Fleur-de-Massage

We pass fields of bleached cornstalks, swales of goldenrod, and horse-drawn buggies. The afternoon’s soft September light peeks through barn boards. Display cloths are adorned with fleur-de-lis. Pecks of produce. Bins of bread. Jars of honey. A handful of pullet eggs.

A trickle of nostalgia seeps into my heart.

Fine Barn Dining

No, this is not Maxatawny Township. It is Central Pennsylvania—The Barn at The Hummingbird Room. The formal address is 4188 Penns Valley Road, Spring Mills, but as you travel east on Route 45, about 20 minutes from State College, you pass a sign that says Village of Penn Hall. Then you’ll see a stately brick home with turquoise shutters on the right. Just past that, you turn at the tall, globed lamppost into a gravel parking lot. The barn is tucked behind the house.

Eric and Claudia Sarnow bought the place 21 years ago. He was a trained chef who had worked for three years at two five-star restaurants in the Loire Valley of France and six years at Le Be Fin in Philadelphia. After their son Evan was born, the Sarnows decided to move to the country. The couple brought a taste of French cuisine to Central Pennsylvania with The Hummingbird Room. But after a dozen years, running a restaurant full-time wore thin. It was time to change course. Eric spent the next nine years as a chef on private yacht, cruising and cooking on the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas, with Claudia and Evan joining him at foreign ports.

Two years ago, the family returned to their home and opened The Hummingbird Room for weddings, celebrations, and cooking classes. “Miss Ruby” sends out email invitations for Supper Club dinners in the elegant dining rooms of the 1847 mansion: Christmas in Paris, Miss Ruby’s New Year’s Eve Speakeasy, a seven-course Cupid’s Dart Dinner. Although these events were intriguing, they have been too pricey and over-the-top for my current lifestyle.

The Hummingbird Room

Last fall, we did go to their holiday open house for gourmet gifts like strawberry-basil syrup, caramel chipotle sauce, and smoked salmon mousse to fill holiday baskets and tables. This month, an email suggesting a drive in the country and a visit to The Barn at The Hummingbird Room for Gourmet-To-Go (Or Stay) Weekends made not one, but two, Sundays very special.

There were French baguettes and olive bread loaves to carry home, tastes of thin slices of wild Pacific Salmon that Eric smokes over apple wood at the farm, and an array of desserts such as Plum Torte and Lavender Shortbreads to sample.

Gourmet-To-Go

The mouthwatering menu included Charred Penns Valley Sweet Corn Salad, Chesapeake Crab Cakes, Mojo Marinated Grilled Cuban Pork, Garden Tomato Basil Salad and Massaged Kale Salad.

I had heard about Massaged Kale Salad but had never tasted it. “Massaged Kale” is just what it says, kneading bits of kale, stripped from the stem, in a bowl with a splash of olive oil, sprinkle of sea salt, and a teaspoon of lemon juice for about three minutes. This process breaks down the rough leaves of the kale and makes it easier to digest. It also turns the kale a vibrant green and gives it a softer, chewy texture.

Claudia’s version had a light, lemony dressing with Craisins, chopped, dried apricots and sunflower seeds. In my version, a few days later, I substituted quartered fresh figs for the apricots. For the dressing, I used the juice of one lemon (minus the teaspoon used for massaging), 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and 2 teaspoons of The Barn at The Hummingbird Room’s honey. Salad heaven! Laurie Lynch

Written on Slate: “September showed up right on schedule and lasted a whole month.” Jenny Wingfield

 

 

Fleur-de-BugAppetit

The poster caught my attention: The words Bug Appetit with a drawing of a giant grasshopper.

I was looking forward to a Penn State version of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels) tackling the United Nations’ proposal that we Westerners start thinking of insects as protein-packed food. Last school year, the VUB cafeteria offered worm burgers to adventurous students.

The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization 2013 book Edible Insects: future prospects for food and feed security reports that 2 billion people eat insects regularly, cooked or raw, and they are packed with protein, fiber, good fats, and minerals. Of the 1,900 edible insect species, hundreds are part of the diet in many countries; it’s only in Western nations where the “ick” factor bars them from the dinner table.

Ant Lollipops

But what I found at Bug Appetit was a watered-down, candy-coated attempt of making eating insects “cute” with a Pestaurant that offered chocolate-covered insects, sugar-dipped crickets, and ant-crystalized lollipops.

All was not lost. My mother loved the cockroach races. We stood there for a good 15 minutes, watching the youngsters as they opened the lids on the cockroach containers, dumping the critters down a chute and into the PVC racetracks. Off they went! And who could resist the Monarch Tent where you walk with the butterflies as they flitter and flutter past your eyelashes.

Writing with oak gall ink

For me, the magic of the PSU Department of Entomology’s Great Insect Fair event was the gall table.  I’ve known that wasps or other insects feed or lay eggs on the leaves, stems, or twigs of plants, causing deformities. The plant cells respond to the chemicals from the insects by going crazy, enlarging and surrounding the egg or larva with some strange looking galls. Sometimes, galls look like raised warts (of assorted colors) on a leaf. On a rose cane, galls look like tumors. On oaks, galls can look like tan Ping-Pong balls or “oak apples” on twigs and branches. These oak galls are rich in tannic acid.

What amazed me was learning that from the 4^th Century through the Renaissance and up until the middle of the 20^th century, oak galls, created by wasps on oak trees, were THE source of ink for the written word. The Magna Carta and well as our Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and Constitution were all written using iron gall ink. It was so easy to make, and it was permanent and water-resistant. As recently as 1945, the U.S. imported 550,000 pounds of oak galls from Turkey to make ink. But also around that time, chemically produced inks (and ballpoint pens) were invented, and the use of oak gall ink fell by the wayside.

Iron Gall Ink Recipe

6 oz. powdered oak gall

6 oz. ferric chloride

4 oz. gum Arabic

6 pints water

Mix ingredients and use a quill pen to write your own Magna Carta. Laurie Lynch

Written In Iron Gall Ink: “I’m obsessed with insects, particularly insect flight. I think the evolution of insect flight is perhaps one of the most important events in the history of life. Without insects, there’d be no flowering plants. Without flowering plants, there would be no clever, fruit-eating primates giving TED Talks.” –Michael Dickinson