Pink Marble (Like The Castle Of A Fairy Tale Princess!)

Photo By John Hoff

The Teachout family will be getting a new kitchen some time in the future--which means moving everything around, temporarily--and Peter convinced me to help move stuff for several hours, compensated with nothing more than companionship and fast food from Taco Bell...

When I got there, Peter's daughter Rose said the new kitchen would be made of MARBLE. And I said, "Marble? That's the stuff they use in the kitchens of the castles where FAIRY TALE PRINCESSES LIVE!"

Rose nodded, emphatically, with a big and knowing smile. Yup, she was quite aware of that.

In the picture above, Rose's mother, Joy Teachout holds a sample tile.

One of the items we found in the cupboard was a Mason jar of maple syrup. It turns out some of the Teachout relatives in Wisconsin make syrup every spring, reducing 40 gallons of sap to a single gallon of pancake topping. I tell you, every time you rip away a layer of wholesomeness from the Teachout family, it reveals...a whole new layer of wholesomeness.

Cook Book Fundraiser Idea

Joy was talking about catering arrangements for the big Hawthorne Annual meeting right when I was moving cookbooks out of the cupboard, handing them to Peter, Jr, who was lugging the books upstairs to their library shelf for the time being. I told Joy, "Hey, what do you think about the idea of a Hawthorne neighborhood cookbook as a fundraiser idea? We could collect recipes from all the various ethnic groups."

And Joy thought that was a great idea. So I told myself, well, I'll kick this idea out there on my blog. I've seen historical societies use this idea successfully, before. Even if the book doesn't make any money, as long as it doesn't LOSE money it's still a great way to bring people together in the neighborhood.

One thing I'd be particularly interested in collecting would be Hmong recipes. Often I see ingredients in Hmong grocery stores I'd like to try in cooking, but I have no idea where to begin.