| Paula’s Pantry: The Calm between the Storms! | | Print | |
| Written by Paula Chaney | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, 20 July 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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As the weeks pass at the Lodge during the summer, a familiar pattern seems to develop. We prepare for new arrivals: Menu planning, grocery shopping, cleaning (thanks Chris!) and prepping for a fun weekend. At the conclusion of the weekend, a different pattern: Stripping beds, washing sheets and towels, cleaning up, recycling, refrigerator and freezer inventories, and then (ahhhhh!) REST. We gear up to do it all again!
Fourth of July weekend- what a blast! We can view the fireworks at the Yacht Club from our dock. Food, fun and games flow throughout. We change the flags we fly in front of the house each day to honor each school. First Lehigh and East Carolina University, (our guys, plus Katy and Arjun). Next Penn State and Temple (Katie, Matt and Megan), 4th of July- the American flag and The University of Delaware (our alma mater). (Psss – Sean, we need a Pitt flag for next year!) Glenn brought his Penn State tailgate games – a special treat - that the 20-somethings and “grown-ups” alike enjoyed. Ladder golf, bean bag toss, washer toss and polish horseshoes took over the backyard. Add “King of the Raft”, a game of catching the football while airborne off the dock, and “target diving” off the diving board through floating tubes. Then there’s always wakeboarding and wake surfing. And, of course, more eating. Whew! The “bf’s and gf’s” and “of’s” (old folks) PLAYED. We discover assorted bodies (friends who stay over) strewn the next morning over sofas and sectionals. A great time was had by all. Krista appreciated her first 4th of July hang-out with the Chaney’s and Flemings. Mason St. Pub and Alice’s gave us breaks from kitchen and grill. I usually play the role of “food committee” each weekend with lots of help (Steph). We write our names on the plastic cups we use over the weekend (my, aren’t we GREEN?). Mine is labeled “Chief Cook”. Paul’s says “Bottle Washer”. Typically, as soon as a crew comes in from the boat, they enter my kitchen looking for food. ALL of our houseguests prepare food or clean-up. It goes with the stay. Summer foods highlighted on our recent weekends include homemade ice cream with fresh berry topping, watermelon, s’more’s (takes you back to being a kid), root beer floats, grilled entrees and summer salads. Next snowstorm I will be remember that hot summer day and homemade ice cream! We seem to get into a weekend theme of “Hurry up and eat, so we can clean-up and hurry up and eat again!!” Guests have been known to gain 5 pounds by the time the weekend is over! This past weekend my sister Cindy, husband Mark and their family arrived at the lodge. They had not visited since the re-model project. Nephew Lucas buses in from Northeastern University in Boston. The rest of the family arrives from Pittsburgh, including Kyle, who heads to Univ of Michigan in the fall, Troy and Lauren. My parents surprised us with a visit from Ocean City. Brian and Kevin made the trip home to be together with the cousins. How wonderful to re-connect with family in a place we love, and to share all of the special things about the lake. My sister got up – easily - on water skis for the first time in over 30 years. The cousin’s fish, swim, play raft games (Lauren held her own as the only girl), wake board and ski. We didn’t quite have time enough to try out wake-surfing with them. Back-to-back weekends of company- the grand finale- Beth and Jim, Kim and Paul- Michigan /NJ friends from the Upjohn days. Fellow “foodies” who serve as guinea pigs for cooking class recipes. They also take assignments for dinner and b-fast. Jim always puts out a phenomenal breakfast of fried potatoes (“lemon pepper, love and a little dirt don’t hurt!”), eggs and bangers (fresh sausage from a butcher in Sergantsville)- served with ketchup!! We have an ongoing joke with the Hageman’s and Flemings- they are KETCHUP people who buy it by the gallon. We are MUSTARD people,- all kinds and varieties. How can we be friends with KETCHUP people???!!!!! One year for Christmas Glenn gave us a gift box of every kind of mustard imaginable!!! LOL! Jim is also famous for his corned beef hash- “extra-crispy” as Kevin often reminds me. He taught the kids how to “properly” cook it on camping trips when they were younger. One year for Christmas while they were in college he gave the boys a gift box of corned beef hash and canned corn- their favorite vegetable!!. They learned that from him. Uggghh! Adventures abound for the weekend. Beth is up bright and early with a cup of coffee in one hand and a fishing pole in the other to head to the dock. Her life’s motto is “I’m in!” She never gives up an opportunity for something new. Kim recently turned 60 and completed her celebration popping up on water skis on the first try. You go girl!! Singing to Neil Young, Jackson Browne and Bruce are sure to be part of the weekend. Of course any weekend, we gather under the covered porch late in the evenings. Paul extinguishes the tiki torches throughout the yard as we prepare for slumber. “When all of a sudden there arose such a clatter”….A boat suddenly appears at our dock and it’s Sherry and Bob who hear laughter from afar. Bob interprets this as “Come over for a cocktail!”
Family and friends sharing in summer- laughter, food and fun. Ahhh… life is good!! Our thoughts turn to other lakefront friends in Michigan and Texas as they host company throughout the summer as well. Special thoughts go to the Burnham’s on Lake Charlevoix in Michigan as Linda recently lost her Mom. “Bless her heart”- as Cindy would say- and yours. Love you!
ONE tenderloin:
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