Chip and Dale Designs

VACATION FOOD

One of the great things about going back home on vacation is that I can load up on all of the foods from my childhood. While some of these items I have recipes for and can make them, they just don’t taste the same! You can ask anyone of my friends and family- my cooking is not great! I was too busy screwing around outside as a kid and was not paying any attention to what my mother was doing in the kitchen. Food just magically appeared every night at 5. What a life!

Anyway, the items I was looking forward to is as follows- Yuengling beer, teaberry ice cream, whoopie pies (not the crappy ones you get in the grocery store, but home made by the Amish ones), a cheese steak from Philly, city chicken, good Lebanon Bologna, potato filling (most of you know this as stuffing and no it is not even close to Stove Top), NY style pizza, Diffenbach’s chips, Yuengling, etc. (I know I have the Yuengling beer in there twice- it was THAT important). Well I am pleased to announce I have every single one of the items on my list- and some more than once- haha. I had to quit drinking after day 3- I wanted to remember some of the trip! But eating, on the other hand, was a different story.

First stop after we got off the plane- Jim’s Cheesteaks in Philly. Last time we were in Philly we had Genos’, this time we went to Jim’s. It was fantastic! Missy also had a cooler in the car full of Yuengling and Diffenbach’s potato chips for our ride home- what a deal!

That night was my first taste of Teaberry ice cream in 10 years- and it was as fantastic as I remembered. This flavor is very local to this area- and cannot be found anywhere else. Believe me, I have looked. I had a stupid boyfriend once that compared it to Pepto Bismol- dumbass LOL.NOT EVEN CLOSE

On Friday we went to an Amish farmers’ market. They had all sorts of food stands, plus a bakery (whoopee pies for miles), a doughnut stand, a few different meat cases, etc. It was incredible. There were Amish women baking the pies in front of us- my son, who works in a grocery store bakery, was most impressed. Evidently all of his bakery items come in frozen and they just throw it in the oven. He was also amazed that these prices were cheaper than the ones in his store- and the items were obviously more fresh here at the market. There was also a food court there as well- and oh dear. What do I choose for lunch? We all went with home-made barbecue, sides, and home-made root beer. Now, I got sick once as a kid on root beer so it is not my favorite, but I thought I would try it anyway. Holy mother- this was the best freakin root beer I have ever had! I wish I could have shipped a case home! Even the bottle was cool-

That night I got my first taste of great pizza of the trip- it was fantastic. There are a bunch of little Italian places all over that all make fantastic pies. HEAVEN!

The next day was the graduation party- where I got my Lebanon bologna. OMG- I could have eaten the whole damn ring. I did test it as I was cutting it up for the meat/cheese tray. I am all about quality control people!

On Tuesday my niece had us over to her place for lunch, where I got in my city chicken fix. It is called city chicken as during the war chicken prices were so high that people started using beef and pork instead. City chicken is not really chicken- it is beef, pork and veal on a stick. It can also be any of the mentioned combinations-and the meat can be cubed or ground. I prefer the cubed myself. My niece made it with beef and pork. After marinating the cubes overnight, you place the cubes on a stick, then dip them in an egg wash and bread them. You then fry them for a bit, cover them and toss them in the oven for a while. There are also recipes out there that you can steam them in between- not really necessary. HOLY CRAP Amy did a great job- I could have eaten a dozen, but figured I should share! Of course now my son loves it and now I bet I will be asked to make them. GREAT- not!

No trip back home is complete unless it includes a trip to Shady Maple, a Mennonite smorgasbord that is absolutely wonderful. Over 200 feet of home prepared Pennsylvania Dutch food. I could gorge on the dessert selection alone!!