Back with a bang

After a month off, we had a big gang on Wednesday for Family Dinner. Being that it was sunny and solstice, we decided it was the perfect opportunity to have dinner on the deck. And since there were THIRTEEN of us, it worked out perfectly.

Mark, Jess, Charlie, Lucas, Jessie, Bruno (who was celebrating his first month on earth!), Chelsey, Morgan, Melaine, Jason, Ted, Johnnie, Matt and I all enjoyed a great dinner. Barbecued pork ribs, smoked salmon, green salad, tomato marinade, crusty bread and broccoli diablo au gratin, lots or red and white wine, ginger-mango hooch liqueur and Trader Joe's cookies for dessert made for a great meal. There were more conversations going on than could ever be recorded. Turns out if we don't all see each other for a month, the chatting could go on forever.

Happy Summer!

Cheeks, Pie and Everything in Between

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Let me start by apologizing for this late post. But honestly, I didn't want to write it. Dinner was great, the group was fabulous, but it was the end of an era and I was having a hard time making it official. Last Wednesday was our last weekly meal with Grandpa Pres in the mix - he left us for the sunnier skies of Wenatchee over the weekend!

So as he settles into his new digs, I'm settling into the fact that I don't get to talk shop with him each week. It was great having him here and I got to spend a lot more time with him than I otherwise would have. AND! He's the reason Wednesday Dinners got started, so thank you for spending some time on the coast Grandpa and I hope you are loving your new spot!

Now what you have all been waiting for, the recap of last week's family dinner. Since it was Grandpa's last meal (until he decides to come visit us), it was quite a big affair. I arrived around 6pm to Ted at the stove, Johnnie at the island and Grandpa and Eddie at the nook on either side of a huge plate of smoked salmon collars. YEEEEEEEEEES!

Being the gentlemen they are, Eddie offered up his seat by the apps and Ted made me the drink of the night - watermelon hooch and limeade. After the tragic events of the day, I was happy to have a retreat that included family, food and COCKTAILS. We shared how our days had all been affected by the shootings and Johnnie and Eddie shared a story about Scott 'Hollywood' Scurlock, the bank robber who hid out in the neighborhood over Thanksgiving 1996.

So as we got the nervous energy of the day out with the first drink, more people filtered in - Chelsey, Jessie, Mark, Charlie, Ted's friend and his two buddies (totally drawing a blank on names right now), Todd and his wife. Thirteen plus a dog, that's about as big as it can get in a turn-of-the-century house.

But I'm getting ahead of myself with group dynamics. I only briefly mentioned the salmon collars, when in fact, they deserve a lot of attention. I think I ate three. That's slightly embarrassing to admit to my millions of readers, but they are so damn good! Totally worth my hands smelling like fish for days, Omega-3 overload. Eek! I just looked up the nutrition facts, probably shouldn't have done that. I'd still have eaten three had I looked at the facts beforehand. Every fatty, delicious bite I could dig out from between the cartilage was like hitting the jackpot at the slots. DING DING DING DING DING and the lights start flashing and I'm rich!

Ok, moving on. We crammed as many plates as could fit around the table and filled what space was left with green salad, artisan bread, tomato marinade (of course!), brown rice, wine, hot sauce and a whole lot of Copper River Salmon. Ted  had clued me in early Wednesday that when he filleted the fish, it was the most beautiful one he'd ever seen. And he did it justice. Brined for a few hours and then put on the Tragger for a short time, the salmon was hands down the best salmon I've eaten. I was sitting next to Grandpa and he agreed. And then we both ate more than we should have.

With such a big group, there were lots of conversations going on, many of which I didn't catch. But one thing is for sure, people were happy to be sharing the fabulous meal with each other. One of the things I've learned in the last 9 months at family dinner is that if people want to be at dinner, they are bound to have a good time. The policy always was that if you could make it, great. If not, we'll see you when you can. And I think this mentality created the perfect environment for great meals time after time.

As a few of us started clearing plates, Ted's friend (doh! the name still isn't coming) pulled out a deck of cards and entertained the bunch. That was a first for fam din and enjoyed all around. And it was the perfect distraction that allowed us to dish up dessert.

Jessie made a banana cream pie and we had apple and strawberry rhubarb from PCC. A little sliver of each with a dollop of vanilla ice cream went to everyone interested and the crowd continued to enjoy.

It's been decided that the tradition Grandpa started when he moved to Seattle last fall will continue because we all like each other! I don't think we will be meeting every week, and the venue may change, but either way, this group loves drinking, eating and talking and an event that's been so enjoyable couldn't just stop happening. I'm hoping we get an occasional appearance from Grandpa, too, because we learned this food/family-centrc behavior from him!

Eat my words

Wednesday was our second to last Family Dinner with Grandpa in the house and when Ted asked what he wanted, he said chicken. In my head I said UGHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOO I hate chicken. Even though I've had amazing chicken cooked by uncle Ted, my first reaction to the word chicken is ALWAYS blech what a waste of time. Chicken shmicken.

Of course, I said nothing aloud because a free meal is a free meal and Ted has never disappointed at family dinner. But internally, I was thinking, 'chicken, really? WTF!?!'. So When I got to the house on Wednesday, I was excited to see what else we were having with dinner. the first smell to hit me was the sweet, tangy aroma that could only be German Potato Salad and sure enough, this great recipe was cooking away on the stovetop.

Morgan and Ted were sitting at the nook and Grandpa and Eddie were out on the deck. I noticed a big tray covered with foil and got the faint smokey scent of something having been on the smoker. It smelled good as my stomach growled in anticipation of dinner. Hitting the gym before hand is good, but makes the waiting tough sometimes! To curb my appetite, Ted made me a cocktail. Always good on an empty stomach. Hooch + mango + lime = delish.

Grandpa and Eddie migrated in from the deck, because while it is warmer now, it's still not WARM at 6pm yet. Behind them came Jessie, Mark and Charlie, and that rounded out our group for the night. As the resident salad tosser, when Ted got out the big yellow bowl and bottle of dressing, I knew we were close to show time. Everyone migrated to the table and I caught Ted slicing up the chicken. As much as I don't like to admit when I've made a quick judgement, that chicken smelled and looked about as good as a chicken can smell and look. Golden, crispy skin over the perfect pink tint of smoked perfection. UGH! Chicken! I think I'm going to like it!

As people settled and plates filled, we settled into some nice conversations. There is lots of bike racing, camping, marathon training and general outdoor love going on for the group right now. And of course, we talked about food. Particularly oh the chicken was absolutely perfectly cooked. Even the white meat was flavorful and moist, for lack of a better word. you know what I dislike more that (most) chicken, the word moist. ANYWAYS, I have to give it up to Grandpa, good call on the chicken. It was the B-O-M-B. We also had the german potato salad, a green salad and baguette. Oh! As if the chicken needed any more flavor, Ted made barbecue sauce, too!

If you've ever had barbecue at a Bratrude house, you know that we are a bit specific when it comes to the all important barbecue sauce. No bottle of pre-made will do with this group. It's homemade or nothing. And we've all come to our own recipe from Grandma Corinne's basic recipe. On Wednesday, Ted added a hint of vanilla. Tasty!

Now, usually at this point there's a little time for clearing dinner and plating dessert, but when Jessie walked in with a beautiful strawberry rhubarb pie, we knew there would be no dilly dallying. Grandpa made sure we got pictures of the dessert before slicing in and you will be drooling as soon as I post those. Topped with a little vanilla ice cream, we were all convinced that a big piece was necessary. So good. So worth the uncomfortable expansion of my stomach.

We've got one more family dinner with Grandpa in the hood and I hear there's rumor of salmon. Now salmon is something that I get VERY excited about. But I have to eat my words because that was the best damn chicken I've ever had and now I know that I'd request it too.

Eddie is the ultimate hipster

Not only was he sporting Ray-bans and a flannel, but he brought a sixer of flat top, steel can Churchkey Pilsner to the party. Complete with it's own opener, the packaging is great and the beer tastes good! As Eddie cracked open a can, I learned about the different types of beer cans Ted and Eddie experienced back in the day. At the same time, Ted mixed me a Ginger Lemonade Hooch cocktail. I was double fisted within the first 10 minutes! They really know how to hook a girl up.

I got to spend an hour or so with the guys - Grandpa, Ted and Eddie - before anyone else showed up. They were kind enough to listen to me vent about the oddness that is being a short-timer. Tomorrow is my last day of work at the diabetes study before I move on to a brain research gig and this last week has been a challenging one for me. If you know me at all, you know that I hate wasting time and that's what the last few days feel like, but I guess that's how it goes. So, thanks guys for giving me cocktails and letting me bitch!

Ok, back to the good stuff. People trickled in around 6:30pm - Jessie, Mark and Charlie arrived first. Shortly thereafter Morgan and Chelsey made their way into the kitchen. Ted pulled FOUR brined and smoked chickens off the grill and side dishes made their way to the table. Nate, his girlfriend (Ahh! I'm spacing your name!!!!) and Moto had perfect timing, knocking on the door just as we were settling into our chairs.

So what started as a small foursome turned into a full table of finger-licking good chicken, tomato marinade, pasta salad, brown rice, wine, 10 people and two happy dogs. Jessie informed us that it is ok to eat chicken with your fingers, according to a friend of her's who has and extensive knowledge of etiquette. Not that anyone was concerned about breaking rules, but it's nice to know where we stand.

After dinner, Mark presented us with his Thesis: One of each cookie and a scoop of vanilla ice cream HAHAHHAHA Mark is finishing up his grad school thesis, so the slip of the tongue made everyone laugh. At least we know he is thinking about it! Jessie made the cookies - GF oatmeal peanut butter, some with chocolate, some without. Charlie did a test run of them last night, coming to Jessie with crumbs on her mouth and a guilty look that only a lab can make. We all agreed with Charlie that the cookies were great. Grandpa gave the thumbs up. 

Topics discussed included electric cars and motorcycles, craigslist, pinterest, travel and food, bike racing, segmented sleep, phone apps that monitor sleep patterns, horse racing and betting strategies, camping, Suncadia, The Brick (of course), Obama's support of gay marriage and Dan Savage's response, hooch, the Lake City Elks Lodge, Dog Fiction, and on and on. We were a chatty bunch. OOh! That reminds me! The term 'chatty Cathy' came up and Grandpa asked if anyone knew the origins. Let me google..."Chatty Cathy is a doll manufactured by the Mattel toy company from 1959 to 1965. The doll was first released in stores and appeared in television commercials beginning in 1960. Chatty Cathy celebrated her 50th birthday in 2010." Well, now we know.

Isn't it incredible what we learn at Family Dinner? I feel smarter by the sip. I took a couple photos, will post them soon.

Fiesta!

 More after the jump!

Bienvenido de vuelta - Welcome Back!

After a few weeks off, Family dinner started back up last night with a big crowd and a great meal. Since Ted & Johnnie spent the last couple weeks in Mexico and Jessie's birthday is on 5/5, the theme of the night was SEA-MEX (think tex mex, Seattle-style). The dining room table, and kid table, were decorated with new authentic mexican table cloths that made the night immediately festive.

First things first. The drink of the night was inspired by Johnnie's vacation drink - the mango margarita. While Ted perfected the recipe, we all enjoyed the taste of summer and the catch up conversations began. Turns out if you don't see this family for a few weeks, lots of stuff happens.

New jobs, vacation stories, summer plans and graduations were discussed. People have been busy and spring has been treating the family well. It feels as if we have come out of the clouds (pay no attention to the fact that it's currently grey and raining) and hit spring with new energy. Don't you just love when things start to fall in place!?!

We had a big crowd that included some first-timers. Kristy and Mike made their way over the pass to join us. They contributed Quincy asparagus (which we didn't get time to cook so I got some to take home, YES), a cooler of beer, a salad and chips & salsa. It's always exciting to have new blood at the table.

Courtney and Jordi also made it to their first family dinner and Jordi knew just how to win over the crowd. He made his way through the packed kitchen with a beautiful antipasti plate. He must be a good guy because rather than take the credit for the delicious appetizer, he let us know that his mom was responsible.

Aside from our newbies, we had the core: Ted, Johnnie, Grandpa Pres, Eddie, Jess, Mark, Charlie, Morgan, Chelsey and me. Matt was at dodgeball practice and couldn't make it, but it's ok because he's practicing for a big tourney taking place in LA in a couple weeks. I bet you didn't know you were friends with a National Top 10 Teams d-baller!?!

Ok, back to the SEA-MEX. Ted cooked us a great meal. We had a taco buffet that included brined and smoked dark meat chicken, smoked beef (sorry I didn't get a better description of this, but take my word for it - delicious), corn & flour tortillas, stewed beans, brown rice, avocado salad, green salad, corn chips and salsa and a bunch of different hot sauces.

As we settled around the two tables - we had 13 people, hence the kid table - we quickly realized these were going to be fork & knife tacos. Too much good stuff, tortilla blowout inevitable. Topics of conversation included the last weekend at Baker and the epic sledding hill built for the occasion, the Alaska cruise that's just around the corner, the info structure or lack thereof in Ethiopia, the jam-packed weekend Jenna has planned for her graduation, the phase out of calling people by nick names and the tricks of the trade for how to win at Emerald Downs.

Jessie topped the meal with two theme-inspired desserts. She made Flan and Peach Gelatina. Did I get that second one right? Either way, they were both tasty and the perfect sweet note to end on. 

I'm sure there were a lot of other very important topics discussed, funny things that happened and mysteries solved, but the combo of cocktails from last night and not yet having any coffee is preventing me from recalling anything more.

There are some things you don't realize you enjoy so much. For me, family dinner is one of them. Pictures to come.

Springtime Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a serious deal in our family. A couple weeks ago we figured out that half-Thanksgiving is on 5/22/2012 and decided we should do a turkey feast to celebrate. Back in January Ted did a smoked turkey and people fell in love. But in talking about tradition, Ted hasn't seemed ready to switch things up in November and trade the oven method for the smoker method when it comes to the bird.

It was decided that at half-Thanksgiving we could do the smoked version and at Thanksgiving we (and by we I mean Ted, our excellent cook) would keep with the also-delicious oven action. Awesome! Thanksgiving twice a year!!!

So when the head-count email came around on Monday and stated that Mark would be in town and a smoked turkey was on the menu, I was overtaken by the sense that I am a lucky, lucky lady. Thanksgiving three times a year!!!

Turns out in addition to Mark, who has been at school in Eugene and only been able to make a couple family dinners, we also had Steve and Walker join us for their first Wednesday night feast. Walker is about the cutest two-and-a-half-year-old around. When I showed up he was rocking corduroy Toms and a couple strands of golden mardi gras beads he found somewhere in Ted and Johnnie's house earlier that day.

Ted and Grandpa were on kid duty all afternoon and it sounded like they had quite the time throwing rocks into Green Lake, chasing ducks and doing other dude things. Walker knows how to work a room and added a fun vibe to the evening's affairs.

In addition to cooking, Ted was also making drinks and there were lots of options on the table. I started with a classic Rapture Hooch Gimlet and followed that with my new favorite drink, the Ginger Hooch Lemon Drop. YUM.

As Ted sliced up the turkey he had brined for a day and smoked for six hours, we took everything else to the table and got situated. Chairs were filled by Grandpa, Mark, Jessie, Steve, Walker, Eddie, Ted and me. Plates were filled by smoked turkey (lots of dark meat in my case), sauteed cabbage in butter, brown rice, baguette and green salad.

Everything was delicious! And the glass (or two) of robust red wine didn't hurt, either. Eddie and I got into a good conversation about traveling in Arizona with the intention of seeing the wildflowers in bloom. I think we are all in desperate need of spring weather right now. 80 degrees in Chicago yesterday? Something strange is going on...

Jessie made us another great dessert that she was a little apprehensive about. We've got some dietary restrictions in the bunch - gluten, dairy - and she accommodated until we put a scoop of ice cream on top. She made us a restriction-friendly pumpkin cheesecake! It looked beautiful and tasted really good, even though it was made with tofu and no cream cheese. I think she could have sold it as regular cheesecake and gotten away with it. No one was complaining; we were too busy licking our plates.

And the surprise of the night? I remembered my camera! But I haven't uploaded pics yet, so you are just going to have to wait to see the mouth-watering, golden-brown smoked turkey until tonight when I have a chance to post them!

And now I'm going to eat some leftovers.

Flaming Bananas Foster

This post is a little delayed, but you know what they say...better late than never! A few weekends ago Jason and I stopped by the house to snag Famous for dinner. We went to one of Pres's favorite spots, The Greenlake Bar & Grill, for some dinner and dessert. Back at the house Ted and Johnnie entertained us with stories from their Valentine's day party and pretty soon Ted was pulling out the hooch for a special Flaming Bananas Foster night cap.

Jason caught it all on video (sorry it's sideways) -  my favorite part is the background commentary "Holy Mackerel!". Enjoy.

Well I was at the first one

What's the first thing you do when you wake up on Saturday morning? I know I'm not alone in grabbing my phone, checking the time/gmail/facebook and then turning over to try and get a few more it's the weekend and I can sleep in moments before cursing my internal clock and making my way to the shower to start the day (man, I feel old).

But when I got an email stating "The gentleman in the picture below has offered to make flaming Hooch Mai tais and Kahlua pulled pork sandwiches on Wednesday. Who's in?" all bets for a little more sleep were off. The laughter and excitement took over and my day had begun.

Turns out Ted's birthday was Tuesday so family dinner this week had the requisite tropical theme. As always, it was awesome. As Matt and I pulled up to the house, I could see Grandpa sitting in the nook but something was off. Walking in the door, Charlie dog greeted us and I soon figured out what was different. The lights in the kitchen were down because of the flickering blue flames making their way around the room!

A round of hugs for all lead me to the Birthday Guy, who promptly handed me a flaming hooch mai tai - slice of fresh pineapple expertly placed on the rim of the glass. Hawaii in Green Lake woo hoo!!! Seth and Lisa were the wild cards of the night, with the rest of the usual crowd - Grandpa, Ted, Johnnie, Morgan, Chelsey, Jessie, Eddie, Charlie dog, Matt and I - in attendance. 

As the food and wine made it's way to the table, so did the people and pretty soon we all had full plates and glasses in front of us. "I'm kind of drunk!" came from one end of the table and lead to a round of cheers for another great evening. Flaming Hooch Mai Tais are fabulous.

The menu for the night was Kahlua pulled pork sandwiches, green salad and spaghetti squash with a heavy emphasis on the pork. Ted and Grandpa got 10 pounds of pork shoulder for the meal. Did you know that pork shoulder is actually pork butt and it is called pork shoulder because pigs use their shoulders to 'butt' into things? You can thank Seth for that tidbit. Some day you will totally win bar trivia night with that.

So Ted brined the pork for 18 hours and then smoked it for 6. And the real labor of love came in the pulling, which took him 45 minutes to complete. IT WAS SO GOOD. The Kahlua barbecue sauce was sweet and hot and the perfect complement to the smoked meat. Are you dying for a picture yet? I forgot my camera again!!!!! And I even said it out loud so as not to forget...

Lucky for you, Seth pulled out his phone and got the shot. Let the mouthwatering begin.

There were lots of conversations going on over these delicious plates. Jessie got famous last week as the poster girl in an ad campaign for a yoga studio. Post the pic please, Jess!!! Eddie is a connoisseur of silent films, who knew? Everyone who has seen The Artist has liked it. Why did the Oscars decide to have 10 nominees for Best Picture? We could only name 5 in the running and there are some movie-goers in the crowd. 

As we moved into sweets mode, the table was cleared. Empty plates were replaced with a bunch of bottles of different liquors, liqueurs, brandies and ports and little glasses for those who opted to imbibe. Next, dessert plates made their way around the table. Jessie made pineapple upside down cake and Lisa made plum crisp. Each plate carried a slice of both with a healthy dollop (thanks Kate for that Midwest jargon) of homemade whipped cream. 

I wish I had a picture of this round for you, but we were all too thoroughly involved in what was on the table to even mention taking a photo. You're just going to have to take my word for it, it was all delicious. 

Grandpa insisted on a round of Happy Birthday and afterwards I asked how long he and Ted thought it had been since they had celebrated Ted's birthday together. They both paused for a minute and Grandpa finally responded, "Well, I was at the first one!"

Drippy Drippy Ocean Water

Despite what I've heard on the bus to First Hill lately, Leap Year comes around every four years (not 20) and wouldn't you know, family dinner fell on the special day! To be honest, until arriving at Ted & Johnnie's house, I could have counted 2/29/12 as a wash and pretended it never happened. I might have almost really screwed up the database at work, oops! But the database got fixed and I made my way to Green Lake, knowing a hooch cocktail would turn the day around.

What I did not expect were dozens of OYSTERS!!!!!!! Forget the work stress, there were OYSTERS in the house! I swear, someone really likes me (Grandpa) because oysters two weeks in a row is more than I could ask for. We had oysters on the half shell AND baked oysters with bacon aka Oysters Bratrude.

While Ted was stationed over the kitchen sink shucking each little superstar mollusk, I was stationed in the kitchen nook with Grandpa. Turns out this is a great spot to plant yourself for a few reasons. First, you get a front row seat for the appetizers. Slurp, slurp slurp go the fresh Penn Cove gems. Second, people gravitate there to both say hello to Famous and grab a bite of whatever is on display so you get to chat with everyone. And third, when more people squeeze onto the little bench and you are stuck on the inside, people take care of you!

I'm talking cocktails, people. From my stuck position, I was not only able to indulge in a bunch of OYSTERS and catch up with my cousins, but I was also able to try all the beverage available.

• homemade hard cider - Loved it. Good carbonation, right amount of sweet. Nose of kombucha, taste of apples. 
• Ginger liqueur - A little sipper of this one was enough to give you spicy root flavor and smooth heat. 
• Apple Hooch Sour - My favorite. Whatever magic happened with the mixing of citrus and apple hooch made for a delicious drink. That one didn't last in my glass long. It was a long day, people, you understand!

Before we sat down for the main meal, we made a detour to the TV because Evening Magazine was doing a segment on the World Extreme Pencil Fighting League. Thaddeus P. Skrilla (Matt) was the World Champion for about a year, so we gathered around to watch the story.

 

It was fun to see a bunch of my friends on TV and how they edited the event to be TV-appropriate. It's a bar show, it is not that tame. Pencil fighting is every third Thursday at Re-bar.

After getting everything on the table, we all sat down to enjoy Ted's hard work. It was another small group - Grandpa, Ted, Johnnie, Jessie, Morgan, Chelsey, Charlie dog and I. Since I forgot my camera AGAIN Johnnie saved the day with a quick iphone shot. Sorry it's grainy. I promise to do better next time.

The menu included homemade split pea soup, green and purple salad, OYSTERS two ways, baguette, quesadillas, salsa and wine. Everything was delicious. And this is where the story came out about how we got so lucky with oysters round two.

Ted took a bike ride to Cash&Carry a couple days ago with the intention of picking up a couple slabs of ribs for family dinner. As he rode up to the store, he noticed a Penn Cove Shellfish truck parked in front. I don't know if you've every been to Cash&Carry before, but it's not really a Penn Cove-type place. It's more about quantity and savings than exceptional seafood.

So Ted spots the driver and says hi. He asks if he's selling off the back of the truck, and lucky for us, he is! First Ted asked about mussels, but it's mussel season and the guy is fresh out. Then they talk oysters and Ted winds up with 10 dozen, packed in ice. Now remember when I started this story I told you that Ted was on his bicycle? Ya. So getting the surprise oysters home required a bit of finesses.

To avoid Drippy Drippy Ocean Water getting everywhere, Ted had to empty his saddlebag content into his day-pack, fill the saddlebag with oysters, stuff that in his day-pack and shlep the whole bounty home. This is why I love my family. Serious dedication to a great meal.

We had a good laugh about Ted's oyster adventure and everything tasted better to me knowing it was a fluke that I was enjoying oysters for the second week in a row. As we finished up, Jessie was preparing our tasty dessert. There was a quick discussion about whether what we had last week was actually a Kringle. Regardless, we all decided we like the desserts made by our family baker best.

She made us GF vanilla cupcakes with baked bananas and ice cream. So good. The smell of the caramelized bananas was mouth watering and went perfectly with a little more hooch. Jessie admitted it was a bit of a wing-it production and that caused a big laugh since a lot of the Bratrude's follow a recipe about as well as they shy away from food. NOT WELL.

Are you jealous yet?

1-25-2012 I'm a dessertie

Last night's dinner was another one for the books! As people arrived, they were greeted by the fragrant smell of the smoker hard at work.  The drink-of-the-day was a tasty Sea Breeze - fresh squeezed grapefruit, cran and vodka. The appetizer was toasted baguette with goat cheese, kalamata olives and roasted red peppers and was both aromatic and delicious. Eddie pointed out that it smelled like a pizzeria!

After a solid happy hour, Grandpa Pres, Mel, Jess, Eddie, Ted, Johnnie, Morgan, Chelsey and I got seated around the table in anticipation of the main event - Smoked Turkey. You could smell it from the street, so we were all excited for our first bites. Based on the moments of silence, I think everyone agreed the turkey was fantastic. Chelsey even said it was her favorite meal yet.

We also had broccoli diablo (muy caliente), Grandma Corrine's German potato salad, a fresh green salad and some rustic bread to accompany the protein. Conversation wrapped around food (of course), bike racing, the crazy weather of the past couple weeks, the famous blue binder cookbook, and how to make pear brandy.

But I think the best line of the night was after we had indulged in another great dessert of pear crisp with ice cream made by Jess. I had mentioned that someone should write a blog post and we started talking about being foodies. Grandpa had not heard the term before, but after a quick explanation, he proclaimed that he was definitely a dessertie. If you are related to Famous, you can thank him for your sweet tooth.

What's a favorite line you've heard from Grandpa lately? And Grandpa, what's your favorite dessert?

1-11-2012