Open Letter to Congressman Andy Harris: We Need Your Answers Regarding January 6
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Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Cambridge
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The Cambridge City Council has been considering a Charter Change since the resignation of our former Mayor earlier this year. The discussion has focused on how to eliminate the Mayor position that is elected by the voters of the entire city and have that position elected by the five members of City Council. This is a position that is now called the President of the Council. This process is similar to the way in which the Dorchester County Council determines who should be its President and run its meetings.
While I am not opposed to a change with regard to the structure of our government under the City Charter, many people have approached me and expressed their concerns about the elimination of an official city position that is elected by all of the voters. My response has been that when the former Mayor resigned my efforts to find someone to run for the position resulted in no one wanting to do it. I sought candidates because I felt that having a mayor elected by all of the voters of the city was important.
After thinking further about the issue, I have another proposal that I hope will be considered. The mayor position would remain but would become one of five elected positions. In addition, there would be a position of Vice Mayor. The Mayor would be elected by all of the voters. The Vice Mayor would be the person elected from his or her ward that had the most votes cast for the candidates for election in that Ward. So it would not be which candidate from the Wards that received the most votes but rather the person representing the Ward that registered the most total votes.
Why do that? The main reason is that voting in Cambridge for the Mayor and City Council has traditionally been extremely low. When I ran uncontested in 2016 in Ward 1, I received 145 votes out of 1600+ possible voters. Some contested elections in the Wards resulted in fewer than three hundred votes between the candidates. We need to find a way to increase the interest in voting by our citizens. I think that this could be the way.
The other part of this process would be to reduce the number of Wards from 5 to 4. There could be the same majority Wards such as 1 and 2, but the other three Wards would be combined into two Wards where the racial balance could be made more even.
In my thinking, the number of potential elections when an elected official resigned, retired, or was otherwise unable to serve out his or her position would be minimized in this way. If it were the Mayor who left, the Vice Mayor would move into the Mayor position, and the next Commissioner from the Ward that had produced the next highest number of votes in the prior election would move into the Vice Mayor position. If he or she declined the position, it would go to the next Commissioner from the Ward that had the next highest vote count. Once the Vice Mayor position was filled by this process, there would be an election in the Ward of the former Vice Mayor to fill that position. Now some might be concerned that there could be two people in the five-member council that were from the same ward in the leadership of the city.
That might be true, but it would happen only when the Mayor and the Commissioner from the same Ward were elected both by the community in the case of the mayor and by the voters of the Ward where the mayor lived also casting the most votes for candidates for that Ward position. To me that would mean that the Candidates would need to help inform their voters how important their vote is in these elections. It would also mean that more people might register to vote and actually vote.
With this make up of the City Council, the Mayor would have the same vote as the other Commissioners but would have to lose the power to veto any ordinance. In addition the city would have two representatives, the Mayor and Vice Mayor, to attend important but competing events. In this way the city will have the potential of more of its leadership being at these events. Salaries could be adjusted for the Mayor and Vice Mayor positions due to the increased work that they would undertake. The training and preparation of future leaders of the city could be enhanced by the Mayor and Vice Mayor working together on the functioning of the city.
What do you think? I welcome your responses.
Judge Rideout is the former Chief Judge of the Alexandria, VA Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court (1989-2004). From 2004 until the present he has consulted in different states to support their efforts to improve their child welfare systems. From 2016 to early 2021, he was the Ward 1 Commissioner on the Cambridge City Council. Throughout his career, he has been an advocate for improving the lives of children in his and other communities. He can be reached at [email protected]
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Every Thursday, the Spy hosts a conversation with Al From and Craig Fuller on the most topical political news of the moment.
This week, From and Fuller discuss President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings in light of the recent presidential election victory by the equally unpopular Emmanuel Macron in France last month. Al and Craig trade thoughts on how some politicians can still survive even if disliked by a majority of voters.
This video podcast is approximately sixteen minutes in length.
To listen to the audio podcast version, please use this link:
Background
While the Spy’s public affairs mission has always been hyper-local, it has never limited us from covering national, or even international issues, that impact the communities we serve. With that in mind, we were delighted that Al From and Craig Fuller, both highly respected Washington insiders, have agreed to a new Spy video project called “The Analysis of From and Fuller” over the next year.
The Spy and our region are very lucky to have such an accomplished duo volunteer for this experiment. While one is a devoted Democrat and the other a lifetime Republican, both had long careers that sought out the middle ground of the American political spectrum.
Al From, the genius behind the Democratic Leadership Council’s moderate agenda which would eventually lead to the election of Bill Clinton, has never compromised from this middle-of-the-road philosophy. This did not go unnoticed in a party that was moving quickly to the left in the 1980s. Including progressive Howard Dean saying that From’s DLC was the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.
From’s boss, Bill Clinton, had a different perspective. He said it would be hard to think of a single American citizen who, as a private citizen, has had a more positive impact on the progress of American life in the last 25 years than Al From.”
Al now lives in Annapolis and spends his semi-retirement as a board member of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (his alma mater) and authoring New Democrats and the Return to Power. He also is an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins’ Krieger School and recently agreed to serve on the Annapolis Spy’s Board of Visitors. He is the author of “New Democrats and the Return to Power.”
For Craig Fuller, his moderation in the Republican party was a rare phenomenon. With deep roots in California’s GOP culture of centralism, Fuller, starting with a long history with Ronald Reagan, leading to his appointment as Reagan’s cabinet secretary at the White House, and later as George Bush’s chief-of-staff and presidential campaign manager was known for his instincts to find the middle ground. Even more noted was his reputation of being a nice guy in Washington, a rare characteristic for a successful tenure in the White House.
Craig has called Easton his permanent home for the last five years, where now serves on the boards of the Academy Art Museum, the Benedictine School, and Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. He also serves on the Spy’s Board of Visitors.
With their rich experience and long history of friendship, now joined by their love of the Chesapeake Bay, they have agreed through the magic of Zoom, to talk inside politics and policy with the Spy every Thursday.
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The Maryland State Board of Elections (SBE) reminds those who wish to register to vote, change party affiliation, and update their address before the 2022 Primary Election that the deadline to do so is Tuesday, June 28.
Those using the online registration system must submit their completed voter registration application to register, change party affiliation, or update their address by 11:59 p.m. on June 28. To ensure applications are completed and received by 11:59 p.m., SBE advises voters to access the online system no later than 11:50 p.m. on June 28. Those who prefer not to register to vote online may print the registration form (English version and Spanish version) and submit it at the office of their local board of elections by 5 p.m. on June 28 or return it by mail. Registration forms returned by mail must be postmarked by June 28.
Voters may also register to vote in-person during early voting and on Primary Election Day, July 19. Early voting runs from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. beginning Thursday, July 7 and continuing through Thursday, July 14. Voters can register to vote and vote early at any early voting center in the county in which they reside. A complete list of early voting centers for the Primary Election is available online.
Voters wishing to register to vote and vote in person on Primary Election Day – July 19 – can do so at their polling place.
Voters who wish to cast their ballots by mail or via one of Maryland’s 288 ballot drop boxes must request a mail-in ballot from the State Board of Elections or their local board of elections. Requests for a mail-in ballot for the Primary Election must be received by July 12, 2022.
Each of Maryland’s 288 ballot boxes are available for use until July 19 at 8 p.m. Voters can return their mail-in ballots using any official ballot box in their county of residence. A complete list of ballot box locations is available online.
The local boards of elections continue to look for voters to serve as election judges. Interested voters can learn more and apply here.
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Have you ever watched the proceedings of either the Talbot County District or Circuit Courts in Easton? You can and should. For many of us, what we know about the court system is based on watching Perry Mason or Judge Judy. It is confusing, adversarial, and uses terms that are obtuse and dense. The good news is the court system has evolved over the years and continues to become much more “user friendly.” Mediation is one program that has moved Maryland Courts, and Talbot County, in that direction.
In Talbot County, there are two courts for dispute resolution, the District and the Circuit Courts. Both are located in Easton. Most of us experience the court system through the District Court. Cases include traffic violations, landlord-tenant disputes, and claims up to $30,000. There are no jury trials in District Court. Cases are argued before a judge and the judge makes the ruling. In 2020 the Talbot County District Court had 9,124 cases filed, of which 1,695 were civil cases.
The Talbot County Circuit Court handles more serious criminal cases, major civil cases, including divorce, custody, and child support. Cases generally involve juries, but sometimes are heard only by a judge. There were 1,231 cases filed in Talbot Circuit Court in 2020.
Going to court over a dispute is a right we all have. It is why the court system exists. However, that choice can be lengthy and expensive. During the COVID outbreak the Talbot County Courts where basically closed adding months to get a trial date. Mediation can greatly reduce the time to get to resolution, and at much less cost to the parties in the dispute.
In recent years both courts have embraced mediation for this reason. The administrative process in each court is somewhat different. Currently the Talbot District Court has one Alternative Dispute Resolution program. This is a pre-trial screening program. When a case is filed you have the option to request mediation. Cases are also reviewed by the District Court ADR Office and, if determined appropriate for mediation, the parties are contacted and offered that option. If settlement is not reached, the parties will appear in court and the judge will decide the outcome. In the District Court mediation there is no fee.
The Talbot County Circuit Court has a similar pre-trail screening program. What is different, however, is that based on the screening the Circuit Court can order parties to attend mediation with an assigned mediator. Under certain circumstances you can request not to mediate. The cost for mediation in Talbot Circuit Court is $200 per hour, split between parties.
By offering mediation the court is giving the parties a very powerful and flexible option. “We trust you to sort out this dispute on terms to which you both agree, and on terms that can be much more flexible than the court can offer.” The Court is giving you an opportunity to control the outcome, not a judge or jury. There is not much to lose in agreeing to mediation.
To learn more about the Maryland Court system go to here.
Steve Forrer, former dean and vice chancellor of University of Maryland Global Campus, is currently a mediator for the Maryland District and Circuit Courts. Questions can be submitted at www.doncastermediation.com/contact for Steve to answer in this column. He also accepts private mediations.
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Editor’s Note. With the current January 6 Congressional hearings reminding our readers of the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, the Spy is reposting of an article from 2018 on artist Jessica Destefano’s remarkable chess set with handmade chess pieces of all the major characters which is still on display at the Trippe Gallery in Easton.
It is typically the experience for those who visit The Trippe Gallery in Easton to find a remarkable showcase of some of the best artists and photographers in the Mid-Atlantic region. But occasionally, Nanny Trippe, the owner, takes a slight diversion from that pattern and shows off a little bit of the more eclectic and fun side of the art world.
That is indeed the case with Trippe’s decision to display Jessica Destefano’s remarkable bronze chess set of the primary Watergate figures from the Nixon era. Included are thirty bronze sculpted pieces standing four inches high and weighing over a pound each.
This timing of this artwork might be seen by many as somewhat clairvoyant given that Washington and the rest of America are now watching as a new legal chess game takes form between President Donald Trump and Special counsel Robert S. Mueller thirty-five years after a break in at the Watergate complex took place.
The Spy captured a few images to share, but we encourage all to drop by the Trippe to get a firsthand look.
This video is approximately one minute in length. For more information about the Trippe Gallery please go here
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Are you prepared for the leap into summer? I am afraid that the abrupt jump to hyperspace happens here on the ground as well as in the Star Wars universe. There is no going back; cool, limpid spring is about to sail into hot, humid summer. It’s time to think about minimizing time spent in the airless kitchen, and maximizing time spent outdoors, searching Quixotically for cool breezes. Otherwise we’ll be sitting squarely in front of the A/C unit tearing through trashy novels and binge watching Stranger Things for the next few months.
During the week I like to rely on leftovers to spackle over the deeply flawed reality that I am not a very good meal planner. I like to think that Meatless Mondays (which are always a pasta variation) and Taco Tuesdays give me street cred as a planner. Along about Thursday I have run out of steam, and I start rooting around in the fridge for inspiration. Invariably there will be some leftover grilled chicken, or salmon, or sometimes even skirt steak nestled in ubiquitous Rubbermaid tubs in one of the drawers. Voila! I knew I was a genius. Luck, I think, is as good as actual planning skills. And I am certainly lucky that it is grilling season. All that is left to do is to find a good, crunchy base for the protein. This is where you can get show-offy and clever: greens, beans, kale, spinach, tomatoes, roasted corn, asparagus… Hint: you don’t even have to re-heat the meat – serve it cold, or at room temp, on a chilled bed of salad.
Our modest container of home-grown lettuces is full of bolting, leggy plants right now so I’ve been buying more local produce at the farmers’ market, amassing an admirable array of fruits and vegetables that add sparkle not found in grocery store Romaine or rocket. There is nothing like the novelty of biting into a sweet, antioxidant and flavonoid-rich blueberry when you have been dulled into submission by too many wintery carrot slices. Here is a handy-dandy what’s-in-season reference for your shopping list: https://marylandsbest.maryland.gov/wp-content/uploads/Maryland-Fruit-and-Vegetable-Seasonality-Charts.pdf You’ll know what’s in season, and you can plan accordingly. You can add some color and excitement to what will soon become your summer routine.
I have a fine crop of basil plants this year, and this pesto steak salad will be sophisticated and different. I love shaving the Parmesan curls:
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/pesto-steak-salad
Our friends at Food52 like boozy themes: Bloody Mary Steak Salad
https://food52.com/recipes/37870-bloody-mary-steak-salad
This will liven up a potentially boring mid-week dinner. I’ll skip the Bloody Mary, though.
This listicle will make your life much easier: https://www.myrecipes.com/course/salad-recipes/steak-salad-recipes
Ina Garten makes a leftover salmon salad that is very close to the tuna salad of our childhoods:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/salmon-salad-recipe-1940531 Capers make it grown up!
This is an easy and summery chopped salmon salad: https://www.primaverakitchen.com/easy-chopped-salmon-salad/
If you have a leftover rotisserie chicken, or an extra grilled breast from the weekend, try this: https://alexandracooks.com/2019/01/25/what-to-do-with-leftover-roast-chicken-make-a-salad/
I am a big fan of panzanella salad, and usually make it with fresh mozarella cheese, and since I am loathe to waste any food these days, so I’m going to try it with chicken. There are lots of ideas here: https://www.foodandwine.com/meat-poultry/chicken/12-salads-make-roast-chicken
We are all cutting back on unnecessary driving now, while using up every bit of food, while avoiding unavoidable plastic, and still maintaining social distancing. Phew! No wonder we like watching the birds fly home at night, with the setting sun gilding the tops of the trees, with the first fireflies blinking back there in the hydrangeas. Summer is almost here.
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald
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Artist, poet, and feminist Florine Stettheimer (1871-1944) was born in Rochester, New York. Her mother Rosetta Walter was from a wealthy German-Jewish family. Rosetta and the girls moved back to Stuttgart, Germany, after Florine’s father abandoned them. Florine attended a girl’s boarding school where her artistic interests were supported with private lessons. Stettheimer educated herself in art history by visiting museums and galleries in the several countries where the family traveled: Italy, France, Spain, and Germany. When the family returned to New York in 1892, Stettheimer enrolled in the Art Students League and graduated in 1896.
The family traveled to Europe frequently, and Stettheimer saw three theatrical performances that greatly influenced her art: Strauss’s Salome, Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, and Debussy’s L’Apers-midi d’un Faun. The dance of the seven veils in Salome caused Stettheimer to remark, “she looked wonderful…bust absurd…” About Aristophanes, Stettheimer complained, “The play was written by a man who was completely anti-feminist…I concluded that they should have all the roles taken by men and the performance only for men—the way it was written, no woman could enjoy it.” Although Nijinsky as the Faun caused riots, Stettheimer wrote, “I saw something beautiful last evening…Nijinsky the Faun was marvelous—He is the most wonderful male dancer I have seen…” These performances left a lasting impression on Stettheimer who painted “Self-Portrait with Palette, Painter with Faun’’ (1915) (60” x72”).
Returning to New York before World War I, the Stettheimer women, mother Rosalie, Ettie, Carrie, and Florine took up residence in a luxury apartment in Manhattan. They would live together for the rest of their lives. The influence of the art, the opera, and the freer Parisienne life-style came with them to New York. Stettheimer decided to leave behind traditional academic art in order to create her own style. She celebrated the vibrant life in New York City as she saw it. It was the era of the Harlem Renaissance, Jazz, Dada, and Surrealism. Among her many good friends were Marcel Duchamp, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cecil Beaton, Virgil Thomson, Carl Van Vechten, Charles Demuth, and Gertrude Stein.
The Stettheimers held Salons (gatherings) that were attended by mavins (connoisseurs) of the arts. “Soiree” (1917-1919) (28” x 30”) depicts the critic Leo Stein, wearing a gray suit and sitting in the center on the red rug. Talking with him is playwright Avery Hopwood, wearing a yellow suit. Also included are the Hindu poet Sankar, in black. One of Stettheimer’s sisters, in green, sits with her mother Rosalie. At the right, another of Stettheimer’s sisters, in a white dress, sits on the sofa and holds a bouquet of flowers. Last on the sofa, dressed in yellow, with her elongated feet resting on a yellow cushion, and wearing a black choker necklace, is Juliette Gleize, wife of artist Albert Gleizes. She stares in amazement at a painting on the back wall. Two men at the lower left observe a new Stettheimer painting on the easel. She preferred to exhibit her new work at her Salons.
Stettheimer’s presence is represented by the painting “A Model (Nude Self-Portrait)” (1915-16) (48’’ x 68’’), prominently hung on the back wall of her studio. Historians credit this nude self-portrait as the first ever full-scale work of its kind by a woman artist. She looks directly at the viewer with a knowing smile. Stettheimer held salons from 1915 until the end of her life. They were a cultural highlight in New York, where guests of all races, religions, and sexual preferences were included.
A feminist before the term was coined, Stettheimer remained a staunch supporter of women’s rights for her entire life. She had affairs but never married, never thinking that a man was needed. In her poems, first published by her sister Ettie in Crystal Flowers (1949), she wrote, “Occasionally a human being saw my light, rushed in, got singed, got scared, rushed out, called fire. Or it happened that he tried to subdue it. Or it happened he tried to extinguish it…Out of courtesy, I turn on a soft, pink light, which is found modest, even charming. It is a protection against wear and tears. And when I am rid of The Always-to-be-Stranger, I turn on my light and become myself.”
Stettheimer’s unique style of painting presented colorful figures, mostly family and friends, on flattened white backgrounds. Between the years 1917 and 1919, she developed fully her stylized figures and captured the essence of each personality. On first viewing, Stettheimer’s paintings are full of fun, and slightly cartoonish, but they also include subtle references to the social issues of that time. “Lake Placid” (1919) (40” x 50”) (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is a scene of apparent gaiety and pleasure among friends. Lake Placid was a restricted community, especially to Jews and Catholics. Private cottages such as the one owned by Stettheimer’s cousin on Moose Island were open. However, they and their diverse guests were not admitted to the inns, restaurants, and other public establishments of Lake Placid.
The painting contains a full cast of characters. At the lower left, mother Rosalie, dressed in black, stands on the balcony of the large cottage. Wearing a purple robe and a yellow hat, Florine sneaks down the stairs. Sister Carrie swims toward the raft on which sit two images of sister Ettie, one dressed in red and the other in black with a yellow parasol. On the diving board is the Marques de Buenavista, a Peruvian diplomat. Lying on the raft in the flowered dress is Marie Sterner, a staff member of the Knoelder Gallery. Resting his elbows on the raft is Polish sculptor Elie Nadelman. Swimming toward the raft is a third image of Ettie in a red swimsuit. Beside her is Rabbi Stephen Wise, a leader of the liberal wing of Reform Judaism. Maurice Sterne, an artist from Latvia, paddles the canoe. With him in the canoe is Elizabeth Duncan, sister of Isadora, and a modern dance teacher. In the motor boat is Edwin Seligman, a professor and president of the Lake Placid Shore Owner’s Association. The boats and swimwear are the latest models. The passenger and mail boat “Doris” steams by in the distance.
Throughout her career, Stettheimer maintained her unique style and subject matter: New York City and the nearby vacation spots enjoyed by her friends and family. However, her social consciousness caused her to include subtle commentary on the intolerance she observed within her own upper class. “Asbury Park South” (1920) (56” x 66”) depicts the fun that could be had at the beaches, boardwalk, and casinos of the very popular summer resort. Initially white and black people enjoyed the park, but increasingly white people began to resent bathing with the black people at the beach. The beach was segregated from 1893 until 1915.
Stettheimer was a stickler for accuracy, and she carefully researched details for her paintings. Her research and close observation is evident in the varied colors used to represent African-American’s skin in “Asbury Park South.” At the lower right, mother Rosalie wears her usual black dress, and she enjoys a ride in a fantastic swan cart with red cushions and canopy. She is pushed along the golden boardwalk by a strikingly tall African-American man. An African-American child in a purple swim suit happily waves two American flags. A well-dressed African-American mother and daughter walk across the boardwalk, over the shadow cast by a Ferris wheel. Three stylish young African-American women stroll in front of a poster announcing the Fourth of July concert by Enrico Caruso.
At the center of activity on the boardwalk are Marcel Duchamp, in a pink suit, with the actress Fania Marinoff. To their left are the posts of a pavilion. As if dancing, an African-American couple glide up the steps of the pavilion toward an elegantly posed woman who looks up at the red, white, and blue decorations on the balcony. On the balcony two women converse while Carl Van Vechten, arms crossed, surveys the scene. Van Vechten, writer and photographer, was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance, and husband of Fania Marinoff. On the boardwalk platform at the right, Stettheimer looks on from under her green parasol as a svelte figure in an orange dress stretches at the bar. Two figures dressed in summer white sit on a bench with their backs to the viewer. At the end of the bench, a fashionable woman, in purple, converses with a man in a white suit and boater hat leaning against the railing.
On the beach, several large beach umbrellas supply shade for those who want it. Others enjoy the warm sun and play in the sand. A swimmer emerges from the water, and a trapeze artist swings out over the water. The bright orange ball of the Sun completes the scene and forms the top of a triangular composition of orange elements that lead the viewer through the painting.
Stettheimer thought this was one her best paintings and submitted it to several exhibitions. It is one of the earliest 20th Century paintings by a white artist that depicts African-Americans and Caucasians together. The Museum of Modern Art included “Asbury Park South” in the first exhibition of American art ever presented in Europe (1938). The only other American woman artist represented was Georgia O’Keeffe.
During her life-time, Stettheimer allowed her work to be shown in over 40 prestigious museums in New York and Paris. She died of cancer in 1944. Her close friend Marcel Duchamp curated a retrospective of her work for the Museum of Modern Art in 1946. It was the first retrospective of the work of a woman artist at MOMA. The retrospective traveled to the San Francisco Legion of Honor Museum and the Arts Club of Chicago. In an article for Harper’s Bazaar in 1947, Carl Van Vechten wrote about Stettheimer: [She] “was both the historian and the critic of her period and she goes a long way toward telling us how some of New York lived in those strange years after the First World War, telling us in brilliant colors and assured designs, telling us in painting that has few rivals in her day or ours.” Stettheimer was a painter and poet, an ardent feminist, and a critic of the social world of New York.
Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.
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Happy May Mystery Monday! Well, April showers certainly brought May flowers! What native shrub is blooming now in the forest?
Last week we highlighted the black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)! Black chokeberry is a native shrub that grows well in full sun and produces tasty and nutritious berries that are high in antioxidants. The foliage turns red in the fall for extra seasonal interest.
Adkins Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy and Adkins Arboretum. For more information go here.
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Sometimes I am in the mood for a multi-course meal. I love Thanksgiving. I love the many steps of preparation, the many dishes spread on the table, with gleaming accoutrements and candlelight. I love the ritual of sharing platters of holiday foods. I also love the indulgent concept of a desert island meal: appetizer, main course, and dessert. But there are some nights when enough is enough; when I put my sneaker down, and want something plain and simple. I want crunchy, and I want delicious. Give me chips and salsa.
As I sit here smugly typing in my sun-filled studio, I imagine my grown-up self, the more presentable me, laughing and waving away a bag of Doritos. This is total fiction. There is not a bag of Doritos that I wouldn’t just hoover up if I were alone on that desert island. But I try to apply an opaque veneer over my craven self, and mask my baser appetites. It is much more civilized to first roast some veggies, blitz them in a food processor, and deposit that mixture into a decorative bowl. The bowl can then be transferred to the coffee table, where it will join a bowl of gently warmed, locally sourced, lightly salted, artisan, organic corn chips. I will add a large cold glass of cheap white wine, a cloth napkin, and turn on “Julia”. Bliss.
Dinner with Julia Child. It is the perfect dinner. There’s very little fuss, a little muss, plus I am getting a serving of healthy vegetables, and am being kept company by a vibrant force of nature. Naturally, since it is Julia and my own adult self I am trying to impress, I can’t just tip a bag of chemically flavored Doritos down my maw. I need to get my chip fix in an elegant, epicurean fashion. Who really knows what is in those industrial vats from which Doritos emerge anyway?
I love the fresh cilantro in this Food52 recipe: https://food52.com/recipes/77387-roasted-vegetable-salsa
I usually stick with jalapeños, but you might want something with a little more heat: https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/roasted-tomato-salsa.html
With warm weather just around the corner , we will be grilling outside again, and will have extra ears of corn. This recipe is good for leftovers and the odds and ends you might find in the vegetable bin: https://spicysouthernkitchen.com/roasted-corn-salsa/
This is more work than I want to do tonight, but the garlic aioli is divine. I just love Thomasina Miers. https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/aug/30/thomasina-miers-recipe-charred-corn-and-bean-tostadas-jalapeno-aioli
As someone who would happily eat my way through the Frito Lay factory, it never occurred to me that there is a difference between salsa and pico de Gallo. https://www.tastingtable.com/844136/the-real-difference-between-salsa-and-pico-de-gallo/
And here is a handy concept: salsa in the freezer! Make it in bulk, so the next time you want your own evening alone with Julia, you’ll have a tub in the freezer. All you’ll have to add are the chips and the wine. https://vanillaandbean.com/roasted-tomatillo-salsa-verde/
Of course, if you want to make enough to share with someone other than your best imaginary friend, Julia Child, by all means, go forth and spread your deelish munificence.
https://top10best.how/organic-corn-chips?
“I have brought neither book nor newspaper
since reading material is considered cheating.
Eating alone, they say, means eating alone,
not in the company of Montaigne
or the ever-engaging Nancy Mitford.”
– Billy Collins
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