Day: November 23, 2010

Laurie Lufkin On TV Diner Video

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

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(TV Diner) – Thanks to the 2nd Annual Hood New England Dairy Cook-Off and Hood Sour Cream, Laurie Lufkin from Essex, Massachusetts is $10,000 richer! For a complete list of delicious recipes, just to go www.hoodcookoff.com.

Here is Laurie’s Winning recipe-

New England Buttermilk Pumpkin Cakes with Sour Cream Apple Caramel and Dried Cranberries

Makes 6 cakes

PUMPKIN CAKE
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup Hood® Fat Free Buttermilk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 tsp demerara sugar, divided
6 Tbsp sweetened dried cranberries, divided
Hood® Original Instant Whipped Light Cream
SOUR CREAM APPLE CARAMEL
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
3 Tbsp salted butter
1/4 cup Hood® Heavy Cream
3/4 cup Hood® Sour Cream
Pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Cortland apples, peeled and cut in to 1/2” to 3/4” matchsticks

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 6 1 cup ramekins with nonstick spray. In a medium size bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg, pumpkin, buttermilk and vanilla. Slowly mix in dry ingredients and beat until well combined. Divide batter among ramekins, sprinkle with 1/2 tsp demerara sugar and bake 25 to 28 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center of cake comes out clean. Meanwhile, make the apple caramel. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, mix the sugar and water. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Stir gently until sugar is dissolved. Allow mixture to boil until mixture starts to darken. When the liquid is medium caramel color turn off the heat and whisk in the butter until melted, then the cream and sour cream til smooth. Add salt, vanilla extract and apples. To serve: Plate cakes individually, spoon caramel over top and top with 1 Tbsp cranberries and whipped cream

This Week At Cape Ann Community Cinema (11/25-12/2)

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

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On Thanksgiving Day at 7:30pm, the Cape Ann Community Cinema at 21 Main Street in Gloucester continues its holiday tradition by again screening Arlo Guthrie’s 1969 chestnut "Alice’s Restaurant." The $10.00 ticket (no passes accepted) benefits Cape Ann’s food pantry, The Open Door. Guests are encourage to bring a non-perishable food item.
During the holiday weekend and the following week, the Cinema will present:
* "Mao’s Last Dancer" (Drama) – Friday the 26th and Sunday the 28th at 12:30pm.
* "The Secret Of Kells" (Animated) – Friday the 26th and Sunday the 28th at 3:00pm.
* "Four Lions" (Comedy) – Friday the 26th through Sunday the 28th at 5:00pm; Tuesday the 30th through Saturday the 4th at 5:00pm.
* "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest" (Thriller) – Friday the 26th through Sunday the 28th at 7:30pm; Tuesday the 30th through Thursday the 2nd at 2:00pm.
* "Best Worst Movie" (Documentary) – Saturday the 27th at 10:00pm.
Special event programming for the week includes:
* "Love’s Labour’s Lost" (Play in HD) – Shakespeare’s immortal comedy, performed in his very own Globe Theatre in London, has its final performances Tuesday the 30th at 7:30pm, Wednesday the 1st at 11:00am, Thursday the 2nd at 7:30pm, and Saturday and Sunday the 4th and 5th at 1:30pm.
* "Race To Nowhere" (Documentary) – Director Vicki Abeles turns the personal political, igniting a national conversation in her new documentary about the pressures faced by American schoolchildren and their teachers in a system and culture obsessed with the illusion of achievement, competition and the pressure to perform. Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people across the country who have been pushed to the brink, educators who are burned out and worried that students aren’t developing the skills they need, and parents who are trying to do what’s best for their kids, "Race To Nowhere" points to the silent epidemic in our schools: cheating has become commonplace, students have become disengaged, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, and young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired.
"Race To Nowhere" is a call to mobilize families, educators, and policy makers to challenge current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens.
The film plays Wednesday, December 1st at 7:30pm. Director Vicki Abeles will appear for a Q&A via Skype. The $10.00 ticket (no passes accepted) benefits The Gloucester Education Foundation.
Synopses and trailers for all films are available on the Cinema’s website at www.CapeAnnCinema.com, and the Cinema can be reached at (978) 309-8448.

Mary Kate Canavan’s 9th Grade Honors Class Poem Series- Autumn Zubricki

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Art isn’t just painting.  There are many ways people create and here I’d like to share some of the poems that Mary Kate Canavan sent in from her GHS 9th Grade Honors Class.

Autumn Zubricki

Gloucester fishes
Scenery like a postcard
Fresh lobster with salty air
Old timers with tales of their childhood and the olden days
Searching for sea shells; Building pretty sand castles; Swimming in the waves
Moving on to high school; hoping I can find my way around
Running, searching, standing alone, no one can be found anywhere
Weathered skin from the sun; cooking something perfect
Check your heart, then go decide
Giant waves crashing down
Gloucester tells of a place far better than on a postcard

~Autumn Zubricki

Chelsea Berry Shares some great news.

Posted on by Joanne
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! I have a lot to be thankful for this year..
and the list keeps on growing.
You can always check out www.chelseaberry.com for more dates and info,
but I had to send out an email about this particular show…

Livingston Taylor has asked me to perform with him NEXT weekend,
December 3rd and 4th, at the Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport, MA.
Show times are at 8pm.

This is so exciting for me.. it would be fantastic to have your support out there!!
Tickets can be purchased at http://www.firehouse.org/
And if you want to check out Livingston, he’s at www.livtaylor.com .

Thank you all so much! What a lot there is to be thankful for!
Love,
Chelsea

WhereZat? Winner!

Posted on by Sharon

4 Responses to WhereZat? With a prize! Nate was the first to identify the location and Kurt and Dean got it a little later. Congratulations, Nate. You can pick up your t-shirt down at Joey’s dock.

Thanks,everybody, for playing!

  1. Nate says:

    Pass by there everyday and it’s just up the road from my house in Lanesville. Boat sits on the Natti’s old property just across from the farm on Washington Street. Also between Canney and Butman quarries. Used to swim and fish there when I was a kid.

    Neat old boat.

    Nate

  2. It’s on Washington Street, after the fork with Langsford in Lanesville. Just past the Evangelical church, tucked into the trees on the right. Is that accurate enough? I run past their every other day. :)

  3. Anonymous says:

    The cove in Lanesville?

  4. dean horne says:

    that is in lansville just past leverett street on your right i guess it is washington street

Bravo To Gloucester and Fiscal Conservatism

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

We don’t go political on these pages but I would like to extend a huge congratulations to the Mayor and City Council for bringing Gloucester’s Free Cash Balance To The Positive!

Richard Gaines reports at The Gloucester Daily Times-

November 22, 2010

City’s free cash fund: $1.9 million

By Richard Gaines Staff Writer The Gloucester Daily Times Mon Nov 22, 2010, 11:18 PM EST

The state Department of Revenue has certified that, for the first time in nine years, Gloucester enjoyed a free cash balance in the 2010 fiscal year that ended June 30, an accounting characteristic generally considered a barometer of fiscal municipal good health.

Click the link above for the whole story.

Some notables from the story-

By many counts, the city’s finances, which were in shambles and dripping red ink when Kirk took office in January 2008. Beginning in January 2010, she presided over weekly meetings of what was known as the Deficit and Free Cash Project Committee. The group included financial department heads, with City Council representation as well, all seeking to reconcile accounts, plug holes and restore a free cash position.

As recently as fiscal 2008, the city instead held a negative free cash position of $3.818,442.

A year later, the negative position was reduced by about $1.5 million, to $2,384,524.

I’m hoping that Carolyn stays in office for a good long while but with turning in results like that I would think that if she were to pursue higher political aspirations that having this accomplishment on her resume would be something that people all over the country have been calling for.  Being responsible with taxpayers money.

BRAVO To Mayor Kirk and The City Council for this monumental achievement!

Researchers make key observation about animal behavior patterns

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

From Northeastern News–

Researchers make key observation about animal behavior patterns

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March 26, 2009

Northeastern University and MIT researchers have observed—for the first time—the origin of a mass gathering and the subsequent migration of hundreds of millions of animals. Utilizing a new imaging technology invented by the researchers, they were able to instantaneously image and continuously monitor entire shoals of fish containing hundreds of millions of individuals stretching for tens of kilometers off Georges Bank near Boston.

They found that once large shoals of Atlantic herring reach a critical population density, a “chain reaction” triggers the synchronized movement of millions of individual fish over a large area. The phenomenon is akin to a human “wave” moving in a sports stadium. They also observed that the fish “commute” to the shallower waters of the bank, where they spawn in the darkness, then return to deeper water and disband the following morning.

The findings, published in the latest issue of Science, confirm general theories about the behavior of large groups of animals that, until now, had not been verified in nature. Previously, these theories for diverse animal groups, ranging from flocks of birds to swarms of locusts, had only been tested with computer simulations and laboratory experiments.

“As far as we know, this is the first time we’ve quantified this behavior in nature and over such a huge ecosystem,” said Nicholas C. Makris, professor of mechanical and ocean engineering at MIT, who co-led this project with Northeastern professor Purnima Ratilal.

Click here for the entire story

I’m asking myself “is this really news or some type of discovery?”

Any fisherman who has looked down on a school of fish from up above can tell you this.  From the dock when you see the little schools of baby mackerel and as soon as the lead fish turns the entire school turns the same direction in wave-like fashion.

These scientists must have been from the midwest or something because anyone that has spent any amount of time as a fisherman could have told you this for centuries.

They coulda bought me lunch and saved themselves a whole lot of research dollars.  I would have told them, LOL

Eagerly awaiting what Doug Maxfield (the maniac that writes my favorite blog) has to say about this.

File under: Duh!,Captain Obvious Awards