Fund (Fun?) Raising

In order to earn some money for our trip to DC, I worked with the staff at CBTC to make sausage and biscuits. ...Where I'm from (south central Pennsylvania) we've been known to sell slippery pot pie and apple dumplings. As everything that I do is a learning process, let me share some of my life-lessons with you.

People here are down right hyper about their biscuits and breakfast meat. I tried to make biscuits but they were a miserable failure - flat and burned. Just so you know, it's not the same as kneading bread and making loaves. If you work the dough too much it gets hard and nasty.

A couple of different Chahtas came in to save the day. Pam was trying to show me how to mix the dough. Add a little milk at a time. Don't stir too fast. Lillie also made some for us. It’s a pleasure to watch Lillie make biscuits - all the movements in muscle memory, all a standard size, all light and fluffy. I was informed by several people that a "real woman is able to make biscuits." My ethnography and anthropology training kicked in at this point. Making biscuits means you're able to cook and provide for your family? It means you've spent enough time in the kitchen under the guidance of your mother and grandmother? Does having a warm pan of fluffy biscuits translate to "I'm marriageable"? I'm really not sure.

We drove around to some of the different offices in order to sell them. There are several places like the workshop and housing authority where men gather to get their tools and equipment before heading off to their jobs. Timing is everything. We got some feedback about preferences (which brands of meat to buy, combinations of meat/egg/cheese). Dreams come wrapped up in a paper towel. For $1.