January 31, 2026

WEEKLY MENU 02.01.26

There’s a rodent on the Weekly Menu 02.01.26! Hopefully he’s peering out and NOT seeing his shadow.

We’re not consuming the rodent on the Weekly Menu 02.01.26. We’re just including a cute, very chill picture of same. But guess what? You can eat them, and they’re quite a delicacy – excellent news for us, not so good news for Phil.

The first Groundhog Day celebration wasn’t such a picnic for Punxsutawney Phil’s progenitors. When Punxsutawneyans gathered on a hilltop known as Gobbler’s Knob on this day, Feb. 2, in 1887, they did so not just to celebrate the weather-forecasting wizardry of the groundhog — the rodent was also on the menu.

Predicting the length of winter based upon whether or not an animal saw its shadow was nothing new to the German immigrants who settled Pennsylvania, although in the old country they relied more often on badgers and bears. Europeans had long marked winter’s midpoint on Feb. 2 by celebrating Candlemas Day, a festival of lights that also included a formula for predicting the arrival of spring.

It also became a regional delicacy, with a flavor described by locals as “a cross between pork and chicken,” according to Pennsylvania historian Christopher R. Davis.

In the 1880s, per Davis, groundhog was the cuisine of choice at the Punxsutawney Elks Lodge. Devotees later formed the Groundhog Club, which hosted both the annual Groundhog Day ceremony and a summertime groundhog hunt followed by a picnic featuring a variety of groundhog dishes and a “groundhog punch” that sounds equally appetizing — a combination of vodka, milk, eggs, orange juice “and other ingredients,” Davis writes.

Time

I bet groundhog jerky was in the mix somewhere. Yeah. We’re not going there. We DO look forward to seeing Punxsutawney Phil and the roughly 40,000 people crowding into the relatively small (Population 5,562) hamlet to cheer him on. Via TV. I’m no likelier to go there than Times Square for NYE.

Groundhog Day (Pennsylvania German: Grund’sau dåk, Grundsaudaag, Grundsow Dawg, Murmeltiertag; Nova Scotia: Daks Day)^[1][2][3] is a tradition observed regionally in the United States and Canada on February 2 of every year. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow, it will retreat to its den and winter will go on for six more weeks; if it does not see its shadow, spring will arrive early. In 2024, an early spring was predicted.^[4]

Wikipedia

No Shadow = Early Spring

Shadow = 6 More Weeks of Winter.

The good/bad news? Phil’s not very accurate. So, you don’t have to worry if you don’t like the results.

NOAA study grades Punxsutawney Phil, and his record is not so good

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Phil has a 35% overall accuracy rating over 135 years. Of the 128 recorded times Phil has predicted the weather, he has now seen his shadow 107 times (or 84% of the time).

USA Today

I wonder how that compares to our meteorologist?

If Groundhog is off the menu (and it definitely is), what are we having during the Weekly Menu 02.01.26?

Sunday is an old standby – but happens to be good for us. It’s a roasted pork loin well seasoned with garlic and honey. There’s something about a fully roasted Sunday Supper. I like to mix up the sides that are also roasted (side by side with the pork). This week, it’s baby potatoes, carrots, and broccoli, because we’ve been loving the crispy florets lately. The potatoes and carrots will go into the oven about 45 minutes before we eat, and I’ll add the broccoli about 25 minutes prior.

Simple meals rock during the rest of the Weekly Menu 02.01.26~

Black Beans for Meatless Monday, Fish tacos for Taco Tuesday, the crockpot is coming out, and we’re going with classic chili, getting fancy with three different beans.

We could honestly care less about the teams in the Super Bowl (no offense to any real fans out there), but we do care about the food. We have a complete city-themed menu for the big day.