Once again, life is good in Landmarkland, as there were fruitcakes out there that I did not know about which have made their way to my house.
I wrote that I had a passion for fruitcake, but would have to spend the next 12 months waiting for Christmas to come by drowning my sorrows in Girl Scout cookies.
Although the Girl Scout cookies are still in play, I am forever indebted to Ed Jaeky of Realty Link, Brookfield, who immediately jumped into the breach by noting that his wife made “the best” of all fruitcakes.
In fact, he noted, it was always a hit at St. Barbara’s Church where the former rector thought so much of the fruitcake, he would request one every year.
The Jaekys, who are well known for their community involvement, were heading for Florida, and wouldn’t you know, they still had a goodly chunk of family fruitcake in the fridge.
I was only too happy to help clean out the fridge so that they could travel, unencumbered and without guilt to Florida.
I must tell you, too, that that fruitcake, a recipe of Ed’s mother, is really very good, quite competitive with “the best.” Maybe when they get back we might even be able to get Grandma Jaeky’s recipe to share with you.
Meanwhile, and not to be outdone, SRCA (Seguin Retarded Citizens Association, Inc.), 6223 W. Ogden Ave., Berwyn, sent over one of their signature fruitcakes. I guess they misunderstood that I could not find their wonderful fruitcakes around the Christmas season.
Yes, I found them, I bought them, I ran out of them and could find no more. Next year I will just buy a case and then get through the holidays on a fruitcake diet.
According to Sheila Ryan-Henry, executive director of Seguin, she thinks I may have hit on the words to a new country western song: “Don’t let the fruit cake depot blues get you down, baby!”
Yup, I think I could strum my guitar to that. She also told me that this was the only and only fruitcake that the late Johnny Carson talked about. And yes, it is superb fruitcake, made in small bricks.
My suggestion is keep the little bricks for the uninitiated and then make big, huge fruitcakes for people like me, who could make it an entire dinner.
And so, between the Jaekys and SRCA, I am having a field day post-Christmas. Now there are only 11 more months to wait for more.
Quick takes
I also would like to thank Dorothy Kraus of Lawton Road, Riverside, who clipped an advertisement for my late parents’ Baar and Baar Realtors, a long-time establishment in Berwyn.
Mrs. Kraus noted that she never tosses out anything, but clipped the ad out of an old newspaper cookbook. The ad had a nice photo of my mom and dad in it-and a photo of me, who looked like Alice in Wonderland. …
Dr. Jacqueline Solfronk, Ph.D., of Prairie Avenue, Brookfield, wrote and suggested that I read Dr. Sherry Roger’s book “Detox or Die”, which took out after drinking hot coffee out of Styrofoam cups.
She also noted, correctly, that coffee dehydrates people. She urges me and all others to drink lots of water, and that makes good sense, too. She knows I have that perennial Styrofoam cup of coffee going for me, which serves as my carry cup.
At home I use real cups, so, hopefully, I will at least be 50 percent healthier. And, I drink tap water. I never could see the point of paying extra for water in those plastic bottles. Certainly, with a tax on them on top of it in the City of Chicago, it is tap water for sure. …
And, a group called the “Concerned Citizens for Riverside, a diverse group of Riverside residents, parents and business owners”, has once again left a flier on my door hitting up proposed zoning changes on Harlem Avenue.
So, if you want to find out about all this and make these folks happy, you can do so by hitting up www.riversideinfo.org or call 442-3166. …
My darling North Riverside Recreation Community Theater is putting on “I’m Getting Murdered in the Morning,” their second annual murder mystery/dinner fundraiser, on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $35. Call 442-6073. Sounds like lots of fun. …
Finally, for what it is worth, the pill, Channix, works. I am now going into my 16th week of no smoking with nary even a desire for the killer weed.
