By Kaitlyn Linsner, KLinsner@journalregister.com
http://www.montgomerynews.com/articles/2012/01/25/age_has_no_season/doc4f1d91c100035403316399.txt?viewmode=fullstory
As lunchtime approached at Springhouse Estates, Lower Gwynedd resident Bob Hotchkiss entered the Clubhouse Café ready to choose his meal from a wide variety of options. He walked past an extensive salad bar, sandwich and grilling stations, eight varieties of pie and ice cream, soups and eventually chose a ham salad sandwich and of course cookies for dessert.
“The ham salad is about as close to the way mom used to make it as you can do,” he said and added that he likes the cookies. They must be a popular item seeing as the three other residents he ate with, Joe Preston, Nancy Astlar and Nancy Huttlin also had cookies.
At Springhouse Estates, a retirement community, residents can eat in the Clubhouse Café, the Rosewood dining hall or the Rittenhouse Room for private dining parties or affairs. The café offers a buffet with fresh fare and daily specials custom to what residents want to eat. Once they choose their meal, they sit in a spacious dining hall that resembles an outdoor courtyard.
“I like the café because we have a group of friends we sit with every night and play games. We eat lunch together here every day,” Anita Pard said.
She chose a special sandwich for lunch called the Turkey Twist, which had turkey, baby bib lettuce, red onions, apples, cheddar cheese, bacon and cranberry mayonnaise piled high on toasted sourdough bread. The two other women she sat with, Harriet Rowland and Joyce Civello ate the day’s special Julienne salad—freshly sliced cold cut, tomato, hard boiled eggs, peppers on a bed of lettuce served in a homemade taco bowl.
“None of us have lost weight,” Rowland said as Pard and Civello agreed and laughed. Civello went on to explain a great burger she had the other night. The chef put together the patty before throwing it on the grill. Civello imitated the process.
“I like just about everything,” she said. “I like to come here a couple times a week. They always have something extra on the menu.”
Civello prefers the Rosewood dining hall though where residents are served in a more restaurant setting. Springhouse director of culinary and nutrition Craig Fry decorates the hall for the season and turned on the fireplace while explaining the Rosewood’s most popular holiday, Mother’s Day.
“We turn it into a Sunday brunch and will have about 500 people come through here,” he said. “People get a full spread for $15 to $18. Last year we had homemade Belgian waffles, omelets made to order, homemade strawberry shortcake. A lot of times we have families come through to eat with their grandparents.”
Each month, Rosewood also has a birthday night where each resident who celebrates a birthday within that month can bring a guest and enjoy a celebratory meal. Birthday night includes a baked French onion soup in a crock, filet mignon or salmon, twice baked potato and vegetables and some of a large birthday cake.
The Rittenhouse Room is a smaller dining area used for private events. Also decorated by Fry, the beautiful winter-themed room can be used by residents for parties and outside groups have come in to dine there as well.
Residents at Springhouse not only have a variety of tasty food to choose from for breakfast, lunch and dinner, much of the options, especially for lunch, do not cost them an arm and a leg. The Clubhouse Cafe has become a popular place to bring the family in for lunch.
“I had my two granddaughters here the other day. I only had soup but they had full meals and it [only] cost me $11,” Rowland said.
When it comes to selecting menu items for the three dining halls Fry said he focuses on having the food correlate with the seasons. During the summer, he serves chilled soups and stays away from heavy sauces, for example. The café menu always offers standard items such as fresh fish, a pasta dish, steak cooked to resident’s liking, broiled chicken and fried shrimp on the weekends. There are always at least six entrée choices for dinner and then three to four specials. Regardless of the menu regulars though, Fry said he is always open to recommendations from residents.
“We’ll try everything once,” he said explaining that sometimes residents want something that reminds them of home. He makes the dish, and then sometimes only one person will enjoy it. He talked specifically of Rowland’s favorite lamb patties wrapped in bacon, and as soon as Rowland heard him talking about it, she asked when they will be served again. “If you introduce something you better not take it away,” Fry said.
As Hotchkiss finished up his cookies and Preston, Astlar and Huttlin took the last remaining bites of their meals as well. Preston sipped on a split pea soup which he said was very good. Astlar had the infamous Turkey Twist sandwich and Huttlin had her favorite sandwich, grilled cheese, tomato and bacon. Astlar wrapped up half of her sandwich to enjoy the next day.
“It was delicious,” she said. “I like it because we don’t have to cook.”