Sibling Assignment #58: Stein Brother's IGA

I gave our sibling assignment this week: "Pick a local business in the Silver Valley during our growing up years. Share a story that happened to you while being at that business." Raymond Pert's will be here and Silver Valley Girl's will be here soon.

I always remember the IGA store. The first one was a smaller store where the current Sunnyside Drug is. When they built the "new store" on the corner of Hill and Cameron Avenue it was so big through the lens of my childhood eyes.It was actually Stein Brother's IGA, but we often just called it Stein's or IGA. Recently a big change happened for the first time since 1929. It is now Stein's Family Foods. As Larry Stein states on their web site, "Stein's was founded in 1929 in Kellogg, Idaho and is currently owned and operated by the grandchildren of it's founder, Ed Stein. We have built our business over the years by striving to have the finest meats and produce available along with outstanding customer service."

We knew all the Steins. There were the older Stein brothers that ran the stores. Their children started out as box boys or worked in the bakery, then moved up to being checkers and now managers/owners of the stores. I like it when there is continuity and you can count on things being the same. I always felt that way at Stein's IGA. The bakery filled the store with wonderful smells in the early morning hours. When you entered the store and turned right you could always count on Chuck greeting you from the produce department. Ed would be chopping steaks in the meat department and telling Mom what cuts of meat were fresh and a "really good buy". Sally and Vi would always have a kind word to say at the checkout line.

My mom has shopped at IGA for more than fifty years. She buys one prime rib a year at Christmas from the meat department. She still cuts coupons and keeps the checkers honest as she scans her receipt before she leaves the store making sure she saved what she thought she should. If she gets a watermelon in the summer and doesn't think it is good, she drives right back over and takes it back. They always find a new one that is better. Mom has been loyal to Steins and they have treated her right.

I used to enjoy going to Stein's with Mom when she did her Saturday shopping. I always hoped we could get freshly made maple bars, candy, Captain Crunch or Alpha Bits. For Mom shopping at IGA was a social event. From the time she hit the produce department until she wound around the last aisle before checkout she usually stopped and visited with ten or twenty people. Sometimes it was just a greeting, but often it was a longer conversation about family, buys in the store, or school. All the women in Mom's family ( including Silver Valley Girl and myself) have voices that carry. They are loud and they boom. I could have been checking out Teen Beat magazine six aisles over and I could hear Mom greeting her friend Yvonne in produce. We used to chuckle as we traced Mom's Saturday journey through the store. It wasn't hard to figure out where she was. Her voice carried through the store as she chatted with Penny at the soup aisle, Joan in dairy, and many box boys including my brother later when in search of a particular product.

As we hauled groceries into the house after the hours in IGA Dad always made some comment like," Jeeze Mary... is there anything left in the store?" or " How can it take you that long to get groceries? Did you talk to every person in the store and parking lot?", or "Did you remember my Heidelberg?" I listened to Mom review her whole trip to my dad, filling him in on news, a bit of gossip, and who she saw. I think Mom liked her weekly social ritual.

I understand that the name had to change recently because IGA no longer has a warehouse in Spokane. Stein's Family Foods just doesn't sound right. Stein Brother's IGA is the name I will always remember. To learn more about the renamed Stein's Family Foods in Kellogg, Idaho you can go here.

For the Sunday Scribbling Smorgasbord this week I chose change. To see the rest of the buffet go here.

Photo Hunt: I Spy

Do I Spy the document due to the principal, that P.O. I was to turn in, and a laptop?

Yes, plus I Spy the top of my desk. I had heard a rumor it was a dark brown color!
To find other photo hunters playing I Spy go here.

Fun Friday: A-Z About Me

I saw this meme on another blog and thought I would again challenge myself using an A-Z format.

Rules: List ONE word for each letter of the alphabet that describes you.

Artistic

Baker

Collector

Driven

Encouraging

Flutist

Gardener

Humorous

Insightful

Jolly

Kind

Learner

Memorykeeper

No-nonsense

Observant

Photographer

Quick-witted

Reader

Sentimental

Talkative

Understanding

Valentine

Wordsmith

Xanthochroid

Yahoo

Zealous

Try out this A-Z meme. It is really fun! I did have to get out the dictionary for a few letters.

Even With Snow... It Still Feels Like Spring

Snow is still waiting for warm weather to melt it away. As we sit outside though we feel the warmth of spring sunshine, enjoy a blue sky, and see signs of life in the garden. The dogs love being outside more and it is hard to keep us inside also!

Memories of Food Combinations

I am continuing through writing exercises in Old Friend From Far Away which I first wrote about here. Moving from one memoir prompt tonight I began to remember food combinations that have always been a part of my life. The traditional ones that have stayed in my family are eggs with toast, meat loaf with baked potatoes, spaghetti with French bread, and Darigold vanilla ice cream with Hershey's chocolate syrup. I think it seemed impossible to drink hot cocoa without marshmallows when I was a child.

My mom always had a weird food combination called Rolled Radish Sandwich. She would take a slice of bread, cover it with butter, take some radishes that I don't even remember being sliced, put them on top then roll it up like a burrito. She loved those for lunch on Saturdays during my childhood. With a bottle of Pepsi or Squirt she was in seventh heaven. It was a combination the siblings couldn't stand, but we enjoyed others from those childhood lunches including tomato soup with toasted cheese sandwiches, tuna fish mixed with pickles and Tang ( not the orange stuff... the Nalley's brand of salad dressing), chicken noodle soup with crackers, and Franco-American spaghetti served with a slice of while bread and butter. It was quite a feast if we were given the privilege of dining on a Swanson's frozen chicken pot pie.

Some of the combinations I savor still came from school lunch during grade school. Combinations that come to mind are chili with homemade cinnamon rolls , wieners with sauerkraut, homemade white rolls accompanying turkey gravy, and jello that seemed to go with just about anything.

My Grandma Woolum always had fried chicken with potatoes and gravy and homegrown green beans. Swiss Steak, corn on the cob, and caramel cake was a likely combination when we had dinner at Auntie Lila's. My brother does a delicious mix of eggs, potatoes, and veggies in breakfast skillets. When Mom makes pork chops applesauce is usually served. My sister is a very creative cook and her yummy salads have combined oranges with dark greens or a variety of fruits in a delicious fruit bowl.

I don't know how food combinations ever came about. I suppose some families began traditions that were passed down. Others just tried foods together and realized they worked. I love zucchini and chocolate together in breads and cakes now because of recipes I have experimented with. I also now enjoy the flavor of mint with hot chocolate. Can anyone eat Chinese pork without hot mustard and sesame seeds?

There were a few combinations that didn't work. Cinnamon on Dad's eggs was a cooking error my brother had to live with. Forgetting the clams in the chowder on Christmas Eve has been a running gag in the family. I learned early in my adult life never to serve my father a combination of ethnic foods. He threw them out the window when the chef ( myself) wasn't looking as not to hurt my feelings. What... like I wouldn't find them later?

I will still continue to remember hot beef sandwiches Mom whipped up using the leftovers from the Sunday roast. Cottage cheese always seemed to have canned Dole pineapple by it's side. If steaks were served it was always with green salad, Mom's homemade blue cheese dressing, and baked potatoes.

Have certain food combinations remained a tradition in your family?

Best Blogging Buddies Award

I would like to thank Granny Smith for this thoughtful award and the kind words she wrote about my blog. You can visit her beautiful blog here.

Like Granny Smith I am going to keep my list short for this award. I have many blogging buddies that I love to connect with each week. I chose the following group because they all have something in common. They either grew up or live now in the area of the Northwest we call the Inland Empire. Without blogging I may not have met some of them.
La Tea Da at Gracious Hospitality continues to amaze me with her informative and inspirational blog. We live in the same state and found out after blogging that we taught in rooms next door to each other at different times in a middle school, and can share many stories about the staff we both worked with.
Pamela at The Dust Will Wait is another eastern Washington blogger that shares photos, memories, poetry, and stories of her life. I am always in awe of her photos.
Nonizamboni at Peacock Blue also grew up in Idaho and we have found we share a love for writing, gardening, photography, family, and recipe sharing. I also love the music and books titles she shares.
Silver Valley Girl is my sister that got me blogging. She tells stories of the history of the Silver Valley, does photos of the area around our hometown, and gives us good tips on movies, music, and television series' at her blog Silver Valley Stories.

Congratulations to each of you. Your blogs are each unique in their own way. That is one thing that keeps me blogging.