letter sept 1

Dear Everyone

Labor Day is drawing to a close. The boys have some homework to finish up, but otherwise we did not do much today. Cindy had an unsuccessful shopping expedition with Lucas to look for soccer cleats. Even though Lucas’ old travel team disbanded, he decided to continue playing through with the AYSO (recreational) organization this fall. He is now on a co-ed 7/8th grade team, and one of his teammates is Max Glaser, the 7th grader next door. While Cindy was shopping, Jasper and I went to the grocery store. The key purchase was fennel so I could try to make a cream of fennel soup

1 TBS butter
1 med onion
2 cloves garlic
1 bulb fennel
2 cups chicken stock
parsley
tarragon
2 TBS lemon juice
salt and pepper
1 cup half&half

Cook onion in butter until soft. And minced garlic for one minute. Add diced fennel, parsley and chick stock. Bring to a boil for 20 minutes. Puree soup. Add tarragon and lemon juice. Cool. Add cream, salt and pepper, and finely chopped fennel leaves.

This was okay, but I think a roasted tomato, basil and fennel might be better.

In the afternoon we went to the Five Seasons for a last swim. Jasper was wearing flippers on the instruction of ‘Coach’ Cindy. She is hoping to increase the flexibility of his feet while kicking. Jasper’s swim team lost their head coach, and there was discussion to combine with Westmont. This deal didn’t go through, and now the swim team is looking for a new swim coach. I am glad it didn’t work out - - the combo team would have been 400 kids.

Nicola has been out all weekend in Michigan with one of her school friends. We hope she got enough of her homework done, since she won’t return until tonight. Yesterday Cindy and I took the boys to Raging Waves Waterpark in Yorkville Il http://www.ragingwaves.com/. This was around a 45 minute drive out west to this vaguely Australian themed waterpark. We stayed for about four hours. We rode on steep drops, funnels, toilet bowls, and lazy rivers. It was not much different from any other park I have been to. This was the first season, and it was not terrifically crowded, which was nice. I think they are going to build a few more rides for next year.

Saturday we took the boys to Pinstripes in Northbrook http://www.pinstripes.com/ , where we were joined by the Tuchlers. We played bocce for about an hour, and then we had some lunch in the nearby mall. Afterwards, we went with the Tuchlers to the Five Seasons in Northbrook, where we had free access. It was a bit disorienting - - their Five Seasons is almost identical to ours; it’s a mirror image in terms of layout. We had chickenfights, and ran some relay races, which were pretty even. One team was the Browns and Adam Tuchler, against the rest of the Tuchlers. We raced freestyle, underwater, butterfly, and corkscrew.

After we came home we ate at a Korean restaurant in Westmont, New Korea Gardens. The kids always like this, because they bring a big bucket of hot coals to your table, and you barbeque your own food. We had a squid appetizer for Cindy and me, and then barbequed beef and chicken. The meal comes along with all sorts of little pickled side dishes, kim chee, etc. Afterwards we walked a couple of blocks to Georges, a little diner that boasts of having 24 flavors of soft serve ice cream. They start with a cream base, and add a flavor packet to each individual order. We had cheesecake (Lucas, excellent), raspberry (Jasper, OK), coconut (Cindy, excellent, but a bit artificial tasting), and apricot (Henry, OK). Rumor alleges the caramel and peanut butter are also excellent flavors.

Last week at work was surprisingly quiet. Either the surgeons were preparing for the three-day weekend, or the attendings who complain all the time were not in or not complaining. So, I can’t complain too much. Some of our staffing shortfall is going to be filled shortly, and we are trying to manipulate the computer systems to make it a little easier to train newcomers. We have also decided to ‘amputate’ our Electron Microscope services; now it will all be contracted out to University of Chicago.

Of course, last weekend was filled with family activities, starting with the investment meeting (chaired by Jim Tuchler) on Saturday, Evelyn’s 2nd birthday party at Northmoor (and Vanessa’s special announcement), and ending with the office picnic on Sunday.

Love, H.