An Old Family Favorite--Chicken Tikka Masala

 I first got acquainted with chicken tikka and its tomato-sauced twin, chicken tikka masala, when I visited Jonny and Jenny in Delhi in 2008.  They were doing internships with an Indian nonprofit that provided health care services.  We ate one great Indian meal after another, including several chicken tikka feasts at a tiny shop near their apartment.  On January 13, 2019, I hosted an Indian dinner for Mike and Heidi, Spencer and Naomi.  I finally cooked chicken tikka masala which was as good as I had eaten in India.

I had a great recipe and a crockpot that simmered the spicy sauce for hours and hours.

 Naomi made homemade naan which was as good as the Indian chefs fried on their sizzling grills.  I also served spinach, which is frequently on Indian menus.

 Mike is a hard man to please.  He has visited India twice, loves it like I do, and knows which chicken tikka masala is good and which is a fraud.

 Naomi and Spencer have added India to their bucket list, after, of course, Turkey.

 All I knew about Indian food as a child, living in Burma/Myanmar, was that my Indian nanny brought her lunch in a metal tin, unloaded mysterious, richly scented sauces, and mixed her rice with her curries with her fingers.

Some pundits have called chicken tikka masala "the national food of England," because of all the Indian immigrants who love it, along with their British hosts.  Now chicken tikka masala is popular in the US, too, and can be bought, refrigerated, at Costco.

Forever Friends

It took two months and numerous attempts to get us all together, but the January 11, 2019 dinner party with our dear friends, Bob and Deanne Wilde, Paul and Julie Emmer, and Spencer and Jane Jones, was a highlight of this new year.  We have so many connections and shared memories.  We also have wonderful tales to tell.  My very favorite is Jane and Spencer's story of their son who got married without letting his parents know, and then casually mentioned it later! 

And Finally, Goodbye

When Jonny and Jenny are with us, it's a party every day.  They arrived on December 19, 2018 and left for their home in Iowa on January 6, 2019.  Jonny and Jenny and their boys joined us for a final family dinner on their way to the airport.

I asked Jonny what sort of ethnic dinner he wanted, from the 23 nationalities which I cook.  He opted for Greek, so I hauled out my blue and white Greek key table runners.

 We began with spanakopita--phyllo dough filled with cheese and onions.

 Of course, we needed olives, marinated mushrooms, hummus, and homemade pita bread.

Steve approved of the shrimp in tomato and feta cheese sauce, served with rice-and-spinach pilaf and a crisp Greek salad.

 We always enjoy hosting Alan and Shauna.

 Holding Thomas is a frequent treat.

 Camille and Steve live busy lives, so it is a luxury to have them with us.

 Ezra, Sophia, and Mia all joined us in wishing Jonny and Jenny farewell and godspeed.

It is a delight to have Emilie home, and a delight, too, to have Heidi and Mike so often with us!  After dinner, we gave last hugs to Jonny, Jenny, Sam, Henry, and Thomas, and made plans to see them again at our family reunion this July.

Peach Blossoms and Angus Beef

My goal this year is to visit ten LDS temples which are new to me.  My first one was the Brigham City, Utah, temple, at which Dave and I attended temple ordinances on January 5, 2019.  Each temple has distinctive design elements and is also meaningful to Dave and me for different reasons.  Dave's mission president, Boyd K. Packer, came from Brigham City.  Dedicating this temple was a moving experience for President Packer in 2012, shortly before he died.

Brigham City is known for its delicious peaches.  Peach blossoms were incorporated into the stained glass windows.

The temple ordinance rooms were decorated with paintings of the Wasatch Front, the same mountains which border Salt Lake City, and which we have grown to love throughout our lives.

After our temple session, we stopped for dinner at Maddox, which brings back many fond memories.  Dave stopped for dinner at Maddox many times with his high school girl friend, Diane Smith, as they traveled with Diane's family to Bear Lake for family water skiing trips.  My dad loved the steaks and rolls at Maddox, too, and I ate there many times as I was growing up.

The prime rib is as luscious as I remembered.

And the rolls, with honey butter and raspberry butter, are as "Utahn" as any food I know.  My skills as a homemaker have been measured by how light my rolls are!

Valter's

Whenever he visits Salt Lake City, Jonny tells us that our city has amazing restaurants.  "They're as good as in Chicago or Miami," he says.  We finally found an evening to celebrate Jonny's 35th birthday, on January 4, 2019.  Jonny chose his favorite restaurant in the city, Valter's Osteria, and it became our favorite restaurant, as well!

Valter personally presides over this elegant Italian restaurant, where the pasta is homemade and the salads and desserts are prepared at your table.  We ended up waiting 40 minutes to be seated.  Valter personally apologized and told the waiter to serve us two complimentary rounds of bruschetta!

This was definitely a white tablecloth establishment.

 Mike and Heidi, who love good food, dine at Valter's several times per year.

 We especially loved the dessert--lemon ice cream, drizzled with honey, fresh lemon juice, and a dash of sea salt.

 We enjoyed watching our waiter prepare the salads.

My lasagna had the perfect combination of delicate, homemade pasta and rich meat and cheese.

Happy New Year!

The fun of New Year's Eve is dressing up, eating dinner and playing games to while away the hours until midnight, and then making toasts to usher in the New Year.  Camille and Steve's house was Grand Central Station for family members, as they came and went from one party to another.  Camille set out a box of dress-up clothes for little and big kids (including Jonny) to wear as they posed for pictures.

 Henry helped Camille make the treats.

Mike has been studying Spanish all year, and he likes to practice with Spencer, who spent two years on a Spanish-speaking, LDS mission to Los Angeles.  The two of them also love games, including chess.

 Annelise left with her date for a New Year's party.

 Thomas stays warm and comfy, during the winter, in his car set with its striped, zip-up cover.

By 10 p.m., everyone but Steve, Camille, Mia, Ezra, Mike, and I had left for other parties or to simply to crash in bed.  We played round after round of free-form Scrabble.

 As midnight approached, Steve broke out the New Year's Eve toys, include these pistols that sprayed confetti over everything and everyone.

 Camille poured bubbly and we toasted each other for a great 2019!

And then the clean-up!

Foos Ball on the Holy Sabbath

 I sometimes forget my primary role as family photographer.  On December 30, 2019, Mike and Heidi hosted Lisa's and Jonny's families to a luscious breakfast of waffles, fresh fruit, and the dozen or more gourmet syrups that Mike buys at farmer's markets.  It was the Flindts' last morning in Salt Lake, and we wished them godspeed as they drove home through snow.  I emerged from the breakfast with only a couple of grainy photos of Jonny, Bryce, and Henry playing foos ball in Mike's loft, and no photos at all of the waffles, the syrup, Heidi's faux fur placemats, our hosts, or the guests.  Maybe this time I had an excuse, since I was scheduled to speak in Church right after breakfast (see the talk in my hand in the photo above).  My topic was Christ's injunction to "render under Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what is God's."  I shared tales of my futile attempt at tax evasion, my chastisement of a policeman who issued me a ticket, my experience in a Moab, Utah, court evicting a tenant, and other inspiring stories about our sometimes conflicting duties to God and the state.  I was flattered to have so many family members at Church to support me, all sated by Mike and Heidi's good breakfast.