Jordan Wright July 30, 2012 Special to The Alexandria Times
Photographer Shane Canfield
It’s Olympics Week and we’re in London. Well, not really Dearie, not the London of the Tower Bridge and the colored rings, but a smidge more local, at The Little Theatre of Alexandria far closer to the Potomac than the Thames. No, my friends, this is the London of Sweeney Todd, “who would blink and rats would scuttle” as he “served a dark and vengeful god.” Close enough, I’d say. Maybe too close.
From the opening salvos the 20-member cast of Stephen Sondheim’s spine-tingling Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Streetwill sweep you off your feet and smack dab into a Dickensian world filled with high dudgeon and deep depravity. The musical is a fierce story of love, loss and revenge merrily served up in all its carnivorous glory with a spot of tea and a stiff upper lip – body parts included. It’s a grisly horror story dripping with blood and British charm and some of Sondheim’s best songs.
Photographer Shane Canfield
We are introduced to Sweeney Todd alias Benjamin Barker upon his return to London to avenge the death of his wife by the evil and perverse Judge Turpin (Chris Gillespie) and his conspiratorial cohort, Beadle Bamford (Christopher David Harris), and to reunite with his daughter, the beautiful Johanna (Roxanne Scher), who is being held captive by the judge as his ward and future bride.
Todd falls in with Mrs. Lovett, an ambitious and wily widow with a failing meat pie shop. They strike up an unlikely and diabolical alliance and, in a stroke of business genius, Mrs. Lovett provides Todd with a tonsorial parlor above her store where they gleefully combine the two disparate businesses. “Think of it as thrift,” she chirps with a dash of gallows humor. “It seems an awful waste with the price of meat what it is.”
The Little Theatre knew Sweeney Todd was going to be a monster of a production and commandeered three producers to keep it on track. That it is one of their finest productions to date is due in no small part to Andrew JM Regiec, who appears to have his hand in most elements of the play. His superb directing, top-notch choreography and staging, including collaborating on set design with Dan Remmers, take this theater and its twelve-piece orchestra to dramatic new heights. Throw into the mix the award-winning team of Jean Schlichting and Kit Sibley who have costumed the show in high Victorian poverty splendor all the way down to the beggar women’s bloomers. Another clever touch they employ are the scarlet red silk flourishes worn by the ensemble in the opening number, the “Ballad of Sweeney Todd”, that reveals shades of things to come.
Harv Lester tackles the dark vengeful Todd with masterful aplomb. From his opening number “No Place Like London” Lester puts the entire audience in his thrall with his tremendous baritone and powerful presence. His fresh portrayal made me feel as though I were seeing it for the first time.
As Mrs. Lovett, Jennifer Lyons Pagnard, is on par with original Broadway cast member Angela Lansbury (whom this critic remembers fondly). Pagnard is captivating with gestures so naturally balanced between her left side and right side so as to present a continuous self-portrait. It was a master class in acting effortlessly. In addition her fifteen years as a vocalist with the US Air Force Band’s “Singing Sergeants” has gifted her with a performance ability more often honed on a professional stage. Pagnard knows how to memorialize a character – in spades!
Photographer Shane Canfield
Christopher David Harris is terrific as the smarmy and foppish Beadle whose ghastly encounter with a blind nightingale led my seatmate to let out a shriek heard throughout the theater… and perhaps across the pond. Keep an eye out for Zachary Frank in the role of Pirelli whose portrayal of the Italian barber is a hilarious foil to the murder and mayhem.
Countless elements contribute to the realism of the show. Art Snow adds much in terms of special effects including designing blood-spurting razors synchronized to the slashing of Todd’s victims’ throats, a chair that sends victims sliding into an abyss, and a dungeon-worthy oven billowing smoke and flames. The technical complexities of the show are impressive – as in the two double-decker turntable stages that rotate an astonishing 64 times. Add to that the more than 80 sound cues and dozens of mood-shifting lighting cues designed by the WATCH Award-winning team of Ken and Patti Crowley and you have a tremendously dynamic stage set.
Highly recommended.
Through August 18th at The Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 683-0496 or visit www.thelittletheatre.com
Jordan Wright July 12, 2012 Special to Indian Country Today Media
A scene from “Unto These Hills”
Amid the majestic scenery of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ 56,000-acre sovereign nation known as Qualla Boundary lies the city of Cherokee, which sits at the entrance of North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The area is steeped in Cherokee history and culture and a beautiful setting for a vacation adventure.There are many ways to enjoy a visit to this region. But first determine your vacation expectations. Are you pumped by the glamour and glitz of an all-night casino and a swank suite in a luxury hotel? Or do you picture yourself luxuriating in a hot tub in a rustic cabin nestled snugly in the woods? Does the outdoor life beckon? There’s backcountry exploring along the Appalachian Trail or driving the iconic Blue Ridge Parkwayand camping beside miles of stocked trout streams where you may be visited by curious elk and wake to the chirp of the Eastern bluebird. In Qualla Boundary, or very nearby, you can choose from any one of these options and at a price to suit every budget.
What to Do
For nature lovers a good place to start is at the Oconaluftee Visitors Center and Mountain Farm Museum in the park, run by the U.S. National Park Service, where you’ll learn about the early farming history of the region. You can pick up hiking and topographical maps, light camping supplies and info on the region’s flora and fauna. Resident naturalist Ila Hatter encourages amateur botanists to get in touch with the power of the plant and shares her extensive knowledge of the area’s native plants and their use for food, medicine and crafting. “The Cherokee word adowahi means the spirit of the plant,” she explains. “You ask the power of the plant to do the healing. It keeps its strength in the plant to be your medicine. It can also mean ‘forest’ or ‘guardian spirit.’ It’s comparable to the Buddhist concept of living gratefully.”
Mountain Farm Museum
Whether roughing it or living the luxe life, you’ll want to experience Cherokee culture. Spend time in the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, which has an astonishing collection of Cherokee and Paleo artifacts dating from 10,000 years ago. Here interpretive dioramas of early life mesh with dramatic videos depicting ancient myths and legends. Among carved basswood tribal masks and stone gorgets is the rifle used to execute Cherokee hero Tsali in 1838. Ask for museum interpreter (and well-known stickball expert) Jerry Wolfe, who happily shares his extensive knowledge of traditional recipes and local lore.
Directly across the road is the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, an artisans’ cooperative with more than 250 members. The modern studio-like space, which houses exquisite early and contemporary pottery, beadwork, dolls and museum-quality white oak splint basketry, is a marketplace for authentic Cherokee crafts.
The Eternal Flame greets visitors at the 18th century Oconaluftee Indian Village and Living History Museum. Cherokee demonstrators encourage hands-on participation in weaving, carving, pottery, flint knapping and other traditional crafts. A guided tour of the Cherokee Botanical Garden and Nature Trail is also offered. It is part of the North Carolina Birding Trail System, and features more than 150 native plants through a half-mile loop along the slopes of Mount Noble. Be sure to pre-purchase tickets to the spectacular outdoor evening performances of Unto These Hills at Mountainside Theater. This moving portrayal of the Cherokees and the Trail of Tears told through dance, music and drama is held in a vast amphitheater. During the day special “Step-On” bus tours led by guides in traditional dress can be arranged by contacting the museum in advance.
At the Oconoluftee Village – photo credit Jordan Wright
Master woodcarver, tribal culture bearer and gifted storyteller Davy Arch is the village’s manager and one of the lifeways guides well versed in Cherokee lore. Call the Cherokee Historical Association in advance to arrange traditional suppers or guided trips to Mingo Falls or Soco Falls with its mountaintop observation deck overlooking Maggie Valley.
Just outside of town in a valley along the Tuckasegee River lies the Kituhwa Mound, the center of what is considered the “Mother Town.” The site, established 11,000 years ago, was once an ancient village considered by the Cherokee the center of the universe. Arch brings groups here to talk about the site’s importance as the first Cherokee village and the spot where the sacred fire was kept burning.
Sporting activities in the area include fly-fishing with Rivers Edge Outfitters guides (in Spruce Pine, North Carolina), zip-lining with Adventure America’s Nantahala Gorge Canopy Tours in nearby Bryson City, where you can also ride the rails in restored vintage railroad cars at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. Or spend a few hours tubing and kayaking on the Oconaluftee River from Big Cove. A spectacular view of Clingmans Dome, at more than 6,600 feet the highest peak in the Smokies, can be yours on horseback with Cherokee guide Goodlow Bark, owner of End of the Trail Riding Stables.
Where to Eat
Restaurants abound and there are four plus a food court inside Harrah’s Cherokee Casino & Hotel, but more traditional fare can be found at Paul’s Family Restaurant on Tsali Boulevard. The stream-side cottage with outdoor deck features blueberry frybread, buffalo rib-eyes and burgers, pheasant, rabbit, mountain trout, Indian chili tacos, fried green tomatoes and homemade coconut cake.
Since 1977 Cooper’s Roadside Stand, has been boiling peanuts in giant iron cauldrons on the side of Paint Town Road. Be sure to pick up some “rat” cheese (a sharp cheddar), locally grown produce, country ham and some unique jams and jellies like kudzu or wild dewberry.
View of the Great Smoky Mountains from the Sequoyah National Golf Course – photo credit Jordan Wright
Where to Stay
Luxury—The 21-story Harrah’s Cherokee has the most luxurious accommodations including four restaurants, a food court and a casino, currently under a major expansion. Book ahead if you want to hit the greens at the nearby Robert Trent Jones II–designed Sequoyah National Golf Course. The hotel is proud to be a participant in Harrah’s award-winning CodeGreen environmental sustainability and energy conservation program and recently installed 150,000 square feet of sedum on their new porte-cochère roof.
At Harrah’s Cherokee in the Rotunda – photo credit Jordan Wright
Comfortable Adventuring—A 45-minute drive from Cherokee on the western side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the Fontana Village Resort on the 30-mile-long Fontana Lake. The 400-acre property has a large marina and features a great lodge, private cabins or riverside tent camping. With plenty of planned activities throughout the day, it’s like summer camp for the whole family. Free concerts are held on weekends and evenings are for gathering around the fire pit, karaoke contests, sunset pontoon boat cruises, ghost tours and Indian storytelling. While there plan to visit Fontana Dam. At 480 feet high and 2,365-feet across, it’s the tallest concrete dam east of the Rocky Mountains.
The Lodge at Fontana Village Resort
The Outdoor Life—Tents, cabins and RV campgrounds are in every nook and cranny. Within walking distance from town is the Cherokee Campground & Craig’s Cabins where you can put your fishing pole in Soco Creek right outside your cabin door. For camping with a pool and plenty of kid’s activities try the local KOA campground or the Adventure Trail Campground.
Upcoming Festivals Eighth Annual Festival of Native Peoples—July 13 and 14
Cherokee Blueberry Festival—August 11
Southeastern Tribes Festival—September 14 and 15
Centennial Cherokee Indian Fair—October 2 through 6
Let the tasting begin – photo credit Jordan Wright
What’s more local than partnering with your neighbor? For the food trucks that visit Alexandria’s Port City Brewing Company, producer and neighbor Logan’s Sausage lends kitchen space close by the Wheeler Avenue brewery. Fun fact: From 5 till 8pm on alternate Friday or Saturday nights The Big Cheese and Borinquen Lunch Box food trucks join the party at the brewery. Try the Puerto Rican style Churrasco Steak Sandwich or Cuban Sandwich from Borinquen, or the Cherry Glen Chevre with lemon fig jam from The Big Cheese who sources all their cheeses from the Cowgirl Creamery.
The monster storm that knocked out power to over a million people in our area earlier this month caught many local businesses off guard. At Alexandria’s Port City Brewing Company power was out for five days, compromising the process of some of the precision controlled beers. But from disaster comes a story to warm the cockles of your eager brewhearts.
Founder Bill Butcher along with Head Brewmaster Jonathan Reeves had been in the process of making the last batch of Downright Pilsner when the storm hit. “From lemons you’ve got to make lemonade,” Butcher told me. I think he meant that in a beer way. So while the vats’ temps had soared, fermenting the batch at a higher temperature than intended, they did a little research and found a style of beer called ‘California Common’ or ‘Steam Beer’ that ferments nicely at the higher temps. This happy accident will be called “Derecho Common” in deference to the type of storm that brewed it. Also called a ‘one-off’ or ‘shadow beer’, Port City will carry it along with the four other brews they are known for – Optimal Wit, a Belgian style Witbier; Essential Pale Ale, a golden beer with a fruity hop aroma; Monumental IPA, a balance between hoppy bitterness and rich malty goodness; and Porter, displaying a roasted coffee/dark chocolate character.
Spice mix for the Optimal Wit at Port City Brewing Company – photo credit Jordan Wright
As for their drowned out July 1st “Pint Party” to celebrate the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control board’s new law finally allowing breweries to serve on premises, neighbors provided the borrowed electricity for the bands and lights a few days later.
In the meantime they’ve put their shoulders to the vats seven days a week for the past three weeks to get back on track after losing three weeks off their production schedule from the storm’s aftermath. (No worries. If you drop by all your faves are there on tap or for sale.)
During a recent tour I learned a great deal about the craft beer process, a quantum leap from the massive operation I beheld at the Guinness Storehouse last spring in Dublin. For example they use a Robot Coupe to blend the coriander, orange peel and Grains of Paradise – an exotic combination of African peppers used in the Optimal Wit. And that Reeves developed a machine called the ‘hop cannon’ to dry hop the beer while it rests in fermenting tanks. In addition their beers are all date stamped and leftover grain stored in the silo in the parking lot goes to a farm in Virginia for cattle feed. Oh, and they use the freshest local War Shore Oysters to make their Revival Stout a process that adds the oysters and their liquor to the briny brew during the boil and steep the shells in the brewing water to add mineral content.
This location is a busy spot both days and evenings with fans arriving regularly to refill growlers and enjoy tastings. Butcher has had to add a second tasting bar, proudly telling me, “It’s a very thirsty market!” Indeed!
For tours and hours visit www.portcitybrewing.com. Or Go to PCBC’s Twitter, Facebook or website to keep current on daily events.
Celeb Chef Joins the Equinox Team
Ellen Gray (center) with Executive Chef Karen Nicolas (left) and Pastry Chef Brandi Etinger (right) – photo credit Jordan Wright
Equinox’s Executive Chef Karen Nicolas could get lost behind a dough machine. The petite chef with the gleaming brown eyes may be small in stature but her ingredient-driven cuisine is now writ large on the culinary stage. At a summer casual party, replete with a live band, the much-adored Todd and Ellen Gray introduced Nicolas and her cuisine to the city’s food writers with the oft-hinted at but now formal announcement that she has been chosen Food & Wine’s Best New Chef of 2012. Nicolas who is Filipino as is White House Chef Cristeta Comerford (Is this a trend?) has been keeping the secret since the magazine informed her last November. Try keeping that under your toque.
Nicolas served up some scrumptious bites straight from her “Ode to Summer” menu. Here are a few of the items on this season’s four-course or six-course menu that offers the option of wine pairing.
Heirloom Summer Melons compressed in anise hyssop with cubanelle peppers, formaggio capra and cucumber water; Sea Salt Cured King Salmon with apricot, fennel crema, Minus 8 Ice Wine; Corn Flour Tagliatelle with Maine Lobster Velouté, summer squash and sorrel. I could go on, but I’m delicately drooling on my keyboard as I write this. I don’t usually mention the prices but in this case I note that they are astonishingly gentle – the four-course at $40 the six at $60. Add on for the wine pairings.
When I asked Nicolas if she had a signature dish she appeared to ponder the question. “Not yet,” she mused. Maybe diners will choose one for her.
I urge you to taste her imaginative dishes for yourself and weigh in when you find your favorite. Gray has always been out in front when it came to buying fresh and local and still is. We’ll happily afford a pass to the Maine lobstah and Alaskan King salmon.
In Just Under the Wire Saturday’s Party and Femivore Award Winners
Eat Local First Farm-to-Street party on V Street – photo courtesy of Think Local First
In another celebration of local farmers and restaurateurs the Eat Local First’s Farm-to-Street Saturday party is the last of a week’s worth of local food, beer, drinks and artisans events at the 1300 V Street, NW outdoor location. Think Local First’s Executive Director Stacey Price and her dynamic team have been partying with the community for the past seven days and have one last event to offer this Saturday from 1 till 7pm. With 40 vendors and 4 bands there’ll be plenty to enjoy. Admission is $15.00 and includes four drink or food tickets.
The organization sponsored a Femivore award with a dinner at RIS. The top finalists and a $1,000.00 award were Lauren Biel and Sarah Bernardi of DC Greenswhose mission is to focus on DC college students, putting them to work in school gardens throughout the city mentoring younger students to grow their own produce to “connect communities to healthy food.”
Femivore Award – photo courtesy of Think Local First
Tied for runners-up with a $500.00 award provided by Mitch Berliner of Essential Farm Markets were Kathryn Warnes and Lisa Jordan with their Taste of Place program to expand culinary tourism in Washington D.C. The women seek to “help you experience the taste of place with hand-on farm-to-table culinary adventures, exploring local food in urban and rural environments.”
Allison Sosna with PINE and MicroGreens also came in as runner up with her innovative business model combining her experience as a restauranteur with a desire to contribute to community outreach. Sosna hopes to, “bridge the gap between food access, food knowledge, and the joy of cooking.” Her fast casual resto PINE sources locally and uses its resources to fund MicroGreens, a program to teach children to cook on a food stamp budget. Berliner generously provided an equal reward to both.
Well-deserved and enterprising programs coupled with thoughtful recognition for their selfless efforts. Now that’s what we call Olympian!
Jordan Wright July 2, 2012 Special to Indian Country Today Media
TOTEM – Cirque de Soleil
Christian Laveau keeps to his roots – both literally and culturally. As an herbalist he stays grounded by following the ways of his people working for several years at the First Nations Garden at the Montreal Botanical Garden sharing his knowledge of native plants and traditional medicines passed down to him by his Huron-Wendat elders. As a cultural ambassador he is a well-known Canadian performer, TV host, comedian, singer, songwriter, television producer and musician. His award-winning children’s show Chic Chocfocuses on inspiring stories directed towards Canadian youth.
Painted bear symbol on Christian Laveau’s drum face – photo credit Jordan Wright
His most recent role is as the lead singer in Cirque de Soleil’s latest production TOTEM, a fascinating tale of the evolution of man from its original amphibian state to its ultimate desire to fly. Illustrated through a visual and acrobatic language, it falls somewhere between science and legend. Laveau was discovered by the iconic Canadian company while performing at a pow wow on his reservation.
Beaded wolf symbol on Christian Laveau’s drum – photo credit Jordan Wright
He enters the room filled with coiled energy and childlike excitement, carrying a drum and stick. He seems self-possessed and contained, but eager to let loose. His impish smile is warm and infectious and his arms envelop his well-worn drum like a proud father. As he speaks he toys with a small smooth stone.
Christian Laveau – photo credit Jordan Wright
Jordan Wright – Is that the drum you use in the show?
Laveau – Yes, I play my own drum. This one is 25 years old and made of caribou hide, and these are partridge feathers. The beaded part is the symbol of the wolf. I use the wolf, as my symbol. For me it is very important because he is a warrior. He represents strength and courage. It’s a kind of keeper. The painted part is the bear, my spiritual animal, because I am in the Bear Clan. This symbol is the sun – wenta’ye yändicha’ in my mother language.
Wright – What was your childhood like on the reservation?
Laveau – We call it a reserve. It’s in the Northwest part of Quebec. It’s very small – around 2,000 Wendat live there. Wendat means human being. When the government made the national park they took my grandfather out of the bush. He was a trapper. My mother was just six years old then. That’s when she saw electricity for the first time.
I grew up on the reservation with my sisters, mother, father and cousins who still live there. It’s a matriarchal society in my culture. If you remain there you have no other choice but to work for the Band Council or for the Chief or make crafts. But I had a dream to leave and go to acting school. So I went to the indigenous theatre company, Ondinnok, at the National Theatre School of Canada for three years to study my aboriginal roots.
Wright – What did that experience mean to you?
Laveau – I left my reservation and went to Montreal. At the institute we studied native culture and spirituality. We used songs, instruments and dance as a way to discover our real spirit.
It was more than a school. I studied with Yves Sioui Durand. He’s very intense and made us go very deep inside of ourselves to feel the pain and the joy, and the peace and the war of our ancestors. In my blood I have all those memories. We tried to experience those emotions, to have respect for them and to explore them, to make us stronger. And we will continue to fight.
My grandfather is one of my idols because he spent his life in the bush and my great-grandfather also was in the territory all his life, protecting and preserving the area and its traditions – hunting, fishing and gathering. I learned that it’s important to balance the forest.
My grandfather said if we go to the lake and find two beaver families, and if we leave them there, they will destroy everything around. But we need to eat, to make hats from the fur and tools from the bones. Where we live we cannot be vegetarians because it’s too cold! We use the kidneys to make a tea for when you have a cold. It is the animal that comes to us. We always put tobacco at the place where we hunt the animal. It’s to thank Mother Earth for giving us food. It shows we are grateful so that the spirit of the animal can go in peace.
Wright – I noticed you wrote and recorded an album mixing traditional Native songs with folk and New Age.
Laveau – It’s called “Sondakwa”, which is my first name in my mother language. It means ‘eagle’. In the video I made for the album I worked with Gilles Sioui, a bluesman and an elder with the native spirit. I’ve been a fan of his since I was a child. He’s been my inspiration. One day he heard me singing at a pow wow and I said to him, “You don’t know how much I would like to work with you,” and he said, “I’m your man!”
Wright – How do you reach young people with your message?
Laveau – I have a TV show called Chic Choc on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). In native language it means, “Go over the mountain.” It’s for the youngsters that I do this TV show. It’s difficult for them. There are not a lot of things to do in the area and there are problems with alcohol and drugs. They don’t even allow glue in the classrooms. But because the children are the keepers of our culture we have to show them and use what our grandparents gave us. My grandmother always spoke to me about the importance of the “Seventh Generation” and continuing our traditions.
Wright – Where is your stone from?
Laveau – Well, they come from everywhere because whenever we have a pow wow we always exchange stones. It’s my talisman. This one is from a friend from the Atikamekw Nation in Quebec. I’ll eventually exchange it for another.
Wright – It seems in your career you do it all.
Laveau – It’s natural for me. It’s in my blood. It’s not complicated for me. My mother is a singer and I began singing with her when I was five years old. My father was a dancer so I studied traditional dance, after that he was a chief. But that’s not for me. I’m not political. I’m too sensitive. I prefer to share my culture. I don’t have the strength of my father to be a chief.
In the show I sing in my mother language. Guy Laliberté [founder of Cirque de Soleil] said, “You are a realculture, you are alive, so you will sing in your mother language.” For me it’s really an honor. Every night I use my own drums and other personal items.
Tim Smith, Artistic Director of Cirque de Soleil’s TOTEM – photo credit Jordan Wright
Tim Smith, who has been TOTEM’s Artistic Director through its inception, was there to answer additional questions about the production.
Wright – Tell me something about the show.
Smith – We concentrate on the human instinct. In us we have every origin of species all the way through to man’s wanting to fly, which is why the totem pole reflects the many faces of man and why we have an eagle on top. It’s man’s constant need to progress forward and often upward that’s why a lot of our images are aerial and constantly moving artists from the ground to the air.
Wright – Are there other Native performers in the cast?
Smith – The show is truly multicultural. We have 53 artists from 17 different countries speaking 9 different languages on stage every night. Two are American Indian dancers performing traditional dance – Shandien Larance (Hopi) and Eric Hernandez (Hopi) from New Mexico and California. They are authentic hoop dancers. The hoop shapes describe evolution from frog to thunderbird. We don’t teach them, we go out and find the real thing. We use a lot of traditional images and Christian (Laveau) has written a lot of original music for the show in collaboration with the composers of Cirque. That’s how authentic TOTEMis, and how important it is for the company to embrace that voice and that spirit.
With over 180,000 products from 80 countries and regions on display at this week’s Fancy Food Show in DC, even a veteran show-goer needs a game plan before navigating the packed convention floor. Armed with the show’s diagram I hit the cavernous souk-like space like a laser-guided missile.
I like talking with the startups, entrepreneurs who are just getting their feet wet in the marketplace. Most are looking for East Coast distributors for products already found in stores on the West Coast. Scads of delicacies captured my eye and palate. Here’s a first look at a few I swooned over.
Calamondin Café
Calamondin Cafe’s cakes and coulis – photo credit Jordan Wright
Laurie Gutstein, MD presides over 1,000 calamondin trees on Pine Island, an area close by Ft. Myers along the Gulf Coast of Florida. Better known as a region for palm tree growers along with vegetable, mango and lychee farms, Gutstein’s family farm sits in the community of Bokeelia close to Matlacha, a quaint fishing village, evocative of “Old Florida”.
The plant’s history in this country began in 1899 when American botanist and plant explorer David Fairchild, brought back some seeds after an expedition to Panama. Along with his benefactor Barbour Lathrop they introduced citrofortunella microcarpa to South Florida. Floridians took to planting the prolific tree in their backyards making desserts and preserves from the golf-ball sized fruit. The glossy leaved plant produces an orange-hued fruit with a thin rind and near-zero pith, packing a lot of juice for its miniature size.
By the mid-20th century, when a destructive fruit fly began besieging the trees and the arrival of modern foods turned many home cooks from the kitchen, its culinary use went the way of the butter churner. That is until a few years ago when Gutstein unearthed a recipe from an old family friend and started tinkering with different formulas to create teacakes glazed with the sweetened fruit whose unique flavor profile, rather like a cross between a kumquat and a tangerine, has a wow factor of ten. Now you can order her moist calamondin-drenched cakes in three sizes or have your own jar of sunshine with her calamondin coulis. www.calamondincafe.com.
SeaSnax
SeaSnax Chef Roscoe Moon – photo credit Jordan Wright
Kale chips have been gaining a lot of traction lately but seaweed’s luster is on the rise thanks to a recent tout from TV’s Dr. Oz who featured SeaSnax in a recent episode. These crispy roasted seaweed snacks from Korea are nutritious and addictive, and converts will like that they’re non-GMO, gluten free, with no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Did I mention all the vitamins and minerals seaweed contains? Nine flavors from Spicy Chipotle and Toasty Onion to Classic Olive and Wasabi, it comes in full-size sheets or nifty grab-and-go packs. Visit www.seasnax.comto find a store near you.
Types of seaweed used in SeaSnax – photo credit Jordan Wright
Living Tree Community Foods
Nut butters from Living Tree Community Foods – photo credit Jordan Wright
Founder and president of Living Tree Community Foods, Jesse Schwartz is a former professor and amateur botanist. During the 1970’s he spent much of his time roaming California’s Santa Cruz Mountains, the Sierra foothills and Mendocino County collecting rare heirloom varieties of apples. Through a process of grafting he brought many of these old time apples back from extinction. Schwartz first started by making and selling almond butter, eventually growing his business to 25 different nut and seed butters along with olive oils, chocolate, bee pollen and many other “alive” products – all are unheated and organic.
At the show were samples of Almond, Pistachio, Walnut and Hazelnut Cloud – each one smooth textured and distinctive. One of their latest products and certainly one of the company’s most intriguing, is Berkeley Buzz Butter, made with chocolate, acai berries, ginger, rosemary, cinnamon and honey and a whole host of other organic ingredients. Visit www.livingtreecommunity.com for recipes and to order by mail.
Bovetti Chocolates
Last year I discovered an amazing product from the Italian company Bovetti, an artisan chocolatier whose elegantly made chocolates rise above so many competitors. After misplacing their product materials and unable to recall the company’s name, I deliberately sought them out again this year. The company produces an outstanding range of over 140 different chocolate bars all from fair trade chocolate. Some have spices added such as Sichuan pepper, espelette chili, ginger, cardamom or fennel. The fruity ones add candied apricots, cherries, and bananas. And some feature flowers like violets, rose petals and jasmine. My favorite is their line of Aperitif Chocolats, tiny seeds of fennel, aniseed, rosemary and pink peppercorns individually enrobed with white or dark chocolate creating miniature spheres that explode with flavor. Find them at www.bovetti.com.
DC’s BuddhaFest Inspires
Congressman Tim Ryan (Ohio) at BuddhaFest – photo credit Jordan Wright
DC’s BuddhaFest last weekend was a blissed out affair designed to put you in touch with your inner self. Aren’t we all seeking that elusive state? The Pink Line Project hosted the festival at the Spectrum Theatre in Rosslyn where Friday night’s speaker, Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan (D), spoke to the rapt audience with a discussion of his new book, “A Mindful Nation”. The former quarterback cut a dashing figure as he expounded on the country’s “quiet revolution”. His programs on “mindfulness” have recorded an impressive success rate in major universities, corporations, prisons and high schools. But he seemed most proud of its successful teaching to returning vets suffering from PTSD. Sharing the stage with Ryan was Tara Brach, author, psychologist and founder of the DC Buddhist Fellowship along with her husband, yoga instructor Jonathan Foust. A screening of the award-winning and inspirational documentary Buddha’s Lost Childrenclosed the evening.
Tara Brach at BuddhaFest – photo credit Jordan Wright
Ode to the Grape
Lemongrass shrimp at The Curious Grape – photo credit Jordan Wright
At TheCurious Grape in Arlington’s Shirlington Village I found myself snug in a suéded banquette basking in the sunny glow of a restaurant with a full wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. The former wine and cheese shop has moved around the corner from their former home and added a restaurant. The stylish new digs have a relaxed modern flair with honeyed wood floors and ebony-hued tables and chairs. A vineyard inspired mural soars over the black granite topped bar – a great spot within a short walk to Signature Theatre and the local arthouse movie theatre. Driving home the grape décor is the purple room-length banquette with accenting purple napkins.
Wine, Dine and Shop is the resto’s tag line. The shop section features coffees, chocolates, and artisanal products while over 300 well-chosen wines are cradled in cherry wood rows of racks. Over 25 varieties of chocolates including Vosges Haut-Chocolat, organic Taza, the ultra elegant Amedei from Tuscany and Askinosie, rated “The South’s Best Chocolate” by Southern Living Magazine. The La Salamandra Dulce de Leche, with or without chocolate is an indulgent drizzle over vanilla ice cream. There are olive oils too. L’Estornell an organic 100% arbequiña olive oil from Spain being one of my faves. I also spied Vincotto fig vinegar and Revolution Tea, and coffees from roasters Novo Coffee of Colorado and Lexington Coffeevia the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. A case of international cheeses for take home stands beside the café’s extensive espresso and pastry bar.
The espresso bar and shop at The Curious Grape – photo credit Jordan Wright
The restaurant wants to share its not inconsiderable knowledge of wines. Co-owner Suzanne McGrath, a certified wine educator and her partner, Katie Park, hold frequent seminars highlighting regions from Spain to Oregon. The night we visited wine consultant Cheryl Hauser was conducting one of the weekly Thursday night wine tastings in the private glassed-in dining room.
The menu itself is designed to assist by guiding the diner to suggested wines for the most optimal pairing for its seasonally inspired dishes. Thirty wines are available by the glass or half glass and most of the dishes can be ordered in half or full portions. An alluring prospect for those of us who prefer a different wine with every course and look to sample a variety of dishes. In addition there are more beers, both by bottle and draft, local and imported, than I could possibly describe here. Suffice it to say the full or half drafts would make for an evening of adventurous tasting.
Straight out of the gate the food was creative and memorable. Executive Chef Eric McKamey, who at the tender age of 28 has worked in some of Washington’s finest kitchens including PassionFish, Local 16, Proof under Haidar Karoum, Central under Michel Richard, CityZen under Eric Ziebold, Palena under Frank Ruta and the now-shuttered 2941 under Jonathan Krinn,has a firm grasp on flavor, technique and presentation.
Baby artichokes starter at The Curious Grape – photo credit Jordan Wright
We sampled a silken yellow tail with preserved lemon and a piquant radish salad before moving on to baby artichokes with spring garlic and breadcrumb topping. A daily special was fresh tuna salad over tart fried green tomatoes paired nicely with a Michael Shaps Viognier from Virginia Wineworks. Another winning dish was lightly charred head-on lemongrass shrimp complemented by roasted peanuts and Thai basil and nestled cozily over rice noodles bathed in cucumber tamarind vinaigrette.
Pan seared sea scallops – photo credit Jordan
Entrees beckoned. Red wine braised lamb shoulder falling off the bone proved meltingly rich and tender. Pan-roasted sea scallops partnered up with firm textured black rice, baby bok choy and a delicate plum wine beurre blanc and was a neat foil for “Le Orme”, a 2009 Barbera from Michele Chiarlo.
Desserts were a grand hoorah to the restaurant’s house-made pastries – a charming tuile cup filled with lemon mousse perched on a puddle of lavender blueberry preserves, and a dark chocolate pot de crème with caramelized hazelnuts and chocolate batons.
There are four types of three-cheese platters broken up into categories according to types of wines. Our “White Wine Cheese Selection” included white Stilton with apricot, Gruyère de Compté and Beehive Teahive from Utah. And thanks to the menu’s guidance we opted to pair it with a Vajra moscato and a Douro Valley Croft ruby port. Clearly both chef and sommelier have created a most harmonious union!
Jordan Wright May 24, 2012
Special to Indian Country Today Media Network
Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma City, OK
Before the doors open at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City to more than 30,000 visitors, before the drum keeper touches stick to hide and dancers twirl their four-foot buckskin fringe and minutes before the first handwoven basket is purchased or warm fry bread tasted, the day will begin with the ritual smudging of sage leaves.
From Friday, June 8th through Sunday, June 10th, American Indian art and culture will be on display at this year’s 26th Annual Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival where more than 1200 artists and over 500 of the country’s finest dancers come together to compete in one venue and visitors will witness one of the country’s leading cultural events.
Thirty-nine sovereign tribes are headquartered in Oklahoma, each with their own language. Combine that with over a hundred tribes that will be represented here plus journalists and visitors from places as far-flung as Japan, Great Britain and Germany, you can expect to hear more languages spoken here than throughout all of Europe. National Geographic and Good Morning Americahave covered Red Earth, and last yearUSA Today named it one of 10 Great Places to Celebrate American Indian Culture by.
Partnering with the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, which houses a permanent collection of about 1700 historical artifacts and contemporary art, the Red Earth Master Artist Show will display the festival’s winning artwork from the previous 25 years. In addition the highly selective juried show and separate art market will exhibit works from celebrated artists along with beadwork, basketry, jewelry, pottery, sculpture, paintings and cultural attire, allowing visitors to purchase both contemporary and traditional examples of American Indian arts and crafts.
“Over the past five years we have seen about a 20% growth each year in our event,” reports festival spokesperson Eric Oesch. “I think it shows that it appeals to people from every walk of life. Red Earth is for the purpose of sharing cultures and so we attract people, both Indian and non-Indian, from not only Oklahoma and all over the United States but also from around the globe to experience our unique cultures.”
On Friday morning amid 50-story skyscrapers the Grand Parade will kick off the weekend with an explosion of tribal culture featuring dancers, floats, Indian princesses, a football field-sized flag, honor guards, Indian firefighters, horse-drawn stagecoaches and brilliant regalia. This year the Navaho Nation Marching Band from Window Rock, Arizona will perform.
During the all-indoor festival children’s activities will be sponsored by a different tribal museum each day. Lots of hands-on activities as well as beadwork, keepsake boxes, musical performances and storytelling will be conducted by the Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center in Lawton OK, the Citizen Potawatomi Museum in Shawnee, and the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.
Two other exciting events will take place in Oklahoma City over the same weekend. The seven-acre Myriad Botanical Gardens, which recently underwent a $43 million dollar renovation, will be the backdrop for the first Red Earth Invitational Sculpture Show featuring 12 monumental sculptures of bronze, glass and water. The pieces are designed by some of the nation’s most reknowned Native sculptors including Janice Albro, Denny Haskew, John Free, Bill Glass, Jr., and former Oklahoma Senator and former Chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Enoch Kelly Haney.
From June 6th through the 10th film buffs will flock to the deadCENTER Film Festival to see more than 150 films. Known as one of the “20 Coolest Film Festivals in the World” by MovieMaker Magazine, the avant garde festival will screen two important American Indian films including the world premiere of the 1920 historic filmDaughter of Dawn, a recently restored film with an all-Native cast. Screenings for this film will be held at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s Noble Theatre. The Dome of Heaven, an indie film by Oklahoman Diane Glancy (Cherokee) starring actor Wes Studi (Cherokee), will be shown at the Harkins Bricktown Cinemas. Visit www.Deadcenterfilm.org for screening times and places.
Beginning Sunday, June 10th the weeklong Nike N7-sponsored Jim Thorpe Native American Games will be held at sporting venues throughout Oklahoma City, where teams participate in the All-Star Native American High School Football and Basketball Tournaments, as well as in nine other sports categories from golf, swimming and wrestling to stickball, martial arts and track and field. The Olympic-style Games will play host to 3,000 student athletes representing 70 different tribes throughout Canada and the United States.
This year’s Games will commemorate the 100th anniversary of Thorpe’s gold medal-winning performances at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. Thorpe (Sac and Fox) who played both Major League baseball, basketball and professional football, was voted “The Greatest Athlete of the 20th Century” by the Associated Press and was the first president of the National Football League (NFL).
Executive Director, Annetta Abbott told ICTMN, “This will be our largest event ever and will have a Parade of Nations, Indian dancers and fireworks.” For additional info and event schedules visit www.jimthorpegames.org.
