May 24, 2013 Elizabethtown, PA Lunch – Ham Loaf Dinner

May 24, 2013 Elizabethtown, PA Lunch – Ham Loaf Dinner

We wokeup and ate some baked Oatmeal with blueberries.hen around 12:00 Suzette’s Mom and Dad prepared a great dinner of ham loaf, candied sweet potatoes, creamed corn, asparagus with crumbled bread, pickles, and chow chow.

The Ham loaf is made from ground ham that is produced locally and then Mrs. Lindemuth makes a glaze with vinegar, water, brown sugar, and American style yellow mustard that she pours over the loaf after she had suck her hand into the loaf to create ridges and gullies to catch the glaze.

 

For dessert Mrs. Lindemuth made a rhubarb and strawberry crisp.

I need to say something about American culture as seen through its dining.  The standard dining experience of a family making and then gathering around the table for a large midday meal such as we experienced at the Lindemuth’s house today is mostly a thing of the past, mainly because, I think, the pattern of our work and work day has changed.   The big midday meal was probably based upon the men working on family farms from sun up to lunch time, while the women cooked and cleaned all morning and then the family gathered to eat a large meal and perhaps rest during the hottest part of the day and then returned to their work until sun down, when a light meal was eaten.  Now, since we live in the suburbs and both parents work in the center of towns and the children are fed at school, our pattern has shifted to eating at night when the family is re-united at home.  Unfortunately, because both parents work all day and there is little time to shop for food and cook it properly and because we no longer have the place or time to raise fresh ingredients, we are forced to let others fulfill the traditional functions of creating, preparing, cooking and serving our food.  This segmentation of the food function has led to the creation of the modern global food industry that we saw in Chicago.  On one end of the spectrum are the high end elegant five course tasting menus such as those we ate at Topolobampo and Gramercy Tavern.  At the other end is the fast food chain restaurant like Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen producing American and regional favorite dishes in large quantities at cheap prices.  Both elevate the importance of the individual over the group.  Perhaps this fact can be seen most clearly in the mutation of our politics and our culture from the American revolutionary battle cry of “All for one and one for all” into the rise of the “me” generation and the increasingly common new advertising and political slogan and unstated innuendo of “Us against them” mentality in politics. The world of food advertising often emphasizes, “I want it now and I want it hot and tasty”, which seems to be the new mantra in fast food.  You are special and elevated to stardom as you are pampered during the three hours that it takes to eat that delicious $130.00 to $150.00 meal at Topo or Gramcery Tavern.  Or you can reconnect with your Southern culture at Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen with its fried chicken and gumbo delivered instantly to you.

Later in the afternoon Bev came by with some of the amazingly good kettle corn they make.  After a chat and a few handfuls of kettle corn, Bev drove us to re-stock one of the locations they sell their corn in  and then to a Vineyard at Hershey to deliver corn for an upcoming event, where we tasted and bought three bottles of wine for this evening’s snack.  Most of its wines are not aged but given an oaky flavor by the addition of oak chips.  We liked and bought the Cabernet Franc, the Sweet Reisling (my favorite) and the Catawba.

At around 6:15 we loaded up the paté, two cheddar cheeses, the bread, crackers, pepper jam, cream cheese and an apple and a pear and some grapes and a bag of little carrots and went down to Don and Bev’s house to eat and drink and watch T.V. ad wait for the recently installed lights in their front yard to go on.  Finally at 8:00 when the lights had still not gone on Don got a flashlight and went to the control box and flipped the breaker and the lights went on.  There were five new lights beaming up through three trees and two capped lights lighting the pathway to the front door of their house.  We all declared the lights wonderful and a success.  When we left, Ken, the man who installed the lights came by to inspect them and started talking with Don. 

Bon Appétit