“Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life!”
Albert Einstein
Bearing gifts
A couple of weeks ago we had a party at my daughters house in Fair Oaks honoring our May birthdays, which is most of the family. My son Steve’s birthday is May 22 while his son James was born on May 4, as was my granddaughter Stella, but seven years apart. Harris, my other grandson, has his birthday on May 14.
My daughter, Erika, invited all of Stella and Harris’s friends, along with family, to the party and she decided to serve good, skin-on Casper’s hot dogs. Well, what is a hot dog without chili, so I decided to stop by Shoestring, the great hot dog stand on Broadway, and pick up a quart of the delicious chili they put on their famous chili-cheese dogs. Not that turned out to be one of the hits of the party.
My daughter and my daughter-in-law, Mel (James’ mom), are also great fans of fresh made horchata, the Mexican drink made from rice milk, cinnamon, sugar and other ingredients. I decided to treat them, so on my way to Fair Oaks picked up a couple of large cups of it from Fresh-Mex Express Mexican Grill, which is on Missouri Flat Road, across from K-Mart. While I was there, and since it was Saturday, I also got a container of pozole, the pork and hominy soup traditionally made that day, along with a side of shredded cabbage, limes, cilantro and chopped onion to add to it. I had also packed a ripe avocado to cut up and put on top of the pozole.
The pozole became lunch for my daughter and son-in-law, Roy, and they literally vacuumed it up it was so good. My daughter especially loved not having to fix lunch as they got ready for the party. The horchata brought big smiles to both her and my daughter-in-law.
The next time you go to someone’s house for a similar event, take along something that you like from a local restaurant, but call first to make sure they have it. People love surprises, especially good tasting ones. Oh, I also always take my daughter fresh flowers, from my gardens if possible.