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We received a nice note from Mary Minter from Avoca the other day. She wrote: "We have been Chronicle subscribers for the 65 years we have been married and before that our parents were. We enjoy your paper. Keep it going." It's always great to hear from readers!
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Gee 65 years. That's after the time I started at the Chronicle. I swept up lead from the floors around the linotype machines and taking it to the melting pot (furnace) to make more lead for the machines. I also sorted hand type and put it back into the proper cases. I also brought the pig iron to the linotype machines!
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I was talking with my late buddy's (Mike Crubaugh) brother (John) the other day. I had just looked back into old Chronicle files and had found where, in 1956, the two of them were in an accident coming back from a baker's convention in Chicago. A couple had run a stop sign getting onto a road and came out right in front of them. Both cars were pretty much gone, but nobody was hurt even though the woman's head came to rest on the bumper of Mike's car! John said they called their brother-in-law to come and get them from Dodgeville!
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I think it was about that same time that the "Not So" Quality Bakery made the front page of the Chronicle as Mike had made 36,000 cookies in three days. That's 3,000 dozen! He ran a sale where the first dozen was sold at regular price (30 cents) and the second dozen went for 9 cents! He sold out very quickly!
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We decided to go to the northeast for Saturday morning breakfast last week. We went to Vicki's Cozy Cafe in Muscoda. Tiffany was our waitress and always refered to her mother as the cook. It took a little bit to get her to smile at first, but by the time we were served she was fitting right in with our humor! The group was myself, Bob, Terry, Dewey, Dave and Tom DeMuth. I think Bob invited Tom because he looked like he was starving as of late! By the time we left, there was just one booth available for customers. They were busy!
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I don't remember everyone's choice for a meal, but Dave had "Old Blueballs" - blueberry pancakes. I had the "Belly Buster" - 2 eggs, 2 French toast, ham and blueberry toast.
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I had lunch with my right hand person (or maybe I'm her right hand person) Jessica Rickard. We do the concession stand at Centennial Park from high school baseball (end of March) until Fall Ball (first part of October). Baseball season isn't that far away, especially for getting things organized to have a successful concession stand season. And prices have been going up on almost everything we sell there! So beware!
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Baseball and softball have begun open Gym to get players off to a good start on the season too!
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Today - January 19 - is World Quark Day. Now, that's a new one to me, but then I don't cook. I didn't have a clue what this day was, so I looked it up! Quark is a delicious high-protein, low-fat alternative to soft cheese and yogurt that can be used for baking, cooking, and blending. In the U.S. it's called dry curd cheese, farmer's cheese and sometimes pot cheese. The photo above looks like something I would eat!