My parents are both from Arizona.  Now this may be a weird way for me to begin a post, but let me continue.  For a long time, visiting my family meant visiting the arid deserts of Arizona during the scorching summer months (couldn’t go in the winter when it wasn’t 120 in the shade because of school). While there, my parents would often talk about growing up there. They would remember fondly the old A&W restaurants (or maybe they were just stands) where you would receive a frozen block of root beer that would slowly melt and was the best way to drink root beer (I don’t know, they don’t do this anymore, though I have seen drive thru A&W restaurants lately). They also introduced me to Indian frybead while we were visiting a pueblo probably 20 years ago. I have remembered and drooled in a Pavlovian manner over it ever since. The best taco I ever had used frybread instead of a tortilla.

I finally made some myself. Oh, wow. If you have never had frybread, it is kinda like funnel cake, only it is one big hunk of batter, not a stream looped around itself, and you eat it straight or with a touch of cinnamon sugar instead of covered in powdered sugar. It is a fried batter, light and fluffy and frying it is really fun to watch because it starts out flat as pie dough and puffs up to over an inch thick in some places. I would highly recommend everyone trying it out. Just make sure you have a thermometer and don’t put the batter in until the oil is 375. Here is the recipe I used. Look around Miss Maggie’s site while you’re there. She writes recipes in such a way that you really understand what she’s trying to explain. The difference between “Go north for 2.47 miles and turn east northeast . . . ” and “Follow the road as it turns gently right by the big red barn . . . “. Between Miss Maggie and Alton Brown, I am teaching myself to cook.

And speaking of AB, I foudn a few minutes while blissfully munching frybread to look through one of my new books, and found the end all be all statement of geekdom. “Why have a laser on a keychain? Because you can, of course.” This statement accurately describes everything in my husband’s life. *grins* Why play golf on a video game when you could go out and actually play witht he set of clubs in the garage? Because you can, of course. Why add flashy lights and buzzers to something that doesn’t need it? Because you can, of course. Why even contemplate putting enough Christmas lights on our house that you need a light board bigger than the local theater has to run them all? Because you can, of course.

And why do I have enough bead to drape the house in them and paint to cover every surface inside, thread and fabric to make a cover for the house, and let’s not even think about the paper? Because I can, of course. I am an art geek.