Wednesday, January 22, 2020


Vinegar Pie  A cousin to chess and pecan pie fillings (minus the nuts), this pie is made from humble, on-hand ingredients.  For a gluten-free dessert, transfer the filling to a store-bought gluten-free crust.  The recipe is based on one included in an old Grange cookbook.  The Grange, a farmers fraternal association organized in 1867, is still active today.  Marlene Parrish  Find recipe at https://www.post-gazette.com/life/recipes/2018/07/02/vinegar-pie-recipe-southern-amish/stories/201807020015

The P.E.O. Sisterhood (Philanthropic Educational Organization) is a U.S.-based international women's organization of about 230,000 members, with a primary focus on providing educational opportunities for female students worldwide.  The Sisterhood is headquartered in Des MoinesIowa, with chapters throughout the United States and Canada.  Among other projects, it owns and supports Cottey College, an independent college for women in Nevada, Missouri.  The Sisterhood was founded on January 21, 1869, as a seven-member sorority at Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount PleasantIowa.  It was the second sorority to be founded in the U.S., after I. C. Sorosis (now known as Pi Beta Phi) in Monmouth, Illinois in April 1867.  The organization was originally rooted in the philosophy and institutions of the Methodist Church, which actively promoted women's rights and education in America during the 19th century.  Further chapters were founded, and in 1883 local chapters of the P.E.O. founded a "Supreme Chapter" to coordinate the Sisterhood on a national level.  The first International chapter (i.e. outside the United States) was established in VancouverBritish Columbia, Canada in 1911.  For much of its history, the meaning of "P.E.O." in the organization's name was a closely guarded secret and was never made public.  In 1924, it was said that "These letters are 'mystic'.  None save the initiated know their meaning."  The organization's avoidance of publicity, and the secrecy of its name, caused it to be regarded as a "secret society".  In 2005, the Sisterhood unveiled a new logo and an "It's OK to Talk About P.E.O." campaign, which sought to raise the public profile of the organization while nonetheless maintaining its traditions of secrecy.  In 2008, it revised its website to indicate that "P.E.O." now publicly stands for "Philanthropic Educational Organization".  However, the Sisterhood acknowledges that "P.E.O." originally had a different meaning that continues to be "reserved for members only", and so the public meaning is not the only one.  Sources outside of P.E.O. have suggested that the secret meaning is "Protect Each Other".  Membership in P.E.O. is by invitation but is not secret.  Meetings for members are, however, highly guarded, and a secret password must be used to prove membership.  They are opened with prayers and with inspirational readings chosen by members, but P.E.O. meetings and activities do not reference, require or promote any particular religion or religious practice, except for a belief in God.  Meetings follow a structured agenda, but do not involve religious rites, and do not meet any formal definition of "ritualistic".  At her initiation, every member receives a P.E.O. emblem, a five-pointed star.  Members are encouraged to wear their emblems on January 21, Founders' Day.  The emblem is lent to the individual for as long as she remains an active member of a chapter.  On her death, it may be buried with her if she has requested this in writing:  otherwise, it is to be returned to her chapter or to the P.E.O. Executive.  The P.E.O. official flower is the marguerite daisy.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.E.O._Sisterhood  Thank you, Muse reader!

A fortified wine is a delicious, viscous wine-based sipping treat that is often enjoyed as a drink before or after dinner.  The most common types of fortified wines are Madeira, Marsala, port, sherry, and vermouth.  These still wines have been "fortified" with a distilled spirit such as brandy.  The original use of fortification was to preserve the wine, as casks of wine were prone to turn to vinegar during long sea voyages.  The spirit added might also enhance the wine's natural flavors.  The liquor is added to the base wine during fermentation.  This fortifying of the wine brings the average alcohol content up to around 17 to 20 percent alcohol by volume.  Fortified wines can be made in either a dry or a sweet style.  The middle-ground of medium-sweet or medium-dry is covered in virtually all of the fortified wine categories and they will vary from one producer to the next.  Since fortified wines vary by style, it's difficult to give general guidelines about storing and serving.  While it is best to look into the recommendations for a particular type, there are a few suggestions you can keep in mind.  Unopened bottles of fortified wine can be stored in a cool, dark location.  Some, such as fino and manzanilla sherry, should not sit on the shelf long after bottling.  Others will be okay for a few months.  With a few exceptions, you can think of the shelf life of most fortified wine as falling in between that of wine and liquor.  Once opened, it is best to drink fortified wines as soon as possible.  However, vermouth can retain its flavor for up to three months.  All open bottles of fortified wine should be stored upright in the refrigerator.  Stacy Slinkard  https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-a-fortified-wine-3510908

Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in AndalusiaSpain.  Sherry is produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versions similar to white table wines, such as Manzanilla and Fino, to darker and heavier versions that have been allowed to oxidise as they age in barrel, such as Amontillado and Oloroso.  Sweet dessert wines are also made from Pedro Ximénez or Moscatel grapes, and are sometimes blended with Palomino-based sherries.  The word "Sherry" is an anglicisation of Xeres (Jerez).  Sherry was previously known as sack, from the Spanish saca, meaning "extraction" from the solera. In Europe, "Sherry" has protected designation of origin status, and under Spanish law, all wine labelled as "Sherry" must legally come from the Sherry Triangle, an area in the province of Cádiz between Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa María.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherry

Essay by Richard Hildreth   Aelita abides.  Rarely seen, it’s a silent film known mostly from photos featuring oddly-garbed women posing amid disorienting geometric shapes.  Foreign distributors saddled it with the embarrassing subtitles “Queen of Mars” or “Revolt of the Robots.”  In 1929, Aelita was described by the New York Times as “far more interesting to read about than to gaze upon.”  Faint praise from later generations added to the film’s burial mound that was first formed by Soviet critics like Anatoli Goldobin, who wrote in 1925:  “The much-talked-about Aelita was received by worker audiences in the provinces with considerable doubt as to its usefulness.”  By 1948, the film had taken on chimerical characteristics. British filmmaker and critic Thorold Dickinson wrote, “It would be interesting to meet someone who has actually seen Aelita.”  This neglect belies the film’s popularity with Soviet filmgoers, its influence over the look of future science fiction films, and its psychological storyline, which resonates in films noir and in the work of filmmakers as diverse as Andrei Tarkovsky, Alfred Hitchcock, and David Lynch.  Musician Dennis James, hoping to spark a revival for Aelita in 1992, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the film is “a picture window into Soviet society when Utopian goals were considered positive things.”  James then premiered a new score featuring the organ and the first electronic musical instrument, the theremin, created in 1920 by Russian inventor Lev Sergeivich Termen.  Some 86 years after its initial release, Aelita still waits to be acknowledged for its importance in cinema history.  The film’s script is based on a 1923 novella by Aleksey N. Tolstoy, a distant cousin of War and Peace author Leo Tolstoy.  While both stories are set after the Bolshevik Revolution, the film, unlike the novel, is primarily concerned with the Russian Civil War (1917–1923), which caused famine and displacements.  The collapsed economy led revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin in 1921 to establish the New Economic Policy (NEP), a capitalist mini-economy within the Communist state.  Relaxed state control of some industries created a profit incentive, freeing hoarded capital and boosting living standards, but also encouraging graft and corruption.   http://www.silentfilm.org/archive/aelita-queen-of-mars-1924  Guitarist Marc Ribot will perform during Aelita:  Queen of Mars (1 hour, 30 minutes) at Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle Theatre, 2445 Monroe Street on Thursday, February 6, 2020 at 7:00 p.m.  Tickets are $5 for members, $7 for nonmembers and $4 for students and military.  https://www.toledo.com/events/concerts-live-music/2020/02/06/marc-ribot-at-toledo-museum-of-art/

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the 2017 debut novel of Gail Honeyman, and the winner of the 2017 Costa Debut Novel Award.  The novel focuses on 29-year-old Eleanor Oliphant, a social misfit who becomes enamoured of a singer she sees performing named Johnnie Lomond, whom she believes she is destined to be with.  It deals with themes of isolation and loneliness.  In May 2017 the film rights were optioned by Reese Witherspoon's company Hello Sunshine; and in December 2018 it was announced that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer would also be involved in the production.   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2214  January 22, 2020

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