Sunday, November 24, 2013

Hoosier Mama

Hoosier Mama is a specialty pie company in Chicago, not in Indiana as the name would imply. Not sure of why they use this clever name. Do they use their Hoosier mamas' recipes? They do sell some Hoosier specialties such as sweet cream pie and vinegar pie along with fruit pies that are common in Indiana but hardly exclusive.

But since our Hoosier visit, I have been interested in that huge women's prison in Rockville, near where we stayed. 70% of women prisoners are mamas and most will be released in less than 5 years. A few of the prisoners are pregnant when they began their terms. What to do with these babies? Unlike the sad episode in Orange is the New Black where the inmate's baby is taken from her without even her getting a chance to hold or even see it, low risk prisoners in Rockville actually get to keep their babies with them in a special unit where they have parenting classes, etc. Along with having at least an 8th grade reading ability, candidates for this program must have a release date in less than 18 months. And there are parenting classes for the non-pregnant prison Hoosier mamas too as they probably will be reunited with their children. They have lots of other educational programs too to hopefully prevent recidivism. Seems to be a model prison.

I assume there will be a future episode on Orange is the New Black on what happens to the baby fathered by the nice guard.

The Oprah network had a reality show a few years back featuring stories behind the bars of these prisoners at Rockville sort of a precursor to Orange is the New Black. Tonight I will resume my marathon viewing of the episodes (not the Rockville ones).

And I didn't try the vinegar or sweet cream pies  during our stay. I did have some blackberry cobbler that though tasty, was more like a pie than what I think of as a cobbler. I think cobblers should have a sweet biscuit dough on top; this one had a pie crust (but no bottom crust). I prefer crisps which I make with oatmeal-brown sugar topping. The favorite around here (my house) is peach-melba crisp which has raspberries.

Ugh cold!!!! I could tolerate it (current temp is 11 deg) if it weren't windy also. Usually I would bike today but that is totally out of the question. And yesterday, I picked the worst time to run. Somewhat tolerable to begin with then total whiteout conditions that included slippery streets. I ended early.

Josh's family is visiting in a few hours and then maybe it will be better outside. I haven't seen Ms. Allie in over a week. Haven't seen Shanna's kids either. Every day I suggest, they are someplace else.

Below is my niece enjoying the snow and cold. She has a photographer friend with a good eye for color.

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