Monthly Archives: December 2012

Shoo Fly Pie

Have you ever had a slice of shoo fly pie? Ah! It’s pure magic! Okay…I may be exaggerating a bit with the word magic, but it’s really that good!

Shoo fly pie is a pie that has three layers. A bottom gooey layer, called wet bottom. A middle layer of cake consistency, and a top layer that is sprinkled heavily with a streusel top. It’s a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch molasses pie and its delicious! If you ever find yourself around or driving through Central PA on 11-15, stop and treat yourself to a slice of shoo fly pie! Let me know what you think once you taste it too.

I never realized how much I enjoy cooking, and then of course there is eating too. I knew when I was home I wanted my grandmother to show me how she bakes her shoo fly pies.  She is amazing and of course made sure that she had all the ingredients for me to learn how to make it. It’s funny how much I miss the simple traditional things like this shoo fly pie. So many things that I took for granted. I cannot wait to bake it again in the near future when I am feeling a little home sick or craving something from my hometown.

Thank you Gram! These pictures will help preserve the wonderful memory of baking with you that I will treasure forever.  Love and miss you guys already!

Korean Night

While we were home we craved Korean rice. No big surprise there, huh? I mean if you think about it…we eat it almost everyday with one of our meals. Hopefully the ladies from work are not reading this, ha-ha! Or else right about now I’d be hearing a big TOLD YOU SO! Mind you these are the same ladies who were absolutely baffled at the fact that Mr. B and I could not get rice at every restaurant in the US. Gosh, how can you not just love them?

My sister in-law loved a Korean restaurant that she tried out some time awhile back. She asked if there were anyway to show her or teach her about Korean cuisine. Mr. B jumped at this opportunity!

This would usually be an easy task, however we are from central PA where there is really no large city for miles in either direction. Trying to cook up some Korean food posed a bit of a snag. No H-mart or Lotte Mart… We really had to think outside of the box and imprivise a bit. A little Korean-American fusion. It was fun!

“Are you trying to burn the baby out?” My sister in-law commenting on all the wasabi that Mr. B had in his soy sauce and forgot to mention to her before she took a nice dip. We forgot not everyone likes the feeling of burning your nose off. Oopsie.. sorry baby A

I love the next few photos. My father in-law was such a wonderful sport. He rolled his own kimbop and ate it too. Now the chopsticks on the other hand…. that was a different story. he-he-he. Just needs a wee bit of practice before he comes for a visit.

Brad, Sorry you missed out! You will just have to have Lynds show you in the meantime and then you two come over and visit us too!

Isabella’s

Besides sensing a food pattern here, I am sure you can tell how much we love our italian cuisine. Due to bad weather our prior dinner engagement at Ghezzi’s fell through. Our friend Scott came to the rescue and suggested that we try out a newly opened restaurant called Isabella’s restaurant and Cocktail Lounge. Sure, why not!

The restaurant is located on the main street that runs through downtown Selinsgrove, PA. The building that the restaurant sits in is what used to be an old bank. Once you are inside you will still find many remnants of the bank in the decor. Old bank ledgers piled on the window ledges, knobs placed all around still from the original bank, the bar area being used is an old teller box, the vault visible from the bar and dining area propped wide open and used as a prepping station. All and all it really boast a Victorian era vibe. We instantly fell in love and we hadn’t even seen the menu, nor tasted the food.

The service was fantastic! The food was outstanding! So much so that we ended up going back a second time while we were home too. We have high hopes that when we are back visiting in the area that the restaurant still operates because we will certainly go back again!

The restaurant is located on 23 S. Market St., Selinsgrove, PA. Hours are Monday to Saturday from 4- 11 p.m.

 

Five Guys

Five Guys burgers and french fries is not your typical fast-food burger chain. The beef patties are fresh, the french fries are cut daily at the restaurant, plus there are boxes of free peanuts for you to take and eat while your patties are cooked up on the grill. Oh, and did I mention they have a digital soda machine that allows you to make your own drink creation.  Check out all of those french fries!

Amatos Pizza

When I was in high school and college I worked at a local Italian restaurant called Amato’s Pizza. I have some of the best memories from there! Mmmm especially the pizza and bread dough! We loved buying the uncooked dough and making our own pizza at home with it.

There was no way that we Bees were going to pass up the opportunity to swing in and do an Northumberland/ Italy world tour. Plus my little sister works there too! I needed to see her cute little face, give her a squeeze, and leave her a big ol’ tip.

We met up with our friend Scott and indulged in the three things we missed the most since we had been away. The Stromboli, cheeseburger sub, and baked ziti. Needless to say our eyes did all of the talking because our bellies couldn’t finish nearly all that we ordered. Sooo good!

Not much had changed from the last time I walked out the Amato’s doors. However they were working on a large addition to expand the main dining area. Once it is finished it will look awesome! Nothing pleases me more than to see a small local restaurant survive and conquer the current economy.

Until next time!

Doesn’t that just make your mouth water? Stop on in and give them some business! Oh and give my cute little sister a squeeze from across the sea’s.

Home For The Holidays

You know, I’ve been humming that Christmas tune in my head all week…I think you know the one…

“Oh there’s no place like home For the holidays, ‘cause no matter how far away you roam, if you want to be happy in a million ways, For the holidays, you can’t beat home, sweet home .”

Really, besides the Grinch, who doubts the lyrics of a Christmas tune anyways?

To think just a few short days ago, I was sitting on the plane becoming so overwhelmed with these crazy persons thoughts about going home for the holidays. Feeling guilty and anxious already about making sure everyone has around the same time to spend with us before even stepping foot back onto US soil. EEK! Can you relate?

Thankfully that anxiety subsided somewhere in the air over what I’m guessing was the state of Washington.

I’m happy to report, We Bees are having such a wonderful trip back home! So much delicious home-cooked food and time spent with people we love so dearly.

For now, I’ll leave you with a few pictures from our merry little Christmas!

Typically we all attend Christmas Eve service but due to the road conditions we thought it would be best to stick close to home.

Christmas Eve with the traditional snack attack fest, this year held at my mothers house.I couldn’t believe the wonderful spread of snacks that she put out for us. Shrimp, spicy cheeses and ring bologna, cookies, and middleswarth chips.   I loved watching my niece and nephew. They seriously sprouted by like weeds! I am sure I have mentioned this before in a past blog post, children always put time into perspective for me.

Followed by opening gifts at the in-laws. Any occasion to involve gifts my sweet sister in-law gets super excited and cannot wait to tear into them, hence gift opening on Christmas eve. It always makes me giggle because her brother is exactly the same! He also is the type to get super excited to give me a gift, what a pair these two.

The traditional Christmas Day breakfast with the in-laws, dry beef and gravy.

Last but certainly not least, the traditional Christmas Day dinner with the other set of grandparents and my family.

Poor Mr. B has been incredibly jet lagged. I guess I better follow suit too.

Run Around

So far its been a crazy busy week, I cannot believe that we are already on day three of our visit home. I knew once we’d get home the hands on the clock would just spin forward ever so quickly. Today we did all sorts of fun little things. We baked raisin cookies, strolled around Giant, and grabbed a bite to eat at Panera Bread.

After baking cookies, we decided to go for a stroll around Giant. Yes, we are really odd and have enjoyed “strolling” around Wal-Mart, Target, Sam’s Club, Heimbach’s, and no trip would be complete without including our local Giant grocery store. Hmmm maybe we can squeeze in a Wegmans too?

Goodness, endless amounts of decisions and options. The experience was almost overwhelming! I found myself wanting to read every single item in the Organic section. It’s incredible how much we take for granted with the endless amounts of selections and sales on food in the US. We are so lucky to be able to just purchase endless amount of stuff. In the end it always leaves me with the thoughts of, do we really need all of this stuff?

We’ve been Panera Bread enthusiast for quite sometime now. The smell of freshly baked bread, the delicious soups, the free wifi, the bakery-cafe atmosphere. We were absolutely delighted to see that they had opened in our hometown while we had been away. I knew we’d have to stop in and grab some lunch sometime while running around. Today just happened to be that day!

Have you ever ate at Panera Bread? What is your favorite thing to order? I think mine is now the Vegetarian garden vegetable with pesto. In the mood for soup? You’ve got to try it out!

Heimbach’s Country Store

When we Bees lived in the area we always picked up candies and lunch meats from Heimbach’s country store. Nothing fancy here folks, just a quaint little country store packed with all sorts of fun foods and trinkets. We had to stop in when we near it, just for a stroll to reminisce. Clearly we are all about nostalgia here folks. Okay, okay, we ended up buying candy for the plane too. We couldn’t pass up the multi-colored black licorice candy and gummy bears.

Feel free to check out the photos. We didn’t even know they still made candy cigarettes anymore…