Irish Supper for St Patrick

While I think tinted green beer is revolting, I’ve always loved St Patrick’s Day.  Mostly because, like my other favorite holidays, it’s celebrated with Food! Glorious food! Corned beef and cabbage with onions and potatoes and carrots enjoyed with a good microbrew, creamy potato-leek soup, Irish soda bread, Irish stew, meat pasties, beef and Guinness pie, colcannon (smashed potatoes and cabbage), Irish coffee. Yum. Yum. Yum.

One year, I corned my own beef. Julia Child talked me into it on one of her shows. It’s not hard; like a lot of things, it just takes time. You mix spices and saltpeter into water, then brine the beef for about three weeks, turning it periodically to be sure it’s all covered in brine. I only did it once. Turns out I actually prefer store-bought, so just close my eyes once a year to the chemicals listed on the package. The meal itself takes time too, though  there’s not much prep; most of the time is unsupervised simmering.

Basically, corned beef and cabbage is a boiled dinner. Put the corned beef into a Dutch oven or large pot on the stove. Cover it with water (not the water you brined it in, just in case you do your own; use fresh), bring it to the boil and simmer for about 50 minutes per pound of meat or until tender but definitely not falling apart.  Toward the end, add peeled whole potatoes, peeled whole carrots, peeled whole onions to the pot – amounts have to do with how many are there for dinner and how many leftovers you want to have — and simmer until they’re tender. If you’ve underestimated how done the meat is, take it out before the veggies are done so it doesn’t fall apart completely. You want to be able to slice it, though it should be very tender. Let it rest for about 10 minutes before slicing.  The ‘traditional’ way to serve this meal is with hot English mustard. I love it that way, but find suspect the use of ‘English’ anything for what purports to be a traditional Irish meal.

Be sure to save some of the beef and potatoes for corned beef hash with poached eggs for the following night’s supper (or breakfast).  Just sauté a chopped onion in butter, add chopped leftover meat and potatoes and cook in a heavy skillet until there are lovely crusty bits throughout. Top each serving with a poached or fried runny egg or two. Serve with salad and an Irish beer.

The Prince’s Evening of Reconciliation

The Prince Theatre, known as the Lyceum during much of the 20th Century, has had a painful history of racial segregation. It is remembered — first-hand by many older residents in local black communities, and in accounts passed on to younger ones  – for  requiring them to sit only in the upper balcony and for banning them from seats on the first floor, for most of its existence.

No more. The Prince is, as it has been now for decades, open for everyone of every hue. And yet, as any regular patron of events there could and did observe, it has not become a place where very many people of color are comfortable. Some reaching out seemed in order.

On Saturday night, The Reverend Robert Brown Jr, pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church,  and Philip Dutton, president of the board of the Prince Theatre Foundation, kicked off an evening of acknowledgment and healing at the Prince.

As the Reverend Brown noted in his opening remarks, “This building is still here as a theater, and for many people it remains a symbol, a painful reminder, of times when they were treated unjustly and unfairly, when segregation existed right here in our community.

“We know that one event, although conducted with the very best intentions and no matter how carefully planned, will not instantly erase all the painful memories of those times for the people who were harmed.  We do hope, however, that tonight we will begin a process.”

Mr. Dutton, in his role as president of the Prince, began the process on behalf of the board by saying, “The Prince Theatre Foundation hereby acknowledges that in this building in years past African American citizens were required to use a separate entrance and to take a separate staircase leading to a segregated seating area in the upper balcony.

“This was wrong.  For this injustice, we express our profound regret and apologize for the hurt done to you and to your ancestors, to those who felt inferior or unequal by these acts. May we all be prepared to commit ourselves to putting the past behind us, and work together for a new future unified in our humanity and in our spirits.”

Other presenters included African American Heritage Council leader Karen Somerville, County Commisioner William Pickrum, Chestertown Mayor Margo Bailey, and Acting Prince Theatre Director Lucia Foster.

Those participating with performances during the second part of the program included  Karen Somerville, Lester Barrett, Jerome McKinney, Bob Ortiz, Pam Ortiz, Mary Ashley, Debbie Campbell, Philip Dutton, Dannette Boyer, Irene Moore, William Pickrum, Alina Thomas, Lamontte Henry, Sunny Fassett, Bonita Harris, Peter Heck, Hope Clark, Joe Holt and The New Gospelites.

Photography by Leslie Raimond

Best Bets

Wednesday, March 10

Women Helping Women Concert: By Women, For Women

Location: The Prince Theater, 210 High St.

Time: 7 p.m.

For more than 45 years, Dr.Maria Boria has served the medical needs of women and children. She founded a hospital for women in India, worked as an obstetrician/gynecologist in hospitals throughout the U.S. and established a private practice in Chestertown in 1981. For the last five years, she has volunteered her expertise and medical services in a clinic she founded for migrant workers in Marydel. Ninety-five percent of all funds raised by this event will be used by Dr. Boria to offset expenses at the clinic.  (The other five percent will go toward expenses for the event itself.). Tickets are $25. For reservations, please call the Prince Theatre, 410-810-2060 (Last year, we had a sold out performance. Please reserve your tickets as soon as possible!)

Friday, March 12

The Alison Brown Quartet

Location: The Mainstay, Rock Hall

Time: 8 p.m.

Alison Brown is a brilliant genre-bending player who takes the banjo and guitar far beyond their Appalachian roots with a rich, exquisite blend of bluegrass, jazz, Celtic and Latin influences that has been described as simply jaw-dropping. She has been nominated for and won several Grammy awards, and has been nominated this year for Best Country Instrumental Performance. The Quartet also includes Garry West on bass, John R. Burr on piano and Larry Atamanuik on drums. Call 410-639-9133 for reservations. Tickets are $20

Saturday, March 13

Touch-A-Truck

Location: Chestertown Middle School

Time: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Free admission! Fun for the entire family and educational too! Come look at, sit in, and touch trucks of all sizes and shapes. Lunch served at minimal cost.

15th Annual Soroptimist International of Kent Co. Auction

Location: Chestertown Fire Hall

Time: noon

Doors open at noon. Auction begins 1 p.m. There will be a cake wheel and refreshments. Proceeds benefit women and girls throughout the community and worldwide. For more information call Ruth Clark, 410-639-7300.

Vietnam Mailbag: Voices from the War 1968-1972

Location: Kent County Library, Main Meeting Room

Time: 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

‘Vietnam Mailbag’, named best regional book, is based on the nearly 900 letters written to Nancy Lynch by servicemen from, in and near Delaware during the five years she wrote her column, Nancy’s Vietnam Mailbag in the Wilmington (Delaware) Morning News. The first part of the book chronicles year by year the hopes and fears, joys and tears expressed by the servicemen as they heeded Lynch’s request to “tell it like it is” about life in the combat zone. The second part consists of a dozen “where are they now?” profiles of servicemen who frequently wrote to Lynch during the war. Refreshments served. For more information call Karin Cowperthwait, 410-778-3636.

‘Glory’

Location: Norman James Auditorium

Time: 7 to 10 p.m.

Public showing of the film ‘Glory’ with discussion of G.A.R. meeting hall history. The film spotlights the courageous efforts of the 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. This black regiment, led by the son of an abolitionist, suffered numerous hardships and privation even before taking the field of battle. Starring Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, and Matthew Broderick, this film provides insight into the lives of the men who built the G.A.R. Grand Army Hall in Chestertown; in fact, research indicates that at least one of the members of Post #25 served with the 54th Massachusetts. This film is rated (R). A short presentation will accompany the film, introducing the audience to the history of Post #25, the stabilization of the meeting hall by Preservation Inc., and plans for restoring it to its former important place in the fabric of Chestertown and Kent County. This event is free and open to the public.

Sunday, March 14

Eastern Shore Wind Ensemble Concert

Location: Christ United Methodist Church

Time: 4 p.m.

This is the third in the series of four free concerts in the Eastern Shore Wind Ensemble’s 2009–2010 season. Directed by Keith Wharton, the community concert band offers area wind and percussion musicians the opportunity to continue or resume playing high-quality music in a large ensemble. The band, based in Chestertown, welcomes new members at any time, without fee or audition. For information about joining call 410-778-2829 or 410-810-1834.

SpyCam: John Andrew McCown 1st Neilsen Award Winner

The Chester River Association celebrated the life of Pat Nielsen last Friday night by awarding its first annual award for poetry in her honor. Nielsen, a beloved community leader and Emmy Award-winning writer, director and producer, was also a passionate lover of poetry.  CRA Trustee Marcy Dunn Ramsey announced the awards (judged by Washington College’s Literary House director Mark Nowak) at the Book Plate Bookstore in Chestertown.  The winner of the annual poetry award was John Andrew McCown for December.  Joanne Scott received the second place award for Distant Thunder, and an honorable mention was given to Mary Wood for Elegy.  John Andrew’s father Andy McCown accepted the award on his son’s behalf since the poet is attending the University of Vermont and was unable to be at the event.

Before the poets began reading, the legendary Lester Barrett played tribute to Nielsen with a breathtaking version of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. The SpyCam was there to capture it.

Editor’s note. Please be patient when viewing on YouTube since the video may require time to begin streaming.  The Spy would like to thank Tyler Campbell for the cameo appearance of his right elbow in this production.

Field Guide: The Dead of Winter

March is here.  A co-worker told me he spotted an osprey the other day.  A few optimistic buds have emerged.  Spring isn’t quite here yet, but these signs tell us that warmer days will be here soon.

For the deadrise workboat, Twilight, this spring will mark her 100th year on the water.  In her current incarnation, she serves as a floating laboratory for Echo Hill Outdoor School, taking students into the waters of the Chester River, Chesapeake Bay, and Still Pond Creek as they explore estuarine ecosystems.

Deadrise workboats, unique to the Chesapeake Bay, were designed to navigate shallow waters in order to harvest crabs, oysters, and fish.  As those organisms saw their populations decrease, the deadrise workboat has become a less common sight on the water.  Most of the workboats on the water today are made of fiberglass, which is both easier to come by and maintain.  As both economic and ecological pressures combined to drive many watermen out of business, wooden boats were sold, neglected, or altogether abandoned.  Quite a few marshes in Kent County have become the final resting place for rotting deadrises.

This winter I got a taste of just how much work it takes to keep a wooden boat in the water for 100 years.  I joined captains Andrew McCown and Tom Briggs in the boatshed of the Chestertown Marina working to make the Twilight look (as best we could) like that day she first left port in the Potomac River in 1911.

Surrounded by fiberglass boats silently shrink-wrapped and awaiting warmer weather, the Twilight could afford no such respite.  As Captain Andy put it, “Winter work is the lifeblood that keeps these boats afloat.”

Before entering the shed the boat was scraped of barnacles and thoroughly sanded.  This allowed the wood to be thoroughly inspected for areas of concern, first by the Outdoor School’s captains and later by U.S. Coast Guard inspectors.  Finding new wood to replace trouble spots can sometimes take weeks or months.  Coming from as far away as British Columbia, the cuts of wood needed to maintain these boats can’t be found at the local lumberyard.

Shipwrights John Swain and Nick Biles assist in the more technical repairs.  After helping on a recent project, John Swain surveyed the Twilight and remarked to captains Briggs and McCown, “You guys are the reason this boat’s still here.”

Echo Hill acquired the Twilight in the early 80’s.  Reaching its centennial was only possible through a series of events that Capt. Andy describes as a “formula” for preserving wooden workboats.  First, the boat must be built by a good builder using good materials (which wasn’t always the case).  Next it must have the fortune of good ownership throughout its life.  Finally, as in the case of the Twilight, its life as a non-working boat should mimic its working life.

“There’s nothing that’s a bigger enemy to these boats than inactivity,” says McCown.  What he’s referring to is the fact that Echo Hill Outdoor School’s wooden workboats are used almost every day, which means they demand proper maintenance to ensure that they continue to perform properly.

Science has also helped the Twilight in the battle against time.  Advanced paint means that the wood is better protected from the corrosive effects of fungus, salt water, and air.  In fact, in the last few years the boat has come in to the shed in better shape than any other winter.

Capt. McCown estimates that the Twilight receives about 800-1,000 hours of maintenance every year.  This includes the major work that takes place each winter, but just as important is the weekly and daily maintenance.

“If you go down to Workboat Alley at Kent Narrows and walk the pier at the end of a workday, you can tell which boats are taken care of,” said McCown.  “Whether they’re fiberglass or wooden, the ones that are properly cared for are the ones that are going to last.”

And so, once again the Twilight has been lowered into the water; ready for another year of navigating the local waterways.  Ready for the squeals of children touching fish, eels, and crabs; often for the first time.  Ready, as always, to work.

Riding a Gift Horse

The other day I received an anonymous gift in the mail, a beautiful hardcover book.  It was a book I would buy for myself, so at first I wondered if I had actually ordered it and then forgotten all about it. (Okay, to be completely honest, I wondered if I had suddenly gone Sybil, and had an extra personality who went online ordering books for me while I showered or slept.)

All I had to go on was the return address. I emailed the bookseller asking for information about the order (just in case I had gone multiple-personality) but their replies were cryptic and frustrating (did you order something else, do you want to place an order?)

Then I decided that it was totally ungracious of me to try and identify the mysterious gifter. The only appropriate response was to say “thank you kind & thoughtful friend” to . . . the air.

That evening I sat down in my favorite reading chair and started the book. I had been struggling a bit with a certain subject (NOT multiple personalities) and what I was reading directly addressed my problem. It was uncanny. I read for an hour or so, and when I put the book down, I realized that I had undergone a shift in thinking and was ready to proceed full steam ahead. The book had given me a clarification that led to a clearing and finally to a feeling of relief.

And happiness.

And then I remembered many years ago when I had sent, anonymously, a money order to a proud friend who was going through a hard time financially. How happy I had felt! I was sure the person who sent me the book felt the same way, just so happy to know they had given me something that would improve my life.

This person didn’t want thanks, or a return gift, or even acknowledgement. This person just wanted to do something nice for me.

If you want to make someone happy, and in the process make yourself even happier, send an anonymous gift. Not to your best friend, or even a good friend, but to someone who might never suspect it came from you. And then don’t tell anyone about it. Make it your secret.

I’m going to continue this chain of happiness and send a gift today. And now I can’t stop smiling about it. My recipient is going to love it, and best of all, he or she (I do know which but my lips are zipped) will never know it came from me.

Early Greens

Most of the yard has reemerged, and I can walk instead of slog to the greenhouse. In a ‘normal’ year – evidently a theoretical concept – I’d have already started a few seeds for the cool-weather stuff. Kale, collards, spinach, chard, mustard greens, lettuces, bok choy. Some, like radish and peas, I’d even be considering putting into the ground now. Instead, it looks to be months before that can happen since the garden is still under a foot of snow. Fasten your seat belts, folks. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

For the next few weeks, we’ll have to count on our food transport system and the grocery stores for the boon of early greens.  Packed with vitamins and minerals, the first spring greens –mustards, spinach, and more — are a natural way to unclog the arteries and jumpstart the immune system, which this winter is on overload. For millenniums they’ve been known as a spring tonic (read: cleanse) after a winter of stodgy meals.

In mild years, there would be some wild varieties coming up right now — mustards, chickweed, lamb’s quarters, dandelion, violet, and peppergrass – all free for the clipping. I’ve seen whole communities of Koreans in early March gleaning wild plantain from the grassy spots along the Potomac bike trail. (Be careful where you collect wild greens in case they’ve been sprayed or have taken up road toxins. Watercress are particularly susceptible.).

One of the lovely things about greens is they cook in minutes, so you can fling off your coat after work, chop some with some onions, scallions or shallot, stir them around in a skillet with a little hot olive oil for a few minutes, then eat. Wild mustards are a great peppery addition to salads and clear soups or stir-fries. Or throw wads of chopped spinach and scallion into boiling chicken broth for about 2 minutes until the spinach is just wilted. Add a beaten raw egg for egg-drop soup or Italian seasonings and a beaten egg for stracciatella. Instead of composting those beet tops, steam them and drizzle a little blood orange vinegar and walnut oil on them before serving, or use them as a basis for a warm salad with toasted pine nuts and roasted beets and goat cheese drizzled with balsamic/mustard dressing. Heap quick-sautéed mustard greens or chard onto garlic toast, sprinkle with salt and pepper and a drizzle of hot pepper oil.  Throw chard, sweet peppers, and leftover rice into rich, herbed-flavored beef broth for a lovely soup.

Years ago, early greens were only available at specialty stores, and you couldn’t find seeds for them unless you ordered internationally. Now, we can get them at supermarkets and you can find seed in garden centers and through catalogues.  If your garden, like mine, is still blanketed, you can in this winter of our discontent, start them in a sunny window and will most likely be clipping them before the snows melt.

www.cooksgarden.com

www.territorialseed.com

www.seedsavers.org

www.gurneys.com

Excursions: Ford’s Open Mic at the Prince

Whether it’s a Woody Guthrie-esque folk singer with a bushy beard or an 81-year old saxophone player giving it his all, open mic night at the Prince Theatre is sure to bring performances with heart.

“I try to bring in musicians who don’t want to come. I want to encourage them,” says Ford Schumann, host and house band. “Most of these people don’t have aspirations to fame.”

There’s a warmth and honesty to the evening that you rarely feel from paid performers. These musicians perform for the love of their art or just because they have something important to say.

Schumann hosted Open Mic at Andy’s for five years until last summer, when Andy was ousted from Andy’s.

“I asked the Prince Theatre about the possibility of moving Open Mic there, and they welcomed us. The Prince offers nice features, such as being a community venue and being available to young people, and while still offering beer & wine, it doesn’t compete with a bar crowd. Fresh pizza is available for $2 a slice. More people attend, especially more listeners,” says Schumann.

It’s a win-win for all. For the audience it’s a night of free entertainment (complimentary bowls of peanuts and popcorn adorn the tables), and for the performers it’s a chance to try out new material.

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and goes until 11:00 pm. Participants are allotted three songs or 15 minutes. But Open Mic is not limited to musicians; poetry readings, story telling, magic, acrobats, pet tricks, and comedy are also welcome for 5-minute performances. There is no age limit.  Assigned times are scheduled until 10 p.m., after which the hour-long jam session, open to everyone, gets underway. If all the slots aren’t filled, the jam just starts earlier.

“I declare ‘the jam’s on’ and everybody gets onstage and we play. It’s the most fun part,” says Schumann. “There’s are usually one or two songs where the magic happens.”

On a recent Wednesday night, Schumann was checking his clipboard. He had filled every 15-minute slot except the first. “Nobody ever wants to go first, so I will,” he said with an easygoing smile. “I’m also the house band. I’m happy to accompany anyone.”

Sitting in a chair onstage, Schumann adjusted his mike for a sound check. Then he strummed a few bars and started singing. At times he sounded eerily like Neil Young.

Next up was Greg from Delaware. He said he had worked for twenty years with the homeless in Baltimore City. He wants to communicate with his music. He finished his three songs, but everybody seemed to want one more.

“You want to do another?” asked Schumann.

The audience clapped encouragingly.

“Go for it. You’re out-of-state,” said Schumann.

The next performer was Ed, all the way from St. Michael’s.

Ed peered into the crowd. “I write my own songs about the watermen, or something like that.”

Most of these people write songs about what they see happening in life.

“The Big Hats” took the stage and sang a hilarious song with the chorus, Hey mister, your wife’s been cheating on US. The audience howled.

Then came Keith: “These are a few songs I’m gonna try out tonight. It’s kind of a bluesy thing. This one I wrote last night, so bear with me. But it requires audience participation. On cue you shout. You’re screwed! Okay, try it now.

Audience: “You’re screwed!”

Dropping his head, Keith nodded knowingly. Then he sang a song about a mail order bride who found herself a richer husband.

The room filled with the spicy aroma of pizza. Theatre Manager of the Prince Theatre, Ann Hedgepeth, had just walked in carrying a stack of large pizza boxes. A number of people drifted to the pizza table, and then to the bar. There was a feeling that everyone, performers and audience alike, had settled in comfortably, and that the evening was just beginning.

“The switch from Andy’s has been very interesting,” says Schumann. “The first thing is that there is a real stage, instead of Andy’s less intimidating floor level. But getting up there is the essence of an Open Mic experience. So the stepping up has to be encountered, and it’s made easy by such a supportive room of fellow musicians.

Hedgepeth tended the bar and then set about refilling the popcorn and peanut bowls. In the meantime, Schumann headed for the stage, where a trio seemed to be struggling with technical difficulties.

Unperturbed, Schumann started sorting through a tangle of plugs and cords.

“For me music is an improvisation. It’s temporal. All life is an improvisation; you can prepare for it, but you’ve got to be ready to let it happen.”

Open Mic at the Prince Theatre is FREE and happens on the last Wednesday of the month (except in July & December). To participate or to set up a rehearsal, email Ford Schumann, fordo1@aol.com, or call the Prince. Sign-ups are also accepted during Open Mic if space is available.

And Around We Go, Faster

Maybe you’ve noticed how days here have gotten shorter.  And not just in Chestertown and Kent County which are used to getting the short end of things.

Incredibly, it’s that way everywhere.

Yes, daylight this time of year is supposed to last longer, what with the vernal equinox approaching. But suddenly, it seems, there’s less of it.

Scientists at NASA say the massive earthquake in Chile may have shifted the Earth’s axis. That would create shorter days.

According to a computer model at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as reported by CNN, geophysicists determined that the 8.8 magnitude quake that struck Chile on Feb. 17 moved the Earth’s axis about three inches. That shift means every day should be 1.26 microseconds shorter. It’s measurable, and brace yourself, it’s permanent.

Good news is, you’ll get to knock off work that much earlier.

Best of Chestertown: Dr. Maria Boria

Almost every Thursday evening, Dr. Maria Boria, who turns 80 this year, drives herself to and from a Marydel clinic to provide essential health care to women in the growing Latino community, most of whom have no health insurance.  While she took this particular project on only five years ago, Dr. Boria has spent a lifetime working with women in need.  After her medical training in England, she moved to India in 1958, and started a hospital that now has 2,000 employees.  From there, she started training programs in Latin America and Africa, while also marrying her husband Jim Berna, raising two children, and building her ob/gyn practice in Chestertown.

While Maria is not alone in the area of good deeds, her lifetime commitment to women’s health in some of the most challenging places in the world should make us all the more humble that she calls our community home.

Maria Boria’s 80th Birthday will be celebrated at the Prince as part of the Women Helping Women annual concert on March 10, 2010 at 7:00 PM.  For more information go to the Prince Theatre website by clicking here.

Benchworks: Chestertown’s Surprise Success

While many Chestertown businesses struggle to stay afloat in the stormy economy, one young local concern is building up staff, expanding space and emerging as a major player nationwide in marketing, advertising and public relations.

Benchworks, which moved its operations to Kent County in 2003 – into owner Thad Bench’s barn at Worth’s Folly Farm at Worton, with a staff of four – has rapidly grown to 25 fulltime employees with an additional 75 contract workers.

Its latest expansion in early February saw it taking over Seed House at the Radcliffe Mill complex, to be the site of its creative services headquarters.

Bench reckons Benchworks could be Chestertown’s 15^th largest employer today in terms of payroll and staff. He says negotiations with new clients could see the business doubling in size over the next year.

“Benchworks is now in the top one percent nationally of marketing services firms in revenue,” says Bench. He notes that a company such as his doesn’t like to talk specifically about dollars and cents, but he puts revenue in excess of $10 million annually.

“Most of our clients are Fortune 500,” says Bench. They include Coca-Cola, Pfizer, Ryland Homes, Shire Pharmaceuticals, Honest Tea and Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

At present Benchworks is helping Coca-Cola with the launching of new brands, VEB and FUZE. And all the work, ad copy, designs, sets and filming are being done right here in Kent County.

Why is a company like this thriving in Kent County? Why not Madison Avenue? Or Baltimore, Chicago, LA or DC?

“Kent County has been an absolute Godsend to us,” says Bench. “The people we’ve found here are very capable, very qualified. And clients love coming to Kent County, they think it’s a special place.

“It’s great to get work done here. We have an old granary building out on the farm and I’ve converted it into a guest house and meeting facility. We do brand strategy there. It’s really a special place and people recognize it for what it is.”

But what about reaching out to new clients? How is that done when the closest major airports are Philadelphia and Baltimore?

“We like to say we are equally inconvenient to everything,” says Bench. “But that was the Faustian deal made in coming here. I knew I’d have to travel and the bulk of clients are not found locally. I will say that after a week of travel and I get to the airport, and home is still an hour and a half away, it’s a little dispiriting.

“But as soon as I go over the Bay Bridge my bloodpressure goes down 30 points.”

In addition to Seed House, Benchworks is keeping its 44,000-square-foot warehouse and offices on Talbot Boulevard for daily operations, production and distribution.

Bench says his company works closely with other creative services, like Mullen-Ashley, and has found other exceptional local talents such as filmmaker and videographer Kurt Kolaja and artist Marcie Ramsey for illustrations.

Benchworks is in late stage negotiations with new clients in the pharmaceutical industry, and Bench says if those go favorably the company could easily double revenue in the coming year. “Then we’ll need to add staff.”

“Our hope is we can encourage this type of growth and maybe make Kent County a nexus for creative services talent.”

Best Bets

Friday, March 5

Ralph E. Eshelman and Scott S. Sheads, “The War of 1812 in the Chesapeake”

Location: Miller Library, Washington College

Time: 4 to 5 p.m.

Authors of the new book “The War of 1812 in the Chesapeake: A Reference Guide to

Historic Sites in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia” will convene to discuss The War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain, fought from the waters of the Atlantic Ocean to the vast frontier between the U.S. and Canada. The Chesapeake Bay region was the site of 11 battles, 63 skirmishes, and 86 raids during this second great war for independence. Book signing to follow.

Chestertown’s First Friday

Location: Downtown Chestertown

Time: 5 to 8 p.m.

Meander the red-brick, tree-lined sidewalks of Historic Chestertown, while enjoying extended shop hours and arts and entertainment throughout Downtown. For a list of activities, please visit www.kentcounty.com/artsentertainment.

Prince Theatre’s Reconciliation Celebration

Location: Prince Theatre, 210 High St.

Time: 7 p.m.

The Prince Theatre Foundation and the African American Heritage Council invite you to take part in a Reconciliation Celebration to acknowledge past social inequities as they were experienced at the Prince Theatre and to honor the talents of our diverse community. During years of segregation, African American citizens were made to use a separate entrance and seating to watch movies at the theatre. Through the reconciliation of these injustices and the celebration of our unity, this event will provide impetus for us to join together to create a stronger community. During the celebration portion of the event, community members will be invited to take the stage to share talents to help commemorate the evening. For information and reservations call 410-810-2060 or visit www.princetheatre.org.

Holly Hofmann and Mike Wofford

Location: The Mainstay, Rock Hall

Time: 8 p.m.

Holly Hofmann’s secure sense of swing and broad emotional range have earned her recognition amongst jazz lovers around the world as “The first lady of the flute.” Her husband, renowned pianist Mike Wofford, was pianist and music director for Ella Fitzgerald. He has had a long career as a soloist, as an arranger for Sergio Mendes, as staff pianist working with Quincy Jones on “The Cosby Show,” and as a sideman on more than 200 recordings. This is an irresistible pairing of two incomparable musicians. Call 410-639-9133 for reservations. Tickets are $15.

Spy Profile: Constance Larrabee’s War

While Constance Stuart Larrabee’s photographs have been on display at the Museum of Modern Art, the Yale Center for British Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Santa Fe Centre for Photography, as well as galleries from New York to South Africa, not one of her photographs ever hung on the walls of her own home in Chestertown. She insisted that while her photos were sometimes “all right,” they certainly were not important enough to be displayed in her living room.

It was this form of modesty that prevented Larrabee’s work to be shown until very late in her life.  Responding to pressure from friends and curators, she slowly began to go through her negatives in the early 1980’s.  What emerged over the next few years would place Larrabee’s work, in the minds of many, along side such other great photographers as Frank Capra, Lee Miller, and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

In the summer of 1998, Larrabee sat down with NPR’s Linda Wertheimer to describe her WW II experiences and her simple approach to photography. The Chestertown Spy, in collaboration with Washington College, has created a slide show of that interview to correspond with the Kohl Gallery’s exhibition opening February 19.

“Looking Back: Perspectives on the Early Photography of Constance Stuart Larrabee” opens at Washington College’s Kohl Gallery on February 19th and will be on view until March 18th. The exhibition features 36 photos selected from the Gallery’s collection, donated by the photographer herself in 2000.

Rib-Sticking Chowder

Since we’re still locked into winter, I’m still cooking those bolster-a-body soups known as chowders. According to whatscookingamerican.net, the word ‘chowder’ is purported to come from the Latin ‘calderia’ = caldron = the French chaudiere + the word ‘ jowter,’ an old English word for a fish peddler. Or something like that.

For now we’ll ignore chowders that are dieters’ delights, the varieties that start with a clear broth. I’m not talking about those.  I’m talking about those thick, creamy, potato-and-fish and, sometimes corn or winter squash jobs that are substantial enough to send you out into the snow or back to work hauling in trawling lines.

Clam chowder, a New England specialty whose first incarnation I knew as quahog chowdah, is probably the most well known of these. Most clam chowders start with chopped bacon sautéed in a heavy pot, which adds tons of flavor (and cholesterol and calories, sadly). Then you add onions, chopped clams, flour to make a roux, some broth or clam liquor, chopped potatoes and finally cream. Heaven.

The variations on that theme can be elegant enough for company. Salmon chowder is made with salmon stock* to which is added a sautéed chopped onion and a little chopped celery, white wine, garlic, pepper, lemon juice, parsley and dill and maybe a little hot sauce. Thicken it the old-fashioned way with a knob of butter mashed together with a tablespoon or two of flour stirred into the bubbling soup. Add either raw or cooked salmon toward the end, but either way be sure not to overcook the fish or you’ll end up with mush instead of definable chunks of fish. Just before serving, stir in a generous dollop of heavy cream.

Rob Etgen, Director of the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, makes a lovely rockfish chowder. He bakes the fish whole, slathered in mayo to keep it moist, until JUST flakey.  Depending on his time and energy, he’ll either make his own white sauce base or use a can of cream of mushroom soup. Then he adds chopped onions that have been sautéed in a little butter, potatoes half-steamed and cubed, sweet corn, generous lashings of Old Bay, and finally, just before serving, the cooled chunks of fish. “I like to leave skin on so you can tell what kind of fish you’re eating,” he says.

http://www.chowderrecipes.net/

http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Soups-Stews-and-Chili/Chowders/Main.aspx

http://www.hungrymonster.com/recipe/recipe-search.cfm?Course_vch=Chowder&ttl=16

*Salmon stock is easy to make if you get a whole fresh salmon. Fillet it or have the fish department do that and take home both fillets and the frame with the head.  (I fillet my own, broil some with homemade curry mustard that evening and freeze the rest for later). Dump frame and head into a stockpot with a quartered onion, some celery tops, a carrot, some white wine, half a lemon, salt and pepper and simmer for about an hour. Strain. You can freeze this in quarts for use in shrimp or lobster bisques as well as fish chowders.

College Announces $50,000 George Washington Book Prize Finalists

In commemoration of George Washington’s birthday, Washington College today announced three finalists for the 2010 George Washington Book Prize.

The books, which were chosen from 62 entries, include a masterful account of the Constitutional Convention, an insightful reconsideration of the Founding Fathers, and a lively and dramatic narrative of one of the most remarkable partnerships in American history.

The finalists are: Richard Beeman’s Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution (Random House), R.B. Bernstein’s The Founding Fathers Reconsidered (Oxford), and Edith B Gelles’ Abigail & John: Portrait of A Marriage (William Morrow).

The $50,000 award—co-sponsored by Washington College, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and George Washington’s Mount Vernon—is the largest prize nationwide for a book on early American history, and one of the largest literary prizes of any kind. It recognizes the year’s best books on the nation’s founding era, especially those that have the potential to advance broad public understanding of American history.

“Each of this year’s finalists tells the stories of some of the men and women who participated in the nation’s founding,” said Adam Goodheart, Hodson Trust-Griswold director of Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, which administers the prize. “These books are not simple biographies: they are group portraits that bring to life, in personal and immediate ways, an extraordinary era in American history.”

The winner will be announced at a gala celebration May 20 at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens in Virginia.

The finalists were selected by a jury of three distinguished historians:  Theodore J. Crackel, Editor in Chief, The Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia, who served as chair; Catherine Allgor, Professor of History at the University of California, Riverside; and Andrew Cayton, University Distinguished Professor of History at Miami University, Ohio.

They selected the finalists after reviewing 62 books published last year on the founding period in American history, from about 1760 to 1820—time of the creation and consolidation of the young republic.

Richard Beeman “has long been a jewel in the historical profession’s crown,” and in Plain, Honest Men, he has written what could be considered his “magnum opus,” the jurors wrote. They praised the book for its “clear, accessible prose” and its “willingness to engage the reader in a public conversation,” calling the work “the best modern account of the Constitutional story.”  Beeman is Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of several books on the revolutionary America, including Patrick Henry: A Biography (1974), a finalist for the National Book Award.  He serves as a trustee and vice-chair of the Distinguished Scholars Panel of the National Constitution Center.

R.B. Bernstein’s The Founding Fathers Reconsidered  “is the product of a genius for concise analysis” that in its relatively few pages “has synthesized a generation of scholarship into an extended essay about the nature and meaning of the American Revolution,” the jurors reported.  “He provides a straightforward account of men who were neither demi-gods nor scoundrels, but rather talented, imperfect human beings.”  Bernstein is a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School and has written, edited or co-edited nineteen books on American constitutional and legal history, including Thomas Jefferson (2003).

Edith B. Gelles’ Abigail & John: Portrait of a Marriage is the judges noted, “not only a lively telling of a most important chapter in our nation’s history, but also – and appropriately – a romance.” In this most recent exploration of the famous duo, Gelles “has added new dimensions, capturing the husband and wife in a truly multi-dimensional construct.”  Gelles is currently a Senior Scholar at the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Studies at Stanford University.  She began her research into the Adamses over thirty years ago and is the author of two books about Abigail: Portia: The World of Abigail Adams (1992), a co-winner of the American Historical Association’s Herbert Feis Award, and Abigail Adams: A Writing Life (1998), an examination of Abigail’s life through her letters.

You can read more about the George Washington Book Prize at gwprize.washcoll.edu.

Best Bets

Tuesday, February 23

Sassafras Watershed Action Plan Stakeholder Meeting

Location: Galena Fire Hall

Time: 6:30 p.m.

The Sassafras River Association will present its EPA-approved Sassafras Watershed Action Plan, including implementation timeline and restoration efforts to date. The guest speaker will be Russ Brinsfield. Door prizes, refreshments and more! Open to the public. For more information call Kim Kohl, 410-275-1400, or e-mail kkohl@sassafrasriver.org.

Wednesday, February 24

WC-ALL Learn at Lunch

Location: Washington College’s Hyson Lounge, Hodson Hall

Time: noon

As the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War approaches, William Shepard will highlight those striking few days in April, 1861 when fateful decisions were made under enormous pressure resulting in Maryland remaining in the Union. He will also feature some of the military and martial law incidents that took place on the Eastern Shore as the conflict evolved. Shepard is a career diplomat who has served in five embassies retiring as Consul General in Bordeaux. He is the author of the Robbie Cutler diplomatic mystery series as well as a wine editor for several websites dealing with France. Lunch is a full service buffet costing $15 for members and $20 for non-members. For further information call the WC-ALL office, 410-778-7221.

Green Drinks and talk by Andy Goddard

Location: Play It Again Sam

Time: 6 to 7 p.m.

The speaker will be Andy Goddard, formerly of Andy’s, everyone’s favorite bar. She

is now running a green consulting company here in Chestertown and will be speaking about ways to go green in your home and business.

Open Mic Night

Location: The Prince Theatre, 210 High St.

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Open Mic Night with Ford Schumman now at the Prince. Email Ford at fordo1@aol.com for information and to sign up.

Friday, February 26

“I’m Not Rappaport”

Location: Church Hill Theatre

Time: Fridays and Saturdays 8 p.m.; Sundays 2 p.m.

In the shadow of a bridge in Central Park, two octogenarians, one white and one black, meet regularly, determined to fight off all attempts to put them out to pasture. Lifetime radical and world-class kibitzer Nat Moyer’s daughter is urging him into an old folks’ home. He spends his afternoons spinning outrageous yarns that both intrigue and infuriate fellow octogenarian Midge Carter, a half-blind building superintendent who spends his days in the park hiding both from his past and from his disgruntled tenants. These irritable heroes square off against drug dealers, enlightened children, posh tenants and, ultimately, time. Playing Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays February 26 through March 14. Admission is $18 for adults, $10 for students. For reservations or information call 410-758-1331 or visit www.churchhilltheatre.org.

The Vagina Monologues

Location: The Prince Theatre, 210 High St.

Time: 8 p.m.

410-810-2060

As a global movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues 2009 marks the Monologue’s 11-year anniversary and Chestertown’s 4th annual production. The event raises awareness and money for For All Seasons, Inc., a local rape crisis center and help hotline. Presented by Washington College’s Student Affairs Office. Tickets are $15, call 410-810-2060.

“Precious,” Washington College Film Series

Location: Washington College’s Norman James Theater

Time: 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Based on the novel Push by Sapphire and starring Gabourey Sidibe, Monique,

and Mariah Carey. An overweight Harlem teen in an abusive family seeks to enroll

in an alternative school and turn her life around.

Saturday, February 27

Dick Morgan Trio

Location: The Mainstay

Time: 8 p.m.

Dick Morgan, 80 years young, is DC’s legendary jazz pianist, a living link to the history of jazz. He landed his first radio show at age 10, played for Duke Ellington as a teenager, and went on to play jazz festivals and clubs all over the world. He can bring audiences to reverent silence with jazz versions of ballads like “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” then excite them minutes later with swinging song renditions reminiscent of Erroll Garner and Oscar Peterson. At the Mainstay, he’ll be joined by Dave Einhorn on bass and Bertel Knox on drums. Call 410-639-9133 for reservations. Tickets are $20.

Lyric Bass Quintet

Location: Washington College’s Decker Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts

Time: 8 p.m.

Part of the Washington College Concert Series. Single tickets can be purchased at the door, $15 for adults and $5 for youth and students. Season tickets are available for $50 per person in advance or at the box office on performance nights. Call 410-778-7839.

“Glory”

Location: Kent County High School Auditorium

Time: 7 p.m.

A public showing of “Glory,” with discussion of G.A.R. meeting hall history to follow. The film spotlights the courageous efforts of the 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. This black regiment, led by the son of an abolitionist, suffered numerous hardships and privation even before taking the field of battle. Starring Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, and Matthew Broderick, this film provides insight into the lives of the men who built the G.A.R. Grand Army Hall in Chestertown; in fact, research indicates that at least one of the members of Post #25 served with the 54th Massachusetts. (This film is rated “R”)  For more information call Karen Somerville, 410-810-1416.

Quick Bread Baking Daze

The recent snow-forced incarceration prompted a baking frenzy in our house. My husband made his signature oatmeal bars with apple chunks and dried cranberries, which he usually takes hunting. (He just scarfed them in between shovelings.). I made every chocolate thing known to man then moved on to quick bread. Zucchini is a particular favorite. I use homegrown zukes that I shredded raw and froze last summer; thaw and drain them before adding. The grocery store also has fresh zucchini. The Silver Palate cookbook has a great recipe that I’ve made so often it now takes about 7 minutes from inception to oven.

One of the lovely things about quick breads is they freeze really well so you can make a slew on a Sunday, (or a snow day, which we seem to be having lots of lately) then stuff some in the frig and some in the freezer for church coffee hour or a Sunday brunch a month or two from now.

Quick breads, which include muffins, scones, and popovers, are wonderfully versatile. In summer you can make blueberry or raspberry streusel muffins, fig loaf with orange juice and almonds or a plain sweet loaf to spread with homemade blackberry jam.  In fall, it’s pumpkin or winter squash breads with plenty of cinnamon and ginger. In winter, it’s almost anything you have in the way of dried fruits and nuts –orange peel and toasted pecans, cranberries and walnuts and gorgonzola cheese, dried blueberries and lemon peel or even the last of the crusty jam that no one wants to finish thinned with just a little brandy or Cointreau.

Quick breads take about 10-15 minutes to put together, which makes them great candidates for beginning cooks to help with or even do themselves while you sit, sip tea and kibitz. Beat the batter no more than 50 strokes (or it gets tough and doughy), which offers a good counting opportunity for little ones. Additionally, you’re teaching the next generation to cook, a wonderful confidence-building skill that also helps kids learn how to feed themselves well.

Even without kids, you can’t beat baking for a dark-day pick-me-up. It fills the house with a luscious aroma and the larder with something yummy to use for breakfast, toasted, for lunch with a little sliced chicken or ham and sweet mustard, for an after-school, before-sports snack, (quick breads are eminently packable), for supper as the carb, or as dessert with an after-supper cocoa.  Quick breads usually have less cholesterol, sugar, salt and fat than chips or packaged snacks and are far more beneficial nutritionally, especially if you use organic ingredients.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Bread/Quick-Bread/Main.aspx

http://www.joyofbaking.com/QuickBreads.html

http://www.cooksrecipes.com/breads/savory-quick-breads.html

Legendary Constance Larrabee Photography at the Kohl

“Looking Back: Perspectives on the Early Photography of Constance Stuart Larrabee” opens at Washington College’s Kohl Gallery on February 19th and will be on view until March 18th. The exhibition features 36 photos selected from the Gallery’s collection, donated by the photographer herself in 2000.

The third exhibit in the new Kohl Gallery, “Looking Back” follows the acclaimed exhibition “Second Nature: Masterpieces of Nineteenth-Century Landscape Painting” and a show of work by students from Chestertown Middle School. The exhibition will open in conjunction with George Washington’s Birthday Convocation and is the first show curated by an individual student in Kohl Gallery.

“Looking Back” is the Senior Capstone Experience of Riley Carbonneau ’10, a double major in Art History and Sociology and a Kohl Gallery intern. Under the supervision of Drs. Donald McColl (Art and Art History) and Erin Anderson (Sociology), the exhibition represents a new opportunity for Art and Art History majors at the college to curate a show of their own choosing.

Remembered personally by many in the Chestertown community, Constance Stuart Larrabee (1914-2000) is internationally recognized for her work as a photographer, which began well before she settled on the Eastern Shore and established her long association with Washington College. In addition to her singular contributions to Friends of the Arts and the Department of Art, she left the College another legacy: a sizable collection of photographic prints, which are the subject of this exhibition.

Part of a project involving art-historical and sociological research and newly recorded oral histories, “Looking Back” contributes to ongoing reassessments of Larrabee’s work. Focusing on South Africa and World War II, the photos selected for this exhibition not only highlight documentary and formal qualities promoted by Larrabee herself, but also raise questions of meaning and context that make themselves apparent over time and continue to evolve with the differing perspectives on her photography.

A collaborative effort, the exhibition will feature a video, produced by Dave Wheelan and Kurt Kolaja (parent of Karly Kolaja ‘11) of The Chestertown Spy, over a recording of an NPR interview with Larrabee from August 18, 1998, as well as related photographs. In addition, Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience is coordinating an oral-history project.

To accompany the exhibit, Karen Hye ’10, a double-major in Art and Art History and Psychology, interested in art therapy, will show examples of the extraordinary work she has done with AIDS patients in South Africa, part of which involved Hye’s giving said patients cameras to document their lives.

The resulting exhibition, “Defined by Four Letters,” was part of the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and received national press in South Africa.

Hye continues her work in New York City, with the support of a Clarence Hodson Prize, and upon graduation hopes to take her work to India and China.

Gallery Hours are: Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesdays through Fridays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gallery is closed Sundays and Mondays and is free of charge.

State of the Plate in Spy-land

This month, the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture released the Food Environment Atlas — an interactive map of America, county by county, showing data about our health, food usage and community socio-economic factors. [http://maps.ers.usda.gov/foodatlas/]

It’s enlightening to see the data laid out so clearly. And if knowledge is power, we’re arming up.

You can compare poverty to childhood obesity. Population to access to farmer’s markets. Interestingly, there’s a map of fast-food restaurants in numbers and also in percentages of fast-food stores per 1,000. Plus socioeconomic information about our counties.

It’s very easy to use, and you’ll be navigating through it within minutes. Everything is coded with shades of color indicating intensity. My confession – I stumbled around on the blue scale for child poverty trying to figure out what the light blue area in the middle of the state was. It was the bay.

All in all, we’re not faring as poorly as some areas of Maryland. Other areas struggle more than we do with access to food stores and obesity. But our farm-to-school programs are non-existent and surprisingly, our percentage of farmer’s markets is very low, compared to how much we harvest.

And now we have a better idea of where we need work.

Best Bets

Friday, February 19

Washington College’s George Washington’s Birthday Convocation  

Location: Decker Theatre, Daniel Z. Gibson Center for the Arts

Time: 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.

 Guests are presented with honorary degrees and students honored for academic success.

Reception to follow in Underwood Lobby.

Saturday, February 20

Washington College’s George Washington’s Birthday Ball Celebration

Location: Benjamin A. Johnson Lifetime Fitness Center

Time: 8 p.m. to midnight

 All students, faculty and staff receive one complementary ticket. For all

other guests, tickets are $40. For more information visit www.washcoll.edu.

Country/Bluegrass Celebration

Location: Rock Hall Firehouse

Time: 8 p.m.

 Rock Hall Volunteer Fire Company will hold its annual Country/Bluegrass Celebration. Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the fire company. For more information call Shirley Crater, 410-639-7636, or e-mail rhvfcbusmgr@baybroadband.net.

Sunday, February 21

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

Location: The Prince Theatre, 210 High St., Chestertown

Time: 3 p.m.

 The Prince Theatre will present this new family classic. Admission is $5, suggested donations, which will cover the purchase of a new projector and facility costs. For more information call 410-810-2060.

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