Fall Food

I admit it--I am fixated on food. Especially while the Farmers Market is on at Pioneer Park. I browsed the Market on Saturday morning, September 27, and was intrigued with the piles of orange pumpkins and green watermelons, the apples and peaches and pears, and even the Soap Deli. I remember the years when Michael asked for a "little treat" whenever we visited the Farmers Market, and his little treat was always a slab of fresh soap. I still tease him, when we visit the Farmer's Market together and pass a soap stall, "Can I buy you a little treat?" (Jonny, by contrast, takes his treats in olive bread from the Volkers Bakery stall.)

Michael, Grandma Rose, and Jonny and Jenny joined Dad and me on September 28 to eat fall's bounty and my best creations--homemade pita bread with homemade hummus, roast chicken with fresh corn on the cob, Mississippi mud brownies with raspberries. The big dilemma--what to do with the carcass of the 6-lb chicken? Is it so large that it qualifies as a turkey and it would thus be morally wrong not to make it into soup?

We sent Jenny off, after dinner, with a bag of fresh peaches, and Jonny got a hug from Grandma Rose. Dad and I were left with the beauty of our brilliant orange chrysanthemum plant by the front door (after, I admit, the demise of all my herbs and the first, yellow chrysanthemum plant...)

Dave and I spent last Friday night and Saturday (October 3 and 4) in Las Vegas, where Dave had a psychology conference. Dave admits to putting one quarter in a slot machine and making $2, but he then eschewed all gambling whatsoever. I am not tempted by gambling, but I am tempted to take inappropriate pictures. Dave had to restrain me from snapping Vegas maidens clothed only in pink feathers. When he was not around, I snapped a picture of one of the many brides we saw around town, posing happily beneath a Hilton Hotel fluorescent map. Alas, I was zipping along Las Vegas Boulevard too fast to catch the sign advertising "drive-in weddings." Dave and I watched the Donny & Marie show, ate at the Bellagio buffet, and I shopped the outlets in Vegas and along the California border. It is probably a sign of my impending decay and decadence, but I like Vegas better and better.

After the debauchery of Vegas, we had good, clean fun yesterday--dinner with the Grandmas and Grandpa, Michael, and Jonny and Jenny. The only unseemly activity was the loud disagreement between the two sides of the table as to whether the Republican or Democrat ticket was the only one which sane and moral people could vote for.

Tonight, Jonny and Jenny are showing a power point and slides on India to Grandma Rose's empty nester group. Jenny first made the presentation to the Young Women and it was so popular that the older crowd wants to hear it, too. I am excited to attend. Michael is interviewing for next summer's business internships. He already has had an interview with the senior partner of one San Francisco company, who was very excited about Michael's engineering expertise and his 740 GMAT score.

Lisa and her little kids are doing well. Lisa has a great ward book club, reading things like a biography of Queen Noor of Jordan. I have offered to read along with her on some of those books. Dad leaves tonight on the redeye plane to Boston, and I follow just after midnight on Thursday morning. If the weather is good and Steve can arrange his vacation time, we'll travel to Bar Harbor, Maine this weekend to ride bikes and hike at Acadia National Park, and maybe eat a lobster or two. Camille says the leaves are supposed to be at their most colorful in Maine this weekend.

Shakespeare in the Fall

Julius Caesar strutted across the stage in a white suit and wing-tipped shoes with Portia on his arm, dessed in a gray suit, high heels, and a hat with netting hanging down over her eyes. During the battle scene at the end of the play, Brutus stabbed himself, dressed in battle fatigues, with background sounds of machine guns and bombs exploding. This year's "Julius Caesar" was set in 1930s Rome, and raised themes even more timely than that Fascist setting--how can politicians' speeches influence the masses (ala the Republican and Democratic conventions?), what is honor in politics (which of the misstatements by the Obama/McCain teams rise to the level of lies?), and is assasination of political leaders ever justified (remember the recent murder of Pakistan's president, or, farther back, the murder of Indira Ghandi by disaffected Sikhs?). Dad and I were fascinated by the themes and the flashy, modern staging of Julius Caesar. The play was made even more festive by Fred Adams, developer of the Shakespeare Festival for decades, greeting theater-goers at the door.




Our second play last weekend was "Moonlight and Magnolias," a spoof/drama about the making of "Gone with the Wind." After "Gone with the Wind" had been in production for three weeks, the producer, David Selznik, shut it down and hired a new writer and director to put together a new screenplay. They had five days to do it and, unfortunately, the writer had never read the book!

On our way back from St. George on Sunday, we stopped for Sunday dinner in Provo at Macaroni Grill. Grandma Rose, Jonny, and Jenny came, too.

After dinner, Dave and I checked out Michael's apartment at Belmont. The whole apartment was spacious, neat, and clean, including Michael's bedroom. Michael has a row of his best photographs from last summer above his bed, and Michael's roomate has a piano in the living room. Michael has been asked to accompany hymns at Church. He likes his roommates and his teachers and classmates in the MBA program. I told Michael I just needed to see with my own eyes that he is safe and healthy. "I'm 26, Mom," he said, with infinite patience. I waited to post this blog, so I could get pictures of our Indian dinner last night. Unfortunately, I was running around so hard, cooking, that I forgot to take the pictures. My client, Rama, joined Jonny, Jenny, my paralegal Katie, her husband Matt, Dave and me for dinner and a slideshow of photos of India. I actually duplicated the beloved "chicken tikka" from Colonel Kebab's restaurant, outside Jonny and Jenny's Delhi apartment. Chicken tikka is spicy chicken kebabs, served with a cilantro/mint/jalapeno/yogurt sauce. Rama brought fabulous hot samosas from the Gas and Go at 9th East and 4th South, owned by an Indian family, Katie brought a green salad with gorgonzola and pomegranate seeds, and we ate chocolate fudge cake and ice cream for dessert. We then projected Jonny and Jenny's and my best India pictures onto our TV screen, including such classics as the three of us on an elephant and a photo of a holy man in Varanasi, completely covered in white ash. The dining room table nearly caught on fire from defective brass candle holders, but we didn't even need that extra excitement to have a good time!

Dave and I stay home this weekend. We await the presidential debates expectantly, determined to stay civil, despite my leanings towards McCain and Dave's towards Obama. Tomorrow I take Grandma Rose to her Relief Society supper and the TV broadcast of general Relief Society conference.

Grant turned 12 this week and will be ordained a deacon, with his Grandma and Grandpa Flindt flying up for the event. We called Grant on the big day, and talked with Kirsten, who was tending Bryce and Alyssa while Kyle, as Scoutmaster, was attending a skating party ith Grant and Lisa was "somewhere." (I remember my kids also describing me as "off somewhere" when I would have described myself as most conscientiously attending to their needs!)

Camille's kids are now back in their full array of lessons--art for E, J, and A; soccer for E and J; piano for E, J, and A; "Kumon" math lessons for E, J, and A; gymnastics and dance at the Boston Ballet for A; and dance and preschool for S. Sophia has a pink leotard with a little skirt on it and a soft, fluffy bag, almost like a stuffed animal, to tuck her dance outfit into. "She is just beside herself with excitement," Camille says.

Jenny teaches Young Women and showed a power point and slide show this week on India. She dressed one of the girls up in a saree and even put a spot of pigment on her forehead. Jonny continues to struggle over what he wants to be after graduation. At 3 a.m. one morning, when he couldn't sleep, he even submitted an application to work in marketing at the NBA headquarters in Manhattan!

Oktoberfest

The canyon has patches of orange and gold, it's just barely chilly, and yodelers, beer, and bratwurst fill Snowbird's Oktoberfest tent. Even the 1996 world yo-yo champion was there to perform. Time for a party!


Sunday dinner was partytime at Dave and Gretta's Iron Blosam time share. Grandma Rose, Grandpa Cliff, and Grandma Carol arrived, canes and walkers forgotten in the festive moment. Grandma Rose read the paper next to the sunny window, as Farmer's Market corn-on-the-cob simmered, fresh peaches and raspberries were sugared, and the roast was lifted from the crockpot. Michael called from BYU, asking "What's up?" When we assured him the whole gang was gathering, he came, too. Michael had little enthusiasm about posing for his mom's blog, and first offered just the back of his head. He then relented and shared his handsome profile! Jenny, awesomely industrious, was able to fit in a bit of nursing homework even as the rest of us lazed about after dinner.

Every night this week, Dave and Gretta stayed at the Iron Blosam condo and tried a different restaurant--the Wildflower at Iron Blosam, the Aerie, El Chanate, the Steak Pit, the Lodge Bistro. Our favorite dinner, we agreed, was scallops and trout at the Lodge Bistro, with pools of honey-mustard and tomato coulis, followed by a chocolate orange creme brulee!

On Thursday, Gretta flew to Phoenix to take a deposition in a bankruptcy case. She had a couple of precious hours, before her plane returned to SLC, to wander through the Heard Museum, one of the great Indian (Native American) museums of the world. Gretta agrees with Michael that museum cafes have fabulous food. Michael spent his undergraduate years eating at BYU's art museum cafe, and Gretta had a great lunch of shrimp caesar salad and a lime tart at the Heard Museum cafe.
Too many good things piled up on the same day. In order to take the deposition in Phoenix, Gretta had to miss the Women Tech Council awards luncheon at Little America. WTC is an organization formed in October 2007 which now has over 230 members. The luncheon was co-sponsored by the MountainWest Venture Capital Network, SLC's largest association for lawyers and businesspeople in the venture capital/mergers and acquistions industry. Gretta is a board member and membership chairman for WTC, and all board members were presented special awards at the luncheon, before the 300 guests. The award was in the form of a specially-commissioned statue. The luncheon also honored 15 outstanding women in Utah technology.
So far as we know, all is well with other members of the Spendlove family. Janice and Vince survived the hurricane in Houston, although part of the roof blew off Vince's office building and the Morelands did without electricity for nearly three days. They are still among the few in their neighborhood with power, and the grocery stores are closed. Grandma Cliff and Grandma Carol are off to Hawaii on a cruise with Alan Dale and Lindy. Lisa's and Camille's families are enjoying the new school year, with new clothes, new friends and (mostly) good teachers. Some of the biggest changes are that Grant is in an accelerated learning program at a new school which is, alas, not as social as his old school, and Annelise has started first grade and has her own desk (not a table like kindergarten)!

Remembering Victoria

Six kids, a mom and dad, a grandma and grandpa, boats, gardens, double-decker buses and a great museum--what could make a better trip? Dave and I took Lisa and Kyle and their family to Victoria, British Columbia over Labor Day. We stayed at the Royal Scots Suites, a hotel within walking distance of the harbor, which had a swimming pool, pool table, and even gave free apples, wrapped in red cellophane.
We took a tour of the beautiful Parliament Building, including hearing an actor pretend to be one of the early colonists. We loved the flowers all over the city.

We loved the British Columbia Museum, including its IMAX movie on "Wild Oceans," its totem poles, and the big billboard outside the museum that we could pose behind.

We loved riding the double-decker bus!

We spent a fun afternoon and evening at world-famous Butchart Gardens.

We also loved wandering around the boat show and the artists' market at the harbor. The Flindt kids' favorite was the cowgirl mime, painted copper.

We toured Chinatown, including spending $5 apiece at an Asian import store and taking part in the festival at which a Chinese dragon blessed each business in Chinatown.

Dave and I are now back home in SLC. Last Sunday, we had a late summer supper in the garden with Grandma Rose, Jonny and Jenny, and even Michael, who joined us from BYU with five volumes of spectacular photographs from his round-the-world trip this summer. Dave and I will spend this week at our Snowbird timeshare condo. Hopefully, Grandma Rose and at least some other family members will join us for Sunday dinner and Oktoberfest.