About Town: Worldly Foods, Voting and Worm Moon

Hello and happy Tuesday.

Daylight savings has come and, based on the sunny days and crocuses blooming and daffodils budding along the landscape , I think it’s safe to say spring is, too. I had another wonderful week right here in River City though my culinary experiences took to France, the Mediterranean and Central America.

Stefanie Cloutier and I devoured a scrumptious smoked salmon & crème fraiche crepe at Reasons to be Cheerful in West Concord. It killed me to share, but we were in public so I had to be polite. Plus, Stefanie was treating, so...  For dessert (doesn’t dessert follow all lunches?) we switched from savory to sweet, and devulged in a crepe filled with Nutella, bananas, strawberries and real whipped cream. Joy. Joy. Joy.

Saturday at Trails End Cafe, I enjoyed an international breakfast of Mediterranean egg sandwich -  sweet red peppers, goat cheese, olive tapenade and an egg - between slices of bread fresh from Nashoba Bakery. The coffee also deserves mention - a medium roast Terroir, in which all the beans were grown on the same family farm in El Salvador, before being carefully roasted at George Howell Coffee in Acton.

You do not have to leave our borders to experience worldly culinary classics.

Super Tuesday

I could carry on and on about the food, but the highlight of last week was working the polls (no, not those kind of poles) at Precinct 1. These are the things that happen to you when you strike up a conversation with Town Clerk Anita Tekle. Me: “Hi Anita, how are you?” She: “Great. What are you doing March 6?”

So there I was behind a desk in a conference room of the Planning and Land Management building on Keyes Road, asking voter after voter, “What street do you live on?” Then, I’d flip through the three-ring binder filled with alphabetized street listings, stop at the aforementioned street name and ask another question: “What number?”

From that brief summary, it may sound like I spent 7.5 mundane hours inserting red penciled check marks into rows of boxes, preparing ballots for the submission into the voting boxes. It was nothing like that. I had so much fun. First, it was great to see so many people I know, especially participating in the democratic process. But here are some of the highlights:

I ran into at least five 18 year olds voting for the first time. They all seemed pretty excited about it and two brought friends, not yet 18, to watch them cast their first ballots.

One new voter (Hi Ethan!) followed a 97-year-old woman who has voted in every election since she became a registered voter. They stood next to each other so I introduced them to one another.

A newly-minted U.S. citizen, about my age (50-ish,) voted for the first time in his life. I didn’t talk to him too much but I got the impression he expected this to be a more serious government process, and not full of chatter among friends and neighbors about baseball sign-ups and designer handbags. Regardless, he followed the process to the letter and carefully slid his two ballots into the machine, watching as they went through.

More than one individual took advantage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which provided easy access for voters with limited physical mobility.

It was wonderful to see so many of us voting. I had a lot of fun and look forward to working the September and November elections as well.

Anita Tekle is looking for people to cover those elections, so if you are a registered Concord voter, email her at atekle@concordma.gov. Trust me, you will enjoy yourself.

A Worm Moon

Did you see that beautiful full moon last week? According to NASA, the first full moon in March is known by many names. The early Native Americans in the north called it the worm moon because its presence meant earthworms would soon be making their way out of the thawed grounds, which would be ready for planting. Native Americans also referred to it as crust moon, a condition late winter snow would develop from warm days and freezing nights. It is also known as the sugar or sap moon, as evidenced by all the buckets attached to maple trees, collecting sweet syrup. The religious among us refer to it as the Lenton Moon.

What's in a name? That which we call a worm moon by any other name would shine as bright. And that is exactly the opinion of Bill and Alice Lehmann, who toast every full moon of the year. The 2012 worm moon was welcomed with sauvignon blanc, said Alice.

That’s it for now, so ‘til Tuesday …

Do you have something you would like to share? Contact me at mcb23@comcast.net or Stefanie at stefanieac@comcast.net and we will be happy to help you spread the good news
And follow us on Twitter: Stefanie is @stefanie3131 and I am @cosmo1162.