COV
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NO TF
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Do You Remember?
Washed Away
The 1965 Flood That Changed Mankato
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WASHED AWAY: The 1965 Flood That Changed Mankato The Free Press Media is publishing a 50th anniversary commemorative book on the devastating flood of 1965. The book covers the events leading up to the flood, the heroic efforts in North Mankato to protect the city, the extensive damage done and how the flood led to the development of a flood-control system in Mankato and North Mankato. Reserve your copy now and SAVE $5.00 off the $34.95 retail price.
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ANKATO M magazine
FEATURE S January 2015 Volume 10, Issue 1
18 High on the Mount
Mount Kato is a favorite play place for all ages.
14 Let’s play hockey!
Behind the scenes of a Maverick hockey game.
22 Reading with Dad
Author Nick Healy recalls a cold winter from yesteryear.
About the Cover
For this month’s cover, photographer John Cross went up, down and around Mount Kato.
MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 3
MANKATO
DEPAR TMENTS
magazine
6 From the Associate Editor 8 This Day in History 9 Chit Chat 10 The Gallery
10
12
28
32
Photographer Stephanie Purrington
12 Beyond the Margin Growing up with icy veins 28 Day Trip Destinations St. Paul’s Winter Carnival 31 Food, Drink & Dine 32 Food Chicken soup for the sick 34 Wine Big reds 35 First Draught A taste of January 46 Happy Hour Flute’s a flyin’ 38 What’s Cookin’? Hot cocoa! 40 Then and Now A harrowing blizzard story 42 That’s Life It’s just Nell, you guys 44 Garden Chat Seeds of growth 46 Your Style Mid-life hair flair 48 Coming Attractions 49 Faces & Places 52 From This Valley My life in four blizzards
Coming in February
34 4 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
40
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MANKATO
From The Associate Editor
magazine
January 2015 • VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 PUBLISHER James P. Santori EDITOR Joe Spear ASSOCIATE Robb Murray EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS Nell Musolf Pete Steiner Jean Lundquist Sarah Johnson Leigh Pomeroy Bert Mattson Ann Rosenquist Fee Drew Lyon Bryce O. Stenzel Nick Healy Leticia Gonzales PHOTOGRAPHERS John Cross Pat Christman PAGE DESIGNER Christina Sankey ADVERTISING Ginny Bergerson MANAGER ADVERTISING Jen Wanderscheid Sales Theresa Haefner ADVERTISING Barb Wass ASSISTANT ADVERTISING Sue Hammar DESIGNERS Christina Sankey
CIRCULATION Denise Zernechel DIRECTOR
Mankato Magazine is published by The Free Press Media monthly at 418 South Second St., Mankato MN 56001. To subscribe, call 1-800-657-4662 or 507-625-4451. $35.40 for 12 issues. For editorial inquiries, call Robb Murray at 344-6386, or e-mail rmurray@mankatofreepress.com. For advertising, call 344-6336, or e-mail mankatomag@mankatofreepress.com.
6 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
By Robb Murray
We know it’s cold, but we still love it here
I
watched the film “Fargo” again the other day. My daughter thought she needed to see it, and heck, who doesn’t love a good wood chipper scene? My original opinion about the film was unchanged. It’s still amazing, even with the exaggerated accents and mannerisms that are so ingrained in the DNA of all who call this great state home. “Fargo” reminded again, however, how much winter is a part of our existence. When the cold and snow arrive in amounts and intensity that would scare lesser people away, we put on Sorel boots and parkas and walk onto frozen lakes to catch fish. We race down snow-covered hills on snowboards or inner tubes in subfreezing temps for the fun of it. We strap steel blades to our feet and slap a piece of hard rubber around ice-covered ponds. We refuse to leave, refuse to be driven from what we truly believe is the best place in the country to call home. This issue is about embracing the season that defines us. Sure, we have brilliant summers and breathtaking autumns, but if you must choose one season that says more about us than any other — whether we like it or not — it is winter. Not just winter … Cold, hard winter (with ice scrapers and snow blowers and all those tools for mitigating the effects of extreme temps and voluminous precipitation.) Nowhere is the spirit of embracing the season more evident and wonderful than at Mount Kato. The place comes alive each winter and transforms into a symbol for the Minnesota spirit. Drew Lyon’s piece this month chronicling the ins and outs of Mount Kato introduces us to some of the people, both young and old, who use Mount Kato to satisfy their need to defeat the notion that winter is a time to hibernate.
And let’s not forget this is the state of hockey. What would a winter/snow issue be without a tip of the hat to the highest-profile winter sport in town? Minnesota State University’s men’s hockey team is a hot ticket this year, but behind all those slap shots and body checks is a well-oiled machine with a lot of moving parts, many of which the average fan knows almost nothing about. We’ll give you a peek behind the curtain. Staying on the hockey theme, Joe Spear’s column recalls the days when real kids played hockey outside. They lugged giant hoses across playground fields – an effort that required teamwork – to get those outdoor rinks skate-able, then shoveled them to keep them playable (a skill lost on the current generation.) Our essay this month comes from award-winning author Nick Healy, whose nightly readings of classic literature to his daughter prompted thoughts of a memorable winter from his past. Also, don’t miss Jean Lundquist’s piece on the time she nearly died after a harrowing winter storm landed her car in a ditch. It’s a good reminder for anyone who drives this time of year that anything can happen. Stay warm, folks. And enjoy! M Robb Murray is associate editor of Mankato Magazine. Contact him at rmurray@mankatofreepress.com or 344-6386
MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 7
This Day
in
History —
By Jean Lundquist
Friday, January 24, 1958 Boy Held Delinquent for Theft at Dump A 16-year-old Mankato boy was found delinquent in Blue Earth county juvenile court Thursday on a charge of theft at the Mankato city dump. He had admitted breaking into the office of the Mankato city dump and taking 30 pounds of copper wire earlier this month. Juvenile judge Frank E. Morse ordered commitment to the youth Conservation Commission which was stayed on condition he find a job and remain on good behavior. He was ordered to report back on Feb. 1. Saturday, January 15, 1955 Farmers to Give Grain in Fight Against Polio Something new and until 1955 untried in Blue Earth County is the farmer’s fight against polio. Chairman Harold Groh said farmers are given the opportunity to contribute to the drive by donating the proceeds from sales of grain. Any farmer who takes a load of grain for sale at one of the listed elevators may set aside a certain amount of the grain for which he will receive a check payable to the March of Dimes at five cents per bushel over the regular market price. Cooperating elevators include Nachbar Company, Pauley Grain and Feed Company and Honeymean Company, Incorporated. Monday, January 3, 1949 Insufficient Postage Present P.O. Headache “People are too busy to pay attention to such ‘minor details,’” mail Supt. Harry Peterson said today of the new postal rate changes now in effect. The changes for some classes of mail higher rates went into effect on Jan. 1, and since then postal workers have had more than a little trouble with mail carrying wrong postage. The biggest headache, Peterson continued, is in the third-class mail. “That’s the stuff that used to go for one and a half cents. It now costs 2 cents for mail of the same type, but we’re still getting it with the old postage on.” “It will just have to iron itself out,” Peterson consoled himself. The Post Office official was surprised that many local business firms seemed to have ignored the notice of rate change. ... The rates for letters and postal cards remains unchanged. Letters still cost three cents, and cards one cent. Wednesday, January 4, 1961 Ingenious Beer Mobile a Big Failure Three St. Peter youths found that putting a keg of beer in the trunk of a car and piping the contents to the interior did not get them around the open bottle law over the New Year weekend. Two of them, 18-year-old minors, appeared in St. Peter justice court Tuesday night in connection with the holiday ingenuity which led to their arrest. The third individual, a 16-year-old St. Peter boy, will be turned over to juvenile authorities. Pleading guilty to an open bottle charge and consuming beer was Ronald Thompson, 18, who was the driver of the car in which the miniature bar was installed. Charles Burg, 18, pleaded guilty to purchasing the beer and consuming it. The draft beer mobile was stopped on a tip by St. Peter police about 5 p.m. New Year’s eve last Saturday near the Minnesota River highway bridge in St. Peter city limits. Inside they found a draught beer faucet set up in the back seat connected with a hose running around the seat into the trunk. In the trunk, the hose was connected to a large 16 gallon keg of beer. Police reported the keg, nearly empty when confiscated, had been in use Friday and Saturday. Glasses were used to drink the beer. Containers are included under the open bottle law and as such, the set up did not get around that law, according to the St. Peter police. 1750 Northway Drive North Mankato, MN 56003 800-729-7575 www.corpgraph.com
Chit Chat - Ask the Expert | By Nell Musolf
Holiday’s got you
S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D? Massage it away
M
assage Therapist Lisa Donth is the owner of Vital Life Massage in Mankato. Mankato Magazine caught up with her to find out how a massage can help people deal with all the stress in their lives. Mankato Magazine: This can be such a stressful time of year. How can massage therapy help people feel less stressed out? LISA DONTH: One of the areas that has been thoroughly researched in relation to massage therapy is its effect on stress. Comforting touch has been proven to lower blood pressure as well as increase the production of our “feel good hormones” endorphins. The body’s reaction to stress is much like its reaction to fear. By helping the body increase endorphins and decrease blood pressure, massage can help all systems in the body to re-regulate back to a healthy functioning level. Immune response will increase helping to ward off illnesses, blood pressure will return to normal levels decreasing stress on the vascular system, and digestion will improve helping our body to absorb more of the nutrients it needs to function at its best. When our body is functioning well, we get an overall sense of well-being and are much more able to efficiently work through unplanned or overbooked events in our lives. Massage is also one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to take a micro-vacation from the “rat race” for an hour. MM: What are the different kinds of massage a person can get? LD: There are literally hundreds of different massage
modalities that are used to effect positive and healthful change in the body. A professional massage therapist will always consult with their client prior to each session to assess what will be the most effective treatment for them during their appointment. Some of the more common modalities are: Swedish, Deep Tissue, Sports Massage and Myofascial. Massage techniques/modalities are regularly blended together without the client even realizing there has been a change. The flow of a massage is key in allowing the client to fully relax and helping them to lower their stress level. MM: If a person is feeling tense from shopping or planning a party or thinking about having all of their relatives over, is there a specific massage you recommend or is that a client by client call? LD: Every massage is catered to the client. Many things have an impact on the techniques that will be used during an appointment. The massage therapist will have a new client fill out an intake form that will ask questions about specific health related issues as well as the client’s goal for the massage. There are contraindications in the use of massage so the therapist must always ask questions and listen well to ensure the health and well-being of their client. With that said, clients who wish to relax and de-stress but do not have any specific areas of discomfort or dysfunction will probably enjoy a thorough Swedish massage with adjustments in pressure to suit their comfort level. One thing that is very important for the person receiving the massage to remember is to ask for what you need from your therapist. If the pressure is too much or not enough, always feel free to let your therapist know. It is our goal to make you comfortable and assist you feeling your best during and between massages. M
MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 9
The Gallery — Stephanie Purrington | By Nell Musolf
The photo in the middle was chosen to be shown at 22nd Annual Prairie Lakes Regional Juried Art Exhibition.
Artist has an eye for nature Stephanie Purrington getting noticed for her ‘hobby’
W
hile some people can pick up a camera and take pictures that always come out looking like they could be in a magazine, the majority of us usually produce photographs that often look as if they’d been taken out the back window of a moving car. Mankato photographer Stephanie Purrington is only 22 but she has already discovered that she has an eye for taking interesting photographs. Purrington was born and raised in Mankato and attended Immanual Lutheran School from kindergarten through high school. She graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato in December with a degree in Elementary Education. But in addition to pursuing her degree, Purrington also found the time to get out into nature and photograph what she saw. “I have been taking pictures since I was a kid,” Purrington said. “I
10 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
used my parents’ camera until my fiancée recently gave me a Nikon as a gift.” With her new camera in hand, Purrington enrolled for a photography class offered by the Mankato Community Education and Recreation program. There she learned the basics of the craft she had been practicing for years. Encouraged by her teacher, Purrington entered two of her photographs in the 22nd Annual Prairie Lakes Regional Juried Art Exhibition and was thrilled when one of her entries received a merit award and was shown in the St. Peter Art Gallery. “The photo that won was called ‘Curiosity’ and it was of a donkey that I saw while taking a vacation with my family in South Dakota,” Purrington said. “We were at Custer State Park and my family was ready to leave but I wanted to stay a few
more minutes. That’s when the donkey came up to me and I was able to take its picture. I’m glad I stayed.” Purrington’s photographs are often of nature scenes and include close ups of flowers, long distance shots of lakes and blades of grass with dew drops on them. Purrington said she likes to get up close and personal with her subjects. “I’ve always liked to hone in on the little details,” Purrington said. “When I was small, my mom said that I liked playing with tiny toys instead of larger ones. I don’t know why. I guess I’ve just always liked to notice the details.” Purrington gets out into nature with her camera and explores local spots such as Seven Mile Creek Park. “I like to take walks with my camera and look at the way a vine is
Home is wherever I’m with Nu. (507) 381-4747 One of Mankato’s Best
DANIEL WINGERT crawling up a tree or how light is hitting a flower. I find it very peaceful,” Purrington said. Although she has been taking photographs for most of her young life, Purrington said that she knows that there are still things she needs to learn, such as editing. Purrington estimates that about half of her photographs don’t turn out as planned. But she’s OK with that because the other half are ones she’s pleased with. “I know the basics of photography but I don’t really know all that much about editing,” Purrington said. “I’d like to learn but on the other hand, I also like it that with my photographs, I know that they haven’t been edited and that what they show is exactly what I saw at the moment that I took them. I think it’s about seeing the moment while it’s there.” For now photography is going to remain in the leisure category for Purrington as she looks for a teaching job and plans her upcoming wedding. She has taken engagement photos for friends and pictures of her sister’s newborn. She doesn’t rule out taking pictures for other people in the future. She would also like to utilize photography with her students when she has her own classroom and predicts that today’s tech-savvy kids would enjoy that.
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 11
12 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Beyond
the
Margin
By Joe Spear
T
Outdoor ice in the veins
oday’s youth can access myriad programs to keep them out of trouble. The government, the schools and the nonprofits all have initiatives to help build self-esteem, confidence and create a sense of community. We had outdoor ice. As temperatures hovered in the teens and the winter night came early, we’d head to North Dale playground in St. Paul where the city crews had already set up the hockey boards. The neighborhood kids were the volunteer flooding crew. Three people could usually get the job done — a high schooler to take the lead and a couple of big 10-year-olds to stabilize the operation. We grabbed our part of the 200foot hose and wielded it snake-like across the grass and then, if the night was cold enough, a second pass over the first layer. A full throttle stream laid the foundation. As the rink took shape, we adjusted the hose to a lighter spray to keep the ice smooth and fill in the cracks. We didn’t mind the below-zero nights. We knew the ice would be all the more perfect in the morning. We spent a good part of our youth on those rinks. The schedule: School for six hours, dinner for half an hour, the rink from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., every night, for weeks and weeks of winter that never seemed to end. If you got there on Saturday much past noon, there was likely a pick-up game of hockey going on and the ice was probably half shredded. A full day of skating left the rink with veins of snow accumulated from the hard stops and sharp cuts. You didn’t have to be able to skate very well to join the pick-up games. If you could get in the way of the hotshots and slash around a hockey stick, you were part of the team. Pick-up games at outdoor rinks served as a kind of talent equalizer, maybe even helped a little with depression. When the night came to an end, players traded hockey sticks for scrapers — long shovels with heavy blades that stretched three feet long. The staccato sounds of skates chopping and cutting along the ice gave way to the constant drone of scrapers. The outdoor rink credo: If you skated, you scraped. Organized hockey leagues played on outdoor ice into the mid-1970s, when the number of indoor rinks with artificial ice began to explode. By the time I was on bantams (age 13-14), we were booking ice time at Adams Arena, but we still used outdoor ice for “conditioning.” The outdoor practices could be brutal, not only because we skated in below zero weather, but because they also involved the renowned “Herbies,” a conditioning drill reportedly devised by the legendary Minnesota Gopher Hockey Coach Herb Brooks.
The drill involved a series of sprints: Starting at the goal line, skate to the nearest blue line and back, then out to the mid-rink red line and back, then out to the far blue line and back, and finally all the way down to the end of the rink and back. No resting. Outdoor ice had its hazards as well. My skate once caught a crack during a drill and the fall sent me crashing into the boards, sans helmet. Fourteen or fifteen stiches later, you could say I had outdoor ice in my blood. By the late 1970s, high school hockey was becoming serious business, with cities setting up indoor rinks to allow youth programs as much ice time as possible, not having to worry about the weather and the condition of outdoor rinks. Donald Clark, a longtime Minnesota hockey historian and one of the founders of the Minnesota Amateur Hockey Association, wrote of the importance of indoor ice. “Those communities that have possessed advantages of indoor rinks consistently have developed better programs and players in most programs that have had to rely on outdoor ice.” Between 1947 and 1988, Clark notes the number of registered youth teams in Minnesota grew from 45 to 4,000. The number of indoor ice rinks increased from 13 to more than 220. Serious, organized hockey came to rely on the indoor facilities and many a community has heard the cries that there aren’t enough hours available for all the teams, leaving many to practice late at night or early in the morning. That wasn’t a concern in the days when every playground had multiple outdoor rinks. Today, they’re harder to find. Many of us old rink rats remain nostalgic for the long days on the neighborhood rinks. One evening a few years ago I pulled my truck up to the opening in the boards at the Hoffman Road rink and put on my skates sitting on the tailgate. I had the rink to myself. A couple of weeks later, it had all but melted — earlier than usual. I guess I could blame global warming, or the general difference in temperatures between St. Paul and “tropical Minnesota” here in the south. But the folks who run the old North Dale rink have fought back against Mother Nature. They’ve installed a refrigeration system under the outdoor rink. My old neighborhood hockey mates tell me it keeps it good into March. That’s good. I might be in need of a little pick-up game by then. M Joe Spear is editor of Mankato Magazine. Contact him at 344-6382 or jspear@mankatofreepress.com MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 13
Verizon Wireless Center can be a hopping place when the Mavericks are winning.
At the
good OLE’
hockey game
While most eyes are on the ice, many moving parts behind the scenes make sure the game goes smoothly Story by Robb Murray | Photos by Pat Christman 14 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
The men and women who present the color guard flags arrive roughly 45 minutes before game time to prepare for their pre-game duties.
I
n a few minutes, they’ll rush onto the freshly slickened ice sheet, adrenaline pumping, crowd cheering, rock song blaring, lights zig-zagging around the arena. But now, still beyond the sight of the collected fans who watch their every slap shop and body check, the Minnesota State University men’s hockey team is taking its final few minutes of alone time to get themselves mentally prepared to do battle. Like a pack of wolves ready to attack, they mill around each other and bark out encouragement, some inaudible and grunt-like, some profanity laced and amusing. A pair of helmets clack into each other, the faces inside sounding barbaric yawps at each other. A few feet away, No. 18 socks a hockey glove-covered fist into the shoulder pad of No. 8. Hockey sticks slap against shin pads. The volume increases. Players jump up and down, circle each other, shout — like animals waiting to bust out of a cage. It’s just about game time here at the Verizon Wireless Civic Center. Chances are, many of you have been to a game and are familiar with much of the game day experience. The teams come out, knock a puck around a bit and take breaks when the Zamboni needs to clean up the ice. But there’s a world of activity beyond the rink at these games that most people know nothing about, a world many might simply overlook. Have a peek … Oh say can you see When high-fives and hell-yeahs are done and it’s time for the players to head onto the ice, they rumble out in single file — a line that, oddly enough, both begins and ends with a goalie. Afterward, this corral sits empty. Well, nearly empty. There’s still one familiar face sitting calmly on a chair — hair perfectly curled, leather jacket on point.
Shelby Tweten has delivered more national anthems in this building than just about anyone else. Remember Shelby? The former Mankato West student tugged at everyone’s heart strings when her emotional story of battling mental illness was featured on “American Idol” a few years ago. That catapulted her to celebrity status locally, and made her a very sought-after singer for pre-game national anthem work. Nervous, Shelby? “No,” she says, convincingly. “I’ve done this before.” A few moments earlier, after watching all those young men smack each other around a little bit, Shelby pulled out her smart phone and pulled up some footage of … herself. It was her at a baseball game singing, what else, the national anthem. So, Shelby … No routine? No voice exercises? No special prep work for that award-winning voice? “Nope,” she says, laughing. “I usually have some hot chocolate.” (Looks around … No hot chocolate.) “But not tonight!” she says. “I’ve done this, like, 20 times, so …” The lights in the arena go down and Shelby disappears into the dark. A pair of ice crew members have — literally — already rolled out a red carpet for her. She steps onto the ice and waits to be announced. Like the 19 times before, she delivers a flawless, countrified rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.” It’s game time. You Betcha The voice of the Maverick hockey night experience is a guy you probably already know, especially if you listen to Radio Mankato’s Minnesota 93, the country music station. Just as T.J. Palesotti has become a part of morning life for so many MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 15
Before hitting the ice, the players use their last moments to get psyched up. southern Minnesotans as part of the T.J. and Lisa morning show, so too has he become an indelible part of the Maverick hockey experience. With a pleasantly booming voice that caroms throughout the arena, Palesotti is the guy who lets everyone know that the home team has scored. “Maverick goal!!!” he says in his unique way, a phrase that follows a sometimes boisterous crowd sing-along of the “Ole” song. He’s also the guy who let’s us all know when a player has committed an infraction and must spend two, five or the rare 10 minutes in the penalty box. And near the end of each period of play, he let’s everyone know when there’s just one minute remaining, a routine that prompts the student section to shout, “Thank you!” and prompts Palesotti to reply with, “You betcha.” Being the “voice” of the game, though, is more than just announcing goals, penalties and period endings. Hockey games aren’t quiet affairs. There is a crew in charge of the rock and roll that slips in between stoppages in play, and there’s a Minnesota State University pep band that pumps out a few jams as well. So, to keep everyone on the same sonic page, Palesotti, the sound crew and band leader are all wired into one another and coordinating what the crowd hears. That’s how the pep band and sound crew know when it’s their turn to play, and how Palesotti knows that when he speaks, he won’t suddenly be interrupted by “Cotton Eyed Joe.” Palesotti also is wired up with MSU’s Sports Information department, the folks who keep track of all that needs keeping track of — goals, assists, penalties, shots on goal, etc. Each time a goal is scored, for example, sports info personnel are quick to give Palesotti the details so that, when the crowd finishes its celebration song, he’s ready to go with the goal announcement. 16 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
He’s got it down pretty well by now, and the fans who have been coming to games over the last decade that he’s been the voice are used to his style. For example, one of the players on the team is named Jean Paul LaFontaine, and his name gets announced a lot. Palesotti has turned the announcing of that name — with a staccato delivery that includes the proper French pronunciaton of “Jean” — into something like, “Jean! Paul! Lafontaine!” “If he scores, it’s kind of fun because the crowd will say it along with me,” Palesotti says. Program! Get yer program, here! In an official-looking yellow coat and a stack of game programs in her hand, Mackenzie Juberian doesn’t see much of the game. What she does see of it is on a small television screen perched above a makeshift bar where Budweisers and Morgan Cokes are sold. She’s here to make money. As a member of the Mankato Area 77 Lancers Marching Band, she has the opportunity to “volunteer” at the hockey games in exchange for the university making a donation to the organization on her behalf. It’s not much, but after a season of selling programs, a kid can knock a few hundred bucks off the cost of being a Lancer. Parents of Lancers can participate, too. Her spot in the hallway, while not affording a great view of the game action, does give her a good view of some other action. “I watched the cops escort a woman out yesterday,” she said, smiling. It’s true. Occasionally a hockey fan imbibes a tad too many Budweisers or Morgan Cokes and their behavior catches the attention of the security guards. Once spotted, security will check on them. If their intoxication level is deemed
Fun Zamboni fact: the machines run on propane to keep emissions down. inappropriate for continued hockey enjoyment — or if they’re underage — they get escorted out or arrested (or both.) Lights, camera, action On any given hockey game night, folks who can’t make it to the Verizon Wireless Center can catch the game on television. If they do, they’ll be watching the work of the students in the communications program from Bethany Lutheran College. Under the guidance of Bethany alum Greg Vandermause, the crew of 20 students spends its entire Friday at the rink. Everything — cameras, cords, monitors ... everything — gets set up from scratch most Fridays for a weekend series. Nine cameras capture the action. “We want to be able to have the angles people want to see,” Vandermause said. Before anything hits a living room flat screen, he says, there are first hours upon hours of testing that needs to be done. And retesting. “It’s always the double checking,” he says. “Quadruple checking,” a student says as he walks out of the trailer full of the television production equipment the crew uses. A good sports broadcast requires planning and a crew that is always thinking ahead and able to react to changes in the regular routine of a game. Following the game is easy enough, but the crew, he says, must be ready for a surprise. If a fight breaks out, for example, they need to be nimble enough to switch focus to that action — which requires different camera work — while making it look seamless and effortless. “We always have to be thinking a few steps ahead,” he said, “and about what happens at the next whistle.”
‘That right there’s one expensive machine’ Any little kid who has ever laced up a pair of skates has at one time in his or her youth hockey career, perhaps while waiting for the Zamboni to finish preparing the ice for hockey, had this thought: “I’d give anything to switch places with that guy right now.” That guy at Maverick hockey games (well, one of the guys) is Fred Friedrichs, who has been driving the Zamboni for 11 years. “It’s fun. I just like to be at the games,” he said. “And it’s the best seat in the house.” It’s also the seat that, several times per night, is a very visible one. Here’s roughly how a Zamboni, or ice resurfacing machine, works: A blade scrapes the ice and excess snow is removed. Then hot water is sprayed to fill in cracks and grooves. Hot water fuses to the ice sheet quicker and more effectively. As the machine — which is about the size of an SUV — circles the rink and resurfaces things, it’s very easy to see exactly where it has been, leaving the skill (or lack thereof) of the Zamboni driver on display. Many a Zamboni driver at small town rinks throughout the state has been shamed into retirement for failing to drive a straight line. Leaving thin strips of unresurfaced ice requires the driver to go all the way around the rink and make another pass. Oh, the embarrassment. A skilled driver makes it look easy. That’s Friedrichs. Does he ever get nervous out there, with all those eyes upon him? “Not really,” he says, sounding almost as confident at Tweten. “It’s just a matter of lining it up and making sure you don’t miss a spot.” M MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 17
From any vantage point, Mount Kato is a good time.
On the Mount A day in the life of Mount Kato Story by Drew Lyon | Photos by John Cross
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inter arrived without warning and ahead of schedule in November. After a mild October, some locals were dismayed and shook their fists at Mother Nature’s wrath; others shrugged. But along Hwy. 66 at the Mount Kato Ski Area, patrons and staff gave glad tidings, embracing the November chill and snow with open arms. Bring it on, they say at this Mankato sporting institution.
18 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Mount Kato’s clientele is half skiers and half snowboarders. “To have this much snow this early in the year is awesome,” said Paige Pearson, Mount Kato’s snow sports school director. “I think this is going to be a really good year. It’s been perfect so far.” Early November snow and sub-freezing temps granted Mount Kato a two-week head start to its ski and snowboarding season. They traditionally open the day after Thanksgiving and close for the season sometime in March — depending, as always, on the weather. The slopes were open until March 30 last season, and conditions last fall 2014 were ripe for skiing by Nov. 15. By early December, all trails were open. “We’ve been trying to think of when the last time was that we opened this early,” Mount Kato’s longtime assistant manager John Nelson said. “We’re pretty much set for the season now, and the phones have been ringing off the hook.” Pearson was raised just a mile away from the hill, and practically grew up on Mount Kato. She’s seen it all from her view atop the hill — blizzards in November, rain and thunder in January, snow storms in late March. After nearly a foot of snow fell in Mankato on Thanksgiving Eve, Pearson predicted that, barring a balmy winter surge (it is Minnesota after all; you never know), the snow is sticking around for the winter.
“Once you get this big of a base already,” Pearson said, “it’s not going anywhere for a while, no matter if it’s warm one day. We’ve got so much snow now that it’s here to stay.” Mount Kato, Minnesota’s oldest ski slope, was named Ski Haven when Mankato outdoorsman Harvey Andersen leased the grounds in 1937. Andersen wanted a hill to practice ski jumping, and in 1939 he bought the farm adjacent to the hill, opening six runs for skiing and tobogganing. There were no automated chair lifts; the hill’s first rope tow wasn’t installed until the late 1940s and the tows were gas powered until 1968. In 1977, Ski Haven was purchased by Afton Alps. There were three chair lifts added, a 5,000-square foot chalet was built and the hill itself was elevated 30 feet and renamed Mount Kato. Nearly 40 years later, Mount Kato boasts eight chair lifts and 19 trails on 55 acres; a chalet, full-scale rental services, a tech shop, ski lessons for all ages, school programs, a bar featuring live music, bonfires and mountain bike trails in the offseason. “It’s such a fun place to work,” said Pearson, snow sports school director for 11 years. “I’m only seasonal and I come to hang out here every year. I can’t help myself.” The Lift Bar, located on the chalet’s second floor, isn’t a MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 19
hill. “We drop them off here every weekend,” Smook said of her sons, Drew and Eric. “It’s good exercise, and a safe place for kids.”
Mount Kato is a big hit with families. typical drinking establishment. Customers tend to lean a bit more on the polite side, Mary Robinson has observed in her short time working their “Everybody that comes in here is happy,” Robinson said, “because they’re here to ski.” Technology has changed Mount Kato’s accounting practices more than anything, Nelson says. And he would know. Nelson is responsible for the ticket shop, web site maintenance, marketing and payroll. With the click of a computer mouse, Nelson can see how many lift tickets have been purchased that day. “That really makes a difference,” said Nelson, who worked as a Mount Kato lift operator in college before becoming assistant manager a decade ago. “Whereas before you had an idea about things, but you weren’t sure until a day or two later when you did the books.” More than 75 years since it opened, Mount Kato sticks to the basics. Its most effective marketing tool remains the allure of a pair of skis (or a snowboard) gliding down a snowcovered hill. “Technology is nice and it helps,” Nelson said. “But outside of how we make our snow, not much has changed.” Contrary to popular belief, Nelson says 95 percent of the snow on Mount Kato is machine-made. The complex creation of snow-making has evolved over the years. “It used to be made with compressed air,” Nelson said. “They would have these large compressors that would send air and then they would combine that with water, and it would spray out of these guns that would mix. Now we use fan guns, so there’s no compressed air.” About 50,000 skiers and snowboarders (Nelson estimates the ratio is about 50/50) visit Mount Kato each year from all around the region, including Iowa and South Dakota. “It always seems to be the young families, younger kids, families of younger kids,” he said. “And we’ll get the regulars who have been here for years, too.” In the chalet’s food court area, parents such as Alysha Smook, a teacher at Monroe Elementary, grade papers or read books at dining tables while their children play on the 20 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Jack be nimble Like many Mount Kato seasonticket holders, Jack Fritz, 13, takes full advantage of his pass. By Nov. 29, two weeks into the season, the Dakota Meadows 8th grader had already skied enough days to justify his $309. He was even on the slopes the day of the unexpected snow chaos on Thanksgiving eve. “You couldn’t even control yourself or see where the ground was,” he says. “It was crazy.” On weekends, Jack usually arrives with his younger brother and meets his buddies near the chalet around 9:30 a.m., when the lifts first open. His parents don’t tag along. “That would be a sight to see though,” Jack says. This morning, like most others, he doesn’t waste time fooling around before hopping on the lift. Time is precious, and this morning is every rider’s dream. There’s fresh powder on the ground, ample sun, mild temps and little wind. Jack will ski all day past sunset, when the lights illuminate the trails. And he won’t call it quits until the lifts close around 10 p.m. on weekends. He was once a snowboarder, but with encouragement from his friends, Jack tried skiing earlier in 2014. “Skis are better under my feet,” he says while riding the chair lift above Brave Chute. “Skiing gives me more control, and I like how playful it is.” He eschews poles — “they just get in the way,” he says — and zooms down Sundance Terrain Park, one of the hill’s most challenging trails. Within a month of skiing, Jack had already learned how to land a back-flip. Nothing to it, he says. Wait, hold up, Jack. Say that again. You’re trying back flips? “Yeah, I guess progressed pretty fast,” he said. “We just like to do tricks. And my friends are pretty motivating.” At the base of Sundance, there’s a jump several feet high. Jack approaches the mound at full speed, lifts off, lands on his Line Skis before he loses control and nearly does the splits. But Jack somehow retains his balance, throws his arms up in exaltation and coasts to the next chair lift. His friends are waiting for him, howling in a mixture of delight and relief. “Oh, man! Did you see that?!” one of Jack’s friends says. Jack flashes a sheepish grin and shakes his head. “I think I was going too fast,” he says. And he’s back on the lift. It’s not even 10 a.m. He has the whole day ahead of him. Breakfast of champions No matter the elements, the same meeting occurs every weekday morning at Mount Kato. After an hour or so on the slopes, at around 10:30 a.m., a group of about 10 friends and
experienced skiers will break and convene around tables in the tech shop, warm their feet, drink coffee and chat. Some members of the group, notably Winston Kindem and Slim Johnson, even show up on weekend mornings. “Most of us will ski here between about 65 and 80 days during the season,” Kindem said. “But last year, Slim hit 100 and I hit 110, and that’s very rare for any Midwesterner. But that’s not just here — we go skiing lots of places.” On this Monday morning, the mercury hadn’t yet crept above zero, and the windchill was -15. At least it was sunny, and a stiff breeze won’t scare away these skiers. Never has and probably never will. “This group has just grown throughout the years,” John Iverson said. “We’re all die-hards.” The Mount Kato staff has branded them “the breakfast club.” They’re a bit like the gang from “Cheers” — around here, everybody knows their names. “They’ve got a lot of history in this place,” John Nelson said. “They know it all. Some of them have been here since back when it was called Ski Haven. They’re a great group of people.” Kindem has traversed mountains around the globe. He’s even conquered the longest ski run in the world in France (Vallee Blanche). And he owns the ski pin to prove it. “A lot of people go, ‘What’s the big deal about a ski pin?’ Well, I’ve been collecting pins for a long time,” Kindem said between sips of hot coffee. “I have about 150 of them.” All ski pins being equal, Kindem favors his hometown hill. “This is a safe quote for all of us: The grooming here is as good as anywhere in Minnesota,” said Kindem, a retired Mankato teacher. “It’s second to none. They’re very conscientious and do such a good job. They feel it’s important to give the skiers the best they can give them.” There’s one married “breakfast club” couple, Pell and Theresa Johnson, who literally met on a chair lift at Afton Alps in 1969. Many of the clubbers have also worked as ski patrollers and instructors at Mount Kato. “It’s a wonderful group with wonderful people,” Rod Urtel said. After 30 minutes, the breakfast club, bundled up and fortified with coffee, parted ways until tomorrow morning and dispersed one-by-one. The mercury had soared to 3 degrees, and it was time to get back on those immaculately groomed slopes. “The other nice thing about Mount Kato,” Kindem says, “is if you get cold, you’re only 30 seconds from the chalet. It’s very convenient, not like some other places where you have to plan it out. This place is as good as it gets.” M
Mount Kato opened in the 1930s. MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 21
say s E
It Could Be Worse By Nick Healy
D
eep in the bleak and desperate pages of The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder describes her frontier family crossing into harrowing circumstances. A winter that began too early has socked them again and again with heavy snow and oppressive cold. Supplies are running out. Trains that would bring relief cannot get through. The railroad company has given up on clearing the tracks. Ma and Pa Ingalls and their four children gather to eat from the meager bits of food they have left as yet another winter storm sweeps over their little town on the prairie. “Slowly they ate the last potatoes, skins and all,” the story goes. “The blizzard was beating and scouring the house, the winds were roaring and shrieking. The window was pale in the twilight and the stove pressed out its feeble heat against the cold.” Roughly 130 years after the legendary winter depicted in the book, I began reading Wilder’s story to my young daughter. She had wiggled herself under heavy covers while outside the nighttime temperature descended into negative numbers. This was two years ago, and we were enduring a trying winter of our own. At the outset, I 22 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
wondered why I was putting us through it, why I wasn’t reading something full of warmth and promise. fdf When I tell my kids about the winters of my childhood, I tell them that we had a long driveway and no snowblower, that we had to get up early and shovel so our mother wouldn’t be late for work, and that we didn’t have a father around to help with the work. I sometimes mention that my mother owned two hopeless automobiles—a burnt-orange Mercury and a sunshineyellow Opel, a pair of motorized afflictions that brought suspense to every cold morning. So much depended on those cars. I was in third grade the first time one of my sisters handed me a set of keys and asked me to go start the Mercury. “I can’t,” I said. “Yes you can,” said my sister, a high-school senior who smoked cigarettes and spoke with authority. “Mom won’t let me,” I replied.
“I don’t see her around,” said my sister. It was true. The Opel had started, and our mother had left for her day in secretarial purgatory. I took the keys, put on my boots and coat, and went outside. No fresh snow had fallen overnight, but the cold of the morning startled me. A layer of frost whited the windows of the Mercury, a Montego coupe with doors so long and heavy a kid of my size could barely handle the weight. I climbed in and reached with both hands to swing the door shut. The light inside the car was pale gray, and there the world turned suddenly quiet and calm. I couldn’t see out through the frost. I inserted the key into the ignition and stretched my leg until my toe reached the gas pedal, which I pressed slowly to the floor one time, then again. I turned the key. The engine sighed and moaned, and the car shook. I cranked away and pressed the gas pedal again. The Mercury awoke. I let off the ignition and grinned. fdf The Long Winter depicts the terrible stretch of weather that arrived in October 1880, when the Ingalls family was living in a shack on their homestead claim near De Smet, South Dakota. The story begins in the
warm days of autumn, as Laura works alongside Pa to cut, stack, and haul in the hay. They notice a “muskrat house” in the slough on their property, and Laura follows as Pa pushes through the tall grass to get a closer look. He knows the colder the winter will be, the thicker the muskrats make the walls, and this structure’s walls, made from mud and grass, are thicker than he has ever seen. Wilder writes, “Pa was shaking his head. ‘We’re going to have a hard winter,’ he said, not liking the prospect.” An October blizzard soon follows, battering the countryside for three days and leaving the family’s cattle frozen in place and barely alive. Still, there is no shaking the optimism of the Ingalls family. (“’We’ll have Indian summer yet,’ Ma was sure. ‘This storm was so early, it can’t be the beginning of winter.’”) When the weather allows a brief respite, Pa ventures to town, where he encounters “a very old Indian” who warns that seven months of winter lay ahead. Pa moves the family into De Smet to ride out season, which turns out to be as long as predicted, with cold and snow beyond what he could have imagined. fdf My sisters asked how I did it, how I got the Mercury to start morning after morning, no matter the cold. I felt MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 23
like I had a secret, but it was simple, no big deal. Two taps on the gas before turning the key, I explained, maybe three on really cold days. “He’s got the touch,” said one of my sisters. “Don’t tell Mom,” said another. It was the winter of 1978-79, and five kids still lived at home — four girls and me. I was the youngest and the only guy in the house. As a collective, my sisters and I were generally lazy. In summer we would lie around until someone mentioned that our mother would be home from work in 20 minutes, sparking a great frenzy of housecleaning and contraband hiding. In winter we mostly sat in front of heat vents in the living room and watched television. Our driveway constricted with each snowfall, becoming narrower and narrower until you could barely open a door on the Mercury. One morning I charged out through breathtaking, skinfreezing cold and slipped into the car. The seat felt unusually stiff beneath me. The upholstery crinkled and the springs creaked in ways I hadn’t heard or felt before. I followed my routine, but when I turned the key the only response was a low, slow groan from under the hood. When I pumped the gas pedal again and twisted the ignition, the engine answered with a lower, slower groan. I panicked, stomping the gas again, cranking the ignition, holding it there. I’d lost the touch. I didn’t want to go back inside. When I finally did, I said, “I don’t know what’s wrong. I can’t get it to start.” “It’s a piece of junk,” said my sister, the one who spoke with authority. “That’s what’s wrong.” fdf Sometime two winters ago I told my kids about that terrible old Mercury and the winter my sisters sent me out to start it, the winter I had the magic touch. Sharing the story was a parental misstep. My son, a fifth-grader at the time, wondered why he’d been deprived of the opportunity to start the car. “You did it when you were in third grade,” he said 24 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
when I refused to hand over the keys. “That doesn’t mean it was a good idea,” I replied. Eventually, though, I gave in. I told him what not to do, gave him the keys, and watched through the kitchen window as he went out back and disappeared into the garage. I knew the car would start right up. It was getting old, but it was no 1970s Mercury, no Opel. fdf My daughter and I had started The Long Winter shortly before Christmas 2012, and we trudged through its 33 chapters without much vigor. The book is the sixth in the Little House series, and at the outset we might have been suffering some Ingalls fatigue. But mostly our enthusiasm for the story was sapped by the difficult season unfolding around us. Midwinter in Southern Minnesota turned bitterly cold, then colder, and in late winter the cold gave way to snow, then more snow. At some point we set The Long Winter aside, but by March we’d picked it up again, determined to get through to spring with Laura. We read about the snowdrifts in the streets of De Smet. They were eight feet, then ten feet, then twelve feet deep. Pa and the other men had to dig tunnels so they could move between the buildings. We read about the Ingalls family’s running out of firewood, forcing them to twist hay into bundles to burn. We read about hunger setting in as they and their neighbors ran out of nearly everything. Often my daughter would fall asleep before we reached the end of the chapter, but I would keep reading until I could fold the corner of the page beginning the next chapter. It was the only way we were going to get through. Eventually I knew why it was worthwhile. No matter what our winter dealt us, each night we read Wilder’s book we went to bed knowing it could be worse.
M Nick Healy is the author of “It Takes You Over,” and an editor at Capstone Press.
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 25
Reflections
By John Cross
26 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
T
here comes a time for many veteran Minnesotans when the sparkle of yet another snowfall outside the kitchen window begins to dim. Pretty though it may appear, fresh snow also means dealing with slippery roads, of once again grabbing the snow shovel or firing up the snow blower, of enduring the bone-chilling cold that invariably follows the latest Alberta Clipper. Youngsters are inclined to take a more optimistic view, eager to slip on their boots, mittens and stocking caps to wade into a countryside cloaked in the latest glistening mantle of white. That view has a way of changing, however — just about the time they learn that wielding a snow shovel is now one of their official chores. M
MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 27
Day Trip Destinations: St. Paul Winter Carnival |
By Leticia Gonzales
Ice Scultptures are always one of the most popular attractions at St. Paul’s Winter Carnival. They are collected at the beautifully decorated Rice Park.
Crazy, cold carnival
St. Paul’s annual winter celebration offers something for all
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hat started in 1886 as an effort to prove to a New York reporter that the City of St. Paul wasn’t the “unfit” Siberia he described, the Saint Paul Winter Carnival will make its 128th run later this month. Rosanne Bump, President and CEO of the St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation, said that since its inception, the 10-day Winter Carnival has shown that “not only do we live here, but we are alive and well.” “They created a winter playground,” said Bump, of the early event organizers. “I think there were a lot of outdoor activities even back then. They did snow sliding and skiing, and even the things we do today.” Some of the earlier activities included snow shoeing, a blanket tossing contest, a push ball game with giant balls, and of course, ice castles and ice palaces, which is what the Winter Carnival is known for. “The ice palaces have always been a large draw,” said Bump. “A big palace will get a million visitors.” Due to the complexity of building such intricate structures,
the Winter Carnival doesn’t host large ice places very often. Bump said the last one, built in 2004, took 21 days to construct. “It takes a lot of people,” she said. “The ice is harvested, it has to be transported, it has to be constructed; there are security issues we have to work through.” Despite the extensive process involved, Bump said there will be mini ice palaces at this year’s carnival. The structures will be about 30 feet by 40 feet, with walls that are eight to nine feet tall. “We are still nailing down the design of it,” said Bump. “They are going to be in Rice Park. There is talk of a big ice palace in 2018 for the Super Bowl. This is going to be our practice run on the design and lighting. We will have some interactive things in the ice palace, so it should be fun to come down and see it.” Although the carnival didn’t start running continuously until 1946, Bump said the main focus has always been providing outdoor activities; “Anything outdoor, anything that got
If you go What The 128th Saint Paul Winter Carnival When Jan. 23 to Feb. 2 Rice Park in St. Paul Admission Varies by event. Carnival button may be required, which may be purchased at participating Super America and Cub Food stores on online. For more information, visit www.winter-carnival.com or contact (651) 223-7400 or info@spfhf.org
Photos courtsey of St. Paul Winter Carnival people out and together.” The early 1940s also saw the emergence of the Carnivals’s creation story, or what is known simply as the Legend — a strong set of characters that play a central role in the Winter Carnival, including King Boreas, Vulcanus Rex (the god of Fire) and the Royal Guard. “They kind of bring the story of the legend alive and the history of the St. Paul Winter Carnival and promote the history of St. Paul,” said Bump. The theme of the Legend is incorporated within many of the carnival’s main activities, including a royal coronation group dinner, as well as their King Boreas Grande Day Parade and Vulcan Victory Torchlight Parade. Bump said the majority of the activities are held in Rice Park, so they are centrally located in downtown St. Paul. “We have about 30 ice carvings set up on display,” she said. “They are very elaborate, very beautiful. They light them up.” There are also activities at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds, which is referred to as “Snow Park” during the
Winter Carnival. The area features a snow slide and carvers, who make creations out of snow. “We really try to have low or no cost to encourage people to come outside and get a cup of cocoa,” said Bump. From a half marathon to a family day at the Landmark Center, to a Beer Dabbler and entertainment stages throughout the carnival grounds, the Winter Carnival draws anywhere from 250-to-300,000 spectators during its 10-day run. There is definitely no shortage of outdoor fun for any age or activity level. The things I am continuously struck by are how many people have traditions surrounding the winter carnival,” said Bump. “There are just some many people who connect and have built family traditions around it. M
MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 29
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southern mn style
f you’re like me, your knowledge of fine wines goes about as far as your income does in purchasing them. In either case, it’s not very impressive. Luckily for all of us we’ve got Leigh Pomeroy around to take us by the hand and gently lead us down the path of gradual growth in our knowledge and appreciation of wine. This month, Leigh takes us to Italy (where I’m told they make fine reds) and explains a little bit about what all the fuss is about on these Italian wines. Winter is a great time to get acquainted with some of the heavier reds that you might have been afraid to try, and Leigh’s got great recommendations for you. On the hoppier side of things, Bert the beer guy gets you up to speed on the wonderful tradition over at the August Schell Brewing Company of coming up with a brand new recipe for its annual Snowstorm brew. (Pro tip: The Snowstorm this year is exquisite, but don’t take my word for. Read Bert and take his.) Meanwhile, in sick wards and school nurse’s offices around the world, people young and old are winding up with colds and flu in big numbers this year. Hopefully they’ll read Sarah Johnson’s piece about chicken soup and its rumored healing powers. Turns out grandma was right all along! And in Sarah’s monthly What’s Cooking column, she cleverly informs us about the history of chocolate, and how the first chocoholics actually drank their vice of choice. To honor their pioneering spirit, she offers a fantastic recipe for hot cocoa. Cheers!
food, drink & dine
Ready for big reds?
MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 31
Food
By Sarah Johnson
southern mn style
Y
So, about that chicken soup? Turns out grandma was right
ou’ve heard it all your life, and perhaps you’ve wondered: Is it really true? Does chicken soup have magical healing properties that make a cold disappear faster? Grandma wasn’t always right — going outside with wet hair will not make you sick, nor will eating spicy food aggravate ulcers — but she had something going with the chicken soup thing. The verdict is in, and even doctors agree: Chicken soup really does help alleviate a cold. Maybe not cure, but it will definitely help with the nasty symptoms. The centuries-old home remedy of chicken soup for fighting the common cold is not just an old wives’ tale. Scientists believe that a bowl of the soup may reduce inflammation of the lungs by slowing down the activity of white blood cells that cause the inflammation. “Of course Grandma was right!” says Jon Flom, MD. Born in Faribault, a lifelong resident of the chilly Midwest with thousands of bowls of soup under his belt, a pediatrician who’s treated untold numbers of colds, and a soup lover and amateur chef now retired to Colorado, he adds wryly, “Grandmas are always right, even when they are wrong.” Does science support Grandma’s theory? Sort of; what little serious research has been done
32 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
seems to be pointing that way. The soup inhibits the movement of neutrophils, the most common type of white blood cell that defends against infection. By inhibiting the migration of these infection-fighting cells in the body, chicken soup essentially helps reduce upper respiratory cold symptoms. Chicken soup also improves the function of protective cilia, the tiny hairlike projections in the nose that prevent contagions from entering the body. And soup also provides a source of hydration, an important factor in relieving cold symptoms. “There are a few studies that examine effects of chicken soup on aspects of the inflammatory process and suggest that something positive happens,” Flom says. “But taken altogether there has been very little lab research done, and given how much of research gets done, there probably will never be a large number of studies. There is little profit to be made - who will buy a chicken-soup pill when you can eat a delicious bowlful instead? And young researchers looking to forward their careers tend to look away from studying ‘folk remedies’ and toward more sexy stuff. “But … and this gets to the ‘psychosomatic’ part … if you slurp down a bowlful and you feel better … you are better,” Flom adds. “At least in
some of the miserable parts of your illness. Maybe the virus particles are reduced no more slowly — who knows? — but aches, miseries, nasal congestion? That’s what gets us down, and if those symptoms are lessened, it’s worth heating up the pot.” Science is starting to recognize the importance of the mind in the healing of the body. Eating a comforting bowl of your favorite hot soup, enjoying the benefits of the steamy liquid and the delicious flavors, feeling like you’re eating something exactly right — these are all important, and very real, tools in our kit against sickness. “We really only know just a little about mind-body interactions, how placebos work, et cetera,” Flom notes. “But nearly everything we learn suggests that those processes are as real as a hammer and more powerful than we had imagined.” So what’s better: home-made chicken soup or store-bought? “There’s no evidence that one form of chicken soup is better than another,” Flom says. “There’s very little information at all on the subject. So homemade is not a clear winner, even though it may be a sentimental favorite.” And what parts of the soup are the most important? “The only essential ingredients needed to make chicken soup are chicken and water, and from then on the variations are endless,” Flom notes. “The meat and the vegetables contain a variety of substances that promote wellness. The water itself is beneficial to anyone with a respiratory illness — lots of research here.” In other words, chicken soup is the perfect storm of nourishment, hot liquids, saltiness and warm, fuzzy memories that might not cure your cold but will certainly make it more bearable. “Would I recommend it? Sure, and I have,” Flom says. “Arguments about benefits are moot when we know that it tastes good at a time when many foods do not, it’s inexpensive, it’s nourishing, there are no contraindications but for people who are allergic to an ingredient, and no side effects worth mentioning or worrying about.” A winning combination, and a tasty one at that. Other foods are known for their immunity-boosting superpowers, so you might want to make your chicken soup with lots of garlic, onions, leeks, lemon juice — ingredients that bring extra ammo to the war against the common, but very uncomfortable, cold. Try this one:
Chicken Leek Soup
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(recommended by Dr. Flom for both medicinal and culinary purposes) 1 whole chicken 2 bulbs garlic, whole (not just cloves), divided 1 onion, chopped 4 red potatoes, diced 4 large carrots, diced 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules 3 leaves bok choy, diced 2 leeks, sliced 1 bunch cilantro, tops chopped, stems discarded 4 lemons Place chicken in large saucepan and cover completely with water. Add one sliced garlic bulb and onion. Cook about 45 minutes or until meat falls off bones. Remove chicken from pot and cool; discard skin and bones. Add potatoes, carrots, salt and chicken bouillon granules to broth. Coarsely chop chicken meat and return to pot. Add remaining garlic bulb (crushed), bok choy, leeks and cilantro. Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Ladle into individual bowls and squeeze juice of 1/2 lemon over top of each.
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 33
Wine & Beer
Wines By Leigh Pomeroy
Big snow and big cold mean big reds
southern mn style
A
t this point in winter we’re probably all digging out. Now… after you’ve uncovered the car or perhaps just the driveway, it’ll be time to dig out a good bottle from your wine stash underneath the stairway. January is the time for BIG REDS (and I don’t mean Nebraska football). Time to fill the mouth with flavor, the body with warmth and the blood with anthocyanins — you know, those heart-healthy food components found in “blueberries, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, black currants, purple grapes and red wine” (National Institutes of Health; emphasis mine). But you needn’t use the health excuse to open a bottle. Any excuse will do, like “Heck, it’s snowing again” or “Rejoice! It’s stopped snowing.” Anything should work. So what are the big reds? At the top of my list are the three “B”s from Italy: Barolo, Barbaresco and Brunello di Montalcino. These are all tongue-wrapping bruisers, designed not just to warm the cockles of the heart but to braise them over a foundry furnace. Barolo and Barbaresco are from a small area of Piedmont in Italy’s northwest. They are both made from the nebbiolo grape, “nebbiolo” being a term for fog, which seems to wrap the area at the right times of the year. In Barolo in particular and Barbaresco in a lesser sense, nebbiolo can yield a full, tannic (the bitter taste in wine), explosive mouth-bomb. So why is tannin so great if it creates bitterness? Tannin serves as an anti-oxidant, which allows the wine to live a long time. Many Barolos don’t start getting good until they’re 10 years old; some don’t reach their peak until they’re 20 or older. Good news, though. Many Barolo producers today are making wines that are more easily accessible at a younger age. Also, Barbaresco, which some wine aficionados consider to be Barolo’s lesser brother (arguments abound!), is drinkable earlier and usually less expensive. Brunello di Montalcino, while just as intense, is a different creature. Made from a unique clone of the sangiovese grape, the same that brings us Chianti, this wine is grown further south in Tuscany on the slopes of what we might call a large knoll. Brunellos are known for their warmth and — dare I say? — cuddliness, for overall they are softer and rounder than Barolos and Barbarescos. I think of drinking a great Brunello like hugging a large, soft teddy bear. Now comes the rub: These wines are not cheap. They start in the high $20 range and go up from there. Great examples cost well over $100. So here is when you want a rich friend to cajole into buying one that you can share. But what if you don’t have a rich friend yet love Italian wines?
34 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Fortunately, there are several options. One is Rosso di Montalcino, made from the same sangiovese grosso grape as Brunello but from younger vineyards or lesser cuvées. The wines are not as intense as Brunello but accessible at an earlier age. Another is Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Made from still another clone of sangiovese, it is more intense than Chianti but less than Brunello. A “tweener,” one might say, and a good value at under $25. Staying in Italy but flirting with the not-your-everydaybeverage price range is Amarone della Valpolicella from the Veneto region of northeastern Italy. Made primarily from the corvina grape, Amarones are the luscious product of late harvested grapes left on racks to dry to concentrate the flavors. Like Barolos and Brunellos, and to a lesser extent Barbarescos, Amarones are meant to age. So put some away for your kids and grandkids. Italy-schmitaly, you say, how about big wines from elsewhere? Thanks to the gods of wine, there are plenty. Australian Shirazes come first to mind. The good news is that they are available in an array of prices from very cheap to ridiculously expensive. But if you want mouthfillers, those usually start at $15 and go up from there. Here’s where experimentation pays off. Grab a bottle and try it. If it meets your intensity expectation, go with it. If you want something bolder, try the next price range up. Malbecs from Argentina are another south-of-theequator option, and like Aussie Shirazes they run the price gamut. They also tend to be darkly colored, full, flavorful, alcoholic and, in some cases, slightly sweet. Good values abound, but again here is where your personal palate kicks in. Don’t listen to the so-called experts: Go with what you like and what your budget can afford. The bottom line is, as always, whatever you’re sipping and liking now is at this moment the best wine in the world. However, keep this bit of advice from my former good friend Bill Weeks in mind for the winter months. This raconteur, long-time Napa Valley denizen and Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard owner used to say, “Red wine is what you drink. White wine is what you wash pickups with.” Leigh Pomeroy is a Mankato-based writer and wine lover
First Draught By Bert Mattson
Acquiring a taste for January
M
innesota winters are an acquired taste. Absent an appetite for outdoor activity, cabin fever creeps in. In fact, as the author sits in solitude, typing, deadline looming, he can’t help but recall the catchphrase, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” The affliction doesn’t stem from work so much as being stuck inside. The author also reckons that resolutions of self improvement are the shining symptom of seasonal affective seriousness. Find something fun to try. Over a century ago, a reporter from out east opined that our region, in winter, was unfit for human habitation — Minnesota sees its share of snowstorms, sure, and cold, but that’s bitter commentary. Locals answered by announcing an outdoor carnival. So, when weather grows wearisome we summon the wherewithal to celebrate it. Where there’s a celebration, beer is bound to be brought up. August Schell Brewing Company, the second oldest family-owned brewery in America, has been honing its craft since before St. Paul’s first Winter Carnival. With a wink to the weather, every winter since 1992 Schell’s has served up Snowstorm, a seasonal series in which no two batches are ever alike. This year’s version is called Grand Cru. It’s a Belgian-Style Ale brewed with coriander and orange and lemon peels. Snowstorm drifts in mid November and stays through January… while supplies last. About a week before the Carnival, Minnesota dedicates a day to hockey (including a series of outdoor tilts). Should one resolve to try something new, poutine just may be the messiest thing to come out of Quebec since Mario Tremblay played Patrick Roy between the pipes, for nine goals, against Detroit. Classic Canadian comfort
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food (and fine hockey viewing fair) poutine is a pile of French fries and cheese curds draped in beef gravy. Add beer and you’ve got all four food groups — in the interest of eating right. Team up Big Wood Brewery’s Jack Savage Pale Ale with poutine. Not dull, Jack Savage has the hops to hang with young cheddar. It’s got the carbonation to carry curds and fries. Its malty sweetness offsets the salt. Fine, it’s not health food, but this duo does bring the flavor to shut-out any guilt. In any case, out of White Bear Lake, Big Wood’s brew is a solid keeper. Still, the native chill is enough to test Minnesota Nice. Not to knock anyone who resolves to be more reserved over the next year but, should the cold prove too potent, go ahead and get Abrasive, Surly Brewing Company’s Double India Pale Ale. This Double isn’t minor, hopping the boards at over 100 International Bittering Units. No one trick pony, Abrasive is rounded out with a sturdy malt backbone and oat enhanced mouthfeel. Surly gives it the tap late December. Perhaps counterintuitively, January events are just the prescription for winter’s frosty bite. For those who resolve to get in shape, the Winter Carnival boasts a half marathon, but yours truly will be shivering off calories at its annual Beer Dabbler.
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Bert Mattson is a chef and writer based in St. Paul. He is the manager of the iconic Mickey’s Diner. MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 35
Drinks
Happy Hour
By Dave McIntyre | Special
to
The Free Press
Flutes fail the sniff test
southern mn style
T
he vast majority of champagne and other sparkling wines sold in the United States this year will be purchased in December. Most of it will lubricate our holiday parties or pre-dinner conversations and, of course, our New Year’s toasts. We will drink it out of tall, narrow flutes or wide, shallow coupes, two styles of wineglasses that have become synonymous with champagne. Maximilian Riedel wants us to leave those flutes and coupes in the cupboard. He is the guru of glassware, the 11th generation to helm the firm that bears his family name and the third to specialize in stemware for wine. The Riedel company produces several lines of stems designed to match specific grape varieties. This year, Riedel released a new stem specifically for champagne. The Riedel Veritas champagne glass resembles a tulip-shaped white wine stem, making the point that champagne is a fine wine meant to be consumed with food, not just sipped at celebrations. Its flavor and aromas are at least as important as the bubbles. “Wine has a beautiful perfume, which you cannot taste, only smell,” Riedel explained during a recent telephone interview. “Flutes don’t allow us to dunk our noses into the glass and experience the perfume.” Several champagne producers I’ve spoken with also flunk the flute. “I don’t use classic champagne flutes anymore,” Benoit Gouez, chef de cave for Moet et Chandon, told me last year, explaining his preference for a white wine glass. “The larger glass helps the wine open up. The more it breathes, the more fruity and expansive it becomes.” The Veritas is not the company’s first foray into champagne-specific glassware. Riedel has produced glasses for several champagne houses, such as Krug, Moet et Chandon and Veuve Clicquot. Because each house creates its own specific blend from the three champagne grapes of pinot noir,
36 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
pinot meunier and chardonnay, each glass was “completely different,” Riedel says, though the differences might seem subtle when we examine the glasses side by side. The new glass is meant to be an all-purpose stem for basic cuvees, vintage champagnes and allchardonnay blanc-de-blancs, Riedel said. He prefers to drink pinot noirbased champagnes and roses from his New World Pinot Noir glass, with a much larger bowl and a flared rim. But do we really need another wineglass? The Veritas champagne glass is not cheap: $70 for a set of two. So I set out to do some fun research. First, I sampled a champagne from the new Riedel glass and from my everyday white wine glass, a Schott Zwiesel Forte (about $10 per stem). The glasses have similar shapes, but the wine tasted much fruitier from the Riedel. After a few minutes in the Forte glass, the wine’s bubbles dissipated. (The new glass has the traditional laser-etched scratch point at the bottom of the bowl to anchor the bead of bubbles.) Then I duplicated the experiment with other glasses, including a traditional straight flute and two other flared champagne glasses with slightly wider rims. Once again, the new Riedel glass had a clear edge: The wine tasted very lively. In my everyday Forte glass, the wine was a dud. So, too, in the flute, which offered no aroma and little flavor beyond the fizz. (The flute was a $32 Riedel Vinum.) The clear second-place finisher was the Spiegelau Hybrid flute, which, like me, sports a bulge in the middle — enough room to let the wine shine. At $12 a stem, it was a clear value, too. (Spiegelau is owned by Riedel.) According to champagne lore, Dom Perignon designed the flute so champagne would have a glass to distinguish it from other wines. Now winemakers want champagne to rejoin the fold and gain recognition as a fine wine. And what about the coupe, widely
derided because it allows the wine’s aromas and bubbles to dissipate? Indeed, when I tried a coupe, the wine lost its fizz and fell flat within minutes. Riedel discounts the legend that the coupe was modeled after Marie Antoinette’s left breast, noting that the glass didn’t gain favor until the 1930s. That didn’t stop model Kate Moss from commissioning a glass modeled after her own left breast. She unveiled it at a bubbly-soaked London soiree in October.
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 37
Food
What’s Cooking By Sarah Johnson
southern mn style
“Winter Picnic”
W
Hot cocoa is the ultimate winter warm up
hen my three kids were rambunctious and scrappy pups, always needing to be fed or decontaminated or swiftly separated from a sibling, my favorite time of the day was the end of it: I loved to watch their transformation into sweet angels as they softly slumbered. A good child was a sleeping child, I discovered. And even better was a child sleeping … at grandma’s house. Every so often one of the saintly grandmothers would bestow this gift upon them (me) and steel herself for a night of mayhem mixed with sloppy kisses, indecipherable artwork and topsy-turvy toyrooms. I still bless their names when I recall the rare evenings of peace and nights of uninterrupted sleep these sleepovers represented. These respites helped me stay sane (sort of) during our long winters with little to do. One year Grandma C. really went all out and created a fantastic Winter Picnic and Camping Night for the kids and the adults who like to act like kids. This works best with a fireplace or wood stove. Get out your props including sleeping bags, camping gear and picnic supplies. Use the wood stove or fireplace for all your cooking. (It’s OK to cheat and use the stove if you have to, and just keep the food warm on the fire). And the soundtrack? A CD of recorded naturesounds: twittering birds, splashing creeks, rumbling thunder, whistling wind. Grandma even had the kids make big paper bugs and hang them from strings. Food choices were hot dogs charred in the flames and smothered with ketchup and mustard — oddly exotictasting in January — baked beans bubbling in the ashes, foil-packet dinners with potatoes and carrots, and “hand pies” using those long-handled pie makers. Just cooking, eating and enjoying the flames took up much of the evening and left the kids sleepy and contented. Grandma would then start tucking children into sleeping bags, tell a mild ghost story or two, pop in a video to banish the ghosts, and those kids would be out in five minutes. And always, always, hot cocoa was the ultimate winter warm-up. When we think of chocolate, we usually think of the solid version; but for nine-tenths of its history, chocolate was served only as a beverage. It wasn’t until the 1800s that the first process for making solid chocolate, and the first real chocolate bar, were invented. Before that, everyone from ancient Mesoamericans on through the conquering Spanish, then Europe, then the world, drank their chocolate. It was considered the “food of the gods”, reserved for the elite and/or holy and/or warrior classes, an aphrodisiac, a health food – even without the addition of the sugar we now use. Back then, chocolate came in two flavors: bitter and bitter-er. Later, sweetened hot cocoa was sent along on early
38 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. Chocolate also provided nourishment, warmth and calories for soldiers in the armies of the Aztecs, the Revolutionary War, World Wars I and II, the Vietnam conflict -- and is even found in today’s MREs. But no matter how many warriors drink it, nobody loves hot chocolate more than kids. You can use a packaged mix, or make your own the more romantic, old-fashioned way in a stovetop pan. Dress up your mug with graham cracker crumbs and toasted marshmallows, and you’ve got your s’mores in a cup!
S’Mores Hot Cocoa 3 cups milk, any kind ¼ cup cocoa powder 2 Tbsp light chocolate syrup 2 ½ Tbsp sugar Pinch of salt Graham crackers, crushed (for lining rim) ½ cup miniature marshmallows Preheat oven to low broil and move oven rack to the second from the top (high enough up to broil your marshmallows). Place baking sheet on rack. Heat milk in a saucepan over medium heat until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Be careful not to overheat or scald. Add cocoa powder, chocolate syrup, sugar and salt and whisk vigorously until thoroughly combined. Meanwhile, take a few marshmallows and rub them around the top of your mugs so the graham crackers will stick. Then, dip mug in graham cracker crumbs until well lined. Pour in hot chocolate and top with ¼ cup marshmallows each. Carefully set mugs on the baking sheet in the oven and broil marshmallows until browned, watching carefully as to not let them burn. Carefully remove from the oven. Top with a drizzle of chocolate syrup and extra graham cracker crumbs for serving. Serve when mugs are cool enough to handle safely. Sarah Johnson is a cook, freelance writer and chocolate addict from North Mankato with three grown kids and a couple of mutts.
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 39
Then
and
Now: Blizzard
of
1983
By Jean Lundquist
“It was still dark when the car battery froze, the radio died and I was truly alone.”
The blizzard that changed me B
lizzard. The word strikes joy into the heart of a child hoping for a day off from school. For me, though, the word is a source of fear. All these many years after being a victim of a blizzard, the fear is still intense, the memory strong. Dec. 23, 1983 I was stranded in my little car, alone, while a blizzard raged around me throughout the night. In the dark and the intense cold, I wondered what it would feel like to freeze to death, as that is what I expected would happen that night. I spent the longest, coldest, loneliest hours of my life in that car that night. I worked the 6 p.m. to midnight shift on air at KYSM AM back then. Earlier in the day I had gone into North Mankato for the company Christmas party. I wore my clogs. Going back home before my shift, I decided to wear my snow boots for the trip back into town, since there was a winter storm warning for overnight. I also threw in my insulated snow pants, just in case. The State Patrol advised no travel that evening. I announced it dutifully, telling people that if they had to travel, to take an emergency survival kit. I never expected any of that applied to me. We lived on an old farmstead south of St. Peter at the time. The bluffs along Highway 169 sheltered the road from the worst of the west, northwest winds. When I got closer to St. Peter, visibility got worse, and the winds seemed colder and stronger. I turned west onto Highway 99, and came upon a car stopped by the side of the road. An old man, probably about the age I am now, was walking around the car. I stopped to see if they were OK. The man told me he was looking at how to turn around and head back to the Viking Jr. Hotel at the foot of the hill. I offered him my snow pants, as I was nearly home, and he and his wife might need them. He declined. I kept them, passed him, and continued on. I turned south just west of Oak Leaf Lake, and figured all I had to do now to get home was drive straight. When I left the radio station, the weather monitor said it was -25 degrees F, and the winds were 25 mph from the west north west. I was so relieved to be so close to home. That’s when a gust of wind hit, and blew my car off the roadway into the ditch. My Chevette sat at an angle at the east edge of the road, and the engine died. It didn’t restart when I hit the ignition. That’s when I wondered what it would feel like to freeze to death.
40 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
I quickly slid into the snow pants I had been so willing to give up just minutes before, hoping to stay warm until help arrived. How long could it take? Initially I kept the dome light on in the car, to make it easier for my rescuers to find me. There were no cell phones then, but I knew help would be along. Leaning against the car door at an angle was very cold. Lucky for me, I had some overdue library books in the car. I positioned them between me and the door to shield me from the cold metal. Hours went by. I was listening to the Larry King Show on KYSM AM. I noticed two ripped paper grocery bags in the car. I figured if homeless people insulated themselves with paper, it would work for me, and I used them as blankets. Hours went by, and I got colder. A Chevette was a hatchback, and there was carpet in the rear. I ripped it up, thinking I was being so melodramatic that I would laugh at myself when I was rescued. It kept my legs warm. A couple of times during the night, I noticed I had stopped shivering. I knew shivering made heat from friction, and I forced myself to start shivering again. It was still dark when the car battery froze, the radio died and I was truly alone. It must have been about 6 AM, as the Larry King Show was ending. I had worried all night that my husband Larry would risk his life to come and find me. I prayed he was snowed into the house near St. Peter, and could not get out, so he was safe. In the snow and the wind, I could not see a yard light. I had no idea where I was. But at some point after the radio died, I decided to strike out and find my way home. I opened the car door. Even colder air came rushing in. I swear I heard a voice tell me to shut the door and stay put. I did. It was about 8 hours after I first hit the ditch when neighbors came by on their way into St. Peter to operate a towing service. I crawled over the snow drift that had shifted onto the passenger seat of the car, and climbed into the nice warm pickup they drove. Bill went into their house to call Larry and tell him to meet me at the end of our snow drifted driveway. Deanna told me she had asked Bill not to stop, because she didn’t want to find a dead body on Christmas Eve, but Bill had said, “Deanna, what if she’s not dead yet?”
NOTABLE BLIZZARDS Nov. 8, 1870 — U.S. Army Signal Corps issued first ever Winter Storm warning. March 14, 1870 — First use of the tern “blizzard,” from boxing, meaning volley of punches. Used by the Esterville, IA VINDICATOR Newspaper to describe a storm that dropped 16 inches of snow with strong winds. Blizzard was not used by the U.S. Signal Corps Weather Service until 1876, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Oct. 16, 1880 — Earliest Blizzard to ever strike Minnesota, hitting southwestern Minnesota especially hard. Drifts of 20 feet lasted until spring. Children’s Blizzard of January, 1888 — The storm hit so fast that children released from school early died on the way home. There were more than 200 deaths reported, mostly children. (MNDNR) Jan. 28, 1909 — Rain started in Mankato as temperatures dropped. Heather Harren, Education and Outreach Manager at the Blue Earth County Historical Society says Mankato schools were out by 9 AM, trains were stopped by noon. Telegraph poles were snapped, and two feet of snow capped a solid block of ice. Local hotels, she says, were full.
Nov. 11, 1940 — Armistice Day Blizzard Like 1909, Harren says, the day started warm and pleasant. At least 44 lives were lost in Minnesota, she says. Thanksgiving, 1951 — A blizzard dumping copious amounts of snow in Mankato is blamed for flooding the next spring, says Harren. March, 1965 — Harren says a March 3rd blizzard, and another on March 18th set two feet of snow in Mankato, following above average snowfalls in both January and February of that year. In April, some of the worst flooding in the Mankato area occurred. January 1975 — Called the Blizzard of the Century. Livestock lost, houses and barns buried in snow, and the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Halloween, 1991 The blizzard struck early and fast. Harren remembers donning her pajamas, her snow suit and her ballerina costume to go trick or treating, but going only to a few houses before the weather chased her back inside.
MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 41
That’s Life By Nell Musolf
E
When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, I’m just sayin’...
very New Year’s Eve finds me making resolutions that I almost undoubtedly am not going to keep. They typically hover in the self improvement zone and generally focus on losing weight, exercising more, eating healthier food and not complaining so much. These resolutions seldom last and by the end of the first week of January, I can usually be found stretched out on the family room sofa with a plate of nachos and complaining about the weather. This year I’m making a different kind of resolution. This year, I’m banishing one little word from my vocabulary and it isn’t even a bad word. I am going to try with all my might to stop saying “just” as in, “Well, what do you expect? He’s just a cashier!” or “She’s just a stay-athome mom. What can she know?” An explanation is in order here. Although I grew up in an era when women were going out and getting jobs as oceanographers and Supreme Court justices, I was never all that ambitious and as a result I’ve had my fair share of truly challenging as well as low-paying jobs. Probably the most challenging in terms of pay versus responsibility was the time I did as a lunchroom supervisor at an elementary school. My duties included watching approximately 90 excited, wriggling gradeschoolers go through the lunch line and then helping them open their milk cartons, cut their food, referee squabbles, etc. Winter was the crème de la crème in that position since that was when those 90 kids seemed to have 1,000 hands and 10,000 feet all in need of help getting their mittens and boots on before rushing off to the playground. But as hard as that job was, I learned several things about the work world in general and myself in particular during my tenure as the Lunch Lady with a Terrible Attitude. Such as the fact that working in such a position often renders said workers invisible. Truth be told, I never noticed who the lunch ladies were when I visited my sons’ elementary schools and if I did, I certainly didn’t think of offering a hand when they were busily wiping tables and noses or trying to get a pair of winter boots on a kindergartener who clearly would have preferred to play in the snow barefoot. I think a lot of
42 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
moms and dads hesitate to ask if they could pitch in, believing they might offend someone who is “in charge.” Not true. Offer to help. It will be hugely appreciated. However, the lesson that really hit home was the sobering discovery that I was guilty of the “just a” syndrome too. I became aware of that sad fact the day I was grousing to myself over how the rest of the teachers gave each other Christmas presents and cards, not a one of them remembered the poor, overworked lunch lady. I went down to the cafeteria with my nose out of joint and my attitude so low that I would have needed a backhoe to retrieve it. That was when the cook handed me an envelope with my name on it. She had remembered me. Only I hadn’t thought about her. I had only been thinking about me. Shame filled me as I opened the card. I was as bad as everyone else. No, I was worse because I had experienced first-hand the “just” label and yet I’d still neglected to remember the woman I had worked next to for four months. “How nice of you to remember me,” I told her. “It’s not much,” she said. “Just a Christmas card.” But it was so much more than that. That little Christmas card was a huge reminder to open my eyes and notice all of the other invisible workers in the world. The janitor who kept the classrooms clean, the grocery store clerk who took care to separate the cleaning products from the meat, the receptionist at the clinic who always said hello so cheerfully. I recall a professor I once had saying that everyone has an invisible sign hanging around his or her neck that says: “Make me feel important.” I agree but I would also add that each and every one of us has another, bigger invisible sign hanging around our necks that says: “Hey! I’m alive! Notice me! Say hello!” So that’s my New Year’s resolution for 2015. No more “justs” and a whole lot more “hello’s.” Nell Musolf is a mom and a freelance writer from Mankato.
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 43
Garden Chat By Jean Lundquist
I
Join me on a journey through the seed catalog
never thought it would come to this. I purchased a seed catalog from which I will buy seeds to plant. At least I got the early bird price of $5 dollars, and saved the $2 from the regular $7 price. Back in the day when the catalog was free, if I wasn’t first in line, I didn’t get a catalog. They only printed so many catalogs, and if you requested one too late, you didn’t get one. One year I was lucky enough to borrow one from a friend of Lar’s, but I had to give it back. I had hoped he’d forget I had it, but he never did. I’m talking about the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds “The Whole Seed Catalog” out of the Ozarks in Missouri. The photographs are breathtakingly beautiful. The 353 pages are all full color. The descriptions of the vegetable seeds they sell often tell the story of the trip to Peru (and other places) that led to the discovery of the variety included in this book. The worldwide variety of seeds is intriguing. So is the variety of articles included. One article I particularly like in the 2015 catalog is, “How to Select Heirloom Varieties for Your Climate.” According to the author, we should look for varieties from central Eurasia and Africa; places like Poland, Russia and Ukraine. This edition also has information about seed-saving for beginners and the rest of us. The first thing this article stresses is something I have been unable to truly accomplish: keeping each variety isolated to prevent cross-pollination of specific varieties. Most home gardeners will also find the need to plant different varieties of tomatoes rather close together, leading to cross-pollination. For me, if I ever notice a melding of traits that is unacceptable, I will just buy new seeds from Baker Creek. This company actively pushes for large companies to at least label Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) plants and seeds. They also promote other open pollinated and heirloom seed sellers, such as the Seed Savers exchange in Decorah, IA. I know heirlooms seeds are not for everyone. Hybrids have been developed for a reason, such as disease resistance and the ability to travel and stay whole (thicker skins on tomatoes, for example). The year I spent the summer at the Mankato Farmers’ market taught me this sad fact about some heirloom 44 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
tomatoes. Some were badly bruised or turned to mush by the time I got to Mankato from my garden near Good Thunder. Still, the taste, texture and colors of these tomatoes have me smitten with them. It’s fun to pull down a jar of salsa in January and see the bits of yellow, green and orange tomatoes adorning the other veggies. Now with the Holidays behind us, and the bleakest, coldest part of winter before us, is the time to cozy up to those seed catalogs you’ve received! If you need a few more, go online to request them. As a small gardener now, one of the companies I appreciate most is Pinetree Garden Seeds and Accessories. I’m pretty sure I have mentioned this company before, but they deserve a fresh mention now, I think. This company sells small packets of seeds perfect for the backyard gardener. Some of the vegetable packets have a mere 10 seeds, and an appropriate price tag to accompany that number of seeds. An example is the Flavor Burst Sweet Pepper, with a price tag of $1.95. How many of those pepper plants would any backyard gardener want to grow? Plus, if you’re worried about germination rates, and grow too many, there will be extra that you can share or trade with another gardener without too many seeds left over. However, in my experience, pepper seeds have great germination rates the year after they are packaged and sold, should you not use all 10 seeds. This is the month I will intently study each and every seed catalog that comes my way, so that come February, I will confidently order my seeds. Then, in March, I will confidently start them so I am ready to set them out in May. In the meantime, as you pour over your catalogs, keep an eye out for Mokum carrots. I will recommend them next month. And remember to buy local, too! Reputable garden stores and nurseries will have a lot of seeds to choose from by next month. Jean Lundquist is a master gardener who lives near Good Thunder.
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 45
Your Style By Ann Rosenquist Fee
It’s back!
I
Women of midlife, say hello to your old/new head suit
t’s time to reunite with the banana clip and not just because I did. But in full disclosure: I did. I’m wearing one right now. I bought it the day after Thanksgiving, hours after I blogged a righteous little post praising do-ityourself make-it-by-hand creativity as the counterpoint to Black Friday consumerism. I posted that essay, then I went of my own free will to a nearby mall under the pretense of buying gifts, and when my family split up to free-shop for an hour, I went to Claire’s, the world’s leading source of affordable plastic accessories. And then I went to Claire’s fancy city cousin of a store, Icing. Between those two stores and their two-for-one sales, I bought two plastic claw-clamps including one covered in velvet, one decorative clasp in a pale faux wood, and a dark teak-looking banana clip dotted with fake painted-on mother-of-pearl inlays. I did it on the sly because what business does a fortysix-year-old woman with a half-inch of gray regrowth have shopping at Claire’s? Let alone wearing a banana clip? Honestly, now that I’m wearing it, I think the better question is what business Claire’s and Icing have selling the things. Those stores cater to ’tweens and teenagers and their extravagantly healthy, abundant hair. The banana clip, an accessory with the power to make the sparsest of manes look full and flowing, and should be sold exclusively at Dress Barn or Casual Corner or wherever decent grownups shop. To wit: • It adds volume. And Claire’s shoppers already have enough of that, thank you, due to dreads and weaves and youthfulness in general. Sometimes their volume is in excess, their high messy chignons busting open like jumbo-sized gas station donuts shot through with flaxen pipe cleaners. More volume would be obscene. Not the case for the forty-something whose limp tapered curtain of a ’do is always slightly pining for the perm-induced volume of her youth. • It tucks and flips things in such a way as to camouflage regrowth, which, again, is not something the tween shopper generally needs. But we do. I do. I mean just on days when that half-inch of taupey gray at my scalp, and the ashen glow it casts, just aren’t the look I’m going for. • When the clip is pulled tight, as was the way in 1986, one’s face stretches back to a dramatic degree and that’s a fun game to play in your forties. More so than at 16 when the stretch doesn’t make much difference, let alone raise questions like, “do I still have that coupon for a free trial at Mankato Clinic Skin Essentials?” 46 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
• When pulled not-so-tight in a poufy clump atop the head with tendrils falling out here and there, the silhouette is kind of timeless, kind of Grecian, kind of majestic and serene. The New York Times recently reported that corporate women have begun wearing tiara-like headbands to work, adding power and polish to their attire. “A sartorial coup de grâce for the #ladyboss set,” The Times said. The banana clip worn anew — lose, up top, and without the hot blue insidethe-eye liner you paired it with back in the day — is something like that. It’s a touch of power and pleasure for the #SaturdaymorningwhatdoweneedfromHyVee set. And I promise to nod graciously at yours if you’ll nod graciously at mine. We’ll pause our shopping carts for a moment and say hello and smile like this is the most normal thing in the world, these regal silhouettes on top of our heads. This loose and poufy confidence propped up by plastic we bought on the downlow. This extravagant dignity, the kind all seasoned grownups are entitled to wear to work and life and HyVee. Ann Rosenquist Fee is executive director of the Arts Center of Saint Peter and a vocalist with The Frye. She blogs at annrosenquistfee.com.
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Coming Attractions: January 1 -- First Day Hike 10 a.m. -- Group Campground, Minneopa State Park -- 507-384-8890 11 -- Mankato Symphony Orchestra: Music on the Hill - Homage 2 p.m. -- Our Lady of Good Counsel Chapel -- $17 padded seat, $12 pews -www.mankatosymphony.com 14 -- Mankato Meltdown Begins 17 -- Mankato Craft Beer Expo 2 p.m. -- Verizon Wireless Center -$45 VIP, $35 general, $10 designated driver 17 -- Mankato Symphony Orchestra: Haydn Go Seek - The Frog 11 a.m. -- Mankato YMCA -- 1401 S. Riverfront Drive, Mankato -- free -www.mankatosymphony.com -507-625-8880
19 -- 31st annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Celebration 5:30 p.m. -- Centennial Student Union Ballroom, Minnesota State University -- $10, free children 10 and under -507-385-6659 25 -- The Ericksons 7:30 p.m. -- Elias J. Halling Recital Hall, Minnestoa State University -- $12 general, $11 current MSU students -507-389-5549 29-Feb. 1 -- MSU Theater presents “Assassins” 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday -- Andreas Theatre, Minnesota State University -- $22 adults, $19 seniors and youth, $15 current MSU students -- 507-389-6661 31 -- Winter Fest 5-8 p.m. -- Group Campground, Minneopa State Park -- free -507-384-8890
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Mankato Meltdown. Mankato Meltdown 2015 is here! Form teams of 4 and join your friends and neighbors as we kick off the New Year! Compete in weekly contests share your experiences and advice and give the rest of the town a run for their money for the
GRAND PRIZE! Join us Weigh In January 14th 4-8pm at the Kato Ballroom and Weigh Out April 15th 4-8pm at the Kato Ballroom Find us on Facebook for more details.
48 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Faces & Places
Photos By Sport Pix
USMC 239th Birthday
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1. Family members were on hand to help celebrate the Marine Corps 239th birthday. 2. Donating to Toys for Tots is a major charitable cause that area Marines take seriously. 3. Cutting the cake is an annual birthday tradition for the Marines. 4. The colors are presented to begin the birthday celebration. 5. The first piece of cake is given to the guest speaker.
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 49
Faces & Places
Photos By Sport Pix
Southern MN Christmas Festival
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1. Culver’s offered custerd sundays as one of the few food venues at the Southern MN Christmas Festival. 2. Children could write their Chrismas Wish List at the festival and mail it right to Santa. 3. At the Christmas Festival at the Mankato Verizon Center they had face painting for the children. 4. Santa even showed up to some pictures with the children. 2 5. Also The Teddy Bear Band entertained the crowd as they walk through the festival. 6. Renae from Face 2 Face Creations posses with some shoppers as she gets ready for the Festival to start. 7. The Children also enjoyed watching Magic tricks at the Festival. 8. Many Children participated in singing and clapping along with The Teddy Bear Band.
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50 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
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Faces & Places
Photos By Sport Pix
Holiday Lights Parade 1. The Kiwanis Holiday Lights was open Nov. 28-Dec. 31. 2. The parade floats came in all differnt shapes, sizes and colors. 3. Many participants in the parade were children getting ready for the Holiday spirit. 4. Santa even brought his helpers along for the show. 5. One of the more popular spots to stop and take a quick picture under the lights is throught one of the tunnels.
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • January 2015 • 51
From
this
Valley
By Pete Steiner
M
My Life in Four Blizzards
innesotans recall great winter storms with quasireligious reverence. Leave it to a blizzard to render us helpless as it rages. Four such meteorological monsters have hallmarked my life. Had my father been one of the unlucky hunters in 1940’s Armistice Day blizzard, I would not be here today to write these words. The winds of November came early that year, on the 11th. Dozens of duck hunters perished in that cruel, vicious storm. My father’s story was not uncommon — you can read more in the book, “The Day All Hell Broke Loose,” but here’s how he related his to me: The day broke rosy and warm. Suddenly, at midmorning, like an untrue lover, the weather turned, temperatures plummeted 60 degrees and howling winds kicked in. Up to a foot-and-a-half of snow began falling. Forecasting in 1940 was much less sophisticated, so many hunters had ventured out unprepared for foul weather. My Dad, Bob Smesrud, Doc Nerbevig and Norm Fitzgerald had gone to hunt a slough near Smith’s Mill. As the mercury fell, their decoys began freezing into the water, and they knew they had to act fast. One of their two cars would not start, so they got into Doc’s Desoto. The wind blew the door off in my Dad’s hand. A pheasant trying to fly could not make headway into winds reaching 80-mph. Doc’s car stalled, but luckily, through the driven snow they got to a nearby farmhouse. That farmer had a team of horses able to take them to the next farmhouse, which had a phone so they could call their families back in town. Next day, snowdrifts reached the second story of the farmhouse. Snow was so compacted, they could walk on top of it. Following telephone poles emerging above the drifts, they walked three miles into Smith’s Mill, where Highway 14 had been cleared enough so they could be picked up. Most of the two-dozen hunters who died in that storm were out on the Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota, unable to make it back to shore. Another two dozen people died from various storm effects in our state alone. As the beast continued its thousand-mile march eastward, it claimed dozens of sailors as three ships went down on Lake Michigan. •••• March 17, 1965. Half a century ago. Like other students, I was delighted, oblivious to the real consequences, when school was cancelled by the great storm that came to be known as the St. Patrick’s Day blizzard. Two feet of wind-driven white stuff would turn highway 60 west of Mankato into a snow-walled canyon that our bus would navigate days later as we went to Luverne to cheer our basketball team trying to get to the state tournament. The heart-breaking loss there was nothing compared to the weeks that followed: The stage had been set for the devastating 1965 flood. We would be evacuated from school in April to help sandbag along the river and feed flood volunteers. Despite our efforts, much of lower West Mankato was soon under water and 52 • January 2015 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
West High was an island.
•••• Of blizzards I’ve personally experienced, the Super Bowl blizzard of 1975, 40 years ago this month, with the big game played in January, was the mightiest. An absolutely awesome storm. And no, I’m not succumbing to the linguistic inflation so common these days, where people say “Absolutely!” when they mean “yes,” or use “awesome” to describe, say, chocolate chip cookies. In terms of human experience, the three-day onslaught of the Super Bowl blizzard, which virtually shut down a modern civilization, could truly be called awesome. Like many of the great storms, it began with a brief, deceptive warming; precipitation starting as rain. Friday Jan. 10, I decided to head to Mankato to watch the big game with family. Vikings versus Steelers. But the REAL battle? Humans versus Nature. As the temperature plunged, I went to my car, fearing the rain might freeze my wheels to the curb. With dire forecasts, I chose to take the bus. But then the great Northwesters kicked in, sustained winds of 30-50 mph, and roads were shut down for about 36 hours. By Sunday morning, they finally released one bus, and we headed down the one open lane on 169. Five-foot drifts still jutted onto the highway; it was total whiteness as far as you could see. At one point, our driver hit a drift in the middle of the road, and the bus vaulted like a skier hitting a mogul. With up to two feet of snow driven into 20-foot drifts, some roads remained closed for 11 days. Record low barometric pressures were recorded. Three dozen people died, many from shoveling. About 100,000 farm animals perished. Oh, and the Vikings LOST — again! •••• Many still recall what happened in the fall of 1991. It had been a pleasant enough October; the Twins had just won their second World Series. But Nature played a huge trick on Halloween: heavy snow began falling. We asked our young daughters if they still wanted to make the rounds that Thursday evening: OF COURSE! With many kids staying home, we got full bags of candy. With winter jackets covering costumes, it was the only Halloween we ever made snow angels. Next day, I went in early to the radio station, with snow still falling. We sent everyone home just before the big winds kicked in. Red Lewis, Dwayne Megaw and I volunteered to stay to keep the stations on air. Traffic on old Highway 14 came to a standstill. Normally on a Friday, thousands of cars would have traveled between Mankato and Eagle Lake. About midnight, we got a call from a radio station in San Diego. I told them we were stranded: I had just stood in the middle of one of the busiest roads in the area, with not a vehicle in sight. Finally at midday Saturday, Dick Dietz blasted through in his four-wheel drive to relieve us. I got home, and neighbors had shoveled my driveway! Peter Steiner is host of “Talk of the Town” weekdays at 1:05 p.m. on KTOE.
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