John R. with a big grin

Here is a recent photo of my FIL.  It was taken during the Christmas holidays.  He’s a bit of a quirky guy, with a wide range of interests.  He is pleased that his research is now available on the Internet, thanks to his daughter and her beloved who toiled away the hours of Christmas week setting up his website.

Despite his new fame, FIL manages to stay somewhat humble (not in small part thanks to MIL, herself a wonderful individual).  When he is not reading history, doing crosswords, or following the St Louis Cardinals, he makes time to write a few lines of poetry.

One of the things FIL and I enjoy doing together is shopping for food.  When DH and I go visit his parents, I often do a bit of cooking, so I like to take FIL with me when I go to buy produce, proteins, and other peculiar comestibles.  Occasionally, he has been known to enlist the help of store clerks to yank my chain on these episodes, but that’s fair, I guess, since I take joy in knocking his socks off by introducing him to things he’d not dreamed were available in central Illinois. (How could we forget the white asparagus incident? Or quinoa? Or being soaked to the bone at the Saturday Farmer’s Market?)

So, this very morning, when I opened my email, I found our jaunts immortalized like this:

Haiku Tours

Cruise foodie fun spots

Kroger–Jewel–or choose Schnucks

Sail isles of Meijers

I am very touched. Thanks, John.

I recently had a birthday that ended in zero.  My dear friend B says that the Scandinavians refer to this as a Round birthday, and don’t focus so much on the number as we do in the US.

My birthday was inauguration day, and I was blessed not only with the new president, but several lovely gifts from friends and family.  One of these, from my husband, is worthy of a blog photo.  It’s an All Clad skillet, which I’ve been wanting for a long time.  I’m still not in the league with the Barrie/Thompson family, but hey, I can still dream.

The Skillet of Skillets

And this would be the BIG one… it’s a 13″ diameter. Plenty of surface area for developing fond.  And yes, I have had it for more than four days, and I’ve not yet cooked with it. Still a little star-struck.  Boy, do I have a fabulous husband. Between this and the Thermapen I got for Christmas last year, I can say that he does understand my love of quality equipment.

Of course, it was also lovely to have Mum and her husband L here to celebrate with us.  Here’s Mum modeling with the Semolina/Whole Wheat loaf we made one evening for dinner.

Mum with our Artisan In Five Semolina-Whole Wheat

Yes, folks, she’s the one to thank for my love of cooking and sewing, and a lot of my skills. Thanks to her, I can barely remember not being able to cook or to sew.

And did I mention that she gave me a bag with 40 Lindor balls as part of my gift?

Yes, this was a great birthday.