Inspired by aspiration, curiosity and passion for the beauty of the world, in the early 1930s three Palm Beach women set out to create something extraordinary.  An announcement signed by Mrs. Maud Howe Elliott, Mrs. Lorenzo E. Woodhouse and Mrs. Frederick Johnson stated that a group of citizens had decided to form an organization to promote the appreciation of art, music, drama and literature.  Mrs. Elliott was a Pulitzer Prize winning author who already had found success cultivating the appreciation of the arts in 1912 as a founding member of the Newport Artists Society.  She, along with Mrs. Woodhouse and Mrs. Johnson (who were well-known artists in their own right), began the task of recruiting others to their cause, now known as The Society of the Four Arts.  To heed Mrs. Elliott’s cry for a home for the Four Arts, funds were soon raised to buy the land and erect a building (the present library) on Four Arts Plaza.  Maurice Fatio and his architectural firm of Treanor and Fatio donated their services, creating a beautiful Mediterranean revival-style building with gracious archways, galleries with high ceilings and authentic pecky cypress details.  The Four Arts Library established a completely separate children’s department and hired a professional children’s librarian in 1956.  The Children’s Library later moved across the street to its present location in the Rovensky Administration Building.  In 1997 the library received a generous donation from Gioconda and Joseph King, and the name of the library was changed to recognize this splendid gift.  In 2018, after eight decades, the beloved library received a dramatic restoration that enhanced the experience for all visitors to come.  To see the restoration process, we invite you to visit the visit the Restoration Photo Archive.  Today, the Four Arts King Library flourishes with more than 75,000 books, audiobooks, DVDs and periodicals.  A touch-screen tablet is available to help visitors browse the collection of digital books and media.  Frequent book discussions, play readings and author talks attract standing-room-only crowds, and innovative teen programming is bringing in a new generation of library patrons.  https://www.fourarts.org/history-of-the-king-library/



Black treacle is a thick, dark, sugar syrup containing cane molasses to create a somewhat bitter flavor.  It's made with the uncrystallized syrup that remains after sugar is refined.  Though it's similar to pure molasses, black treacle isn't as bitter; however, blackstrap molasses is quite similar in flavor.  Golden syrup is also a type of treacle, though it's light in color, sweeter, and often substituted with corn syrup in recipes.  Before the 17th century, treacle was used in medicine rather than as a sweetener.  It was thought to be an antidote for poison and snakebites, among other ailments.  Treacle is often mentioned in the "Harry Potter" novels, as treacle tart is one of Harry's favorite puddings and sweets.  However, older Disney fans might recall treacle tarts being used to lure children by the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  Through pop culture, treacle was exposed to a worldwide audience, many who had never heard of the sweet sticky syrup.  Elaine Lemm  https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-black-treacle-435422  See also 76 treacle recipes at https://cookpad.com/us/search/treacle and THE LITTLE LIBRARY CAFÉ--

food inspired by literature from Kate Young at http://thelittlelibrarycafe.com/blog/2016/5/19/treacle-tart-again-harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone



The origin of the lemon has not yet been determined, although science suggests it may be northwestern India, where they have been cultivated for more than 2,500 years.  Arab traders brought the lemons to the Middle East and Africa sometime after 100 C.E.  It is believed to have been introduced into southern Italy around 200 C.E.; and was being cultivated in Egypt and in Sumer, the southern portion of Mesopotamia a few centuries later.  At first, lemons were not widely cultivated as food:  It was largely an ornamental plant (as were tomatoes), until about the 10th century.  The Arabs introduced the lemon into Spain in the 11th century, and by 1150, the lemon was widely cultivated in the Mediterranean.  Crusaders returning from Palestine brought it to the rest of Europe.  The lemon came into full culinary use in Europe in the 15th century; the first major cultivation in Europe began in Genoa.  Lemons came to the New World in 1493, when Christopher Columbus brought lemon seeds to Hispaniola.  Spanish conquest spread the lemon throughout the New World, where it was still used mainly used as an ornamental plant, and for medicine.  Lemons were grown in California by 1751; and in the 1800s in Florida, they began to be used in cooking and flavoring.  The name “lemon” first appeared around 1350–1400, from the Middle English word limon.  Limon is an Old French word, indicating that the lemon entered England via France.  The Old French derives from the Italian limone, which dates back to the Arabic laymun or limun, from the Persian word limun.  http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/fruits/lemon-types.asp  See also Lemons/Limes at http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=27



A bunch of 24 Ruby Roman grapes sold for $11,000 at a Japanese auction on July 9, 2019, NHK World Japan News reported.  Takashi Hosokawa, who manages a chain of hot spring hotels on the northern cost of Honshu island, was the winning bidder who set the record for the most expensive single bunch of grapes ever sold.  “It is a great honor to be able to be able to own Ruby Romans from Ishikawa prefecture in the first year of Japan’s new era of Reiwa,” Hosokawa told NHK World Japan News.  “We are going to treat our customers with these grapes at our hotel.”  This variety is grown and sold exclusively in the Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, where it was cultivated over the course of 14 years before it entered the market in 2008 at just over $900.  The “dream grape,” as described by the Ruby Roman Club, is a bright red that is about the size of a ping-pong ball.  They are prized for their juiciness and sweetness, but low acidity.  Only a select number are sold each year—only about 26,000 will hit the market this year—to keep up the demand, CNN reported.  Exotic and expensive fruit—which can be cultivated to be a different color (like $40 white strawberries) or shape (like $200 square watermelons) than usual—is a popular luxury product in Japan, where pieces are often given as gifts for bosses or other special recipients.  And an $11,000 bunch of grapes isn’t even the most expensive of the, well, bunch.  Nicole Lyn Pesce  https://www.marketwatch.com/story/these-japanese-grapes-sold-for-11000-and-thats-not-even-the-most-expensive-fruit-ever-2019-07-10



Conan O’Brien never planned on becoming the darling of the podcasting world.  “It’s not the natural career step,” he says.  “I have a talk show, and it felt like maybe you do the podcast in order to get on TV.  But when my staff approached me about it, I kind of thought what the heck?  What do we have to lose?”  Despite its star’s initial reservations, “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” an interview program in which the late-night comic engages in free-form chats with everyone from “Barry” creator Bill Hader to historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Caro, has become the breakout hit of the audio season.  It commands more than 1 million downloads an episode—blockbuster numbers for a podcast—and has inspired O’Brien and his team to create a spinoff show with sidekick Andy Richter, as well as scripted podcasts such as “Frontier Tween,” a satire of prairie life, and “Smartr,” a startup-culture sendup.  “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” the show that started it all when it launched November 2018 on Stitcher’s Earwolf comedy network, recently signed a mid-seven-figure deal with podcasting network Midroll that will keep it going for two more seasons.  Perhaps more important, it has also enabled the television host to connect with fans who may have cut the cable cord or tuned out of his TBS show “Conan” in favor of streaming programming.  O’Brien’s not the only big name looking to connect with audiences through earbuds.  A confluence of A-list talent is trying to create the next downloadable smash.  At the same time, a medium once seen as more of a hobby than a vocation has been professionalized as it’s grown more profitable.  There’s been a creative explosion around podcasting, but in terms of the business opportunities, we’re still in the early stages,” says Jacob Weisberg, who co-founded podcasting company Pushkin Industries in 2018 with The New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell.  Right now, this brave new world of audio is mostly filled with as-yet-unrealized potential.  However, a swelling listener base and the accelerating migration of major advertising dollars to the platform have led to an influx of investors and technology companies.  It’s easy to see what excites them.  After all, the number of weekly podcast listeners has more than doubled in the past five years, from 28 million in 2015 to 62 million in 2019, according to a study by Edison Research and Triton Digital.  Brent Lang and Todd Spangler  https://variety.com/2019/digital/features/podcast-boom-conan-o-brien-gimlet-spotify-luminary-1203306477/



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1242  August 21, 2019