Individual little apple tarte Tatins hot and fresh from the oven
For the Chef’s Table dinner that I was so very fortunate to recently attend, Chef Matt Beach prepared simply the most delicious apple tarte Tatin you could possibly imagine.
A tarte Tatin is a tart cooked upside down and made with fruit (typically apples) that have been caramelized in butter and sugar prior to baking. The recipe originates from the Centre Region of France, a rich agricultural area where many tree fruits are grown. Peaches, plums, pears, and apricots may also be used to make the tarte.
Flipping the tartes from the ramekins
Warm and ready to serve
Chef Beach served the apple tarte Tatin with his equally as wonderful salted caramel homemade ice cream.
Beach Gourmet is a full-service catering company. They have a passion for sharing good food and friendship. And they know how to throw a great party! Their primary business is Catering and Event Management for parties large and small. Additionally, they have a thriving Personal Chef business, working for clientele they care deeply about and with whom they have grown to regard as both client and friend.
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Hotel Tatin, Lamotte Beuvron, France
End Note ~ Legend has it that apple tarte Tatin was originally created by Stéphanie Tatin in the 1880s at the Hotel Tatin, located in Lamotte Beuvron, France, and which is still in operation. Visit this fabulous website Friends of the tarte Tatin for more information, the history of, and for a recipe as close as possible to the original 19th century apple tarte Tatin recipe.
If you’re listening to North Shore 104.9 today, you know they’re broadcasting Senator Bruce Tarr’s North Shore Toy Drive live until 6pm and you’ll hear Senator Tarr mention a “Once in a lifetime” auction on air. We don’t want people who can’t have the radio on to miss out, so here’s the scoop:
You can bid on this “once in a lifetime opportunity” by sending an email to northshoretoydrive@yahoo.com with your name, phone number and your bid.
Senator Tarr will be updating the bid price live on the radio during the day — and you can continue bidding during the day tomorrow too. The winning bid will be announced tomorrow (FRI) at 5pm. The money will be donated to the winner’s local Toy Drive charity.
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Heidi Dallin has produced a brand-new Holiday Delights show for 2013. Check out this wicked cool promo by Lisa Smith from Cape Ann TV. Lisa’s daughter is in the show too! Four performances @ Gloucester Stage this weekend: Friday 7pm, Saturday 3pm & 7PM and Sunday 3pm. Adults $15, Seniors $12, Children under 12 $6. Get tickets here.
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When local New Orleans transplant, Henri Smith, and his band take the stage Saturday and Sunday at the Larcom Theatre in Beverly, they won’t be the only people in the house with musical instruments.
That’s because members of the audience are bringing instruments to donate to The Musary — a free music lending library “no strings attached” serving Boston’s North Shore, including Cape Ann.
Everyone who brings an instrument to donate will be entered to win a door prize at intermission. The door prizes we have now are:
One night stay at Salem Hawthorne Hotel plus $50 gift certificate for Nathaniel’s (their restaurant).
Spa Day at Maison Esthetique Christiane Bourque Spa in Danvers ($400 value)
Plus a chance to have your Christmas shopping paid for with the 50/50 Raffle!
The Musary is a 501(c)3 on-profit organization that that works to motivate, cultivate and inspire people, especially young people, in our community to get involved in music. It is the Musary’s goal to lend musical instruments to anyone in need, “No Strings Attached.” To learn more about The Musary, borrow an instrument or donate, visit their website.
There’s plenty of time to dig around in your attic or basement and find that no-longer-used instrument so you can put it to good use again this weekend. And who knows, you might just win something — but even if you don’t win, you’ll know you helped a young person appreciate the power of music, who might not otherwise be able to do so. And that will feel great! There are still some seats left for Henri Smith New Orleans Christmas Concert on Saturday at 7:30pm (get them here) — and excellent seats left for the Sunday Matinee at 2pm (get them here).
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My neighbor, Melissa Tarr, is having a holiday open house to celebrate her brand new jewelry design business, Design of Mine. The party is this coming Wednesday, December 11th, from 6 pm to 9 pm, at her home located at 19 Plum Street. Her collecion will be available for sale, refreshments served, and everyone is invited! I hope to see you there!
Best wishes for a first great holiday season with your new business Melissa; the first of many seasons yet to come!
“Many things can wait. Children cannot. Today their bones are being formed, their blood is being made, their senses are being developed. To them we cannot say ‘tomorrow’. Their name is today. ” Gabriela Mistral (1899-1957)
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Just in case you haven’t noticed, North Shore 104.9’s “Curtain Up” host, Aurelia Nelson, has been inviting Cape Ann musians to be her guests more frequently of late and it points to a trend of featuring locals on the station as a whole (see some examples here).
Tomorrow (SUNDAY) at 9AM, she does it again, this time with Henri Smith. Henri will talk about all the special guest he has pull together for his New Orleans Christmas show at the Larcom Theatre.
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More wonderful Cape Ann-themed holiday gift ideas, brought to you by Good Morning Gloucester! You can purchase Rusty and Ingrid Kinunnen’s work at The Hive, Cape Ann Art Haven, now through December 31st. For more information about their products and pricing, visit the Kinunnen’s website at Rusty and Ingrid Creative Company.
Vine from last night’s opening reception. I apologize for the bumpy Vine. I think the camera was struggling to focus on the shiny glass of the framed pictures.
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Children are invited to meet Santa at Cape Ann TV’s Annual Santa Party on Monday, December 9, 2013
Cape Ann TV will host its annual Santa Party on Monday, December 9 at 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Cape Ann TV Studio located at 38 Blackburn Center in Gloucester. Children are invited to come to the studio and meet Santa Claus. Their meeting with Santa will be videotaped and shown on Cape Ann TV’s Channel 12 on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This annual event is a free and open to the public.
As this is the season of giving, Cape Ann TV is a Project Uplift children’s toy and teen present collection site for families in need. Although it is not necessary to bring a gift, you may drop off a new unwrapped toy or new clothes for a child, or gift card for teens up to age 14.
For more information about Cape Ann TV’s Santa Party please call: 978-281-2443. Additional information can be found online here.
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Cupcake Makers Addie and Jacynda have cooked up a mountain of cupcakes for Ladies Night. Come on down and have your gift wrapped for free (donations gladly accepted) meet the artists, and enjoy a supper yummy cupcake!
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A lot has happened since last Friday when the trees went up, but there are still a few trees to be decorated. Some groups are showing a little imagination with their trees… All trees are to be decorated by this Friday December 6th.
The Friendship Tree will be lit Sunday at 4:30 PM at the First Parish Church on Town Hall Common and the Trees in the Festival of Trees will be lit right after.
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Thursday December5th the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce will hold a Christmas Part at Seaside Cycles, 23 Elm Street, Manchester. Raffles, door prizes and more! All are welcome!
Friday December 6 – Shop Manchester will take place from 4:00 until 9:00 pm. Collect stamps in your holiday passbook as you visit any of the merchants and win a valuable gift pack from local businesses. Plus you will have a chance to win a new Apple iPad or new BMX bicycle. Details at the merchant shops.
Christmas by the Sea Childcare Service So the parents can shop with ease and without young ones seeing anything too early, Childcare Services will be available between 5:30 and 8:30 pm at the Manchester Public Library. A minimum donation of $10.00 with a family maximum of $30.00 for the evening. Green Team will entertain the children with arts & crafts/games/movie and light refreshments. Proceeds to support the programming offered by the Manchester Community Center and to support the efforts of the Manchester Essex Green Team. Manchester Public Library 15 Union Street, Manchester.
Saturday December 7th Shop Manchester continues all day with the chance to win the prizes already mentioned and see all the special ideas and gifts the Shops of Manchester have to offer this Christmas.
Manchester Sailing Association trims their tree for Festival of Lights
Surfari shows the Christmas Spirit
Santa Claus Comes to Manchester! The Annual Jingle Bell walk will start at 1:00 PM when Santa arrives by boat at Masconomo Park. Santa will lead the children on a walk to Singing Beach followed by an open house at the Community Center from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. See the petting zoo, a craft activity, face painting, entertainment with Mrs. Claus and refreshments. Santa will be available for the children to meet and have a their picture taken with Santa.
Holidays and Wintertide II: An Evening with Chelsea Berry & Friends ~ 7:00 PM Single Tree Music and the Historic Manchester Trust present a special Holiday concert performance featuring Chelsea Berry, Joe Cardoze, Renee Dupuis and John Rockwell. The Crowell Chapel, 4 Rosedale Avenue. Tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com
Sunday December 8th Santa’s tour of Manchester starts at 12;00 and will go until about 2:30 PM. Santa will be start at the Fire Station and be driven around on a fire truck throwing Animal Crackers to the children as he tours the Town. Families are also encouraged to visit Santa at the Fire Station at 11:45 AM prior to his leaving on the tour.
A Christmas Concert will be held at the First Parish Church from 3:30 to 4:30 PM. The concert will feature the Manchester-Essex School Band, Soundwaves, the High School Chorus, Memorial School Chorus and La Petite Choral.
4:30 PM Lighting of the Friendship Tree and the Festival of Trees, the official start of the Christmas season following the concert at the First Parish Church on Town Hall Common
A busy weekend in Manchester!
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From Egypt to England to Gloucester: A New Journey for 2013
A Holiday Season Event for All Ages Featuring Students from Gloucester Stage Youth Acting Workshops
Christmas in Gloucester – photo by Gary NgMrs. Claus and the elves in Santa’s Workshop – photo by Gary NgThe Carolers – photo by Gary NgFezziwig Ball – photo by Gary NgMrs. Claus’ favorite elves – photos by Gary NgDancing Dreidels – photo by Gary Ng
The Gloucester Stage Youth Acting Workshops proudly presents Holiday Delights from December 13 through December 15 at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Holiday Delights features a cast of 40 young people ranging in age from 6 to 17, all students in Gloucester Stage Youth Acting Workshops. Conceived and directed by Heidi Dallin, this festive evening of stories, songs, magic and dance recounts the special traditions that other cultures and families experience as seen during one young girl’s magical journey on Christmas Eve to discover what is really important during the the holiday season.
The 2013 edition of Holiday Delights features the new journey of a young girl who discovers the spirit and the joys of the holiday season as she faces the prospect of leaving her beloved hometown of Gloucester and moving with her family to a new home in Michigan. During her Christmas Eve travels with Mrs. Claus and the elves, she joins an Egyptian Christmas celebration, celebrates Hanukkah, travels back in time to turn of the century Gloucester to see her Italian-Irish ancestors celebrate the holidays and meets famous literary characters including The Cratchit Family and the Fezziwig Family from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and the March Sisters from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. During her Christmas Eve journey she learns about the special traditions of other families and comes to realize the importance of her own family traditions.
The 2013 edition of Holiday Delights features the new story of a contemporary family in Egypt celebrating Christmas inspired by YAW student Farah Moussa, an exchange student from Egypt studying at Gloucester High School. Cast members learned traditional Egyptian dance. The 2013 production includes elements of Sign Language learned in YAW classes this year, magic performed by cast members, new songs, new twists on classic holiday stories and the return of the original story set in turn of the century Gloucester featuring the young girl’s grandmother as a young girl herself growing up on the Fort in an Irish-Italian fishing family. According to director and writer Heidi Dallin, “I wanted to explore the main character’s background so she could see first hand her own family traditions and thus gain a new appreciation for them. I also wanted to offer the entire cast a glimpse of Gloucester’s past and enrich their experience in the production. We had an enthusiastic audience response to the 2012 premiere of the story so we brought the story back this year with some new twists and a new song.” In addition to Dallin, the artistic staff includes music direction by Gloucester Public Schools’ Helen Greene, choreography by Windhover’s Carol Burnham, set design by Gloucester Joe Mustone and property design by Danver’s Jamie Wilkinson, costume design by Lara Jardullo, and lighting design by Brendan Marr.
The 40 young actors bring the original and classic stories to life on stage with a fresh perspective. Many actors play multiple roles in the production to bring all the stories to life. The show has over 100 costume changes. Holiday Delights features classic holiday music including Deck The Halls; O, ChristmasTree, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town and the show ends with a audience sing a long and a visit from Santa Claus. Gloucester High School Junior 17 year old Jaqi McCarthy returns to the role of Mrs. Claus. McCarthy has been a student of Gloucester Stage Youth Acting Workshops since age six and has appeared in Holiday Delights for 4 years. Waring School student 12 year old Sara Wheeler plays the young girl who wants to skip Christmas rather than move away from Gloucester. Wheeler first appeared in Holiday Delights in 2007 and was the youngest member of that year’s cast. She has performed in all 5 productions of Holiday Delights, originating over a dozen different roles since 2007.
Holiday Delights performances are December 13 through December 15 at Gloucester Stage, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Performance times are 7 pm on December 13, December 14 and 3 pm on December 14 and December 15 Ticket prices are $15 for Adults; $12 for Senior Citizens, $8 for Students and $6 for Children under 12. For tickets and further information, call 978-281-4433 or visit http://www.gloucesterstage.com
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Both tremendously talented musicians promise to make for excellent shows. You can join the studio audience at Cape Ann TV, 38 Blackburn Center (get directions). As usual we ask that you get there by 2pm, but don’t expect us to start on time — it’s TV, something always happens.
Here are a couple of videos to give you an idea of the very high level of musicianship you can expect to enjoy.
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Move quickly to see works of 6 Cape Ann artists at the Manchester Town Hall. The exhibit will be there through Thanksgiving and all pieces are for sale. The artists include: Andrea Dunn, Kathleen Miller, Nancy Molvig, Ann L. Pulver, Leigh Slingluff, and Trina Smith. There are a variety of subject matters shown with several outdoor scenes and landscapes you may recognize.
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I love to procrastinate. One of my Grandfather’s favorite sayings (he had lots of them) is “Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow, ’cause you might not have to do it.”
It used to be that if you wanted to see live music in Gloucester and Cape Ann, you could decide at the last minute, stroll down to the venue just before showtime, get your tickets at the door, mosey on in and find a good seat.
But if you wanted to see Overboard on Nov 30 at Old Sloop, you’re just plain outa luck. They’re completely sold out. So are a number of other local shows between now and Christmas.
Ken Duckworth led the book discussion on The Book: On the Taboo of Knowing Who You Are, written by Alan Watts, for the Eastern Point Lit House and Duckworth’s co-hosted last event of the season. Ken shared several Alan Watts, Trey Parker, and Matt Stone animated videos.
Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was a British-born philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and populariser of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York. Pursuing a career, he attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, where he received a master’s degree in theology. Watts became an Episcopal priest then left the ministry in 1950 and moved to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies.
Watts gained a large following in the San Francisco Bay Area while working as a volunteer programmer at KPFA, a Pacifica Radio station in Berkeley. Watts wrote more than 25 books and articles on subjects important to Eastern and Western religion, introducing the then-burgeoning youth culture to The Way of Zen (1957), one of the first bestselling books on Buddhism. In Psychotherapy East and West (1961), Watts proposed that Buddhism could be thought of as a form of psychotherapy and not a religion. He also explored human consciousness, in the essay “The New Alchemy” (1958), and in the book The Joyous Cosmology (1962).
Towards the end of his life, he divided his time between a houseboat in Sausalito and a cabin on Mount Tamalpais. His legacy has been kept alive by his son, Mark Watts, and many of his recorded talks and lectures are available on the Internet. According to the critic Erik Davis, his “writings and recorded talks still shimmer with a profound and galvanizing lucidity.”
As part of his growing popularity Matt Stone and Trey Parker—creators of the animated series South Park—have also contributed a video tribute by animating some of his lectures. This has spawned a culture of user-animated videos all around the net.
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Individual little apple tarte Tatins hot and fresh from the oven
Flipping the tartes from the ramekins
Chef Beach served the apple tarte Tatin with his equally as wonderful salted caramel homemade ice cream.
Hotel Tatin, Lamotte Beuvron, France 
Good Morning Gloucester 