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

[Pan]

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![...]

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Don't worry too much about transliteration of Yiddish words. The "correct" spelling is in Hebrew letters.

[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.

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Danke,Swisskaese and for correcting my spelling, too![...]

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Don't worry too much about transliteration of Yiddish words. The "correct" spelling is in Hebrew letters.

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Pan is right.

However, that is the most common spelling in English dictionaries. Come to Israel and you will see names of Israeli towns and streets spelled several different ways in English. Some people have vivid imaginations of how things should be spelled in English.

I will have to post some restaurant menus someday. You will really split your sides with laughter.

Lori, I am in awe of your patience with all of those children in your kitchen. I would be afraid of them cutting themselves. Obviously, you teach them knife safety.

Edited June 28, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[Lori in PA]

(This blog was placed into suspended animation while the writer of it had a nap.)

When I was telling a friend about doing this blog, I said, "It'll be great to do it during the cooking classes because I think people will find that interesting, but it'll be bad for me because I never feel like doing anything creative during the cooking class weeks. I mean, I want to be myself, but I'd like to be my best self." And that is the truth of it. My usual practice is a mix of feed-the-hoard scratch cooking and knowledge-stretching, fun-for-me messing around with ingredients. Occasionally I love to do Cooking Projects, where I really research an unfamiliar dish and make a big production of learning to do it well, as I see many of you doing. The problem is, much as I love my 4H-ers, teaching the cooking classes is draining. I'm nearly stumbling into the walls by afternoon -- certainly not my best self, and not a self with cool dinner ideas swirling through her mind.

I had a semi-creative plan for dinner, though it concerned me a bit. I make a nice warm red cabbage and chicken slaw sometimes in the cool months with gorgonzola cheese, walnuts, and pears or apples. I thought I might do a take-off of that with leftover pulled pork, coleslaw mix I need to use, some brie I've got, and candied spicy pecans. The fruit was the worrying bit -- pears and apples are out of season, but I thought of cherries. Cherries are an enigma -- they are one of the most "special" fruits, but using them in recipes can be problematic once one gets beyond desserts and cherry sauce for meat, because they tend not to be beautiful when they are pitted and served raw, but no one wants to have to spit pits on the side of his plate during the meal if they are left whole. (Pit-spitting is best reserved for front porches, yes?) So, I was thinking, "Cherries with pork in a salad could be absolutely wonderful. Or, it could be awful if they look like they are bleeding into the slaw." Hmmm.

All of my musing came to naught when my father-in-law stopped by. He just returned from a trip to Hawaii and was full of talk. Then, The Husband, whose nap lasted beyond mine, requested no dinner for himself and a wake-up call just before time to leave for Bible study at seven. I already knew only three out of five of us would truly enjoy this salad and that knocked us down to half the eaters liking something new and half enduring it, so I declared "Every-Man-for-Himself Night," and called it good. I won't even eat anything until after we get home anyway. If enough of you think raw cherries tossed into slaw such as I've described sounds workable, and provided I get more energy, I may try it later tonight. What say ye?

[Lori in PA]

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.

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I nearly always go to BB's on Tuesday morning and get there just before they open so I can stand in line with everyone else, so my experience is like yours. The few times, like yesterday, I've gone later in the day were a disappointment in terms of Deal Yield -- the lack of other customers tells me I'm not the only one who realizes this.

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?

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Yes, they have a huge generator to run everything. In the old store, it must have been located by the freezer. When it kicked on, it sounded like a 747 was taking off in there! I think those ceiling lights you see in the pictures are really a kind of skylight. There are pipes running around the ceiling which are connected to little gas jets that they light on really dark winter days. The store is heated in winter, but not air-conditioned in summer.

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.....

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We have a dear woman who volunteers at the firehouse and keeps the firefighters fed and watered on long calls. Last night, a family had to be evacuated because their house flooded. They spent the night at the firehouse and she fed them and the volunteers like Alyssa who were out most of the night. Alyssa said Mrs. L made a great chicken corn soup, another PA Dutch specialty.

Pepper slaw? I don't think we'll see any this week. My family doesn't care for it (though I do) and I actually don't make that many PA Dutch foods myself -- my heritage is Southern. Every time I've made my mother-in-law's Slippery Pot Pie over the years, I end up thinking, "What a waste of good ingredients -- I should have used them for chicken and dumplings."

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.

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The coffee mug was a birthday present from my mom earlier this year. I'm not a collector of anything, but I do enjoy Mary Engelbreit's art and have several of her magnets proclaiming me Queen on my fridge. And so it must be true, yes?

I would post the recipe in recipegullet if I knew how to do it. I guess it's all right to do it -- I got it from Mom and we've both been making it for many years. I don't know where she got it.

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.

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What is tabbed browsing, please? I have a terrible feeling I'm probably doing this in the hardest way possible, because surely it isn't this difficult on purpose.

I've seen the fieldstone travel plazas on the turnpike, but I didn't know the significance.

We aren't affected by river flooding here in Adams County, so the worst of it for us is over now that the creeks are emptying into the river. Our house got its usual mini-stream across one part of the basement floor.

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?

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I have two kinds of dishes -- a super-cheap set of white "china" my mom picked up at an outlet years ago and a cobbled-together set of ivory Wedgwood stoneware I got at TJ Maxx about five years ago, so it's just a coincidence.

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. 

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I hope to talk more about weight loss surgery, but there aren't any foods we absolutely can't manage, though The Husband never does well with more than a bite or two of rice and both of us have to limit pasta. After more than five years for me and almost that long for him, we just "know" what will work and what won't at any given time and adjust pretty automatically. Funnily enough, good steak always works great for both of us, but we almost never have it!

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!

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Alyssa is my personal computer consultant. When she leaves, I'll be in trouble.

Lori's Mom's Ham Loaf

2 lb. ham loaf mix (equal parts ground ham and ground pork)

1 c. bread crumbs

1 egg

1 t. salt

grinds of pepper to taste

3/4 -- 1 c. milk

Mix together and shape into a loaf. Dust top and sides with flour. (I never do this.) Place in roasting pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

Sauce

Mix and bring to a boil:

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 t. dry mustard

1/2 c. water

1/2 c. vinegar

Pour over ham loaf 1/2 hour before it is done.

About the north side of the house: It turns out The Husband was referring to our view from the north side of the house. He simply means that photos can be deceiving. We live in a very pleasant neighborhood filled mostly with houses about 75-100 years old. Most are lovingly maintained, except for our next-door neighbors' house on the north side of us. They are nice people, but home and yard work isn't any kind of a priority for them. I often feel embarrassed around them because, as mayor, I get reports about letters sent to citizens for code violations and they are so often on the list for weeds, trash, building materials left lying about for too long, etc. I always wonder if they realize or care how much I know about it.

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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Maybe we can have an Adams County Day sometime. We'd welcome you all, especially if you bring cookies.

And to everyone: thank you VERY much for your kind remarks -- they mean lots and lots to me.

[judiu]

Maybe I'm crazy, but I looove fruit in my cole slaw; James Beard called it an "abomination" but I like pineapple in it, and cherries might just be as good, too. Just NO onions! Sweet & savory, that's what it's ment to be!

[mizducky]

Lookie! Cherry recipes, including slaw! (Scroll down to the bottom of the page.) Mind you, I never thought of the CDC as a purveyor of cooking wisdom ... but at least it demonstrates that *somebody* got away with putting cherries in their slaw in the past.

[Lori in PA]

I think I'm gonna try it...

...but not tonight. I'm tired. The Husband treated the fam and an extra kiddo we have with us tonight to an ice cream at the DQ. That may turn out to be my dinner, because it's my bedtime.

[Idlewild]

Lovely journal. Good to hear you're teaching the kids to cook- and great to hear that so many of them want to learn! I had a really good cooking education in high school in the late 80s, and am always surprised at how little many of my peers learned in school or before they left home! I think that it's great that you're giving them a grounding in such an important basic lifeskill that can also bring so much pleasure.

[racheld]

We've been out and about all day, and what a treat to come home to!!! It was HOT out there amongst the grownups, and just coming into this cool house, dialing up this thread, iced tea at hand---bliss multiplied.

And today's may be my favorite pictures of all the magnificence portrayed on eG. Just seeing the new generation of weeGulleteers at work, those earnest faces just soaking in the experience---art on all its levels.

I was a Cub Scout Den Mom for seven years, long after my own sons were past the age, and that experience allows me to say that you are to be admired, sympathized with, pitied, and envied to the highest degree---what a wonderful legacy you will bequeath on all this whole generation.

You'll never know the extent of your influence on these young lives, and I'm so glad so much of your teaching is right there in the kitchen!!

My battered old hat is off permanently, flourished toward PA.

[Radio7]

The cooking class pics are truly heartwarming. What a cool thing. It's inspiring to read a blog by someone so connected to the community. Lovely.

I have a question pertaining to your pics from "The Butcher Shoppe": What is beef salad? Is it just chopped beef with mayo or ....?

Those whoopie pies look amazing

Great blog!

~Radio7

[Lori in PA]

About Weight Loss Surgery

Body weight is among the trickiest of subjects. If we’re too thin or too fat, we are sensitive about it, but our “problem” is obvious to all. We spend a lot of time trying to change ourselves and we spend a lot of time trying to understand how we came to be this way. I could write a book, literally, about my personal experience with these issues, but it is enough to say that dealing with my excess weight has been one of the biggest difficulties in my life. I have struggled with it since I began adolescence at age ten. I wasn’t obese then; rather, my baby fat just never went away and my weight gradually climbed over the years, sometimes dipping temporarily with my regular weight loss efforts, but quickly bouncing up and over the pre-diet weights to continue its inexorable ascent to eventual super-morbid obesity.

It was so frustrating. In every other area of my life I am self-disciplined, able to think and act logically, able to see what needs to be done and do it. I can’t say I tried all the weight-loss ideas out there, but I tried all the ones that weren’t stupid. By the time I reached age 33, I decided I either had to make peace with being fat or go crazy. A friend mentioned that her sister-in-law, a physician, had had weight-loss surgery a couple of years earlier and had lost a great deal of weight. Then I read an article about somebody named Carnie Wilson having a similar procedure. I started to research it. I didn’t tell anyone – not even The Husband. There was a good bit of information online, but this was before it really hit the media and became well known. Eventually, I decided I wanted to talk to doctors and my family about it. Nobody thought it was a horrible idea except The Husband, who on general principle is averse to change and was rather freaked out about the risk. I kept talking, researching, and reassuring The Husband. I settled on a type of surgery less popular in the US and more frequently used in Europe called biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch (BPD/DS). I had the four-hour procedure done in New York City at Mt. Sinai Hospital in March of 2001. My recovery was long but uneventful.

Imagine my shock when, during the summer after my surgery, The Husband started talking about doing the same thing. He was morbidly obese also, though his overweight was not quite as severe as mine, but I never dreamed he would even think of doing such a thing. I was more distressed about the prospect of him having surgery than I’d been about myself, partly because I knew if I hadn’t pursued it he never would have considered it. In October, with 911 still raw and missing loved-ones flyers still tacked to the walls, we went back to Mt. Sinai for his by-pass. His recovery was even quicker and seemingly easier than mine (surely he had something to prove?) and life went on.

We both lost a great deal of weight – The Husband about 100 lbs. and 175 lbs for me. Everyone who has known me for a long time says the same thing: “You didn’t look like you weighed that much!” That’s nice, but I felt like I weighed that much, nevertheless. What is the best thing about what we did? It is a big relief to know the heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension which was almost certainly our future, due to our weights and family histories, is much less likely now. Day in and day out, it is wonderful to look average. Not beautiful, not whistle-worthy, just average.

What is life like after weight loss surgery? Well, there is no free lunch, is there? It isn’t perfect – besides the expected need to take various nutritional supplements for the rest of our lives and keep on top of how our bodies’ nutrient levels are doing with a complicated battery of blood tests a few times a year – we cope daily with the reality that we took overly efficient digestive systems and made them work less well. Before surgery, gastric difficulties were the one ailment I didn’t have; now dealing with “tummy troubles” is a way of life for me. The Husband has had fewer complications, but he certainly has bad days at times.

Would I do it again? Yes, although there are times when I think, “If every day had to be like today, I would not.”

How do I eat now? My body doesn’t absorb as many of the nutrients or calories as a person with normal anatomy. I absorb, if my memory is correct, about 100 % of the simple carbohydrates, a somewhat smaller percentage of the complex carbs, 50% of the protein, and 30% of the fats I consume, so I have to focus on getting in enough protein. I aim for more than 100 grams of protein each day and my levels have been fine. There is no food I can’t eat at all, but I avoid having much pasta, rice, and potatoes because a small amount fills me up very fast and I can’t eat enough protein then. Also, they just don’t “sit” as well for me. I can eat bread, but I have to do it thoughtfully, if that makes sense. For example, I love pizza but often feel ill after eating it – I think I tend to eat it too fast, wanting to enjoy it while it’s hot, and I just have to go slow with bread-y kinds of things. I rarely drink soda – the carbonation doesn’t agree with me. Too much dairy can be a problem.

Before and for awhile after my surgery, I wondered if my love of cooking and working with food would go away. It was much diminished for some months as I made this huge physical and emotional adjustment, but in many ways I love food now more than ever. I’m not afraid of it anymore and the thought of what I eat and weigh doesn’t cause me pain or embarrassment.

Although I never approach anyone about it myself, many people have talked to me about weight loss surgery, for themselves or loved ones. I always urge anyone thinking about having it to research, research, research. All of the learning, talking, thinking, and praying I did in the months before my surgery let me go into it knowing exactly what risks I was taking and, since I ended up with a few long-term complications, it helps me to remember that I chose this route understanding they might happen. If you are reading this and thinking of a morbidly obese friend or relative, I beg you on their behalf to be compassionate. Don’t think they are somehow unaware of their situation – I assure you they know it better than you ever could. I am not a stupid, lazy, or immoral person and your loved one probably isn’t either. Like me, they almost certainly don’t want to weigh what they weigh. Please don’t ever try to influence someone to have weight loss surgery – there are serious risks and I believe the decision to have it or not have it is equally legitimate.

Oops, it looks like I’ve written a book after all. I don’t mind answering questions if I can. A little internet research will turn up scads of information, too. This is the first time I’ve written about my weight loss experience since the early days before and after surgery, so this has been valuable to me and hopefully not too tedious for you.

Today’s agenda: Beginner/Intermediate Cooking Class #2 – same menu, different students. Gotta get busy now to get ready for ‘em…

Edited June 29, 2006 by Lori in PA (log)

[Anna N]

Lori,

I am totally humbled by your ability to keep so many balls in the air.

The "map" tablecloth idea is brilliant! My granddaughter is struggling a bit with Social Studies so I told my daughter about it and she's off to find not only a map of the world but a map of our town. She will alternate them as Jess has expressed a real interest in learning about our town.

Thank you so much for adding blogging to your already impressive schedule.

[Lori in PA]

Things are buzzing here -- we're almost ready to sit down to our veggie stir-fry, rice, and cookies. I took a picture of The Husband for you in the wee hours of the morning -- eating his eggs, not to mention his hamburger bun toast (my hero!), and getting ready to head for work in the Big City so we can live in the Tiny Town. We don't have pets, so you have to make do with photos of the humans!

Edited June 29, 2006 by Lori in PA (log)

[mrbigjas]

lori, i put a screenshot of tabbed browsing on my website here:

http://mrbigjas.freeshell.org/pics/tabbedbrowsing.jpg

see how near the top there's your foodblog, then gmail, then google? i'm browsing in three places at once, using tabs in one browser. mozilla firefox is the most common browser that uses this feature.

ok sorry for the distraction, back to the blog.

[Pontormo]

The Butcher Shoppe:

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:

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I thought these were a New England-thing since I associate the home-made kind with Maine in the summer! Tennessee claims to be the birthplace of the Moon Pie, apparently the same thing. Are they on the west coast at all?

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Lori, thank you for all the photographic accounts of shopping excursions in your blog!

Have you done any lessons in Italian food or cooking of new Italian dishes since you asked us all about good books to use?

[bleudauvergne]

That's quite a life change, Lori. Thank you for sharing it with us. Do you have to struggle to keep weight on, or is your main concern just choosing the right kind of food to ensure that you don't end up with a stomach-ache? Why do you have to take the blood tests? To make sure you don't develop a deficiency?

[Arey]

It was nice to see boys in the cooking classes you gave. When I was in highschool in the mid 50's girls took Home Ec, and boys took Shop. So I had to take 1)mechanical drawing, where I did enjoy looking at the diagrammed pentagons and cross-sectioned cones, but I couldn"t draw a straight line with a ruler 2) metal shop where I wasn't allowed to use sharp implements lest I harm myself or a fellow student 3) woodworking shop where I wasn't allowed near the power tools. In the meantime, the girls were learning the use of canned coconut shreds, mini-marshmallows, and gelatin molds. I probably wouldn't have done well in Home Ec . even if I had been allowed to take it. The girls would all have been learning how to cook like mom, while I would have been trying to learn how not to cook like Mom.

I was the only member of my Boy Scout Troop to get a Cooking Merit Badge. This was not regarded as a particulary noteworthy accomplishment by anyone but me.

[Lori in PA]

Frugality is a trait to which most of us do not aspire unless we’re forced to it by circumstances. It doesn’t come naturally to me anyway. When we married 20 years ago, The Husband and I talked about what was important to us. We both hoped to have children and we wanted me to be able to care for them at home. It was a choice made consciously and with great significance because we were setting a priority which meant we would voluntarily remove many taken-for-granted-in-America “necessities” from our reach. I don’t mean we live off the power grid or grow and grind our own wheat – many people live much more simply and frugally than we; rather, it means our vehicles are into their second decades of use, we don’t have cable television, and as a matter of course we try not to spend money thoughtlessly.

Some expenses are fixed, of course, but food is one of those budget categories with a good deal of flexibility and stretching that dollar can become a sort of art form when approached with a willing and creative attitude. Pre-Need Purchasing (PNP) is a term which is often bandied about in the funeral industry, but it is a great practice for lots of other applications, including food procurement. Most cooks use it to some degree – they buy more flour when they see the flour container running low even if they aren’t sure they’ll bake in the next week, for example.

Periodic shopping trips to BB’s Grocery Outlet are a manifestation of how our family has taken this practice much further to save money. When I go there, experience has taught me to expect them to have certain items available every time – canned tomato products, beans, cereal, bottled drinks, tuna, yogurt, etc. What is uncertain is whether they’ll have the brands or quantity of a given item that I want to get, so when I see the imported Italian canned whole tomatoes (which BB’s considers an “off brand” and sells for 10 cents each!), I automatically consider the following:

1. How long will canned tomatoes stay fresh?

2. How often do I use canned tomatoes?

3. How many cans of tomatoes can I store in a safe and accessible way?

4. How long is it likely to be until I can purchase canned tomatoes of this quality at a price this good?

5. Bonus question for over-achieving PNPs: Are there ways I could increase my use of canned tomatoes in order to take advantage of this excellent price and reduce our food costs overall?

6. And the reality check question: Will I actually use canned tomatoes if I buy them? (They aren’t a deal if they never get consumed.)

I do the same thing with the surprises BB’s usually has. Gorgeous dried mission figs for 25 cents a container? “Hmm, sell-by date is a year from now. How can dried figs be used? (Snacks, onion fig jam for crostini/meat condiment, as a sauce ingredient for pork, stuffed for appetizers/parties, in salads) Will I actually use them? How many containers can I store? How often do we want to eat figs – once every two months or so? I’ll take five.” And, I also do this at regular grocery stores. When napkins are buy one, get one free, I get enough to last until the next deal like that is likely to come along.

When I started to get really good at thinking and purchasing this way, storage limitations were the thing that most often held me back from being able to take advantage of great deals in the best way. The Husband solved that by building some simple shelves. We call them our Grocery Store in the Basement:

Now is as good a time as any for the fridge shots. The kitchen fridge:

The door:

The basement fridge -- looks like we need milk:

The basement fridge freezer, with enough candied ginger to last the rest of my life:

The small chest freezer in the basement:

[Anna N]

...

Periodic shopping trips to BB’s Grocery Outlet are a manifestation of how our family has taken this practice much further to save money.  When I go there, experience has taught me to expect them to have certain items available every time – canned tomato products, beans, cereal, bottled drinks, tuna, yogurt, etc.  What is uncertain is whether they’ll have the brands or quantity of a given item that I want to get, so when I see the imported Italian canned whole tomatoes (which BB’s considers an “off brand” and sells for 10 cents each!), I automatically consider the following:

1.  How long will canned tomatoes stay fresh?

2.  How often do I use canned tomatoes?

3.  How many cans of tomatoes can I store in a safe and accessible way?

4.  How long is it likely to be until I can purchase canned tomatoes of this quality at a price this good?

5.  Bonus question for over-achieving PNPs:  Are there ways I could increase my use of canned tomatoes in order to take advantage of this excellent price and reduce our food costs overall?

6.  And the reality check question:  Will I actually use canned tomatoes if I buy them?  (They aren’t a deal if they never get consumed.)

I do the same thing with the surprises BB’s usually has.  Gorgeous dried mission figs for 25 cents a container?  “Hmm, sell-by date is a year from now.  How can dried figs be used?  (Snacks, onion fig jam for crostini/meat condiment, as a sauce ingredient for pork, stuffed for appetizers/parties, in salads)  Will I actually use them?  How many containers can I store?  How often do we want to eat figs – once every two months or so?  I’ll take five.”  And, I also do this at regular grocery stores.  When napkins are buy one, get one free, I get enough to last until the next deal like that is likely to come along.

When I started to get really good at thinking and purchasing this way, storage limitations were the thing that most often held me back from being able to take advantage of great deals in the best way.  The Husband solved that by building some simple shelves.  We call them our Grocery Store in the Basement:

....

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Time for you to write a manifesto on household management. This is really interesting and useful information which I am certain to internalize.

How I envy your extra 'fridge. My daughter has a similar arrangement - a kitchen 'fridge and a basement one.

Your blog goes beyond just fun to informative and very useful!

[Lori in PA]

Dinner last night -- I hate to even talk about it. We had a College Crisis because we discovered during a late afternoon phone converstation with a counselor that a financial aid application we didn't know we needed to submit had to be received by Monday morning. It can't be faxed, so we are having to scramble to complete it and will OVERNIGHT EXPRESS it this morning (somehow in the middle of Advanced Cooking Class -- ) to the school. There is a great deal of irony in my confessing our intention to do this on the heels of a post about frugality, and the fact that the the thing that we'll have to pay so much to mail is an application for FINANCIAL AID isn't lost on me either...

Anyway -- dinner. I wanted to make the warm pork slaw with cherries. I did make it -- like a whirlwind,

with help from the kids,

(Samuel's contribution: cheese toast -- more buns used up!)

and with frantic calls for info for the form flying back and forth --

and told the kids to just eat as I got the plates served, since Alyssa and I had to work on the form through the meal. It sort of resembled cat sick with cherries in it, but it tasted fine:

The Husband arrived home late, very tired, and with a household in uproar. I think I've said before on egullet that we don't allow our children to complain about whatever food is served. So, The Husband looked at the plate of food I'd fixed for him 30 minutes earlier and, out of hearing of the kids, said, "Yuck." Well.

We got over it.

[Lori in PA]

Beginner/Intermediate Cooking class, from yesterday:

We had the same menu as on Wednesday, but I wanted you to see some of these students in action:

We did a buffet today:

The students I work with are what make me love teaching the cooking classes. Somehow when I started doing this years ago I had the foresight to make a couple of hard and fast rules:

1. Everybody stays focused -- we'll have lots of fun, but we are here to work and learn.

2. Everybody helps each other.

3. Everybody agrees to taste everything with an open mind.

4. (And perhaps most importantly) Nobody leaves until the kitchen is sparkling.

This has fed on itself as students have grown up and little ones have joined us. I hear the oldsters telling the youngsters, "Now, don't tell yourself you won't like that zucchini until you taste it. You might be surprised." And, "Let me show you how to knead that dough." And, "_______, come back to the kitchen. We have to stay focused." It's rather gratifying to see them internalize these practices.

In an hour or so my Advanced Class will start arriving. Today's menu:

Risotto Two Ways

Eggplant Stuffed with Roasted Veggies

Foccacia

Grapes with Brown Sugar and Sour Cream

[lancastermike]

Turkey Hill, Giant and Surfine brands remind me of my fridge, Lori. Do you shop at the Giant for things BB's does not carry? I mostly do shop at the Giant, prices are better. In our town we have a local owned store that is a Surfine store. I find the Giant brands to be better than the Surfine ones.

[Lori in PA]

Do they have generators for the cold rooms?

Yes, they have a huge generator to run everything. In the old store, it must have been located by the freezer. When it kicked on, it sounded like a 747 was taking off in there! I think those ceiling lights you see in the pictures are really a kind of skylight. There are pipes running around the ceiling which are connected to little gas jets that they light on really dark winter days. The store is heated in winter, but not air-conditioned in summer.

The Husband tells me I got this all wrong, which doesn't surprise me at all. They do NOT use a generator; rather they use LP gas -- big tanks at the rear of the building. The sound in the freezer is just the motor. I think the other info is correct.

Lookie! Cherry recipes, including slaw! (Scroll down to the bottom of the page.) Mind you, I never thought of the CDC as a purveyor of cooking wisdom ... but at least it demonstrates that *somebody* got away with putting cherries in their slaw in the past.

Thank you, Ellen. I looked at the recipe and decided I wasn't totally nuts. My version would have been much more appetizing if I'd had time to line the platter with lettuce or something and garnish it. I'm always so pleased when I make the effort to add these touches, but I often don't feel able to manage it. Maybe I'll write a book someday and I'll call it No Time for Parsley.

I have a question pertaining to your pics from "The Butcher Shoppe": What is beef salad? Is it just chopped beef with mayo or ....?

~Radio7

Yup, beef salad is cooked roast beef ground with pickles or pickle relish, maybe a little minced onion, and mixed with mayo. My mom used to make it when I was little (we lived on a farm and raised beef cattle), especially when we were taking one of our regular day trips to some historical site or museum or something for our picnic lunch. I think she thought she had invented it, simply because we had more beef than anything else. Then, when I started going to the Butcher Shoppe, there it was! It's a blast from my past.

The "map" tablecloth idea is brilliant!  My granddaughter is struggling a bit with Social Studies so I told my daughter about it and she's off to find not only a map of the world but a map of our town.  She will alternate them as Jess has expressed a real interest in learning about our town.

It is amazing how much one can learn with this little method. You can get cool placemats on all sorts of subjects from teachers' supply stores, too. I'm all for effortless learning.

lori, i put a screenshot of tabbed browsing on my website here:

http://mrbigjas.freeshell.org/pics/tabbedbrowsing.jpg

see how near the top there's your foodblog, then gmail, then google?  i'm browsing in three places at once, using tabs in one browser.  mozilla firefox is the most common browser that uses this feature.

ok sorry for the distraction, back to the blog.

So, how is this different/better than my method? I just open Explorer a couple of times and have a toolbar at the bottom of mine screen with each window shown. I love easy, so if yours is better, do tell. But, tell simply, please!

The Butcher Shoppe:

I thought these were a New England-thing since I associate the home-made kind with Maine in the summer! Tennessee claims to be the birthplace of the Moon Pie, apparently the same thing. Are they on the west coast at all?

Have you done any lessons in Italian food or cooking of new Italian dishes since you asked us all about good books to use?

I think Moon Pies are little different -- the cookie part seems thinner and the whole pie is dipped into an icing that hardens somewhat. I thought whoopie pies were PA Dutch, but who knows? I think chocolate cookie with white icing inside is the classic kind, but The Butcher Shoppe also makes chocolate with peanut butter filling like Mr. S. had, pumpkin with cream cheese filling, and red velvet with cream cheese filling.

That's quite a life change, Lori.  Thank you for sharing it with us.  Do you have to struggle to keep weight on, or is your main concern just choosing the right kind of food to ensure that you don't end up with a stomach-ache?  Why do you have to take the blood tests?  To make sure you don't develop a deficiency?

Thank you, Lucy (and others who have pmed me about this topic). The kind of surgery I had worked and continues to work in two ways: 1. My stomach was made much smaller, though all the functioning parts of it were retained, so at first I could only eat tiny amounts, which made me lose weight quickly. Gradually, the remaining stomach stretches so that now I eat "small normal meals." 2. Part of the upper section of my small intestine (duodenum) was divided into two limbs, so for awhile the food is kept separate from the digestive enzymes et al, which means I absorb fewer calories (and nutrients) from my food. The second part of the surgery keeps me from regaining weight. Most people lose over a period of about 18 months and then rebound a tiny bit to a stable weight.

I have blood tests about 3 times per year to check a LONG list of nutrient levels. I always feel so sorry for the phlebotomist, who must research all the rare tests she is drawing for to find out how to handle the various viles. Then I feel sorry for me, because they have to take around 13 vials and I feel a little faint watching all that.

It was nice to see boys in the cooking classes you gave. When I was in highschool in the mid 50's girls took Home Ec, and boys took Shop.  So I had to take 1)mechanical drawing, where I did enjoy looking at the diagrammed pentagons and cross-sectioned cones, but I couldn"t draw a straight line with a ruler 2) metal shop where I wasn't allowed to use sharp implements lest I harm myself or a fellow student 3) woodworking shop where I wasn't allowed near the power tools. In the meantime, the girls were learning the use of canned coconut shreds, mini-marshmallows, and gelatin molds. I probably wouldn't have done well in Home Ec . even if I had been allowed to take it. The girls would all have been learning how to cook like mom, while I would have been trying to learn how not to cook like Mom.

I was the only member of my Boy Scout Troop to get a Cooking Merit Badge. This was not  regarded as a particulary noteworthy accomplishment by anyone but me.

That gave me a chuckle. I do have plenty of boys in the classes, which is lovely.

Turkey Hill, Giant and Surfine brands remind me of my fridge, Lori.  Do you shop at the Giant for things BB's does not carry?  I mostly do shop at the Giant, prices are better.  In our town we have a local owned store that is a Surfine store. I find the Giant brands to be better than the Surfine ones.

Yep, Giant is my "regular" grocery store. I also shop at a small grocery here in Biglerville called Jane's, which is a Shurfine store, but the Shurfine parmesan cheese can pictured with Samuel's cheese toast is just one we keep to refill from a big Kraft parmesan cheese container we buy at Sam's Club. (I use parmigiano reggiano, freshly grated with my own hand , for most things, but cheese toast must be made with the canned stuff. It's a rule.)

[Lori in PA]

Sigh. I really CAN'T do this reply/quote thing. Maybe somebody in charge will take pity on us all and fix it?

[MarketStEl]

About Weight Loss Surgery

[story snipped]

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God bless you, Lori. That must be, um, a huge weight off your shoulders. I'm pleased that you have adjusted to your new routine well--and that you seem to maintain good humor throughout it all.

I took a picture of The Husband for you in the wee hours of the morning -- eating his eggs, not to mention his hamburger bun toast (my hero!), and getting ready to head for work in the Big City so we can live in the Tiny Town.

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I'm assuming that where you live, the Big City is one of the following:

1) York, 2) Lancaster, 3) Harrisburg, 4) Baltimore.

Or is it 5) Gettysburg?

How long is his commute to work? (For comparison purposes, mine is one hour in length door-to-door and about 17 miles in distance, all on mass transit. Highway commute time would be about half that, as I travel in the reverse-commute direction.)

It was nice to see boys in the cooking classes you gave. When I was in highschool in the mid 50's girls took Home Ec, and boys took Shop.  So I had to take 1)mechanical drawing, where I did enjoy looking at the diagrammed pentagons and cross-sectioned cones, but I couldn"t draw a straight line with a ruler 2) metal shop where I wasn't allowed to use sharp implements lest I harm myself or a fellow student 3) woodworking shop where I wasn't allowed near the power tools. In the meantime, the girls were learning the use of canned coconut shreds, mini-marshmallows, and gelatin molds. I probably wouldn't have done well in Home Ec . even if I had been allowed to take it. The girls would all have been learning how to cook like mom, while I would have been trying to learn how not to cook like Mom.

I was the only member of my Boy Scout Troop to get a Cooking Merit Badge. This was not  regarded as a particulary noteworthy accomplishment by anyone but me.

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I guess I should be thankful I came of age in the 1970s, when those gender-role stereotypes were beginning to break down. I did take cooking mini-courses in high school--of course, as I went to an all-boys private school, I had to travel to the all-girls sister school up the road to do it, but hey, progress is progress!

I did, however, also take architectural and engineering drawing. It's taken a little longer for the women to make it into those ranks in a major way.

Some expenses are fixed, of course, but food is one of those budget categories with a good deal of flexibility and stretching that dollar can become a sort of art form when approached with a willing and creative attitude.  Pre-Need Purchasing (PNP) is a term which is often bandied about in the funeral industry, but it is a great practice for lots of other applications, including food procurement.[...]

When I started to get really good at thinking and purchasing this way, storage limitations were the thing that most often held me back from being able to take advantage of great deals in the best way.  The Husband solved that by building some simple shelves.  We call them our Grocery Store in the Basement:

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I recall reading somewhere that the smart way to really cut your grocery bill was to "turn your pantry into an extension of the supermarket"--that is, buy lots and lots of nonperishables when they're on sale (preferably with coupons on top of that) and keep a backup supply of your staples on hand at all times. Looks like you've taken this advice to heart. Have you ever taken the time to calculate how much you save on your grocery bill compared to regular prices? I'll bet the number will both surprise and please you.

Turkey Hill, Giant and Surfine brands remind me of my fridge, Lori.  Do you shop at the Giant for things BB's does not carry?  I mostly do shop at the Giant, prices are better.  In our town we have a local owned store that is a Surfine store. I find the Giant brands to be better than the Surfine ones.

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We used to buy Shurfine products at the small supermarket in my eastside Kansas City neighborhood. As store brands go, it was okay, but not great. Acme brand products have been generally pretty good, with the exception of refrigerated OJ and cheddar cheese, and America's Choice is hit-and-miss, but has really good cheeses and household products.

I really cannot understand the unwillingness of some people to even consider store brands. Buying a product and deciding afterwards that it doesn't satisfy you is one thing, ruling it out in advance simply because it's not nationally advertised is another thing altogether.