Summer Recipes

It’s summer time; are you ready for the avalanche of tomatoes and zukes heading to your table?  Hmmm, what to make? How about some blueberry pie? Peach?  Tomato tarts?

If you want to pick blueberries now or find apples in the fall, visit http://www.pickyourown.org/NH.htm   or www.visitnh.gov  for a list of farms and growers. If you’d like to locate fresh produce, flowers, cheese and baked goods and avoid the fields, find farmer’s market locations and times at http://www.nhfma.org/ , the New Hampshire Farmer’s Market Association website.

Now let’s hunt for some recipes in cookbooks, featuring New Hampshire and New England food, found in the NHTI Library collection:

With a forward by New Hampshire’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Steve Taylor, Helen Brody writes about our farms and compiled recipes for wonderful dishes, such as Connecticut River Cheesecake (p. 44) in New Hampshire: From Farm to Kitchen with a two-page write-up for 30 farms along with 118 recipes.    

Let’s not overlook our lakes.  Jeannette Buell and Daryl Thompson collected recipes and published Hungry for Summer: a Unique Collection of Favorite Recipes from the Island Residents of Lake Winnipesaukee.  This book screams picnics, barbecues and summertime fun.  Recipes include Six-Week Cole Slaw (p.113) that will keep in the refrigerator submitted by Dot Pangburn and Bear Island Blueberry Scones(p. 46).   Peek at Bo Derek! (p. 182)

Sheryl Julian, a Boston Globe columnist, released an updated edition of The New Boston Globe Cookbook: More than 200 Classic New England Recipes, From Clam Chowder to Pumpkin Pie in 2009.  Julian writes and edits the Globe food pages; find her current recipes at:  http://search.boston.com/local/Search.do?s.sm.query=picnic+picks&s.tab=recipes 

In this classic New England cookbook, she presents recipes to highlight New England’s cuisine. Beautiful photographs of the region and the dishes accompany the editor’s description and history of the recipes.  You might try Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins (p.124) for yourself.

Brody, H. (2004). New Hampshire: from Farm to Kitchen. New York: Hippocrene Books.  TX725 .B8491315

Buell, J. & Thompson, D. (2010). Hungry for Summer: A Unique Collection of Favorite Recipes from the Island          Residents of Lake Winnipesaukee.  Denver: Outskirts Press.  TX715 .B9455 2010

Julian, S. (Ed.). (2009). The New Boston Globe Cookbook. Guilford, CT: Three Forks, 2004. TX715.2 .N48 J85 2009.

Lobstah!

It’s the end of summer – time to eat lobster and corn.  The library has acquired two new books about the lobster, Lobster: a Global History by Elisabeth Townsend and Lobster, by Richard King.

Townsend tells the story of our relationship with the lobster. From lowly pauper food to a status symbol of the rich, lobsters also became subjects for artists and writers. The author discusses today’s consumer’s concern about the ethics and controversies of eating lobsters.  At one time, lobsters were fed to the poor and servants because it was cheap food.   They were also fed to pigs and used as fish bait.  By the 1800s, fishermen were overwhelmed by the demand for lobster in New York and in London, where diners ate potted lobster.   

Richard King’s book, Lobster, provides a journey through the history, biology, cuisine and environmental status of lobsters throughout the world.  There is a timeline of the lobster, from 1495 BC to 2011 as well as a list of associations and websites.  Artists used lobsters in still lifes, as an indicator of wealth and a splash of red.  

Check the Art Museum Image Database to find artwork that includes lobsters such as The Seafood Seller; 19th Century  Francony, C

http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?recid=0bc05f7a67b1790e1b023097d85c20b7ea4f1ac31a2a1ba1036a3b5861690670e2d7156bcd4e05f02349211a127b8acd&fmt=C

Linda Greenlaw, former swordfish captain, writes about life on the Isle au Haut and her return to home to become a professional lobsterman, find a man and settle down.  You may recognize her from Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm. She chronicles life on the island, home to seventy year-round residents and her venture into lobster fishing on the Mattie Belle.   See if all her plans come true as she revaluates everything about life, luck and lobsters.

Greenlaw, L. (2002). The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island.  New York: Hyperion
King, R. (2011).  Lobster.  London: Reaktion.
Townsend, E. (2011). Lobster: a Global History.  London: Reaktion.

Book Review- New Finnish Grammar

Diego Marani (2000); translated from Italian by Judith Landry (2011)

PQ4873.A691545 N49 2011

One of the great novels of the new century - arriving in 2000 - is now available in English in what must be a beautifully realized translation from Italian by Judith Landry. New Finnish Grammar has been called “deep and rich” as well as a subtle work of “breathtaking genius.” 

The story is simple: during the Second World War, in Trieste, an unconscious, badly beaten man with obvious head wounds, wearing a Finnish sailor’s jacket, is brought on-board a German hospital ship. A tag in his jacket has the Finnish name, Sampo Karjalainen, and when he finally regains consciousness the wounded man has no memory and no language. The German doctor treating him, originally from Finland, believes that by teaching his patient Finnish it will eventually trigger the patient’s memory so he can finally rediscover who he is. Finnish is a difficult language unrelated to most languages of the world, except for Hungarian and Estonian: once the sailor is physically well enough to travel – and with a very rudimentary Finnish vocabulary - he is repatriated in hopes that seeing Finland will jog his memories.

The story is part mystery, part reflection on language and memory and most certainly about the madness and losses of war. Told beautifully and intricately from the sailor’s language study books, letters from a woman who falls in love with him, the doctor’s continuing story of his attempt to help identify the sailor – as well as discovering the doctor’s underlying motivations - the novel sweeps from the Adriatic to Finland to northern Germany to the battles between Finland and the Soviet Union. The memory of New Finnish Grammar lasts long after its having been read.  

New Subscriptions

If you are studying a foreign language or you’d like to read or study in your native language, the library has some new print subscriptions to magazines in other languages.

• Reader’s Digest (French, German and Spanish)
• National Geographic (French, Spanish)
• France-Amérique (French)
• People (Spanish)
• Takara (Japanese)

Remember, too, EBSCOhost and ProQuest databases allow a person to search in other languages. For EBSCOhost select your choice from the drop down menu under “Languages”. For ProQuest open the drop down menu from “Interface Language”.

Stop by the library and find a relaxing chair to read an issue or two.