Ode to Mom

My mom and I enjoy many of the same things: good restaurants in cute towns (like this Japanese cafe in Chattanooga), Cute critters, and buying up good produce to cook at home.

This is a belated birthday post for my mom, who turned one year younger on March 1.

Supa-foodz

I'm 29 today. So in the interest of staying alive for as long as possible, we celebrated with a Viking "Superfoods" class. Why, you ask, are avocado temaki, sweet potato fries and shitake, Asian greens and Salmon with coconut lime broth considered Superfoods? Read on.

Well, the official answer is they are made of unprocessed ingredients brimming with antioxidents, nutrients, essential fatty acids, fiber and the like. But I think another answer is that they look like the rainbow and taste good enough to make you wish you had two stomachs. When it comes down to it, though, it's just really fun to say "superfoods" -- or "supa-foodz" if you're from Boston, like our chef-instructor Dave.

This class was different than the Thai and Moroccan dinner parties Joe and I took before. It was smaller and more laid-back. It was also great fun to watch my parents. See what I mean?

I attempted to learn some new skills such as: Zesting a lemon better than Rachel Ray, zesting a nutmeg nut like Rachel Ray, Slicing and dicing just about everything with a ceramic knife (which, looks like plastic annd costs $80), and rolling sushi.
I avoided cutting off any extremities and kept my index finger safely off the top of the clever blade.

We were giddy with excitement nearly 3 hours later when we finally got to chow down.

Superfan Stuffed-le

Sunday was another good food day... our superbowl (Da-Bears!) spread included healthier fare like Tribe 40 spice Hummus (my new favorite brand) and crisp vegetables, blue corn chips and salsa, clementines and not-so-healthy tequila-lime chicken wings. Though the game ended left us feeling down right drizzled on, our stomachs were quite happy.

Before the game, Joe and I warmed up with a chili lunch at Restoration House. I loved Shirley's inclusion of elbow mac in her dish.

Birthday Bun

Pho fun
Actually I didn't get a good shot of Joe's 'seafood everything' Pho. But isn't my bun (a vietnamese dish with fresh veggies on noodles with a tangy sauce) beautiful?

The dish was pretty tasty. But I wish they'd used mi fun noodles, which would have held the flavor of the thin vinegar sauce better than the slick high-starch noodles they used. Those same wiggly noodles tasted great in their fresh spring rolls.
One of many birthday meals of the weekend, we enjoyed a Vietnamese lunch because Mom studies her tour books thoroughly. The restuarant was full of southeast asian faces and it was close to K&S Market in Nashville-- an ethnic megastore that we perused after our bellies were full.

Swedish Eve

New Years and Christmas Eve dinners in my family are typically a meal of tasty snacks. This year was no exception. Mom and Dad even brought the candle set that propels 3 angels around a set of two bells... a happy memory from childhood. We had the traditional Swede-treats for Christmas Eve dinner... and then some. No limpa or lutfisk this time, but we had plenty to eat:
1. Smoked salmon
2. Pickled herring
3. Potato sausage
4. Lingonberries (actually cranberries)
5. German potato salad
6. Shrimp
7. Wasa crackers
8. Roasted potatoes
9. Tortilla pizzas
10. Stuffed mushrooms
11. Seaweed salad
12. Sourdough rolls from Schlabachs
13. Many different cheeses
14. Corn salsa and tortilla chips
15. Roasted chestnuts
And we didn't have room for dessert:
1. Schlabach's fudge pie
2. Jennifer's pie (see food quiz below)
3. Pizzelles (Joe's favorite cookie)
4. Almond cigars (made yesterday)
5. Cookies, chocolate

Joe inspects the dinging angel candles for the first time. It was dinging a little awkwardly that night. Nan always had her set out for holiday meals, so it was cool that my parents brought theirs. Below, I hold up a perfectly intact chestnut. Apparently Italian chestnuts are the way to go.. the other kind is just kind of mealy and bland. Ours were rich and sweet.

Tilsch Parrino Thanksgiving

As you might have guessed, there was a whole lot more cooking and eating going on in my house than picture taking and blogging this weekend. So now I'm beginning my feeble attempt to make up for it.
Here's my dad opening a bottle of sparkling grape, while the rest of our dinner waits on the table. We had an early dinner... everything was ready by 12:30. At the top is a Boston cream pie, which we won at the Turkey Trot raffle. Jack and Joe placed second and third, respectively. Go Parrinos!
Apparently there was a pumpkin shortage this year, so unless you had one sitting on your front porch leftover from halloween, you wouldn't have been able to make pumpkin dolma.
So we improvised. Mom and Dad Tilsch were looking all over for pie pumpkins last week. Instead, they found these festive looking acorn squash.

We really are blessed...
We feasted on turkey with sage from the patio garden, ham with brown sugar and mustard glaze, spinach salad, roasted veggies, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed squash, green beans with country ham, herb mashed potatoes,bacon wrapped mini hotdogs (pigs in a pig), rolls and pumpkin pie from Schlabach's bakery, Tofu pumpkin pie (Mom made it without lumps! yay!) and homemade pizzles from Grandma G. and chocolate from Malley's in Cleveland. Too many favorite things at once.
Was having trouble posting all my pics, but here's an album.

Chatt Flitters

Elusive Blue Morpho
takes a break, and let me pose by him (below.) Later, one landed on my sleeve, but he did it at the same time we were already oggling a little butterfly that had landed on mom's shoulder (above).

So before I could gather everyone's attention by yelling --in an inappropriately loud and excited voice--"I have one too! I have one too!" he flitted away. But there really WAS a morpho on my sleeve. I promise! (Top photo mine, bottom two courtesy of Joe)

Schlabach's Bakery

Life Lesson

Something I've learned from my dear parents, Brad and Mamie Tilsch: Travelling means finding the best food an area has to offer and buying lots of it.

Yesterday morning (after our YMCA workout, of course) Mom, Dad and I drove out to Schlabach's Bakery in Guthrie, Ky.; a Mennonite store offering amazing pecan rolls and other delightful ways to counteract a morning YMCA workout.

Which angel food cake did we buy for my dad's birthday? They had plain, lemon, strawberry and chocolate chip.