A Side Trip

I grew up around lots of good food, good drink and many family celebrations. We'd get together and eat amazing food--sometimes my dad would buy a big ole beef tenderloin, season it well and cook it on the spit. Oh the smells! Lots of Hors d'Oerves with us all munching away, talking, laughing, drinking, sometimes exotic drinks. At Easter my dad always made Ramos Fizzes and they were good! We all took a part in bringing something to the table. And we would all clean up, too. And there was always laughter, no matter what, even when a relative who I won't mention :) dropped the Thanksgiving turkey right on the kitchen floor!! 

Maybe it all started here... This is a picture taken oh somewhere around the 1940's of my grandparents' (Goggy and Poppy) drive-in where my Goggy would cook up some pretty scrumptious food! She's on the left in the picture, and my mom is on the right. I don't know who the person is in the middle but she must have worked there. I heard stories throughout my childhood of many movie stars stopping in for a bite to eat on their way from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Caesar Romero was one. I can't remember who else. I miss Goggy and Poppy. They were good grandparents. 

A picture of my grandparents' motel located right next door to their drive-in. Just a small ten room motel. So many good memories staying with them, playing forts in their tiny living room--so tiny that anyone coming into the room would have to crawl under and through the forts (sheets strewn about the furniture) to get to the other rooms. We had so much fun. So much love. And of course lots of very good comfort food. 

This is a picture of my dad taken a long, long time ago. He was a test pilot in the Navy and served in both WWII and the Korean War (that was around the time I was born); he was also one of the first Blue Angels. I don't think he was ever afraid of anything. And he sure loved good food! 

                                    My dad flew these F4U Corsair planes off and on to carriers.

And this is a picture of my dad, probably sometime in the 1950's, with his plane, a Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing and one of the most beautiful planes ever built, that he named "The Snarlin' Darlin'". He loved that plane.