Sunday Cooking — Green Tomatoes, Fried, Casseroled, Pickled
Ever since the movie Fried Green Tomatoes came out, the green tomato has been clawing its way into semi-mainstream cuisine. It’s actually a cultural rediscovery, since people have been eating green tomatoes for centuries. My recipes for green tomato pickle and green tomato mincemeat are a couple of hundred years old. I have a friend who each year makes a version of chow chow pickle with chopped green tomato, cauliflower, corn, onions, and gherkins that’s delicious with a plain pan-fried pork chop or slice of ham. You can also use green tomatoes as a substitute for tomatillos for fresh salsa ...
Sunday Cooking – Peach and Plums, No Pears, Oh My!
Although it’s beginning to look like fall, we’re still blessed with enough local summer fruit to keep our vitamin C nicely topped off and our sweet teeth satisfied. There are late variety local peaches, plums, and cane berries. Tarts, pies, cobblers, mousses, fools, and cakes with a layer of fresh fruit ‘enrobed’ (sounds so regal) in whipped cream, or a combo of whatever’s around and starting to go off macerated in sweet wine or liqueur and slopped over ice cream, or fresh, chopped and folded into your morning oatmeal. Plums (Prunus) have been particularly good this year. We have many native ...
Spy Profile: Captain Andrew of Echo Hill
It's fairly certain that Kurt Hahn, the 19th century founder of outdoor education, would be mighty pleased with Andrew McCown's 32 years of work at Echo Hill Outdoor School. It was Hahn's fundamental task as an educator, he said, "to insure the survival of these qualities: an enterprising curiosity, an undefeatable spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self denial, and above all, compassion." Following in Khan's footsteps, each year, Captain Andy takes command of the 40-foot skipjack Elsworth, with a crew of six young people on each trip, to do just that. Without ipods, mobile phones, television, computer games or helicopter parents, ...
Four Under Forty
Opening Friday, September 3 at the Chestertown Arts League, "Four Under Forty" features the work of four decidedly non-AARP Kent County artists: Robbi Behr, Emily Kalwaitis, Joe Karlik and Angela Ranzoni. They're thirty-somethings. What is their art about? Come to the opening reception (5-8 pm) and see. If you're still not sure, you might just ask them; at 6 pm the artists will be on hand for mixing and mingling. A Chestertown native, Robbi Behr is the illustrator and co-founder with her husband of the small press, Idiots’ Books. (See the Chestertown Spy profile: "Chestertown’s Brilliantly Lowbrow Idiots.") Her style is ...
Sunday Cooking — Fresh Figs
My poor little fig trees, engulfed as they are in a combination of raspberries-run-rampant and bindweed (Convuvulous) that miserable invasive that has blanketed my garden. But the figs, only two, or maybe three years old, soldier on; they’ll be producing a few small fruits in another week or two. Meanwhile, friends have a tree (more like a giant shrub) that they’re generous with, and several vendors now sell fresh figs at the farmers’ market in town. Figs, which are so much more than Newtons, are on the upper end of effective antioxidant delivery systems with a fiber kicker, which makes them if ...
Occurrences
Town Sends Letter of Intent to Buy Marina
Chestertown may be getting into the marina business. At last night’s meeting, the Mayor and Council voted to send a letter of intent to purchase the...
Library Asks Town To Re-Allocate Funds
It’s no secret that it’s been a tough summer for the library, but the board is now taking steps to rectify problems. “This has been a very unusual...
Digital Sign Could Show Visitors the Way
It’s out with the old and in with the new when it comes to maps in Chestertown. The Downtown Chestertown Association wants to do away with the old map...
Community Center Is The Place To Be
It hasn’t even been open for a year but the Kent County Community Center in Worton has taken off like gangbusters. At the Tuesday’s commissioners’...
Eyes On Delmarva’s Solar Project
Watching how this new solar energy project in Dover, DE is set up and how (and how well) it works may give Kent Countians some vicarious experience and...
Dexter Lockamy New COO for Kent County Schools
C.O.O. Dexter Lockamy As of October 4, Kent County Schools will have a new Chief Operating Officer (COO) in financial consultant, Dexter Lockamy. Lockamy...
Disturbances
Malicious Destruction at Woodsedge Apartments
On 31 August, someone entered apartments 110-110A and 101A at Woodsedge Drive, Chestertown, through an unlocked window and set off two fire extinguishers...
Thieves Labored Throughout Labor Day Weekend
On September 3 Samantha Lee Wallace of Middleton, DE reported money stolen from her purse which was unsecured in her workplace at the Kitty Knight House. ...
Peoples Bank Scam
Some Rock Hall residents have been reporting on Saturday, September 4, that they had received scam telephone calls from individuals falsely representing...
Accident Reported on Rte. 213 South
Filed Friday, 1:37 pm: A two-vehicle accident on Route 213 South about a half-mile south of the Chester River Bridge stopped traffic for nearly an hour...
Trade & Mercantile
Chestertown’s Young Entrepreneurs: Adam Hock
Starting a business in Chestertown is considered a brave feat by many. The Spy’s Young Entrepreneur Series examines those who take that leap and...
Downey’s to Close this Month
One of Chestertown’s most popular sandwich, chicken and soft ice cream stores will be closing at the end of August. Store owner Joe Strong Downey,...
The Secondhand Store Economy in Chestertown
As household budgets shrink, people are eating out less, spending less on clothes and putting off long-term purchases such as buying a house or a car....
Dollars & Sense Financial Services Ribbon Cutting August 6
The Kent County Chamber of Commerce has annouced that the Dollars & Sense Financial Services office will have a ribbon cutting at 357 High Street...
Pet Watch
Animal Hoarding: Animal Cruelty or Mental Illness
Earlier this year, ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement Agents arrived at a New York City apartment to find that dozens of cats and kittens had overtaken the small...
Pets of the Week
I don’t particularly like pit bulls, due to a previous experience, but by the time I had finished playing with Mama, I was ready to take her home. Mama,...
Animal Crush Videos Act of 2010 Passes House
Last Wednesday, July 21, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 416-3 to pass H.R. 5566, the Prevention of Interstate Commerce in Animal Crush Videos...
Pets Suffering from Heatstroke in Parked Cars
As many parts of the country struggle with recent heat waves, we’ve all seen the disturbing news reports of pets, mostly dogs, dying from heatstroke...
Outdoor Life and Sports
Salisbury Kicks WC in Soccer 2-1
Twentieth-ranked host Salisbury University scored once in each half to defeat visiting Washington College, 2-1, in non-conference men’s soccer action...
Field Guide: Farmville
Mystery Tour is one of my favorite classes to teach at Echo Hill Outdoor School. This class, which is open-ended by design, usually involves exploring...
Athletes in Summer
While other college students spent their summer on the beach, Washington College rowing coxswain Jeff Nutting spent his summer restoring a 1969 Chevy C-10...
WC Has Record Score Against Penn State – Brandywine
Posting their highest single-game scoring output in nearly nine years, the Washington College Shoremen won their season opener, 7-0, over visiting Penn...
Food and Garden
Sunday Cooking — Green Tomatoes, Fried, Casseroled, Pickled
Ever since the movie Fried Green Tomatoes came out, the green tomato has been clawing its way into semi-mainstream cuisine. It’s actually a cultural...
Piney Grove Vineyard Harvest Time Nearing
Harvest time is here! With summer nearing an end (I sure don’t want to admit that) and autumn around the corner, we have been watching the grapes...
Mulch On Fire
An unusual question in Horticulture Magazine — Can Mulch Catch On Fire? –has prompted this warning brief note here: Yes, mulch can catch on...
Volunteers Needed to Plant Demo Rain Gardens
We’re all set to plant the first of three demonstration rain gardens, starting with the public park on Rolling Road. The planting will take place from...
Arts & Lifestyle
Up & Coming Events: September
Saturday, September 11 Art in the Park 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Fountain Park, downtown Chestertown Over 45 artists and crafters will be set up in the...
New WC President on How to Talk to Bad Guys
A new book by Washington College’s new president Mitchell Reiss has answers for two of the most pressing questions facing America’s leaders today:...
Gershwin, Wonderfully Done
The 59th season of the Washington College Concert Series opens Sunday, Sept. 19 with internationally acclaimed pianist Thomas Pandolfi playing an all-Gershwin...
Spy Cam Flies South
Dear Spy Cam fans: In response to your calls and letters regarding the whereabouts of the spy cam and its loyal subjects, I now offer you this explanation...
Spy Profile: Captain Andrew of Echo Hill
It’s fairly certain that Kurt Hahn, the 19th century founder of outdoor education, would be mighty pleased with Andrew McCown’s 32 years of...
Town Notes
WCTR Party in the Park to Support Character Counts September 11
WCTR welcomes you all to our 4th Annual WCTR Party In The Park Saturday September 11th from 4 to 8pm. This year’s Party In The Park will be held...
Human Trafficking Discussion September 14
International human rights activist and author Binka Le Breton will address the issue of human trafficking when she visits Washington College on Tuesday,...
Kent County Library Board Members Recruitment
Kent County Public Library Board President Jack Stenger, President, Kent County Public Library announced that the Kent County Public Library is seeking...
Washington College in Top 50 in Nation for Science PhDs
In an article in CBS Moneywatch.com, Washington College was number 24 in a list of colleges whose undergraduates eventually pursued a PhD in science. The...
Chestertown Film has Outdoor Screening Saturday Evening
On September 4, there will be a special outdoor showing of the 1998 film, Chestertown, Maryland: An American Home Town for more than 350 Years, at 7:30...
Opinion
Letter to Editor: Queen Anne’s Recycle Bins a Mess
Editor, What’s been happening with the recyling bins on Fay Road is a shame. More often than not they are filled and overflowing. Today there was no...
Letter to Editor: Is the Will of the People Missing?
This letter is the result of a culmination of events which have occurred in recent times. While some events are personal in nature, they are nonetheless,...
Editorial: Library Rebuilding
There is plenty to be angry about the recent troubles at the Kent County Public Library. After months of the county looking under almost every sofa cushion...
Letter to Editor: What We Need for County Commissioners
Editor: Thanks to the League of Women Voters’ forum on Tuesday night, it’s crystal clear that of the eight candidates for Kent County commissioner, three...
Fortnightly
Chestertown Futures Case Study #4: Matt Hogans
Matt Hogans, like many native sons of Kent County, made it a point not to return to the community when he graduated from college in the early 1980′s....
Between Preservation and Innovation: Architecture Today in Chestertown by Kathleen James-Chakraborty
Editor’s Note: Chestertown native Kathleen James-Chakraborty recently returned to her childhood town to deliver a lecture on the role of architecture...
Chestertown Futures Case Study 3: Liza Brocker
When Play it Again Sam’s co-owner Liza Brocker graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, she was rather clear her future was...
Excerpts from “Letters to Sophie” by Hailey Reissman
At this year’s May 16th commencement, Washington College again awarded the Sophie Kerr Prize. At $64,253, it is the largest undergraduate literary...
