February, 2010

  1. Mushroom Marinade California

    February 22, 2010 by Tarrant Figlio

    My love is off to California for a bit of a business trip. I hope all goes well and productively for everyone but most of all I hope the hours speed by until she is home again.

    In her honor…a California retro recipe from the “Fresh Mushroom Cookbook”, Sybil Henderson, 1967. No idea what is California about this but I do know that mushrooms are always a hit here at home. Add to that this is quick and easy and we likely always have the ingredients and you have a hit!
    Mushroom Marinade California Recipe

    Mushroom Marinade California

    1 pound small mushrooms
    3/4 cup salad oil
    1/3 cup red wine vinegar
    2 tablespoons lemon juice
    3 teaspoons chopped chives
    1 teaspoon tarragon
    1 small clove garlic, chopped
    1 teaspoon salt
    1/2 teaspoon sugar

    Combine all ingredients except mushrooms. Pour over the mushrooms and marinate several hours, turning occasionally. Drain and serve.

    Category Appetizers | Tags: | No Comments

  2. 20 for 20

    February 8, 2010 by Tarrant Figlio

    Today the child who has given me the most years of practical parenting of teens- reached the age of no longer being a teen. Today is the day she becomes half my age for half a year or so. We won’t discuss the irony of mothers and daughters 20 years apart…even though on her other mother’s side of the family it is traditional.

    I have written a lot of marshmallowy birthday posts about this child. This may be another one.

    Twenty Things About Michelle

    1. She scarred me. Literally. I show everyone evidence of this-the wild cat I took into my home, family and heart. (Note my other youngest child scratched me this morning-at about the same age-certainly with the same attitude) I show everyone this because no matter what, I can look at my arm and see her with me. I can remember both of us behaving badly. In other words, a poorly earned badge of honor.
    2. She wants the combo breakfast. Eggs, bacon, pancakes/waffles. Do not make her choose one thing. That pretty much is true of Michelle in general…choices provide endless possibilities and she wants to try them all.
    3. She doesn’t want to wait for people to finish eating. Watching people eat makes her ill. It is vaguely ironic that she works in restaurants and thus has to watch a lot of people eat each day. Really-sitting still is the problem. She needs something to do, to think about, to act on.
    4. She has made me cry perhaps more than any other person on the planet other than my mother. No, she probably didn’t know that until just now. Yeah-she is powerful like that.
    5. We can push each others buttons to the point of driving each other and other people to distraction. But, she knows I love her because she can, because I can and because we got to the point where we could and not end up with doors slammed.
    6. She made me insanely angry exactly two years ago…teaching me a lesson about grand plans, teaching me to go with my gut and not with Denise rules when it comes to the right moment to give a gift.
    7. She taught me that birth order does make a difference…even in a family with two youngest children
    8. For years her sign of approaching menstruation was her wailing that she had no friends. Oddly enough, the now 14 yo has the same quirk.
    9. There is perhaps no phrase that makes me angrier than “Well, Michelle isn’t really your child, is she? Isn’t she Denise’s child?”
    10. She thinks me far more naive than I am…and always has…(oddly her older brother always seemed to think I was far LESS naive than I was) I let her think that, for both of our sakes.
    11. Joseph is creeped out by being taller than she is now. For years, she was the big sister both age and size wise. He is uncomfortable that he towers over her now since she still towers over him in other ways.
    12. Rebecca still has a healthy fear of waking Michelle up…born from too many years of Rebecca being THE LOUD ONE in the morning (and the early bird) and having the wrath of teen girl come upon her.
    13. Elizabeth…the youngest of the youngest children has a conspiratorial bond with her big sister who is also a youngest child. I think they compare notes on making the most of their birth order.
    14. My mother who didn’t meet Michelle in person until just a few months ago (and who seems to not remember nine years of my phone calls to her about my teenage girl) thinks that Michelle is sweet, polite and kind. Yes, Mama, she has grown to be well-behaved when life requires it. In fact she always has been…ok except that burping in public thing.
    15. Her older sister and her shouldn’t be in the same room with their mother if they haven’t seen her for a while. I thought those two girls were evil together until I realized their mother was the catalyst around which they spun. Poor quiet Christopher in the middle of that. Of course, that got no better for Chris when adding me and the three little kids to the mix.
    16. She has a compulsive need to talk me up when around her father and her father’s parents. I always walk out of those experiences feeling like mother of the year, Betty Crocker, and June Cleaver rolled into one.
    17. She likes BLTs and people to cook for her. She likes a clean kitchen but not cleaning it. She is horrible at keeping bathrooms clean.
    18. Cinderella.
    19. She cares deeply about her mom, her grandmother, her older siblings and her younger ones. She spends a good deal of time trying to teach the younger children the right path. (even if it was the one she learned the hard way)
    20. Today she is 20 and half my age…and yet, I think we both know that neither of us knows it all at this halfway point but she better know that I love her with a crazy fierce love that I never expected. Happy Birthday Baby Girl.

    graduation 012

    Category retro food | Tags: | 5 Comments

  3. Muffaletta

    February 5, 2010 by Tarrant Figlio

    Last night in numbering the reasons for actually having a team to cheer for in the Super Bowl, I pulled out the winning reason: New Orleans has much better food. Apologies to my father who grew up in Indiana and to my love’s mother also an Indiana native…Indianapolis may have some good food but truly no one thinks “Let’s go to Indiana to eat!”

    New Orleans on the other hand – I day dream about meals there. Debris sandwiches, Po Boys, beignets, red beans and rice, aspic from Commander’s Palace…I could go on. But one must eat a muffaletta in New Orleans even vegetarians and low calorie, low fat people. It makes for a lovely lunch. None made outside the parish can compare but you still can try. It makes for good football food too.

    My Non Native But Makes My Family Happy Muffaletta

    1 round loaf Italian bread (no, you won’t get this exactly right unless you are in New Orleans)
    3/4 cup olive salad (might be found in your grocer-especially in Chicago area or gourmet grocer (poke around the tapenade area for something chunkier than a tapenade. If worse comes to worse use green olives in oil, some giardiniara, and garlic mixed together and call it good-or I suppose you could look for a recipe)
    1/2 lb Genoa Salami
    1/4 lb Capicola or Ham
    1/4 lb Mortadella
    1/2 lb Sliced Mozzarella
    1/2 lb Provolone

    Slice bread in half lengthwise. Brush bread with olive oil from olive salad. Layer the meats alternating with the cheeses. Add top side of bread. Press down. Cut into quarters or smaller wedges.

    Category Appetizers, retro food, Sandwiches | Tags: | 4 Comments

  4. TV and Retro Food

    February 3, 2010 by Tarrant Figlio

    I picked the children up from school yesterday. We all babbled on the way home, catching each other up on the happenings from the week they spent at their other home. As we walked in the door, there were questions about dinner which I didn’t quite have settled so I said, “Guess what!?!?!?! The Super Bowl is this weekend.” Now that might seem like a non sequiter to you- in my house on a Tuesday afternoon, it causes cheers.

    My family? Football fans? No. Not.AT.ALL.

    It also caused my 16 yo to look at me and say in his saddest 16 yo boy voice “I really missed you this week Mommy.” Hmmm. This boy went to England for six months without a whimper before or as he came back.” Ok, why did you miss me?”  “Because I missed watching the State of the Union Address with you AND the Grammys!” No. He doesn’t care that much about politics and if the song has words-he generally hates it. What he missed and what my kids look forward to is that sense of occasion with major televised events.

    When I got my older kids, the first Super Bowl together was bizarre. My partner has no interest in football. She knew I had no interest in football. She didn’t get the food thing yet. She certainly didn’t get my fascination with tradition and pageantry. I convinced her a few snacks were in order. She worked. Young teen girl deigned to watch with evil me. The younger three kids were in Katmandu or somewhere. Ok, the younger children haven’t actually been in Katmandu-as far as I remember.

    The next year the scene repeated with kids bouncing in and out of the room. Denise trying to ignore my once-a-year football thing. And thus…Super Bowl Flamingo House Style. I have a set menu in mind. One must have dip, chips, and a retro appetizer or 10. If the kids are home-meatballs, and of course, R0-tel cheese dip. Dinner will be Super Bowl food. This doesn’t mean Denise doesn’t groan every year.

    The Super Bowl TV time-loud…boisterous…except during you know-the important part-the commercials. Last year,  fun because I tweeted about various commercials and sometimes people that followed me were involved in creation and tweeted back. It made me into a temporary superstar.

    In any case, TV time is rare and a special occasion in this house. Eating in front of the tv-even more rare. Creating traditions with kids “off-season” priceless.

    I suspect 19 yo girl (less than 48 hours on that day from 20 yo girl)  on Super Bowl Sunday will realize she misses me, not just because I won’t be there for her birthday. She will miss me because I bring excitement and fun into something that normally she finds dull.

    The younger kids find the actual Super Bowl dull I can hear 14 yo girl complain now…and see her wander to her room. Super Bowl becomes the mommy magic they remember as they grow. It won’t be the food. It won’t be the game. I can’t even tell you who played last year-even though I remember watching. It won’t even be the commercials. The family time-that makes the Super Bowl special.

    I could say we watch the Super Bowl because we are Americans. Americans watch the Super Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday. I could talk about food, commercials, the clash of the best. I could say (and convince you) we become a part of something bigger than our family. That much true in its own way.  Truly though Flamingo House Super Bowl traditions celebrate the same thing but in a microcosm: competition zeal, undying love, humor, heartbreak, creativity, people who invest their lives in playing the same position. You remember, that greatest of competitive contact sports-the family.

    Category Appetizers, retro food | Tags: | No Comments