Recently in ferguson Category

So the Post-Dispatch recently published a story about Springerle cookies.

I pointed it out to Yoli because I knew she would be interested. How right I was!

The first thing that caught my attention was the recipe's use of "hartshorn," which is actually baking ammonia. This is an ingredient that is not cheap or available in every store.

We happen to have some that we bought in Bolivia, because Yoli has some recipes that call for it. Let me tell you, when you bake with ammonia, it will stink up the house. But once the smell dissipates, the cookies or whatever taste great.

Yoli was excited to try the Springerle recipe, but the problem is molds. There is a local artist who hand-carves them. His carvings are amazing, but at $20-30 bucks a pop, it's a more expensive way to get started than we would like. We are hoping to find used ones at a thrift store or maybe some resin copies ... something more affordable.

We did actually come across two Springerle "boards" at 309 Antiques here in Ferguson, but they are $50 each. Apparently, many folks collect these hand-carved molds. Yoli just wants to bake with them.

Anyhow, anyone out there have any local Springerle resources?

Today, the Ferguson Farmer's Market had its pie contest. Yoli really likes these dessert contests.

This morning we took the girls out for "transportation day." It's a special event in Florissant put on by Parents As Teachers. We were there last year, and Jadzia really liked it. The girls got to explore all sorts of vehicles: police, ambulance, fire truck, motor home, refrigerated 18-wheeler, dump truck, front loader, snow plow, golf cart, tractor, Big Foot, etc.

In a very strange coincidence, later in the afternoon three of those vehicles would converge on our street. First, a police officer pulled over a driver for some sort of infraction. This is unusual on our street, as traffic tends to be light. Moments later, a fire truck and an ambulance pulled up to a house on our street, lights flashing and all. A woman was led away on a stretcher.

It was as if the transportation fair had followed us home.

After Yoli came home from work, I thought it might be nice to get some Mexican food. I hadn't remembered it was Cinco de Mayo, but once Yoli mentioned it, I felt sure that's what we should do.

We headed over to El Palenque. Pretty much all of Ferguson was there.

We got into a booth right away, but the ordering process and getting our food took forever. But the miracle of miracles is that not one, not two, but all three of our daughters were well-behaved through the entire evening. Jadzia and Ludi ate most of their food, too -- always a plus. It was an evening that had all the ingredients for disaster, but by God's grace, we averted it.

(this article's title is in reference to Jadzia. I tried to explain cinco de mayo to her at the restaurant. She insisted that today was OCHO de mayo)

I know the pace of this blog has been a bit slow lately. There's a couple of reasons for that. The first is that I now work a four-day week. On those four working days, I have far less free time. The second is Josie and the girls. Josie has been quite fussy the last few weeks, and the harness has undoubtedly exacerbated that to some degree. When she's crying, she only calms when we hold her a certain way and rock her, and it can be exhausting on nights where she won't go to sleep.

But thankfully we've also had some really nice peaceful times with Josie. I think we are getting better at caring for her.

Of course the other girls continue to be demanding, too, always wanting to be in action, especially with the recent spate of warm weather.

One way to take care of everyone is to go for walks in Ferguson, which tires out the girls, and lets Josie sleep on my chest in the baby carrier. We went to the library and Walgreen's yesterday morning, for example, and ran into a friend on our way back home.

Right now all three girls are sleeping. I'm enjoying a bit of time to import some video of a family history interview I shot earlier this week during my furlough from the Post-Dispatch. The subject is Mr. Richter, who is the only living first cousin of my great-grandfather, Frank Becker. A couple days after our interview, he had an operation to remove some cancer. If you think of it, please pray for his recovery.

Saturday morning we went to the Ferguson Farmer's Market and had a good time. I returned with a stroller heavily-laden:

• 10 lbs of lard
• 2 lbs green beans
• 1 lb romano beans
• 10 jonathan apples
• 2 soy candles
• 1 sleeping baby

And here's what we used the apples for:

A while back Yoli found a cookbook called "Great British cooking: A well-kept secret." Last night she tried her first recipe from it: a sort of baked apple-cinnamon pudding, using the jonathan apples from the farmer's market.

It turned out quite delicious. We ate it fresh at 2 a.m. and it was wonderful. Our second helping, reheated this afternoon in the microwave, was just as tasty (and not a bit soggy).

Last Saturday, Hurricane Ike hit Galveston and Houston. Early Sunday morning, the remnants of the storm inundated St. Louis with rain. Ferguson got 5 inches in an hour. Of course, I slept through it all.

While we were in Bolivia, Ferguson's new Maid-Rite opened. It's in the space where O.T. Hodge used to be. I miss the Hodge, but I was eager to check out the new place with its loose ground beef burgers. It's the first Maid-Rite franchise in the St. Louis area.

I wasn't sure if I'd like it. I'm not a huge sloppy joe fan. But Maid-Rite isn't a sloppy joe. It's a loose, crumbly seasoned ground beef, but without sauce (unless you order a specialty one with BBQ or something like that).

I bought the $8 Bacon Cheese-Rite basket. Basically you get the sandwich, fries, and a drink. The food was excellent. I really enjoyed the sandwich, and the fries were perfect.

A little bit pricey for my taste, but I bet we'll take the kids every once in a while. They have corn dogs and other stuff which will be perfect. Jadzia can scarf corn dogs down like there's no tomorrow.

Since Yoli still has our digital camera down in Bolivia, I didn't take any photos of the inside. But the Maid-Rite website already has a bunch of photos of the Ferguson location here

On Saturdays when Yoli's not working, we like to walk around town. We start off by going to the Ferguson Farmer's Market and picking up some veggies. A lot of times there are food/cooking demos going on, which means free samples. And there's always good music. In this photo, Yoli's telling me not to take the picture because I'm taking it from the wrong angle (the sun is behind them).

Jadzia loves to be outside. It makes no difference if it's hot; or if she has eaten; or if she's wearing pajamas; or whether it's raining. Under almost any conditions, Jadzia would rather be outside.

Of the many things we do outside, one of her favorites is to walk up to "the school." This refers to Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, which is just down the street from us.

Parades, markets, softball games … It's been an eventful weekend here in the Renaud Empire.

My Saturday:

• Walk to the Ferguson Farmer's Market.
  • Buy veggies & goat brats.
  • Girls go to storytime, presented by Ferguson Municipal Library.
  • Eat free Mediterranean food from demonstration.
• Check out liquidation sale at furniture store around the corner.
• Return with food from market.
• Drive up to Fiesta in Florissant.
  • Look for "Bolivian" food mentioned in newspaper.
    • Fail to find any
  • Look for our favorite vendor, Tango, with their Argentine empanadas.
  • Watch lots of dances.
• Take girls home and lay them down for naps.
• Go to the batting cages and hit 60 pitches.
• Come home and get ready for work.

It's a new season at the Ferguson farmer's market, which means more chances for Yoli to enter contests.

You may recall that last year Yoli took second place in the pie contest.

This year there is no pie contest, unfortunately. In its place, the market will hold several contests for different fruits. Saturday was the first: the berry contest. Any "delicious creation" that featured berries was eligible.

Saturday night was Yoli's annual appreciation dinner for employees of the Ferguson Municipal Library. It was held at the Thyme Table, as usual, and the food was pretty good. This year they had a beef roast, with an egg/potato layered thing, and veggies. There was also a very nice chocolate mousse cake with an oreo crust. It all tasted even finer because it was FREE.

As were planning for the dinner, we decided to use a babysitter again and make an evening of it. I tried to come up for ideas of stuff to do afterward (art museum? history museum? some sort of concert?). I came up with something different — we should go to The Blanche.

(The Blanche, for those who don't know, is what I call the "Touhill Performing Arts Center" at UMSL)

UMSL music students were holding end-of-the-semester recitals. There was a violin and piano performance scheduled for 7:00 p.m. This seemed right up our alley, since we are a somewhat musical family... (Yoli is the one who can actually play instruments. I just sing) Anyway, Yoli and I showed up. I think we were the only ones there who were not fellow music students. But still it was a lovely hour of FREE classical music. It doesn't get much better than that!

After the concert we watched a movie called "Once" which I really, really enjoyed. It's about two brokenhearted people in Dublin — a street musician guy and a Czech immigrant girl — who hang out, sort of fall in love, and make really great music together. That description doesn't do the movie justice. Suffice it to say that it is probably one of the best films I have seen in the last year. Making it even sweeter? The fact that we checked it out for FREE from the aforementioned Ferguson Municipal Library.

Yoli took second place in the Ferguson pie contest yesterday with this apple-cranberry pie she baked. She had been itching to compete for more than a year.

So my friends call me a walking, talking billboard for the city of Ferguson, MO. There may be something to that.

Before Yoli and I married, I set about looking for a place where we would live. I wanted a friendly place that was pedestrian friendly with stores and services in walking distance, since Yoli doesn't drive. I should have thought of Ferguson immediately, since I was an UMSL student who drove through the town frequently. But I didn't. It took me a month or two before my dad said "You were always talking about the progress you saw in Ferguson. Why don't you look there?"

So I did, and I found a very inexpensive apartment in a great location. And we've been here for more than 2 years. You can read a bit about what we enjoy about living here on the Ferguson Citywalk website.

Lately, what I've really been enjoying are the restaurants. Yoli suggested I make a list of my favorites, so here goes...