Hi, March 5 is St. Piran’s Day (patron saint of Cornwall) and March 1 is the date for the 3rd World Pasty Championships.

Most of you aren’t ethnically Cornish, but since the Upper Peninsula has a historical link to Cornwall and the pasty, it might be a good time to have a pasty even if you have to make your own.

p.s. A bit of trivia. The reason that a miner is supposed to eat a pasty by holding only one end and then throwing that last piece away is because Cornish tin mines contained arsenic that contaminated workers’ hands.

Actually, certain Copper Country mines had plenty of arsenic—the minerals included domeykite, keweenawite, mohawkite, etc.

p.s.2. U.P. deer meat mixed with a bit of pork to cut the gameyness makes a better pasty than anything here in Cornwall.

David Balzarini
A former Tech professor from the 1960s, currently in Vancouver.

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Frank Shoffner resonded:
I found a place in Lafayette (here) that had pasties, but they’ve since gone out of business. I gave them a copy of Betty Berry’s pasty recipe. The gal took one look at it, then asked, “What is a rutabaga?”

Are you there as a pasty judge again? Sounds like great fun!

Give the “Cousin Jack’s” my greetings! Let them know that da’ U.P. Finns have gotten pretty good at making pasties!

Frank Shoffner