I was born and raised in central PA and man does it have it's claws in me and in ways that I never even realized. First of all, let's just say it was an eye opener when my husband (who is from WI, where we now live) and I moved out of the area to northern Virginia. My first New Year's Day celebration in our new town was held at my sister in laws house. I could not believe that we were not being served pork and sauerkraut! How else were we going to ensure good luck for the new year!?!? If you have no idea what I am talking about...it's a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition that when growing up I really never thought to ask about, we just ate it. Casey, from Good. Food. Stories. writes about it on her site.
"The formerly green cabbage of the sauerkraut and the abundant fat of the pig symbolize riches and prosperity for the coming year, the pig doing double duty to stand for progress as a forward-rooting and forward-thinking animal (its four hooves all point toward the front).Slavic superstition also dictates that you should eat the long, skinny threads of sauerkraut to give you a long life—smart thinking when you consider the probiotics and other wonderfully healthy byproducts of the fermented cabbage."
Think that's strange...wait until you here this. After the shock of New Year's Day I went on with adjusting to life in VA and enjoying the many things DC has to offer. Then September rolled around...September 29th. It was a day like any other day...that was the problem. Why wasn't anyone eating goose? See in PA in Mifflin County on September 29th we celebrate Goose Day. Many restaurants in the area will be focusing on one thing...goose. I called my dad to tell him that people in VA had never heard of Goose Day! Sadly, living in a bubble had caused me to think that this day was a national day...it makes sense, we all celebrate Groundhogs Day (another thing that started in PA). He broke the news to me that this is pretty much just something we do in our small county. WOW! What next? Santa and the Easter Bunny don't exist?
Seriously, I'm not making this stuff up! You can read about Goose Day here.
Well, tonight was another...I made one of our favorite meals for dinner, one that I remember eating as a child. Chicken and Waffles. It is a delicious meal, for me I make sourdough waffles, they are topped with leftover roasted chicken that has been heated in homemade gravy. After our meal I stopped by the farmer's market to chat with my friend and I mentioned what we had for dinner. She gave me an odd look and asked what that was. I told her and she replied, "Ok, I never would have thought of that pairing." I came home and asked my WI husband if this was another one of my weird PA things to which he said "yes". So of course I had to get on my phone and check this out. It was actually this evening that I fell in love with Good. Food. Stories. as I love learning about foods that made my childhood and the story behind them. She is from Pittsburgh and she gets the PA thing, so of course she had a post about Amish style chicken and waffles!
I think it is so much fun to learn about the food from your roots and the story of how it came to be. It must be the German in me...this interest came after I discovered how much I LOVE sauerkraut.
While we are on the subject of Pennsylvanian food, may I just tell all of you that what you call pot pie really is not pot pie. Pot pie is a soupy, fatty, meaty meal that is not shoved neatly into a crust. Just the thought of chicken pot pie takes me back to my parents in the kitchen and my dad tossing homemade noodles into the mix. I'm going to call my mom soon and see if she can remember the recipe she used to make (I will certainly share if she can) but until then I might give this one a try. It sounds pretty close to what I used to enjoy.
"The formerly green cabbage of the sauerkraut and the abundant fat of the pig symbolize riches and prosperity for the coming year, the pig doing double duty to stand for progress as a forward-rooting and forward-thinking animal (its four hooves all point toward the front).Slavic superstition also dictates that you should eat the long, skinny threads of sauerkraut to give you a long life—smart thinking when you consider the probiotics and other wonderfully healthy byproducts of the fermented cabbage."
Think that's strange...wait until you here this. After the shock of New Year's Day I went on with adjusting to life in VA and enjoying the many things DC has to offer. Then September rolled around...September 29th. It was a day like any other day...that was the problem. Why wasn't anyone eating goose? See in PA in Mifflin County on September 29th we celebrate Goose Day. Many restaurants in the area will be focusing on one thing...goose. I called my dad to tell him that people in VA had never heard of Goose Day! Sadly, living in a bubble had caused me to think that this day was a national day...it makes sense, we all celebrate Groundhogs Day (another thing that started in PA). He broke the news to me that this is pretty much just something we do in our small county. WOW! What next? Santa and the Easter Bunny don't exist?
Seriously, I'm not making this stuff up! You can read about Goose Day here.
Well, tonight was another...I made one of our favorite meals for dinner, one that I remember eating as a child. Chicken and Waffles. It is a delicious meal, for me I make sourdough waffles, they are topped with leftover roasted chicken that has been heated in homemade gravy. After our meal I stopped by the farmer's market to chat with my friend and I mentioned what we had for dinner. She gave me an odd look and asked what that was. I told her and she replied, "Ok, I never would have thought of that pairing." I came home and asked my WI husband if this was another one of my weird PA things to which he said "yes". So of course I had to get on my phone and check this out. It was actually this evening that I fell in love with Good. Food. Stories. as I love learning about foods that made my childhood and the story behind them. She is from Pittsburgh and she gets the PA thing, so of course she had a post about Amish style chicken and waffles!
I think it is so much fun to learn about the food from your roots and the story of how it came to be. It must be the German in me...this interest came after I discovered how much I LOVE sauerkraut.
While we are on the subject of Pennsylvanian food, may I just tell all of you that what you call pot pie really is not pot pie. Pot pie is a soupy, fatty, meaty meal that is not shoved neatly into a crust. Just the thought of chicken pot pie takes me back to my parents in the kitchen and my dad tossing homemade noodles into the mix. I'm going to call my mom soon and see if she can remember the recipe she used to make (I will certainly share if she can) but until then I might give this one a try. It sounds pretty close to what I used to enjoy.
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