Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Food stylist hired for new cookbook

Cathy Shumard and Linda Corderman visit with Stephanie Green while
Ruth McLeod takes the photo.
Interviewing a food stylist was so interesting. What does she do? Why do we need her? Does she know the food photographer, Ken Epstein? What can she offer to make our cookbook even better? What is the cost? What are the rewards? What can we do to facilitate her role?

So glad we hired Stephanie Green. When the book is published (hopefully this fall), you might notice the fabulous food photographs in Tastes and Treasures, A Storytelling Cookbook of Historic Arizona Volume II. They say "a picture is worth a thousand words".

Friday, June 23, 2017

Food and Friends at Tasting Party June 8

Toasting to all the great times we have had as a cookbook committee and the wonderful historic cookbook we are creating.  This group is so much fun!









Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Graphic Design for Tastes & Treasures Volume II

Meeting with graphic designer, Cheyenne Brumlow at Evans Communications is a delight. Leslie Christiansen, Ruth McLeod and Linda Corderman had the first of many conversations with Cheyenne to make sure that Tastes & Treasures, A Storytelling Cookbook of Historic Arizona Volume II will be polished, professional and in perfect format for O'Neil Printing and Roswell Bookbinding. Graphic design and getting a book ready for printing is fascinating business!

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Historymakers Gala Chair Deb and Chef Leslie

"Deb Hester and I drank tea and enjoyed some freshly baked Miracle Muffins! Special time with an amazing woman." Leslie Christiansen echos our thanks to the chair of Historymakers Gala XII, Deb Short-Hester. We also want to thank Chef Leslie for her devotion to Tastes & Treasures Volume II. With Leslie editing all the recipes and making sure they are tested 3 times, the book has outstanding recipes.
The Miracle Muffins recipe is from Deb's Mom, Phyllis Short. They will be featured along with Phyllis in the Tribute page section of the new book.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

June 2017 Cookbook Committee Meeting

Pam Stevenson, Sharron McKinney, Bonnie Newhoff, Renee Donnelly,
Mariamne Moore, Cathy Shumard, Linda Corderman, Zona Lorig



Talking about the delicious recipes, Tasting parties, historic venues, fonts, fundraising success, style of the cover, spiral hidden O ring binding, graphic design, Introduction, Forward . . . all part of Tastes & Treasures, A Storytelling Cookbook of Historic Arizona, Volume II. The meetings are full of enthusiasm and organization. We have been working on this book for over a year. It is exciting to see how it is coming together now.


Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Tasting Party photos June 8

Delicious new recipes arrived with a flurry at the latest Tasting Party held June 8 at Ruth McLeod's home. Testing three times before they are submitted for Tastes & Treasures Volume II ensures the ingredients are accurate and the directions are user friendly. Food, Friends, Fun  . . . and a little wine.
Thanks to Chef Leslie for all her time and talent on recipes.
Thanks to Cathy Shumard who works tirelessly on the recipes while recruiting testers and Bonnie Newhoff who organizes all the fabulous foods at the Tasting Parties.

Cathy Shumard signs up more recipe testers

Claire Nullmeyer makes fast work opening her creme puffs. Leslie Christiansen and Donna Esposito
fill the pastry bag with the creme!

Donna Esposito helps Claire with creme for the puffs

Diana Smith welcomes Julie's rolls!

Bonnie explains the delicious foods to Mariamne Moore, Diana Smith, Cathy Shumard, Sharron McKinney, Mary Pat Honey

Ruth made Ancho Aioli and Pickled Red Onions to go with Mariamne's fried green tomatoes.

Julie slices the most delicious yeast rolls. Recipe from The Spicery. Bonnie arranges Scotch Eggs.

Monday, June 12, 2017

June 2017 Historical League meeting

The final meeting of the year was a busy one with reports turned in, Director Tawn Downs gave us museum updates, delicious food served from Dancing Chef, Staff Appreciation luncheon with introductions to new staff and good byes to friends for the summer. It may look like a slow down but that is not the case. The Historical League continues to function and plan over the summer. Looking forward to the fall with a tour of Roswell Bookbinding September 21, Historymakers 2017 Exhibit Opening in October, Family Holiday Party featuring "Newsie's" at Phoenix Theatre in December and hopefully Tastes & Treasures Volume II will be published.

Museum Director Tawn Downs answers question while President Anne Lupica oversees her last meeting.
President elect Nina Fillipi steps in as new President for 2017-2018.


Saturday, June 10, 2017

Rawling Family Donates Wright House to Architecture School


So glad the Historical League held the Spring Event April 2016 at this wonderful home. Rawling Family Donates Wright House to Architecture School

FRONTDOORS NEWS



The David & Gladys Wright House in Phoenix, festooned on Thursday for a big announcement. Photo by Mike Saucier
By Mike Saucier

It will go down as one of the greatest philanthropic acts in Phoenix history.
The Rawling family on Thursday donated the David & Gladys Wright House in the Arcadia section of Phoenix to the School of Architecture at Taliesin, which was founded by Frank Lloyd Wright.

David Rousseau, president of Salt River Project; Debra Stark, Phoenix city councilwoman; Zach Rawling, president of the David & Gladys Wright House Foundation; and Jim Lane, mayor of Scottsdale. Photo by Mike Saucier

The pledge of the iconic spiral home to the school represents the largest donation in the architectural institution’s 85 years. The announcement was made on the 150th birthday of Frank Lloyd Wright.
The donation by the Rawling family establishes a relationship that will further the school’s mission of educating students to build a more sustainable, open world while fulfilling the potential of the David & Gladys Wright House to have a perpetual life as a world-class center for design.
To celebrate, the famous home was decorated with 20,000 balloons that took 25 people 15 hours to arrange.
“It’s the school that will fill this place with life and meaning and connect the house to its history as part of the Wright family and the work that the Taliesin fellowship did to work with David Wright to build the house,” Zach Rawling, president of the David & Gladys Wright House Foundation, told Frontdoors. “It connects one of the masterwork buildings to experimental design and innovation and everything that the students are working on to build an open, sustainable, beautiful future.”
“This is a connection between the Wright legacy of architecture and bringing to life those ideas that are very much vital and relevant and informed,” he said. “This one site tells the story of midcentury America and the promise and the appeal of the American Southwest.”
Rawling said he and his mother started the project to share the house with people. She had introduced him to the house in second grade, while on bicycle.
“It was my introduction to architecture and the start of a lifelong love of architecture,” Rawling said. “Her idea was to allow other children and families to have that same experience here and that’s exactly what the school of architecture intends to do. Graduate students will use it for their own education and they will be involved in welcoming the public to participate in this legacy of the historic Wright building and also be part of a community discussion about the future of life in the Southwest.”
In 1950, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a home for his son David and daughter-in-law Gladys on 10 acres in the middle of citrus groves at the base of Camelback Mountain. The design elevated the home in the form of a spiral rising from the desert floor, converting the treetops into the lawn and revealing 360° views of the mountains forming the valley. Wright titled the plans “How to Live in the Southwest.”
Completed in 1952, the residence remained a family home until 2008. After sitting vacant, the home was threatened with demolition by local developers in 2012 before the community stepped in to save what the City of Phoenix’s preservation office recognizes as the greatest building in Phoenix by the greatest architect in American history.

Friday, June 9, 2017

Photo shoot continues

Chef Leslie Christiansen and Food Stylist Stephanie Green
All the prep that goes into the photo. Chopping, cooking, steaming, baking, peeling, slicing, zesting . . .
And the Watermelon Salad looks wonderful and tastes delicious. You must wait to see the book to appreciate the fabulous photos!

 Leslie Christiansen, Linda Corderman, Cathy Shumard, Stephanie Green
Photographer Ken Epstein studies the composition


Stephanie Green and Ken Epstein make adjustments using tweezers and q-tips




Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Fabulous Photo Shoot for Tastes & Treasures Volume II Cookbook

You will never look at photography the same after spending a day with professionals photographing food for Tastes & Treasures Volume II. It takes lots of patience, an eye for detail and artistic expression.
So glad to work with Ken Epstein taking pictures and Stephanie Green preparing and styling the food. Along with Chef Leslie Christiansen, Cathy Shumard, Linda Corderman and Ruth McLeod, we learned so much. Leslie, Cathy and Linda were major players with food prep as well.
Every detail is accounted for in the photographs. Using tweezers and q-tips, the food is meticulously arranged, lighted, accessorized and made to look so-o-o mouthwatering, you want to take a bite!
Tortilla Soup from Lon's at Hermosa Inn was one of the items prepared on this day. Looking forward to seeing these fabulous photos in Tastes & Treasures Volume II.







Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Board of Directors for 2017-2018

Pam den Draak, Mary Garbaciak, Nina Filippi, Anne Lupica, Rebecca Stone, Diana Smith, Laura Helder, Linda Cathey, Renee Donnelly, Zona Lorig
Looking forward to a wonderful year with this new Board of Directors for the Historical League officially installed at the June Historical League meeting.

Nina trys out the new gavel.

President Anne Lupica turns over responsibilities to new President Nina Filippi.



Thursday, June 1, 2017

Historymaker Jim Bruner: Importance of Volunteering

The Importance of Volunteering by Historymaker Jim Bruner. It is inspiring!!

Bruner: In honor of those who serve on Scottsdale boards, commissions
By Jim Bruner May 30th, 2017, Scottsdale Independent
In the early 1800s, a French sociologist came to the young United States initially to study its prisons systems, which he did for about nine months.He traveled by steamboat, by stagecoach, on horseback and in canoes, visiting American penitentiaries.
 He returned to France in 1831 and wrote his report. His name was Alexis de Tocqueville.
Then he set to work on a broader analysis of American culture and politics published in 1835 as “Democracy in America.” This book is considered a classic on early American culture.
One of the issues he focused on dealt with how the Americans — as contrasted with the Europeans — handled societies’ problems.
In America he said, neighbors, volunteers, would work together to help each other many times through their churches. In Europe, people would rely upon the government and its agencies to assist people.
He was amazed with how different our country was as compared with Europe in solving peoples’ needs.
Who knows how the volunteer spirit in America started, perhaps it goes all the way back to the days of the Pilgrims. But from our earliest years of people volunteering to help a neighbor build a barn, getting the crops harvested for a neighbor who had some adversity, helping others in need, as examples, this has been a constant theme of the people of this country.
Certainly true of the citizens of Scottsdale. They love to volunteer.
Who are volunteers? They are people who believe in a cause, a project, that helps their community:
Volunteers need to be motivated, need to have a leader they trust and respect. There is an old expression, “you can’t boss a volunteer.” They need a leader who will motivate them, inspire them. Otherwise, if they have no respect for their leader, they’ll take a hike and go find another cause, group, issue to support.
Volunteers must be volunteering for the right reasons. They must believe in the mission of whatever the group is and want to help. I have worked with volunteers, as I’m sure most of you have, that are in it for themselves, either personal or business gain. You can spot these a mile away — have “phony” stamped on their forehead. Most of these type of volunteers aren’t very effective and don’t last very long.
What role have volunteers played in the history and development of Scottsdale? It would be difficult to estimate the value volunteers like you folks bring to this community.
By serving on the many boards and commissions of the city, you and those who came before you, have attained tremendous achievements for our community.
Our former Mayor Herb Drinkwater said many times that many of the best ideas the city has used or adopted have come from its citizens.
The formal process of using citizens’ input probably came from the original STEP committees, Scottsdale Town Enrichment Programs. These were active in the 1950s and 60s, where many ideas were discussed in citizen’s groups.
Obviously not all ideas worked out, but the important thing is to think, to dream, of how Scottsdale can be a better place for all of us.
An idea everyone is familiar with is the Indian Bend Wash.
In the early 1960s, the Army Corps. of Engineers wanted to build a 300-foot-wide concrete ditch through the heart of Scottsdale to control flood waters, like the concrete ditch they built through the heart of Los Angeles.
In February 1964, a Scottsdale citizen, by profession a landscape designer and architect, wrote a guest column for the Scottsdale Daily Progress. He proposed a grass-lined channel with mini lakes to control the flow of water following heavy rains, but several days later when the water cleared and debris cleaned up, there would be parks, golf courses and other recreational amenities available to the residents of the city.
This idea became a reality and made what could have been an eyesore into something that we are proud of and is known through the country.
The Scottsdale citizen who wrote that letter became active in the community and later served two terms on the Scottsdale City Council. His name is Bill Walton.
In closing, I have no idea what any of you folks who serve on the city’s boards and commissions might have as your dream for our city but go for it.
Maybe it will work out, maybe it won’t but if you don’t try we will never know.
We are enjoying the shade of the trees planted by those who came before us. It is now our responsibility, our obligation, to plant the trees for those who follow us.
Thank you for your service to our community.
Editor’s note: These remarks were originally delivered by Mr. Brunner, Monday, May 22 at an appreciation reception for members of the city of Scottsdale’s Boards and Commissions.