Well worth the Pneumonia

Last week, I had the privilege of attending Conner Prairie's "Hearthside Suppers." My MIL got sick the day of the event so my husband had to stay home with the baby :( but it was nice of him to offer because I was DESPERATE to get out of the house! So my brother was my date instead. It was actually nice to go with my brother and my parents. Sort of a throwback to family vacations 15 years ago. So anywho....we get there and meet the rest of our "party" (they cap the dinners at 12) and we got lanterns and walked out to our home for the evening. We were served smashed cheese or something (it had been chopped up and mixed with a bunch of other things that I couldn't see - it was very dark of course) as well as popcorn made in lard, and some spiced cider. YUM! We made small talk with each other and were then put to task in the kitchen. They gave each of us a job. Mine was to churn butter - literally - with that bucket thing and the stick. So I sat in a chair and pulled the stick up and down for about 15 minutes. The lady told me I had to sing to the butter to make it come out right. She asked me if I knew "Yankee Doodle" to which I answered, "I know God Save the Queen!" I opted not to sing at all. ;)

My dad's job was to grind the coffee, my brother had to peel potatoes with a dull knife, and my mom had to make dumplings (we grew up calling them Wolvers but that's another story) for the soup. It was nice in the kitchen doing all those old-timey things. I love to cook, but it was a good reminder of how GOOD we have it with electricity! It was actually kind of cool to feel the whip cream turn to butter, and to do things by candlelight in front of a huge roaring fire....

So we then went back to the dining room and chatted a bit and they brought out the soup course. It was some kind of chicken brothy soup which I thought tasted like a Thanksgiving turkey. I pushed it around my bowl a little. Next - the main course! We had "Shoat" which is, according to Wiki, a recently weaned piglet. (Yeah, I know) I of course didn't have any. There was also some chicken - but it was both one the bone AND dark meat so I passed on that as well. HOWEVER! I did make up for the 45 dollar price tag by stuffing myself with dill pickled green beans, mustard potatoes, and brandied peaches. The catch was - we had to "set" our own place as well as eat with our knife which they apparently did in 1836. It was a big fat steak type knife. The only thing that resembled a fork was a 2 pronged (SHARP) thing. I wasn't about to put that in my mouth. So the dinner was filled with the wonderful din of talking people and the "plopping" of food back onto the china.

After dinner we took a tour of the house which was very very interesting - and this from someone who pretty much hates American History. Afterward, we came back to the dining room for cheesecake - which tasted more like cheese than cake. (Can someone say "spoiled with processed food much?") we then played some games of the period. The first one entailed reading from cards. One was a question and the other was an answer. The person to your left asked a question and you answered with the answer on your card. For instance:

"Do you find consternation to be a problem among erudites?"
"I plant my corn in the summer"

Hahahaha opera laugh.

It was way lame and made me feel sorry for the pilgrims or settlers or Prarieans or whatever."

The second game was the "Telephone" game called something like "Village Gossip." No one could think of a starting phrase that was even remotely close to the time period. I finally came up with a Thoreau quote. "The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation." (I *heart* Thoreau!) The only problem was - that I had to "whisper" this to my mother who is 100% deaf in one ear, and about 50% deaf in the other ear. Even shouting it - it ended up something like "Women are desperate!" ha ha

Thus ended our evening and we walked back in the freezing cold, lanterns lit, to the main building where we all utilized the very modern bathrooms.

It was fun. I don't know if I'd ever do it again, but it was different which made it very very nice. It wasn't dinner and a movie, or shopping, or grilling out. It was totally different than anything I'd done before and it was nice to do it with my family. So, in the end, I have to give it a thumbs up.