Think Warm

I knew it.  That little burst of spring at the end of last week was just a teaser.  The snow is falling yet again outside my window.

Last weekend--a windy and cold one (as usual)--I was looking for something make for dinner.  And although I really don't mind the cold winter weather, I'm starting to get that itch to spend some time outside without bundling up. 

So I grabbed some brats from Blooming Glen Pork, heated up the grill (gave it a little more time in the cold), made some tasty macaroni salad and we had a little summer-like meal.  It's funny how food can be associated with a certain time of year and this really did make us think of the warm weather to come. 

No, we didn't eat out on the patio.

Everything But the Oink

I don't eat hot dogs.  Never have, never will.  As a huge baseball fan, it's hard sometimes--being at the ballpark and not eating a tube steak.  I almost feel like I should shove one down just to feel a part of the action.

Although the reason I don't like hot dogs is the taste, many people think I don't eat hot dogs because of what goes into making them.  To prove that this is not the reason, I mention my love of scrapple.

Most of you reading this are from Eastern PA, so you probably know what scrapple is.  But for those of you who don't, scrapple is a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch food where basically all the scraps of the pig that aren't used for other things is boiled down to make a broth.  Then cornmeal is added to create a pork "mush" that is then formed into bricks.  The scrapple is usually sliced and pan fried, although I've known it to be deep fried (mmmm....).

To many, scrapple is, well, disgusting.  And I've eaten my share of disgusting scrapples.  In college, we used to go out to local diners for breakfast on weekends and I'd order scrapple--more to yuck out my friends than for the taste.  At some of those places, there was some nasty, gray, soggy slabs of gunk served to me.  Good scrapple is not like that.

Good scrapple--the best I've had is from Blooming Glen Pork--is meaty-tasting, spicy (black pepper and sage often the prevailing flavors) and crispy on the outside.  It's usually eaten as a breakfast food, although I had some for lunch today (it was left over--not my usual lunch choice).  Many enjoy ketchup as their condiment of choice, but I love it with a little drizzle of real maple syrup.  Yum.  Try a slice of it with a scrambled eggs on a bagel as a breakfast sandwich. 

So next time you have the chance, give scrapple a try--even if just to gross out your friends.  If you have some well made scrapple, you'll find that it's quite the opposite of what you may expect. 

Maybe I'll take some the next time I go to the ballpark.

Pigging Out

Yesterday, MB, Jake & I went to Bushkill Falls for some hiking.  It's sort of hiking--mostly climbing wooden steps, but still nice.  We thought we might be crazy since the forecast high for Bushkill was 95, but in the woods it was much cooler and the falls, although not rushing as they probably usually are because we haven't had rain in what seems like 6 weeks, gave off a nice cool breeze.  (How 'bout that for a run-on sentence!)

Jake is quite the hiker.  After a brief "I can't walk any more" incident, he traipsed up and down all those steps.  A long way for those little legs to go in that heat.  He was a real sweatball, but he loves it.

When we got home, I grilled up some slices of stuffed tenderloin from Blooming Glen Pork as a quick dinner.  Have you ever had that?  Mmmm....pork tenderloin stuffed with sausage (we had country, but you can get sweet or hot Italian) and all covered in bacon.  Pork stuffed with pork wrapped in pork.  Oh yeah.  You may notice that we're once again eating squash--we're still overrun with them.  MB made some really tasty chocolate zucchini muffins, but that's for another time.