Star Chefs

Mike has a new project.  He has collected many ethnic cookbooks that have not been properly explored.  He recently went through his Latin American cookbooks and assembled seven menus.  Dave and I were lucky enough to be invited to Mike and Heidi's house three times, in  April and May, to share those gourmet meals.  At the first of the meals, Mike cooked chiles rellenos from the classic Mexican cookbook by Diana Kennedy.  They were delicious.

 Diana Kennedy is a legendary cook--the Julia Child of Mexican cooking.

She is an old lady, now, but her cookbooks are still classics.

Rick Bayless' Mexican cookbooks are also classics, and Mike served us gourmet treats created by Rick Bayless, as well as Diana Kennedy.

It was a luxury for Dave and me to be onlookers and tasters, rather than cooks!

"The guacamole is perfect," Mike assured us.  It was.

Heidi could relax over her chiles rellenos, as Audrey had fallen asleep for the night.

Mike's second meal for Dave and me, on April 14, 2020, was real Oaxacan-style chicken mole, with chocolate and the other unlikely ingredients that go into that delicacy.  Audrey's tastes are still pretty simple--mother's milk and ice cream--so she didn't get any mole.

 Mike's third meal for Dave and me, on April 29, 2020, was pork tenderloin in a spicy chile sauce, served with potatoes and a crisp, tomato/avocado/onion/lettuce salad. 

Dave and I are behaving very well, in hopes of being invited to another of Mike's Latin American dinners!

Mike is a talented chef, but so is Heidi.  On May 13, 2020, Heidi invited Dave and me for a slice of her flourless chocolate torte (no, that is not a Google image).  It was divine (and the recipe will be in this year's update to the family cookbook).

When Vegas Wasn't Vegas

On April 11, 2020, Dave and I ventured out of our coronavirus quarantine to visit St. George.  Ever practical, even while on vacation, Dave left my car at Big O Tires to get the tires checked while the two of us hiked eight miles around the city.

All the LDS temples are closed while coronavirus stalks outside.  The pioneer temples--St. George, Salt Lake, and Manti--are undergoing massive remodeling for earthquake protection and other stabilization.  We hardly recognized the St. George Temple, usually so immaculate, with piles of dirt all around.

 The St. George Tabernacle, built by my great-grandfather, Miles Romney, was in better shape.

Dave and I wandered down byroads near the temple, looking for quaint and odd sights.  We paused at a wall onto which lovers had snapped padlocks, symbolizing their undying love for each other.

 We passed this sign, stapled onto a huge, old tree.  I didn't realize there was such a thing as a "protected street tree."

 After our hike around St. George, Dave and I drove to Las Vegas.  We had heard it was empty because of the coronavirus, but we had no idea how empty.  This is the Strip, usually jam-packed with cars and pedestrians on a weekend in the spring!

And this is Caesar's Palace, usually one of the busiest hotels on the Strip, now totally devoid of people and cars.  It was eerie.  Las Vegas flies high and falls low economically.  I remember the extreme suffering in Vegas during the Great Recession, when its hotels were one-third empty, residents moved out of Vegas in droves, and there were thousands of foreclosures.  Vegas has fallen low once again.

Protecting Ourselves from Each Other

These are strange times.  At his work, Dave has been issued his own mask and splash mask.  He and his patients wear masks during their counseling sessions, and only Dave touches his door knob--never the patient.  Actually, most of Dave's counseling sessions are now held over the phone, and sometimes with the patient riding in a car while they talk!

Intermountain Health Care has a special area for giving coronavirus tests to drive-up patients.

Weekend with Rebekah

Rebekah Flindt, our grandson Michael's wife, spent the weekend of March 28, 2020, with Dave and me.  Rebekah and Michael live in Rexburg, Idaho, and attend BYU-Idaho.  Rebekah had a job interview in SLC on Friday, although, at the last minute, the interview was held over the phone because of the coronavirus.  Rebekah also had a senior presentation to make (remotely), and so she stayed with us to prepare for and make that presentation on Monday.  We have space and quiet to spare in our home, and it was a treat to have Rebekah with us.

On Saturday, Dave, Rebekah, and I took a road trip into Utah's desert.  We drove to Simpson Springs, the site of a Pony Express station.  We took lots of pictures, always observing the six feet prescribed for "social distance" during this pandemic.

 A monument and recreated stone cabin mark the spot where Pony Express riders changed horses and dashed for the next station, on the route from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California.  The Pony Express was designed to carry mail from the Mississippi to the West coast in two weeks.  The Pony Express ran for just 18 months, from 1859 into 1860.  It was eclipsed by coast to coast telegram service.

 The West Desert is austere and gorgeous.  To the Pony Express riders, it may have just looked austere!

On Sunday, Rebekah joined us for a Southern dinner.  It was the perfect meal, because Rebekah grew up in Georgia and loves Southern food.  Her parents were in the military, and Rebekah absorbed both cultures as she grew up.  I love to hear Rebekah answer me, "Yes, ma'am."  We started our Southern dinner with pimiento cheese.  In Austin, Texas, Dave and I ate pimiento cheese sandwiches at the Lady Bird Johnson Botanical Garden, and our grandson, Spencer, remembers being served pimiento cheese in Houston when he interned there last summer.

Our entree was shrimp and grits, cooked by Rebekah.  She remembers grits as a breakfast dish, but shrimp and grits is also a classic Southern dinner.

 I added braised collards and cornbread, two other authentic Southern "sides."

Cakes are classic Southern desserts--fluffy coconut cakes, rich and dense carrot cakes, and this fresh pineapple upside down cake.

 Rebekah works hard and plays hard.  She has held as many as three jobs at once, working her way through college.  She also has lots of friends and entertains them with parties.  Since BYU-Idaho's graduation was canceled because of the coronavirus, Rebekah staged her own graduation in Michael's and her backyard!  Of course, there was a party afterwards.

 One of our favorite Sunday party-goers is Audrey.  She is becoming a regular at our ethnic dinners although, so far, her favorite (and only) dish is mother's milk.

Homecoming for Jono

When an LDS missionary returns home, the missionary's family gives a hero's welcome.  Usually families congregate at the airport with their posters.  In this coronavirus world, that was not an option.  Jono was taken off the plane and delivered directly to his father's waiting car, with no missionary families allowed in the terminal.  That didn't stop the Eberts from welcoming Jono home in style.  Emilie, Annelise, Ezra, and Mia made signs, including one in Japanese, and they brought new dog Ollie outside with them.  Jono's grandparents and some of his cousins lined the other side of the street from the Ebert home, shouting and waving as Jono arrived. 

There were big hugs as Jono got out of the Ebert car.  The Ebert family has not been all together for three years.  Emilie was gone on her mission to Rumania/Moldova when Jono left for Japan.  To attend Jono's missionary homecoming, Camille and Sophie took a quick flight home from NYC, where Sophie has been undergoing radiation for cancer.  They will return for another week of treatments after spending a long weekend with Jono.

Ollie jumped with excitement.

Jono is now 6 ft. 1 inch, taller than he was when he left.  He seems like a grown man.

The Eberts--back together again.

A Chair for Elijah

 One of my favorite family dinners, each year, is Passover.  I print off a "seder", the Jewish ritual that each Jewish family takes part in, including group readings from Exodus and readings by the narrator (me).  On March 22, 2020, Mike and Heidi, and Carol Garza joined Dave and me for Passover.  It was the first weekend that Utah has been shut down because of the coronavirus, and so the Eberts and Flindts couldn't join us.

 Passover includes a number of items of ritual food, as well as just a very good dinner.  (I would put my matzo ball soup up against anyone's.) The ritual food is symbolic of the Hebrews' experience as slaves in Egypt.  The charoset, a mixture of apples, raisins, spices,and juice, represents the mortar in the pyramids the Hebrews constructed for Pharoah.  The bitter herbs represent the bitterness of being slaves, and the salt water represents the Hebrews' tears.  There was a lot of grape juice flowing at my Passover dinner, instead of the four cups of wine!

At traditional Passover ceremonies, an empty chair is left for Elijah, the Biblical prophet who the Jews believe will return someday.  A child looks outside to see if Elijah is coming.  At a certain point in the Passover dinner, Michael's role is to go to the door, look up and down Northland Drive, and tell us whether Elijah will join us for dinner this Passover.

I get my Passover menus from the Foods section of the New York Times, and the dishes are delicious.  The menus feature oldtime Eastern European Jewish staples like matzo ball soup, brisket, au gratin potatoes (made with olive oil and no cream), and, for dessert, a heavenly flourless orange/chocolate cake.  For Orthodox Jews, the meal must exclude either meat or dairy.  This was a dairy-less meal.  Hence the cake made without flour, milk, or cream.

Mike enjoys Passover almost as much as I do.

The dish next to the flowers is the charoset, representing mortar.  I ordered these beautiful silk table runners from Israel.  The motif of pomegranates is taken from the Bible.

Green and Not So Green

I turned 70 on March 17, 2020.  Green has always been my St. Patrick's Day birthday color, but I don't feel so young and "green" any more. Even though Camille was in New York with Sophie on my birthday, she organized everyone in the family to write memories about me, which she compiled into a book.  I opened it at the birthday dinner which Lisa and I cooked together for the family.  The book was spectacular!  I read it over and over and over!  I can't believe all those wonderful stories are really about me.

Lisa bought me a birthday cake from the legendary Salt Lake bakery, Mrs. Backer's.  It was the prettiest cake I had ever seen.  It also brought back memories.  When Lisa and Camille were growing up, we celebrated really special events with a Backer's cake.  It was a special treat to have Lisa travel from Seattle to be with me.

I was surrounded by sweet family wishes, from relatives near and far.  I thought how fortunate I am to have so many people I love, and to have had so much fun with them!

I also thought of my father, who loved me dearly and always remembered my birthday.

Sometimes he gave me a bouquet of green carnations.

And he told me he always wore green socks in honor of my St. Patrick's Day birthday!

Lisa and I fixed a great Irish meal for the family party--corned beef and cabbage with horseradish sauce, soda bread, and a cheesy version of Irish potatoes.

Our dear neighbor, Carol Garza, joined us and gave me a special gift--Wusthof kitchen shears.  "I know how you like those gadgets," she told me.

It is a treat to have Heidi with us.  She is assembling a great collection of jewelry.

And the Eberts joined us en masse--everyone except Camille and Sophie. 

Even Audrey was my birthday guest.  Audrey has quite the wardrobe, including these striped pink socks!

We missed Spencer, Naomi, Grant, and Meg.  Naomi's doctor has told her that if any of the doctor's patients get coronavirus, she can't see them anymore, as a protection to all her other pregnant patients.  Naomi has a high risk pregnancy and the doctor is a specialist in her condition, so Naomi is not taking chances in being around groups, especially groups just back from the coronavirus hotspot of New York City.  We totally understand, and we look forward to a time when we can be all together again.