Month: April 2019

On a Parish Spaghetti Dinner

Dine in spaghetti serving

This past Sunday, St. Frances Cabrini Parish, in Little Italy, on 10th St., in Omaha, held their twice yearly spaghetti dinner.

My friends, Amy and Cathy, told me about it, as that is their parish. They both work at the event, and promote it.

So, early Sunday afternoon, I had it in mind that this would be our dinner! Take-out was an option and that was my plan.

Dan wasn’t so sure. He said, “ I like my own recipe better.” Now, do I deprive him of the pleasure of cooking and eating his favorite spaghetti? Yes, I think, because he had just made his recipe last week. It’s time to try this small parish’s dinner with MEATBALLS. We never make Italian meatballs. Besides, I want to support a parish fundraiser.

Oh! This is going to be fun!

Dan says, “You won’t find parking. Let me drive you, and you run in and get 2 dinners.”

“I will find parking,” I say, adding, “I don’t want this to be a quick drive through experience, where I’m rushing because you’re waiting outside in a car somewhere.”

No, I’d like to spend time in that old school or church basement, in line, and be part of the crowd, experiencing the culture of the whole event.

So, off I go! The first thing I notice on 10th St. is that there are so many cars parked, all the way to the Durham. As I get closer, it appears that no parking is available. I almost turn around and go home for plan B, Dan’s spaghetti.

However, what is this? A huge open parking lot, 3 blocks south. It’s the lot for Cascio’s Steakhouse restaurant, not currently open. I park there and take off walking. As a first timer, I’m unsure of where to go. Follow the people, I think. Walkers are everywhere. Then, I see the Take Out entrance. So organized! I get behind a couple who I overhear saying, “I guess we’ll find out”. First timers also.

Cannolis for Dessert

Once inside, I see a corner group of tables, with about 8 young women making cannolis on several pieces of stainless steel equipment, and filling each one. I buy 2, a chocolate and a vanilla.

Now, I’m in line to get dinner. I can see into the hectic kitchen, packed with volunteers. Before I left home, I considered bringing my own glass covered casserole dish, (for zero waste reasons), but decided it might spill out in the car on the drive home. For efficiency’s sake, I’m glad I didn’t. They had containers already filled with salad, fresh bread (Orsi’s, I think), pasta and meatballs.

I did bring my reusable vinyl bag.

On my way out, I mention to the person next to me that my favorite part was seeing the cannoli crew in action. She says to me, with an engaging smile, “My nonna used to do that in that corner.” The tradition made me smile too.

On the walk back to my car, I meet an older woman using a walker with her dog. She asks me where the dinner is, and if she is going in the right direction, “Yes”, I say, “It’s about a block or so, straight ahead.” Another first timer.

After Dan and I enjoy this dinner (we can share only one, the portion per dinner is so generous), I ask him, “ What do you think—did you like it?”

“I like my own better,” he answers. Predictable, ha!

As for me, I like both versions. But, the St. Frances Cabrini dinner had a lot more entertainment served with it. I was so happy!

Shirley

The Little Old Lady Who Could Not Read

This past weekend, I watched “A Chef’s Life” on PBS. Vivian is the chef, and she was being honored in Kentucky (for her new cookbook, I think), so the episode was about bourbon.

At the honoring dinner, they prepared and served Pepsi /peanut ice cream floats, topped with a little bourbon to your liking. Vivian said it represented the tobacco workers who would drop salted peanuts into their Pepsis on their breaks.

I immediately thought fondly of my Aunt Jan (Janet Thelen Overgaard) who would serve us this very same treat (salted peanuts dropped into a bottle of Pepsi—not the float) in the 1960’s. It was in Breda, IA, at Henrietta’s Cafe, where she worked.

I was inspired to try the float! So, off to Wohlner’s I go to get ice cream, peanuts, a bottle of Pepsi, and Bourbon. They don’t have peanut ice cream, only peanut butter, which would probably work too. But, I chose to add peanuts to vanilla ice cream.

So excited! This will be my lunch today. I drop a scoop of ice cream into the glass, add some peanuts, then the Pepsi. It is then that I realize I’ve bought flavored Pepsi! It’s vanilla, so it’s fine, but I really wanted only a regular Pepsi.

The wrong Pepsi

To make up for having the wrong Pepsi, I pour in a little bourbon. Yowza!! That was so good! This may be our signature condo cocktail (which I’m always dreaming about having but have never settled on one) to serve guests.

This has happened before, my not reading carefully. A few years ago, I complained to my quilting buddies about reaching for the conditioner instead of the shampoo in the shower, and sometimes mistaking the gel for the shampoo, if it happened to be nearby.

Bonnie gave me the tip of placing a big magic marker initial on each: S for shampoo and C for conditioner. Very useful! One year, our Mahoney Retreat quilters had a challenge project: Depict your favorite tip from Retreat in a small quilt. This was mine:

Tips and Treasures, 2014.

Here is something I wrote on 8-5-2010, at 3 AM:

Up at night, reflecting on the meaning of life. Thinking about lots of things at the lakehouse (like the hole in the basement floor-the covering should be more permanent than a board over it, and toilet replacements taking place on Bryan and Amy’s arrival day—does that mean we won’t have water?)

Also, thinking about how, when planning a residence, you can spend lots and lots of money and time and still not get it right. Or, you can make improvements and not get the value back when you sell.

Then, I think of the lakehouse itself. So expensive, and yet, it was built and furnished in 1990. Updating it would add more expense. Not likely to happen. And not worth it at this time. Proximity to the lake is its biggest asset.

All of this makes me hungry, so I go to have a bowl of Rice Krispies with bananas and milk, adding a spoonful of natural peanut butter on the side, which I’ve just opened and stirred. Uh oh! this tastes sweet! I bought the peanut butter with honey! Not my favorite.

I’m now reminded of a silly kid’s book we used to enjoy, “The Little Old Man Who Could Not Read”. When his wife goes away on a trip, he has to buy his own groceries. He buys buttermilk instead of regular milk, and onion soup instead of chicken soup.

And now, I have bought peanut butter with honey instead of regular peanut butter. I’ve become “ The Little Old Lady Who Could Not Read”

Shirley