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

[Kim Shook]

Lori, I am enjoying your blog. I also had a gastric bypass. Mine was a couple of years ago. I am VERY interested in seeing your meals for that reason. You seem to be eating 'normally' ! Have a great week.

And just to round out the cherry info, I am paying between $7 and $10 per pound for bing and raniers.

[mizducky]

Oh yeah--I meant to add to the cherry survey. I've recently seen them around San Diego for anything from $2.95 to $4.95 a pound. I bought some a few weeks ago, but the quality was just barely passable. Mainly I see Bings, but occasionally Rainiers will show up, which I fell in love with when I lived in Seattle--but alas, those always seem to cost a little more, especially down here.

[MarketStEl]

One last thing:  this morning Alyssa was teaching me how to add photos to my posts (my admiration for all of you who post pictures regularly has increased ten-fold!), and she kept saying, "Mom, you don't have a signature!"  "Mom, you don't have a quote!"  "Mom, you don't have an avatar!"  An avatar???  I didn't know how deprived I was!  So, in case you haven't noticed, as of today I'm the proud owner of my own signature, a favorite quote, and, of all things, an avatar, which is one of my daughter's food photos.  Thank you, Alyssa.

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As satirical songwriter (and Harvard chemistry professor) Tom Lehrer said about "New Math":

It's so simple

So very simple

That only a child can do it!

--Sandy "yes, I really do look like my avatar, only my hair's really salt-and-pepper" Smith

[Lori in PA]

Senseo and Solitude

As I said last night, I get up early. It is one of the best times in the day for me. I am alone. There is quiet. There is coffee. And, I have my little routine which has evolved, almost without my noticing, into ritual. Of course, even ritual has its evolution and I think it is the additions and subtractions that come and go, as much as the constants, which keep things both interesting and satisfying. My usual practice is to get up whenever I wake up (between 3:30 and 5:30, but most often right in the middle of that range), dress immediately, make my way downstairs to the (hopefully) clean kitchen, and turn on the coffee machine. I wash my hands and set up the mug of the day with a scant spoonful of sugar.

As the coffee drips into my cup, I race it to see how much of the dishwasher I can unload before it is finished.

I stir in a dribble of cream and retire to the computer in the corner of the kitchen to check email. I get a short essay sent to me each morning by a wonderful writer; reading it is an encouraging way to begin the day. I check a couple of web sites I visit regularly to see what’s up. (Sometimes I come to eGullet now, but often I save it for breakfast, because reading it usually makes me hungry!) Some of my friends and I are reading the Bible in one year, so I try to read my whole “assignment” before I get distracted with other books.

(Right now I’m enjoying May Sarton’s Encore, a journal of the eightieth year, among the four or five things I have going at any given time.) If I don’t read, I usually write for awhile, especially in summer when I have more time. During the school year, I have planning to do and yesterday’s assignments to correct. I also teach Bible classes in our congregation for ladies and children, so some mornings I’m studying and preparing for those. I make lists of what needs to be accomplished during the day, the week, the month.

I putter around the downstairs, putting things to rights. If I’m cooking something with multiple steps that day, I may do part of the work now. I eat when I get hungry – sometimes now while I’m still alone, sometimes with the kids, sometimes after breakfast is over and we’ve started school.

The kids get up at seven during the school year and emerge downstairs by 7:30. They fix their own breakfasts and 3-4 mornings a week we have a short devotion while they eat. At the moment we’re reading in Proverbs and I try hard not to give significant glances to whichever child seems especially to need to hear whatever we’re discussing. We pray together and sing a song or two and then the day begins in earnest. Alyssa is in charge of kitchen clean-up after breakfast, so she does that. Jonathan usually practices piano (“Do your least-enjoyed tasks first!”) and Samuel reads (if I’m not paying attention) or does his chores (if I am). Because they have a mean mom, all three kids have daily chores and are responsible for clean-up after a meal, too. There is a chart on the fridge so everyone knows what to do. We usually change the chore assignments at the beginning of summer (need to do that!) and I train whoever is learning something new. We get going with schoolwork around 8:30.

In the summer, things are a little looser, but the framework of our routine is still there. The default time for the kids to get up is 8:00, but it varies according to what’s going on. Today, the boys have piano lessons at 8:00, so they can’t sleep in and we won’t have devotions. Their piano teacher lives close by, so I’ll drop them off and come back home for an hour. I think when I pick them up today we’ll head straight on to BB’s, an Amish-owned bent and dent grocery about an hour away from us. I try to make a trip there every six weeks or so. Discovering this place is the best thing that ever happened to our grocery bill, plus it is always fun to go. Where else could I find Lindt chocolates, cake mixes with Cyrillic labeling, ready-to-expire yogurt, hand-stamped greeting cards, and more, and shop for it amongst Amish folks, hippies, retirees, and mothers with scads of children?

[Chufi]

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!

[lancastermike]

I usually just buy fresh cherries for eating raw and let our dear Knouse Foods canning factory do my cherries for me when I want a pie

Every year I pit cherries and freeze them for pies. However, I would be hard pressed to tell the difference between my frozen ones and the canned ones from your neighbors. I don't have a pitting gadget; I just sit there and sort of squeeze them out.

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

.

[Lori in PA]

After I got back from chauferring the boys to their piano lessons, the sun tried to come out, so I had breakfast on the front porch:

I often do this in the summer, but almost never during the rest of the year, because sitting out here amongst my perennials while I eat begs me to get up and putter in the borders. The very wet lawn discouraged me from it today, which is fortunate, because this needs to be a putter-less day.

[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!

[racheld]

In the midst of the spit:

AHHHHH!  The SPIT SHOT!!!    I predict that this one will become de rigueur for all future bloggers.  You must be so proud.    It's coming up on our Annual Cherry-Spitting festival.  We've been going around the corner to the local park to the fireworks display on the Fourth since we've lived here, and we always take a bag of cherries.  We sit and watch and spit them into the borders or grass, and hope to see our efforts rewarded someday with the ACS orchard, proudly bearing the fruit of our labors.

Senseo and Solitude

This is the white twin of my black morning companion---she just stands there, leaning gracefully into my cup, as the double-pull flows over the skim and S&L, foaming up into a lovely lipful to be savored on the patio.  I've changed pods, however---the Maxwell House regular roast are super-yummy, and about 1.50 less per bag than the Senseo.  I had always put in a second bag for the second half of the flow, but in the last month, I've hit the double button with one bag in and let it finish.  Perfect cup for me, and I've used up countless second bags over the couple of years---who knew?

Lists and handwriting---thanks---I hope this catches on, and everyone will include this pic in some form. 

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OKAY---all the blue above is ME---my first try at the multiple thingie---at least I got in all the pics. I'll do better next time. Perhaps.

[Lori in PA]

I've been gone most of the day and then cooking slightly frantically to get dinner on the table. More soon.

[Arey]

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?

[Lori in PA]

Today is BB’s Grocery Outlet Day! BB’s is an Amish-owned “bent and dent” grocery store located on a farm in the middle of nowhere near Newburg, PA. It is one of three locations. I nearly always go there on a Tuesday every six weeks or so and I try to arrive when they open at 8, which means I must leave my house at 7. Today was different for two reasons: I really don’t need very much and I had to wait to go until after piano lessons. Our late start meant I needed nourishment (in the form of a leftover muffin) during the drive, but more importantly it meant emptier shelves and fewer deals at the store.

Samuel, my partner for the day, waited in the van while I took a few photos near our house. I feel so lucky to live here:

Apple orchard:

The creek is running very full with all the rain:

After crossing Big Flat and the Appalachian Trail, we wind through Shippensburg (home of Shippensburg University) and a few little communities and find our way to the store:

They used to have a ramshackle, tacked-onto-over-the-years building, but last year they built a spiffy new building and tore the old one down for a parking lot. Still, it is lighted, heated, and cooled without electricity:

No one comes for the surroundings, however; they line up for the prices:

That says 50 cents, friends:

Of course, one has to be flexible about little things like holiday motifs not matching the current season:

And, it takes a long time to shop here, because one has to look at everything:

BB's even runs sales:

Hand-made baby bibs and Amish cookbooks and coloring books:

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

[Lori in PA]

More from BB's...

There is a large walk-in refrigerator:

Those PA Dutchmen love their bologna:

...and cheese:

...and pickled beets:

Beyond that is the walk-through freezer:

I left the freezer quickly -- I forgot my coat and gloves!

Part of the parking amenities – the hitching post (foggy image due to condensation on the camera lens from the trip through the freezer):

Loading the goods:

My receipt – the equivalent of a very full cart for $75. I usually get 2 heaping carts for about $120.

The Amish make extensive use of old-fashioned scooters like this one, but they don’t ride bicycles. Why? Dunno…

The house on the farm where BB’s is located – clotheslines on the porch are typical, the trampoline is less common:

I’ve been going to BB’s for about 6 or 7 years, since a good friend clued me in to its existence. Every time I drove there, I passed a road called “Covered Bridge Road”. Finally, one day I drove down that road to see if there really was a covered bridge on it. In April, the area all around the bridge is carpeted with Virginia Bluebells – breathtaking!

This house just past the bridge has the most beautiful woodland garden:

And this house across the road from that property is typical of the old fieldstone houses common around here:

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

[Lori in PA]

The Butcher Shoppe:

Samuel and I continued on our shopping circuit to Chambersburg to visit The Butcher Shoppe. http://www.mybutchershoppe.com/

Shopping at BB’s traditionally ends with us rubbing in a liberal application of hand sanitizer as we exit the parking lot, but shopping at The Butcher Shoppe makes us feel a little upscale, a little pampered, a little treasured.

It has most everything a large grocery has except what is usually found in the middle of the store. There is the bakery, where this nice young lady put together a chocolate whoopie pie with peanut butter filling for Samuel’s car picnic dessert:

The produce department is well-maintained:

There is a large prepared foods section, where we got some items for our lunch:

There is a seafood and poultry counter and then comes the meats, the stars of the store:

The employees are kind without exception and give excellent service:

We lunched, as we often do while running errands, in the van. (We keep a permanent picnic kit in the glove box.) Samuel had a couple of ham salad sandwiches on good old Martin’s Potato Rolls (I can’t believe I bought another pack of rolls!!!), an orange soda (Big Treat #1), and his whoopie pie (Big Treat #2). I had a small container of beef salad and a 25-cent Harrisburg Dairies lemonade to wet my whistle. Today, our dining music was provided by the deluge drumming over our heads:

[Lori in PA]

Bender’s Potato Farm:

Next door to The Butcher Shoppe is Bender’s Potato Farm, which bills itself as “The Little Farm in the City” or something to that effect. They have greenhouses and grow their own lettuces, other veggies, and, of course, potatoes. I don’t always stop here, but they have the best prices on shallots anywhere, so I wanted to get some:

The store is in the first floor of the barn. The displays are sweet and welcoming:

Oops! It looks like someone clued them in to charge more for those excellent shallots – I gave them a pass today, but I did pick up a couple of pounds of shelling peas:

They have a beehive and their own honey, with free information sheets available:

Back home, it was time to put everything away. It went much more quickly than usual because of our light “catch”:

[Lori in PA]

How fast can I make dinner? Start the timer – it’s almost five o’clock already!

Ham loaf, a PA Dutch favorite:

This is my mom’s recipe – she’s not PA Dutch; rather she’s from Alabama. I wonder where she got this? Anyway, my PA Dutch husband enjoys it:

Cool egg-in-the-fingers shot – good photography, Jonathan!

I made 1 ½ recipes with 3 lb. ham loaf mix (ground ham and ground pork) and made it into two loaves so hopefully it will bake a bit faster:

Out onto the porch to shell some peas – these weren’t wonderful – some were beginning to sprout:

Out to the garden to harvest lettuce and cut a little parsley. I got soaked for this:

[davidthomas8779]

Lori, I am enjoying your blog.  I also had a gastric bypass.  Mine was a couple of years ago.  I am VERY interested in seeing your meals for that reason.  You seem to be eating 'normally'  !  Have a great week. 

And just to round out the cherry info, I am paying between $7 and $10 per pound for bing and raniers.

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Last weekend I paid 1.29 per lb for gorgeous tasty cherries in San Francisco Chinatown. This weekend, I paid 2.99 at the Mountain View, CA farmers' market.

[judiu]

[...and pickled beets:

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[Lori in PA]

More Dinner:

You all talked me into making bread pudding. Plus, this strange rainy weather kept the temperature cool enough to bear having the oven going. Chocolate bread pudding for dessert:

Bread pudding is so, what’s the word? Ugly. That’s it:

Ham loaves glazed with sweet and sour sauce and finished:

Peas are done. I sweetened the water with some sugar to help them out:

Dinner is served: Hamloaf, steamed new potatoes with butter and parsley, fresh peas, and salad (“Just lettuce, please, Mom!”). I think we sat down about 6:30.

We were only three for dinner tonight. We have some flooding in areas around town, so Alyssa has been down at the fire department, where she volunteers along with The Husband. She says I should mention the fact that I never know when family life will be interrupted by a fire call. I try to forget that. I had a serving of bread pudding while I worked on this. You know, you really can’t make bread pudding pretty, or at least I can’t. I sprinkled a little sugar on top before I baked it, but it’s still its homely self. It’s good, though, and that’s one pack of hamburger buns down for dessert, part of another pack used in the hamloaf, and only several more remaining. Goodnight all.

[Lori in PA]

[...and pickled beets:

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Um,'scuse me, but aren't those pickled eggs in beet juice?

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[mizducky]

Ham loaf and freshly-shelled peas--now that's country comfort!

Found cherries for $1.99/lb today at a local produce market. I've tasted better quality, but they're definitely hitting the spot right at the moment.

[judiu]

More Dinner:

Bread pudding is so, what’s the word?  Ugly.  That’s it:

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

[ldenney]

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.

There are so many things about our country to love, including the many divest cultures, customs, foods and geographic terrains.

I am sure that is true of all countries.

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

[snowangel]

What a lovely area you live in! And, I'm glad I'm not the only frequenter of a scratch and dent grocery story. I love mines. Especially for bagged salad stuff when we are going to the cabin! But, my place does not have the added touches of the Amish goods your's does.

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.

[handmc]

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