A Flowering Onion, Then Back To The Skies

    Last Friday, January, 5, I returned home after two weeks of holiday traveling with one day of break between.
     On December 26 Tom, Tommy and I drove home to Columbus from Seaford, Delaware, after our Christmas visit with my mom (see posts from 12/26/2017 - 12/29/2017).
      For us the high point of the trip home from Delaware is always dinner along the way in Cambridge, Ohio, at the Forum, an awesome Greek/Italian restaurant,

...that serves really good food,

...such as Tommy's Kopanisti Chicken (grilled chicken fillet in a Greek sauce),

...Tom's grilled salmon,

...and my tuna steak.

     However the true crave-inducing-must-have item on The Forum's menu is their Flowering Onion appetizer, a giant mutant onion covered in a seasoned batter, deep-fried, and served with a delicious mystery sauce.

You pull off a crispy onion petal, dip it in the sauce and wham, your eyeballs roll back and you're in Flower-ing Onion Nirvana.

     By the following day, however, our Forum Flowering Onion high had long worn off, and with one day to unpack and re-pack, Tom and I took off again the next day, December 28, for the West Coast,

...for another visit - a California visit after our Seaford, Delaware visit two days previous -   with my daughter, son-in-law and grand kids in Los Angeles,

...followed by a visit to  my sister, Romaine, who I met up with  in San Diego.

    But our first stop was L.A.,

...where the first sighting of the palm trees outside the airport never ceases to thrill me.

   Arriving at our daughter and son-in-law's house, Tom and I spent the next few days helping with the household routine,

...with me cooking up favorites and comfort food requests,

...my chicken soup,

..."chicken on the bone," as my grand daughters call my oven-fried chicken,  their favorite,

...pizza, of course,

...pot roast

...with a pot of red skin mashed potatoes to ladle the gravy over,

...warm rolls,

...and a new version of an old favorite, Cherry Pecan Streusel Pie (formerly Cherry Almond Streusel Pie, see post from 12/27/2017), for which I had to make an old-school crust from scratch as I'd forgotten to pick up a Pillsbury pie-crust-in-a-can at the store,

...a from-scratch crust being something I hadn't made in years but fortunately still remembered the formula for:

For one crust: Cut 1/4 cup Crisco (or in this case, butter, as there was no Crisco in my daughter's pantry - can you imagine?) into 1 cup of flour then add just enough ice water for the dough to form into a ball,

...being careful to handle the dough as little as possible.

    Tom spent much time washingpots and pans.

   We also spent considerable quality time shopping at Ralph's,

...with our help-ers,

...and indulging in that favorite grandparently past time, marveling at one's grand children,

...and, of course, one's grand dog,

...and we did what we could to give our hard-working daughter and son-in-law a little break, a few moments to themselves,

...or for some fun,

...fondly remembering those good old days when we were like them, young, happy,

...and exhausted.

   To be continued...

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