June 2009 Archives

If you're looking for a way to get out of cooking dinner tomorrow, I've got a suggestion for you - check out the "Founders Day Free Fun Fest" in Dover.

The event celebrates the 31st anniversary of the Dover Women of Today Group, and it runs 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at 84 Reservoir Road in Dover, right beside the borough water tower.

The Dover mayor will give a proclamation, "Dover Doug" and the Bee from Old Country Buffet will be there, and there will be games, door prizes, face painting, a cake walk and FOOD - and it's all free. Free food - can't beat that! (There will also be Bricker's Fries and Mr. Softee ice cream, but those you have to purchase.)

There's also a silent auction, with proceeds to benefit the organization's community projects.

Take your kids, grab some free dinner and have fun - it sounds like a great time! If you have questions, call Brenda at 515-4424 or Cheryl at 292-4095.

The best part is how I found out about this event - in a true "Only in York County" moment, I sold some scrapbooking stuff online the other day, and the women who came to pick it up were Brenda and Cheryl from the group, who were happy to invite me to their event.

Pretty cool! I'm hoping to check it out.

You know how I said I was spending Saturday in the Hanover area?

I used my weekend plans as an excuse to try a Hanover-area specialty that I hadn't had before - the downtown Famous Hot Weiner!

Despite being pretty familiar with the Hanover area, I'd never eaten at the original location at York Street and Broadway, just the newer one over at Dart Drive and Eichelberger Street.

So when Hubby suggested that we stop in with Sarah for our Saturday night dinner, I was totally up for it.

I went with a twist on my favorite - hot dog with ketchup and mustard - the twist being the last-minute addition of bacon after I heard another diner order it.

Sarah went with plain dog. Nothing on it.

We all shared some really, really good fries..

And Chris went for it, ordering two "famous" weiners with their "everything" - onions, mustard and the special Famous Hot Weiner chili sauce.

I have never seen so many onions in one place before!!

All in all, it was a good meal. I like my dogs basically burnt, so mine was a little light for my taste, but still yummy. Chris polished almost all of his two off, and Sarah did a great job on hers. And the fries... wow! I really liked those. (Yes, I'm a big kid at heart.)

The whole weekend was great, and I have some more pictures to share of letterbox hiking, the Summer Blast and more, but those will have to wait. Back to work for now!

Something else to check out, if you're not interested in events in the Hanover or Springettsbury areas, is the New Freedom Lions Club Carnival!

Heard about this from one of our freelance writers, Lori Badders. She reports the carnival starts Monday and runs through next Saturday (July 4!) at the New Freedom Playground. (Detailed entertainment schedule here.)

There's live music, rides, midway attractions, games and more in the evenings.

Lori reminds everyone to check out the New Freedom Lioness Club's popular apple dumplings. "Get one with a scoop of ice cream while you listen to the music," she suggests. I second that - they're always a sell-out. Lioness Betty Neary, the club's secretary, always keeps us posted on these events and she just raves about how great the dumpling fundraiser is for the club.

Here are some of the Lionesses hard at work making the dumplings for the '06 fundraiser:

And here's a great shot by photographer Bil Bowden of Brianna Irons, then 7, of Farmington Hills, Mich., on the merry-go-round at the Lions' carnival in 2005:

You'll have to let me know how it is if you go. I would love to get down, but it's not likely given the work week!

Sorry for the sparse posting this week - if you're a reader of our print edition, you've probably noticed it looks a little different, and I'm spending a little more time than usual working on it to make sure it looks as nice as can be.

But I wanted to take a minute and invite you all to some fun stuff going on this weekend, including some places my family expects to be out and about.

First up is Codorus Summer Blast at Codorus State Park outside Hanover. It started today and continues tomorrow and Sunday. We're planning to head out and spend the day at the park tomorrow (weather permitting), not only to check out the event but also to find the two letterboxes hidden at that park. Multi-tasking, yay!

(Interesting side note: You know where I found out about this event? On a placemat in McDonald's. Yep!)

Second event, courtesy of my friend Nina and delivered via text message this week, is a note about a quarter auction at the Springetts Fire Hall next to Home
Depot on Saturday, to benefit York's Habitat for Humanity. Doors open at 6 p.m., cost is $3 at the door.

Habitat, which is also holding a 5K run/walk tomorrow starting at 8:30 a.m. on Allen Lane in Dover, is a great organization, and quarter auctions are a ton of fun, so I'd really encourage you to head out if you're free!

First, if you're visiting for the first time today to vote in the "what do you call that veggie" poll that appeared on the front page of the York Daily Record's Living section, you can do that by clicking here. Heck, even if you are a longtime reader, if you haven't voted yet - please do!

So far, "string beans" are beating out "green beans" as the name for the veggie in question. But I've had some interesting conversations about this that I'd like to share.

First, I asked my brother-in-law Mike, who reads faithfully but never comments, what he voted for. He said string beans, which is fine. But we started talking about, IF you were to pick green beans, what do you do when confronted with the yellow version of said beans? He says those are called wax beans, which I admit I have heard of but didn't realize what they were. (There are some pictured here. I think all the pictures make them look like very yellow french fries, but that's beside the point.)

Cubby, my virtual friend and a columnist for the Hanover Evening Sun, said she was raised calling them string beans and had kind of gotten away from that.

Melanie also votes for string beans; "snap them in two and you immediately see why," she wrote.

Jim Fahringer, a new commenter, said he also calls them string beans, but adds, "perhaps the real name is green beans or pole beans depending on whether they were grown on vines that grew up poles or grew on bushes."

He's also got a point that I think Jo (who hasn't weighed in yet - where are you, Jo?) would appreciate. He says: "By the way, if they are the kind that grow on bushes and hang down close to the ground, picking them is one of the most difficult back breaking jobs I ever had and are tied with picking strawberries as a back breaking job!" Jo, if you'll remember, said the strawberries she picked at Dover's Barefoot Farm really did her back in!

Anyway, there's still time to vote. For all the commenting seems to suggest "string beans" is far and away the name winner, it seems close. Those of you who picked green beans - leave some comments! :)

And I mean "I suck" in the best way possible. How is that good, exactly?

Well, yesterday, our old vacuum gave up the ghost. The poor thing is about 10 years old, and it just wasn't working any more at all. Let me add that I am really not at all domestic, so the idea of finding a vacuum - and picking up the mess that the old one made as it died - really didn't make me jump for joy. Vacuuming - yuck!

But one thing my non-domestic little heart has always wanted is a Dyson. These vacuums are supposed to remove a ton fo allergens and are supposedly great on pet hair. Since we have four cats and a dog... that always seemed pretty good to me.

Well. Lo and behold, Sears had a sale. This weekend. On Dysons.

So now, you're reading about the proud owner of a brand-new Dyson DC-14. The best testimonial I could give? I actually went around LOOKING for things to vacuum. I did my whole downstairs (laminate floor and ceramic tile), then went upstairs and tackled the carpets. I have to admit I was pretty grossed out by the seven or so canisters full of ick that it picked up, but WOW - my floors look better than they have since we moved in, pretty much.

I have to say, most of this post is NOT York County-centric other than that it's about me. That said, I do have a note for those of you who live locally. I want to say especially that the customer service I got at Sears was great; the woman who helped me was named Noel and she gave me her direct number to call back in case I had any questions. She walked us through how to use all the features, and most importantly, she DIDN'T try to talk us into the most expensive model. That, to me, is good customer service, and I would definitely say that you don't find that everywhere. That's what I like so much about York County!

Yes, I know you all love reading my blog. And we even get a little multicultural when we get comments from Mark, who tells us hello from Austria.

But here's a real multicultural blog experience for you, courtesy of the Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage Group's newsletter from earlier this year.

Check out "Nau loss mich yuscht eppes saage! En Blog uff Deitsch", billed as the only blog on the Internet written entirely in Pennsylvania Dutch.

Here's what I can tell, with my VERY limited "Dutch" knowledge: The author is Douglas J. Madenford; he lived or lives in Reading; and he has degrees from Lock Haven University and - I think - is pursuing a Master's degree at Millersville.

The second part of the title of the blog I translate as "A blog in Dutch." The first part, though, completely escapes me. I tried translating it kind of word-for-word and came up with "Now leave me just (???) say."

Anyone have any insight to offer? Or have any other Penna. Dutch sites to recommend?

Many thanks to my friend and fellow YDR staffer Sue, who commented on my recent question about why we call it "The Brogue."

Sue says: My guess is that people in York just love certain articles (unlike their hatred of "to be" constructions). It's the only explanation for why a certain route stretching from Manchester Township all the way to Fairview Township is called "The Bull Road".

(Editor's note: This is not "the Bull Road," which I really like driving, but another road I've traveled on fairly recently.)

Well, how fortunate that Sue brings this up, because I blogged on these exact topics. Here, in case you missed them, are posts from last July about hitting "the" road and from last October about the "to be" or not "to be" debate.

Those of you who read all the way to the end of my long post about Cracker Barrel Sunday dinners should have seen my pop quiz about what vegetable pictured in the post has two names. None of you answered, but you're still obligated to vote in my next poll!

Extra credit: Leave me a comment about why you prefer one name over the other!

You might remember that last fall, I mentioned an unexplainable Yorkism just briefly.

I was reminded of it again today, when I received a photo and story about a family that produced several generations of Eagle Scouts. The release states they are from Troop 152, The Brogue.

I hear a lot of people say this. In fact, I would say that more people call it "the Brogue" than call it Brogue.

But I still have no idea why this is. Can anyone shed any light?

And, to thank them for being the source of a good blog question, here are the aforementioned three generations of Davis family Eagle Scouts, from left, Rob Davis ('78); Rob's son Bobby Davis, who earned the Eagle award on May 23; Dr. Bob Davis ('49); Bobby's grandfather; and Dr. Tom Davis ('52), Bobby's uncle. For his Eagle project, Bobby widened and re-located a section of walking path in Spring Valley Park.

Thanks to all of you who voted in my "favorite local fruit" poll. And the winner, with 55 percent of the vote?

STRAWBERRIES!

Photo from Jo, who rightly called me out on the poor quality of my earlier photo.

You guys had a lot of berry thoughts to share. Here's just a few:

Jo said she picked about 12 quarts total of the biggest and most delicious strawberries at Dover Township's Barefoot Farm; that's where the photo is from. She also says: "Fortunately, blueberries, which are excellent for the heart, become plentiful just as strawberries go out. They are my second most fav. And then there are cherries, peaches, plums, apples, cantaloupes. I vote 'em all in!"

Mark says he doesn't eat fruits (WHAT?) but adds: "I do remember a little orchard just north of Emigsville that we went to every fall to pick apples, watch them make apple butter and cider and of course buy some. ... I also remember them opening up the strawberry fields around this time for 'pick-your-own' strawberries." He was later able - through the power of the great and might Google, to find out that it was Forge Hill Orchards near Mount Wolf.

Melanie weighed in with a non-majority opinion: "I've never had peaches anywhere as good as the ones I've eaten in York County, so they've got my vote," she wrote. "But I almost voted for cherries, because when I was little (a looooonnng time ago!) there were a couple of cherry trees back of the old high school in Manchester, and my grandpa and I would go back there and he'd hold me up so I could pick them. I have no idea what kind of cherries they were, but they were deep, dark red and very tart and juicy. I can remember the taste to this day." I have to tell you, Melanie, those are the kinds of memories that make me LOVE being a Yorker.

Some of my Facebook fans weighed in, too.

Corey said he goes for ANYTHING from Brown's.

Joe, one of the YDR's freelancers, said "Starfire Peaches, which are grown near the grounds of Maize Quest in New Park (Southern York County!)" (That was new to me, Joe, so thanks for the recommendation!)

Cubby, who is also a columnist for our sister paper in Hanover, really liked the fresh fruit recipes. She has a request, though. "We need names of markets here around Hanover!" she said. (Oh, and she was with Melanie on the peaches.)

Can anyone help her out? Good markets near Hanover? Comment and let me know!

Of course, if you've been following the ol' blog here for a while, you'll remember our family's quest last summer for all 30 "letterboxes" in the "Catch the Activity Bug" summer library program.

Yes, we found all 30, and WOW, was it a great way to spend the summer.

This year, the program continues again, with the kids being asked to make rubbings from 30 "creativity stations" instead of collecting ink stamps. (If you've got kids in your life - I really encourage you to take part; visit goyork.org and your library for details.)

So far, we've found our first three - one Wednesday at Farquhar Park in York, where we also found tons of ducks and geese, a beautiful heron and what we think might have been a baby hawk or vulture - and two Saturday at our favorite place, Pinchot State Park.

Here's a shot that Hubby took of Sarah and I on "Pinchot's Rocks," a formation along one of the trails.

And here's Hubby's own blog post about our adventures so far. I was so happy; I think it was the first time I made HIS blog!

We're looking forward to many more hikes this summer. In fact, by the time you read this, we might have found even more!

One place our family likes to eat is the Cracker Barrel in York Township, near York County Tech.

In our opinion, the best day to eat there is Sunday, because of their great specials. That's where we went last Sunday after church, because Mom and I wanted to get the Sunday special of "Homestyle Chicken."

From Cracker Barrel's Web site:
"Starting at 11:00 a.m. every Sunday, enjoy two boneless chicken breasts hand-dipped in fresh buttermilk, breaded and deep fried to a golden brown in our kitchen. Served with choice of two vegetables."

While we waited, Chris and Sarah made an alien out of paper napkin rings, and we played the peg-jumping game (which Sarah is better out than I am.)

Once dinner came, we were glad to dig in.

My dinner: Homestyle chicken with fries and dumplins

(Read on for the rest of the family's choices.)

Remember how I was talking about my foray into "activism" in support of local libraries, in which for the first time I wrote to my state representative?

Well, he wrote back, thanking me for my e-mail and sharing his thoughts on the state budget.

Yes, I'm aware it's at least 99 percent a form letter, but I still thought it was nice. I'm a bit naive and not at ALL political, so this is big to me. Last letter I got from a politician might have been from Todd Platts, congratulating me on being second in my class in high school. Before that... it might have been from the FIRST George Bush (also a form letter), who I wrote to when I was in the third grade. (He sent me an autographed picture.)

Now, if only Shane Victorino would have written back to Sarah!

This post is a photo tribute to Hubby, who wowed us all by grilling some marshmallows last weekend during an impromptu Sunday cookout.

Who knew? You CAN blacken a "mallow" on a gas grill - if you take off the rack and stick the poor thing directly in the flame. You can't see it too well here, but in the photo below, he's caught one on fire.

Thanks to Hubby and my best girlfriend Nina for introducing me to this great treat.

What do you guys think about grilled marshmallows? Good on their own? Only with S'mores? I'm interested in any ideas!

Well, I promised Monday that I had a great Yorkism to share, and I haven't forgotten.

This one was shared by deskmate Cathy during a recent editorial meeting. She was talking about WellSpan's role as York County's biggest employer, and she came out with this gem:

"Yeah, you can't swing a dead rat in York County without hitting a WellSpan employee!"

Wow! That was new to me totally, then someone mentioned that they thought the phrase was supposed to be "dead cat," which is NOT any better.

Am I the only one who'd never heard of swinging dead things?

Well, despite not feeling 100 percent in the tummy after last week's stomach bug, I am not keeping my promise not to blog about food.

Today, a bunch of us ladies took a nice lunch break and went to Spataro's on Roosevelt Avenue in York. It was my first time there, and any time I try new local food, you know I have to write about it!

Lunch was:
Sam: Lasagna special with salad and garlic bread
Me: Small (hahaha!) Italian hoagie
Kara: Pizzaiola burger
Ellen: Cheese pizza
Carryout for Amy: Chicken parmigiana with capellini

And we all split an order of fries. More on those - and local fries in general - in a future post.

Suffice it to say we got a LOT of food, and for the most part we liked it a lot. Ellen wasn't crazy about the type of sauce they used on the pizza, but she really dug the fries, and Sam loved her lasagna. Kara - after learning how to pronounce pizzaiola - seemed to enjoy hers, and if you know me, you know a good Italian hoagie is one of my favorite things. It came with what I'm almost positive by the taste were Martin's chips, too.

The thing I liked best was our waitress, who was super-friendly, didn't mind splitting a check four ways, kept our drinks full, and made good conversation. She was great.

The other great part? It was cheap! My hoagie and Kara's were less than $4 apiece. Amy's chicken parm was only $6.50, it came with a salad, and had a good-sized portion of meat and pasta.

All in all, I think you should pay them a visit! It's great to eat somewhere locally owned, and it's much better than some Italian chains I won't mention.

Alive I am, though for the last week or so, my hair probably didn't look nearly so good as the Bride of Frankenstein's.

As Hubby mentioned in his very kind guest post over the weekend, I was down for the count with a stomach bug. YES, I was tested for swine flu; no, apparently I don't have it. I was just plain "regular sick."

Back among the living now, though. Lots of great things to talk to you about, though I might lay off the subject of "food" for a couple more days. I do have some upcoming events to tell you about, and a Yorkism that involves dead rodents. C'mon, how much better can it get?

While Joan recuperates from a nasty stomach bug (And doesn't everyone know at least one friend or family member who has "the bug" right now?), I took car-lover Sarah out to partake in a York County tradition and see the street rods this morning.

She had herself a checklist of cars she wanted to find and have me photograph -- red, purple, black, multicolored, etc. Finding a white car actually turned out to be one of the toughest tasks. Not too many all-white rods, I guess. Tough to keep 'em clean?

We eventually did find everything on the list, so the mission was a success.

Now, Sarah, who is still in "school mode" despite that fact that her last day was this past Friday and she's now a rising fourth-grader, wants to put together a poster about the street rods, using today's photos and information she plans to research about street rods on the Internet. She's a smart cookie!

P.S. -- I just noticed that sign outside the York Fairgrounds (top photo) reads "STEET ROD NAT'SEAST" ... Only in York County, indeed.

... and insert various other goose puns here!

Remember these guys from last Wednesday?

Well, Amy might have been the only person to take a guess, but she was right! I took this in the Meadowbrook Village shopping center near Border's and the old Circuit City. We had gone to that Isaac's for lunch and were on our way down to Border's when we saw this goose family plus another one.

Also, a special shout-out to my father-in-law, John, for his goose puns. This punny nature, by the way, he passed along to Hubby, who I'm surprised didn't pipe in with his own tributes to wordplay.

While "Pappy John," as my daughter calls him, is from Rhode Island and would have no idea where in York County this was, he did make several suggestions. You know, like Quacker Lane? Honkers Alley? Gooseberry Plaza?

Let the groaning begin!

Don't forget, you can still vote for your favorite local fresh fruit!

As of my writing this entry, there were 18 votes, and strawberries were way in the lead with 72 percent. Peaches were doing OK, at 22 percent, and cherries took 5 percent. Nobody voted for any of the other choices yet!

There's still time to vote; I'm not going to "close" the poll for a while, though I'll probably declare a winner early next week and share some of the feedback I've gotten from readers on what to buy where.

Meanwhile, you might as well know what got my vote - STRAWBERRIES! They are the other thing I bought during my lunchtime trip to Brown's North yesterday.

My mom was kind enough to slice them up and sprinkle Equal/Stevia over them (that's what the picture with this post is of). We ate about half the bowl! It's a great snack.

For those of you who already voted - how do you like to eat your strawberries (or peaches, or cherries)? Since I'm sure I'll be getting more fresh berries soon, I'm interested in any suggestions.

Today for lunch, I went with my mom to the new Brown's North, at Shiloh Nurseries in Emigsville, Manchester Township.

All I can say is, WOW. We love Brown's, as I've mentioned before, but it really is a bit of drive to go from West Manchester to Springfield Township.

Brown's North, though, was less than a 10-minute drive from the office. YAY!

In addition to some fresh fruit, which I'll write about later this week, once I've tasted it, we got good sandwiches for lunch, plus a sweet treat for each family member.

(From left, it's chocolate-chip sugar cakes for my daughter; a raspberry pie for my mom and I to share; and chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing for Hubby.)

The lunchtime sandwiches definitely met the high standards the original Brown's location has set. We sat at some really great patio tables and enjoyed the wonderful weather. My mom's tuna salad was SO full of tuna, she had to take some off. I added bacon to my ham-and-cheese-on-Kaiser delight, and it was super-crispy and they put a lot on.

Neither Mom nor I finished our whole sandwich, because we had to save room...

We each at a quarter of the small pie. HOLY COW, it was good. Definitely worth the trip!