We have some of the most wonderful customers in the world - especially our old Glenview customers who drive down to Hinsdale for their fish - that's total dedication!
The difficult thing for anyone who has to deal with the public on a regular basis is letting go of the bad ones. You can have 100 great customers, and one total crab, and the crab memories hang on forever.
Recent example - we had a sale on ono (wahoo) that was very popular, and by Saturday afternoon we were almost totally sold out. A customer who wanted ono but hadn't called ahead, was very upset that 1) there was so little left, and 2) that the 4 remaining pieces weren't "uniform." She wanted four portions that all looked exactly the same. She ended up buying something else, but complained loudly about her disappointment.
One wonders if she's ever noticed what a whole fish looks like. To get only pieces that look the same, we'd have to throw away over half the fish. It's not what the fillets look like in any case, it's what the fish tastes like, and ono is delicious. Something the size of a cow you can get more uniformity. A fish, not so easy.
We buy fresh fish, and we want to sell out, so that we can order new fresh fish the next day. Stores that buy tons of fish and keep it in the back cooler to fill the fresh case aren't really selling fresh fish when they get to the bottom of the pile. We always tell our customers that if they want something special, they should call and place an order and we'll put what they need aside for them.
Having spent more time in the stores the past few years, I understand both the desire to make the customer happy, and in some cases, the inability to please some people no matter what you do.
I remember once in Marshal Fields (obviously a while ago) a woman was demanding her money back on some towels that she had obviously washed in bleach and ruined. The sales clerk (and everyone else) knew this woman had ruined her own towels, but the clerk took them back and refunded the woman's money. The customer was spectacularly rude, and the clerk amazingly patient. As the next person in line, I made it a point of being super nice to her.
For a big company like Marshal Fields, two returned towels were not a big deal. For a small company like ours, when someone leaves their fish in the car in a heated garage over night, or in the summer in a very hot car, and then brings it back because it's "bad," that's a different situation. We've had this happen more than once. Sometimes, when you wreck something, you need to take personal responsibility. Then next time, remember to take the fish out of the car. And we're always happy to give you a bag of ice.
Dealing with the public every day is a tough job - we'd love to be perfect, but no one is that good - we certainly aim to please everyone who comes to us, and are very upset with ourselves if we somehow fail. If a complaint is legitimate we do everything we can to rectify the situation. And sometimes we have to grit our teeth and make the customer happy, even when they're totally off base. Everyone has a bad day now and again, and we never know what might be going on in someone's life that's making them miserable. We just wish that there was a way to cleanse ourselves of the misery of dealing with the grouches.
Ask yourself, what kind of customer are you?
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Fishing for Spring
The El Nino oceanic current system seems to have brought us fairly mild winter and an early spring -- nice for us, maybe not so nice for the fish, especially on the west coast. Or at least not the ones that like cold water. According to Ryan Rykaczewski, Nereus Program alumni and assistant professor at the University of South Carolina, and an expert on El Nino:
"In the tropical Pacific, the trade winds typically blow along the equator from the east to the west, from Central America towards Asia. These winds stimulate the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich waters along the west coasts of North and South America and along the equator in the eastern Pacific. In contrast, the waters of the western Pacific are typically warm. However, during El Niños, for reasons that are not well understood, the trade winds weaken or sometimes even reverse direction. That weakening of trade winds inhibits the upwelling of cold water, and waves of abnormally warm water slosh towards the coasts of North and South America. During the biggest El Niño, in 1997 and 98, the surface waters were about 2.5 degrees warmer than average in the eastern Pacific. Over such a large area, that’s a lot of abnormal heat."
The warm water loving fish, like tuna, swordfish, ono (wahoo) and mahi mahi, come closer to shore on the US west coast, making them easier to catch, while the cold water fish (think wild salmon and halibut) find it less thrilling - their food supply is damaged by the warm water, and they can be affected by algal blooms caused by the warming waters. The food fish love to eat, largely Peruvian anchovies, die off in El Nino conditions, affecting the viability of not only fish, but all kinds of sea mammals and birds as well.
So while we're enjoying a lovely warm spring, the salmon and halibut will be swimming further north, looking for colder waters. This could mean lower supplies and higher prices on the cold-loving fish, perhaps a break on the warm water guys.
As basically the last wild food that we eat, some of us (you know who you are...) need to get over the idea that all farmed fish is bad - if we want the resource to last, we need to have other viable sources for our seafood. In fact, the only organic fish available is raised - because we don't know what the wild fish have been eating, there's no way to say its organic. We trust our sources for our raised fish - we love wild fish too, but we want some of it left for our grandchildren!
"In the tropical Pacific, the trade winds typically blow along the equator from the east to the west, from Central America towards Asia. These winds stimulate the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich waters along the west coasts of North and South America and along the equator in the eastern Pacific. In contrast, the waters of the western Pacific are typically warm. However, during El Niños, for reasons that are not well understood, the trade winds weaken or sometimes even reverse direction. That weakening of trade winds inhibits the upwelling of cold water, and waves of abnormally warm water slosh towards the coasts of North and South America. During the biggest El Niño, in 1997 and 98, the surface waters were about 2.5 degrees warmer than average in the eastern Pacific. Over such a large area, that’s a lot of abnormal heat."
The warm water loving fish, like tuna, swordfish, ono (wahoo) and mahi mahi, come closer to shore on the US west coast, making them easier to catch, while the cold water fish (think wild salmon and halibut) find it less thrilling - their food supply is damaged by the warm water, and they can be affected by algal blooms caused by the warming waters. The food fish love to eat, largely Peruvian anchovies, die off in El Nino conditions, affecting the viability of not only fish, but all kinds of sea mammals and birds as well.
So while we're enjoying a lovely warm spring, the salmon and halibut will be swimming further north, looking for colder waters. This could mean lower supplies and higher prices on the cold-loving fish, perhaps a break on the warm water guys.
As basically the last wild food that we eat, some of us (you know who you are...) need to get over the idea that all farmed fish is bad - if we want the resource to last, we need to have other viable sources for our seafood. In fact, the only organic fish available is raised - because we don't know what the wild fish have been eating, there's no way to say its organic. We trust our sources for our raised fish - we love wild fish too, but we want some of it left for our grandchildren!
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Phishing scams - not fun
This week we received a phone call at the store from someone claiming to be from ComEd, and that they were shutting off our power in 45 minutes for non-payment of our bill. So the staff called me in a panic. Fish doesn't last very long with no refrigeration. I had paid the bill by direct deposit, but called the number they had provided to see what was up. Staff told me that the person who called initially had a strong Eastern European accent, but the men who answered the 888 number he had provided had Caribbean accents. There was a recorded message saying it was the ComEd "service cut off department," and if I knew my party's extension, to enter it at any time. It did sound somewhat legit.
The person I spoke to said that they (ComEd) were changing meters and computer systems, and had no record of our payment. I told him that our bank clearly showed we'd paid and that they'd received it. I must have mentioned the amount, because he instructed me to "get cash" for that amount as they couldn't accept a check or credit card, and that I should go to a nearby Walgreens to make the payment, but that I should "call him back from the parking lot" for further instructions. I said I was not willing to walk around with that amount of cash, and that it sounded to me like some kind of scam. He said the only way to stop the shut-off was to get the cash and go to the Walgreens to buy a cash card. He assured me that any double payments would be credited back to our bank, and that they'd give us a 30% discount on our next 3 months of service for our "inconvenience." (That's one part of the scam I'm sorry isn't true.)
I went along with him, and as soon as I hung up, I called ComEd, who confirmed that our bill was paid. They recorded all the information I had about the scammers to let their illegal activity investigators know. I let our staff know it was a scam, and instructed them to call 911 if anyone shows up. I also called the local Evanston police department, thinking that they would want to go to Walgreens and arrest the person who evidently would have shown up to take my "payment," but they just said that they don't handle scams. It's theft, so why not?
The scammers did actually call the store again, threatening the shut off, and the clerk who answered the phone told him that we'd spoken to ComEd, and that if he still wanted to come over we'd be glad to discuss it with him. He told the clerk to "kiss my ass" and hung up.
I don't know how they got information about our ComEd account, nor why they targeted us - but it was extremely unnerving. I'm sure that they're calling many people, probably focusing on the elderly, and scaring them into sending cash cards to some PO Box somewhere. Hopefully not meeting them in parking lots.
I went on line and reported the incident to the FTC - they have a form for you to fill out with all the details of what took place. We didn't give them any money, but I don't know what other information they have about us - they now have our home phone number as well as my cell number, which makes me want to get a new phone number.
So the moral of my story - don't believe people who call to threaten you with something like this - what I should have done is call ComEd first, not the 888 number that they provided. It would have saved me a lot of aggravation. All the utilities have numbers you can call on your bill, or you can look it up on line. ComEd's billing department told me that 1) Shut off notices come in the mail long before anything happens, and 2) A live person will not call you, you get a robo-call asking you to call ComEd.
This phishing story has a somewhat happy ending - we didn't give them any money, but they still know stuff about us - I wonder if they somehow hacked into the ComEd computer system. We have to be ever vigilant these days! Computers are a curse as well as a blessing.
The person I spoke to said that they (ComEd) were changing meters and computer systems, and had no record of our payment. I told him that our bank clearly showed we'd paid and that they'd received it. I must have mentioned the amount, because he instructed me to "get cash" for that amount as they couldn't accept a check or credit card, and that I should go to a nearby Walgreens to make the payment, but that I should "call him back from the parking lot" for further instructions. I said I was not willing to walk around with that amount of cash, and that it sounded to me like some kind of scam. He said the only way to stop the shut-off was to get the cash and go to the Walgreens to buy a cash card. He assured me that any double payments would be credited back to our bank, and that they'd give us a 30% discount on our next 3 months of service for our "inconvenience." (That's one part of the scam I'm sorry isn't true.)
I went along with him, and as soon as I hung up, I called ComEd, who confirmed that our bill was paid. They recorded all the information I had about the scammers to let their illegal activity investigators know. I let our staff know it was a scam, and instructed them to call 911 if anyone shows up. I also called the local Evanston police department, thinking that they would want to go to Walgreens and arrest the person who evidently would have shown up to take my "payment," but they just said that they don't handle scams. It's theft, so why not?
The scammers did actually call the store again, threatening the shut off, and the clerk who answered the phone told him that we'd spoken to ComEd, and that if he still wanted to come over we'd be glad to discuss it with him. He told the clerk to "kiss my ass" and hung up.
I don't know how they got information about our ComEd account, nor why they targeted us - but it was extremely unnerving. I'm sure that they're calling many people, probably focusing on the elderly, and scaring them into sending cash cards to some PO Box somewhere. Hopefully not meeting them in parking lots.
I went on line and reported the incident to the FTC - they have a form for you to fill out with all the details of what took place. We didn't give them any money, but I don't know what other information they have about us - they now have our home phone number as well as my cell number, which makes me want to get a new phone number.
So the moral of my story - don't believe people who call to threaten you with something like this - what I should have done is call ComEd first, not the 888 number that they provided. It would have saved me a lot of aggravation. All the utilities have numbers you can call on your bill, or you can look it up on line. ComEd's billing department told me that 1) Shut off notices come in the mail long before anything happens, and 2) A live person will not call you, you get a robo-call asking you to call ComEd.
This phishing story has a somewhat happy ending - we didn't give them any money, but they still know stuff about us - I wonder if they somehow hacked into the ComEd computer system. We have to be ever vigilant these days! Computers are a curse as well as a blessing.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Getting the love on the table
Although Valentine's Day is a made-up holiday, it's one that can be a lot of fun. For us it's a very special day, because our daughter was born on Valentines Day. She wasn't due until March, but a very bad fall on the ice gave me a bruised tail bone and early labor, and provided her with a fun birthday. A heart cake every year...
For Valentines Day dinner around our house (now that our special Valentine is married and living in New Hampshire) we usually have seafood, no surprise. We almost always have some oysters, so delicious and fresh tasting. I always think of that wonderful scene in the old film Tom Jones, where Albert Finney and one of his many conquests are slurping down oysters in one of filmdom's most sensuous food scenes. If you've never seen it, you can probably rent it from Netflix. Oysters have all sorts of trace minerals in them, and evidently some of them make you feel sexy. Not making this up, there have been scientific studies.
Then for the main course, I like to do something simple, like a baked salmon dish or maybe a shrimp dish. Everything cooks quickly, so I don't have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen -- a nice green salad and some of chef Jaimie's garlic mashed potatoes round out the meal. This year I might just get some salmon papillotes or cozies - seems like cheating, but they're so good, and no kitchen mess to deal with.
Once upon a time I would make crab legs or even whole lobster one year (reenacting the lobster scene from Annie Hall). Because we were often dealing with a birthday party on Valentine's Day for so many years, it became a real treat to have just us for Valentine's dinner.
When you're cooking for your beloved, it's really nice to set the scene. Put candles on the table, dim the lights, get out the nice china. Some nice music in the background is relaxing for both the chef and the spouse/partner of choice.
And the wine -- sparkling wine sets a celebratory mood, and it's wonderful with oysters, shrimp, smoked salmon, just about any seafood appetizer. With dinner, if I'm serving salmon, we like to pair it with a light red, a pinot noir or a French Cote de Rhone are great with salmon, tuna, any of the more flavorful fish. With shrimp, lobster or lighter fish, we prefer a fume blanc or unoaked chardonnay. Get out the good glasses - there's only two of you, so even if you use all good stuff, there won't be a lot of dirty dishes to do.
Valentine's dessert over the years has tended to be something chocolate -- my sweet hubby even ordered some amazing chocolates from France a couple of years, that came in a little wooden box and were beyond delicious. Today we have great places to get wonderful chocolate right around home. I'm not really supposed to eat chocolate any more, a total bummer, so now we enjoy a Key Lime pie for dessert, delicious, not too heavy, and Jaimie makes them so none of the rest of us have to.
At our house, the person who cooks never has to do the dishes, one of the very best arrangements I ever negotiated in our pre-nup. Our pre-nup did not involve money, only housework allocations. So after your lovely Valentine dinner, if one of you cooked it all, the other should do the dishes. If you cooked together, do the dishes together.
Then if one of you really wants to watch Downton Abbey, which is almost over (ack!) you should watch together, cuddle on the couch, wrap yourselves in a blanket if it's cold. Because Valentine's Day is on Sunday this year, it's a perfect night to stay in - put the kids to bed early if you have little ones, and make it a special night, just for the two of you.
One of the truly wonderful things about eating fish for dinner, because it's so easy to digest, when you go to bed you won't feel over-stuffed, much better for romance. A Hallmark holiday, perhaps, but one that you can turn you into a very creative romantic partner. Everybody likes to feel special occasionally.
For Valentines Day dinner around our house (now that our special Valentine is married and living in New Hampshire) we usually have seafood, no surprise. We almost always have some oysters, so delicious and fresh tasting. I always think of that wonderful scene in the old film Tom Jones, where Albert Finney and one of his many conquests are slurping down oysters in one of filmdom's most sensuous food scenes. If you've never seen it, you can probably rent it from Netflix. Oysters have all sorts of trace minerals in them, and evidently some of them make you feel sexy. Not making this up, there have been scientific studies.
Then for the main course, I like to do something simple, like a baked salmon dish or maybe a shrimp dish. Everything cooks quickly, so I don't have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen -- a nice green salad and some of chef Jaimie's garlic mashed potatoes round out the meal. This year I might just get some salmon papillotes or cozies - seems like cheating, but they're so good, and no kitchen mess to deal with.
Once upon a time I would make crab legs or even whole lobster one year (reenacting the lobster scene from Annie Hall). Because we were often dealing with a birthday party on Valentine's Day for so many years, it became a real treat to have just us for Valentine's dinner.
When you're cooking for your beloved, it's really nice to set the scene. Put candles on the table, dim the lights, get out the nice china. Some nice music in the background is relaxing for both the chef and the spouse/partner of choice.
And the wine -- sparkling wine sets a celebratory mood, and it's wonderful with oysters, shrimp, smoked salmon, just about any seafood appetizer. With dinner, if I'm serving salmon, we like to pair it with a light red, a pinot noir or a French Cote de Rhone are great with salmon, tuna, any of the more flavorful fish. With shrimp, lobster or lighter fish, we prefer a fume blanc or unoaked chardonnay. Get out the good glasses - there's only two of you, so even if you use all good stuff, there won't be a lot of dirty dishes to do.
Valentine's dessert over the years has tended to be something chocolate -- my sweet hubby even ordered some amazing chocolates from France a couple of years, that came in a little wooden box and were beyond delicious. Today we have great places to get wonderful chocolate right around home. I'm not really supposed to eat chocolate any more, a total bummer, so now we enjoy a Key Lime pie for dessert, delicious, not too heavy, and Jaimie makes them so none of the rest of us have to.
At our house, the person who cooks never has to do the dishes, one of the very best arrangements I ever negotiated in our pre-nup. Our pre-nup did not involve money, only housework allocations. So after your lovely Valentine dinner, if one of you cooked it all, the other should do the dishes. If you cooked together, do the dishes together.
Then if one of you really wants to watch Downton Abbey, which is almost over (ack!) you should watch together, cuddle on the couch, wrap yourselves in a blanket if it's cold. Because Valentine's Day is on Sunday this year, it's a perfect night to stay in - put the kids to bed early if you have little ones, and make it a special night, just for the two of you.
One of the truly wonderful things about eating fish for dinner, because it's so easy to digest, when you go to bed you won't feel over-stuffed, much better for romance. A Hallmark holiday, perhaps, but one that you can turn you into a very creative romantic partner. Everybody likes to feel special occasionally.
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Mardi Gras, Lent & Super Bowl, reasons to serve fish!
We used to go to a Super Bowl Party every year, until the hosts retired to Arizona, leaving us all 4th and long. So for the past few years, if we feel like watching with anyone, we'd invite our neighbors over and serve some Burhop's seafood chili - our chef Jaime created this wonderful chili a few years ago, and then our son decided to enter it in a big chili contest in Chicago. There were about 12 finalists, narrowed down from many entries. They had a panel of experts, of course, and then droves of people invited to come and eat chili. After tasting them all, the general public, having no idea that they were eating seafood chili, voted ours their favorite. The "experts" placed us second, but we were delighted to win the People's Choice Award, since that's who really counts! When people found out that the chili they were eating - and loving - was actually healthy, they were dumbfounded. Who knew that great chili doesn't have to clog your arteries!
This year the Super Bowl falls on the same weekend as pre-Mardi Gras celebrations. For decades, a volunteer group I belonged to in Evanston had an annual Mardi Gras fund raiser, always a lot of fun. We had big pans of jambalaya and ettouffee, usually home made to save money. If you're not feeding a hundred, but you'd like to have a Mardi Gras party, you can get get jambalaya, gumbo, ettouffee, dirty rice, oysters, shrimp, crayfish and more from us in Hinsdale -- I'm of the opinion now that if I can get something really good that requires very little work, count me in.
That said, during Lent (which is amazingly early this year - Feb. 10th), because of family tradition, we always eat fresh fish on Fridays. My dad was raised Catholic, and even though he changed churches, he never stopped his Friday fish habit. So I particularly love our prepared entrees, especially the salmon cozies and papillotes. They're so easy, and so delicious, it feels a bit like cheating. Our kids liked fish any day, which made cooking for them a breeze. One of their favorites during Lent - or any time - was Crumby Scrod.
Crumby Scrod (A Kid Favorite!)
Adults love this one as well -- so easy to do, and very tasty.
Preparation Time: 15 minutes Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 lbs. fresh scrod, cod, halibut, tilapia, whitefish or any flaky white fleshed fish fillet
3 Tbs. butter
Salt & pepper to taste
Soft bread crumbs
Juice of 1 lemon
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Melt butter in a glass or ceramic oven-proof dish. Add lemon juice. Turn fish over in butter mixture to coat thoroughly. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Process two slices of soft bread in a blender to make bread crumbs. Sprinkle over fish fillets and spoon butter over crumbs and fish. Place fish in a pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes. (Cook fish 10 minutes per inch of thickness at the thickest part of fillet). Crumbs should turn light brown and slightly crispy. Reduce cooking time if fish is very thin. Serve with mashed potatoes and any green vegetable you can get your kids to eat! For mom & dad, a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
If you have an easy recipe to share for Lent, we'd love to have you send it to us! I've changed the settings so now it's easy to reply to these posts.
This year the Super Bowl falls on the same weekend as pre-Mardi Gras celebrations. For decades, a volunteer group I belonged to in Evanston had an annual Mardi Gras fund raiser, always a lot of fun. We had big pans of jambalaya and ettouffee, usually home made to save money. If you're not feeding a hundred, but you'd like to have a Mardi Gras party, you can get get jambalaya, gumbo, ettouffee, dirty rice, oysters, shrimp, crayfish and more from us in Hinsdale -- I'm of the opinion now that if I can get something really good that requires very little work, count me in.
That said, during Lent (which is amazingly early this year - Feb. 10th), because of family tradition, we always eat fresh fish on Fridays. My dad was raised Catholic, and even though he changed churches, he never stopped his Friday fish habit. So I particularly love our prepared entrees, especially the salmon cozies and papillotes. They're so easy, and so delicious, it feels a bit like cheating. Our kids liked fish any day, which made cooking for them a breeze. One of their favorites during Lent - or any time - was Crumby Scrod.
Crumby Scrod (A Kid Favorite!)
Adults love this one as well -- so easy to do, and very tasty.
Preparation Time: 15 minutes Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 lbs. fresh scrod, cod, halibut, tilapia, whitefish or any flaky white fleshed fish fillet
3 Tbs. butter
Salt & pepper to taste
Soft bread crumbs
Juice of 1 lemon
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Melt butter in a glass or ceramic oven-proof dish. Add lemon juice. Turn fish over in butter mixture to coat thoroughly. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Process two slices of soft bread in a blender to make bread crumbs. Sprinkle over fish fillets and spoon butter over crumbs and fish. Place fish in a pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes. (Cook fish 10 minutes per inch of thickness at the thickest part of fillet). Crumbs should turn light brown and slightly crispy. Reduce cooking time if fish is very thin. Serve with mashed potatoes and any green vegetable you can get your kids to eat! For mom & dad, a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
If you have an easy recipe to share for Lent, we'd love to have you send it to us! I've changed the settings so now it's easy to reply to these posts.
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Losing the Holiday Poundage
One of the holiday "gifts" most of us end up with is several extra pounds of cookies around our waistline. It's so hard to say no when someone passes a plate of sea salt dark chocolate caramels...
So now it's January, and it would be nice to undo the damage. Here's what I do that works for me:
So now it's January, and it would be nice to undo the damage. Here's what I do that works for me:
- Cut way, way back on the sweet stuff - just get it out of the house. Sugar is not your friend.
- Eat more lean protein - fish is the perfect answer. A 6 to 8 oz. serving of baked or grilled fish is easy to digest and makes you feel full without being over stuffed.
- Have lots of vegetables with your fish - substitute carrots and roasted root vegetables for potatoes, though a baked potato with some plain yogurt instead of sour cream can be very satisfying without being overly fattening. Just don't soak it with butter.
- Top your fish with healthy, low fat sauces, like fresh salsas. It adds color and flavor without adding calories or fat.
- At least once a week, have a "salad" dinner - a piece of poached salmon on a bed of mixed lettuce with some fresh fruit - slices of clementine and avocado are great on salads. Heap the lettuce on the plate - you feel like you've eaten a big meal, but you really haven't. I usually add a slice of fresh bakery bread or toast, not too evil.
- Eat slower - it takes awhile for the message to get from your stomach to your brain that you've had enough - that's why those of us who eat too fast also generally eat too much. (I grew up in a home where we practically raced each other to empty our plates and leave the table).
- Drink a large glass of water with your dinner. Drinking several glasses of water a day actually helps you eliminate fat from your system. I always forget this, but it really works.
- Shun the after-Christmas candy sales. Don't even look at it when you go shopping.
- Go for a walk. I have a Fitbit, which helps me remember to get more exercise. I walk the dog at least once a day (my husband does 2 or 3 more dog walks a day), and I walk with a friend up at Northbrook Court in the winter - they open up really early for walkers to come and be in the warmth. Check with your nearest indoor mall.
I've dropped 2 lb.s since New Years, hope to make it 10 before Valentine's Day, the next big calorie holiday. My dearly departed father, who depended wholly on my mother's cooking, switched to a candy bar diet when Mom went into a nursing home, and ended up with type 2 diabetes, which contributed to his demise. Repeat after me - sugar is not your friend. It's OK for an occasional treat, but it's addictive, bad for your teeth, bad for your health.
Fish, however, is great for your health!! Snack on carrots and apples, eat fish for dinner, take a walk, you'll feel better and look better. Now if I can only stick to my own advice....
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Remembering Janis Burhop Aug. 28, 1914 - Dec. 1, 2015
I first met my future mother-in-law, Janis Clark Burhop, when I was five years old. She and Vern bought a home in Glenview in our neighborhood that belonged to the Palmers, good friends of my parents, and they came to a farewell party that the Palmers threw to say goodbye before moving - a party that included a giant inflatable pink elephant. The Palmers threw some pretty crazy parties.
The Burhops joined the Glenview Community Church, our family church as well, and Janis and my mother became friends who did good works together, mostly at Bargains Unlimited, a charity resale shop in Chicago. Bargains benefited the Infant Welfare Society, among others. Many family treasures disappeared to Bargains - in both our families, when something couldn't be found, we were pretty sure it went to Bargains. My Nancy Drews, Jeff's Mickey Mantle rookie card, all for a good cause. (We also got some treasures back, notably our Limoges oyster plates). She also delivered for Meals on Wheels up into her 90s, and I would tease her about the fact that she was older than most of the people she took meals to. In her case, age was truly a state of mind.
When I was in first grade, the bus stop was just a few doors from the Burhop's house, and Janis loved telling me, after I married her son, about how at about age six I had fallen on the way to catch the bus, and knocked on her door to ask her to brush me off, which she obligingly did. On May Day, I would hang a basket of wildflowers on her door, ring the bell and run away.
Janis was one of the "cool" moms, she drove a sports car - I remember her Porche - and she always looked wonderful. She was tiny - a 2 petite - but also a bundle of energy. She and Vern took up ice dancing around the same time Jeff took up ice hockey, and Vern would flood their back yard so Jeff and Jim could have pick up hockey games with neighbor kids, and they could practice their their ice dancing. They ended up as Senior Illinois Armature Champions - and Janis kept skating
until she was 89, almost 10 years after Vern died. For decades, Janis served as a skating judge and mentor to hundreds of young skaters through the Skokie Valley Skating Club. A few years ago, a friend gave us tickets to a Skokie Valley skating exhibition, and we took Janis. When she walked in, it was like we'd brought a rock star - dozens of people, young and old, came rushing up to hug her. For one wonderful night, she was back in the skating world, a huge part of her life. After she broke her foot and couldn't skate any more, she would take hot coffee over for the skaters every weekend, until she couldn't drive any more at 94.
Janis and Vern had moved from Wagner Rd. to another Glenview home with a swimming pool in the back yard, so when our kids were little, going to Grandma and Poppy's was always a happy excursion. Both our children learned to swim there, and were very popular among their peers, as they were always welcome to bring along a friend.
One of my biggest debts to Janis was her willingness to share her knowledge of cooking with me - especially fish cooking, but also teaching me how to make and can preserves. She loved the Evanston Farmers Market, and went there with us every Saturday for years, enjoying the hunt for the perfect strawberries, the tastiest peaches, the freshest greens. Growing up in Rantoul, Illinois, in a farming community (though her father was a lawyer who, for a while, worked with Clarence Darrow in Chicago), she knew her produce. Every week, Jeff would buy her a little bouquet of fresh flowers, something she loved when she could no longer walk around the market. The last time she went was the weekend of her hundredth birthday, and the farmers were glad to see her back, if only that once.
I've never known anyone else in my life who was such an eternal optimist - she was always up for almost anything. I took her to Seattle on a visit to our daughter, her only granddaughter, and she wanted to go whale watching, bird watching, hiking, she was up for anything, and she was 90. She did yoga every morning for as long as she could, and could touch her toes at 98. Of course, at 4'9" her toes weren't very far away.
When I asked Janis about her childhood, she talked about sitting around the radio, and the fun she had with her siblings, older sister Elizabeth and younger brother Henry. Living near the Rantoul air base, her father forbid her from talking to the military men, because the girls who hung out with them were considered "fast." Janis would never tell us - always with a twinkle in her eye - if she ever did "fraternize." She met Vern at the U of I, where she studied home economics and nutrition. He was the true love of her life, and the wonderful letters we found in her room, from when he was on a ship in the Pacific during WWII, have revealed a whole new level of their devotion to each other.
After Vern was diagnosed with brain cancer, at age 79, Janis vowed to take care of him herself, which she did to the very last. He died March 11, 1995 in their home, with Janis holding on to him until he was gone. She called hospice, and they took Vern away, and she sat there alone for over three hours, because she didn't want to wake us up.
Nine years ago, when I came back from South Africa really sick and needing surgery, Janis came to see me in the hospital, the concern etched across her face. When she left, she turned around at the door and said "You know I love you." And I said "I love you too." It was the first time, but not the last, that we told each other.
She was the final member of that generation in our family, now we are the oldest. She was our mother, our grandmother, our protector, our cheerleader, our buffer against the ills of the world. We shall miss her forever.
The Burhops joined the Glenview Community Church, our family church as well, and Janis and my mother became friends who did good works together, mostly at Bargains Unlimited, a charity resale shop in Chicago. Bargains benefited the Infant Welfare Society, among others. Many family treasures disappeared to Bargains - in both our families, when something couldn't be found, we were pretty sure it went to Bargains. My Nancy Drews, Jeff's Mickey Mantle rookie card, all for a good cause. (We also got some treasures back, notably our Limoges oyster plates). She also delivered for Meals on Wheels up into her 90s, and I would tease her about the fact that she was older than most of the people she took meals to. In her case, age was truly a state of mind.
When I was in first grade, the bus stop was just a few doors from the Burhop's house, and Janis loved telling me, after I married her son, about how at about age six I had fallen on the way to catch the bus, and knocked on her door to ask her to brush me off, which she obligingly did. On May Day, I would hang a basket of wildflowers on her door, ring the bell and run away.
Janis was one of the "cool" moms, she drove a sports car - I remember her Porche - and she always looked wonderful. She was tiny - a 2 petite - but also a bundle of energy. She and Vern took up ice dancing around the same time Jeff took up ice hockey, and Vern would flood their back yard so Jeff and Jim could have pick up hockey games with neighbor kids, and they could practice their their ice dancing. They ended up as Senior Illinois Armature Champions - and Janis kept skating
Janis and Vern had moved from Wagner Rd. to another Glenview home with a swimming pool in the back yard, so when our kids were little, going to Grandma and Poppy's was always a happy excursion. Both our children learned to swim there, and were very popular among their peers, as they were always welcome to bring along a friend.
One of my biggest debts to Janis was her willingness to share her knowledge of cooking with me - especially fish cooking, but also teaching me how to make and can preserves. She loved the Evanston Farmers Market, and went there with us every Saturday for years, enjoying the hunt for the perfect strawberries, the tastiest peaches, the freshest greens. Growing up in Rantoul, Illinois, in a farming community (though her father was a lawyer who, for a while, worked with Clarence Darrow in Chicago), she knew her produce. Every week, Jeff would buy her a little bouquet of fresh flowers, something she loved when she could no longer walk around the market. The last time she went was the weekend of her hundredth birthday, and the farmers were glad to see her back, if only that once.
I've never known anyone else in my life who was such an eternal optimist - she was always up for almost anything. I took her to Seattle on a visit to our daughter, her only granddaughter, and she wanted to go whale watching, bird watching, hiking, she was up for anything, and she was 90. She did yoga every morning for as long as she could, and could touch her toes at 98. Of course, at 4'9" her toes weren't very far away.
When I asked Janis about her childhood, she talked about sitting around the radio, and the fun she had with her siblings, older sister Elizabeth and younger brother Henry. Living near the Rantoul air base, her father forbid her from talking to the military men, because the girls who hung out with them were considered "fast." Janis would never tell us - always with a twinkle in her eye - if she ever did "fraternize." She met Vern at the U of I, where she studied home economics and nutrition. He was the true love of her life, and the wonderful letters we found in her room, from when he was on a ship in the Pacific during WWII, have revealed a whole new level of their devotion to each other.
After Vern was diagnosed with brain cancer, at age 79, Janis vowed to take care of him herself, which she did to the very last. He died March 11, 1995 in their home, with Janis holding on to him until he was gone. She called hospice, and they took Vern away, and she sat there alone for over three hours, because she didn't want to wake us up.
Nine years ago, when I came back from South Africa really sick and needing surgery, Janis came to see me in the hospital, the concern etched across her face. When she left, she turned around at the door and said "You know I love you." And I said "I love you too." It was the first time, but not the last, that we told each other.
She was the final member of that generation in our family, now we are the oldest. She was our mother, our grandmother, our protector, our cheerleader, our buffer against the ills of the world. We shall miss her forever.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)