Road Trip and Reunion

I awoke at 5:30 AM on Sunday, finished and then posted the meager Blog entry. Then I went back to bed to wait for the dawn (no sense getting up if you have to turn on lights).

I got up for real at 7:30 AM and took a quick rinse-off shower. Then I went out back and turned the sprinkler. I set the timer and went back to clean up the kitchen.

Then I started prepping for today's dish (remember, there is a Goerlich family reunion instead of my Mother's birthday party out in the New Baltimore park).

So I cut up onions and celery and put them in one bowl, then I fine diced eight scallions and, after peeling, four pounds of Idaho potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Those went into the next bowl (I'm gonna have a lot of bowls to wash, lol!) BTW, I'm listening to Sunday Morning, Over Easy and singing along with James Taylor and his Sweet Baby James song. Now, I know he wrote it for his nephew, but somehow it always reminds me of Jimmy Hay (maybe he used to sing it, I don't really remember...)

I took the 12-quart stock pot (heavy aluminum) and added two tablespoons of olive oil and four tablespoons of butter. I heated that over medium-high heat until the butter bubbling slowed, but before it turned brown. I added the onions and celery and saut�ed it until it softened (about three to five minutes) stirring often and watching it close. You damn sure don't want the onions to brown!

Well after that, we get into secret ingredients and such (this is the only secret recipe I ever developed) and I still have about another 40 minutes of doing stuff. So, we will just have to wait and see how it's received at the party...

BTW, why am I making soup for a pot luck lunch? Well, two reasons, actually. One is it's fall and I figured soup might just hit the spot and, two, since this was supposed to be my Mom's birthday party, I am making it in her honor (this was her favorite of all the soups I brought her).

So, by 10:30 AM, the soup was in the big crock pot on warm and I had just finished loading the dishwasher and hand washing the big stock pots and aluminum bowls. Then I went and shaved, took a real shower, got dressed and left just before 12:00 noon.

Now, the party didn't officially start until 2:00 PM, but I wanted to get a couple things from Mom's house and dig up a flower. So, Kathy and her grandson Devon helped me carry in my stuff (the crock pot, a ladle and a wire basket I filled with individual packets of oyster crackers).

The Joe and Devon went over to Mom's house with me. I was just supposed to get the Buddha and the picture that hung over the couch on 24 Mile Road. They had packed the Buddha in a box with all the framed photos of my family Mom had on her bedroom wall, plus a few loose photos. Also, they had a bunch of my empty soup containers Cora never gave back to me. Joe loaded the box in my trunk and Devon put the picture in the back seat.

They had everything out and set on the counters tables, etc., for people to look at and choose things they might want. Now, I tried to stick to my original plan, but before I left, I also had a wooden crucifix, two pieces of Carnival glass (for Melissa), a German flag (my Dad had bought it when his brother and sister came over) and a little wooden footstool I had made for my Mom one year (I carved "To Mom with love, John" on the underside, but not the date. Dammit!).

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot! I also had a box with all the bird figurines Amy and Melissa had given my Mom for her birthdays over the years!

Then I went out to dig up my trillium. I couldn't find any where I thought they were, but I found one I thought might be it. I bent up my shovel in the hard and Mom's was missing so I finally dug it up with her garden fork. I put a little dirt around it in my bucket, added a little water and we went back to the party.

By that time Carl and some of Hannah's family were there. Carl was already eating the chowder! I took in the plant to verify it was a trillium, and Carl laughed and told me I had dug up a weed!

Now, Mom had given Hannah a trillium a few years back, so she graciously agreed to come back to the house and show me one. And, even with diligent searching, that's all we found: one. So, using another shovel Joe had found I finally got it out (the dirt was hard and the damn root was about a foot deep).

When we got back, even more people had showed up and more just kept coming (there are a lot of us!) Everyone had brought food as well, so we ended up with an impressive amount and variety; everything from spaghetti, meatballs, beans, chicken, pizza, snack trays with cheese, meats and crackers, lemon meringue pie, cookies and, of course, my niece Laura had made her traditional huge cake.

Jeremy and his family arrived. He brought lasagna and chocolate chip cookies he's made. I had a piece of his lasagna for my lunch. The taste was excellent, but it had dried out a bit on the edges (that's the trouble with making and then transporting food).

It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, so the soup idea seemed a bit lame. However, a lot of people seemed to like it.

I visited with my brothers and sister-in-laws, nieces and nephews and checked out the latest crop of babies (there were a LOT of babies there!) They had brought over Mom's photo albums and were passing them around (that was a neat idea!). I had to laugh at how young we all looked!

By 4:00 PM, I was tired and my shoulder hurt, so I made my farewells and prepared to head for home.

Now, I knew I had soup containers and planned on giving away any excess soup, but when I checked there wasn't even four cups left of it. I did leave the box of the individually packed oyster crackers and urged people to take them (I don't eat them and little babies and toddlers love them).

I had an uneventful ride home (traffic was light) and got there about 5:15 PM.

I immediately replanted the trillium in my wildflower garden. I heated up the last of the soup (about a bowl and a half) and let the crock pot soak.

I ate the soup watching my Sunday night shows and went to bed at 10:30 PM. I was awakened at 2:30 AM by thunder and lightning and the sound of heavy rain, but I just rolled over and went back to sleep.