Rhubarb Musings

 

 

Shared From Maine Boats, Homes, & Harbors, The online version

We celebrate spring in the April/May issue with a story about that early garden sprouter, rhubarb, which was used as medicine long before it became a staple in pie — some people say rhubarb was introduced to this country by a farmer in Maine. (See also a story by Sandra L. Oliver, “That Old Rhubarb” from the latest edition of the magazine.) Also see an old time recipe for the fruit, which it is now categorized as by the U.S. Customs because of its present culinary use as a dessert.)

Rhubarb seems like it’s always been a part of the New England landscape. But actually, rhubarb is native to Asia, and was once a staple of the China trade.

We asked Dan Finamore, the Russell W. Knight Curator of Maritime Art and History at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, to help us track down some background on the plant. The Massachusetts Historical Society holds a notebook from William P. Elting, which contains details about the China trade from 1797 to 1803. In the back section of Elting’s notebook notes on how to trade in Canton, include a description of how to identify the best rhubarb, Finamore found.

About 1840, the Chinese scholar Lin Zexu wrote to Britain’s Queen Victoria “Not to speak of our tea and rhubarb, things which your foreign countries could not exist a single day without.” For what it is worth, it appears the letter was not received.

In Maine, the Old York Historical Society has a rhubarb recipe that was written down about 1850 by Louisa Caroline Wilcox Putnam of York, according to Joe Lefever, executive director of Old York Museums. Louisa married Captain William Putnam in 1846, and she accompanied her husband on voyages to Asia and the west coast of the United States. Perhaps she got the recipe while on her travels abroad.

The recipe for “Rhubarb Marmelade” is in a book used aboard the ship William E. Roman, built in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1849-50 and on the ship Empress of the Sea, built in the Boston area in 1852-53. The book with the recipe also has financial accounting notes, from 1853 in San Francisco. That means Louisa used this recipe book on board the Empress of the Sea, according to Lefever. There also are Chinese word pronunciations in the back. So this book also probably went to China when she and her captain husband were there.
On the Roman, the Wilcoxes sailed from New York to Shanghai, Macao, Ankier, and then to Scilly Lights, England in 1850-51, and on the Empress from New York to San Francisco in 1853.

Here is the recipe:

Rhubarb Marmalade

Pare five oranges, taking away the white
rind and seeds - put the pulp in
 a sauce pan - with the peel cut 
very small; add five pounds of
 Rhubarb and cut very small - and 
four pounds of loaf sugar. Boil the whole two hours and the fruit 
half an hour before adding the sugar.
 3 Lemons instead of five oranges makes a nice change.

(Transcribed with the formatting as written.)

Recipe and Account Book of Louisa Caroline Wilcox Putnam (York, Maine 1822-1894 York, Maine) and Captain William E. Putnam (Stamford, Connecticut 1811-1868 York, Maine). A2014.252.001, Old York Historical Society Collection, Gift of Dorothy Hungerford.

Please let me know if you were actually able to follow this recipe and recreate it.

A Modern Day Recipe for Rhubarb

 

 

 

Rhubarb Raspberry Galette

From cooking.com

 

 

Ingredients

For the Dough:

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. sugar

¼ tsp. salt

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

½ cup ice water

For the Filling

1 ½ lb. rhubarb

1 cup raspberries

3 tablespoons flour

1 to 1 ¼   cups sugar

Melted butter for brushing

Sugar for Sprinkling

Directions

To Make the Dough: Combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the ice water and toss just until the mixture holds together. Be careful not to over mix. Press the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 30 min.

Line a baking sheet with kitchen parchment. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the chilled dough into a 14-inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet and refrigerate while preparing the filling. (It’s important to keep the dough as cold as possible until you’re ready to bake.)

To Make the Filling: Trim the ends of the rhubarb and, if the stalks are more than 1 inch thick, cut them in half lengthwise. Cut the stalks into 1-inch-long pieces. In a large bowl, gently toss the rhubarb and raspberries with the flour and sugar. Let stand until moist, 5 to 10 min.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Gently spread the fruit in the center of the chilled pastry, leaving a 2-inch margin around the edge. Carefully fold the edge of the dough over the fruit, pleating it as you go. Brush the edge of the dough with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake until the pastry is golden brown and the fruit is soft and bubbling, 45 to 55 min. Set on a rack to cool slightly. Wonderful served warm with vanilla ice cream.

Thomaston Library News

 

 

Intergenerational Book Club to Discuss Wild Swans

On Tuesday, April 21st, at 2:30 PM, the Thomaston Public Library's Intergenerational Book Club will discuss Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang.

 

1991's Wild Swans has been published in 37 languages and has sold more than 13 million copies (though it is still banned in mainland China). The book, by Jung Chang, tells the story of three generations of women in the author's family – grandmother, mother, and daughter – and narrates the tragic history of China in the twentieth century.

 

Jung Chang’s grandmother’s feet were bound when she was a child, and she was given to a warlord general as his concubine. As he lay dying, she fled with her infant daughter, who grew up to become active in the Communist movement and eventually became a senior official. Jung Chang herself, the third generation, was raised in the privileged circles of China’s Communist elite. She, however, had the audacity to question Mao. Her parents were denounced and tortured, and Jung Chang was exiled to the edge of the Himalayas.

 

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China is a tale of extraordinary cruelty and bravery, of death and survival. Majestic in its scope and vivid in its description of China’s long nightmare, it is both an important work of history and a remarkable human document.

 

On the third Tuesday of every month, the Intergenerational Book Club, a group of men and women of all ages, comes together to share their opinions and ideas about the book selection. Extra copies of the books are purchased by the Friends of the Thomaston Public Library from the Annual Appeal funds. We thank you for your donations. All are welcome at the Thomaston Library on April 21st at 2:30 p.m.

 

If you live in Thomaston and would like to attend but need a ride, please call the library at 354-2453 a week before the discussion date.

 

 

Steven Powell and Thomas Block with one of their

collaborative efforts. Photo by Steven Powell.

 

April Vacation week fun is returning to the

Thomaston Public Library

Our special guests this coming week include Fran Hodgkins introducing her new book

"The Secret Galaxy" from Tilbury House Publishing.

 

On Tuesday at 11am we will be having fun with Legos. 

Wednesday the 22nd at 11am, and on Friday the 24th at 11am Steve Powell and Tom Block

introducing their new collaboration - a book that includes a bear that dresses up like a person.

Thursday at 11am we will be getting messy with finger-paint! Stop by to join in the fun.

 

 

Photo by Tim English

 

 

Tim English's European Backpack Adventure, Part 2

 Wednesday, April 22nd, 7 PM

 

In 2013 local chef and Qi Gong instructor Tim English traveled for three months across Europe. Part 1 of Tim's slide-show of his European backpacking trip was shown in March to an enthusiastic audience of over 30 people.

Part 2 of Tim's slideshow will begin in Germany and proceed to Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Norway, and Finland. The slides are very artistically done and highlight the landscapes and foods of each country. Tim narrates the slide-show, tells anecdotes from his trip, and reads excerpts from his travel journal. This event is armchair travel at its best and the next best thing to being there.

The Thomaston Public Library is located in the Thomaston Academy building at 60 Main Street in Thomaston. Parking and the library entrance are at the rear of the building.

 

Saltwater Film Society Screening of Tunes of Glory

 

On Thursday evening, April 16th, at 6:30 PM, the Saltwater Film Society will show 1960's Tunes of Glory, directed by Ronald Neame.

The incomparable Alec Guinness plays the part of Jock Sinclair, a whiskey-drinking, up-by-the-bootstraps commanding officer of a peacetime Scottish battalion. Sinclair is a career military man who expects loyalty and respect from his men. Enter Basil Barrow -- the educated offspring of a military family -- as Sinclair's replacement. John Mills plays Barrow and won the Best Actor award for it at the 1960 Venice Film Festival. Sinclair and Barrow go head-to-head in a fierce battle for control of the battalion and the hearts and minds of its men.

Based on the novel by James Kennaway and featuring flawless performances by both Guinness and Mills, Tunes of Glory uses the rigidly stratified hierarchy of military life as a vehicle to examine the institutional contradictions and class divisions of English society. The result is an unexpectedly moving film.

This screening takes place in Room 200 of the Thomaston Academy building.

For more information about the Saltwater Film Society, please see their website, http://www.saltwaterfilmsociety.org/.

 

Bob Dylan Lives

 

 

Bob Dylan lives! And how do I know that? Because believe it or not the 73-year-old was recently interviewed by AARP, The Magazine (yes, this 70 plus-year-old reads this magazine.) At first when Dylan contacted Robert Love to interview him, Love thought Dylan must be confusing him with his former stint at Rolling Stone. Surely Dylan didn’t want to appear in an “old folks” magazine, did he? But Dylan wanted to speak to the readers of the AARP magazine, such as myself. After all, we are the ones who got him here, right?

Now I know some of you don’t give two figs whether Dylan is still making music or not. He’s an acquired taste like caviar, those odd looking olives, or sardines. If I’m an oddball like him because I appreciate his music, so be it. Please note, however, he’s outlasted many of his fellow contemporaries in the 60s.  After four decades and counting, he’s still writing, touring, and making music. This February he came out with his latest album, “Shadows in the Night” which includes standards from the past. We’ll discuss that album in a few minutes.

Let’s summarize his career first. If you can find a copy of the AARP magazine for February/March 2015, you can read the full interview by Love. I’ll just paraphrase some of the highlights of his interview as well as Dylan’s biography as presented by Bill Flanagan in the same issue of the magazine. I may add a comment or two or my own along the way.

We first met Dylan in 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival where we heard him sing “Like a Rolling Stone” for the first time. Rock music then had a new vocabulary because of him. You either loved him or hated him, but you couldn’t deny he was a huge influence on Rock and Roll music and in fact on society as a whole at that time. As I mentioned in my Master’s Thesis for Fairfield University years ago, he was the voice of a generation. Only Simon and Garfunkel can exist in his realm of influence in the 60s.

After a motorcycle accident in 1966, Dylan laid low for a while. He stopped touring and focused on his new family. During this period he continued to write songs like “The Mighty Quinn” which became a hit for Manfred Mann. The Byrds also covered “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.”

Later on in the decade he began recording again. He did my favorite Dylan song at this time, “Lay, Lady, Lay.”

In the 70s decade he returned to the stage and on tour, releasing his next album, “Blood on the Tracks.” The album dealt with adulthood and its problems of infidelity. As he said at the time in “Tangled up in Blue,” “All the people we used to know, they’re an illusion to me now. Some are mathematicians, some are carpenters’ wives…But me, I’m still on the road, headin’ for another joint…”

He also toured at this time with the Rolling Thunder Revue which included artists like Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, and Roger McGuinn. But in the late 70s he got caught up in evangelical Christianity and disappeared again for a while.

After his religious zeal waned, he began touring again in the 80s with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and the Grateful Dead. Talk about your rock and roll. He also met up with Keith Richards and Ron Wood for Live Aid.

In the 90s he played hundreds of live shows with many small bands. He didn’t release any new songs until 1997 with the album “Time Out of Mind,” which won three Grammies.

And so here we are in the 21^st century where Dylan continues to produce. He won an award for “Things Have Changed;” he released several albums; wrote a memoir Chronicles: Volume One, which was critically acclaimed; and on top of all that he also has produced paintings and drawings which have sold at prestigious galleries. He even has a studio in California, where he lives, to sculpt metal gates which wealthy homeowners vie for.

The Songs we Remember

Here are some of the songs by Dylan that many of us remember and love. Remember these:

Lay Lady Lay

Like a Rolling Stone

Blowing in the Wind

Knocking on Heaven’s Door

The Times They are A-Changin’

Mr. Tambourine Man

Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

Subterranean Homesick Blues

Shadows in the Night

The new album just released this February contains covers of old standards. Many artists these days are doing old standard albums. The songs Dylan included are: “I’m a Fool to Want You.” “The Night We Called it a Day,” “Stay with Me,” “Autumn Leaves,” “Why Try to Change Me Now?” “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Full Moon and Empty Arms,” “Where Are You?” “What’ll I Do?” “That Lucky Old Sun.”

I’m not sure Dylan should have gone this route. I much prefer his music. You can find samples of the album on YouTube. “The Night We Called it a Day” has a video to view, which is quite violent. And I can’t imagine “Autumn Leaves” without a piano background. I’m sorry, Mr. Dylan, but I think you should have left this genre in the very capable hands of Mr. Tony Bennett and Lady GaGa, who have done a wonderful job with their standards album.

There is a place to comment about the videos on YouTube. Many of the spaces for Dylan said simply “comment was deleted.” I suspect that there probably was some strong language in the comments they deleted. Dylan fans are sometimes fanatical in their support.

Here is one comment that survived with “Full Moon and Empty Arms”. This fan may well be one of those fanatical ones. Some of it is R-rated but here is some of what the listener had to say, “Dylan is another universe. He does not give a good g-d if people prefer Sinatra’s style…They didn’t like him when he plugged in at Newport and now they don’t want him to do anything but play the “golden oldies” of their misspent youth. Every day is another revolution, man.”

Well I guess I might very well fall into that category. But oh what a “golden oldie” load of tunes we have from our Dylan. May they live in our hearts forever.

Dylan Honors

Just so you don’t think that Bob Dylan was another drug-using draft-dodging hippie from the 60s check out these honors which have been bestowed upon him over the years:

11 Grammies

France’s Legion of Honor

Kennedy Center Honor

An Oscar

A Pulitzer

Honorary degrees from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and from Princeton.

He is in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And in May of 2012, President Obama gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

There is much more to see in the AARP article. Please pick it up if you can. Meanwhile, check out this hilarious interactive video of “Like a Rolling Stone” I found on YouTube. It speaks to how Dylan has influenced pop culture over the years. Enjoy and thanks for listening.

 

 

 

   

Sail, Power & Steam Museum

Just Out!

A new book by Meg and Captain Jim Sharp,

There’s Magic Beyond the Bend

For 10 years Meg and Captain Jim Sharp wandered the canals of Holland, Belgium, France and Germany in a Dutch-built converted sailing barge. This story relates what they discovered along the way.

 

Order your copy now

Call Mary Ann at 207-701-5050