A Late Summer Treat: Butter and Sugar Sweet Corn

It was a day that we hadn't expected to spend at home. We'd planned our first fall backpack trip for this weekend, but it got cancelled due to early morning rains in the forecast. So I got to sleep in my own bed on Friday night (gotta love those yummy new bamboo sheets I bought at the fair!), and Saturday morning, when we woke up starving, we had a real hot, cooked breakfast of eggs, home fries, and toast.

On Friday, on our way to the woods for the day hike we ended up taking instead of backpacking, we stopped at the market in Snow Shoe, looking for deals on bacon and pepper ham. But we ended up purchasing a half-dozen New York strip steaks instead for the great deal of $5.99 a pound.

So for good measure, we followed up our hot breakfast with a delicious lunch of steaks on the grill and good old Pennsylvania sweet corn, the butter and sugar variety. This is a photo of the corn after it was shucked and washed, but before it was cooked.

My husband is from Cambria County, and they always have the best and cheapest vegetables there. So last weekend, my mother-in-law met us in Altoona at the Eat 'n Park for brunch. I traded her two jars of Jake and Amos bacon dressing for a dozen ears of corn from Himmel's of Carrolltown. I submit to you that there is not a better sweet corn in the world than this.

When I was a child living at home, we feasted on sweet corn when the season for it came along. In fact, that was most of what was served for supper this time of year: heaping plates of sweet corn with butter and salt, for eating on or off the cob, with fat slices of bright red tomatoes on the side.

So my husband and I ate this delectable sweet corn with our steaks, which were mouth-wateringly good, I must say. And yes, we served some additional veggies on the side: cucumber, and onion, and sliced tomato, drizzled with Gazebo Room Greek dressing, a personal favorite. I'd have to admit that in retrospect, it was the most delicious backpacking trip I never went on!  ;-)

There are certain times of year when central Pennsylvania overflows with nature's bounties. Yes, I believe in the promised land. For I have seen it. So here is a song about that: Bruce Springsteen and Crew, with The Promised Land, from August of 1978.