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FEATURES december 2016 Volume 11, Issue 12

14

Shop local

Looking for a reprieve from a mall-based Christmas shopping experience?

We’ve got you covered.

18

From Paris, with love

Born and raised in Mankato, Britta Moline now lives in Paris. The safe city she moved to three years ago doesn’t seem as safe anymore.

26

Play me a melody

Austyn Menk needed a new piano teacher. He found Paul Baumgartner, just the teacher he needed to push him to be the best he could be.

About the Cover Heather Fisher strikes a pose inside her popular store Salvage Sisters. She was photographed for our cover story on shopping local by Pat Christman.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 3

DEPARTMENTS 6 From the Editor 8 This Day in History 9 The Gallery

9

Carnegie gift shop

10 Beyond the Margin Hanging on to Christmas 12 Day Trip Destinations Farmington Christmas village 22 Then & Now Pearl Harbor attack 29 Food, Drink & Dine

30 Food

32 Wine

33 Beer Chimney Sweep

34 Happy Hour

36 What’s Cooking Grocery store hacks

10

Doc E.’s Salsa Etna Nerello Mascalese

Renaissance

38 That’s Life No touchy, no feely

12

22

40 Garden Chat Tobacco? In Minnesota?

42 Your Style Sling as statement piece 44 Coming Attractions 45 Faces & Places 48 From This Valley Toy trains

Coming in January

34 4 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

40

Examining the role of BEER in our lives

V V

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YOU GIVE YOU GET!

Purchase $25 Loose Moose Gift Cards Get $5 Bonus Moose Bucks Purchase $50 Loose Moose Gift Cards Get $10 Bonus Moose Bucks Purchase $100 Loose Moose Gift Cards Get a Loose Moose Sweatshirt 119 S. Front Street • Mankato, MN 56001 • 507-345-1446

MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 5

From The Associate EDITOR

By Robb Murray december 2016 • VOLUME 11, ISSUE 12 Publisher

Steve Jameson

EDITOR Joe Spear ASSOCIATE Robb Murray EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS Nell Musolf Pete Steiner Jean Lundquist Sarah Johnson Leigh Pomeroy Bert Mattson Leticia Gonzales Ann Rosenquist Fee Bryce O. Stenzel Kristine Goodrich Britta R. Moline PHOTOGRAPHERS Pat Christman Page designer

Christina Sankey

ADVERTISING Phil Seibel manager ADVERTISING Jordan Greer Sales Josh Zimmerman Marianne Carlson Theresa Haefner Thomas Frank ADVERTISING Barb Wass ASSISTANT ADVERTISING Sue Hammar designers Christina Sankey CIRCULATION Justin Niles DIRECTOR

Mankato Magazine is published by The Free Press Media monthly at 418 South Second St., Mankato MN 56001.

To subscribe, call 1-800-657-4662 or 507-625-4451. $35.40 for 12 issues.

For editorial inquiries, call Robb Murray at 344-6386, or e-mail rmurray@mankatofreepress.com.

For advertising, call 344-6336, or e-mail mankatomag@mankatofreepress.com.

6 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

It’s the thought that counts, right?

I can only imagine the laughter that took place afterward. It was, after all, an epic example of being unclear on the concept.

I was 7 or 8 years old, I guess.

I think it was a snow day in December. Having the gift of a day off at my feet, I was suddenly in the giving spirit myself. But, having no money and no way to get to the Maplewood Mall — which, in my little world, was basically heaven — I needed to get creative.

Scouring the house, I tried to come up with “gifts” I could give my family members. Rifling through the basement, I came up with an old Penn tennis ball can which — I don’t know if you know this or not — is the ideal size for a 12-ounce bottle of Pfeiffer beer. I pulled a cold one from the fridge, dropped it inside the and searched for other “goodies” to include.

Upstairs in the cupboard I spied a box of Hostess Twinkies. Digging through the “junk drawer” (does every family have a junk drawer?)

I came up with a keychain and a handful of nickels. What a collection! I mean come on! Who wouldn’t love getting a useless tennis ball can full of their own stuff for Christmas! My dad was going to be so happy!

But I wasn’t done there. Oh no. Keeping with my Pfeiffer beer theme, I took one of Dad’s empty beer cases (the kind that hold 24 bottles), discarded the cardboard bottle separators and flipped the case on its side. Inside I’d created a “winter scene” that a “user” or “viewer” could gaze into and be delighted by the serene, quaint sights. I’d used crayons to color evergreen trees and snowcovered hills. My memory today recalls a Norman Rockwell-esque tableau showing kids in parkas and scarves sipping hot cocoa in the foreground, other kids

speeding down hills on sleds and skis. If I could snap a finger today and transport that artifact to the present day, I’m sure all we’d see is something that looked like some 3-year-old’s miserably failed attempt at an art project. And seriously, a Pfeiffer beer case? I’m surprised no one ever called Child Protective Services. Sheesh.

My final act of that day was borne of momentum. I was in a “giving” mood. In the corner of my room was a sweater I’d borrowed from my best friend Ken, across the street. Without washing it, I boxed it up neatly and did my best to wrap it. Slapping a bow on top, I sat back and marveled at all the good I’d done for others that day.

And the best part was: It was the ultimate in shopping local.

Really, really local. It doesn’t get more local — or ridiculous — than giving people their own stuff for Christmas. Way to go, Robbie.

This month in Mankato Magazine, we’ve got some actual shop-local ideas for you. Writer Kristine Goodrich takes us around the region to some of the best local retail outlets where you can get one-of-a-kind gifts for everyone on your list. (And none of them involve a tennis ball can.)

Elsewhere, we bring you a gripping essay by former Mankato resident Britta Moline. She lives and studies in Paris now, and has seen her life change as dealing with terrorism becomes a new normal for Parisians.

Finally, we bring you the story of a gifted piano student and his gifted instructor.

Happy holidays, everyone! MM

Robb Murray is associate editor of Mankato Magazine. Contact him at 344-6386 or rmurray@ mankatofreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @freepressRobb.

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OrthoEdgeMN.com MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 7

This Day in history

By Jean Lundquist

Relax

Let Us Do the Work

Friday, Dec. 8, 1911 Girl is hurt by auto While on her way to the Franklin School this afternoon, Iris Spencer was severely injured when an automobile bore her down. The girl was taken at once to the doctor’s office where treatment was given her, and she was taken home. Although she was rendered unconscious, it is not believed the injuries will prove fatal. It is not known who was in the automobile, but children playing nearby say it was occupied by hunters.

The autoists conveyed the injured girl to the doctor.

Saturday, Dec. 6, 1930 Vandals are active in the city of St. James The St. James police department is doing some sleuthing to determine who is behind several acts of vandalism in this city as of late. The Catholic church was broken into. The Presbyterian church was broken into, and things were carried away. Another bunch of vandals went out to the fairgrounds and smashed a lot of clay pigeons the gun club had stored there. These disturbances, along with the recent damage in the Pacific yards indicate there are people around here who take pleasure in sabotage.

Saturday, Dec. 22, 1951 Displaced families near blue earth having first Christmas in states Two families of displaced persons have arrived in the Blue Earth community from their homes in Austria and Yugoslavia. They will be celebrating their first Christmas in the United States on Tuesday. Thus, for them, Christmas 1951 will be one of thanks. First, for being allowed to come to this country, and second, to be afforded the friendship and hospitality of southern Minnesotans. The refugees all speak German, while the host families do not. The food here is a little too sweet for them, but a touch of vinegar on everything takes care of that.

Saturday, Dec. 29, 1951 Full police crew on hand New Year’s Eve A full police crew will be on duty New Year’s Eve to keep merrymakers in hand, the police department said today. A special eye will be peeled for drunken drivers, the department warned.

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Monday, Dec. 11, 1961 Garbage tells a story between us, by Franklin Rogers If you want to find out how things are going economically with the householder, the place to check is the destination of the garbage truck.

In the case of Mankato, this is the city incinerator. You may have the word of the men who toss the garbage into the fire, there isn’t much food going up in flames these days. From this, they conclude people don’t have as much money for groceries as they once had, or are being more careful with it. They can tell where the waste comes from by how much food is in it. If it had a lot of food, the truck was probably working west Mankato. If it had little or no food, it probably came from the north end. If the food is moderate, it probably came from the south end, or the hilltop area. The garbage men also note that people live pretty high off the hog right after a pay day, and struggle along the rest of the period.

The Gallery: Carnegie Gift Shop Story by Nell Musolf

Need gift ideas?

GO ARTSY at the CARNEGIE E

veryone has someone on their holiday gift-giving list who can be a touch challenging to shop for.

The aunt who has been almost scented candled to death. The chic sister-inlaw who is next to impossible to please.

The teacher who deserves something special.

An ideal place to find gifts for those, well, more challenging types, is the gift store at the Carnegie Art Center in Mankato.

“When you step around the corner into the gift shop, it’s almost a sensory overload,” Janet Husak, gift shop manager, said. “You realize how fortunate we are to have this strong arts culture in our community.”

The gift store is filled with a dazzling array of jewelry, handmade scarves, hand-blown glass, hand-turned wooden bowls, finely crafted finger joint pen and pencil boxes, bronze sculptures and paintings to name a few of its many items. Of course, there are Christmas ornaments as well. All of the items sold in the gift shop have been made by Carnegie members.

“We see the gift shop as a way for members to not only promote their artwork but also to provide an additional venue that they might otherwise not have,” Husak said.

“Plus they are able to earn additional income to help them with their artistic endeavors.”

The gift shop has had guests not only from the Mankato area but from many other locations as well.

“People want to collect from local artists,” Husak said, “and we’ve also become a destination spot. When

relatives are visiting from out of town, their hosts often bring them to the Carnegie to see what we have going on.”

Carnegie members come from a variety of walks of life and range from people who create artwork in their spare time to the lucky ones who are able to be full-time artists. But parttime or full-time, all of the Carnegie’s members are invited to participate in the upcoming 2016 Members’ Exhibition. The Members’ Exhibition, which will take place Dec. 1 through the 17, features the artwork of Carnegie member artists.

“During the month of December the gallery exhibition spotlight is on our members,” Husak said. “We are gathering them together for an exhibition of their work, to celebrate their creativity and thank them for their visual arts support.”

Membership facilitates the Carnegie’s gallery programming and provides exhibition opportunities to regional artists as well as free visual arts experiences for the community.

“Artists can submit up to two pieces,” Hope Cook, gallery coordinator, said. “The Members’ Exhibition is a wonderful way for artists to share work if they don’t have enough pieces for a solo exhibition.”

Artists are asked to donate $10 per piece to benefit the Carnegie’s gallery program. Last year’s Members’ Exhibition had 106 pieces shown at the Carnegie. Cook added that a members show is different from a juried exhibition since the pieces aren’t judged.

Husak added, “We really do consider our members to be family and this show is a thank you from us to our family. It’s also an opportunity to gather together and enjoy each other’s work.”

Husak and Cook see the community

as part of the Carnegie family and hope that the Members’ Exhibition will give people in the community the chance to come and see what the artists of the Carnegie have been up to.

“In a sense the community people are also members of the Carnegie,” Husak said. “It’s always been one of our goals to make communication between artists and the community as strong as possible.”

A reception will be held 7-9 p.m.

Dec. 3.

“It’s really special to see the Carnegie at night,” Husak said. “It looks very pretty with all of the lights and the whole evening is festive and exciting.

It’s wonderful to see the gallery filled with artwork and people.”

Husak added that there is another reason to shop at the Carnegie Arts Centers.

“Supporting the work of local artists keeps our art culture vibrant, and that enriches our community. This resonates with our patrons and they feel good about being able to give a unique gift from our community of artists.”

If you go:

The Carnegie Members’ Exhibition Runs Dec. 1-17, Thursdays 1-7 p.m.

Fridays 1-4 p.m.

Saturdays 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Saturdays in December: Holiday Open House in the Gift shop Gift Shop open during gallery hours A reception is set for 7-9 p.m. Dec. 3

MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 9

For many years, thousands of families traversed the hills of Blue Earth County to reach Little’s tree farm near Rapidan where they were able to cut their own tree and make their own tradition. File photo.

10 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

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Day Trip Destinations: Farmington’s Christmas in the Village

By Leticia Gonzales

Feel like an old-fashioned Christmas?

Visit Farmington’s Christmas in the Village F

or nearly four decades, the Dakota City Heritage Village in Farmington has allowed visitors to immerse themselves in a typical village life in 1900s Minnesota.

12 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

“The Dakota County Agricultural Society started collecting old local buildings to use on the fairgrounds in the early 1970s,” said Alisa Peterson, Education Director and Volunteer Coordinator for Dakota City Heritage Village. “The nonprofit Dakota City was formed when about a dozen people got together to volunteer their time and decided to use the buildings to educate the public about rural life in a small 1900 village.”

The village, which includes a collection of 22 historical buildings and a 20,000 squarefoot indoor museum that showcases farm equipment and rural farm life, is run mostly by volunteers.

Peterson, who started volunteering in 2000 before taking on her current role seven years ago, said about 40 yeararound volunteers help run the village during educational programs, but the number swells to more than 250 volunteers during the Dakota County Fair.

During the first two weekends of December, the buildings transform with the season for “Christmas in the Village,” which offers a historical display of how villages prepared for Christmas in 1900.

“The public can experience the warmth of a traditional holiday as it was celebrated in days of old by exploring Dakota City in all its holiday finery,” said Peterson.

“People can enjoy listening to the jingling bells of the horses pulling the trolley as they ride through the streets with the brisk winter air in their faces, then smell the wood smoke as they warm up inside a building by a woodburning stove. They can watch a cooking demonstration in one of the farm homes, see the wood worker, blacksmith and printers ply their trades in the shops, listen to choirs sing Christmas Carols in the church, visit with Saint Nicholas and so much more.”

The historical component of the village reflects the heritage of the early immigrants who made Minnesota their home.

“As people came to Dakota County at the turn of last century, there were more farms and trees, fewer paved roads and smaller villages,” Peterson said. “Some people were emigrating from countries such as Norway, Sweden,

Germany and Ireland to settle in Dakota County. Many of these immigrants settled with relatives or friends already in the area.”

Peterson said the village aims to “show how life was connected between the farm and the town.”

“We hope to educate the public about a way of life that was different from today, but worked for the people then,” she added.

“We also hope to provide experiences and memories that children, families and adults can take with them and perhaps use in their life.”

Volunteer Diane Knapp is reminded of her own upbringing in which her grandmother showed her the ropes of village living each time she walks throughout the historic buildings of Dakota City.

“I was raised in a small farming community in the middle of Wisconsin, very much like the villages down in Farmington,” said Knapp, who grew up in Shamrock, south of Black River Falls and

started by immigrants from Ireland.

After moving to Minnesota from Illinois in 1982, Knapp and her husband had heard people talk about the village in Farmington.

“We were so amazed at this village and how beautiful it was, and just the feeling you got walking through it,” she said.

When she retired five years ago, Knapp couldn’t think of a better place to volunteer.

“When you walk through it, it makes time slow down,” she added. “It makes you see your surroundings better; it just makes you feel good about life.”

Dakota City Village also shares many similarities to Knapp’s hometown. From the blacksmith shop and general store, to the church and one-room schoolhouse, the surroundings in the village make her feel at home.

“I loved where I grew up as a kid,” Knapp said. “It was just great out there, and some of those simple things that you did. When I go back to this village, it’s like grandma’s taking me by the hand and showing it to me all over again.”

She is able to share her experiences with visitors, which makes the experience that much more authentic.

“I tell the kids, when I went to that one-room country schoolhouse, that little tower around it was our favorite place to hang our mittens, because they would always be dry the next time you were going outside.”

If you Go

What Christmas in the Village,

Dakota City Heritage Village 4008 220th Street W, Farmington

When First 2 weekends in December, (Weather permitting) Dec. 3, 4, 10 & 11 Hours: 1-8 p.m. Saturdays & Sundays

Admission

$6 for ages 13 and up, $3 for ages 4 to 12, Free for those 3 and under Trolley rides are free with paid admission.

Visit www.dakotacity.org for more details.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 13

Have yourself a

VERY LOCAL

Well, OK, you could hit the mall again this Christmas.

But if you’re looking for a more unique shopping experience, we’ve got just the thing: Shop local!

By Kristine Goodrich | Photos by Pat Christman

A

rea small shop owners promise that doing some of your Christmas shopping with them won’t be a purely altruistic endeavor.

Sure you can find one-of-a-kind gifts of which you can be certain your loved ones won’t receive more than one.

And sure you can support your local economy and entrepreneurs who live in your community.

But the owners of some of the area’s most unique of shops hope a visit to their store is also a cheering reprieve from the commercialism of the holidays.

The artists behind Salvage Sisters Mercantile in Mankato, Farmhouse in the City in Waseca and Stones Throw Gallery in St. Peter are a refuge of creativity where we can find art for our homes and our bodies and make some of our own.

Domeier’s German Store in New Ulm helps the more than a third of us remember our German heritage and the rest of us wish we were from Deutschland.

Of course there are many more opportunities to shop local this gift-giving season and find unconventional gifts in unparalleled settings.

Perhaps this sampling will inspire you to venture inside one of the little shops in your neighborhood.

You never know what you might find. Perhaps you’ll discover a gift that will never be shoved in the back of a closet. Perhaps you’ll find inspiration to explore your creative side.

14 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Farmhouse in the City 1890 115 S. State St., Waseca 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. the second Friday and Saturday of each month Farmhouseinthecity1890.wordpress.com Jackie Dickie’s Farmhouse in the City 1890 is only open two days per month and she has no plans -- or desire -- to expand those hours.

Each time she opens up her shop on Waseca’s South State Street, her merchandise is different than the month before. The interior designer spends most of her time hunting (she won’t disclose where) for versatile vintage furniture and décor. She pairs them with modern accessories she says compliment her aged finds.

Every second Friday and Saturday of the month since 2014 Dickie surprises visitors with a themed collection of her discoveries. Many times it’s a seasonally inspired trove. Other times she’s inspired by something such as a color.

Dickie sometimes posts clues on her social media page, but customers can never be sure of the theme until they arrive.

“Every month it’s a fresh new look. It’s like a totally new store. (Customers) don’t know what to expect when they get here. That’s the best part.”

Dickie hopes it’s an exciting but relaxing outing for her guests, many of whom she said are regulars and some of whom come from outside of Minnesota.

“Really it’s an idea spot. It’s a place for inspiration,”

she said.

On Dec. 3 she’s inviting customers to find more inspiration by touring her home after which her store is named.

Her love of vintage doesn’t extend only to décor. She and her husband restored a neglected Waseca farmhouse built in 1890.

It will be decked out for the holidays and she’ll have music and goodies for her guests.

“We have such fun at the shop.

I really wanted to say thank you,” she said.

Stones Throw Gallery 420 N. Minnesota Ave., St. Peter 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday www.stonesthrowgallery.org Appreciators of old houses looking for artful inspiration might also enjoy a visit to Stones Throw Gallery.

Jewelry designer Patty Conlin has transformed part of her 1874 Queen Ann Victorian home into both a studio for herself and a gallery featuring the work of local artisans of many mediums.

Conlin has more than 40 years experience in the jewelry-making business and was the artist in residence at the former Harpies’ Bazaar in Old Town Mankato for a decade before opening her gallery.

She specializes in gold and gemstones and she said her design preferences include asymmetry, bold color and multifunction (some of her

Patty Conlin owns the Stones Throw Gallery in St. Peter. pieces are reversible or have removable components).

She plays with a vast collection of less commonly used stones, ranging from smoked Ethiopian opals to blue chalcedony.

“They’re gifts from the ground,” she said. “Gifts of oneof-a-kind beauty.”

Customers can also bring in their grandmother’s wedding diamond or other heirloom gem and Conlin will make a new custom piece.

While her pieces of wearable art all come with a three-figure price tag, visitors with smaller budgets can find a plethora of other unique gift options with prices in the double digits.

There are paintings, photographs, pottery, purses,

stained glass, silver jewelry and much more. Her gallery in her big blue house on Highway 169 is midway between a fine art gallery and a craft show, she said.

Most of the nearly 40 artists who have work on consignment are professional artists, but some are accomplished hobbyists.

Almost all are from the region.

It’s a win-win in that she’s able to give artists a venue in which they can sell their art while she earns a little extra income that allows her to afford to continue during her craft full time.

The organizer of the GSR Fine Art Festival Dec. 2 and 3 believes art is a life essential.

“You need art to feed your soul,” she said.

Salvage Sisters Mercantile 613 N. Riverfront Drive, Mankato 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. most Sundays www.salvagesistersmercantile.com A recently expanded shop in Old Town Mankato also offers one-of-a-kind creations by its owner as well as an eclectic mix of handcrafted items from other creators.

Salvage Sisters Mercantile started in 2012 with an inventory of rehabbed furniture. Then a co-owner, Heather Fisher is now the sole proprietor and continues transforming worn furniture into colorful statement pieces.

The Minnesota State University interior design graduate scours far and wide for items she can MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 15

Merry Christmas !

Mary Ann Donahue

(507) 340-2873

maryann.donahue@gmail.com

• Integrity/Honesty • Competitive Fees • Over 20 Years Experience

1720 Adams Street, Mankato 16 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

recycle with a fresh coat of outdoor durable paint (supplied by her next-door neighbor Diamond Vogel Paint), new fabric, knobs and other embellishments. She said she’s drawn to both modern and rustic pieces, clean lines and bold colors.

Fisher complements her creations with items from approximately 40 area artists and small businesses.

Most are handcrafted and range from décor to clothing.

The best sellers are jewelry from North Mankatobased Baubles and Bobbles and infant apparel made by Lisa Finch of Mankato.

While most are femaleoriented, there are also some guy-friendly goods for sale, such as home brewing kits and lamps and light fixtures by Industrial Steamworks Design made from automobile parts.

Fisher invites artists that appeal to her personal style; she hopes in the process to be creating a unique mix of offerings. She’s banking on that distinctive mix being enough to separate herself from the several other new boutiques opening nearby.

“I’m just going to stay true to what I’m doing,” she said.

She’s hoping Old Town will become a destination spot for shoppers who value unique and local, she said.

This spring she took “a leap of faith” and expanded into the space that opened up next door.

It was sooner than she had envisioned but had to seize the opportunity.

A television appearance has helped bring new customers to her larger shop. The company that owns HGTV and Do it Yourself Network is considering making a reality show about Fisher. A test pilot has aired and she expects she’ll find out next year if it will be picked up as a series.

Domeier’s German store 1020 S. Minnesota St. New Ulm 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday through Saturday 507-354-4231 Only members of the Domeier family have staffed the store that its second-generation operator described as an explosion of all things German.

The store that started in a garage is filled literally floor to ceiling with crafts, trinkets and food imported from Germany and Austria.

“It’s small but it’s full. And I do mean full,” said owner Marlene Domeier.

The store started as a small grocery stop in 1934 operated by Marlene’s parents, Rosemary and Emil. After World War II it started specializing in German fare to serve the influx of German war brides. Today it has a vast selection of German goodies ranging from lebkuchen to marzipan.

It also has a variety of authentic German gift items, ranging from cuckoo clocks to beer steins and many of them handmade.

Holiday items range from nutcrackers to upwards of a thousand different glass-blown ornaments (many of which hang from the ceiling).

The German ambiance spills outside of the store. German music plays on loudspeakers

Carhartt

Domeier’s German Store in New Ulm transports shoppers to another realm.

(Photo courtesy of Domeier’s) most of them time and on special occasions the mechanical elf that has long sat in a front window plays its accordion.

Customers have been known to waltz and schuhplattler on the sidewalks, Marlene said. She just asks that dancing customers not get too rowdy. The little store is in a residential neighborhood.

The garage-turned-store has been expanded twice and Marlene lives in the home behind.

She has worked at the store since she was barely old enough to see over the counter.

Marlene, who was shy about revealing her age, has no plans to ever retire.

“Ill be working here until I die,” she said.

Her niece Anne Morris is presently the shop’s only other employee and Marlene’s likely successor. MM

Nov. 25th

EXPIRES DEC. 24, 2016

TOTAL BUILDING CONTROL

Paape Distributing Company • Paape Energy Services • Paape Security Services MANKATO: 507-345-4828 • ROCHESTER: 507-289-4874

www.paape.com MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 17

y Essa

An Mankato expatriate talks about living in Paris when all hell broke loose

From Paris, With Love

By Britta R. Moline

T

he first thing I loved about Paris was how safe it felt.

It might sound strange, moving from a college town like Mankato to a metropolitan city like Paris for safety, and I was no naïve small-town girl unaware of what I was walking into. But there was a definite warm, womb-like feeling of enclosure in Paris that instantly drew me to the heart of the city, following the path of many Americans before me.

18 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

I moved knowing very little French, and found myself relatively dependent on the tolerance of those around me for the first year, my grammar and vocabulary the equivalent of a kindergartner. I quickly learned, too, that beyond language, there was a certain social language that had to be observed – how to talk to your neighbors or to your waiter, how to address someone you’ve already seen once that day, or how to gracefully leave a group of people. To kiss on the cheek or not? Why do French people get weirded out by hugs?

Why are the bakery women always angry at me, how am I ordering bread wrong?

Still, through language barriers and social misfires I never lost the feeling of gentle acceptance that the city provided me. On the rare afternoons when I gave myself time to pause, to sit at an outdoor café and reflect, I could only smile thinking of my adoptive home. Paris was my little cloister.

I first heard about the terror attacks of Nov. 13 while at a grocery store with a friend, another American. Their dad called and asked if we were OK. While I attempted to decide between Kit-Kat and Twix, my friend assured their dad that yes, we were safe, no we hadn’t heard anything, wait, what did you say?

Twenty dead? That couldn’t be right.

After making my decision (definitely Kit-Kat), I absently jumped on Google to check what he was talking about. It was there that I read about the explosions at the stadium, the mounting death toll, and I felt the night crash in.

Stepping out of that grocery store, Paris was a very different world than it had been stepping in. I thought it had been a calm night. I had been wrong; it was actually a deathly tense night.

There were only a few others left on the streets – stylish young French couples speed walking, chattering nervously under their breaths to one another about the number, the ever-mounting number of dead.

Dazed, my friend and I decided to part, and I walked home, unaware that just a few minutes East, 89 people were losing their

Britta Moline in Paris. (Photo courtesy of Britta Moline) lives at the Bataclan theater. I passed police barricades and saw heavily armed men drawing red circles on a map of Paris through the window of a police station. I shook as I left a message for my parents, back in Mankato, who hadn’t heard of the attack yet. ‘Hi mom and dad, I just wanted you to know that I’m OK, I’m safe, call me on Skype when you get this . . .’

The night was a whirl, and I didn’t do much sleeping. The number mounted – 40 dead, now 60, climbing over a hundred, topping out at 137 – the photos were posted, the hashtags spread, and all over social media I saw

people talking about my city, my district, my home. People who had opinions on it before the bodies were even taken off the streets. People who used it for political gain before all the relatives had even been notified.

People who had something to say, when those of us here could barely think, let alone speak.

I went to school the next day – I was in a French language program for foreigners – as did the rest of my class. We didn’t really talk about it at school.

What my professor had to say, though, was something I’ll never forget. It summed up the attitude of all of Paris.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 19

Memorials popped up around Paris. (Photo courtesy of Britta Moline) My professor was from the south of France and she was a few semesters away from retirement. She had published numerous grammar books and cared more about teaching language than anything else in the world. She had short hair and a big smile, and the wrinkled, kind eyes of someone who has

laughed every day of their life.

“I was on a metro train once with a suspected bomb,” she told us, her gaudy plastic bracelets clacking together as she talked to a room of silent students. “The other passengers were panicking.

Why?” She shook her head, hands going up in the universal symbol for stop. “There was no

use. If it wasn’t a bomb we were fine. If it was a bomb, well, that’s it. There’s nothing that we could do about it.”

She stood in front of the classroom and met our disbelieving faces.

“I’m sure some of you come from countries where this kind of violence is routine. And for some of you, this is a first.”

We all uneasily agreed on this point in soft, broken French.

“Well, I did not stop taking the Metro,” She said, palms up, hands open. “Don’t change your routine because of fear.”

And that was that. Move on. We have grammar to study, irregular verbs to memorize, pronunciations to mangle.

All over Paris, other people did the same. Bread shops baked baguettes, selling them to eager hordes from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Florists arranged bouquets, some now destined for funerals, but others destined for parties.

Cinemas showed romantic comedies and action films to packed rooms of boisterous young French kids (trust me, no one is noisier in a movie theater

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than French kids). A café near me, where a popular young waiter had been killed, opened again within the week, albeit not without a large memorial to him out front, which customers faced as they ordered their espressos, pints, and salads. Street vendors now sold small candles to bring to the memorial, in addition to the cheap ear buds and bootleg blockbusters they normally sold.

Life went on, almost immediately.

We all knew – we had all been there that night; in fear, in awe, in absolute devastation. I don’t doubt that every person in Paris stopped by the memorial at least once, to place flowers or small handwritten notes, to whisper prayers or hum song lyrics. I’ll never forget the sense of the collective trauma, and the collective desire to forge ahead that first week. The understanding that not giving in to fear meant continuing on as normal.

Only later did things become political, and the city was divided into those whose fear reinforced their hate, and those whose fear

reinforced their love. I was devastated the first time I saw a crude poster calling for immigrants to leave Paris: this was not my Paris, the warm, welcoming cloister that had nurtured me over two years. But I was reinforced by competing posters: “No war, no terror,” “Welcome immigrants,” and “Liberty, equality, peace.”

Every time someone asks how the attacks changed Paris, I’m always forced to answer that I don’t know. I’m sure to many it has. To my fellow Parisians who are Arabic or Muslim, I’m sadly sure the city and its attitude toward them has changed a lot.

But in many powerful, visible ways, Paris is still the same. Even with increased police presence, often intimidatingly stationed around Metro entrances or busy neighborhood streets, Paris is determined to go on. Parisians just accept it – open up their purse, show the police their bags, and continue on without a second glance, without missing a beat.

Move on, keep walking, keep working, don’t show fear. Don’t

change your routine.

The attacks affected me, deeply, but I cannot say that they changed how I feel about Paris. I still feel safe here, I still feel loved by this city, as much now as I did when I decided to move here in January of 2014. Nor did they change my view of the world – I am not more afraid, nor am I more inclined to believe the worst of people, nor to view a stranger suspiciously. Like my teacher, I still take the metro.

And I still go to concerts at the Bataclan.

Even, on the rare afternoons that I give myself time to pause, I still sit outside and drink wine and smile. MM

Britta R. Moline is a graduate student at the Sorbonne, Paris University Diderot, studying Visual Media in the English-Speaking World. She still lives in the 11th district of Paris with her spoiled chihuahua Beau – who is also a Mankato native.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 21

Then & Now: December 7th, Pearl Harbor By: Bryce O. Stenzel

“December 7th, 1941 A Date Which Will Live in Infamy” “…Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. …The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu. … No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.”

— President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dec. 8, 1941 As I write these lines, on the eve of the fifteenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, I am reminded of a seldomheeded but all-too-true and sobering cliché: “history repeats itself.”

For the people living on that fateful Sunday morning in December, 1941, the Pearl Harbor bombing was their national tragedy. The world as they knew it was about to change forever, just as it did for those of us living at the dawn of the 21st century.

Another sobering truth is that many major historical 22 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

events have local connections. Several Mankatoans were stationed at Pearl Harbor on the morning of the Japanese attack. Vincent H. Eberhardt, 22, was aboard the battleship Arizona when it was struck by Japanese bombs and sunk. He was killed, along with another Mankatoan, Quentin Gifford, 20, who was aboard the battleship Oklahoma.

Stanley Gossard, 19, was stationed on another vessel that was hit. Initial casualty reports from the disaster reported that Gossard had been killed, but several days later, it was learned that he was not only alive

but uninjured. Guy S. Flannagan, Jr., was also reported killed in action aboard the battleship Arizona. It turned out the report his parents received was erroneous; a day or two later, Flannagan was reported as “safe.”

America’s entry into World War II, brought about as a result of the unprovoked Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, meant a complete change of lifestyle for local residents. The war came to Mankato sooner than most of its citizens thought possible, in the form of state guard troopers placing a cordon around the Mankato airport. They replaced the national guardsmen who were deployed to either the European or Pacific theaters of the conflict.

Fear of an air attack on Mankato was underscored by the appointment of state Sen. Val Imm as chief air raid warden in April, 1942. He and 250 volunteers who served under him became “block wardens.” Through the course of the war, eight air raid alerts were sounded as practice measures.

On one of these, which took place at night, the entire city of Mankato as well as North Mankato were completely blacked out.

Mankato Mayor C.K. Mayer was appointed head of the Mankato civil defense system and Brett Taylor served as his assistant, or “chief of staff.”

Within just a few months after war was declared, ration coupons were issued for the limited use of items deemed “essential” to the war effort, particularly gasoline.

A motorist was limited to three gallons per week of fuel. If they were a salesman or involved in a business requiring the use of a vehicle for work, an individual could apply for and receive a few more gallons of gasoline per week.

Rationing took other forms as well. Coffee was limited to one pound per person every five weeks. The second cup of coffee disappeared almost completely from local restaurants. A person purchased meat and canned goods on what was known as the “point system,” which meant that if a person ate more than his or her share one day, they would have to go without the next.

Shoes were limited to one pair per person every six months. Five pounds of sugar had to last a

person two months, and car tires had to be inspected regularly.

Monthly collections of used fats and oils were made. After using up a tube of toothpaste, an individual had to turn in the old tube before obtaining a new one.

Even construction on a new Mankato High School building (the old one at the corner of Fifth and Hickory Streets burned down in the summer of 1941) had to wait until the war was won. Classes were moved into the Lincoln School building and remained there until the completion of the new building (now Mankato West) in 1951.

There were a number of Mankato manufacturing companies that received government contracts to produce goods for the war effort during those years (1941-1945).

Gasoline motors and generators, tin cans, electrical machinists tools, tents and tarpaulins were all produced. Both Mankato and Blue Earth County repeatedly ranked at the top in the state for bond sales. There was even a subscription drive to collect money for building a transport ship for the U.S. Navy as well as several torpedo boats.

A “Victory” ship, constructed in Seattle, was named for the city of Mankato (872 Mankato Victory, VC2-S-AP3). It was a cargo ship used to carry supplies to the battlefields of Europe or the Pacific islands.

Red Cross activities were at their peak during World War II, as the families of servicemen were given assistance.

Drives were held to raise funds to purchase hard-to-get items for the troops overseas. Both the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars auxiliaries rolled thousands of bandages.

It was an all out effort to stop military aggression by Japan, Nazi Germany and Italy. Pearl Harbor itself (like the 9-11 attacks) was a military defeat. But out of that defeat came a rallying cry, “REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR!” as well as a firm resolve to defeat the forces of totalitarian government throughout the world. We Americans should never forget.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 23

Reflections

By Pat Christman

I

t doesn’t seem like winter lately. Unseasonably warm temperatures have made winter feel like it’s still far off.

But soon the landscape will turn white with a blanket of snow and frost.

Winter has its beauty and wonder. People are often willing to brave a cold Minnesota winter to capture a photo of frostcovered trees near Minneopa State Park or gently falling snow in the back yard.

If there is any constant in Minnesota’s weather, it is that it’s constantly changing. Rest assured winter is coming, and probably very soon. MM 24 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 25

Play

Paul Baumgartner (left) hugs his prize piano student Austyn Menk following Menk’s final test.

me a

melody

Austyn Menk and Paul Baumgartner prove to be a winning student/teacher combo Story and photos by Robb Murray 26 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Austyn Menk passed his Level 11 piano exam.

A

fter six years, it comes down to this.

Austyn Menk, a tall high school senior dressed neatly in a tuxedo, arrives with his mother at Gustavus Adolphus College.

Today is test day, the day he’ll play his heart out on the piano to see if he can pass the coveted Level 11 of the Minnesota Music Teachers Association ladder of piano proficiency. Level 11 is as high as it goes. So it’s down to this.

As his mother, Robyn Menk, furiously makes some lastminute notations on Austyn’s sheet music, Austyn remains calm. He adjusts his bowtie, runs his fingers through his hair and takes a drink from his water bottle. He gazes out the window and smiles at the sunlight flooding the lobby of the Schaefer Fine Arts Building. If he’s nervous, he’s not showing it.

For Austyn, this is the culmination of a relationship that began long ago with piano teacher Paul Baumgartner.

They’d gather every week. Paul Baumgartner, the wise music teacher. Austyn Menk, the gifted and precocious piano student.

Baumgartner would show his student new methods of proficient piano playing. Menk would wow Baumgartner with an uncommon ability to master the most difficult pieces.

Baumgartner would correct bad habits, introduce new and challenging materials and push Austyn to new and unimaginable musical heights. Austyn would

meet the challenges, absorbing every lesson like a sponge, growing as a musician and expanding the reach of his potential.

Their relationship blossomed, moving from strictly student/ teacher to … something more.

Mentor/protege, perhaps?

Friends? Whatever the case, here they are, gathered at Gustavus for the final step in Austyn’s work with Baumgartner. The teacher has gotten him this far, but now it’s up to Austyn.

He enters a music practice room where there are three judges waiting. Parents Robyn and Carl Menk and Baumgartner take seats immediately outside the door — Robyn Menk sits on the floor. The three listen intently to every note, Baumgartner stoically assessing Austyn’s scales and concertos.

Dad puts his cell phone on the floor where the door is open just a crack, just enough to hear what’s going on inside. Mom’s got her legs crossed school style, elbows propped up on her knees, body rocking gently back and forth in nervous anticipation.

Finally, after about an hour, it’s over. Austyn emerges, the judges emerge.

And after six years, it has come down to this. Will he have passed the highest level of difficulty?

•••• Austyn’s first piano teacher was his mom. Which was fine for a while. But after a few years, his

parents, who are both musicians, could tell his talent was something unique and required a piano teacher.

“You really can tell at a young age (when someone is gifted),” Robyn said.

So they got Austyn lined up with a teacher named Bonnie Jorgensen. Austyn says her style was perfect for him.

“She incorporated an element of fun and rewards,” he said.

What kind of rewards?

“Candy bars,” he said, laughing at the memory. “It was really nice to have that environment.”

Added Robyn, “She’d tell him sometimes to get off the piano bench and just run around for a while and get your wiggles out.”.

The relationship was a good one until Jorgensen announced her retirement. After a short search, they found Paul and Helen Baumgartner, both of whom taught at Gustavus and both of whom conducted private lessons out of their St. Peter home.

Austyn says that, before his first lesson with his new teacher, he tried to prepare a piece that would impress.

“For my first lesson with Paul, I had some patriotic piece prepared that was fairly difficult for my age,” Austyn recalled. “But when I played it for him, he told me to put it away.”

Instead of the praise he was expecting, Baumgartner directed Austyn to dial it back a notch and work on some easier stuff. But he wasn’t saying that because he wasn’t impressed.

“He recognized I was taught in a way that he was not familiar with,” Austyn said. “It wasn’t wrong, but he wanted to teach me techniques that he could build on.”

And build they did.

“Initially, the structure was very difficult for me to get used to,” Austyn said. “However, after I got into the swing of things, I got used to it and and he changed my life. I would not be the musician I am today without having Paul as an instructor.”

Baumgartner’s methods, Austyn said, made him a more technically sound player. He taught Austyn things about ergonomics as well as playing the piano with feeling. It’s easier, MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 27

after all, to focus on telling a story through the music when you’re hands are arms are acting more naturally.

He also taught Austyn to slow down.

“He is a very fast learner and he’s very gifted technically and musically,” Baumgartner said.

“But he’s in a hurry.”

•••• Piano, it seems, is a popular pursuit.

According to the Blue Book of Piano, roughly 20 million Americans play piano. Of that numbers, about 6 million are children taking lessons. Of those, most are likely the average type, the kind who progress moderately, don’t like to practice all that much and eventually quit, at which point they’ve likely acquired enough chops to play a handful of songs and the basic skills with which they can probably learn new, simple songs with relative ease.

Austyn Menk is not one of those piano players.

His parents say they never really pushed Austyn to practice much. He just … did. But even Austyn says he wasn’t really a devoted practicer until he figured out something Baumgartner indirectly taught him: “Performance and process was the reward,” he said. “I wasn’t told that, but it’s something I came to realize. The most rewarding thing is the performance.”

Coming to that realization made him hungry to learn. He wanted to practice, wanted more difficult pieces to work on. To illustrate this, he points to his annual trips to the Bunny Just Piano Festival at Minnesota State Dr. AngelA Schuck Dr. keith FlAck

28 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Paul Baumgartner listens intently as his student takes his final test.

University: In his early years he’d listen as clinicians talked to him about his performance, and then he’d zone out as they instructed other students. After having this performance and process epiphany, however, he found himself eagerly listening in on clinicians as they spoke to other students, trying to absorb as much as he could.

His proficiency accelerated, as did his climbing of the Music Teachers Association piano test ladder. He skipped the first several levels because he was so advanced. Skipped Level 9, too.

Levels 10 and 11, Baumgartner said, are at the same level as college juniors and senior music performance majors, possibly even graduate level work. Few students get there, and you don’t get to Level 11 by merely putting in the time. It is for gifted students. Indeed, on the day

Austyn tested, there were only six students from around the state testing.

Austyn says he wants to be a composer. Of course, he’s a freshmen at Gustavus this year, and he’s got plenty of time to change his mind. But it seems unlikely he’ll do something other than music.

As for Baumgartner, who began teaching at Gustavus in the 1960s and is now retired, Austyn was his last full-time, traditional student.

Seems appropriate his last made it all the way to the Level 11 test.

“He was kind of once in a lifetime student,” Baumgartner said. “His interest, his ability, the gifts – he has such technical gifts.

I was constantly trying to get him to slow down. So many pianist play so fast that you can’t hear what’s going on.”

•••• Austyn and the judges emerge from the recital room. The judges seem slightly awkward.

Austyn, however, has the same smile from before. He hugs mom and dad, of course, and then turns to Paul.

Neither of them know for sure in that moment, but Austyn has, indeed passed Level 11. Doesn’t matter. Baumgartner lets go of his walker and moves toward Austyn. He reaches out to him.

Austyn reaches back. They embrace, hold each other for a moment and let go.

The student/teacher part of their relationship is now over.

Baumgartner got him there.

Wherever Austyn goes now is up to him. MM

T

Enjoy!

— Robb Murray, Associate Editor, Mankato Magazine

southern mn style

oo many times I’ve gone to the grocery store hungry.

Which is, like, the worst thing you can do nutritionally and for your wallet.

Shopping hungry makes it really, really easy to say, “Oh man, look at that delicious rotisserie chicken! We need that!”

Or when you’re pushing your cart past the candy aisle (because you never actually go down the candy aisle, right?) and you convince yourself that, you know, it’d really be nice to have a 2-pound bag of M&Ms on hand just to give the kids a rare, occasional treat.

But let’s be honest; you and I both know the legs are coming off that chicken on the ride home, and that bag of M&Ms is going to be dipped into like the sack of letters in the family Scrabble game: early, often and not always according to the rules.

Shopping on an empty stomach, our food writer Sarah Johnson says, is a bad idea. So hit the store after supper.

You’ll be less likely to make impulse buys that do nothing for your family’s health and pull more money out of your wallet.

That’s just one of the grocery store hacks she’s got for us.

Check out her story and turn your trips to Hy-Vee into focused, driven episodes of grocery dominance.

Also, check out Bert Mattson’s beer column. He suggests giving the Schell’s beer Chimney Sweep a try. I agree. It’s good stuff.

food, drink & dine

Shop smarter, not hungrier

MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 29

Food southern mn style

Doc E’s

life-changing salsa T

By Sarah Johnson

here may be 7,500 miles between St. Peter and Dekera, Ethiopia, but that distance means little to a group of socially conscious students at Gustavus Adolphus College who have already raised enough money to build a community well for fresh water, and are hard at work building another.

The students in the Gustavus Social Entrepreneurs Club wanted a project that would create lasting change in the world, so economics professor Paul “Doc E” Estenson handed over his personal recipe and the story began. Doc E’s Salsa is life changing in two ways, according to the website: “After trying Doc E’s, your taste for salsa will never be the same. After buying a jar, you bring us closer to building freshwater wells for communities in need in developing countries.”

It costs about $5,000 to build a single sustainable well in Ethiopia.

The salsa comes in three flavors: a mild roasted tomato and black bean, a medium-hot roasted corn and chipotle pepper, and an extra-spicy roasted serrano and ripe olive. The brand is on the shelves at Mankato’s two HyVees and the Mankato Brewery; in St. Peter, at Family Fresh Market, the St. Peter Food Co-op, the Cheese & Pie Mongers and Gustavus 30 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Market Place. Lund’s, Byerly’s and Kowalski’s grocery chains in the Twin Cities also carry the products, and there is a mail-order website at www.docessalsa.com.

Three Doc E’s Salsa representatives — Ivy Estenson of St. Peter, Taylor Anderson of Rogers, and Brecklyn Schmidt of Leavenworth, WA – sat down with Mankato Magazine to chat about the remarkable growth of their product and the equally remarkable progress being made in bringing fresh water to needy African communities.

The salsa is produced with high-quality ingredients according to the club’s recipes at a company in River Falls, Wis. Word of mouth is that the salsa is wow’ing people at demonstrations as a unique, premium product in a category that is rather flooded right now.

(This reporter can attest that the serrano and ripe olive flavor is the best-tasting, most addictive blend of tomatoes, onions and peppers her salsa-slamming sons have ever had. Period.)

The salsas are available in farmer’s market-style crates for gift giving by businesses and individuals with a social conscience. The rustic crates are handcrafted by residents with cognitive difficulties at the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center.

The club also sells its products at wholesale prices to other groups looking for fund-raising ideas, and provides help with sales training.

The club chose to focus on bringing clean, safe water to rural Africa and is partnering with Water to Thrive, a faith-based non-profit headquartered in Austin, TX. Founded in 2008, Water to Thrive has funded more than 500 water projects in Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda.

Today nearly a billion people worldwide do not have access to clean water, but instead must drink, bathe, wash their dishes and laundry in dirty water filled with bacteria and parasites. The lack of clean water affects lives in dramatic ways: Children get sick and fall behind in school. Young girls are forced to drop out of school in order to spend their days walking to collect water. Women can spend up to 10 hours a day collecting water, leaving time for little else in their day. Men become sick and can’t tend their fields, which are typically the only source of food and income for their families.

The lack of access to clean water makes it difficult to break the cycle

of poverty as families are left with little to look forward to but sickness and subsistence farming, with the next generation born into the same dismal situation.

The appearance of a well that will bring fresh water now and sustainable into the future has the power to transform lives in ways unfathomable to people in developed countries.

As of 2006, one third of all nations suffered from clean water scarcity, but sub-Saharan had the largest number of water-stressed countries of any other place on the planet.

“You don’t realize how integral water is for every part of life,” said Estenson.

“It’s crazy how much water we waste here,” Anderson added.

“Way, way too much,” echoed Schmidt. “It’s bad.”

The trio say that their premium product combined with the fact that they are a student-run organization has helped sales, as people are more willing to pay a little extra for a high-quality product that’s also a charitable opportunity.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 31

Wine & Beer

wines

By Leigh Pomeroy

Let’s try something different

southern mn style

T

he other day a friend, well-versed in wine, asked me if I had ever tried an Etna Nerello Mascalese. I had to think about that, which is very strange since I have a pretty darn good memory of many of the wines I’ve tried. The downside of this is that I think my wine memories have replaced much more practical things to remember, like what I’m supposed to be doing each day without referring to my calendar, which irritates my wife greatly.

I answered I wasn’t sure, so I quickly decided it was time to make up for this fault in my wine knowledge.

Since I was traveling to Colorado, I easily found one at the Boulder Liquor Mart, known to have one of the great wine selection in the country.

My friend had tried the Nerello Mascalese at Broders’ Cucina Italiana in Minneapolis upon the server’s recommendation. The “Etna” in the name refers to the volcanic slopes of Mt. Etna in Sicily where it reaches its highest quality. The Nerello Mascalese refers to the grape itself, which produces an aromatic, medium-bodied yet complex wine that some critics have referred to as the “red Burgundy of Italy.” This is high praise indeed, as the greatest red Burgundies, made from the pinot noir grape, can sell for hundreds of dollars a bottle.

This brings me to both the good and bad of wine offerings in nearly all but the best wine shops and restaurants. The good is that, overall, choices today are better than ever. The bad is that these choices are often represented by just a handful of varietals — e.g., Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and Moscato in the whites; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, California Zinfandel, Australian Shiraz and Argentinian Malbec for the reds. Among these, many of the labels are owned by a few large corporations. No wonder they taste strikingly the same. Where is the variety in that?

In other words, where is the Nerello Mascalese?

There are many alternatives to California and Australia Chardonnays, for example. Lately I’ve been enjoying wines from the Macon region of France with names like Milly-Lamartine, Saint-Véran and Viré-Clessé. While they are all made from the chardonnay grape, they are oceans apart from the often sweet, fruity, oaky offerings from California and Australia. And they are reasonable, almost always under $20 in stores if you can find them.

Staying with the whites, you may have sampled a Pinot Grigio from Italy, but have you ever tried an Albariño or Verdelho from Spain? Or a Grüner Veltliner from Austria? Or a Vermentino from Sardinia? Or a Picpoul de Pinet from the

32 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Mediterranean coast of France?

Or a Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne or Grenache Blanc from the Rhône area of France? All but Viognier are labeled as the varietal, but instead with the place name of where the grapes were grown, like Côtes du Rhône Blanc and usually blended together to create the wine.

As for the reds, alternatives to big, hefty Washington State and California Cabernets include Barbarescos and Barolos from northwestern Italy.

Alternatives to Zinfandel may be sangiovese-based Italian wines, ranging from Chianti to the heavier yet softer Vino Nobile de Montepulciano to the fullblown, monstrous Brunello di Montalcino.

Also among the Italian reds come the rustic, mouth-filling wines from the nero d’avola, negroamaro and aglianico grapes grown in the southern part of the country; racy reds from the montepulciano grape (not the same as Vino Nobile di Montepulciano) grown along the Adriatic coast; and blends from the corvina, molinara, and rondinella grapes of Valpolicella, grown near Verona in the northeast, culminating in the mouthexploding Amarone della Valpolicella wine.

Spain offers incredible values in red wines (and some more expensive selections as well) from garnacha, tempranillo, monastrell and mencia grapes, just to name a few. These wines range in style from light and frivolous to heavy, brooding and muscular.

Interestingly enough, some West Coast vintners are experimenting with all these varietals — both white and red — producing quite remarkable wines indeed.

Fortunately, we have several local wineries that produce wines from grapes reflective of Minnesota’s climate and offer unique flavors, including the whites Seyval blanc, Saint Pepin, La Crescent and Vignoles, and the reds Frontenac, Marquette and Saint Croix.

As it turns out, I didn’t need to travel all the way to Colorado for a Nerello Mascalese. In fact, you can find one right here in Mankato at the two MGMs and High Spirits on Stadium Road. They all carry the excellent and refined, though pricy, Tascante Ghiaia Nera, which is made entirely from the nerello mascalese grape.

And just in case you’re wondering, it’s a wonderful red for the Christmas season. Happy holidays!

Leigh Pomeroy is a Mankato-based writer and wine lover.

Beer

By Bert Mattson

Wassailing you this season B

arely roused from the stupor induced by stuffing bellies to prove thankfulness, folks enter the stampede to get in on the giving season.

There’s a growing movement to pause and wonder whether this bustle is in our best interest.

People might be amused to learn that Puritans shared the sentiment. While harvest time was for fresh produce, December brought fresh meat. Before then it was rarely cold enough to slaughter and store livestock.

The season also begot fresh batches of beer. Due to the lull in work, harvest done, laboring classes were largely idle. It was an equation to inspire public performances of gluttony and excess -- or so said critics.

Participants called it “revelling.”

What commoners called wassailing, members of more elegant classes could have called extortion. Only food and drink could stop the song. Historians frame it as relatively benign ritual by which peasants relieved class tensions. Kind of like kids do at Halloween. In any case, Puritans had no intention of importing such a tradition. They sought to temper this cyclical, seasonal rejection of restraint with a tidy workweek, ideally ending in a subdued Sabbath.

Christmas was even outlawed for a time, and almost erased from record.

Of course, there was a kernel of charity and excitement in the whole affair that endured the temperance of the time, and the old impulses of commoners to celebrate couldn’t ultimately be contained. So we find ourselves in a position to exchange gifts.

Seeing as beer survived a temperance movement too, why not consider the time-tested tradition of giving it as a gift?

A wisp of smoke in Chimney Sweep, the seasonal dark lager from Schell’s, along with roasted nuts, cocoa, and caramel traces an almost Dickensian contrast of grit set against elegance.

While smoke could pose an acrid threat in the imagination, I found the ample maltiness of this beer swept that concern aside. Enough hops are present to provide balance. I’m seeing this one bundled with a smoked meat and cheese sampler, but I wouldn’t mind seeing it set out for Santa next to a dish of brownies. This selection has also been known to cameo in Schell’s Winter Sampler Pack.

Chimney Sweep isn’t the only thing to arrive for the season that is based on the traditions of Bavaria. Historically, tales from this region balanced the figure of Saint Nicholas with a creature called Krampus.

In contrast to the rewards of Old St. Nick, legend holds that Krampus, a horned beast, comes around to punish mischievous children. Southern Tier Brewing, the brains behind the immensely popular Pumking, release big bottles of their Imperial Helles Lager, Krampus, around November. For an adult child who deserves a passive aggressive pat on the head, this beer might be your method.

Be cautioned that Imperial implies elevated alcohol; your swift reward may be unseemly revelry. Sharp cheddar may both temper the alcohol and mingle nicely with rich malts and aromatic hops.

Catering to carolers? Look into a growler of Mankato Brewery’s seasonal Mint Stout.

Bert Mattson is a chef and writer based in St. Paul. He is the manager of the iconic Mickey’s Diner. bertsbackburner.com MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 33

Drinks

Happy Hour:

By M. Carrie Allen | Special to the Free Press

southern mn style

The theater writer’s next stage:

A deep dive into the cocktail renaissance

T

he substantial body of writing - perhaps half of it

by David Wondrich - about the early history of the cocktail helped lay the foundation for its rebirth. In the dozen or so years since that revival began, bartenders have plowed through the literature and old recipe books, revamped old drinks and put them back on menus, and reveled in the return of oncevanished ingredients. At the same time they were rediscovering, they were inventing, stepping from the solid bedrock of Manhattans and martinis to create new drinks.

Until now, no book has explored that more-recent history, the bartender-driven Revolution of the Bibulous that has occurred in the bars all around us. If you’ve wondered what happened to your drink in the past decade, how you went from drinking crappy commercial sour mix leaded with vodka to some delicious a n d e x p e n s i ve c o n c o c t i o n traced with European liqueurs and chilled with perfectly clear artisanal ice, you’ll enjoy some time with Robert O. Simonson’s latest book, “A Proper Drink: The Untold Story of How a Band of Bartenders Saved the Civilized Drinking World.”

I’m not one for envying other writers; we’re all being ground up by the same publishing mill unless we’re Stephen King, which, last time I checked, only one of us is. But I’ll admit: Sometimes I’m jealous of Simonson. Partly because he can pull off a dapper fedora, but mainly because he lives in Brooklyn and therefore has regular access to many of the bars that formed the epicenter of the cocktail earthquake. Don’t get 34 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

me wrong: There’s plenty for a cocktail geek here in the District; we have our own core of heavy hitters. But Washington doesn’t offer the density of the East Village, where you can’t swing a subway rat without hitting a cocktail den. Simonson’s book ranges the globe in its reporting, but New York is the perfect vantage point from which to cover the scene.

It’s somewhat ironic that a man who has spent the past decade seeking out and writing about elegant depressants stumbled onto the topic while on the hunt for stimulants. In 2006, Simonson was a theater writer trying to break into wine writing, and he had gone out to report on a combination coffee pop-up/ theater experience in Soho (of course) when the PR rep for the event mentioned a little cocktail festival she was putting on in New Orleans and suggested he come down. Simonson, excited to check out a city he’d never been to, took her up on the idea.

That PR rep was Ann Rogers, now Ann Tuennerman; 10 years on, her conference, Tales of the Cocktail, can hardly be described as little. I can only imagine encountering New Orleans for the first time through Tales, a swelter of Louisiana heat and drinking that - while highly educational - can feel like the city’s bon temps have roulezed you, along with your overtaxed brain, sweat glands and liver, right into the Mississippi. Simonson was so smitten that he tumbled down the rabbit hole and has been sending up boozy dispatches from Wonderland ever since, most notably in the New York Times.

When I talked to Simonson about how he got started, I got déjà vu as he described an early meeting to test gin and tonics with Wondrich, mixologist Julie Reiner and bartender-writer St. John Frizell, all well-established figures in the cocktail scene by then.

“They were such big deals. I was terrified of them,” he says. (How the student becomes the master, grasshopper: That nervousness over meeting people who have vast expertise in a subject you’re just getting into more deeply?

Exactly how I felt when I first met Simonson.)

Simonson is such a fixture in the cocktail writing world that it was startling to be reminded that he hasn’t always been doing it.

Thus I read with another weird whiff of déjà vu - or whatever you call it when an experience is so well described that it causes an intense sense memory of your own - about his first encounter with a Sazerac: “The edges of my vision blurred and my focus trained on the glass in front of me. I was simultaneously tasting three things I never had before: rye whiskey, spicy and bright; Herbsaint, as herbal as the name hinted; and Peychaud’s bitters, which - well, what the hell were they anyway, and what did they do?”

A broader version of that question drives “A Proper Drink”: What is the cocktail renaissance, anyway, and what has it done to the way we drink today?

Simonson captures the re-ascendance of bartending as a career and clarifies how drinks crossed various ponds, who took them there, how the word spread.

He talked to hundreds of sources

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Food

What’s Cooking

By Sarah Johnson

southern mn style

Shop smarter with these grocery store hacks U

gh, time to go grocery shopping again. What was once an enthusiastic venture filled with wondrous surprise and endless fascination, slogging for groceries has become yet another drudgery to be checked off the chore list. I’m tired of being endlessly dismayed by rising costs and shrinking portion sizes. Sometimes the price of eggs or strawberries or sugar can literally make my jaw drop, not a pretty picture at my age: I look just like a zombie.

However, I perk up considerably once I spot an opportunity to save a buck or two. My sluggish blood starts to flow a little faster when I see a clearance sign.

Coupons are my favorite currency. Let me share some of my favorite grocery-store hacks so you too can reclaim some of the joy of grocery shopping.

BUDDY UP TO THE MANAGER

When advertised sale items are out of stock or unavailable, store managers can authorize discounts on comparable products, so it pays to get to know them. Friendly store managers can also help steer shoppers to the best deals.

PLAN MEALS USING CHEAP PRODUCE

Pretend you’re on “Iron Chef” or “Chopped” and design meals based on the cheapest produce available. It can help reduce spending while encouraging creativity and ensuring nutritious meals.

DON’T FORGET THE FROZEN FOODS

Frozen foods last longer and are generally cheaper than fresh foods. Look to their frozen foods when the ingredients will be cooked in dishes such as soups, casseroles and pies.

SHOP AT ETHNIC MARKETS AND SMALLER SHOPS

Specialty markets offer consumers a good source of low-cost staples like rice, spices, fruits and other ingredients popular within specific ethnic communities. And there are numerous local

36 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

butcher shops that would love to sell you half a pig or a quarter cow, which will cut your meat bill considerably if you have the freezer space.

LOOK UP AND DOWN

Grocery stores often strategically place the highest priced items at eye level. Take a look up or down to spot better deals on similar products.

USE A BASKET

If the cart looks empty, it’s easy to assume you’re forgetting something, or might not have enough food for the week. To keep from buying extra items that weren’t on the shopping list, use a basket or smaller cart to focus attention on just the essentials.

DON’T SHOP HUNGRY

On an empty stomach, everything in the store seems appetizing, especially high-priced prepared foods and snacks. Eating just before going shopping can help you make smart and economical choices without being distracted by hunger pangs.

CHECK OUT THE BLEMISHED PRODUCE

Stores often have a section where bruised and overripe produce is sold at clearance prices. These fruits and vegetables work just fine in sauces, pie fillings, stews and smoothies.

CHOOSE WHOLE FOODS RATHER THAN PROCESSED

Foods with less processing, such as whole fruits and vegetables, offer a lot of nutrition per serving and cost less than their chopped and packaged counterparts. Even when using organic produce, a whole-food diet can be less costly than relying on processed foods.

BUY SLICED MEATS FROM THE DELI

The deli counter usually offers the lowest prices on cold cuts because the store buys the meat in bulk, passing on the savings to customers.

KEEP AWAY FROM END-OFAISLE DISPLAYS

Large and colorful displays are designed to attract buyers to something they might not otherwise buy. Sometimes the items are on sale, but typically the displays market brand-name products best avoided when trying to save.

USE BLENDED OILS FOR COOKING

Shoppers can save by reserving pricier virgin oils for dipping, dressings, or recipes that call for them, where flavor matters. For sautéing, frying and baking, use less expensive blended oils.

COOK ‘TAKEOUT’ AT HOME

Cooking is generally less expensive than eating out and can be just as quick and convenient.

Learning a few dishes to satisfy a craving for takeout, such as pad thai or a killer pizza, can help cut spending on food.

GO VEGETARIAN Meat is one of the most expensive ingredients in many meals. Focusing on meatless meals helps save money while diversifying nutrition. Some of the savings can be put toward higher-quality meat to consume in smaller quantities.

“Take Out”

General Tso Sauce for Chicken, Shrimp or Tofu 3 tablespoons soy sauce 3 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons rice wine 1 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar 1 tablespoon chili paste 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch Mix all ingredients in a sauté pan. Cook at medium temperature until thickened, stirring occasionally.

Sarah Johnson is a cook, freelance writer and chocolate addict from North Mankato with three grown kids and a couple of mutts.

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weren’t commonplace back then but if they had been, I was a case in the making along with oppositional defiant disorder and probably a whole slew of others.

My touchy-feely tendencies weren’t restricted to nice department stores.

For five long years I took piano lessons from a very sweet woman who should have been elevated to sainthood for putting up with me since I didn’t want to learn how to play the piano and I never, ever practiced. I also couldn’t master getting my left hand to play at the same time my right hand was playing and more than once the poor lady put her head down on top of her piano and actually cried while I was sitting next to her. I felt badly about that and would have begged my mother to let me stop taking lessons if there hadn’t been a bigger draw.

My piano teacher’s living room was loaded with objects that my non-musical 10 fingers simply had to touch. Whenever the teacher left the room (which in retrospect was about for fifteen minutes of every half hour lesson), I would leap up and touch something new. Statues, glass paperweights, the faux fabric vinyl covering on her couch, lace curtains, plants — in five years I never got close to running my curious little fingers over even a quarter of the items she had crammed in her living room.

After satisfying my itch to discover what a bronze frog felt like (cold and smooth), I’d rush back to the piano and wait for my teacher. She never caught me. Or if she did, she never said anything. (Although I’m not sure who was happier the day I finally stopped pretending to learn how to play the piano and ended our lessons. I suspect it was my teacher.)

As I grew older, my compulsion to handle every sequin, knickknack and puppy that crossed my path slowly faded. I suspect my urge toward tactile examinations of any and all objects sprang from growing up in such a nontouchy environment. Or maybe I was just a peculiar child. Whatever, I’m over it for the most part. But don’t leave me alone in any Joann’s Fabric store with orders not to touch anything because it might not be pretty. That oppositional behavior thing is a whole lot harder to shake.

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Function is restored faster, so you can get back to the activities you enjoy most. Common procedures include: • • • • •

Gallbladder, appendix and hemorrhoid removals Colon and intestinal cancer surgery Breast health issues Hernia repairs Thyroid and parathyroid concerns Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato Call 1-877-412-7575 (toll-free) to schedule an appointment.

Nell Musolf is a mom and freelance writer from Mankato. She blogs at: nellmusolf.com MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 39

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Mankato Magazine Dec. 2016 & Jan. 2017

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Karla Van Eman,

Broker/Owner ABR, CRS, GRI

I would like to wish all of my past and present clients a safe and happy holiday season!

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • '(&(0%(5 • 41

Your style

By Ann Rosenquist Fee

What to wear when a plaster cast and nylon sling are suddenly wearing you S

lipped and fell on the first icy sidewalk of the season? Or, expecting to fall pretty soon because it’s been that kind of year, weather-wise and otherwise, so why not just go big and close out 2016 in a sling or a brace?

Not a problem! Not a problem, at least, in terms of fashion.

In a twist of excellent fortune for Style’s readership, I was recently given the hands-on, up-close opportunity to shop for, dress, accessorize and do the hairdos of a person in a cast. Basically for most of September. So I am aware, I mean keenly aware, I mean “would you mind washing my left armpit” aware, of what works and what doesn’t when your foundational wardrobe piece is suddenly an over-the-elbow cast on your dominant hand.

Let me back up and tell you that my mother-in-law, the owner of the armpit, is one of my favorite people.

We often show up at family things dressed alike, without talking about it in advance, which is delightful for us but sometimes awkward for the other in-laws who seemingly did not get the memo. Does that give me a tinge of winning satisfaction? Yes. I mean of course. Does it also give me diamondtip precision in terms of knowing how to translate her regular, non-injured, two-armed wardrobe into a similarly chic version designed to work around a cast when she’s temporarily living with us while recovering from surgery due to a broken ulna due to an auto accident due to poorly marked left turn lanes and the fact that she may have been curling her eyelashes or some other such thing during the left turn? Yep. From the ground up:

42 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

ELASTIC WAISTS. Essential.

And, if it’s pants, double-check to make sure the legs are wide. We learned this the hard way after I shopped at Plato’s Closet which is a fabulous source of thrift clothing, and/ but is geared toward a teen market, so when you grab a bunch of elasticwaisted neutral-colored things for her to try on at home, and you think you’re getting wide-legged palazzo pants, you’re more likely actually getting a throwback tapered “I Dream of Jeannie” shape. This poses difficulty for the one-armed person struggling for balance while she steps, gingerly,

into the foot-shaped hole the pants were supposed to allow, on the floor.

Double-check. For reasons of pride and efficiency, everyone involved is going to want the pulling-up of pants to be a successful solo one-handed activity.

TOPS WITH GIANT ARMHOLES. Just go 100 percent

camisoles, I mean, completely. Don’t bother with t-shirts and certainly don’t bother with longer-sleeved shirts, and don’t bother at all with the usual regular undergarments. Go strictly and solely camisole, and slip

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Katie & Kevin Regan Real Estate Team

REAL ESTATE TEAM

507.469.9683 katie@jbealhomes.com

507.385.1313 www.jbealhomes.com

MONARCH

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Faces & Places: Photos By SPX Sports

History Fest

1. Young and old learning to dance around the Maypole at Jack McGowan’s Farm.

2. Gary Borgmeier brands a piece of wood for Ryan Lewis and his mother Stacey during History Fest at McGowan’s Farm.

3. Kendyl Reichel with her mother Julia, shows off a piece of branded wood.

4. Tim Koehler and Josh Hagen demonstrate shooting and the power behind blanks.

5. Children learn how the Union Army recruited soldiers for the Civil War. 6. Dane Hiniker demonstrates flax weaving.

7. Takara Roberts portrays an herb wife and demonstrates the many medicinal uses of plants and weeds.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 45

Faces & Places: Photos By SPX Sports 1

Maker’s Fair 1. Karen Dirks, one of three people on the Maker’s Fair committee, sells T-shirts and provides information for patrons of the event.

2. Suszi Grudem, of Suzi Q and Company, begins a face painting on Claire Striemer.

3. Malia Wiley, of Paintings by Malia, works on a painting during the fair at her booth.

4. Emma and Rebecca Feldman try out the toys at the Maple River Toy Company Booth.

5. There were plenty of vendors to choose from.

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46 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Faces & Places: Photos By SPX Sports

St. Peter Halloween 5K run 1. Runners take off from the start line of the St. Peter Halloween 5K run.

2. Participants grab something to eat and drink after the run.

3. Henry Hokenson along with his dad, Jared, competed.

4. Charlie and Angie Potts make their way through the race course in costume.

5. Mike Klein, Brandon, Mickayla, Ben and Mandy Janzen, along with Karla and Anna Kawatski, race to the finish.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • december 2016 • 47

From this Valley

By Pete Steiner

Little Toy Trains Super hobbyist Don Larson takes his collection very seriously

W

e’ll be hearing that Glen Campbell/Roger Miller classic a lot the next couple of months on the all-Christmas radio stations. A pleasant song about a popular pastime. Model electric trains have enticed hobbyists for more than 100 years. I had a Lionel set once, loved it, thought it was pretty cool.

Then a couple weeks ago, I visited Dan Larson. We’re talking, like, another PLANET! •••• The doorbell will ring. It’s a couple of neighborhood grade-schoolers.

“Can you come out and play?” they ask the 70-year-old Larson. He smiles and grabs the key to the garage. To the neighborhood kids, Dan is known as “The Train Guy.” He loves sharing his hobby.

•••• On the day I pull up, the Train Guy is waiting. He leads me to the outbuilding where he works on another passion: building street rods. He explains that he was an accountant, constantly staring at numbers. “I needed something to do with my hands.”

In this first building, there’s a small electric train set mounted inside a 10-foot plywood carrying case. This is the portable unit Dan can load into a trailer to take to shows. He hits five or six swap meets for model train enthusiasts in the Twin Cities

every year. Sometimes he goes to even larger shows in Madison or Milwaukee. He and his wife, Margie, plan vacations around swap meets.

There are plenty of those -- the National Model Railroad Association claims more than 20-thousand members.

•••• Like many children of the 50’s, Dan got hooked on model railroading. He had a layout in the family basement when he was 10, set up on a ping pong table. But when company came for the holidays, he had to take it down. While he still has that train set, he did not get his first permanent installation until he was 52. The lesson? “Don’t give up!”

Larson collects O-gauge trains -- the kind you’d have had if you had Lionel trains. It’s one of the five most common scales for collectors. You may also have heard of the smaller H-O scale. While he has the familiar push-button electric switches for uncoupling his cars, Dan uses manual switches to change the tracks his trains run on.

He finds these switches at swap meets: they’re miniaturized versions of what you’d find in an actual switching yard.

•••• Dan remembers going downtown to Joe Manderfeld’s shop in the ’50’s.

The long-gone paint store in the 500 block of South Front also displayed and sold Lionel trains.

“I was down there all the time,” he says, recalling the $7 boxcar he bought in 1960. It was a yellow and green Rutland. Dan recently sold it at a swap meet for $1,000. If you look in a catalog, Dan says, you’ll see the guy got a bargain.

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48 • december 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Larson uses his train collection to teach lessons. He really kicked into high gear collecting and setting up his displays shortly after he took early retirement from Kato Engineering 15 years ago. “One must have something to do,” he advises retirees. Now he leads me to a second garage. He unlocks it and raises the door on the 24-by-24-foot structure, revealing a model train wonderland: “I have something to do!” he declares.

I am hearing chatter that sounds like police radio. I ask him if he has a scanner. Listen more closely, he says: they’re authentic recordings of exchanges between train engineers, conductors and traffic controllers that play as the trains make their rounds.

Dan crouches under the raised platform and takes his place at the central control panel. Soon there’s the clackety-clack of an old steam engine, with its hollow, lonesomesounding whistle. It chugs by pulling tanker cars. On another track, there’s a replica Amtrak passenger train with lighted double-decker viewing cars.

In all, there are 14 different engines spread across this 500-square-foot miniature landscape with its bridges and tunnels.

There are two complete model villages built from materials supplied

by Woodland Scenics and Mike’s Train House. There’s also a farm, soon to include a replica corn field.

There’s a mock oil refinery to load the tanker cars; that installation took Dan a whole year to assemble and put together. “I’m a little on the obsessive-compulsive scale,” he grins. He eagerly helps other area enthusiasts build and wire their displays. Is it an expensive hobby?

“Depends on how carried away you get.” A top-quality replica freight or steam engine can run $500. He says Margie never complains, “as long as I help her with her gardens.”

Peter Steiner is host of “Talk of the Town” weekdays at 1:05 p.m. on KTOE.

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