I will be having A Stoufers frozen dinner. Dan Dwyer ---------- Original Message ---------- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: IRL-KERRY Digest, Vol 6, Issue 63 Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:00:02 -0600 Today's Topics: 1. Re: Sweeney's Irish Soda Bread (Margaret Murry) 2. Re: Historian's book clarifies critical role Irish had in the U.S. West (Mo! Langdon) 3. Re: A Very Special Blessing ([email protected]) 4. Happy St Paddy's day... (Kerry) 5. Re: Happy St Patrick's Day (Kerry) 6. Re: Happy St Patrick's Day (Kerry) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 19:03:28 -0500 From: "Margaret Murry" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [IRL-KERRY] Sweeney's Irish Soda Bread To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I've just rejoined the list after a few years hiatus. I am so sorry to hear of Jack's passing. I so enjoyed his posts and chatting with him. When did he go? Margaret ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:16:19 -0700 From: Mo! Langdon <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [IRL-KERRY] Historian's book clarifies critical role Irish had in the U.S. West To: Kerry List <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected][67.126.44.253]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" ; format="flowed" At 3:38 PM -0500 3/16/11, Ray Marshall wrote: >Historian's book clarifies critical role Irish had in West >11:00 PM, Mar. 15, 2011 | >Comments > "Beyond the American Pale: The Irish in the West, 1845-1910" by David M. >Emmons; University of Oklahoma Press; $34.95 >Montana-based historian David Emmons' new book offers a different portrait >of the often idealized American West. <snip> Ah, you're evil, Ray!! Just what I need: Another book to add to the list! :-D Sl?n, Mo! -- <http://xri.net/=mobang> ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:48:29 +0000 (UTC) From: [email protected] Subject: Re: [IRL-KERRY] A Very Special Blessing To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]er.pa.mail.comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Thanks, Ray, for sending out that Very Special Blessing, it was beautifully done! Happy St. Patrick's Day to you and to all the County Kerry listers! I'll be spending the day at home and getting out to enjoy what is supposed to be a warm (relatively), sunny, day for this area. Should be in the low 60's... ~Patsy ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:09:27 -0500 From: "Kerry" <[email protected]> Subject: [IRL-KERRY] Happy St Paddy's day... To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" (My brother just sent this to me . . .) Two women are sitting next to each other at a bar. One looks at the other and says,"I can't help but think from listening to you that you're from Ireland .." The other woman responds proudly, 'Yes, I sure am!' The first one says, 'So am I! And where about in Ireland are ya from?" The other woman answers, 'I'm from St. John's , I am.' The first one responds, 'So, am I!! And what street did you live on?' The other woman says, 'A lovely little area it was in the west end. I lived on Warbury Street in the old central part of town.' The first one says, 'Faith and it's a small world! So did I! So did I! And what school did ya go to?' The other woman answers, 'Well now, I went to Holy Heart of Mary, of course.' The first one gets really excited and says, 'And so did I! Tell me,what year did you graduate?' The other woman answers, 'Well, now, let's see. I graduated in 1964.' The first woman exclaims, 'The Good Lord must be smiling down upon us! I can hardly believe our good luck at winding up in the same pub tonight. Can you believe it, I graduated from Holy Heart of Mary in 1964 me self." About this time, Michael walks into the bar, sits down and orders a beer.. Brian, the bartender, walks over to Michael, shaking his head and mutters, 'It's going to be a long night tonight.' Michael asks, ' Why do you say that, Brian?' Brian answers, 'The Murphy twins are drinking again.' ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:32:01 -0500 From: "Kerry" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [IRL-KERRY] Happy St Patrick's Day To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Very interesting posting from Ray about what the Irish in Ireland actually eat on St Patrick's Day. So, I was wondering, since we do have some of you in our group -- what will you be eating for the meal of the day? Blessings to all! Kerry ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:34:12 -0500 From: "Kerry" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [IRL-KERRY] Happy St Patrick's Day To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Very interesting posting from Ray about what the Irish in Ireland actually eat on St Patrick's Day. So, I was wondering, since we do have some of you in our group -- what will you be eating for the meal of the day? Blessings to all! Kerry ------------------------------ To contact the IRL-KERRY list administrator, send an email to [email protected] To post a message to the IRL-KERRY mailing list, send an email to [email protected] __________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body of the email with no additional text. End of IRL-KERRY Digest, Vol 6, Issue 63 **************************************** ____________________________________________________________ Groupon™ Official Site 1 ridiculously huge coupon a day. Get 50-90% off your city's best! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3131/4d82643b972d41ef6c2st05duc
A Stouffer's dinner actually could be considered an appropriate St. Patrick's Day meal for someone with a Kerry connection. During four summer vacations (1959-1962) I worked in the four Stouffer's restaurants in Chicago's Prudential Building, three summers as a waitress and the fourth as a hostess. Except for a few college students hired each year so the year-round waitresses (no waiters there) could take their vacations, the entire waitstaff (with only one possible exception I can think of) consisted of Irish immigrants who seemed to be almost entirely, if not entirely, from Co. Kerry. In fact, there seemed to be a rather direct pipeline from Kerry to Stouffer's, with a word-of-mouth network apparently in effect to facilitate the immigrating and hiring of relatives and friends from home. Mostly quite young women when they immigrated, they seemed to be from the rural (or perhaps even remote) parts of Kerry. I still remember the 18-year-old in my waitress training class my first summer (held for some weeks while the dining rooms were closed between lunch and dinner) who was very fresh off the plane. We were required to know the nature of all items on the menu (and their ingredients and type of preparation). So one day when a new dessert was to be offered, the hostess conducting the class went out to the kitchen to get several servings so we could all sample it. Shortly thereafter, when the rest of the day's dessert offerings were being reviewed, the 18-year-old shyly said (to the astonishment of us American students) that she had heard about ice cream (which was always on the menu) but had never eaten any. The hostess promptly said something like, "Well, then you must have some," and we all trooped out to the kitchen, where she sampled several varieties (though only after some fearfulness about how cold it would be). The expressions on her face throughout were priceless. I wish I had realized/known back then that one set of my great-great-grandparents (Mary Shea & Jeremiah Doyle, who emigrated in 1847) was not only Irish but also from Kerry. I might have been able to learn a lot from them about life in Kerry, and maybe be "in like Flynn" with them given my Irish connection, perhaps even to the extent of being invited to go to one of the Friday-night Irish dances (which certainly would have been interesting). In actuality, I ended up only hearing about what had gone on at a particular night's dance (from especially loquacious attendees) or suffered the repercussions when sometimes multiple waitresses called in "sick" on Saturday, leaving the rest of us to pick up their tables (and giving guests generally bad service because we had too many to handle properly). As it was, during our time off duty, whether in the employee dining room or in the waitresses' lounge, the Irish "girls" socialized mostly amongst themselves, though they were polite and friendly to the rest of us. Sometimes, seemingly when they didn't want anyone nearby to pick up what they were conversing about in the dining room (such as work and other employees), they spoke in Irish. This may have been wise, since Stouffer's had a variety of cultural groups among its employees, not all of whom consistently got along well with everyone in other groups. African Americans worked behind the steam tables and at last-minute food-prep stations, as well as in the dishroom. Eastern European immigrants (speaking various languages but little English) worked as cooks, and (male-only) American graduates of the Cornell Univ. or Univ. of Michigan hotel and restaurant management programs supervised them and managed the kitchens overall, while second-generation (or more) Americans managed the dining rooms. Starting in Cleveland, the Stouffer family expanded its restaurant chain not only to Chicago (with several other locations besides the Prudential Bldg.) during its heyday but also to Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, and maybe Pittsburgh and other locations as well. I don't know when the restaurants went out of business (1970s? early 1980s?), but the frozen-food business was a relatively early spinoff from the restaurant business and endured (though under other ownership, I guess). It evidently started after WWII because of the demand from restaurant customers for menu favorites that they could eat at home. For instance, turkey tetrazzini, chicken a la king, chipped beef, and spinach souffle come quickly to mind as popular restaurant offerings (the first three at lunch only, as I recall) that were early among the company's frozen foods and are still around today, actually tasting pretty much the same as in the restaurants. I think that one reason the restaurants thrived for so long was that they tried to do things well, to a high standard and in standardized ways, with employees who were treated and trained well. But I'm wondering whether in a sense the Irish waitstaff was "standard" too. Does anyone know whether such was the case in cities other than Chicago? Marge ________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thu, March 17, 2011 3:41:36 PM Subject: Re: [IRL-KERRY] IRL-KERRY Digest, Vol 6, Issue 63 I will be having A Stoufers frozen dinner. Dan Dwyer ---------- Original Message ---------- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: IRL-KERRY Digest, Vol 6, Issue 63 Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:00:02 -0600 ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:32:01 -0500 From: "Kerry" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [IRL-KERRY] Happy St Patrick's Day To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Very interesting posting from Ray about what the Irish in Ireland actually eat on St Patrick's Day. So, I was wondering, since we do have some of you in our group -- what will you be eating for the meal of the day? Blessings to all! Kerry