Time to wax eloquent about your favorite comfort food:

Pasties!!

On of my favorites from Walter F. Gries of Marquette. (Read it with a Cornish accent):

Roses are red...violets are blue...pasties are great, have one or two!

The way I like my pasty best:.. messy hands, crumbs on my chest:.....I try to get them home in- tact but it's impossible, in fact,....the smell is great and I am weak,.... it's just a bite I hope, to sneak.......

Pasty, oh pasty, how do I love you, let me count the ways.
I love you plain or topped with gravy,
It depends on the day.

Other times it may be butter that the pasty demands.
Slice the top, watch the steam as the butter appends.

One thing that I’ll never embellish it with,
Would be catsup, just can’t see ruining the pasty with it.

Be it for lunch or for dinner, or for a quick snack,
It’s for sure that the pasty will make my lips smack.

For the flavor is one that I had never had,
Until a trip to the U.P. to visit a friend’s pad.

Didn’t know what a treat was about to unfold,
As I watched him cut rutabagas, potatoes and prepare the dough.

Then came the meat, cut to a perfect size,
Then he assembled all the ingredients into a half-circle pie.

Imagine my delight at the first bite of pasty,
Now each time I’m in Calumet, Still Waters is a necessity.

To stop for a cooler full of pasties to bring
Back home to the waiting mouths of my kin,
Who depend on me to be sure to return
With the best-tasting pasties ever, their palates are sure to discern.

I tried one time to pawn off a cheap substitute,
And didn’t wind up saving any loot.

Since I then had to purchase the pasties by mail,
The taste of the cheap ones did nothing but fail,

Once you get used to quality, you will never be pleased
Until you have a hot pasty made by the Still Waters team!


LuAnn Padgett

Family and friends will be spreading the word,
To the Keweenaw they soon will emerge.

July first will become an historic day,
Five hundred pasties will be given away.

You will see people from all over the nation
Coming to Calumet to taste this sensation.

Flaky crust filled with 'taters, onions and meat,
You've never had such an epicurean treat!

If you're lucky you'll see the Still Waters crew,
Mary, Charlie, and Toivo, too
(and everyone who brings pasty dot com to you).

Just a few more lines and then I'm done;
Come to Calumet July first and have some fun!

A word to the wise, though when you ask for your treat,
Say "pass-tea", not "paste-tee", or you'll get nothing to eat!

Did someone mention inspiration striking twice?

PASTY NATIONAL ANTHEM
(sung to "Oh, Christmas Tree")

Oh, Pasty pie, Oh, Pasty pie
We'll sing your praises always.
Oh, Pasty pie, Oh, Pasty pie
We'll sing your praises always.
We'll sing your praise at dinnertime,
We'll sing your praise at suppertime,
Oh, Pasty pie, Oh, Pasty pie
We'll sing your praises always.

Ok...OK.....the competition is heating up....guess I"ll attempt to meet it..(deep breath)............ Pasty-Pie Hot; Pasty-Pie Cold...Pasty-Pie in the Fridge Nine Days Old....Better keep it Frozen... but what's not to Like?..All you have to do? ..... Pop it in the Mic.....

This is a poem I wrote about missing the UP and Pasty,s
There is a place called Home,
When young we never rome
When old we move away
In are minds we stay
Home

This is a nonsense poem cause I never mastered the art of poems or pasties:

Turnips or Carrots the Lass asks
Turnips of course replies the past

Grandma says Cornwall
Auntie says Finland
Grandpa tucks in Ireland
Just to see the reaction

Agassi Park, Noses twitching
Cornwall wins
Mine is better
Well, Mom, next year enter!

How about some haikus? They need 57-5 syllables, and should reference the seasons (a kigo or season word). Here are four from me. One each for winter, spring, autumn, and fall.

Snow falls on the pane
Pasties warm in the oven
Children smile and wait

Apple blossoms bloom
Pasties raise money for church
The snow has melted

Mosquitos buzz by
The fish did not bite all day
Pasties ease the pain

Autumn leaves fall down
Goblins look up in surprise
At trick or treat pasties

Whoops, I guess summer is so brief I forgot it. I forgot summer and inserted autumn and fall in my description instead! That will teach me to stay up late!

NORTHWOOD'S SUPPER

“What’s for supper?” the gang barged into the kitchen saying,
My Mom would just turn and smile and kept us waiting.
Tim opened the pan on the stove, not an odor familiar to the rest of us.
Karen looked in the oven for sure; she couldn’t find out and put up a fuss.

Harry the baby was anxious as could be, he was sure hungry and wished to see
If Janet had found what Mom was hiding. To no avail, we just had to be.
When Ted and Jaime, my two big brothers landed on the porch
We knew they’d find out with out getting scorched.

But they two were not to be had, Mom just showed them into their desks.
If they couldn’t get it from Mom we were all grotesque.
So off we went following the big burly football players sitting down at the table
To do the school work and hoping the fire in the kitchen would crackle.

Soon Dad was alight at the back door, empty tin bucket he dropped on the bench nearby.
He hung up his coat and washed his hands and face in the sink and towel dried.
“Well, Ella, what’s for dinner for your brood?” he said with a smile.
“The only thing this Northwood’s family could have, Pasty Pie!”

Pasty Haiku


Hot, fresh pasty pie
Served with pickled beets and slaw
Never with catsup.

The Courtship
Just before that he kissed her,
The fair maid said, “Mister,
I cannot tell a lie.
T’was not me, but my sister,
That made the pasty pie”.

Shining tears in his eye,
“Adieu,” he did sigh,
“I’m off to marry your sister.
Her I will love, but it’s only because
Of her perfect pasty pie.

I care not for the length of her hair
Nor the color of her eyes,
But I’ll tell you, my sweet,
You cannot compete
With your sister’s pasty pie.”

I feel like some pasty, let's make dem today.
We'll go town and have coffee long da way.
We'll buy our patadoes, carrots, turnip an' onions an' meat,
Come home, make da crust an' put it all in dere
chopped real neat.
Da smell of dat pasty baking, oooh, brings such delight,
I can hardly wait for dat first bite.
Wit plate an' fork an' da ketchup bottle at hand,
Waiting for it to cool, is more than I can stand.
Now it's cooler, on top, I put da ketchup an' da oleo.
I jab in my fork an' take my first swallow.
Nuttin' like a pasty, in dis good ol' U.P.
Dis is da place,eh, dat I wanna be.

Pasty, pasty, da UP claim to fame.
Misunderstood from those afar, not only "What the
heck is it?" but how to say its darned name!
A staple food from our mining past, we enjoy it
today as a rememberance of family, history and
region so vast.
So many special memories, can't get along without
one for long, craving something for dinner?, mmm
have a pasty--can't go wrong!!
Picnics, parties, people and pasties, what more
do you need?
Copper Country living at its best indeed!
Enjoy the sun and sand, play in the rain and
wind, fish or be a lazy duff,
But enjoy a summer pasty because soon enough will
come dat der white stuff!!

I wish I had a pasty
with lots of meat and taties
With onions and some pasty sauce
Would make it taste just greaty

Let's not forget the rutabaga
Makes it taste divine
For here in California
We pair it with some wine!

PASTIES ARE LIFE

Married a girl
from South Caroline'
brought 'er up north
t'that dear Aiti of mine.

She saw all those signs
when we crossed the Big Mac
and I knew by her face
she wanted to turn back.

Paste-ies here and paste-ies there
paste-y signs were everywhere
my dear, sweet bride - a city girl -
thought that they were somethin' to wear!

I laughed until I thought I'd die !
"No, my love" I loudly cried!
They're not to wear, but,
knowing "yoopers" - some have tried.

Now let me set the story straight
A pasty is the best thing you ever ate.
They're part of the life of people here
and loved by others far and near.

You make the dough all DAY long
then chop the p'tatas and rutabagas -
muching on carrots - all NIGHT long.
The work goes fast if you sing a song.

Just can't wait for Sunday morn'
don't use gravy - use CATS-UP, Dude.
Hot from the oven they smell so good!
Now this is really "Yooper Food"!

Leftover pasty is hard to find
it's what the ol' man takes deep in the mine
he washes it down with a tin of tea
on the drift, or the stope of level fifty three.

Some kids brought them to school
carried in a green metal box
they sat in the basement so cool
'til the bell rang at twelve o'clock.

With a jug of Kermaa Piima
on a really hot day
as you worked in the fields
making summer's new hay.

Down to the lake
on a Sunday afternnon
playing in the water
you'd get hungry pretty soon.

So, no matter where they roam
"Yoopers" say their "Pasty Prayer":
"Please don't eat all the pasty
'fore this Yooper Boy gets there".

From Sue and Davey

ODE TO THE PASTY

Oh pasty, oh pasty,
Oh luscious meat pies,

The smell of the onions,
Bring tears to my eyes.

The carrots, the tater, and mmmm-rutabagas
Your taste buds would dance if they only had leggas.

The juicy meat filling and tender flake crust,
A staple for Yoopers, for tourists, a must.

Oh pasty, oh pasty,
You're really quite tasty.

To all of you Trolls,
Don't call it a PAISTY!!!!