Thank you for subscribing to the Historic Valentown Newsletter!
~A Note From Kathryn White~

Holiday Greetings All! And an early Best Wishes for a Happy 2018, 
too!

We hope you are enjoying our new Web site and Face Book 
postings. Historic Valentown is normally quiet after we close, 
especially for news and up dates. However with our new ways to 
reach people thanks to Lynne and Team, we hope you will check in 
regularly with us during the winter. There will be some 
announcements on the web site after the New Year, so keep in touch.

This year we had a new exhibit about Susan B. Anthony. We hope 
our little case on the second floor reminded people about her 
role in American history. We are very fortunate to have items 
that were part of her life and be able to display them.

Sometimes when you are in Valentown Hall, it is like everyone has 
just stepped out for a moment and will be back shortly. Our site 
is not a created experience, but surely experiences have created 
our wonderful Historic Valentown.

We hope the coming year will bring us closer to our goal to help 
stabilize the siding on our Hall.  This is extremely important 
and we will be focusing on resources in our community to help.
It is our best wish that we will create enough interest in our 
site to begin this repair process. This year we fine tuned our 
goals and mission to reflect the importance Historic Valentown. 

We want to be active in the community as well as interpret our 
own unique past. By reaching out and expanding our presence 
around us, we help insure that we have a future. We are here to 
share with others our heritage and create new history together, 
offering a continuum of memorable experiences and learning, 
centered around the Historic Valentown site.

We want to again thank all our volunteers, friends and those who 
visited us this past season.  And at the close of this year we 
want to extend best wishes to our sister organizations in our 
area. Happy New Year to Friends of the Railroad, the 1816 
Farmington Quaker Meeting House, the Victor Hiking Trails and the 
Friends of Ganondagan. May we all prosper in the coming year.

To celebrate the Season, we're giving a "two-fer" in our recipe 
section for our Decembers newsletter! Check them out, you might 
want to add them to your holiday cookie repertoire! (If you would 
like to see your family recipe on our web site, submit it to us 
online here: Recipe Form at SurveyMonkey, 
<https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FW32QK9>; or email it to: 
webmaster at historicvalentownmuseum.org) 
<mailto:webmaster at historicvalentownmuseum.org>

As always, we're open to hearing /your /ideas for expanding 
Valentown's networks and opportunities! If you think you might 
like to help us in the coming year please let us know.?? Don't be 
shy! If you have some good ideas, contact us at 
info at historicvalentownmuseum.org 
<mailto:info at historicvalentownmuseum.org>

So, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year! May the cheer of the 
season bring the best of health and happiness to you and all of 
yours, and may 2018 be one of best years ever for all of us!

Kathryn White, President

News and Events
SPRUCING UP THE YELLOW HOUSE

Historic Valentown may be closed for the season, but we're not 
hibernating! Some last minute chores gave us an end of season 
boost. We did some work on the site including work on the 
houses. Thank you to Carl May, R C Westra, Justis Freville, 
Harriett and Dave and our usual die hard group. We also welcome 
our new volunteers, Allie, Amy, Erica, Nathan and others and hope 
to see you in the spring or sooner (planning and more planning).

One of our on going projects is sprucing up the Yellow House in 
preparation for housing our collection, in addition to being an 
office. Hopefully, we will be completing this work in the spring 
as soon as weather permits. We are excited to have a great new 
look for the house.

Frank and Sherry Kosmerl, Sue Murphy and Suzanne Sacco pitched in 
and got us started with painting and floor plans for our little 
farmhouse. Remember, we're always happy to have volunteers join 
us, so if you have some spare time and energy we'd love to hear 
from you! We have lots of projects and we promise not all will 
give you dirty knees!

Here are Frank and Sue volunteering their time for the cause!

Please be sure to check us out at 
http://HistoricValentownMuseum.org !

Find Us on Facebook! 
<https://www.facebook.com/Historic-Valentown-157101550971895/>;

Recipes
See /our collection of recipes at
http://historicvalentownmuseum.org/forum/index.php?cat=2

FIGGY PEARL TAPIOCA PUDDING
This recipe was handed down my Grandma Ladner from her mother, 
Barbara Jane Smith Gross. That's as far back as I know, but I'd 
bet it came to Great Grandma from her mother, and so on.

Grandma only made this at Christmas. ("Oh bring us some Figgy 
Pudding, and bring it right here!") I've always wondered if it 
was too expensive to be made more often..?? Anyway, here is the 
recipe as promised.

~~~Submitted by Barb Ruhlman, of Disputate, VA
(previously of Warren, PA)

Ingredients:

2/3 cup pearl tapioca
3 cups cold water
2/3 cup diced (dried) figs (remove any stems)
1? 1/4 light brown sugar (not packed)
2/3 cup chopped walnut meats
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

Soak tapioca in water overnight; in morning add sugar, figs and 
walnuts. Steam covered for one hour over low heat in a double 
boiler. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and turn into a serving 
dish. Refrigerate until firm.
Serve plain or with whipped cream.
 

HUNGARIAN WALNUT COOKIES
As a child, I always looked forward to eating these goodies at 
Christmas time. Now I make them for my own family.

~~~Sharon Kurtz, 
Emmaus, Pennsylvania

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

 FILLING:
3 large egg whites
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup sugar
3-1/2 cups ground walnuts
Confectioners' sugar

Directions

In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until blended. 
Gradually beat flour into creamed mixture. Divide dough into 
three portions. Shape each into a disk; wrap in plastic. 

Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll.

Preheat oven to 375. For filling, in a small bowl, beat egg 
whites and vanilla on medium speed until foamy. Gradually add 
sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on medium after each 
addition until well blended. Stir in walnuts.

Generously coat a work surface with confectioners' sugar. Roll 
one portion of dough into a 12-in. square, about 1/8-in. thick, 
sprinkling with additional confectioners' sugar as necessary to 
coat well. Cut into sixteen 3-in. squares.

Shape 2 teaspoons filling into a small log, about 2 in. long. 
Place diagonally onto a square. Overlap opposite corners of dough 
over filling; pinch tightly to seal. Place 2 in. apart on greased 
baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.

Bake 9-11 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Remove from 
pans to wire racks to cool completely. Dust with confectioners
sugar.

NOTES:
To Make Ahead: Dough can be made 2 days in advance. Wrap in 
plastic and place in a resealable bag. Store in the refrigerator.

Freeze option: Freeze cookies in freezer containers. To use, thaw 
before serving. If desired, dust with additional confectioners' 
sugar. Yield: 4 dozen.

Levi's "What is it?" Department

Here is this months "What is it?", and we know what it is, but 
the only hint we're going to give you about this one is that it's 
not part of a print press! If you have gone on a tour you may 
have noticed it or even had it pointed out to you. If you know 
what it is, wait a bit for others to have some fun guessing.
Just give us an "I know but I am waiting" signal.

If you think you know what it is, you can take a guess here at 
our Valentown's Facebook "What is it?" 
<https://www.facebook.com/Historic-Valentown-157101550971895/>; 
page or just join in on the conversation! Feel free to pass this 
along for others to guess at, too.

Our last "What is it" contest is still going!!! Surely someone 
out there has the answer to our mystery woman in the wood 
carving? Don't be shy, share it around, we're really hoping to 
solve this one! Join the discussion about it here:
Valentown Facebook "What is it?" Wood Carving 
<https://www.facebook.com/157101550971895/photos/a.708518075830237.1073741826.157101550971895/1912890852059614/?type=3&theater>;