Sunday, July19 The Dining Room

The fact that Visiting Day was just 24 hours before, did not keep us from jumping right back into the routine of a real Sunday Assembly, complete with Team Songs and a re-cap of the week's games and scores. Music Hour that evening was probably the perfect antidote to all the treats and stimulation that we had just experienced. One thing that Lenore knew how to do very well was throw a party, and feed us. I think Lenore had to be one of the few camps where campers actually were in danger of gaining weight while we were there. So, this might be a good opportunity to reflect on the subject of meals. The entire camp dined together in the large Dining Hall. As you entered the wide double doors, the Director's Table would be immediately on your right. It was here, in 1959, that the current camp owners, Milty Schulman, Marty Zamore, and Zulie Lerner sat, along with Emeritus Founder, Mrs. Spectorsky (Mrs. Spec) , and her daughter, Miriam (Mimsie) Copstein. Large, rectangular tables, seating 6-8 campers and usually two counselors, were distributed around the large, screened room. Before sitting, one camper was usually selected to lead us in grace. Once seated, we were expected to behave like "ladies", with proper table manners at all times. We had waitresses who brought us our meals on big trays, "family style." Water was served in these wonderful, pastel-colored Hall Ball pitchers. (That I now collect.) Milk, (whole, of course!) was always on the table, too. And unless you were allergic to something, you had to have a "taste portion" consisting of one tablespoon of whatever was being served. No exceptions.
Lenore had a chef (who would make "appearances"in the dining room to our applause) And when he did, he was often wearing a toque,
Making sure that our meals were, at all times, "balanced", was our on-staff Dietician. For many years, it was a woman named Dora. (I remember gals calling her, "the dumpy, duncey, Dietician") But, she had to please nearly 200 picky eaters. "No common task was hers..."
And then there was ALBERT. Albert was probably the most beloved male at Lenore. He was a professional pastry chef/baker, imported from Manhattan. He was Austrian or Swiss or German. And he sure knew the way to my heart...I can still see the fabulous cakes he created for Parents Visiting Day, The Camp's Birthday, and The Final Banquet... Each year, after asking the Directors which of my friends were returning to Lenore, my second question was always, "Is Albert coming back?" The man was that important.
MEAL HIGHLIGHTS:
Breakfast always consisted of a hot cereal of the day, and an always present assortment of cold cereals. Peanut butter and jelly were always on the table. (No one ever HEARD of peanut allergies). We would fight over a new jar of peanut butter, so we could "christen" it, by carving our initials into the unblemished surface. We'd have pancakes or french toast every week, along with scrambled eggs.
Lunch is the one meal of which I have very little recollection. I'm sure it was, thanks to Dora, completely balanced, but for me, it was something you had to get through in order to get to the really important thing: Canteen. Canteen was held immediately after lunch, and it was where campers got their mail, and got to buy up to 2 candy bars with their camp coupons!
Dinner was definitely a more formal affair: Meat/chicken, vegetables, potatoes, salad and dessert were served in some combination every night. The stand-out entree was London Broil with mushroom gravy. The other memorable main course for me was breaded veal cutlets, (Wiener Schnitzel), which for some reason made me throw up. I finally made my mother write that I was allergic to it, otherwise, I'd still be working on my "taste portion." I've never touched it since.
Least we might still be hungry after rest hour and our two candy bars, we were offered "fruit" at the "fruit tree."
After hiking back from the Lake after an arduous swim in the afternoon, we were often greeted with ices or ice cream.
Before going to bed, we'd head to the side door of the kitchen for little glass bottles of milk and Albert's amazing chocolate chip cookies. I could cry right now.
The only person I know today who consumes more than we did on a daily basis is Michael Phelps. But, he has 8 Olympic medals to show for it.