One of the most important institutions in these prairie towns we traveled through is the local Cafe. Every community has one and it's the heart beat of the town usually. My hunting partner Tom and I had been in some good ones and have them marked on the map pages of the states we've gone through. These two tales are experiences Tom had with his friends Willie and Joann in the Cafe in the little town they live in.
The first one finds Tom having lunch with his new friend Willie. He had rescued Tom and his friend Dennis a few weeks earlier when they got stranded out on a section line road 6 miles from town after putting a hole in the transmission cover of Dennis's new truck while looking for a piece of property. Tom had returned to North Dakota to follow up on his interest in the property and had looked up Willie as he had a few questions about the area he thought Willie being a long time resident and farmer may be able to answer. Willie suggested they meet at the local Cafe for lunch. Good enough Tom said. Upon entering the little cafe which seated about 30 people in close proximity he found Willie and joined him at his table. They sat and talked for a while as they watched the only waitress take order's, run the cash register, and help in the kitchen as well. This was the lunch rush. This hard working Norwegian lady was getting it done as she made her rounds obviously knowing everyone by name and efficiently delivering food and making small talk as she went along. A real multi tasker! Tom couldn't help but notice her take charge style as she ran the little dining room by herself. The waitress finally came to their table and standing over Willie said " OK what do you want! Tom couldn't help notice her tone seemed a little out of line. Willie say's "What kinda soup do ya have today?" She say's rather abruptly barking out" It's potato with wiener's" Willie's reply was "I hate that" She say's " Just shut up! It's all we've got and if you don't like it just go home and eat!" So Willie order's as he sits there with his tail between his leg's and now she's looking at Tom with a somewhat mean and determined look and all he can think of saying is I'll just have what he's having thinking that'd be the safest thing to do! After she leaves Tom say's I don't know about you but I'd hate to catch that woman on a bad day! Willie laughs and say's " Yeah I know. That's my wife! And that's the story of how Tom met Willie's wife Joann. We all went on to become good friends over the years and from time to time retell the story laughing as we go.
The second story involving the same Cafe centers around a fund raiser that the Cafe had to help with operating expenses. It's not unusual for many of these businesses to be community owned or funded in part by contributions and fund raising to keep them open. They're an important part of the communities and due to the lack of volume are very hard to keep profitable which most are not. This particular fund drive was a soup fundraiser. Volunteers brought a variety of German style soups called Knoephla and for a donation of 5 dollars people could have their choice of several variations on the recipe. Now this soup is basically heavy cream, butter and a little whole milk with a home made miniature dumpling. Now when I first moved here I was taken back by the use of heavy cream and butter in all the cooking. Wow! Is what I said as I watched this soup being made. Talk about rich! Man I didn't dare even eat a small amount of it. You could have a heart attack just looking at it I thought! Well anyway Tom was in town this week and upon Willie and Joann's suggestion joined them at the Cafe fundraiser. Five buck's for an "all you can eat soup buffet" sounded good to him! So he joins in with the crowd and not having had Knoephla soup before found it delicious! He's making his way through the different slow cooker crocks trying a bowl of each recipe. This stuff is great he thought! Then after a while he noticed he was starting to sweat and had a funny feeling like his gut was just expanding and something was growing inside him. Willie noticed he was just standing there looking a little pale and asked if he was all right. Tom said he had just had a "few" bowls of soup that's all but he felt like he needed some fresh air! Willie said " uh oh that stuff is rich you really gotta watch how much you eat as he laughed! Those dumplings will make you explode just like eating cabbage! Tom say's "yeah well thanks for tellin me now! I've gotta get outside! as he was now sweating profusely and felt like he was going to pass out. Willie followed him outside where Tom sat down on the bench in front of the cafe, Willie asked if wanted a ride home and Tom said no I just need to sit here for a while. That ended up being about 45 minutes before he felt like he could make the 2 block walk back to where he was staying. That's the story of what an "all you can eat buffet" of heavy cream,butter and dumplings can do to you! German style!
Since then I've been around these German's enough to know the secret's to the use of heavy cream and butter in a lot of the dishes they love as well as the preference for meat well done,deep fried food, and sausage made very lean. I'm on board with the sausage that's about it! No soup for me!
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