Starting at 1:00, roasted cauliflower and broccoli 🥦 , skillet fried 🍄 mushrooms, baked sirloin steak with gravy, Chinese 🇨🇳 slaw and Bob Evans mashed potatoes at 11:00. (Before Heidi and I were married I took mashed potatoes in a crockpot to the Hackman Thanksgiving dinner. After several compliments, Heidi stated, “OMG, they are Bob Evans mashed potatoes! They have been a staple in our family ever since.)

Nina fixes dinner every Sunday evening for whatever family can attend. (The good news for me, I live next door,) As Rae, Sophie, Heidi and Nina sit around thew table and catch up, (The Highly Effective Rae just finished her Masters Degree and Sophie just completed her first semester at Indiana University.) Liam sleeps on the couch while Richard and I whine and complain about fantasy football.

My Dad used to call me on Sunday nights just to ask what Nina had prepared for us that day.  She never disappoints.

And for dessert, she puts a yellow cake mix in a pie pan and then puts a can of peach and a can of cherry pie filling on top of that. Then bakes them and they are delicious as well.

This Boss of a mother-in-law does this each week just to provide for and spend time with her family. Did I make the move of a lifetime eleven years ago when I married Heidi, or what!?!

148 East Market Street in New Albany is where to find some authentic Cuban and Latin food. Hopefully you get Ulysses as your server. He is not only 🇨🇺 Cuban, but also knowledgeable and friendly.

I had the shredded beef, 🍠 sweet potatoes and sautéed veggies. (Roma Vieja de Carne) The beef is marinated in a a creole and red wine sauce. The entire plate was fantastic!

Heidi had a sampler that was also delicious 😋!

(Chicken empanada, potato cake with shrimp and salsa and two fried and stuffed balls with good things inside. Sorry I didn’t pay more attention to hers. It was because of the XX Amber.)

El Nopal Mexican Restaurant is located at 1863 East Tipton Street in Seymour, Indiana. The Pollo La Campesina is grilled chicken topped with spinach, mushrooms 🍄 and white queso served with rice and veggies. Delicious!!! Heidi, Mendy Stahl and Anita Hackman all ordered this and everyone thought is was very good.

Heidi’s brother, Ken Hackman, loves the chorizo (spicy Spanish pork sausage) and had the Pollo 🐓 Chicken Chorizo.

As Ken and Anita are home from California for the Hackman Christmas 🎉 Party, we sat for two hours as this party of 12 dined and enjoyed each other’s company.

🍺 On a side note, they have XX Amber on tap!

Fast food, maybe. However, it is made just for you and the toppings are very good. (Bacon, cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms on this one) A large bag of fries serves at least three people and they also have free 🥜 peanuts while you wait.

I really like how they have a sign letting you know where today’s potatoes 🥔 came from. Raybould Brothers in St. Anthony, Idaho today.

350 West Maryland Street in downtown Indianapolis across from the convention center is the location of Conner’s Kitchen.

The cornbread muffins are fabulous! Baked to a golden brown with a crunchy outside and the inside was steaming when I cut it open. I spread the whipped 🍯 honey butter on the top and in the middle and let it melt for a moment.

Delicious!!!

As a kid in the 70s, we would visit our cousins the Griggs’ in Burnsville, Minnesota. A suburb of the Twin Cities. As my parents were teachers, it would be in the summer and always a week when the Twins were in town. Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Bert Blyleven, all Twins’ Hall of Famers were a few of the players we saw. Or opposing players Brooks Robinson and Boog Powell of the Orioles aa well as Reggie Jackson and the World Champion Oakland A’s. A $1.50 would get you a bleacher seat by the bull pen. We would ask third string catcher Paul Ratliff for his autograph every day.

Home plate of Metropolitan Stadium (Twins stadium) currently is within the Mall of America.

Great memories, Yes. However, my Uncle Bob’s basement refrigerator full of Grain Belt, that’s what I’m taking home with me today. My brother, David, went to the IU/ Minnesota football game recently and stayed with my cousin Ann Griggs. And, as any responsible Wintin would do, he found some Grain Belt to bring home to his brothers. !

Here’s to you Uncle Bob, Aunt Roberta and Dad!!!

Happy Thanksgiving 🦃 Walt’s Diner fans! Today’s feature is brought to us by my beautiful wife, Heidi. I am thankful for her every day! She makes me a better person.

Heidi got some Jackson County persimmon pulp from a friend at work and fixed a pan of persimmon pudding for Thanksgiving dessert. My favorite piece is the corner, topped with a dollop of Cool Whip. (I actually added more Cool Whip after taking the photo. I don’t think you can have too much) I enjoy the texture of the corner, as it is a little more firm than the center pieces.

Great flavor. The next thing I need is a pan with more corners.

Heidi Wintin scores BIG with this creation at our first of several Thanksgiving dinners. This takes caramel apple dip to a new level.

1. Place a block of Philadelphia Cream Cheese on a plate.

2. Cover with Hershey’s caramel topping.

3. Sprinkle Heath Bar bits over that. (Heath Bar Bits put this dish over the top!)

Slice some apples and apply caramel apple spread as needed. You will not be disappointed.

Check this out. 50% Darlage Custom Meats ground chuck and 50% applewood smoked 🥓 bacon topped with cheddar and bacon strips on a toasted bun. ( Get it medium well.) And, how about the sweet potato 🍠 fries with marshmallow cream to dip them in. Major League!!! (Just so you know, I take all that pickles, tomato, onion and lettuce crap and put it to the side.)

Let’s talk about the Conductor Cream Ale. Brewed for Rails by the Schnitz Brewery out of Jasper, Indiana. Simply delicious.

I also had the opportunity to hug my lifetime friend Mitza Durham, shake a few hands from the past and reminisce with the voice of Seymour Athletics, Curt Nichols. ” Nick, get their asses off the field, we have a game to play!” Walt Wintin, SHS Athletic Director Quote.

Any trip to Bloomington, Indiana has its perks. The food and dining opportunities are limitless. Heidi and I were going to pick up Sophie, a freshman at IU, to bring her home for Thanksgiving. Whenever I can I shop at the Kroger near the College Mall. Or, as my brother-in-law, Doug Hackman calls it, Krogucci. Opposed to the Kroghetto, on the other side of town.

This store is a pleasure to shop, but today, my priority was the honey 🍯 roasted peanut 🥜 butter as we didn’t have a lot of time. The honey roasted peanuts are in a clear container that sits on top of a grinder. You place you plastic tub beneath the grinder and push the green button and you get freshly ground peanut butter. All it has in it are the honey roasted peanuts. One moment they are peanuts, the next it is peanut butter. It is some fantastic peanut butter! Somehwere between creamy and chunky.

If that isn’t enough, they have a beer section that I can spend significant amounts of time and 💰 money in.