Monday, July 16, 2007

update from Florida...

One of my FAVORITE meals my Grandmother makes is home made chicken noodle soup. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So when we arrived, she had a fridge filled with of all sorts of home made goodies, and I poked around moving this and that yet found no soup. I thoroughly enjoyed all the other meals she made, but when I asked about the soup she said that she thought about making it but didn't think I'd want to eat it when it's 95 degrees outside with 95% humidity. I told her she was sadly mistaken. I'd eat that soup in the summertime wandering the Sahara dressed in flannel and corduroy. So....here she is, earlier today making soup, just for ME!!!!


Don't forget the onion!!

Showing me how to skim off the goo that forms on the top...

Yeah, I'm spoiled. Grandmothers are the Best!

My mom and I surprised her earlier today with a new tv for the guest room. My Grandmother spends a lot of time in there during the summer months and loves to watch the midday news. The old one broke a few months ago so my mom and I thought we'd surprise her with a new one. We went out to run some "errands" and came back with the tv and smuggled it into the room without her knowing.

Here she is, discovering the new tv...
She started to cry so I didn't want to take any more pictures. I think she was a bit overwhelmed. With all the preparation and cooking she's done for our visit, this is the least we could do. We're leaving tomorrow and it's going to be hard to say goodbye. It's so sad driving off, watching her wave goodbye on her little porch. We'll just need to plan for more visits. Did I mention she's going to be 91 in a few months and she walks a mile every morning and still does all her grocery shopping, errands, cooking and cleaning all by herself? She's amazing. I hope to be that active at 50!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Omigosh! She's so cute!!

Anonymous said...

She reminds me of my grandma who is 86 and whenever I call she is cleaning and/or redecorating something.

AND her cooking is SO good. I remember the homemade chicken soup, the haluski,lasagna, potatoe pierogi's but the BEST is the stuffed cabbage.... It's great coming from an Italian/Polish family! All you do it EAT....

My mouth is watering! Did you bring any soup home?

Najia said...

Your grandmother is amazing. 91 and able to live in the heat & humidity of Florida! My grandmother is 93 and she escaped the humidity in Chicago. Couldn't take it anymore. Now she's livin' the grand life in So Cal!

Love your blog. Can't wait to hear more tales of your trip, especially about all the yummy food.

If you're ever down this way I think you may like to try Lefty's Chicago Pizzeria. We ordered a tub of their Italian beef for the Super Bowl. Tasted as almost as good as Al's Beef on Taylor Street and definitely better than Portillo's. And don't get me started on their pizza!

Oh, what does 'BYFFI' stand for?

Christina said...

I just love Grandmas!! And yours is especially cute. I know how hard it is to go and watch them wave goodbye. They are the greatest. Hope you have a good trip home.

Me said...

Oh Gosh...How to explain BYFFI....It's a long story and I'd love to leave it up to the commenter who posts as BYFFI. Lisa??? Care to take a stab at this?

Me said...

No, I didn't bring any soup home! But I do know how to make it so bring your haluski maker and we'll have a polish party!

Anonymous said...

Ok, well, the first time I came out to LA to visit my cousin, we were standing outside some restaurant, waiting to get in for breakfast. Suddenly, we hear tires screeching, then a horn beeping, and just general commotion. We look toward the street, and there's this guy stopped millimeters from the bumper of the guy in front of him, and HE'S screaming out his window at the guy about what an ass he is, etc. The guy in front just ignored it at first, which pissed the other guy off even more apparently. He just kept yelling and carrying on, much to our amusement and entertainment, of course. He was waving his fists around, getting very agitated. The guy in front just kept ignoring him. Then, all of a sudden, Macho Man yells out, "I oughta beat your f@%#ing face in!" Naturally, we nearly peed ourselves laughing at that one (you really needed to see the whole animated scene!) and we promptly decided that the guy must be from Chicago!

Well, a few hours later, I met Laura and Tom for the first time, and we relayed the story to them a few minutes later. They, too, were amused by the crazy man's actions, and especially got a kick out of what now became the phrase of the day - "I oughta beat your f@%#ing face in!" We managed to work it into nearly every sentence we used for the rest of the day! One of us finally shortened it to BYFFI, and we've been using it religiously ever since.

Hope that long, boring story helps. Miss you, Girl!!

Me said...

I forgot a few of the details prior to the phrase. Thanks for the recap!

Anonymous said...

I believe the guy you are referring to that said "I oughta beat your f@%#ing face in!" Was my husband....

It just has to be our man - GARY!!!!

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to the Polish Party - shall I wear my
traditional noble people's dress ?

Me said...

Of course! And there will be plenty of Polka dancing to go along with the perogies!