Well Erma, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. We have been dawn to dusk planting up here. What a contrast! You spending the week enjoying the festivities of the horsey set with the Derby, trying to catch a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth II, and me hauling soybean seeds out to the fields. Have our lives ever taken different paths.
The big story here, at least for gossip, is the Paris Hilton thing. Let me tell you, if the crowd down at the Diner had anything to say about her behavior and sentence, that young lady (wrong word of course) would be sitting behind bars for quite a while. There was lots of speculation as to what decorator would fix up her cell, or how the jail would provide her with a special cook and menu. Can’t you just see her face if she had to live and eat with regular inmates?
Mel Tomchak, who runs the Diner, learned to cook in the Navy and he regaled us with the vision of pouty, picky Paris going through the line to be given a bowl of Lima Bean Soup. Mel swears that on his ship there was a huge pot of Navy Bean or Lima Bean Soup out with every meal they served, and that included breakfast. Mel’s recipe for this delicacy serves a whopping 250 servings. Probably more, if there are Paris Hilton types who would pass on it. Just in case you ever need to feed a crowd, here is his recipe.
Mel’s Lima Bean Soup:
10 pounds dried lima beans
3 pounds ground ham or pork shoulder
6 chopped onions1 cup butter, or oil
1 quart diced celery
10 gallons of meat stock (use up those leftovers the Navy said)
2 huge (industrial size) cans tomato juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Soak the beans in water at least 12 hours. Meanwhile boil up a ham or shoulder until tender. Grind in food grinder or food grinder attachement 3 pounds of the ham scraps. Chop the onions and celery in the food chopper. Saute (Mel would say “brown”) the onions in the butter or oil. Mix everything together in a huge stock pot like the and simmer for a few hours, or days, if Mel is to be believed.
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