12-20 SIX09

SIX09 Arts > food > culture

thesix09.com | December 2020

Jon Solomon’s 24-hour Christmas radio marathon finds a new home—his own. Page 6.

n o h t a r a M n a M

coming up

Nine ways to brighten the holiday season

By Rob Anthes

The holiday season, like most things in 2020, won’t be normal. But that doesn’t mean you have to go totally without cheer this year.

A number of venues around the region have put together events they feel capture the essence of the season while also providing the safest atmosphere possible for their guests. For some, people don’t even need to leave their cars.

Here are nine things to do this December to brighten your holiday season(literally):

Festival of Trees Mor ven—the former governor’s mansion—has modified their annual Festival of Trees to better suit the COVID-19 era, adding more and grander outdoor lighting and displays.

Each year, the festival showcases a juried collection of trees and mantles displayed throughout the museum’s galleries. This year’s festival stays open longer, running through Sunday, Jan. 10.

Festival of Trees is open to the public during regular museum hours, Wednesdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m, with a half-hour break 1 to 1:30 p.m. for cleaning.

Museum tickets must be purchased at the gift shop to gain entrance. Morven staff will be limiting crowd sizes

morven’s festival of trees (left) features a juried collection of trees around the Princeton property, with new outdoor displays for 2020. the magical express at DiDonato family fun center in Hammonton gives each family its own traincar on a ride around a light display.

inside the museum in order to adhere to CDC guidelines. During Festival of Trees, no formal tours of the museum are given.

Admission is $10, $8 for seniors and students.

Morven will also hold a 2020 Holiday Preview Party Thursday, Dec. 3, featuring a “Winter Wonderland” theme with cocktails, music and hors d’oeuvres outdoors on Morven’s back lawn with

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fire pits. The museum will also be open to view the indoor holiday decorations with masking and at safe capacity limits. Proceeds from the evening benefit the exhibitions and programs at Morven Museum & Garden. Ticket pricing and information for the preview party is available at morven.org.

Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton Street, Princeton. (609) 924.8144. morven.org.

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Advance

All aboard!

Take a train ride through millions of Christmas lights at Hammonton’s DiDonato Family Fun Center.

The massive display has been voted among the best in the state by New Jersey Monthly magazine and funnewjersey.com.

The rest of the grounds transform

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into a holiday village, where visitors can meet Santa and receive a present, watch holiday movies in a tent and get a photo with a snowman, and visit the snack and toy cottage. All activities are outdoors.

Admission is $12.95 online or $14.95 at the door. DiDonato’s recommends buying advance tickets, as time slots often sell out.

This is particularly true this year, as crowds will be limited to meet CDC guidelines. All guests must have their temperature taken on a contactless wrist thermometer before entering.

Each family will receive its own train car, and train cars and doors will be disinfected in between families. Payments and ticket scanning will be contactless. Masks are required when social distancing is not possible.

The Magical Express operates seven days a week, Dec. 1-23, from 5 to 9 p.m.

DiDonato Family Fun Center, 1151 S. White Horse Pike, Hammonton.

(609) 561-3040. didonatofuncenter. com/magical-express.

Light Show on the Lake

Outside New Jersey

Six Flags Great Adventure theme park in Jackson has been decked out in lights for Holiday in the Park.

ends and select days through Sunday, Jan. 3—features millions of lights, holiday entertainment, seasonal treats and Santa’s village. Themed areas showcase holiday traditions from around the world. And, regardless of the weather forecast, snowflakes fall gently every evening at Great Adventure.

The theme park itself stays operational during Holiday in the Park, with Great Adventure’s assortment of rides open for thrillseekers, weather permitting.

Six Flags Great Adventure. One Six Flags Blvd., Jackson. sixflags.com/ greatadventure.

More than 120 Christmas trees made from more than 50,000 Christmas lights float on Lake Meone in the center of Historic Smithville.

When darkness falls, an orchestrated show of lights and music takes over the lake. The show can be seen from either side of the village as well as the bridge, and runs every Thursday through Sunday until Thursday, Jan. 7, starting at 5:30 p.m.

Historic Smithville has many more programs and activities planned this December. A schedule and more Magic of Lights details are available online at historicsmithville.com.

Magic of Lights will be on display Historic Smithville, 615 E. Moss Mill at Holmdel’s PNC Bank Arts CenRd., Absecon. historicsmithville.com. ter through Saturday, Jan. 2. A drivethrough holiday lights experience, Magic of Lights features the scenes and characters of the season using Holiday in the Park LED technology and digital animaSix Flags Great Adventure’s Holi- tions. Tickets are $25 per car, if purday in the Park—which runs week- chased in advance. The show runs

Sundays-Thursdays 5 to 10 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays 5 to 11 p.m.

Also on display will be the Mega Trees of Light, which promoters say are giant Christmas trees featuring “over 240 feet of light and music.”

PNC Bank Arts Center, 116 Garden State Parkway, Holmdel. magicoflights. com/events/newjersey.

South Jersey Holiday Light Show New this year is the South Jersey Holiday Light Show at Bridgeport Speedway in Swedesboro. Following a route around the grounds of the racetrack, the show lasts about 25 minutes and drives past and through a festive display of lights. South Jersey Holiday Light Show runs Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday until Dec.19 and everyday from Dec. 20 until Dec. 30.

Tickets are $23 in advance.

Bridgeport Speedway, 83 Flood Gate Road, Swedesboro. (856) 213-2838. southjerseylightshow.com.

Currently, the State of New Jersey and Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration is discouraging any non-essential interstate travel, including to neighboring states Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York. Should those recommendations lift, nearby Bucks County offers numerous options for a festive outing this holiday season.

Sesame Place, in Langhorne, hosts A Very Furry Christmas, in which the theme park turns into a Christmas wonderland with lights and festive decorations. The park’s 1-2-3 Christmas Tree show features a 30-foot illuminated pixel-based tree that will project festive animated images along to a holiday soundtrack.

Sesame Place also will have a train ride tour through the Twiddlebugs’ Gingerbread Cookie Factory on the Sesame Place Furry Express.

Sesame Place. 100 Sesame Road, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. sesameplace.com.

Peddler’s Village, a collection of shops just outside New Hope in Lahaska, has been decorated for the season once again. The annual Christmas Festival and Grand Illumination event have been cancelled, but other traditions—like the gingerbread house competition—live on in 2020.

Peddler’s Village. Routes 202 and 263, Lahaska, Pennsylvania. (215) 794-4000. peddlersvillage.com.

One of the few area options that can be experienced without leaving the car, Shady Brook Farm’s Holiday Light Show allows visitors to drive through acres of farmland decorated for the season. Shady Brook Farm says its display has more than three million lights.

Timed tickets are required for entry this year, and are available at shadybrookfarm.com. The show, which runs until Sunday, Jan. 10, can also be experienced in an open-air wagon.

931 Stony Hill Road, Yardley, Pennsylvania. (215) 968-1670.shadybrookfarm.com.

Light shows at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel (left) and Bridgeport Speedway in Swedsboro (right) give guests the chance to experience holiday displays without ever leaving their cars.

December 2020 | SIX093

All the world’s a ‘Christmas Carol’ stage This year, McCarter Theatre will give audiences a way to experience Dickens’ classic tale in the comfort of home

By Joe Emanski

McCarter Theatre Center’s annual production of Charles Dickens’ classic novella A Christmas Carol has been a holiday tradition in central New Jersey for close to three decades.

And while the pandemic has closed McCarter for most of 2020 — meaning there will be no stage production this year — new artistic director Sarah Rasmussen and company have used some out-of-the-box thinking to put Ebenezer Scrooze, Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit and the rest of Carol’s beloved characters into a box.

“A Christmas Carol @ Home” is their novel solution to the stay-athome blahs. The boxes include individually wrapped envelopes with scenes from the story, designed to be performed together in person or virtually.

There are also character-sketch postcards and conversation cards to

“A Christmas Carol @ Home” will give fans a way to experience Charles Dickens’ classic tale even though McCarter Theatre Center will not be able to stage its annual production because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Josh Tobiessen.)

spark dialogue about the timeless themes in Dickens’ classic story of greed and redemption. The boxes are $40 and can be ordered through the McCarter website, mccarter.org.

Rasmussen settled in as McCarter as artistic director in the summer, succeeding Emily Mann, who had served in that role since 1990. Rasmussen had been artistic director at The Jun-

gle in Minneapolis prior to joining McCarter.

“When I got here in August, it was clear that McCarter was not going to be able to do its beloved Christmas Carol on stage,” Rasmussen says. “We got to talking about how folks at home might be able to interact with this.”

They knew that the actors’ union would not OK any streamed or taped video performances. They thought about putting the script online for people to read, but thought it might be too overwhelming.

“We started to think, how could we make it a ritual for people, make it something they could do at home over the course of a dinner party or over the course of a couple nights?”

Rasmussen says. “Something where we could see parents getting one (box) and their kids getting another and doing it together over the internet from their own homes.”

Rasmussen says they looked for ways to break the story down into fun, manageable pieces, rather than packaging playwright David Thompson’s entire two-hour adaptation. So each box contains five envelopes with four scenes each. The envelopes are called Stave 1 through Stave 5, mirroring the structure of the Dickens novella.

Participants can take on one or more roles in each scene, depending

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Your back.

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Solutions for back and neck pain don’t always start with surgery. But at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, solutions start with an objective diagnosis by qualified experts. Our fellowship-trained spinal surgeons understand the complexities of the spine, assuring you a thorough understanding of “A Christmas Carol @ Home” conversation cards are designed to spur discussion on a variety of topics related to the story. (Photo by Josh Tobiessen.)

McCarter also has a variety of proon how many people are taking part.

The envelopes include ideas on how gramming lined up for the winter seato double up on casting for smaller son. Already underway is “The Work of Adrienne Kennedy: Inspiration & groups.

In addition to the scenes in each Influence,” a virtual play festival celenvelope, there are conversation ebrating the work of African-American cards with prompts to encourage par- playwright Adrienne Kennedy, “American theater’s greatest ticipants to share feeland least compromisings not only about the ing experimentalist,” story and characters, according to the New but also about their own York Times. experiences in life as The festival, presented they relate to the story’s in association with themes.

Round House Theatre, “We’re already in a bit began on Nov. 14 and of a do-it-yourself era, will continue through and I think the pandemic Feb. 21. The digital festihas made it so there’s no val includes: He Brought other choice — make use Her Heart Back in a Box, of what you have, make Sleep Deprivation Chamfun where you can find it. ber, Ohio State Murders, In that spirit I think that and the world premiere people are thinking in Rasmussen of Etta and Ella on the new ways about how they Upper West Side. can entertain each other.

Tickets and season passes for the We think this will be a meaningful ritfestival are online at mccarter.org/ ual for people,” Rasmussen says.

McCarter also plans to have a por- adriennekennedy.

In addition to the festival, McCarter tal online where people can share photos and videos of their home is offering a six-day class called “Special Topics: The Adrienne Kennedy performances.

Rasmussen says she doesn’t know Experience. The experience of the of any examples of other theaters con- plays on the page will be paired with verting a show into a do-it-at-home their virtual theatrical performances and further supplemented by panel package.

“We totally made it up, but who discussions featuring professional theknows? Maybe it will be a fun way to atre artists whose art and craft have encounter stories,” she says. “Theater been inspired by Kennedy.

Course activities will include readhas gotten inventive because of the pandemic. The thing we’ve all always ing, journaling, some lecture, speloved about live theater is that some- cial guest artist visits, and plenty of thing spontaneous can always happen discussions.

Classes are $240 per student and and I think people will see that the will take place from 6:30 to -8 p.m. same sort of thing can happen here.”

“A Christmas Carol @ Home” is on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Dec. 1 available in limited quantities and is through Dec. 17.

McCarter offers scholarships for expected to sell out. For more information or to order a box, go to mccarter. all classes. To view a full schedule and more information visit, mccarter.org/ org/ACCathome. onlineclasses. ***

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December 2020 | SIX095

from the cover Jon Solomon brings music marathon home for the holidays

By Sam Sciarrotta

True shared experiences are lacking in the COVID-19 era, but Jon Solomon is here to make sure we have at least one before the year wraps up.

Solomon’s 25-hour Christmas Day marathon has become a holiday staple on Princeton University’s 103.3 WPRB radio station. He’s only missed one show since 1988—in 1995, when he went out to Pasadena, California to see Northwestern University, his alma mater, play in the Rose Bowl—and wasn’t about to let a pandemic keep him out of the WPRB studio a second time. So he’s bringing the studio to his dining room table for the first (and hopefully last) time ever.

“I’ve already heard from a handful of people who are normally together during the holidays and are going to be separate this year—they’ll be listening simultaneously, wherever they might be,” he said. “It reinforces that we need to do it this year, and we need to do it as people are used to.”

Solomon is ready to give listeners

a radio-quality experience from his Lawrenceville home. He’s borrowing a 16-channel mixer from Reid Sound in Robbinsville, has a turntable and a dual deck CD player from the radio station and will use his own microphones. This is also the first time he won’t have to load huge chunks of his own collection in and out of the studio—a nice plus, considering he threw his back out carrying crates of records to the studio just before the marathon one year.

“It’ll be like having a pop-up radio station in our dining room,” he said.

And that’s sort of been the MO for many WPRB DJs over the last several months, just on a much smaller scale.

Like with most places, things at WPRB fell into disarray midMarch. Students left campus, and the building that holds the studio closed down. The station had to defer to pre-made playlists for several weeks, abandoning its signature live, original, boundar y-free content.

Slowly, though, DJs started to set up at home and record their shows safely—including Solomon and his own Wednesday evening show.

“More and more DJs have been

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going live since then,” he said. “It’s a steady ramp up towards a return to normalcy. The more like the before times it becomes—where now there’s a set schedule, the station is broadcasting again, there’s new programming almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week—it brings me great comfort driving around just hearing it like it always has been. I guess that’s a very long walk to me saying that I hope the same holds true for the marathon.”

This year is just another phase in the ever-changing nature of the marathon. Solomon’s first show, in 1988, was a 10 p.m.til-morning slot that just happened to be on Christmas Eve. He came across an empty shift sign-up sheet after most of the station’s hosts—many of them Princeton University students— had gone home for winter break.

Solomon, who is Jewish, didn’t have any plans, so he took the slot and played nothing by Christmas music until the morning. Twelve-ish hours became 24 hours the next year. He added an extra hour to the show to celebrate its 25th anniversar y in 2014, and that has stuck since then.

The actual content of the marathon continues to mutate, too. Some things

don’t change—a 42-minute version of “Little Drummer Boy,” a block of Ramones-style Christmas songs and the 45-minute Snaildartha: The Story of Jerry the Christmas Snail - A Soul Jazz Extravaganza are all staples and listener favorites—but, for the most part, Solomon is able to pick and choose from his constantly growing collection.

Solomon ranks ever y holiday item in his catalog, digital and physical, using a five-star system. He regularly discovers new pieces through blogs, SoundCloud, listeners and friends.

He ventured beyond the music in 2011, when he put out a call asking for recordings of holiday stories from friends, family, musicians, comedians and others to be played on the show.

Some of those submissions—a holiday greeting from wrestler Mick Foley, a recording from writer, comedian and podcast host Tom Scharpling, an annual new song from musician Joel RL Phelps—have become favorites.

Some listeners have written and recorded songs about and for the marathon. Others call in with unique requests or tune in at the same time every year. Often, Solomon has to work off the cuff. James Brown died

‘I’m literally inviting the audience into my home for Christmas.’

–WPRB radio host Jon Solomon

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Jon Solomon, pictured here at the 103.3 WPRB studio in November 2016, has hosted an all-day Christmas marathon on the radio station since 1988. (File photo by Sam Sciarrotta.)

Jon Solomon does his weekly WPRB radio show from his dining room table. The setup for his 25-hour Christmas marathon will add a few more technical components.

in 2006 while Solomon was on the air, so he pulled out every James Brown Christmas song in his collection and played a block. He ran tributes to Lou Reed in 2013 and Prince in 2016 after their deaths, too.

“It’s always very important to me that the program not kind of rest on its laurels from year to year,” Solomon, a Princeton native, said in 2016. “I know people don’t always listen at the same point or at the same time. I want to make sure there’s an infusion of as much new material as possible every year.”

This year is no different, though it does have some added technical concerns. Solomon’s not too worried.

“I think folks are going to be pretty understanding if anything goes off the rails,” he said. “This is coming to you live from someone’s home and not the place they normally expect it to be broadcast from.”

Solomon planned on having everything set up and ready to go by Thanksgiving so he could run a few test shows during his regular Wednesday night slot.

“I think I’m going to be as up front with people as possible during it,” he said. “It should sound the same, more or less. I think on my side of the broadcast, that’ll feel nice to me. I hope that’ll be the same for people tuning in all over the world.”

Solomon isn’t too worried about getting too comfortable during the show—though he’s never done a radio show “as adjacent to [his] bed” before, WPRB has a couch that “always beckons,” so he’s used to the temptation.

“I think I’m going to have just about ever ything I need within a couple of feet in ever y direction,” he said. “I’m mostly worried about getting the right set-up and having it be as close as possible to what an actual radio station would look like or how it would operate. I’m a creature of

routine, so it’s good to know that ever ything is going to be set up in places where I’m not going to have to be like, ‘What does that button do?’ If things go off the rails, there will be some sort of contingency plan.”

Solomon is already planning for some show traditions that he knows will be altered. He has regular instudio visitors, including his parents, Susan and Robert. They still live in Princeton and stop by the station every year, eventually falling asleep together on the studio’s couch—fans of the show probably know that Solomon posts a mid-slumber photo of them to Twitter or Instagram during the show. One year, he gifted them with a blanket made out of those pictures.

“Unless it’s horribly cold out, I would hope they drive by and wave,” he said. “Though it would be nice to open the front door and feel the air on my face.”

His wife, Nicole (who he proposed to on-air), and their daughter, Maggie, also appear every year toward the end of the show. This year, listeners might hear from them a little bit more, either “intentionally or accidentally,” Solomon said.

“I’m literally inviting the audience into my home for Christmas,” he said. “The normal companion pieces, like a webcam, I try to have it so that it’s a constant that’s there for you.

Am I going to be putting on a stocking cap and smoking a pipe in front of the fireplace? That’s not going to be the case. But I’d like it to be even more of a shared experience for people who sort of know there are lots of folks doing their same thing they are on this hopefully once-in-a-lifetime Christmas.

Jon Solomon can be found on Twitter and Instagram @jonsolomon. For more information, visit wprb.com.

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December 2020 | SIX097

what’s cooking?

Fueled by

MERCER EATS

Recipes to warm the heart and home for the holidays

By Joe Emanski

Robin Valentine’s twins, Jenna and Griffin, are in college now, but Valentine still has fond memories of a holiday season when they were younger

Robin Valentine thinks of the book “The Very Best Hanukkah Gift” every time she makes her zucchini latkes.

8SIX09 | December 2020

and she made them zucchini latkes.

“I always read them Hanukkah stories,” says Valentine, who is a West Windsor resident and the vice president of community at Congregation Beth Chaim in West Windsor. “One year, I read them a book called The Very Best Hanukkah Gift, and the first chapter of the book is ‘Green and Gross.’ It’s about a mom who doesn’t make potato latkes for the kids, she makes zucchini latkes.

“The next day, and I wasn’t even thinking about it, but I served them zucchini latkes. And my children looked at me and said, ‘These are green and gross’ and ‘Where are our potato latkes?’

“Needless to say, every time I serve latkes to them now, this is a story they will remind me of. And I’m sure they will repeat it when someday I read the book to their children and read the chapter ‘Green and Gross.’”

COVID-19 will disrupt holiday plans for many families in 2020, and from what we hear, a lot more people will be cooking for themselves this year than in years past.

So we’ve got a few recipes for you — some that are more traditional, some

that are less — just in case you haven’t Mullen, the founder of The Suppers decided on your special December Programs. Through The Suppers Programs, Mullen sought to help people menus. Happy Holidays! change eating habits by teaching them You can eat healthy to prepare delicious, healthy meals.

Back in 2018, I asked Mullen for a The Princeton community lost someone special this year in Dorothy “traditional holiday meal.” Mullen told

Zucchini Latkes

Recipe courtesy of Robin Valentine Ingredients 3 cups zucchini, grated 3 cups potato, sweet potato, parsnip or more zucchini, grated 2 eggs 1/2 cup matzo meal or potato starch (optional) 1 tsp onion powder 1 tsp salt fresh ground black pepper to taste oil for frying

1. Mix eggs, matzo meal, onion powder, salt and pepper with grated vegetables, fully incorporating but not overmixing.

2. Heat half an inch of oil in a cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven on high until ver y hot. Once it’s quite hot, add scoops of latke mixture and flatten them out with a spatula. Cook until well browned. Flip and repeat.

3. Ser ve with sour cream, pickled beets, applesauce or condiments of your choosing

me that her tradition was to not have a holiday tradition. “Our traditions at Suppers are all around enjoying the holidays to the fullest extent possible without going into the old drinking and eating habits that created your health problems to begin with,” she said.

Mullen was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in 2019, and died this March at the age of 64. The Suppers Programs maintain her legacy today, and in recognition of her commitment to healthy eating, we present her recipe for wild rice salad, which she called “Christmas in a Bowl.”

pany that is contracted to prepare food at Rider University. But he doesn’t cook only for students and staff.

Since 2019, Gourmet Dining has partnered with Meals on Wheels of Mercer County to make more than 1,600 meals weekly for local seniors in need.

The idea was that students would have an opportunity to volunteer in the Rider kitchens, helping to prepare the meals. But with Covid-19 emptying the campus for the foreseeable future, that means Burgos and the Gourmet Dining staff are currently handling much of the work themselves.

Burgos grew up in the Bronx. He ‘You gotta have pork’ says his family always prepares turFernando Burgos is a chef with keys for Thanksgiving and Christmas, Gourmet Dining, a food services com- but because of his heritage, that’s not

Christmas in a Bowl (Holiday Wild Rice Salad) Recipe courtesy of Dor Mullen, The Suppers Programs Ingredients 1/2 cup dry wild rice 1 celery stalk, finely diced 1 large pomegranate, seeded 1 cup cucumber, diced, seeds removed 1 cup chopped parsley The juice of one lemon A drizzle of olive oil 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, or less 1. Cook the wild rice according to the directions for al dente, about 50 minutes.

2. Combine rice and pomegranate seeds with the celer y, cucumber and parsley. Dress with lemon juice, olive oil and salt and ser ve.

Yields six ser vings.

the only protein on the table when they get together.

“I’m a native here, but my background is definitely Dominican Republic, and a big thing is you gotta have the pork there,” he says.

When it comes to cooking for seniors, Burgos knows that many have dietary restrictions that must be minded. But he enjoys pushing the boundaries with the Meals on Wheels clients and pork carnitas is one thing he has made for them. “I like to get up

with creating ideas to feed everybody and make everybody happy,” he says.

A considerable TASK

The Trenton Area Soup Kitchen has seen a tremendous rise in demand for its services this year. TASK reports that food service production is up 90 percent over 2019, and “COVID is the number one reason,” says associate director of operations, Paul Jensen.

Jensen says the nonprofit organiSee RECIPE, Page 10

Pork Carnitas

Recipe courtesy of Fernando Burgos, Gourmet Dining, LLC Ingredients 4 lbs boneless pork shoulder 1 onion, chopped 1 carrot, half-inch dice 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin 1/8 teaspoon ground coriander 1 tbsp salt

1. Place pork in a deep pan or large Dutch oven. Barely cover with water.

2. Add onion, carrots, oregano, cumin, coriander and salt to pan and bring to a boil on high heat. Cover pan and simmer gently for 2 1/2 hours.

3. Remove pork from pan or pot and place in a roasting pan. Roast in oven at 350 degrees F (300 F if using convection oven) until well browned and internal temperature reaches 155 degrees F, around 45 to 60 minutes more.

4. Trim fat from surface of the pork and shred into large strips with two forks. Ser ve with fresh salsa and tortilla chips. Recommended sides: sweet potatoes and rice and beans.

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RECIPE continued from Page 9

zation is serving 8,500 to 9,000 meals a week. To keep staff safe, though, TASK has had to close its dining room.

While TASK served food on Thanksgiving, and plans to do so again on Christmas Day, everything will be served to go, as it has been every day during the pandemic.

Despite the rise in demand, and the resulting increase in costs, TASK remains committed to providing tasty, nourishing meals to its clients. For Christmas Day, that usually means prime rib or roast beef, served with potatoes and vegetables.

TASK Chef Adam Livow — who

was once a contestant on TV’s “Hell’s Kitchen” — provided this recipe for garlic and bacon green beans, which may also be on the Christmas Day menu for TASK. To learn about how you can help TASK during this holiday season, go online to trentonsoupkitchen.org.

Boris takes the cake

A good holiday meal has to finish with a dessert, and Rory Philipson, pastry chef for The Blue Bottle Café in Hopewell, has one to share with a great story — her hazelnut cake.

“For decades, my mother has fondly reminisced about her foodie lifestyle

Garlic and Bacon Green Beans Recipe courtesy of Adam Livow, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen Ingredients 1 lb fresh green beans, rinsed, ends trimmed 1/2 tsp salt 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp butter 6 garlic cloves, minced 6 bacon strips, cooked, drained of fat, chopped 1. Put green beans in a large pot and fill pot with just enough water to cover the beans. Add salt and bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium low. Simmer for 5 minutes, then drain the beans.

2. Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet on medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook it, constantly stirring, for 30 seconds. Add bacon and beans to put. Sauté on medium heat for 1 minute, until flavors are combined.

3. Remove from heat, add more salt to taste, and ser ve.

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and lavish dinner parties during her 20’s,” she says. “Her best friend became my godmother, and several other friends became extended family to me.

“One specific recipe was mentioned countless times over the years, an ethereal hazelnut cake that her Czechoslovakian friend Boris would

make for dessert. About 20 years ago while visiting Boris in Prosec — a small village north of Prague — we finally found the recipe. It has been a family tradition ever since.”

Printable digital versions of all these recipes, plus a few more, can be found online at communitynews.org.

Hazelnut Cake

Recipe courtesy of Rory Philipson, The Blue Bottle Café Ingredients 6 eggs, separated 1 whole egg 1 cup ground hazelnuts 3/4 cup sugar, divided, plus 1 additional tbsp of sugar for frosting 1/3 cup breadcrumbs 1 tsp flour 1 1/2 cups heavy cream 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 275°F. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and the whole egg together with a wire whisk, or rotar y or electric beater until mixture is thick and light yellow. Gradually beat in ½ cup of sugar, then the nuts and the bread crumbs. Continue to beat until the mixture forms a dense, moist mass.

2. In another bowl, beat egg whites with a wire whisk or electric beater until foamy, then add the other ¼ cup of sugar, 1 tbsp at a time. Beat until the whites form stiff, unwavering peaks. With a spatula, mix about a quarter of the whites into the hazelnut mixture, then sprinkle the flour over it and gently fold in the rest of the whites. Fold until no trace of the whites remains. Do not overfold.

3. Butter and flour a 10-inch springform pan. Turn the pan over and strike it to remove any excess flour. Pour batter into the pan, smoothing the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until it shrinks away slightly from the sides of the pan.

4. Remove the upper part of the pan as soon as you take it out of the oven and let the cake cool. Slice horizontally into 2 equal layers.

Whip the chilled cream until it begins to thicken, add the sugar and vanilla and continue to whip until the cream holds its shape. Fill the cake with the cream and cover the top as well.

5. Sprinkle leftover chopped nuts over the cake. Ser ve promptly.

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12SIX09 | December 2020