Monthly Archives: May 2018

Musical Masterworks Modern Presents ‘The Percussion Collective’ This Evening at LAA

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Experience contemporary chamber music featuring The Percussion Collective — Robert van Sice on Friday, May 11, at 5:30 p.m. at Lyme Art Association. Their distinctly insightful approach to the performance of percussion chamber music challenges the limits of excellence and delights audiences.

Enjoy the sounds – and sights – of Seaborne, The Percussion Collective’s new composition that includes cinematography of the ocean as an integral element of the performance.  A recent concertgoer who saw the world-premiere of Seaborne at Yale in March described her experience thus, “I was so moved by the performance that I left with tears in my eyes, it was very powerful and beautiful – I can’t wait to experience it again.”

The Percussion Collective was formed by Madison resident, Professor Robert van Sice, Chair of the Yale Percussion Department.  The program will begin with Seaborne, a piece by Emmy Award-winning composer Garth Neustadter. In addition to the compelling percussion work for six musicians, Seaborne also contains a video component by marine photographer Kjell van Sice, putting the piece “at the nexus of the percussive art soundscape and the visual celebration of our endangered oceans.”

Neustadter’s mastery of cinematic composition and van Sice’s poetic aquatic images prove to be a powerful collaboration in this new work for percussion sextet.  Seaborne aims to awaken sensibilities in the audience to both the importance and beauty that our oceans possess.

The ensemble will then perform the iconic Sextet by Steve Reich, one of the seminal pieces in the percussion repertoire.  The Percussion Collective — Robert van Sice performed the world-premiere of Seaborne at Yale in March. This concert in Old Lyme represents the continuation of their national tour. 

This special performance has been generously sponsored by The Howard Gilman Foundation.  Howard Gilman believed in the power of the arts to transform lives and the Foundation honoring his legacy supports the most robust, innovative, and promising performing arts organizations.

Admission is $35; Student admission is $10.  Admission includes a reception prior to the concert at 5:30pm; the concert begins at 6:30pm.  After the performance, continue your evening with 10 percent off dinner at Old Lyme Inn, only available to MMModern concertgoers. 

For full details and to purchase tickets, visit Masterworks at www.musicalmasterworks.org or call 860.434.2252. 

A la Carte: Bake the Best Big, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!

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Big and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies

A few days after I made banana bread (about six overripe bananas I had, to which I added five overripe ones from Noank friends), I decided it was time to make cookies. (By the way, all four of the banana breads left my homes to friends’ kitchens, because I didn’t want to eat them.) Alter all, I had already thawed two pounds of unsalted butter and, while looking for the chocolate chips (wafers, actually), I saw an unopened package of cinnamon chips and an unopened package of candied ginger.

So I searched for my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe and could not find it under any headings—oatmeal, cookie, cinnamon, nothing. And it wasn’t in my paper file, either. Is it possible I never wrote about them? Anything is possible, I guess, so I found the same book I had used for the banana bread and didn’t even have to use the index; I just leafed through the nearly 600 pages and it opened to Big and Chewy Oatmeal Cookies. I have probably made that recipe so many times that it had three or four different stains on it and maybe some of the pages were damp too.

As with many recipes, I double this one. They freeze beautifully. I pay little attention to raisins (not crazy about raisins, anyway) and for this recipe I use those two ingredients I love: cinnamon chips and candied ginger. How much of each?  The recipe calls for one and a half cups of raisins, so I use 1 cup of cinnamon chips and half a cup of candied ginger; I chop the latter coarsely with a sharp knife. But you can use any combination for this recipe or none at all if you just want a delicious oatmeal cookie

Big and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

From The Best Recipe by editors of Cook’s Illustrated (Boston Common Press, 1999)

Yield: about 18 large cookies

1 and one-half cup all-purpose flour
One-half teaspoon salt
One-half teaspoon baking powder
One-quarter teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
One-half pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar*
1 cup granulated sugar*
2 large eggs
3 cups rolled oatmeal
1 and one-half cups raisins (optional)

Adjust oven racks to low and middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper. (I use Silpat instead of parchment.)

Whisk flour, salt, baking powder and nutmeg in medium bowl.

Either by hand or with electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars, beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time.

Stir dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture with wooden spoon or large rubber spatula. Stir in oats and optional raisins (or chips or candied ginger or dried cranberries).

Working with generous 2 tablespoons of dough each time, roll dough into 2-inch balls. (I often make smaller cookies.) Place balls on parchment- lined cookie sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between each ball.

Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. (Halfway through baking, turn cookie sheet from front to back and also switch them from top to bottom.) Slide cookies, on parchment, to cooling rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes before peeling cookies from parchment.

*I have found that three-quarter cups of both sugars is plenty sweet enough

Talking Transportation: Transport Cuts Will Hurt Us All

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For weeks I’ve been writing about the CDOT’s impending bus and rail service cuts and fare hikes and their profound impact on commuters, local businesses and real estate values.  But with just weeks to go, the folks who can prevent this pain… our legislature… seem to be doing nothing.

 The deadline is July 1 this year when proposed CDOT cuts will go into effect:   A 10 percent fare hike on Metro-North will be matched with elimination of off-peak trains on the New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury branch lines as well as Shore Line East.

How are local officials responding?  By complaining that the proposed cuts on them aren’t fair.  “Don’t cut my mass transit, cut someone else’s!”, seems the plaintiff cry.  “Why is my bus service being cut but Hartford and Stamford’s isn’t?,” one official asked me.

I told him he was asking the wrong question.  Instead he should be asking why any bus or train service was being cut.

It’s as if a crowd was trapped in a burning building with one narrow fire escape and everyone’s screaming “I deserve to survive. Let the others get burned” while nobody is working to douse the flames.

The answer isn’t to push away the pain onto others but to turn off the pain at its source.

Legislators can easily stop CDOT’s plans by just raising the gasoline tax four cents a gallon and diverting the car sales tax into the Special Transportation Fund.  Instead, they’re blaming everyone but themselves for the mess they got us into.

Remember:  it was the legislature that pandered to voters by lowering the gasoline tax 14 cents a gallon in 1997, a move that cost the STF $3.4 billion in lost transportation spending that could have repaired roads and fixed bridges.

Now the Republicans are so focused on the fall campaign they’re deceiving voters in a “big lie” PR move only Sean Spicer could enjoy: trying to argue that proposed highway tolls are “taxes”.

They are not.  Tolls would be a user fee, paid only by those who drive on those roads.  Train fares aren’t taxes, are they?  You only pay those fares if you take the train.

Do Republicans really think voters are that stupid?  Apparently so.

The pols are also piling on the CDOT for being late in opening the new Hartford Line, the commuter rail line between New Haven, Hartford and Springfield.  Our legislature can’t even deliver a budget on time, let alone understand the complexity of a $769 million railroad construction project that’s taken over a decade.

It’s not by chance the Republicans are known as the “party of no”.  For all their complaining they have offered no new ideas nor embraced the ones that thoughtful observers think are obvious:  asking motorists to pay their fair share with gasoline taxes and tolls.

Metro-North riders already pay the highest commuter rail fares in the US, fares that have risen 53% since the year 2000 … while motorists haven’t seen a gas tax increase in 20 years. How is that fair?

If the July 1 service cuts and fare hikes go into effect, commuters should know it’s their legislature that’s to blame.

Posted with permission of Hearst CT Media

Join a Farm Memoir Writing Workshop in East Haddam, Sunday

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Write about your favorite farm memory on Sunday, May 20, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Cold Spring Farm in East Haddam. No previous writing experience is necessary. Participants will tour the farm for inspiration and ideas, and create a short, factual memoir essay and art based on a past or actual event day farm experience.

This workshop is a feature of Cold Spring Farm’s Goats and Notes event. For more information or to purchase  tickets, visit www.coldspringfarmtickets.yapsody.com; www.coldspringfarmct.com or EmailSrwaide@cs.com.

This event cost of $95 includes snacks, lunch, beverages, and workshop materials. Bring your own notebook or laptop, photographs, or other inspirational materials, if you’d like. This workshop is designed for people 18 and older. Space is limited to 25 participants.

Susan R. Waide is the workshop’s instructor. She teaches memoir writing at the Middlesex Institute for Lifelong Education (MILE) at Middlesex Community College and other locations. In addition, she is a member of the National Association of Memoir Writers and has taught undergraduate courses at the University of Hartford and Connecticut Community Colleges.

Waide is a guest speaker and workshop presenter at high schools, colleges, businesses, chambers of commerce, and national writers/communication conferences.  She has a Master of Arts degree in Communication from University of Hartford and Bachelor of Arts degree in English/Journalism from the University of Connecticut.

Old Lyme Library Presents Program Tonight on Breast Cancer Risk Assessment, Lifestyle Choices

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Dr. Kristen Zarfos

The Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library hosts a program titled, ‘Risk Assessment and Lifestyle Choices – Breast Cancer’ this evening, Thursday, May 10, at 6:30 p.m.

Kristen Zarfos, MD, FACS, of Middlesex Hospital will present risk assessment tools and lifestyle choices that may help prevent breast cancer.

Dr. Zarfos is a board certified, nationally-recognized breast surgeon. She began her career at Middlesex Hospital and returned in 2018 to help strengthen the Hospital’s breast surgery program.
Dr. Zarfos is also a strong patient advocate who enjoys teaching patients and their families.