Thanks, Don, for updating us on the Website and your book about Inwood. Also, thanks to Patricia Ginalick (Mt. Airy, MD). I love your parts of the country and will be heading to Shepherdstown this coming Sat evening for my great niece's wedding. Amy Custer will become Mrs. "Jay" Blue at the Lutheran Church. Can't wait and hoping the weather will be nice. Then they are having a sit down meal with the reception at the Fire Hall. I always look forward to the good food and fellowship with family and friends. Patricia, you mentioned an Ice Box Cake recipe. Do you have the recipe to share? Made me think of an old Ice Box Cookie recipe. Including some of my own baking memories from old Fort Valley in Shenandoah County. I shared this with the Shenandoah Valley Herald this week for their special cookie recipe edition. They asked for recipes, memories and photos. Fort Valley Baking Memories, circa 1950 Nostalgia takes me back to the old log home place in the Fort Valley mountains on a cold winter day. Mom has the wood cookstove fired up just right, and is wearing her feedsack apron and everyday dress. There is a tiny lamb snuggled up on a rag rug behind the stove. Mom is nursing it back to health while she does her baking and cooking. Aromas of breakfast linger in the kitchen from the fried side meat and biscuts baked earlier. Handed down recipes are written in her old composition notebook, but Mom has most of them in her head. She has seven sisters, and they all share a love of preparing tasty food. Her mother, Grandma Bessie Clem, is still living at the old Daniel Clem house 10 miles to the south of us in the quaint valley, here in 1950. No doubt, she's baking in her kitchen, too. One of Mom's older sisters, Aunt Isabel Ritenour, lives right up over the road from us, and is more like a grandmother to me. Her homey kitchen is always inviting. We're connected with the old party line if someone forgets an ingredient, or I can just run up over the hill. Aunt Isa has fresh milk. We don't as the milk cow almost killed mom, and she doesn't bother to milk anymore. Mom and Daddy worked as cooks on a camp car on the B and O Railroad for the Western Union after the Great Flood of 1936 up around MD or WV. They cooked for the men who were rebuilding the telegraph lines. Mom cooked and baked for many folks, including her own family of six later on. Daddy was in the CCC camp at Camp Roosevelt before their marriage in 1934. He made some money to send home to his mother so she could help feed that side of the family following the Great Depression. Grandma Sue (nee Ritenour) Grandstaff made the best sugar cookies, and kept them in a round tin on top of the pie safe in the dining room. Mom always said the Ritenour's were "rich" cooks. "Rich" meaning high in fat is my guess. Mom was raised on a large self sufficient farm with all those Clem sisters and four brothers. They all had their chores, and made the best of what they had. They shared with neighbors, no doubt some of Grandma Bessie's bread and cookies, too. Now back to 1950, Mom has fresh eggs from the chicken house, and cracks three into the old stoneware mixing bowl after the butter has melted and the brown sugar is stirred in. She lets me help. Says I can stir with the wooden spoon. We're making Ice Box Cookies. I barely remember in 1947 when we got electricity and along with it came our first refrigerator- - -no ice box anymore!!! This time we will add some long walnut (butternut) kernels to the cookie dough. (We had a tree of them down beside Passage Creek, and cracked some in the fall/winter along with black walnuts.) Mom adds baking soda, cream tartar, vanilla and enough flour to make the dough stiff. We roll the dough into logs on waxed paper on the oil cloth covering the round oak table. Leaving them in the wax paper we put them in the refrigerator to get hard enough so we can slice them. Sometimes, we leave them overnight. Then we slice the cookies from the roll, place them on cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees. Mom says that if a recipe doesn't have a temperature written down, just use 350. She bakes the communion bread for the Oak Hill Church of the Brethren for the Love Feast, also . Makes extra for us to eat at home, and gives to others to take home with them. I think she adds sugar to her recipe making it more tasty. Mom always said that she was "drinking from her saucer because her cup overflowed". No doubt she is up there in Heaven dunking some of those ice box cookies and communion bread in her coffee and sharing with her family and everyone that she can. What a Love Feast that must be!!! Now, here I sit in 2007, a crafty 63 yr old homemaker. The old oak table from home stands in my kitchen, and is covered with recipes and cookies. Some cookies are drying out to become Christmas tree ornaments, and waiting to be painted. This is my therapy for five broken bones in my left wrist and right hand in the last year or so. Mom's presence is felt as I work alone, and my Massanutten Mountain heritage is evident as I focus on memories of old times, wonderful family get-togethers, and delicious recipes. Mom's Icebox Cookies 1/2 c. butter 2 c. brown sugar, packed 3 eggs, well beaten 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. cream tartar 1 tsp. vanilla 3-4 c. flour (enough to make the dough stiff) 1 c. chopped nuts Mix all ingredients together. Roll into 1 1/2 inch rolls with waxed paper. Refrigerate for a couple of hrs or overnight. Cut into 1/4-1/2 inch slices. Bake at 350 degrees for at least 10 minutes. Dough can be prepared in advance and frozen until needed. Sometimes, Mom used coconut instead of nuts. Nancy Grandstaff Shrum Woodstock, VA "Shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life......." Phil 2:15, 16 NIV

Nancy, Here's the Ice Box Cake recipe from my Mt. Jackson grandmother. Angel Food Ice Box Cake 1 large angel food cake (I remember my grandmother making her own and cooling it inverted over a Canada Dry ginger ale bottle but these days I buy one ready made from the grocery store) 2 squares unsweetened chocolate 1 6 oz. pkg chocolate chips 10 T. sugar Pinch salt 4 eggs separated 1 pt whipping cream 2 1/2 tsp vanilla Cut cake into squares and spread in bottom of 9 X 11 baking dish. In double boiler melt unsweetened chocolate and chocolate chips, sugar, and salt. Cool slightly and add 4 slightly beaten egg yolks. Beat egg whites and fold into chocolate mixture. Beat whipping cream and vanilla and fold into egg white/chocolate mixture. Pour half over angel food cake squares and allow to soak into cake then cover with remaining chocolate mixture. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. (Note: I increase the chocolate portion by 50% which makes a deeper serving) Thanks for the ice box cookie recipe. Plan to add it to the family Christmas dinner menu. Reading your cooking memories makes me want to get up from the computer and finish dinner! Enjoy your visit to Shepherdstown. My daughter and I will be spending a day there before Christmas as a yearly tradition of ours. The Lutheran Church is beautiful this time of year. Patricia Ginalick Mt. Airy, MD -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nancy Shrum Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2007 1:31 PM To: VASHENAN group Subject: [VASHENAN] Thanks for updates and memories/sharing Fort ValleyBaking Memories Thanks, Don, for updating us on the Website and your book about Inwood. Also, thanks to Patricia Ginalick (Mt. Airy, MD). I love your parts of the country and will be heading to Shepherdstown this coming Sat evening for my great niece's wedding. Amy Custer will become Mrs. "Jay" Blue at the Lutheran Church. Can't wait and hoping the weather will be nice. Then they are having a sit down meal with the reception at the Fire Hall. I always look forward to the good food and fellowship with family and friends. Patricia, you mentioned an Ice Box Cake recipe. Do you have the recipe to share? Made me think of an old Ice Box Cookie recipe. Including some of my own baking memories from old Fort Valley in Shenandoah County. I shared this with the Shenandoah Valley Herald this week for their special cookie recipe edition. They asked for recipes, memories and photos. Fort Valley Baking Memories, circa 1950 Nostalgia takes me back to the old log home place in the Fort Valley mountains on a cold winter day. Mom has the wood cookstove fired up just right, and is wearing her feedsack apron and everyday dress. There is a tiny lamb snuggled up on a rag rug behind the stove. Mom is nursing it back to health while she does her baking and cooking. Aromas of breakfast linger in the kitchen from the fried side meat and biscuts baked earlier. Handed down recipes are written in her old composition notebook, but Mom has most of them in her head. She has seven sisters, and they all share a love of preparing tasty food. Her mother, Grandma Bessie Clem, is still living at the old Daniel Clem house 10 miles to the south of us in the quaint valley, here in 1950. No doubt, she's baking in her kitchen, too. One of Mom's older sisters, Aunt Isabel Ritenour, lives right up over the road from us, and is more like a grandmother to me. Her homey kitchen is always inviting. We're connected with the old party line if someone forgets an ingredient, or I can just run up over the hill. Aunt Isa has fresh milk. We don't as the milk cow almost killed mom, and she doesn't bother to milk anymore. Mom and Daddy worked as cooks on a camp car on the B and O Railroad for the Western Union after the Great Flood of 1936 up around MD or WV. They cooked for the men who were rebuilding the telegraph lines. Mom cooked and baked for many folks, including her own family of six later on. Daddy was in the CCC camp at Camp Roosevelt before their marriage in 1934. He made some money to send home to his mother so she could help feed that side of the family following the Great Depression. Grandma Sue (nee Ritenour) Grandstaff made the best sugar cookies, and kept them in a round tin on top of the pie safe in the dining room. Mom always said the Ritenour's were "rich" cooks. "Rich" meaning high in fat is my guess. Mom was raised on a large self sufficient farm with all those Clem sisters and four brothers. They all had their chores, and made the best of what they had. They shared with neighbors, no doubt some of Grandma Bessie's bread and cookies, too. Now back to 1950, Mom has fresh eggs from the chicken house, and cracks three into the old stoneware mixing bowl after the butter has melted and the brown sugar is stirred in. She lets me help. Says I can stir with the wooden spoon. We're making Ice Box Cookies. I barely remember in 1947 when we got electricity and along with it came our first refrigerator- - -no ice box anymore!!! This time we will add some long walnut (butternut) kernels to the cookie dough. (We had a tree of them down beside Passage Creek, and cracked some in the fall/winter along with black walnuts.) Mom adds baking soda, cream tartar, vanilla and enough flour to make the dough stiff. We roll the dough into logs on waxed paper on the oil cloth covering the round oak table. Leaving them in the wax paper we put them in the refrigerator to get hard enough so we can slice them. Sometimes, we leave them overnight. Then we slice the cookies from the roll, place them on cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees. Mom says that if a recipe doesn't have a temperature written down, just use 350. She bakes the communion bread for the Oak Hill Church of the Brethren for the Love Feast, also . Makes extra for us to eat at home, and gives to others to take home with them. I think she adds sugar to her recipe making it more tasty. Mom always said that she was "drinking from her saucer because her cup overflowed". No doubt she is up there in Heaven dunking some of those ice box cookies and communion bread in her coffee and sharing with her family and everyone that she can. What a Love Feast that must be!!! Now, here I sit in 2007, a crafty 63 yr old homemaker. The old oak table from home stands in my kitchen, and is covered with recipes and cookies. Some cookies are drying out to become Christmas tree ornaments, and waiting to be painted. This is my therapy for five broken bones in my left wrist and right hand in the last year or so. Mom's presence is felt as I work alone, and my Massanutten Mountain heritage is evident as I focus on memories of old times, wonderful family get-togethers, and delicious recipes. Mom's Icebox Cookies 1/2 c. butter 2 c. brown sugar, packed 3 eggs, well beaten 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. cream tartar 1 tsp. vanilla 3-4 c. flour (enough to make the dough stiff) 1 c. chopped nuts Mix all ingredients together. Roll into 1 1/2 inch rolls with waxed paper. Refrigerate for a couple of hrs or overnight. Cut into 1/4-1/2 inch slices. Bake at 350 degrees for at least 10 minutes. Dough can be prepared in advance and frozen until needed. Sometimes, Mom used coconut instead of nuts. Nancy Grandstaff Shrum Woodstock, VA "Shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life......." Phil 2:15, 16 NIV ------------------------------- 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 message