Morris Day Condensating
As part of the weeklong July Fourth celebration of 2010, Wawa presented Morris Day and the Time for a free concert at Penn’s Landing. Linda and I traveled to Wayne PA to visit Linda’s cousin…
Keep readingThe Baron and Baroness Cordially Invite You
One of the most satisfying aspects of my 20 plus years in the restaurant, was influencing and guiding an employee in their career path. During my first Head Chef position, at Conestoga Country Club, I…
Keep readingA Mighty Wind
In the early Eighties I had the good fortune to have a friend whose brother had season tickets to the Philadelphia Flyers. These seats were on the blue line, two rows off the ice. One…
Keep readingThe Great Kitchen Caper, the 24 Hour Coma and Luis the Dishwasher
Spending 20+ years in the restaurant business offers one a chance to meet a myriad of personalities. I have met some of the most intelligent, some of the most troubled, some of the most interesting…
Keep readingKing Georges Perrier and Kamikazes
In 1994, I was the Executive Chef at The Restaurant at Doneckers, a fine dining, French influenced restaurant in Ephrata PA. At that time, Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia, long considered one of the best…
Keep readingShelby and the Jogger
Our first house was in Millersville PA, a duplex at 1 Applewood Lane. A corner property, with a large side yard, separated from the street by a row of arborvitaes trees. There was an empty…
Keep readingFantasy Day
In 2008, the Lancaster Barnstormers, the local pro baseball team, offered a Fantasy Day Camp for Father’s Day. The Barnstormers played in the three year old Clipper Magazine Stadium, named in 2021 as the best…
Keep readingThe CIA and Napa Valley
In 1998 I was the Executive Chef at the Lancaster Country Club. One of the perks was a trip to the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena CA. Housed in the former Christian Brothers…
Keep readingHess’s Department Store
When I was 19, in college, I was in need of a part-time job. My parents had divorced and I was responsible for part of the bills at our house. My mother and aunt were…
Keep readingMelissa Joan Hart and Brad Paisley
Melissa Joan Hart was the star of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch”, from 1996 to 2003. These years coincided with my son Jared’s adolescence. Like many boys of that age, Jared had a crush on the…
Keep readingThe Famous, Chuck and Linda Meeting
It was the summer of 1971, I had just graduated high school. Back in those days, there were many venues that featured live bands. The Park on the Hill in Neffsville, St Anthony’s Catholic Church,…
Keep readingThe Sixers and Sunday Brunch
In 1967-68, our Freshman basketball team went undefeated. Our coach, Henry Benner, rewarded the team with a trip to see the Philadelphia76ers at the brand new Spectrum. The game was scheduled for March 27, which…
Keep readingMemorial Stadium
Featuring Doc Medich and her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Stadium stood on 33rd Street in Northern Baltimore. Built in 1954, it hosted the Baltimore Orioles until 1991 and The Baltimore Colts until 1983.…
Keep readingThe West Lyndon Softball Feud, 63 or 64
As a boy growing up in the sixties, summers meant leaving the house after breakfast, maybe returning for lunch, then back out until sunset or dinner. In the neighborhood of West Lyndon, this usually meant…
Keep readingOddities and Coincidences
I don’t know if the type of snapshots chronicled here are commonplace throughout humanity, or I have a special type of brain setting that enables me to recognize these incidents. Anyway below is a list,…
Keep readingCayamo Stories 1
Throughout my posts, there are many references to the Cayamo Cruises that Linda, Jared and I have taken. The Cayamo Cruise, subtitled “A Journey through Song”, is filled with Americana artists. Americana music draws on…
Keep readingMrs. D
(Names have been changed) In my early twenties, I was friends with Jack and his sister Sue. Jack and Sue’s parents were divorced and they lived with their mother, Mrs. Dockerly. Now Mrs. Dockerly was…
Keep readingAtlantic City and Big Joe
The summer of 1977 found me as a Sous Chef at Landis Valley Motor Inn, at that time one of the busiest restaurants in the county. On any given Saturday night we could do 200+…
Keep readingJared, Nashville, Cayamo Cruise
My son Jared, lived for four years in Nashville, he also accompanied Linda and I on two Cayamo Cruises. The Cayamo Cruise, subtitled “A Journey through Song”, is filled with Americana artists. Americana music draws…
Keep readingDakota Roadhouse and Strippers, NYC
For a few years, when I was covering the BlackRock account for Donnelley, I would be in NYC for two weeks in February for a client in-house session. I would work various hours, usually the…
Keep readingAcross the Swattie
On my request, our regular golf foursome ventured north of Lebanon PA to play Pine Meadows. I had played this course with different friends the past summer and enjoyed the course. That day last year,…
Keep readingMisspent nights at the Village
What is written here is in no way, shape or form, an endorsement or approval of the type of behavior documented. It was a different time. The Village was, and remains in a diminished respect,…
Keep readingAlicia
Alicia entered my life as a precocious 4 year old when her mother and I started dating, subsequently living together and marrying. She has become a shining light in my life. If someone had the…
Keep readingLost friend
In February of 2004 I lost my closest friend, Denny Weidman. It was not totally unexpected, he had been in emotional and physical decline for a while. Still, this man, once the best athlete in…
Keep readingFound Friends
One Friday evening, Linda and I were at John J. Jeffries for dinner, seated at the bar as usual. It was a pretty busy night but we had empty seats on both sides. A couple…
Keep readingBody Surfing
I had just accepted a job as Sous Chef at Donecker’s of Ephrata, a high class French restaurant. This followed a summer of working two bartending jobs, weekends on the line at Donecker’s, and attempting…
Keep readingClaire’s Ashes
With apologies to The Big Lebowski and an appearance by Steve Earle After my mother Claire passed during the winter, my wife and I kept her ashes in our bedroom closet. Believe me, many people…
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Chuck's Stories 