Here, Eat This! The Adventures of Kiki Maraschino

My mom’s sister Mary Louise passed away Friday at the age of 97. She owned one of the farms we used to stay at when I was little. I remember eating rhubarb conserves straight out of the jar. I still think of her every time I make my strawberry-rhubarb sauce. One of my duties was to collect the eggs and I was shocked at the difference between fresh eggs and the ones I’d been eating all of my life. Auntie Mary Louise was quick to laugh, and she was one of my mom’s favorite siblings.

In spite of the short notice and biting weather of Alberta, I agreed immediately to accompany my mom to Mary Louise’s funeral. We flew in Sunday to spend the first part of the week at my cousin Maureen’s. She is the daughter of my mom’s sister Loretta.

Everyone in my family seems to have the good cook gene. Here are two of Mary Louise’s best-known recipes.

Oatmeal Crisps

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

 Thoroughly cream butter and sugars together. Add 2 eggs.

Sift together dry ingredients. Add to butter and sugar mixture.

Stir in oats and walnuts.

Form into 1 or 1-1/2″ rolls (logs), wrap in waxed paper and chill.

Slice 1/4″ thick and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

CARROT CHIFFON PIE

 3 unbeaten egg yolks

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups cooked and mashed carrots

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 envelop unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

3 egg whites

1/4 cup white sugar

Combine egg yolks, brown sugar, carrots, milk, salt, and spices. Cook indouble boiler until thick.

Soak gelatin in cold water and add to hot mixture.

Chill until partially set.

Beat egg whites with white sugar until stiff. Fold into carrot mixture. Pour into baked pastry crust.

 Serve topped with whipped cream.

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Friday I was in workshops all day, but I had time to run across the street to Caesar’s to Rao’s. Yes, RAO’S! I was so excited! I was a little sad they don’t have the red peppers at lunch.

I’ve been trying to be lo-carb on this trip so I could have a big splurge later, so I ordered the meatballs. They ARE world famous, and as big as softballs. The marinara sauce was so good, next time I will say to hell with it and get pasta.

After my last workshop, I waited at the bar tto hear from my friend Eva. I tried the Queso Blanco, which was surprisingly good. Because 2 meatballs is actually not enough to eat all day.

Eva couldn’t make it, so I am unable to title a post “Eva Las Vegas.” I called Nick and went out with him and his girlfriend, Stacy. We went to their local Casino for dinner. I ordered the safest thing to eat in Vegas – Prime Rib.

For a little excitement I ordered an avocado shake. Yes. Avocado. Shake. It was like a vanilla shake with a light avocado taste, very mild.

Since my last visit was so exciting, we decided to hit Serendipity 3 again. It was a long wait, and when we got our ice cream sundaes they were totally melted. I felt bad sending it back, but it was a goner.

Big difference.

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Thursday night I went to Serendipity 3 at Caesar’s Palace with some friends for dinner. The New York location has been around since the 50s. It was Andy Warhol’s favorite place for sweets and he paid in drawings. The Las Vegas location has a seated area, a patio, and a window to sell ice cream treats out of. They also have the famous frozen hot chocolate.

The appetizers are huge, and could make a whole meal. The onion rings are crunchy outside and soft on the inside.

The crab dip was more like crab with a little dip on it. It was almost entirely crab.

The hamburgers are amazing, rich and juicy. One of our party got a triple-decker grilled cheese sandwich. The dip was so filling I had to take my prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwich home.

My fiend ordered the frozen hot chocolate and yes, it tasted like hot chocolate. Frozen.

vv

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So a group of casinos have this deal called Buffet of Buffets. For $45 you can eat at any of 5 buffets as much as you want during 24 hours. If I timed it to have my first breakfast late and my second one early, I could get 4 meals out of it. It sounded good. Since I was staying at Planet Hollywood, I had my breakfast at Spice Market buffet, which was nice. It had every possible breakfast food you can think of – except bagels.

For lunch I ran over to Paris, next door. I remembered their sausages and pastries were good. I had charcuterie, sausage and prime rib. The shrimp were peel-and-eat to slow you down, so I didn’t bother with them.

For dinner I decided to have crab legs at Spice Market since I was peckish, then wander over to Rio and have their famous seafood buffet later. As I sat in Spice Market picking my dried-out crab legs, I started looking around. What had seemed like an explosion of flavor now seemed like a monument to American gluttony and greed.

The crab didn’t offer much sustenance, so I still made my way over to Rio. To continue my disappointment, the seafood buffet was not included. They had a second buffet, The World Buffet. The line was as long as for Space Mountain at Disneyland. The longer I waited, the more I felt like I was in WalMart. And I didn’t want to eat in WalMart. So I abandoned the line and had an awful plate of fish and chips in the sports bar.

The next morning my buffet breakfast was yogurt and Raisin Bran.

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Before embarking on this journey, it was hard to see Latvia in anything but shades of grey. We learned that it is actually a vibrant green.

We had watched a tour video so depressing that we started saying to each other in the weeks leading up to the trip, “We eat the rye bread. We go to castle. We go to crypt.” Upon returning home I realized

We eat the rye bread

We go to castle

We go to crypt

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We finally found 36 Linea down on the beach. It was a little chilly to eat outside, but the patio was gorgeous. When it came time to order the waiter started pushing soup. But I didn’t want soup. Bridin got in on the action, “Try the meatball soup. My mother used to make it and I want to see it again.” The server was pushing a cream of vegetable soup.

Bridin: It’s Past your neck.”

Me: “What?”

Bridin: “It’s past your neck. Dr Zhivago.”

Me: “What’s past my neck?”

Waiter (impatiently): Do you want vegetable or chicken balls?”

Me: I want chicken balls!!!!

Bridin: You can’t have chicken balls

Bob: laughs

Me: What are you laughing at?

Bob: Nothing

 It turns out they named the vegetable soup after Pasternak, the author of Dr Zhivago, and they were chicken balls, not meatballs. It was nice to bring back a sense memory for Bridin.

For main dishes, Bob had the turbot, Bridin had a cheese and bean stew, and I was undecided between the beef dishes. The waiter told me they had a special. It was the side of he cow. He emphasized, pointing at his own flank, “Side. Side.” So I had the side side.

For dessert, Bob and I split a marzipan and berry sabayon. Bridin ordered ice cream, which much to her chagrin was served in a coconut shell. She confided in me, “I tend to be suspicious of food served in a coconut shell”  and that seemed very wise to me.

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Our last day in Yurmula I had a backrub and we went to eat at Annoe’s Asian – Chinese, Indian and Thai. I stuck with the Indian. Standard Tikka Masala.

For dinner on our last night we had fancy dinner reservations at 36 Linea, the address of the restaurant. We didn’t know where we were going, but that has never stopped us before. We did have quite a surprise while driving down one suburban street. I saw this humping, galumphing mass of fur, and asked, “What on earth is THAT?” It turned around and it appeared to be some kind of mountain goat. Why they have amountain goats in a country whose highest peak was built by a megalomaniac mayor is beyond me.

But there was one thing of which I was sure. These were heavy metal cover Baphomet goats.

Case in point:

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Jurmula, roughly translated as “by the sea” is a collection of towns along 30 metres of the Gulf of Riga. We spent a fantastic and rejuvinating three nights in the small resort town of Majori. The Jurmula Hotel and Spa has 2 swimming pools and 4 saunas, and the idea seems to be to get as hot as you can get, then as cold as you can get. There are places to rub yourself with snow or with salt. There are waterfalls and blasting jets. There is even a swim-up bar.

Massages are available in full-body or in zones. I had a neck, a back and a foot massage. The neck and back guy kicked my ass, which I’m sure my tight muscles needed. I also got a hair masque, which made my hair silky-soft. As with most places in Europe there is a complimentary breakfast.

There are lots of cute little shops on the boardwalk. It appears that amber is the biggest export in the country. The second is fake amber.

Again, we have lucked out with excellent restaurants. We got pizzas twice from Majorenhoff, which also weirdly serves sushi like many Italian places here.

One of our most interesting meals was at an Uzbekestan restaurant. It seemed to us to have Turkish, Greek and Middle Eastern influences. There was a lot of lamb on the menu.

Chicken shish kabob

Eggplant stuffed with cheese and nuts

The lamb “ribs” were disappointingly overcooked because everything else was delicious.

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