Central/Eastern: June 2009 Archives

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!

... 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!