Dulce de Leche and Chimichurri Sauce

"At this party, we're honoring special guests, Lisa and Annelise," I said at the family dinner on January 25, 2021.  Lisa is in town helping to tend Baby Ellie while Naomi concentrates on writing her Ph.D. dissertation and Spencer handles a challenging assignment for McKinsey.  Camille's daughter, Annelise, spent several weeks in Argentina, our spotlighted country, on a humanitarian mission several years ago.  She loves the food!  Annelise also introduced three neighbor children whom she is "nannying."  We are delighted to have extra guests!

Camille's family is just back from two weeks in Mexico, where they rented a van and toured Chichenitza and the cenotes together, and then spent a week on the beach.  Meg visited Mexico a couple of months ago, as well, on her honeymoon with Grant.  

Three cute Ebert sisters, with Annelise's little "nannying" charge at the back.

Kirsten, Emilie, and Steve.  The food was really good--empanadas, grilled beef and shrimp with chimichurri sauce, broiled cherry tomatoes with garlic, a green salad with hearts of palm, and foccacia bread cooked in my pizza oven.  Argentina has distinct Italian and French influences.  We ate dulce de leche ice cream with altafores cookies for dessert.

We are delighted to have Michael K and Rebekah become "regulars" at our dinners.

Ezra sat next to one of Annelise's charges.

Our dinner brought back favorite memories of Argentina.  I have been to beautiful Iguassu Falls, and I have seen many photos of Argentina's tango dancers.  

Mike, Jonny, Spencer, and two of Spencer's friends recently hiked together through Patagonia.

Relief and Celebration

Dave has traditionally been a conservative Democrat and the rest of the family liberal Republicans.  We have suffered during the Trump presidency, including President Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election.  We felt enormous relief when President Biden was inaugurated on January 20, 2021.  Mike brought his laptop to our house, so he could work while also catching a few hours of the inauguration ceremony with Dave and me.
 

Instead of the typical 200,000 guests packing the Mall, there were just a few guests, and hundreds of thousands of flags, instead.  COVID is raging across the country, and one of President Biden's first challenges will be getting the 200 million or more U.S. adults vaccinated.  The Capitol looked majestic on Inauguration Day, although we were all aware that it had been ransacked by pro-Trump rioters just two weeks before, on January 6, 2021.  The second impeachment of President Trump will begin on February 9, 2021.

President Biden begged for unity, but we will see if that is even possible, in this broken, partisan land.

This was an historic election, with the first black, south Asian vice president, Kamala Harris, who is also a woman.  Her husband is referred to as the "Second Gentlemen" or "Second Dude."

Mike lay back and enjoyed the historic proceedings.

Babes in the Casbah

Babies and tasty, exotic food.  What a great combination!  On January 17, 2021, our family shared delicacies from Morocco, with the spicy chicken stew cooked in my new tagine and the pita bread cooked in my new pizza oven.  Spencer and Naomi brought Baby Ellie, five months old.

Mike and Heidi's Audrey turned one in October.  She now drinks out of sippy cup, stands up and feels her way around furniture, and smiles beguilingly.

Mike and I have both been to Morocco and love its elegant crafts and architecture.

The Moroccan casbahs, or markets, are filled with exotic shops and people.

The chicken dish I fixed had a delicious mixture of spices, as well as "preserved lemon," which provides the distinctively Moroccan taste.  I served it with couscous (tiny balls of wheat, similar to pasta), eggplant and red peppers in tomato sauce, and a green salad with oranges.  For dessert we ate baklava and apricot ice cream.  Michael K was willing to try even the most exotic dishes!

Audrey is starting out early with Oriental food.

One highlight of the meal was the pita bread, baked fresh in my new pizza oven, that heats up to 900 degrees!

Spencer is my master baker.  He says making the pita bread is as easy as stretching out the dough and then "putting it in and out of the oven." 

The pizza oven is portable, so we set it up on the back porch.

Dave enjoys seeing his children and grandchildren every week.

Rebekah, wife of Michael K, comes from Georgia and is half Hispanic.  She is the expert when we have Southern or Mexican dinners, and she is a good sport about trying all the other ethnic meals I fix, as well.

After cooking for herself in BYU housing, Kirsten is very happy to have her grandma's good home cooking.

Party People

"I want this to be a party house," Mike said, about his spacious new home.  Dave and I were one of Mike and Heidi's first dinner guests, on January 10, 2021.  Mike and Heidi had already personalized their living room with their beautiful wedding picture.  "I want to live here the rest of my life," Mike said.  Someday, they may post a new picture--of their 50th wedding anniversary!
 

This will be the first home Audrey remembers.  She crawled up the wide staircase from the 30 foot high living room to the loft by herself, and then lowered herself back down, sliding  backwards, on her tummy, the last five or six steps.  The giant teddy bear in the loft is a great draw.  She kisses it on its nose.

We ate at Mike and Heidi's kitchen table, set with festive green napkins to match the olive green granite on their kitchen island.

Heidi is a great cook, and we enjoyed her carrot soup, salad, and homemade rolls.

We visited Mike and Heidi again, on January 15, 2021, for another supper together, and to watch the JAZZ game.  Mike and Dave lay on the Love Sacs in the theater, in total luxury.

"Can I bring my ironing?" I asked Mike.  I have a hard time watching TV without working on some household task.  There was, indeed, ample space and light for my ironing board at the back of the theater.

Flindt Fest

It is always a special treat when Lisa visits Salt Lake City from her home in Seattle.
 

Lisa and Kyle made a quick trip, the weekend of January 8, 2021, to pick up all the gifts they and their two at-home children, Alyssa and Bryce, received at Christmas.  Lisa couldn't join us in Utah for Christmas Day because she was then working at a job that required her to quarantine for a week every time she left the state of Washington.  Lisa and Kyle chose their treats by Facetime, and Lisa was delighted with them.

Kyle and Lisa now have a baby granddaughter--Spencer and Naomi's Eliza. Naomi keeps her baby looking stylish, with lots of hairbows and knee-length stockings.

I am trying to improve my skills as a pit master.  I served the Flindt clan a Southern meal of barbecued brisket, mac'n'cheese, cornbread, cider, and crackers with pimiento cheese spread.  I assured my guests the pimiento cheese spread was authentic--Dave and I ate pimiento cheese spread just like mine for lunch at the Lady Bird Johnson Botanical Garden in Austin, Texas!

I have a fancy new Traeger wood-fired grill and I am struggling to learn to use it.

Michael K and Rebekah Flindt now live in SLC, and we love to see them often.  Rebekah works for Goldman Sachs' fraud division and Michael K is finishing his degree in computer science.

Kirsten is back from her mission to Kansas and studying lab science at BYU.

Naomi is finishing up her Ph.D in chemistry at BYU and Spencer is a business consultant with McKinsey.

Grant and Meg are newly-weds.  Both are BYU students, with Meg majoring in family science and Grant taking the MCAT this spring for medical school.

Dave is reluctant kitchen help.  He is always relieved when I have enough other willing helpers so that he can relax in a soft chair and just wait to be fed!

Camille's family was on vacation in Mexico and missed the Flindt Fest.  Mike, Heidi, and Audrey were able to come.  They are three of our most loyal guests.  "Your dinners are a highlight of my week," Mike says.

Polish Pottery

The most popular gift on my Christmas table was a set of eight handmade Polish plates, each with a separate design.  After I saw the family's enthusiasm, I ordered some Polish plates for myself.  I also pulled out my three Polish cookbooks and cooked a Polish dinner for Mike and Heidi on January 3, 2021.

I love Polish food.  For dinner, I cooked "sour beef," which was like German sauerbraten, and served it with noodles and gravy, cucumbers in sour cream, and homemade rye bread.

 For dessert, we had a compote of berries, topped with ice cream.  Very Eastern European.