Peach Pie

When our daughter went off to school I had no idea what to do with myself. I worked part time and volunteered at the school but that still left a lot of time. So, I learned to bake pies, since I’ve never done anything just a little, I baked LOTS of pies. My counter would be lined with them, if you visited you left with a pie, if I visited you, I brought a pie. My favorite was cherry but pitting all those cherries was not. I didn’t enjoy the cherry stained hands either. My second favorite was peach, this pie has endured, so very simple and delicious. I perfected the crust just the way I like it, flaky, light…yes! I got to where I could throw a pie together in nothing flat. Alas, like all things the pie craze came to an end and not a moment too soon, the whole family was about to go up a size.
                                           

Today, I still love pie and when peach season comes around I have to make at least one. I can still make a pretty good crust but I let Pillsbury do the work for me. Why not? I can unroll a flaky, just right every time, crust. I sprinkle flour over my cutting board and my Mom’s rolling pin before rolling each crust out to about 13”. That way I have PLENTY of edge to fold over and seal and most importantly, sop up the excess ice cream! Green Grocerette tip~ you can even cut the pre made crust into strips and weave a lattice crust like a boss, throw a light dusting of flour on your face with this tip. If you prefer organic there are a few options available, give me a call and we’ll order your favorite. You can always add ginger or cinnamon but I love the pure fresh flavor of peaches…and sugar…and butter.


Deep Dish Peach Pie
I package Pillsbury Pie Crust, both crust rolled out to 13”
3 pounds Peaches, cut into 1/2 inch slices
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons flour, plus a little more for rolling out crust.
2 tablespoons butter cut into small pieces
1 egg white, whisk to froth
Superfine sugar for dusting top of pie (you can use regular if you like)

                                            
Toss sliced peaches in a large bowl with sugar, flour and lemon juice till coated. Roll one pie crust onto rolling pin and unroll over deep dish pan. Work into pan bottom being careful not to stretch crust. Fill with peach mixture. Roll second crust onto pin and unroll over filled pie. Fold both pie crust edges under and *flute crust together. Refrigerate pie for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 400*. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. After 20 minutes remove pie from fridge, place pie on lined cookie sheet, cut 4 vents in crust. Lightly brush with egg white and sprinkle with superfine sugar. Bake at 400* for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 375* and bake for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly.
*flute-place a index finger on inside edge of crust then using the thumb and finger of other hand press the crust around finger. Continue around whole pie.

Chief Moore

As Patriot’s Day approaches I am reminded how we Lassen Countians show such great respect for our first responders EVERY day. Responders like Susanville Fire Department Chief James Moore. James has been with the SFD since 1987. He was just 14 and began with the Boy Scout Explorers, following that James served as a Volunteer for 10 years, hired as a career firefighter in 2000 and promoted to Battalion Chief in 2015. James says he still can't believe they pay him to do this . What a wonderful Hometown Proud story to tell, but wait...I also get to go tour the Fire Department? Yes, please!
                      

I have to admit I was hoping there was a fire pole to slide down. No. BUT this firehouse did use the pole from the original firehouse to raise the American flag for 30 years until it was just too worn out. You know they saved it since Chief Moore and the SFD hold their history in high regard. The firehouse walls have photos of the original department where City Hall is now located. There is a framed box that displays all of the fire call box contents from days gone by. Lining the rafters are Fire department patches collected from all over. The garage houses several firetrucks each with a special use and purpose. This place is seriously cool.
                   
I asked the Chief what he would like us to know or how we can assist them. Here's what he had to say~

Volunteer. Currently they need volunteers. The physical testing is tough, applicants will need to be in good shape. The Chief himself has begun long distance running/racing. Way to lead by example.
Be aware of your surroundings, don't be distracted. Fire, Flood and other disasters can turn in an instant. Keep a safe distance for your safety and the safety of first responders.
Inaccuracies are frequently posted on social sites then shared and re-shared Don't help perpetuate this. Go to the fire departments site, they will keep you updated as soon as possible. SFD now has a person dedicated to their social media.
Pictures will come, from reliable sources. Don't risk your life or endanger others to get that shot.
Remember life is fragile, Chief Moore says he is still surprised by just how fragile.

                                      
Thanks to our LoCaL Legends, Battalion Chief James Moore and everyone at Susanville Fire! You make us Hometown Proud!

Roop Letter

 
When we came to Susanville in ’93 Rick was invited to every service organization in town except the Masonic Lodge. Little did we know their motto is ‘2 be 1 ask 1’, they only offer an application if you request it. Rick’s Dad was a Mason, his Granddad was a Mason and now his younger brother is also. So one day he was in the check stand when Claire Tripp came through with a Masonic pin or something and Rick asked…. Claire was back with an application in about 5 minutes!

                        

Peter Lassen brought the first Masonic charter to California from his home in Denmark and he is buried out on Wingfield road with a very nice Monument. This Monument was erected by the Masons. Don’t you just LoVe history? Especially about our Hometown. So, one night Rick came home from Masonic lodge and told me they had presented a letter written by Isaac Roop. Roop wrote this letter to the first Lodge of the state of California requesting $10.00 per Lodge to help pay for the Monument for Peter Lassen’s grave. How cool! So this warranted a drive out to the monument with my daughter Cyndi to look around, our local Rotarians have just mowed and got the place looking great! The leaning tree will be removed (Cyn can’t hold it up forever :) and the plan is to donate the wood to LoCaL Boy Scouts, hopefully some of this will provide benches around our area. Be sure to take a drive, or better yet, bike ride out there to check it out! 

                    

                    

Thanks to our LoCaL Legends the Masons and Rotarians! Hometown Proud!

                                        

Back to School

Back to school can be a crazy time for families. My friend Zeane Barber knows this from
both sides. Zeane has been teaching here many years now. When she earned her Masters in education at Chico State she was still raising 6 children right here in Susanville! She's a powerhouse that has affected so many in a positive way Who better to give us a few tips for beginning the school year right.~

"With the new school year about to start students get excited and a little anxious. Here are a few tips to make the transition from summer to school a smooth one.

Most important is to make sure your student is registered in school. If this is your child’s first time in school (kindergarten), thereis a change in school, or you are new to the area check with the schools main office to register your student. The first day of school is a hectic one and this will alleviate the stress.

Next, be prepared. Purchase school supplies ahead of time. The four necessary items needed to start school are a backpack, writing utensils, folders, and lined paper. My son Jerred says the Ticonderoga is the Cadillac of pencils but any number two pencil will do. A handheld sharpener with a collection tray will cut down on classroom disruptions. If pens are allowed (usually for the upper grades) choose blue or black. With all the cool colors of pens it is tempting but some are hard to see and distract from the hard work put into the project. Folders with pockets will help your student stay organized. Typicallyneeded is one for each subject matter. Also purchase lined paper either in a spiral notebook or loose paper to be kept in a 3 ring binder. For specific needs check with the school.

Finally, reestablish a school schedule 3-5 days before the start of school. Go to bed earlier and get up as if school had started. Spend the extra time with family in these last days of summer. Start each day with breakfast. Studies show that students who eat breakfast perform better in the classroom.

Happy Learning!

P.S. Lassen High now has water bottle filling stations so include a reusable water bottle to your school purchases."

                                  



Thank you for all you do Mrs Barber!




*Green Grocerette tip of the week~ a handfull of berries make a great after school snack!

Swim Team!

Years ago I was riding my mountain bike in Susanville Ranch on the way to Desmond Meadows wondering if this would be the day I would make it through the infamous rock garden. The rock garden is like a dry stream bed of large rocks with a vague trail you could pick your way through, and over, the rocks. I had never made it the whole way. What’s this? Here comes a woman with a Burley baby carrier attached to the back of her bike, she had just come from the rock garden WITH A BABY! That is Camille Buehler. I had heard about her from her husband, Sean, a Champion Mountain biker, but never met before.


Camille is an all around athlete but her real love is swimming, since she was 8 or 9. On her way to earning her Masters in Civil Engineering she coached and was a USC Division 1 College swimmer. Career wise she served 2 years as the Assistant Engineer for City of Susanville then started her own engineering firm which she’s had for 15 years, that firm even helped design the Skyline road. Did I mention she did all this while raising 3 beautiful children. Since we didn’t have a community pool Camille gave LoCaL kids swimming lessons in her backyard pool for 4 years, the last year she had 40 kids! Can you even imagine how excited she is that we have a pool? So excited in fact she wants to start a Swim Team. Go Camille, I wouldn’t expect anything less. 

We are so HOMETOWN PROUD to have people like Camille, always making our community a better place to live!


The Community Pool schedule and lots of other useful info can be found at www.cityofsusanville.net


*Green Grocerette life hack comes from my daughter Cyndi~ If you need to store cut avocado store keep the pit, it’ll keep it from turning.

Hope's Kitchen

Some days I’m working with my head down not paying attention to my surroundings then I hear this incredibly joyous and SUPER mischievous laugh. I can’t help but smile. Hope is here. Hope the Deli SUPERvisor that is. Making people happy with her food, her humor and her caring.  

Let me tell you a little about our ray of Hope. She returned to Susanville after being away for more than a decade. Cooking is her ‘happy place, her relaxing me time”. She met her “mountain man” Jeff right here when she was working in our Bakery. As a kid she had tough circumstances and always wanted to make people like her enough to share all that like with her brother and sister. When her 11 year old son was battling Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma she shaved her head twice so he wouldn’t be bald alone, she assures me that she has a nice dome. He has been cancer free for 14 years now. Thinking of others shows in her work too. When the Deli is really busy, especially if we’re all working on a fire order, Hope will make sure everyone is hydrating, resting and getting a snack. Deli is a fast paced job and that’s just one of her favorite things about it. Her other fave is she says she gets paid to visit and make sure her customers are happy.

To Hope these ARE her golden years and Susanville SUPERmarket is an extension of her family. She’s irreverent, funny, kind, so caring and a fantastic cook! 

So when you hear that laughter, smell that DELIcious food, you know you're in Hope’s Kitchen. 

                                         

*Green Grocerette tip of the week~ Store unused avocado with the pit and it will keep longer. Thank go to my daughter Cyndi for this tip.*

Foil Wrap FrEsH Dinner~

So there I was. Totally had my …uh...stuff together. The plan was to make an easy foil wrapped dinner on the grill, document it for a page 4 article, my house would stay cool PLUS no pots and pans to wash. I could do the prep then just sit back and relax until it was time to grill. Yeah, sure. As soon as I got home from work I washed all my ingredients, began slicing, seasoning and foil wrapping. I was SO impressed with myself. All the foil packets went in the fridge, I sat down to watch a bit of a movie (I LOVE movies). At 5 pm I went out to light the grill for a 5 minute pre heat. I took my first grill items, corn and potatoes out. Wait. What’s this? Once again I have forgotten to check the fuel. AHHHHHH! All he…heck breaks loose. Yes this is much more like my style of cooking. Fortunately my SUPERhero husband knows me too well and always has a spare tank. Oh and did I mention when I went out to get the rescue tank a frog was in my shoe IN THE HOUSE, said frog had to be caught and relocated.  
         


Anyway. Dinner was a little late but delicious.
*Side note~ I use a Weber Gas Grill I bought at Ace Hardware years ago. Wonderful Grill. Those SUPER cute salt/pepper shakers are from Every Blooming Thing. It took me forever to find the perfect set. The holes are large enough for McCormick Coarse Ground Pepper and the salt lets out plenty in two shakes. Reynolds Wrappers are the perfect size for the packets. 
Spray or lightly oil inside of foil to keep food from sticking~
2 or 3 sliced Yukon Gold Potatoes, diced red onion, salt/pepper, sprinkled with Tillamook Shredded Cheddar. Wrap.
2 cobs White Corn, butter, salt/pepper. Wrap.
3 slice Zucchini, diced tomato, chopped garlic, salt/pepper, drizzle with California Olive Ranch Olive Oil. Wrap.
1/2 lb shrimp topped with salt/pepper, a few dabs of butter, chopped garlic. Wrap.
Light grill. Note to self, CHECK FUEL. After a 5-10 minute pre-heat turn off one jet, set remaining to medium-medium high depending on how hot your grill runs.
Grill Potato, Zucchini and Corn packets over indirect heat for 20 minutes. Turn Corn every 5 minutes.
Grill Shrimp packet directly over fire for 10 minutes.
Open packets and enjoy!
                                  


*Green Grocerette tip for the week~ Keep a spare fuel tank on hand…or marry well :)

New Look, same SuPeRmarket!

If you’re making an omelette, you gotta break some eggs. If you’re making your business better, you gotta use blue rooms. Evidently. We're remodeling the store again and we couldn't be more excited! Please bear* with us while we undergo these major improvements. We promise it will be worth it! Thanks to everyone for being so patient.
*A quick side note. I had to check if I was using that word properly. Is it "bear" or "bare?" A quick search on google gave me the answer. “Bare with us" would be "an invitation to undress." Yeah. Not that one. Ha! Anyway…

Here Are Just a Few Fabulous New Improvements That You'll Enjoy Soon…
Expanded Deli • Expanded Bakery • New bathrooms (not like the ones currently outside)
Lots of Retail Expansions and Brand New Kitchens in Both the Deli & Bakery Departments (Oh yeah! With a dishwasher even!) • Plus much, much more! • Oh and the front…Oh my gosh! I can’t believe how beautiful it will all look when it's finished.

Let’s face it. The old girl needed a facelift. After all, the market will be fifty years old next year! Can you believe that? The photo above is the Architect's rendering of how it will look. Gorgeous. Even more gorgeous when they add the store's sign. Finally, our outsides will match our insides because our customers and staff make Susanville Super such a beautiful place to be.

Thank you all for your support, continued patience and patronage. A heartfelt, "thank you" also goes to the incredible staff at Susanville Super for all of their hard work and enthusiasm while we go through this process. Susanville, you always make us Hometown Proud! - Anna Stewart

Psst, don't tell anyone I posted this but here's a sneak peek at the preliminary design for our sign~

                

* Green Grocerette tip for the week "Use a dry erase pen on your plastic / glass storage containers to label and date."

Mr Wizard

Mr Wizard we like to call him. Well. Maybe it’s just me. No matter Martin Balding IS a wiz when it comes to keeping Susanville SuPeR green and he’s been doing it for about 17 years now. For instance, we don’t use air conditioning. Can you believe that? We use our refrigeration to cool the store. On the coolers that have doors, more shopping equals more cooling just when we need it since the entrance/exits are opening more. Genius. Since we use more of our energy to cool our cases it keeps the food fresher. What?! Less spoilage?! We use our compressors to heat our water. Changing to LED lighting was a 30% reduction in the whole store with the exemption of the LED motion lights in the freezers and refrigerators…those are a 90% reduction. Martin painted the roof white to reflect heat. AND so much more. Martin believes there isn’t another store in the state that uses less electricity.
                                    
Martin has a Masters in Industrial Arts and started his career teaching. He began noticing the school he worked for had things running all the time, he took a couple of energy classes and earned an Energy Auditor Certificate. Martin went to the principal and asked if he could have 10 students to run energy audits at the school. The savings to that school ended up being significant and soon he was applying for grants and auditing 5 high schools. He did things they said couldn’t be done, like using the exhaust from a cogeneration system to heat the pool.
                        
When Martin came here we had a 3 year contract, it ended 14 years ago. Mr Wizard is part of our Susanville Super Family and we’re so very lucky to have him. Always full of new, innovative ideas, he even helps me by sending ideas for the Community Corner! Martin told me this is family, it isn’t just about the work, we have camaraderie. I agree!
                   
Martin is married to the most lovely Janet. They have 3 ‘kids', 5 grand children, 3 great-grandchildren and will celebrate 60 years of marriage this September.

Thank you for keeping us Susanville SuPeR Green Martin!
                                           
*Green Grocerette tip of the week~ Martin cooks his Sweet Potatoes/Yams in the pressure cooker. Thanks for the tip Martin.

The Little Power Plant That Could... and does!

Just imagine if you could take old pallets, wood chips that would otherwise be forest fire fuel and other wood waste and turn it into POWER. That’s just what Greenleaf Power’s Honey Lake Power Plant as been doing since 1989. I recently got to tour HLP thanks to Public Relations Manager at LMUD Theresa Phillips and Plant Manager Ralph Sanders. Ralph has been Plant Manager since before HLP was even completed, he did retire for 5 years in 2012 but he’s back. I asked our own Mr Wizard, Martin Balding owner of Balding Energy Enterprise, if he would like to go with me. This place is seriously cool. Really cool, even when you’re standing by the furnace. The air smells wonderful like a forest, no belching smoke here. What you see coming from the chimneys is steam, so much steam I asked if it was starting to rain. A small footprint that creates power, enough power to run all of LMUD. Incredible. To me it will always be the little power plant that could. All that wood waste is reduced by 98% by the time it is turned to ash. Wow 

When a truck arrives it backs onto the lift and after the driver has safely exited the truck is lifted to a 62* angle to unload. I asked Ralph why they do it this way, other than it is quite a sight to see, he told me it takes 8 minutes to unload this way. Theresa pointed out she can’t unload her groceries in 8 minutes. Truly, I don’t know how this plant could be more efficient and kind to our Honey Lake Valley. Oh wait, did I mention they use the existing geothermal to preheat? Yeah, that too. What an operation. It was one of the best field trips I’ve ever taken. Every year Johnstonville School gets to tour and HLP sometimes opens to the general public for a day in the fall, if they do this year I’ll let you know.

Thanks LMUD and HLP for working together to keep us ENERGIZED!

    

*Green Grocerette tip of the week~ Keep cutting boards beautiful by rubbing with a little olive oil after washing.*

Stan Bales

One of my very favorite things when I lived in town was the trail system in Susanville Ranch Park. Rick and I spent many lunch hours out on our mountain bikes on what we, and a bunch of LoCaL riders referred to as recess! Some would even head out for night rides. It was A BIG FAT BLAST! I don't ride as much as I used to and since I live outside of town now it's easier to get on my road bike when I do. BUT. I think that may all change soon.                                                 

      

     

BLM Outdoor Recreation Planner Stan Bales likes nothing better than to create and share all the great outdoor opportunities right out our backdoor, he’s been doing it for what seems like forever. As a matter of fact I once heard that when Isaac Roop arrived here he was standing on the high ground overlooking the site where the depot now sits. Roop looked over to his right hand man and said “Stan, this would be a great place for a railroad depot.” Okay. Maybe not THAT long, but still. Anyway, for awhile now he’s been telling me about the new trails on Bald Mountain. I had no idea how developed this trail system was AND it’s only going to grow. The plan is to have 6 different loops so you can ride, walk, run, as many or few as you like.

The trails are accessed off Byers Pass Rd. Currently equestrians, mountain bikers, runners and walkers are out there enjoying 360* views of the Honey Lake Valley! Bring your pooch! How lucky are we to live in such a gorgeous, outdoorsy place?


Thank you Stan Bales for all you do!

*Green Grocerette tip of the week~ clothespins make great bag clips for a fraction of the price!*