Ask Joan: Our anniversary edition
No, not the sixth anniversary of Ask Joan; rather, this weekend marked my husband’s and my sixth wedding anniversary. We spent the weekend in State College and had a blast. I came home to about a ton of Ask Joan mail and other thoughts for the blog, though, so please bear with me as I sort through it all!
What’s inside
1. Looking for sushi in York County
2. Seeking name of former sportscaster
3. A second chicken-corn soup request
1. I really need to know if there are any good sushi restaurants in York?
– Lynn Jones
Lynn just asked this question Friday, and with amazingly good timing, as the “Best of York County” section was just published in this Sunday’s print edition. If you’re not familiar, this is an annual publication from the MediaOnePA advertising and marketing department that is compiled based on reader votes for their favorite businesses in a variety of categories. This year, 8,912 ballots were cast.
In the sushi category, the top three, in order, were Mitsuru Japanese Restaurant on Springwood Road in York Township; Masa Japanese Restaurant at 1720 Loucks Road, West Manchester Township; and Tokyo Diner at 2300 E. Market St., Springettsbury Township.
You might remember I’ve written about Masa in the past, as it’s super-close to my home and work and quite tasty. Mitsuru and Tokyo Diner, the other Best of York County winners, come highly recommended by friends on the south and east ends of town, too.
Finally, as I’ve mentioned in one or two previous “Ask Joan” columns, one of the best places to find good restaurants – and other businesses – is via the online Marketplace directory, where you can rate businesses you visit and also read others’ ratings. Check out the sushi category here!
2. (I’m seeking the) name of a sportscaster on a York radio station who died several years (or more) ago. Man in his late 40s or 50s. Can you help?
– Lou Petti
I’ve put out feelers about Lou’s question to some folks who are way hipper on local radio than I am and am hoping to have some ideas soon!
In searching our archives, I’ve found some radio folks who match either the age or the job description, but not both. One I found was Thomas Ranker, who was vice president and general manager of WSBA, WARM 103 and WSOX radio stations of Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Radio Division. He died in 2004 at age 56 and his obituary lists him as an avid sports fan and collector of sports memorabilia, but no mention of on-air work. There was Robert Shipley, who passed away in May 2010, but he was older; he’d done a lot of on-air work in the 1950s and 1960s locally, much of it in sports.
Perhaps the closest I found was for John Shadle, who died in 2006 at the age of 57. His obituary lists him as chief engineer for a number of stations, including WSBA-AM and FM, where he was also a staff announcer; it says he also went on to provide sports broadcasts in Arizona, so maybe that’s a clue.
Lou, perhaps this jogs your memory a little, and if anyone else has any suggestions, I’d be glad to hear them!
3. Originally from York County. Please send me a good Chicken Corn Soup recipe.
– Glenn Ruby of Mobile, Alabama
Glenn makes the second reader in about a month to ask me for a chicken-corn soup recipe. The last time we talked about this, it was in reverse – Lois Shelley, who is new to the area, asked for the recipe.
Glenn, if you’ll check out my response to Lois here, I hope you’ll find it helpful. Proportions are always up to you, as are whether you wish to add hard-cooked eggs or rivels. But here’s an additional ingredient possibility from when I responded to Lois’ question, from reader Joyce Moul of York Haven.
Joyce writes, “I was reading the chicken corn soup recipes on your blog and was surprised to see that they are missing a key ingredient … corn syrup or honey! My husband and I travel quite a bit to functions that involve food and are held by the Amish or Mennonite community. We have talked to many cooks about their food recipes and corn syrup and sometimes honey are almost always added to bring out that sweet corn taste. We switch between the two when we make our own here at home. Our ingredients are simply chicken, water, potatoes, fresh parsley, hard cooked eggs and a mixture of white shoepeg and yellow sweet corn followed by adding the corn syrup or honey to the pot right before ready to serve. We find that fresh corn is best, followed by frozen and then canned if we have no alternative. We don’t measure the ingredients so I can’t say how much of what that we use, but my husband thinks that we use “more than a 1/4 cup and less than a half cup” of the corn syrup and only 1/4 cup of the honey when we use that. We do a lot of tasting, so when it tastes sweeter, we stop! It used to make me crazy when I asked my grandmother for a recipe and she would give me something like I just gave you! I once said, “How can you cook without a recipe??” Now, I only use them when I bake.”
Joyce, that sounds great! I really appreciate all the detail and the fact that your family, like mine, doesn’t cook with exact proportions. Glenn, I hope you find this to be a good start on making some good food from “up home!”
Got any questions? Ask Joan using the form at right. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future “Ask Joan” column on this blog. I’m already getting a big volume, so it might take me a while, but I hope to be able to answer as many as possible!
