this earlier in the year (i’m amazed that I’ve created 47 posts this year…and that I can self-reference myself).  It was pretty good, and it paved the way for my new favorite Christmas tradition:

CHRISTMAS DAY PRIME RIB!

Without a doubt, prime rib is my favorite meat.  You may have noticed my banner at the top of the page.  That’s last last year’s Christmas day prime rib.

I remember the first time I ever had it as a freshman in college at a restaurant called Barth’s at the Bridge, in Cedarburg, Wisconsin (Sadly, I just discovered this restaurant is no more).  It was before a dance and a large group of us went out for dinner together.  I still remember the first time I saw this huge chunk of VERY red meat sitting before me.  Now, I came from a family where meat was only EVER served WELL WELL WELLLLLLLL DONE.  That prime rib was my introduction into how flavorful meat could be.

My father in law uses the America’s Test Kitchen recipe for Prime Rib.  A copy of which can be found HERE.  He even dry ages it for a week beforehand as well, which really concentrates the flavors.  This is a big key in making an outstanding prime rib.  I really don’t do much in the preparation of this marvelous meat.  I usually help carve, or hover around the kitchen basking in the prime rib’s reflected glory.  However, I do eat prime rib, and eat a lot of it.

This year, the sides included asparagus with grated parmesan, corn casserole, cheesy potato casserole, and rolls.  I DO NOT PARTAKE IN THESE FILLERS.

I had a plate of prime rib.  The lovely and talented wife asked if I would like to take a minute for her to take a well-crafted photo of the prime rib before I devoured it.

NO.

So, I hastily took this picture and dug in.

And then I dug in on a second piece.

And then I had a slice of apple pie a la mode from the AMAZING Grand Traverse Pie Company.

And upon the completion of this meal, I slept for nearly three hours.

It is truly my favorite thing we do on Christmas day (we open gifts Christmas Eve), and is part of what makes Christmas a special time of year.

With ALL of that said, I hope you and yours had a very Merry Christmas, and I pray you all have a happy and safe new year.  As usual, I’ll ask a question to close.  What are your family’s Christmas food traditions?

How I Roll

My first car was a 1986 Chevy Caprice Classic.  It was my parents’ car, and when I turned 16, they let me have it when they bought a new mini van.  Although not exactly a teenager’s dream car, I loved it.  It went by several names…The SS Crowder and the Tan Tank come to mind.  Man, my friends and I had some good times in that car.  I also drove my sister to school for two years in that car.  Man we had some fights in that car…

Here is a picture I found that shows what my car looked like…oddly it appears to be in some sort of Italian village, which would not be a very easy place to drive an 86 Caprice.

Sadly, before I went off to college, we sold the Caprice.  I have truly missed that car ever since.  Well, last week I found myself in need of a new vehicle as the old Ford Focus was on its last legs.

We last had a minivan in 2010, and since we’ve had two vehicles that only seat five apiece.  This has been somewhat problematic whenever grandparents visit, or when I need to take groups of kids on field trips at school.  Sometimes you just need to seat more than five people.

So, I started looking for vehicles a while back.  I looked at SUVs and other minivans (against my personal desires), but I kept coming back to my whimsical desire for a big car…like I had back in high school…

There were a couple of moments this year that really cemented that desire in my heart.  First, the family and I went on a HUGE roadtrip this summer throughout the west.  We actually rented a car for the trip, and when I went to the the rental counter the day of my pickup, the car we ordered wasn’t there.  So the not-so-friendly rental clerk asked me if I’d like to upgrade for $5 a day.  I asked what my options were.

“A Town Car or a Prius,” said the unenthusiastic clerk.

I took the Prius.

Now the Prius was awesome for our long trip.  As my wife will tell you, I obsessed over the incredible gas milage we were getting…I believe I exclaimed, “LOOK AT THIS MILAGE!” at least four times a day.  But something happened in Eunice, New Mexico that planted a seed in my head.

We had stopped to stretch our legs in this little oil town, out in the middle of nowhere.  While taking a walk, I noticed a Lincoln Town Car parked along the street.  I said to my son, “That’s the other car we could have gotten instead of the Prius.”

His eyes got big as he stared at the gargantuan slab of American metal parked nobly before him and exclaimed, “That car is awesome!  We could fit all my friends in it!”  He looked at it with wonderment, staring in the windows and describing how he could fit his friends inside.  Now, being  a small person with a limited social circle, he was telling the truth.  He COULD fit ALL his friends inside that massive car.  Anyway, from that point on, the boy was on the lookout for Town Cars.  For a while, whenever he saw one, he would point it out, and state his desire to get one to fit all his friends in.  It was adorable.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving.  My lovely wife’s entire family came down to St. Louis for Thanksgiving.  Her grandpa is an 80 year old trucker.  He drives A LOT.  Being of a more experienced age, he drives a Mercury Grand Marquis.  One night, the whole family went to the movies.  There were ten of us, and we decided that six of us would go in the Mercury, while the other four would go in my in-law’s Prius.  I got to drive the Grand Marquis.  My daughter sat on the middle front bench seat, along with her great-grandpa, and we had a full three in the back as well.  The daughter loved it…I loved it.  It was like driving a comfy couch, gliding down the road.  It brought back a lot of memories, and I thought that this was the sort of vehicle to make memories in.

So, fast forward to last week.  After some searching, I found the car of my rather unusual dreams.

A 2007 Lincoln Town Car.

Amidst my Internet research, I discovered that the average age of a Town Car buyer is 69 years old.  The dealer even looked at me funny when I said I wanted a test drive.

But I don’t care.  I got a deal, sold the Focus for more than I bought it for 2 years ago, and am now gliding down the road like a senior…in high school again.

The car already has a couple of nicknames.  My daughter and I like “The Silver Bullet” while my son likes “The Silver Fire” (Not sure where that came from).  We drove up to Michigan with it last week, and the kids enjoyed the ride.  I found it very comfortable for a 521 mile trip.  It certainly held all our Christmas supplies with ease.

I hope this car lasts a while.  I even have dreams that it might be my kids’ first car.  But mostly, I  hope my family and I make some awesome memories in this car.  That Caprice was the car of my youth and we had a lot of good times in there as a kid and a teenager.  I am hopeful that the Silver Bullet can be part of my family’s memory making experiences in the days, weeks, and years to come.

I know this doesn’t have anything to do with food, but man, I think the two are similar.  People really have strong memories tied to both.  So, with that said, and with Christmas approaching, I have two questions.

What car (or food) do you have the fondest memories of?

How do you recapture those memories today?

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

A Dairy Good Science Lesson part 1

Tags

butter, education, homemade butter, physical changes, science

We’ve been covering matter in the lower grade classroom for a while now…solids, liquids, gases etc.  This last week we started talking about physical changes.  A physical change is where something changes its shape, size, or appearance, but the matter itself doesn’t change.  Of course, the book gives the example of folding paper…or ripping paper…or crumpling paper.  What fun.  So, instead, I decided to add a cooking element to this science concept.

We made butter.

In case you have never made butter, it’s pretty easy.

First, get a group of excitable and energetic children together.

Second, take a pint of heavy whipping cream, place it into a tupperware container.

(Add salt if desired)

Third, shake.  I recommend each kiddo take 30 second shifts at shaking.  On Thursday, I separated the boys from the girls in a shaking competition.*

*Interestingly, the boys pretty much had butter after ten minutes.  They took their shaking seriously.  The girls supported each other and had a lovely time.  The boys were shouting, “SHAKE HARDER!”  It was intense.  There was some leakage and sore arms on the boys side.  Meanwhile the girls politely handed the container one to another.  Gentle shakes and smiles were had.  I am wondering why women were the butter churners in the old days.  Men would have had this chore done in no time flat.

After 10 or 15 minutes, the cream has become butter!  How does this happen?

Well, the fat in the cream is like a tiny little balloon filled with sticky fatty molecules on the insides.  After you shake it long enough, the “skin” of the fat blobs ruptures.  The sticky insides then come out.  The fat starts to clump together, separating from the water that is also in the cream.  The more you shake, the more the fat clumps together.

SHAZAAM!  Butter.  (Also Buttermilk…which is the nasty liquid at the bottom of the container.)

Now of course, I didn’t explain that to a group of 5-7 year olds, but I did explain that it was still cream, and that we had just seen a physical change.  Good times.

Well, we had a good time making the butter, but I didn’t bring bread to eat it with.  So, on Tuesday, we got our butter out of the fridge and had a delightful and education filled afternoon snack.  Interestingly, one kid asked if bread was a physical change…which its not.  It’s a chemical change.

So now I’m on my Christmas break.  What does my son want to do?  Make butter…he tried today with milk.  Tomorrow we shall get cream and do it for real.

So, scientific readers, any food science ideas you’d like to share?

“Currying” our Favor…

Tags

great service, Gulab jamun, India Palace, kofta, meatballs

After our lovely meal at 11 11 Mississippi on Friday night, I had a very busy Saturday morning.  The details of which I will go into in another blog post.  I had to be home by noon so the lovely wife could go and photograph a wedding.  I have to say, I was pretty tired and didn’t really feel up to making lunch, even if that just meant quesadillas.  Furthermore, I knew the kiddos and I had plenty of Christmas shopping to do that afternoon, and I would be heading out AGAIN.  All this added up to my decision to seek out my comfort food of choice, INDIAN BUFFET!!!  Now the question was which way would I go…out to St. Peters and Copper Chimney, or toward the city and India Palace.  These are the two closest places for me to get my fix.  I was pretty sure the Palace would have gulab jamun available for dessert, so our decision was made.

Into the car, over the bridge, and off to the Best Western Airport we go.  As usual, my son became super excited when he saw the 11 story hotel and knew where we were going.*  

*If you were going to market a restaurant to a five year old boy, putting it on top of a hotel is a pretty good idea.  

“I’M GOING TO PRESS THE BUTTON!!!”

“11TH FLOOR!  ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP!”

And when we leave the restaurant, there is always the game of which of the elevator doors will open…his door won again!  EXTRA EXCITEMENT!

“WHICH BUTTON DO I PUSH?”

“G for ground floor,” I reply.

“YES!  ALL THE WAY DOWN.”

Anyway, the elevator ride adds to his total dining experience.  And this post is mostly about him.

Our wonderful five year old son can be quite a handful at times…but he is also quite the charmer.  Currently, he is the only boy in his small kindergarten class of nine students…and he LOVES it.  He put those skills to good use at India Palace Saturday.

The place was packed.  There was a line for the buffet. Brendan grabbed his usual tandoori chicken drumstick and serving of rice, but when we got to the portion of the line where beef korma (basically meatballs in korma sauce) is usually located, there was none to be found.  

The boy loudly but pleasantly proclaimed, “Oh man, there’s no meatballs today.  But that’s OK, I’ll just get something else.”  And with that picked out some chicken curry.  With full plates of aromatic curries, we returned to our booth.  Now, I don’t know who heard him, or how it happened, but one of the managers appeared minutes later with a special plate of meatballs just for the boy.  

His face lit up!  “YES!! MEATBALLS!!  THANK YOU!”  

And later…

“This is the best meal EVER.”  There were quite a few meatballs.  He already had a full plate of food, but he made room for four meatballs.  He even let his sister have one.  While I was back at the buffet getting dessert for the kids and I, the manager came back to the booth to ask the kiddos if they would like to take the rest of the meatballs home.  This is significant, as you are generally not permitted to bring leftovers home from the buffet. Being polite children, they said the would ask me if they could.  

(As if I would refuse extra meatballs.)  So, when the time for our bill came, he brought out a little container for the two remaining meatballs and sauce that was left.  As I checked the bill to leave a tip, I checked it closely.  

No charge for the meatballs.  So with that said, I’d like to say thank you for making my son’s day. 

Well played, India Palace, well played.

 

11 11 Mississippi: Hobbits would Approve.

Tags

11 11 Mississippi, beef, pork, St. Louis, The Hobbit

First off, a big, BIG THANK YOU goes to our friends Hannah and Chris for giving us the gift certificate that prompted our visit to this fine restaurant on Friday night.

We had been looking forward to Friday night for months.  Last night was the premiere of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  We are huge Tolkien fans and love the Lord of the Rings series.  We decided to make a night out of it by adding dinner as well.  After some deliberation, we decided a matinee showing followed by a late dinner would be the way to go.  If the movie was good, we could discuss it at length over a nice dinner, if it was a bomb (I’m talking about you  M. Night Shama-lama-ding-dong and your The Last Airbender), we could salvage the evening with a great meal.

However, between various stresses of the week and the tragic school shooting in Connecticut yesterday, we weren’t really in a jovial mood going into the movie, and it we still were a little down at dinner, even though the movie was excellent.

With all that said, we had a marvelous dinner.  We were seated at a cozy table on the upper level of the restaurant with a view of what was going on in the kitchen.  I really enjoyed seeing the pizzas going into and coming out of the wood fired oven.  When I go back, I’ll have to give those a try.

I will say, that since I’ve started blogging about restaurants, I have come to pay closer attention to the look of the restaurant and my overall comfort level while dining.  I found two things I really liked about 11 11 Mississippi, and one thing I didn’t.  First, my chair was super comfortable.  I will admit, I prefer booths to tables in restaurants.  I prefer cooshy comfort over hard wood any day.  But, these chairs were incredibly comfortable.  It made me want to settle in for a long meal.  Second, I found the restaurant to be appropriately warm.  Usually I don’t care about warmth that much, but my lovely wife HATES being cold.  When we go into a cold restaurant, it becomes a major topic of discussion and distraction.  She will then proceed to go into Eskimo mode, putting on whatever coat she has at the ready.  That always bugs me.  11 11 was extremely pleasant.  I even commented on it at the end of the meal how nice it felt in there.

However, we were sat at quite possibly the darkest table I’ve sat at in a long while.  I am not Gollum.  Give me light please.  We looked around and saw that other portions of the restaurant were well lit, and it was a bit annoying.  Sadly, our food pictures didn’t turn out well for this post.

Other than that minor quibble, we had a great experience.  Our waiter was excellent, rattling off the night’s specials with ease, and delivering prompt but unobtrusive service throughout the evening.

We ordered a couple of glasses of red wine, (Sadly, not from the Southfarthing) and ordered the Fontina Fonduta, an Italian take on cheese fondue.  Before that came out, we enjoyed the focaccia bread that came with crushed garlic and oil.

The Fondue came with toasted wedges of bread, and was a nice start to our meal.  I did notice at this point that I was falling into the “Filling up on bread trap” and left some of the appetizer uneaten.

Since we had a rather large gift certificate, we went all out on our meals, ordering the 12 ounce ribeye and a special of the evening, Porchetta.

Porchetta is a boneless pork roast that is stuffed with various herbs and roasted over a wood fire.  It had a layer of crispy skin on the outside, and was served with its own pan drippings, atop a portion of Yukon gold mashed potatoes and green beans.  It was fantastic.  Some bites of pork were fork tender, and had a very full flavor, much richer than your average store-bought pork.  I am not sure if it was a heritage breed hog, but it certainly showed how much flavor pork can have.

With that said, the lovely wife’s ribeye was even better.  Served with a gorgonzola butter, it was perfectly cooked to her order of medium.  I have a theory about beef.  Outstanding beef is pretty much better than any other meat, however, most beef is just alright.  This was outstanding.  The lovely wife even commented, “I don’t usually eat fat.  But this fat is amazing.”  Yes.  Yes it was.  Spoken like a true dwarf.

When all was said and done, we were two satisfied hobbits.  All Bilbo Baggins wanted was a quiet hole, a warm fire, a comfy chair, good food, and good company.  He would have felt right at home at 11 11 Mississippi.

And so did we.

Quick Bites: JJ’s Restaurant, St. Charles

Tags

Burgers, JJ's Restaurant, Review, St. Charles

On Monday night, the family and I ate at a restaurant we often passed but never tried in St. Charles.  JJ’s is a family restaurant serving American food.  While not fancy, it was a nice locally-owned family restaurant in the St. Charles area, and for that it gets my support.  Here’s a quick rundown of what I liked:

FREE buckets of air-popped popcorn for appetizers.  We had to wait a while for the lovely wife to show up from work, and the hot, buttery popcorn helped pass the time until her arrival.  As my wife will tell you, I am a popcorn snob, and refuse to eat the microwave variety, and am picky about my movie popcorn.  This was good.

Quick, cheerful service.  Our waitress was prompt and pleasant.  A manager also asked how we were doing once our meal arrived.

Giant burgers!  The sign says they are famous for burgers and have served over one million…while not in the McDonalds stratosphere, that’s pretty good.  There are many varieties to choose from, and after some deliberation, I chose the Cajun burger. It was plenty spicy and the patty was surely handmade.   At first, I was a little bummed by the $9 price, but as I saw the patty spilling out the edges of the ample bun, I felt I was getting my money’s worth.

Mayonnaise.  All burgers come with mayo.  As they should.

As a side you could choose fries or onion “tanglers”.  I love having an onion option for a side.  Interestingly, actual onion rings were extra, but these thin breaded onions were greasy good, and were a hit with everyone at the table.

Fries.  I usually don’t like crinkle-cut fries, but my wife had some with her French-dip sandwich (also good).  These fries were slightly crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside.  Not overdone sticks, or limp and soggy as so many crinkle cut fries seem to be.  Nicely done.

Overall, I’d say if you are looking for a non-chain family restaurant in St. Charles, JJ’s is a great choice for you.  You can’t go wrong with popcorn, pleasant service, and giant burgers.

The most wonderful time of the year

Tags

candy, chocolate chips, Christmas, cookies, marshmallows, peanut butter

The lovely wife went to a Christmas cookie party at Hannahviolin’s house the other night.  She came home with a bounty of Christmas cookies/candy treats.  Hooray for sugary goodness…however it makes for a constant challenge to my personal resolve to lead a healthy lifestyle.  So far, I’m limiting myself to two small treats a day.  This is doubly challenging since my two favorite treats are lurking in the house beckoning to me throughtout the evening hours.  First, the lovely wife made my personal kryptonite, her chocolate chip cookies*.

*I will never share my wife’s recipe on this blog…I truly think it could be a million dollar idea someday.  Let me just say that Toll House cookies taste like salty garbage in comparison.

Second, my dad made a batch of his mallow mellow.  This dish has quite a history in my family.  As children, my sister and I won some sort of Christmas recipe contest in the Suburban Journals for “our” recipe which was entered by my mom in the kids recipe division.    We got our picture in the St. Charles Journal and split a $50 savings bond!!!  SWEET!  Today, my dad has taken on the role of head confectioner in the Crowder family.  Now, my dad doesn’t do a whole lot of cooking, but at Christmas Mallow Mellow is HIS dish.  Neither my wife or I have been to make it as well as he does.  Even so, it is a wonderful candy that you should make.

What is mallow mellow you ask?  It’s THE best Christmastime treat in my family.  Mallow mellow starts with a layer of mini marshmallows lined on the bottom of an 8×8 pan lined with aluminum foil.

In a saucepan do the following:

Melt 2 cups chocolate chips

2 Tablespoons of butter

1/2 cup of peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Add a 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts after melted.

Pour over the marshmallows and chill in the fridge (or freezer if you’re impatient)

When it’s hardened, cut and serve.

I find it nearly impossible to eat just one of these perfect Christmas confections.  I hope you and your family will find them to be a treat as well.

Finally, what is your favorite Christmas candy or cookie?  Let me know!

How do you say “Fiasco” in Chinese?

Tags

Chinese, Cooking, Failure, Pot stickers

Well, today wrapped up the last of this semester’s regularly scheduled cooking club meetings at school.  The theme for today was Chinese food…not authentic, mind you, but close enough for the age 5-10 crowd.  I warned everyone beforehand that I had never attempted any of these dishes before, and with little energy or spare time this week, I don’t think I planned out my plan of attack adequately.  However, a good time was had by all, and no sprinklers were set off.

More on that in a bit.

The menu for today included stir-fried pork with vegetables, lo-mein noodles, and pot-stickers.  I found all three recipes online, and they all seemed to be within my comfort range. However, the timing of these three dishes required precision I was not remotely able to carry out.

Suffice it to say, there will be no restaurant named Crowder’s Lucky Happy Mandarin Wok Dragon 88 coming anytime soon.

Let me just summarize one component of our meal, the pot-stickers.  We browned our pork-cabbage-onion mixture and set it aside.  Next, I gave each kid four wonton wrappers on a paper plate.  My indispensable parent-assistant, Michael, assisted with the younger kids.  I owe him big time for all his help this semester.  Anyway, once everything was in place I began to demonstrate the ancient art of the pot sticker.

I explained it was like a Chinese ravioli.  You would put the filling on the inside, then wet down the edges of the wrapper and fold it into little triangles which you would seal shut.  The website I used suggested crimping the edges with a fork.  I did this with little success, and ended up just pressing down the edges firmly with my fingers.

So, off we went.  Most kids had some pretty good looking pot stickers but there were a few rips or tears here or there.  My son wet his entire wonton wrappers with water…and wanted to eat it like a taco.

Now for the cooking.  The directions say to fry them in oil for 2-3 minutes, before adding water to the pan and letting them boil for an additional 3 minutes or so.

Obviously, being a careful adult, I was going to do this myself, with the kids watching to the side.  So I sent the younger ones out to set the table and then play in the gym while a group of 3rd-5th graders watched my cooking magic.

Frying went well…oohh, brown on the bottom.  Looking good!

Adding water…carefully now…

AND FLAMES LEAP FROM THE GAS COOKTOP!  3rd through 5th graders gawk then in exclaim in amazement!

“Whoooah…”

“Is that supposed to happen?”

“Coooolll!”

“THIS IS THE BEST COOKING CLUB EVER!”

I, meanwhile, am somewhat freaked.  We have a full commercial kitchen and the children are well away from the stove, yet FIRE IS FIRE.  On the other hand, I have their attention.

So we go on to make the second batch of pot stickers…Looking back I should have removed the pan from the burner when adding the water.  But, I didn’t.  So this time, there was another flare up.  One of the astute children commented:

“Mr. Crowder, there’s smoke.”

Yes, yes there was.  Smoke in the kitchen.  Visions of fire alarms going off.  Local volunteer fire department showing up.  Me explaining, “I was just making pot stickers.”  Sprinklers going off all over the gym.  However, another astute student said, “Turn on the fan!”  I had not noticed the switch for the fan above the stove, and promptly switched it on.

Commercial fans are powerful, and crisis was averted.

Overall, it was more adventure than I was up for this week.  When all was said and done, I would say about 25% of our potstickers stayed together.  Many came unglued during cooking…and the kids were not impressed with the taste.

The pork tenderloin stir fry saved the day (Is there anything pork tenderloin and soy sauce can’t do?).

I’m not sure what parents will hear at home, but I will say, I think the kids have at least learned that cooking is interesting, and it can be a learning process for everyone.

So good readers, I’ll ask, what was your biggest misadventure in the kitchen.  Tonight wasn’t my biggest, but it was certainly public.  Let me know!

Xie Xie (Thank you) for reading!