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2016 holiday events Nov 4-6 Holiday Shopping Opener Nov 4-6 GnomeMade Artisan Market Nov 4-6 Wine Diva Days Nov 4 Girl’s Night Out - The Show Nov 5 Women’s Expo & Craft Fair Nov 10-12 Hometown Holiday Road Trip - Quilt Shop Hop Nov 11-13 Holiday Shopping Opener Nov 25 Parade of Lights Nov 26 Small Business Saturday Dec 8 New Ulm Day of Giving Dec 15 #ShopNewUlm Event Dec 24/25 Luminaries @ Schell’s Brewery
www.newulm.com 2 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
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Know Your Risk
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Take charge of your health with monthly self-exams and annual mammograms
Mankato Clinic joins us in raising awareness of the importance of early detection in the fight against breast cancer and the importance of continued support for breast cancer research.
MANKATO MAGAZINE • november 2016 • 1
» C OME JUDGE
for Yourself.
GOLFERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD COME TO CHALLENGE THE JUDGE and the two other golf courses in Prattville at RTJ Capitol Hill. Bring your clubs and come take on Judge hole number 1, voted the favorite hole on the Trail. Complete your day in luxury at the Marriott and enjoy dining, firepits and guest rooms overlooking the Senator golf course. With the Marriott’s 20,000 square feet of meeting space, 96 guest rooms and luxurious Presidential Cottage combined with three world-class golf courses, business and pleasure can definitely interact in Prattville.
THE ROBERT TRENT JONES GOLF TRAIL AT CAPITOL HILL is home of the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic on the Senator Course September 18 to 24, 2014. The Marriott Prattville is part of the Resort Collection on Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. Visit www.rtjgolf.com or call 800.949.4444 to learn more. 2 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
FEATURES November 2016 Volume 11, Issue 11
12
All heart
Lisa Coons gets honest about her health struggles and her love for Mankato.
16
Home cookin’!
Our beer expert takes us on a culinary journey into the personal side of home cooking.
20
Can southern Minnesota survive?
We check in with some political operatives to see if Democracy will survive its biggest test yet: Trump Vs. Clinton.
About the Cover Lisa Coons is known for her electric smile and magnetic personality. Both are captured beautifully in our cover, shot by Bre McGee. MANKATO MAGAZINE • november 2016 • 3
DEPARTMENTS 6 From the Editor 8 This Day in History 9 The Gallery
Chris Kirksey
10 Beyond the Margin Letter from a
9
Birmingham restaurant
23 Food, Drink & Dine
24 Food
26 Wine
Friendly confines Beaujolais Nouveau
27 Beer Snowstorm
28 Happy Hour
10
Complex ciders
30 What’s Cooking Olympic cooking 34 Day Trip Destinations Lake Superior Storm Festival
36 Living 55 Plus
52 Then & Now The disputed presidential election
of 1876
54 That’s Life My Bill Murray story
24
34
56 Garden Chat The circle of life 58 Your Style The fur. The wool. The Doublemint.
The dress coat!
60 Coming Attractions 61 Faces & Places 64 From This Valley Property crime
Coming in December
58 4 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
60
A very local Christmas! We bring you your road map to execute a completely local — and awesome — shopping season.
HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE & GRAND RE-OPENING NOVEMBER 10-13 Thursday, Nov. 10th 4pm-7pm MN Made Night *Locally made spirits and desserts * Featuring MN wood art-$14.99 (reg. $19.99) * Minnesota themed gift while supplies last *Door prizes
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From The Associate EDITOR By Robb Murray November 2016 • VOLUME 11, ISSUE 11 Acting Steve Jameson Publisher 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 Brian Arola
PHOTOGRAPHERS Pat Christman Bre McGee Page designer
Christina Sankey
ADVERTISING Phil Seibel manager ADVERTISING Theresa Haefner Sales ADVERTISING Barb Wass ASSISTANT ADVERTISING Sue Hammar designers Christina Sankey
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 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
The brightest soul I know O ccasionally we come across people in our lives who leave such an impression that we never, ever forget them. For me, Lisa Coons is one of those people. Which is why I was so, so happy when she agreed to be interviewed for the November issue of Mankato Magazine. I’ve known Lisa for years. Every encounter I’ve ever had with her has been positive. But there was one conversation we had that, honestly, was one of the rawest moments I’ve ever had as a journalist. Several years ago, there was an effort to change the Minnesota constitution so that marriage would be defined as a union between one man and one woman. The “Vote No” movement sprang up out of that and defeated that effort (the “Vote No” folks rose again the following year and successfully convinced a majority of Minnesotans to approve the same-sex marriage law.) But in the early days of the efforts to amend the constitution, I sat down with Lisa as a reporter for The Free Press to talk about it. Why? Because in journalism, that’s what we do; we find someone in an emblematic position within a controversy and ask them how they “feel” about it. Lisa had been an outspoken LGBT advocate for years, so when we needed someone from “that side of the issue,” — i.e., someone who is gay — I called someone I knew wouldn’t be afraid to talk, someone would be honest and would speak thoughtfully. Lisa and I got together at a coffee shop and talked. I asked my silly questions and she humored me. She said what I thought she’d say … and so much more. It was in that conversation where, like few other times in my 20 years of asking silly questions, a subject transcended
our reason for meeting and took the conversation to a level of honesty and sincerity that, well, sort of stopped me in my tracks. When Lisa Coons casts her spell of peaceful good intentions and positive vibes, it’s very difficult to walk away from that conversation unmoved. In that hour, I learned so much about her and the way some of the rhetoric around the issue was hurting so many good people. Truth be told, I was already on her side — and even I came away educated. Not on the issue, but on humanity and how truly, stunningly bright someone’s soul can be, even when it’s hurting. Lisa is battling through some health issues right now. And, true to form, she was willing to share her struggle. She considers the people of Mankato to be her family. I know you’re going to love her story and maybe even pull for her yourself. Also in this issue, we take you to the heart of what everyone’s talking about these days: the race for the White House. We thought it’d be interesting to talk to our local political operatives to see if, after a scorched-earth campaign like the one we just had, is it possible to pick up the pieces of the southern Minnesota ethos and put them back together. The story is tremendous, you guys. It’s the best story with tremendous words from some of the greatest people. It’s going to be yoooge! Finally, a November issue wouldn’t be complete without some comfort food, right? Our beer expert, Bert Mattson, also happens to be a trained gourmet chef. His thoughts on home cooking will warm your heart and get you ready to cook. MM Robb Murray is associate editor of Mankato Magazine. Contact him at 344-6386 or rmurray@ mankatofreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @freepressRobb.
Thank You Greater Mankato. Proud to Serve You.
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This Day in history By Jean Lundquist
Warm & Fuzzy
Saturday, Nov. 10, 1900 Omaha Road Asked to Pay for Teamster Hicks’ Death Among the cases before the court in this city next week will be one against the Omaha Road for a teamster named Hicks at Ottawa. A year ago, Hicks was driving home in the dusk of the evening after a day’s work. He was crossing the railroad track when a passenger train without a headlight beam or a whistle for the crossing hit his wagon and threw it some distance. Hicks was killed, the wagon was demolished, one horse was killed instantly and the other was so badly injured it had to be shot. Friday, Nov. 20, 1914 Pettis man claims couple “stole” him A bold and most unusual crime was committed a few miles east of this city on Wednesday of last week, when C.A. Mott, of Cleveland Township, was overpowered by masked men, taken to a waiting automobile and carried a long distance before he was set at liberty. He said that, as he walked into his yard, he was bound and gagged and compelled to walk out onto the Kasota road where the auto awaited. He says he was then chloroformed. He regained consciousness when the car was in the suburbs of Mankato. The two men tried to force him to sign a check for $100, but he could not, because he didn’t have that much money in the bank. The men took the $5 he had on his person before setting him free. He walked to the Heinrich hotel, and from there called his wife. Tuesday, Nov. 23, 1926 Feminine scream ends enlistment A 20-year-old girl so modern that she not only adopted her brother’s haircut but also his vest, trousers and what have you, Monday applied for enlistment at the Navy recruiting station here. As a first step, officers examined the applicant’s eyes. They passed requirements. Then they told the applicant to undress. A scream, decidedly feminine, broke through the room as she fled. “H’m,” said the petty officer. “She probably has her sweetheart in the Navy, and was trying to join him. We get a lot of those.”
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1750 Northway Drive North Mankato, MN 56003 800-729-7575 www.corpgraph.com 8 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Wednesday, Nov. 24, 1926 Sliding on streets is banned by ordinance “Children sliding on the streets of this city will do so at their own risk.” This statement came from councilman J.W. Johnson, who is also the head of the street department. It is backed by the endorsement of mayor Chris Steiner. “Sliding on city streets is strictly forbidden unless the city has designated certain streets as sliding zones,” said councilman Johnson. This comes after the accident last night that resulted in the death of Esther Winkler sliding on North Front Street hill. Although city hall was besieged with calls asking about safe sliding zones, “It is too early,” said councilman Johnson. “The snow is liable to melt away any day, and the city cannot be put to useless expense.” Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1959 From old files Twenty-five years ago today, a dwarfed orange tree bearing both flowers and fruit can be seen in the widow of the Metropolitan lunch room, 113 south Front street. The tree, which is 15 years old, was purchased from a woman in Lake Crystal.
The Gallery: Chris Kirksey Story by Nell Musolf
‘A one-of-a-kind original’
O
He paints live and in living color
n any given night, Front Street in Mankato is alive with people out in pursuit of a good time. On Thursday evening over at the Moonshiner Patio Bar, something a little different is going on. Like many other bars, the Moonshiner offers live music. But on Thursdays, it also offers live painting. Whoa, wait. Live painting? What, pray tell, might that be? While most people are familiar with the concept of live music, watching an artist in the throes of creation is something not so common. Abstract artist Chris Kirksey has been wielding his paint brush at the Moonshiner for a few months and is enjoying the gig immensely. “I like it,” Kirksey said. “It’s a lot of fun to be at the Moonshiner and to be painting while the people around me are enjoying themselves. It’s exciting.” Kirksey’s impromptu “studio” on Thursday nights is an area at the front of the bar where he sets up a table loaded with acrylic paints in all the colors of the rainbow and then some along with several canvases of various
sizes. Kirksey sets up his easel at an angle so that customers can see what he is creating. He then begins painting around 9 p.m. and continues to create until the closing time. “I get an idea and then I just start painting,” Kirksey said. “Each painting is a one-of-a-kind original.” When asked how he can paint for such a long amount of time in one unbroken stretch, Kirksey replied that while he’s creating, it’s easy to get caught up in what he’s doing and lose track of what’s going on around him. “I’m aware of the people around me but I get lost in the moment, I guess,” Kirksey said. What’s going on around him is patrons enjoying an evening out, drinks flowing and an overall ambiance of good times complete with music. The music provided by Justin Fasnacht of Fuzz Talk Radio varies from week to week, much like Kirksey’s paintings. As an abstract artist, Kirksey is inspired by many different things, giving his work a free-flowing, colorful feel. “It feels freer to me to paint in an
atmosphere like this,” Kirksey said. “People come and talk to me and ask me what I’m doing. It’s a good time.” Kirksey began his live painting at the Moonshiner after talking the idea over with his friend, Fasnacht. “We have a lot of local talent in southern Minnesota,” Fasnacht said. “Painters and musicians. People seem to like the idea of watching a painter perform the same as they like hearing a musician perform.” As the evening continues, Kirksey’s painting also continues and the blank canvas has become alive with color, shape and design. The artist works intently, a part of the bar but also an island of creativity amid the music, conversation and clinks of glasses being raised. “I’m always trying to be creative whenever I have a blank canvas in front of me,” Kirksey said. “Painting here is a way to get my work out into the community and it’s also a lot of fun.”
MANKATO MAGAZINE • november 2016 • 9
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12 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Sure, she’s looked better. But she’ll be back to her old self soon. You can count on it.
THE
Lisa Coons S T O R Y By Robb Murray | Photos by Bre McGee
Y
ou may have heard whispers of her demise, seen the bulging blue veins snaking around her hands, red spots blotching her forearms, the slightly gaunt face, the handkerchief-swaddled head. Maybe you noticed she moves a little slower these days, or that she hasn’t been to work for awhile. “What’s up with Lisa?” you may have asked your mutual friend. “Is she OK? Have you seen her? How sick is she? It’s so sad …” Well, don’t be sad. She doesn’t want you to be. She wants you to smile and look at life the way she always has: with outstretched arms, an open heart and a warm voice that assures you that — even though she may not look like it — she is at peace. Sit down with her. You’ll see. Talk to her about her daughter, Eleanor, whom she has home schooled with her wife, Patti. Ask her what her plans are for the future and listen to the joy and optimism in her voice as she tells you she wants to be here, that she wants to be strong, she wants to be helping make Mankato a better place, just as she’s always done. Stare into that megawatt smile -- the one that has charmed coffee shop customers, PrideFest parade goers and community garden users since she arrived here in the 1990s — and you’ll see. Lisa Coons has no plans to give up. There’s a lot of good happening in her life right now. “I have a lot to be thankful for right now,” Coons said. “I’m surrounded by love.” Coons, former director of the Center for Earth Spirituality and Rural Ministry, is struggling right now, physically. She underwent a series of surgeries recently to repair heart valves that had been damaged by the radiation treatment she received when she was fighting cancer in the 1990s. Those surgeries discovered the problem and then fixed it with the implantation of two mechanical heart valves. But recovery, it seems, sometimes crawls along at its own pace. And sometimes the results
aren’t what we hoped for. In addition to being a lover of the earth and of everything and everyone on it, Coons is also a fighter. She fought for this chance -- even fought through a code blue in a hospital room with her daughter a few feet away -- and now she’s trying to make the most of it. But now her body is tired, and while it saddens the hearts of the many who have been captivated by that smile and personality, Coons has now entered hospice care to, in the words of a friend’s post on her Facebook page, “continue her journey into her winter’s rest.” And while she’s been fighting the medical battle, friends in her adopted hometown have begun fighting the financial one; they’ve launched a fundraising campaign to help the Coons-Ruskey family make ends meet. Said Coons, “Someone said to me, ‘Lisa and Patti have done a lot for this village. It’s time for this village to do something for them.’” Despite being at a low point physically, Lisa Coons’ outlook has never been brighter.
Missouri compromise
Coons was born in Illinois, a college-caliber volleyball player who took her talents from her hometown of East St. Louis down the road to Truman State University. That’s where she met the woman who would eventually become her wife. In college, Patti Ruskey and Lisa Coons became close. Very close. “Everyone could tell we were in love,” Coons says, “except us.” Eventually, they got the memo, and the two moved together to Mankato where Coons enrolled in the Women’s Studies program at Minnesota State University. Why Mankato? It was one of just two such graduate programs of its kind in the country at the time. So, after a summer spent traveling and falling even more in love, Coons and Ruskey “made MANKATO MAGAZINE • november 2016 • 13
it Mankato.”
Cool beans & rare cancers
When the gourmet coffee craze swept the nation in the 1990s, it came to Mankato in the form of something called The Coffee Hag. The Hag, as it’s affectionately known around town, opened up in the early 1990s. And while its longevity is one of Mankato’s best small business success stories, the initial years were a struggle. The idea was Ruskey’s. She wanted to open a place where people could gather, socialize and feel comfortable. “Patti was trying to put together a community space we hadn’t seen here before,” Coons says. “She’d traveled, and she knew that strong communities always had gathering places.” Initially, it went like many small businesses go: a lot of hours, uncertainty about the future and some learning curve on our community’s part. “People balked at paying more than 25 cents for a cup of coffee,” Coons joked. Two months after they opened The Hag, Coons was diagnosed with thymus cancer. The thymus is part of the body’s lymph system and is instrumental in helping the body fight off infections. It is located near the heart. When discussing treatment, Coons said she told her doctor she was concerned about potential side effects. “She said, ‘We can deal with stuff down the road. But first we gotta get you down the road,’” Coons said. “And I really respected that.” She underwent thoracic surgery and six weeks of radiation, and later celebrated being cancer-free. The radiation that saved her life, though, would sneak back later and demand payment.
Spiritual twist
With her body healthy and the business doing well, the pair welcomed a baby girl into their home -Eleanor, who is now 12 years old. The pair sold The Hag when Eleanor was 1. Coons, who had been looking for work, said she and Ruskey had resolved they’d need to move to the Twin Cities to find employment. Then, as they were on the verge of beginning that transition, a job ad appeared in The Free Press. Ruskey read the ad aloud to Lisa. “I said, ‘That’s my dream job!’” Coons said. The job ad was for a coordinator for the Center for Earth Spirituality and Rural Ministy, an initiative started by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1996. They needed someone who could expand their community garden concept, be a beacon of inclusivity and tolerance and teach folks how to use their garden produce in sustainable, creative ways. Now all she had to do was convince them she was the right person for the job. Which she did. She worked, grew that community garden and remained an outspoken advocate for LGBT issues. She and Ruskey got married when they could legally do so in Minnesota. Things were going well. She felt like she’d hit her stride professionally and was doing right by her personal mantra of leaving the world a better place than when she found it. Then … that pain in her chest.
Heart of the matter
In the summer of 2008, she’d made a
14 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
commitment to start riding her bike to work. It was the earth-friendly thing to do, she said. Then one day, during that ride, she began feeling a crushing pain in her chest. But by the time she got to work, it went away. So she did what so many others do: she sort of ignored it. Eventually, though, she got to a point where she couldn’t ignore it anymore. The autumn after she initially felt the pain, while on a hike with Ruskey, it happened again. This time, though, Ruskey wouldn’t let it be ignored. She implored Coons to get it checked out, and Coons went soon thereafter to a doctor. They scheduled a stress test, which the doctor stopped two minutes in. “He told me I have coronary artery disease,” Coon said, and they scheduled her for surgery to install stents. But the stents didn’t work. So they decided to try to repair the valves surgically. That didn’t work either, she said, and probably shouldn’t have been attempted; the damage done to her heart valve by the radiation 20 years earlier was extensive, essentially beyond repair. The next option, then, was mechanical heart valves. After a 10-hour surgery in January, Coons lay unconscious for several days, including one day where she went into cardiac arrest with Eleanor in the room. “There were 17 people in the room working on me,” Coons said. “Patti counted them. And they got me back.” Doctors ordered Coons to do as little as possible for several weeks; that’s where she is now: doing as little as possible. She’s also on a constant, IV-fed regimen of antibiotics and blood thinners, which accounts for the red blotches on her skin. Her physical health isn’t the only thing that’s suffered a loss. She also gave up the job she loved. “I have resigned. It wasn’t a decision made without a sense of loss,” she said. “But it feels right to feel in loss about it, and to do what I need to do.”
GoLoveMe
It’s actually called GoFundMe, but the sentiment is the same. GoFundMe is an online fundraising tool that uses social media to get the word out about a specific fundraising need. The tool makes it very easy to donate money electronically. So far they’ve raised about $11,000 for the Coons-Ruskey family. One of the dilemmas that has been exposed by their situation is that Coons needs Ruskey more than ever right now. She has immediate physical care needs and cannot work. This means Ruskey, who wanted to get a job to help with costs, must stay home. Without Coons’ income, the family has little money coming in. “She was thinking about getting a job,” Coons said. “But we decided it wasn’t a good fit. And I need her here. I need care at home, and she’s the one who can do it.” So when a friend offered to start a fundraising campaign for them, Coons -- who is normally humble and self-sufficient -- felt at ease with accepting help. “Patti is a financial wizard, but the sheets are
becoming unbalanced,” she said. So far, the GoFundMe results have been positive. Contributions are rolling in. And as word hit social media that Lisa was entering hospice care, comments like these have flooded into that GoFundMe site: n “Lisa, you and your family are such lights in the universe. I have no words right now. There just aren’t any that could come close to expressing anything I want to say. You have made the world such a better place, and I know will continue to do so.” n “For anybody who knows Lisa, I can confidently speak for all and say we are better people because she has touched our lives. Lisa, you are an incredible human. Your kindness, thoughtfulness and sincerity will live in my soul forever.” The comments hint at something, a feeling you get when talking with Coons. While she may not be a Mankato native, she is as much a part of the fabric of this community as anyone. Coons said her upbringing in southern Illinois wasn’t exactly a warm one. In fact, she says she knew that when she left home at 18, she’d never go back. It is the Mankato area, she said, that has embraced her and her family, and provided her with a place to find professional purpose and personal growth. It is this place — where she came because of an academic program at the university, of all things — where she has found family. As she enters this final phase of her life, the family has requested some privacy. But to all the folks who have left messages on that GoFundMe site or who hope she knows how the community feels, consider this: She said she was reading through the names of contributors of the GoFundMe site recently, and got emotional at a certain realization. “There were people I don’t know, little amounts, raw love, caring, compassion,” she says, tearing up. “I just feel enveloped in love, enveloped in care. It’s been astounding to me and deeply humbling.” The feeling has always been mutual, Lisa. MM
Make plans to see...
Make plans to see...
Acapella Acapella Madness
The Harmonites 40th Reunion Tour Starring
Minnesota Valley Sweet Adelines
with The 2016 Adeline Iodal contest and special guest Chris Rupp
Saturday, November 5 @ 2:30 & 7 pm Crossview Covenant Church, North Mankato Tickets available at: both Mankato Cub and Hy-Vee locations, Scheitel’s Music, Swedish Kontur or any chorus member. For information visit: minnesotavalleychorus.org or facebook.com/sweetadelinesmankato
& Improve Your Home’s Energy Efficiency
1125 Cross Street, N. Mankato • Toll Free 1-800-645-3667 • Phone 507-625-7110 MANKATO MAGAZINE • november 2016 • 15
ay Ess
GOOD EATS! There’s more behind our love of a good home-cooked meal than great recipes.
By Bert Mattson
16 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
P
rofessional cooking is obsessed with perfection, especially at the industry’s upper echelon. But probe them, and I suspect you’d find that same ember burning somewhere in even its most humbled and jaded journeymen. There was a mantra where I attended culinary school. It said, “You’re only as good as your last plate.” It was an irresistible ethos for intense, young culinary students, largely rebels and misfits thirsty for purpose. It fits seamlessly to the cool stainless, hot cast iron and tidy tile joints of modern, commercial labkitchens. It was in my mind while making a home-cooked meal for my wife, early in our relationship. I’d made a broth from veal bones and let it evaporate until velvety rich. The beef was filet, seasoned and sautéed. I deglazed the pan with cognac, added the sauce followed by a swirl of creme fraiche — all draped over freshly simmered spaetzle. Shallots, fried crispy, and thyme leaves topped it off. I set the steaming food softly in front of her. Imagine for a moment, how mystified I was when she responded, casually, “It’s fine ... my grandmother does it differently.” Taste is chemistry. Could hers be off? Could ours be off? Fatefully, for once I kept my thoughts quiet. When a food molecule comes into contact with the tongue, tiny receptors — inside little protuberances called lingual papillae — form chemical signals. Taste is the assemblage of these signals. These receptors go widely by the name “buds.” Their signals: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. It doesn’t end there. In the brain, where these signals are perceived, they are merged with other senses. Through training, I understood the impact of the way food appears, smells, and even sounds. I should have had the other senses in my corner. She was close enough to hear the sound of searing tenderloin, appreciate the aromatic layer of flaming cognac and, at first bite, feel the textural contrast of freshly fried and salted shallots. I’d hit all the marks! Technically. I might have gotten away with it, too, were we at a restaurant
table for two. While a fancy meal out impresses with novelty and finesse (under dimmed bulbs in a fleeting time frame,) at home the old familiars cut to the core and linger there in natural light. It was a lesson in humility; technique will not automatically trump an honest family favorite. Why not? I suppose I could have simply questioned my date’s taste and moved on. Then she may have wisely moved on. But, at that moment, I instead considered the memories that must have been woven into every bite of her grandmother’s Beef Stroganoff. It was an almost metaphysical moment. I shook it off but suddenly had the sense that professional cooking had made me into an insufferable pain in the ass. There was a silver lining. By allowing me to make her a meal, she’d shifted my interest from what makes a dish work, to how a dish works on us — we humans, with our episodic memory, able to re-experience events almost as though we are there. Perfection won’t feed the wistful. Taste is only one facet of flavor. For proof, recall how food is less satisfying with a head cold. Odor molecules round out the experience. Further, smells are evidently processed in a part of the brain closely connected to another that is involved with memory and emotion. The smelly portion of flavor is responsible for a meal’s potential to spark memories. It’s easy to imagine an evolutionary benefit to such an arrangement: were someone way back on the family tree to have eaten a bad berry, the brain might retain an emotional memory to manage future risk. If one becomes sick after eating something — or, you know, drinking something, say, in college — it’s not unheard of for that flavor to inspire nausea when one tries to taste the item again in the future. This phenomenon, called taste aversion, can last a long time. In the interest of comfort, which we may define as freedom from pain or constraint, flip the idea on its head and consider why food shouldn’t work the other way round. Why shouldn’t the smell of some food we ate once while safe and secure soothe us?
I couldn’t abandon thinking critically. I began noting what elements in a meal made my wife happy. Eventually I could guess if she would find a texture repellent. I recognized ingredients recurring in disparate but successful dishes. I realized which elements of taste to which she was particularly sensitive. It sounds like a science experiment, right? She’s so patient. On the bright side, she began to enjoy my cooking. I had success adjusting things to her taste. Ultimately, I was able to sample something and (annoyingly) alert her, “Oh, you won’t like that.” I went around trying to recreate familiar aromas, flavors, and textures in slightly unexpected forms to see if they might still qualify as comfort food. This habit has earned me allegations of hipsterdom from a few chef friends. Ouch. “Deconstruction” is a culinary concept I’m not completely comfortable with. One friend even reminded me of a “Portlandia” episode in which a panel was tasked with reinventing vegetables, particular celery. I was really just wondering about the common denominators of comfort food. In most cases I’d incorporate different ethnic elements. My wife and I share the ethic that our children should at least have a taste of the food she and I are eating. We eat experimentally together. It’s exciting. We notice the kids becoming more confident in their preferences. We see it as a positive. Though it can definitely be annoying at times. The act of sharing food is inherently social but also subjective. As the family hierarchy softens a little and they become comfortable and engrossed in the group activity, we get the sense that we’re building memories. I don’t mean to suggest that the same phenomenon can’t unfold over a favorite menu item at a cherished eating establishment, only that in the home is where it happens most naturally. Sure, this set of favorite recipes features some restaurant technique — you can take the boy out of the professional kitchen… — but we hope a few families who try them will find them comforting as we have. MANKATO MAGAZINE • november 2016 • 17
Peanut and Sweet Potato Bisque 2 qt.
Sweet potato and peanut stew is a African dish. In this case it is a smooth soup with Mid-western, autumn flavors substituted for traditional spices. The garnish is meant to be mixed in by each eater. 1 Tbsp butter 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, minced 1 small sweet onion, diced 2 ribs celery, diced 1 small leek, white only, chopped 2 large soft-type sweet potatoes, peeled and diced 1 qt. vegetable stock (may substitute chicken stock) 1/3 C creamy peanut butter 1 cinnamon stick 2 tsp kosher salt 1 C whipping cream 1 Tbsp maple sugar (may substitute maple syrup) 1/2 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated 1/4 roasted and salted peanuts, chopped In a pot, melt butter and cook the garlic and ginger over medium-low heat until soft. Add the onion, celery, and leek and cook until soft and translucent. Add the potatoes, stock, and peanut butter and stir over medium-high heat until dispersed. Add the whole cinnamon stick and simmer until potatoes are soft. After finding and discarding the cinnamon stick, blend soup with stick blender or in batches in regular blender. Season the soup with salt, to your taste. Whip the cream with a pinch of salt until stiff. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with a spoonful of whipped cream, chopped peanuts, a pinch of grated nutmeg, and a pinch of maple sugaralternatively, a drizzle of maple syrup.
18 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Broiled Brussel Sprouts in CiderBacon Vinaigrette 6 servings
Some char on Brussels sprouts brings out an extraordinary savory quality. Any bitterness is well balanced by salty bacon and tangy, sweet apple, and cider vinegar. 1 Honeycrisp apple 2 tsp lemon juice 4 slices smoked bacon 1 lb. Brussels sprouts, ends removed and separated into leaves 1 tsp minced garlic 1 tsp minced shallot 1 tsp Dijon mustard 1 Tbsp reserved bacon fat plus 2 tsp 1 Tbsp cider vinegar 3 Tbsp salad oil Kosher salt pepper 3 Tbsp bread crumbs Peel the apple and dice it small. Toss with lemon juice and reserve. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Toast the breadcrumbs on a sheet pan for five to seven minutes.
Lay the bacon out on a sheet pan and roast it for fifteen to twenty minutes, until the fat is rendered and the bacon is eighty percent done- beginning to brown but still supple. Remove it from the oven, drain off the rendered fat and reserve it. When the bacon is cool enough to handle, dice it small. Sweat the garlic and shallot over medium heat in 1 tsp of rendered bacon fat. Remove from the pan and combine garlic mixture with the vinegar and mustard. Whisk the mixture together and slowly drizzle in 1 Tbsp of rendered bacon fat, followed by salad oil. Adjust the seasoning. It should be tart but not overpowering. Reserve the vinaigrette in a warm place. In the same pan, over mediumhigh heat, sauté the apple pieces. Remove from heat. Set the oven to low broil. Toss Brussels sprout leaves in remaining bacon fat and arrange evenly across sheet pan with the edges of the leaves facing upward. Broil, with the oven door slightly ajar, until the leaves are slightly charred at the edges. In a large bowl, toss leaves with bacon, apple, and vinaigrette. Portion salad into serving bowls and sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Roasted Kabocha with Blue Cheese and Sage-Brown Butter 6 servings
Select a kabocha, sometimes called Japanese pumpkin, which is heavy for its size. Look for a deep green; orange patches are good. When well selected, it is a very sweet squash. Acorn may be substituted in a pinch, but a little extra brown sugar could be called for. 1 kabocha squash, scraped of seeds and cut into wedges 1 Tbsp cooking oil kosher salt pepper 1 stick of butter 1 bunch fresh sage, picked 1 wedge of lemon 1/4 C blue cheese, crumbled 1/8 cup of almonds, pulsed in a food processor to crumbs 1/2 tsp brown sugar
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a sheet pan, toast the almond crumbs, around five to seven minutes, and reserve them. Brush the squash wedges with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast them on a sheet pan for thirty to thirty-five minutes. Mix the toasted almond crumbs and brown sugar. Melt half the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add sage leaves and turn the heat to medium-high. Fry the sage leaves until crispy and the butter begins to brown, then remove the pan from heat, and remove the sage from the pan. Set the sage on a piece of paper towel to drain and sprinkle with kosher salt. Squeeze the juice from the lemon wedge into the browned butter. When the squash is ready, put the brown butter back over low heat and swirl the remaining butter into it –it should retain a mounted or heavy consistency. Crumble the blue cheese over the squash wedges, then drizzle with brown butter. Arrange sage leaves on the squash wedges and sprinkle almond crumbs over all. MM
MANY THANKS to all my past, present and future clients Whether buying or selling, call Karla and START PACKING!!!
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • november 2016 • 19
Can southern Minnesota survive
Clinton vs. Trump? It could be Democracy’s greatest test yet By Brian Arola | Photo by Pat Christman
20 • November 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
“I
t’ll all be over soon.” “November can’t come soon enough.” “I can’t believe this is the best we could come up with.” “Let’s just get it over
with.” You know an election has taken it’s toll on the electorate when those are the sentiments you get from people on both sides of the aisle. The question is this: What will our democracy look like once the Election Day dust settles? Since the minute Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton set their trajectories on a collision course, battles have raged between opposing sides on broadcast studio roundtables, social media networks, letters to newspaper editors or over the dinner table. Undoubtedly, a year’s worth of “crooked” volleys lobbed at one candidate and “unfit for the presidency” jabs at the other won’t be forgotten once one of the “unlikeables” is finally sworn in. Whether in a swing state or a blueish stronghold such as Minnesota, the campaign carnage has been nearly impossible to escape. But as Jim Fleming, Mankato attorney and longtime DFL party supporter notes, we’ve seen worse. Far worse. “There are many examples of this,” he said. “As Americans, we are very much emotionally engaged in our politics.” Here’s the thing, though: you have to go back a long, long way to come up with a time when the tone of politics was worse. How far back? Try BurrHamilton far. Vice President Aaron Burr shot down Alexander “$10 bill” Hamilton to end their bitter feud in 1804. More than 200 years ago. Or just before the Civil War, when our country was as diametrically divided as ever. The tone of this election may pale in comparison to some of our country’s darkest moments, but isn’t the mere fact we bring up those ugly chapters as a way to say “nowadays isn’t so bad” a bad sign in itself? For our democracy, yeah, probably, says Bob Jentges, an area conservative and prolific writer of letters to the editor. Jentges (a very familiar name to anyone who has read the editorial page in The Free Press) said he couldn’t think of a less civil election in his lifetime. Kennedy and Nixon didn’t see eye to eye, sure, but they never seemed on the verge of pulling each other’s hair out. Speaking of hair, Jentges said he thinks an overfocus on the candidates’ celebrities and personalities rather than their politics is what’s contributing to so much of this year’s rancor. “The thing that disturbs me about this from both sides, Clinton and Trump, is that the emphasis is placed on personalities rather than policy,” he said. “We should be electing people based on the policies they propose, not based on how they comb their hair.” Jentges described himself as either a conservativeleaning libertarian or a libertarian-leaning conservative whose monthly letters to the editor mainly rail against global warming, the Affordable Care Act or government overregulation. His philosophy on politics, he says, is grounded in the idea that the government should do only as much as the Constitution stipulates. Originally a Ted Cruz guy, he’s come around enough on Donald Trump to
vote for him. The keywords there are “come around enough.” With candidates whose likability quotients are historically low, there’s a lot of “coming around” going on this year.
Audible sigh ...
A former Republican state legislator and current Blue Earth County commissioner, Mark Piepho even let out an audible sigh when asked if he was voting for Trump. As a Marco Rubio supporter in the primaries, it almost looked like an invisible person were twisting Piepho’s arm as he thought about it. “It’s been a struggle, but I probably will vote for Trump,” he eventually said. “But not without some reservations.” At least it wouldn’t be a vote for Clinton, whom he sees as the continuation of the government’s overreaching policies. Even if Trump weren’t his first choice, he said Republicans weren’t the only ones who rallied against the establishment in their primaries. “‘Politician’ became a dirty word,” he said. “And Hillary is obviously the epitome of an establishment candidate, so that was one of the problems in her party.” Another problem for Clinton, especially among younger voters, was the leaked DNC emails. Tien Bui, a self-described undecided moderate who’s served on the Minnesota State University student senate, said he thinks bitterness among Bernie Sanders supporters is a real issue among college students in particular. “Some of my classmates have expressed how they had a candidate with tremendous support (Sanders), and somehow, through whatever political maneuverings, he didn’t get the nomination,” he said. Bui said he’s considering voting third party, since neither of the big two seem willing to explore the middle ground. “Most people are just turned off by that because we feel on all issues there could possibly be middle ground,” he said. Gridlock doesn’t sit well with that group. Piepho, in contrast, said he comes from a different era of politics. A legislator during the 1980s, he said discourse back then was a bit more cordial than it is now. He remembered having heated disagreements with his democratic counterparts on the Capitol floor, then getting together for a drink with those same people once they’d yelled out all their steam. “It’s got to be a two-way street, and both sides have a role in that,” he said of how it was — and still should be. Casting partisanship aside, he said both sides are to blame for the gridlock, which has contributed to making the political climate as toxic as it is. “But I think the executive branch could do a little bit better job at that too,” he then added, a criticism of President Barack Obama. Whether Trump, as he prefers, or Clinton wins, he said it’d be a good sign for our democracy if the next president sincerely extended a hand to the other side. Jentges hoped for the same. If Clinton won, he MANKATO MAGAZINE • november 2016 • 21
said he wouldn’t take it personally. “Whoever wins, wins,” he said. “I’ll support them to the best I can. If my side loses, I say let’s do better next time.”
Like walking off a cliff
It’s a little bit harder to find that same sense of fatalism among the dems. Talking to some of them, you get a sense that the stakes are sky high. Part of this might be because Republicans have a good idea what a Clinton presidency will look like — it helps that they’ve already lived through one. In contrast, it’s fair to say we’ve never had a candidate like Trump for president. So what a Trump presidency will look like is anyone’s guess. And the uncertainty seems to scare the bejesus out of left-leaning voters. Ronald Reagan, with his latein-life political career and moviestar background, was thrown out as comparable to Trump. But even those who suggested it acknowledged that Reagan wasn’t the political outsider Trump is — Ronnie did, of course, serve as governor of the most populous state in America before becoming president. Joe Kunkel, a retired political science professor at Minnesota State University and Clinton supporter, equated a Trump victory to jumping off a cliff. He then walked the analogy back from the ledge. “You actually know what’s going to happen if you jump off a cliff,” he said. “With this, you don’t know.” Kunkel mentioned a few strange elections over the years when trying to come up with a comparison to 2016. The turbulence of the Vietnam War made 1968 stand out. In 1912, there were two strong thirdparties to make things interesting. Then there was 1860, just before the Civil War ripped the country apart. It’s not like there will be a Civil War to follow this election, but Kunkel said what’s ahead is entirely unpredictable. “It’s one of the greatest TV shows I’ve ever seen,” is how he described this year. “You want to tune in everyday to see what
22 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Trump has said and done.” Asked if he had any reservations backing Clinton, Kunkel said he enthusiastically supports her. Fleming had a similar response, saying for as lousy as Clinton is as a campaigner, she’s an effective policy maker. Others gave a response similar to Piepho’s support of Trump. Alex Lucier, an MSU graduate student who’s also served on the student senate, arrived at Clinton via the classic lesser-of-two-evils approach. “I’m at the point where I don’t want Trump, I don’t want (Gary) Johnson, and Jill Stein kind of turned me off, so Hillary is the last one,” he said. “I don’t want her to be president, but she’s the best of two bads.” Because of how unlikeable the two candidates are, he said he’s noticed far less interest in this election than there was in 2012 — the first election in which he was eligible to vote. Interest is certainly stoked among one group of the population though, Kunkel said. He said this election also stands out to him in how Trump’s brash tone and stances have emboldened a portion of the population — he didn’t use the word “deplorables,” but he sure came close — who look to him to be the “strong man” who will solve all their problems. He said the damage done by this group’s emergence might not go away even if Trump falls in November. A poll taken after the first debate showed a growing cushion for Clinton, which gave Fleming and Kunkel renewed confidence Trump would indeed fall. At the absolute worst, Fleming said both establishment Republicans and Democrats would work to make sure a Trump presidency would be a four-year blip. For as much upheaval as a Trump win would bring to the GOP base, Fleming actually said he doesn’t want to see his rivals implode. He sees it as a bad thing for democracy. “I think we need a healthy twoparty system,” he said. “It’s not good that we would get it by default.”
Far from the frontlines
Thankfully for the good folks of southern Minnesota, those interviewed from both sides said they didn’t notice much spillover of the rancorous rhetoric seen at the national level. Fleming, from the south side of Chicago with an accent to match, said Minnesotans don’t do politics like the in-your-face style of political discourse he grew up with. “Culturally, Minnesotans are different people; they have their opinions but they don’t necessarily express them,” he said. Piepho, too, said he has to turn on the television rather than look out the window to see the toxicity. The students said they notice it a little more, mostly on social media — the preferred method of discourse for your wingnut uncles and cousins. “It’s one of those things where I go less on Facebook now because it’s so much of a political social media network now than it was in the past,” Bui said. Lucier said he’s one of the people posting on Facebook, mostly anti-Trump stuff. He laughed while mentioning it got to the point where his grandma called him to tell him to tone it down. Social media, and the accessibility to any website or news source that reinforces your deep-held beliefs, was given as one reason for why the political climate has gotten so cantankerous. But before we blame all of democracy’s ills on modernization, Jentges said he doesn’t even use social media. Yet, like social media users whose Facebook feeds are full of likeminded postings, Jentges says gravitates toward like-minded people in person. It’s easier that way, he says. So any tendencies to tune out opposing views would seem to predate the advent of Facebook. “People usually associate with similar views, so I guess I don’t go down to the coffee shop or corner bar looking to talk politics,” Jentges said. “No one is going to pay for your coffee or beer if you do that.”
When I heard our food writer, Sarah Johnson, was headed to Brazil for the Olympic Games, I figured she’d come back with some great observations about the land of Carnivale and even better stories about all the exotic food she came across. And I was right! She did! There’s something about traveling that piques our culinary curiosities. We get risky. Aren’t afraid to take some chances. Order exotic entrees at bizarre restaurants, the likes of which we’d never frequent in our daily lives. I guess vacation is a time to relax and take a break from the norm, including the norms of our eating routines. Think about it: When the family takes that trip to Florida, at some point you’re going to eat lobster. But does lobster ever come up in discussions on what should we plan for supper this week? No. It’s super spendy. You save that kind of thing for a special occasion. Like a trip. Oh, and don’t forget to check out Bert Mattson’s interesting tale of fathers-in-law and autumn beers.
Enjoy!
southern mn style
— Robb Murray, Associate Editor, Mankato Magazine
food, drink & dine
From the land of Carnivale!
Food southern mn style Put Le Sueur’s The Friendly Confines Cheese Shoppe on your list of places to check out.
So CHEESEY! The Friendly Confines Cheese Shoppe in Le Sueur has all the cheese you need By Sarah Johnson
D
rive down Le Sueur’s Main Street and you can hardly miss the cows. Life-sized cow statues in major league baseball uniforms, and more cows serving as sitting benches. The cows mark the spot where cheese is sold, lots of it, at the Friendly Confines Cheese Shoppe. If you’re looking for a better cheddar, a really good gouda or a palate-pleasing parmesan, check out the selection (and samples) here. And while you’re at it, enjoy a 1919 root beer float. And maybe a slice of brick-oven pizza topped with mozzarella and smoked provolone made locally at Davisco. “I’m biased,” said store manager Kirk Lytinski, “but I think it’s some of the best in the world.” The shop opened in 2009 with its unique baseball/ cow theme and resembles the spotless soda shops of yesteryear. Ice cream — both hard-pack and soft-serve — is popular on the patio in the summer, while takeand-bake pizzas are big sellers all year long. 24 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Cheeses are made locally, regionally and globally, including many from Davisco’s cheese plant. Brands include St. Pete’s Blue and Amablu Gorgonzola from Faribault, East Coast cheddar, Prima Donna Maturo, DaVinci Gouda and a wide variety of cheeses from Sartori, Blasers and Grassland. Other specialty items: meats, coffee, chocolates, wild rice, dry mixes, vintage sodas, Tuscan bread, bottled root beers, and a brand of whey protein powder, BiPro, used by athletes and bodybuilders. “We want people to come by for a friendly experience,” Lytinski said. The staff is trained to assist in cheese selection, and recipes abound. This one, for a Jarlsberg dip, is prefaced by this handy information: “A mild semi-soft, part skim cheese made from cow’s milk, Jarlsberg has a buttery, rich texture with a mild, nutty flavor characterized by large round holes. It is an all-purpose cheese, good for both cooking and for eating as a snack. Jarlsberg is the #1 selling specialty cheese in the USA.”
Jarlsberg Cheese Dip 1 cup Jarlsberg Cheese, shredded 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup scallion, chopped 1/4 cup purple onion finely diced Salt & freshly ground black pepper Mix well. Put in fridge until ready to serve. Serve as a spread with assorted crackers. The United States, being a nation of immigrants, can’t really claim a truly indigenous cheese. (Native Americans had no dairy in their diet.) While there are original American cheeses, they are all based on European recipes and techniques adapted to local resources and tastes. The most popular cheeses in America are: mozzarella (21 percent of market share), followed by cheddar (15 percent), parmesan (14 percent), jack (9 percent) and Swiss (8 percent). The British, however, favor cheddar, while the French love their soft Camembert, and the Greeks adore their feta. In the global market, cheeses can get quite expensive. Podolico cheese is made from the milk of very rare Italian cows who munch on wild blueberries, strawberries and cherries; it sells for $50 a pound. Ditto for an Oregon cheese called Rogue River Blue, which is aged in pear-brandy-soaked grape leaves. One British cheddar is infused with white truffles and real gold leaf, a bit of an extravagance at $200 per pound A small-batch cheese made from the milk of three Swedish moose named Haelga, Gullan and Juna sells
for $455 per pound. And the most expensive cheese in the world? A crumbly cheese made from donkey milk, a Serbian delicacy going for the grand price of $576 per pound. Luckily, cheeses produced here in America’s heartland are proving to have excellent quality and much more reasonable prices. Here is where 4,000 years of European tradition meets American gumption, and the result is some incredible cheese. “If I had to recommend one cheese, it’s our (Davisco) parmesan,” Lytinski said. “It’s fantastic.” Any of the Davisco cheddars come highly recommended as well. The store has been “highly successful,” he added, while “you couldn’t work for a better family. The way they treat their employees is great. And I have a great staff, too.” Our next-door neighbor Wisconsin’s rolling hills and lush pastureland made it an extremely desirable farming and dairying location for European immigrants pushing ever westward in the mid1800s. Minnesota and Iowa have their cheesemaking traditions as well, including the famous Caves of Faribault, which produce bold blue and mellow gouda and baby Swiss cheeses. Operating at a constant 99 percent humidity and a temperature of 52 degrees year round, the Caves were the first American company to produce a blue cheese. The company has received numerous state, national and international awards.
MANKATO MAGAZINE • november 2016 • 25
Wine & Beer
wines
By Leigh Pomeroy
southern mn style
Ramping up for Beaujolais Nouveau and Thanksgiving T wo big wine events occur in November. One is the release of Beaujolais Nouveau, traditionally done on the third Thursday in November, this year Nov. 17. The other is Thanksgiving, celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. (Very clever of those Frenchmen, arranging the release of Beaujolais Nouveau precisely a week before.) Since both dates move around, keeping track of the two is enough to make one want to open a bottle of wine! The release of Beaujolais Nouveau started as a practical date — that is, a time when collectively the vignerons of Beaujolais could say their new reds were completely fermented, stabilized and ready to be served to thirsty patrons. It’s moved around according to politics (bien sur!) and originally the wine was dispensed from barrels. But barrels didn’t travel that far or that well, so it was put into bottles primarily for the demanding Parisian and British trade. Now, of course, Beaujolais Nouveau is shipped to America and elsewhere in the world prior to the designated release date, where its arrival is celebrated in wine bars, stores and restaurants on precisely the third Thursday of November. By tradition and law, Beaujolais is made from the gamay grape, which produces a light, fragrant wine that generally lends itself to early consumption. Yes, there are more serious Beaujolais that are bottled under the names of its best villages — Saint-Amour, Juliènas, Chenas, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Régnié, Brouilly, and Côte de Brouilly. But the November release wines are almost always bottled under the names Beaujolais Nouveau (good) or Beaujolais Villages Nouveau (better). And they need to be enjoyed within just a few months. American producers have jumped on the bandwagon, making and bottling several red varietals for early consumption beginning in November. Since there is very little true gamay grown in the U.S., most nouveaus are produced from pinot noir, but others have experimented with zinfandel, tempranillo, valdiguié (formerly known as Napa gamay) and even cabernet sauvignon. The bottom line for all these is a fresh, fragrant light demeanor designed
26 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
not so much to be sipped but gulped. In Minnesota, Alexis Baily Vineyard and Cannon River Winery both offer Nouveau Reds. Wine lovers get to have exactly a week’s respite, if they choose to take it, before they gear up for Thanksgiving. As we alluded above, the French are pretty smart, as they know Beaujolais Nouveau makes a great companion to the traditional turkey feast. Yet for some it may prove a little tart against the sugary backdrop of cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and Aunt Emma’s marshmallow jello mold. For this reason, wines with a bit of sweetness work well with turkey dinner, like Rieslings, Gewurztraminers, Moscatos, Argentine Torrontes, and inexpensive California and Oregon rosés, which tend to be offdry rather than dry. On the sparkling side, Italian Proseccos (off-dry) and Asti Spumantes (slightly sweeter) add to the convivial atmosphere. Interestingly, many of our Minnesotagrown whites, rosés and reds fare well with Thanksgiving meals because they tend to range from dry to slightly sweet. Among the whites these include Relativity and Zeitgeist from Morgan Creek Vineyards, Creekside White and Riesling from Chankaska Creek Winery, La Crescent from the Javens Family Winery, and Island Smoke and Prairie Wind from Indian Island Winery. If your taste tends towards rosés and reds, you might try Vin Gris de Pinot Noir (dry), Marquette Rosé (dry) or Kasota Rosé (slightly sweet) from Chankaska Creek; St. Croix or Marquette, both semi-dry reds, from Indian Island; Frontenac (dry) from Javens Family; or Colure (dry) or Redtail Ridge (semi-dry) from Morgan Creek. But don’t limit your selection to these wines! The best bet is to visit these wineries and choose for yourself. All have websites, so that’s a great place to start your journey. From there you can learn about tasting hours and events. So while you’re waiting for Nov. 17 to arrive, ramp up the anticipation by visiting our local wineries. Between their generous selections and your newly purchased Beaujolais Nouveau, you should be well-prepared for Thanksgiving and beyond. Leigh Pomeroy is a Mankato-based writer and wine lover.
Beer
By Bert Mattson
Beer and the Turkey Bowl T his year the son-in-law brought beer, in bottles. It didn’t really come off like a selfless contribution. Rather than like, say, springing for the check, the old man read the gesture more as a tactful suggestion. In slow motion, after setting his bottle down, the old man lines up on grass spotty and grizzled as he is. His breath steams and crow’s feet crinkle as his eyes narrow, looking out at the yard opposite. The young men, some with their heads tilted back, are smiling smiles full of straight, white teeth, and laughing a little too loud. Pride puts him into a creaky three-point stance. It’s a scene for the orchestra of one of those old football specials, John Facenda’s deep voice delivering lines like caramel, canonizing Vince Lombardi, or reciting that poem, “The autumn wind is a pirate, Blustering in from sea, With a rollicking song, he sweeps along, Swaggering boisterously.” The boys are amusing themselves, a couple still with his beer in their hands, stringing together clever snap counts. He glances over at another old man, his brother-in-law. Both know precisely what a set of straight teeth cost, and right up to this year they’d been paying to fill the cooler that their grown children were grabbing from. He wondered aloud if the pups knew what groceries ran for such an affair. The other old man grinned and scratched a stubbly chin, loud as sandpaper. The boys continued to clown. “The Autumn Wind is a raider, Pillaging just for fun. He’ll knock you ‘round and upside down, And laugh when he’s conquered and won.”
“Delay of game.” the old man grumbles. “Cold?” asks a college friend of his middle boy, in a condescending tone. True, his hands hurt – in part because he’d spent 20 minutes exploring a problem with a grown kid’s car. “The bird is getting cold.” Came his answer, with a gesture. His peripheral vision catches a figure, his grandson, poised, and prepared to explode upfield. Their steely eyes meet for a moment, and he considers that maybe the son-in-law isn’t so bad. “Do you still have that old, wooden Schell’s barrel?” the young in-law asked as he delivered a beer. The label said Snowstorm, a rotating release from Schell’s. Never the same twice, it is British Strong Ale this season. Its 6.5 percent alcohol is relatively restrained, but the rich and malty style still promises to pair up with caramel-apple or pecan pie. Only it’ll probably play nicer than boozier versions with the other items on the table, like roasted meats and caramelized sweet potatoes. Where a 9 or 10 could be overbearing at the table, or cause trouble on the field, six and change just takes the edge off the cold and the heavy eats. Gravy. The old man’s stomach growls. The first flurry falls slowly to the frosty earth. “Rutabega! Rutabega!” Finally sounds the snap.
Bert Mattson is a chef and writer based in St. Paul. He is the manager of the iconic Mickey’s Diner. bertsbackburner.com
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • november 2016 • 27
Drinks
Happy Hour:
By Spike Carter | Bloomberg
southern mn style
Ditch your craft beer for these eight complex ciders F
all is the truest season for hard cider. It’s apple harvest season, for one, and it’s also time to warm yourself up in advance of impending winter. But in recent years, the cider options have reached such a number and such a high level of quality that it can be hard to know what to buy. Here are some noteworthy picks to help you navigate your local shop’s almost assuredly growing selection of craft ciders:
Aaron Burr Cidery - Ginger Apple
While the name Andy Brennan may register to fans of Twin Peaks as the sheriff’s deputy who can’t help but cry at murder scenes, to cider connoisseurs the name belongs to a modernday Johnny Appleseed. This Mr. Brennan’s natural apple wines from upstate New York are an effort to revive cider’s former role as the American frontier’s table beverage of choice. Brennan uses heirloom and unique seedling varietals offered by local old and neglected trees. One annual favorite is Ginger Apple, which his label Aaron Burr Cidery makes by fermenting apples in contact with grated ginger and carrot. It is immensely drinkable in just about any setting imaginable; spicy, freshly vegetal, and brightly vinous.
Domaine Dupont Cidre Réserve
Christian Drouin Poiré
In Normandy, brilliant rustic cider pours as ubiquitously as water, with a dizzying number of amazing producers in close proximity. Of the few to export to the States, Christian Drouin is one of the very best. Its low-alcohol Poiré (traditional pear cider) is perfectly executed, featuring Champagne-like gripping effervescence, addictive pear sweetness, and an acidic dry finish.
28 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Another venerated Normandy cidre producer whose liquid thankfully gets exported stateside, Dupont is a reliably incredible familyrun legacy institution. Since the brand is perhaps more famous in the world of spirits for its superlative calvados (t h e re g i o n’s f a m e d apple brandy), Dupont’s Cidre Réserve is a unique, under-the-radar gem. A proprietary blend of apples (80 percent bittersweet + 20 percent acidic) is pressed and fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeast, then transferred to barrels recently emptied of calvados for a six-month maturation. The result is modestly sweet, sharp, and terrifically oaky.
Farnum Hill Farmhouse Cider
Farnum Hill has been at the forefront of U.S. craft cider since the ‘80s; its brewers were early proponents of bringing back true cider apple varieties. Accessibly priced and unpretentiously packaged, a Farnum Hill bottle is a perfect entry into the explosion of retro apple fermentation. Try its clean, light Farmhouse Cider, which contains just enough barnyard notes at the periphery to be interesting, but not too odd to drink in high volume.
MillStone Sidra Americana
Fans of sour beer-Belgian limbic, in particular-will find a lot to like in the ciders of Maryland’s MillStone. Committed to mostly natural fermentations and historical flavor profiles with modern t w i s t s , t h e c i d e r m a ke r produces beverages that can be divisively acidic. For its Sidra Americana, the aim was to produce a traditional Basquestyle cider -cloudy, naturally sour, and bottled flat (meant to be poured into glass from a higher elevation for last-minute aeration).
It succeeded, and the result was big apple flavor layered beneath the tart yeastiness.
Shacksbury Dry and Semi-Dry cans
Vermont’s Shacksbury did beach-bum cider drinkers a favor by introducing cans of its Dry and Semi-Dry craft crushers this summer. A genuine artisanal producer, its portfolio runs the gamut of production methods and apple sourcing. These two approachable offerings - now in the even friendlier can format - allow drinkers to pick their poison to personal taste: Do you like your delicious fruit-strong cider with or without residual sweetness?
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Crispin - the Saint
Since it is parented by MillerCoors, the impulse is strong to write off Crispin Cider snootily as a cynical, fauxartisanal effort. The truth is, the ciders produced at Crispin’s well-monied facility in Colfax, Calif., are exceedingly wellexecuted. Take one of their Artisanal Reserve ciders, such as the Saint, an unfiltered, nontraditional oddity fermented with Belgian Trappist yeast and pure maple syrup. The result evokes freshly baked apple pie yet never veers too cloying.
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West County - Redfield
West County is another one of U.S. craft cider’s ‘80s godfathers, making a persuasive, severaldecade case for New England as the de facto Napa Valley of apple wine. The label has remained small and familyoperated, ensuring no waning of quality. One of its more unique offerings is fermented from the pressings of the heirloom Redfield varietal, which is red-fleshed. The cider it yields pours a scarlet hue more striking than rosé and packs a quenching balance of acidic character, bitterness, and fruitiness.
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Food
What’s Cooking By Sarah Johnson
southern mn style
A food adventure of OLYMPIC proportions When in Rio, just smile and nod — whatever comes to your plate will be delicious
T
raveling to a foreign country where you don’t speak the native language is always a grand opportunity for adventurous eating. People should only go to these places if they enjoy wondering what is on their plate pretty much every meal. Recently we traveled to Brazil, a ginormous country in South America that we, like most Americans, knew almost nothing about. Brazilians speak Portuguese, a language that is only spoken elsewhere in actual Portugal, a tiny country clinging onto Spain like a barnacle on a ship. The Rio Olympics were going on, so we decided to check it out. Since I couldn’t read the menus in Brazil, it didn’t matter that I couldn’t ask my waiter any questions. I would just point to a picture of a menu item, cross my fingers and hope for the best. Rarely was I disappointed in the adventure department. Most of the time the food was delicious, whether or not it turned out to be what I thought I had ordered. Occasionally some odd bit of seafood with the legs or head still attached would appear, or an unidentifiable lump (vegetable? meat? something that just fell out of the tree overhead?) Those bits were just tossed under the table for the friendly,
polite, patient and ever-present dog. Brazil is populated by random happy dogs that wander around leashless, apparently raised by someone who put a collar on and then said, “Off you go! See you when you get back!” If and when I come back after death, I want to be reincarnated as a Brazilian beach dog. I am very good at basking and trotting, which the dogs regarded as their main occupations. Not wishing to offend Brazilians with my lack of language skills, I nodded my head and smiled quite a lot to make it appear as if I understood. Nodding and smiling became a full-time occupation after a while, making me seem wise and serene while really I was clueless and ready to pound my mate with a coconut if he made one more remark like, “Is that a sea turtle/water buffalo/jaguar/venomous snake?” (It was actually a piece of driftwood/cow/housecat/ venomous snake.) People were eating a lot of avocadoes down there, which is no wonder, since Brazil has at least five kinds ranging from smallish to enormous. While we ‘Mericans love our avocados savory (guacamole, anyone?), Brazilians tend to use them sweetly, such as in smoothies and desserts. Here is a recipe for a pie that looked like key lime but wasn’t.
Avocado Pie
Preheat oven to 350°F. Crust: 7 ounces vanilla wafers 5 tablespoons butter, melted Pulse vanilla wafers in a food processor until finely ground. Add melted butter and pulse again until combined. Firmly press mixture into bottom and up side of 9-inch pie pan. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely.
Filling: 1 1/2 large avocados 17 ounces sweetened condensed milk 1/2 cup lime juice Combine all ingredients in blender until completely smooth. Pour into pie crust. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. Whipped Cream: 3/4 cup heavy cream 1 tablespoon sugar Whisk or use electric mixer until whipped.
30 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Things Brazil is famous for: a giant statue of Jesus with his arms outstretched; beaches featuring itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikinis; colorful slums called favelas; and homegrown coffee, which truly was the nectar of the gods. Slurped down in big cups in the morning or sipped from tiny vessels in the afternoon, coffee even made its way into our food. These coffee-flavored cookies were wonderful … dunked in coffee.
Brazilian Coffee Cookies 1/3 cup shortening ½ cup packed brown sugar ½ cup white sugar 1 egg 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract 1 tablespoon milk 2 cups flour ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon baking powder 2 tablespoons instant coffee powder Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Beat the shortening, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, vanilla and milk until fluffy. Stir together in a separate bowl the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and instant coffee. Add to sugar mixture and mix thoroughly. Shape dough in 1-inch balls. (If it’s too soft, chill it for a while.) Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Flatten to 1/8-inch thickness with fork or drinking glass dipped in sugar. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until lightly browned.
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Sarah Johnson is a cook, freelance writer and chocolate addict from North Mankato with three grown kids and a couple of mutts. MANKATO MAGAZINE • november 2016 • 31
Reflections By Pat Christman
32 32 •• november November 2016 2016 •• MANKATO MAGAZINE MANKATO MAGAZINE
T
here is a harsh truth to face in Minnesota. It will get cold. There’s no stopping it, no bartering with it, no slowing it down. Minnesotans face that truth each year as summer’s warmth fades, the leaves fall from the trees in piles of brown and mornings are covered in frost. It’s often called “sweater weather,” which makes it sound much more romantic than “it’s getting cold outside.” The sun’s golden light loses more and more heat as the fall days progress, leading to more frosty mornings and heavier sweaters, until winter finally arrives. MM
MANKATO MAGAZINE • MANKATO MAGAZINE • november November 2016 2016 •• 33 33
Day Trip Destinations: Lake Superior Storm Festival By Leticia Gonzales
It’s chilly, but taking a dip in the waters of Lake Superior is some folks’ idea of a good time.
Storm Season Plan an eery trip to a place where mayhem is on display
W
hile tourism in Grand Marais is usually at its peak during the summer months (with an uptick in October when visitors race to keep up with the change of all colors), there is a unique niche of travelers adventurous enough to make the trek along Lake Superior in November for the annual Storm Festival. Created in 2013, Katie Krantz, Events Resource Manager for Visit Cook County, said her organization was “looking for a way to bring visitors up to witness the magnificent storm season on the North Shore.” 34 • november 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
“The event has expanded to represent an entire season of celebrating storms on Lake Superior,” Krantz added. “November on the North Shore is beautiful, but also quiet and relaxed.” From a Wave Dash, where participants make a chilling run into Lake Superior to raise money for the Cook County Community YMCA, to the Spirits of Lake Superior Shipwreck Dinner, the Storm Festival aims to give guests an inside look as to how volatile Lake Superior can be in the harshness of November. “That drive from Duluth up to Grand Marais is a
hundred miles; and that entire drive of a hundred miles, people are looking out at Lake Superior in November, and it’s amazing,” said Jim Shinners, who has enlightened festival-goers as a presenter with his knowledge about the storm patterns along Lake Superior. “If you haven’t ever seen it, it’s really difficult to describe,” he shared. “We are talking about temperatures well below freezing, wave heights of 20, 25, 30 feet. For a lot of people, they don’t understand that a 30-foot wave, when you measure the trough to the crest of the wave, is 60 feet of water. You’re talking about enormous seas, winds of 60 miles per hour, with gusts up to 90, and heavy snowfall that makes visibility virtually zero.” Having grown up on Lake Michigan, Shinners’ interest in boats started at an early age. After being certified as a scuba diver in high school, he began diving on shipwrecks around Sheboygan, Wis. Shinners continues to sail the Great Lakes with his wife, most recently spending two months exploring Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, as well as the shipwreck sites they encountered along the way. The shipwreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975 is the focus of Shinner’s presentation at this year’s Storm Festival. Despite being well-versed on the history behind the wreck, Shinners didn’t start presenting about the topic until last year, the 40th anniversary of the tragedy, which claimed the lives of all 29 sailors aboard. Shinners attributes the wreck to extreme weather patterns on Lake
Go If you
Superior, the pressure put on Capt. McSorley to carry the last load of taconite ore to the upper Midwest for steel processing, and the captain’s desire to “get off the lake for the entire season.” “It wasn’t the biggest storm to ever strike Lake Superior, and not the worst shipwreck to ever occur,” said Shinners of that fateful day. But, with Lake Superior being further north than the other Great Lakes, Shinners said the water is much colder, with an average temperature of about 40 degrees. “It generates its own weather systems, which is really significant too,” he said. “These different weather systems collide and Lake Superior basically creates its own weather.” Shinners and his wife experienced the sudden change in weather during their recent sailing excursion, where the weather forecast didn’t always coincide with real-time conditions. “And again, that’s because it’s not like forecasting on land,” stated Shinners. “The water, the lake itself, has an effect, and sometimes we get these weather
What Lake Grand Marais and Lutsen
effects that are really difficult to predict.” Crew members on the Fitzgerald were actually tasked with providing the National Weather Service with weather conditions. However, according to Shinners, weather service broadcasts weren’t keeping up with what the crew and ship were experiencing. “The National Weather Service would put out a forecast, which the Fitzgerald would hear, and when the Fitzgerald got that forecast, they would already be experiencing conditions that were well in excess of wind speeds and wave heights and temperatures from what they were hearing from that National Weather Service,” he said. And while there have been some improvements to weather forecasting since 1975, Shinners said “there is a bit of respect and a bit of fear on the part of a lot of people when they look out on that enormous body of water and realize what it can do.”
Superior Storm Festival When
Nov. 11-13, 2016
Admission
Costs vary per event. Visit www.visitcookcounty.com for more details. MANKATO MAGAZINE • november 2016 • 35
Living
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Darla Kopischke, Norma Deno, Caroline Vatndam and Carole DeVries stand next to a table filled with their crafts that they will be selling at the Real-Life Co-Op’s craft fair on November 5th.
Live Active, Stay Healthy A
Photo and story by Cliff Coy
s the human race has progressed throughought history we have started living longer lives. In the 1994 movie adaption of The Flintstones, Fred Flintstone remarked that “My father ate it every day of his life and lived to the ripe old age of thirtyeight.” And make no mistake that at one point in our history, only living until you were 38 years old was not a farfetched idea, it was the reality.
38 • Living 55 PLUS • November 2016 • Special Advertising Section
But today we live in an era of relative prosperity where new medical sciences and technologies are being discovered every day. This has allowed us the ability to live longer lives and be able to enjoy the things that we love even more. And right around the time we started living longer lives is when the idea of retirement came about. But many retirees are faced with the same question once they hit that age where they are deemed care free. What am I going to do with myself now? This is an important question, and not just because of time management. I am sure that everybody reading this at some point in their lives has been sick. Laying on the couch, sipping soup and watching television. And if you were as unfortunate as to have this illness last awhile you would inevitably find yourself flipping through channel after channel only to find that nothing is on. You would rummage through your fridge and pantry only to find that there was nothing to eat. Face it, you got bored and it happened fast. The same can be said of retirement. You spent most of your younger years training for the career you wanted and working in that field, or you found yourself having fallen into a line of work. And that’s what you did for 20, 30, maybe even 40 years. If you were lucky you did something that you loved, and that makes this portion of your life all the more difficult. You don’t know what to do with your time and sitting in front of the television flipping through channels just isn’t going to do it for you. So what do you do? You get active! And retirees are finding ways to keep their minds and bodies active by crafting, socializing and staying physically and mentally active. Caroline Vatndam, a resident of the Realife Co-Op of Mankato started nursing straight out of high school and stayed at it for 40 years before she retired. Now she makes jewelry and does knitting in her spare time. “I didn’t do any crafting until I retired and then I came back to Minnesota and I had to find something to do,” said Caroline. “I think my niece took me to a friend of hers who taught beading classes and I have just kind of played with it ever since. It is fun and most of them I have just given away. I think once you start creating something it just kind of leads from one thing to another. I think sometimes people think that in crafting you have to be artistic, but art is in the eye of the beholder, so you can do whatever makes you happy.”
Top: Scarves made by Carole DeVries, a resident of the Realife Co-Op of Mankato. Bottom Left: A crocheted blanket made by Darla Kopischke, a Resident of the Realife Co-Op of Mankato. Bottom right: A woven blanket made by Norma Deno, a resident of the Realife Co-Op of Mankato. Special Advertising Section • November 2016 • Living 55 PLUS • 39
“We have a lot of crafters and have a workshop out in one of the garages that’s heated in the winter time so they can go out and do wood working, frame work, we have one gentleman that does stained glass,” said Diane Hanly the Resident Services Manager at the Realife Co-Op of Mankato. “He also makes these little rocking horses that when you rock them their hooves make clicking noises. A lot of crafters, a lot of bakers, I get a lot of cookies and bars in here all the time. They are very active, some have lived here for a long time, 15-18 years. We have a lot of committees, a library comity, and activity comity that plans a monthly birthday and anniversary get together, a card group that plays cards four nights a week.” Darla Kopischke, who is a resident at the Realife Co-Op of Mankato was an office nurse for Dr. Batdorf for 23-years before she retired to a simpler life.” “That was back in the dark ages when they had one nurse and one secretary,” said Darla. “So I helped and assisted him and also did his lab and x-ray.” These days Darla spends most of her time hand painting cards and wooden gift tags or playing cards with her friends at the Co-Op. “I don’t even keep a light by where I paint because I want to do it in the best of daylight,” said Darla. “So if it’s cloudy I do something else, I even wrote a book and the name of it is Prairie Flowers and several hundred have been bought but I am not publishing anymore or selling anymore books.” In fact, most of the ladies living at the Realife Co-Op are well versed in many types of arts and crafts. From jewelry to crocheting, quilting to card making, these ladies do it all. “I think as we age Top: Seed beads are Caroline Vatndam’s favorite type of crafting median. Middle: A matching pair of earrings, a bracelet and necklace made by Norma Deno, a resident of the Realife Co-Op of Mankato.
Bottom row: Necklaces made by Caroline Vatndam, a Front row: Nicki Rehnelt, Housing Director; Darcy Beranek, of the RN, Clinical Director; Melanie Marti,resident RN, Sand Prairie. Second row: Becky Tapper, Sand Prairie Life Enrichment Coo Realife Co-Op of dinator; Janet Geisler, Life Enrichment Director; Rachel Hauschild, Human Resources Representative. Mankato. 40 • Living 55 PLUS • November 2016 • Special Advertising Section
Third row: Joyce Wilcox, Sand Prairie Food & Beverage Man ager; George Willis, Prairie Hill Food & Beverage Manager; Lisa Hofferbert, Sales & Marketing Manager. Fourth row: Doug Mehlhaff, Environmental Service Director; Tami Brandt, Business Office Manager
or-
n-
we get the creative juices flowing and keeps you sort of alive and interested,” said Caroline. “With this kind of stuff, jewelry kind of changes and you can do a lot of different things with it. I think it adds a spark of life to retirement.” “It keeps me busy and it kind of keeps me poor because it costs money to buy all the stuff,” said Carole DeVries, a resident of the Co-Op. “But you give them away and you make somebody happy. That in itself is a reward.” “The cards I all give away,” said Darla. “I haven’t sold any but I am going to at the upcoming sale because I have a whole bunch. Before when I made them I would give them to the church and they would sell them in their boutique. It was easier for me to give that way because I could give more that way than out of pocket. So I did it that way.” You don’t only have to craft in order to enjoy your retirement and stay active. There are many options out there, all you have to do is find them. According to a study published in the Journal of Aging Studies, study participants, aged 60 to 93, identified six features of successful aging: a sense of purpose, interactions with others, personal growth, self-acceptance, autonomy, and health. A big piece of staying active is to literally stay active, keep moving and getting in some exercise. Studies have shown that if you are regularly physically active, you may reduce your risk of a heart attack, you can manage your weight better, have lower blood cholesterol and blood pressure levels, lower the risk of type 2 diabetes and some cancers, have stronger bones, muscles and joints which will lower your risk of falls and you will generally feel better and have more energy, a better mood, feel more relaxed and sleep better. Some people find that going for walks is a great way to socialize as well as get
Top: Hand-painted cards by Darla Kopischke, Darla hand-paints her cards only in the best of daylight and does not even keep a lamp by where she paints.
We create home for We create home for older adults, wherever wherever they choose to live. older adults, wherever We create home for older adults, they choose to live. The Ecumen St. Peter team is proud to provide
Recycled cards made by Norma Deno, Norma takes old cards that she thinks are beautiful, cuts them up and We re-makes new cards withfor parts of the adults, old ones. create home older
wherever they choose to live. they choose to live. independent living, and memory The Ecumen St. Peter teamassisted is proudliving to provide care at Ecumen Prairie Hill, and assisted living at
The living, Ecumen St. Peter team is proud independent assisted living, memory and to provide independent living, The Ecumen St. Peter team is proud to provide Sand We’d to meet you. Prairie Hill, and assisted assisted livingPrairie. and memory care at Ecumen respite Ecumen care memory at Ecumen Prairie Hill, love and assisted independent living, assisted living, and respite care at Ecumen Prairie Hill, and assisted living at Ecumen SandatPrairie. We’d lovePrairie. to meet We’d you. love to meet you. living Ecumen Sand Please call Lisa atto 507-484-2203 a tour living at Ecumen Sand Prairie. We’d love meet for you. Please or callmore Lisainformation. at call 507-484-2203 for a tour for a tour or more information Please Lisa at 507-484-2203
Please call Lisa at 507-484-2203 for a tour or more information. or more information. Front row: Nicki Rehnelt, Housing Director; Darcy Beranek, RN, Clinical Director; Melanie Marti, RN, Sand Prairie. Second row: Becky Tapper, Sand Prairie Life Enrichment Coordinator; Janet Geisler, Life Enrichment Director; Rachel Hauschild, Human Resources Representative. Third row: Joyce Wilcox, Sand Prairie Food & Beverage Manager; George Willis, Prairie Hill Food & Beverage Manager; Lisa Hofferbert, Sales & Marketing Manager. Fourth row: Doug Mehlhaff, Environmental Service Director; Tami Brandt, Business Office Manager
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exercise. Others will participate in what sporting events that they can. It may be cliché but heading out to the golf clubs and getting even a small game of 9-hole in can dramatically help you. According to braintraining101.com golf can provide you with an increased blood flow to the brain, it allows you to socialize, gives your vision a work out, increases your coordination, can sharpen your focus, and give you a selfesteem boost. According to the World Health Organization older adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or do at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week. The aerobic activity should be performed in bouts of at least 10 minutes duration. Older adults, with poor mobility, should perform physical activities to enhance balance and prevent falls as well as some musclestrengthening activities, involving major muscle groups. When older adults cannot do the recommended amounts of physical activity due to health conditions, they should be as physically active as their abilities and conditions allow. In the end though it is all about what makes you happy and keeps you going day to day. Whether it’s sitting in front of your friends and family members chatting up a storm, going out for long walks, gathering around a table to play some cards or even go out and do probably the most cliché of all retirement activities, golf. Just find a few things that you can enjoy doing and mix them up so that you don’t get bored. Try new things and remember to keep your body moving as well as your brain. “It keeps you busy and keeps your mind going,” said Norma Deno, a retired farmer. “You can’t just sit and do nothing, you gotta keep moving. That’s what helps. If you just sit around without anything to do, your mind and body just sort of waste away. So yes, it is very important to keep busy and moving.”
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Top: A wooden train hand-painted by Darla Kopischke, Darla’s husband used to cut the wood for her to paint, so when he passed away she lost the ability to keep painting wooden objects and instead started painting cards in order to stay active. Bottom: Hand-painted gift tags also made by Darla Kopischke.
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<Agency/Agent Name> Sheri K. Fedson 226 N. Broad Street <Agency/Agent contact Mankato, MN 56001 information> (507) 625-4322 TTY 711
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Blue Cross offers Cost and PDP plans with Medicare contracts. Enrollment in these plans depends on contract renewal. Plans are available to residents of the service area. You can also call Blue Cross for plan information or to enroll. Call 1-877-662-2583, TTY users call 711, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Central Time daily. H2461_092415_Z07 CMS Accepted 10/03/2015 S5743_092815_B03_MN CMS Accepted 10/03/2015 Authorized independent agent/agency for Blue Cross® and Blue Shield® of Minnesota and Blue Plus®, nonprofit independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
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he elderly population is on the rise in many countries. Advancements in healthcare and a growing emphasis on healthy lifestyles means people are living longer than ever before. Age is often accompanied by wisdom, but men and women may also find that feelings of isolation, loneliness and depression may also settle in as they grow older. The Journal of Primary Prevention published “A Review of Social Isolation,” which observed how social isolation has been linked to numerous detrimental health effects in older adults. Some of these ailments may include increased risk for mortality, rehospitalization, falls, and dementia. Individuals looking to give back to their communities may want to
consider helping seniors in their area. Although it can be difficult to see seniors with diminished physical or mental capabilities, the rewards of interacting and helping seniors can be immeasurable. There are plenty of ways to help seniors avoid isolation and continue to live fulfilling lives.
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• Encourage exercise. Physical exercise keeps the body fit and improves mental health. Seniors can benefit from physical activity because it promotes strong bones and a healthy cardiovascular system. In addition, seniors who enroll in exercise classes at gyms or local senior centers can meet like-minded adults, helping them overcome their feelings of isolation even further.
Seniors can benefit from many different forms of support, and helping older adults is a worthy volunteer initiative.
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• Participate in hobbies together. Give seniors a sense of purpose by encouraging them to participate in hobbies or activities. Book clubs are one activity that can interest people of different age groups.
• Provide meals and companionship. Older adults may not be getting all they need to maintain healthy weights and bodily functions. Cooking and shopping for healthy foods may be difficult. Provide seniors with healthy meals when possible, and take the time to share those meals. This can foster conversations that keep seniors’ minds sharp and also may help prevent social isolation.
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Great gifts for seniors
E
very holiday shopper ends up with at least one loved one on their shopping list who they can’t seem to find anything for. Some people seem to have it all, while others may be less than forthcoming with regard to items they may need or want. Many seniors tend to fall into the latter category. Shopping for holiday gifts for seniors can be difficult if shoppers don’t know what seniors want. But the following are a handful of gift ideas that might make this holiday season that much more special for seniors. 46 • Living 55 PLUS • November 2016 • Special Advertising Section
Books
A 2015 survey from the Pew Research Center found that 69 percent of adults age 65 and over acknowledged reading at least one book in the previous 12 months. That makes books a good bet for shoppers who don’t know what to get their 65-and-over loved ones this holiday season. But shoppers might want to opt for more traditional print books rather than e-books, as the survey found that only 15 percent of readers age 65 and over had read an e-book in the previous 12 months.
Gym membership
According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, more than 80 percent of adults do not meet the guidelines for aerobic and musclestrengthening activities. That can be especially troubling for seniors, who are at greater risk for osteoporosis, a medical condition in which age-related tissue loss contributes to brittle, fragile bones. Physical activity, including muscle-strengthening activities like weight training, can help combat osteoporosis. Family members stuck on what to get aging loved ones may want to consider gifting a membership to a local gym. Many gyms offer heavily discounted memberships to seniors, and such gyms may even offer senior fitness classes at no additional cost.
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A1C, glucose, complete metabolic panel, lipid panel and more. www.REHC.org/DirectAccessLab for more information Visit riversedgehealth.org/service/direct-access-lab for more and a information andand a full list of tests and pricing. full list of tests pricing.
Travel gifts
Many retirees love to travel, but not every senior has the means to take off for parts unknown. A 2013 survey from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies® found that 25 percent of retirees admitted they wished they would have saved more for retirement travel. Holiday shoppers can light up seniors’ smiles by gifting travel gifts this holiday season. One idea is to transfer airline miles to an elderly loved one so he or she can get a free or discounted flight. If that’s not a possibility, some new luggage or a Global Hotel CardTM sponsored by Orbitz®, a gift card that can be redeemed at 70,000 hotels across the globe, is sure to please.
Family time
Shoppers who are especially stuck on what to get seniors for Christmas can just resolve to spend more time with their elderly loved ones. Many seniors genuinely have everything they need, and such men and women may only want to spend more time with their children and grandchildren. Make a New Year’s resolution to spend more time with the special seniors in your life if the perfect gift is eluding you.
NICOLLET COUNTY BANK SAINTS CLUB EVENTS NOVEMBER 14 - Branson Tour (thru’ the 18th) NOVEMBER 16 -”Camelot” at Chanhassen Dinner Theater DECEMBER 1 - Mall of America/Bachman’s on Lyndale Daytrip JANUARY 18 - ”Rise Up O’Men!” at Plymouth Playhouse FEBRUARY 11 - ”Mamma Mia!” at the Orpheum Theater
Join the Saints Club for a great trip to Branson for the holiday season! This tour has several show options: Daniel O’Donnell, the Haygoods, Mel Tillis, the Osmonds & Lennons perform the Andy Williams Christmas Spectacular, Pierce Arrow, Moses, the Hughes Brothers, the Texas Tenors and more! You choose five shows from eleven options! Also included in this tour is Shoji Tabuchi’s show or the Titanic Museum...or shopping! Call us at 931-3310 for more information on this fun Branson Holiday Spectacular!
NICOLLET COUNTY BANK Source Metro Creative Connection
220 South Third Street, St. Peter, MN 56082 Phone: (507) 931-3310 / Fax: (507) 931-2418 www.nicolletcountybank.com
Special Advertising Section • November 2016 • Living 55 PLUS • 47
D
You too can escape winter this year
id you know that according to the National Centers for Environmental Information only ten states get less than five inches of snow each winter? That makes for a lot of very cold, very fed up Americans once February rolls in. If you’re one of them, you may be tempted to join the flocks of snowbirds who migrate to warmer parts of the world for a few weeks every year. Think it’s impractical? Think again.
See the Sun Belt on a budget. The warmer southern states are just a day’s drive from most wintery cities, so fill up the car’s gas tank, hitch up your travel trailer and say goodbye to the snow. Another budget-wise option is to rent a large apartment or condo unit with another couple so you can share the driving, lodging and food costs. Spend winter in the Old World. A furnished twobedroom apartment on the Spanish Andalusian coast in winter can be found for as little as $600 a month. Greece and Portugal are affordable these days too. Buy your air tickets well ahead of time, and if you stay a few months, you’re likely to live more cheaply than you could stateside. Mexico and beyond. Do your research to make sure
you’re heading to a safe area of the country, and then relax into a slower pace. Seasonal rentals are relatively easy to find on the internet, or even after you arrive. Just make sure your health insurance is up-to-date, and you’ll have the best winter ever. 48 • Living 55 PLUS • November 2016 • Special Advertising Section
What to do before flying south for the winter
F
or many retirees, the arrival of autumn means making travel arrangements to destinations with a milder climate. For a worry-free departure, here are five important things to remember.
1. Essential documents Passport, driver’s license and registration: make sure that none of these documents will expire during your absence. Check the expiration dates and make any necessary updates. Before you leave, be sure to make photocopies of them. If the originals are stolen or lost it will be much easier to replace them if you have a recent photocopy with you. 2. Contact information Inform your family of your destination and the length of your stay. Give them the number where they can reach you in case of an emergency or update your cellphone plan to avoid exorbitant roaming charges. 3. Bills Are your electricity, gas and cable bills paid by direct debit? Make sure you have enough money in your account to cover them before leaving. If not, ask about payment methods available to you, including how to pay online. 4. Forwarding mail Check with the post office to see if you can have your mail held while you’re away. Alternatively, you could ask a trusted person to pick it up for you. 5. Animals If you can’t bring your pet with you on your travels, ask a friend or relative to take care of it for you. If not, lots of kennels offer a boarding service for short or long-term stays.
Five housing options for those looking to flee the cold winter
W
hether your goal is to buy or rent a home for your stay down south, there are many options available. House, condo, apartment, RV or mobile home — there’s something for everyone.
SMART INSURANCE SOLUTIONS
1. Single-family home Buying a second property in another country (or another region) has many advantages: it provides rental revenue, a place of your own to stay, and an asset to be passed down to future generations. However, beware of unexpected costs including mortgages, income taxes, additional taxes and insurance. Be sure to ask lots of questions.
Business
2. Condominium Buying a condo can also be a good investment. Easy to sell and low maintenance, condominiums are very popular with snowbirds. This pied-à-terre in the sun can quickly become a peaceful haven far from the hubbub of everyday life. 3. Apartment Renting an apartment
in a high-rise is a good option for travellers. If the idea of returning every year to the same location doesn’t appeal to you, an apartment is the perfect choice for temporary stays in warmer climes.
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4. RV For those who can’t sit still and love to see as much as possible, an RV is the ideal solution. More luxurious than a tent, an RV allows you to save on flight and hotel costs and invest a little more in fun activities. 5. Mobile Home This type of accommodation is great for snowbirds who love lively surroundings and talking to new people. Mobile home parks are full of different sized accommodations, grouped close together for a friendly and dynamic atmosphere.
Source Metro Creative Connection
CHOOSE CO-OP LIVING! Call to Schedule Your Tour! 507-388-2886
700 Agency Trail, Mankato willowbrookcoopmankato.com Special Advertising Section • November 2016 • Living 55 PLUS • 49
Did you know? The Federal Trade Commission warns against donating to charities and organizations that spring up suddenly in response to current events and natural disasters. While such organizations are not necessarily fraudulent, the FTC notes that they are unlikely to have the infrastructure in place to get donations to the area or people most in need in the wake of a disaster or other unforeseen event. The period immediately following a natural disaster can make donors especially vulnerable to con artists who commit charitable fraud. As a result, it’s important that prospective donors fully vet a charity before donating, and only make donations via personal check or a secure website. Cash donations and wire transfers should never be made, as such donations are difficult to trace should donors discover they have been victimized by charitable fraud. Learn more about safe donation practices and charitable fraud at www.consumer.ftc.gov.
Learn about your Medicare options and the affordable plans from Medica® by attending one of the FREE Medicare Workshops listed below. 9th, November, 3:00 P.M. Blue Earth County Library 100 East Main St. Mankato, MN 56001 28th, November, 6:00 P.M. Blue Earth County Library 100 East Main St. Mankato, MN 56001
Call me at the number below to RSVP for the
FREE Medicare Workshop of your choice 507-345-7591
MEDICA
8:00am-5:00pm or by appointment – Monday - Friday
Scott Gross. Licensed Insurance Agent Midwest Financial Services Inc.
Medicare plans made simple.
sgross@scottgrossinsurance.com 1704 N Riverfront Dr. Ste 104, Mankato, MN 56001
Southern Minnesota’s Finest Senior Living Choices!!
• Lovely Apartment Homes • Located on Heritage Park • Independent & Assisted Living Services • Bistro Café • Customized Services to maintain independence • Refreshing hospitality • Health and Wellness programs • Housekeeping and Laundry services • Daily meal service • Urgency call system • Secured building
• In-house & Out Patient Rehabilitation – P.T., O.T., and Speech Therapy • Respite Care • Hospice • Long-term Staff • Therapeutic Recreational Director • Local Physicians who make weekly rounds • 24-hour Skilled Nursing • Wound Care Management • Secure Care Safety Program • Medicare/Medicaid • Private and Semi-private Rooms • Recreational Outings • Ecumenical Services • In-house Beauty and Barber services • Special Care Suite and Family Room
www.mapletoncommunityhome.com 303 Troendle St. • Mapleton, MN | 301 Troendle St. • Mapleton, MN
Source Metro Creative Connection 50 • Living 55 PLUS • November 2016 • Special Advertising Section
507-524-3315
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by the Battle House in Mobile. All five of these spas are part of the RTJ
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Special Advertising Section • November 2016 • Living 55 PLUS • 51
Then & Now: ELECTIONS By: Bryce O. Stenzel
The Disputed Presidential Election of C
ontentious presidential elections are nothing new in American politics. One of the most controversial ones of all occurred on Nov. 7, 1876. With the possible exception of the Bush-Gore contest in 2000, the Election of 1876 has been described as the most disputed presidential election in U.S. history. Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was running against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden in the 1876 presidential contest. For the first time since the Civil War (1861-1865) the Democratic Party had a real opportunity to win back the White House. The Republican Party had dominated the national political scene since successfully electing Abraham Lincoln to the presidential office in 1860. Since the Republican Party was strictly sectional (Lincoln’s name didn’t even appear on the ballot in most of the Southern states), Union victory in the Civil War coupled with the abolishment of slavery — pushed by the “radical” wing of the party — was seen as a “Republican only” achievement. Lincoln’s re-election in 1864 against Democratic challenger General George B. McClellan only fueled the fire. Republicans were quick to condemn the Democratic Party as the “party of treason,” based on McClellan’s campaign promise that, if elected, he would bring about a negotiated peace with the Confederacy resulting in Southern independence. Formation of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in 1866 gave the Republican Party a powerful voting block of returning Union veterans to draw from for support of its agenda — harsh “reconstruction” for the former Confederate states. “Waving the bloody shirt” (accusing Democrats of treason during the Civil War) gave the Republicans an effective means of ensuring the success of its candidates. Although Lincoln’s successor (after his
52 • November 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
1876
assassination), President Andrew Johnson (a Democrat) narrowly survived impeachment by the House of Representatives and trial by the Senate, congressional Republicans made certain their own political agenda moved forward, even at the risk of undermining the constitutional separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. With Johnson’s political reputation in ruins, Republicans were able to nominate and elect General U.S. Grant to the presidency in 1868. He served from 1869-1877. Grant was a popular choice with both the veterans in the GAR and civilians alike, since he was the Union Army’s most successful war hero. However, Grant’s two terms as president were marred with corruption. One after another of his cabinet officials (not Grant himself) were caught up in scandal. The financial Panic of 1873 that crippled the American economy for several years only made matters worse. By 1876, widespread disillusionment with the Republican Party had set in and Grant was dissuaded from seeking a third term in the upcoming election, in favor of nominating Rutherford Hayes to be the Party’s standard bearer. The Democratic Party sensed victory and the results of the election showed they had just cause to be optimistic. Tilden led his opponent in both popular and electoral votes when the returns were counted. However, he remained one electoral vote short of the 185 needed to win. Hayes trailed with only 165 electoral votes. It was discovered that there were duplicate sets of electoral votes (one set for each of the candidates) from four states that had been sent in: Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida and Oregon. The question was which set to count? With all 20 remaining electoral votes in contention,
most of them coming from three Southern states still under Union m i l i t a r y occupation and Republican political control, Hayes could still pull off an election upset; but the Democrats disputed the validity of the electoral votes coming from the region dominated by t h e i r opponents. T h e y claimed these votes had been procured at the point of a b ayo n e t . (Oregon only had one electoral vote, and was settled in Hayes’ favor.) In order to solve this divisive political issue that threatened to rekindle the Civil War, a special electoral commission was established by Congress. It was made up of five men from the Senate, five from the House of Representatives and five Supreme Court justices. Seven of the men were Republicans seven were Democrats and one ( Justice David Davis of Illinois) was an Independent. When Davis resigned to run for the Senate, the Republicandominated Congress replaced Davis with a Republican, changing the commission members’ ratio to eight Republicans and seven Democrats. Not surprisingly, all 20 of the disputed votes were assigned to Hayes, giving him the required 185 electoral votes needed to win. Throughout his entire presidency, Hayes was referred to by his political adversaries as “Old 8 to 7.” Because his wife was protemperance and refused to serve alcohol at White House receptions, she earned an unflattering name as well: “Lemonade Lucy.” Once in office, Hayes quickly removed the remaining federal troops in the South that had been there since the end of the Civil War, ending the era of “Radical R e c o n s t r u c t i o n .” The Compromise of 1877, as it was
known, gave Hayes badly needed Southern political support in exchange for the federal troop withdrawal. T h e abandonment of the newly freed slaves by the federal government paved the way for another century of l e g a l i z e d discrimination against blacks in the South, in the form of “Jim Crow” laws, sharecropping and other forms of segregation. It wouldn’t be until the modern Civil Rights Movement that AfricanAmericans would be able to significantly challenge and alter the status quo. It is interesting to compare local election results with the national trend. In Minnesota, Hayes received 72,955 popular votes (58.80 percent) compared to Tilden’s 48,587 popular votes (39.16 percent). Hayes received all 5 of Minnesota’s electoral votes. Not as well known was the fact that two other candidates were running for president that contentious year: Greenback Party candidate, Peter Cooper polled 2,389 popular votes (1.93 percent) and Prohibition Party candidate Green Smith polled 144 votes (.12 percent) in Minnesota. In Blue Earth County, Hayes received 2,410 popular votes, compared to 2,039 for Tilden. There were no votes for either Cooper or Smith in Blue Earth County. Interestingly enough, Nicollet County’s results were different in one respect. While Hayes won the popular vote with 1,116 votes to Tilden’s 677, Cooper received 35 votes in Nicollet County, compared to zero in Blue Earth. Smith received zero votes in Nicollet as well as in Blue Earth. Much of the voting took place in rural township halls scattered throughout the countryside, such as Danville’s in Blue Earth County. It was customary at the time for ballot boxes and ballots to be
color-coded to represent a particular political party. With no voting booths to offer privacy, as well as the fact that many precincts were sparsely inhabited, it was easy to determine which party and which candidates were being voted for, and by whom. It wasn’t until the Election of 1884, that the “Australian” or secret ballot system (in which a voter marks their choices in privacy on uniform ballots) was first used extensively in the United States. Whatever the outcome of the 2016 election, there is consolation in knowing generations of Americans have coped with less than ideal voting conditions at their polling places, listened to political mudslinging by their candidates and suffered through trying presidential elections. We have survived before, and we will again.
A
n interesting historical side-note is as follows: in the weeks leading up to and during the presidential election of 1876, the nation was so stirred up by the political frenzy taking place all around the country that nobody was paying any significant attention to a small group of counterfeiters plotting to steal the remains of Abraham Lincoln from his tomb in Springfield, Ill. They planned to hold the body for ransom in an effort to get one of their cohorts released from federal prison in Joliet, Ill. On election night, while the town was busy celebrating and waiting for the election results to come pouring in, the graveyard ghouls were busy raiding Lincoln’s Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery on the outskirts of town. Unknown to the ghouls was the presence of the U.S. Secret Service, determined to stop them. In 2012, local historian and author Jack Koblas wrote an informative book on this topic called “Abe Lincoln’s Graveyard Ghouls.” The story was adapted into play form and performed by the members of Lincoln’s Traveling Troupe in 2013.
MANKATO MAGAZINE • November 2016 • 53
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ܨ a¨ ¡ à ÊáÊèà ¨ Øʃ à ܨ Êè¼ ÃÊã ¢ ã Êèã ¼Êà ʈ , ô Ü ¨ ÕÕú ãÊ ¹ÃÊô 㨠ã Âú ĄÊÕÕúʃ 袼ú ¡ à ôÊع ã ÊáÊèà «Ã¢ ¨« ¹ ÃÜʃ èã ã ã¨ Ü Â ã«Â ʃ «¡ 㨠ú ¨« ¹ ÃÜʃ èã ã ã¨ Ü Â ã«Â ʃ «¡ 㨠ú ¢ ã «Ã Ã ùã ú Ø Ã Ãʰã ă¢èØ Êèã ¨Êô ãÊ ¼ ó ʃ Âú ¢ Ø Ã ô«¼¼ ãÊ Üãʈ a¨ à ùã úʃ , ã¨Ø ô Êèã ¡ ô ØÜ Ê¡ ÊØà ãÊ ¹ Õ ã¨ Â ã¨ Â Ê èÕ« ô¨«¼ , ܼ«ÕÕ Êôà ãÊ ã¨ ¢ Ø Ã ¼Êà ʈ , Õè¼¼ ã¨ Ø Üã Ê¡ 㨠ãÊ ãÊ Üʃ ãÊ ãÊ Üʃ ¼ ó«Ã¢ ã¨
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Your style By Ann Rosenquist Fee
Welcome back, dressy dress coat In this season of giving, ask Grandma if she’ll give you her 1973 dress coat. Because you need it.
S
ometimes a friend or a co-worker shows up with a trash bag full of inherited coats that don’t fit, don’t flatter, aren’t fresh, aren’t old enough to be back in style. And she is clearly in despair, clearly burdened by this bequest, and now you are, too. Everybody in the office is now in on the gift, the game, the game of whether or not to add something to your wardrobe and your life that you’d never actually seek out for yourself, but might come in handy. Might serve a purpose you hadn’t realized you wanted to serve. So, the coats get pulled out one-byone and lined up on the floor. Sure enough, nothing is the perfect size, for any one of us. Nothing is just what we were looking for (no one, on that day, was looking for coats at all; we were at work). But you guys. They’re so wellmade. There’s hand-stitching. There’s decorative embroidery where it doesn’t even show in the lining. In a contrasting color! And that’s just each singular coat. As a collection, lined up on the floor in what we presume is chronological order, it’s a narrative. It all but speaks. It’s the story of one woman’s winters, or at least the special occasions of her winters, spanning decades. And none of us can support tossing the whole deal in a thrift shop collection bin where each coat, each winter of a life lived, will become nothing more than a throwaway line in the bland story called “Ladies’ Coats Price as Marked.” Fit and flattery be damned, we are taking these coats home. And you should, too, if this happens in your 58 • November 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
workplace or some relative’s house over the holidays. Here is what you stand to gain:
1. A fancy “nice coat” you can wear
to not-fancy places, instantly becoming the most intriguing person at Wagon Wheel or Walgreens or wherever you normally go on a Saturday morning in baggy cords and a flannel. Which you can still wear, under the coat, because it’s too big. When you’re at Walgreens maybe pick up some sunglasses and corduroy-covering legwarmers to complete the look, but even if not, boom, woman of mystery thanks to a garbage-bag giveaway.
2. You’ll also gain a fancy coat whose
fanciness cost you nothing, so you won’t have to feel bad when rain and salt and general wintertime wear-and-tear take their toll. No guilt and no dry cleaning bill. Pretty much just let the elements have their way with the thing, and then cycle it back into the hand-medown or thrift shop system. Or stash it away in your own closet, like your friend’s great aunt did, for a good 20 years.
3. Speaking of coat-as-time-
capsule, if you’re gifted a relative or someone else’s ancient dressy dress coat, you might be fortunate enough also to acquire a memorial service program from 1973. Or two pristine sticks of gum, Wrigley’s Doublemint and Clark’s Teaberry. Or a vintage bottle of Tesslon capsules. Or all four! As was the case for my friend Stephanie when the bag of inherited coats showed up at our workplace. By the time she found these gems in the righthand pocket, Stephanie had already fallen hard for the coat itself -- its wide fur collar, hand-stitched to the itchy wool coat body. Its oh-soclassy sculpted brass buttons. Its sickly gray-pink satin lining, which was uncannily casket-like when we looked down at the coat lying flat on the floor, unbuttoned, arms stretched out. The Teaberry etc., elevated the coat from a garment to an experience. A vault. A wearable personal narrative or persona or performance art piece for Stephanie to enjoy on the
days when just “wearing” a “coat” doesn’t satisfy the imagination. This gets at a key benefit of wearing hand-me-downs and thrift-shop acquisitions -- the stuff has lived. It’s been places. It’s possible that you’re drawn to a particular coatyou’d-never-buy-new, or some other garment, because of who (you think) wears that kind of thing. You know damn well who wears fancy coats to Walgreens on a dreary fall Saturday, and it’s never been you. But by God starting today it might possibly totally could be you. Bundle up in her moment, in her careful attention to gum, her compassion for whomever’s funeral it was from which she took the program and placed it in her pocket without a crease. You don’t have to know anything else about her. You don’t have to become her. But you are obliged, this winter, if a similar garbage bag shows up in your life, to try things on and see what gifts some other woman’s long-gone winters have to give you.
Ann Rosenquist Fee is executive director of the Arts Center of Saint Peter and a vocalist with The Frye. She blogs at annrosenquistfee.com. MANKATO MAGAZINE • November 2016 • 59
Coming Attractions: November 1 MSU Performance Series: Dusty Heart
12 Fall Concert by the Gustavus Wind
3 University Choral Invitational
Mankato Area Youth Symphony concert 3 p.m. — Trinity Chapel — Bethany Lutheran College — Mankato — $10 — www.mayso.net
7:30 p.m. — Elias J. Halling Recital Hall — Earley Center for Performing Arts — Minnesota State University — Mankato — $12 general admission, $11 current MSU students — www.mnsu.edu/ music — 507-389-5549
7:30 p.m. — Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church — 105 N. Fifth St. — Mankato — $9 general admission, $6 currents MSU students, $7 children and K-12 students — www.mnsu.edu/ music — 507-389-5549.
3-5, 10-13 MSU Theatre:
‘The Two Henrys’ 7:30 p.m., 2-5 and 10-12; 2 p.m. Nov. 12 and 13 — Ted Paul Theatre — Earley Center for Performing Arts — Minnesota State University — Mankato — $16 regular, $14 discount, $11 current MSU students — www.mnsu.edu/theatre — 507-389-6661
Orchestra and the Gustavus Wind Symphony 1:30 p.m. — Bjorling Recital Hall — Gustavus Adolphus College — St. Peter — free — 507-933-7013
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12-13 Charting Changes:
Women, Words and Music 7:30 p.m., Saturday; 3 p.m., Sunday — Elias J. Halling Recital Hall — Minnesota State University — Mankato — $9 general admission, $6 currents MSU students, $7 children and K-12 students — www.mnsu.edu/music — 507-389-5549.
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Mankato Symphony Orchestra Symphonic Series: ‘Here and Now’ in conjunction with Opening Gala 3 p.m. concert, 4:30 p.m., Gala — Mankato Performing Arts Center — 1 Civic Center Plaza — Mankato — Here and Now: $35 adult, $5 student; Gala (includes admission to concert): $115 Individual ticket, $920 table of 8 — www. mankatosymphony.com/tickets
16-19 MSU Theatre: ‘Carrie the Musical’
7:30 p.m. — Andreas Theatre — Earley Center for Performing Arts — Minnesota State University — Mankato — $13 regular, $12 discount, $11 current MSU students — www.mnsu.edu/theatre — 507-389-6661
4 Justin Moore with Maddie and Tae and
William Michael Morgan 7:30 p.m. — Verizon Wireless Center, Arena — 1 Civic Center Plaza — $59.75, $49.75 and $34.75 — www.verizonwirelesscentermn.com — 800-745-3000
4 Gustavus Symphony Orchestra Fall Concert 7:30 p.m. — Bjorling Recital Hall — Gustavus Adolphus College — St. Peter — free — 507-933-7013
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University Band Extravaganza 3 p.m. — Bresnan Arena — Minnesota State University — Mankato — $9 general admission, $6 currents MSU students, $7 children and K-12 students — www.mnsu.edu/music — 507-389-5549
11-13, 18-19 BLC Theatre: ‘Icehouse’ 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday — Lee Theatre — Ylvisaker Fine Arts Center — Bethany Lutheran College — Mankato — $10 — www.theatre.blc.edu — 507-344-7374
60 • November 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
17-20 Department of Theatre and Dance
present ‘More Light’ 8 p.m., Thurs.-Sat.; 2 p.m. Sunday — Anderson Theatre — Gustavus Adolphus College — St. Peter — $9 adults, $6 students and seniors — www.gustavustickets.com — 507-933-7590
19 MSU Performance Series:
Sonny Knight and the Lakers 8 p.m. — Hooligans — Madison East Center, 1400 Madison Ave. — $15 advance, $18 day of show — www.mnsu.edu/music — 507-389-5549
20 University Concert Bands
3 p.m. — Elias J. Halling Recital Hall — Minnesota State University — Mankato — $9 general admission, $6 currents MSU students, $7 children and K-12 students — www.mnsu.edu/music — 507-389-5549
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Minnesota State Mankato Community Orchestra 7:30 p.m. — Elias J. Halling Recital Hall — Minnesota State University — Mankato — $9 general admission, $6 currents MSU students, $7 children and K-12 students — www.mnsu. edu/music — 507-389-5549
30-Dec. 4 Christmas at Bethany
concerts 4 p.m. — Trinity Chapel — Bethany Lutheran College — Mankato — free, reserve online at www.blc.edu or call 507-7365
Faces & Places: Photos By SPX Sports
POW WOW
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1. Singers play a traditional Native American song to begin the ceremony. 2. Flag bearers line up at the beginning of the ceremony. 3. Youth royalty line up before the ceremony. 4. Dancers make their way around the inner circle until all have entered and the songs have finished. 5. Visitors to the Pow Wow look on as the ceremony progresses. 6. A handmade banner held during the opening ceremony protests an oil pipeline being built in North Dakota. 7. Authentic tipis were used by some for shelter over the weekend.
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • November 2016 • 61
Faces & Places: Photos By SPX Sports
BAd Prom Dress 5K Minnesota Valley Action Council 1 1. Participants could be found in all sorts of outfits for the fundraiser. 2. Sheila Ous and Ann MacGregor of the Minnesota Valley Action Council organized the event. 3. Runners take off from the start of the Bad Prom Dress 5K. 4. Runners pose for a photo before the start of the 5K.
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Faces & Places: Photos By SPX Sports
Rock Bend Folk Festival 1. Brian Wicklund and Mike Cramer perform on the North Tree Stage at the Rock Bend Folk Festival. 2. The Fabulous Love Handles perform on the Pavilion Stage at the Rock Bend Folk Festival. 3. Donnie from the Minnesota Zoo teaches the crowd about owls at the Rock Bend Folk Festival. 4. Visitors enjoyed Donnie. 5.Ella Lundstrom and Jeff Brand assist with a snake. 6. A large crowd gathered for the festival in Minnesota Square Park in St. Peter.
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • November 2016 • 63
From this Valley By Pete Steiner
Property Crime “...my name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, look on my works, ye mighty, and Despair!”
first century. ••••
There he goes again, you might say, lamenting another place that is no more. What’s he got against PROGRESS? Of course, the destruction of the IOOF doesn’t rank with the recent destruction f course the by ISIL of world heritage rest of Shelley’s sites like Palmyra. poem that I’ve Still, humans treasure Photo courtesy of the Blue Earth County Historical Society. loved since high school “sacredness of place” details that there’s nothing left of — whether it’s a childhood home, a father had his insurance office on the Ozymandias’ monuments except favorite restaurant, a cabin at the first floor; Judge Leslie Morse and crumbling stone and “the lone and lake, a quiet cemetery, or a simple Maico Hearing Aids were also longlevel sands [that] stretch far away.” park bench where you feel connected time tenants. On Saturday mornings, Thus it is with human achievement: to Nature or something beyond Dad would bring my brother and Little withstands the tests of time. yourself. Experts say a sacred place me to work with him, giving us free In modern America, however, we is anywhere that comes to serve as rein in a back-room office where often let bulldozers and wrecking a sanctuary, a place that provides there were lots of outdated forms balls supercharge Time’s ravages, continuity, memory, identity or and stamps and pens a kid could whether it’s with an historic property beauty. A lot of those applied for me use to imagine he was an important in Beverly Hills, a lovely old mansion after spending all those Saturday businessman. We could even go into on Lake Minnetonka, or a building in mornings at the IOOF. the massive walk-in Diebold safe that downtown Mankato. There’s other special places I was never locked — I don’t know if should write about — the Century anyone knew the combination. •••• Club, the Holiday House. People of Fortunately neither of us brothers my parents’ generation used to speak was diabolical enough to prank the It’s a parkette now, pretty Jackson fondly of Hardegger’s, a country other by locking him in. Though we Park, with shade trees and benches. roadhouse where they’d dance and were tempted, we also heeded the Certainly preferable to an asphalt party. All of those places gone too. admonition to NEVER venture into parking lot. Addressing so-called What worries me most now, given the third-floor meeting lodge of the “Urban Renewal” in my journal back Mankato’s historic disregard for Odd Fellows’ fraternal order — a in 1985, I snarked that “Parking ramps architectural significance, is that room reputed to be both lavish and are the city’s only growth industry.” whoever buys the Post Office Building mysterious. Already, a lot of old downtown had won’t want to trouble with retrofits The IOOF was purchased in 1983, been leveled, and a roof had been and modern upgrades. While I supposedly to “protect the Mankato gerrymandered over some of the love the new office buildings along Mall” (by then my father had moved remaining buildings to create the Riverfront Drive, I would hate to see out). Two years later, the city bought Downtown Mankato Mall in hopes glass and steel replace limestone at it from local developers for $180,000 of competing with the newer retail Second and Jackson. according to The Free Press in the complexes (and their free parking) Hey, I still remember looking out July 2, 1993 issue. A month after that, on the hilltop. So the stately building at that lovely Post Office from Dad’s September, 1985, they brought in the at Second and Jackson — less than a office across the street, in the longwrecking ball. The first wrecking block east of the Mall — had become gone IOOF. ball was too small, hardly making a an orphan. dent in the stalwart edifice, so they With its solid stone foundation, had to bring in a larger ball. Local Romanesque window arches, and architectural historian Tom Hagen limestone trim, the IOOF Building Peter Steiner is host of said the building was designed to last was obviously architect-designed (by “Talk of the Town” weekdays at 500 years. It didn’t make it through its Frank Thayer back in the 1880’s.) My
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1:05 p.m. on KTOE.
64 • November 2016 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
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