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September 02, 2010
August 24, 2010
August 23, 2010
The Music of Failure
Really? Twenty-five years have come and gone since this was first published, and I still hadn't read this remarkable book? I'd better offer up thanks to the wonderful people at the University of Minnesota Press, who asked if I'd like a review copy of the recently reissued classic. I mean, it's not as if I didn't know about Bill Holm, or hadn't read some of his work, or didn't feel sad when he died last year.
Still, I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting when I cracked the (lovely) cover of this slim volume, a collection of essays Holm wrote on many topics: life on the prairie, the evolution of immigrants in Minnesota, why failure is not necessarily failure--or why it may turn out to be better than success--and a brief history of Minnesota political opinion.
None of which sounds all that great when I describe it, but let Holm do the talking, and it's a different matter. At turns reverent about the world of beauty surrounding him and wryly chuckling over human nature and immigrant assimilation, he's never at a loss for words:
"As a mountain is high, a prairie is wide; horizontal grandeur, not vertical."
"When people we love die, we swallow them down inside us, and speak with their voices. Those who love the dead are mediums already, move tables around in darkness everywhere they go."
"Catholics married in mysterious and interminable ceremonies with incense, bells, and gold robes, conducted in smoky southern language no one understood. Married in the morning, they drank whiskey, ate ham, told stories through the afternoon, and finished off by hiring a band, drinking more whiskey, dancing the polka, schottische, and old time waltz all night, ending up at dawn with hugging, lovemaking, well-wishing, and a divine ecstatic hangover. When Lutherans married, they read St. Paul, issued warnings, drank coffee in the basement, shook hands, and went to work the next day. That, presumably, was why so many more Catholics were always getting born."
"Strangers complained about the prairie's boring monotony, mile after mile of flat farm fields, but to a native even a single section of land was a microcosm of the continent: a cornfield, cultivated, civilized, straight, and square, next to a stony pasture full of those strange visitors from another planet--cows; next to that, a rolling gully, or cattail slough, and if you were lucky, a coffee-colored river with its dark willow, cottonwood, and boxelder grove along the bank; then a blue-blooming flax field stretching up to meet that intimidating, magnificent sky full of tornadoes, thunderstorms, stars clear as sword points heading toward earth on summer nights."
I don't think this is a book of interest only to Minnesotans. It's very specific to time and place, but anyone with any interest in the natural world, or immigrant history, or human nature--and anyone who appreciates beautiful writing--would love this book.
August 18, 2010
Lake Vermilion State Park
While on my trip up north recently, I had the good fortune to get a sneak peek at the new Lake Vermilion State Park, which I wrote about for Wander MN. Enjoy--it's going to be a beautiful park!
August 13, 2010
Friday food
Recently the fine folks at Voyageur Press sent me an advance copy of this:
The Fresh Girl's Guide to Easy Canning and Preserving. It gave me quite a chuckle. Not because the book is silly--it's not; but because the fine folks at Voyageur Press obviously don't know my history with canning.
Growing up, my parents both had full-time jobs. My dad worked for the state highway department, which meant long hours in the summer. In addition, they had a side business as wedding photographers. When's the busiest time for weddings? Summer, of course.
Oh--and they also had an enormous garden from which many things were preserved.
We did not have air conditioning.
So picture, if you will, a comfortable Minnesota home. Here you have two adults who are tired from their full-time jobs. Come Saturday in August (which, at the time anyway, was the most popular wedding month, not June), they spend a long day taking wedding photos, sometimes at more than one wedding (you can bet this involved pantyhose for my mother, in many non-air-conditioned churches). Sunday comes around, blisteringly hot--day of rest? Not if the tomatoes are ripe. It's canning day.
Take two tired, hot, cranky adults, and put them in the kitchen all day with hot steaming pots on the stove, keep them on their feet peeling and slicing, and for heaven's sake, don't give them A/C.
If you're envisioning some kind of idyllic family scene, sorry, you lose.
I associate canning with misery and bad tempers. And the occasional exploding jar of tomatoes.
So having this book show up on my doorstep made me smile, in a very wry way. There could not be a worse person to send it to.
But, fond as I am of Voyageur Press, I figured I'd at least give it a look-see.
You know what? It's a pretty nice book. It even includes a step-by-step DVD. I also like that the woman on the front, while appearing young and confident, could potentially wear a pair of jeans larger than a size 2.
It presents the pros of canning and even some gardening tips. Each page has a reasonable amount of information, not so much as to be overwhelming. There's a good but not scary discussion of safety. Science is present, but not so much as to intimidate non-scientific types like me. Different techniques are covered, and there are plenty of illustrations to make things visually interesting. Finally, there are several recipes, both for basic canned foods and more elaborate items, like soups, stews, and sauces.
Overall, the tone is reassuring and confident. I'm still not 100% convinced. But the book makes it look easy and not so very stressful...and I'm not a wedding photographer...and I have central A/C...and my tomato plants are producing like crazy...
August 09, 2010
Out and about
Posting may be a bit sparse this month. My book is due at the end of the month, and I just finished up the major travel portion--oh, I have lots to tell you! But first I have to put it on paper. Oh--but you can go here to see some of my North Shore travels, including seeing the tall ships come into the Duluth harbor.
I'll leave you today with this. In tiny "downtown" Lutsen, there's a general store that really strives to accommodate any customer. So you have this:
You can get milk, toilet paper, fish bait, and -- yarn. In the back room, by the bathrooms.
Gotta love it.
August 06, 2010
Friday food
This may seem a little odd, as I'm about to tell you about a product from somewhere other than Minnesota. But, it's because of a fun little trade I recently did with Debra, who lives in Peninsula, OH, and is a lovely woman (go read her blog). I don't remember the roots of the trade, but it centers around our mutual love of coffee. I love the local purveyor Peace Coffee, and Debra has her own Ohio version: Hippie Coffee.
Seriously, now--were there ever two companies more destined to be involved in a trade than Hippie and Peace??
Debra upped the ante by including a mug made herself (she designs and creates beautiful pottery over here). Note how the colors work with the coffee packages. Debra also rose to the occasion by not letting my challenge (noted on the package when I mailed her the Peace Coffee: "My peace can beat up your hippie") and keeping things, well, peaceful.
It's great coffee, and a beautiful mug, and a lovely reminder that other communities have wonderful local businesses and products, and it's a fine thing indeed to exchange them and learn about them. Thanks, Debra!!
July 30, 2010
Friday food
A couple of weeks ago, I had the great fun of exploring the southwest corner of Minnesota, including the wonderful historic town of Pipestone. I also had the opportunity to do some fantastic hiking through the uber-gorgeous prairie landscapes. Seriously--I'm now madly in love with prairies, and it's so cool to see various groups and sites trying to restore or reclaim true prairie grasses and flowers. Hey, you wonder where all the honey bees went? They're plundering the wildflowers at Blue Mounds State Park.
Anyway, all that fresh air and hiking can really work up a girl's appetite. I'd heard good things about Lange's in Pipestone, so stopped in there for a late-morning breakfast one day.
Lange's has gotten some national attention through Jane and Michael Stern, who have raved about the place, particularly the pie (sour cream raisin, mm-hmm). It's a 24/7 operation, and the day I was there it was crazy busy. No matter--the servers were flying, keeping everyone moving along and coffee cups filled.
I contemplated being moderate in my food choices. But on the menu, one item really jumped out at me. I knew it would be ridiculously huge and unnecessary, but I was hot, tired, and hungry, so...
Stuffed hashbrowns it was. That's two layers of crispy hashbrowns sandwiching ham, onions, green peppers, and cheese, along with two eggs and two pieces of toast.
I didn't finish the toast.
Sadly, that's all I can say I didn't finish. The rest was consumed with far too much enjoyment. In spite of how busy it was, I hardly had to wait any time for my order, which arrived sizzling hot, the cheese all melted and gooey, the eggs perfectly cooked (I ordered over easy). As I said, my coffee cup never was allowed to drop to the halfway point, and my server was as nice as could be.
I thought about taking some pie with me for later, but the thought of leaving sour cream raisin pie sitting in a hot car just didn't work, so I had to abandon that idea. Next time--and there will be a next time--I'm getting pie.
