This is ... PHOTO HEAVY!

Read on for the dad files, Ian's birthday cake and FRIED PICKLES!

So an addition to the dad files is below. I got a new shipment of mail (credit card offers, etc.) that went to my parents house, and of course there was an envelope filled with coupons from dad. The thing about this envelope though ... this was a special envelope. This envelope was BIG doins. Why, you ask, would an envelope be such big doins? Just take a look. It not only had the pork and beans (for Ian) and Hebrew National hot dogs (for the Hebrew in the house) ...

It had both our names! That's like ... huge! Well, in my mind it is. For years I've gotten the coupon envelope with just my name. But now it's for the both of us. And on that note, I'll mention that we saved $4.00 at the store today thanks to dad coupons :D

On another note, I made Ian a cake for his birthday (which was Aug. 20) last night. It was white cake with chocolate frosting. Of course it was nothing like the homemade goods that Christy recently dished out, but it was something! I made myself a piping bag and even wrote on it ... and I'll be the first to admit it was a lot more delicious than these photos make it appear!


And some post-cake-making carnage!

And that's what yesterday was, in addition to paying a visit to Uber Burger up in Evanston where I found my FAVORITE memory food ... fried pickles! Now, when I lived in the dorms, there were fried pickles. But they were frozen and they were in spear form. When I was a kid living in Joplin, Mo., we used to go down to Arkansas to the AQ Chicken House and that's where I was first exposed to fried pickles. It's one of those foods that sticks with you and you crave it when you get the slight hint of a certain smell like buttermilk and pickles and fry grease. Maybe I'm the only one who has this kind of experience, but it's THE ultimate comfort food for me. The best thing about Uber Burger is that they make them in-house. They're not frozen or freeze dried. No sir, they're fresh out of the barrel and put into the grease with their homemade recipe of batter. Served up with some ranch dressing, it absolutely made my day. Perhaps my month.


Folks, if you haven't done fried pickles, I can't express how greatly you're missing out. They're so ... so good ... crispy, tangy, comfort home style food.

The Dad Files: I

I've decided to start a new little blog series about my father. My family doesn't read my blog, so far as I know, and if they do, well, we'll just hope that nothing I say is offensive! I want to blog about my dad in a particular way, and that is through a typical package I receive from my dad: An envelope with clipped coupons.

My connection with coupons and my father began many moons ago when I was in the 9th grade. I had to make a collage about "me" for an English class and dad had recently done his coupon clipping thing. He found a coupon that said "Expiration 9-31-1998." Of course, there IS NO September 31, we know. Dad gave it to me and I put it on the collage and for many moons after that kept it on my various bulletin boards as I moved from dorm to apartment and on.

Since I moved out of my parents house, my dad has been clipping coupons and either giving or sending to me. It's just a small white envelope with my name scribbled on front in my dad's boxy, legible-only-to-the-familiar manner. Inside is a myriad of coupons clipped from the Sunday ads -- all shapes and sizes meticulously chopped from shiny paper sheets. Napkins, deodorant, cereal ... you name it, it's in there. I've been getting these coupons for five or more years, and with each envelope I sit down with my little coupon folder and sort through the ones I'll keep and the ones that are either, well, not usable or outside of my typical shopping list. But in every envelope I receive there have been many that just make me snicker, giggle, shake my head or say "Oh, dad ... sigh."

The most common one is when I get Playtex or Always coupons. I know I'm a grown woman and that I shouldn't be "weirded" out by my father sending me feminine product coupons, but there really *is* something strange about it. It's just one of those things. Then there's those like the one's below ...If you can't tell, that's a coupon for Van Camp's Pork and Beans. It's to save 40 cents on four cans, which, truth be told, even if I ate pork and beans, I don't know why I'd need four cans at once. Secondly, as I was sifting through the most recent coupon delivery, I pulled this out and said to Ian, "You've got to be kidding me ... it's PORK ... seriously?" To which Ian replied, "Oh! I bet he sent that for me, we had a conversation about pork and beans." Strange? Yes. Ian eats pork, yes, but I sure don't, and i told them that we definitely don't keep pork in the house ...

And then there's the Hebrew National coupons. I ALWAYS get these from dad. Since years ago when I started exploring Judaism before my conversion more than a year ago, dad was giving me the Hebrew National coupons. I typically don't purchase the Hebrew National dogs, and try to go for turkey dogs, but thanks, dad :)

And here's a Schlotsky's coupon. Seemingly there's nothing wrong with this one. It's a kind gesture -- I love sandwiches! But then there's a tiny, tiny detail ...

Yes, folks. Good only in Omaha and Lincoln! I live in Chicago :)

Then finally, there's the following coupon. I live with a self-made chef, who specializes in the Italian cuisine. I love my dad to pieces, but Ian and I don't eat out all the time, and when we do, we eat local, ALWAYS local. We're not chain restaurant kind of people, especially with Ian being the self-made chef that he is!

Every month I get the special coupon delivery, as well as mail that shows up at the house for me. But I look forward to the coupons. Only recently have I really begun to appreciate that my dad takes the time to send them to me. I started thinking, Someday, these coupons will stop coming. And that made me incredibly melancholy. So I'm documenting the humor that couples these coupons. Cheers to pop!