IowaDee

Gee I don't know. If I were given the old farts' menu and later saw some middle aged guests eating something that looked much better than what my menu offered, I might be pissed. Not all seniors are stuck in their comfort zone nor do all young diners crave cutting edge. For some, eating out is all about the choices and if the waitstaff takes always half of them on his judgement call, I'm out of there. Separate menus at different times of day sounds okay, at the same time of day might be iffy. Keep in mind that apparently there are few means of communication faster than the senior citizens grapevine! While we are still booting up our computers to email , they have spread the word on your place far and wide. If the words are good ones, congratulations.

When we go out to eat, we usually seek out a meal that is too much trouble to fix at home or that contains hard to source ingredients or offers something we have never eaten before. When talking to older folks I find that many of them no longer are able or want to cook the meals that comfort them most. Many are looking to recapture them when eating out. Often they no longer need to feed large families or have the energy to cook like that anymore. They want old memories not new ones. These people often equate dining out and eating the foods of their younger days with their best memories. I know a local restaurant that has been a big success just because they cater to the elderly crowd. Boiled to the brink of death green beans, roast beef that seems pre-chewed, jello salad with everything but the kitchen sink in it....you get the idea. And they do a whale of a business. It isn't easy to find a middle-of-the-road menu. If you are open for lunch, maybe you could go heavy on the "pasty" stuff then. Around here, seniors go out to lunch more than dinner. Save the more "tasty" items for the dinner crowd. Offer some cross over items to see which will appeal to all age levels. Whatever you do, don't mess with the old ones. If they like you, they will be customers for life and spread the word about your place. The young ones tend to move around and are fickle. have to try a place the minute it opens and often it will become the new darling and your is left in the dust.

Just fantastic news! I'm sure I speak for all of us in saying "Congratulations" What a fantastic journey you have shared with us. Love the idea that is will be coming out with plenty of time to order for the holidays. I picture lots of them under Christmas trees! Mine will be among the first.

This is such an exciting journey. I love seeing the birth of a book from conception to delivery! As a former librarian, I consider myself as a sort of a midwife who gets to share your "child" with book lovers. Thanks for taking us on this trip!

I think the top one just winked at me. I would love to taste them.

I considered this icky at the time and I still do. My mom would combine finely grated Swiss cheese, chopped ripe olives and mayo and spread the gunk on Barbara Ann bread. I hated the bread as well. Buses used to have big ads for the bread with a huge colored drawing of Barbara Ann. One of m grandmothers, the odd ball one, got it though her head that I was the spitting image of the bread moppet. The only thing we had in common was being a small female and wearing horrible floppy hair bows. God how I hated those things. She loved to ask other bus riders if they didn't agree that I was as cute as the bread kid. Trust me, I wasn't by a long shot.

Well I learned something today. I knew that female praying mantises ate their mates but not that garden spiders did as well. More of a bug eat bug world than a dog eat dog world isn't it? I scored some Hatch chiles Wednesday but it must have been a rough trip back to Iowa.. Glad I only bought a dozen. My home grown mini peppers have skin so thick is could pass for dinosaur hide. Not a good garden year for me. but I sure enjoy seeing the others..

So glad to see you posting again...been way too long. Wonder if the erupting volcano is near you. If so, I see a volcano cake or two in your future. That strawberry-blackberry cheesecake is just amazing and what I wouldn't give for a slice of it!

I have really enjoyed spending the week with you. Keep us posted as to how you use all those wonderful garden goodies. Don't tell anyone but a couple of our windows have big garden spiders that live on them. Once in a while i get a kick out of tossing a bug into the web for them. They can wrap those things up at warp speed. Lord, but I'm easy to entertain or as my husband once said, "a cheap date."

How about the old favorite, Shit on a shingle?

Texas caviar. Sounds "fishy" in more ways than one.

My sister-in-law hates raisins and refers to them, curling her lip, as dead grapes.

Mock Turtle soup can have any number of disgusting (to some) odds and ends in it.

LOL, but sometimes kids are smarter than their parents give them credit for. I hated, just hated rabbit as a child. My folks would swear up and down it was chicken. Finally the light went on in my kiddie brain and I asked for the wings. They had to switch tactics and make me sit there until I had eaten a predetermined amount of it. To be honest, I still do not like rabbit. When it came to teach me to appreciate food, my parents were just plain dumb.

I ordered one of those grills about eight years ago and have used it countless times. Love it. Nothing like the smell of roasting peppers in in the middle of an Iowa winter. Mine has never buckled. I always look for peppers that are straight with as few nooks and crannies as I can find. Makes it easier to get an even char on them. I peel them using a paper towel. Fast and you can pitch it when it is full of skin.

I think the food channel is also partly to blame. So many of the shows make all the jobs in the restaurant business sound like they are just a step away from stardom. Even the busboy can dream about a Guy, Rachael or Alton stopping in and being amazed by his sheer talent as he clears tables and sweep up crumbs. Oh my, just who we have been looking for to be our next star in Busboys of the World. The nltty gritty side of working in a restaurant, front end or back is glossed over Why settle for a mundane job, when fame and fortune await around the next table? I notice a trend to have shows staring second or third rate country music stars. Each show features a "cast" or their friends and we are supposed to grovel in envy while watching them eat grits and jowls So kids,while waiting for Alton to show up, you might want to learn a few basic cords on the guitar and buy some boots...ya just never know....In the meantime, keep that day job.

Fibber McGee could take closet packing lessons from the two of you! Thanks for letting us tag along, it is always a great ride.

Smart indeed, you might call them "egg heads"!

Travelblogs like yours are my favorite reading here. Now if I could only find a way to taste your amazing food photos it would be perfect. Thanks for letting us tag along with you. it was a great trip.

The canned stuff is inky black and not at all as good as the fresh picked version. When my kids were little, they liked to poke the fresh stuff and make it puff out what they called "devil dust." And that is basically why they never got to take an ear to show and tell.

I agree, chipmunks are pure evil. Around here they are known as rats in sport coats. Several years ago we watched one scale the stucco wall of our garage and empty out a nest of baby barn swallows. And, this year, they are eating our cherry tomatoes as fast as they start to ripen. And, when not eating, I am convinced they are breeding up a storm I am wondering if birth control pills could be implanted into the tomatoes?

Am I the only one who remember Jell-O 123? Or maybe it was later than the 60's?

Maybe you can string them together and call them New Mexico leis? Maybe you could disguise them as Kachina dolls? Or the native version of Ken and Barbie? Hey, I've been on flights with babies that smelled lot worse then green chilies. And I have yet to hear a chili cry for a solid hour.

Those look very cool. Maybe you could make little ones and call them Trilo-Bites?

Oh yes, dessert for dinner rings a bell with me. This is the time of year that we often make a meal of nothing but strawberry shortcake. Took more than once for our SIL to discover the joys of it but he now considers it one of the things that makes his in-laws the best in the world. I made that last part up