Posts from — June 2014

One last post, a pictorial actually, about Kansas and our trip last weekend for my dad’s Otter Family Reunion.

Then tomorrow, I’ll give you info on a recipe to NOT make. I bet you can hardly wait…

Check out the price to ride this awesome vintage kiddie ride mechanical and coin-operated horse. One Cent! Just like it advertises on the base of the ride. One penny. Love It!

Grain silos every which way you look.

Old family photos, a family reunion classic.

Huge bails of hay… my sister is nearly six feet tall, these were big. I have a video of her climbing up on there too, but we’ll keep that in the family.

“Amber waves of grain.” America the Beautiful!

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I realize that tornado warnings are nothing new for many people, but for two girls from Arizona… it made for a very long and eventful night.

As I began to tell you yesterday, late Saturday night, after the family reunion, we received an alert on our cell phones at about 9:30.

Sloane and I were in our hotel room, watching a movie when the alert came through. Neither of us had been anywhere close to a tornado before and we weren’t sure what we were supposed to do or where we were supposed to go to “Take shelter now.”

I called down to the front desk to ask the manager, who we had already become friendly with. He was somewhat amused, especially since he hadn’t heard of any warnings yet. He then advised that if we needed to really find shelter we would hear the sirens. We shouldn’t worry if there was only one siren, that meant there was a fire. Two sirens meant there was a fire in town, but if we heard eight sirens, then that was for a tornado.

Um…OK, eight sirens, and then what? Where do we go if we hear eight sirens?

If there are eight sirens, we are to come down to the lobby and the safest place is by the soda machine. The soda machine?!?

I said, “You’re lying! The soda machine? That can’t be the safest place, the damn thing might fall on you!”

He laughed and said, just come down to the lobby if you hear the sirens.

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When I first wrote about our trip to a family reunion in Kansas, I said, “It is being held in New Almelo, Kansas – population 622.”

I guess that was the population of the town and the surrounding area “back in the day” when there was a church, cemetery, post office, grocery store, gas station, and such. I had found that population number on the web.

Now there is only the church, the cemetery, and about a dozen homes and a population of…

… wait for it…

… a grand total of…

… about 22!

That’s right, between 22 and “maybe 25” permanent residents and approximately 10 more “weekend residents” from Denver, CO.

The reunion was held in the church hall.

Given that my Dad was one of the attendees, we were among the first to arrive at the nearly empty hall at about 9:30 AM on Saturday morning.

By 11:30 or so, the place was hopping! And the food…

There was enough food to feed a small army.

Smoked meats of every type and flavor.

More salads and sides than I could count.

And the desserts, don’t get me started on the tables upon tables of desserts! The food was all delicious and the company was delightful.

Although some of the most exciting moments of the trip occurred AFTER the reunion. Remember, we were in Kansas after all.

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I awoke at 3:30 yesterday. Picked up Sloane at 4:15, then picked up Dad at 4:30. Arrived at airport by 5:00 and took off for Las Vegas at 6:00. Did I mention this was AM, not PM!

We arrived in Wichita at 12:25 in the afternoon and rented a car, then drove for four hours until we reached Norton, KS. We checked into our hotel, then jumped back in the car and drove another 30 minutes to New Almelo.

Not exactly the most exciting day of my life. The best part – is we get to do the reverse tomorrow!

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“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Arizona anymore.”

By the time you read this, I’ll be boarding the second flight of the morning on my way to Wichita, Kansas.

My dad is an Arizona Native, but his parents are originally from Germany. They came to America by way of Kansas. There is a family reunion that he wants to attend this weekend. Sloane and I are accompanying him.

It is being held in New Almelo, Kansas – population of 622.

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I received an email yesterday from a woman who lives in Alpharetta, GA.

Caroline was thanking me for my “Glossary of Cooking Terms” which can be found under The Basic Kitchen tab, over there on the left side of the page.

She waxed poetic about how educational and informative she found it and that she loved my daily posts as well and how her morning hasn’t truly begun until she has seen my most recent post. It was very sweet and it is the sort of thing that motivates me to keep doing what I do. The fun part is how she came to find my site. It was sent to her by the management office of her apartment complex.

I’ve noticed, for the last 4 months or so, that several different apartment management companies have been linking to my “Glossary” page in their communications to residents. The links have been posted on resident community online newsletters in more than a dozen states, including AL, AR, CA, CO, FL, GA, KY, KS, MD, MO, NC, OK, PA, SC, NC, TN, TX and VA.

The best part of getting the links is reading how the various newsletters from around the country entice their residents to check out my glossary:

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This light summer salad is so delicious and refreshing. An added bonus – no cooking or heating up the kitchen is involved!

One more thing … it’s pretty as a picture.

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After visiting The Simple Farm last week, I was inspired to make a meatless meal.

This meal is “Connor Approved!”

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Two years ago today, I read an article in The Arizona Republic about a suburban farm. The Simple Farm is a mere four miles from my house, on Cactus Road. Perfect, I live off Cactus Road! I cut the article out with the intention of checking out the farm later that summer. The Simple Farm is only open to the public on Thursday mornings and at the time I was in the middle of my summer session of kid’s cooking classes.

Classes ended that year in mid-July. I never made it to the farm, not after classes ended, not for the rest of 2012 or all of 2013. I’d drive by, although never on a Thursday morning, and think, “I need to plan a visit!”

What is it that keeps a person from doing something they have every intention of doing? Is it just me, or do you do that too? Is everyone like this or do I have a problem? I am a procrastinator, I know this. But two years?!?

Anyhow, Sheila called me last Thursday and asked if I wanted to meet her at The Simple Farm. I honestly could not go that morning, but I asked her to ask me again next week. Next week was yesterday, and I finally made it to The Simple Farm. It will not be the last time! It is a charming slice of the country in the middle of the city – Simply Wonderful!

Part of the wonderfulness is that they raise goats. Big goats.

Sweet little baby goats!

Of course they have chickens.

They love their chickens.

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