midwest

Bridges and Towers

The last covered bridge in Minnesota is in Zumbrota, south of the Twin Cities. The bridge was originally built in 1869, to span the Zumbro River and is 120 feet long. It served as a stagecoach route between St Paul, Minnesota and Dubuque, Iowa. It was later restored and moved to its present site in the 1990’s. It still spans the Zumbro River and is now attached to a large city park.

This cute statue was outside the Public Library in Zumbrota. In the 1800’s the settlers of Zumbrota formed a Literary Society and Library Association. In 1877, it became the first public library in Minnesota supported by taxpayers. In 1908, the library received a grant form Andrew Carnegie and became the smallest Carnegie Library in the state. in 1995, it moved to its current location next to the covered bridge.

If you continue south on Highway 52, you will arrive in Rochester, Minnesota. There you will find the Ear of Corn Water Tower, standing 151 feet tall. It was built in 1931, to provide water for the Reid, Murdoch, and Company food cannery. The tower was illuminated by 10 spotlights and from the 1930’s to the 1960’s it was used by the Army Air Corps and Air Force to find a nearby airfield. The cannery changed hands several times and the tower was eventually bought by the county and fully restored in 2021.

Dark and Light

When I lived in Russia I liked to call it the Land of Dark. The winters were overcast and the sun only came up briefly. Now that I am in Minnesota, I am thinking, land of dark. I have had every light in the house on for days. It is depressing. I read an article in the New York Times this morning by Mary Pipher called Finding Light in Winter. It was lyrical and hopeful. She has a book out called Life in Light: Meditations on Impermanence. I am totally going to read it. She lives in Nebraska so also is experiencing dark days. But she finds light in nature, family, friends, young children, poetry, music, a painting by Monet, and memories of people no longer present.

A friend of mine needed to go to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for some tests, so I went along. It was a nice break. Rochester is a fairly small city (population 122,000), and is the home of Mayo Clinic. Apparently 1.3 million patients go to Mayo every year, from all 50 states and 140 countries. There are like 20 Mayo facilities in Rochester. Plus Rochester has a branch of the University of Minnesota and a State Community College. For such a small town, it has a lot going on.

We stayed right downtown and were able to walk to everyplace we needed to go. Some interesting old buildings were among the glittering new ones. There was a warren of underground tunnels throughout the Mayo complex downtown so you could spend your day in spacious beautiful new buildings and never go outside. The cafeteria even had robots working to deliver food.

Besides being light and airy, the buildings were full of interesting artwork.

Three Columns, Cast Glass – Libensky and Brychtova
Man and Freedom, Ivan Mestrovic
Blown glass, Dale Chihuly
Blown glass, Sonja Blomdahl
Blown Glass, Dale Chihuly
Four Houses, Jennifer Bartlett

On the way back to the Twin Cities, we stopped at Frontenac State Park overlooking Lake Pepin. It started out kind of gloomy but amazingly, it cleared up to be a beautiful day. Light!!

Indian Cake
My Grandmother at about age 20

Years ago we put together a family recipe book. Four different versions of the Indian Cake recipe were entered by four great cooks. Goes to show that even in a family the need to “tweak” a recipe exists. My cousin always thought the name of the recipe came from the fact that all ingredients were staples in every kitchen and a great use for leftover coffee, plus Grandma was born in the 1881, so it was probably a “prairie” recipe handed down by her mother. Unfortunately, most of the cooks have passed and we will probably never know for sure.`

This is my grandmother’s version of the cake.

Indian Cake

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup coffee
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup hot water
1 clove coffee, heated

Mix all ingredients together, stirring in hot coffee last.
Bake at 350 degrees until done.

You can see that this is kind of vague and might need some additional “tweaks”. I don’t know what a “1 clove coffee” is.

One of my aunts increased the cocoa by a quarter cup and took out the baking powder, vanilla extract, salt, and clove coffee. This makes no sense to me, it would be pretty bland, I would think.

Another aunt increased the cocoa by a quarter cup and added cream of tartar.

A third aunt provided the last variation and it is the most detailed:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup coffee, cold
1 cup water, boiling, minus 1 teaspoon

Sift together: flour, cocoa, soda, and salt and set aside. Cream 1/2 cup butter into the sugar. Add beaten eggs and blend slowly. Add vanilla. Add into sugar and butter mixture, some of the flour and mix well, then add some of the cold coffee and mix them alternating, continue until all is in but mix in the flour last. Stir in the hot water (minus 1 teaspoon) and mix well. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 1 hour. Test with toothpick until it comes out dry from the center of the cake.

I’m not 100% convinced on this one. One hour seems way too long. But I haven’t tried it and don’t know what kind of a pan she used.

I have made the original recipe minus the clove thing but I might have put some clove spice in it. I think I cooked it for 30 minutes in a 9 X 9 and it turned out pretty good.

Try your hand at it and see what happens!

Down By The Riverside…

I’m gonna lay down that atom bomb
Down by the riverside down by the riverside
Down by the riverside
I’m gonna lay down that atom bomb
Down by the riverside study war no more

I ain’t gonna study war no more
Ain’t gonna study war no more
— Pete Seeger

Hug me, squeeze me, love me, tease me
‘Til I can’t, ’til I can’t, ’til I can’t take no more of it
Take me to the water, drop me in the river
Push me in the water, drop me in the river
Washing me down, washing me down
— Al Green via Talking Heads

Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Eloise Butler was born on a farm in Maine in 1851. In 1874, she moved to Minneapolis to teach botany and took her students on field trips “botanizing”. In 1907, she persuaded the Minneapolis Park Board to set aside three acres for a wild botanical garden. After 36 years of teaching she retired and became the curator of the garden. In 1924, she spent $700 of her own money to expand the garden to a five acre fenced off area. The garden was re-named the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in her honor in 1927. She died at 81 tending the garden.

A mushroom the size of a volleyball!