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LAKE COUNTY – June is the month when the relatively sedate stars of spring slowly give way to the brilliance of the summer skies. But we still have several weeks to wait before summer is upon us. In the meantime, we can enjoy what’s left of spring including the celestial show.
Bootes
Directly overhead is a constellation named Bootes – someone tried to write a song about this constellation and wanted to name it “Shake Your Bootes,” until she learned that wasn’t the correct pronunciation. Bootes is pronounced “Boo-aw-tis.”
In Greek and Roman mythology, Bootes is associated with agriculture, and is most commonly referred to as a herdsman. But there is a lesser known, but somewhat amusing story that has him cast as a grape grower and winemaker.
Bacchus, the god of wine and parties, introduced Bootes to the art of winemaking. So impressed was Bootes with the taste of wine that he invited his friends over for a taste of his new discovery.
Unfortunately, his friends drank far too much, and woke up the following morning with terrible hangovers. They were so sick they thought Bootes had tried to poison them!
Bootes is shaped like a kite, with the bright star Arcturus at its base. Arcturus is the third brightest star in the sky, and compared to our sun, it is huge!
Hercules
Accompanying our celestial winemaker to the east is the strongman Hercules. Hercules is a faint constellation that requires clear, dark skies to see – and we have an abundance of skies like that in Lake County!
In Greek and Roman mythology, Hercules was the son of Zeus, king of all the gods. Hercules was born with tremendous strength. He managed to get himself into some serious trouble, and to exonerate himself, had to perform 12 labors.
One of these labors was to subdue Hydra, a nine-headed, dog-like monster that had breath that could kill (no dog-breath jokes, please!).
Hercules has one of the most beautiful objects in the night sky – an object that can only be seen through a telescope. This object is a cluster of stars called “The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules.” It is also labeled “M13” in the Messier catalog of deep sky objects. This is a cluster of several hundred thousand stars. Through a telescope, it looks like a miniature Christmas ornament.
For more information about astronomy and local astronomy-related events, visit the Taylor Observatory website at www.taylorobservatory.org.
John Zimmerman has been an amateur astronomer for 50 years. He is a member of the Taylor Observatory staff, where, among his many duties, he helps create planetarium shows.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
In January, Thompson told Lake County News he was endorsing Clinton's historic presidential bid, citing her strength on issues important to the First Congressional District, such as agriculture and the environment.
However, he had said at the time that he felt either Clinton or Obama would make “a great president.”
A statement issued from Thompson's Washington, D.C. office Saturday afternoon said the congressman was giving his support to the presumptive Democratic nominee.
“Sen. Obama’s nomination is an historic achievement for our country,” Thompson said in the written statement. “As I said from the beginning, this process would be finished long before the convention. I will do everything in my power to help make him our nation’s next president.”
Thompson called Obama “an electrifying candidate who ran a flawless campaign.”
“He has struck a vibrant chord with the American people and motivated millions of new voters to make their voices heard,” Thompson said. “From improving access to health care to protecting our environment to rebuilding our economy to ending the war in Iraq, I strongly support Senator Obama’s vision for America and believe it is directly aligned with the needs of our Congressional District.”
Thompson has had occasion to work with Obama; the two of them partnered to present legislation in both the House and Senate last year to bring home US troops from Iraq and institute an international diplomatic strategy for peace, as Lake County News reported last year.
“I look forward to working on many more important initiatives once he’s elected president of the United States,” Thompson said.
Thompson praised Clinton, who he called “a powerful leader who also energizes and inspires voters.”
He added, “I know she’ll continue her tireless efforts and help us elect Sen. Obama, change the direction of our nation, end the war, and restore our standing around the world.”
Thompson is one of more than 60 superdelegates representing California, about half of which had declared their support for Clinton this spring.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Marinara started out being the most confusing sauce. There are so many versions, all with different lists of ingredients, which made it hard for me to figure out what made marinara, well, marinara.
After a bit of studying I found that, literally translated, a marinara is a tomato-based sauce that contains seafood, sometimes clams but more typically anchovies. The “Mari” in Marinara means marine, but its history can be traced to a light sauce created by fisherman that could be made on board a boat quickly, since the availability of wood at sea was scarce and fires on a ship were hazardous so the fisherman would want them burning long.
Characteristically, in addition to the anchovies, a marinara also contains tomatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil and spices. It’s only in America that we have distorted marinara into a nondescript, one-size-fits-all spaghetti sauce.
Ragu essentially means “Italian meat sauce,” so almost all spaghetti sauces in America are ragus. Tucco is the Tuscan name for a ragu, and Sugo, loosely translated to “sauce” or “juice”, is typically called a “light” tomato sauce with onions, garlic, and basil.
The problem with finding the true name of Italian sauces is that every Italian immigrant family called sauces something different, depending on the region they came from or just their own family influences.
It’s like asking an American, “What are the ingredients in barbecue?” Texans will start with “Beef with a tomato-based sauce,” while North Carolinians will begin with, “Pork and a vinegar-based sauce.”
Kansas City residents will just confuse the issue more. So many recipes may say “Ragu ala Bolognese,” but “Sugo ala Bolognese” or “Salsa ala Bolognese” would still be correct.
A Bolognese sauce originates from the landlocked Bologne (pronounced bo-LOHN) region of Italy which is not far from Parma (where the cheese Parmesan comes from). Their recipes favor beef or veal as the meat in their ragu, with the inclusion of tomatoes and wine. So a meat sauce from this area would be called “Ragu ala bolognese” (Rah-GOO AH-la bo-lohn-AYHS).
Naples is a seaside city of Italy, and they are credited for being the first Italians to actually eat and cook with tomatoes. Originally in Europe, tomatoes were grown only for ornamental value and as a curiosity, since they are related to the deadly nightshade plant and they were considered poisonous. A famine in the seventeenth century was enough to push people over the edge and attempt to eat the deadly tomato. That was the birth of the tomato into Italian cuisine.
The people of Naples tend to prefer pear-shaped tomato varieties because they are sweeter and less acidic. “Neapolitan gravy” is a basic tomato sauce from Naples that they use as a base to build on. They tend to favor pork in their ragus. On the other hand, brains, chicken, duck, duck liver, kidneys, sweetbreads (culinary code for “thyroid glands”), and rabbit can all found in various sauces throughout Italy.
Pasta ala Puttanesca is a dish with an intense tomato sauce that allegedly originated with the prostitutes of Naples. The name translates to “Harlots’ pasta” or “Pasta in the style of whores.” Wow! Who thought a food column could turn so blue? Many stories claim the origin of the sauce but the two most believable go like this ...
Brothels were called “closed houses” because by law the shutters were required to stay closed at all times to keep from offending the neighbors but the strong smell of the sauce was the lure for customers to enter their establishment. Now I may not be Italian but luring a potential customer with tomato sauce and feeding him pasta doesn’t sound like a brothel priority so the story that I find more believable is ...
At the end of the evening as the restaurants were shutting down, local streetwalkers would go begging for any leftovers before the restaurant was locked up for the night. The restaurant owners would throw any remaining tomato sauce, olives, capers, anchovies and hot peppers (the five classic ingredients that signify it as a puttanesca sauce) into a pot, pour it over some pasta and serve it to the unfortunate girls before going home. That story sounds a little more plausible to me. (My wife just told me that she, understanding Italian men better than I do, thinks the first version is more likely. “The way to a man’s heart, or wallet, is through his stomach.” OK, we agree to disagree.)
Arrabbiata sauce is traditionally served over penne pasta but spaghetti is sometimes also used “All’arrabbiata” translates to “angry style” since it is a very piquant and spicy sauce. The unique thing about Arrabbiata is that it is classically NOT served with meat in it.
Vodka sauce is also reserved for penne pasta and short cut pastas. A number of stories have it being created in 1970s Bologne, but some say it was invented by Frank Sinatra. What we do know is that it first appeared publicly during the 1980s and is considered part of nuova cucina, or Italian “New cuisine.”
It usually contains vodka, tomatoes, heavy cream, onions, garlic, prosciutto or ham, olives and parmesan cheese. Some early recipes contained rice, caviar, sour cream and strawberries. The meat preferred with this sauce is most frequently salmon.
Why make a sauce with vodka? Many ingredients, including tomatoes, contain flavor compounds that can only be released in the presence of alcohol. Vodka, being a “flavorless and colorless” alcohol, won’t clash with cream like wine in a sauce would.
Finally, sauce “All’Amatriciana,” or “Lovers sauce,” originates in the town of Amatrice, an agricultural area near Rome. The people from the area are so well renowned as good cooks that the Vatican prefers their cooks to come from Amatrice. With a name like Lovers Sauce, everybody wants to claim the recipe for their own, which makes the ingredients list difficult to nail down.
The known origins are that the sauce was adapted from a recipe made by shepherds, was first called La Gricia, and is always based on pork. The common components are tomatoes, guanciale (salt cured pork cheek, but pancetta is a frequent substitute), and chili peppers. Cooks in Rome include onions, but cooks in Amatrice don’t. Amatrice serves it on bucatini (spaghetti with a hole down the middle), while Rome uses rigatoni.
Now this brings me back to the sauce I am trying to create for my wife. How do I classify it? It doesn’t include anchovies so technically it’s not a marinara; no pork so it's not “All Amatriciana”; no capers or olives, so it’s not a Puttanesca; no vodka, but a hint of sour and spicy so maybe its an Arrabbiata ... That would make sense, she’s frequently angry at me! But it has meat in it so ... aw crud, this is going to take a while... Well anyway, here is the sauce recipe I created for my wife.
Salsa Arriabbiata della moglie (angry wife sauce)
Since my wife loves lavender, I wanted to create a sauce for her based around Herbs de Provence (an herb mixture that includes lavender). Sure, using fresh tomatoes and herbs is great, but for this sauce I wanted something that could be created in no time with items straight from the pantry. It can be made with your favorite ground meat (beef, pork, Italian sausage, or turkey), or the meat can be left out for a hearty vegan sauce.
1 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes
1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
1 large onion diced
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence
½ cup white wine
½ cup olive oil
1/8 cup sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Pinch red pepper flakes
Dash nutmeg
Blend everything except onions in a blender until smooth. Pour mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Meanwhile, sauté the onions in oil until browned. Stir caramelized onions into sauce and leave on the heat for at least half an hour until sauce reduces and thickens slightly. Add browned, cooked meat at this point if desired and serve over pasta of your choice.
Ross A. Christensen is an award-winning gardener and gourmet cook. He is the author of "Sushi A to Z, The Ultimate Guide" and is currently working on a new book. He has been a public speaker for many years and enjoys being involved in the community.
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- Written by: Ross A. Christensen
EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk, is a five-month exhibit of sculptures at the 107-acre Middletown Trailside Nature Preserve County Park, 21435 Dry Creek Cutoff/Hwy 175, in Middletown.
Works of art by local, Bay Area, and national artists, who have given their time and material to create a public art installation, will be on display from June through October.
The park is open from dawn to dusk every day and admission is free. EcoArts of Lake County also offers free docent-guided tours of the art installation to schools and youth organizations by reservation.
EcoArts of Lake County is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting visual art, visual art education, and ecologic stewardship to the public and visitors of Lake County.
Karen Turcotte, executive director of EcoArts of Lake County said that since the program's inception in 2003, the exhibit has developed a reputation among curators, sculptors and art lovers throughout Lake County and the Bay Area as an impressive cultural event.
Nationally renowned fiber artist Sheila O'Hara is participating in the program this year. According to Turcotte, O'Hara and her students have created a work that is both beautiful and poignant. Lake County educational groups and schools participating this year include Middletown High School, Coyote Valley Elementary, and Redwood Children's Services.
The central trail at Middletown Trailside Nature Preserve County Park has been designated for EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk. This trail is approximately 3/8th mile long and meanders to a picnic area with large oaks shading half a dozen tables. Temperatures can be quite warm in the summer, so visitors are advised to dress accordingly and pack water as no water is available at the preserve. Tall, comfortable walking shoes are recommended.
For visitor information, contact the Lake County Visitor Information Center at (800) 525-3743 or www.lakecounty.com.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports