We survived our quick back east for Thanksgiving trip. The only way to describe this little foray is a gastronomic road trip. Tuesday night we drove to my sister’s house in Lebanon. Well really Jonestown, Lebanon’s version of the burbs. Wednesday morning we started with a stick-to-your-aorta breakfast including scrapple. Well, some of us ate scrapple. Molly doesn’t touch the stuff. And scrapple isn’t made out of hair and eyeballs, despite rumors to the contrary.
Then it was down to the Lebanon Farmers market where we loaded up on about 30 pounds of the best bacon that ever came out of a pig, a block of scrapple, a couple Lebanon bolognas, minced meat (with real meat in it), some great beef jerky, and fresh sticky buns. After the Farmers market it was a quick run over to Shueys Pretzels for some handmade pretzels, fresh out of the ovens. From there we headed down to Delaware stopping at the Dutchway store in Gap (Lancaster County) to pick up some Brinser’s corn meal (ground and roasted in Mannheim, Lancaster County) and John Cope’s dried sweet corn (Hanover, York County). Cope’s is kind of a requirement for the Thanksgiving meal. Rumor has it Cope’s was a favorite of Dwight Eisenhower. About now the weight in the back of the van is starting to pull the front tires up off the street, affecting the steering.
Delaware was great. We did a Thanksgiving turkey dinner with Anita, a couple trips to the Dogfish Head Brewery for some god-awful good beer and burgers, and had fried oysters at Claws. Life is good. Where else but the mid-Atlantic will a restaurant give you a choice of oysters from Blue Point, Hog Island, or Chincoteague? These places are only about 40 miles apart but apparently there are some discriminating tastes that can tell the difference. I’m not too big on the slimy raw oysters but breaded and fried is a different story. I could do oysters and beer for any meal of the day.
We did some non-gastronomic things too. Naturally, hit the beach a couple times. In the winter time you can walk the beach around Cape Henlopen, the point that separates the Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. The point is closed off for nesting piping plovers during the summer months but a great walk in the winter. This is one of my favorite places to be. Right up there with Sand River.
Sanderlings finding something good to eat at Cape Henlopen, Probably a piece of scrapple.
A gull finding something good to eat at Cape Henlopen.
A gull finding another bird to eat at Cape Henlopen.
Yummy. The avian version of scrapple maybe?
The black vulture version of scrapple at Cape Henlopen.
Picked clean.
Probably the best views of surf scoters we have ever had.
We did some clothing shopping too. Between Rehobeth’s concentrated outlet stores and no sales tax, clothing shopping is almost tolerable. Maybe right above a colonoscopy on the scale of things I hate to do. We went on Black Friday but did kind of a hit-and-run operation. We waited until dinner time, after the major bloodletting died down and everyone had to stop their frenzy to refuel. Chartered buses from Baltimore, New York, and New Jersey were dropping people off at the outlets during the day. Why would anyone want to fight that? While they were slashing each other for bargains I was walking Henlopen. Way more satisfying.
We got in a little birding and we visited with Dad too. Despite the ravages of Alzheimer’s there is still some of Pappy in there. Then we had to high tail it back to Lansing on Sunday. Long sigh! But at least we have enough bacon and scrapple to last a few months.
Pappy looking at Molly.
Pappy and his little angel. He whapped me with his cane once, because she wanted him to spank me.
There’s still something of the dad I remember in there.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 