The Sandwich Life

Christmas Wandering

I'm fighting to stay awake today. I don't know why. I didn't sleep wonderfully, but that's not unusual. The grey day perhaps. The Christmas break laziness continues. It's not really the squalor of Christmas past however, there are no Lego creations taking over the dining room table, no boxes or toys all over the floor. Just the normal messiness of our house. Our tree may not make it to Epiphany....it seems to be folding its lower branches up like an umbrella. The boys alternate from blaming me for too many lights and ornaments, to not enough water. Regardless of cause, it seems to be my fault. Life as a mother. Today Owen told me I fart a lot. That Ernie burps a lot and I fart a lot. This from the child....well, I will not go into it. It is indeed a good thing I adore them so.

Leo's at work, Ernie and Owen are off on errands relating to Owen's new guitar pickup. I am torn between dozing, reading, or picking up. Don't lay any bets on the second two. Before I give in, or fight it off elsewhere, here are a few pictures from a wandering drive the other day. My friend Rayne had recommended Le Roy for Christmas decorations and she was indeed right. I always forget what a nice town Le Roy is. I need to go inside the library next time....such an intriguing building, and I should go back later at night for better pictures. For now however:

In Which I Ponder Tourtiere and Grass Fed Beef and the Like

I was determined to make a meat pie, or a tourtière, that I could eat this Christmas. If you know me, you know this is a holiday tradition that I hold dear. I didn't attempt it at Thanksgiving....between the pie crust and crackers, and no pork, I just gave up. I missed it though....it's amazing how much a food tradition can represent to one. I almost teared up in the night before Thanksgiving, realizing that I hadn't had it for dinner the night before, as we always do. 

I tried to be thoughtful about 'cheating' on my food protocol (trying to think of some word other than diet) at the holidays. I drank wine at my party, and for the next few days, Christmas Eve at the Esquire, and Christmas Day. As far as actual food goes, I did pretty good, but I knew I had to do some cheats to get my tourtière. I'm not supposed to be having the various flours that go into gluten free baking at the moment, but I figured that I was one cheat I could come to terms with for two pieces of pie. Given that I can hardly make regular pie crust, Ernie came home with a Glutino brand pie crust mix for me. It called for eggs, so I used flaxseed substitution, which I can now have. It came out pretty good, it was more crumbly than regular pie crust but tasted pretty good. Ernie even liked it and he's not a big fan of pie crust (I know, I don't understand either).

The filling was the challenge of course. My recipe comes from my maternal grandmother's notes, and she refers to it as "Mother's Meat Pie." There are millions of recipes for tourtière or meat pie, but ours is simple, calling for ground pork, ground beef, onion, crushed crackers, water, cinnamon, cloves, and salt and pepper. I can't have ground pork, so I substituted ground turkey. That was easy. Last time I made it I found gluten free saltines (originally common crackers, but now we use the easier to find saltines) but it was eh. Many tourtière versions use potato as a binder. I can't yet have white potato but I can have sweet potato. I was worried that the sweet potato flavor might be too strong and too sweet, but it was great! I just boiled some chopped sweet potato and mashed it. In fact, if I hadn't known there was sweet potato in it, I don't think I would have guessed. I skipped the onion, I thought about using celery or fennel for similar texture but I decided not to this time.

The recipe, and others I've read, have always said to add a little water and let it all cook down. However, whenever I did this when I used regular supermarket ground beef it always seemed a waste of effort to me. There was so much fat I'd have to drain and then the water never seemed to really meld with the meat. It wasn't a problem....I'd never even thought about it that much, but this year, when I added the grass fed ground beef, it seemed a bit dry, so I added the water as my grandmother, and great-grandmother had said, and it worked like a charm. Of course, when my grandmother jotted this recipe down from her mother, they would have been using grass fed beef. 

Cooking with grass fed beef is quite different and it's taken a bit to get used to, but it is hard to think about going back to regular supermarket ground beef now. Yesterday I curled up in front of the fire and browsed through some library books online (so much easier now that I downloaded the library's app. I had hated their old app, so generally did it through their website but the new Libby app is super easy. Anyway, I read most of Real Food Fake Food and it was mind boggling. I already knew that substitution of seafood (getting other fish when you buy Red Snapper, etc) was common but I had no idea of the enormity of it all. Reading all of it, not just about seafood, but about meat, etc. again made me realize I need to really commit to buying organic, or grass-fed, or wild, as much as possible. So, I guess, as much as I was tempted by the scallops on sale at Schnuck's this week, I should hold off. So much to think about.

Most importantly, even just cheating 'a bit' with pie crust and a stolen piece of milk chocolate or two, and drinking some wine, made me feel absolutely wretched and various symptoms immediately flared up, so I am back, nose to the ground, ready for the new year.

Onward indeed.

And for your holiday pleasure, a random picture of Bob.

A Christmas

It was a good Christmas. A few tense moments, as there are at any family Christmas, and we got Owen the wrong pick up for his guitar, and Rascal broke Ernie's new Rodney Crowell Christmas mug, and a candlestick, but we came through it. The mug is smashed beyond repair. I can't find one online so I guess I'll write New West and see if perhaps have one I can buy. Then it turned out that as MANY times as poor Ernie had gone to the grocery store we still were short a couple of things....and when making the first batch of pancake batter, the melted butter was too hot and curdled the eggs...but, as I said, we came through it.

We had a quiet day, some nice time to visit with my BIL Dennis and I finally managed to pull together dinner in time for us to eat by 8 pm. A possible record. I didn't make the table all pretty as I had planned, but we used my Flow Blue Amoy plates and that made it seem somewhat festive. God bless Aldi's for having rack of lamb at a price I could rationalize. It's the first I had ever cooked it and it was wonderful. We just used garlic oil and fresh rosemary and I thought it was great. I need to play around a bit to render a bit more of the fat, and maybe with the seasoning, but it was great. I had the lamb on top of a bed of spinach greens with some sweet potato on the side. The guys had ham, mashed potatoes, and an attempt at green beans like Golden Harbor's. Not a great success, but a good starting point.

I have lots more things to post about but I'm feeling pleasantly lazy and will leave you with this.

Merry Christmas.

Who are those two MEN in front of the tree?

And Then There's This. Merry Christmas!

 

 

The 1980s Came For Christmas

The last day or two have not been particularly uplifting (and Typepad keeps wanting to autocorrect uplifting. Uplifting is a word, I swear). Lots of people were mad at me, family included, and yeah, yeah, yeah....I get that I was the common denominator, but it pretty much decimated my Christmas spirit. Fortunately, it is creeping back. For the first time EVER Ernie and I will not be wrapping packages on Christmas Eve (or, even worse, Ernie by himself wrapping presents while I sleep). And...further....today Owen found more buried treasure in the garage. A big, somewhat mouse eaten box full of photos and slides from the mid-late 80's. Spending 20 years in the garage, and who knows where before that, haven't done them any favors, but it still was delightful.

I know somewhere I have photos we took when we stayed at the late, lamented Coral Court on old Route 66 in St. Louis, but those remain to be found. However I found some that I think my friend Eileen took when we were there...hence an actual photo of me drinking a beer. Very, very rare. I stayed there several times but this visit was really nice, we were in a larger room and it had a little built in banquette within the curved walls.

And yes, the photos need to be edited, but patience for such a task is not on my list of virtues today.

Now, a couple more...Ernie and I out looking for drive ins....and no, his hair wasn't as red as it looks....

Merry Christmas.

Onward.

The Burnham Mansion Breaks My Heart Again

Maybe I was just in a bad mood today, but Seth Fein's comments about the Burnham Mansion in Smile Politely today saddened me greatly. Here are my thoughts.

 

Dear Seth,

I think you know that I love you dearly, and am incredibly supportive, and admiring, of your creative efforts, and your undying love for this town. And you and I have disagreed, with, I believe, respect, about our views on the issue of the Burnham Mansion and the renovation and expansion of Central High School. However, I am deeply saddened and disheartened by your comments about the Burnham Mansion saga, as you called it, in Smile Politely today.

First, I’m not sure why activists was in quotes. Was this to imply that they were not activists, bad activists, fake activists, or just activists you didn’t agree with? I truly do not understand that, but perhaps it is just an editing issue that doesn’t matter. More importantly, I don’t understand the reference to slave quarters. Again, I truly, truly just don’t understand. Can you explain? The Burnham house was built several decades after Emancipation. Is this a reference to servant’s quarters? I can not comprehend somehow equating this house with slavery. If you want to equate every house built in the 19th century with that, well, I got nothing…..as that would perhaps include the house that you are restoring, or so, so many structures throughout this community and this country.

You refer to adults acting as toddlers after it was announced that the house would indeed be destroyed. I agree wholeheartedly. I saw people on BOTH sides saying things that I thought were completely lacking in basic respect and common courtesy---about the issues, and particularly about the people involved. I abhorred some of the comments made about people working incredibly hard (such as Chris Kloeppel and Amy Armstrong….Amy, whom I consider a beloved personal friend), even though I happened to disagree with them. However, I also abhorred some of the equally ignorant and thoughtless comments that I heard over and over and over again about the importance of the Burnham House and those that happened to see its value and importance in this community, and throughout this nation.

Further, to imply that everyone that supported the preservation of the Burnham Mansion did not see the value of an expanded, restored and functional Central High School, is again short sighted and regrettably insulting. I supported the referendum. I saw the need. I have one son that recently graduated, and one son still attending Central. And every day I drive down Church Street to my home and I see the buildings being torn down one by one. And I could sorrowfully accept the destruction of every one of those EXCEPT the Burnham Mansion.

I applaud that you are preserving your house. I am, if not preserving, doing my damndest to sustain, an old house which I love dearly...and I believe the restoration and preservation of vernacular architecture is vital and important, in this community and beyond. However, the Burnham House was not vernacular, it was a highly significant structure, both architecturally and historically. The historic significance was important to this community, but the architectural significance was important to this country. Yes, COUNTRY, not county, not town, not community. However much I will be pleased to see a healthy and functional Central High School, I will always see the destruction of this building as an embarrassment and a disgrace. It did not have to be EITHER the Burnham or the School. As you referenced, creatively, patience, and a sense of the role of the history IN education, could have prevailed. The Burnham Mansion, without question, was built by an internationally important architect, and was one of the few remaining residential buildings by the renowned architect Daniel Burnham, who is most famous for his 1909 Plan of Chicago, for overseeing the design and construction of the 1893 Columbian Exposition, and for buildings throughout Chicago and beyond.

As Burnham once so presciently said,

Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and our grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us.

Seth, I remain your friend.

Sadly,
Cynthia

A Couple of Trees and Random Food Notes

I was terribly smitten with the Christmas trees in Gibson City and Paxton the other day and wanted to see them at night, so last night I dragged Ernie out as dusk approached. We hit Paxton first and the town looked SO pretty.

Then we headed west on Route 9 to Gibson City. There was still a glow at the horizon and it was lovely.

Many pictures later we happily headed home, feeling pleased with ourselves for actually doing something we said should do!

We sat and chatted with Leo when we got home. He had a gorgeous box of Harry & David pears that he got as a gift from work. They are extraordinarily fragrant. I made Ernie smell one and he couldn't smell it. Poor boy. Of course my increased sense of smell has a down side (the other day I was sniffing Owen and said, "uh, when's the last time you showered?) but at times like this, with a box of pears on my lap, it's delightful.

I'm in the reintroduction stage of my diet now, and it's funny...I was so excited about it, but I haven't felt that strong about it now that it's here. I haven't tried anything new in the last several days. I guess I feel good about what I'm eating. And....related to that....can we all agree that frozen strawberries taste like nothing? Maybe I just haven't found the perfect frozen strawberry, but eh. I think I have mastered my morning smoothie however....today was blueberries, cherries, greens, avocado, toasted coconut butter (heated it up too long and lo and behold, toasted coconut butter) and water. It was delightful. I actually look forward to my smoothie now. On the side a little piece of leftover turkey tenderloin that I had sautéed with Aleppo pepper. Good God....look at the dust and fallen coasters under that chair....and a gray hair next to my plate. Geesh. Unvarnished truth here on the Sandwich Life.

After my breakfast I figured I should get going. I had some grass fed stew beef that I needed to use so I started browning the meat. I pulled it out of the pan and managed to let my nice crusty fond in the pan burn. Sigh. So I pulled out another pan and dumped in sweet potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and tomato, along with a vat of homemade beef broth. Now, you'll notice I said tomato. I hadn't reintroduced tomato yet, but I thought what the hell, and ate of slice of tomato. It wasn't the reddest tomato but still had that homegrown tomato taste. Delicious. I added cinnamon, rosemary, salt and pepper to the stew ingredients and put it all on to simmer. I came in here to the living room and thought about what I should do next. I fussed on the iPad and suddenly I realized I did not feel good at all. My stomach was upset, I felt shaky, my nose was running, and my head hurt. I sat there thinking WTF? Suddenly it dawned on me....I was having a reaction to the tomatoe. WAHHHHHHH! I love tomato. I had reintroduced pepper without a problem, and somehow it didn't occur to me that I would have a problem with tomatoes. 

Well damn.

Onward anyway, onward anyway.

Merry Christmas!

 

Wandering Notes

I haven't been blogging quite as much because my computer seems to be slowly dying. Sigh. Yes, first my beloved laptop, and now this. It's an iMac from 2011 and it keeps randomly turning off and is getting fussier and fussier and fussier about turning back on. Random googling tells me it could be overheating, or....a failing power supply. Neither of these are good. Another sigh. I have a decrepit iPad but it is in similar straits. That's why you find me posting more at Instagram. I love that, but it's not quite the same.

In other random news,

I still can't figure out what the Pp entry on Owen's Christmas list is. Damn it. It may have been a great idea.  No more codes and abbreviations in the future.

Picking this up from yesterday.

After starting this and stepping away, the computer shut down and I couldn't get it to restart. So what did I do? I convinced Ernie to go for a drive. We got on Route 10 and headed toward Lincoln, Illinois, for no particular reason. I've been through there before but not in a long, long time. We were smitten with it. There were some delightful buildings and for a Sunday afternoon it seemed to be bustling. Well, bustling quietly, but just the same. We both had the thought that it reminded us of Champaign in the past...when we both were discovering downtown Champaign....for him in the 70's, for me in the 80's. Perhaps it was just the sense of unfamiliarity....something about the old buildings that hadn't been restored and changed a million times already. We stopped into an antique shops and found one of my little Pyrex fridgies. It had no lid, but fortunately, or unfortunately, one of mine had gotten broken so I had an extra lid. I try to keep to the solid colors (although the gooseberry and Early American patterns do make me a bit weak....we had the set of Early American mixing bowls in the brown and white with copper). This one was an odd little brown shade....it was marked $4 and was in the half price booth. $2.17 worth of pleasure!

We wandered on and I fell in love with a building that had a second hand/thrift shop in it. The building was gorgeous....I think it was an old furniture store and it was so pristine. The old entry way, with the display windows...inside you could see the way the windowed doors folded back to give you access....beautiful tin ceiling. I was strangely tempted by the $3 glitter Eiffel tower, but I made no purchases. Down the street was a bar called Old Joe's. A block or so over, a little Christmas tree stood in the unused stairway entrance of a little bar that offered gyros. 

We wandered on our way, stopping to take pictures of the Lincoln Theatre, and the Old Mill on Route 66.

Lots more...but that's it for now. Say a prayer for my computer.

Onward.

 

The Tree, and Other Christmas Notes

We finally decorated the tree the other night. Well, about 2/3 of the ornaments are on. We never manage to get them all on at one time. The boys flipped a coin, and Owen won, so the angel is on the top of the tree instead of the star. Leo gets the star on top next year. It was pretty much a perfect evening....a fire in the fireplace and Vince Guaraldi playing. Leo brought his train ornaments downstairs and put them on. And he pointed out that as I unwrap ornaments I say, "Ohhhh, this is a nice one," about 50% of the time. He's right of course....and I tell them where they came from.... "Oh, this is from the first batch of ornaments we ever bought together---at Lord & Taylor. The little pale blue heart screams 1980s." "Ohhhh, this is one of the ones that my mom and her roommate bought when they lived together in Boston, before she met Grandpa." "Ohhhhh, I think this one was Aunt Judi's." "Ohhhhh, I remember....I found two of these in the antique shop where Radio Maria is now, and gave them to Grandpa for Christmas one year. He loved them!" It probably gets old but I can't help myself. They of course make fun of how many Aunt Holly and Uncle Mistletoe ornaments we have. We have more Aunt Holly than Uncle Mistletoe....we lost of a few of him in some of our great tree collapses over the years. Women are much tougher you know....

Owen at long last consented to let his childhood Michael Jackson ornament go on the tree. He'd vetoed it for a number of years, but it seems wrong to veto a Christmas ornament....so on he went. I proudly placed my Marty Stuart Christmas ornament on the tree. I posted a picture on Instagram, and somebody commented that they had one too, and it must be 25 years old. Good Lord...I suppose they are right.

In other Christmas notes, we went on another drive yesterday and found several amazing things. There are TWO Casey's in Gibson City, and TWO Casey's in Paxton. This blew my mind. More importantly however, both Paxton and Gibson City have big Christmas trees in the middle of their main intersection. I was utterly smitten, or as I kept yelling, "THIS is fucking BRILLIANT." I also said that about the planter that had been turned into a snow globe with the use of a clear umbrella and cotton balls. I have already made plans to go back after dark to see them lit up. Ernie just shook his head at me.

And, in the last, unfortunately distressing, bit of Christmas news.... I made a list of presents for the boys and I abbreviated items, in case the guys found it I guess. The problem is, that I can't remember what the abbreviation stands for for one of Owen's gifts. Anybody have an idea what Pp means? This is a problem as they're not getting many gifts this year. I thought it would come to me overnight, but nada. Sigh.

Still.

Onward.

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1. This doesn't really make sense to me, but my sense of smell seems to be much stronger of late, since I started the elimination diet. Of course this leads me to complaining about the scented trash bags poor Ernie bought, but other things, like really smelling the sweet, woody scent of a parsnip peel are delightful. Anybody want to posit a theory?

2. I've always been a Christmas girl, but this year I am ALL about Christmas. Something about feeling like there is light at the end of the tunnel, I suppose. It turns out is is DIFFICULT to schedule tree decorating when one has teenagers with jobs and finals. We're late this year but we have it planned for Tuesday. Right now, the tree just has lights, but I might put beads on it tonight. That is allowed.

3. Ernie and I have been doing lots of drives and wandering through the country of late. It makes me feel more like myself.

4. In Reintroduction World, things are moving along. The chocolate went ok, but I did get headaches and a stuffy nose after I ate it, so we're putting that in a wait and see category. The strawberries went fine, but I am sad to note that frozen strawberries just aren't that exciting. I still have to decide what to have the day after tomorrow. Should I chance a nightshade? Peppers or tomato? Another tough choice. Oh, or I could go with hemp seeds. I know, the decisions are intoxicating.