Reviews of the Summer Season at the Blackfriars

I've seen a number of plays at The American Shakespeare Center's Blackfriars Playhouse over the last few months. My wife and I saw the three Summer Season plays: Titus Andronicus, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Much Ado About Nothing on August 1 & 2. As always, the plays were wonderful. We sat in the Lords Chairs and had lots of interaction with the actors. We stayed at the historic Stonewall Jackson Hotel, and only had what I would call an average stay (kinda noisy with the pet friendly policy and our room was, ahem, small at best). We also enjoyed some of Staunton's finest foods at Mill Street Grill, Cranberries, The Pampered Palate Cafe, and The Depot Grill.

James Keegan was tailor-made for the roles of Titus and Falstaff. His performance as Titus was very powerful and his turn as Falstaff was full of predictably comedic moments. Sarah Fallon, of course, was wonderful in all of her roles, but particularly so as the evil Tamora and the witty Beatrice. Daniel Rigney, an apprentice, was hilarious as Dr. Caius in Merry Wives of Windsor, BY GAR! He and Chris Johnston were particularly snarky and vicious as Chiron and Demetrius. They had a wonderful interaction with a lady in the front row that left her as red as a tomato! The veteran performer Johnston also has a memorable turn as the odd, effete, and cowardly Slender in Merry Wives of Windsor. Victoria Reinsel, another apprentice, was great as Hero, Ann Page, and particularly Lavinia. She compares favorably in her performances to ASC veteran Miriam Donald (and that is a high compliment). Chris Seiler was as solid as a rock as Marcus and hilarious in the role of Dogberry, and his musical performances in the band before the show and during intermissions are not to be missed. Luke Eddy, who always plays a great hero, was wonderful as Lucius, but also had a great comedic turn as Dogberry's lackey Verges. ASC veterans John Harrell and Rene Thornton, Jr. turned in their typically brilliant performances. Thornton was particularly strong as the villain Aaron and the under attack Benedick. His turn as the lecherous old Shallow in Merry Wives was a sight to behold. Harrell is always at his best playing a conniving, somewhat cowardly villain (see his turn as the Dauphin in Henry VI, Part 1) and he was great as Saturninus. He was particularly strong as the frustrated Ford/Master Brook. ASC newcomer Denice Burbach has a great turn as the gossipy Mistress Page and has a wonderful singing voice in band performances. Ali Glenzer has great interaction with Keegan in the role of Mistress Quickly. She also does a brilliant pre-show cameo as Queen Elizabeth I with Tobias Shaw as Shakespeare. Shaw was strong in all three plays, but particularly so as Claudio in Much Ado.

On October 10, after a great tomato, spinach, and provolone quiche and salad meal on the sidewalk at The Pampered Palate, we attended Henry IV, Part 1. This play is directed by ASC Co-founder and Director of Mission Dr. Ralph Alan Cohen. We again sat in the Lords Chairs. This performance was my favorite production by the ASC yet. Eddy and Keegan are absolutely brilliant as Prince Hal and Falstaff in this rollicking, fun-filled, action packed play. If you have any preconceived notions about history plays being boring, thrown them out the window and check out Shakespearean history ASC style. As a matter of fact, two histories, this and Henry VI, Part 1 are my two favorite ASC productions (caveat: I'm a trained historian). Toby Shaw is tremendous as Hotspur, and John Harrell's subtle facial expressions are worth the price of admission. That guy can make me laugh without speaking a word, sometimes perhaps unintentionally. Chris Johnston, who is really asserting himself this summer as a leading talent, is particularly strong as Ned Poins and the Douglas, complete with Scottish brogue. Thornton exudes regal authority as Henry Bullingbrook and is very impressive in the understated title role. Ali Glenzer once again delights as Mistress Quickly and Burbach is strong as Hotspur's concerned wife. Big props go out to Seiler and Reinsel for convincingly speaking Welsh on stage. Seiler is great as the sneaky charlatan Owen Glendower, and Reinsel plays his daughter, married to Daniel Rigney's Edmund Mortimer. The music, performed by many of the actors, was quite good, especially the rollicking Irish folk song, "Ramblin' Rover" that had the entire crowd (trying) to sing and clap along. Such great fun!

We will be returning to the Blackfriars to see The Rehearsal late next month and then A Christmas Carol and Harrell's one man performance of The Santaland Diaries the day after Christmas.

Another weekend at the Blackfriars

I once again spent this past weekend in beautiful Staunton, VA. We stayed at the Hampton Inn Harrisonburg South, a relatively new hotel, that provides excellent accomodations and service for a very good price. I highly recommend it if you are staying in the Staunton/Harrisonburg area.

We arrived on Friday and stopped in at Cranberry's Grocery and Eatery in Staunton. My wife had a delicious piece of quiche and I had a wonderful roast beef sandwich with a cream cheese/horseradish spread and roasted red pepper on multi-grain bread. We then went to The Split Banana and had some great ice cream/gelatto. Actually, we went three times while in town! I had M&M Birthday Cake, Virginia Peanut Butter, and Sweet Cream in a waffle cone. I highly recommend checking them out- they're not Lapp Valley, but who is? For dinner we tried the Mill Street Grill. I am not a huge fan of BBQ ribs, but I had to try these as their reputation precedes them. I must say, the reputation is well deserved. I had the White Star Rib Platter: a half rack of BBQ Baby Back and a half rack of St. Louis style with fried green tomatoes and some great slaw. My wife had beef brisket with garlic mashed potatoes. Everything was great, the sauce was a bit smoky, a bit sweet, and a bit spicy. The star of the meal was a pewter crock of bread (Bavarian dark, whole wheat, and white) with strawberry butter. Tremendous! We had an excellent server, Morris, who was most helpful.

We then headed to the Blackfriars Playhouse to see "Rosencrantz and Guildentstern are Dead." This was a most excellent performance, highlighted by standout performances by Ginna Hoben, Rick Blunt, Luke Eddy, and Daniel Kennedy. Rick Blunt is a gregarious fellow who mingles with the crowd before the show- I had a wonderful time joshing with him. The next day we saw "The Comedy of Errors." Blunt, Hoben, Eddy, Dennis Henry, and Josh Carpenter were stand-out performers in this farcical tale of confusion. Later that evening, we returned to see "Hamlet." Eddy's performance as the title character was riveting. Other standouts were Aiden O'Reilly, Kennedy, Carpenter, Blunt & Hoben (reprising their roles as Rosencrantz & Guildenstern) and Jonathan Reis as Claudius. We made the mistake of asking to sit in the Queen's box for this performance: the view was terrible, and the seats uncomfortable, though it was nice to say we did it. We moved to the Lord's Chairs at intermission. I highly recommend checking out as many plays as possible at the American Shakespeare Center. I've already booked my seats for the fall season, and the 2010 Actors' Renaisance Season for next year. I'm also going to see "A Christmas Carol" and "The Santaland Diaries" this December. All I can say is, if they show it, I'm going to see it and I urge you to do the same (and give a donation if you can). 

Staunton, VA, the Shenandoah Valley, and the American Shakespeare Center

This blog is usually devoted to issues about the Amish and travel in Lancaster County. However, I have been making some recent pligrimages to beautiful Staunton, VA. Staunton is a wonderful town. I have been stopping in Staunton for years on my way to and from PA to eat and because they have a great Martin's Food Market where I can get a wide variety of Turkey Hill products and a great Sheetz for me to top off my tank. I had not been to any of the wonderful attractions that Staunton had to offer until February of this year when we decided to actually just take a trip to Staunton.

 

We had tickets to see Henry VI, Part I at the American Shakespeare Center's Blackfriars Playhouse. My wife is a huge fan of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, (me not so much, until now) and Shakespeare. We have been talking for years about coming here to see a play. In fact, we had tickets in November to see one but got sick and couldn't make it. Upon arrival we parked in a deck adjacent to the Playhouse and the beautiful, historic Stonewall Jackson Hotel.

 

We went through the Hotel and then walked around Staunton to get somewhat oriented to the town. The town offers a lot of neat, eclectic shopping and dining options. We made mental notes of places we would like to go and then headed back to the Playhouse. After we were admitted to the Playhouse we took our seats among the Lord's Chairs. The Playhouse is a re-creation of the Blackfriars Theatre in London, Shakespeare's indoor theatre. The Lord's Chairs, are exactly that, comfortable individual chairs on stage level to either side of the stage. If you would like to get even closer to the actors, you may take your place on stools on the stage. Our seats had a personalized letter from one of the actors thanking us for attending. Before the performances, the actors play music. These songs are typically humorous and are always well done. At the time of the performance, actor Thomas Keegan came to the stage and explained the basics of performances at the Playhouse and rules and regulations (plays are performed with the lights on, no photography, no outside food and drinks, etc.). The play then began. 

I had never seen or read Henry VI, Part One, but I enjoyed the performance immensely. Stand-out performaces were Miriam Donald as Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc), Christopher Seiler as Talbot, Rene Thornton, Jr. as Richard Plantagenet, Alyssa Wilmoth as Henry VI, Benjamin Curns as the Duke of Gloucester, and John Harrell as Charles the Dauphin. I can't wait until next year to see Henry VI, Part II. After the play two actors were at the door with a hat for donations. Like many non-profits, the American Shakespeare Center is suffering during these hard economic times and is attempting to raise $450,000 by May. We thought the play so great we donated a small token of our appreciation to Sarah Fallon, an actress at the ASC. 

After the play we decided to eat at The Dining Room. We arrived around 4:30 and were the only couple there, but it started filling up closer to 5. The Dining Room is decorated in a type of art deco style. I ordered a caramel appletini and it was one of the best cocktails I have ever had (I'm not a big drinker). The apples were fresh pressed as I saw the bartender doing it. I had cocoa dusted scallops (large, about 10-12) over white chocolate risotto with sauteed spinach. It was amazing. My only gripe was that we were not given bread while other diners were. Anyway, my wife had an amazing entree of crab cakes. For dessert we had a wonderful Bananas Foster and a Creme de Menthe coffee. I highly recommend The Dining Room and will return anytime I am in Staunton. We then tooled around town a bit more, checked out the train depot, and headed to our hotel south of Harrisonburg. We stayed at the Hampton Inn Harrisonburg South, a brand new hotel and quite a gem. 

The next day we visited several Civil War Trails sites in the Shenandoah Valley. We visited Dayton, VA, an Old Order Mennonite community, then headed to Harrisonburg to see the Turner Ashby Memorial, the battlefields at Cross Keys, Port Republic, Piedmont, Waynesboro, Buchanan, and Hanging Rock. 

We returned to Staunton in late March to see two more plays at the ASC: "The Revenger's Tragedy" and "The Changeling." Again, these performances were excellent, particularly those by Benjamin Curns, Sarah Fallon, Gregory Jon Phelps. John Harrell as Lussurioso in "The Revenger's Tragedy" was comic genius. I'm so sorry I missed his turn in "The Blind Beggar of Alexandria." Curns stole the show as the lead in both of these plays. We again dropped a donation in the hat after both of these wonderful performances. The music performed before the performances and during intermissions is as entertaining as the plays themselves. The informational "rap" by Curns, Keegan and Phelps before "The Changeling" was hysterical. I would pay just to see that. 

On this visit we had two great meals, one a return to The Dining Room, and the other at the Depot Grille where I enjoyed one of the best steaks I've ever had. We also visited the Shenandoah Heritage Farmer's Market near Harrisonburg. It reminded me of a poor man's Kitchen Kettle Village. It was quite nice and had some pretty neat stuff. 

We've made plans to see the Stark Raving Sane Tour during Easter weekend and then three more plays in August. I can't recommend seeing a play at the Blackfriars Playhouse strongly enough, and please, if you can spare a buck or two, please do to ensure that this great resource continues. Also, check out the great, informational podcasts by Dr. Ralph Alan Cohen and the actors at the Blackfriars on iTunes or at the American Shakespeare Center Podcast Central. 

The Inn at Kitchen Kettle Village

On my most recent vacation to Lancaster County, I stayed four nights in room 904 of the Inn at Kitchen Kettle Village. I have been visiting KKV since I was three years old, but this was my first overnight stay. This room is on the backside of the Inn, above Village Quilts. This building used to house The People's Place, one of the earliest Amish/Mennonite interpretive tourism sites in Lancaster County, and a neat place for a Lancaster/Amishophile like myself. Anyway, the place is awesome. The only drawback is that the rooms in this particular building are upstairs (a lot of stairs), so you have to haul your luggage up the steps, so if you have physical limitations, you may be better served in the cottages or the Strawberry Street Guest Quarters. This room had a four poster massive heirloom quilt thrown king bed. There were awesome Kitchen Kettle goodies like fudge candies, KKV crackers, and KKV jellies (these were replinished after a couple of days), as well as two bottles of water each day in the fridge. The bathroom was very large and featured luxury amenities (oatmeal soaps and Egyptian cotton towels). The room also featured a nice Samsung TV (not flatscreen), a Sony Dream Machine, a microwave, a walk-in closet, quilt wall hangings, and an overstuffed red comfy chair. On top of it all, this room was quite inexpensive after discounts (less than $80 a night). We were also given vouchers for free breakfasts in the Kling House Restaurant (Fench toast with bacon or sausage, pancakes w/ bacon or sausage, or two eggs with homefries and toast) or $3 off any breakfast menu item. You were also given nice travel mugs for free coffee every day that you could take home when you checked out. You were also given a reserved parking spot right at the door. What an awesome hotel stay! I can't recommend this place enough!



While there I met much of the KKV braintrust. I would like to give a shout out to Lisa Horn, Joanne Ladley, and Mrs. Pat Burnley (co-founder of KKV) for making my wife and I feel like super VIPs. Mrs. Burnley, whom we had met a few months ago, even gave us a lemon whoopie pie which was awesome! I also wish to give major props to Lauren in the Kling House as well as the hostess (I'm sorry, I didn't get her name) for going the extra mile in getting me an awesome early 90s KKV poster called "Lancaster Preserved" (I kinda collect KKV memorabilia). Lauren was a great waitress and we really enjoyed talking with her. Charity at the Kling House was also a great waitress. The only bad thing was that Pappy's Kettle Korn wasn't open :( We even called them and asked and they said they would be there at 10 on Friday, but they hadn't shown up by 10:45 and we had to leave. Oh well, we'll get some next time.

Gettysburg

I am currently in Lancaster County, staying at the Inn at Kitchen Kettle Village. This place is amazing, but I'll get to that in another post. Before coming to Lancaster I spent two nights at the Hilton Garden Inn in Gettysburg. It is a nice hotel that tries a little too hard to be a full service Hilton while offering the quickness and convenience of a Hampton Inn. Overall, it was a nice place.

Before arriving in Gettysburg we had lunch at Hoss's Steak and Sea House in Chambersburg. Per usual, the food and service was wonderful. This is a well-managed restaurant and we always have great meals and service. The server that we always have always remembers my name (her son is also named Adrian). I think that's a nice touch and amazing considering how many people she sees (and she only sees me at most 4-5 times a year).

After arriving in Gettysburg we went to the National Park Visitor's Center for a lecture by Park Ranger Scott Hartwig on the July 1, 1863 fight for Herbst's Woods. It was fantastic. Hartwig is a great interpreter and he was so thorough. I consider myself somewhat of an expert on that portion of the battle and he really made it enjoyable for everyone from the novice to the pro. We then took a Civil War Traveler podcast of Devil's Den. It was very informative, but not for anyone in poor physical condition or the clumsy as you must traverse some very uneven ground, boulders, and streams. How those men fought over that ground under fire is beyond me. The more I walk parts of that field the more awe I hold those men in. We had dinner with our ranger friend at Montezuma Mexican Restaurant that night. I'm not a huge fan of Mexican food as there are ten on every block in NC. This one was just OK, and not up to par with most of those found in NC and more expensive. It sure isn't in the same league as Asheboro's Burrito Brothers. We then went shopping at the outlets in Gettysburg and picked up some Turkey Hill and TastyKake at Giant. Let me just say that those TastyKake Klair Pies are some of the best things ever!

The next morning we waited a long time to get a mediocre (free) breakfast at the hotel. It was free because we are Hilton Honors Gold VIPs. We then went to the Visitor's Center and finally saw the film "A New Birth of Freedom" and the Cyclorama. Both were very moving, the film was kinda Civil War for Dummies, but it was well done. The Cyclorama quite literally made me misty eyed thinking of what our ancestors went through. We then went to what we thought was the Gingerbread Man- well, turns out it has been remodeled and its name has been changed to Gettysburg Eddie's in honor of Gettysburg native and baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Plank. I must say, this is one of the worst names for a restaurant ever- it is cumbersome to say and kind of just vomits out of the mouth. On the plus side, the recipes and the owner are still the same. All the Civil War artwork has been replaced with Eddie Plank photos and they have new furniture. They still have the best chicken salad croissant, great twice fried waffle fries, an even better house salad (now with red beet eggs), and gingerbread to die for. Unfortunately, our old favorite Apple Blossom Tea Room has closed. After lunch we did a podcast tour of The Wheatfield- this was a very long, hard-to-follow, but still informative tour. If you do it, have some good walking shoes because it goes back and forth over the same ground several times and also you cover some good distances. That night we had dinner with two ranger friends at O'Rorke's Fine Food and Spirits. This was all of our first times at O'Rorke's. It was very good- I had a nice, meaty Reuben with bland fries, and apple fritters. I also had some excellent cream of crab soup. After chatting with our friends we took a walk down to Long Lane where there was a lot of skirmishing on July 1-3. I didn't see any ghosts. We went back to the hotel and had to move to another room because some jerk was smoking in a non-smoking room and it was wafting heavily into our room. We were given $20 off our rate for the trouble. The hotel is kinda dumb in that they only have one floor that is smoking, but it is only half smoking- the other half is non. We were unfortunately put on the smoking hall and when we arrived and stepped off the elevator it was awful but it was fine in our room on the first night. But then the idiot lights up in a non-smoking room-- the place was empty, why not get a smoking room? So, after that adventure and a decent night's sleep we had another somewhat slow, somewhat mediocre breakfast (I have to admit, HGI has the best bacon I've ever had). We then checked out and headed to Lancaster County.

Two trips to Lancaster County since my last post

I have made two trips to Lancaster County since my last post. In October, I won tickets to Hershey Park in the Dark from the Lancaster County Convention & Visitor's Bureau. We went up on the Thursday before Halloween, stopping in Gettysburg to have tea at Apple Blossom- it was excellent though everything was super sweet, so I felt diabetic. We made all the usual stops upon arriving in Lancaster County(Kitchen Kettle, Bird-in-Hand Restaurant, Rockvale, etc.) This time we actually made the trip out to Lapp Valley Farm and had ice cream and chocolate milk there. Like always it is the best. We stayed one night at Country Living Inn and two nights at Hampton Inn Lancaster (two free nights with Hilton Honors). On Firday, we took a behind the scenes tour of Kitchen Kettle (called the Kettle Walking Tour) with Pat Burnley, the co-founder of the village, and the tour guide, Bill. They filled us in on the history of the Village and let us talk with different shopkeepers. They were so nice and showed us around and gave us all kinds of goodies to take home with us. I highly recommend this tour. Hershey Park was OK, we went on Halloween night- of course it is geared for kids- I much prefer Chocolate World. Way too many meals in Lancaster County make things a bit too tight for me for riding many of the rides at Hershey Park, that and the fact that I am 6'5" makes me amusement park unfriendly. Zoo America was OK, but again, a little disappointing. I liked watching the different cats they have there, though. That night we ate at Jennie's Diner and had cheesesteaks and fries with gravy. The next morning we woke up sick and were basically bedridden for the rest of the day. I was unable to visit any of my Amish friends. I did manage to go to Bird-in-Hand Bake Shop to pick up some pies I had ordered for co-workers, but I nearly fell out in there. It was a miserable experience. Not sure if we picked up a bug in Hershey or if it was food poisoning. We went back home on Sunday.

On Dec. 13, we went to Gettysburg. On the way we stopped at Holy Cross Abbey and bought a monastery fruit cake and a frater (a chocolate dipped piece of fruit cake-yes, it is decadent). I'm a fan of fruit cake, and this one was a tad overrated. It reminded me of Bensen's fruit cake which you can buy in stores for half this price. We then had lunch at Hoss's in Chambersburg where we had a very nice waitress named Linda. We stopped there again on the way home and she remembered us by name- quite nice. We stayed at the Hampton Inn again in Gettysburg. We had tea, probably for the last time, at Apple Blossom in Gettysburg. Unfortunately, the owner is selling out. As always, everything was delicious. We had dinner at the Gingerbread Man with a friend of ours who is a doctoral candidate in history at Auburn. She is a seasonal park ranger at Gettysburg and is a great source of info. Despite the frigid temps, we did a lot of battlefield exploring, but were outraged that the visitor's center had shut down the cyclorama and the film until Dec. 21. I've been 4 times this year and have yet to have a good experience at that place. The Hampton Inn was OK- this was the first time we had stayed there when we paid and our room wasn't as nice as the free one we get when we cash in our HHonors points. The houskeepers always smoke up the hallways too, so that is unpleasant. We wanted to try a new French Bistro called Cafe Saint Amand for breakfast on Monday but it was closed (we are big fans of crepes).

After two days in Gettysburg we headed for Lancaster County, stopping at Dick's in York to pick up some Penn State Rose Bowl stuff. We arrived in Ronks, filled up at Wawa and I bought a delicious Wawa Egg Nog. We then went to Tanger outlets for a bit before driving to Intercourse to have tea at Ye Olde English Shoppe. This was an incredible experience. The ladies that run it put on quite the spread- we had high tea with all the trimmings. The savories and desserts blew Apple Blossom away- however, Apple Blossom still rules on the scones and tea variety. We liked it so much we had lunch there two more times (steak & kidney pie, bangers & mash, sticky toffee pudding, treacle pudding). One tea I had there was called sugar plum- it was very good- spicy & sweet. After tea we checked in to the Country Living Inn. We then visited our Amish friend Ruth and caught up on all the happenings since we last visited. We ate dinner at Bird-in-Hand, then visited briefly with Ruth's brother Leroy at his farm, Life Enhancing Acres in Bird-in-Hand.

On Tuesday we ate breakfast at the Kling House Restaurant at Kitchen Kettle. I had an egg nog waffle with an orange egg nogg topping. My wife had orange marmalade french toast with orange marmelade butter. I loved all of it, but she wasn't as impressed because she had never had marmelade and realized she didn't like the unique flavor. We then shopped in the Village and then at Rockvale. We had lunch at Isaac's Deli in Strasburg (always good, but slow). We stopped at the Springerle House and picked up some of those ornate cookies that look to artistic to eat. We then saw Sight & Sound Theatre's Voices of Christmas in their Living Waters Theatre. This was a very good show that explained the history behind our favorite Christmas songs from a Christian point of view. It was snowing a bit all morning and picked up considerably after we got out of the play. We then headed to New Holland to Lapp Valley and got some ice cream- I had coffee, chocolate, peanut butter twist, and butter brickle in various stops at Lapp Valley. Of course, it's the best ice cream period-sorry Turkey Hill. We ate dinner at Bird-in-Hand. My wife got some super salty broasted chicken that we had to send back (first time that's happened in my probably 500+meals there). While there we saw the most hideous coat of all time. I had my old standby, veal cutlet with stewed tomatoes, brown buttered noodles, and cucumbers and onions with a glass of Turkey Hill tea. We did some more shopping at the outlets before turning in for the night.

On Wednesday we ate breakfast at Bird-in-Hand. Scrapple for me, as always, and the best hot chocolate around. Our waitress was Janet Glick, one of our favorites and a 25+ year veteran. We then went to Leroy's and took him and his youngest soon Jesse Christmas shopping. We took him to Good's Store in East Earl at the Shady Maple Complex. We browsed around there and Country Home Furnishings while he shopped. We then took him to Leacock Shoe Store (best prices on Columbia shoes anywhere), Gordonville Book Shop (one of my favorites for Amish/Mennonite books), some dry goods store on Gibbons Rd in Bird-in-Hand and Nancy's Notions & Clothing in Intercourse. He treated us to lunch at Bird-in-Hand. Our waitress was Whitney, a very nice lady and one of my favorites that looks the same as she did when she started there in the early-mid 80s-either that, or she has been working there since she was born. I had a chicken salad on pretzel roll and chicken corn soup. Leroy can out eat anyone I know and he gobbled down a huge amount of his and Jesse's food- then ordered a piece of cheesecake, a piece of coconut cream pie, and two scoops of Turkey Hill mint chocolate chip. He cleans a plate like no one I've ever seen. We saw the guy with the awful coat again as well. After dropping Leroy off, we headed to Kitchen Kettle Village for their new Cannin' & Jammin' Tour. It was awesome. We worked with their food/kitchen manager Kristine and two Amish ladies. They showed us what a typical day is like in the Jam & Relish Kitchen and helped us make a batch of Apple Raspberry Jelly. Since we were the only ones on the tour we were given the enitre batch (12 jars), along with a jar of Corn Relish, Lemon Pear Jam, and Apple Butter BBQ Sauce that is to die for. I highly recommend taking KKV's experiental tours. When we left we grabbed a bag of Pappy's Kettle Korn- that stuff is amazing! Then we took a saunter over to Lapp Valley for ice cream. After dinner at Bird-in-Hand we went shopping at the outlets before turning in for the night.

The next morning after breakfast at Bird-in-Hand we headed to Neuchatel Chocolates/The Swiss Chocolatier in Oxford, PA. This is the home of the Swiss Chips and the best truffles. We then took a tour of the Herr Foods plant in Nottingham. That was really neat. Our tour guide was named Suzy and she was great. We were the only two on the tour and she gave us a bunch of "right off the oven chips" to sample. We bought several bags of their "seconds/oops" chips & pretzels. We then headed back to Intercourse and enjoyed lunch at Ye Olde English Shoppe. We then had spa pedicures at the Spa at Intercourse Village. This was my first pedicure- it was pretty cool. My favorite massage therapist, Sam, was there and we briefly chatted with her. After that we visited Ruth and made plans to take her shopping the next morning. Peaches, her giant English Mastiff stepped on my wife's toes and ruined her polish job. We ate dinner at Bird-in-Hand before turning in.

On Friday we went to breakfast at Bird-in-Hand. It was a very cold and rainy day. We took Ruth, Jake, and two of their kids to Jake's brother's house and dropped off the two kids. We then took Ruth, Jake and the baby shopping at the Pfaltzgraf outlet (Which is now closed- a shame, that store had been there since Rockvale opened-it won't be the same without it). We also went to Leacock Shoe Store. We dropped Jake off at home and continued on with Ruth and their baby Susan to Dollar General and Smucker's Dry Goods in Leola. After dropping her off we had lunch at Ye Olde English Shoppe. We then picked up Leroy Andrew and Jesse and took them shopping and visiting relatives because Leroy's aunt in Centre County died and he was delivering messages to them. We dropped him off and said our goodbyes. After we dropped him off we went to Lapp Valley and had ice cream. We then went to Kitchen Kettle Village for their Old Fashioned Christmas Nights, but it was so cold and rainy that not much was going on. We then ate dinner at Bird-in-Hand where we ran into an Amish couple that we had seen earlier in the day at Lapp Valley and Leacock Shoe. We talked to them for awhile. They live near Harrisburg and were visiting relatives in Lancaster County where they were originally from. The man told me he had recently been to NC on a hunting trip. We then went back to the room for the night.

On Saturday, we had breakfast and lunch at B-I-H. We went to Kauffman's Fruit Farm & Market, Intercourse Canning Company, Kitchen Kettle Village (where we were shown a lovely cottage room that we will be staying in in April), Bird-in-Hand Bakery, Bird-in-Hand Bake Shop, Hershey Farm, Achenbach's Pastries, and a few other places. We had dinner at Ruth's. She made us a pot roast, some awesome bread, and an egg custard. We brought along some Turkey Hill All Natural Vanilla Bean ice cream and root beer for floats (kind of a tradition amongst us) and chatted for a few hours before we had to say our goodbyes. We finished the night off with coffee and Shoo Fly Pie at B-I-H.

The next day we went home.

Whoopie Pie Taste Test

This week the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal ran an article in which they conducted an unscientific taste test on a Lancaster County favorite, the Whoopie Pie. A Whoopie Pie (aka Gobs/Gobz) is a cakey cookie filled with an icing/frosting filling. The cookie portion is typically a chocolate devil's food variety, but you may also find pumpkin (the moistest and my personal favorite), red velvet (like chocolate, these dry out quickly), vanilla, and oatmeal. Sometimes the filling is a peanut butter flavor; I have also seen green filling for St. Patrick's Day, a berry based filling at Kitchen Kettle's Berry Jam Festival, and a Red Hat Society one also at Kitchen Kettle with red velvet and purple filling.



I wish the Journal would have opened up the taste test to a larger sample. I thought one glaring omission was Bird-in-Hand Bake Shop. I would also liked to have seen Kitchen Kettle's tested. I also wish they would have tested other varieties besides the basic chocolate that dries out so easily.



Hershey Farm, which hosts a Whoopie Pie Festival every Fall, was deemed to have the best Chocolate Whoopie Pie. I have never had one of theirs, but am sure to try one the next time I am in Lancaster County. I am a little unsure as to how the scores were tabulated as the averages don't exactly compute for me.



My personal favorite places for Whoopie Pies are Bird-in-Hand Bake Shop, Bird-in-Hand Bakery (my wife's favorite-these are enormous), and Achenbach's. I will be sure to try some of these that I have not tried.



Taste test results from Lancaster Intelligencer Journal



Top ten overall

1. Hershey Farm: 3.75

2. Willow Valley: 3.44

3. Oregon Dairy: 3.31

4. Stauffer's of Kissel Hill (SKH): 3.25

5. Achenbach's Pastries: 3.19

6. Bird-in-Hand Bakery: 3.13

7. Landisview Farm Market: 2.7

8. Miller's Smorgasbord: 2.69

9. Byers Butterflake Bakery: 2.56

10. Country Table Restaurant: 2.5



Most chocolate flavor

1. Achenbach's Pastries: 3.69

2. SKH: 3.56

3. Bird-in-Hand: 3.5

4. Hershey Farm: 3.44

5. Willow Valley: 3.31

6. Oregon Dairy: 3.25

7. Landisview: 3.13

8. Miller's Smorgasbord: 2.63

9. Byers: 2.38

10. Country Table: 1.94



Moistness

1. SKH: 4.0

2. Willow Valley: 3.94

3. Hershey Farm: 3.88

4. Oregon Dairy: 3.63

5. Landisview: 3.06

6. Bird-in-Hand: 3.0

7. Achenbach's Pastries: 2.5

8. Miller's Smorgasbord: 2.38

9. Country Table: 2.25

10. Byers: 2.13



Appearance

1. Achenbach's Pastries: 4.5

2. Willow Valley: 4.25

3. Bird-in-Hand: 3.75

4-tie. Hershey Farm: 3.63

4-tie. Country Table: 3.63

6. Landisview: 3.5

7. SKH: 3.25

8. Oregon Dairy: 3.12

9. Miller's Smorgasbord: 2.75

10. Byers: 2.25

My averages of the three scores for moistness, chocolate flavor, and appearance came out like this, so I'm not sure how the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal came up with their rankings for their overall scores. With those three averages, Willow Valley comes out on top.

1. Willow Valley: 3.83
2. Hershey Farm: 3.65
3. SKH: 3.6
4. Achenbach's Pastries: 3.56
5. Bird-in-Hand Bakery: 3.42
6. Oregon Dairy: 3.33
7. Landisview: 3.23
8. Country Table: 2.61
9. Miller's Smorgasbord: 2.59
10. Byers: 2.25