The Iowa State Fair is world renowned for its food.  The good news for Iowans is that we get Iowa State Fair food all year round!  There is no end to the fried food or food on a stick or fried food on a stick that we enjoy.  Spending time with my mom is not as much an opportunity for me to cook and care for her as it is one big eating adventure and everyone is invited.   Aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings – calls are made to get the day started and then we move from one place to the next.  Planning our next meal as we are finishing our last.  These are not gourmet extravaganza’s, but with only three full days to eat I have a lot of food groups to cover – pork tenderloins, chips and Anderson Erickson dip, cinnamon rolls, pizza with Canadian bacon and sauerkraut, taco pizza, cousin Judi’s fried wontons, maid-rites, onion rings, Pierce’s dairy bar…. and that is just day one.   Everyone seemed sad to see me go – but I think they might have also been relieved to get back to their routine and their healthy diets.

For those not in the know, Maid-Rite’s CEO defines the maid-rite as “a special cut and grind of low fat 100% fresh ground beef made to order with our secret combination of delicious seasoning, cooked to perfection and then served on a warm bun for a delicious taste treat…” enjoyed in the central and southwestern regions of the US.

Several years back, right off of Interstate 35, 4 miles into Iowa from Missouri, an Amish Country Store and Southern Iowa Welcome Center was built featuring the franchises of Maid-Rite, Godfather’s Pizza and Broasted chicken and an amazing collection of amish quilts and baskets –  there is something for everyone. Tuesday night is Blue Grass night.  An amazing group of local muscians perform from 5-7 and has the crowd food tapping and singing along.  With several electric guitars, fiddles and keyboards the music is non-stop.  Our table was singing, clapping and one song was so funny, Veneta almost fell off of her chair.  At this stage – I can’t get enough of these happy, laughing mom moments.  I would eat a maid-rite every night just to see my mom completely engaged and enjoying herself.

One more night in West Des Moines reliving high school stories.  We never seem to get tired of this.  No matter how long it has been since we have visited with one another Jenny, Cara and I catch right up and spend our days laughing until our cheeks hurt.  After a day of eating and shopping we return to Cara’s to see what is left from our Friday night grocery adventure.  We still have vegetables and we haven’t quite finished off the bottle of olio novello – and then Cara finds tonight’s treasure in the back of the cupboard – a bag of French green lentils.   The lentils of Castellucio would be my personal preference, but lentils of any origin, color or size are the perfect vehicle for olio novello.  We make a big pot of soup, toast a baguette and settle in for the evening.

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Dinner Saturday night – I have a suitcase full of olive oil and wine and don’t want to go out – on the other hand the Republican debate starts at 7:00 CDT and I don’t want to miss a minute so I don’t really feel like cooking.  We have chicken breasts left over from a trip to the HyVee last night.  I take them out of their packaging and slip them into the plastic grocery bag.  It’s a good thing Jenny and Cara finished off the gin last night and I use the bottle to smash them into little flat pieces.  I line a baking sheet with aluminum (I hate washing pots and pans) and drizzle them with Sue Bee honey.  Of course I would prefer the honey harvested in Umbria by Bill, but this is reality and I want dinner on the table.  I put the chicken breasts in the oven to bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.  When they are cooked through I put them on the top rack and broil them for 5 minutes to add a little color.  I slice them into strips, drizzle more honey on top (it melts right in) and finish them off with the truffle salt hidden in the refrigerator from this summer.  I have to admit, they are spectacular!

To my count I spent nine weeks in Iowa last summer.  Nine weeks of eating at the Dairy Queen and Pizza Shack.  It is nice to be recognized when you walk in – but of course it is a mixed blessing.  I escaped my mothers tiny town every weekend to the city of my youth and the home of my BFF from high school in West Des Moines.  We spent our days drinking heavily, trying desperately to get my hair color to something beyond grey and  eating – my  childhood favorites –  jelly filled doughnuts, cottage cheese, chips and dip, taco pizza, deep fried pork tenderloins – just to name a few.  But here I am – just back from Italy (via Daytona Beach) with a suitcase full of deep green, fresh as can be, olio novello.  Our first stop is the grocery store.  A huge enterprise – larger than the average grocery store in Washington DC .  My goal is to find stuff I can pour oil on.  We load up our shopping cart with vegetables.  Artichokes, green beans, grape tomatoes, potatoes and cauliflower.  When we get to Cara’s – dinner is on.  We put all  of the vegetables on baking sheets and pop them in the oven.  We slice a baguette into thick pieces and put them under the broiler.  When they are nicely browned (maybe even a little blackened) I rub them with a garlic clove and begin the drizzle.  I have several customers who buy one bottle of olive oil a year.  This is not the case for me.  I pour liberally over the freshly toasted bread, over the roasted artichokes, cauliflower, beans and tomatoes.  We leave the chicken breasts for tomorrow and dig in to our feast.  Vegetables roasted in the oven, a sprinkle of salt and a heavy hand with this years new harvest of oil.  It can’t be beat!  Maybe 15 liters wasn’t enough!

And what a party it was!  Few things could get us to leave Italy and family is number one on the list.  We arrived in Florida late Wednesday night in order to celebrate Bill’s dad’s 94^th Birthday on Thursday.  We had a small crowd at our favorite Ormond Beach restaurant, Frappes North (frappesnorth.com).  Meryl Frappier outdid herself arranging a perfect menu for Lee – all of his East Coast favorites starting with lobster rolls and New England Clam Chowder.  Bobby is an amazing chef and the steak dinner for 15 was spot on.  They had arranged for our favorite local saxophonist Pat to play in our private room for dinner and there was much tapping along to the music and Lee Menard could name every tune.   After dinner we talked to Bobby and Meryl about organizing a trip to the Villa – of course featuring Bobby Frappier as guest chef.  Keep your fingers crossed and I will keep you updated.  After such an amazing evening we could hardly find a way to thank Meryl and Bobby but hopefully one of my bottles of the olio novello let them know just how special the evening was.

After 24 hours of airport time and flying we arrive in Daytona Beach.  I am content – I have watched at least five movies on the flight back (will have to catch the last 10 minutes of Kevin James in “Zookeeper” somewhere along the way because they ended the inflight entertainment a few minutes too early for me – but I have slept just enough and watched just enough bad tv to keep from being restless.  The food on the flight was a huge letdown from the chow we have been putting away in Italy.  But who books a flight for the food?  I knew it was going to be bad in advance.  We have a four hour layover in Charlotte and have several different food options for the day.  We decide on the Fox Spots restaurant in concourse E because it is close to our departure from gate E19 which is of course conveniently located at the exact opposite end from where we landed at gate C10.  The obvious choice for dinner after three weeks in Italy is a burger and fries.  But after reading that they happily serve their burgers “medium to well done” I know I am in for a fast food, frozen patty made from 1,000’s of assorted cows and I am not ready to return to that reality.  We split the nachos.  A perfect platter of stale tortilla chips laden with cheese and sour cream.   Welcome home!

When we last left you, which was only yesterday, we were beating a retreat across the island of Sicily in our slightly wounded rental car, having attempted to fit it through a street just a bit narrower than its own width.  Although the front panel scraping and the subsequent backing into a parked car left my ego more bruised than our Lancia’s sheetmetal skin, by dinnertime we had arrived at our home for the next two nights, the estate of Gianfranco Becchina, producer of the award winning Olio Verde extravirgin olive oil in Castelvetrano.  Even under cloak of darkness, when we arrived at the Tenuta Pignatelli we knew we were in for a treat.
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We have had a full three weeks in Italy and as usual despite my best laid plans, I am packing at the last minute.  All of my purchases seemed logical and rational  at the moment – but faced with not Pradi and Gucci but a room full of olive oil, wine and legumes I am stumped how to distribute the weight without having to pay an excess baggage fee or overweight fee.  Not wanting to cave, I go to the kitchen and make sure that I have every bottle of olio novello – knowing that once I return to the  states I will be waiting until after Thanksgiving for Bella Italia’s shipment of the new oil and of course I am not willing to wait.  By leaving behind several pairs of jeans and a pair of shoes I am able to pack almost 15 liters of various oils, 9 bottles of wine and miscellaneous packages of chick peas, chocolates and hot peppers.  Pradi and Gucci are always available at large Department stores – but my favorite Italian foods – not so much.

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