Sister Day

Happy Birthday, Kitty! Although she was likely the leader of the mid-80’s conspirators that encouraged my young self to consume a poisonous mushroom, I have since forgiven my big sister and love her very much. Kitty is wonderful, wild, adventurous. She’s stuck by my crazy self through it all: meek childhood days and cross-country road trips in the family station wagon, to navigating the Alaskan wilderness ourselves (I typically insisted we go the wrong way) or conquering 17,000 feet in the Himalayas while I ruined the landscape with altitude sickness—she was there and I am very glad. I would not be alive today, nor would I be who I am without her. Love, wishes, she’s the best.

A visit to Stonehenge

Jeff was with us in London for 48 short hours a couple weeks ago. We hopped a last minute train at Waterloo that Saturday and headed to “the teeth in the gums of the earth” as our automated tour described it—Stonehenge. A complete mystery, these gems are from 3000 BC. They really are still asking who, how, why—mostly why, but definitely how and who. The countryside is quite lovely, too—green and sheep and prehistoric barrows abound. Albeit cold, windy and raining (much like the previous time I’d been to Stonehenge in 2001) it’s perfect for a half-day adventure.

Mum takes London

My mom and her husband Phil came to visit for their very first trip across the pond, ever— a wee bit exciting. It was an action-packed ten days with rainstorms and a few sunny spots, gin drinks and other British delectables, lots of walking and even a train trip to Paris—those pics to come. L to R: custard tart at St. John’s, London cup (we went twice for this) at Mishkin’s, Big Ben, the rose garden at Hyde Park, pies plus fish & chips at Golden Union, Kensington Palace, Wellington Arch, telephone box, and a poppy/daisy field at St. James’s Park. Whew!

Today

My father moved through theys of we, 
singing each new leaf out of each tree
(and every child was sure that spring
danced when she heard my father sing)
e.e. cummings, ‘my father moved through dooms of love’

Wishing the world of pops and grandpops a lovely fathers’ day—one filled with games of horseshoes, grilled corn-on-the-cob, and poppa bear hugs. Hoping—whether near yours or not so much—you have a heart full of sweet memories. And remembering fondly my own dad, who I miss so very much. /M

Love to mums

Wishing all grandmothers, mothers, and motherly-like friends (especially ours, across the pond) a very happy day today—thank you for your mama bear hugs. And for those no longer with us, we remember you dearly. Happy Mothers’ Day with love. Above: Glamour shots of our young mothers / 2-year old M with mom / 4-year old K with mom & sister

26 today

Today my baby brother is 26! We all used to be taller than he. Here are some pics—through the years—I dug out of a family album. Top left was 21 years ago, I can tell by how many front teeth he was missing. Next to it is a comparison to present day. I think he likes the gift I gave him today—a set of quoits! Happy Birthday, bruder Benny! And tomorrow, to Julianne and Grant, too. XO

Easter Monday

When my siblings and I were little, we watched a woman demonstrate making Pysanka—Ukrainian Easter eggs. This method uses ornate bees wax applications to resist layers of dye. Many years and much interpretation later, egg dyeing is something we still look forward to each Easter. All together at our Mum’s this year, Saturday was an all-day dyeing (and baking and cooking) event, and we spent all of Easter ogling the fancy eggs. That, and eating. (Click image to zoom.)

Quick how-to: Hard boil or blow out your eggs, stick a pin in the eraser of a pencil for drawing, keep the bees wax on low on the stove, make your designs, dip egg in dye, repeat. Once the final dye dip is dry, light a candle and melt the wax with the flame, wiping off each melted area with a paper towel. 

Happy 60

Today my sweet mom is 60. We surprised her on Saturday with over 80 friends and family from 6 states, lots of cake and booze, too. She didn’t guess what was happening until the very last minute, but we had to tell many fibs up to that point. My sister has been archiving all the great photos of our Mom growing up and I’d been keeping busy recently making the party invites, decorations, and cakes/cupcakes. Letterpress printing by my good friends at Tabletop Made. Happy Day, Mum!

Meatballs and dreams

Down on the tree farm, with a pretty sunset view from the kitchen, my little brother Benny cooked up some delicious homemade meatball goodness this week. His meatballs and special sauce may be a secret, but my contribution of collard chips came from this recipe (and, admittedly, makes my photo look awful). Add some Lord Chesterfield Ale for drink and balsamic strawberries with yoghurt for dessert, done and yum. 

Fasnacht Day

Tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day, Doughnut Day, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Carnival—wherever you are, however you celebrate it. We Pennsylvania Dutch call it Fasnacht Day. It is the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Also spelled fastnacht, it translates to “the night before fasting” in German. These sweets were made in order to rid the pantry of flour, sugar, lard, and potatoes, before fasting for the Lenten season. K and I are both stateside this week so my mum supplied us with a plentiful amount of fasnachts—we already ate some this morning in Brooklyn. I didn’t test this non-potato version, but here is an easy recipe just in case you’re curious.

FASNACHT KUCHA  1 1/2 quarts milk / 1/2 cup molasses or honey / 4 quarts flour / 2 tablespoons lard / 2 cakes yeast / 1 cup butter / 4 eggs

Scald the milk, then after cooling a little, stir in 2 quarts of the flour, to make a batter. Add the yeast after dissolving in lukewarm water. Beat well and let stand overnight to rise. Cream the butter; eggs, molasses or honey, and then add more flour and the lard. Knead well, adding almost all the remainder of the flour. Let rise and then roll out for doughnuts. Fry in deep fat. Eat warm with molasses or honey.

On the farm

I went to stay with my grandfather a couple weeks ago. This is the beautiful place where he lives, on the farm that has been in our family for 140 years, in the house rebuilt in 1895 after a fire took the original. From top to bottom: Tuesday morning, our treehouse on Friday morning, the shower in the coal furnace room, Wednesday morning, Poppy’s puzzle gallery and closet, some other favourite things of mine, the barn and him, and a subtle snow dusting. Today my grandmother Dorothy would have celebrated her 82nd birthday, she was pretty.

Recipe no. 006

Appropriately so, as I’m in my hometown and K’s mom is cooking for him in London, I will share all the yummy recipes that made me the chubbette I am. Last week Mother and I made my very favourite Pennsylvania Dutch meal—chicken pot pie. The name originally comes from the old German term bot boi which was some sort of thick chicken stew and we Dutchies bastardized everything, so this is no different. Regardless, it is darn delicious and a winter must-make. Also made here, a salad of romaine lettuce with hot bacon dressing. “Kumm esse!” is how you should call everyone to the table.

INGREDIENTS//  BROTH: 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts / 2 quarts water / small onion, chopped / 2 chicken bullion cubes / fresh parsley / salt & pepper / dash poultry seasoning / 5 medium potatoes, peeled & cubed / DOUGH: 2 cups flour / 4 tsp. baking powder / 1/2 tsp. salt / 2 Tbsp. butter / 8 Tbsp. milk / 2 eggs

INSTRUCTIONS// Wash chicken and add to water. Add onion, bullion cubes, parsley, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Simmer for 45 mins to an hour. Add potatoes, simmer 25 minutes more. Remove chicken, cut in small, stringy pieces and return to pot. To make dough, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Blend in butter. Add egg and milk to make dough soft. Roll out on floured board about 1/8-inch thick and cut into 1-1/2-inch squares. Let dry a bit. Add dough to pot, make sure you stir it a lot, and gently simmer for about 30 minutes. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Serve in bowls, pour apple cider vinegar over individual servings before consuming. Makes enough for maybe 6 people, and the leftovers taste even better.

HOMEMADE HOT BACON DRESSING//  If you’re not local or can’t cook, WosWit sells online here.
8 slices bacon, fried hard, broken into crumbs / 1/2 c. sugar / 1 Tbsp. cornstarch / dash salt / 2 eggs, beaten / scant 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar / 1-1/2 cups milk. Put all ingredients in a saucepan and boil to desired thickness, stirring constantly. Also recommended on spinach or dandelion.

Trip to the butcher

And wine-tasting. Dietrich’s Meats reminded me how everyone around here unassumingly eats in the head-to-tail fashion, which is quite trendy right now in London’s food scene. I’ll spare you the misc. meat photos, but you’re missing out on the great snap of Pop posing with a smoked pigs head. Speaking of, he (Poppy, my grandfather) and I are heading to the 96th Annual Farm Show tomorrow. Supposedly, they have 6,000 animals, 10,000 competitive exhibits, 290 commercial exhibits, and the best strawberry smoothies around. Meanwhile, back in London, K can’t seem to shake the night shift out of himself and he hasn’t seen the sun in days. Chewing gum photo by C. Eiche.

The greatest

Today, my darling grandfather, my Poppy, celebrates his 85th birthday. A great pen pal, Scrabble opponent, cross-country travel partner, story-teller, Pennsylvania Dutch teacher, tinkerer, quoits player (the best, actually) and truck ride giver, Pops is the greatest, a favourite among all. There’s nothing this man doesn’t do, and recently, he’s even appeared on Skype a few times. He wrote to me after I’d asked for exact dates and numbers, so here are a few quick and fascinating facts of Merlin Victor Schreffler.
Happy Birthday, Pops—ich liebe dich!

Born: 02 December 1926 in Klingerstown, Pennsylvania, USA
Mother tongue: Pennsylvania Deutsche
Primary school: 1-mile walk to a 1-room schoolhouse of 25 students in 1st to 8th grade, 1 teacher
1945: cold and snowy day in January, at age 18, was called to physical exam for service in WWII, was classified A-1 to serve, but was legally deferred as he was helping his brother-in-law farming
Occupation: farmer, township supervisor, school bus driver
Considered: civil engineering, pastor
Farm history: became owner in 1950, is longest owner of the farm (63 years) and it has been in our family for 140 years, 92 acres total
On the farm: poultry, hogs, feeder pigs, corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, peas for a cannery, 3 acres of variety orchard
Barn: estimated to be 150 years old, built entirely with wooden pegs
Equipment: a 1943, 1950 and 1958 Farmall tractor all in running order today
1947: met a girl named Dorothy Hilda Koppenhaver, but after having been cooped up for years during the war, bought a brand new Plymouth and left on a 9,000-mile, 4-week cross country vacation with his mother, sister Ruby, and friend Russell. Gasoline was 35¢/gallon and motel rooms were $2.50/person. (The North rim of the Grand Canyon was $5.00 but included a play in the evening.)
1950: married beautiful Dorothy who blessed him with a wedding gift he still uses today—a 1947 International truck for use on the farm; they eventually had 2 daughters, one of whom is my mother.
Home:  After a fire in 1891, his grandparents’ house was rebuilt in 1895, on the same foundation, and that is his house today. He has lived there for 58 years, it is of Amish design.
Other: Bought a new 1976 Terra Scout International and still uses it to this day, with approx. 51,000 miles on it; has restored his grandfather’s 2-horse spring wagon and sleigh.
School bus: retired in December 2008, after 32 years of driving
Travels: cross country (several times) USA & Alaska, all over Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Figi, and Hawaii which is his favourite (has visited 3 times)
Favourite ice cream flavour: “I am a 100% vanilla ice cream man.”

111111

I love elevens, the date’s got me feeling crazy—imagine being born today! So, it’s true, K has not posted to the blog in several weeks, I know, he has a proper job. I steal old photos from my family and forget to post them on Halloween. You like me as generously-chubby Mickey? I also go to the Tate Modern and see original drawings by Glasgow artist David Shrigley. Kicked out of art school, super famous now, the end. Go do something a little off this weekend, who cares, you’ll feel awesome. Maybe I’m going to eat a donut.

Apparently, it was a Disney/Warner Bros. themed 1982. I’m the ham, with sister Bugs, cousin Donald, and our maternal great grandmother who left us too soon, I never got to know her beyond this age.

Recipe no. 002

It’s Autumn and time to bring a bit of home (M’s) to London. Contrary to what your research may turn up, we Dutchies eat apple dumplings for the main course, not dessert. Perfect for an October evening and very easy to make, I think they’re best served up with a side of nicely grilled sausage, which I realize I say for most things. If you don’t want to give it a go yourself and happen to be stateside,
I recommend ringing up my mother to see if you may visit, like, this weekend. Apparently they do
make these in the UK with a suet pastry or shortcrust, and a filling of dates, sultanas or raisins.

INGREDIENTS// Your mum’s pie dough recipe / 2 baking apples, peeled and cored / butter /
brown sugar (only use white in an emergency like I did today) / cinnamon / water / nutmeg /
bottle of 2% milk

INSTRUCTIONS// Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 2 pieces. Place an apple in the center of each piece of dough. Put a small knob of butter, a spoonful of brown sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon in the cavity of each apple. Wrap the apples in
the dough, pressing the seams together to seal them completely. Place the dumplings in a lightly greased baking dish.

SAUCE// 5 tbsp brown sugar / 5 tbsp water / pinch of ground nutmeg / 2 tsp butter (UK same)
Combine the brown sugar, water, and nutmeg in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the
heat and stir in the butter. Pour over the dumplings and bake, basting occasionally with the sauce,
for 40 or 50 minutes. Serve hot in a bowl with milk. Enjoy, then take a much needed nap.