Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
When Jenny Meyer decided to open the Endicott Food Center in 1989, she had no previous experience with running a business or formal training as a cook.
“It just came up, we bought it and I’ve been here ever since,” she said.
Jenny grew up in the Yakima Valley, but has spent 32 years of her life in Endicott. She raised all four of her children there, staying at home until the youngest was about six months at which point she started driving school bus.
After moving to Endicott, she saw the store open, close, open and then close again due to a fire upstairs. The owner at the time didn’t want to reopen, so Jenny stepped up to bat and has the grocery store, deli and food service. One customer called her the champion cook in Endicott before joining a table of women for their morning coffee.
Jenny grew up one of six children. While the family chores were divided and rotated, Jenny usually ended up on kitchen duty. Her sisters would trade bathroom detail for kitchen duty when it fell to them—which suited Jenny fine.
“I still hate to clean the bathroom to this day,” she said.
Cooking for a large family gave Jenny practical experience for the lunches and dinners she makes at the store. She has a cold deli on-hand with daily lunch specials and dinners the second and fourth Wednesday of each month. When the store first opened she tried to serve dinner nightly, but had to scale it back.
“You only have so much draw with so many people in town,” she noted. She also does catering for large events.
Jenny’s children grew up in the store, all of them working until they were 15 or 16 when they would get other jobs. She recalled her youngest daughter ringing people out when she was in the first or second grade. By the time the kids were old enough for outside employment, they were ready to get a job that actually paid them, Jenny joked.
While the kids have moved on, Jenny still gets some help from her daughter-in-law and two employees with husband Larry pitching in as needed. Young children have returned as a regular fixture to the store with the next generation hanging out at least a couple days a week.
“It’s Grandma’s day care half the time,” Jenny said.
One big change Jenny made to the store was the addition of a bigger deli eating area which now serves as a community meeting place. The area used to be a Montgomery Ward store and a couple tables made up the small deli area when it was added to the grocery store. The rest of the space was formerly meat lockers.
“That was the first thing we did, rip all those out,” she said.
Although the area was originally intended for dining, it functions as a multipurpose room for parties, meetings and morning coffee socializing. When Santa Claus visited Endicott last week, that’s where he landed to listen to requests from children.
During harvest Jenny makes sack lunches and dinners. She usually does about 30 sack lunches a day. She didn’t have enough requests for harvest dinners to justify it this year, but expects the demand to be back up next year.
She also caters off-site events like the Fair Foundation dinner at the fairground.
Although the store keeps her busy, Jenny still drives the school bus two times a day. She commented that’s the only time of the day she gets to sit down. She has been driving bus for 26 years.
Eight years ago she married Larry Meyer, a Colton native. He added three more children and grandchildren to her tally. Together they have 13 grandchildren. As the children get older, the grandparents are attending ball games to watch them play. They also like to camp and ride four-wheelers in the summer.
Jenny and Larry also make their own German sausage.
“That’s his specialty.”
Jenny added that her kids still help out at the store when they come to visit. The kids understand it’s hard for her to get away from the store, so they are good about coming to visit.
Even though running the store keeps Jenny going from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., she doesn’t have any plans to hang up her apron yet. She said as long as the community continues to support her, she’ll stay open.
Christmas Goodies
Ham Balls
1/2 lb. ground ham
1/2 lb. ground pork
1/2 lb. hamburger
2 eggs
1 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp. dry mustard
Mix all together. Roll into bite size balls and place in pan.
Sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. ketchup
1/4 c. vinegar
Pour sauce over rolled balls and bake at 350 degrees until browned.
Sugar (cutout) cookies
1 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract
2 3/4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Mix all ingredients, roll out, cut out, bake at 400 degrees, 6 to 7 minutes.
Frosting
1/2 c. butter (melted)
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
milk
Mix, add enough milk to make spreadable. Add colors, frost and enjoy!
Turtles
Caramel-
1/2 c. butter
2 c. sugar
1 c. Karo syrup
Mix together in a heavy duty pan. Add 1/2 of 1 pint of half and half. Cook on medium heat until bubbly, add rest of half and half. Cook slowly to soft ball stage (when dropped in cold water it no longer separates) Usually takes a good hour; slow cooking.
Put two pecan halves for each turtle on buttered counter, after caramel is ready, put a teaspoon on pecans. Let set until cooled. Dip in melted chocolate almond bark.
About 60 turtles.
Jana Mathia is a reporter at the Whitman County Gazette.
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