State Recipes from the Living Well Book

Illinois

Horseshoe Sandwich

The horseshoe sandwich was developed in Springfield, Illinois and is still a popular menu item today. The horseshoe actually uses two slices of bread and two servings of meat per person. The smaller version is called the ponyshoe. There are many variations of the cheese sauce used to top the sandwich and each restaurant has their own secret ingredient.

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Welcome and Friendship Event (2010)

(Click on any of the pictures with a border for a larger version.)

Dress casually and with comfortable walking shoes to best enjoy this exciting Maine experience. Layered clothing is recommended to personalize your comfort, depending on the afternoon's coolness or warmth, both on land and sea. Please come dressed this way for the Opening Ceremony.

Welcome to Maine! Come experience the best of what Maine has to offer!

After enjoying our traditional NEAFCS Opening Ceremony, replete with color guard, Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem, we will share a few brief announcements and instructions and greetings from the Executive Director of UMaine Cooperative Extension, John Rebar. Then, breaking with tradition just a bit, we'll immediately embark upon several hours of re-connection with one another during a very special Welcome and Friendship Event.

What an event you have to look forward to, which your hosts have created especially for you! As we begin our time of reconnection, of rekindling lasting friendships and creating new ones, you will enjoy a land excursion and a sea tour, providing a full-immersion experience of beautiful and historic Portland.

After the announcements, half of our group will begin their Welcome and Friendship Event by heading directly to the Old Port area and board the Bay Mist liner for a narrated tour of Casco Bay, the deepest natural harbor on the Atlantic Coast with its fresh ocean breezes and the setting of centuries of history and commerce. You will sail past lighthouses and forts including the famous Portland Head Light at Fort Williams Park on Cape Elizabeth!

The other half of our group will settle into comfortable motor coaches for a narrated land tour of Portland, which was first settled in 1633 as a fishing and trading village. You will enjoy stories as you pass through the historic Old Port district and witness how it has evolved into a vibrant cultural area with landmark buildings, galleries, and shops. During your land excursion, visit one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world, Portland Head Light, enjoy the opportunity to walk the grounds, take your own photos, and imagine the years of service provided by this iconic Victorian keeper's house from the early 1890's. A lighthouse has stood on this spot since the presidency of George Washington. In town, you will pass the homes of noteworthy historical figures and see the bustling downtown area that is modern Portland, the blending of the historic and the cutting edge of modern. The entrepreneurial spirit of Maine is alive and visible everywhere you look.

As you will discover for yourself, Portland was and remains a strategically well-situated hub for trade and protection on a large bay that opens to the vast Atlantic Ocean.

When each group has completed the first part of our land and sea tour experience, we will "swap places" in an orderly fashion and experience the other part, so we all have the opportunity to see how Portland is the nerve center of this region, interconnecting the land and the sea. After you've completed your full land and sea experience, you will know so much about your host city and you'll have established your bearings for the rest of your conference week.

Upon our return to the conference hotel, we will feast together on a buffet sampler of traditional "Tastes of Maine", including lobster and crab mini rolls; Maine potato salad; sandwiches and wraps; clam chowder; vegetarian minestrone soup; romaine garden salad; hummus spreads; and blueberry cake for dessert! As we enjoy our meal and one another's companionship, the performance group Inanna will provide a background of gentle drumming to whet our cultural appetites and prepare us for their full performance.

Before that performance, the Opening General Session will officially welcome you to the city and the conference, and also provide some important "housekeeping" announcements and other important information, so that you are prepared for the remainder of your Annual Session in Portland.

Following the Opening General Session, the grand conclusion of your Welcome and Friendship event brings the return of the women's drumming group Inanna to the stage, where they will share their uplifting rhythms which you will enjoy and remember always.

Once the Welcome and Friendship event concludes at 8:30 PM, you are invited to have a direct experience of Maine's renowned entrepreneurial spirit — by taking advantage of an optional late-evening opportunity to visit the L.L. Bean Flagship Store.

On a first-come, first-served basis (tickets provided at the Annual Session Hospitality Desk) participants will take a short (15 minute) motorcoach trip to Freeport, Maine where the L.L. Bean Flagship Store is always open for business — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year — it's true! The store has no locks on the doors, because it never needs to be locked and closed.

You will be astonished at the size of the store and the variety of the offerings, there's so much more to see and do than any of the retailer's branch locations or the company catalogs! The L.L. Bean Company grew out of one man's vision for supplying the essentials for his own active lifestyle, and in 1912 began supplying those same essentials, and more, to his fellow Mainers. The company has been a trusted source for quality apparel, reliable outdoor equipment and expert advice for nearly a century, and has grown from a one-man operation to a global organization with annual sales exceeding $1.4 billion.

Due to the number of available buses, the number of participants for the L.L. Bean trip is limited to approximately the first 325 guests who obtain their ticket at the NEAFCS Hospitality Desk at the Holiday Inn By the Bay. If this is an experience you would like to explore between the hours of 8:30 and 11:00 PM on Monday evening, following the Welcome and Friendship Event and the Opening General Session, be sure to visit the Hospitality Desk and request your ticket. A ticket is required to board a bus to L.L. Bean in Freeport, and supply is limited by the available seats on the buses! Buses will return from Freeport as they fill, and the last bus departs Freeport no later than 11:00 PM.

Up a Level to: 2010 Annual Session & Exhibits