No Cliché Here: Why Mom's Home Cookin' Rocks

Before I go misleading the masses I'm not talking about my Mom.

First off, I can say masses now because I added the Google Analytics code to my pages and am obsessively tracking and analyzing my traffic... "masses" might be a tad aggressive, but I have a few followers. Google is so amazing. I don't even need to go into this because I can't say anything people don't already know but the fact that I can sit here in my house, create this blog, apply analytics, tweak pages or link to them from other sites and instantly see the results for free is a thing of beauty. As an out of work marketer, the ability to leverage these tools, and stay fresh in my given profession is pretty cool. I heart Google. It's also so unbelievably user friendly a child could use it. As evidenced by the fact that I have figured this all out with zero help.

Midge Chillin By the Wood Stove

Anyway, about Mom. She is my Mom now but this is Dana's mother we're talking about... and while we're at it, his Dad also rocks because this cooking thing is a collaborative effort, among many other reasons. It's not that my Mom is a bad cook, she just doesn't cook a ton. Although strangely, it seems like she has started cooking more since my Dad retired. One would think she would have made more meals while the poor guy was working everyday but he was always the primary sustenance creator when he was doing the daily grind. However, none of that is really the point.

Dana's parents typically make a point of celebrating all of our birthdays with a special home cooked meal. It usually includes one of our favorite dishes or a dessert we particularly enjoy. They are great cooks and they have a few things they make regularly that are crowd pleasers - Swedish meatballs, homemade baked beans, pizza, these awesome hot dogs in BBQ sauce - yes, sounds simple but it's soooo good.

They also do a turkey dinner for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is beyond awesome. Didn't get enough in November? Fear not - there is another one coming in a month! When they toy with replacing the Christmas feast with something else, say a roast beef, it sends panic throughout the family. For Easter, it's an awesome ham with a variety of amazing side dishes... and there in lies why Mom's home cookin rocks.

Erik Being a Sport on His Birthday

Dana's parents have always taken a smorgasbord approach to family dinners and it's pretty much the best thing ever. At just about every meal there is a meat dish or two. In the summer they might grill chicken and steak or swordfish (Dad is possibly the best griller on the planet), but then there will be 4-5 awesome sides all made from scratch. Potato or pasta salad, green bean casserole, antipasto or fresh veggies from the garden. On our most recent trip down to the homestead, it was Erik's birthday and the amazing meal consisted of:

Meatballs & Pasta


Hot Dogs & Brats in BBQ Sauce


Moussaka (my recipe!) & Eggplant Parm


A Very Pretty Antipasto


Amazing Carrot Cake (Erik's Fav)


Apple Crisp

I mean honestly, can you think of anything more amazing? What a delicious and wide spectrum of hunger abating options. The other thing that's so special about meals at home is that they have a garden that's bigger than most people's backyards. They live on several hundred (?) secluded acres in the northwest corner of R.I. where you can't even see their closest neighbor from their yard. I might be exaggerating how much land they have but it's a whole lot. They regularly have families of deer prancing around back there (extreme measures are taken to keep them from munching said vegetable garden) and Mom said there was a little fox back there a few weeks ago.

Their garden is huge and requires a ton of energy and effort but yields fresh vegetables at every stage of the season. Asparagus and rhubarb in the earlier months, green beans, zucchini and tomatoes in mid summer, eggplants, fresh herbs and to top it off - fresh corn as the summer months start to wane! What's great is that they freeze and jar this stuff so they have fresh frozen produce all year. Love strawberry rhubarb pie (it's my favorite) - you can have a fresh from the garden (almost) one on your birthday - and Mom's pie crust is pretty much the best I have ever tasted. Super light and flaky and delicious.

They make a whole variety of jams, sauces, the best tomato soup ever, pickles and they freeze enough veggies that you’re eating corn that tastes like they just shucked it in February. These people are industrious and probably put you to shame. Don't feel bad. They are also the nicest, kindest, most thoughtful people I know. We are very lucky to have them. I'm sure they are blushing. Good, they should blush. They’re awesome.

My Typical & Bountiful Plate

My birthday happens to fall on Easter this year and it’s always so close to Easter that we typical do a two-fer which I don’t mind cause I love the whole ham and potato salad deal and usually there is a strawberry rhubarb pie to be had. We also have the annual Easter egg hunt in which Mom hides plastic eggs for each of us that contain riddles and you have to solve the riddle hidden inside your egg to get to the next one. At the end there is a basket filled with fun stuff. This never gets old and I think we’re all afraid that one day she will think we’re too old for it and stop doing it. Plus… coming up with all those riddles every year has to be difficult.

Anyway, I had to give a shout out to the elder Woulfes because they're awesome people who make great meals that make our tummies happy. Dana and I can only aspire to be like them one day... and for that to happen, he needs to be more helpful in the kitchen and handier around the house. He will kill me for saying that. He thinks he's very handy. He's getting there.