Recipe
Homemade Apple Cider
Cold temperatures call for warm drinks, and here’s a fall favorite. Not only is apple cider easy and delicious to prepare, but it’ll make your kitchen smell amazing. The beauty of this recipe is that it can be made in a regular pot over a cooktop, in an Instant Pot, or even in a slow cooker. Below are instructions for stovetop cooking. For other preparation methods, or to look for additional recipes, check out www.gimmesomeoven.com.
Ingredients
10-12 medium-sized apples, any type, quartered
2 oranges, quartered (peel to reduce tartness if desired)
4 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon whole cloves
16 cups water (approximate)
½ cup brown sugar or maple syrup
Optional: 1 teaspoon allspice, 1 teaspoon whole nutmeg, and/or 1 inch fresh ginger
Directions
Gather your ingredients. Add the apples, oranges, cinnamon, cloves, and optional seasonings to a large pot. Add the water, leaving roughly an inch or two of space at the top of the pot. Cook over high heat until the liquid starts to simmer, and then reduce to medium-low. Cover the pot and simmer for two hours, or until the apples are soft. Using a potato masher or spoon, mash all of the apples and oranges against the side of the pot to release flavor, and then cover and simmer for another hour. Use a mesh strainer or cheesecloth to remove the solids from the liquids, pressing them against the strainer to get all of the juices out. Discard the solids. Once just the liquid remains, stir in your sweetener of choice. Serve warm. Makes 12 servings.
Road Trip
A Memorable Wild West Adventure
Gina Embry and her family traveled 3,600 miles together with a caravan of three RVs.
By Gina Embry, F498391
Farmstead near Durango, Colorado.
Gina Embry and her family enjoyed a 3,600-mile family RV caravan that took them to countless places.
Growing up on a farm in rural Kentucky, I recall taking just one family vacation. With cattle, horses, and crops to tend, we simply didn’t have time to travel more than a few hours away. So, as an adult, traveling has become one of my greatest joys. When the opportunity arose for eight of my family members to join together for a cross-country RV vacation last summer, I couldn’t have been more excited. We would be traveling together in three travel trailers.
The majestic Grand Canyon.
We began planning our trip gathered around a road atlas to determine the best route from middle Tennessee to the Grand Canyon. We wanted to see as many national parks and other sites as possible along the way. We plotted our course, which led us across 10 states in 14 days, covering over 3,600 miles and including four national parks — Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, and Great Sand Dunes.
Other stops included Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead in De Smet, South Dakota. Arizona attractions included Meteor Crater Natural Landmark (Winslow), the Painted Desert, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, and rafting down the Colorado River (Page), just to name a few. We stayed at campgrounds along the interstate and on historic U.S. Route 66.
Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.
The Double D RV Park in Texola, Oklahoma, was one of our favorite overnight stops. It was simply a small field with 20 or so gravel sites with hookups and a metal box to drop your money in on the honor system. The campground was surrounded by shuttered businesses of days gone by on old Route 66 that had fallen victim to weather and neglect over the years. The sunset that evening was amazing.
Another favorite campground was Seidels RV Park in Pratt, Kansas. Itis a small, grassy campground with full hookups . . . and a working farm nearby. So, we were able to see — and pet — all sorts of animals. My great-nephew Barrett even fed a baby goat. Even though we stayed at a lot of nice campgrounds along the way, with swimming pools, playgrounds, etc., he said Seidels was his favorite by far!
Texola, Oklahoma, a living ghost town along Route 66.
This trip gave us a lifetime of memories we will always cherish. I encourage everyone to take time to explore our beautiful nation with their families and friends.
Hollywood
Cinematic Art
The “Art Of The Hollywood Backdrop” enhances the magic of the big screen. This backdrop depicts the von Trapps’ rear terrace from The Sound Of Music.
The golden days of Hollywood! The romance, the drama, the extraordinary scenery! Visitors can experience that memorable era at the Boca Raton Museum of Art in Boca Raton, Florida.
The “Art Of The Hollywood Backdrop” exhibition, which runs through January 22, 2023, is said to be the first museum show dedicated to Hollywood’s painted backdrops. The exhibition features 22 scenic murals that were hand painted for feature films between 1938 and 1968. You may recognize Mount Rushmore from North By Northwest or the Austrian Alps from The Sound Of Music. Also included are Gene Kelly’s street scene from An American In Paris and Ben-Hur’s Rome.
Interactive video reels created in Hollywood specifically for the exhibit tell the stories behind each backdrop. Soundscapes surround visitors, including atmospheric sound effects related to the original movies and to the scenic vistas. The show also features an education gallery that showcases historic tools of the trade used by these Hollywood artists.
Karen L. Maness works on restoring a backdrop from North By Northwest.
The concept for the exhibition can be traced to a “CBS Sunday Morning” TV segment that described a campaign to save these historic backdrops, which were largely forgotten in the basement of MGM’s studios. In 2012 The Art Directors Guild, with Thomas Walsh as president, launched the Backdrop Recovery Project in partnership with J.C. Backings Corporation; the company had acquired over 2,000 backdrops from MGM storage in the 1970s. Many of these gigantic paintings were sent to the University of Texas at Austin, where associate professor Karen L. Maness saw their value as a learning laboratory for her students studying high-realism scenic painting. Walsh and Maness are co-curators of the exhibit. Lynne Coakley, who heads J.C. Backings Corporation, is also credited with bringing the exhibit to fruition.
The mural artists remain largely anonymous; this was mostly due to union agreements and studios’ attempts to retain secret techniques. Maness conducted extensive interviews with the last surviving mural artists, their assistants, and their families. “It was essential to capture these artists’ stories before they disappeared,” she said.
According to the museum, these creations are some of the largest paintings ever created. (The North By Northwest mural is 91 feet wide and 30 feet high.) They were painted for the camera lens itself, not for the human eye, and embody an impressionistic style that appears photo-realistic from a distance. When museum visitors take selfies with their smartphone cameras, the resulting images will look very different from what they view in person.
“This show is about the joy of reliving something you grew up with, that you always thought was real,” Walsh noted. “It’s about getting as close to that magical moment as you can.”
For information about the “Art Of The Hollywood Backdrop” exhibit, visit www.bocamuseum.org.