The Power of Fried Walleye…

Posted by Stephanie Meyer on Apr 27, 2009 at 7:50am

Wine, soft music, slow dancing, cozy fire… Romantic, yes? How about fried walleye, humidity, family gatherings, and mosquitoes…? Well apparently that’s even hotter, rarrr, at least to the Meyer’s, since half of our family was conceived in late summer; in fact, awfully close to…Labor Day (sorry). We celebrated Meyer August Fertility in typical Meyer fashion over this past weekend – par-tay, baby! With lots of fabulous food, of course.

The graceful queen of this particular gathering was my aunt Marge, who turned 60 (no one believes it, she looks so young and fit – Michelle Obama’s biceps have nothing on hers).  Fellow honorees were Stacey (40), my cousin Michael (30), my cousin Kelly (31), my aunt Mary (54), my husband John (an honorary Meyer – 49), my son Nathan (13), and my nephew Cooper (3). We gathered – quite appropriately – on the shores of Green Lake, source of that fertility-boosting walleye. Without Grandpa & Grandma Meyer to catch and prepare the feast (sniff), we settled at Melvin’s for our celebration. I of course ordered (Parmesan-crusted) walleye, absolutely delicious. The luscious chocolate birthday cake – baked from scratch, filled with fresh strawberry-whipped cream, then iced with buttercream by my aunt Mary’s work colleague – was The Kill.

Yesterday Michael and his wife Amanda hosted us all for a gorgeous brunch. Mimosas and Bloody Mary’s (Zing Zang mix rocks!), quiches and pastries and fruit, oh did we feast. I’ve asked Amanda for her broccoli quiche recipe (which turns out to be my aunt Kathy’s recipe, with a Marge-created variation), I’ll post both in a bit.  My aunt Kathy brought pastry from Racine Danish Kringles – you can order it online, it’s fantastic. Very similar to my mom’s recipe for Almond Puff Pastry, but with cherry and pecan versions as well.  Order extra, it freezes well.

My sister Etta flew in from NYC, my cousins Kelly and Craig from DC, my aunt Kathy and uncle Pete drove in from Sheboygan – so good to see everyone! With our recent trip to California, where I saw my aunt Jean and uncle Del, I’ve seen all four of my dad’s lovely sisters in the last two weeks. That doesn’t happen very often these busy days, what a nice treat. All four aunts are fantastic cooks, they’ve definitely inspired me over the years.  Perhaps you’ve made one of their recipes, several are here on this blog.

Happy Birthdays!

Stacey & Cooper

Kim & Kelly

Etta

Marge & Kathy

Brunch at Michael & Amanda’s

Amanda pulling quiches from the oven

Etta & Cooper

Marge & Craig

Happy Birthday Marge!

Pete

Jim, Bruce & Craig

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