Whirlwind weekend of eating and drinking

Does it get any better than that? Okay, we did spend plenty of time talking and even a few seconds discussing something other than past, present and future meals, too.

Chris and Lindsey's flight arrived in Flint with no incident. Tim and I passed them the car keys and gave them the car to take to Frankenmuth to do some long-overdue visiting of the grandparents, and we went back home in the truck. They had yet to see their newest granddaughter-in-law, and had not seen Chris in 4 years. And it was so funny to get the reaction of someone who had never seen 'Michigan's Little Bavaria' before. We practically grew up there, and nearly everyone we know lives there or has been there, and we've become jaded to the constant, expensive tourist-enticing improvements to the town, and ever more 'Germanizing' of the place, so it was refreshing to get someone else's take on it.

Dinner that night was a long, luxurious affair. We started by sampling some Stilton cheese with lemon. Kind of strange, but somehow it worked. We saw it in the grocery store, thought 'why not?', and bought it. We've had Stilton with apricots before, and a mild cheddar with cranberries, and this was another good fruit and cheese combo. I made my Mediterranean pizza as an appetizer, using the new Lodge pizza pan. With Chris's help and a large square of parchment paper, I was able to transfer the pizza to the very hot, preheated pan. We then did a repeat of the last big family meal we had, with the marinated grilled boneless leg of lamb, and an herb risotto. There are finally enough herbs to snip...they are coming along, in spite of the slow departure of winter. I put together a salad of baby greens, strawberries, grapes and pistachios. We rested and talked more, and then I made dessert, a warm mocha tart. With it, we had a Domaine Berrien 2003 Cabernet Franc Ice Wine, something we fell for last summer when we were in southwestern Michigan stopping for some tastings. The rich, toasty caramel of it seemed to go very well with the dark chocolaty tart.

The next day we had a light breakfast of toast (using the pizza pan), because we knew there would be heavy eating later. We thought Ann Arbor would be a quintessential Michigan attraction that was right on the way to Jackson and Scott's 40th birthday party. We window-shopped downtown and then since Mongolian Barbecue was jammed, we went to Ann Arbor Brewing Company for burgers/sandwiches and beer for lunch. We also enjoyed the Farmers' Market which surprisingly had a lot of plants and flowers for sale, despite the fact that it's way too early to think about planting most of that stuff. The ice nuggets/snow bouncing off the patio on Monday morning just made me feel better about resisting the temptation to buy the pretty hanging baskets. We will be patient...

Scott's party was a blast. Ann really outdid herself putting it together. Almost all of her entire family was there, as well as a lot of Scott's college buddies from Michigan Tech. Ann had made most of the food herself, and hired a balloon guy. I have no idea what you would call someone who makes animals with balloons, but that's what this professional did for 2 hours. He had brought this godawfully spectacular black and gray balloon hat with the number '40' on the front for Scott, and we made him wear it as much as possible. He made animals for the kids, including green face-hugger aliens, a crazy palm tree/monkey thing which Ann wore on her head for almost as long as Scott wore his hat...you name it, this guy could probably make it out of balloons. For pics, check out his blog (Arrested Photons).

Tim's home brew went over well at the party, complete with the label we made of Scott as a 2 1/2 year old. We had a few left, so I just drank one this morning, after adding some to the chocolate pancake batter I stirred together for a special Friday breakfast *G*.

We got home close to midnight that night, whereupon I began getting breakfast ready for the next day. Somehow I was not feeling tired yet. Still surfing on that B-vitamin wave, I guess. And I sometimes wonder if the B-vitamins are activated by alcohol...they seem to give me even more energy when accompanied by a beer or a glass of wine. The following week would see me paying in spades by catching a cold and barely being able to keep my eyes open every morning after work. I assembled Upside Down Banana-Walnut French Toast, a tempting-looking recipe I found in one of those irresistible little cookbooks in the check-out lines at the grocery store. And I've been sort of on a fruit and yogurt kick lately, so I blended some quark cheese, plain yogurt and a touch of sugar and vanilla, and made parfaits with wild cranberries. When morning came and *jumps up and down* it was time to eat again, I enlisted Chris's help in recreating a favorite childhood breakfast dish for yet another course. This consisted of bacon, fried until it was brown yet pliable, criss-crossed in the bottom of a muffin cup, an egg broken into the cup, and a topping of Cheezit cracker crumbs. The whole thing was baked until the egg was soft-cooked. Simple, but delicious.

We made another trip back to Jackson to take Chris and Lindsey to Scott and Ann's so they could spend their last night there. We met with Scott at two local wineries, Lone Oak and Sandhill Crane for a bit of tasting. The temptation to turn up one's nose at wine made out of any fruit other than grapes is very strong...until you get a taste of each winery's award-winning raspberry wine (really a cordial) and Lone Oak's blueberry wine. Rather than the imagined icky-sweet purple liquid you might speculate would come from blueberries, you get a madeira-colored dry wine that reminds you oddly but nicely of spice cake batter.

Since we had shown up too late to help with getting ready for the party the day before, we attempted to help clean up at Scott and Ann's. We cleared away some rubble, washed some dishes, folded up chairs and tables, and sat down to a dinner of copious leftovers. Once again, it was very late by the time we said our goodbyes and headed for home. All in all a great weekend, marred only by mom's guilt trips launched our way. I suspected there would be a bit of trouble over Chris and Lindsey not driving all the way up to Saginaw to see her Friday, and sure enough...but they handled it as adults and explained to her on the phone that it simply wasn't going to work out this time. At Scott's party, Tim and I got an abrupt announcement from her that next weekend was Mother's Day (gee, really?? I hadn't noticed, being deluged with sale flyers for jewelry and everything you could possibly spend money on for dear old mom, not to mention drippy commercial after commercial on TV...), but that she and Ron were going to make a weekend trip to Indiana. Tim and I strongly felt we were expected to have great big plans for her that were suddenly going to have to be canceled, and since we are self-centered, forgetful boors...we didn't. Later in the week, Scott got more of the same aimed his way over the phone. Something to the effect that now that mom is getting Gutter Helmets installed, Scott will never bring the family up to see her any more, because Scott cleaning the gutters was basically the only time they ever came up to see her. WTF??

Okay, I suppose we have all rudely bashed the Fifth Commandment to smithereens, and yes, I suppose we should give her more attention and should have had concrete Mother's Day plans in place. But...as I've alluded to before, she already gives herself so much attention, it's kind of hard for us to compete. The last phone conversation I had with her was excruciatingly one-sided, but I just had to try to blunder in and talk anyway. Every time I sensed a pause long enough to get a word in edgewise, she'd just start talking over the top of me anyway, and I had so many of her 'What???'s trumpeted in my ear I just had to be quiet and put a stop to these verbal train wrecks. To put it plainly, last weekend was NOT about her. It was about Lindsey meeting the family members she had not met before. It was about her enjoying Michigan for the first time as best she could, with the fickle, twitchy weather we have here this time of year. It was about Scott's birthday, Chris coming back to Michigan for the first time in 4 years... There will be other visits where sins can be atoned for, and Lindsey can see mom's house and get the tour of all the collectibles (which, by the way, we are forbidden on pain of death to simply put out in a casual garage sale after she's dead...those porcelain hand-shaped figurines are worth some real money!), knick-knacks and her shabby-chic yard ornaments.

Plans are in the works for taking mom out to a reputedly very good breakfast brunch at Clara's in Lansing next weekend. Scott and Ann can meet us there, and we can make nice, and have a sumptuous meal, too. Now all I have to do is call mom (another one-sided phone conversation) Monday and set it up. Tim and I were thinking of going there that day for our anniversary anyway, but instead of being self-centered, forgetful boors by just going there ourselves, we'll make it a Mother's Day event. And I wouldn't even dream of mentioning it's our anniversary but we changed it to a belated Mother's Day celebration.

While I pack for my trip south to Hell, here are a couple of recipes for you to enjoy:

Warm Mocha Tart

This was lifted from the Jan/Feb 2005 issue 'Country Home' magazine, and is a recipe by Alice Medrich in her book 'Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate'


8 tb (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or dutch process)
1 1/4 tsp instant espresso powder or 1 1/2 tsp instant coffee crystals
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting (optional)

To make the tart crust: Mix the melted butter, the 1/4 cup sugar, 3/4 tsp vanilla and salt in a medium bowl. Add the flour and mix just until well blended. Don't worry if the dough seems too soft. Press all of the dough very thinly and evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 1/2 inch tart pan with removable bottom. Position rack in bottom third of the oven. Bake in a 350 oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until crust is a deep golden brown.

Meanwhile make the filling: Place cream, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa and 3 tb butter in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring until the mixture is blended and smooth and begins to simmer around the edges. Remove from heat and stir in the espresso powder and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Just before the crust is ready, whisk egg thoroughly into the hot chocolate mixture.

Pour the filling into the hot crust and turn off the oven. Leave tart in the oven until it quivers like tender gelatin in the center when pan is nudged, about 10-12 minutes. Cool slightly on a rack. Dust with additional cocoa powder, if desired. Serve tart warm or at room temperature. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

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Upside-Down Banana-Walnut French Toast

From Betty Crocker Spring Brunch recipe booklet

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 medium bananas, sliced
1 loaf (about 1 lb) sliced unfrosted firm cinnamon bread
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla

1. Spray bottom and sides of 13X9 inch (3 quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray or grease with shortening. In a large bowl, stir together brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and walnuts until smooth. Gently stir in bananas. Spoon banana mixture into baking dish.

2. Reserve heels of bread for another use. Arrange 2 layers of bread on the banana mixture, tearing bread to fit if needed.

3. In medium bowl, beat eggs, milk an vanilla with wire whisk until well mixed. Pour over bread. Cover tightly and refrigerate at least 1 hour, but no longer than 24 hours.

4. Heat oven to 325 F. Uncover bread mixture. Bake 45-55 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve portions upside down, spooning sauce from bottom of dish over each serving.