Lemonade from lemons- A North Dakota tradition

Let's write about traditions!  This adorable essay was published in the North Dakota newspaper "The Pierce County Tribune". 

Lutheran Lemon Ladies cake recipe is at the end of this article.  Many thanks to Chuck Repnow.

I'm always on the lookout for uplifting news, although the findings are increasingly difficult to locate.

Nevertheless, "taadaaa", inevitably, something positive leaps out.

I'm sharing this story out of Minot and Rugby North Dakota, by Chuck Repnow, published in the Pierce County Tribune. A picture and recipe is attached to the story link here. (Although I have also posted the recipe below.) 

Making lemonade from lemons, welcome the "Lutheran Lemon Ladies" (I hope you enjoy lemons):

Pierce County Tribune:  In our home we have been welcoming spring with the fresh taste of lemons. Ah, the color, size, and abundance of juice in handpicked Arizona lemons-there is simply nothing like it. The lemon box held center stage in our home thanks to two Lutheran Lemon Ladies.

Did you know that there are Lutheran Lemon Ladies? Yep and they live right here in the Magic City (Minot ND)! 

No matter how many lemons come rolling their way, they never get sour. But instead, they are inspired by lemons. In fact, they welcome lemons like the North Dakota prairie welcomes the clustered, ruffled blossoms of the lavender and white lilacs of Memorial Day.

They know that lemons, like lilacs, offer a fresh scent that is a true luxurious treat to the nostrils and hands. 

Take a walk down a lilac lined alley or street amid the cascading flowers, and you cannot help but smile. I have a feeling that the same is true when one comes across a grove of lemon trees, too. Recently, life threw at one of the Lutheran Lemon Ladies a ton of lemons. What to do? Well, after a short prayer and talk with the man above, she knew what to do. She knew that these lemons were meant to travel north, not just to merely keep her company on the journey home to the Peace Garden State (North Dakota), but for a deeper purpose.

In fact, she had a "fairly" good idea where these yellow citrus submarines should end up. With the scent of fresh lemons about her as she traveled, she let her mind be submerged with the idea of lemons making people happy, lemons doing good, lemons bringing people together, she went as far to even think that perhaps a lemon pie topped with a white fluffy meringue might cause people to think heavenly thoughtsoh my! Now this is a reason for one and all to love a Lutheran Lemon Lady.

Upon arriving in the Magic City (Minot ND), she was filled with excitement knowing that these transported lemons had a Lutheran purpose. As she passed by Scandinavian Park, her fingers tightly gripped the steering wheel as she was closing in on her target. Then she took a deep breath and the citrus fragrance brought her to her senses. She has been known to spark at times-but not now. She told herself "Take it slow." After all, these lemons are going to add great freshness to a Lutheran tradition.

As she strolled up North Hill, she pointed her car in the direction of another devoted Lutheran Lemon Lady. It was this lady who took the lemons into her kitchen and twirled the juice out of them. She created lemon waterfalls as the juices were transferred to containers-even Niagara Falls smiled at the flow she could trigger on the Dakota Plains.

Yes, we were fortunate to receive some of these lemons. We tried to be like the Lutheran Lemon Ladies and spread the goodness of lemons about the town. Our efforts included making lemon meringue pie and sharing it with neighbors. Next was homemade lemonade for the Heritage Singers Board meeting last Wednesday at band shell in Oak Park. However, the biggest smiles came when enough lemon Bundt cake was baked so each resident at Edgewood could savor a slice. Wow, and all of the above activities were done with physical distancing-we can be still be social, after all!

An even bigger "Wow!", has been happening for several years with the Lutheran Lemon Ladies. 

Karen Krebsbach and Joylea Knutson are the harmonious Lutheran Lemon Ladies. For many years, Karen has brought back lemons from Arizona to be used for the mouth-watering lemon pies at the First Lutheran Food Stand at the North Dakota State Fair. Joylea puts in endless hours of juicing the lemons and freezing their goodness for a later use. Thank you, Karen and Joylea, for being good stewards of lemons.

There will be no North Dakota State Fair this year due to COVID-19. Our family, like many others, will miss the delicious homemade pie created each year by hands at First Lutheran Church. 

Maybe we can hope for a curbside pie day at First Lutheran Church this summer. If this should happen, know that the lemon meringue pie will have quite story.

Recipe:

http://www.thepiercecountytribune.com/page/content.detail/id/535037/LET-S-COOK--Lutheran-lemon-ladies.html?nav=5011

Lemony Bundt Cake with Lemon Dream Glazing
This recipe came from our family friend, Gladys Rust of Underwood. It was made several times in our home in an avocado-colored Bundt pan. It makes a high Bundt cake that can forage a crew. Add a dollop of glazing on the serving plate before placing the cake down, and then another drizzle on top make this cake wonderful. When sliced thin this will easily serve 20 people.

Cake
- 1 cup butter, at room temperature
- 2 ¾ cups of sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 6 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 1 ½ tablespoons of grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon of lemon extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cup sour cream

Glaze
- ¼ sour cream
- 3 tablespoon butter, room temperature
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 teaspoons grated lemon zest
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-in Bundt pan.
In a large bowl, cream butter until fluffy and gradually add sugar beating until fluffy. Add egg 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in lemon juice, and extract. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Beat until just combined. With a knife, blend in lemon zest.

Pour into prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean, 55-60 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Cake will shrink away from sides of pan when cool.
For glaze, in a bowl, beat sour cream and butter until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar. Beat in lemon juice and zest. Drizzle over cake and use remaining glaze to plate cake. This glaze will keep for several days in the refrigerator.

Let's write "blogging'- creativity with the here and now

Many thanks to the talented Franco-American comedy actress Susan Poulin for posting this lovely essay in her "Just Ask Ida", character's website blog.  In my opinion, her creative love essay is an example of how to communicate across generations given the challenges of living in the here and now.  This essay is also on my Facebook Notes blog, entry "Lily Petals #36", with Susan Poulin's permission to share.  In "Lily Petals", I promote positive social media messages.  This essay is inspirational and I hope will reach out to those who have experienced their own reality version of "Dad Visit".

https://www.facebook.com/notes/juliana-lheureux/lilly-petal-36-positive-social-media-message-ida-visits-dad/10158522186866788/

Susan Poulin is a talented actress who writes for Ida in "Just Ask Ida". Her positive social media message in "Dad Visit" describes a reunion with family members who have been separated during the coronavirus pandemic. Thanks Susan for the permission to share.

This week, I got to see my dad in person for the first time in over a hundred days. Now that was a big deal.

Luckily, they haven’t had any Covid-19 cases at Mahoosuc Green, our senior living facility. They’ve been smart about it and shut the place down early. Even packages of homemade goodies weren’t allowed. Still aren’t.

And yes, I’d had a few window visits with dad, but those just made me more lonesome. Him, too, I think. I had to cat burgle myself through the shrubs to dad’s window and put my hands up to the glass so I could see him better. We weren’t allowed to open the window, of course, and so we had to talk on the phone in order to hear each other. There was a little delay between whatever mumbles dad was hearing through the glass and what was coming out of the phone. Let’s just say it was hard to really get a conversation going.

Well, my in-person visit was a little better than that. I had to sign a contract and make an appointment. When I got there, they took my temperature. Our visit took place outside in the courtyard and we both had to wear masks. We were supervised, too, so we’d stay six feet apart from each other. No problem. As a cashier down to the A&P, I work with the public and have no intention of being the Angel of Death at Mahoosuc Green.

When they brought Dad out, I got a little teary. As he kept saying “I just want to jump up and hug you!” 

“I know Dad. Me too.”

Unfortunately, Sadie Dupris was visiting with her mom on the other side of the courtyard. That was distracting for both dad and me because for a librarian, Sadie sure is a loud talker.

‘Course, I was doing the same thing because without me and my sister Irene’s supervision, dad had stopped wearing his hearing aids. When I asked him why, he goes, “Tired of hearing old ladies chattering.”

To which I reply, “Well, I’m not an old lady, so next time I come, put your ears in, okay?”

I thought a half hour visit (which was the max allowed) wouldn’t be enough. Boy, was I ever wrong. Yelling at my dad through a mask (so no lip reading) and having to repeat everything at least twice, was plenty for me. I hate to admit it, but I was a little relieved with the gal supervising us gave me the signal our time was up.

“Looks like that’s it for now, Dad.”

“So soon?”

“Yup. We gotta play by the rules. Irene’s coming tomorrow, and Caitlin will be here Saturday. You’re a popular guy.”

“I just want to jump up and hug you, honey.”

“I know, Dad. Me, too.”

That’s it for now. Stay safe and catch you on the flip side!

Short nasty words correlate with regressive intellectual development

Echo essay published in The Irish Times.
This article is obviously written with political implications but I want to include it in "Let's Write", because the underlying premise transcends politics.  Of course, in my opinion, the Irish press is spot on to both the political and emotional intelligence subjects presented in this article, published in 2017, but even more relevant today.

Donald Trump's vocabulary is focused on simple words for the purpose of vilifying his detractors and opponents. He succeeds with this simple denegrating speaking style because his zealous followers can understand the words.

You total loser: Donald Trump and the power of a small vocabulary

‘Dummy’, ‘idiots’, ‘morons’: basic words, but the way the president uses them resonates
March 18, 2017 by Hugh Linehan

US president Donald Trump spent more than an hour berating the press and claiming that “there has never been a presidency that’s done so much in such a short period of time”. 

Philip Roth didn’t mince his words when he was asked about Donald Trump. “I found much that was alarming about being a citizen during the tenures of Richard Nixon and George W Bush,” the novelist told the New Yorker magazine in January. “But, whatever I may have seen as their limitations of character or intellect, neither was anything like as humanly impoverished as Trump is: ignorant of government, of history, of science, of philosophy, or art, incapable of expressing or recognizing subtlety or nuance, destitute of all decency, and wielding a vocabulary of seventy-seven words that is better called Jerkish than English.”

Roth is not alone in thinking that Trump’s limited vocabulary indicates a low intellect and a lack of education. Running the 45th president’s speeches through the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level assessment, an American readability test, analysts found his vocabulary to be at the level of an average fourth-grader, or nine-year-old, in the US educational system. Mind you, several of his rivals in last year’s Republican primaries were only marginally better.

There is a long tradition in US politics of candidates modulating their language to appear more down to earth, and of world political leaders deliberately dumbing down so as not to appear elitist. 

Nevertheless, Trump is different. His bludgeoning repetition of the same aggressive words – “bad”, “sad”, “failing” – along with a couldn’t-care-less approach to grammar and syntax, point not just to a nine-year-old but to a pretty unpleasant, thuggish one.
As any news observer can observe, he lives to diminish his foes by calling them ‘losers’, ‘total losers’, ‘haters’, ‘dumb’, ‘idiots’, ‘morons’, ‘stupid’, ‘dummy’ and ‘disgusting’.”

The media critic Jack Shafer nailed the Trump rhetorical style during the presidential election campaign. “Flattening the English language whenever he speaks without a script, Trump relies heavily on words such as ‘very’ and ‘great’, and the pronouns ‘we’ and ‘I’, which is his favourite word. As any news observer can observe, he lives to diminish his foes by calling them ‘losers’, ‘total losers’, ‘haters’, ‘dumb’, ‘idiots’, ‘morons’, ‘stupid’, ‘dummy’ and ‘disgusting’.”

But Shafer cautioned against treating this vocabulary as a marker of low intelligence. “Trump’s professional history indicates a skill at dealing and deceiving, inspiring and selling,” he wrote. “The role Trumpspeak has played in Trump’s polls suggests that perhaps too many politicians talk over the public’s head, when more should be talking beneath it in the hope of winning elections.”

It’s not just the words Trump uses, but the way he puts them together. When Trump is speaking without a script – his preferred mode of address – the results can be quite something. When he said in the third presidential debate with Hillary Clinton that Iran should write us a letter of thank you, just like the really stupid – the stupidest deal of all time, a deal that’s going to give Iran absolutely nuclear weapons,” - it may have looked ludicrous on paper, but it resonated verbally with his supporters.

Geoffrey Nunberg, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, noted in the Los Angeles Times that Trump’s repetitions and digressions come off as “spontaneous and genuine” to people listening at a rally. Nonsequiturs* aren’t troubling if you already get the point. Like most people who attend political rallies, Trump’s audience came there to connect, Nunberg said, because “they were already convinced”.



When Trump is forced to submit to the teleprompter a quite different rhetorical style comes into play.

“Then, in 2016, the earth shifted beneath our feet,” the president told the joint session of Congress in February, describing the triumphant progress of his campaign. “The rebellion started as a quiet protest, spoken by families of all colours and creeds – families who just wanted a fair shot for their children and a fair hearing for their concerns. But then the quiet voices became a loud chorus, as thousands of citizens now spoke out together, from cities small and large, all across our country. Finally, the chorus became an earthquake, and the people turned out by the tens of millions.”

Here, presumably under the influence of (Maine Writer- evil Bannon, passed over for promotion in the US Navy!) Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller (Maine Writer- dopplganger for the Nazi Joseph Goebbels), Trump appears to be channelling out-takes from the cheesier end of the disaster-movie genre through a filter of blood-and-soil nationalism. 

It’s not pretty – “the chorus became an earthquake”? – but it’s not really Trump, either. Tellingly, it’s one of the few occasions when the president’s behaviour has been hailed as presidential.
The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you’ve got it made.”

As many observers have noted, the effectiveness of Trump’s language is rooted in its unmediated authenticity. Leaving aside the question of how a billionaire who lives in a golden tower with his supermodel wife embodies authenticity, there is no doubt that much of Trump’s appeal resides in the fact that many of his supporters believe he manages to cut through the polished bullshit of mainstream elites to speak, if not from the heart, then at least from the gut. “The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you’ve got it made.”

The quote has been attributed to many authors, but is it applicable to Donald Trump? Is he faking it? The question is separate from whether he is telling the truth or even whether he knows what the truth means.

Over four decades in the limelight, first as a brash Manhattan property mogul, then as a fixture on the gossip pages, and then as a reality-TV star, Trump always found a way of getting noticed.

At the age of 70, Trump is unlikely to pretend to be anything other than what he is. Everything is on the surface. Trump has the unusual quality of appearing to be a man with no interior life whatsoever. Crucially, he seems never to have experienced shame.
All of this has allowed him to break some deep-seated American taboos and social conventions. The US is quite a puritanical society, so when Trump says that the country is “going to hell”, or that he doesn’t “give a damn” about various things, or that he’s going to “bomb the shit out of Isis”, he is using language that would have been beyond the pale for most of his predecessors.

For Trump’s supporters, however, the language marks him as the disruptive agent of change they were searching for. The same may even be true of the “grab them by the p***y” tape, which many wrongly thought would put an end to his electoral chances.

And then there’s Twitter. It is hard to conceive of a communications tool better suited to Donald Trump’s strengths. The brevity enforced by the platform’s 140-character limit means he is forced to condense and distil in a way that never happens when he speaks. The use of hashtags has allowed him to elevate playground insults – #littleMarco, #crookedHillary – into viral memes retweeted by millions.

Now, with White House mouthpieces jousting with journalists over whether the president’s use of quote marks – he’s getting fonder of them all the time – means he shouldn’t be taken literally, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that we’re all being dragged into a hall of mirrors, one where every banal word, casual insult or blatant untruth is to be parsed for meaning.

What should be clear by now is that, when it comes to Trump’s language, there is no meaning beyond the shallowest.

Maine Writer- And what do we learn from this analysis by Hugh Linehan?  We learn that Americans have had to endure a president who was vomited on us because his supporters understood short words.  Republican politicians are now the dummy party. In other words, the North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-Un got him right. Yes, Donald Trump is a "dotard". 

*Definition: a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement.
"his weird mixed metaphors and non sequiturs"

Let's write a cake recipe- Julie's recipe for "pecan, butter and cinnamon cake"

https://pin.it/4PRtMMV

A picture of this recipe is at this Pinterest link. 

My interest in creative cuisine had the opportunity to prosper while my husband and I have been "self sheltering", during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Although, my culinary skills were nurtured by magnificent role models leading with my mother Elda Anselmi Jubinsky and my mother-in-law Rose Ann Morin L'Heureux, I rarely had time, in the past, to explore my own cooking creativity.  Lately, I have enjoyed challenging some kitchen tested recipes found on cooking websites.  

For example, I have been adding buttermilk to recipes where the ingredients call for whole milk.  I add butter when the recipe calls for adding vegetable oils.  One challenge is to figure out how to make the best cake desserts with the boxed  mixes accumulating in my pantry.  So, I decided to write my own cake recipe, based on the ingredients available in my kitchen pantry.  

My recipe is titled "Pecan and cinnamon spice cake". This is my recipe created from research on the Food.com recipes collection.  My husband loved this recipe!

Julie's Pecan and Cinnamon Spice Cake- check out my post on Facebook: Shelter in Style with Julie

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour a bundt cake pan.

Ingredients:

1 package of spice cake mix

1 (4 ounce) package of instant vanilla pudding

1 cup of sour cream (regular or low fat)

1/2 cup of melted butter

6 Tablespoons of sugar

3 teaspoons o ground cinnamon

1/2-  3/4 cup of ground or chopped pecans (I grind mine in a small electric grinder)

Directions:

Prepare the sugar and pecan filling- mix the sugar with cinnamon and chopped pecans in a small bowl. This filling will be layered int the cake batter.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the spice cake mix, with the instant vanilla pudding, the sour cream and the melted butter.  Beat this batter until thoroughly blended for about 4-5 minutes, scraping the sides of the mixing bowl with the spatula while beating the batter.  Although the batter will be stiff, this cake will be moist after baking.  Pour half the batter into the bundt cake pan and spread. Then, spread the sugar, cinnamon and pecan mixture over this layer of the mixture and be sure to spread this so the first layer of batter is covered with the dry sugar mixture.  Top this with the remainder of the cake batter.  Cook for 45-50 minutes (but no longer!) and check with a toothpick to be sure the cake has cooked.  Remove from the oven.  Let the cake cool for 15 minutes and invert on a plate.  Let the cake comletely cool and glaze with any favorite icing. What I do is to melt 1/2 cup of prepared cream cheese frosting in the microwave.  Use a knife and poke slits in the cooked caked.  Pour the glaze over the cake.  Adorn this cake with seasonal fruits.  Bon appetit!