Midwest Nature Quote of the Week

Agile and sure-footed, raccoons are as much at home in trees as any squirrel. If they decide to leave a tree they can leap from alarming heights without apparent injury. Twice I have seen desperate raccoons weighing at least 20 pounds do this. In one instance the ’coon jumped from a limb over thirty feet above the ground without even having the breath knocked from him, leaping beyond the dogs and climbing a large den tree nearby before they could take him. In the other case, a very large raccoon made a twenty-foot high dive into a river and escaped.

John Madson, Stories from Under the Sky

Larry Rettig in Iowa City this Weekend

We hope you're as excited for the weekend as we are! If you're in the Iowa City area, here's a reminder that you have opportunities to meet Larry Rettig, author of the upcoming book Gardening the Amana Way, tonight and tomorrow. Check out the information below:

Gardening the Amana Way reading

Date: Friday, September 20

Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St.

Join the Facebook event!

book signing

Date: Saturday, September 21

Time: 7:30 am-12:00 pm
Location: Prairie Lights table at the Iowa City Farmer's Market: ground level of Chauncey Swan Ramp & Chauncey Swan Park across from City Hall, 410 E. Washington Street. Additional vendors located on E. Washington Street on Saturdays.

Join the Facebook event!

Don't miss this chance to meet Larry Rettig in person and hear him talk about his new book! We hope to see you there.

Gardening the Amana Way, by Larry Rettig

Chris Baker Reading: September 19

If you're in the Cedar Rapids area, make sure you see Chris Baker give a reading of his new book, Others Had It Worse: Sour Dock, Moonshine, and Hard Times in Davis County, Iowa. He will be reading at the Barnes & Noble on Collins Rd. at 7:00 PM. We'd love to see you there!

Praise for Others Had It Worse:
“A rare, insightful, and intimate work of history. . . . Like the frames on a zoetrope, these brief snippets run together to create a rich, vivid view of a bygone era.”—Publishers Weekly

Others Had It Worse: Sour Dock, Moonshine, and Hard Times in Davis County, Iowa by Chris Baker

Interview with Nina Furstenau: part 2

Nina Mukerjee Furstenau is the author of Biting through the Skin: An Indian Kitchen in America’s Heartland, just published this month. University of Iowa Press editor Catherine Cocks asked her a few questions about the book and her experience growing up in Pittsburg, Kansas, in the 1960s and 1970s.

CC: You note in the book that it was hard to find the basic ingredients for Indian food in small-town Kansas in the 1960s. Today a far wider range of foods appears in grocery stores and there are restaurants specializing in many different cuisines. Do you think this greater variety affects the way immigrants and native-born Americans interact with each other now?

NF: I like to think so. As people are exposed to cultures through food, perhaps the avenues to greater understanding are widened. It’s hard to be completely alienated from a culture when you love its food.

CC: Why did you decide to join the Peace Corps after college?

NF: I wanted to help people. I feel strongly that this drive stemmed from watching a young boy in India begging for food. I was six, he was younger than me and had such a different life. The memory of how he reached out to catch a banana I threw him and how, in order to eat it before the older children could take it away, he bit through bitter peel, was the catalyst for so many things in my life, including the book. Of course, I also joined Peace Corps because it sounded fun and I wanted to see and explore the world.

CC: Of the recipes you include in the book, which one would you recommend as a good place to start for someone who’s never made Indian food before?

NF: I would try chicken curry. It’s easy, delicious, and incorporates all the traditional flavors of Bengal: cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and bay. Be patient, let it simmer in its spices, and the aroma will enfold your kitchen, maybe your heart.

Murgi (Chicken Curry)
Serves 4

Take 1 whole chicken, skin, cut into pieces, and set aside (or use boneless, skinless chicken pieces, cut into approximately 1 x 2-inch pieces). One pound cubed lamb or beef can also be used.

2–3 tablespoons oil
4 whole cloves
1/2 stick cinnamon
4 whole cardamom pods
1 bay leaf
1 dried red chili pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 medium onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger, or about 1 inch of fresh ginger root, mashed
1/4–1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon turmeric salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon fresh garlic, mashed
1/2 cup yogurt or sour cream or 1/2 of a medium tomato
1/4 teaspoon garam masala (optional)

Cover the bottom of a heavy pan with vegetable oil and heat. When hot, drop in the whole spices and let sizzle for about 30 seconds. Add the onions and stir-fry until the onions begin to brown at the edges. Push them to the side and add the sugar. Stir the sugar in the hot oil until it begins to caramelize and is mostly dissolved. Put in the cut-up chicken pieces. Stir-fry the chicken with the onions until the chicken begins to turn brown. Add the ginger, cayenne, garlic, and salt. Lower heat, add a little water if necessary, and fry until the meat is well coated with the spices (20–25 minutes—this long simmer is essential to bring out the flavor of the finished dish). Add about 1 cup water. Loosely cover the pan and simmer until heated through (5 minutes). Add yogurt, sprinkle a little garam masala into  the pan if you have it, and simmer an additional 5–10 minutes. Serve hot.

Biting through the Skin: An Indian Kitchen in America's Heartland by Nina Mukerjee Furstenau

Raptor of the Week: Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl
Bubo scandiacus

The snowy is a rare winter visitor but is present in our state every year. It arrives as early as October and is normally gone by late March. Periodically, large invasions occur when lemmings, its principal food base, are in short supply in the Arctic. This is one of the few owls active during daylight.

The Raptors of Iowa, paintings by James F. Landenberger

Iowa City Book Festival: featuring books from the Northern Illinois University Press

Here at the University of Iowa Press, we're already gearing up for the Iowa City Book Festival on October 11. (You can join our Facebook event here.) We will have a table at the Festival where we will be selling books from our Press and other Midwest presses. We're excited to announce that the Northern Illinois University Press will be selling the following books:

• Something that Feels like Truth: Stories, by Donald Lystra

• The Home Jar: Stories, by Nancy Zafris

• The Blue Kind, by Kathryn Born

• Butter: A Novel, by Anne Panning

• Wanted Elevator Man, by Joseph G Peterson

Don't miss out an opportunity to buy these incredible titles! For more information on these books, visit the Northern Illinois University Press website. We can't wait to see you there!

Larry Rettig Events in Iowa City

The University of Iowa Press is excited to announce that Larry Rettig, author of Gardening the Amana Way, will be doing a reading and signing in Iowa City this weekend. Please find more information below:

Gardening the Amana Way reading

Date: Friday, September 20

Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St.

Join the Facebook event!

book signing

Date: Saturday, September 21

Time: 7:30 am-12:00 pm
Location: Prairie Lights table at the Iowa City Farmer's Market: ground level of Chauncey Swan Ramp & Chauncey Swan Park across from City Hall, 410 E. Washington Street. Additional vendors located on E. Washington Street on Saturdays.

Join the Facebook event!

We'd love to have you join us and Larry as he discusses his new book. We hope to see you this weekend!

Gardening the Amana Way, by Larry Rettig