Last night I helped at our local kitchen for homeless people. Several churches and other groups take turns making dinner at a local church. The standard dessert for our group is apple cake. Unfortunately, the woman who usually makes it couldn't be there, and I showed up just as the leader was looking for someone to do it. She gave me the recipe and pointed to the supply shelf for the ingredients. While other volunteers were coring and chopping a million apples, I looked for the flour, sugar, etc. (and mistakingly put in a cup of powdered sugar that I'd thought was flour!). Turned out we didn't have any applesauce, so the leader gave me a can of peaches and a can of pears and suggested I just chop them as finely as I could (in the can!) and use them instead. I wasn't completely sure this was going to work, but I figured she knew what she was talking about (last minute substitutions are apparently not that rare). It turned out so yummy! Moist and full of fruit flavor.

I thought the rest of you might like to know about this idea; I think it'd be great in pancakes, too. :)

Dash it all

Dash-In is identified on websites that claim to know such things as a favorite place to dine in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And yes, Dash-In is the proper spelling. We had hoped to eat there for a family Thanksgiving brunch last year, but everyone needs to be over 21 to dine there (sorry, Joshua Brinkman). It made me grateful for Wisconsin where old world family dining sensibilities apply.

It took a nephew's emergency post-surgical hospitalization in Fort Wayne to give us another chance. We asked in advance if anything was needed, and were informed a Five Guys burger with all the black ingredients, none of the red, and no onions would be welcome. We were to also bring along the usual abundance of fries. We complied, learning what black ingredients actually meant. The double-bagged grease bomb made it into the pediatric ICU, where he wolfed it all down. No howls, but wolfish still. I like being an uncle!

We went for a walk after, at a park near our alma mater, where we both admitted to abundant kissing of our former spouses when falling in love. In fact,  for my part, there had been a high school girlfriend kissed there as well.  In this climate-change environment, it was a spring-like February day. We walked the not yet opened golf course, found a spot under the trees….

Oh, and the irony! That previous girl-friend just happened to be in the park. She doesn't live in Fort Wayne anymore either. She was in from out of town for a funeral and to visit a sick niece. Her sister recognized us, apparently, and they facebook messaged us as they were leaving. That would have been an interesting reunion!

Dash-In came after. We parked downtown, hoping we were close, and discovered we were just a block away. The decor is much like many old downtown stores converted to restaurants, with an enormous bar along the elf-hand wall as you enter.

We enjoyed Bruschetta made by people who pay attention to how it is served, a properly prepared medium-rare hamburger with gouda cheese, and some pulled-pork covered in an apple butter BBQ sauce—a treat we know we would enjoy again.

One find we hope to also enjoy again was a Founders Stout called Lizard of Koz.  The description included chocolate and cherries. We attest to its smooth and creamy finish.

It was a smooth

Here and There, and Home

I'm not sure we are really in Indiana today, although the house looks right...it was in the upper 60's! On February 19th! So of course we ate outside. Mark baked fish with plenty of garlic and butter, and we added roasted potatoes/peppers and French carrot salad, lemony and a little sweet. I think I sunburned my nose, happily. I heard someone last week predict that somehow we will pay for this odd spring-like February down the road, and that's likely! But for this weekend, we just enjoyed it. We pumped bike tires and went for a ride, walked in Fort Wayne's Foster Park, and accepted the break in the grey. Dinner is cheese and crackers, and a watery-looking rhubarb thing with wonderful-looking crust pillows! It'll do.

Joshua and I were happy to have pancake mix in the house last week, after a day of him being home and sick. If he couldn't eat pancakes, I'd be really worried!

Mark and I had our usual mid-month weekend in Wisconsin last weekend and ended up at brunch at the Blue Harbor hotel...with a little bit of a view! When I left California for the mid-west after high school, my friend Amber asked, "Isn't there a big lake out there?" Yes. And I really like it! I might even consider learning how to sail on it - if a person can sail while on Dramamine. I wonder if it's as hard to stay awake as it is on an airplane....