The Best At His Game

Read Charlotte Canelli's column in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

While my children were growing up, holiday tradition always included playing games. As the years passed, Candyland, Sorry, and Go Fish! led to Scattergories, Balderdash, and Hearts. Jenga, a family-favorite tower game of stacking blocks, provided late afternoon fun for various generations. We’ll always miss my elderly aunt Betty who was the master of the steady hand into her late eighties.
Over the years the popularity of board games came and went as kids grew up. Sometimes adult patience wore thin with multiple hours of competitive Monopoly or with the more calculating and troublesome warring game of Risk. As time passed there came teenage angst, family divisions, leavings and comings and less opportunity for the Currier and Ives postcard holiday.

While my children were growing up, holiday tradition always included playing games. As the years passed, Candyland, Sorry, and Go Fish! led to Scattergories, Balderdash, and Hearts. Jenga, a family-favorite tower game of stacking blocks, provided late afternoon fun for various generations. We’ll always miss my elderly aunt Betty who was the master of the steady hand into her late eighties.

Over the years the popularity of board games came and went as kids grew up. Sometimes adult patience wore thin with multiple hours of competitive Monopoly or with the more calculating and troublesome warring game of Risk. As time passed there came teenage angst, family divisions, leavings and comings and less opportunity for the Currier and Ives postcard holiday.

This year my family had more time together in their fourth “blended” year. The rebirth of the gaming tradition found us playing our new family favorite, Bananagrams. If you aren’t familiar with the game, it is something like Scrabble but you play a kind of solitaire with your own portion of the 144 letter tiles. The square plastic tiles are stored in a fabric banana, zippered for storage.I found that a soft Bananagrams game stuffs perfectly in the toe of a Christmas stocking. All of my family members found some version of the game in their stockings this holiday. Those who already had one fruit came across a delicious alternative. New variations are the domino-like game stuffed into a zippered fabric apple or the word pair construction stuffed into a fabric pear.

Players of the original Bananagrams game take a certain number of tiles from the “bunch,” depending on the size of the crowd playing the game. Each player proceeds to make his or her own crossword of intersecting and connecting words.Our family rules include no proper nouns, place names, etc. and foreign language words aren’t acceptable except those commonly used in English (ballet, antique, for example). One of our family members is fluent in Spanish and we are careful to keep him in line. (Spanish and Norwegian editions of the game are available for multilingual families.)

The Bananagrams website (bananagrams-intl.com) informs us that the game was created by a large extended family living on both “sides of the pond” – in the UK and the US. These multiple generations or word-lovers spent summers together on the eastern seaboard of the United States and were on a quest – for a game that included all ages, had few pieces, and was easily-transportable with no large game board.The play on the word “anagram” and the concept of a game named after a comical fruit resulted in the birth of Bananagrams. While the formal definition of “anagram” is a word or phrase formed by reordering the letters of another word of phrase (such as “Elvis” to “lives”), another definition is simply that of a game in which players form words from a group of randomly picked letters.

The game of Bananagrams begins with the exclaimed word “split!” As the word-forming frenzy speeds up and the individual crosswords become larger, the tiles become fewer and the pressure to find words that use that elusive x or that impossible q rises. When one player has no tiles left he or she shouts “Peel!” and all players are forced to take another tile. When one player has used all his or her tiles and there are no tiles left to go around, that player shouts “Bananas!” and wins the hand. (Players check for unacceptable words. In the event of one, the offending player is a rotten banana and is thrown out, the tiles returned to the table and the game continues.) Bananagrams, interestingly, can be quite simple. Some of the more erudite members of the family can get caught up in trying to make the words too complicated. (“Oratorical” can take up most of your precious vowels and leave very little possibility for that rogue Q or Z.)

My eldest daughter’s beau, a new college professor, has some problem coming up with game-winning shorter words that the rest of us find so easy. He never wins a game and is often left with several disconnected, albeit impressive, words on the table. We’ve teased him mercilessly that all of his education has ruined his game.The morning after Christmas he proved himself the winner. In a quiet game of Bananagrams-for-two and in a well-orchestrated move he failed to make a single connected crossword. He had, however, surreptitiously collected seven little letters he placed before the unsuspecting love of his life: “marry me.” A Bananagrams win that aced them all.

The Morrill Memorial Library has its own offerings of games – both adult and kids play Scrabble on Tuesday evenings, complete with challenges, competitions and champions. We’re thinking of some possibilities of a family game night with additions of more board games for intergenerational ages. Please call us with ideas and interest. Visit our website, www.norwoodlibrary.org or call 781-769-0200 for more information about all of our programs. 

On A Snowy Evening

Read Charlotte Canelli's column in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

Waking up to drifting snow against our windowpanes last Sunday I was reminded again of why I love living in New England. The romance of snowy woods and twinkling lights through the shrouded dawn cause me to catch my breath every time. The tradition of the seasons, the poetry of life and the rhythms of New England are part of my soul.
Although I was born in Massachusetts I moved away in 1959 and grew up in the San Francisco East Bay in Northern California. There we had a four-hour car ride to the Sierra Nevada mountain range with its constant wintery snowfalls. It’s not quite the same, however, when your own home’s front walk and backyard aren’t part of the seasonal fairytale.

Waking up to drifting snow against our windowpanes last Sunday I was reminded again of why I love living in New England. The romance of snowy woods and twinkling lights through the shrouded dawn cause me to catch my breath every time. The tradition of the seasons, the poetry of life and the rhythms of New England are part of my soul.

Although I was born in Massachusetts I moved away in 1959 and grew up in the San Francisco East Bay in Northern California. There we had a four-hour car ride to the Sierra Nevada mountain range with its constant wintery snowfalls. It’s not quite the same, however, when your own home’s front walk and backyard aren’t part of the seasonal fairytale.

And so this morning, happily cozied up to a fire inside my home and writing my seasonal greeting cards, I found myself singing a familiar New England song. The words to the well-known poem “Over the River and Through the Woods” were written by Medford-born Lydia Maria Child. Her poem was included in an anthology titled “Flowers for Children” in 1844.

The children’s departments in the Minuteman Library Network have more than a half-dozen versions of Child’s illustrated verse in over a dozen copies, all titled “Over the River and Through the Woods.” Lydia Maria Child and her husband, David, lived on a farm not far from Norwood in Wayland. It isn’t difficult to imagine the woods she wrote about which are duplicated in every community for miles around.

Since the 19th Century, that poem and song have been closely associated with Thanksgiving Day and the festivity of families gathering for the holiday. In fact, the poem was originally titled “A Boy’s Thanksgiving Day.” This Thanksgiving Day, 2009, however, was mild and balmy and no inspiration for an over-the-river-and-through-the woods revelry.

Maria Child (the author hated her first name, Lydia) became one of the first American women who actually earned enough from her writing to live on. “The American Frugal Housewife” and “The Mother’s Book” were some of her popular books – well before Martha Stewart captivated an audience.

Child also wrote of pioneering Americans long several decades before Laura Ingalls Wilder and her Little House series. It may surprise us, then, that Child went on to become a passionate abolitionist and activist. It’s little wonder that American audiences preferred her poems and writings dealing with domestic bliss and many turned away from her political writings. Who can resist “Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done? Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!” over more serious writing?

It also might be only when you drive through a perfect New England countryside that you imagine Robert Frost musing over the same spot of woods that you have occasioned upon. While Frost won his first of four Pulitzer prizes for his 1927 book of poems “New Hampshire,” it is “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” that we have all learned by heart. It might also be the one poem of Frost that is taught and anthologized more than any other.

One of the most beautiful children’s books of illustrated poetry is Susan Jeffers account of Frost’s poem. Originally published in 1978 it was republished in 2001. Children find the same magic in Frost’s words, “whose woods these are I think I know.”

Interestingly, the poem is only sixteen lines. Frost’s economy resonates with so many of us who have witnessed just such a winter wonder that pulls us in so many directions. “The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep.” Frost’s narrator shakes off his romantic contemplation and faces the reality of his long journey.

The journeys are always there; stopping to take in the quiet and beauty around us in our New England countryside may be what is needed. Many of us would be better off in the hustle and bustle of this holiday season life to take another kind of advice from Frost’s work: stopping for a moment to witness the magic of our New England countryside.

Visit our website, www.norwoodlibrary.org or call 781-769-0200. We wish you a happy, healthy and safe winter. The library is open seven days a week throughout the winter and spring. Check out weather alert blog on the website for any snow closings. 

The Holiday Memory Play

Read Margot Sullivan's entire article in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Excerpt:

I began to think of memories of holidays and those memories are certainly not realistic but definitely emotional. At Thanksgiving I always remember the huge gatherings at my Aunt’s house in Brookline. She made everything from scratch – and often only slept two or three hours before the big day. Then afterwards the adults would settle in to play bridge. I loved that day of long ago!

A Dicken's of a Tale

Read Charlotte Canelli's column in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

"There is nothing like a good holiday book or movie to fight off holiday trauma. One of Dickens’s reasons for writing “A Christmas Carol” was, in fact, to circumvent the holiday humbugness of the day. He and Washington Irving had an exceedingly romantic relationship with the glorious and harmonious Christmas traditions far from the madding crowd. Dickens merely translated them to the urban squalor of an industrial city of the 19th Century"

As usual I spent some time with one of my favorite holiday films this Thanksgiving. Tradition was turned on its head this year so I especially needed the sensory fix. We were visiting with my eldest daughter in her new hometown and my small family of three was put up in overflow housing: borrowed lodgings in a bachelor pad next door. (The bachelor professor having left the scene for sunny California.)

Bachelors don’t seem to do much baking, I found out. Still, I managed to create my holiday pies with no measuring spoons or cups, whisk, or rolling pin. As I fumbled and bumbled around the gentleman’s tiny kitchen I somehow managed to distract myself from this lack of proper utensils. I watched the 1938 version of “A Christmas Carol” on my laptop, which was perched on an overturned pot set on the cramped kitchen counter.

There is nothing like a good holiday book or movie to fight off holiday trauma. One of Dickens’s reasons for writing “A Christmas Carol” was, in fact, to circumvent the holiday humbugness of the day. He and Washington Irving had an exceedingly romantic relationship with the glorious and harmonious Christmas traditions far from the madding crowd. Dickens merely translated them to the urban squalor of an industrial city of the 19th Century.

The book was published in December of 1843 and, while it sold 6,000 copies in just a few short weeks, it wasn’t particularly lucrative for Dickens due to high production costs. It did announce his comeback from his literary bomb, Martin Chuzzlewit, so “A Christmas Carol” can be considered a definite success.  The book, in fact, has never been out of print since that year 166 years ago.

One of my favorite versions of the book is “The Annotated Christmas Carol,” edited by Michael Patrick Hearn. Some versions of Dickens’ book are a mere 72 pages long; the annotated version includes an introduction longer than that and an appendix nearly as long as the introduction. This entire annotated version is rich with reproduced portraits and engravings and original illustrations by John Leech. The annotations enhance the reading with definitions (the post-boy, the garden-sweep, “lay the cloth” and “have a warm”) and descriptions of Dickens’ own life history, and customs and traditions of the day.

One commentary tells us that while the more well-to-do were “flocking through the streets in their best clothes and with their gayest faces” the poorest were emerging “from scores of bye streets, lanes and nameless turnings…carrying their dinners to the bakers’ shops.”

The explanation tells us that the poor houses of the time did not have large kitchens or any baking help and they were poorly-equipped. Dishes and items were then sent to professionals to bake over the requisite open fire. In another commentary it is revealed that Dickens had great empathy for his Scrooge character, who, while a young boy, was forced to remain away at boarding school for the holidays. Dickens himself had to take lodgings away from his family who had been set to debtor’s prison when he was only 12 years old.

Not in the mood for actually reading, or re-reading, the entire “A Christmas Carol”? Not interested in muddling through all those bothersome annotations? You can listen to Patrick Stewart for a mere 90 minutes in the audio version on CD. Or you can see the most recent film version. (Jim Carrey plays eight different roles in Disney’s new film.) Bill Murray in the 1988 “Scrooged” is a more irreverent telling of the similar tale. Another version that you might find at the library, the 1951 “Scrooge” fools a bit with Dickens’ tale but leaves in the best parts, nevertheless.

Interestingly, Americans did not fall in love with Dickens’ A Christmas Carol until after the Civil War. Perhaps it was our need for the romance of a life before that terrible war that caused us to turn towards a tale of love and family and solutions for the poverty, broken homes and hearts.

Downtrodden readers can relate to the characters in Dickens’s novels and to the themes of redemption, goodness and hope. Whatever your reason this season, spend some time with a holiday film or book.

Visit our website, www.norwoodlibrary.org or call 781-769-0200. We wish you a happy, healthy and safe December.

Thanking Fanny Farmer

Read Charlotte Canelli's column in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

These days I have to confess I don’t cook very much or at least I rely on tried-but-true recipes from my more-eager cooking days when I do. When I remarried over two years ago, that was one of the perks on the table, so to speak. I had only to show up for dinner each night (hopefully on time or with a good excuse if otherwise.)

My husband often relies on fast recipes for the weeknights due to the time crunch between his arrival home and our grandson’s homework and bedtime. And he always makes a stop at the grocery store for a last-minute purchase. One of his favorite new tricks is to use his new iPhone app, “Epicurious.” This handy Internet novelty not only hands over a recipe (using one or more search ingredients) but also gives him an exact shopping list. And all at the tap of his finger.

Would our most famous Boston cooks approve? Known for some of the most complicated recipes in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” Julia Child could also make things as simple as possible. Julia’s roast turkey recipe includes a short list of ingredients: oil, salt, pepper, celery onions, lemon, butter. And Port or Madeira, if desired. Even Fanny would approve of that.

 

            I searched for my favorite holiday cranberry sauce recipe this past weekend and came across my mother’s “Fanny Farmer Cookbook.” It was handed down to me nearly thirty years ago and it bears the stains of several generations of cooking. I grew up the daughter of a traditional New England cook who was transplanted to Northern California. Most of my friends had never tasted Baked Beans or Oyster Stew, let alone watched their mothers cook them all from scratch.  My mother actually had a baked bean cooker, much like a modern and trendy crock pot. Those chubby little white beans soaked all Friday night, they simmered all the next day (along with a huge slab of salt pork) and every corner of the house steamed with a rich molasses smell by Saturday night. Lemony Snow Pudding or Coffee Jelly rivaled the tastiest desserts of my friends’ homes.  My mother’s apple pie crust was never store bought. I have Fanny to thank for it. 

            As a young wife I must admit that I didn’t actually “cook” from Fanny Farmer but often referred to her when I needed some basic instruction. I was the experimental type and preferred to wrestle through Craig Claiborne’s “NYT International Cookbook” (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, p. 184 or Pork Chops Veracruz, p. 470) I moved on in the next decade to Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins of the Silver Palate Restaurant fame.  Roast Lamb with Peppercorn Crust (p. 100) and the best hummus recipe I’ve ever had (p.346) both from “The Silver Palate Cookbook” and Cajun Chicken Morsels (p. 25) of “the Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook.”

            Our library has most of these books on its shelves – and many more written a bit more recently. One of the newest cookbooks in the library is “Bubbly’s Brunch Cookbook.”  In the introduction, restaurant owner and chef Ron Silver tells us that ‘of all the meals you’ll ever make, brunch is the most flexible, the most forgiving and the most fun.” I happen to agree and my repertoire of quiche and tarts proves it to be quite true. Silver gives us great breakfast menus to try – the Pancake Lovers Brunch through to a Midnight Brunch for Two. 

            In TV Chef Charles Mattocks’ new cookbook, “Eat Cheap But Eat Well” the author tells us that “it’s always good to have some vegetarian dishes in your repertoire,” with recipes like Barley and Apple Pilaf and Portobello Burgers. Raising his son on his own, Mattocks began by watching cooking shows on television. He became known as The Poor Chef and his cookbook is rich with traditional meals without the fuss of fancy ingredients.

             Those best cookbooks are sometimes ones that make our lives simple. “Cooking With All Things Trader Joe’s” by Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati has been on the library shelves since last winter.  With a store just newly opened in Dedham the book and its recipes could be both a timesaver and a repertoire-stretcher. “Spinach and Artichoke Chicken Crepes” and “Calamari Brodetto” (and all of the recipes in the cookbook) use fresh, frozen, canned and bottled ingredients right from Trader Joe’s shelves.

            Like Julie Powell (“Julie and Julia”), author Stephanie O’Dea made a New Year’s resolution to use her slow cooker every single day for an entire year. “Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking.” includes Breakfast Risotto and Tomatoes and Goat Cheese with Balsamic Cranberry Syrup among the 300 recipes that resulted from her quest.  

            These days I have to confess I don’t cook very much or at least I rely on tried-but-true recipes from my more-eager cooking days when I do.  When I remarried over two years ago that was one of the perks on the table, so to speak. I had only to show up for dinner each night (hopefully on time or with a good excuse if otherwise.) 

            My husband often relies on fast recipes for the weeknights due to the time crunch between his arrival home and our grandson’s homework and bedtime. And he always makes a stop at the grocery store for a last-minute purchase. One of his favorite new tricks is to use his new iPhone app, “Epicurious.”  This handy Internet novelty not hands over a recipe (using one or more search ingredients) but also gives him an exact shopping list. And all at the tap of his finger.

            Would our most famous Boston cooks approve? Known for some of the most complicated recipes in “Julia Child’s French Cooking,” Julia Child could also make things as simple as possible.  Julia’s Roast Turkey recipe includes a short list of ingredients, oil, salt, pepper, celery onions, lemon, butter. And Port or Madeira, if desired. Even Fanny would approve of that.

            Visit our website, www. norwoodlibrary.org or call 781-769-0200.  We look forward to seeing you in the library browsing our cookbooks, searching the Internet or attending our programs.