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Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany by Ruth Paget

Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany by Ruth Paget 

Stuttgart is Germany’s richest city. Mercedes-Benz and Porsche cars are manufactured here. The city is surrounded by Riesling vineyards. The city’s cash flow is also assured as the home of reasonably priced Ritter-Sport chocolate. 

One of Stuttgart’s star attractions is the Porsche Museum. My husband Laurent and I decided to visit it and contribute to the local economy when we lived in Stuttgart for five years. 

I felt like Laurent was getting to do something he liked as one of our cultural outings. We usually visit lots of castle kitchens and monasteries with pre-Columbian vegetable gardens. I like studying medieval household management, but do recognize that cars make modern life nice, especially in the Western United States. 

We drove our GM product to the Porsche Museum, and had fun walking around the red, white, and yellow race cars in the gleaming white museum. 

Germans make great merchandise, so we headed to the gift shop to make some purchases. We bought USB ports for our computers that had model Porsche cars on their ends and looked through T-shirts, caps cups, and decks of cards with Porsche models as jacks, queens, and kings. 

I thought the T-shirts were informal surveys to see which Porsche models might sell well. 

At home, I made shrimp kebabs with shrimp I had marinated in lemon juice and crushed garlic overnight. 

We ate chic Weihenstephan yogurt as dessert. Weihenstephan is better known for its beer. The monastery brewery was founded in 1040 and has a limited number of other food products for sale in Germany. 

To finish off our meal, we drank smooth Dallmayr coffee from the department store of the same name in Munich. 

I thought the lunch was something a trim and well-off German might like. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Dance Party Fundraising by Ruth Paget

Dance Party Fundraising by Ruth Paget 

One of the quickest ways the Inner-City Youth Tour to China raised money was with dance parties in 1978 – 1979. 

The way this worked was that you paid $5 if you brought something to eat or drink for the party. If you just showed up, you paid $10. Wrists were marked with “paid” stamps like they are at small club shows as a receipt. Homes in Detroit are large. 

You can easily fit 100 people in a living room with a full dining room off the side. We could raise between $500 - $750 in an evening with a dance party – an absolute win-win fundraiser. 

People are not finicky eaters in Detroit. I think the standard party dish is onion dip with Lay’s potato chips and soda. If you make onion dip yourself, it is super cheap. 

Detroit has a huge Eastern European population that came to the city to build cars, which means that sour cream is plentiful and inexpensive in the Motor City. 

The hillbilly contingent to the workforce (including my dad) mixes dry French onion soup mix with sour cream to make onion dip. This is great with plain potato chips or the ones with chives and sour cream. I taught the Puerto Ricans on the tour how to make this. 

Dance parties were a huge hit, because this was the Disco Era when we were raising money to go to China. We danced and sang into the night to Donna Summer, Lionel Richie, Gloria Gaynor, Sister Sledge, Chaka Khan, Santana, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. 

The Inner-City Youth Tour to China did go to China, and the dance alumni of our fundraising efforts went on to make beach parties at Daytona Beach, Florida a huge success, too, I think. 

One of the co-leaders of the youth tour went on to found and edit People en EspaƱol as a lasting cultural impact of our fundraising efforts. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Monday, August 29, 2022

Cold Brew and Iced Coffee $ Money Hacks by Ruth Paget

Cold Brew and Iced Coffee $ Hack by Ruth Paget 

Both iced coffee and cold brew are mega money savers, if you make them at home. I let a lot of coffee go cold in Detroit (Michigan) as I watched the news in French that was broadcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Channel (CBC) in Windsor (Canada) just across the Detroit River when I was in high school. (Free French oral comprehension lessons to go with high school French classes.) 

I was teaching myself to like bitter coffee, so I could pass as French in Canada. I thought coffee was bilge, though, compared to tea, especially cold. 

However, I did not want to waste money and throw out the coffee in the pre-microwave era I lived in. (All this money management economics destined my college to be the Austrian School of Economics at the University of Chicago I sometimes think.) 

I knew the Greeks made iced coffee, so I poured the cold coffee over ice and added milk and sugar. That was good and refreshing. I made it summer and winter and still do despite loving Starbucks. 

So, that is how to make inexpensive iced coffee. Cold brew is even simpler. 

I have learned to love coffee now that I am middle-aged. Coffee is even supposed to be good for you now due to its antioxidants. 

Cold brew coffee is now the rage and so easy to make at home. Place 1 or 2 tablespoons of ground coffee in the bottom of a French Press Coffee Pot. Pour in water and let the water stand on the coffee grounds for twelve hours. 

Press down on the grounds with the French Press lid and serve the cold brew over ice. 

I use a Starbucks insulated 3-cup container for this. These recipes are easy and can fit all budgets depending on the coffee you use. Amazon sells Starbucks, Lavazza, and Dallmayr coffee, if you cannot find these items in your area. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Sunday, August 28, 2022

Costco Rotisserie Chicken $ Food Hack by Ruth Paget

Costco Rotisserie Chicken $ Food Hack by Ruth Paget 

One of my favorite Saturday lunch meals that I have eaten for decades is a Costco organic Rotisserie Chicken priced at $4.99 for a whole chicken. 

I cut the chicken into 4 portions, which cost approximately $1.25 each. I like to eat this with Korean 90-second microwave rice and baby greens salad – all from Costco. 

This meal is simple, so I jazz it up with a habanero margarita from Total Wine. The money I save on this meal goes towards a baked pasta or a baked enchilada dish for Sunday. 

I drink a red Malbec wine with the pasta or a beer with the enchilada dish. I roughly plan out my weekday breakfasts, lunches, and dinners to stay with three meals and little or no snacking. 

That little $4.99 rotisserie chicken has helped me manage household finances and tastes good. I even cut up the leftover meat and mix it with Caesar Salad (a no-food waste meal). 

(Note: Caesar Salads are also a Costco deli item and have dressing with anchovies in it, which are antioxidants.) 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Costco Pizza $ Food Hack by Ruth Paget

Costco Pizza $ Food Hack by Ruth Paget 

Friday night pizza is very affordable with a pizza from Costco’s food court. 

An 18-inch pizza costs $9.95 for 12 slices. Each slice is 9 inches long and costs .83 cents each. 

Two kinds of pizza are available: a combo with pepperoni, sausage, and vegetables and one with just vegetables, tomato sauce, and cheese. You can request packets of Parmesan cheese and hot pepper flakes to go with the pizza. 

Parmesan has calcium for bones and hot peppers have Vitamin C to strengthen the immune system. 

Currently, the Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes are free, but a small charge for these could be added to a fund for employee raises, for example. These pizzas are especially great for sports teams and sports nights at home. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Thursday, August 18, 2022

Costco Turkey-Swiss Sandwich $ Hack by Ruth Paget

Costco Deli Sandwich $ Food Hack by Ruth Paget 

I think the turkey-Swiss sandwich on a butter croissant with a Caesar salad combo box at Costco is a great deal at $10.28, because I can make two lunches out of it. 

The two meals cost $5.14 each. 

Caesar salad dressing uses anchovies, which are antioxidants and have iron. Lemon juice from freshly squeezed lemons has Vitamin C for the immune system. 

Turkey has protein and Vitamin B-6, which helps keep the nervous system and immune system healthy according to the Mayo Clinic. Swiss cheese has calcium in it, which is good for your bones. 

The butter croissant used for bread fills you up, so you can stick to three meals a day to stay trim and maintain weight. 

All those health benefits for $5.14 make the turkey-Swiss sandwich a good deal for me at Costco. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Costco Baked Salmon $ Food Hack by Ruth Paget

Costco Baked Salmon $ Food Hack by Ruth Paget 

I think Costco’s ready-to-bake salmon that comes with three scoops of butter and dill in its deli section is a great deal at $28 for the following reasons: 

I add 2 cans of drained green beans to the salmon to bake for an hour. The cans of green beans are about $1 each. When the salmon is ready to serve, I microwave Korean sticky rice, which costs around $1 a dish, too. All total that is $31 for the 5 servings that I get out of this dish for $6.20 for each serving. 

That price is much less expensive than a restaurant meal, but the real clincher for this Costco dish is that I can have a Habanero Margarita at home that is less expensive than a cantina. 

Salmon has many health benefits besides the good taste. It contains vitamins A, B, and D and the minerals magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, zinc, and selenium. 

In particular, selenium is an antioxidant that removes free radicals that cause cancer from the body. Vitamin A helps with vision, the immune system, and the development of babies in the womb according to www.healthline.com . 

Costco’s salmon is a great deal for Sunday lunch and health benefits. You cannot beat that! 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Donaueschingen, Germany Trip by Ruth Paget

Donaueschingen, Germany Trip by Ruth Paget 

I first read about the German Black Forest town of Donaueschingen, the source of the Danube River, in Marina Polvay’s cookbook All Along the Danube: Recipes from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria (Hippocrene Press – 357 pages). 

When I moved to Stuttgart, Germany with my husband Laurent for five years, we lived close to the Black Forest and made Donaueschingen one of our first trips. We drove through the Black Forest with its gingerbread architecture towns and shops selling cuckoo clocks and beer steins and ended up with those items before returning to the United States. 

On our walk to the source of the Danube River once in Donaueschingen, we passed churches and apartment buildings painted in pastel colors like Venice that would shine in the snowy winters here and constantly remind inhabitants of their connection to water. 

The two streams that come together as the source of the Danube River are the Brege and Brigach. They are encircled in a fountain with an Art Nouveau metal railing. People toss Euro coins in the fountain. I wondered if they ended up downriver in Budapest, Hungary or it the German civic authorities gathered them up for fountain maintenance. 

There are many pack terrace cafĆ©s in town that no doubt serve dishes made with mushrooms from the Black Forest like trout in mushroom-butter sauce. 

I treated our time in Germany as one long cooking course, so we returned home where I had a salad waiting that I made from Marina Polvay’s All Along the Danube. The rough outline for the salad I made follows. (I noted the page with the exact recipe.) 

Mushroom-Potato Salad (p.16) 

-slice mushrooms and marinate in vinegar and oil dressing 

-toss mushrooms with slices of boiled potatoes 

-garnish with slices of green pepper and capers 

This salad served at room temperature is especially good with a chilled Pilsner beer on a cool Fall day. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Suburban Detroit French Terrine $ Hack by Ruth Paget

Suburban Detroit French Terrine $ Hack by Ruth Paget 

My Polish babysitter epitomized the Detroit credo of “If I can make a car, I can cook.” 

I learned about Polish admiration for French food from my Polish babysitter in Troy, Michigan as a child. She made homemade French pork and liver terrines and duck terrines and had me eat them with her for lunches and dinners. 

The French eat terrine slices with either bakery-baked, long baguette bread or round, crusty loaves of country bread they make at home. The Polish babysitter, who knew how to bake, mostly made country bread. 

She also made her own sweet gherkin pickles to go with the terrine, which the French always eat with terrine. 

Finally, she filled half the plate with torn and chilled Boston bibb lettuce and homemade blue cheese dressing made with Maytag blue cheese from Iowa, which is the equivalent of the great blue cheeses of Europe: 

-Roquefort (France) 

-Cabrales (Spain) 

-Gorgonzola (Italy) 

(I think we need tasting competitions to decide who has the best blue cheese.) 

The French consider terrine a waste-not dish, because it is made from the odds and ends of butchering meat. A 1.5-quart terrine mold yields 15 slices or 2 slices for 2 people over 7 days with 1 slice leftover to share. My Polish babysitter viewed terrine as delicious, nutritious, and economical and so did I. 

My babysitter drank a sweet white wine with the pork and liver terrine from Michigan’s Warner Winery. She made sure to tell me that the great Hungarian sweet white wine Tokaj was the best match with terrine, but Warner worked for everyday, because Tokaj was expensive. 

The Polish babysitter gave me apple cider to go with my terrine lunch. (Apples grow in abundance in Michigan. Johnny Appleseed is a children’s book everyone in the state reads.) 

I thought of these lovely childhood lunches when I purchased PĆ¢tĆ©, Confit, Rillette: Recipes from the Craft of Charcuterie by Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman. This 250-page recipe book has recipes that cover meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables. 

I prefer terrines to confit and rillettes, because it is easier to measure slices for portion control. However, spreadable rillettes are easier to make. You can measure out preserved pieces of delicious duck confit, but pieces tend to be irregular, which makes it hard to count calories. 

Several dishes I thought would be make use of rural resources include: 

-chicken and wild mushroom terrine 

-cauliflower, pea, and red pepper mousse en terrine 

-portobello and red pepper terrine 

-two-potato terrine 

-cauliflower mousse 

-onion confit 

-fennel confit 

-chanterelle and garlic confit rillettes 

These terrines might sell well at a place like Costco, if they are not too expensive as they can be made into a week’s worth of food. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Monday, August 15, 2022

Detroit (Michigan) Bake Sale $ Hacks by Ruth Paget

Detroit (Michigan) Bake Sale $ Hacks by Ruth Paget 

When I was elected president of the National Honor Society in inner-city Detroit (Michigan) for the 1981 – 1982 school year, Detroit was in a recession, which felt like a depression with auto plant closures due to the “invasion” of small, fuel-efficient Japanese cars that cut into sales of the American auto industry. 

I think what clinched my election was my experience in running profitable bake sales to fund a freshman year trip to China for myself and 21 other young people from Detroit. I knew how to make hot cocoa in 10-gallon coffee makers and inexpensively make muffins and cupcakes from scratch. 

I also said in my election speech that it was ok for working moms to purchase cupcakes and donate them to the bake sale. NHS members could also get community service hours working at the bake sale. The strategy was to price everything at 50 cents and make it easy to give change for singles, fives, tens, and twenties. 

Each class in my high school had 900 students plus about 200 teachers. If you arrived at school early and set up everything, you had an audience of 3,800 people to sell to. 

The bake sales sold out all hot cocoa and cupcakes. A bake sale could garner $400 to $450. The school security guards escorted me to the school treasurer’s office for money counting and deposit. 

The National Honor Society used funds we raised to help charitable organizations in Detroit, who approached the principal and club sponsor via a written petition that was presented to the club for approval by vote. 

I am still proud that in a recession Cass Tech High School was able to help UNICEF pay for a rainwater collection tank to be used in a school in Africa (Gela Jar Project). I wanted the club to have an international project and asked UNICEF to petition the school for project funding. 

The true secret of bake sales I learned in high school was to make a quick, easy, and accurate transfer of goods. I have used this lesson for everything from cupcake sales to National Endowment for the Humanities grants. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Sunday, August 14, 2022

Detroit (Michigan) Muffins Food $ Hack by Ruth Paget

Detroit (Michigan) Muffins Food $ Hack by Ruth Paget 

One of the reasons I wanted to live in downtown Detroit, Michigan in high school was the city’s proximity to Windsor (Ontario), Canada. 

I loved Detroit for being able to take a half hour bus ride through the tunnel under the Detroit River to Windsor, a small English town with river front gardens and many French restaurants and tearooms. 

All along Oulette Street, Windsor’s main thoroughfare, you can find china shops selling Spode and Wedgewood, Baccarat crystal stores, and Christofle silverware shops. You can also find made-to-order fur coat stores reflecting Detroit and Canada’s rugged winters. 

Bucolic English culture has many lovers in industrial Detroit. I was one of them. My family heritage is mostly English and Scottish, and I wanted to be a trim English woman with everyday tea dinners complete with tea biscuits and Red Rose tea, which I brought home as souvenirs. 

I knew from grocery shopping with my mother that tea cakes and muffins do not cost much to make and went through a cookbook (Joy of Cooking) for recipes. I made English tea suppers to save money, so my mother and I could go out to Detroit’s Greektown, Lelli’s Italian Restaurant, Carl’s Chop House, and/or Syros around the corner from our apartment building on Gratiot Avenue on the weekend. 

I would make two dozen muffins on the weekend using eggs and sour cream for protein and calcium I reasoned. I used cayenne pepper to flavor them one week and dill on the other. I ate 4 or 5 muffins each day along with slices of cheddar cheese. I also made fresh fruit salad with bananas, oranges, apples, kiwis, tea-soaked raisins, and orange juice to go with plain yogurt. I felt vitamins coursing through my veins eating this meal and ready to do calculus homework after an hour of skating at Hartt Plaza on the icy riverfront.

I tried to maintain a 2,000 to 2,500 calorie diet in high school, so I could be thin like Vogue models. I walked a mile each way to school and was rarely sick. The muffins fed me and kept me strong. 

I think muffins are inexpensive to make still and might help stretch food budgets. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Monday, August 8, 2022

Silent Auction $ Hacks by Ruth Paget

Silent Auctions $ Hack by Ruth Paget 

I have attended and worked at silent auctions since I was a teenager in Detroit, Michigan. Silent auctions are well attended for the good deals you can get on donated merchandise and gift certificates for services. 

Silent auctions are also famous for waiting to pay for your items for an hour or two with volunteer staff working. 

I finally had the opportunity to organize all the gathered bid sheets one year at a library silent auction and dinner and became an evil dictator. I took the winning bid sheets and put the winners’ names in alphabetical order and stapled all the multiple winners’ names together with their items, so they would not have to make multiple trips to the cashier. 

This sorting took 15 minutes to do with help from a colleague who assured people they would get their winning bids delivered to them. 

I noted the tables where the winners were seated and gave these to volunteers to deliver with the message that they could pay any time. 

The result: All items claimed and paid for at dinner end with no line. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Chattanooga, Tennessee Battlefield Trip by Ruth Paget

Chattanooga, Tennessee National Battlefield Trip by Ruth Paget 

One of the most interesting trips I have taken from Atlanta, Georgia is north to Chattanooga, Tennessee (1 ½ hours north barring traffic jams). My husband Laurent and I set out early for Chickamauga, Georgia and Chattanooga, Georgia battlefields one sweltering hot summer. 

The Confederacy won the battle at Chickamauga first, but put the Union in position on Lookout Mountain in Tennessee to win the battle that set up the Atlanta Campaign to gain the railroad artery of the South. At the Battlefield Parkway exit in Georgia, we exited and drove through the Chickamauga Battlefield. The Chickamauga National Battlefield Park is about ¼ mile along Battlefield Parkway to the left, but we kept on driving to Fort Oglethorpe named after the founder of the Georgia colony. 

At Fort Oglethorpe, we turned right towards the north and drove about 9 miles into Chattanooga. When the Confederates won Chickamauga in September of 1863, they thought they had routed the Union. However, in November 1863, the Union began battle again and prevailed. 

The visitor center in Chattanooga notes that there are three different battle sites by Lookout Mountain above and around Chattanooga: 

-Battle of Orchard Knob 

-Battle of Lookout Mountain 

-Battle of Missionary Ridge 

The Lookout Mountain Battlefield sits above the Tennessee River, which meanders around the South. It is 652 miles long. The River starts at Knoxville, Tennessee and flows south and west through northern Alabama and parts of northern Mississippi. The Tennessee River empties at Paducah, Kentucky into the Ohio River just a few miles upstream from the Mississippi River. Obviously, in addition to the railroad, the Tennessee River could also move men, weapons, and supplies to both Confederate and Union forces. 

The visitor center exhibit at Chattanooga, Tennessee notes that both sides tried to starve each other during these battles, but the Union was in a worse situation in their mountain location. 

According to www.battlefields.org , the Union had the following to eat: 

-4 cakes of hard bread 

-a quarter pound of pork 

Those were the rations for 3 days 

Even with those rations, the Union won the Battle of Chattanooga and took control of the city, railroad, and the Tennessee River at Chattanooga and began their advance from mountainous Tennessee to hilly Atlanta, Georgia. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Eastern European Food $ Hacks by Ruth Paget

Eastern Europe Food $ Hacks by Ruth Paget 

Lesley Chamberlain writes about delicious, nutritious, and economical food in her cookbook The Food and Cooking of Eastern Europe (468 pages – University of Nebraska Press). The centuries’ old recipes she preserves have lasted longer than the nations she describes such as Yugoslavia.

The following recipes are especially economical and have sustained Eastern Europe through kingdoms, empires, and dictatorships to modern-day democracies: 

-Serbian Salad (The modern country of Serbia was part of the former Yugoslavia) 

Ingredients: 

-green peppers 

-green tomatoes 

-red tomatoes 

-cucumbers 

-onions 

-white or red cabbage 

-sugar 

-vinegar 

-olive oil 

-seasonings 

For this recipe, you chop and boil the vegetables with the seasonings and let it cool for 4 or 5 days in a cool place to blend flavors. Bread and fruit make this a nice picnic lunch using this pickled salad. 

-Warsaw Salad from Poland 

Ingredients: 

-haricot beans (white or Navy beans) 

-lemon juice 

-mustard 

-pepper 

-boiled eggs 

-1 apple 

-cucumbers 

-onion 

-sour cream  

To make this dish very economical, you soak beans overnight and boil them the next day. Using canned beans saves lots of time, but shop around for the best prices. Sour cream is a dressing here.

-Autumn Potato Salad from the Czech Republic (a recipe from the former Czechoslovakia) 

Ingredients: 

-potatoes 

-onions 

-green pepper 

-tomatoes 

-sour apples 

-cucumber 

-mayonnaise 

-lemon juice 

-2 hard boiled eggs 

Apples are highly nutritious and inexpensive. They stretch this recipe to serve more people and provide a nice contrast to the potatoes as well. 

The recipes in The Food and Cooking of Eastern Europe by Lesley Chamberlain provide delicious, nutritious, and relatively inexpensive dishes that can be easily recreated in the United States to save money, retrieve one’s heritage, or make best use of ingredients at hand. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Sunday, August 7, 2022

Fundraising Ideas for Historical Museums by Ruth Paget

Fundraising Ideas for Historical Museums by Ruth Paget 

I associate historical museums more with field trips than as money generating sites, but I think historical museums need to think about revenue generating activities when seeking donors or government support. 

Class field trips like the ones I took as an elementary school student to the Detroit Historical Society helped provide that organization with operating funds as well as teaching young students about the Chippewa Native Americans, French fur traders and Michigan trading posts, and the impact of the Ford Model T on American society. 

The high cost of insuring field trips has made them almost a relic of the past in public schools in cash-strapped districts. This situation has probably forced historical societies to seek donors to ensure operating funds. I love historical museums and think there are several ways they could increase revenue. 

The first way is to seek out parents who will take their own children on field trips. Reaching parents is not as easy as contacting a school board, but historical museums might think of advertising the benefits of a visit to their site to the following markets, especially if they have newsletters: 

-religious organizations 

-sport teams 

-language organizations 

-charter schools 

-K12 school groups 

-music schools 

-dance schools 

-drama groups 

When I lived in Wisconsin in the 1990s, field trips had become a parent’s responsibility. I took my daughter Florence to the Wisconsin Historical Museum on Capitol Square in Madison to see exhibits about the Ho-Chunk Nation Native Americans, the lumber and paper industries, and German and Norwegian settlers, who lived in log cabins. This is another historical museum that is important for understanding the sociological and cultural history of the state. 

Historical museums have events that other historical museums might replicate. The Pickett’s Mill Battlefield, a Georgia State Park, holds re-enactments of the Civil War Battle fought there with African-American and white troops on the Union side. This event engages volunteers and the community. Even a nominal fee to attend this re-re-enactment could raise operating funds. 

Many historical museums offer hikes around their site or long walks in the museum. Museum visitors might welcome the chance to buy items such as the following to help support the museum:  

-cold water 

-cold soda 

-cheddar cheese fish chips 

-shrimp chips 

-tortilla chips 

-potato chips 

-brownies 

-guava cookies 

-cold brew coffee 

A combination of donors, sales, and parent doing their own field trips might increase historical museum revenue to keep these community resources open and increase funds for temporary exhibits and historical documentaries shown at the site. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Friday, August 5, 2022

50-50 Raffle Fundraising by Ruth Paget

50-50 Raffle Fundraising by Ruth Paget 

When I joined the Inner-City Youth Tour to China in 1978 when I lived in Detroit (Michigan), my family and family friends used 50-50 raffles to help pay for my trip to the Peoples’ Republic of China with 21 other young people. 

Fundraising for this trip was difficult, because the United States would only diplomatically recognize the Peoples’ Republic of China on March 1, 1979. Potential donors asked me, “Why do you want to visit a Communist country?” 

I thought that question was an evasion answer. Detroit was in a recession in 1978, which meant auto plant closures. People did not have a lot of money to spend on fundraisers to buy chocolate bars even, which I also sold to help finance my trip to China.  

50-50 raffles worked very well in a recession situation as a win-win fundraiser. For example, you can sell raffle tickets for $1 for an hour. At the end of the hour, you draw a winner and evenly split the jackpot. If you raise $50, the organizer and winner get $25 each. If you run six 50-50 raffles in an evening, you can raise $150 for six hours work with the minimal financial outlay of buying raffle tickets. 

50-50 raffles are not legal in all states. You have to check with your local supervisor’s office or mayor’s office to see if these raffles are legal or what you need to do to petition to make them so. 

These 50-50 raffles helped make my dream of going to China a reality in 1979. Slow and steady income also keeps morale up for big fundraising events as an added benefit. 

Even in non-recession times, 50-50 raffles are a quick way to make money, which local governments might consider for non-profit organizations to earn money. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Teen in China, Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Fun Food in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Fun Food in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

I like sneakily indulging in chain food restaurant food each time my husband Laurent and I visit Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, Georgia north of Atlanta. Some of my favorite places to dine include:  

-Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen  

I like the popcorn shrimp combo with buttermilk biscuit, a side, and a drink. My favorite sides are coleslaw with a thick dressing, spicy red beans and rice, spicy Cajun fries, and macaroni and cheese. Popeye’s serves seasonal fish. 

I got on their mailing list and learned about their flounder sandwiches. I had those twice and really liked them. They come with mild or spicy breading. The spicy breading was not too hot. 

People who say they do not like fast food might be surprised by Popeye’s with its great sides and not too greasy food. 

-Cracker Barrel 

I like Cracker Barrel, because you can order a Southern breakfast there all day long in addition to French toast and pancake combination meals. 

My favorite breakfast combo has two eggs over easy, a choice of meat (I like bacon, but you can also order things like spicy chicken sausage), loaded hash brown casserole with cheese, and buttermilk biscuits with gravy. (The gravy is a bĆ©chamel sauce made with flour, butter, and milk.) 

-Panda Express 

Panda Express serves food buffet style. My three favorite meals are: 

-broccoli beef 

-Mongolian beef (stir fried sliced green onions with beef and garlic) 

-refried rice 

-Kentucky Fried Chicken 

I eat KFC about once a month at home in California and this does not change when I travel.  

I like the 8-piece bucket meal with biscuits, coleslaw, and mashed potatoes and chicken gravy. 

-Dunkin’ Donuts 

I like to eat Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast before airplane travel. This little susspeisen (“sugar meal” – pronounced “zusshpaisen” in German) fills me up all the way from Atlanta (Georgia) to Monterey (California) where I live. 

6 donuts plus 2 coffees cost about $15 in Marietta, Georgia. That is a great deal to end a trip. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Thursday, August 4, 2022

Fundraising with Pizza by Ruth Paget

Fundraising with Pizza by Ruth Paget 

I wish fundraising with pizza had existed when I was fundraising to go to the Peoples’ Republic of China in 1978 with the Inner-City Youth Tour to China from Detroit, Michigan in 1978. I still got to go to China, but I think it would have been easier to raise funds, if pizza fundraising had existed. 

I learned about pizza fundraising when I checked the website for my local Mountain Mike’s Pizzeria in Marina, California. I saw that they help sports and other non-profit organizations with pizza fundraisers. 

Their website has an online submission form for non-profit organizations with regulations stating that the organization can promote the fundraiser to their supporters before the day of the event with no day of the event promotion. 

The individual stores make a 20% to 40% donation based on amount of money raised depending on the store’s location. 

For example, 20% of $1,000 in sales is $200. $200 plus the fact that you eat a pizza meal is a win-win fundraiser I think. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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California Pasta Recipe Created by Ruth Paget

California Pasta Recipe Created by Ruth Paget 

Serves 4 

Ingredients: 

-4 cups dry rotini pasta 

-1/4 cup olive oil 

-2 chopped red onions 

-2 teaspoons dry garlic 

-1 (2.25-ounce) can drained and sliced California black olives 

-2 cups chopped cherry tomatoes 

-1 cup grated Parmesan, Romano, or Pecorino cheese  

Steps: 

1-Boil pasta according to package instructions. 

2-SautĆ© onions, dry garlic, olives, and cherry tomatoes for ten minutes. 

3-When the pasta is cooking, drain it, and add it to the vegetables in the frying pan and stir. 

4-Place pasta on four plates and top off with grated cheese and pepper. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Neapolitan Food in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Neapolitan Food in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

Atlanta, Georgia has many local food chains worth seeking out when visiting the city. It is easy to have local chains with all the suburbs around the city. 

Blue Moon Pizza off I-75 on Windy Hill Road north of Atlanta is a local chain that serves reliably delicious pizza and Greek salad. 

My husband Laurent and I both love Margherita Pizza with tomato, mozzarella slices, and basil. Blue Moon’s tomatoes on this pizza are pickled cherry tomatoes. The basil was cooked in the sauce for Covid times. The mozzarella was gooey melted blobs that had a sweet flavor. All of this is everything I like in Margherita Pizza. 

The large Greek salad was for me. I have made it a habit to order one before airplane trips as vitamin ordinance. Blue Moon’s Greek salad was just stellar, because it was full of pickled hot yellow peppers, tomatoes, pickled artichokes, red onion slices, feta cheese chunks, black salty olives, and torn romaine lettuce. This salad seems to help clear my sinuses. 

Blue Moon placed a large herb seasoned pita bread in the bottom of this salad almost like a Lebanese or Syrian fattoush salad. The bread at Blue Moon is fresh, and let me soak up every drop of oregano-rich oil and vinegar dressing. 

Southern Italy had ancient Greek settlement, which might explain why pizzerias often have Greek salads on their menu. (You can still see in Paestum south of Naples three ancient Greek Temples devoted to Poseidon, Hera, and Ceres.) 

The Blue Moon Pizzeria retains Italian culture if not ancient Greek in any case, and I am glad to see that they do catering. 

Blue Moon Pizza 

2359 Windy Hill Road SE 

#100 

Marietta, Georgia 30067 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France




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Senegalese Food in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Senegalese Food in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

One of the reasons I love visiting Atlanta (Georgia) is all the international cuisine you can sample in and around the city. My husband Laurent is a French professor and often takes his students (and me) out for Senegalese lunches at the African Soul Food Restaurant in Marietta, Georgia. Senegal is a former French colony where French is still spoken. 

The dish I like to order as an introduction to Senegalese cuisine is Yassa Chicken (poulet au yassa). For this dish, pieces of chicken and slices of onion are marinated overnight in lemon juice, garlic, and mustard. The next day, the chicken is baked or grilled and the onions are caramelized. The African Soul Food Restaurant uses peppers that taste like very spicy pequin peppers in the onions. Everything is served over a large helping of white rice. Its flavor is kicky and fills you up with the rice. 

A thirst quenching African drink that goes with this meal is Bissap – a mixture of hibiscus flowers, sugar, water, and fresh ginger. 

This unpretentious meal is quite healthy. According to www.healthline.com , onions contain antioxidants and have been linked to a reduced risk of cancer, lower blood sugar levels, and improved bone health. Onions are relatively low-priced, which makes this a reasonably priced meal to make at home, too. 

The shopping center where the African Soul Food Restaurant is located is painted white with black arches to make it look like an African town. There is a Libyan market, an Arab market, a Caribbean restaurant, and a taqueria located here as well. You can easily do an international shopping trip with lunch in this shopping center. (There is plenty of parking, too!) 

African Soul Food 

585 Franklin Gateway SE 

Marietta, Georgia 30067 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Mexican Chorripollo in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Mexican Chorripollo in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

One restaurant that my husband Laurent and I go back to several times when we visit Atlanta is The Border, located north of the city in Smyrna, Georgia. 

One of my new favorite dishes there is Texas guacamole, which arrives in a Texas-sized, 8-inch across the top mortar with crushed avocado, chopped tomato, chopped peppers, chopped onions, and cilantro. I love guacamole, and it is a dream to have that much good guacamole to eat. 

One of the dishes I like to eat at The Border is chorripollo. “Chorri” refers to the spicy chorizo sausage in the dish. “Pollo” in Spanish means “chicken.” 

The Border serves this dish with flattened and grilled breast meat. They take off the sausage skins and cook the sausage. The sausage goes on top of the chicken breast along with melted cheese. 

Chorripollo comes with rice, black beans, and flour tortillas. I cut the chorripollo into strips and place these in the tortillas along with the rice and beans to make tacos. That is yummy. 

This salty dish along with a frozen margarita is very satisfying in Atlanta’s torpid summer heat with thunderclouds billowing upwards in the sky. 

Chorripollo is not as well known as other Mexican dishes, but if you would like to try it, The Border’s version of it is delicious. 

The Border Restaurant 

2569 Cobb Parkway SE 

Smyrna, Georgia 30080 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Seafood $ Hack in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Seafood $ Hack in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

Georgia’s incomparable, briny, and plump shrimp can be pricey on most Atlanta menus, but if you expand your dining horizons to Mexico, you can find delicious shrimp at reasonable prices. 

On visits to The Border Restaurant in Smyrna (Georgia), my husband Laurent eats Camarones al mojo de ajo (shrimp in garlic sauce). The shrimp is mild flavored and arrives with Spanish rice and tortillas to be made into tacos. 

Shrimp is very good for you, if you do not eat it in excess. (If you are allergic to seafood, obviously do not eat it.) 

According to www.medlineplus.gov and www.healthline.com - shrimp has the following nutrients that support vital functions in the body: 

-iron: helps with muscle formation and oxygen use 

-phosphorous: helps with bone and teeth formation and maintenance and repair of cells 

-potassium: helps with nerve function and muscle contraction 

-magnesium: helps with nerve and muscle function, supports the immune system, and helps form strong bones 

Shrimp does have high sodium levels, but when in the southern US in the summer, I actually welcome salt in the diet. 

The Border Restaurant has great frozen margaritas to go with this delicious shrimp dish as well. 

The Border Restaurant 

2569 Cobb Parkway 

Smyrna, Georgia 30080 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Chinese Food in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Chinese Food in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

When my husband Laurent and I go to Atlanta (Georgia), we love searching out neighborhood Chinese restaurants for plump, briny shrimp dishes. 

One of the best meals we have eaten in Atlanta was at the The Peking Garden, which was built to look like a Chinese house with red doors in Smyrna, Georgia. 

The Peking Garden is unassuming outside, but has some nice artwork inside - a bubbling and spotlessly clean aquarium by the entryway is a 5-foot porcelain vase, a wall-size bas relief sculpture painting of diners at a garden tea pavilion, paintings of feather-rich birds turning their heads sitting on top of bushes with flowers, and curling dragon sculptures rippling across the walls. I like Chinese art, so the effect of all the art on me was to make me serene and happy. 

Many East Coast city people seek out high quality Chinese food. When we ate at Peking Garden, there were Latino families, Chinese families, African-American couples, policemen, and Laurent and me in the restaurant for a late Sunday lunch. I felt like a cross-section of Atlanta’s population was out for a delicious and pleasurable meal. 

The Chinese are experts at cooking seafood and do wonders with Georgia’s incomparable plump shrimp. We chose a simple dish that really lets the shrimp shine – kung pao shrimp. Laurent chose the mild sauce for his order, and I ordered a spicy sauce for mine. 

Kung pao shrimp’s main ingredients are shrimp, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, carrots, and peanuts. The sauce is what really makes this dish delicious. It is made with dark and light soy sauces, fresh ginger, Sichuan peppers (numbing yet delicious), vinegar, water, and a little sugar. 

Kung pao shrimp fills you up when you eat it with an order of white rice for each person. It also clears your sinuses, so brink some tissue with you. 

The kung pao shrimp was about $13 for each order. I think that price is very fair for the delicious and healthy meal we ate. 

Peking Garden Restaurant 

2526 S. Cobb Drive SE 

Smyrna, Georgia 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Mexican Food in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Mexican Food in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

One of my favorite reliable spots for Mexican food north of Atlanta, Georgia (off Cobb Parkway by Red Lobster) is The Border Mexican Restaurant. As a Californian, I eat Mexican food three times a month and Asian food once a month. When I travel, I seek out both of these foods. I would say that these foods in Atlanta are not as spicy as they are in California, but are still flavorful and healthy. 

One of The Border’s big treats is Texas Guacamole. This guacamole is a flavorful blend of tomato, onion, cilantro, and lots of avocado. Our guacamole arrived in a basalt mortar that was 8 inches across the top and full of guacamole. My husband Laurent and I spent half an hour eating this silky appetizer.

Frankly, I think the Texas guacamole alone is worth a visit to The Border Restaurant, but we did order meals to go with it. 

I tried one of my favorite Mexican restaurant dishes: enchiladas verdes. This dish is shredded chicken rolled up in soft wheat tortillas and covered in mild, green tomatillo tomato sauce. Black beans and Spanish rice come with this meal and tasted very Californian with the hot sauce I added to them. 

Laurent tried steak tacos with cilantro and onion. He added dollops of guacamole to them and thought that was a great combination. 

The Border Restaurant has delicious, unpretentious food. It is moderately priced as well, which you cannot beat in pricey Atlanta. 

The Border Restaurant 

2569 Cobb Parkway SE Smyrna, Georgia 30080 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Green Pepper and Onion Adobo Rice Recipe Created by Ruth Paget

Green Pepper and Onion Adobo Rice Recipe Created by Ruth Paget 

You need a rice cooker to make this recipe. 

Serves 4 

Ingredients: 

-3/4 cup brown rice or enriched white rice 

-2 cups water 

-1/4 cup olive oil 

-1 teaspoon adobo seasoning 

-2 cored, seeded, and chopped green peppers 

-1 chopped onion 

Steps: 

1-Place brown rice and water in a rice cooker and cook. 

2-Heat olive oil in a frying pan till bubbling. Add adobo seasoning. 

3-Add chopped onions and peppers to the frying pan and stir for 10 minutes. 

4-Add the cooked rice to the frying pan and stir for 10 minutes or until steam rises from the frying pan. 

If you do not like adobo seasoning, you can also use Creole Seasoning or Old Bay Seasoning to make this dish. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Shrimp Adobo Rice Recipe by Ruth Paget

Shrimp Adobo Rice Recipe Created by Ruth Paget 

You need a rice cooker to make this recipe. 

Serves 4 

Ingredients: 

-3/4 cup brown rice or enriched white rice 

-2 cups water 

-1/4 cup olive oil 

-1 teaspoon adobo seasoning 

-1 cup cooked, shelled, and roughly chopped shrimp 

Steps: 

1-Prepare rice in a rice cooker. 

2-Heat olive oil in a frying pan. When the olive oil bubbles, add the adobo seasoning and the shrimp. Stir for rice and shrimp for 5 minutes to heat and season the shrimp. 

3-Add cooked rice to the shrimp in the frying pan. Turn the rice and shrimp until steam rises – about 10 minutes. 

If you don’t like adobo seasoning, you can also use Creole Seasoning or Old Bay Seasoning for this dish. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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Monday, August 1, 2022

Greek Food in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Greek Food in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

When my husband Laurent and I visit Atlanta (Georgia), we always make at least one trip to Marietta Diner, located north of Atlanta by Kennesaw State University and Dobbins Air Force Base. Marietta Diner has an extensive all-American menu, which is popular with Atlanta Braves fans, military personnel, and students alike. 

However when I go to Marietta Diner, I study their menu and specials to look for Greek food, which hearkens back to my student days in Detroit and Chicago. 

I have been able to order delicious Greek meals like the following with the specials menu: 

For me – 

Greek pasta, which came with soup. The soup I ordered was naturally Greek, avgolemono, lemon-egg soup. Avgolemono soup is made with onions, rice, chicken stock, shredded chicken breast, eggs, and lemon juice. It is a sour cold fighter, which I like warm or room temperature. 

The Greek pasta was made with al dente penne pasta, melted feta cheese, sliced sun-dried tomatoes, small black olives, and bite-sized grilled chicken. The Greek pasta was salty and sour and perfect in Atlanta’s sweltering summer heat. 

For Laurent – 

A gyro (pronounced ‘yeer-o’) platter, which came with spanakopita (feta and spinach pie squares in buttered phyllo dough) and garlic fries. A gyro is shaved and roasted beef and pork served in pocket pita bread along with tomato, onion, and cucumber-yogurt (tzatziki) spread. The gyro disappeared. Laurent let Ruth, who likes vegetarian food, have the spanakopita. 

For dessert – 

A yummy baklava with rich lemon custard in the center of nutty layers of butter rich phyllo dough that were doused in honey. 

We ate this delicious meal for $44 and had leftovers to take home. We made 4 meals out of what we ordered, which averaged $11 each. I thought that was a pretty great price for Greek Isles food.

Marietta Diner 306 Cobb Parkway SE South 

Marietta, Georgia 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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