a parental visit

my parents came for a visit last weekend. they haven’t been to my house for about a year and a half, so i was very excited to have them here again. the first night that they arrived, i made black bean and sweet potato burritos and then we watched lars and the real girl. a great “odd people” movie that i knew they’d enjoy.

the next day, i took them to the macha teahouse where we enjoyed a few of their tiny, yummy cookies and two tiny cupcakes–chai flavored and “hummingbird” flavor (with pineapple.  and no hummingbirds.)–and did a little shopping on monroe street, then my mom wanted to go to a thrift store (they’re better here than in her small town) so we went together and i bought four pairs of pants! i haven’t bought that many pants in one visit in a looooong time. mom must be my good luck charm.

my parents both experience a big-deal birthday this year, so i wanted to do something special for them while they were here. mr. happy stuff and i decided to take them out for a foodie dinner at harvest. i think they enjoyed it. and we were thrilled to have an excuse to return and eat there again. our waiter was so extremely formal and proper that we giggled each time he left the table. don’t get me wrong–he was exceedingly friendly, just … formal. i would go into the details on what everyone got to eat, but there were four of us and that would take too long. feel free to look at their online menu and drool. i’ll just say that my favorite small detail was the toasted hazelnuts in the beet and blue cheese “first course” dish. they had such a rich, toasty flavor that just bloomed beautifully in the mouth as soon as you crunched into them. i wished that i had more. i also enjoyed my pork chop (the thickest i’ve ever had!) and my dessert of cool, creamy vanilla panna cotta with raspberry compote.  my mom ordered a glass of elderflower cordial with her dessert and i took a few sips and it was extremely delicious.  yumyumyum.  over dinner, we reminisced about the one expensive meal we had when i was a kid.  my dad published a book in 1983 and although we were on an extemely limited budget, my parents decided to take us out to a fancy restaurant to celebrate.  my memories of the meal were of feeling very fancy and princess-like and of the towering dessert cart that they brought to our table.  it was full of the most beautiful sweets i’d ever seen in my life and i ignored the waiter’s chatty descriptions and decided that i wanted to eat the very prettiest dessert on the cart–the rum pudding.  my dad said he’d wait to order his until he was sure that i wanted the one i got.  good thing too.  after one bite i scrunched up my face in disgust and said, ‘wine pudding! yuck!’  so my dad got my “wine pudding” and i ordered a safe fruit tart.  during our meal this weekend, my mom reminded me that the waiter had been kind enough to bring my sister and i chicken fingers and hamburgers (which weren’t on the menu) for our dinner and that my sister had sprawled across her chair in a not-very-lady-like position and that the waitstaff seemed to get a big kick out of these not-so-typical restaurant guests.  i remember my parents being a bit shocked by the price of our meal ($60!) but i pointed out to them this weekend that there aren’t many other meals from when i was 8 years old that we remember so vividly and with such great stories.

after dinner, we took them to the “dollar” theater. it seemed sort of comical, considering where we’d just eaten, but it was the only place in town still showing “burn after reading” which we all wanted to see and hadn’t seen yet. very coen brothers. very funny.

we spent sunday working on house projects. i made pancakes and pecan waffles for breakfast, then the men went out to examine the gutters (they had a few issues), then they examined the bathtub drain (we have a very unusual drain that doesn’t seem to be working all that well–is it normal to have to dump a bottle of foaming drain cleaner down the drain 5 or 6 times a year?), then we all trooped out to purchase wood for a new window seat and a few other things. my dad, in the middle of trying to fix and build all of these things also baked a pear custard and answered all of my random questions about household stuff (can i clean lint out of my dryer vents by myself, or should we hire professionals? how can i get my toilet tank to stop sweating? what should we do to improve the lighting in the living room?) and finished a really challenging sudoku puzzle (anyone wonder where i get my schedule-packing tendencies?).

the group of women i sing with came over for a “rehearsal” at my house before church so that my parents could hear us sing in person. it wasn’t our strongest rehearsal by any means, but my mom said she got shivers (in the good way) a couple of times. they also enjoyed attending our church service and talking with a few people they know there. then, supper at noodles & co., dessert at culver’s and back home again where they shared photos of their recent trip to bosnia and serbia which my talented mother had made into a dvd.

it’s always so comfortable to have them visit. the house wasn’t perfectly clean, i forgot a few of the guest room niceties (i usually put a carafe of water and a glass in there and i forgot), but they’re family and they love me anyway. or maybe they love me more because i’m not perfect–it gives us all room to relax. the morning that they left, it snowed.  i wish they could have stayed a little longer, but i suppose it’s better to wish that than to wish they’d gone home sooner.