My Mother-in-law's Birthday

This Sunday will be Rick's mom's birthday and I always have his parents come down for dinner. Rick will be taking his Mom to church on Sunday and then he'll bring his parents down to the house for dinner. We always sponsor the church flowers on the Sunday closest to her birthday and Rick has already paid for them.

My MIL just loves Cooks Country and Cooks Illustrated. I was watching Cooks Country on Saturday night and came across recipes for Atlanta Brisket (with Coke, ketchup, lots of onions and seasonings) and for Roasted Salt and Vinegar Potatoes (basically red potatoes simmered in a high concentration of salt water, then smashed and brushed with malt vinegar a few times while roasting in the oven) . They both tripped my trigger and I know that she would particularly enjoy the brisket. Not sure about the potatoes, but Rick said to go ahead and try them out. She pretty much eats anything I make and she always enjoys dinner with us.

I think I'm going to make a grilled Caesar salad (without croutons) to go with dinner and some kind of yeast bread. She loves my homemade breads and she enjoys trying new breads out. I'm thinking of some kind of ciabatta bread, something crusty and chewy.

As for dessert, Rick suggests the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake and its Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting. His mom is a true chocolate hound; she cannot ever get enough chocolate. And I've made this cake before and it is decadently delicious! I've been thinking of making the cake and then making just a few peanut butter truffles and decorating the cake with little truffles. And a sprinkle of toffee bits around the sides. Natalie_ca, I can't decorate; if we lived closer, I'd pay you to come decorate my cake! 

I think it's going to be a good dinner for her. I hope so.

Happy birthday, mil! I know she'll have a wonderful time. It sounds like you and Rick go all out to make everything special for her.

Happy Birthday to Rick's Mom, wasn't her name Evelyn....I could be wrong tho.  I'll never forget her driving that truck in your backyard, that was really something.

I'm drooling! Sounds delicious!

I used to make a sweet and sour chicken with coke and the chicken shmeared with apricot jam and then roasted with mashed potatoes and coleslaw. My grandchildren loved it.

Yep, Carol, her name is Evelyn. I think about her driving that truck around, too.   She had to get their camper hooked back up to the truck to get it back home and she did it lickety-split! My FIL could have never done it, not in a million years. But Evelyn? She just goes and does what she needs to do. She was in her mid-80s at that time....she's a lot more frail now and there's no way she could do that again. She will be 93 on Sunday. She has Essential Tremor now and sometimes it's really hard to understand what she's saying, especially when we talk on the phone. But I still call her and she knows that she has to speak as clearly as she can. It's difficult for her, but we manage. It's easier when I'm with her because I can read her lips. But over the phone, it's hard. I owe that woman more than she will ever know.

We try to make her birthday a little special for her. There's not really anything we can give her because she has all she needs. So no gifts or anything like that. I tend to do things for her. She loves to come down for dinner; as much as she loves to cook and bake, she's starting to have some problems now trying to get around, so it's hard for her....did I mention she's going to be 93? Whenever I make anything, I always take some to them.

Actually, I did get her a gift this year for her birthday. She loves to read The Amish Cook articles in our local newspaper. So I bought her The Amish Cook's Favorite Family Recipes. It came the other day. I am making the Maple Syrup Cinnamon Sticky Buns from that cookbook on Saturday night and will give them to her along with the book on Sunday. They can take the sticky buns home and eat them when they feel like it. (We are all big fans of sticky buns around here and I know she'll appreciate them. And Evelyn and I have a "thing" about sticky buns.....she's the one who taught me how to make them!  )

Stewball, that chicken recipe sounds wonderful!

Winchester said:

 
. She will be 93 on Sunday.

We try to make her birthday a little special for her. There's not really anything we can give her because she has all she needs. So no gifts or anything like that. I tend to do things for her. She loves to come down for dinner; as much as she loves to cook and bake, she's starting to have some problems now trying to get around, so it's hard for her....did I mention she's going to be 93? Whenever I make anything, I always take some to them.

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Pam you are very lucky to have such a great MIL.  Wow 93, that's wonderful.  I wish her the best.

Yes, she's a sweetie....she called me yesterday, just to tell me that she's really looking forward to dinner on Sunday. We still don't know if Rick's dad is coming down, but Evelyn will definitely be with us.

Oh, and I'm wrong about her age. She will be 92. She is 50 years and one week older than our son. Graham will be 42 on October 13. so Evelyn will be 92 on Sunday. I always forget that.

She has Essential Tremor; she was worried because she thought it was Parkinson's, but it's not. It's gotten difficult to understand her when she talks on the phone, so she doesn't call that often anymore. When we are face-to-face, I can read her lips, too, so I can better understand what she's saying. And she gets so frustrated because she's gotten very frail and she's a lot slower than she used to be. But she manages....she really is amazing.

Not many 92-year-olds would get out of bed  in the morning and start making a big batch of bread! She can't do what she used to do, but she can still bake a little. And  a lot of times, we'll bake together; that way, she can still do a bit.

Thanks, Carol.

On another note, I called a GF and asked, "Hey, you wanna come down on Saturday night and help me make truffles? And then come back down on Sunday and help me eat them?" She started laughing and said, "Sure!" So my GF and her husband are coming for dinner on Sunday, too.

Dinner was delicious! Everything got a thumbs-up. The potatoes were so good and it made a nice change from scalloped potatoes made with cream and milk; these were made with chicken and turkey broth instead with lots of caramelized onion and a few strips of crispy thick-sliced bacon chunks and some thyme sprinkled on top. A big winner; in fact, that may become my go-to potato dish when I'm looking for something to serve with meat, but don't want to hassle with scalloped potatoes. The brisket was really good, too; everybody said I need to make it again. Everybody liked the broccoli coleslaw....the dressing contained ketchup and I added just a wee bit of hot sauce, just for a little kick.

We had some problems with the truffles on Saturday night; I honestly think it was simply too warm for truffle-making. It was still in the low 80s Saturday night with t-storms around. Really warm hands are not good for rolling truffle balls, no matter how long the stuff is refrigerated. I got so disgusted that I started to use a small cookie scoop. Just scoop out the chocolate, flop it into the cocoa and roll around. Place on plate. Made it a lot easier. I also had some decorating candy in the shape of tiny autumn leaves that we rolled some of the truffles into. We decided to roll them in that instead of trying to deal with melting chocolate and coating the truffles that way......again, it was simply too warm in the kitchen. I re-coated the cocoa ones on Sunday morning before placing them on the cake and I think that helped. They still looked really nice along the edge of the chocolate cake. The truffles were made from a simple recipe: semisweet chocolate, peanut butter and cream cheese.

If you really, really need a true chocolate fix, check out the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake with the frosting. Dear heavens, that cake will hit you right at your chocolate heart. It was just delicious! I made it before, so I knew that Evelyn would love it. And she did.....she took a huge piece home, too. There is one piece of cake left for dear Richard tonight. I brought a big piece in for one of my co-workers, who is a chocoholic, too.

I always like to experiment with new recipes and everybody seems willing to try my experiments out. I used to worry about it, but I stopped that a long time ago. People never know what they're going to get around here, but it doesn't seem to bother them.

I'd say dinner was a success!

That all sounds delicious! I'm glad it went well.