My day at the Ferguson farmer's Market started early this week.
I got up at 7:40 in order to get there right when the market opened. Yoli needed fresh strawberries for her entry in the strawberry contest that would be held 2 hours later.
We took two unplanned trips to Hermann, Mo. this week in search of Springerle cookie molds. Hermann is a wonderful old city on the banks of the Missouri River founded by German immigrants.
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?
Speaking of recipes, Yoli has some recipes she's been saving for almost 20 years. Many of them are hand-written or cut-and-pasted into a little notebook.
Last night she decided to try a recipe that she had wanted to make for a long time. The recipe was written in Portuguese, and it was called "Torta de Chocolate," although it really looked more like a pie than a cake. She had found the recipe on the street back in Bolivia and had always wondered how it might taste. Now was her chance to find out.
(And yes, Yoli knows enough Portuguese to be able to prepare this recipe)
But there are always some monkeys to throw wrenches into things. In this case, the monkeys were named Jadzia, Ludi, and Josie.
All the girls wanted to be in the kitchen watching Yoli as she cooked. Ludi was standing on our step ladder, Jadzia brought in a stepstool from the bathroom, and Josie was just crawling and doing whatever.
When Yoli went to fetch a pan from the basement, Ludi sprang into action. She took Yoli's good vanilla, and poured all of it into the mixture for the torta's filling. The cap fell to the floor, where Josie eagerly picked it up and began licking it. Jadzia the eager spectator didn't bother to call for help.
Suffice it to say that Yoli threw all three out of the kitchen, cleaned the mess, and continued cooking.
I got to taste the torta last night. It was very mousse-pie-like, but the crust was like a very firm cake rather than a pie crust. Very tasty, but it had enough vanilla flavor that it almost had an alcohol taste.
Jadzia has begun inventing recipes that she wants us to try. Here is one she described today, called "Milk pudding":
Water
Canela (cinnamon)
1 egg
Mix them all, then put them in the oven.
By which I mean to say that the day I turned 30 had some humbling moments. (The age itself really doesn't faze me, and I haven't given it much thought)
Our journey to Washington D.C. was a lot of fun, but it was marked by moments of constantly being lost.
At long last, Yoli made some perfect salteñas.
A few days ago we invited a friend over for a dinner of various Bolivian delicacies. On the menu were: salteñas, cuñapes, and mate to drink.
(Check out some pics from the dinner)
Over the years Yoli has had trouble baking salteñas. They are pretty difficult to pull off.
Today, the Ferguson Farmer's Market had its pie contest. Yoli really likes these dessert contests.
Family history isn't all dusty books and blurry microfilms.
Lately, I have re-discovered salsiccia.
Salsiccia is an Italian sausage. My memory of it is that my Grandpa Renaud would always cook it as part of his big Christmas breakfast spread each year. I remember as a kid not being thrilled with the taste of it.
Well, it was on sale at Schnucks a few weeks back. Because of the family connection, I thought I'd give it another try after many years. And it turns out we all liked it quite a bit. It wasn't too spicy that the girls complained (which they sometimes do depending on the variety of sausage).
So we got another batch this week. We ate some today as part of a simple meal: some salsiccia, broccoli, and corn on the cob.
Tonight I was reminded in an article on St. Louis-style barbecue on Wikipedia that salsiccia is pronounced locally as "suh-zee-tsa." I had been saying "sahl-see-cha," which is similar to the Spanish word for sausage (salchicha).
As soon as I read that, it was like lightning resonating in my brain. It was as if I could hear the voice of my Grandpa or my Aunt Carol using that pronunciation in my mind.
Anyway, please share your food-related family stories. I'm sure there are quite a few!
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)
Yoli and the girls colored eggs on Easter Eve. They kept it simple, using regular food coloring, rubber bands, and crayons.
The eggs turned out beautifully, but the only problem was the girls wanted to eat them right away!
I am retro-dating this post, since the photos in it took place in the middle of April. Sorry for the long delay.
Yoli has found a use for our sun room in the winter time: walk-in cooler for cakes and pies. If you go in there on the right day of the week, it's almost like being in the Wonka factory.
Saturday morning we went to the Ferguson Farmer's Market and had a good time. I returned with a stroller heavily-laden:
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).
Ludi lets us know very clearly when she is enjoying some food. Her mouth gapes open wide, her way of saying "shovel in the food, now!" In the photo above she was enjoying apple pie. She really, really, really likes apple pie and would probably never stop eating it if we didn't make her stop (or run out).
Jadzia is not quite so keen on apple pie. But she does love chocolate pie, which is on the menu for today.
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).
We had a mini-celebration for Ludi's first birthday earlier this week. She turned one on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, late July and so far in August has been a time of hustle and bustle. We were in Houston the two days before Wednesday, staying overnight with our friends the Zanders so that we could do a bunch of paperwork at the Bolivian consulate in that city. Fortunately we completed everything we needed to, and now we are set for our trip to Bolivia at the end of August.
So Wednesday arrived and we knew we wanted to do something for Ludi, since it was her day. We had already settled on a trip to the Whistle Stop, but I thought it would also be fun to go to the Botanical Garden first.
It had been raining, so that scared away a lot people and we got a great parking spot. (This accords well with my "Six Flags Strategy": Plan your trips to Six Flags on rainy days, that way the lines are short and you get to ride the rides more times.)
On Monday and Tuesday, we spent a 1.125-day vacation in St. James, Mo. where we visited my brother Justin and his family. His youngest son Keaton was celebrating birthday Numero Uno.
The differences between siblings are a source of neverending amazement and bewilderment. Jadzia has been picky for quite some time. But Ludi? She eats almost anything. These days she is eating a ton ... probably a growth spurt.
She can be picky in her own way. If we have oatmeal for her to eat, and we are eating dinner (say, sweet and sour chicken with rice), she won't eat the oatmeal. She wants to share in whatever we're taking off our plates and putting into our mouths.
I have to point out, this fills her mom with joy.
Parades, markets, softball games … It's been an eventful weekend here in the Renaud Empire.
My Saturday:
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.
On Saturday, we finally came to possess a substance of awesome power: lard.
Yes, you read that right. Pure lard.
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.
Here's Jadzia eating some buñuelos, not long after our return from Bolivia. We've seen a lot of improvement in her since then. During the trip she was eating primarily yogurt and crackers everyday. This past week, though, she has begun asking us to eat things from our plates. She has eaten some casseroles with chicken and rice, some lentil soup, and other stuff. This is VERY encouraging to us!
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...
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