Check out The Savvy Shopper on our food Web site, LetsEatPA.com. Each week, one of our former staffers (who left us to become a teacher!) rounds up the best food deals from the weekly circulars.
Her tips hit all the best stuff in food-related items. But nothing will beat my great razor savings (though my sister tried to go to Target and buy them, only to find them sold out - boo, hiss!)
The image above is from the nice folks at McCormick, who share a recipe for what they call Classic Herb Stuffing.
But this is York County. Do we trust what the people at the spice company call something? Heck, no! Some of us have another name for this bread-based goodie. So what do you think?
Never let it be said that Yorkers are squeamish people. Hey, we eat pig stomach. And we also play games with animal droppings!
I've heard of plenty of games of "cow patty bingo." You divide a field into squares; each person gets a square; and wherever the cow, uh, goes, whoever has that square wins.
Well, not to be outdone, Northeastern High School's Bobcat Foundation has taken that favorite and jazzed it up.
As part of a large fundraiser event on Sunday, Oct. 4, they will hold a Baby Buffalo Patty Drop and golf shoot-out.
At 1 p.m., they'll set a baby buffalo loose in the field; wherever her "patty" drops, the person who bought that square will win $500! Members of Northeastern's golf team will then hit balls into the field, and the squares those land in will give their owners $250 (for second place) or $100 (for third place.)
Want to buy a square? Call Kim Brenner-Zirkle at 266-3667, ext. 10274, or visit www.nesd.k12.pa.us. Anyone can play, and you don't even have to be present to win. Commenter friend Mark might even be able to play from Austria! :)
Other events during the day include a car show and exhibition autocross, in partnership with the York County Corvette Club, in the parking lots at Northeastern High School and Northeastern Middle School. That event is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 4, with car registration from 9 a.m. to noon and award presentations at 3 p.m., according to the school's news release. You can register in advance by calling Joanne Gohn at 577-3133 or e-mailing Iam4marlin@aol.com.
Brenner-Zirkle adds that the high school marching band will also perform, and food will be served throughout the day (though hopefully not bison burgers!!)
Proceeds will benefit The Bobcat Foundation, the nonprofit organization that supports the Northeastern district.
So who's in? Grab your square and wait for the other "eww" to drop!
I love art. I get that from my mom, who is good at almost any art that comes her way. I, on the other hand, am normally not good at it, but I do it anyway!
So when our pastor's wife - a local artisan - offered a mosaic class to our church's members, Mom and I both jumped at the chance. Over two sessions, with a little homework, we each created a masterpiece for our house.
Here's Mom's, an abstract piece that works with the colors of our house:
Here's mine. It's sort of "impressionist" - it's supposed to "be" something, but it might not be obvious. Can you tell what?
If you're interested in creating your own masterpiece, The York Town Craft Guild offers classes just like the ones we took, also by Lynn Gilbert. Check their site for details; the next two-class mosaic session will be Oct. 24 and Nov. 14. They offer tons of other classes, too, so if breaking glass isn't your thing, maybe you can find another new hobby! I know I will definitely be making more of these in the future.
Many of you know that frugal living is among my passions. Reading newspaper ads and coupon-clipping are like breathing for me.
So imagine my delight this week, when one of the most expensive things I buy - disposable razors - turned out to be an awesome deal!
The Bic Soleil razors are on sale at Target, advertised as a 4-pack for $3.99. Now, that in itself is great. But this Sunday's paper had a coupon for $3 off the Bic razors. So I'm thinking, four razors for $1.05 with tax? Awesome!
It just kept getting better, though! I got to Target, and in the bin with the sale label, were bonus packs with two FREE razors.
All in all? Six razors. $1.05. Happy Joan!
The highlight of my Saturday was a trip to the Totally Free Yard Sale held on the grounds of the Mount Royal Auction in Dover Township.
If you hadn't already heard about the event, the name really was self-expanatory - people donated their unwanted "stuff," and, yard sale style, it was laid out in the yard of the auction house, free to anyone who wanted it.
We donated a BUNCH of stuff - mostly books, but outgrown clothes and toys of my daughter's, too - in advance of the event, but we had a few more things to add, so around 11 a.m., we headed up to drop those off and see how the event was going.
They had already given away LOADS of stuff by then! It was amazing.
(Pardon the image quality, my cell phone camera is being really weird. Among other things, the sky wasn't dark, as it seems to be here!) The neat thing in this picture is, look at that heap of boxes toward the top left. Those were just some of the empties!
For my part, I was thrilled with how well it turned out, glad to see people finding things they needed or wanted, and, yes, I admit, I found a cool pair of brown sandals, which was a great side benefit! (And Hubby found some interesting books donated by other people!)
If you want to know more, check out the full story here.
Faithful readers of this blog know that I split my grocery shopping between Weis, Giant and Walmart depending on what's on sale. (In fact, I'm pretty fanatical about it.)
One thing I noticed while at Weis recently is worth mentioning: their campaign to help the local food banks, as the weather turns colder and the holidays approach.
They have an option where you can buy a bag of prepackaged "most-needed" food, which they will deliver to a local food bank.
There is also an option at the checkout to easily add a donation of $3, $5 or $10 to your order, which netted me the nice sticker pictured here. You can read more about the program on Weis' Web site, here.
I'll be excited to receive a news release at the end of the campaign, telling how much was raised. I'm hoping that even in the tough economy, it'll be pretty significant.
Hubby took me for a "fair date" tonight. Best date ever!! He won me a Kit-Kat and Starburst playing the candy spinner game, and then... I introduced him to the infamous Boxall's I Got It... and I won!
I chose a very lovely new lasagna/roasting pan as my prize.
Other cool trivia: Among the other contestants/spectators were Congressman Todd Platts and his family. (And I'm happy to say someone in his family won a prize a few rounds before me, too.) Only in York County indeed!
In this photo from July 2005, Swamp Fox farm owner Steve Klesse throws a few ears of sweet corn into a bin while picking some of his early season corn.
Many of you, like my faithful reader and tipster Jo, have told me nothing is better than fresh York County sweet corn. I'm not a corn fan myself, but it's my daughter's favorite vegetable, and so the news that Jo shared with me tonight really is a bit sad.
The Palm Beach Post reports that the "father of sweet corn" has died.
Emil Wolf was 89, and his life's work included, the Post story says, "developing the SH2 gene for the crisp, sweet Florida Staysweet corn hybrids that are the genetic foundation for the super sweet hybrids that dominate the marketplace."
Basically, Professor Wolf was why your corn tastes so darn good. You can read his obit here, and hopefully you're willing to have another ear or two in his memory sometime soon.
This one comes from loyal reader Jo, a devoted member of the Greater Dover Historical Society.
What is this item?
It was found in a barn in the Dover area and donated to the society. It's fairly small, but very heavy for its size.
Any ideas? Leave us a comment. I'm at a loss; someone earlier had suggested a harness of some sort and while I could see that (with the chain at the one end), it seems odd that you'd use something so heavy.
Help!
You might have seen this already, but if you haven't... you should. It's the full, produced version of the video from the "flash mob dance" in downtown York a few weeks ago. (I especially like this version because I could see one of my friends, an awesome dancer who was one of the hundred plus who took part in this event. Some of the other videos, I couldn't see her!)
Here's reporter Erin McCracken's story and video from the mid-August event, if you missed the hype at the time.
