Too Many Tamales @ BWAY

Do you remember the book "Too Many Tamales"?

A family gets together to make tamales. The little girl tries on her relatives ring, loses it in the tamale mix and it gets wrapped and cooked in one of the tamales. The whole family eats the tamales until they find the ring.



The BWAY girls got together to make tamales. None of us made them before, or even ate them. It was fun, although we did not lose anything in the mix.





steamed corn husks





spreading the tamale mix on the softened corn husk





fill the tamale with this filling then roll and steam





Steaming the tamales.



Tamales on the table.





We had time to spare after the food was prepared so we made dolls from the left over corn husks.



Yummy salad!





Sopapilla...yum!

Adults Only BWAY Dinner @Buca Di Beppo (Big Joe's Basement)!

There were so many photos that I loved. I do not know why I only took pics of these three.





My parents invited us to an "adults only" BWAY dinner at Buca Di Beppo. We had a blast on the hour long drive down, where we got turned around several times before we finally found the right road.



All of us kids(adult kids) are full time parents who rarely get babysitters and are usually found with our children nearby so it was a great treat to head off for the evening "childless"!



When you enter this fabulous restaurant you cant help but notice a series of black velvet paintings of a nearly life sized partially nude women in the stairway surrounded by every sort of imaginable photograph and art. The art continues throughout the entire building. The manager shared that there are over 1,500 pieces of art in this building.



Of course there are the classics, like children eating pasta and Italian looking families, priests, the Pope and nuns. But there are also many unusual photos such as nuns driving bumper cars, naked children and people of all ages (classically and beautifully done of course...well some were quite comical too), a priest sleeping during confession, children picking their noses, two elderly women talking across the small ally from their porches, people shouting at one another in the street, beautiful movie stars doing regular people stuff, friends, family , lovers, children being mischievous and so much more.



There are very few formal portraits. Most photos seem to be intended to entertain and bring a smile to the customers face. They tend to be candid style shots of people doing just about anything you can imagine, mostly living life. Many are terribly irreverent but obviously intended purely for your entertainment and to paint a picture of the imperfections that all humans posses but often try to hide. There is even a room with mostly Pope paraphernalia, complete with a statue of his rotating head in the middle of the table.







Our view from our kitchen seating.



We were told that "Buca Di Beppo" means "Joe's Basement". Normally customers enter on the main floor and are escorted to the basement for their dining experience. However, we had reservations for the table in the kitchen where we were able to watch the chefs prepare the food and were treated very well by the staff. It was really neat!





Our appetizer was bruschetta on toast served with yummy olive oil.



All meals are served family style, including desert. I was having so much fun that I totally forgot to take photos of the main course. But I did get a photo of the desert. It was amazing! and huge! Did I mention that the meal was a fabulous experience and the staff and food was awesome!?! Really, it was.





Our desert of giant pieces of apple pie with caramel topping and almond flavored crust, very moist layered chocolate cake, cheesecake with strawberry topping and hazelnuts and tirimisu.





The celebration cake is prepared to represent the restaurants colors. We did not try this.



While walking to the car our parents were setting a good example by showing love and holding hands while walking down the street. All the kids followed along and were holding hands too.





On the ride home they were holding hands and looking at one another and talking the entire way home...how sweet to be surrounded by all these happy couples!

Leaking Swimming Pool, Pastys and My Two Liters/Leaders

We had a BWAY dinner at our neighbors tonight. When I got there they asked me to check out the pool. She has an indoor pool. The room is sort of like a "Florida Room" with lots of windows. It has this awesome flat gray rock and a little waterfall to recycle the water, lots of plants, a shower and place to change a garden table and chairs and more. It is beautiful. When we have a lot of guests the children will eat at a table in that room and the adults will eat at the dining room table. Anyhow, when I went in there I discovered the pool had about one foot of water in it! It drained into the basement! Fortunately the basement has drains so the water did not accumulate down there.

Judy made pastys. I can never remember if it is pronounced pastys or pasties. When I say it wrong everyone cracks up. One of these days I'll remember which is which. I have never had them before. They look sort of like a stromboli, but instead of the crust being made with pizza dough it is made with sort of a pie crust. It is filled with meat, potatoes, carrots, rutabagas and onions (but they do not cook up the way Judy likes so she leaves them out) and served with ketchup, although gravy was offered for those who dislike ketchup. They are delicious and very filling.

We learned that pasties are a northern Michigan tradition. They are filling and nutritious, portable, not messy and you do not need silverware to eat them. This meal we were encouraged to not use our sliverware. They are made with root vegetables that grow inexpensively and easily in Michigan and also store well over the winter in a root cellar. Men would tuck them in their clothing to help keep them warm while they went to work outdoors and eat them for lunch. The pies were usually still warm at lunch time.

After dinner we were chatting. Someone said something about our "leaders" and Dad and Judy got on a roll about being our "two leaders"...or is it "two liters". I thought this was a great play on words.

Mondays are free movie nights at Red Box and Hope decided she wanted to get a "chick flick". She asked us girls what a few good movies were. We all sort of drew a blank. We came up with "The Women", "Laws of Attraction", "The Holiday" and "Laws of Attraction". This is very sad because we all love watching girly movies. I don't know what was up with us tonight. As we were discussing movies Judy asked if she has seen "Shipping News". None of us had ever heard of it so we watched it. I loved it.

The boyz had planned all week to watch the inaugural event on Disney at 8pm so they went in the den. They said it was awesome.

After the movie we came home, Debbie hung out for a little bit and the boys went to bed. After the boys went to bed I cleaned out the dog pen. Can you say "ICK"?!? I don't know what is up with the dogs lately, they are pooping everywhere!

Now everyone is tucked in and sleeping. I don't think I have ever specifically shared about our family. My dad, me, my two boyz, Dads maltese Jasper, my chihuahua Peanut, our three puppy chihuahuas and three foster chis, who are waiting for their forever homes. (Let me know if you or anyone you know is interested in purchasing an AKC registered puppy). It is a full house. In the near future my dad is going to get married and move out. We will miss him living with us but he won't be far. And I will have the master bedroom with walk in closet and giant bathroom with garden tub! And for the first time ever the boyz will have their own bedrooms.

It is late. Good night.