"pennsylvania" news and stories

The recipe you see above is from a packet of xeroxed recipe cards I picked up at thrift store sometime in the last few years. The cards were bound together with an aging rubber band and cost $.35. They were compiled as a fund raiser for the Friends of the Lancaster County* Library and are all hand written by the women who contributed them. Some are difficult to read and others are dishes of a bygone era. But some, like this veggie soup recipe are simple and appealing. I'm already hungry for baked veggie and it's not nearly dinnertime yet.

*Pennsylvania

I just wrote about Texas microbreweries proposing to be able to sell retail. Now Pennsylvanian markets wants to be able to sell beer at the cafes in supermarkets, but two senators are trying to kill the whole idea. Now I have to say that the alcohol laws in PA seem a bit strange to me. I never actually understood them in my visits to the state and sometimes had a difficult time figuring out where I could buy a case of beer.

Now under consideration by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board are liquor license applications which would allow supermarkets to serve and sell six-packs as long as the sales occur in sit-down, 30-seat cafes that are separated by a wall from the rest of the store. While this sounds good to me, it doesn't quite fit in with what a few of the state legislature think. A few want to tighten up the proposals, make sure the cafe and supermarket are two separate businesses, have separate cash registers and cashiers, insure that the cashiers who are at least 18 years old, and a few other items.

These sound fine to me, but other legislators seem scared of opening the door to supermarkets being able to sell beer by the case like beer distributors, and feel that brews should only be able to be purchased by the six-pack from a deli.

In this Post-Gazette article the governor's spokeswoman says it's quite unlikely Mr. Rendell would support a liquor code change forbidding beer sales in supermarkets, adding that the governor thinks beer sales at supermarket cafes is inevitable.

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You have probably seen a Starbucks kiosk in a grocery store before. It seems that some are full service and some offer only part of the full menu, but all can provide shoppers with a coffee or Frappuccino. Granted, you can generally also get a muffin, but the idea of getting a drink while you do your shopping doesn't seem that foreign. Getting a Big Mac, on the other hand, does.

McDonald's and Petrucci's Market IGA, a supermarket in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, are pairing up and installing a full-service fast food franchise inside the grocery store. Petrucci's is described as a "perishable's driven" market, so they specialize in produce, meats and other non-packaged goods, though they do stock those as well. It is the only market within 15 minutes of the city and has an upscale-looking Tuscan theme to it - a look that does not seem as though it would fit well with a fast food restaurant.

The owner/operator of the in-store McDonald's franchise said, and the Petrucci's owner agreed, "The town of Burgettstown really needed the convenience and service that both Petrucci's Market IGA and McDonald's provide." The question is, did they need them in the same place?

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As of next month, Rolling Rock will be produced in Newark, NJ, not Latrobe, PA, its home of over 60 years. Anheuser-Busch acquired the green-bottled lager back in May. Rolling Rock and Rock Green Light will be brewed from a new water source, but the AB brewmasters have managed to keep the taste the same, according to a press release. "We locate our breweries where we know we have an excellent source of fresh water. And, of course, Newark is no different," one brewmaster told the Associated Press. Ah, the sparkling waters of Newark. The bottle will also keep the 33, as well as its other painted lettering.

It looks like Trader Joe's is set to open a store in yet another Joe-less town. Though they have not released the address yet, Trader Joe's has confirmed that they are planning to enter the Pittsburg market. Local speculation and city officials say that the specialty grocer has plans to move into the Wheeler Paint Co. building on Penn Ave in the neighborhood of East Liberty. There are only five TJ's locations in Pennsylvania at the moment, so this should be good news to Pittsburg residents who are fans of the store.

Now that TJ's has store-opening almost down to a science, it's no surprise to hear that the store should be open by the end of the year.

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