Edible Vineyard 42- 2021

42

No. 42

e

High Summer 2021

OUR FOOD, OUR STORIES, OUR COMMUNITY

Member of Edible Communities

HIGH SUMMER 2021

ev

®

v

COCKTAIL CARAVAN, COUSINS WHO FISH, CHERRIES — MON DIEU!, GOLDIES, GOLDEN TILEFISH, STEVEN RAICHLEN, GAIL ARNOLD, SLOUGH FARM, THE FAIR!, THE GALLEY

THE CHERRY ORCHARD

IT’S SUMMER!

SLOUGH FARM

Ripe for picking

Time for cousins, fishing, the Galley, the Rigger

Picks up the pace

508.645.2628 Chilmark

508.696.9999 West Tisbury

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It’s not just about the house

ARCHITECTURE . ENGINEERING. BUILDING. INTERIORS. SOL AR. S O U T H M O U N TA I N . C O M

MASTHEAD

What’s your favorite spice?

Publishers Peter and Barbara Oberfest (tarragon) Editors Tina Miller (Trader Joe’s Umami Seasoning) and Jamie Kageleiry (By the Sea Salt) tina@mvtimes.com / jamie@mvtimes.com Design director Kristófer Rabasca (fresh basil from my garden.)

Production / Design Manager Dave Plath (I’m going to go with curry.)

Design Nicole Jackson (I love “Everything But the Bagel” spice), Tara Kenny (basil, and more basil) Proofreaders Connie Berry (turmeric), Barbara Dudley Davis (basil), Irene Ziebarth (cumin) Ad sales, adsales@mvtimes.com Jenna Lambert (dill!)

Alessandra Hagerty (basil!)

Edible Vineyard magazine is published by The Martha’s Vineyard Times, publishers of The Martha’s Vineyard Times weekly newspaper, Martha’s Vineyard Arts & Ideas Magazine, Bluedot Living Magazine, The Local, The Minute daily newsletter, Vineyard Visitor, and the websites MVTimes.com, bluedotliving.com, VineyardVisitor.com, and MVArtsandIdeas.com.

You can see the digital version of this magazine at ediblevineyard.com. EV is available at newsstands, select retail locations, inns, hotels, and bookstores, free of charge.

Past issues are available for $5 per issue.

Find Edible Vineyard on Instagram and Facebook @ediblevineyard Subscribe Please inquire at mvtsubscriptions@mvtimes.com about subscriptions by mail.

Contact Edible Vineyard The Martha’s Vineyard Times P.O. Box 518, 30 Beach Rd. Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 508-693-6100

WHERE STYLE LIVES

T O L I S T E N . T O E N V I S I O N . T O C R E AT E . T O C O L L A B O R AT E .

W W W. G I LWA L S H . C O M

PALM BEACH | MARTHA'S VINEYARD | NEW YORK

508.627.6007

DEPARTMENT section

Dishing

Reunions

6 Contributors 8 Editors’ Letter 9 Finds:

28

Dozens of Cousins + Fish + Spice

By Jamie Kageleiry

Cool culinary things for your tables or your tummies.

By Gwyn McAllister

24 A Girlhood Summer in France

By Tina Miller

14 16

Cocktails on the Run Goldies: New food truck in town

Essay

Sip 48

A California Wine Pioneer

By Sam Decker

Features 20

Mon Dieu! Les Cerises!

Jesse Ausubel’s Cherry Orchard and Sweet Life’s Cherry Dessert

By Laura Roosevelt

30 Gail Arnold, Condiment Queen.

By Mollie Doyle

34

Live from Chappy

On the Farm 40 Slough Farm Picks up the Pace

58

By Mollie Doyle

The Ag Fair Returns

By Kate Athearn

In Season

Steve Raichlen grills veggies

By Tina Miller

63 Golden Tilefish

45

Done !

The Galley

Get yourself a burger and head to the beach. Simple.

By Sophia McCarron

50

The Rigger

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

By Geoff Currier

4 edible Vineyard

64 Married on M.V.

By Phoebe Lapine Cover photo and image on this page

by Tina Miller.

CONTRIBUTORS

For this issue, we asked people “What are your favorite spices or herbs, and how do you use them?” Here’s how they answered.

RANDI BAIRD

MOLLIE DOYLE

(Photographer, “Goldie’s Food Truck,” page 15) “Green Verde Sauce; it is fabulous over anything, especially food fresh off the grill or oven.

Usually made of two green herbs, it depends what’s in the garden and fridge — parsley and cilantro, or parsley and basil, chives and parsley; add garlic, olive oil, jalapeño, squeeze of a lemon or some vinegar, salt.

(“Gail Arnold,” page 30, and “Slough Farm,” page 40) is a writer, yoga teacher, and her

JEREMY DRIESEN

BRITTANY BOWKER (“Leila Gardner’s Cocktail Caravan,” page 14) “My favorite herb is basil and I love putting it in salads.”

SAM DECKER (“Sip,” page 48) “Tajín, a Mexican chili salt that I became obsessed with while

6 edible vineyard

home’s head chef. She is currently obsessed with some hot paprika that her mom brought back from Israel, putting it on roasted potatoes, in a tomato sauce for eggplant dumplings, and cheesy and very spicy black beans.

living in San Miguel de Allende: the secret ingredient to the perfect Michelada.”

(photographer “The Galley,” page 45) told us: “When I was a kid I saw a rerun of ‘Mayberry R.F.D.’ where Andy Griffith is a dinner guest at several houses. In each one, they serve pasta and each hostess confides in him that she has a secret ingredient that makes hers the best. She whispers to him . . . ‘It’s oregano’ like it was some exotic that few had ever heard of. I’ve been hooked ever since.”

CONTRIBUTORS

MOLLY GLASGOW

SOPHIA MCCARRON

(photographer, “Slough Farm,” page 40) “Maldon sea salt. No questions asked.”

(writer, “The Galley,” page 44) “Does cajun seasoning count?

I could put it on everything!”

FAE KONTJE-GIBBS

(writer, “The Cherry Orchard,” page 18) “Whenever there’s cardamom in something, I’m guaranteed to love it, whether it’s tea, a dessert, or a pungent chicken dish.

One of my go-to desserts to make for guests is shrikhand — slices of fresh mango and toasted coconut atop slightly sweetened Greek yogurt spiced with cardamom and saffron.”

LAURA ROOSEVELT

(illustrations, “Gail Arnold,” page 30) “This summer it’s fresh borage, thinly sliced leaves in a salad sprinkled with blue borage flowers. Or simply whirred up as part of a green smoothie (throw in some fresh celery leaves, sorrel, and sassafras leaves too . . . mmmm).”

GWYN MCALLISTER (writer, “Dishing: Finds” page 9) “Ginger! I love the bite of it. My favorite addition to

LUCAS THORS smoothies, as well as all types of savory dishes.”

(“Goldie’s Food Truck,” page 16) likes white pepper. And garlic.

SPICE

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Editors’ Letter

T

his is our High Summer issue of Edible Vineyard and it’s published as our Island population reaches its highest level of the year. Every Vineyard company is popping, and our business owners, farmers, restaurateurs, fishermen, and tradesmen all have one thing in common: They are all small business owners. Most of you have probably noticed that Martha’s Vineyard doesn’t have a lot of chain stores or franchisees. The ones we have — Napa Auto Parts, Stop & Shop, Dairy Queen, the gas stations — have mostly been here a long time. We do not welcome big business or corporate America with open arms. We create our businesses around our lives on the Island. We adapt and hire sometimes vastly overqualified or easily trainable employees with little experience. We hire our friends, our family, friends of friends, and children of friends. We have created a community that is fiercely loyal to supporting these businesses.

“Small” is a positive on the Vineyard in many ways but it does

have a downside. Businesses are stretched thin, and understaffed; just try and find a plumber or electrician. When the bread runs out at The Grey Barn or the Scottish Bakehouse, that’s it for the day.

Services, trades, and commerce operate in a world that is finite on the Island. The Island does import workers in the summer — far fewer this summer due to immigration restrictions and COVID, but housing is extremely limited, even more so now with the real estate boom and more houses being bought up as second homes, and not available as affordable summer rentals.

For businesses to keep up with demand, the Vineyard business community is learning to say no; they are closing a day or two a week, something unheard of in the past during the season. Businesses are aiming to preserve the employees they have, keeping them healthy, mentally and physically. But it still can be too much for anyone working in the service economy here on the Island.

We all think the Vineyard is special for our own reasons. We at Edible Vineyard would say that our caring community — the resilient engine that keeps the Island going — is at the top of the list. While you are enjoying all the Vineyard has to offer at the height of the season — the farms, the food, the beaches, the solace, the history, the unspoiled beauty — please remember the local business community and their workers. They are all busting their butts more than ever before with smaller staffs than ever before. Maybe start your morning latte with, Good Morning, how are you doing today?

.

— Tina Miller and Jamie Kageleiry

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8 edible Vineyard

COOL Story by Gwyn McAllister

Vineyard Confections Most people, when they think of candy, chocolate first comes to mind. Not so with Paula Karal of Vineyard Confections, who has spent the past year or so perfecting recipes for boutique hard candy, creating all types of flavors in lollipops, sticks, and drops. More recently she has added brittles and caramels to her repertoire.

“My focus at first was on hard candy — how do I get it perfect?” says Karal. “Then the caramels and brittles came off that. I’ve been experimenting with all different combinations,

finds DISHING

culinary things

to eat and use in your kitchen

and making up my own recipes.

It’s been a matter of trial and error, with a lot of error.” Luckily, Karol is nothing if not persistent, and she has managed to come up with a line of candies that are as visually appealing as they are delicious.

The lollies and other hard candies come in fun shapes and colors, and sometimes include inlaid designs (the Vineyard outline is a favorite),or visible bits of embedded items like colored coarse sugar, lavender flowers, or tiny pieces of strawberry. The flavors run from the classics to the inventive. For the summer, Vineyard Confections is offering watermelon mint, lemonade, strawberry rhubarb,

and violet flavors. The selection varies seasonally.

Karal, whose day job is as a physician’s assistant, found inspiration for her latest endeavor during a visit to her birthplace of Madrid (her father was a serviceman and the family relocated often).

There she discovered a little store that sold only violet-flavored hard candy, and she was hooked. Back home in the U.S., when her well-guarded stash of the candies ran out, Karal decided to try making her own, and so Vineyard Confections was born.

The candymaking process appeals to the lifelong healthcare professional’s passion for

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high summer 2021 9

DISHING finds experimentation. “I really got into the science of hard candy and became obsessed,” she says. “I had so many failures in the beginning. In trying to learn, it’s not actually that easy to find the information. I had to come up with different solutions. It’s never a sure thing. It keeps it interesting for me. ” Aesthetics are very important to Karal, who has a background as a potter and painter.

“I’m into the visual piece of it, as well as the flavor,” she says.

“I focus on the presentation and the freshness of the candy.”

Along with her classic candies and bubblegum (yes, homemade bubblegum!), Karal offers gift boxes, holiday-themed treats, and special orders — including customized packages for weddings and other occasions.

She even makes dog “candy” (they’re really dog biscuits, but don’t tell your pooch).

Currently Karal is mak-

ing all of her candies in small amounts in her health-department-registered home kitchen.

She notes that her recipes can only really be made successfully in single or double batches.

“I’m afraid to try to get too big too soon,” she says. For now, Vineyard Confections can be ordered through the website.

Karal hopes to expand availability to other local outlets as early as later this summer.

Tea Lane Apothecary If anyone knows plants, it’s Emma Tobin. Born on the Island, she grew up hanging around and helping out at the family business, Tea Lane Nursery. Her time on the Island instilled a love of nature, especially the botanical world, and informed her decision to learn as much as she could about plants.

After spending years studying everything from plant

and soil science to sustainable food, farming, and clinical herbalism, and co-founding and operating a free, mobile community herbal clinic in Sonoma County, Calif., she embarked on the creation of her own line of botanicals.

Last year Tobin moved back to the Island, and drawing on her vast knowledge of the healing and regenerative properties of plants, she started making her own herb-infused oils, salves, tinctures, syrups, glycerites, vinegars, and teas. Earlier this year Tobin launched Tea Lane Apothecary, an herbal skincare and remedies company that offers natural aids for everyday needs like sleep, focus, immunity, stress, anxiety, tick/bug repellent, hair, skin, and more.

Whenever possible, Tobin uses plants she has either grown, foraged, or acquired from local farms. The other

ingredients she sources from small organic companies. She has set up a home laboratory of sorts where she works her alchemy magic — pressing herbs and making infusions in Mason jars.

Tobin has found that many of nature’s own remedies can be

Nantucket

Martha’s Vineyard

White Plains

NYC

10 edible vineyard

section DEPARTMENT

found growing wild on Island.

Some of the 20-plus plants that she forages — or wildcrafts, as she refers to the undertaking — include rose hips, nettles, plantain, Queen Anne’s lace, red clover, and St. John’s wort. She grows around 15 other beneficial plants in

her West Tisbury garden.

Following on her years working outdoors, as a farmer, gardener, landscaper, and lifeguard, Tobin decided to create a specific line of products designed to combat sun damage. The holistic, herbal skincare line Salty as

Folk includes a replenishing serum, a toner, and a soothing aftersun spray.

For now Tobin is selling her line at the Chilmark Flea Market, where she’s likely to spend a good deal of her day talking plants with customers — something she truly enjoys.

“I’ve been around plants my whole life,” she says. “The plants talk to me.”

Among the Flowers Seafood Feasts Nothing makes for a more traditional New England summer meal than a full-scale

high summer 2021 11

DISHING finds clambake. That’s exactly what Polly Toomey was thinking when she decided to introduce a line of seafood feasts to the dinner menu at her popular Edgartown restaurant Among the Flowers.

“We wanted to bring something different to the dinner options in town,” she says.

Customers can order at the takeout window (or call ahead) and grab a feast to go, or they can enjoy dining at the restaurant’s pretty outdoor patio (among the flowers, of course).

Each eat-in feast comes in a fun blue bucket, which the staff dumps out onto a tray at your table, while the bucket is reserved for the shells.

Of course, a traditional clambake is best eaten outdoors, and between the beautiful garden atmosphere of the restaurant’s patio, and with a staff to clean up the inevitable mess, a lobster feast on location makes for the ideal

summer evening outing.

Toomey and her staff offer a variety of options, including the traditional New England clambake (lobster, mussels, steamers, linguica, tri-colored potatoes, and corn on the cob), the Island Shrimp Boil (the full assortment, only with shrimp replacing the lobster), the Cast Net (the previous, minus the clams and mussels), and the unlikely named Cleveland Clambake, which features ¼ roasted chicken in place of the lobster. Toomey says that the Midwestern version of a clambake is indeed a thing, going back to the 1860s.

Apparently trains transporting seafood from the East to the West Coast would stop in Cleveland to re-ice. There some of the shellfish made its way onto the tables of the city’s elite, who came up with the idea of a feast incorporating the usual clambake ingre-

dients along with the more locally appropriate chicken.

Along with the feasts, Among the Flowers is also offering other items at dinnertime, including lobster mac and cheese, hot lobster rolls, clam chowder, stuffed quahogs, a kids’ menu, and a variety of salads. Finish off the classic summer meal, get the restaurant’s famous Strawberry Shortcake, made with fresh-baked biscuits, house strawberry sauce, and real whipped cream, and you can now say that your Vineyard culinary adventure is complete.

Jerri Dantzig, glass artist “Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” is how Jeri Dantzig jokingly refers to her transition from restaurateur to glass artist. After owning and managing the Vineyard Haven

waterfront restaurant Stripers for six years, Danzig decided to try something new. She took her first professional glassmaking class at the Corning Glass Museum in 2002, and was hooked. Since then she has continued her glassmaking education, and established a state-of-the-art studio in her home, complete with two kilns, sandblasters, a belt grinder, and a supply of all types and colors of glass.

Dantzig’s fused-glass pieces provide a great way to add some color and a contemporary look to your table. She creates a wide variety of items featuring bold patterns and interesting color combinations. Her line includes cutting boards, bowls, serving pieces, cheese boards, coasters, spoon rests, lazy Susans, and more. She even crafts stained glass windows, sculptural pieces, and custom-order, decorative glass tabletops and

CHEESE • BEEF • PORK • LAMB V E G E TAB LE S • R AW M ILK • B R E AD

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EGGS PA ST RY

FARMSTAND HO U RS: 8 AM - 6 PM Closed Tuesdays

Check out our website for tours & cheese tastings

T HE G R E Y B A R N A N D FA R M .C OM

12 edible vineyard

finds DISHING

seats for stools.

The designs run the gamut from pictorial images (an inlaid Island outline made

from colorful crushed glass is a favorite) to stripes, checkerboard patterns or polka dots, to abstract designs. “There isn’t

a color I don’t love and haven’t used,” says Dantzig. All of the artist’s pieces are sturdy, can withstand cutting and chopping,

are dishwasher-safe, and are not overly fragile. Danzig notes that her regular customers often visit her at the Chilmark Flea Market (she can be found there every Wednesday and Saturday) for wedding and hostess gifts.

The glassmaking process really appeals to the West Tisbury artist in that she finds it equal parts left and right brain. “I love the science of it,” she says. “And I love color.

Working with something as vibrant as glass, you really appreciate the color and the quality of light.”

Creating functional art is a natural for Dantzig, who notes that during her long career in the restaurant business, presentation was as important to her as flavor. “People eat with their eyes,” she says, adding with typical wry humor, “which explains why sloppy joes aren’t so popular any more.”

.

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high summer 2021 13

PROFILE Story by Brittany Bowker Photos by David Welch

Leila Gardner holding court.

Leila Gardner and her Cocktail Caravan

T

A look inside Martha’s Vineyard’s first mobile bar.

here’s nothing worse than being out, ordering a drink you’re really excited to try, and getting served the equivalent of a watered-down, syruped-up, overpriced glass of mediocracy.

We’ve all been there.

On a tiny, bustling Island that seems to outcarry its weight in excellent restaurants, raw bars, food trucks, and farmstands, it’s true that there’s one facet of the modern eat and drink industry that has yet to arrive — mobile bars.

Leila Gardner and a 1970s vintage horse trailer are changing that.

Mobile bars are exactly what they sound like — bars on wheels that bring the spirits to you, wherever you are.

And these rigs are often cute as can be, adding charm to any

14 edible vineyard

backyard barbeque, wedding reception, bridal shower, or rehearsal dinner — you name it.

Born and raised in West Tisbury, Leila has worked in many realms of the catering industry on the Island, and noticed that reliably great cocktails weren’t as easy to come by. “There’s so much focus on the food,” Leila said.

“Cocktails kind of get swept under the rug — they’re kind of an afterthought.”

In early 2019, she saw an Airstream bar in Boston that got the wheels turning.

“I thought it was the coolest thing ever,” she said, eventually deciding to dive into a venture of her own.

“The Airstream thing was a little too big, a little too extreme,” she said. That’s when she settled on the idea of finding and restoring a vintage horse trailer. She had a “very specific” vision, and after about six months of searching,

Leila found exactly what she was looking for. She drove to northern Maine, bought the trailer of her dreams, and took it back home to Martha’s Vineyard, where the renovations began. “It was a really big DIY project,” Leila said.

“When I started, I knew how to use a drill, and that was pretty much it.”

Thanks to YouTube videos and advice and assistance from friends and family, Leila became well-versed in the world of power tools and carpentry. Over the course of the year-and-a-half-long restoration, she built shelves for glassware, finished the inside with reclaimed cedar and mahogany detail, added a sink and coolers, installed an awning, and built a live edge slab of marble for the bar piece. She spray painted the outside a cream-colored matte finish, and voila. The Cocktail Caravan was born. Or reborn.

She describes it as “a sweet little 1976 horse trailer living out its retirement dream.”

Leila officially launched the business in June, and has a few events lined up for the late summer and fall. “I love to help people celebrate,” she said. “Events are so, so fun.”

Her ideal gigs are weddings, brunches, barbeques, dinners, and showers: “Anything, really,” she said.

When it comes to the caravan drink menu, Leila said it’s rolling, and that she’s always playing with new ideas. “I like to use a lot of fresh ingredients.

I love herbs in cocktails, and I use these really amazing sprays and elixirs,” she said. “I have a menu, but I’m definitely open to making custom cocktails for certain events.”

She also loves making non-alcoholic beverages, whether it’s mocktails for a party, or kale and ginger shots for a brunch.

Leila Gardner’s cocktail caravan DISHING Leila said she prefers to start each gig with a consultation “to learn a little bit about your event, and figure out what kinds of drinks you may like to serve.”

In Massachusetts, mobile liquor licensing is not allowed, so while the Cocktail Caravan does not supply alcohol, Leila said she works with clients to determine how much liquor and ice will be needed, and will coordinate delivery with a local liquor supplier.

Leila said she always knew she wanted to start something on her own, “but just wasn’t sure what.”

“When this idea came about, it was just perfect. It’s small, it’s manageable, and it’s all about fun.”

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For more information or to book a consultation, visit cocktailcaravanmv.com, or visit the Instagram page @thecocktailcaravanmv.

Vintage horse trailer converted into a mobile bar.

1

2

3

4

1. The Apricot Ginger Sour from the Cocktail Caravan. 2. The Purple One, topped with Island grown lavender. 3. The Purple One is made with vodka, lemon, Butterfly pea tea, Lillet and aquafaba. 4. Leila picking fresh Island grown herbs and flowers for her specialty drinks.

Breakfast 7:30-10 daily Lunch 11-5 daily Dinner 5-9 Tuesday-Sunday 1 Farm Neck Way, Oak Bluffs (off County Road) 508 693-3560 · www.farmneck.net

Eva Faber (left) and Lexie Roth say their goal is to provide a unique and fun experience that focuses on food quality and the connection between people and what they eat.

16 edible vineyard

Goldie’s Rotisserie DISHING

A

new food truck with a deliciously trendy twist has arrived on Martha’s Vineyard, and it’s serving up responsibly raised rotisserie chicken, brussels sprouts, crispy potatoes, and more.

Goldie’s Rotisserie food truck is the brainchild of Island cooks Lexie Roth and Eva Faber, who both say their goal is to provide a unique and fun experience that focuses on food quality and the connection between people and what they eat.

Roth told Edible Vineyard she has been cooking on Martha’s Vineyard since she was 19 years old. More than 15 years later, she has moved away from gluten-free and dairyfree private cooking in people’s homes, and is excited to embed a rotisserie-style truck in the Vineyard food scene.

“I just felt the need to do something that is my own,” Roth said. “Fun, awesome, almost like elevated fast food.”

Roth said Goldie’s takes the idea of the classic rotisserie chicken from the grocery store that is normally factory-raised, and instead uses a high-quality bird that has been ethically raised and is even more delicious and juicy.

“Who doesn’t love a big juicy chicken,” Roth said.

When designing the layout and menu for the restaurant on wheels, Roth said

they considered whether they wanted to do fried food (a very common staple for food trucks) or not.

But they decided to go in a different direction, and picked up a traditional sixspit rotisserie custom made in France that serves as their namesake “Goldie.”

“We love fried food, but we decided to commit to not doing anything fried using seed oils. We are going to be slowly turning rotisserie chickens and cooking potatoes and brussels sprouts in the drippings. We will do some sandwiches and stuff too,” Roth said.

She noted that the food truck has its own baker who makes fresh sourdough

Food truck serves up ‘elevated fast food’ with a side of sunshine.

Goldie’s Rotisserie Story by Lucas Thors Photos by Randi Baird

FEATURE Goldie’s Rotisserie

bread for all of their sandwiches.

“There’s absolutely no mystery to our food. You know what you are getting — we are really trying to be aware of what we are feeding people, and want to be excited about eating it ourselves,” Roth said.

Goldie’s is also exploring other food offerings, like all-Angus beef hot dogs with melted cheese and Gruyère, topped with fresh thyme and caramelized onions.

The goal is fun and colorful, and although Roth and Faber plan to have a brick-andmortar location eventually, they are enjoying their time with the mobile restaurant.

Roth noted that she was particularly inspired by seeing her contemporaries and friends taking a risk with their own food trucks, and creating a cherished community establishment with great menus.

“I want to make people happy — that is our main goal with Goldie’s,” Roth said. She added that, after working in restaurants in New York, she is passionate about hospitality and optimizing the customer experience.

All-Angus beef hot dogs with melted Gruyère, fresh thyme and caramelized onions.

Their logo emblazoned on the side of their brightly colored truck embodies the goal of the two cooks — to brighten people’s days with delicious food they can feel good about eating.

“Life is so hard, let’s do a super happy, smiling sun that just makes you grin. We just want to have a good time and give people respite from this crazy world,” Roth said.

After much hard work and planning, Roth said she is proud to finally have the truck up and running. The entire process has given her a better perspective on what it takes to start a business, and she has a strong respect for those who choose to go down that path (especially the food truck path).

So far, the feedback from the Martha’s Vineyard community has been overwhelmingly positive, Roth said. She said upon first sharing their logo on Instagram and their announcement that they would be opening, businesses and entities from all over the Island reached out Continued on page 57 to connect.

“Life is so hard, let’s do a super happy, smiling sun that just makes you grin. We just want to have a good time and give people respite from this crazy world.” – Lexie Roth

Goldie’s Rotisserie DISHING

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IN SEASON

The Cherry Orchard in Jesse Ausubel’s Backyard

Mon Dieu! Les Cerises!

Such splendor in Oak Bluffs.

Story by Laura D. Roosevelt photos by Tina Miller

20 20 edible edible vineyard vineyard

Jesse Ausubel’s Cherries IN SEASON

Jesse Ausubel sent us this photo of him in early July, surrounded by the bounty of his cherry trees.

I

n the ten years since I planted two Rainier cherry trees in my West Tisbury back yard, the trees have grown and thrived, and I’ve managed to pick and eat maybe two of their delectable fruits. This is because my non-human neighbors — mainly birds and raccoons — find them irresistible and don’t mind eating them a few days before they reach their plumpest, sweetest, ripest best. It’s become clear that I need to follow the lead of Jesse Ausubel, a renowned environmental scientist who has six cherry trees on his two-acre Norris Avenue property in Oak Bluffs.

The trick, Jesse says, is to grow sour cherries, which birds do eat, but which they appear to be willing to share. Jesse, too, doesn’t mind sharing. “Bluebirds and cardinals love cherries,” he notes, “and how can you not like bluebirds and cardinals?” So he looks the other way when they devour all of the fruit on his sweet Bing cherry trees, and instead focuses on his Montmorency cherries, a light red variety of sour cherry grown in Europe, Canada, and — since at least the early 20th century — the United States.

With the Montmorency cherries, Jesse observes, the birds tend to eat from the top, leaving the trees’ lower and inner-growing cherries for human harvest. Jesse uses them to make pies and preserves. (Elsewhere, sour cherries are also used for juice and sold dried.) Generally, Jesse harvests enough cherries to freeze several pounds for later use, and he often gives

away surplus fruit to friends and neighbors, including Hal Ryerson, chef-owner of the Sweet Life Café, who, Jesse says, “makes fantastic cherry desserts.”

When Jesse bought his Oak Bluffs property in the fall of 1990, he wasn’t thinking about fruit from trees, but about fruit from the sea — fish, scallops, clams, oysters. But in the spring of 1991, he found his backyard awash in the blossoms of ten or so apple, peach, and cherry trees that the previous owners had planted. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is so beautiful!’” And a future orchardist was born.

Planting a few trees every year, Jesse now has an orchard of some 40 trees, including apples, pears, cherries, peaches, mulberries, quince, persimmons, and — the most recent addition — a pomegranate.

Farming has a history in Jesse’s neighborhood. In the 19th and early 20th centuries (the oldest part of Jesse’s house dates to the 1860s), the area was largely owned by De Bettencourts and Alleys, many of whom had small, 3-6 acre farms where they grew vegetables, maybe had some chickens and a cow or a few sheep, while also working as fishermen, tailors, smiths, cobblers. The settlers of English and Portuguese stock, Jesse notes, came from cultures fond of vines and fruit. “Even when I was a summer Vineyard resident in my childhood,” Jesse recalls, “every old house in this area had an apple tree.”

The trick, Jesse says, is to grow sour cherries, which birds do eat, but which they appear to be willing to share. Jesse, too, doesn’t mind sharing.

“Bluebirds and cardinals love cherries,” he notes, “and how can you not like bluebirds and cardinals?”

high summer 2021 21

IN SEASON Jesse Ausubel’s Cherries

Hal Ryerson (chef at and co-owner of The Sweet Life Cafe), with Loretta, age 5, who was in charge of harvesting cherries for dessert. (photos by Tina Miller). Bottom: Jesse’s cherry trees in bloom in the spring. (Photo courtesy of Jesse Ausubel)

While there are busy periods in orchard maintenance, particularly at harvest time, Jesse notes that growing fruit trees is far less labor-intensive than growing vegetables. Once a tree is planted, it will produce fruit for years, with no more planting required, and little in the way of weeding. Trees — being vertical growers — also produce a good deal of food for the small amount of real estate they require. The major maintenance activity is pruning; if fruit trees grow too tall, it becomes challenging to harvest the fruit. But even with pruning, Jesse says, “trees are very forgiving.” Pruning is generally done between October and April, and it can be done at any point during that period, after the sap has fallen and before it rises again in the spring. Some fruit tree owners spray to deter insects and diseases — a process that takes a few hours at most and might be done twice a season.

The hardest task, emotionally, is removing a tree. Inevitably, some trees are damaged beyond repair by storms, or done in by diseases.

Additionally, some kinds of fruit trees stop producing fruit when they get old. But, of course, removing a dead or unproductive tree makes room for a new one.

In May when Jesse’s orchard flowers, he likes to take a chair outside and sit beneath the trees. “A blooming fruit tree is just so beautiful,” he says. “I like to sit and contemplate the blossoms.”

At harvest time, he generally goes out early in the morning to pick.

He likes to play music while he harvests, matching the music to the fruit he’s picking. For picking cherries (which tend to peak in early July, just in time for July 4th cherry pies), he listens to the French singer Edith Piaf, pairing her vocals with the Montmorency cherries named for a region of France near Paris. “It’s the emotion of Piaf’s singing, the love, the cerises,” says Jesse — so well-suited to his bloodred, heart-shaped fruits. “When Edith Piaf is singing, I can pick cherries forever.”

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Jesse Ausubel’s Cherries IN SEASON

RECIPE: Sweet Life Cafe Polenta Cake with Sour Cherries Lime Crema Makes 1 cup.

3 whole eggs 1 cup sugar ½ cup plus 1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice 1 stick butter, cubed 1 pinch kosher salt

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.

In a glass or metal bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, and lime juice. Place the bowl on top of the simmering pot, creating a double boiler. Whisk constantly for about 8 to 10 minutes, until it becomes very thick. Take off the heat, add cubes of butter and pinch of salt. Whisk until all the butter is incorporated.

Strain with a fine mesh strainer, and chill in the refrigerator until completely cold and set.

Sour Cherry Compote Makes 2 cups.

On the day the cherries peaked on Jesse Ausubel’s trees in July, Jesse called Hal Ryerson, chef and co-owner of the Sweet Life Cafe, in Oak Bluffs. “Come over and pick some cherries!” he told him. Happily, he invited Edible Vineyard along. Hal showed up with his 5-year-old daughter, Loretta, and scooped up the bountiful fruit.

Within a few hours, diners at the Sweet Life could order this polenta cake, in a recipe developed by Sweet Life pastry chef Ellie Wallock.

Polenta Cake Equipment: (1) 9-inch baking pan.

½ cup coarse polenta 1½ cups of all-purpose flour 1 Tbsp. baking powder ½ tsp. kosher salt 2 whole eggs ½ cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar 1 Tbsp. honey ⅓ cup canola oil 2 Tbsp. melted butter 1¼ cups whole milk

Preheat oven to 350º. Prep your 9-inch baking pan using pan spray, and then coat with flour, tapping out excess flour. In a medium-size bowl, sift the four dry ingredients together and set aside. In a larger bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar and honey. Then stream in the oil and butter.

Alternate whisking in the dry ingredients and the milk. Be sure to not overmix, or your cake will be very dense.

Pour into your prepared baking pan, bake for about 20 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

2 cups pitted sour cherries ½ cup cherry juice (can substitute with water) ½ cup sugar 1 Tbsp. cornstarch 1 pinch kosher salt 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

In a medium pot, put cherries, cherry juice (or water), and sugar, and bring to a boil. Turn heat down, and simmer for about 8 to 10 minutes, until the cherries break down a little bit.

Make a slurry with the cornstarch (put cornstarch in a small bowl, mix in about 2 tablespoons of water until it is dissolved and fluid), add into the cherry mixture, and boil it for a couple minutes to get out the starchy taste, stirring constantly. Take off heat, add a pinch of salt and lemon juice. Let cool to room temperature, and then chill in the refrigerator.

Whipped Mascarpone

1 cup heavy cream ½ cup mascarpone 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar 1 tsp. vanilla paste

Mix all ingredients together and mix with a handheld mixer, or a KitchenAid with the whisk attachment, until you get soft peaks.

Assembly Put a large spoonful of the lime curd on each plate. Next, put a piece of the polenta cake on top of it. Spoon a good amount of cherry compote over the polenta cake, letting some of it drip down onto the plate. To finish, put a dollop of the whipped mascarpone on the top. Enjoy!

high summer 2021 23

Sheep, sheep, and more sheep.

A Girlhood Summer,

Farming in France Things are different in West Tisbury, but not that much.

Essay by Tina Miller

24 edible vineyard

A Girlhood Summer, Farming in France ESSAY

W

hen I was sixteen I decided it was time for me to go to Europe. Nancy Safford, a girlfriend of my father’s from a decade before, told me about her time in France, photographing farmers in the Limousin region of France. She spent a lot of time on a farm in a village called Roussac working in exchange for room and board.

I had spent a great deal of my childhood on farms; we had chickens, a goat, a horse, and a steer at various times. I loved farms, I loved animals. Nancy gave me the address of the woman, Miranda, who owned the farm. She was an American, from Michigan, and operated a large sheep farm in central France near Limoges. I was told she also raised horses; I thought maybe I could ride too.

I mailed off a postcard, asking if I could come to her farm the next summer and work for room and board.

A few months later I received a postcard with the most incredible handwriting I had ever seen. Miranda had said yes, I could come and work on the farm, though I would not be able to ride the horses. They were at a separate barn, and being trained for show jumping.

It was my junior year of high school and in the fall of 1980 and the spring of 1981, I worked after school and weekends at Humphry’s Bakeshop to save money for my trip that summer.

June came and school was out and I was off on an adventure that would forever change my life. I borrowed a big brown suitcase from my grandmother, grabbed a backpack and a blank journal and my one semester of French and hopped on Air New England to Logan airport in Boston. I boarded a TWA jet by myself and headed to Paris. I had handwritten instructions from Miranda on how to get from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris to the Limoges train station where I would be picked up.

After landing in Paris I was to take a bus to Porte Maillot, then

a taxi to the train station Gare d’ Austerlitz, then once there, buy a ticket to Limoges. Miranda instructed: Punch the ticket in the black box! Board the 12:35 train which arrives in Limoges at 4:33 pm. Once arrived, go outside the train station, look for a silver Volkswagen Rabbit with license plate 597-0789.

I remember this vividly, and still wonder how I did all this in a day with no computers or cell phones and barely speaking any French. I am not sure why I wasn’t terrified, but I guess that is the gift of being young — you don’t think things through.

Once onboard the train to Limoges I was finally able to rest, drifting in and out of sleep. I remember waking, catching someone’s eye watching me. I probably stuck out like an obvious American. Once I arrived I headed outside and saw nothing but

They decided I wasn’t strong enough to hay. After my long trip, I wasn’t in any condition to … prove them wrong. Instead, I pretended I knew how to drive the tractor. silver cars everywhere. I had my first fearful moment, then I finally spotted the right license plate. A tall blond woman in her twenties approached me as I headed towards the car. ”Tina.”

“Yes!,” I said with relief.

“Hi, I am Betsy. You should have said you had red hair!” she said. It was clear she was American.

I climbed in the car and relaxed. I had made it. Betsy explained that Miranda was away on vacation and would return soon.

On the way to the farm, we picked up Miranda’s horse trainer, Georges. He was a slight man with dark brown hair, friendly eyes, and classic chiseled cheekbones. He wanted to stop and buy some cherries, and we shared them on the car ride to the village of Roussac.

We dropped Georges off at his small farm where he trained Miranda’s The farmhouse Angelo Arabian horses. at l'Essart.

Miranda, whose full name was Comtesse Miranda de Toulouse Lautrec, had grown up in Michigan and was a graduate of Harvard University. After she was widowed, she and her young daughter traveled the world, eventually settling in France. Miranda eventually remarried a Frenchman who was a descendant of the famous painter Henri de Toulouse Lautrec.

Miranda and her husband, who was called CC, had a gorgeous home in Versailles with her daughter, and now a son, Alex. In 1970 Miranda bought her farm, l’Essart. It was about 330 acres with a grand, high summer 2021 25

ESSAY A Girlhood Summer, Farming in France

but slightly tired and rundown-looking farmhouse. There was a smaller house where the shepherd Marcel and his family lived, as well as a sheep barn, and several other barns and buildings around the vast property. The countryside went on forever, filled with lush green fields and tall majestic trees, pretty much what you would fantasize a French country farm to be, but even prettier.

We pulled the car up to the front entrance and three women greeted us, all American — Laurie and Sue, who were traveling together, and Amey. Laurie was a friend of Miranda’s and left in charge.

I was shown my room, a small dark room on the second floor.

In my journal I wrote, “It looks like I pay $10.00 dollars a week, but it will do.” We had a quick bite — fresh baguette and butter, yogurt, and chocolate, not a real dinner, but certainly a taste of France It was 6:30 pm and we headed out to join the farmers in the field to finish the day’s haying.

Haying fields or haymaking has a sense of urgency and is a combination of science and years of know-how about exactly when to cut, cure, and bail. The grass has to be just right so nutrients are intact. Young grass has more nutrients but has less yield. You need great weather — no rain. Once the grass is cut, it needs to be cured or wilted in the field, then bailed and loaded that day into the barn. As I kid, I remember haying season as a fun, festive but at times a brutally long, hot, sweaty, scratchy day.

On the field I was introduced, Bonjour, to the farmers. My guess is once they saw the small five-foot frame they decided I wasn’t strong enough to hay. After my long trip, I wasn’t in any condition to try and prove them wrong. Instead, I pretended I knew how to drive the tractor pulling the hay cart.

In late June the sun sets at almost 10 pm in the Limousin. A huge moon came up, lighting up the early summer sky. The hay was off the field and loaded “square as a sugar cube” on the large

hay cart, secure for the night.

Over the next week or so, I worked on the farm, wrote postcards and letters home, and got to know my housemates, all in their early twenties. I took walks in the evening; the countryside was intoxicating. Even though the ladies were very kind, I missed my friends; I felt a lot younger than the others.

There were two dogs in the farmhouse and what seemed like way too many barn cats. They were everywhere — on the table, on the counter, in my room. The farmhouse was like an extension of a barn, rustic and kind of dirty. I remember being told Miranda didn’t want it to be nice; it was a working farm, not a retreat. If you

Daily exceptions were bread, chocolate, butter, and cheese, occasionally croissants, each of which was a necessity from the outside world. By outside world, I mean the village of Roussac which resembled West Tisbury in its commercialism and density. were there, you were there to work and move on.

By early July, Miranda arrived on the farm and Betsy left.

Miranda was a force, full of energy, strong, and funny. That day she arrived, we worked all day, finishing another round of hay at 10 pm, and then we shelled peas until midnight, sitting around the table, laughing and talking.

Pea season was one of Miranda’s focuses — picking, then shelling peas, then blanching, and freezing. If you were in the house, or in the car, really anywhere near Miranda, you were shelling peas.

I slowly got to know Miranda more, especially as we traveled several hours to horse shows Marcel with a on weekends, shelling peas in baby lamb on the car and watching Georgthe farm. es show the young beautiful horses they had bred, raised, and trained. We packed picnics with farm-cured ham that hung in the kitchen, hardboiled eggs, mayonnaise, cheese, bread, fruit, chocolate, and Panache a low-alcohol beer and lemonade.

I began packing the picnics for the shows which I enjoyed and felt successful at.

I also started making fresh pea soup with an immersion blender, the first time I had ever seen one of those. I really began to understand and appreciate the food in France. We ate what

was available on the farm: pork sausage from the freezer, fresh vegetables, eggs, jams made from currents on the farm, and more. Daily exceptions were bread, chocolate, butter, and cheese, occasionally croissants, each of which was a necessity from the outside world. By outside world, I mean the village of Roussac which resembled West Tisbury in its commercialism and density.

We harvested huge beets to store in a root cellar for cow feed.

We got a warm bowl of milk evMiranda with her ery morning from Marcel or his young horses. wife, Annie, from which we made hot chocolate and fed the rest to the cats. The French don’t drink milk like Americans.

Miranda’s daughter Laurie would come and go from the farm. She was very kind and patient, and great at explaining who everyone was and how everything worked behind the scenes of l’Essart. I could ask her anything and I didn’t feel dumb.

A new traveler came to the farm, Lars from Sweden; he would be around for a few weeks. There were always lots of comings and goings.

On July 9th, after I’d been Before I left there for only eighteen days, France, I went Georges asked me to ride and shopping in train the three-year-old horses Paris and got a with him at his farm down the new haircut. road. This was unexpected; Miranda had said I would never ride. I was quietly thrilled.

From my journal: “I hope so much that I do well and don’t F-up. Please let me do well!”

Riding went great, and I was invited to continue meeting him in the early misty mornings for training. The three-year-olds all had names beginning with the letter M, the two-year-olds would be the letter N. I rode a horse named Mon Cafe au Lait, and others with charming names.

My 17th birthday came and I remember waking up feeling lonely until I realized my birthday was Bastille Day, a holiday I didn’t really understand the meaning of. That night we had a nice dinner at the farm; Miranda had a few small gifts for me and then we went into the village of Roussac for a fête. We danced and drank Champagne with locals of all ages. I danced with some French boys. The magic of drinking Champagne during French National Day in France was not lost on me. I knew this was special and I felt lucky to be there.

The next day Miranda, Laurie, and Amey left; I changed rooms and got a beautiful room with windows that opened to the courtyard. Lars and I were left to run our part of the farm with a list of to-do’s from Miranda. We were also instructed to help Marcel: It was sheep-shearing time.

There were about five hundred sheep at L’Essart and this was the true business of the farm and what Marcel, his wife Annie, their children Francis, Guy, Patrice, and Joselyne were in charge of. The random travelers like us lent a hand when we were there, but we were not a reliable source of labor. However, shearing five hundred sheep was all hands on deck, and Lars and I jumped in with Marcel and a sheep shearer who traveled from farm to farm during the season.

I was always small, but strong. I was able to capture the lambs, holding them bear-hug style, as they thrashed their thick, woolly lanolin-and-manure-covered bodies; then we carried them to the shearing station. Over and over again. These were also long days, but satisfying.

Lars and I did not always get along. We both worked, and yet there was an expectation that I would make dinner and clean up. He treated me like a little sister, which I didn’t like. I felt we were equals running this end of the farm. It was an interesting situation to be in at my age.

We worked through it, as we always had plenty to do.

On Miranda’s list was to paint the shutters on the front of the farmhouse. It was really important to match the pinky-beige color of the shutters and repaint the whole front of the house.

From my journal: “Today Lars and I painted the whole front of l’Essart, Poof! We painted until 10:30.”

There was always this assumption that we knew what we were doing with all of these farm duties. We never asked; we just figured it out.

Long summer days on the farm were always made better with my ongoing early morning training with Georges, with his quiet, calm method, gently pushing the young horse forward over their first fence with a rider on their back. This was heaven to me and kept me grounded and feeling purposeful.

Georges lived with his mother, Madame Caroly, who didn’t speak or understand a lick of English.

Continued on page 56 We smiled and smiled at each other. high summer 2021 27

A reunion of cousins, spouses, family, on Waban (Dennis Alley) Park.

From left to right: Bernard Brown, Denise Brown-Allen, Ronzell Simmons, Doug Allen, Sandra King, Dorian Allen, Semari Massey, Jordon Carney, Laurie Davis, Brooklyn Rockowitz, Domenica Cataldi, Henry “Hank” Carney, Nia Massey, Sandra Carney, Allen Nunes, Eric Townes, Lisa Cataldi, Charisse Carney-Nunes, Corey Massey, Dawn Massey, Lauren “Pookie” Mattox, Leah Brown, and Aysha Nunes.

Leah Brown with cousin Eric Townes, and brother-in-law Doug Allen.

Sandy King and Lauren Mattox help get the fish ready for the fryer.

28 edible vineyard

the Browns of O.B. REUNION

Reunion: Bringing it Leah Brown’s 60 cousins throw a little (Reliable) spice on their traditional summer fish.

Story by Jamie Kageleiry

L

eah Brown’s parents, Kenneth and Leander Brown, first came to Oak Bluffs in the summer of 1963 to visit with their friends, the Sims, from Newark, New Jersey. They loved it so much that by 1965, that, with a little help from their own parents, bought a house on Nashawena Park.

“From then on,” Leah told us, “we came up to the Vineyard every summer, from when school got out to Labor Day.” Most of the adults in Leander’s extended family — aunts, uncles — were educators, and free to spend the entire summer in Oak Bluffs, hanging out at the beach, joining the Polar Bears for morning swims. “We all grew up with our cousins,” Leah said.

Early on some mornings — early like 4 or 5 am — Leah’s father would rouse children and take them fishing at Wasque.

“We’d come back in time for breakfast, and that fish was on the table — because we were helping feed five families.”

These days, there are five houses on Nashawena and around Waban park, and dozens of cousins — the children of all the original cousins and partners like photographer Doug Allen, who married into the family in 1988.

“We’re coming back to Oak Bluffs now from North Carolina, D.C., Virginia, Pennsylvania — all over the North, and the Southeast,” Leah said. “We’re all married, and we all reconnect

back to M.V.

Photos by Jeremy Driesen once a year.” Last year, there was a “pod” of cousins working and living here during the pandemic — Doug Allen was here for 10 months (you can see his work from these months on Instagram @Dougallenphotography).

On the day we dropped in, Leah and family were in the middle of jumping in cars to go fishing. When we came back later, they were cooking up the fish for supper. “The tradition is the most important part,” she said. “We continue to fish. Today we went out for about three hours on a charter boat and caught enough scup and black sea bass for everyone.”

Every cousin, she said, has a different batter. Some like flaky, some like Cajun. “As we have grown up, separated, and gone to live in different areas, we bring back to Martha’s Vineyard a merging of tastes, an appreciation of where we’ve gone. We come back and share.”

This night’s batter was Leah’s concoction: “I always cook in flour, cornmeal, and use alllllll the different Reliable Market seasonings. We vary them — we use all the ones we can find.”

Then she says, when all the cousins disperse at summer’s end, “we take those Reliable seasonings home, so we can taste that same summer taste all year — we bring a little of M.V. back home.”

Until next year.

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Fish, caught that morning, hot off the fryer. Leah Brown used her batter, for which she always uses Reliable Market spices.

high summer 2021 29

CHEF PROFILE

Gail Arnold Stirs up some condiments 30 edible vineyard

Gail Arnold CHEF PROFILE Story by Mollie Doyle Illustrations by Fae Kontje-Gibbs

Photo courtesy Gail Arnold

O

ne of the great pleasures of this year has been having my friend Gail Arnold around more. Gail is married to Islander Livingston Taylor, but she is often away cooking for Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw and their family, which she has done for more than 25 years. Gail and I have spent some of this pandemic time together tramping through the woods, talking about life and food.

I’ve known Gail for at least 20 years, and she always reminds me of a Beverly Cleary character — a little sassy (maybe it’s her red hair and bangs?), bespectacled, and sharp as a tack. Little gets by her.

And she has a great talent for solving problems — in relation to what to do with wilted vegetables.

Our conversations over the past year have rambled as much as we have, but, at some point, alway seem to arrive on food, a shared love. And if our conversation doesn’t naturally find food, I direct it there, asking what Gail is cooking. She always has some incredible recipe or technique up her sleeve, which has kept me inspired in what I have come to think of as The Year of Relentless Cooking.

Early in the spring, Gail arrived for one of our walks and handed me a small glass Ball jar with the words “Chili Crisp” written on a piece of blue painter’s tape fastened to the lid. “This is fabulous stuff. Put it on everything.” She said. “I mean it. Condiments are the name of the game.”

Of course, Gail was right. The chili crisp made our morning eggs special, avocado toast decadent, and my recipe for Taiwanese Mee Fun spectacular. And as I made my way through the jar, I began considering condiments in a new light. They were no longer an afterthought, pulled out of the fridge as I’m putting dinner on the table. They became a forethought: What sauce could I make on a Monday that could work throughout the week? My daughter is vegetarian, husband an omnivore, and I’m somewhere in the middle. It turns out that condiments help to bridge these gaps.

Jar finished (within a week or two), I called Gail up and told her I wanted to formalize our condiment conversation. Could I interview her? Would she share some of her condiment secrets? She laughed, “It’s really easy. Well, it is not easy if you try to make them the day of everything else, but if you devote some time to them at some point in the week before you are cooking a meal, they will make things easy. Does that make sense?”

It does! And when we get together in her beautiful green kitchen, she echoes my experience with her chili crisp, “The food I make is relatively simple: grilled fish, meat, vegetables. The condiments are what make the meal special. This makes cooking

Basil

“ The food I make is relatively simple: grilled fish, meat, vegetables. The condiments are what make the meal special. This makes cooking for many different dietary needs and palates much easier.” –Gail Arnold high summer 2021 31

CHEF PROFILE Gail Arnold for many different dietary needs and palates much easier. When I cook for Steven and Kate, there are always at least six condiments on the table. This really matters because I’m often cooking for about 20 people. For those who like spicy food, there’s a homemade sriracha hot sauce. For those who want something with fresh tang, there’s a salsa verde. You get the idea. And I change the condiments up. I might put more oregano in a salsa verde for steak or capers, and lemon zest for fish. And I love the versatility of them. The next day, I can tuck some pickled onions into a tuna sandwich, and it will take it up a notch. Or put a day-old pico de gallo in a blender and make a sauce.”

As Gail and I talked, she was making a peach pie for a friend and planning for a week in East Hampton cooking for the Spielbergs’ annual Fourth of July festivities. She explained that her first day in the family’s kitchen would be prep work for the week, which of course would include making condiments. The week would feature: homemade mayonnaise; salsa verde; sriracha; chili crisp; some kind of gingery, cilantro Southern Indian something; but she’d also make sure that she had black garlic molasses, pomegranate molasses, a good spicy German mustard, miso paste, and shichimi togarashi, Japanese Seven-Spice, on hand. “These are

staples in my kitchen, and make everything better,” she said.

I try the black garlic molasses. It is delicious, and I can imagine it dazzling the tongue if it were drizzled on grilled onions. I take a bite of her favorite mustard, Schwerter Senfemuhle, which is a German mustard. Iit has heat and depth to it. Delicious in a dressing or on a grilled sausage. She also likes Marukome white or red miso for salad dressings. And the Japanese Seven-Spice is heavenly. Umami in a jar. Wow. When I ask about recipes, she laughs again, “Well I use Bon Appétit’s recipe for Chili Crisp — the key there is to cook the garlic low and slow. It has star anise in it, but if you don’t like star anise, you could leave it out. And I love Lee’s Homemade Sriracha from Gwenyth Paltrow’s first cookbook. She has a great team working with her. For my salsa verdes, I always use Italian parsley as a base, and then riff on it. By the way, you can revive a day-old, tired salsa verde by just adding more fresh parsley.

There is zero reason to throw most things out.”

As we roll into a summer where our tables are joyfully full of family and friends once again, Gail’s condiment approach — economy of effort yet maximum flavor — feels like the way to go.

.

Gail Arnold’s Basic Salsa Verde Depending on what you have in the garden or are serving, adapt the herbs and the quantity of oil (grilled fish likes more oil than a fatty rib-eye). There are no hard and fast rules in salsa verde making. I don’t think that I have ever made two that taste exactly the same. Makes 1 to 1½ cups.

1 cup c hopped (not too fine) flat-leaf parsley ¼ cup chopped other herbs: cilantro, chervil, mint, chives, basil, tarragon (your choice) 1 Tbsp. drained chopped capers (or more, if you like caper flavor) zest of one lemon 1 Tbsp. lemon juice or red wine vinegar 1 Tbsp. finely diced shallot (or red onion or scallion) salt and pepper to taste (maybe a tsp. of salt) ½ to 1 cup good olive oil Depending on what you are making, these optional add-ins will add a different character to the salsa verde:

chopped anchovy grainy or Dijon mustard chopped hard-boiled egg chopped nuts pickled hot peppers

Chervil

32 edible vineyard

Stir together all basic ingredients, and add about ½ the olive oil, in a bowl. Add a little salt and pepper; taste, and then add more olive oil to taste again, and adjust salt and pepper to your liking. If adding anything optional, stir it in at the end.

The salsa verde will keep for a few days in the fridge, but really is best freshly made.

SPONSORED BY CRONIG’S Health tips

What exactly IS a supplement?

Illustration by Nicole Jackson

D

ietary supplements are vitamins, enzymes, minerals, metabolites, herbs, amino acids and more.

Supplements are considered food and not drugs, designed to supplement nutrients to your body.

Supplements are more popular than ever, but you should consult with your healthcare provider before adding them to your diet.

One supplement that has recently gained popularity is turmeric, a spice that comes from the root of Curcuma longa, a plant in the ginger family. A common spice, it has been used for thousands of years, and is prominent in curry. Often hailed as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, turmeric is said to helvp a variety of other conditions, including arthritis, digestive disorders, respiratory infections, allergies, liver disease, depression, and many others.

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Healthy Additions behind Cronig’s Market in Vineyard Haven has the Island’s best selection of supplements.

SPONSORED BY

high summer 2021 33

Grilling vegetables for the Grilled Vegetable Paella.

Emilia-Romagna's "Elote" Corn Grilled with Garlic, Basil, and Cheese.

34 edible vineyard

Steven Raichlen IN SEASON

Dan Martino of Martha's Vineyard Productions gets Steven Raichlen framed up.

Steven Raichlen Grills Vegetables, Live from Chappaquiddick Story and photos by

Tina Miller

W

hen Steve Raichlen calls you out of the blue, you pick up your phone.

Steven Raichlen is a prolific cookbook author, with 31 cookbooks including Barbeque Bible, Project Smoke, and Project Fire, he is a grilling, smoking, BBQ genius. Five-time James Beard awardwinner, teacher, PBS TV host of Barbeque University — as far as I can tell, Steven Raichlen doesn’t sleep, and his creativity appears to be never-ending.

Raichlen and I have known each other for many years.

This summer he’s published his 32nd book, How to Grill Vegetables (Workman Publishing). The book is a visual feast, with vibrant, tempting photos of recipes, including Smoked Guacamole with Grilled Chia Seed Totopos, Grilled Wedge Salad, Grilled Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto, and Mechoui Cauliflower with Moroccan Spices and Chermoula. The always-thorough Reichlan gives the home cook an easy guide to nine considerations, including equipment, grilling, and smoking techniques. He’s not just grilling the typical zucchini, peppers, and onions — he has

beets, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes. There is a section for sauces, condiments, and seasonings, and an important alphabetical list of how to prep and grill vegetables. This list is invaluable: Vegetables come in all shapes, sizes, and textures.

How to Grill Vegetables will give you the confidence to step out of your grilling routine.

Raichlen called me because he was doing a live segment on the Today show, and wanted to know if I would help as his sous-chef. Cooking segments on TV are generally short, with a lot of information that needs to be conveyed in a short amount of time — ingredients, recipe, method, and finished product.

From a studio in the woods to the ‘Today’ show.

Technically, I am retired from cooking (except for friends and family), but this was too fun to resist; plus, I was very curious how Today could possibly be live from Chappaquiddick.

I got in line for the first morning boat, 6:30 am to Chappy. I pulled on right behind Dan Martino, co-owner of Cottage City Oysters and Martha’s Vineyard Productions, a video production company. Dan and I used to work together at Plum TV. I followed him to the Raichlens’ and was excited he would be part of the morning’s activities. Dan being there answered my first question: How will Raichlen be on live high summer 2021 35

IN SEASON Steven Raichlen

Grilled Vegetable Paella.

TV from the Island of Martha’s Vineyard, and on the island of Chappaquiddick?

Raichlen got me set up in his guesthouse kitchen, chopping and slicing vegetables, shucking corn, and getting his recipes prepped. We were going to make Emilia-Romagna “Elote” (corn grilled with garlic, basil, and cheese) and Grilled Vegetable Paella. Outside, Raichlen, his wife Barbara, and a neighborhood friend prepared two types of grills and the smokehouse. Dan set up his cameras on tripods; his laptop was connected to producers at Today.

After a year-plus of COVID, remote television interviews were not unusual, but here 36 edible vineyard

we were, in the woods on the Island of Chappaquiddick; we are all a little dubious with the well-known spotty coverage all over Chappy.

Raichlen is a pro, and was precise in his instructions for me — how each vegetable should be sliced, chopped, or diced; how to shuck the corn, with a technique perfect for grilling. I was amazed at how clearly he envisioned these recipes, and exactly how they should look and taste.

Once my prep was complete, I headed down to the TV studio, a corner on the Raichlens’ property with a small smokehouse and several grill stations surrounded by woods. It was all hands on deck creating the picture-per-

fect presentation in the outside studio.

Once the stage was set, Barbara swooped in to do some quick tweaks — the right flatware on the table, fixing Raichlen’s mic — the eagle eye on the team.

By this point, Dan Martino was trying to connect with the Today show team in New York; the connection was lost, but after a quick phone call, Today appeared live on Dan’s laptop. We could hear and see hosts Al Roker, Dylan Dreyer, Craig Melvin, and Tom Yammas. We listened to the show go to commercial, and knew Raichlen was up next.

Raichlen did some last-minute touches and … five, four, three,

two, one! Al Roker led in, and Raichlen was live. The segment went off without a hitch, starting with the grilled corn and ending with the enormous grilled vegetable paella, live from Chappaquiddick.

Three hours to set up a six-minute segment. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. I packed up a container of paella, which we would have with dinner that night. It was uniquely delicious, the vegetables picking up natural flavor from the grill smoke, which added a lot of dimension and richness. I really could see this as a well-balanced meal and with no need for meat or fish.

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For the corn recipe: bit.ly/raichlen-corn

SPONSORED BY CRONIG’S

Martha’s Vineyard Farmstands and Shellfish Farmers Slough Farm 15 Butler’s Cove Road, Edgartown

Tea Lane Farm 161 Middle Road, Chilmark

Whippoorwill Farm Old County Road, West Tisbury

OYSTER FARMS Blue Moon Chilmark Oysters Cottage City Oysters D+E Oysters Honeysuckle Farm Little Minnow Martha’s Vineyard Spearpoint Menemsha Creek Menemsha Oysters Roysters Oysters Sweet Neck Farm Signature Oyster Farm Snows Point Top Shell

Allen Farm Sheep & Wool 42 South Road, Chilmark

Bayes Norton Farm Photos: Left, Molly Glasgow. Right, Jeremy Driesen

223 Vineyard Haven–Edgartown Road, Vineyard Haven

Beetlebung Farm 410 Middle Road, Chilmark

Blackwater Farm 40 Cottles Lane, West Tisbury

Breezy Pine Farms 164 Tiahs Cove Road, West Tisbury

Flat Point Farm 164 Great Neck Road, West Tisbury

Ghost Island Farm 27 Davis Look Road, West Tisbury

The Grey Barn 22 South Road, Chilmark

The Good Farm 1056 State Road, Vineyard Haven

Island Grown Farm Hub 80 Stoney Hill Road, Vineyard Haven

Mermaid Farm 9 Middle Road, Chilmark

Menemsha Crossroads Farmstand Chilmark

Morning Glory Farm 120 Mashacket Road, Edgartown

Native Earth Teaching Farm 94 North Rd., Chilmark

North Tabor Farm 4 North Tabor Road, Chilmark

Slip Away Farm 199 Chappaquiddick Road, Edgartown

Left, The Grey Barn in Chilmark. Above, Signature Oyster Farm

high summer 2021 37

SPONSORED BY CRONIG’S farm map

Farm

fresh Take a farmstand tour, and discover the flavors of Martha’s Vineyard.

Story by Tina Miller Illustration by Tara Reynolds

SPONSORED BY

38 edible vineyard

farm map SPONSORED BY CRONIG’S

I

t’s summer on Martha’s Vineyard, and the bounty is exploding from land and sea. Locally grown foods are found on menus around the Island, and in a few markets such as Cronig’s, North Tisbury Farm and Market, Vineyard Grocer, the Chilmark Store, Katama General Store, the Larder, and of course the fish markets. We recommend getting a real sense of our diversity by taking a ride around the Island and checking out the variety of farm stands.

The farmstands here are open to the public without appointment, so if you are out cruising around, and just happen by one of these beautiful farmstands, you may find a bouquet of flowers, some chilled fruit, yogurt lassi, fresh greens, ground lamb, pork chops, or a wool throw blanket.

Some are cash, Island checks, or Venmo, bring small bills to make change. Many stands collect your payment by the honor system: Just put the money in the can.

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high summer 2021 39

FEATURE Slough Farm

Julie Scott with Slough Farm goats.

40 edible vineyard

Picking Up the Pace

at Slough Farm AT THE CENTER OF CULTURE, HEALTH, AND WELLNESS. Story by Mollie Doyle

O

n a foggy spring afternoon, Katama’s Slough Farm is buzzing with activity.

It’s been a wild ride for the farm’s executive director, Julie Scott. About seven years ago while working as the farm manager at the FARM Institute, she got a cold call.

Would she be interested in spearheading an undefined agricultural nonprofit initiative on another farm property just down the road? What a question!

After that initial call and many more, in the fall of 2015 Julie and her husband Laine Scott signed on as farm consultants to help the owners and founders (who wish to be anonymous) shape and think about what Slough Farm could be. “We didn’t want the farm to be redundant, and there were so many possibilities,” Julie says during my visit. Julie and the anonymous founders landed on a broad mission: essentially to give the Martha’s Vineyard community a teaching farm that embraces regenerative agriculture, supports and collaborates with fellow island farmers, addresses food equity through a number of vehicles, and also offers space for creative communities and artists. “We want to create a place that is a cross-section for the arts,” Julie says. “Culture, health, and wellness. And the farm is the heart of all of those things.”

In the spring of 2016, Laine got to work, revamping the old garden, getting it up and running. “The ground was pret-

Photos by Molly Glasgow

ty good, but we have had to work on improving the soil for the area where we have expanded the garden — you can see the line. And we’ve just put in another big garden across the fields.” The farm’s grazing fields also needed remediation: “You can still see where horses or other animals used to congregate.”Julie points to a thinner patch of grass along a fence.

While Laine worked on the gardens and fields, Julie and the founders evaluated the farm’s existing infrastructure, and realized they needed to replace structures in disrepair with buildings to support year-round housing, livestock, a teaching kitchen, guest rooms, bathrooms, a studio space, an office, a wood shop. “Maryanne Thomson was the architect, and Tom Tate was here realizing the vision for two years,” Julie says. So Laine’s initial gardening ventures were amid and adjacent to a sprawling construction site. “It was really unbelievable,” Julie laughs.

The end result of the exterior of the buildings and layout of the farm is a modern take on the sensibility of an old English farm.

Practical and elegant. The interiors feel more Danish. Clean, wood-dominant, and light.

Inside, one cannot help but feel transported.

The materials — from fabrics to light fixtures and furniture — are spot-on. Textural, but not overwhelming to the eye. Beautiful but not precious. Michael Van Valkenburgh did the landscaping, and his work, realized by Contemporary Landscapes, helps the new buildings make a seamless transition into the natural farm and field landscape. The courtyard is particularly elegant.

high summer 2021 41

FEATURE Slough Farm

Cattle in the fields of Slough Farm.

Julie and the founders evaluated the farm’s existing infrastructure, and realized they needed to replace structures in disrepair with buildings to support year-round housing, livestock, a teaching kitchen, guest rooms, bathrooms, a studio space, an office, a wood shop.

Julie says, “At first, I was shy about all of this. It’s all so new. I am a person who frequents the Dumptique. But then we invited other farmers to come take a look. Morning Glory’s Jim and Debbie Athearn, Matthew Dix, and Rebbeca Miller, and a few others.

After showing them around, Jim Athearn said to me, ‘Wow, I wouldn’t change a single thing about this.’ To me, he is a real farmer.

And I have to say that his words resonated, and changed the way I feel about the place.”

Today — infrastructure built, trees planted, garden rolling, animals grazing — Julie finds herself with an incredible team realizing the Slough Farm Foundation’s mission. “By nature, I am a collaborator,” she says. Since its official launch in July 2018, Slough Farm has forged relationships with Island Grown Initiative and the Food Pantry, the Agricultural Society, Community Services, Hospice, Island librar42 edible vineyard

ies, the Yard, chefs, and now will be supporting the agricultural piece of the educational arm of the FARM Institute land for the Trustees of Reservations. It’s ambitious and astonishing to see how much she has accomplished — especially amid a pandemic! There have been cooking classes, dance performances, and children visiting and helping on the farm. And the amount of food coming out of their gardens and fields — addressing food equity on the Island — is tremendous.

Julie hails from Dennis, and tells me that her first farm job was at 12. “Draft animals were my first love. But horses, more than any other animal, take up so much space and time. And you can’t eat them if it doesn’t work out.” She laughs, “We do have two Icelandic ponies here in the summer.” But mainly, the farm focuses on raising meat, with Highland cattle, Tunis sheep, heritage turkeys, a mixed flock of heritage chickens, goats, ducks, pigs (seasonally), and bees: “One thing I really want to curb is all the unwanted roosters here. So I’m encouraging teachers to not hatch chicks, and raise heritage-breed turkeys instead. We will process people’s roosters, but they have to bring them the day before. No sooner.”

Julie went to Sterling College and studied sustainable agriculture, then worked on a number of farms before landing a job at the FARM Institute 13 years ago. Her experience for her senior research project — developing educational programs for a farm on the Cape for the local farm bureau — was what eventually brought her to the FARM Institute and the Island. “It was between here and another teaching farm in Shelburne, Vt.,” she said. “Laine surfs. So the choice was easy.”

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Julie and the anonymous founders landed on a broad mission: essentially to give the Martha’s Vineyard community a teaching farm that embraces regenerative agriculture, supports and collaborates with fellow Island farmers, addresses food equity through a number of vehicles, and also offers space for creative communities and artists.

high summer 2021 43

The Menemsha Galley: Order a burger, head

44 edible vineyard

t

d

It’s a Summer Tradition

Galley FEATURE

to the beach. Simple.

Story by Sophia McCarron Photos by Jeremy Driesen

Cheeseburger and fries, view of Menemsha Harbor is free.

high summer 2021 45

FEATURE Galley

T Tony Saccoccia and Jack O’Malley

Owen Zull enjoys a burger.

46 edible vineyard

he Menemsha Galley, midway through its 72nd year of operation, is tucked away on the western side of Martha’s Vineyard in the fishing village of Menemsha. The Galley sits right on the edge of Menemsha basin and has a porch out back where customers can enjoy their meal overlooking the harbor.

In 2018, Tony Saccoccia bought the Galley from the long-time owners, the Fenner family, and brought on Jack O’Malley to manage it. The little food shack gets busiest at the end of the day, with crowds looking for burgers, shakes, seafood, and soft serve to eat while watching the sunset from Menemsha Beach.

O’Malley and Saccoccia aim to maintain the Galley’s authentic simplicity that generations of visitors and locals cherish. Saccoccia and O’Malley were keen on remaining true to the original feeling of the Galley. “It’s very personal,” O’Malley said. “Tony and I feel a sense of stewardship. The Galley has been around a long time. It’s a landmark.”

To maintain the nostalgia of the Galley, the partners have made few changes to the running of the place. The first time Saccoccia visited the Galley, he said, was around 1987 and his regular order was a hotdog and lemonade. “Everyday I meet someone who tells me a story about how they’ve been coming here for 50 years,” said O’Malley. “The fish sandwich seems to jar a lot of memories, and of course the soft serve.”

“Fun is the first word that comes to mind,” Saccoccia said. “It’s great for adults, it’s great for children. They can go ‘round the corner and catch crabs or go to the beach. It’s a routine. It’s a lifestyle down here.”

Fielding Covid-19 safety protocols and understaffing have been hallmark woes of restaurateurs throughout the 2021 summer season on the Cape and Islands, but O’Malley and Saccoccia have counted

section FEATURES themselves lucky. “Staffing at the Galley seems to be a tradition,” O’Malley said. “People pass these jobs on to family and friends. We’re blessed with our staff.” A full staff, which is sprinkled with O’Malley’s wife and four children at various times, is a testament to how well the restaurant was run under the Fenners and now under Saccoccia and O’Malley. “There are people whose grandparents worked here, whose parents worked here and now the grandkids are working here,” Saccoccia said. “It’s multigenerational.

It’s definitely an institution.”

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The Menemsha Galley is open seven days a week, 11 am to 8 pm at 515 North Road, Chilmark.

For more information and to order online visit menemshagalley.com or call 508-645-9819.

“There are people whose grandparents worked here, whose parents worked here and now the grandkids are working here,” Saccoccia said.

“It’s multigenerational.

It’s definitely an institution.”

Lunch with a view

Griffin Malcom enjoying lunch.

Jason Epstein orders soft serve for himself and his daughter, Lydia.

high summer 2021 47

Martha Stoumen thinks food is part of a broader sphere of human activity, shaped by social, economic, and political forces.

Spiritualized The Making of Martha Stoumen Story by Sam Decker

48 edible vineyard

Photos by Helynn Ospina

Photo courtesy of Martha Stoumen

spiritualized SIP There are certain places where the English language falls short.

Wine is such a place. How to describe its aroma? No English speaker seems to know. So we uncrumple our grocery lists and recite fragrant produce items. Texture words, too, are scarce. Likening wine to sandpaper — is this really the best we can do?

It’s fitting, then, that Martha Stoumen, a native Californian and one of the country’s most celebrated winemakers, is equally difficult to put into words. There’s really no simple way to describe her mix of intensity and ease, brio and grace. If wisdom is what redeems us when we’re old and weary, then Martha, it would seem, has jumped the line.

Martha grew up in Sebastopol, Calif., in the heart of Sonoma County, which makes her path to wine notably circuitous. As an undergraduate at UCLA pursuing a dual degree in environmental studies and geography, she became fascinated by food systems. She credits her professor Judith Carney — author of In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa’s Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World — who instilled in her the foundational idea that food was part of a broader sphere of human activity, shaped by social, economic, and political forces.

After college, Martha moved to Tuscany to work on a small agricultural estate and learning center. She harvested grains, cared for animals, and tended an olive grove, an experience that granted deeper resonance to everything she’d come to believe in. The estate also included a vineyard — and while Martha didn’t make any wine during her stay, the vines — and the communal, almost devotional activities they seemed to inspire — mesmerized her. As a Californian, she’d always seen wine as a commercial good, detached from nature and community — yet here it was a vital part of a wild, buzzing landscape. It was food; it was life.

By the time Martha returned home to Sonoma, awe had hardened into determination: She was going to learn how to make wine. So she set out in search of a winery position, an endeavor that could have been complicated by the fact that she’d never actually set foot in a winery. But Martha possessed a surprisingly sophisticated understanding of wine thanks to her undergraduate studies and farming background — and within a few weeks, she’d landed her first job in production. She was off to the races.

There are two archetypal paths to becoming a winemaker in America. The first is academic — the pursuit of wine as a scientific and commercial enterprise, often in a classroom. The second is vocational — a blend of cultural immersion and on-the-jobtraining, in which the aspiring winemaker seeks mentorship around the world, often pinging between the Northern and Southern hemispheres to squeeze in two harvests per year. Over the better part of the next decade, Martha would pursue both paths simultaneously, earning a master’s in viticulture and enology at UC Davis — her second double degree — while apprenticing under pioneers like Reinhard Löwenstein (Heymann-Löwenstein) in the Mosel and Didier

Barral (Domaine Leon Barral) in Languedoc-Roussillon.

However, it was Sicilian winemaker Giusto Occhipinti of COS who provided the blueprint for what would later become Martha Stoumen Wines. It was food systems applied to natural wine — a holistic and compassionate approach to farming, production, and business.

Sure, Occhipinti’s wines spoke of Sicily, but they also spoke of Giusto, reflecting his spirit of imagination and play.

Since 2014, Martha has been producing wine under her own label, working out of a shared facility in Sebastopol, just a few miles from where she grew up. Of all her wines, the one that consistently stands out for me is her Venturi Vineyard Carignan — sourced from a quartz-flecked riverbed in Mendocino, a former tributary of the Russian River. The wine is elegant in the way nature is elegant, a beauty that feels more observed than imagined.

“Rocks and moon dust,” she says.

Owning vineyards isn’t an option for most young winemakers working in America today — which is to say, without trust and shared values, wines like Martha’s couldn’t exist.

For example, her Venturi Vineyard Carignan is born from her partnership with Larry Venturi, a dyed-in-the-wool Mendocino rancher whose family has been farming grapes in and around the town of Calpella, just south of Redwood Valley, since his grandfather arrived from Tuscany in 1917.

But far from bemoaning this reality, Martha sees these intergenerational, intercultural relationships as the bedrock of California wine. So she invests in them — much like a producer in the Loire Valley would be wise to invest in an inherited plot of vines.

Late in the summer of 2020, Venturi Vineyard caught fire. Grape vines, with their neat rows and manicured canopies, aren’t as flammable as you might think.

However, Larry’s — head-trained, dry-farmed, beautifully unkempt — were an exception. Just when the flames were starting to take hold, a firefighting aircraft appeared high overhead. But Larry knew better than to hold his breath. With forests and towns burning across much of the region, it was painfully obvious that the plane was headed to one of the major fires nearby. Which made what happened next all the more astonishing: The sky bloomed with bright, rust-colored foam as fire retardant rained down over the vineyard.

It turned out that the plane had indeed been dispatched to fight a larger fire, but at the last minute was rerouted. On the return flight, the pilot happened to catch sight of the fire breaking out in Larry’s vineyard, and requested permission to release some of his payload. A split-second decision, a 70-year-old vineyard saved.

Martha didn’t harvest any Carignan that year, as the grapes had been baked on the vine.

“They tasted like cooked jam,” she said, recalling their haunting sweetness.

For most winemakers, the story of wine is the story of a landscape. Not so for Martha.

After 14 consecutive harvests in California, she sees wine as the condition of being human. It’s the people, the relationships, the whole circuit of culture and values that tie grower and winemaker together. Or maybe it’s something she can’t quite put into words.

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high summer 2021 49

FEATURE Square Rigger

See you at the

Rigger Good friends and great food come together at the Square Rigger.

Story by Geoff Currier Photos courtesy of the Rezendes family

Superb employees like those pictured here helped Will Holtham run the successful Square Rigger and Home Port restaurants.

Square Rigger FEATURE

F

or many Islanders and seasonal visitors alike, the Square Rigger restaurant at the Triangle in Edgartown is as much of an Island institution as the Flying Horses or a sunset in Menemsha. But to totally understand “the Rigger,” as it’s called, it helps to go back well over a hundred years, to what were the desolate Great Plains of Edgartown, where the house that became the Square Rigger restaurant was originally built.

The Square Rigger house has had many owners, among them Manuel S. Duarte, who in 1949 wanted to move the building from the Great Plains to Vineyard Haven, but Vineyard Haven wouldn’t allow the move, so it ended up at its current location, on a lot at the fork between two diverging roads in Edgartown known as the Triangle. “There was nothing on that land back then,” said Tony Rezendes, current owner of the Square Rigger. “In fact, back in those days, you could go for miles out the Edgartown–Vineyard Haven Road, and you wouldn’t find a house.”

While it may not qualify as a scholarly document, there is a history printed on the back of an old Square Rigger menu that claims that Captain Thomas Marshall Pease, a whaling captain, built the house, on the Great Plains out by Edgartown Great Pond, around 1800. And over the years, the house has had a notable history, including a birth, a death … and even a ghost.

A November 2013 obituary in The MV Times lists the death of Dorothy Mae Gazaille West , who was born and raised in the old Square Rigger house on the Edgartown Great Plains.

And in Holly Nadler’s book Vineyard Supernatural, Nadler tells the tale of a tragic event that has given the Square Rigger a reputation for the supernatural, even to this day. “Back in its early days [while still on the Great Plains], a family lived in the upstairs apartment of the house,” Nadler writes. “Brothers — 13-yearold twins — shared one of the bedrooms.

One night, an electrical storm was brewing over Nantucket Sound. One of the twins stood at the open window, watching the storm move in. He was struck by lightning, and crumpled to the floor, dead. Legend has it that ever since that gruesome night, the upstairs of the Square Rigger has been severely haunted.”

Jenny Dowd, daughter of Tony and Doreen Rezendes, said, “I used to live in the apartment upstairs, and I could definitely feel something. There was a room I didn’t want to go into.”

For 20 years after the house was moved to the Triangle, it was used for a variety of businesses, including an art studio and an upholstery shop. And then in 1963, John Donnelly bought the property and turned it into the restaurant we all know today as the Square Rigger.

Will Holtham, former owner of the Home Port restaurant in Menemsha, bought the Square Rigger in 1984, and in his Home Port Cookbook, he writes that before he bought the Square Rigger,

high summer 2021 51

FEATURE Square Rigger

“We offered lobster prepared eight different ways.

We offered classic entrées like clams casino, prime rib, and baked stuffed shrimp. People could look at our menu and not have to ask what that is.”

–Tony Rezendes

52 edible vineyard

Square Rigger FEATURES

Tony Rezendes shows off a lobster to a young diner.

it was actually more of a lounge than a restaurant, a place for locals to go for a drink or two. And the fact that it was located in Edgartown, where last call for alcohol was 1 am, may have burnished its cocktail lounge bona fides as well. Since closing time for bars in Oak Bluffs was midnight in those days, patrons of Oak Bluffs bars who were not yet ready to call it a night, would make a dash up Beach Road to the Rigger and have a nightcap or two.

But Holtham, who made the Home Port in Menemsha into an institution, was about to put his stamp on the Square Rigger as well. After 14 years at the Home Port, Holtham was looking to stretch his culinary muscles and expand his repertoire beyond seafood.

Holtham liked the fact that unlike the Home Port, the Rigger wasn’t seasonal.

There was a large enough year-round population to cater to the locals and offer things he couldn’t at the Home Port. So when John Donnelly died, Holtham went to lunch with Donnelly’s sister Anne. “And before lunch was over,” he writes in his cookbook, “I had my second restaurant.”

When Holtham took over the Square Rigger, it offered only five or six dishes, “but they were all fantastic,” Holtham wrote. Holtham made a few changes to the restaurant, like adding an open hearth, and he expanded the menu to offer specialties like bouillabaisse, and some of the best steaks and chops on the Island.

Even before Holtham bought the Square RIgger, Tony Rezendes and his family were quietly making their presence felt

at the Home Port, starting with Tony and Doreen’s daughter Amy, who spent several years waitressing at the Home Port. In the ’80s Doreen began working as a hostess there, and ended up managing the dining room. And their son Dana started washing dishes at the Home Port when he was 11. “It was part of their slave labor program,” he joked.

Dana would go on to work his way up the food chain in the kitchen, eventually becoming the “takeout” chef. Tony was not involved with the Home Port or the restaurant business — he was working as a plumber, and had been a part-time employee at the West Tisbury Post Office for about 20 years. But that was about to change.

After operating the Square Rigger for about 10 years, Holtham wrote that it turned out to be everything he could have hoped for.

He enjoyed offering menu items he couldn’t offer at the Home Port. And he was fortunate to have a great staff at the Rigger, headed by Aram Berberian, who had started working at the Home Port as a boy.

But when Berberian and his wife decided to move off-Island to seek new horizons, Holtham, who spent the bulk of his time in the summer at the Home Port, suddenly found himself stretched too thin. He looked around for someone who might be interested in taking over the business, but then he decided to look a little closer to home. At this point, Doreen Rezendes was acting as manager at the Rigger, Dana was working in the kitchen, Amy was waitressing there, and their youngest daughter, Jenny, had started waitressing as well. high summer 2021 53

FEATURE Square Rigger

“It was Dec. 31, 1994,” Tony said; “I’ll never forget that day. Will said to us, You folks have worked hard, it’s time you owned the place. You can buy the business and lease the real estate — the only money I want is enough to cover my mortgage.” It was the best thing ever when Will made that offer,” Doreen said, “and then four years later, he sold us the property.”

“We went to Dukes County Savings Bank,” Tony said, “and talked to Ted Mayhew, the president of the bank, and they gave us the money. It turns out that Ted used to work at the Home Port himself when he was a kid, washing dishes.” Small world.

They signed papers on Feb. 1, and the transition was seamless.

Tony took over working in the kitchen along with Dana. “The tables were turned,” Dana said. “There I was telling my father what to do, but in the end it worked out fine.”

“Cooking came easy to me,” Tony said, “I did the grill, and my son did the sauté.”

“So Tony and Dana were working in the kitchen, Amy and Jenny were waitressing, and I was managing the restaurant — this was truly a family business,” Doreen said.

The menu pretty much picked up where the menu under Holtham left off. “I think we had about 38 entrées on the menu back then,” Tony said. “We offered lobster prepared eight different ways. We offered classic entrées like clams casino, prime rib and baked stuffed shrimp.

People could look at our menu and not have to ask what that is.”

The Square Rigger caters to a healthy blend of seasonal and year-round clientele whom the Rezendeses look on as extended family.

“I like to look out in the dining room,” Doreen says, “and see people talking to one another, telling stories and going around visiting different tables. That’s what this place is all about.” It’s also become a home away from home for many members of the Edgartown Yacht Club. “Often they’ll come to me,” Doreen says, “and say, This is our other club.”

Since the pandemic arrived last spring, the dining room at the 54 edible vineyard

photo by Tina Miller

Doreen and Tony Rezendes, their son Dana, and daughter Jenny Dowd. Truly a family run business.

Square Rigger has been closed. “Fortunately, we had built up a good takeout business,” Dana said, “so we made a good transition, and we’re going to stick with takeout through this summer season as well.

There were a lot of factors that went into the decision; we just felt that this was the safest one. We hope we’ll be opening up the dining room around Columbus Day.” Which can’t come soon enough for me. I’ve got a date with a Lobster Thermidor.

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ESSAY A Girlhood Summer, Farming in France

Continued from page 27 Sometimes I would get invited in for lunch with Georges and his mother, scrambled eggs, the French way, soft, never browned, bread, potatoes, salad, cheese, fruit, coffee, cookies.

On July 29th we stopped riding and went into Georges’ house. It was the wedding day of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. Madame Caroly made apricot tart and we drank Champagne and watched the wedding live with the rest of the world.

Before I knew it, my two months in France were coming to an end. I didn’t want to leave. All the loneliness for my friends had subsided weeks before as I had become fully immersed in life on the farm. I loved the constant hum — always having something to do in this stunningly beautiful place. I felt a comfortable calm with the farmers who I only understood by nods and gestures and a few words. I looked forward to outings to the village for fresh baguettes and pastries; I cooked simple meals with confidence,

using food grown on the farm. I learned it was weird to go barefoot on the farm, maybe that was just in France. It was weird to eat corn — that was for animals. I learned that riding horses was the same in France as it was at home.

I learned homesickness fades, and I appreciated my friends even more as they took the time to write me letters and postcards throughout the summer. I learned a good work ethic is a common language wherever you are. Farms have a timeless element that feels safe and rewarding: safe from abrupt change and rewarding in accomplishing daily tasks.

This was a trip of a lifetime that framed my future in ways I never stop appreciating. Yes, it was the magic of France — the incredible food, the quality of life, and the ability to slow down. The French culture and sense of community, hard work, and appreciation for simple beauty — those things are important to me still. Miranda’s unapologetic spirit and gusto gave me the confidence I needed at seventeen, as a young person and a young woman.

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Goldie’s Rotisserie DISHING

Eva Faber (left) noted that more people on Martha’s Vineyard are conscious of where their food comes from than in any other place she has lived or visited.

Continued from page 18 “It was like every single business on the Island followed us and were like ‘can't wait to collaborate, can't wait to try the food, where are you?’ It’s really special, and it’s not the same elsewhere,” she said.

“It’s been a very warm welcome and I think we did a good job of putting a bunch of things on our menu that are undeniably awesome and tasty, and there is really something for everyone.”

Faber said she grew up eating great food made by her mother, Gretchen, who is also her business partner.

About two and a half years ago, Faber met Roth, and they immediately connected and started dating. Faber was looking to start a career, and Roth was looking to create her own food business.

“That was when it clicked that we both realized we wanted to do food together,” Faber said.

It was daunting to decide how the two would compose their menu, but they eventually decided on the extremely modish rotisserie style.

Faber explained that lots of new rotisserie restaurants are popping up in major cities like New York and Los Angeles, and her group of friends were talking about how much of a hit it would be on Martha’s Vineyard.

Although there are a fair amount of good takeout options here, Faber said the high-

“We are going to be slowly turning rotisserie chickens and cooking potatoes and brussels sprouts in the drippings.” – Lexie Roth end rotisserie was nonexistent on-Island.

“We all thought of the times where we were driving around on these busy days kind of thinking ‘Oh, what’s gonna be for dinner? I wish there was a rotisserie spot,’” she said.

With a rotisserie, the possibilities are endless, because hot, crispy chicken goes well with so many different foods. After months of making phone calls and searching for a trustworthy livestock supplier, Faber said she has learned that there are no shortcuts in offering the freshest ingredients in all their food.

And because the food is humanely raised and consciously produced, the values of the two cooks are exemplified in the food they serve.

Faber noted that more people on Martha’s Vineyard are conscious of where their food comes from than in any other place she has lived or visited.

The food truck will be at the Artisans Festival in West Tisbury twice a week,

and is also approved for the drive-in at the YMCA. Faber said she hopes to also be on the list for the 159th Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Fair.

In the near future, Goldie’s will be looking into new menu items and potentially hiring staff if they expand their offerings.

“But we really just want to start out simple, focus on the chicken, and perfect that experience,” Faber said.

For many young people who want to start their own restaurant but can’t afford a high initial overhead cost, food trucks are a great, more accessible option. Faber thinks food trucks are the way of the future, especially on Martha’s Vineyard, where many popular outdoor venues draw huge crowds during the busy summer months.

“People are so supportive — friends, family, and other business owners. This is a really wonderful community, and we are just happy to finally start serving food and making people smile,” Faber said.

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high summer 2021 57

ON THE FARM At the Fair

I

started helping out with the giant Ferris wheel line, and gather ’round Martha’s Vineyard Agriculturthe glow of the Gravitron, telling stories al Fair in 2018, for the same and singing songs late into the night. reason I do most things: My The decision to cancel the 2020 fair, husband is very charming. though clearly the only option, weighed Brian had just been elected heavily on my husband and the other president of the Agricultural trustees. The fair had continued for more Society, and as young, idealistic than 150 years, previously stopping only in leaders are known to do, he had wartime. He didn’t want his legacy to be a number of highly ambitious ideas for im“the Grinch who stole the fair,” but with provement, and didn’t realize exactly how words like “unprecedented” and “these much work was involved until he was truly trying times” worming their way into our in the thick of it, and fair time was drawing vernacular, it was clear we would have to near. He was passionate about his mission, make some sacrifices in order to preserve but beginning to get overwhelmed. So I the health of our community. stepped into my official role as First Lady That fall, when work would usually of the Agricultural Society, rolled up my sleeves, and got to work.

I had some experience running fundraisers and organizing volunteers, so I quickly slid into a similar role for the fair. The work itself was fun and rewarding, but I wasn’t prepared for just how well the whole team, the self-described Fair Gang, worked together. In real life, they are farmers and police officers, chicken whisperers and artisans. They bake and do needlecraft, drive tractors and educate children. But for a few weeks every summer, they eat, sleep, and breathe the fair. They accepted me immediately, admired my unique skills, and Stort by Kate Tvelia Athearn appreciated my time. It Photos courtesy MV Agricultural Society was apparent none of them were there to push their own agenda, or get in anyone’s way. They were simply there start on next year’s fair, case numbers for the love of the fair. They were honored soared on the island, and the Agricultural to have been trusted to uphold an Island Society watched and waited. They met on tradition, their collective mission to make Zoom and spoke on the phone. They specuthis year’s the best one ever. lated and found false hope. They convinced Despite the exhaustion, working at the themselves there was no way a fair would fair has always felt a bit like summer camp happen, and then in the same meeting to me: Spending all day outdoors in matchconvinced themselves there was no way ing T shirts, working together on projects, they could let it NOT happen. Through the not seeing our families or pets for weeks uncertainty, they nonchalantly made some on end. We bond in our sleep-deprived plans, nothing that couldn’t be canceled — state; fueled by endless espresso floats and boat reservations for draft horse trailers; frozen pie on a stick, we giggle inapprolined up some bands. No one knew for sure priately over misspellings on entry forms, when things would get better, and even if convince ride operators to let us cut that we could have a fair, how would we know

O N T H E FA R M

At the

if we should? Wouldn’t having a fair with tens of thousands of people in attendance be asserting that the pandemic was over?

Who were a group of Island farmers to make that claim?

By spring, vaccinations were up, and Massachusetts cases were dropping dramatically. Governor Baker, who people had complained was too careful with his restrictions, suddenly started rolling them back with gusto. The Fair Gang started to feel a feeling we hadn’t let ourselves feel in so long a time, we had nearly forgotten how to recognize it: Hope. Finally, in early May, the word came that all restrictions would be lifted by August, and, if things stayed on course, there would be nothing stopping the fair from happening.

We didn’t have long to process our newly rediscovered feelings, since we were so very far behind.

Preparations began to take on a frantic pace, and there will surely be some things we run out of time for. Our crew has also shrunk a bit — department heads from years past are stepping back and shifting roles for various reasons: illness, new jobs, caring for grandchildren and aging parents, and all those socially anxious pandemic puppies ...

Luckily, we don’t have to do it all on our own. This Island is literally overflowing with people who are just as insane about those four days in late August as my husband is.

They flock to the fairgrounds to help, giving up their precious personal time to paint furniture and move picnic tables, judge junior baking and push strings though teeny-tiny holes on entry tags over and over and over again. They spend their summers carving wooden kayaks, and growing giant sunflowers and alpacas with impossibly long eyelashes. They toss skillets and cheer for their favorite woodsman and stuff themselves with strawberry shortcake and ride the Zipper until they can’t see straight. And this year, more than ever, they honestly cannot wait to share smiles, and yes, maybe even a few hugs, and celebrate the simple joy of being together.

FAIR Rolling up our sleeves, and getting back to work.

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For more than 150 years, the Fair has featured contests — wrestling, running, pole vaulting— and exhibitions of all sorts.

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IN SEASON

I

first discovered golden tilefish at The Fish House, a fish market with fine meats, and delicious takeout at the airport. I also saw it on the menu at the Port Hunter restaurant in Edgartown. Both the Fish House and Port Hunter are very particular about where they source fish and the sustainability of the species. I had never tried golden tilefish and wondered where it was from.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, golden tilefish are “found along the outer continental shelf and slope from Nova Scotia, Canada to Suriname. The golden tilefish fishery in the U.S. is managed from Maine through Virginia, with the majority of the fishery concentrated between Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, south to Cape May, New Jersey; more specifically between Hudson and Veatch Canyons. The market for golden tilefish is for human consumption and is often used in sushi. U.S. wild-caught golden tilefish is a smart seafood choice because it is sustainably managed and responsibly harvested under U.S. regulations.”

So that’s the science, but I wanted to know what it cooked like and tasted like so I asked the co-owner of the Fish

House, Tyler Gibson, to fill me in and tell me what to expect.

He said they are a slow-growing fish, taking a few years to reproduce and can live to almost 50 years old. Tilefish come from the deep canyons near Georges Banks.

“They have large white flakes and are firm, similar to striped bass,” he said, “but it’s not fishy tasting at all like striped bass can be.

It has a delicate, sweet flavor.”

I decided I wanted to grill this gorgeous new fish but didn’t want to mess up, so I analyzed the method carefully.

Grilling most any fish takes some technique. The easiest are fish like tuna and swordfish which have dense, steak-like textures that allow them to sit flat on a hot grill.

This makes it less complicated to cook evenly and easier to turn over. I will grill most fish, except for cod and flounder; I find them too delicate — there’s too much risk of leaving half the fish stuck to the grill.

Tilefish is very firm but does have large white flakes, so you are in between a dense flat steak fish and a delicate white fish.

I came up with this technique which was new to me, though I am sure, as with all cooking methods, it has been done before. Make a tinfoil sheet pan with several sheets of foil, leaving enough foil to pull

up edges, almost making an open pouch. I tried this with the tilefish, and with salmon and halibut. It created a crispy outer crust and a moist, juicy filet inside.

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Grilled Golden Tilefish Prepare a few sheets of foil to create a layer strong enough to lift then set aside.

Rub olive oil over the whole filet of fish.

Set skin side down.

Season with salt and pepper and evenly coat the top of the fish with a dry rub or seasoning mix. I used a lemon-herb rub that they sold at the Fish House and coated the entire top of the filet.

Be sure your grill is very hot. Oil your grill grate and quickly add your fish filet, top side down. Grill your fish for about 4 minutes, so a nice crispy crust is created. Tilefish filets are thick and will take a while to cook.

Very carefully flip the fish to skin side down and grill for another 3 minutes, nice and hot.

Move fish off the direct grill onto your tinfoil and continue cooking another 5 minutes or so, until the fish is cooked in the center. Remember timing all depends on the thickness of the fish and the heat of the grill. Spritz with fresh lemon and a drizzle of olive oil.

Golden Tilefish Story by Tina Miller

Golden Tilefish grilling over a hot fire after being rubbed with olive oil and topped with a lemon-herb rub.

high summer 2021 63

DONE!

Done: An Island Wedding Story by Phoebe Lapine Image by Larisa Stinga

EV: You and Charlie Moffett eloped on Martha’s Vineyard three summers ago. What was your wedding night dinner?

PL: The majority of our wedding day

revolved around food, which is reason No. 4,543,492 why I’m so thrilled that we had a no-frills elopement. Our four-person living room ceremony ended with a champagne toast, caviar, crème fraîche, and potato chips.

Afterward, we packed a very elaborate picnic to take with us to Menemsha. Putting together this snack board (and eating it) is one of our favorite summer activities. The items that always make an appearance: bluefish pâte (from either Edgartown Seafood or the Fish House), a block of whole maple-smoked salmon, crudités, and country pork pâte from Morning Glory Farm, and nutty Grey Barn RipRap cheese.

We started planning our wedding a few days before it happened, so we were incredibly lucky to be able to get a late table at the Outermost Inn. After the sun went down, we migrated to the restaurant for Aperol spritzes on the porch, followed by delicious local steak and potatoes. We brought our own bottle of Pinot Noir that we’d been saving from a trip to the Willamette Valley in Oregon a few years prior.

I’m still dreaming about that evening, but the good news is, almost all the elements came from the Island, and we get to recreate it every year to celebrate our love.

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The groom, Charlie Moffett, kisses the bride, Phoebe Lapine, in Menemsha.

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Phoebe Lapine is a food and health writer, gluten-free chef, speaker, and the voice behind the blog Feed Me Phoebe. Named

by Women’s Health magazine as the top nutrition read of 2017, Phoebe’s debut memoir, The Wellness Project, chronicles her journey with the autoimmune disease, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Lapine’s work has appeared in Food & Wine, Marie Claire, Self, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and the blog mindbodygreen, which named her one of 100 Women to Watch in Wellness. She splits her time between Brooklyn, N.Y., and Edgartown with her husband and beagle.

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