salem – Page 27 – Salem Main Streets

Playing With Your Food 2014 – Weeks 1 through 3

Jun 252014

Produce at Wally’s Vegetables – Week 2

We started a little tradition with the 2013 Winter Market of posting ideas for recipes and uses for the many products you could find at the market, called “Playing With Your Food”. Now that the 2014 Salem Farmers’ Market is in full swing, we thought it would be fun to start a similar tradition highlighting a few of the many great options for the range of produce and artisan food at the market each week. While we can never predict exactly what our farms will be able to bring each week, we will do our best to reflect some of the fun items we’ve found recently and what’s likely to be available for the upcoming week. Hopefully this will give you all a few new ideas to play with, and inspire you to try some new things at the market.

We’ll start with a round up from the first two weeks and the upcoming third week.

Strawberry and Rhubarb

Nothing says early summer like the combination of strawberry and rhubarb, but the season is always far too short. Celebrate them now, or find a way to hang on them for winter when you’re desperately missing summer.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble – easy, peasy, delicious
Rhubarb Buckle with Ginger
Rhubarb Agrodolce – a surprisingly savory option
Strawberry and Cream Biscuits – eat them immediately, or freeze them before baking to enjoy all year long
Rhubarb Cordial – the only downside is that you have to wait a month
Simple Ways to Freeze Strawberries – trust me, on that day in February when it’s sleeting sideways, you’ll be so glad that you planned ahead.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Asparagus

The season for asparagus is almost already over. Snatch some up while you still can!

Assorted Greens and Allium Options

Spring Allium Family

Spring onions, leeks, and scallions are popping up left and right, and they are ridiculously beautiful. Grill them, fry them, saute them, whatever you please!

Grilled Spring Onions – the purple and green scallions we found at the Clark Farm stand last week are beautifully suited to this easy side dish
Leek Fritters – note that leeks this time of year may be a bit smaller than you’re used to seeing, so you’ll need to tweak recipes accordingly

Week 2 - Leek Fritters and Sauteed Pea Tendrils

Leek Fritters and Sauteed Pea Tendrils with Pork Chops

Odds and Ends

Pea Tendrils – we found these at the Long Hill Orchard stand last week and had no idea what to do with them. Turns out a simple saute with garlic, lemon, and salt is all you need!

Berries in syrup, ready for the freezer

Drink Up Art at PEM’s British Pub Night

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Jun 172014

Drinking is on tap at the Peabody Essex Museum this Thursday night as the next edition of PEM/PM takes place from 6-9pm. Drinking in terms of British beer tasting and drinking in the art of celebrated British artist J.M.W. Turner.

We are quite lucky here in Salem, having not only a quality museum in town, but also a very creative one that makes every effort to be accommodating to the community in the ways it approaches self-promotion.

To do this, every month the PEM has a party series, staying open into the night to shine a spotlight on a particular exhibit. This month: J.M.W. Turner, the British artist celebrated in Turner & the Sea, a new exhibition of more than 100 paintings on view this summer. The evening will feature gallery talks, The Jovial Crew singing folk songs of the sea and shore, a British beer tasting in the Asian Garden, the opportunity to play darts and other pub games and an art-making activity to decorate your own coaster.

Other refreshments will consist of a Cash Bar, with special small plates menu from the Hawthorne Hotel.

In the midst of this swirl of activity, guests will have the opportunity to explore the works of Turner who was one of the most original painters of landscapes and seascapes in Europe.

“Turner lived in one of the world’s most powerful nations at the water’s edge for much of his life, at the very peak of British sea power. As any great artist will do, he embraced the atmosphere of his time and presented it through his work. Turner’s talent was such that he went a step further and also redefined marine painting, and perhaps all painting, forever,” said Daniel Finamore, PEM’s Russell W. Knight Curator of Maritime Art and History.

Dramatic, contemplative, dangerous and beautiful, the sea was the perfect subject to showcase the singular talents of Turner.

Guests will see iconic works spanning the artist’s career from his transformative Academy paintings of the late 1790s and early 1800s to the unfinished, experimental seascapes produced toward the end of his life. Paintings by European and American masters — such as Constable, Whistler and Sargent — illuminate how Turner influenced generations of artists.

Admission is free of charge to PEM members and Salem residents (with ID); Nonmembers $10 at the door. For more info call 866‐745‐1876 or visit their Web site at www.pem.org.

Thursday, Salem Farmers Market and You!

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Jun 132014

You missed it didn’t you? Admit it. You put it on your calendar that the Salem Farmers Market grand opening for the 2014 season was Thursday, June 12th. And you forgot about it. Don’t worry. It will take place next Thursday and every Thursday until Oct. 23rd from 3-7pm in our Derby Square.

Vegetables by the ounce, pound and bushel await you. Plus a great deal more (eggs, strawberries, apple cider, tomatoes, greens, pretzels, honey, cookies, and cheese). Several of the tables we hear were cleaned out.

The mission of a “Farmers Market” is to enhance the quality of life in the Salem downtown area by providing a community activity that fosters social gathering and interaction.

You the shopper are given the rare opportunity to interact with the person who grew or made the items on the table for purchase. You can ask questions. Where did it come from? How was it grown? How fresh is it based on how long it took to get to market?

According to a survey conducted by Farmers Markets Today magazine, more than 85% of farmers market vendors traveled fewer than 50 miles to sell at a farmers market in 2008. In fact, more than half of farmers traveled less than 10 miles to their market, according to a 2006 USDA survey.

You are supporting local agriculture and producers by providing a direct market for their produce and goods. And believe it or not you are also bringing business to local merchants.

The Farmers Market Coalition reports that a 2010 study of the Easton Farmers Market in Pennsylvania, for example, found that 70% of farmers market customers are also shopping at downtown businesses, spending up to an extra $26,000 each week.

Therefore we invite you to come to Salem for our Farmers Market, and then stay to visit our diverse selection of shops, stores and restaurants. (Photographs courtesy of Social Palates)

Hoop Over to Salem Arts Festival

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Jun 072014

Photo Credit – Karen Scalia

You are now joining our program already in progress— if you are coming to Salem Ma. this Saturday or Sunday to participate in our annual Salem Arts Festival. But that’s ok. There are more than enough events and creative arts presenters to satisfy your viewing interests.

Now in its sixth year, the Salem Arts Festival boasts attendance numbers in the thousands and celebrates all the arts: painting, photography, sculpture, dance, music, writing, film, new media, performance, theatre, poetry, culinary, and more.

This year’s event also includes a street fair, plus live entertainment on two performance stages (located in Derby Square and on Artists’ Row).

One of the more colorful events, which already took place, but you can join in progress is

the HulaArt project. “Re-use of recycled materials to create diverse art expressions” is one way used to describe what essentially was the presence of “over four hundred hula hoops, a fifth of which were transformed into HulaArt, form a colorful canopy above Salem’s Artist Row.”

But true to this being a part of an Arts Festival, even the delivery and installation of the hoops to create the canopy was performance art. You can walk under the canopy of hoops. You can look up and marvel at the circles and shapes. And you can even try your hand (or waist) at hooping yourself.

We feel this is a great representation of our hopes for the Arts Festival, it is something you can participate in as well as just view.

Kylie Sullivan, Manager of Salem Main Streets comments “The amount of love, imagination, and hard work that has gone into the HulaArt is absolutely incredible, especially on the part of our partners at the Salem Public Space Project and the Phoenix School, in addition to our sponsors and the support of the City of Salem.

She adds “This project exemplifies so much of what we’re trying to accomplish with this year’s Arts Festival – collaboration, community, and transformation of space.”

No need to bring your own hoop, we have plenty to spare and share.

Salem State University and Salem Arts Festival

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Jun 022014

Ponyfish with Priscilla Swain, SSU ’10

Many partners contribute each year to the final production that we call the Salem Arts Festival. At Salem Main Streets we appreciate each and every one of them.

Steve Jones, SSU ’14

Take for example, Salem State University. Granted SSU is not part of Salem’s Downtown district, but it is an important part of Salem. During the academic year, its creative and performing arts departments present more than 100 events on campus, all open to the public. Karen Gahagan, Director of the Center for Creative and Performing Arts at SSU explains, “This year dozens of Salem State visual and performing artists are bringing that creativity downtown and will be participating in the festival. They include students, faculty, staff and alumni from a range of artistic disciplines.”

Among the Salem State participants in this year ‘s festival which takes place June 6-8:

Aurora Borealis Dance Company

Aurora Borealis Dance Company is founded by Salem State dance student Katie Pustizzi. Katie is also a Presidential Arts Scholar at Salem State and was a 2014 Creativity Award winner, the highest honor Salem State bestows on a student in the arts;
Molly Pinto Madigan – Molly is a Salem State alum, class of 2013 and a 2013 SSU Creativity Award winner, in both creative writing and music. She might be providing some of her wonderful original music at the opening reception but have a chat with her about her newly published book, Black Apples: 18 New Fairytales;
YMCA Theatre Company – led by another Salem State Alum, Nicole Leotsakos ‘09, the Y’ s Performing Arts Director;
Only Human – is a musical about a small town, a movie star, humanity, death and pigs. Salem State connections include writer JD Scrimgeour (professor of English), director Peter Sampieri (professor of Theatre), musical director Karen Gahagan (Director of the Center for Creative and Performing Arts), plus a cast packed with Salem State theatre students;
Chalk: A Play – This is a 10 minute play written by SSU English professor Michael Jaros, and starring SSU theatre alum Maryanne Truax ‘13 and current BFA theatre major James Wechsler, a 2014 SSU Creativity Award winner;
The Upstart Crows – a new classical theatre company based in Salem. Many of the actors are students or recent alum of Salem State University or Gordon College, as well as alumni of local theater strongholds Cry Innocent and Rebel Shakespeare. They will be performing Love’s Labour’s Lost on Salem Common each night of the festival;
Ponyfish is an acoustic trio that features Salem State alum Priscilla Swain ‘10;
Machine 475 – This group is a Salem mainstay and includes Richard Lewis, SSU professor of Art & Design, and Salem State alumni Danielle Meara ’11 and Jim Forrest ‘01
The Old Town Hall art exhibition includes works by Scott Dalrymple and Andrea Jenkins, current Salem State students and alum Steve Jones ’14, yet another SSU Creativity Award winner.

We think that Karen Gahagan put it nicely, “The Salem Arts Festival is now well-established and people recognize it as ‘our arts festival’ if one is part of the Salem community no matter what the relationship. The SAF also did an excellent job getting the call for artists out there this year which raised awareness. I think that people at Salem State and elsewhere have started to take notice of this festival and that more and more artists from all over the region will look to participate as it moves forward.”

Mark your calendar, June 6-8 downtown Salem, MA, and go Vikings!

Only Human: A Musical

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