The Signs of Lancaster County

Ever feel like you are bombarded with signs or advertising?  Click on a website and there’s a video about THE secret formula for losing weight, drive down the road and there’s a sign flashing your speed for the entire world to see.  Gosh, you can’t even look up the weather without being forced to sit through a car commercial.

While the rest of the world goes high tech crazy with QR codes, banners, pop-ups, or sites asking you to like, tell a friend, click through or submit information, parts of Lancaster County are still decidedly low tech.  Somehow I find that refreshing and don't mind this sort of advertising at all!

These are some of my favorite signs on the back roads around The Artist’s Inn.

 

 

 

And this is my all-time favorite. I'm sure that lunch special really pulls in the crowd!

 

 

Really Easy Apple Pie Squares

This recipe was given to me a long time ago by someone.  I can't even remember who they were - that's how long ago!!!  But it is super easy and I think you may like it. 

Really Easy Apple Pie Squares

1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups thinly sliced apples

Beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add oil, vanilla and dry ingredients.
Fold in apples.
Spray a 9 x 13 pan and pour mixture into pan.
Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Cut into squares.  Makes about 12.

Now, wasn't that easy?

You can make them yourself or enjoy them at breakfast at The Artist's Inn.  Yes, we are happy to take requests.

Enjoy!

 

Old Advice for a New Year

It’s January – the month of diets, resolutions, exercise and much too much quiet after the holidays.  It seems a good time to offer up some of the advice from my childhood.

I grew up in the ‘burbs of Cleveland, home of many nationalities, especially from Eastern Europe.  Both my parents were of Polish decent and my best friend’s parents were of Slovak descent.  I never much thought about the sayings, expressions and old wives’ tales that were repeated throughout my family and hers until my husband, Bruce (who hails from about 57 different nationalities) started to comment that he had never heard such sayings and thought we were just a bit superstitious.  I’ve endured many odd looks over the years, but I love these old sayings and, in an effort to bring you good luck in the new year, I happily share my favorites with you:

• Get a new broom for the house around New Year’s Day to make a clean sweep.
• Don’t eat chicken on New Year’s Day or you’ll scratch for money all year.  Eat pork and sauerkraut and you’ll prosper.
• If you are having bad luck at cards, get up and walk around your chair and your luck will improve.
• If you say the same thing at the same time as someone else, the first person that says “you owe me a beer” doesn’t have to pay for the next beer.
• Green cars are unlucky.
• If you drop silverware, it means that “company is coming!”  A fork is a guy, a spoon represents a woman and a knife is trouble.  The utensil will point in the direction from which they’ll travel.
• Knock on wood for good luck.
• Always leave a building by the same door that you entered.
• When a woman is pregnant, she shouldn’t eat a lot of sour foods or the baby will have a sour disposition.
• You can get sick in any month that has an “R” in the name.

Of course, here in Lancaster County, the Amish have plenty of wise advice and sayings of their own.   This one seems appropriate for the start of a new year:

• To grow old gracefully you must start when you are young.

We hope that this blog brightens your January day and keeps you on track for 2013.  From everyone at The Artist’s Inn, Happy New Year!

Oh Tanenbaum

I’ve always loved White Pine for our Christmas trees.  We used to be able to find them at a local tree farm and cut them ourselves.  Now we’re lucky enough to find them at all. It seems that Concolor and Fraser Fir are all the rage.  Feeling a bit like Charlie Brown, we search out the lots and usually find a few white pines.  Way at the back of the lot.  This year the selection was particularly small.

But we're fortunate enough to live in a part of Lancaster County where several local businesses  carry trees.  There's no need to go to Lowe's or Home Depot, or, gasp, Costo.  It really adds to the experience when the entire business is dedicated to Christmas.   Frysville Farms is one of our favorites.  It's family run and in business since 1760.  They not only carry trees, but have pine roping and a great selection (over 80,000) of poinsettias. I’ve blogged about these beautiful poinsettias before.  See:  Great Places to Shop.  

But on this particular day it was all about the tree.  So we set out looking for White Pine.

Concolor and Fraser Firs were piled high over my head.   

 Spruce and Douglas Fir were also plentiful.

 

As we made the long walk to the end of the lot, I wished we had come earlier in the year—even though it was still November.

 

There they werek, at the very end.  We usually take advantage of the tall ceilings at the inn and get a very substantial tree, but this year, we had to settle for one just a little over six feet tall.

 

It looked even smaller after it was wrapped.

But once our modest White Pine was decorated, it was transformed- just like Charlie Brown’s - into a beautiful tree, with its long graceful needles softly enveloping the ornaments. 

Holidays are often noisy and fun.  They fly by way too fast.  But those days that the tree is in the house are wonderful, filling the air with its scent.  I love to light the tree in the morning while it’s still dark outside, or sit in the room at night with only the tree lit.  It’s about my favorite thing to do at Christmastime.

Perhaps it’s the symbolism of light in the darkness, or the memories reflected in the ornaments, or the fact that ours will be a quiet celebration this year, but more than ever before it seems that the little things mean the most - like the tradition of caring for a live tree.

And when the quiet, bare days of January come, I will surely miss the noisy, cluttered days of Christmas, but I’ll be especially aware of the empty spot in the sitting room where our tree stood.

The Importance of Dining Together

I recently had the chance to attend the Fabulous Food Show in Cleveland with my good friend Paula.  It was a feast for not only the taste buds, but the eyes as well.

Beautifully decorated cakes….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Incredible wines, and terrific chefs. 

We saw Michael Symon, Jeff Mauro, Jason Roberts, Ann Burrell and, my hero from a long-ago cooking show called “Cooking Live”, SaraMoulton.  What I liked most about Sara’s show is that she invited people from around the country to cook with her.  And something always went wrong.  Always.  THAT is when you learned how to fix mistakes, adapt to the changes, and still create a good dish.  As far as I know, it’s the only show of its kind ever.  I am forever grateful to her and learned so much from her show – most importantly, not to panic.  (And yes, she really IS that tiny!)

The chefs talked about their recipes, their careers, gave tips on cooking and fielded all kinds of questions from the audience.

There seemed to be chefs everywhere – even in the restrooms!

I won’t say we were the very last to leave, but we really did enjoy the show.

As I thought about it, I realized that all the chefs offered up the same bit of advice:  sit down at the table and have dinner with your family!  They urged us to take one or two nights a week, drop the cell phones, I-pads and tablets into a basket, turn off the TV, and share a meal and talk. 

As our lives become increasingly chaotic, Americans tend to eat more and more on the run.  It’s a rare night when the phone isn’t ringing, the kids don’t have soccer practice and there’s not some kind of meeting.  But if we lose this most-important component, I fear the fabric of the family will start to unravel.  It’s a custom that crosses all cultures, geographies and income levels and will pay big dividends in the future because setting the lines of communication early creates a path for future relationships. 

Maybe that’s why guests at the inn like breakfast time so much.  I often hear that the interaction with the other guests is one of the reasons they find bed and breakfasts so appealing, so relaxing and civilized – their words, not mine!  You don't often find that in a hotel.

As we prepare to sit down tomorrow to celebrate Thanksgiving, I wish you, your family and friends a wonderful mealtime together – a time for sharing, being grateful and just enjoying the art of conversation - at least until half the table runs out to shop and the other leaves to watch the football games!

Old Houses – Where Love Lives

What is it about an old house that exudes warmth the minute you walk in the door?  Can it possibly convey the laughter and happy times that have happened within its walls?   I think so!

Last week my mom and I received the good news that her house had sold.  So we traveled back to a suburb of Cleveland to clear out some furniture, dishes and clothing.  I knew this would be a tough trip.  Yes, the packing was hard work, but the help of friends and cousins lightened the load.  I was more concerned with packing up my emotions.

This small house that my parents built so long ago and where I was raised would be called “home” no matter where I lived.  The one filled with laughter, late-night card parties, backyard bar-b-ques, and graduation pictures taken on the front lawn.  Even though the living room was now empty of furniture, I could still see the Christmas tree that held so many gifts when my brothers and I would travel back.

The old black wall phone used to be by the side door –when phones had curly-cue cords – and I would stretch it straight as far as I could out the door so that I could sit outside on the stoop and have long conversations with my girlfriends.

I could once again see the swing that my dad built tall and strong - and I can still feel the excitement when you swing just a bit too high and you lift off the seat for a moment. 

Here was the back yard that once held the garden which supplied half the neighborhood with vegetables.

And the kitchen.  A tiny space that created an endless oasis of incredible food – cakes, pies, cookies, pierogies, turkeys, kielbasa, chicken paprikash, and that very special treat on Christmas Eve – shrimp cocktail.  This was the kitchen where I learned to bake – sometimes ending up with more flour on me than in the cookies!

That house held so many memories for both mom and me – it was difficult to leave it for the last time, and I was grateful for the pouring rain that mixed with my tears and rushed us along. It would have been unbearable to leave it in sunny weather.

Several realtors had commented about the “good feeling” of the house.  So maybe it’s NOT just me! 

 I do know one thing – I’m so grateful that our inn feels the same when I walk in.  Probably because we’ve been fortunate enough to know the Homans – a family that lived here from 1931 until 1989. They raised five children here and we’ve been lucky enough to hear their stories and share them with our guests.  And I feel that the house is grateful to once again have its hallways echo with laughter – this time with guests from around the world.
Of course a house witnesses both the good times and bad.  But I’m an eternal optimist and hopeless romantic.  So the good times will always take precedence.

Can people feel the good times?  Since so many of our guests return again and again, I kind of think they can. 

And perhaps, every now and again, we all just need to go “home”, to a place of love and laughter.

Fun at American Music Theater

We caught the American Icons Show yesterday.  It was a non-stop toe-tapping treat from the moment the curtain opened.

My mom really enjoyed the Motown Tribute, Bruce loved the Sinatra songs, and I can’t get enough of the dancing.  But my favorite song was their rendition of Billy Joel’s  New York State of Mind with Wess Cooke and Marybeth Kern on sax.  Wow.

With all that fun energy in one place, how can you go wrong? 

The show will continue through October 7.  As with any show at American Music Theater, we can offer discounted tickets to our guests at The Artist's Inn.