Today was all about Mom – from breakfast to football to cake.

For breakfast: French toast and fried apples.  I don’t love French toast, but Mom and Shane both do, so while they slept in, I battered and grilled up slices of challah dipped in egg, milk, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice.  I also cut up and sauteed a couple of apples in butter and cinnamon – perfect for spooning over the French toast or, in my case, stirring into Greek yogurt with a bit of maple syrup drizzled over the top.

While Shane headed off to Detroit to watch moped races at the Thunderdrome, Mom and I hit the farmer’s market and did some window shopping in Kerrytown, then grabbed a quick lunch at Plum before heading off to the game!  I came by my love of Big 10 football honestly, albeit later in life. All of my family is from Iowa, so we grew up cheering for the Hawkeyes and the Hawkeyes only. None of us have ever had much use for professional sports, though I do really enjoy live baseball. Mom follows Hawkeye football and wrestling in particular, and seeing the Hawkeyes in all of the Big 10 stadiums has been on her bucket list for years.

Getting to watch the Hawkeyes beat Michigan in the Big House, then, was all kinds of dreams come true.  Mom was jealous of all of the high fives I collected as we walked around the stadium exchanging “Go Hawks” with other Hawkeye fans.  Aside from a few grumps, the Michigan fans around us put up with our cheers – and gave us a good-natured ribbing when the game appeared to turn around in the fourth quarter.  If I hadn’t hurt my knee (don’t ask me how – all I did was stand up), it would’ve been a perfect afternoon.

Shane picked us up downtown, and we spent the rest of the night relaxing at home with chicken stew, red velvet cake, and Wisconsin’s victory over Ohio State. Two of the three were excellent, and the other was warm and satisfying, if not exactly what I’d had in mind when I fired up the crockpot. Apart from the knee, it was pretty much a perfect Midwest fall day – and exactly the sort of belated birthday Mom wanted.