Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Papa Haydn Anniversary Torte

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

mytorteweb

 

Yesterday was Bastille Day—so we hosted a “Let them eat cake!” evening at our house. Neighbors came over to help consume the sweet goodies I had to test this week. The most impressive of these (in flavor, if not in looks) was the Haydn Anniversary Torte.

 

This year Mohawk Trail Concerts is celebrating a number of musical anniversaries in addition to its own 40th birthday. The July 24/25 concert will honor the 200th anniversary of the death of Franz Joseph Haydn, known to music lovers as Papa Haydn.

 

I wanted to pay tribute to Haydn (the father of the string quartet, one of my favorite musical combinations) but I didn’t know much about his taste in food. He HAS been dead for a while, after all. I did a web search using the words “Papa Haydn” and “recipe.”

 

To my delight I found the innovative, upscale Papa Haydn Bakery and Restaurant in Portland, Oregon.

 

The owners of Papa Haydn, sisters Evelyn Franz and Heidi Van Dyke, are German. Van Dyke was trained as a pastry chef in Austria so they honored their roots by naming the place after Austria’s patron composer. They have been in business for three decades and seem likely to keep their classic tradition going for years to come.

 

I sent a plea to the restaurant. Manager Tewin Ettien generously provided the recipe below, which was created just for this year’s Haydn anniversary by Papa Haydn’s lead baker.

 

You can see that the version made by Papa Haydn (which appears at the bottom of this post) is much nicer looking than mine. Mine was looking fabulous for a while–mostly because of the sterling efforts of my sister Leigh, who has very delicate hands. She was doing a great job assembling the thing and remarked, “No one will believe you made this, Tinky,” because she knows from experience that presentation is not my forte.

 

Alas, I decided to place the final layer onto the torte myself. The result was first ooze and then collapse! I think that when I make the torte again (and it really is worth the effort and the expense of the ingredients), I’ll put it in a trifle pan. That way the collapse will be contained.

 

I didn’t have a torch so I tried broiling the fluff—again not one of my finer efforts. Another time I think I’d just use a little more filling or maybe some whipped cream on the top.

 

I hope I haven’t scared readers away from this recipe; it really is lovely, just a little challenging for those who, like me, lack the ability to put delicate things together. (If you’re one of them, do try it as a trifle!) By the way, the filling is pretty amazing all by itself with fresh fruit.

Papa Haydn (Courtesy of Mohawk Trail Concerts)

Papa Haydn (Courtesy of Mohawk Trail Concerts)

 

Ingredients:

 

for the syrup (this may make a little extra):

 

1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons framboise (raspberry liqueur)
1 tablespoon vanilla

 

for the cake:

 

2 cups cake flour, sifted
3/4 cup cocoa
1-1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1-1/3 cups coffee

 

for the filling:

 

1 cup mascarpone
6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons framboise (raspberry liqueur)
3/4 cup cream

 

for assembly:

 

1 pint fresh raspberries (plus a few more if you just can’t resist)
1 cup marshmallow fluff

 

Instructions:

 

First, make the syrup. Bring the syrup ingredients to a boil, and then let them cool completely.

 

Next make the cake. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a half-sheet pan (a pan that measures approximately 8 inches by 13 by 1). (I only had a 9-by-13-by-1 inch pan, which worked very well.)

 

Sift together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the coffee.

 

Pour the batter into the pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (about 30 minutes in my experience, but check earlier).

 

Allow the cake to cool completely. Toward the end of the cooling process, make the filling. Put the filling ingredients into an electric mixer and blend at low speed until combined. Turn the speed up to medium and beat until soft peaks form.

 

To assemble the torte, cut the cake into thirds. Make layers as follows: cake, syrup (“painted” on), raspberries, filling; cake, syrup, raspberries, filling; cake. (Save a few raspberries for the end!)

 

Put the fluff into a pastry bag and pipe it on top of the cake. Brown the top with a torch, and garnish with fresh raspberries. Serves 8.

The "Real" Torte (Courtesy of Papa Haydn)

The "Real" Torte (Courtesy of Papa Haydn)

My Torte After Collapse and Spooning (Picture it in a trifle dish!)

My Torte After Collapse and Spooning (Picture it in a trifle dish!)

Joan and Bill’s Sunday-Brunch Pancakes

Monday, July 13th, 2009
Joan Morris and William Bolcom (photo by Katryn Conlin)

Joan Morris and William Bolcom (photo by Katryn Conlin)

 

 

Intent on continuing my culinary tribute to Mohawk Trail Concerts, I got in touch with the couple who are the audience’s hands-down favorite year after year (they make an appearance at every summer concert series), Bill Bolcom and Joan Morris.

 

Bill is a Pulitzer-prize winning composer as well as a sensitive pianist and accompanist. Joan is probably our country’s leading practitioner of musical cabaret. She has a rich mezzo-soprano voice and a capacity to put across any type of song—funny, tender, bawdy, earnest: you name it, and she can do it.

 

When I asked Joan for a recipe, she replied, “Well, you’ve hit on the closest thing to my heart–after music, of course–which is FOOD!”

 

She explained that she makes these relatively low-carb pancakes every week. She added, “Sometimes I’ll add blueberries, which I did yesterday. If we’re feeling virtuous, we’ll have them with apple butter or no-sugar-added jam, but since we’ve been coming up to Charlemont we fell in love with Grade B Maple syrup from Gould’s Sugar House, and, OK, we have that, too, sometimes.”

 

My mother, Truffle, and I tried the pancakes for Sunday brunch yesterday and were very pleased. They’re a cross between a pancake and an omelet—not unlike a crepe or a blintz. A little fruit and sour cream (Greek yogurt for the healthy!) would make a nice accompaniment, but we went for the traditional maple syrup. It seemed to me that they took a little longer to cook than traditional pancakes–but the wait was worth it!

 

Bill and Joan will be featured this weekend at Mohawk Trail Concerts. Saturday night concertgoers may also support the Federated Church, the concerts’ venue (and my church; I sang a FABULOUS solo at yesterday’s morning service!) by attending the Chicken Barbecue before the concert. The highlight of the barbecue is always the homemade pies; my mother and I are contributing a couple of key-lime beauties.

 

Meanwhile, here is Joan’s recipe:

 

Ingredients:

 

3 eggs, beaten
1 cup cottage cheese
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 to 1/3 cup flour
salt to taste (Joan uses about 1/2 teaspoon; I like a little more)
a small amount of butter for cooking (Joan didn’t mention this, but my pancakes needed it)

 

Joan’s Instructions:

 

After beating the eggs in a bowl, add the other things. I’ve learned to measure out the flour first (the recipe [from which it was adapted in The Low Blood Sugar Cookbook] calls for oat flour, but any will do), then the cottage cheese, so I don’t have to wash out the measuring cup after the cottage cheese.

 

You pretty much dump everything else in, stir it up, and spoon out about 4 small pancakes at a time on a griddle pan, if you have one of those. The recipe says it makes 10 to 12 pancakes, but I’ve stretched it out to about 16 small ones.

 

They’re yummy! They come out nice and crispy round the edges. Now you know how come Bill stayed with me all these years!

 

pancakesweb

Musical Menus

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

mtc40blechmanlogoredweb

 

My neighbor, composer Alice Parker, says that she has never met a musician who isn’t also a good cook. One could argue that music and cooking speak to similar human instincts.

 

Both involve the physical body but go far beyond the physical tasks they entail. Both are forms of nonverbal communication. Both take something written down or at the very least maintained by tradition (sheet music/musical forms, recipes/styles of cooking) and make something new and unique every time we engage in them.

 

Both are human activities that emphasize process as well as product.

 

So it’s not surprising that when I was asked to write about the 40th anniversary season of Mohawk Trail Concerts my mind turned to food. (All right, I admit it: my mind turns to food a lot anyway. But this time it’s appropriate!)

 

Founded in 1969 by violinist and composer Arnold Black, the concert series sprang from Arnie’s passion for the acoustics of the Federated Church in Charlemont, Massachusetts. That love quickly grew to encompass the church community. Numerous church suppers and artists’ receptions (not to mention 40 seasons of concerts!) followed.

 

Arnie Black is now dead, but his wife Ruth and her fellow artistic director Abba Bogin continue the concerts’ commitment to good music, good community relations, and good food.

 

Younger music lovers who grew up listening to the concerts have now become involved in the series. MTC president Chas Fox of Heath is a second-generation board member.

 

When I asked him about his earliest memory of the concerts, he recalled hearing pianist Marian McPartland play when he was a teenager listening to a concert from the church’s choir loft. “I was literally sitting behind her as she played,” he said with a touch of awe in his voice. “I remember her playing a jazz interpretation of the Beatles’ ‘Come Together’ at the request of Sandy Black [Arnold and Ruth’s son], who was a Beatles fan.”

 

Chas was hooked from then on. When he was asked to join the board a couple of years ago he jumped at the chance. “I was thrilled to be invited because my dad was on the board and was president of Mohawk Trail Concerts in the early days,” he told me last week. “Because of changes in my career I now had a significant amount of time on my hands and thought this would be a wonderful thing to do, to get involved in the community.”

 

“I’m not an expert on chamber music,” he admitted. “I call the meetings, I run the meetings, and that’s what I’m good at. I also prepare the program book.”

 

Concertgoers know that he does more. His playful introductions to each concert establish the informal tone that is one of MTC’s trademarks. They also set the stage for the musical musings of Ruth Black, Abba Bogin, and the evening’s performers.

 

Just to show that food is never far from the minds of the MTC board, Chas often models aprons adorned with MTC’s logo for the crowd, encouraging audience members to go home and make food (and perhaps music!) while thinking of the series.

Chas in apronweb

 

In honor of the concerts’ anniversary I am going to offer a few (tangentially!) relevant recipes here. All relate to aspects of this season’s program, which Chas justly calls “spectacular.”

 

The first is from Chas himself. He has allowed me to reprint the formula for the “Bean There, Done That” pudding with which he hit the finals two years ago in the Pudding Hollow Pudding Contest. It takes the traditional green-bean casserole to new heights with the addition of local mushrooms from grower Paul Lagreze of New England Wild Edibles.

 

Enjoy the recipes and the ones to come—and if you’re in western Massachusetts please enjoy the music as well! MTC will offer concerts on Friday evenings at 7:30 and Saturdays at 8:00 until the end of July. For more details call the concert office at 413-625-9511.

 

 

Paul Lagreze of New England Wild Edibles

Paul Lagreze of New England Wild Edibles

 

Bean There, Done That

 

Ingredients:

 

for the sauce:

 

2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup vegetable broth (preferably made with the stems of your mushrooms and other veggies)
1/2 cup half and half
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 splash sherry
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

 

for the pudding:

 

3 scallions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced ginger (about 4 cents’ worth at Avery’s general store)
3 cups cut and cooked green beans
3 cups mushrooms (preferably local mushrooms), cut into strips (these could also be diced, which might make for a slightly smoother pudding)

 

for assembly:

 

1 can (2.8 ounces) fried onion rings

 

Instructions:

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

 

First, prepare the sauce: Melt the butter, and whisk in the flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.

 

Whisk in the broth a little at a time, and bring the mixture to a boil, continuing to stir. Lower the heat, and cook for 2 more minutes. Whisk in the half and half, soy sauce, and sherry; cook just until the mixture is warm. Remove from the heat, and stir in the sesame oil.

 

Now assemble the pudding: Combine all the ingredients except for the onion rings. Stir in half of the onion rings.

 

Place the pudding in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or a 2-quart casserole dish.  Bake for 25 minutes or until warmed through. Sprinkle the remaining onion rings on top, and bake for 5 more minutes. Serves 6.

rooms1web

Simple Gifts

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

tinky-hat-web1

 

As we approach the holiday season, it’s the perfect time to start thinking about unique and personalized gifts for our loved ones. One idea that’s both practical and fun is to create a pair of Foto Socken (photo socks) featuring pictures of family members, pets, or even favorite foods. Not only will these socks keep their feet warm, but they’ll also bring a smile to their face every time they wear them. And with so many online services available, creating custom photo socks has never been easier. So why not add a touch of personality to your loved one’s sock collection this holiday season?         

Thursday is Thanksgiving—and one of the simple gifts for which I’m grateful is my new audio recorder. It isn’t very big or very good (and it wasn’t very expensive!), but I hope that it will be useful in documenting some of my culinary adventures for this blog. Just now I’m using it to sing “Simple Gifts,” and I’ve also been researching some exciting Delta Sigma Theta shopping options to add a touch of style to my holiday season.

I haven’t quite figured out how to adjust the audio settings; I know the sound quality or lack thereof will appall my audiophile brother. But days like Thanksgiving make me want to sing. Listen by all means (just click on the link below), and please don’t be too critical. I promise I haven’t yet given up my day job!

Sing along if you like—the louder, the better. As my neighbor Alice Parker says, music should be something we make, not just something we consume. And that’s a simple gift for which we can all be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving……….

Simple Gifts

cutecardweb

 

September Song

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
 
 

          Oh, it’s a long, long while from May to December, but the days grow short when you reach September.

            “September Song” always comes into my mind and out of my vocal chords at this time of year. I sang it in the shower this morning and thought about the ways in which Kurt Weill’s music in this popular standard captures the emotions of early autumn.

            What works best about “September Song” is the tempo. As Maxwell Anderson’s lyrics in the song’s two verses remind us, September is the time of the year (and the time in our life, if we buy into the song’s metaphor of the calendar year as a stand-in for a person’s lifespan) at which the pace starts picking up, and human existence becomes particularly precious.

            The song’s singer/narrator is an older man recalling the days of his youth, days in which he waited patiently for love and life’s treasures to come his way. In September, he explains, we “haven’t got time for the waiting game.” Winter lurks right behind autumn. Death follows middle age.

            In contrast to this “gather ye rosebuds” mentality, Kurt Weill’s melody embraces and enhances the shortening days by belying the lyrics and taking its time. The song moves at a pace that seems lazy but is instead deliberate. Its mode is entirely conversational. In fact, it was premiered in 1938 by Walter Huston, a non-singer who talked his way through the piece. There simply isn’t any way to rush through this music. The joy of “September Song” for both a singer and an audience is its suspension of time.

            For the time it takes to sing the song, the old man character slows down the motions of the earth and the heavens–and makes a few moments in September seem to last forever.

            As I walk down the street with my dog Truffle on a sunny September day, I often feel the same sense of time suspended that “September Song” evokes. True, we see signs of age and of the onset of winter all around us. A maple tree starts to turn orange. The dammed-up mountain stream in which we swim grows cooler and more challenging. Sunset arrives earlier and earlier.

            We also feel signs of new beginnings, however. With summer’s heat gone, Truffle has a new spring in her step. And I somehow always find that  September is the ideal time for embarking on new projects—going on a diet, learning new music, starting a blog. Like the narrator of “September Song,” I know that I need to make stronger decisions than I did earlier in the year and in my life. Like him as well, I have faith in the power of art, nature, and sheer endurance to help humans embrace and extend the time we have.

            And these few precious days I’ll spend with you. These precious days I’ll spend with you.

                                                                               — Tinky

            To hear Walter Huston sing “September Song” in the musical Knickerbocker Holiday, visit http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=255209&song=September+Song. (Note that his lyrics are a little different from the standard version!)

 

Composer Kurt Weill Copyright 2003 Milken Family Foundation

Composer Kurt Weill Copyright 2003 Milken Family Foundation