On a personal note, thanks to Marleen (Miller) Pytlik for baking my grandmother's recipe for Poppy Seed Cake and bringing that cake to the luncheon in the park. Sorry I missed it! My grandmother, Minnie Musselman, a.k.a., "Muzzy," raised me from K through 12. In her late 60s she worked in the kitchen at Woody's Cafe in Valley City, earning from 35 to 40 cents an hour. This was in the 50s before it became the "Rainbow Grill." The cafe was owned and managed by George Woodrow Gagon.
In his 2009 autobiography, The Woody I Know, the late Mr. Gagnon paid tribute to the elderly ladies who worked in his kitchen including Mrs. Boness, Mrs. Emery, and my grandmother. Woody writes: "Muzzy was an elderly woman who worked nights in the kitchen and baked on Thursdays when Mrs. Emery was gone. Muzzy made the best poppy cake with caramel frosting. Each piece sold for 10 cents." I appreciate Woody memorializing my grandmother's work and thanks to Marleen for baking that "famous" poppy seed cake for the luncheon attendees!
Thanks to our leader, Barb (Sheppard) Lang, for capturing a close-up of Tom Kahler's COVID-era beard and mustache. He and I are missing our Wednesday morning coffee sessions at Panera Bread in Fargo. I haven't seen him for a while so I might not have recognized him, save for the photograph below. Looks good on ya, Tom! - Larry Gauper 6-26-2020
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| Tom Kahler, June 25, 2020 |
1 comment:
We brought our chairs a little closer together for the picture-taking moments, but generally, we were spaced even further apart! This was our first Valley City Lunch Bunch since February, but after the really nice time we had today, we will plan to do the same thing for July and August. City Park by the Bandstand is the perfect area for an outdoor picnic. It was even fun to make our own sandwiches or to pick up Subways to bring along for the picnic. The best part was Marleen's poppyseed cake "cupcakes" with the boiled brown sugar frosting. Simply awesome!!
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