June 23, 2011

From Sue: “Our newest family member, Riley Thomas.  My Dad’s father’s day gift.”

I made one for you Jenny!!

I’m starting to think that some of the things I eat are not exactly normal. I grew up with eastern european parents who made things like “Galaretka,” which is basically jellied pig’s feet. It was a mixture of meat & things that sat in a wobbly gelatenous mass in a pot and my dad loved it! Polish food includes things like pork knuckles in beer sauce with sauerkraut and carp in aspic with raisins. (need a moment?) We ate things like, “Śledzie,” aka pickled herring, beetroot soup, lots of kielbasa and pickled anything. They like to pickle things in Poland –  there’s even pickle soup! I still love some Polish dishes like Gołąbki and Pierogi, both of which I make myself. My parents cooked with sticks of butter and no meal was complete without sour cream but I make things my own way now. I still crave the things I ate growing up but to me, sardines and boiled potatoes are comfort foods. With a background like that, I was bound to forge my own unique food trail and the things I eat seem normal to me, but maybe they’re not.  For example, here are some of my favorite treats:

~Sauerkraut straight out of the jar

~Canned sardines, straight out of the can

~Pickled beets

~Picked herring with onions

~Peanut butter sandwich on rye bread

~A wedge of raw cabbage eaten like an apple

~Cold boiled potatoes with mayonnaise

~I could still eat some galaretka but only after a beaker of czysta wodka, no ice.

If anybody has a more freakish favorite snack, maybe I can add it to my repertoire. There’s nothing you people out there are eating that can scare me.  Bring it.

I am changing my name from Chemo Caps to Happy Hats because I want to make people smile when they are having a bad day!  I have been sending a lot of them to nursing homes for fun.  I bought a bag of mixed buttons so I can make Happy Faces on them.  Here is an example of one!

“Loving my ‘fun’glasses!!”

Carolina is an online college student and a big fan: “I am a huge fan of yours and I always will be.”

“This was the last family photo taken with our Dad. We always had family photo taken when we were all together at once. This was taken Spring 2007…”

“This was taken the 2nd night on our cruise after dinner in the Candle Light Lounge. We still carry on taking family photos without Dad. I wish he could’ve been there with us. Taken June 2010”

“This is Mrs. News ‘celebrating’  being me!  Still in California looking for Jenny at all of the Walgreens stores…..”