Indiana Wants Me

 Chuckling to myself and hearing J Dean Taylor's 1970 classic Indiana Wants Me in my head. I'm once again remembering my birthplace and "home state" Indiana. Why? A number of reasons. The Indy 500 yesterday, a conversation at the pool with a fellow Logansport Hoosier and my usual Facebook friends posts.

First the Indy 500. Jimmy Johnson's debut. Sadly ending in a crash at the end. Ironically with all the places to watch it I thought "let's go old school" and listen to it on the radio. When I lived in Gary IN the Hasting Brothers put up a tent in their backyard on Hovey St and we listened to a little portable. Mrs Hastings made lunch. That was 1964 and that year my favorite driver Eddie Sachs was killed in a crash.

 Wm R LaDow a Facebook friend and journalist from Griffith follows the 500 through out April and May keeping me up to date on lineups and practices giving final comments on the race afterwards. I grew up mainly with the Andrettis, Unsers, Foyt and always thought I should be out there with them. Faint Laugh here. I really have more in common with Don Garlits and the US 30 Dragstip folks. That should be another post. Yes I raced.

While swimming my laps the other day I asked a sunbather near the edge if I had sprayed her with my Olympic Michael Phelps kick. She said no and I said my Olympic days were probably behind me although I think we both agreed they were only in my head. Turns out she is from Logansport. I was born at Memorial Hospital about 50 years before her. So I gave her a historical trip through 60's Logansport. 

We (Dad and I ) would leave the Gary IN terminal on the Pennsylvania Railroad train to Logansport stopping in every burg along the way. We would usually visit the weekend staying with Uncle Ken and Aunt Marge. Taking a Saturday daytrip to Deer Creek and Camden seeing relatives all along the way.

Keitzer's 

So we chatted about restaurants. While I couldn't think of the name initially later I found it...google search. It was Keitzer's Drive In on the West Side, on US 24 at Miami Ave. The best Hamburgers, French Fries and Cokes. My main staple through the years. I also went to the diner where Aunt Marge worked for pie at the counter. That is where she plied me with a promise of a $1 (12 comic books for $1) if I would get a crew cut while I was there (Dad wanted that). We frequently went to the diner on the way to Deer Creek that had juke boxes on the table. I would play "Do the Freddy". My Dad's name is Fred so that totally embarrassed him.

We also liked to go to Riverside Park and ride the Carousel. It had a brass ring feature that if you pulled a ring out as you went around you got a free ride.

 www.casscountrycarousel 

So we had a great chat about Logansport and the changes through the years. We discussed Gary Indiana a bit too. My family moved there in the early 60's. Dad was an accountant at US Steel. More on Gary I'm sure. I mentioned to her a recent story about growing up and we had a good laugh. She's a nurse.

A Facebook from a friend asks "Did you ride your bike behind the Mosquito fogger growing up". We sure did and to top that off Hamlin St in Gary was gravel and every week the city would spray used oil it collected from the mills to spray the street to keep dust down. We rode on that too not including the fact we lived 8.4 miles (google maps) from what is now BP refinery in Whiting IN. The refineries burned off spent waste gases continuously. So I'm been treated to a lot of airborne toxins. Catching my breath.

Memorial Day and Logansport make me think of our family member buried over seas. Private Courtland Williams my Uncle. Six Williams' boys served and one didn't make it home. 

Dad is a Purple Heart winner in Okinawa. Four days in the Sea of Japan before rescued the survivors.  

I'll do more posts about "Growing up in the 60's".  Enjoy the holiday weekend! 

Link to my lectin free instant pot cooking.

 https://wellfitmommy.com/recipe/instant-pot-lectin-free-beans/

Instant Pot

 

I purchased an Instant Pot 3 quart cooker yesterday at Walmart for $69. Throughout my life I've had various cookers...whatever cooker was the rage. Blenders, juicers and kitchen tools as well. I have to say cooking beans was never easier. Being on the Gundry Lifestyle nutrition program (avoiding lectins basically) left cooking beans and legumes to the "pressure cooker " or long time periods of soaking.

The Instant Pot did it in about 40 minutes start to finish. I found the recipe online bought the pot, put in two cups of pinto beans from Nut's.com covered with about two inches of water, turned it on and that was it. I see myself doing various beans, legumes and peas weekly. Delicious, nutritious food...no cans and NO lectins.

Grandma's "pressure cooker". Frankly a pretty scary looking device brought out at holiday season, Sundays and church dinners. Somewhere in my youth the slow cook "crock pot" eclipsed this monster. It reminds of a still from an old Jimmy Cagney movie. 

I can't wait to cook more beans...black beans next and of course chick peas or garbanzo beans. I'll make delicious hummus or bake them after to a nice crisp flavored with a bit of sea salt. A great snack.

Anyway...we're having fun with a new old cooking style.

Roadtrips Maine, Lobster Festival 2009

 When I was in elementary school and a cub scout we had Boys Life magazine and in the back were ads from Time Life Books. They are collectables now and available on e-bay. I scrounged a dime somewhere and taped it to the postcard and they mailed me my first book. It was the the State of Maine from the United States collection. The deal was you pay for the books on a monthly basis the first few were a dime. When my parents got the letter telling them I signed up for the collection. They cancelled it immediately. But I had MAINE.

I read that paperback book stem to stern and by the end of the week I knew I had to get to the annual Lobster Festival. I guess it was on my (a 10 year old's bucket list.) (Did I invent that?...the bucket list). 

It would play on my mind all these years, about 46. All the years in food service, cooking eating and serving lobsters. In 2009 we made LOBSTER FESTIVAL, the Williams Family Vacation. I cobbled my Southwest Airline points, my Hertz rental points and my Hilton points to make this a practically cost free trip. 

We flew into Manchester NH and rented a Mercury Marquis. The girls said it was an old man car, bordering on a State Patrol vehicle. It was big comfortable and had a V8. Embarrassing... no way. So off we went hitting various preplanned stops. 

The Hampton by the Wholefoods in Portland is where we spent the first night. We bought their healthy prepared foods buffet and loaded up our snack stash. In the morning continuing along the coast stopping next in Freeport to tour the LL Bean HQ and outlet store.  We made various photo ops at lighthouses and while stopping for literature at a local tourist center further North we were told the best sea/ocean glass to be collected was right here in Penobscot Bay. "Go down to the blinking light turn towards the Holiday Inn, park in the city lot and wade out." We were waiting to get further north to collect our sea glass, up by Martha Stewarts Summer House (another must see) ...chuckling to myself.

I thought we made a huge dent in the vacation already getting great photo ops and a basket of ocean/sea glass and could skip Martha...but no we went on, spending several nights in the capitol Augusta doing day trips around Central Maine and a trip to Martha's. We were rewarded there with a tall wooden fence and celebrity hiding pines. There was a nice beach where we waded into the water, but the wind was too heavy to get some sun.

Maine is a great place, slow pace and lots of history and least funky antique stores. We loved it.

Oh yeah the LOBSTER FESTIVAL...Harbor Park Rockland Maine. The poster at top is number 2 signed that year by artist Bill Ronalds. He's done the annual poster for years and hand signs them. 

We were number one in line when an elderly lady came up and asked if she could have the number one spot. Apparently she had been there every year for however long getting the first poster. Well trying not to be a Rickie Bobby where "if you're not first you're last" I relinquished my spot. 

Turns out the park and festival was the size of the Holy Rosary Carnival every Summer in Gary Indiana. The Lobster rolls were delicious and a great time was had by all. I guess when you're a kid things look bigger. I am happy with the Time Life experience results. We got a primo parking spot at the Walgreens across the street.

So was that the end? Nope we had a Clark Griswold experience too. I pulled into the hotel and curb smacked a tire. I thought no harm no foul. The girls said they heard air escaping from somewhere. I chuckled no way. They were right I had killed the tire and we had to have Hertz send us a new ride. This time we got a Ford Explorer which made the girls happy. We had a nice meal at the 99 er and made our way back to the airport. Thanks to my muse Kuryn for inspiring this review.