Firefighter's Breakfast Feeds 1200

On the second Sunday of each month Kingwood's Volunteer Fire Department serves buckwheat cakes (and don't call them pancakes!), scrambled eggs, biscuits, gravy, sausage and bacon to folks who travel from near to far to enjoy the all-you-can-eat feast. Each month 1200 people on average come to the Community Center to enjoy the good food. Can't wait until the annual Buckwheat Festival to get your buckwheat cake fix? Then mosey on over to Kingwood on the second Sunday of each month--you'll want to make it an annual outing!

Personally, I like having firemen serve me breakfast, but if you want try your hand at the cakes that put Kingwood on the map, then enjoy this delicious recipe! -- Nikki Bowman

Recipe for Preston County Raised Buckwheat Cakes

(Recipe makes 8-12 cakes)

In a large bowl, mix 1/2 cake household yeast (or 1 cake Fleishman's Yeast or 1 envelope dry yeast) and 1 teaspoon salt into one quart lukewarm water.

Let stand a few minutes and then add 3 cups, or enough buckwheat flour to make a stiff batter. Cover and let stand overnight (or at least 4 or 5 hours).

When ready to bake the cakes, dissolve 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 2 teaspoons sugar in 1 cup hot water. Stir into batter, then add about 1 cup or enough warm water to make a thin batter. Bake on a hot griddle.

Save at least 1 cup of the batter for the next baking. (It will keep in the refrigerator for about a week) To renew, add 1 pint lukewarm water, 1/2 teaspoon salt and enough buckwheat flour to make a stiff batter. Cover and let stand overnight (or at least 4 - 5 hours)

Happy Mothers Day

Cantankerous is the adjective that best describes my general disposition for each and every one of my teenage years. Today, many years removed from those rebellious, self-involved, eye rolling, foot stomping, door slamming days, I feel humbled by the woman that I call “mom.” And although she has given her love freely, and without judgment for my entire life, it is my teenage years for which I owe her my biggest debt of gratitude.  Thanks mom! 

She was here in West Virginia last week to visit my family, and me. Knowing that we wouldn’t be together for Mothers Day, I decided to do something special for her while she was here. We went on a road trip to Grafton, home of the first Mother’s Day celebration.

Grafton is situated on the banks of the Tygart River and is a 30-minute drive from Morgantown. If you’ve never been, you should go check it out. It is a great day trip destination.

Besides visiting The International Mothers Day Shrine, we were able to check out the visually stunning B&O Railroad’s train station, and on our way back to Morgantown we stopped at Tygart Lake State Park to do some exploring.   But no self respecting day trip would be complete without food! 

Around lunchtime, and before we headed to the state park, we asked one of the local residents his favorite place to eat. “Well if you ladies are hungry,” he said, “you ought to head over to The Stagecoach on Route 50, that’s one place I’ve never left hungry!” We were hungry (we’re always hungry) so to The Stagecoach it was, and I’m here

 to tell you, this gentleman was not exaggerating. We were served so

 much food; we needed a doggy bag for our doggy bags.  

Spending much of her youth in Mobile, Alabama I’ve never known my mother to turn away from the words “cornbread” or “grits” on any “specials” board.  While at The Stagecoach, my mother was able to experience yet another West Virginia tradition.  Seeing pinto beans and cornbread listed as the daily special, that is of course what she ordered.  Never having had the “quintessential West Virginia cuisine” myself, I was curious what she would have to say. Her reaction came as no surprise; she really enjoyed it, especially the cornbread which she said was the “most plump and moist she has ever had.”

If you’re ever looking for an interesting way to spend the day with your mom, head out to Grafton, the drive is beautiful, and there are some interesting things to see and do.

The International Mothers Day Shrine

Tygart River Dam

B&O Train Station, Grafton

If nothing else, you’ll be in excellent company for you’ll be with the truest friend your heart has ever known.

Tomorrow for Mother's Day my husband, and children are taking me on a Sunday drive to Fayetteville (no doubt getting a head start on the alms for their impending teenage years) where we'll surely find a great place to grab a bite to eat.  Leave us a comment and let us know what great food adventure you had for Mother's Day.

Will Skip School For Food

Today, America’s school buses had a lot less passengers as children left their books at home and went out into the world to experience a different type of education. Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day is a pseudo career day giving youth the opportunity to discover not only what their parents do for a living, but also the opportunities that exist as they start to make decisions about their own futures.

I was thrilled to find out that my children had decided to spend the day with me this year instead of my husband. Can you blame them? Their options were:

a) sit in an office and take conference calls all day; or
b) go out and explore West Virginia.

In the words of my bright young children, “Duh!”

Each of them started the day with a role; Carlee, my 12 year old, was the photographer and Kyle, my nine year old, was the journalist. As we explored,  their job was to document and tell a story, both in pictures and prose.  I only had one question for them as we left the house, “if you could tell people about some places in West Virginia that you think are super special, what would you tell them about?” Here is what they had to say:

The Poky Dot Diner in Fairmont (Note from Kyle: check out my mom's article about the Poky Dot Diner in the Spring 2009 issue of WV Living Magazine.)

A gigantic hot chocolate smothered in chocolate syrup was just the nutrition they needed to start their adventure off right.

French Toast, off of the kids menu, included a garnish of cherry shoe string licorice.

We drove around for a while to enjoy the beautiful scenery and sunshine and before you knew it, it was lunch time!  We were off to The Country Club Bakery in Fairmont (rumored to be the home of the first pepperoni roll) for a perfect mid afternoon snack.

A sign on the side of Country Club Road in Fairmont let's you know that tucked in the back, that nondescript building is, in fact, the bakery.

They both thought it was "pretty cool," that Country Club Bakery was featured in the January 2007 issue of Gourmet Magazine.

Finally, something sweet to top off their tanks; their favorite detour in all of Morgantown, Tutto-Gelato on High Street where Kyle had a few questions for owner Sarah Straface.  

Kyle: How did Tutto Gelato get started?
Sarah: When we were in Italy we fell in love with Gelato and wanted to bring it home with us.

Kyle: What is your most popular flavor?
Sarah: Stracciatella, which is like a chocolate chip.

Kyle: Do you make or sell any other products?
Sarah: Yes, we sell coffee drinks, pastries, and other specialty beverages. We even have Mutt Licks (doggie ice cream).

Kyle: What is Gelato made of?
Sarah: That’s a good question! The fruit gelato is water based, so it’s like a sorbet with fruit. The others are milk based and include sugar and flavoring. And the best part is it’s all made right here in our store.

Kyle: Who started the company?
Sarah: My cousin Jenna Straface and myself.

Kyle: When did the company start? Sarah: We opened in June of 2007.

Tasty Tidbits: 

• Kyle’s favorite Tutto-gelato flavors are blood orange and lemon
  
• Carlee’s favorite Tutto-gelato flavors are blood orange and lemon
  
• Tutto-Gelato is on Facebook

Our day ended with a trip to WV Living Magazine's home office to tell publisher and editor Nikki Bowman about our kid friendly favorites.  And of course use it as a photo opportunity/shameless plug for our upcoming wedding issue, hitting stores in May!

Special Delivery

Food has always been a vessel that allows my mind to travel to moments of comfort, happiness and love. The smell of gingerbread transports me to my grandmother’s living room where every afternoon around 1:00 she could be found sitting in her chair, dipping a gingersnap cookie into her tea. When I walk past an olive bar and see cherry peppers stuffed with prosciutto and dry provolone, I remember the first date I had with my husband. And when I eat fresh green beans, I remember the summer camp that I went to when I was nine years old. The camp organizers took us on a field trip to a farm where we were allowed to pick green beans off the vine and taste them. I remember my reaction vividly; I had had green beans before, but never as sweet, as flavorful, or as fresh! It is the summer I began to eat my vegetables.  

Today I received a very special delivery in the mail. This year is my very first as a shareholder in a CSA. CSA is an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, by becoming a shareholder of a CSA, you help support the costs associated in operating a farm as well as getting to enjoy the fruits of the farmers labor. This is my favorite part, notice I said the “farmers labor!”

The CSA that I joined is called Fish Hawk Acres and is located in Rock Cave, WV. I chose Fish Hawk Acres for three important reasons: 1) It is in West Virginia and I feel it is important to support local farms. 2) They deliver directly to my front door via UPS again, little effort on my part (yes, there is a pattern here). 3) The CSA comes with recipes prepared by Chef Dale Hawkins of Stonewall Resort in Roanoke, WV. For information on Fish Hawk Acres and other CSA’s in WV or local farmers markets visit http://www.wvfarm2u.org/.

I will be preparing the recipes provided by Chef Hawkins with the produce that I get each week and posting the results and my commentary on WV Living Food. As you can see by the picture, my very first CSA box contained some beautiful produce with some exciting recipes. Stay tuned for my follow up posting to see how my Bean Soup with Spinach and Ramps and Simple Spring Salad turn out. I’ll be enjoying it with a loaf of whole-wheat country sourdough bread that was included in the box from Jeff’s Bread’s in Renick, WV.

Got Ramps?

Today was an extremely exciting day for me. My husband and I had just gotten off of Exit 132 on I-79, otherwise known as the South Fairmont exit. We were traveling 250 North when suddenly, just before Muriale’s restaurant, a sign with the handwritten word RAMPS appeared. “Stop the car,” I shouted, like a woman possessed. He looked at me, confused. “Ramps,” I said. “They are selling ramps!!!”

Rewind a few months to a meeting with WV Living magazine editor and publisher, Nikki Bowman. We were discussing the editorial calendar for our Spring issue when she assigned me a story on ramps. “On what?” I had absolutely no idea what a ramp was, somewhere in my mind I was wondering how skateboarding had anything to do with West Virginia culture.

Check out my travel story on ramps in the heritage section of WV Living’s spring issue,  you’ll see that this appalachia newcomer became very well acquainted with the highly celebrated delicacy. Of course, since the story was written in the winter months, I had yet to have the opportunity to taste what these little stinkers were all about. So today, I brought home my treasure and got to work cleaning them.   Which by the way is no easy task. Once they were all nice and clean it was time to put my kitchen prowess to the test! I have to admit that I wasn't brave enough to eat the ramp as a main ingredient, so I decided to prepare them the way that had been most commonly suggested from the native West Virginian's I interviewed while writing the story; fried with a little bit of bacon and potatoes. Let me tell you, after my first bite, West Virginia owns a bigger piece of my heart.

Ramp Fried Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup ramps, coursley chopped
  
• 3 slices bacon, coarsely chopped
  
• 3 large boiled potatoes, chopped into bite sized chunks
  

Directions:

• over medium heat, cook bacon until the fat begins to render
  
• add ramps and cook over medium heat for approximately 2-3 minutes
  
• add potatoes and cook until golden brown
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  
  Tell us your favorite ramp recipe by posting a comment to WV Food or by emailing me at joy@wvlivingmagazine.com.