Into the Maze at Paradocx Vineyard (Opening this Weekend)
By Roger Morris
It seems only fitting that a winery with a name like Paradocx would have a maze – a corn maze – planted in a field next to it, one that children and adults could try to puzzle their way through, with the big folks hopefully testing their GPS skills before they visited the tasting room.
The maze opens September 4 at Paradocx winery on Flint Hill Road in Landenberg. Last year, they tested a smaller maze, but were late in getting the maze field planted.
Creating and growing an old-fashioned, green matrix was the combined brainchild of three farming families who sell their specialized “produce” directly to consumers and thus need to dream up promotional schemes to draw them to their farm stands and not be tempted to show elsewhere. The Harrises and Hoffmans of Paradocx grow grapes on a larger farm adjacent to the winery property where they then turn them into red, white and rosé wines.
To find their farm partners, drive out of their parking lot and turn right, proceed south down the hill, go across a one-lane bridge over a branch of the White Clay Creek, climb a few hundred yards up the other side and you will come to the Schmidt’s Tree Farm where the Schmidts’ primary produce – cone-shaped conifers – are much in demand at Christmas.
“A couple of years ago, the guys came here to pour their wines for our customers while they were buying and cutting their Christmas trees,” Ellis Schmidt told me a couple of months ago on a rainy spring day as we sat in his living room. “We started talking about other ways we could help each other out. Finally, we came up with the idea of a corn maze and planted one last year – but we were late to get started.” Under the scheme, Harrises and the Hoffmans provide the land and the venue, and Schmidts oversee the design and implementation of the maize maze.
Constructing a corn maze is both a work of art and of science with a little agriculture thrown in. It is basically a three-step process:
- Decide on a design for the maze and commit it to a computerized program.
- Plant the corn as a solid, green mass, a form of no-till farming, and not in rows.
- Cut out the design of the maze while the corn is still relatively short.
“We’re still working on the final design,” Schmidt said during our spring meeting, “but it will have something to do with a Christmas tree. We’ll plant the corn next week, and the pattern will be cut in around the Fourth of July.” This year’s plot at Paradocx covers a little more than five acres, larger than last year’s, on a gentle slope facing the winery.
Surprisingly, there are a number of firms that specialize in producing corn mazes. The one that Schmidt’s Tree Farm and Paradocx Vineyards utilize is a local one, Newtown Graphics. Schmidt gives Newtown Graphics the coordinates for the field and a computerized design. After the corn reaches about a foot high, Newtown cuts out the design using GPS and specialized tractors with on-board computers and the capability of turning at 90-degrees angles. Then the maze literally grows up around the cut-out design.
In early July, I visited the growing maze when the corn was not yet waist high. It was thoroughly baffling even in its infancy because, while I could see most of the field, the design was lost to the eye just a few yards away.
In between the maze and the winery, there is a game park for kids, including hay rides, a pedal car track and pumpkin bowling. A pick-your-own-pumpkin patch is also available.
The maze and kids’ park will is open between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekends through October 31. Entrance fee for children is $10. For more information, click here.
Summer’s Peaches Dripping with Flavor (Try this Peach Crostini)
By Margaret Gilmour
Mix a few downpours with record heat this summer and our local produce is bursting with flavor. So much sweetness, in fact, that Lisa Kerschner of North Star Orchards in Cochranville says “eating fruit this year is definitely not something to do while driving— talk about distractions!”
Our warm, dry weather helped concentrate the flavors so instead of huge, water-filled fruits, we’re getting smaller peaches, plums, apples and pears with flavors and textures that “may just about blow people’s minds,” Lisa says. Then she adds: “I don’t think I can remember a year when the fruit has been this flavorful. I can’t imagine what that’ll mean for the Asian pears as they come in.”
Peaches, especially, are juicy and sweet, the white-fleshed variety (my favorite) now so fragrant and lush I can hardly wait to get home to eat them—many times biting while leaning over the sink so the juice can trickle from my chin to the stainless steel basin.
Usually ripe fruit only lasts a day in my house. Sometimes, though, I choose not-quite-ripe peaches and place them single-file on the counter to mature so I can savor them throughout the week (I just learned that stacking them in a bowl promotes bruising).
I may slice a peach into a cup of yogurt, or better yet, make peach crostini as a light meal or quick appetizer (see recipe, below). Eight-seven percent water, the stone fruits are a packed with vitamin C, vitamin A and iron.
Lisa sells her peaches (and famous Asian pears) each Saturday at the West Chester Growers Market and at the Phoenixville Farmers’ Market (check the North Star Orchard Web site for other market locations). Stock up now, because this winter you’ll be dreaming of the summer’s mouth-watering, fragrant peaches.
Here’s a quick and easy method for freezing whole peaches:
• use only ripe and ready fruits;
• DO NOT WASH THEM…spread the peaches out on a baking sheet and place in your freezer until they are rock-solid;
• you can use freezer bags to store them for up to six months or more, but if you’re trying to avoid plastic, the peaches will keep just as long or longer in wide-mouth jars made for freezing and canning. You can also reuse your ice cream or milk cartons, though because they are not perfetcly moisture-vapor resistant, this method works for short-term storage only (up to three months).
Check out the 2010 Chester County Buy Fresh Buy Local Food Guide to find your local orchard or farm stand by clicking here:
Peach Crostini (adapted from a NYT recipe)
(Crostini means “little toasts” in Italian)
Grill or toast several slices of ciabatta, (actually, a baguette or any favorite, fresh loaf will do), pile with ricotta, baby arugula and slices of ripe peach.
Variation: Toss peaches and arugula with a simple olive oil vinaigrette kissed with a little seasoning and topped with a pinch of sea salt. If ricotta doesn’t appeal, substitute cottage cheese (drained). Or heck, if you love cheese as much as I do, use whatever type you find in your fridge (I’ve used feta in this recipe too).
Special thanks to local writer/photographer Matt Freeman who generously shared his image of peaches. You can see more of Matt’s work at his upcoming exhibit at the Brush and Palette gallery in Kennett Square, where his giclée prints of fine-arts photo still lifes will be featured from September 3rd through the 22nd. Matt’s images of fruits and other foods are inspired by Chester County’s continuing agricultural tradition. For more info on the exhibit click here.
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Sources: NYT, The National Center for Home Food Preservation
In the Vineyard with Eric Miller of Chaddsford Winery
By Roger Morris
There is an old cliché that says, “Wines are made in the vineyard.” Even though it is a cliché, every winemaker, including Eric Miller, co-owner and winemaker at Chaddsford Winery and a 30-plus-years veteran of winemaking and grape-growing, repeats the cliché and firmly believes it. Recently, Miller and I sat in the Kennett Square Starbucks discussing grape growing over a cappuccino and crumb cake.
“The vineyard is a strong signature of what your wine will become,” Miller says as he takes a sip of coffee, dressed in walking shorts as he usually is on hot days. “You have an idea of what you want in the winery and try to make it in the vineyard.”
Being a vineyardist is pretty much year-around work, but it begins in earnest in late winter and early spring, when much of last year’s new growth is pruned away the way gardeners trim limbs from a butterfly bush, except more thought is put into it. Most of the year’s work ends with harvest.
Miller moved to this area from New York’s Hudson River Valley in the early 1980s to start up a new winery – Chaddsford, beside Route 1 – but he and his wife Lee had to find sources of grapes, as they had no vineyard at the time. “I told the farmers, ‘Do what you did last summer,’” he says, “and it took me a few years to get the confidence to start making changes in what they were doing.” Those farmers who still sell grapes to Miller may find such a hands-off policy on his part hard to believe.
When the Millers bought an existing vineyard on a hillside a few miles south of Pottstown to use as their estate vineyard, Eric began a series of changes to improve the quality of the grapes. The first was moving where bunches of grapes hang – from a high cordon to a lower one. “I had just gotten back from Burgundy, where they hung lower,” he says, but there were other reasons.
Most of what happens in a vineyard is to make grapes have more flavor intensity, to remain disease-free and to properly ripen. Having fewer grape clusters, as a rule of thumb, is supposed to drive more intensity into the remaining grapes. That can be done by removing buds during pruning, later removing flowers, and by cutting away bunches of grapes – called green harvesting – during the summer.
Cutting away excess foliage, either by hedging (trimming the vines to look like rows of hedges) or by leaf plucking, decreases vine vigor, exposes the grapes to more sunlight (on either or both sides) for better and more uniform ripening and discourages mildew and rot by let air flow through more easily to dry the grapes.
When grapes are picked is of ultimate importance, because a winemaker is looking for the maximum balance of fruit sugars (that turn into alcohol), grape flavors, acidity, pH and tannins. Green seeds or pips can give the wine bitter tannins.
But before all this happens, Miller explains, you need to select the right grape variety – and its proper clone and rootstock – to plant according to the terroir (soil and climate). This is something that Europe has had centuries to decide, but local winemakers have had only 30 years or so to figure it out.
Where does Miller think the greatest gains in local vineyards are still to be made?
“I would like to see more roots cut [mainly through close plowing] to further reduce vine vigor,” he says as we finish our coffees and get ready to go back to work. “And better drainage [through ditches or underground pipes] would drive the roots deeper, even on my hillside vineyard,” he says.
He notes that his vineyard has recently suffered some hail damage, the second time in three years, and he has yet to decide what to do to bring in the best crop. Fortunately, the damage occurred while the grapes were young and not full of juice.
And then he goes off, several weeks before any grapes will be harvested, to continue his task of making Chaddsford wine in the vineyard.
Crispy Kale Chips
By Margaret Gilmour
We’ve had record-breaking heat this summer, along with occasional bouts of soaking rain. So why is kale, ordinarily a cool-weather crop, still keeping company with the cucumbers?
To help me answer this question, I gave Jennifer Cully, co-owner of SunnyGirl Farm, a call. My friend Paula picks up her CSA share from SunnyGirl each week, and for the past few, Paula’s basket featured deep green, curly kale.
Jennifer says while most of SunnyGirl’s lettuces bolted about three weeks early this year because of record-breaking temperatures, her kale is in fact thriving and should continue to do so for a few more weeks.
Also loving this summer’s heat wave are the tomatoes: a surplus of plump, succulent varieties along with sweet cherries now appearing at the local farm stands and farmers’ markets. In my own backyard green zebras and sunsugars hang waiting to be plucked. What a difference to the 2009 blight. Peppers, too, are soaking up the heat and taking on the sweetest of flavors.
But kale will only be around for a little longer—new crops appearing again in the fall—so now’s the time to make kale chips. Serve them on their own (with a cold beverage), pile them up alongside your sandwich or arrange them with other cold-platter fare. They’re great for picnics too, the perfect pack-n-go food.
Paula makes kale chips from her weekly CSA bundle, offering me my first taste, then a bowl full. Even my seven-year-old snatches up the delicious, crunchy treats, and he has no idea how good the green chips are for him.
Kale, a member of the brassica family of vegetables that includes cabbage and Brussels sprouts, is loaded with vitamins and is said to have more antioxidant capacity than any other fruit and vegetable. So devour them knowing they’re great for you, and when they’re gone, kale chips are so easy to make, you can simply make more.
Kale Chips
1 bushel of kale
1 TBL olive oil
1/2 tsp salt (or more if you like salty)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Rinse and dry the kale. Tear the kale into bite-size pieces—leave stems behind. In a large bowl, rub the olive oil and salt into the kale. Spread the kale evenly onto a baking sheet (they shouldn’t be top of each other). Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes until really crisp. Serve when cool.
For a spicy variety season with:
1 TBL olive oil
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/6 tsp cayenne pepper
Source: whfoods.com, accuweather.com
Want Milk? Visit Baily’s Dairy of Pocopson Meadow Farm
By Margaret Gilmour
Last week I pulled into my friend’s driveway as her 19-year-old son Will rode out on his scooter (1983 Honda Express). His destination: Lenape-Unionville Road, where Baily’s Dairy of Pocopson Meadow Farm sells farm fresh, all-natural milk. It’s just a mile or so from Will’s house by way of back roads. He scooters over to Baily’s, packs the basket nestled into his handlebars with two gallons of the cold stuff, and heads home.
Will’s not the only local buying his milk at Baily’s Dairy. After sampling the creamy liquid, I stopped by too, and other cars pulled in for their weekly supply.
I left my cash (it was the honor system that day) for a gallon of the 1.5 reduced fat milk and a ½ pint of chocolate, which I handed to my seven year-old who promptly opened it, and began gulping.
Baily’s sells pints, ½ gallons and gallons of whole and skim milk. (And the ½ pints of chocolate.) The milk is hormone-free and comes directly from their pasture-raised, grass-fed cows.
As you might have guessed, wholesome, fresh milk like Baily’s not only tastes great, it’s better for you than the mass-produced variety: the grass-fed cow’s milk contains more vitamin E, vitamin C, antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids—the good fat said to reduce the risk of heart disease (sixty percent of the fatty acids in grass are omega-3s).
Family-owned for four generations, Baily’s Dairy supplied milk to Land-o-Lakes for years before taking matters in their own hands. In fact, it was twenty-four-year-old Becky Baily who dreamed of operating her own dairy farm and set about the task a few years before graduating from high school. She grew up with the cows and pastured fields and intended on staying on it after her father retired.
By March, 2010 the bottling and processing plant were complete, and their farm stand opened.
Becky’s mini-market began by selling just milk, but it wasn’t long before she offered local cheese and eggs, and their own just-picked produce. Naturally, with all that frothy butterfat so near-by, Becky is now scooping out own ice cream in two, sweet flavors: chocolate and vanilla. Is a local creamy in her future?
Even if you don’t drink milk straight up, you can get milk’s benefits when you add it to a favorite recipe. Here’s a summertime favorite that’ll keep you cool, fill you up, and is a nutritious as it is delicious.
Orange Dreamsicle (gotmilk.com)
1 ½ cups ice
½ cup orange juice
½ cup local milk
1 vanilla bean, scraped
2 tsp vanilla extract
Blend until smooth. Serve in a chilled glass. Enjoy.
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Baily’s Dairy at Pocopson Meadow Farm
1821 Lenape Unionville Rd.
West Chester, PA 19382
610 793 1151
Open Thursday Through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., or serve-yourself, daily
Sources: eatwild.com, gotmilk.com
July is for Daylilies
By Margaret Gilmour
By the first of July daylilies (hem-er-o-kal-is) seem to rule the landscape, the common “roadside lily” starting off the month with a dense rug of orange blossoms.
And it never fails, as soon as I see the first stalks of these dayflowers, I think of Carolyn Heimberger’s daylily collection, her one-acre plot of land in Kennett Square home to over four-dozen varieties.
Local daylily lovers know that Carolyn’s selection is far from ordinary, and if you happen to catch Carolyn after she’s split a bunch, you’ll most certainly go home with a clump for your own garden. In fact, when I called her today to inquire about her lilies, she generously encouraged me to come by for some too—she had plenty—and loves to share flowers from her garden. Which is how Carolyn got started on her daylily collection years ago.
Carolyn is a farmer’s daughter whose mother spent many hours gardening. When Carolyn moved with her husband to Kennett Square in 1966, her mother promptly offered up daylilies from the farm’s beds. And so the fascination began.
Every year throughout the month of July Carolyn stopped in a local nursery no matter where she traveled. New England. Lancaster. New Jersey. She’d go for the newest daylily variety and take only one plant home with her because, as she explained to me, “I didn’t need more than one. I break them up every couple of years and share them with friends and people who like lilies.”
Now, after 44 years of this plant-and-share tradition, her landscape is infused with lilies in varying heights, hues and textures. There’s double salmon, ruffled peach and bi-colored red. In addition you’ll find lavender, chartreuse and brown too, with names that include Stella de Oro (yellow-gold), Softly Spoken (ruffled pale-pink) and First Glance (apricot-persimmon). One of her favorites is Happy Returns, a cheerful repeat-bloomer just 18 inches tall. Some bloom as early as late-June, others wait until mid-July, and a few spike near July’s end. In mid-summer, there’s always a daylily blooming in Carolyn’s yard.
In Greek Hemerocallis (daylily) means “beauty for a day.” Apparently there are more than 35,000 daylilies that have been named and officially registered. Each daylily plant produces a bunch of flower buds that will open for one day only, and is replaced the following morning with a new bloom. There are a few varieties that open in the evening and remain open until nightfall the following day. And most daylilies are all show with no scent, but there are fragrant cultivars available.
These one-day flowering wonders originated in Asia and made their way to North America by the 17th century—an ideal perennial that needed little care, multiplied easily and offered great color in almost any type of soil.
As it turns out, ease of growing daylilies isn’t what got Carolyn hooked, it was more the sentimental mind-set: they remind her of the time her mother gave Carolyn her first cultivar.
When Carolyn retired as a guidance counselor at Unionville High School, she was able to devote more time to gardening. She joined garden clubs and became a graduate of the Master Gardener Program, Penn State’s Extension—both experiences allowing her to share and take daylilies (and other flowers) with members.
She also followed the now-retired Dr. Darryl Apps, the daylily expert from Longwood Gardens who opened his own specialized nursery—Woodside Nursery—years ago in New Jersey. There he became nationally recognized for hybridizing and breeding gorgeous cultivars. Woodside Nursery is currently relocating their stock of hundreds and thousands of daylilies and now only sells only online.
For Carolyn, snipping a multi-colored bouquet of daylilies from her garden is the ideal centerpiece when hosting a dinner party. “By the time they close up, it’s usually time for everyone to go home,” she tells me.
Locally, many nurseries sell daylilies half-price by August 1. Stop in, select just one, and you too could have an impressive collection in a few years.
Sources: University of Minnesota Extension, Tranquil Lake Nursery,
Resource: The American Hemerocallis Society, Inc. (AHS)
Making a Mint Garden (and Very Minty Tea)
By Margaret Gilmour
Right outside my back door grew two pots of mint: peppermint (Mentha piperita) and curly spearmint (mentha spicata v. crispa). For several years the mint has continued to thrive, but this year I knew they needed transplanting—their root-bound bodies were gasping for air.
My mint has been confined because these fragrant, leafy herbs are greedy neighbors in any garden setting—mint known for quickly and effectively taking over an area unless they are well-managed and supervised. Which means lots of pruning during the season, and splitting before the next.
But, because I like the mint right outside my door for easy picking and for its welcoming fresh scent, I decided I would keep it simple and continue to ban the mint from my perennial bed, and instead plant a mint garden where the mint can grow with abandon.
Even with the desert-dry ground making digging an almost impossible task, I put my shovel to the cracking, rocky soil and dug up a small, well-contained bed butting up against the stucco side of my home. Then I liberated my mint from their imprisoned quarters, planted them with some compost and dragged the hose over to soak the parched earth awhile. And, just to make sure they understood their new boundaries, I edged the mint garden with a few bricks.
I think the mint patch may need a small, staked Tiki torch or, even better, a humming bird feeder as an accent. Perhaps I’ll find something this weekend to add the finishing touch.
There are about 25 species of mint, and maybe as many as 600 varieties, including spearmint, peppermint, chocolate mint, pineapple mint and Bergamont orange. For now I am content with my two varieties, and even though I am curious about the other types, I am not sure my two plants would allow room for a third. (You know how territorial mint can be).
Peppermint is known for its digestive qualities and ability to soothe an upset stomach. I haven’t chewed on a piece for that reason, but I love to stuff a bunch of just-cut leaves into a cold glass of iced tea, or chop some to sweeten a dish of ice cream or cookie recipe. I’ve also mixed peppermint and spearmint in a drink and enjoyed the contrasting flavors.
Spearmint is best for savory dishes like lamb, or spicy salads like Tabbouleh. It’s also great mixed in with warmed potatoes and other veggies, and makes a great garnish if you need a little something extra to add to a plate.
Inspired by my mint garden, I happened upon this recipe for cool and refreshing Very Minty Iced Tea, and made myself a glass and one to share…with you. Since we’re in for more hot and steamy weather this weekend, enjoy.
Very Minty Iced Tea (from MNN.com)
This syrup can be used for mint juleps as well as for iced tea. For a less intense version, strain out mint leaves as soon as the syrup has cooled.
(Made with garden spearmint, but you can mix in other mints too)
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
A generous handful of chopped mint leaves
Unflavored iced tea
Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish
Directions
Heat sugar and water in a nonreactive saucepan until sugar dissolves and mixture is clear. Add chopped mint leaves and cook a minute or two longer. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Cover and place in fridge for at least three hours. Strain out the mint leaves and store syrup in the fridge in a glass container for up to one week.
Add 1 tablespoon (or to taste) of syrup to each tall glass of iced tea. Garnish drinks with fresh mint.
Blending Wines at Galer Estate
By Roger Morris
Like a financial portfolio manager who spreads his investments among stocks, bonds, CDs, funds and real estate, most winemakers would never limit themselves to making only one kind of wine. Or bottling a single wine that is not itself a blend of various cuvées or batches.
Part of this diversification among bottles and within bottles is a reflection of the winemaker’s own palate, but it is also homage to the marketplace, trying to discern what the customer wants to buy and drink.
I was thinking about this one recent afternoon as I was participating in a blending session at Galer Estate, the new winery behind Longwood Gardens that plans to sell its first wines in a couple of months. Owners Brad Galer, a trained physician and pharmaceutical executive, and Lele Galer, an artist and educator, sit across from each other at a round table at the winery as consulting winemaker John Levenberg and recently-hired assistant winemaker Catrina North take us through a panel of 2008 and 2009 Chardonnays and one of a 2009 rosé, all three of which will be bottled soon.
Why and how to blend wines is an interesting topic, both philosophically and practically. Anyone can make a blend.
As an example, take two white wines that you may have open and casually play with them – mixing them first half-and-half in a wine glass and then in increments to see which may be the dominant blend. It’s my observation that it’s human nature to prefer something you blend over just picking one wine and saying, “No, I can’t do anything to improve it.”
Practically, there are dozens of ways to blend, and I have talked with winemakers on four continents who like nothing better than to explain how and why they blend.
For example, grape farmers once planted vineyards with whatever vines were available. And if a Cabernet Sauvignon vine died, it might be replaced with Merlot, if that was handy. Some of these plots still exist, and grapes picked from them, with everything going into the same basket, are known as “field blends.” Sometimes grapes will be blended while fermenting rather than been made into separate batches, the most notable example being the co-fermentation of red Syrah grapes with a little white Viognier in the Rhone Valley and Australia.
Blends can be made from different varieties, from the same varieties grown in different locations, from batches fermented in stainless steel with those fermented in oak, those aged in oak and those not, and so one. And they can be blended before or after fermentation, before aging or after aging and just before bottling. Scratch any winemaker, and she or he will have a reason.
Meanwhile, back at the winery, North has laid out four glasses of ’09 Chardonnay in front of us – one the basic wine, and the other three with small but increasing amounts of sugar. Even most dry wines have a little sugar, just as most low-fat foods still have a little fat.
“It’s not just about sweetness,” Levenberg says. “I’m trying to develop a little ‘thickness’ or mouth feel in the wine.”
Although Levenberg has a California pedigree at such wineries as Hobbs, he is now located on Long Island and consults for a number of wineries. “Brad and Lele have different tastes,” he says with a grin which indicates that perhaps the blends he constructs may be somewhere between their preferences. But today, the disagreements are minor, and we all think the blend that has just a teensy-eentsy amount of sugar – 0.3 grams per liter – has the best flavor, balance and mouth feel.
We move on to the ’08 Chardonnays, which now have barrel age and have been stirred on their lees or dregs for seasoning and texture. An agreement is quickly reached that the same amount of sugar also works well here, so Brad and Lele will not have a wine fight. Today.
The rosé has been made by a process called saignée where a small amount of juice has been drained or “bled” off red grapes before fermentation. This juice is then fermented on its own, retaining just a touch of color, and our task is to decide on how much color and how much sweetness. Levenberg notes that the wine itself is a blend of Cabernet from the Galer’s Red Lion Vineyard and purchased Cabernet from Historic Hopewell Vineyard and purchased Merlot from Hopewell and Waltz vineyards. So we have a blend of vineyards and of grape varieties, as well.
It has been a fun and practical session, and I finish off my visit with a tour of the expanding facility – construction workers are all around us – where once Folly Hill made and sold wine. The finished property will have an expanded winery and cellar as well as a formal tasting room. An opening date has not been set. In addition, part of the old Folly Hill vineyard – now called Red Lion – is being replanted, and a pile of vines that have been ripped up looks like a giant Hollywood horror movie spider.
Perhaps in a few months, when I sit in the finished Galer Estate tasting room and sip the newly bottled Chardonnay, I will feel in a very minor way like its godfather.
Margarita
By Leslie Kedash
There is nothing like a good margarita, and they don’t come from cheap tequila and “margarita mix” and they certainly don’t emerge from the bowels of those souped up “slushy” machines. They are made, painstakingly, with four simple ingredients of the highest quality.
I struggled to find a patriotic themed beverage for 4th of July and, with a little web searching, learned that the best tequila is made with the BLUE agave cactus, which grows in the RED volcanic soil of the Tequila area of Mexico. Top it with WHITE salt and there’s your link, however tenuous, to Independence Day.
Don’t scrimp on the ingredients, they all matter, and you’ll be glad you didn’t.
So enjoy the weather this holiday weekend and if you have never had a real margarita, try these and declare your independence from the mundane variety.
Happy Fourth!!
Top-Of-The-Line Margarita
Rick Bayless | Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen
Lime Wedges
Coarse Kosher or Sea Salt
1/4 cup fresh lime juice, about 1 large lime
1/4 cup Tesoro silver or other 100 percent agave tequila
1/4 cup Cointreau orange liqueur (we use less)
1/2 cup coarsly cracked ice cubes
Rub the rims of 2 martini glasses with a lime wedge, then dip the rims in a dish of coarse salt. Refrigerate the glasses if desired.
In a shaker, combine the lime juice, tequila and orange liqueur. Add ice and shake 10 to 15 seconds, then strain into prepared glasses.
Wordless Wednesday | Summer Afternoon
Special thanks to photographer Jim Graham who generously shared his image for today’s Wordless Wednesday.
Q&A With Kathleen Van Cleve
By Cate Hennessey
In yesterday’s post, I reviewed Drizzle, a new book for 3rd-6th graders, by Chestnut Hill author Kathleen Van Cleve. Kathy graciously found time to sit down and chat about Drizzle, the importance (and loss) of place and family, and how books, relatives, and teachers shape a writer.
How did your family’s farm influence Drizzle?
Well, like in the story, an Italian immigrant– my grandfather – really did buy a farm from an Italian prince. In 1941, he bought 6,000 acres in the Pine Barrens from a prince who was also an ambassador living in the States … we grew cranberries and blueberries. Even though the farm isn’t operational anymore, there are cranberries growing at your feet since cranberries grow naturally in the Pine Barrens; they’re one of the few crops indigenous to the States.
Cranberry harvest is in the fall, and I think it’s staggeringly beautiful … One of the reasons Drizzle is magical is that I thought of our farm as magical … You can’t see a cranberry harvest on a beautiful fall day and not be stunned if you have any appreciation for what our earth can do.
So why set Drizzle on a magic rhubarb farm? Why not a blueberry/cranberry farm?
My first novel, Cranberry Queen, is set on a cranberry farm … I didn’t want to do that again. Rhubarb – I like the word – it’s fun to say. I had asked one of my nephews what his favorite vegetable was, and he said rhubarb (he likes to be a contrarian). So I tasted it and didn’t like it, which is why there’s chocolate rhubarb [in Drizzle]. Then I started to do research and realized rhubarb requires a lot of rain … it immediately makes it magical if a crop that needs a lot of rain grows in a place where there is no rain except what is guaranteed every Monday.
Even though the farm is magical, the kids in Drizzle are very real, and they carry burdens: Polly faces betrayal; her friend Basford has lost his mother to cancer; Polly’s brother Freddy becomes terribly ill. As an adult, how are you able to get back to a place where you’re able to evoke young people so well?
See, that question speaks highly of you because you’re so clearly a grown up. I’m 44 and writing a book about spelling dragonflies! I think like a child … I was the third of four kids born within five years and was allowed to just go off and read during my whole childhood – it meant I was safe and entertained and not fighting with my siblings. Plus I had thick glasses and braces – so I was allowed to stay a kid.
At the same time, I do think a lot of kids do have big things going on. I love the experience of reading things in the [children’s literature] genre and encountering something I haven’t thought about for 30 years, and then saying, I remember that. So I tap into that when I write.
You’re also very aware of the intricacies of human nature. For example, Aunt Edith is a wonderfully complex character – she was actually my favorite. What do you want young readers to take away from her?
She’s the antagonist, but I didn’t want her to be a villain … When she says, “I’ll destroy the farm if I don’t get what I want,” this is someone who has talked to presidents and changed the world because of her writing, and she refuses to be thwarted by the sale of a farm. Plus there’s the theory of benevolent dictatorship; she thinks the family will be taken care of financially.
But she has good reasons to sell the farm … she wants to write again. She gave up four years taking care of the farm; she’s desperate to be done. And she loves Polly, but she sees how much Polly loves the farm – like her grandmother, who believed she could “find all you need to find … in this rhubarb patch.” Aunt Edith can’t believe that somebody smart could make that choice. She also looks at Polly and knows that because she has the crooked finger, she’s the one [who can make it rain], and she doesn’t want to put that burden on her.
I hope people take away that [Edith] loves these kids – Polly, Patricia, and Freddy. I like Aunt Edith. I’m fascinated by people like her. There’s that line from Emerson: “I shun father and mother and wife and brother, when my genius calls me.” Being the Italian, maternal person I am, part of me says, No, no, there’s no way, but then again, I’m a writer, and I understand … I don’t know where the dividing line is. It’s hard.
Polly applies the water cycle and Emerson’s Self Reliance to work through dilemmas, but without her teacher, Owen, and Aunt Edith to introduce her to those concepts, that wouldn’t have happened. Did you have any teachers who shaped the person and writer you’ve become?
My aunt and uncle were my first teachers for sure. They were so amazing, so quick, so smart. They took me to plays, gave me books; they didn’t approach the world in a “you have to wake up, you have to go to your job, you have to come home” kind of way – all the responsible things that I’ve never done.
As far as teachers in school, mostly my English professor at St Andrews in Middletown, DE, who’s now headmaster – Mr. Tad Roach … he would assign a pretty standard paper, but I’d write a movie script or play. With Hamlet, I made up characters – Gertrude and Ramona – who see and talk about the play – and he wrote comments like,” I can’t give you more than hundred, but this is so great and fun.” He gave me confidence, showed me that it was okay to think that way.
From Penn, Al Filreis … he made us write an opinion paper every week … and he would read mine out loud to the lecture hall of 200 students. He forged a friendship with me that I didn’t have with any other teacher at Penn.
And then my screenwriting teacher, Shelley Evans, who told me, “You have a gift for this,” which was huge since writing’s never been the problem, it’s feeling like it’s okay, being confident … And my mom never stopped me from reading.
Drizzle’s acknowledgements give the impression that writing the book wasn’t easy. How long did it take you to write, and what challenges did you face?
It took three and a half years. I always knew it was about a farm where it didn’t rain, where a girl inherits the genetic ability to make it rain. And I always knew the last line: My name is Polly Peabody, and I can make it drizzle.
But the main issue between Polly and her Aunt Edith … that’s what I really struggled with. I wanted [the book] to be about what you do when you’re eleven and you love your parents, but your aunt, or this other person in your life, is everything – and suddenly this person shows their flaws.
When my grandfather died, the farm was left to my dad and his brother and sister. My aunt and uncle wanted to sell the farm, and my dad didn’t, but ultimately in 2003 it was sold. It’s really hard for me to accept still. People assume I wrote Drizzle because I have kids now, but it’s not. It’s this new phase of my life where this major part of my childhood has been lopped off, completely obliterated.
What makes it more difficult is that … my aunt, even than my uncle, is the reason I write, and with the lawsuit we didn’t speak for a long time … she passed away from colon cancer in 2008 – I didn’t even know she was sick. The book is dedicated to her. When Polly says about Aunt Edith, “How can I grow up without being able to tell her what I’m doing, what I’m learning, what my life is like? Sometimes, in the dark of night, I have an awful feeling that I really won’t see her again,” that’s informed by my aunt.
Are there any particular books that influenced you?
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Agatha Christie and Stephen King. Evelyn Waugh. And plays! Death of a Salesman. Tom Stoppard’s play, The Real Thing. And Angels in America by Tony Kushner – it’s the reason I went to New York; I used to be able to recite it.
Literature changes everything. I remember saying once to John Leguizamo, “What are we doing? Who are we helping? What difference are we making?” And he said, “We are, Kathy, we are.”
You currently teach screenwriting at Penn, and some of the scenes in Drizzle are so vivid that they beg to lift off the page. Is there a chance that Drizzle will be adapted for film?
I hope to adapt it myself this summer. Everything I write is very visual; it’s how I was trained. I just read and read scripts -hundreds and hundreds of scripts. So the farm, I can see it. I’ve been teaching screenwriting long enough; it’s time I bite the bullet.
Your sons, Jackson and Emerson, are 6 and 4. What are you reading with them these days?
Emily Jenkins’ Toys Go Out; The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney; William’s Stieg’s Dominic and Doctor De Soto; the Magic Schoolbus. Jackson’s really into myths right now, like who is the Hydra, and who is Medusa. We also love Jon Scieszka – he remakes fairy tales – really funny! The book we read is The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales.
And Emerson, we’ve been into Tiger and Turtle, by James Rumsford. I encourage Too Many Toys, by David Shannon, since in our house, that’s so true. We do a lot of SpongeBob, too. We’re definitely a SpongeBob family.
Buy it here
Any new books in the works?
Yes! I think it might be called Small Town Gods. It’s about a boy, Ike, who wants to quit piano lessons so he can have more time to practice basketball. Ike’s piano teacher, who has special powers, offers to give Ike the perfect outside shot he wants, but in return, he can’t quit piano.
It’s like Drizzle, fantasy, but based in reality. I’m not a full fantasy person, but I’m not interested in the real, either. That’s why I love Charlotte’s Web. And I love the fantastic in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but at the same time I love those mundane details, like how Charlie’s dad works at a toothpaste factory. Writing this way is so much fun – I can’t imagine going back to writing adult novels. It feels like this is where I’m going to stay.
Drizzle: By Local Author Kathleen Van Cleve
By Cate Hennessey
Drizzle, by Kathleen Van Cleve. Dial Press: 2010. 358 pgs.
The place where you grow up never leaves you. Sometimes it cleaves so strongly that it informs who you become and the art you create. For local author Kathleen Van Cleve, that place was her family’s farm in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. She draws on her love for nature and the farm in her first book for children (grades 3-6), Drizzle.
But young readers shouldn’t expect an ordinary farm. Instead, they’ll dive into to a fantastical tale reminiscent of those conjured by Rhoald Dahl and E.B. White – with a sprinkling of J.K Rowling.
Eleven-year-old Polly Peabody doesn’t have many friends, but she does have a temper and a rather large chip on her shoulder. She also happens to live on a famous magic rhubarb farm: diamonds sprout from the earth, insects communicate with humans, and despite the dry Midwest location, it rains every Monday at 1pm.
But when Polly’s beloved Aunt Edith makes a choice that jeopardizes the farm, the rain stops. To make matters worse, Polly’s older brother develops a life-threatening illness. Polly must work through her frustration and lack of self-confidence to uncover the secrets that will save the farm and her brother — as well as discover her own answers about selfhood and loyalty.
Drizzle’s whimsy will captivate young readers, as will Polly, a protagonist whose imperfections will help children identify with and root for her.
Woven within these pleasures are important themes of family betrayal, respect for nature, and the usefulness of science and literature. (Polly applies Emerson’s Self Reliance and her science lab on the water cycle as she puzzles through her journey.) The result is a smart, thoughtful read that parents and teachers too will enjoy. Add a cast of memorable characters and the mystery of the rain, and the result is a book which encourages young readers to think more deeply about themselves and the world they live in. It’s no wonder that Drizzle has been chosen for Unionville Elementary’s 3rd Grade Read-A-Thon, to be held March 2011.
Kathleen Van Cleve has also published two adult novels, Cranberry Queen (a Book Sense 2001 pick) and The Difference Between You and Me, as Kathleen DeMarco. She earned degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and after many years working in the New York and Los Angeles film industry, she now makes her home in Chestnut Hill with her husband and their two sons. The longtime writing partner of John Leguizamo, Kathy also teaches screenwriting at Penn.
Be sure to check back here tomorrow to read my interview with Kathy. We chat in-depth about Drizzle, the importance (and loss) of place and family, and how books, relatives, and teachers shape a writer.
Sesame Noodles with Asparagus Tips
By Leslie Kedash
This is a classic “make ahead” recipe and is perfect as a side dish for taking to friend’s home for a potluck meal. It calls for asparagus, but you can use any vegetable that’s in season; snow peas, roasted peppers, grilled eggplant or carrot julienne strips.
Another great recipe from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.
The Marinade
1/4 cup sesame oil
3 tablespoons dark sesame oil
7 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons Chinese black or balsamic vinegar
3 1/2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons chili oil
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
The Noodles and Asparagus
salt
2 pounds asparagus, trimmed and thinly sliced on a diagonal
1 14-ounce package thin Chinese egg noodles
10 scallions, including the firm greens, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted until lightly browned
Mix the marinade ingredients together, stirring to dissolve the stgar.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and the asparagus. Cook until bright green and tender but still firm, just a few minutes. Scoop the asparagus out, rinse it under cold water, and set on a towel to dry.
Pull the noodle apart with your fingers, add them to the boiling water, and give them a quick stir. Boil until tender but not overly soft, tasting them often as they cook. it should take only a few minutes. pour the noodles into a colander and immediately rinse under cold water. Shake off excess water.
Toss the noodles with all the marinade and most of the scallions, sesame seeds, and asparagus. mound them in a bowl or on a platter, then garnish with the remaining asparagus, scallions, and sesame seeds.
Italian Grapes, Chester County Wines
By Roger Morris
“Given the success you and Eric Miller have had with making very good wines from Italian grape varieties grown locally, doesn’t it make sense to say that southern Chester County is a good place to grow them?” It is a late weekday afternoon, and I’m having a glass of Mahogany, a red proprietary blend, in the quiet tasting room at Va La Vineyards on the cusp of Avondale when I pop the question to Va La’s owner and winemaker, Anthony Vietri.
However, I have found out over the years that Vietri hates to be caught making generalizations that he might later regret. “The only thing I can tell you,” he says slowly, “is what I do here and what works for me on our one little plot of land in Avondale.” He grins.
Eric Miller, with whom I’ve argued wines for 25 years, is usually more direct and to the point: “Many of them – the grape varieties – are hard to grow,” Miller says, “and the clones for some of them are different than the ones in Italy. And, of course, the regions are different.”
“Getting disease-free vines is also a hassle,” he adds. That being said? “We’ve have made some nice wines out of Italian varietals, especially Barbera.”
Mark Chien, the well-respected and hard-working Pennsylvania state enologist, believes that among classic European vinifera grapes, the French ones – such as Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon – are the easiest to grow locally and, in general, make the best wines.
“I’m personally skeptical about Italian varietals,” Chien once told me when I was researching another article. “They are very tough to grow but, Tony and Eric have made some very nice wines from them.”
Just what grapes are we talking about? The ones most commonly grown in both northern Italy – let’s include Tuscany as well – and locally are the white wine producer, the dusky-tinged Pinot Grigio, and the red Sangiovese. “Both make decent wines,” but, for clonal differences and other reasons, “they are not as good here as in Italy,” Miller says. “Here, we use Sangiovese mainly as a blending grape.”
One of the grapes Miller blends Sangiovese with is Barbera, the second-most prized red grape of Italy’s Piemonte region, which is cozied in next to the Alps. His Due Rossi (“two reds”) wine made from the two grapes varies from year to year but is always quite good. He and Vietri, to my knowledge, are the only ones to grow Barbera in any quantity in the Brandywine region. And only Vietri grows Nebbiolo, the most prized grape in Piemonte, where it is used to make Barolo and Barbaresco. Although he has made wine from purchased Sangiovese grapes, Vietri is not a big fan of it locally.
“Italian varietals in general have bigger berries and tighter clusters, so they take more diligence,” Vietri once told me. “Barbera has the potential for potassium deficit, yet it grows well here. Nebbiolo is a pain in the ass.”
The biggest part of that pain is that the East Coast – unlike California and the classic growing areas of Europe – is extremely humid. Tight-bunched grapes tend to get mildew infection and rot, which means they need extra attention.
Miller adds that Barbera is a late-ripener, which means two things – it may not get fully mature, and the longer it stays on the vine, the more likely something bad will happen, such as autumn hail, frost or hurricane winds.
In spite of all this, the Italian-style wines that Miller and Vietri make are very popular with local drinkers. Miller’s Due Rossi, and Vietri’s Mahogany, Cedar and Castagna, also command relatively high prices for the extra effort – and extra results.
Most of the red blends the two men make are creative variations and certainly not traditional in Europe. I don’t know of an Italian winemaker who combines Sangiovese and Barbera, as Miller does in Due Rossi. Vietri’s top-of-the-line Mahogany combines Barbera with Corvina Veronese, the grape responsible for the lusty Amarone. His Cedar is primarily Nebbiolo, but has other grapes added.
Vietri also is fond with experimenting with the more-obscure Italian varietals – what the local mushroom growers might call “exotics” – such as Lagrein, Sagrantino, Teroldego, Charbono and Malvasia Nero.
Yes, northern Italian varieties can be hard to grow, but local wineries are showing they can make excellent wines. In spite of Miller’s qualifications and Vietri’s reluctance to extrapolate beyond his own “little plot of land in Avondale,” Miller continues to make a lot of quality wine from them, and Vietri has transformed his vineyard into an arbor for Italian grapes.
If they won’t fire up the bandwagon, then I’ll continue to hot-wire it.
Spicy Lemon Dip
By Leslie Kedash
Vegetable dips can be tricky. Some are too heavy and overpower the taste of fresh vegetables and some add little to the mix. I usually default to the same recipes that worked in the past. I wanted a light fresh dip to complement the just picked produce from our local farmers’ markets. A quick google and I found what I was looking for on a site new to me, tastyplanner.com.
Great dip, minimal ingredients and you have a light and cooling concoction that’s perfect for serving on the patio. Enjoy.
Sugar Snap Peas with Spicy Lemon Dipping Sauce
Chef Tim Weber
kosher salt
12 oz peas, sugar snap trimmed and rinsed
2/3 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup sour cream (I used greek yogurt)
1 lemon, zest chopped fine
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp tarragon, dried
kosher salt
black pepper
Instructions
1. Bring 2 quarts of water and the salt to a boil in a 4 quart saucepan, covered over high heat. 2. Add the peas and cook uncovered for 2.5 to 3 minutes, careful not to overcook them. Drain the peas and immediately plunge into ice water. Drain well, like very dry. 3. Then the dip: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon zest, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and tarragon. 4. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.
Clues Beneath the Waves: Local Shipwreck Artifacts Solve Mysteries
By Pam George, Guest Contributor
The steady patter of water dripping onto a concrete floor echoed in the metal-walled structure. It sounded as though someone had recently turned off a giant shower. My guide, Chuck Fithian pulled back a plastic curtain so that I could peer behind it.
There rested the battered, jagged hull from De Braak, a British naval warship that sank off the coast of Cape Henlopen, Del., on May 25, 1798. Fithian, curator of archaeology for Delaware’s Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, has been the copper-edged hull’s guardian. Three times a day, a pump roars to life to bathe the wood with water that keeps the hull from drying out and disintegrating.
The hull, ripped from the mud and silt of the Delaware Bay, is hardly the picture of a shipwreck treasure. But along with the 20,000 artifacts retrieved during a salvage effort in the mid-1980s, it is invaluable. Footwear, cannonballs, toothbrushes are all dear to historians, archaeologists and even movie directors like Peter Weir, director of “Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World,” who studied them.
“De Braak gives us an unparalleled glimpse into the life of a Royal Navy warship,” Fithian told me when I interviewed him for my book “Shipwrecks of the Delaware Coast: Tales of Pirates, Squalls & Treasure.” He’s been working on De Braak since he started with the state in 1986.
When it comes to shipwrecks, artifacts are clues that can help solve the mystery, whether you’re seeking the identity of the ship or information about those who once occupied it. Even a seemingly mundane object—a glass bottled labeled ketchup—can intrigue those who view it.
On display at the Zwaanendael Museum, in Lewes, the bottle once held a concoction likely made with cloves, spices, mushrooms and stale beer, which sailors used to mask the taste of spoiling food.
One of Delaware’s best-known shipwrecks, De Braak was rumored to carry gold and silver, making it the subject of a frenzied treasure hunt until the ship was finally found in 1984.
Initially, experts wondered if it was the right ship. The bell bore an imprint for Le Patrocle 1781. Wood seemed as though it was from America. But then divers found a ring belonging to De Braak’s captain, James Drew. The inscription: “In Memory of My belv’d Brother Capt. John Drew Drown’d 11 Jany. 1798 Aged 47.”
The ship also was equipped with carronades, short powerful guns that the British installed on De Braak when the government took the ship from the Dutch, a war enemy. Ammunition boxes, still cradling rows of shotgun-like projectiles, are the only known intact boxes in existence. The projectiles originally consisted of tin cylinders packed with iron balls and nailed to a wooden base. The balls are still visible; the tin has long disintegrated.
There were coins found on the site, but nothing like those that have turned up along a stretch of sand in Delaware Seashore State Park, now dubbed Coin Beach. Finding a coin here turned Dale Clifton into a shipwreck aficionado.
“It revealed the image of George III,” he recalled. “I was the first person to touch that coin after all those years; I felt I was shaking hands with history.” Since then he’s found at least 200,000 coins.
Clifton, founder and director of DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum in Fenwick Island, is fascinated by the coins’ likely source, the Faithful Steward, which in 1785 carried 249 passengers—mostly Irish immigrants headed to America—and about 400 barrels of British coins for the new country, which had no mint of its own.
The ship slammed into a shoal on Sept. 1, 1785, about 150 yards from shore, during a raging storm. Because so many immigrants could not swim, only 68 people aboard the ship survived, making it one of the area’s most tragic shipwrecks.
Along with coins from that ship, Clifton has “alphabet” plates brought up from the China Wreck, so named because of the copious amount of china found on the site. ABC plates feature a literary character of fairy tale hero ringed by an alphabet.
The china has served as clues to help experts and theorists guess the ships identity. Some say it is the Principessa Margherita di Piemonte from Naples. Others claim it’s the D.H. Bills. But without a manifest that matches the items or an artifact with the ship’s name on it, no one knows for certain.
That is also true of the shipwreck hit by a dredge off the Roosevelt Inlet during a beach replenishment program. The dredge spewed thousands of shards, glass and some whole pieces on to the beach for lucky beachcombers to find. Determining the items’ manufacturers and the dates on coins, tokens and buttons helped state archaeologists pinpoint a date span for its demise. Most likely, it is the Severn, lost in 1774. But no manifest has been found to match the cargo. Nor has there been an artifact with that name on it.
If you’re looking for traditional treasure, there’s no shortage of it at DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum and the Treasures of the Sea Museum in Georgetown, Del. Both boast items found on Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which in 1622 sank off the Florida coast. Clifton was 15 when he dove on that wreck, whose salvage in part was financed by a Georgetown businessman, Melvin Fisher.
Gold chains or jewels, wool hats or mourning rings, the artifacts are still sad memories of a ship that once carried dreams along with their cargo—dreams that died when the ship collided with destiny.
For more information on shipwrecks:
The Cannonball House in Lewes, Del., which details the town’s maritime past.
The Overfalls Lightship in Lewes, which was used to warn ships away from shoals.
The Indian River Life-Saving Station just south of Dewey Beach before the Indian River Inlet bridge.
Treasure Quest Shoppe in Ocean View, Del., where you can see artifacts and buy treasure-hunting maps and equipment.
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Meet Pam at the following signings of her just-published book Shipwrecks of the Delaware Coast:
June 18, beginning at 7 p.m. at Bethany Beach Books in Bethany Beach, Del.
June 19, from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. at Barnes & Noble in Wilmington (on Rt. 202.)
June 26, 2 p.m., at the Mid-Atlantic Sea Glass & Coastal Arts Festival in Lewes
Raised in Devon, Pa., Pam George is a freelance writer and author in Wilmington, Del. who now knows the difference between going to the beach and going down the shore. She regularly writes on maritime history, food, travel, technology and business for publications such as Fortune, the Christian Science Monitor and US Airways magazine.
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Images: Coins likely from the Faithful Steward. Plates found on the so-called China Wreck, named for the amount of china at the site. Both images courtesy of DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum
Q&A with Local Author Pam George
By Margaret Gilmour
Local writer and author Pam George loves spending time at the beach, especially in Lewes, DE where she heads many summer weekends and spent a month last September. Although she grew up going to the Jersey shore, she says she “loves the fact that Delaware’s northern beaches have a more diverse ecosystem. There trees run down to the shoreline in some spots.”
Pam also has plenty of experiencing writing about the beach. So when she pitched the idea for writing a book on Delaware’s shipwrecks, the publisher dove right in, and her first book, Shipwrecks of the Delaware Coast hit bookstores just two months ago in April.
I asked Pam a few questions about her book that takes readers for an oceanic adventure in treasure, terror and local history.
Come back tomorrow for more details on Delaware’s most intriguing and mysterious shipwrecks: Pam guests writes for us about the China divers, the artifacts found on the beach in 2004 that led to the discovery of a wreck near Lewes, and all the artifacts brought up from the De Braak.
When did you become interested in exploring the shipwrecks on the Delaware Bay/Atlantic Ocean?
I’ve always been interested in shipwrecks and maritime history, but I became aware of the tremendous number of shipwrecks off Delaware’s coast when I wrote a story on De Braak, a British naval vessel that sank on May 25, 1798 off Cape Henlopen near Lewes.
It wasn’t until 1984 that a salvage company finally found De Braak’s grave, which was rumored to contain thousands and thousands of dollars worth of treasure. (It didn’t.) The hull now sits alone in a shed at a state park. When I saw it, I was incredibly sad. It’s kind of like seeing a sarcophagus in a museum; you’re fascinated but at the same time it feels morbid. Most the artifacts–barrels, bottles, sabers, cannons, cannonballs–are in a warehouse. Delaware has no maritime museum big enough to hold it all.
How did you do most of your research?
Books mostly. I had interviewed some experts for stories on De Braak and the shipwreck found in 2004 off Lewes Beach when a dredge hit it. The Lewes Historical Society was also very helpful, and the Delaware Public Archives had a lot of great photos.
Dale Clifton has a wonderful museum, DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum, in Fenwick Island. Kids love it. He’s a diver, and he’s brought up some beautiful artifacts from ships off the Delaware and Florida coast.
Were you able to explore any of the old shipwrecks? (Above water and/or under the ocean?)
My husband is the diver, not me. But he dives on Caribbean wrecks. I got to see De Braak’s artifacts in the warehouse and at the Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes.
Dale Clifton has artifacts from the China Wreck and the Faithful Steward, which went down about 100 yards from shore. People back then could not swim, and only 68 people of the 249 on board survived. Only seven of the 100 women and children on board survived. It was horrific. People on shore robbed the bodies that washed up on the beach. Because the ship was carrying barrels of coins, they occasionally wash up on a stretch of beach now known as Coin Beach (a one-mile stretch of coastline north of the Indian River Inlet).
What was the most surprising story you learned during your research?
I was initially surprised at the number of collisions. I list six in my book–seven if you count the collision in my section on military casualties. We have to remember that many ships went down before technology could help them find their way in bad weather. There was also a lot of human error when it came to collisions.
I also was interested to learn about the Lenape, a passenger steamship that caught fire off New Jersey and sought help in Lewes Harbor. They say flames from the ship shot 100 feet in the air. The story is interesting because 11 months earlier, the Lenape’s sister ship, the Mohawk, had the same experience. Both ships were destroyed, but only one passenger between them died.
What caused most of the wrecks—any one cause that stands out as reoccurring?
Weather. Fog, rain, snow, sleet, wind–you name it. Weather was the enemy of sailing ships in the days before weather forecasts.
So, were there area pirates?
There certainly were. Lewes was frequently targeted. The names Kidd and Blackbeard were familiar to Delaware residents.
Pirates would capture a pilot and pilot boat in the Delaware Bay and sail up the river. Ships needed pilots to navigate the perilous waters–which is still the case today–and in those days, they hailed one. So pirates aboard a pilot boat had easy access to the ships.
Can you share a personal story about the pirates?
As far as treasure, it is hardly the stuff of “Pirates of the Caribbean.” In colonial times, colonists were dependent upon goods brought in by Britain, which kept a tight fist on trade. So the treasure here was often what we’d consider ordinary goods that had a high price tag due to their scarcity. There are stories of colonists trading with pirates for these goods, because they could get them cheaper from the pirates–a black market, if you will. They took clothing, furniture–even a village carpenter. The plunder prompted merchants to complain to the government. Philadelphia depended on a safe waterway for its trade. Merchants hired privateers, who were sanctioned to plunder–only the pirate ships, of course. Or, in the case of wartime, privateers could raid and rob enemy ships, which they called a “prize.” DeBraak came over from Britain to protect a convoy of merchant ships from the French.
Did any of your findings change your outlook about the local beaches/area waters?
It puts many of the historical structures still standing into perspective: the lighthouses, breakwaters, World War II lookout towers, and lifesaving stations. It also gave me more respect for the importance of the two “capes,” Cape Henlopen and Cape May, which flank the Delaware River’s mouth. They were seen as a unit, and they were important to navigation.
How long did it take you to write your book?
I signed the contract in summer, and it was finished in January, 2010. But I’d written on a few of the subjects in magazine articles, so I already had that research.
Is there a next book on the horizon?
Perhaps. We are talking about doing a story on the “wicked” aspects of the coast or of Delmarva: rum-runners, prostitutes, murderers, etc.
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Raised in Devon, Pa., Pam George is a freelance writer in Wilmington, DE who now knows the difference between going to the beach and going down the shore. She regularly writes on maritime history, food, travel, technology and business for publications such as Fortune, the Christian Science Monitor and US Airways magazine. Buy her book by clicking here:
Meet Pam and buy her book–a great gift for local history lovers:
Barnes & Noble for a book signing on June 19th on Rt. 202 in Delaware from 1-3 p.m.
Garlic Scape Soup
By Leslie Kedash
Scape: a long leafless flower stalk coming directly from a root.
In this case, the root is a bulb of garlic and I do love garlic. The scapes are best consumed young while still in full curl. Removing the young scapes from the garlic bulb encourages it to continue to grow and are an added perk from the king of ingredients.
Possessing a mild “garlic taste,” this recipe is a subtle variation on the potato leek standard and a perfect choice for dinner, given the mercurial weather of late. I bought the tender scapes at the Kennett Farmers’ Market last week and, armed with spinach from our garden and the other ingredients from the pantry, whipped this up.
Another simple and satisfying recipe from Heidi Swanson, I find myself haunting her blog 101 Cookbooks for more delicious ideas.
Enjoy.
Garlic Scape Soup
Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson
2 tablespoons clarified butter or extra virgin olive oil
2 dozen garlic scapes, flower buds discarded and green shoots chopped
3 larger russet potatoes, unpeeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
5 cups vegetable stock or water
2 large handfuls of spinach leaves stemmed
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 teaspoon of fine-grain sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
Chive blossom, for garnish (optional)
Heat the butter in a larger saucepan over medium heat, then add the scapes and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and stock, cover, simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through and beginning to break down.
Remove from the heat, add the spinach, and puree using a hand blender. (If you must use a conventional blender, be careful; the hot liquid can burst out of the top and make a huge, potentially painful mess. try leaving the lid slightly ajar to allow steam to escape. Cover the top with a kitchen towel and blend in batches on low speed.) Season with the lemon juice, salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Whisk in the cream for a silkier texture. If the soup tastes flat, add salt a few pinches at a time until the flavors really pop. Serve garnished with the chive blossoms.
Serves 4 to 6
Note: I used extra virgin olive oil, peeled my potatoes and used water rather than vegetable stock.
Not in the mood for soup? Try this recipe.
Garlic Scape Pesto
A Mighty Appetite by Kim ODonnel
Ingredients: 1 cup garlic scapes (about 8 or 9 scapes), top flowery part removed, cut into ¼-inch slices
1/3 cup walnuts
¾ cup olive oil
¼-1/2 cup grated parmigiano
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
Method:
Place scapes and walnuts in the bowl of a food processor and whiz until well combined and somewhat smooth. Slowly drizzle in oil and process until integrated. With a rubber spatula, scoop pesto out of bowl and into a mixing bowl. Add parmigiano to taste; add salt and pepper. Makes about 6 ounces of pesto. Keeps for up to one week in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
For ½ pound short pasta such as penne, add about 2 tablespoons of pesto to cooked pasta and stir until pasta is well coated.
Chanticleer: Foliage and Sculpture are the Masters of this Garden
By Margaret Gilmour
Two years ago when my oldest son Thomas was 17-years old, I introduced him to Chanticleer, an intimate pleasure garden tucked away in the small town of Wayne, Pa (29-miles from my home).
Thomas has ventured with me to public gardens and museums most of his life, and checking out a new place was a mildly interesting idea to him that day. He agreed to join us for the trip to Chanticleer more to practice driving than for his interest in unusual landscapes.
It was late August, and the pond at the bottom of the hill was capped with blossoming Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) magnified with soft hues of pink and white; their huge leaves still cradled raindrops from the early-morning shower.
At the top of the hill in the Ruin Garden, a fallen building was staged with succulent vines, variegated grasses and shrubs hand-picked for their architectural appeal. You entered the ruins to capture a fountain shaped like a large sarcophagus (Greek stone coffin) and a library of books carved of stone. In another room marble faces peered through cascading falls: were the sculptures drowning? Or did the calm rush of water tranquilize them? It was all a drama left to the imagination.
As we walked from one surprise “performance” to another, all I heard from Thomas was “Wow.” Or, “This is ridiculous.” And he never stopped shooting pictures.
His friend, I heard later, got this reaction from Thomas via text message: “It’s Longwood Gardens on steroids.”
Well…I had never thought of it that way. But Chanticleer really is a theatre of landscape, the setting directed by those who tend it rather than by the original owners of the estate.
What makes this pleasure garden so unusual is the variety of textured plants and unexpected forms dotted throughout the landscape, and the use of tropicals tossed in for interest. Unlike the formal and familiar we experience and expect at Longwood, Chanticleer’s gardens seem random. Yet it is a well-planned setting that leads you to hidden paths and creative treasures you never tire of discovering.
I went back to Chanticleer a couple of weeks ago—Thomas stayed home but plans a trip back this summer—to catch a glimpse of the gardens in June since each year I seem to go in August. This time, my husband and our seven-year-old son accompanied me; we brought a picnic lunch.
As soon as we parked our car I noticed a creative display of bolting lettuce (Lactuca sativa), feathery fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and staked sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) planted in the huge containers near the entrance of a courtyard. Then we followed a path to the right of the property where I discovered the long row of still-sprouting asparagus outlining the composition of the vegetable garden.
Then, there were the poppies (Papaver orientale). Everywhere fields of orange-scarlet dominated the garden beds—especially around the pond and along the hillside toward the Ruin Garden and main house.
This journey also led me to unexpected surprise: the makings of a native woodland garden set to open next season.
After walking for a couple of hours (which you can easily do, even though the estate is only 35-acres), I sat with my family at one of the many picnic benches to eat our lunch and take a drink form our water bottles. We were happy for the secluded spot that shaded us from the hot sun.
In fact, as the heat continued to build, the plan to stop in the small town of Wayne for a cool drink developed. Wayne is just about a two-mile drive from Chanticleer, and you can spend a few hours browsing boutique shops, sipping what’s on tap at Teresa’s Next Door, or enjoying a glass of wine on the wrap-around porch at the Wayne Hotel.
That day, though, after departing from Chanticleer, we drove into Wayne and wandered into Gumdrops and Sprinkles for homemade ice cream before heading home. And, just like each time I visit Chanticleer, I began planning my next visit. Maybe Thomas will join me again.
—
Chanticleer is the former summer home of prominent Philadelphian Adolph Rosengarten, Sr. and his wife Christine. The home was completed in 1913 and by 1924 the summer retreat was converted to a year-round residence where the property gave way to lawnscapes and huge trees. Most of the gardens were developed after 1990 by Chanticleer staff and landscape architects. The garden is “a study of textures and forms, where foliage trumps flowers.” For more information, check out Chanticleergarden.org.
Open April though October
Wednesday through Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., until 8:00 p.m. on Fridays May through Labor Day.
Coconut Panna Cotta with Summer Berry Coulis
By Leslie Kedash
Panna Cotta, (Italian for “cooked cream”) originated in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy. It is a simple dish, easy to prepare and, due to the highest quality ingredients, a delicious and light dessert for Summer.
In this recipe, agar flakes (derived from red algae) are substituted for gelatin as a thickener, making the dessert truly vegetarian. Yes, you may recall agar plates from high school biology, it’s a great medium for culturing organisms as well.
Fond or not so fond memories of petrie dishes aside, this is another hit recipe from Supernatural Cooking which hits multiple marks. Simple, delicious and healthy (aside from the copious fat content, but hey, it’s dessert!).
The term Coulis derives from the Latin “colare” which means strained. It is essentially a fruit soup and the perfect complement to the milk custard. I substituted strawberries for the raspberries and blackberries and it was delicious.
Coconut Panna Cotta
with Summer Berry Coulis
Supernatural Cooking by Heidi Swanson
1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk
1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup light colored natural cane sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons agar flakes or 3/4 teaspoon of agar powder
To make the Panna Cotta, lightly oil 6 ramekins and set aside. Place the coconut milk, milk, sugar, and agar flakes in a pan. Stir, then rest for 10 minutes to allow the agar to soften and start to dissolve; this is particularly important of you’re using flakes. Very slowly, bring the ingredients to a gentle simmer for a few minutes, until the agar is incorporated. If it doesn’t completely dissolve, pour the mixture through a strainer, pushing the undissolved agar through as well. Pour into the prepared ramekins and chill until set, about 1 hour.
Summer Berry Couls
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 cup fresh blackberries
1/4 cup natural cane sugar (less if the berries are super ripe)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
To make the coulis, combine the berries, sugar, and lemon juice in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat. Mash the berries a bit, then chill.
Serve the panna cotta either in the ramekins or turned out carefully onto small plates; top with the berry coulis.
Crunchy Slaw Salad
By Leslie Kedash
This is a fresh take on over-served, over-saturated and generally cringeworthy cole slaw we are all accustomed to passing up at most summer gatherings. Obviously, I’m not a fan of the “go to” summer “healthy” side dish. With this recipe, that has all changed. This is easy to make, has a delightfully crunchy mouth feel and tastes just fabulous. A great substitute for salad, that people will actually eat, and perfect for summer’s hot weather.
So far this cookbook is batting 1,000 albeit on just two recipes, but promises to be a mainstay in the repertoire. The writing makes it easy to incorporate whole foods into your diet. Remember last years lemon cucumber salad? Another very good dish from Heidi.
I hope to find garlic scapes at the Kennett Square Farmers Market today for Garlic Scape Soup. Heidi maintains it’s good cold or hot and she’s turning me into a believer.
Crunchy Slaw Salad
Supernatural Cooking by Heidi Swanson
Creamy vinaigrette
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
juice of 1 lemon
Fine-grain sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Splash of heavy cream
1 extra-crisp apple, peeled and cored
1 big squeeze of lemon juice
1 small savoy cabbage
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts
To Make the dressing, whisk the apple cider vinegar and lemon juice together in a small bowl, season with a few pinches of salt and a couple grinds of pepper, then gradually whisk in the olive oil followed by the cream. Set aside.
Shred the apple on the large holes of a box grater (or use the grater attachment on a food processor), then put the shreds in a bowl of cold water with a squeeze of lemon; this will keep the apple from browning. Cut the cabbage into quarters and core each section, then cut them into a very fine chiffonade. Just before serving, drain the apples and toss the cabbage, walnuts, and dressing in a large bowl.
Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Serve immediately.
Day Trip: Great Local Wineries Beyond Chester County (Less Than 50-Miles)
By Roger Morris
Joanne Levengood was in her vineyard doing some last-minute spring pruning when I caught up with her on her cell phone a few days ago. I had a few questions to ask the Berks County vintner for an article I was researching on women winemakers, and Joanne was multi-tasking on a warm day at Manatawny Creek Winery near Douglasstown where she is owner and cellar master.
As we talked, it occurred to me that what I really needed to do was drive to Douglasstown from my home in Landenberg – let’s see, north on Route 100 to Pottstown, then west on U.S. 422 a few miles – to visit the U.C. Davis-educated vintner and buy some of her delicious red wines for my own cellar. Then I thought about Brad Knapp, who makes some fabulous sparkling wines at Pinnacle Ridge Winery, a little farther away in Kutztown. Actually, it’s been a while since I tipped a glass at Fiore Winery in Pylesville, MD, just west of the Susquehanna near the Pennsylvania border.
Then the idea began forming – now that winter’s snowmageddon was behind us, why not spend a couple Saturdays driving around the countryside buying wines for a 50-mile wine cellar — those made within a 50-mile radius — the same way restaurants tout their locally sourced foods? It was a time to do some back-roads day tripping.
Like dandelions after an April rain, regional wineries have been popping up in great numbers over the past decade. Many of them make and sell wines that are right at home with those produced in traditional wine growing areas. As we turned into the new century, for example, there were only three or four wineries in southern Chester County. Now there are a dozen.
And there are some good regional wineries I have not visited. I have tasted very nice wines from Black Ankle Vineyards just northwest of Baltimore in Mt. Airy, but have not driven there. The same is true of Boordy Vineyards – the oldest in Maryland – just north of Baltimore in Hydes. Add those two to Fiore and to Terrapin Station in Elkton, which will finally open a tasting room this summer, and you have a vigorous Saturday or Sunday of Maryland travelenology.
West of the Susquehanna in York County, Allegro Winery in Brogue makes the best wine in the county, but Moon Dancer Winery just south of Columbia has one of the prettiest venues you could ask for, with a hilltop venue that overlooks the wide river. North of Lancaster, in Mannheim, Jan and Kimberly Waltz have sold grapes to other wineries for years. Now they have opened their own Waltz Vineyards and are making delicious wines.
North of us, Manatawny Creek and Pinnacle Ridge are the best bets, but there are others in the Lehigh Valley and the Berks County wine trails if you want other stops in the neighborhood. The best in Bucks County is Crossing Vineyards at Washington Crossing.
Things are not quite as interesting south of us on the Delmarva Peninsula, although there are some wineries popping up in the Easton area. Best bet is Nassau Vineyards on the way to/from the beaches near Lewes where Peggy Raley has been making wines from her home-grown and purchased grapes for almost 25 years. New Jersey has wineries not far over the bridge, but, for now, save your toll money.
You can get a good overview of Pennsylvania wineries at www.pennsylvaniawine.com and Maryland wineries at www.marylandwine.com. These will lead you to maps and wine trails.
17 Books For Your Summer Reading List
Do you remember the summer days of childhood? Marathon games of capture the flag, dripping popsicles, grubby T-shirts and shorts, maybe long afternoons at the beach or a mountain lake – but no matter where you lived or what you did, you had freedom and time to do as you pleased.
Freedom and time might be in short supply at your home these days, even when the sun is warm and vacation beckons. So, to maximize your summer reading hours, ccdwell has taken the guesswork out of what to pluck from the shelves with our recommended summer reading list.
These newly published (2009-2010) must-reads include the best of poetry to the best in kids’ environmental books, as well as cookbooks and non-fiction by local authors.
And if you know of a great summer book that doesn’t appear on our list, leave a comment and let us know. We’re always on the lookout for titles to share.
You can buy any of these books at your local bookstore or right here, where we offer one-click purchasing through IndieBound, a community-oriented service that brings together booksellers, readers, indie retailers, local business alliances, and anyone who wants to support their local economy.
Reviews by Cate Hennessey and Margaret Gilmour
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Cooking
Well Preserved: Recipes and Techniques for Putting Up Small Batches of Seasonal Foods, by Eugenia Bone. Canning is making a comeback as a way to keep your garden’s seasonal delicacies like tomatoes and strawberries available year-round. This book provides detailed instructions on preserving methods, as well as guidelines for 30 types of food, followed by recipes in which to use those perfectly preserved goods.
Earth to Table: Seasonal Recipes from an Organic Farm, by Jeff Crump and Anita Schormann. Celebrated as one of the best books on the market for novice locavores, this cookbook + composting tips + foraging strategies +canning and preserving guidelines provides a broad base for anyone interested in eating seasonally. A note of caution from online reviewers: the recipes, while manageable, probably aren’t for an inexperienced cook.
Clean Food, by Terry Walters. For many, the word ‘vegan’ equals complicated. But Clean Food presents more than 200 simple, fresh, seasonal, and sustainable dishes to challenge that attitude. Many of the whole food dishes can be used as main courses, but they can also be scaled down to side dishes to complement non-vegan fare.
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Gardening
The Compost Specialist, by David Squire. An essential guide that details every sort of compost bin from wood, plastic and wire mesh to a simple hole in the ground, along with how each crop, shrub or flower you plant will benefit from your earthy, wormy concoction.
What Can I Do With My Herbs? How to Grow, Use and Enjoy These Versatile Plants, by Judy Barrett. This book celebrates dry, poor soil and the herbs that thrive in these deficient conditions. Included is herb history, lots of herbal uses, as well as how to grow them in your garden to attract wild life such as swallowtail butterflies (that love fennel). The author shares her favorite recipes including lavender lemonade, thyme cheese rolls and a variety of herbal teas.
Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, by Novella Carpenter. National Bestseller. This humorous memoir chronicles the author’s attempt at urban gardening in Oakland, Ca., “a postcard of urban decay,” where a vacant lot becomes home to edibles from tomatoes to strawberries, and a trove of farm animals and bee hives– all of which cohabitate alongside drug dealers, a deafening freeway and a junk shop. From Dwight Garner, NYT: “Farm City is a consistently involving book that includes one of the purest expressions of happiness I’ve read in a while, so I’ll end with that: ‘I felt young and healthy,’ Ms. Carpenter writes, ‘and nostalgic for the present.’”
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Fiction
A Gate at the Stairs, by Lorrie Moore. The year after 9/11, college student Tassie becomes a part-time nanny to a biracial child adopted by a professional white couple. But some people are not who they say they are, and Tassie finds herself in an adult world of loss she hadn’t anticipated. According to reviews, the strength and beauty of the novel is not so much in the plotline as the humanity of the characters, so carefully and lovingly wrought you can’t let them go.
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, by Helen Simonson. Major Pettigrew, an ex-military gentleman in his twilight years, longs for the world to be as starched and proper as he. But when he finds himself in an unexpected romance with Mrs. Ali, he becomes the center of gossip in his small-minded town. Appealing characters and a good British wit complete the novel.
Ilustrado, by Miguel Syjuco. Winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize (awarded to the best Asian novel written in or translated into English), this novel begins as a murder mystery and expands into a satire about the political violence and corruption of the Philippines. The book’s disjointed style, which includes emails, blog posts, and flashbacks, may prove challenging, but in a recent interview with the New York Times, Syjuco reflects, “It’s … a contemporary novel. The way we consume information is fragmented.”
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Children and Young Adult
The Carbon Diaries: 2015 by Saci Lloyd. (Young Adult Fiction.) National Environmental Book award winner. This futuristic novel is written in diary form charting the first year of carbon rationing in Great Britain. Laura Brown, a 16-year-old Londoner and punk rocker, records her daily limits on utility, travel, and purchase of anything transported from afar, including food. This is an eco-thriller filled with an environment gone awry, family crisis and romance.
Earth in the Hot Seat: Bulletins from a Warming World by Marfe Ferguson Delano. (Nonfiction, Grades 4-6.) National Environmental Book award winner Nonfiction Category. Stunning photographic spreads and readable text takes young readers into the heart of global warming. Filled with scientific data, the book educates as well as entertains, and just as important, inspires the reader to become stewards for the planet.
Operation Redwood by S. Terrell French. (Fiction, Grades 4-7.) National Environmental Book award winner Fiction Category. Twelve year-old Julian Carter-Li goes to live with his uncle and discovers that his uncle’s company is planning to harvest a grove of redwood trees. The adventure begins when Julian and his friend Robin decide to runaway and save the forest, live in a tree house and best of all, see if they can make a difference. Sounds a bit like Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, which, if haven’t read, is also worth picking up. (Operation Redwood is a great read-out loud for younger readers (and anyone within hearing range.)
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Poetry
The Apple Trees at Omela: New and Selected Poems, by Robert Hass. A former Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, Hass has always written with depth of and passion for the natural world – particularly northern California, where he lives. This book combines work from his first five books with new poems, some traditional, some more experimental – but all of it filled with simultaneous wonder and heartbreak.
Where I Live: New and Selected Poems, by Maxine Kumin. Kumin, another Pulitzer Prize winner, ranks with Hass as a poet to be reckoned with. For decades she has lived on a farm in New Hampshire, tending a garden, horses, children, chickens, and livestock; her poems have always been rooted in these labors. Kumin never fails to lay bare the raw emotions of existence, and her compassion for the living equals her compassion for death.
The Stranger Manual, by Catie Rosemurgy. Rosemurgy is an up-and-coming poet who lives across the river in New Jersey. Decidedly different than the work of Hass and Kumin, The Stranger Manual takes the reader on a wild ride through the voice of Miss Peach, a quirky, fluid character who is full of contradictions, insights, and wicked humor. Those who’ve read it say to expect to laugh out loud and be surprised over and over again.
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Nonfiction
If you’re looking for local flavor, these two books from local authors (published in 2010) will satisfy your craving for adventure, history and art—both are must-haves for your bookshelf, coffee table or bedside table. A great gift idea too.
Shipwrecks of the Delaware Coast: Tales of Pirates, Squalls and Treasure, By Pam George. (April, 2010). Climb aboard for an adventure in treasure, terror and local history as you wade your way through Delaware’s most intriguing and mysterious shipwrecks.
100 Artists of the Brandywine Valley, by Catherine Quillman. Summer, 2010 (look for it by July 1st.)
Thanks to Catherine Quillman for sharing her excerpts from her introduction:
“Coming up with the ‘100’ was not the difficult part—it was narrowing down the field from the dozens of accomplished artists who live and work here today. I decided to focus on those who work with the brush or pen, thus not including the many artists and artisans who work exclusively in crafts. A handful of the ‘100’ also work in ceramics and clay, but I still included them because either they are primarily painters or they see themselves as sculptors working in the figurative tradition. It also was difficult narrowing down a selection of photographers…My intention in compiling this book was not necessarily to create a book of artwork depicting the Brandywine Valley, but to define the many facets of the Brandywine Tradition—as a realist movement.”
52 Loaves: One Man’s Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust
By Cate Hennessey
52 Loaves: One Man’s Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust. By William Alexander. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill: 2010.
We all get a little obsessed sometimes, especially when we hit upon something new and interesting (case in point, my three previous book reviews about chemicals in your home and how to avoid them). Usually, though, we lighten up a little and move on to other topics. I chose bread.
What I didn’t expect was William Alexander, a man who takes obsession to a level of intensity – and comedy – that’s hard to match.
His first mania, growing Brandywine tomatoes, culminated in the popular 2006 memoir $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden.
In his newest book, 52 Loaves: One Man’s Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust, Alexander chronicles with humor his newest infatuation: baking artisanal bread.
The enthusiasm begins when Alexander tastes at a restaurant the “perfect” peasant bread:
“The dark brown, caramelized crust gave a satisfying crackle when you bit into it… and managed to defy physics by remaining both crispy and chewy at the same time…The bread clinging to the crust was every bit as good… it had a rustic quality – a coarse texture that managed to be light and airy, with plenty of holes, yet also had real substance and a satisfying resistance to the bite…This bread demanded the attention of more than the taste buds: it was a delight to the eyes, nose, and the tongue as well.”
Years later he decides to recreate this loaf that has haunted his palate and soul. So he commits to baking the same bread every week for a year in his pursuit of the ideal crust and crumb.
A purist and perfectionist, Alexander resolves to use only 4 ingredients – flour, water, salt, and yeast. He grows, threshes, and grinds by hand his own red winter wheat. He builds an earth oven in his backyard. And a bread machine? Out of the question.
In the hands of some, such single-minded dedication might become tiresome. (After all, this isn’t cooking all of Julia Child’s recipes in a year – it’s the same recipe, over and over again.) But humor, often irreverent, is Alexander’s trademark, and he invites readers to raise their eyebrows – and laughter – at his wry misadventures: ruining a kitchen oven, building an outdoor oven without mortar, and paying attention to his rising bread rather than his marriage, to name a few.
Perhaps the greatest pleasure of the book is the history and science of bread woven into each chapter; what some view as a simple, everyday food takes on a complex life with infinite variations and cultural implications. Of particular worth are the fabulously entertaining discussions of pellagra (a vitamin deficiency that scourged the South in the early 20th century) and yeast. In Alexander’s hands, dusty old names from high school science, like Pasteur and van Leeuwenhoek, come alive with comedy and insight.
However, the wit flattens over so many weeks, and the middle of the book bogs down – not unlike the baker – while he exhausts recipes, methods, and the patience of his family.
Luckily, as the pages begin to whisper “just another midlife crisis,” Alexander treks his bread starter, or levain, overseas in search of answers and inspiration: he participates in a bread baking course at the Ritz in Paris, bakes a loaf in a communal oven in Morocco, and teaches monks to bake their own bread at an ancient Norman monastery.
In all of these places, Alexander is out of his element; travel proves difficult, and humor can’t save him. This makes the overseas journey the most reflective and lyrical portion of the book. Most importantly, Alexander introduces colorful, complex characters who help him along the way. Through their generosity and necessity, Alexander finally stops worrying about his own bread and instead shares his skills. It’s only when he looks outside of himself and finds faith in other people that he perfects his bread recipe – and finds other answers he didn’t know he was looking for.
In this spirit of sharing, Alexander includes a lovely index of bread-making books and resources; and yes, he publishes not only his make-your-own levain technique, but four of his best bread recipes, including that of his “perfect” loaf.
With his mouthwatering descriptions, Alexander will make you want to try his bread recipes, too. But invite your friends – and even a few strangers – to help in the kitchen. 52 Loaves reminds us that good food isn’t about mastering the intricacy of a recipe or fulfilling a personal obsession. Instead, it’s about community.
