Lumpy Dick

No, contrary to what the title may lead you to believe this is a family friendly site. I am currently working on the arrangements for my family reunion this summer at Mack's Inn at Island Park, ID. This will just be my immediate family but when I was small I remember huge family reunions every summer......one for each side of my family.


I was fortunate to know my great grandparents on my mothers side and most of my great aunts and uncles on both sides. They were all farmers and ranchers and had that no nonsense attitude that comes with that life.


The Hubbard side of the family would often meet at Downata Hot Springs for the Charles and Elsie Hubbard family reunion (just to show you how dim I sometimes am.....it took years before I broke down the name to Down At A Hot Springs). The reunions would progress with everyone showing up at around 9:00 am. The parents would immediately organize the mass march to the changing rooms to get us suited up for our prolonged immersion in the pool. We would then play in the pool until threatened with dire consequences if we didn't get out and come to lunch. The adults in the meantime had spent the time catching up on gossip, discussing the weather (the men) and its probable effect on crop yield, and preparing a HUGE lunch. We would then eat until we groaned. We then had to spend one hour "resting" before we were allowed back into the pool.....cramps you know. And there was always someone who knew someone who knew someone who drowned from cramps because they went swimming too soon after eating. Oi!


The interim time was usually filled with stories from Great Grandma Elsie. She was a born story teller and a published poet who loved to entertain and be the center of attention. I don't remember the context but one year she told us about the early years when her family first moved to Gem Valley. There were twelve of them living in a one room cabin with a dirt floor.....she said she never could get it clean no matter how much she swept. She told us about how they each received an orange for Christmas and what a treat that was....all of the children decided to make them last as long as they could by sharing their orange with everyone else. They had one orange a week for 10 weeks this way.


Dessert was pretty much unheard of and when they did get something for dessert often it was Lumpy Dick. Grandma went on to explain that Lumpy Dick was made by mixing flour and sugar and then cooking it with milk until it thickened. You didn't worry about lumps because it was supposed to have them.
Seriously, though, thinking about the kind of life that renders one grateful to have a dessert made from flour, sugar and milk boiled together makes me so thankful for the sacrifices that my great grandparents made when they helped settle Gem Valley and make it the beautiful place it is today.



And, just in case the children are misbehaving and you want to show them how hard they could really have it...........here's the recipe:

Lumpy Dick
Pour some milk in a saucepan and heat to just under a boil. Sprinkle flour over the milk and poke it with a spoon to get it wet. Dont' stir it.....it's supposed to be lumpy. Add enough flour to make it the consistency of hot cereal. Sweeten with sugar to taste. YUM! YUM!