320801 Fri Aug 25 22:28:44 -0700 2006 23 60 CHOWTour 0 1833927 I grew up in a small town. Small. I know what you're thinking, but, smaller than that. Smaller. Really, super, insanely small. It wasn't just the kind of town where everyone knew everyone else, it was the kind of town where not infrequently, almost everyone was actually in the same room with everyone else. There were a lot of things I didn't much care for about living in a town where a jump to 275 was considered a population boom, but one thing you couldn't argue with was the food. A couple of times a year, we'd have pancake breakfasts at the town hall. The women would mix and bake and assemble and the men would fry up bacon and eggs and pancakes by the yard (because apparently, like grilling meat, flipping flapjacks is a masculine pursuit) and everyone would show up for breakfast. Jim's mention of the Treadwell Franklin Walton United Methodist Church Pancake Griddle really reminded me of those long ago and far away pancake breakfasts. I think I have some pancake mix in the cupboard, but somehow, it wouldn't be the same. Fri Aug 25 22:28:44 -0700 2006 10021 Jacquilynne 1 1838825 Remember the boy scout spaghetti fundraisers? Always spaghetti. I know from small towns...and oh, the potlucks! Maybe Jeff will get in on some of those. Mon Aug 28 20:40:22 -0700 2006 1833927 11408 melly 2 1838870 We weren't a large enough town to have a boy scout troupe. We did almost have Brownies one year, I think, but then it never happened. We did, however, have spectacular pot luck dinners. Nothing quite as soulfull as a big panful of cabbage rolls made by a Ukranian grandmother. Mon Aug 28 20:52:57 -0700 2006 1838825 10021 Jacquilynne 1 1840492 Jacquilynne, did they have 4H clubs where you grew up? I had a great 4H milkshake in new paltz...it's in one of the reports. Tue Aug 29 15:52:24 -0700 2006 1833927 10089 Jim Leff 2 1845858 I think there were some in the nearby city, but not in my town. Loggers aren't that big on actually growing stuff. Thu Aug 31 16:18:20 -0700 2006 1840492 10021 Jacquilynne 2 1852712 4H Pledge - I pledge My head to clearer thinking, My heart to greater loyalty, My hands to larger service, and My health to better living, For my club, my community, my country, and my world. Mon Sep 04 08:02:04 -0700 2006 1840492 10039 Melanie Wong 3 1878817 I'm so old I remember when they added "My World" Fri Sep 15 15:09:00 -0700 2006 1852712 10580 Betty 1 1845668 Ahhhhhhhhhh. . . potlucks. . ahhhhhhhhhh. . fundraisers! Here in Sonoma County, fast becoming food snob central, I take every chance I get to attend local potlucks and spaghetti feeds. Should there be a sign boasting a local Volunteer Fire Dept pancake breakfast happening, I slam my van into reverse if necessary to careen up some narrow road, parking dangerously near a culvert to eat inside the firehouse as may pancakes as I can for $6 to $8 dollars. A local favorite (and legend in his and MY mind) is Art Ibleto, The Pasta King. In his younger years Art would travel to Gilroy to personally pick nearly 100 pounds of garlic for the pesto and marinara and garlic bread that he'd serve at the County Fair during it's two week run. He's recently added polenta to the menu, after the ticket vendor, the Spaghetti Palace is always my second stop, the on to the horse races. I may have to build a shrine to the man. His community work seems tireless. There is not a school, public or private, in the area that has not had a spaghetti feed as a fundraiser. The food is always great and plentiful, a perfect combo. As for potlucks in this area - church and the like - I believe anyone who brings potato salad from Costco should be horsewhipped in public. I know we're all busy, but geeee whiz. Thu Aug 31 15:17:54 -0700 2006 1833927 29757 beckiefd 2 1845863 Over the years, I've actually become fine with people who bring stuff from Costco to potlucks. Chances are, those people can't cook anyway, so something they made would be less good than the Costco salad. And the Costco salad, by virtue of being in a Costco container carries its own personal warning against bothering to try it. Thu Aug 31 16:20:14 -0700 2006 1845668 10021 Jacquilynne 3 1849796 Yours is the first post to make me laugh out loud! Truly! Sat Sep 02 01:29:18 -0700 2006 1845863 29757 beckiefd 4 1850371 Makes me miserable to think that people won't (or worse) hate to cook and won't if they can avoid it.In a crazy busy world, cooking has become a hugely dreaded burden instead of a way to relax and communicate and show some love to your fellow eaters and yourself. Someone brought a huge bucket of cole slaw and one of potato salad from a local convenience store to a pot luck I attended last wknd and a box of wine. Food comes from boxes and plastic buckets now? Food is one of our last conections to nature and people don't even know it.I would be mortified to bring store bought crap to a friend's get together and wouldn't eat it if you paid me! Sat Sep 02 14:24:10 -0700 2006 1849796 17282 missclaudy 5 1851035 Well, one of the happiest sights at a potluck at the Druids Hall in Forestville (which I'm sure rings a bell with beckiefd) was a bigger than a gallon-size plastic bucket of spreadable Teleme jack cheese. This is something that we normally have to fight over a meager 8 ounces, and here someone bought a giant foodservice size for us. Teleme heaven! Just wanted to point out that sometimes good things can come in BIG plastic packages, and from Costco even if people care. Did you expect them to make their own wine? Sat Sep 02 23:52:15 -0700 2006 1850371 10039 Melanie Wong 1 1851537 People can schlep food around in any kind of container that they please, just seems to me that a potluck is a chance to make beautiful, delish food for the pleasure of friends. What if everyone at the fiesta brought factory prepared food in a plastic bucket from Costco? I'll bet this has happened. If you were served this food in a restaurant, you'd have a nervous breakdown. My European parents were as particular about food presentation as they were about the taste of the food. Part of my family education was to make lovely food and decorate it and serve it with pleasure for all.I can't help myself. And no,I don't make my own wine, if they took the wine out of the box insted of throwing the box (2 bottles) on the table, I would have been happier. The wine was fine. Am I that much of a freak? Sun Sep 03 13:37:52 -0700 2006 1833927 17282 missclaudy 2 1853318 Please join me and the other freaks who believe to put thoughtfulness (at least, if love is not available) into food served to friends (and strangers)is an obligation to one's self respect. Mon Sep 04 20:02:16 -0700 2006 1851537 29757 beckiefd 3 1853484 Amen. Well put. Please post more...this community is for freaks like you and I. Mon Sep 04 21:26:12 -0700 2006 1853318 10089 Jim Leff 3 1858682 If either of you is ever in Philly, I'll cook you a hyper delicious dinner!!!!! Wed Sep 06 23:37:25 -0700 2006 1853318 17282 missclaudy 4 1873577 You're on! How far is Philly from DC? Wed Sep 13 15:11:47 -0700 2006 1858682 29757 beckiefd 5 1877964 Come on down,I mean up ! Philly is about 3 hours from DC. Fri Sep 15 01:45:35 -0700 2006 1873577 17282 missclaudy 5 1878064 Thrill me with your menu choices! Fri Sep 15 02:44:59 -0700 2006 1873577 29757 beckiefd 5 1882282 Let's see. Muhumarra - red pepper, walnut and pomegranate dip. Georgian lamb neck stew with plums. Local seasonal vegetables Home made ice cream, flavor to be decided Local raw milk cheeses When can I expect you? Sun Sep 17 15:57:13 -0700 2006 1873577 17282 missclaudy 1 1882809 I'm guessing you're Russian/Armenian? Sun Sep 17 21:53:40 -0700 2006 1833927 10089 Jim Leff 1 1891754 Good guess,I am a Jewish girl(Russian ancestors) born in Philly with a lust for soul food from anywhere, pomegranates,swine, boiled crabs(just had the BEST one's ever at the Philly crab shack you posted about and sweet and sour ones at Hardena; Ena is the Indonesian Julia Child!)That sambal sent me to the moon!!! Hope you read my post on Pa. board about my trip to the crab shack titled Read Jim Leff's Report on Philly Food Discoveries. Thu Sep 21 11:50:22 -0700 2006 1833927 17282 missclaudy 2 1891913 Great to have you on the site, missclaudy. We try to cover it all here, from obvious downtown places to anonymous crab shacks. Deliciousness is deliciousness...period. Wherever it's found. The full range of genuine good stuff must be tracked. Yep, I read that thread. Really made me happy. Every food writer tries to write evocatively, because 95% of readers read for vicarious pleasure. But I'm always hoping I'll spur some actual live action! But don't just follow my tips, keep finding treasure on your own. Great food is ripe and low on the trees, and we need to find and evangelize the good guys! I guess I need to write about this on the trip pages, but I'm not lucking into rare pearls in oceans of mediocrity. Treasure is not as prevalent as Olive Gardens, but there are a surprising number of holdouts and geniuses out there who care, and who aim for more than just maximal profit from minimal effort. I hate that most of them are neglected and undiscovered, don't you? ciao Thu Sep 21 14:00:58 -0700 2006 1891754 10089 Jim Leff 1 1894974 Right on, su manifesto is mi manifesto. I, too, adore seeking out all of the deliciousness I can find and must say, I have found alot in strange and wonderful places! Like you, I can pull into a town and discover buried treasure, it's my 6th sense and the thing that makes me happiest. I shared a table last Sunday at Hardena with a young Indonesian woman who was so suprised and thrilled that I loved her national dishes,(especially those killer sweet and sour blue crabs) that she spoon fed me tastes from her bowl of revelatoraly delicious soup and we talked about her favorite dishes and her family. Who needs to go to school for Anthropology anymore.? Just hang out in ethnic food joints and schooze, it's so much fun and as you know, no one can ever believe how much hot sauce a gringo can eat. Fri Sep 22 16:21:23 -0700 2006 1833927 17282 missclaudy