eG Foodblog: Lori in PA - These ARE the Good Old Days

[KatieLoeb]

Hi Lori:

So how would you feel about a bunch of PhilleGulleteers showing up on your doorstep to enjoy some of the wonderful foods and local charm you have at your disposal?

Beautiful scenery and there's such nice local produce and such available. I'm ready to jump in the car right now!

[Lori in PA]

What a great thread. That bread pudding looks okay to me. How did it taste?

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Alyssa here: Just got home from 5 calls (3 water rescue) and am wet and tired. Got myself some re-warmed bread pudding and it hit the spot. Yum yum!!

PS hope I'm not breaking any rules by taking over mom's name for a few seconds, but I thought you should know just how great bread pudding is to cold and wet fire women (and men, but dad isn't here, so I get his - ha ha!).

[fou de Bassan]

Lori,

I missed the start of your blog (and the end of the last) but I wanted to say how much I'm enjoying it. Thanks for the wonderful photos!

For what it's worth, cherries in Melbourne are $14.95 a kilo, about $7 a pound, but they aren't really in season since it's winter here.

[Lori in PA]

What a great thread. That bread pudding looks okay to me. How did it taste?

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Alyssa here: Just got home from 5 calls (3 water rescue) and am wet and tired. Got myself some re-warmed bread pudding and it hit the spot. Yum yum!!

PS hope I'm not breaking any rules by taking over mom's name for a few seconds, but I thought you should know just how great bread pudding is to cold and wet fire women (and men, but dad isn't here, so I get his - ha ha!).

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Alyssa here again: just got back from 2 more calls and it is 2:25 am. FYI: Even a spoon full of <i>cold</i> bread pudding and a glass of milk are amazing!

Edited June 28, 2006 by Lori in PA (log)

[Lori in PA]

A mayor who is home schooling her kids in Pennsylvania, who can buy cheap cherries, and who gets up in the middle of the night! It may seem like we don't have much in common.. yet, you eat what I eat (Fage Total with honey.. isn't it delicious? Try it with chestnut honey.. sooo good!) and read what I read (May Sarton - I love her books and have her Solitude Journal on my nightstand), and make lists at the start of the day, like I do.

I am very much looking forward to sharing the week with you and your family.

And the muffins look wonderful!

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Someone said, "We read to know we're not alone." Thank you for sharing the ways we are the same -- I love hearing that.

Here in our little borough I ran for mayor a couple of years ago.  The voters rejected my candidacy with gusto.  I still remember the words I spoke to my supporter’s election night.  "The people have spoken, the bastards"

The deluge continues here in Lancaster County. It was real thrill driving to work this morning, lots of street flooding.  I hope the worst is over for you in Biglerville

.

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I tell people who get overly impressed that I'm mayor, "It isn't really like running for office. It's more like, 'Somebody needs to be mayor. Will you be mayor?' 'Sure, I'll be mayor.'" Well, I guess I stretch things a little, but I'm in my second term and ran un-opposed both times. If somebody else comes along and wants the job, I'm sure my non-competitive self will bow right out.

The sun is shining into my kitchen. I had to come to eGullet to find out what Alyssa was doing to save the town while the mayor slept the exhausted sleep of the eG blogger. All seems well for now.

Speaking of seed spitting, many years ago, about 50 or so, one hot August day in Woodbury (So. Jersey) I took a slab of watermelon, out front and sat on the front steps trying to see how far I could spit the seeds. It was as dead as it can be on a hot So. Jersey afternoon. The only car to pass by was  a police car, and the policeman grinned as he passed by and waved to me. Then my mother saw me, and ordered me into the backyard while saying, in her customary lockjaw mode of addressing me "Nice people don't eat watermelon on the front porch where they can be seen by everyone".

It was a constant struggle for her having married into a family that came from the poorer section of Bendersville.

May we expect a Musselman's Applesauce reference during your blog?

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You're from Bendersville? As I live and breathe! "the poorer section..." Too funny -- personally, I've always thought of Bendersville as Biglerville's less-fortunate cousin...

I eat Musselman's applesauce now and then at a fire department banquet or someone's home, but we can our own applesauce from Nittany apples at our house. Our supply is almost gone, however, so I may have to get some Musselman's to tide us over until October.

RE: your ham loaf mix, Lori, are the ground ham and ground pork in equal proportions?

I am really enjoying your blog and learning a lot about your part of the country. 

Kentucky has its own beauty, but that picture taken from your porch with the town below could pass for a Rockwell painting.

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I think the proportions of ground pork and ham are equal, but I didn't make the meat "mix" part myself -- I bought it at the Butcher Shoppe.

Kentucky is indeed beautiful -- my brother used to live there. I thought I could be very content living in a low, wide, aristocratic-looking house with horse pasture surrounding me on three sides like the ones we passed everywhere in the Lexington area -- so different from our own landscape.

I must clarify that the view of rolling hills and orchards isn't from my porch -- I live in a little town -- but I stopped along the road between our town and the next town 2 miles away to take that photo. The church spire and the houses around it are a town called Arendtsville, whose population is slightly smaller than Biglerville's, I think.

So, I"m assuming that if there were only three of you for dinner, there will be leftovers.  What's your plan for them?  I often plan meals around leftovers.

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I'm wondering what my plan is for them, also. I usually use these kinds of leftovers for lunches or simply as a second dinner a night or two later, but we have cooking classes for Wed -- Fri lunches and I sort of hate to subject you all to a repeat of the same dinner. Time and energy may answer this question for me.

What a great thread. That bread pudding looks okay to me. How did it taste?

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That bread pudding was very nice. I like it better made with stale baguettes or another sturdy bread, but the point was to use up the hamburger buns, so I was pleased.

Hi Lori:

So how would you feel about a bunch of PhilleGulleteers showing up on your doorstep to enjoy some of the wonderful foods and local charm you have at your disposal?

Beautiful scenery and there's such nice local produce and such available.  I'm ready to jump in the car right now! 

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I would feel happy to see you, particularly if you all jumped out of the car and helped me in the kitchen so we could have a lovely feast together!

Alyssa here: Just got home from 5 calls (3 water rescue) and am wet and tired. Got myself some re-warmed bread pudding and it hit the spot. Yum yum!!

PS hope I'm not breaking any rules by taking over mom's name for a few seconds, but I thought you should know just how great bread pudding is to cold and wet fire women (and men, but dad isn't here, so I get his - ha ha!).

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You are not breaking rules so far as I'm concerned, my dear, but will you be able to be up and cheerful to help with cooking class today?

[Chufi]

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Ah, this is why I love foodblogs so much, they make my food-world bigger every time!. Thanks for taking me on a shopping trip Lori - so very different from the one I had this morning.

[Lori in PA]

The Husband is on a business trip, and I just got this email from him.  I will let him "speak" for himself:

I read the blog and think you need to add a few comments from me.

Show them the view on the north side of the house.

Tell them about MAKING me call you "Your Honor".

You should tell them about your new apron in the picture.

If we have to go out for a meal, go for the pity and ask for financial aid.

Ice cream on hamburger buns does not sound good at all.

You do not have to save me a muffin if you make more.

Our HS children sitting on the porch spitting........now there is something that they do not teach in public school.

Don't forget about our place mat with fire response areas on it.

Nice picture of the lamp!

Did you not go to BB's?

Have to go to my meeting.  Have a good day.

Love,

Kevin

Lori, again:  I'll comment on his comments later, but now I've got to SCOOT!

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--I have no idea what he means about the north side of the house. I'll ask when he gets home.

--About MAKING me call you "Your Honor": He lies!

--My Mary Englebreit apron is a present from Alyssa, given to me Saturday night at her graduation party. About five years ago, she asked me what I wanted for Christmas -- she'd reached the age where she really wanted to give real gifts -- so I said I wished I had a beautiful apron. I'm an apron wear-er, but all of mine are utilitarian solids. So, we bought some pretty fabric at Walmart one day so she could make my gift. I teased her now and then, saying "I'm going to be so surprised!" Well, she cut it out and never finished it. It's been languishing in our sewing basket ever since -- the victim of a busy schedule. I guess she decided she better do something about it before she leaves for college, so she did a marathon sewing session at my folks' house and presented it to me -- I really was so surprised, after all! I'll treasure it til it wears out.

--"...ask for financial aid" -- What a nut! I'm afraid I may have given the impression that The Husband is a tightwad and now he may have confirmed it. Not so, he is a generous guy. We don't have piles of money, but we are rich.

--About the porch spitting: I would consider myself a failure as a mother/home educator if I sent our children out into the world unable to spit.

--Our county's fire departments are all volunteer. For a good while after Alyssa became a junior firefighter at 14, we had a big map of Adam's County which showed all the fire "boxes," or sectors, under the clear plastic for our dining pleasure and learning. I was glad to see that changed -- boring.

--It's obvious by now that I went to BB's. The Husband gets a charge out of me going there, I think, because when I get home, he always asks excitedly, "What was your best deal today?" My best deal yesterday was the 50-cent Bon Maman tarts. That's one of the cool things about BB's -- we can have a few little luxuries we'd never afford otherwise. The worthy woman in Proverbs 31 is described, in part, as one who "bringeth her food from afar." I may fall down in some areas of Worthy Woman-dom, but I've got that characteristic in spades.

After I posted all those photos of our day yesterday, I thought, "I wonder if it's possible to break eGullet."

[Lori in PA]

Coffee, of course:

My lovely early-morning routine has been taken over by blogging. Here is my computer corner in the kitchen, complete with my scribblings of Alyssa’s photo downloading (uploading?) instructions and Ellen/MizDucky’s multiple post-quoting instructions:

Next up – the first of two Beginner/Intermediate 4H cooking classes scheduled this week. That’ll be nine children, ages 8-13, with sharp knives in their hands. The menu:

Stir-fried Vegetables with White Rice

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

[Meanderer]

Your photos of BB's were a bit of a surprise to me. I am able to go only on Saturdays when the place is so crowded it is difficult to move. Even before the store opens, there is a crowd waiting to go in.

[lancastermike]

After I posted all those photos of our day yesterday, I thought, "I wonder if it's possible to break eGullet." 

When I blooged I posted so many photos I learned to almost like Image Gullet.

BB's discount grocery looks like some similar ones we have around here. When I do go there, I always have to go to somewere else for things they don't carry. So sometimes we just don't go.

Do they have generators for the cold rooms?

Edited June 28, 2006 by lancastermike (log)

[suzilightning]

been loving this blog - thank you.

how i wish i had access to some of those meats you do

if your volunteer firefighters hang out at the barn(what we used to call the firehouse) and they seem to be involved with some water rescues - maybe make some of that bread pudding and send it to them? when we flooded here in 2000(23" in 24 hours/ 18" in 8 of those hours) i made sandwiches, soups and cakes and - once i could get out of my roads- took them to the firehouse where our guys and about 10 towns doing mutual aid were spending shifts doing pump outs,evacuations and rescues.

any pepperslaw in the future? please? i love pepperslaw.....

[Swisskaese]

No, not homely, not ugly. HOMEY, hamish (I believe that's the Yiddish word, am I right, G.G.?)

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I'm not Gifted Gourmet, but haimish means homey or warm and fuzzy. It comes from the German word Heim, which means home.

Edited June 28, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[judiu]

No, not homely, not ugly. HOMEY, hamish (I believe that's the Yiddish word, am I right, G.G.?)

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I'm not Gifted Gourmet, but haimish means homey or warm and fuzzy. It comes from the German word Heim, which means home.

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Danke,Swisskaese and for correcting my spelling, too! In my mind, that suits bread pudding to a "T"!

[MagFoodGuy]

I have never seen a bent and dent before and I am very envious!

The things one learns on eGullet.

[handmc]

I love the coffee cup. I need to get one for my wife.

Will you post the ham loaf recipe in recipe gullet?

Ah, pepperslaw, I sell a ton of it at our church bazaar over here in chester county.

[MarketStEl]

After I posted all those photos of our day yesterday, I thought, "I wonder if it's possible to break eGullet." 

When I blooged I posted so many photos I learned to almost like Image Gullet.

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That's a little more affection than I'm willing to give it right now. Let's just say I tolerate it, and I wish the tech staff would turn on the delete feature for pictures you post yourself.

I couldn't have done my blog without tabbed browsing, though. MSIE has some catchin' up to do.

Let me echo Katie's sentiments about your part of the state. (Trivial aside: The original service plazas on the Pennsylvania Turnpike--America's first superhighway--were designed to mimic traditional Pennsylvania fieldstone farmhouses. I believe a few of these survive along the initial 160-mile segment from Irwin to Carlisle, opened in 1940. The service areas on the Carlisle-to-Valley Forge extension, opened in 1950, are also fieldstone but low-slung, more like ranch houses.)

I just hope the rivers are beginning to recede out your way.

[mizducky]

I have never seen a bent and dent before and I am very envious! 

The things one learns on eGullet.

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I have no data to support this, but I suspect that any bent-and-dent business (and stock) that might have existed in many US urban areas has been pretty much sucked up by the proliferation of 99-cent stores. At least that looks to be the case here in urban SoCal.

[Lori in PA]

Cooking Class 1

I’ve been leading cooking projects for our 4H club for about eight years. Each project usually includes six meetings, which we hold in late spring/summer in order to be finished before the big 4H Fair, a county-wide event at the fairgrounds where the members bring their projects to be judged. A few times we’ve used prepared project books from the Extension Service, but mostly I’ve written my own materials. (The published project books have become heavier on nutrition education and little science experiments and lighter on actual cooking as the years go by, and my 4H-ers really just want to cook!) We have always had a theme for the project: Breakfasts; Party Foods; and Soups, Sandwiches, and Salads, for example. The number of members taking the cooking project has grown a lot, so for a long time I've held classes with two separate groups, a beginner class and an advanced class.

Last summer, I was feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of teaching two groups and getting everything planned because I was scheduled to have some surgery right in the middle of it all. I got the idea to use a published cookbook and after some research I settled on Marion Cunningham’s Cooking with Children: 15 lessons for children, age 7 and up, who really want to learn to cook:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067942297...1102422?ie=UTF8

I divided the recipes into three years’ worth of classes. The children are split into two teams and work on different parts of the menu for the day. We have a new menu each time for Meetings 1-3 and then for Meetings 4-6 we repeat the first three menus but switch the teams so each child gets to prepare each dish. Here is the syllabus for this year:

Meeting #1

Veggie Stir-fry w/ Rice; pg. 28-37

Oatmeal Cookies; pg. 126-130

Meeting #2

Spaghetti w/ Tomato Sauce; pg. 92-101

Steamed Broccoli w/ Garlic and Olive Oil; pg 86-88

Strawberry Shortcake; pg. 75-77

Meeting #3

Complete Chicken Dinner -- roasted chicken halves, stuffing, and vegetables; pg. 146-155

Ice Cream w/ Fudge Sauce (Mrs. B’s recipe)

Meeting #4 (Repeat Meeting 1)

Meeting #5 (Repeat Meeting 2)

Meeting #6 (Repeat Meeting 3)

Display requirements for the 4-H Fair:

1. project folder containing the syllabus, meeting plans, and extra hand-outs from me.

2. three oatmeal cookies baked by the member from the recipe in our cookbook, judged on uniform size, appearance, texture, flavor, and attractiveness of display. (You can be creative and use a basket, pretty plate, etc. to display your cookies.)

3. a completed Create-a-Project 4-H project book, including a project story written by the member and a filled-out activity record.

Cost: $20 per member, payable at the first meeting

What to bring to each meeting:

1. an apron, if you have one

2. a sharp knife for cutting veggies and fruits, if you have a favorite one you want to use

3. a cutting board, if you have one

4. your family’s cookbook

5. your project folder, once I give it to you at the first meeting

6. your eager attitude, ready to work and learn and help each other

The first three items are optional – I have extras, so don’t go out and buy anything. The last three items are necessary.

The rules:

1. Girls, tie long hair away from your face.

2. Everybody follows the cleanliness and safety rules we’ll discuss at the first meeting.

3. Everybody participates.

Everybody agrees to taste each thing with an open mind. (All you past cooks are so good at this already!)

Each time we meet for a class, we come together at the beginning to go over the menu and talk about what everyone will be doing that day. Then we cook, eat and evaluate our food, and clean up. My goals for the students are simple: knife skills, how to read a recipe, vocabulary, how to use various equipment, meal-planning, how to taste critically, and so on.

This summer, there are so many kids wanting to take the classes that I divided them into three groups – two beginner/intermediate classes and one advanced class – so I have kids here Wed., Thurs., and Fri. mornings from 9-1. In addition, I have two teen leaders working with me for each beginner/intermediate class, which makes for a full kitchen. Today we repeat the menu from Meeting 1, which is stir-fried vegetables with rice and oatmeal raisin cookies. I’ve noticed the kids giving each other tips; for example, somebody from the team who made the cookies last time telling the team doing them today to watch out when portioning the cookie dough to make them the same size, which is just the kind of cooperative, trickle-down learning I want.

I’ve said this before, but Mrs. Cunningham has captured my heart with her confident tone and simple, clear directions for basic cooking techniques. When I read her words, I end up imagining myself as a child reading my first cookbook (It doesn’t seem like that long ago!) and just believing I could make that interesting-sounding recipe and going into Mom’s kitchen and doing it and feeling so proud of the finished product. Cunningham makes me want to be that little girl again, but working beside her in her kitchen, perhaps with her beautiful old hands showing mine how to hold the knife, blend the pie dough, or toss the salad. That’s the sort of teacher I try to be – one who teaches good skills, praises sincere efforts, laughs off the goofs, and always, always encourages.

Some photos:

[nessa]

Lori, My Mother gave me plates/dishes my grandmother had, that are identical to the white ones you have. She grew up around Allentown. It just warms my heart to see them . Is it a PA dutch thing? Coincidence?

[Pam R]

Thank you for the class pictures.

[Kim Shook]

I am enjoying this so much, Lori! I love the input from Alyssa and Mr. Lori and the pictures.

Do you still have foods that your bodies can't manage? With me its rice and steak. I can eat a hamburger and any kind of pasta, but one bite of steak is all I can manage and not even a bite of rice.

We have something similar to BB's - across the river from us - you have inspired me, next day off, I'm off on a short trip!

[Priscilla]

A mayor who is home schooling her kids in Pennsylvania, who can buy cheap cherries, and who gets up in the middle of the night! It may seem like we don't have much in common.. yet, you eat what I eat (Fage Total with honey.. isn't it delicious? Try it with chestnut honey.. sooo good!) and read what I read (May Sarton - I love her books and have her Solitude Journal on my nightstand), and make lists at the start of the day, like I do.

I am very much looking forward to sharing the week with you and your family.

And the muffins look wonderful!

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Someone said, "We read to know we're not alone." Thank you for sharing the ways we are the same -- I love hearing that.

Exactly what the foodblogs are all about!

Wonderful blog, Lori. Good on Alyssa for fixing you up with your personalized accoutrements.

Ham loaf looks good! The only thing I can't see on the recipe card in your photo is the ingredient list for the sweet & sour glaze -- other than the brown sugar, what's in it?

Awaiting the reveal of the North Side of the House View!

[mizducky]

Loving your cooking-class tips! Oh, and I'm glad to see that your students have not forgotten the tradition of making rabbit-ears behind somebody's head when a camera is pointed at them. (How *does* that meme keep getting passed on? It's like kid folklore!)

[JanMcBaker]

Lori! I've been loving your blog. It's a wonderful reminder to us here in the Philadelphia corner of PA that most of the state is probably more like your area and not what I'm used to in the 'big city.' I'd be thrilled to join Katie Loeb in a visit out your way. I could bring chocolate chip cookies--- I think Katie can attest to how well I make them!

[KatieLoeb]

Lori!  I've been loving your blog.  It's a wonderful reminder to us here in the Philadelphia corner of PA that most of the state is probably more like your area and not what I'm used to in the 'big city.'  I'd be thrilled to join Katie Loeb in a visit out your way.  I could bring chocolate chip cookies--- I think Katie can attest to how well I make them! 

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Oooohhh. The chocolate chip cookies are a big draw! They are most excellent but they can't ride anywhere with me in a closed vehicle. Too dangerous!

Lori - loving the photos and the continued blog! Most excellent!