I tried to enlist Ben’s help in making scones, but when he found they didn’t involve chocolate, he was out. I’m a little obsessed with all stone age monuments, and Stonehenge in particular, so baking Sconehenge was bound to happen sooner or later.
Our next family visit to a neolithic site was when Ben was 14, and our extended family traveled to Ireland. We rented 2 small cars for the 10 of us, and we made our way across the countryside. After a night on the plane, no sleep, and an adjustment to driving on the left, we visited Newgrange, which is a huge, neolithic burial mound. The passage into the mound is aligned to the Winter Solstice sunrise, and we were all pretty impressed. Well, most of us were. Ben wandered around the grassy mounds, complaining of boredom and hunger, until he devised his own form of entertainment.
I had purchased new jeans for Ben for the trip, and foolishly did not have him test drive them before packing. They were a little roomy. To his delight, and his sister’s horror, he found that if he gave his hips a quick jiggle, the pants would fall to his ankles. As fast as I could come pull them up (he saw no need to do it himself), he was off to find another set of tourists for whom he could perform his show. Phil’s eventual solution was to take off his own belt and lend it to Ben, but it didn’t really fit, so then we had two guys dashing around a World Heritage Site with a perilous pant situation. Just about the time it looked as if this could become an international incident, we piled back into the cars and moved on towards our next destination. You’re welcome, Ireland.
As every great performer knows, sometimes you need to leave them wanting more. This week’s performance lesson, though, was improvisation. Ben had his heart set on “Chili Lime Steak Bites” from his cookbook, but when reasonably priced steak was not to be found at Wegmans, I had to make some menu adjustments on the spot, and figure out a way to sell it as a win to Ben. We ended up with sweet chili glazed pork tenderloins, pasta, and Caesar salad.
Since this is a food blog, I will note that our trip to Carhenge in Alliance, NE was on a major trip including visits to Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Mount Rushmore. Our best meal of the trip was at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in Alliance. Midwestern states have a surprisingly tasty diversity of independent Mexican restaurants.
Grandpa Ed says, “Did you have your Sconehenge in authentic solar alignment as you displayed it? I’m just being picky!”
We agree that it was delightfully creative!
Well, I would have aligned it with the sun, but the touch scone was consumed within minutes of the photo shoot!
Thanks Liz! I always enjoy your blog entries (and they make me hungry), but I am a bit jealous that you got a photo inside Newgrange! They did not let us take any when we were there.
They didn’t say anything about not taking photos at Newgrange, but maybe we were too jet lagged to notice? Thanks for reading, Charles!