January 2015

EwEind Fs R the

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The Twin Tiers Twins In 1968, Two Corning Girls - and a Marketing Wiz Gave Our Region Its Name

By Don Knaus

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Volume 10 Issue 1

The Twin Tiers Twins

By Don Knaus In 1968, two Corning girls—and a marketing wiz— gave our region its name.

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Walks of Life

By Jeremy C. Bechtel Finding beauty in winter country.

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Mother Earth

By Gayle Morrow Drifting thoughts…

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Cover Band

By Rebecca Hazen The Folk Spirits hit the road after making the Mountain Home.

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Hat’s Off to the Finger Lakes

By Cornelius O’Donnell A new book leads us down grape-strewn paths.

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Cover by Tucker Worthington; cover photo by Libby Glosson. This page (from top): by Libby Glosson; by Roger Kingsley; by Sarah Wagaman;

by Rebecca Hazen; and courtesy of The History Press.

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w w w. m o u n ta i n h o m e m ag . co m

Editors & Publishers Teresa Banik Capuzzo Michael Capuzzo Associate Publishers Dawn Bilder George Bochetto, Esq. D e s i g n & P h o t o g r ap h y Elizabeth Young, Editor Tucker Worthington, Cover Design Contributing Writers Angela Cannon-Crothers, Patricia Brown Davis, Alison Fromme, Holly Howell, George Jansson, McKennaugh Kelley, Roger Kingsley, Don Knaus, Adam Mahonske, Cindy Davis Meixel, Fred Metarko, Dave Milano, Gayle Morrow, Cornelius O’Donnell, Roger Neumann, Gregg Rinkus, Linda Roller, Kathleen Thompson, Joyce M. Tice C o n t r i b u t i n g P h o t o g r ap h e r s Mia Lisa Anderson, Bill Crowell, Bruce Dart, Ann Kamzelski, Ken Meyer, Tina Tolins, Sarah Wagaman, Curt Weinhold, Terry Wild S a l e s R ep r e s e n t a t i v e s Brian Earle Michael Banik Linda Roller Administrative Assistant Amy Packard T h e B ea g l e Cosmo (1996-2014) Yogi (Assistant) ABOUT US: Mountain Home is the award-winning regional magazine of PA and NY with more than 100,000 readers. The magazine has been published monthly, since 2005, by Beagle Media, LLC, 25 Main St., 2nd Floor, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, 16901, and online at www.mountainhomemag.com. Copyright © 2010 Beagle Media, LLC. All rights reserved. E-mail story ideas to editorial@mountainhomemag. com, or call (570) 724-3838.

TO ADVERTISE: E-mail info@mountainhomemag.com, or call us at (570) 724-3838.

AWARDS: Mountain Home has won 66 international and statewide journalism awards from the International Regional Magazine Association and the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association for excellence in writing, photography, and design.

DISTRIBUTION: Mountain Home is available “Free as the Wind” at hundreds of locations in Tioga, Potter, Bradford, Lycoming, Union, and Clinton counties in PA and Steuben, Chemung, Schuyler, Yates, Seneca, Tioga, and Ontario counties in NY. “Knowledgeable, Friendly Staff to help you with your farm, home and garden needs”

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Courtesy of Cynthia Hart and Candace Barnes Faces of the Twin Tiers: Cindy (left) and Candy Doty flank Elmira Star-Gazette marketing guru Art Kendall.

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The Twin Tiers Twins In 1968, Two Corning Girls —and a Marketing Wiz— Gave Our Region Its Name

By Don Knaus

I

was nine or ten years old when I first noticed the Elmira Star-Gazette. Everybody locally just called the newspaper out of Elmira, New York, the Star-Gazette.

I was a Star-Gazette kid. The paper was delivered to our home every night without fail.

The boy who delivered our paper was heading off to college and a replacement was needed. So, at age eleven, I became the Star-Gazette paperboy in our neighborhood on the east side of Wellsboro. My route covered the upper end of East Avenue, Woodland Avenue, and the cross streets—Bryden, Jackson, and Helvetia. And I had three customers in “The Pink Lady,” the salmon-colored former Bache mansion behind Stubby Cruttenden’s store.

I picked up the papers at Stubby’s and worked my route so that it ended back at his small neighborhood store. To this day, I can ride those streets and name all the people who lived there in the 1950s and 60s. I remember with a great deal of affection some customers. On Fridays, I had to knock on every door to collect the forty cents a week fee for the paper, and Iva Payne always gave me a nickel tip. Kate Dawson made me come in the house and wolf down some of her delicious cookies before she paid for the paper.

See The Twin Tiers Twins on page 8

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The Twin Tiers Twins continued from page 7

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I was not aware of it, but something was happening in the media world.

The local papers were skirmishing.

The battles were not the “take no prisoners” newspaper wars between William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer but a struggle for subscribers nonetheless. Local weekly papers like the Wellsboro Advertiser and the Wellsboro Gazette were no competition for the daily papers, but even those two weeklies fought it out until the Advertiser surrendered to the Gazette.

The daily news organs began to wage war. The biggest fight was between the Williamsport Sun-Gazette and the Elmira Star-Gazette. The Star-Gazette was run south while the Williamsport SunGazette shipped its newsprint north.

A disputed territory lay equidistant between the two papers.

At about that time, Cove Hoover became publisher of the Elmira StarGazette. The paper also had a morning edition, The Elmira Advertiser, and a Sunday edition, The Sunday Telegram.

Hoover’s stated goal was to make the Star-Gazette the “go to” newspaper for the two-state distribution area. He hired a young Art Kendall for the task.

Art’s official title was public service and research director for Elmira’s Gazette papers. But Kendall was to become a marketing genius. He got to thinking about the incongruity of the area. The Northern Tier was, in fact, south of the Southern Tier. And the Southern Tier of New York was upstate and north of the Northern Tier. The two tiers rattled around in his head until a lightbulb lit. He thought, “Two… Two…Twins. That’s it! The Twin Tiers.”

It was 1968, and it was at that moment that “Twin Tiers” was born. Art ran the idea by Cove Hoover and got the okay.

He was off to the races.

Twin Tiers. The term trips off the tongue like your own name. It seems like the label describing our two-state area has been around forever. But the word astronaut preceded it. “Hula See The Twin Tiers Twins on page 10

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The Twin Tiers Twins continued from page 8

Hoop” was common a decade before anyone uttered Twin Tiers…before Art Kendall invented it.

Kendall thought that twins, real twins, might help the campaign. He liked the alliterative effect of “The Twin Tiers Twins.” He contacted an organization of parents of multiple births and asked to interview twins. He was looking for twins that were male and female, a boy and a girl to illustrate the two were alike, yet different. He interviewed a number of sets of twins but was not taken by any of them. He was struck by a picture in the StarGazette of a girl doing a handstand in the mirror. He looked closer and realized that the mirror effect was two twin girls who had just won a talent contest.

Art contacted the girls’ parents, Oley and Nelda Doty, and requested a meeting. At the Doty home, Art was impressed by the perky sisters, Cindy and Candy. It took little arm twisting to get the girls and their parents to agree for them to be “The Twin Tiers Twins.” During the discussion, Art thought that it was good that they

were perennial talent contest winners.

They had poise and personality. If Cove Hoover liked Candy and Cindy, he had his twins. The smiling faces of the twins won Hoover over before they sat in his office.

The girls were sixteen and still in school. They launched a two-year promotional tour that sometimes required their attendance at the drop of a hat. Cove would call Art and Kendall would arrange to pick up the girls.

Missing school was no problem, as the Corning-Painted Post School District was proud of their girls, the Twin Tiers Twins. The Doty gals had been taking dance lessons from Madame Halima since they were six, and the dance teacher was willing to reschedule dance sessions.

So off they went to any and all activities that might help reinforce the Twin Tiers concept. They visited Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis, the American Legion, and other service groups.

They might open a new supermarket or stop by an auto dealer. One time they promoted a blood drive and they donated a pint each because “it was the

Courtesy of Cynthia Hart and Candace Barnes

Candy and Cindy Doty traveled the Twin Tiers for promotional events, including (above and facing page) tours of northern Pennsylvania.

right thing to do.” The Star-Gazette shot photos of Candy and Cindy everywhere they went. They posed while trying on clothes at a local retailer, or cutting a ribbon, or at “The Falls” in Montour Falls, or Wyalusing Rocks, or the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon.

Candy fondly remembered, “Promoting the Twin Tiers was a hidden treasure for two sixteen-year-old kids from Corning, New York. The ‘Twin Tier Twins’ became an icon for the Star-Gazette. I think we covered every inch of the newspaper’s circulating area. We caddied for Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player at a pro golf tournament, did photo shoots with NASCAR drivers, and met several popular entertainers like the Smothers Brothers. We had the privilege of dining with mayors, governors, and a few senators. The best thing was the interaction with the local people. How often, while on a photo shoot, we would hear people shout from their cars, ‘Hey! It’s the Twin Tiers Twins!’”

“The Star-Gazette provided everything: flights, hotels, meals, outfits…it was great,” Cindy added. “I’ll never forget the time we were on a shoot on a college campus. Some students walked by us saying, ‘Wow! They’re Xeroxed!’ (Remember, that was forty-five years ago and Xerox was high technology copying.) And Cove and Art were just young enough and impish enough that they made it fun. One time, they had us stand on the mannequin stand in the front window of a store. We froze.

When people stopped, we moved a bit. The expressions were priceless. And one time, we were exhausted. We rested See The Twin Tiers Twins on page 12

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our heads in our hands with elbows on a cosmetics counter.

A lady stopped, thinking we were just one girl looking into a mirror. As she stooped to check her make-up, we moved.”

Candy added, “They were spontaneous. We’d be driving by a barn and they’d stop while we posed with a cow or in front of the barn…anything.”

Candy and Cindy bonded with Art. Actually, the Dotys bonded with the Kendalls. When it was time for Art and Sondra Kendall’s daughter to be married, Nelda Doty baked the wedding cake. If Art’s bride liked a dress that Momma Doty had sewn for the girls, she got the pattern from the girls’ mother. The Kendalls were invited to the girls’ weddings. Sondra Kendall still gushes about the girls.

“They were so nice, and so polite. Often Art and I would take them to an evening event and we took them out to dinner first. I loved those girls like they were my own.”

Bitten by the show biz bug, the twins entered Indiana University, which was world famous for its ballet, dance, drama, and music programs. Around trips about the Twin Tiers, the girls met Madame Svetlova, the Russian ballet instructor at Indiana University. She worked with them for several years, sharpening their ballet skills. A day after graduating from Corning East High, they trekked to Vermont to work the summer with Svetlova. She wanted them to be ready for the Indiana ballet production in the fall, a prestigious spot for freshmen.

Courtesy of Cynthia Hart and Candace Barnes

...and golf pro Doug Sanders.

Apparently, the Twin Tiers Twins had made an impression on publisher Cove Hoover, too. He was promoted from the Star-Gazette to publisher of the Rockford, Illinois Rockford Register. A few weekends a month, he flew them from Bloomington, Indiana, to Rockford where they represented his newspaper as “The Aware Pair.”

After college, the girls joined a short-lived troupe called The Paul Caldwell Singers. That group broke up over disagreements with their manager. Then, the girls formed The Auburn Affair with others, using Denver as a base. The band picked up agents in Chicago, Reno, Minneapolis, and elsewhere. “We toured all year and just lived out of a suitcase,” says Candy of that time. Cindy and Candy handled the dancing and vocals while the boys (yes, three boys) played the guitars and drums. They did performances all over the U.S. for five years. The twins are especially proud that their band “came home” and performed for an Ingersoll Rand Christmas party at the Corning Hilton.

Their dad was in charge of the event and their performance was a special tribute to their parents. But all good things come to an end…sometimes for better things. Cindy fell in love with the drummer and they married. The Auburn Affair continued to tour for three more years, until Cindy was expecting.

Candy then joined a USO tour and continued to See The Twin TiersTwins on page 32 13

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Roger Kingsley

O U T D O O R S

Walks of Life

Finding Beauty in Winter Country

By Jeremy C. Bechtel

B

y now it has set in. The wind has been howling for days on end, snowflakes dominate the sky, and the frozen world around seems desolate. The days are shorter than you can stand, and that winter depression has settled in.

We love our winter weather in the Northeast—well, some of us do—but, regardless, every year in the middle of winter the world can seem empty and disheartening. One winter day several years ago, fighting off the urge to stay in my long johns all day sipping coffee while watching my favorite episodes

of NCIS, it occurred to me that I had been hit with a serious dose of the winter blues. For weeks I had looked out the window at the bleak hills wondering how anything could live in that frigid, foreboding forest outside.

I had not seen anything other than a few chickadees for weeks on end out that window, and I was beginning to wonder if all of the wildlife had died.

But then I saw it, a lone deer in the corner of our yard pawing at the snow. I wondered how that little deer could make it out there in that harsh environment and wanted to see where

it spent its time. Breaking the pattern of couch and TV I decided to follow her tracks. I figured I had nothing to lose: if I got tired or too cold I could just come back in, throw a blanket over myself, and go back to watching TV. So I bundled up and headed out into the great unknown: the hillside behind my house. I began to follow the deer’s tracks in the powdery snow until I came across other tracks, astonished by what I saw. There were animal tracks everywhere. I found tracks from several deer, rabbits, squirrels, mice, See Walks of Life on page 16 15

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Walks of Life continued from page 15

grouse, and even bobcat. Before I knew it I was a half-mile from the house. I followed a random set of deer tracks to a lone white pine tree. There, nestled under the majestic tree, I found a fresh deer bed with tracks entering slowly on one side and leaving at a runner’s pace from the other.

I realized I must have kicked it out of its bed. The ground in the bed was warm to touch, and the snow on its edges was melted to an icy film. Two deer hairs lay trapped in the ice. As I looked around I saw the town of Wellsboro spread out below me. From that vantage I could see Route 6 and watched as cars travelled to and fro. I couldn’t help but wonder what that deer must have thought of all of our hustle and bustle from up there on its perch. I sat down on a nearby rock and watched the valley below me for a long time. The distant yells and barking dogs seemed a lifetime away. My attention turned to two small gray squirrels, one chasing the other across a nearby log. Back and forth they 16

Jenny Downing

went, up and down trees, scolding each other as they went.

Then they were gone as quickly as they had appeared. I watched the sunset from that hillside, amazed by its harsh beauty, and a scene that could have been plucked from a movie screen. As I ventured toward home I crossed a cluster of fresh turkey tracks and among them was a gift: one long tail feather, in almost perfect condition.

It sits on the fireplace, a memento of my trip into the winter woods. Whenever I start getting the winter blues I just look at that turkey feather and smile. Most times I go back to whatever else I was doing, but every once in a while it prompts me to walk a new adventure in winter’s not-sodesolate forest.

Mountain Home contributor Jeremy Bechtel is a forest ranger, outdoor enthusiast, husband, and father from Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.

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Sarah Wagaman

Mother Earth

Drifting Thoughts

By Gayle Morrow

W

e’re waiting for snow as I write. It’s one of those storms that could bring us a dusting or a foot; we’ll know when it’s over how much we got.

The people native to the far northern regions of the planet purportedly have dozens of names for the different kinds of snow; there are indeed many vagaries to the white stuff, including color.

There’s snowman-making snow, and snow you can cut into blocks for creating structures, and snow that’s good for digging out caves. The flakes themselves are sometimes big and fat and affable, their unique shapes easily discernable on a mitten or an upturned cheek. Then they can be needle-like, wind-driven, practically piercing the skin.

Accumulated snow acquires characteristics as it drifts and settles, and will change as its surrounding conditions change. If there’s enough of it on the

ground, you can see that the layers freeze, thaw, compact, and become stratified.

If you’ve ever scraped snow from the bottom of skis, or picked it from dog’s paws or horse’s hooves, you know how it can bond to the surfaces with which it comes in contact. Gravity and friction play a part in snow’s behavior (think avalanche), as does the snow’s texture and its moisture content. Snow is dry when its “pores” are filled with air rather than liquid water and wet when the opposite is true. Wet snow has less friction than dry because of the way it freezes.

Have you ever seen blue snow? In my experience there needs to be quite a bit of snow on the ground and you need to be shoveling in order to see it.

According to Science IQ.com and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (who knew there was such a place?), most of the visible light striking snow or ice is reflected back. Some of the

light that penetrates is absorbed and some is scattered; the absorbed light is “preferential”—that is, more red light is absorbed than blue and so more blue photons are left to pop back out. The snow is like a filter through which more blue light travels.

“Watermelon snow” is an alpine region phenomenon caused by algae.

The snow turns red or green after it falls and the algae activity creates a faintly watermelon-like fragrance. Wouldn’t that be nice in January? Other not-sofriendly snow colorants and fragrances are produced by pollutants in the air.

Keystone State Press Award-winning columnist Gayle Morrow, former editor of the Wellsboro Gazette, cooks locally— and organically—at the West End Market Café.

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ARTS & TRAVEL January 2015

FREwEind

as the

The Folk Spirits Bill Phillips, Ross Shourds, and John O’Donnell drift on

By Rebecca Hazen

Gone Fishing Pennsylvania Morning Cedar Run

www.mountainhomemag.com

Cover Band The Folk Spirits Hit the Road After Making the Mountain Home Story and Photos by Rebecca Hazen

S

ongwriter Shel Silverstein and the band Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show may have thought that the goal was to get on “The Cover of the Rolling Stone,” but local band Folk Spirits, consisting of members Ross Shourds, Bill Phillips, and John O’Donnell, know that the true prize is getting on “The Cover of the Mountain Home.”

Shourds wrote the upbeat parody song, “Cover of the Mountain Home.”

The popular local trio has been performing it at restaurants, taverns,

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and wherever folks listen to music for about three years—most recently at the Lambs Creek Food & Spirits restaurant in Mansfield.

“We’re all local, and we’ve seen people we know on the cover of the magazine,” Shourds said. “We’ve probably played more shows than any other local band.” So he figured “maybe we would have a shot” at getting on the cover. “That talking just sparked the idea for the song. People really dig it.”

Because Folk Spirits is so popular around these parts, people started

asking the band members, why haven’t they been on the cover yet?

So this magazine’s editors finally decided to do it. (See the special cover above). The Folk Spirits write their own stuff and cover a lot of others—like Simon & Garfunkel. It was time for Mountain Home to cover them.

And you can be sure that, just like the lyrics say, the trio will each want to “give five copies to their mother.”

Just in time, as it happens. Like many another well-known group, the folk/rock trio is breaking up, at least

WELCOME TO

WELLSBORO

for a while.

Friends, family, and fans gathered at Lambs Creek to hear Folk Spirit’s last show before O’Donnell and Phillips become snowbirds for the winter, after which Phillips will continue onward to travel the country during his retirement.

“The band has played many venues—bluegrass and folk festivals, county fairs, private parties, and the growers markets,” Shourds said. “It will be bittersweet for us to not play together anymore. We’ve had some great times. I hope the band will come back around, but time will tell.”

But fear not, though, because each of the band members plays music on the side as well as in Folk Spirits.

O’Donnell will still be seen around playing bass, as he is also a member of the Cherry Flats Ridge Pluckers, another popular local band.

“Getting into Folk Spirits was a matter of opportunity,” O’Donnell said. “I don’t hear too well. Fortunately I can still hear music—that’s pretty plain for me. They took a chance on me. They needed a bass player, and I was just about the only bass player in these parts at that time,” he chuckled.

In a few days, singer and guitar player Phillips plans on heading to Florida to spend the winter there. Come April, he says, “Who knows?” There is a lot of the United States that he hasn’t seen. Maybe he’ll make it to Oregon.

Phillips used to do a lot of solo work before joining Folk Spirits, so while he’s traveling, he is not concerned with losing his connection with music.

“I will miss the camaraderie, though,” Phillips said.

“What attracted me was that Ross and I are quite different in how we construct our songs, but we come from the same place.”

The last performance consisted of songs written by both Phillips and Shourds, songs written by friends, and some popular favorites, such as “Mrs. Robinson,” by Simon & Garfunkel.

The songs evoked a simpler time, with local titles like “Gone Fishing,” by Ross Shourds, “Pennsylvania Morning,” by Rick Dale, and “Cedar Run,” by Tom Hoover.

Even the heartbreak songs were funny and had people clapping their hands and snapping their fingers, with lyrics like “She’s colder than Alaska in her heart,” another Ross Shourds tune.

The crowd was really going, though, when the trio sang the upbeat “Cover of the Mountain Home.”

Former Mountain Home editor Rebecca Hazen is a Civil War reenactor and Keystone Award-winning writer.

23

FOOD

&

DRINK

Laura Winter Falk

Prohibition forced many changes in Finger Lakes wine country: sparkling grape juice and simply eating grapes were two of the region’s answers.

Hat’s Off to the Finger Lakes A New Book Leads Us Down Grape-Strewn Paths

By Cornelius O'Donnell

I

’m not a hat wearer and don one only when the wind and falling snow are fierce. Matter of fact, I can still hear my mother asking those three typically motherly sentences as I headed for the door: “Did you take a sweater? Is your underwear clean? Are you wearing a hat?” This varied only slightly with the season, with a scarf replacing the sweater in winter. But there was always the “hat” question. You know, Irish skin, the sun, etc.

Despite her entreaties, the hat came off almost immediately on leaving the family grounds. However, lately I’ve been thinking of investing in some sort of cap and then finding one of those

places that will embroider a message front and center above the cap brim.

“Tour Guide,” I’ll have it say, because invariably I find myself driving outof-town guests and visiting family around this area I love so much. We hit favorite places: Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon, Watkins Glen, and every art and historical society museum in this part of the woods—and even the woods themselves. (I’ve got a few spots I lovingly call “Kodak Moment.”) And invariably my cargo will ask about the wineries.

They also want to know about the “good” restaurants. Heck, most of my friends have a connection to the culinary arts, so that’s natural.

Around and around the lakes we go, stopping at my favorite wineries and eateries. (If only there was a bridge in mid-Seneca Lake!) We chat, admire the waterfalls, and gossip about others in our chosen field. But I always thought something was missing. While I knew a few facts about the Finger Lakes, it wasn’t until I read the new book called Culinary History of the Finger Lakes: From the Three Sisters to Riesling that I realized there are fascinating stories to be told that will keep those visitors enthralled. Perhaps they’d be so grateful for this outpouring of statistics and lore that they’d offer to buy lunch or dinner. One hopes.

The “three sisters” in the subtitle See Hat’s Off on page 26

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Hat’s Off continued from page 24

intrigued me. I had never heard that line except when I was dragged by my mother to a Syracuse ladies’ store with that name to sit patiently while she decided on a blouse or (worse) a slip.

Who knew that it was a title bestowed on corn, beans, and squash by the Native Americans in this part of the country?

The Start of Grape Culture

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The book tells its story in chronological style, so it starts back in the 1820s. Who would have thought that a clergyman would start the Finger Lakes as a grape-growing area—at least on a good scale? In 1829 a Reverend Bostwick planted Catawba and Isabella varieties on his Hammondsport land, and by 1860 there were 3,000 acres along the lakes. By 1900 there were 20,000 acres and fifty wineries in the area. These vintners and grape growers prospered because of access to the Erie Canal provided by two canals: CayugaSeneca and the Crooked Lake Canals.

The area became the “fruit basket” of the state, and shipments of fruit were sent west to Chicago and southeast to New York City.

Growers had help. The New York State Agricultural Society was formed in 1832, and this led to the founding of Cornell University and its School of Agriculture. The New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva (established in 1880) became linked with Cornell in 1923. It is thriving today, helping farmers get the best out of their land. And Cornell’s Cooperative Extension provides education on many levels for farm folk and consumers and many locations in our area.

More Fascinating Stuff

You’ll find lots of interesting stories in this book researched and written

by Ithaca resident Laura Winter Falk.

The historical narrative begins with

that 1829 start of grape growing and wine making. It moves along, with each chapter ending with recipes and a suggestion of what regional wines to serve with them (recipe and suggestion both provided by an area chef ). There are seven chapters and about eighteen dishes in all. I might add that the author lists most of the esteemed restaurants in the Finger Lakes area. It’s a great resource.

I was fascinated by the tales of what the surviving area wineries did to partially offset the impact of Prohibition. Fascinating, too, is the history of the introduction of hybrid wines and then the great breakthrough to Vinifera grapes. This is the riveting story of Charles Fournier and Dr. Konstantin Frank. Both men are the reason “Riesling” is part of the title of the book. Today that wine has a starring role. The two men discovered this grape’s affinity for this wine region: the result is superior wines with “a unique balance of fruit, mineral and acid character.” The wines are heralded all over the world, winning competition after competition. I also learned (I love statistics) that between 2006 and 2011 the total vineyard land grew by 50 percent.

How to Give a Fig

I got to the last recipe in the book and realized I had to share it with you.

So I got permission from the recipe’s creator, Emma Frisch of Ithaca. She has her own food blog called Frisch Kitchen (www.emmafrisch.com). She’s been a finalist of the Food Network Star and is a real cheerleader for the area’s bounty.

This is a recipe that can be made any time of the year, but why not save this recipe to whip up a batch for people you love on February 14?

Here goes—so simple and so good.

As with the other recipes in the book, Emma suggests a pairing. In this case it’s with Ports of New York Red Meleau, thus proving that the area’s output can include fortified wine. (And before I See Hat’s Off on page 28

26

27

Hat’s Off continued from page 26

forget it, you’ll enjoy reading about the sparkling wine that has been an area staple for years—and has won a great number of medals here and abroad for several wineries. I won’t call it “Champagne” because this ain’t France, friends. Its quality can stand on its own. Meanwhile you can also open a bottle of that to enjoy with your truffles.)

Fig and Pecan Truffles

Yields 24 truffles ½ lb. dried black mission figs 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips 2 Tbsp. water 2 Tbsp. butter ¾ c. heavy cream (try to avoid ultra-pasteurized) 1 c. pecans 1/3 c. cocoa powder Remove the stems from the figs (Emma says “take a nibble”). In a small saucepan over low heat (I used my double boiler placed over but not touching simmering water) add the chocolate chips and water. Stir until smooth.

Stir in the butter until the chocolate becomes smoother and shiny. Drizzle in the heavy cream stirring to mix everything thoroughly. Remove from heat.

Stir in the fig pieces. Then pour the mixture into a deep baking dish and refrigerate until the mixture hardens. (Emma advises licking the pot. I heartily agree.)

While the hardening takes place, prepare the cocoa and pecans. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Grind the pecans into a fine meal in a blender or food processor and spread them out evenly on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes (this develops flavor). Transfer the pecans to a plate and toss with the cocoa.

Remove the chocolate from the refrigerator and, using your hands (your best tools), roll the chocolate into small balls and roll them in the pecan and cocoa mixture. Serve or store in the refrigerator.

In the back of the book you’ll find a bibliography, a handy index, and a listing of the recipes—about eighteen in all, as well as a biography of the author. I learned that Ms. Falk is the president of Experience! The Finger Lakes Touring and events company based in her hometown, Ithaca. No wonder the book is a valuable resource for an amateur tour guide like me.

Capping It Off

Wasn’t I talking about caps at the start of this?

Proofreading this has given me a brilliant idea. I’m uncapping a bottle of a local, delicious bubbly—a nightcap to cap off my review.

Chef, teacher, author, and award-winning columnist Cornelius O’Donnell lives in Elmira, New York.

28

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31

Courtesy of Cynthia Hart and Candace Barnes

Two and fore: Twin Tiers Twins Candy and Cindy Doty with golf great Jack Nicklaus, for whom they caddied in a pro golf tournament.

The Twin Tiers Twins continued from page 13

perform for troops all over the world.

Asked about her USO experience, Candy said, “My two-year gig with the USO took me to Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Hawaii, and lots of military bases here in the states. Exhausting! But I’d do it all again!”

After the bands and the road tours?

“Cindy and I both became facilitators for autistic children, which Cindy is still doing,” said Candy. “My career has changed gears and I work with Alzheimer patients. It’s amazing how close the two arenas are.”

“And we have ESP for each other’s thoughts. Like the time when I was 32

living in Atlanta and Candy was living in Virginia Beach. We hadn’t discussed it, but we went out on the same day and bought cars. The cars were the same make and model down to the color and interior…the same car! And one time, miles apart, we each sent the same anniversary card to our parents.”

Candy chimed in, “Well, how about the time we were on the road? Cindy was married to Gary by then, and they were in the next room in the hotel. I was reading a novel and there was a scary section where there was a burning house and the people couldn’t get out.

The phone rings. It’s 1:30 a.m. and it’s Cindy, telling me about an awful

nightmare she just had about a burning house and people trapped inside. I just said, ‘Go back to sleep, Cindy. I’ll read the next chapter and you’ll know what happens.’”

How long did their Twin Tiers Twins fame last? Cindy offered, “My husband, Gary, still plays in a rock and roll band in Atlanta. Candy went with me to enjoy the night. Hey, we’d taken dance since we were six. We majored in dance in college…and went on the road. So we danced to Gary’s band. As we returned to our table, a lady came up and asked if we were ‘from here.’

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the Twin Tiers Twins, aren’t you?’ We had a nice chat with a woman from our hometown.”

Art Kendall, now seventyseven and living in Elcor, achieved hall-of-fame marketing results. The term Twin Tiers was universally accepted on both sides of the 42nd parallel, the Pennsylvania-New York line.

Eventually other newspapers in the area began referring to the Twin Tiers. The Star-Gazette sports editors began choosing a Twin Tiers Team for each high school sport as the seasons ended and “Twin Tiers First Team” was always mentioned on Sports Hall of Fame applications. Just Google Twin Tiers. You’ll find more than a score of listings.

Twin Tiers even has a site on Wikipedia. Depending on your pleasure, you can join the Twin Tiers Ballroom Dance Club or the Twin Tiers Western Square Dance Club. WETM TV refers to Twin Tiers often. Station WENY airs “Good Morning Twin Tiers” each weekday.

There are Twin Tiers Christian Academies on both sides of the border. There’s the Community Foundation of the Twin Tiers.

You’ll find Twin Tiers Paint and Wall Coverings, Twin Tiers Eye Care, Twin Tiers Antiques, Twin Tiers Jazz Festival, and on and on. And it all started with an ambitious publisher, a master marketer, and two teenagers— the Twin Tiers Twins.

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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Mountain Home

Retired teacher, principal, coach, and life-long sportsman Don Knaus is an award-winning outdoor writer and author of Of Woods and Wild Things, a collection of short stories on hunting, fishing, and the outdoors.

33

B A C K O F T H E M O U N TA I N

Lots of Room and a View Photo by Bernadette Chiaramonte Brown

W

hen you are up on Wellsboro’s Delmar Ridge you feel as though you are on top of the world. Because of the 360-degree view any season up there really gives you an awesome photo opportunity, so it’s rare to be disappointed. Driving up early one winter morning, I had to stop and take this photo. It is just an enchanting place for a photographer. ~BCB

34

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