Welcome to Sundays With Dad.

My dad is a great story teller. This blog began as a place to record his stories but it wasn’t long before they started inspiring stories of my own.  I discovered I liked telling mine as much as he liked telling his.

So back and forth we went. It evolved into a blog about our work, lives and family as well as the faith and food it took to sustain it all.

He was an architect, I was a dancer. I couldn’t help but see the similarities between the two, which Dad had pointed out to me when I started to dance. Structure precedes balance and flow. Discipline leads to freedom. I had a picture of a dancer I hung in my room that he said, “See that, Debbie? That’s architecture!”

Dad is 84, not long retired, a former pilot, sailor and world traveler. He and Mom were married for 62 years. Since she passed away in 2011, a day doesn’t pass without him saying, “I’ll love you forever darling–just like it says on our wedding rings.” He walks on a treadmill for an hour every morning, Monday-Friday.

I married the guy I knew in high school (second marriage), have a son (first marriage), run a nonprofit, teach ballet and love to write, bike and read almost as much as I do cooking and good wine.

Dad and I go to church together on Sundays and we usually have lunch afterwards. Sometimes we get salads from the restaurant he and Mom used to go to on Sundays. If the weather is cold outside, I like to make a stew on Saturdays which cooks slowly, filling the house with mouth-watering aromas and creates meat that melts in your mouth.

This is one of my favorite recipes. It’s from the Big Book of Soups and Stews (262 recipes for serious comfort food).  I like it because you just throw everything in and let it cook. Simple.

Favorite Family Stew

• 2 lbs. stew meat
• 1 big onion quartered
• 4 each carrots and celery chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 1 green pepper cut in 1 inch squares
• 16 oz. mushrooms – I like the pre sliced
• 1 32 oz. can chopped plum tomatoes – love the roasted ones
• 1 cup red wine
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 c bread crumbs
• 1-2 tablespoons tapioca

Put everything in a big pot with a lid and stick it in the oven at 325 for four hours. I cook part of it on Saturday and save the rest for Sunday when we’re at church. Just wait until you walk through the door and breathe it in.

Dad and me at the cabin he designed for Mom on Washington Island June 2013

Dad wants me to note that his stories are from memory and we haven’t gone back to check all the facts. His memory is as sharp as a tack though!

Thanks for stopping by!

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