Month: July 2021

After the Rain: Joffey Preserve

Joffey Nature Sanctuary-New Marlborough, MA

This summer our lives have once again become busy; dinners with friends, visits to museums, traveling, rehearsing and performing concerts and perhaps best to all, having the freedom to plan spontaneous excursions. I am thankful and feel blessed that we have come through this part of the pandemic. The only thing that I am wistful for are the daily hikes and walks that we took this past year. With no other distractions and the only safe activity, it developed into a joyful distraction. Not wanting to lose this precious connection to nature, I have had to make a conscious effort to allot time for walking.

The other day, in between all of the soggy rainy weather, the sun peeked out briefly. The perfect place for a short walk was the Joffey Nature Sanctuary in New Marlborough, MA. The one mile trail winds around a pristine micro ecosystem that includes a marsh and woodlands.

As I entered the woods, I was surrounded by the damp pungent scent of pine needles and saturated tree bark. The pine needles underfoot felt like I was stepping on a soft pillow.

Because of the extra moisture, tiny fungi and mushrooms had sprung up and dotted the forest floor.

Algae covered much of the marsh, creating delicate patterns on the water that looked like abstract paintings.

A few benches are placed along the path; we plan to return with books and iced tea on a hot day!

This summer, it’s also once again a great pleasure to visit farm stands and farm markets. One of my favorite places is the Silamar Farm Stand in Millerton, New York. The other day, I bought sugar snap peas, cucumbers, dill, red beets and Sky Farm mesclun mix. With my delicious bounty, I made a summer salad with grilled salmon and creamy hummus. Made with canned chickpeas, garlic, lemon and tahini, the hummus comes together in under 5 minutes. I made a simple salad dressing with olive oil and Carr’s Cider House Cider Vinegar. The vinegar is sweet, not too astringent and tastes almost like a good balsamic vinegar. This along with some crusty French sourdough bread, made a light and delicious summer dinner.

Quick Hummus

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed

1 clove garlic minced

2 tablespoons tahini

freshly squeezed lemon to taste

1 teaspoon ground cumin

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

water

To Make Hummus:

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor.

Blend for about a minute. The mixture will be crumbly and rough looking.

Add water a bit at a time and blend. When the mixture looks smooth, blend for about another minute more until creamy and very smooth. Adjust seasonings and enjoy!

AND: with my bounty of red beets it was time to make Summer Borscht! This is absolutely one of my favorite things about summer. Made with plenty of crunchy cool radishes, cucumber, scallions, dill and a big dollop of yogurt, it is refreshing and delicious alone or better yet with a slice of fresh rye bread. It is also great topped with a sliced hard boiled egg!

Summer Borscht

Ingredients:

4 or 5 large red beets

1/2 cup diced cucumber

1/2 cup diced radish

1/2 cup minced dill

1/4 cup diced scallion or chives

salt and pepper to taste

brown rice vinegar to taste* see note

1 or 2 tablespoons honey to taste

1/2 or more plain yogurt

Prepare Borscht:

Scrub Beets well and if large cut in half

Cover with water in a medium sized pot

Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer

Cover and cook until tender

Save water that beets were cooked and strain into a large bowel

Let beets cool completely

Peel Beets and cut into small dice

Add diced beets along with cucumber, radish, dill and scallions or chives into reserved beet liquid

Add brown rice vinegar to taste- start with a small amount and add more as desired.

Stir in yogurt and honey

Add salt and pepper to taste

Refrigerate for at least a day to let flavors meld

Serve with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream

Add a sliced hard boiled egg on top if desired

Note: I do not specify exact amounts of brown rice vinegar, honey or yogurt. After the borscht sits for a day or two, you can add more seasonings to your taste.

ENJOY!!

AND: Here are “Two Trees of the Week!” I was uncharacteristically at a loss for their captions- any takers??

STAY SAFE AND ENJOY THE SUMMER!!

Resonating Sounds from Silver Bay!

My group Hevreh Ensemble’s first live indoor concert– it couldn’t have been a more wonderful experience! I wrote part of this blog sitting on an Adirondack rocking chair on the porch of the Victorian era Silver Bay Inn that overlooks Lake George.

This past weekend, we performed a concert for a small, warm enthusiastic audience of fully vaccinated people in the historic Auditorium at The Silver Bay YMCA Conference Center. The hall had a high wooden ceiling and the acoustics were vibrant and at the same time mellow. I felt as if I was enveloped in a cozy blanket of sound; I felt totally safe and enjoyed a wonderful sense of connection with our audience.

For the next two days, as guests of the Silver Bay YMCA, we relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful site; kayaking, taking walks and a good deal of sitting on the inn’s porch, reading and talking together!

My husband Paul was able to accompany the group on our trip and he and I enjoyed a trail that wound around a section of the lake.

We also discovered a lovely wildflower close to the water.

AND: then there is the backstory of what took place before the idyllic concert and beauty of the Silver Bay area!

As an oboist who carves my own reeds, I have come to believe over the years, that there must be a special Reed Muse. Often times, I whittle and carve and adjust and readjust a recalcitrant piece of cane and the result is horrid!! Then, seemingly out of the blue, with almost no effort, a reed will play beautifully almost immediately and then- I know that this might sound eccentric- I look up at the sky and say softly, “Thank you”! But hey, I am an oboist after all!!

There is also another protector that I think of the Travel and Parking Muse. It seems that more often than not, I travel to rehearsals and concerts and especially when I come into Manhattan for rehearsals, I will find a parking spot easily. The members of Hevreh Ensemble often remark that I have special parking karma. My little bright blue Impreza can squeeze into the most unlikely of spots!

Well, recently I believe that the Travel and Parking Muses thought I was getting a mite too cocky and decided that it was time for a little comeuppance! I imagined that there was a hastily held committee meeting and the consensus was to “play with this one a little bit!”

A few blogs ago, I wrote a true life story that is akin to a modern day Yiddish Folk Tale! So, here is Part 2 of a true life experience that once again illustrates the old Yiddish proverb: “Mann Tracht, un Gott Lacht”- “man plans and god laughs!”

Driving into Manhattan for a rehearsal with Hevreh Ensemble last week, I made sure to allot plenty of time for any extra traffic; the ride should take about 2 1/2 hours. I left my home in Northwest, CT at 1:15 with the rehearsal set to start at 4:30- plenty of time, right?? I also felt that I was getting my “sea legs” back driving into New York, adjusting to the noise and large numbers of people.

I encountered traffic jams in 4 locations, The Hutchinson Parkway, Cross County Parkway, West Side highway and the usual Manhattan tie ups and finally arrived to Adam’s Hell’s Kitchen studio (appropriately named) at 4:45. I thought that I might put my car for once in a garage on West 38th Street, but not so fast!

A broken down delivery truck was blocking the street, so I made a very slow slog around the congested and almost completely blocked streets. I finally found a garage 5 blocks away and by the time I made it back to West 38th Street, I was an hour late for the rehearsal.

The rehearsal was great; amazingly after a year of not playing together, we are sounding tight and unified. BUT: the Travel and Parking Muses had plenty more in store for me!!

After the rehearsal I returned to the garage to retrieve my car and was met with an outrageous charge for parking and the rude attendant ignored me at first and then could not find my car keys for 20 minutes.

Luckily I am easily placated with food and I found a cozy little bakery and cafe on the corner of 38th Street and Ninth Avenue. I was fortified with a frosty smoothie that was made from coconut milk, chocolate protein powder, peanut butter and banana and also a hefty turkey, cheddar, onion, pesto, tomato sandwich on a French baguette. I happily munched and slurped on this in my car as I wound my way through a few traffic jams and up the West Side Highway getting out of the city. I was treated to a beautiful sunset view of the lights twinkling on the George Washington Bridge as my car inched ever so slowly forward. And then, after just a few more snarls of traffic, a broken down car blocking a lane, road construction, a small bug that kept biting me and dodging deer on the Sawmill Parkway, I made it safely and more than a bit dazed, back home at 10:30 PM! The saying: “Mann Tracht un Gott Lacht” (“man plans and god laughs”) I believe that the Travel and Parking Muses made their point!!

Here is the “Tree of the Week” that I thought fit the bill perfectly!

“I feel like I have a hole in my head!!”

Postscript: We made it safely home from Silver Bay and found time in the late afternoon to enjoy a short walk to the Drury Preserve in Sheffield, MA. Although muggy and very buggy, the sun shining through the trees was beautiful!