Valentine's Day Holiday Menu 1

Valentine's Day is less than a week away, so it's time for you to start thinking about how you are going to do something special! Prepare your meal with the University of Iowa Press cookbooks!

Tomato Soup (serves 4) from the book Prairie Cooks

3 cups milk                                                     1 teaspoon soft butter per bowl of soup
2 1/2 cups tomato juice                                   1/4 teaspoon soda
1 tablespoon sugar                                          1/2 teaspoon dill weed

In a heavy saucepan, heat milk to very warm but not to scalding. In another saucepan combine tomato juice, sugar, and dill weed and boil gently for 5 minutes to reduce slightly. Remove from heat and add soda immediately. The mixture will foam up; stir it quickly and add instantly to the milk and stir. Pour into four bowls and place 1 teaspoon butter in each bowl. Serve promptly.

The secret of this soup is to keep it from curdling; you must not scald the milk. Add the soda to the hot tomato mixture immediately and then stir quickly into the milk.

Tomato soup is good served with fresh bread and cheese.


Favorite Rolls (makes 2 dozen) from the book Up a Country Lane Cookbook

1 cup milk, scalded                                            1/4 cup lukewarm water  
1/4 cup shortening                                             1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup sugar                                                     1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon salt                                                
1 package yeast (check the dates on yeast when you buy it)
3 1/2 cups flour

Scald milk. Remove from fire and add shortening, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt, stir to dissolve, then cool to lukewarm. While this is cooling, combine yeast, lukewarm water, and 1 teaspoon sugar. Let dissolve and bubble for 5 minutes. Add dissolved yeast to cooled milk mixture. Gradually beat in egg and enough flour to make a soft dough. Turn out on floured breadboard. Work in only as much flour as needed, no more; the less flour used, the lighter the rolls. Knead lightly for 3 to 4 minutes. It becomes smooth and elastic. Place dough in greased bowl, turning once to coat all sides. Cover with clean tea towel and let rise in a draft-free place until double (about 2 hours). Punch down and knead on lightly floured board for about 5 minutes. Shape into rolls and place on greased cookie sheet or baking pan. Cover with tea towel and let rise until double. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on top. Turn out on wire cooling rack. If you like a crusty roll, leave as is. If you want a soft crust, brush rolls with butter or margarine when removed from the oven. This is fine yeast bread for beginners but it is equally good for experienced cooks.

Prairie Cooks, by Carrie Young with Felicia Young

Up a Country Lane Cookbook, by Evelyn Birkby

Great Photos in Iowa

When Klondike Bill, a colorful transcontinental itinerant, and his dog team reached Iowa City, a photographer snapped them standing next to the University of Iowa campus. 

Was This Heaven?, by Lyell D. Henry, Jr. 

Bald Eagles

Over wintering bald eagles can be seen across the country in large and small groups or as single birds.  Groups usually include a number of mature adults and a collection of juveniles up to four years in age.  Immature or juvenile bald eagles are mottled brown and often mistaken for golden eagles.  Although golden eagles range across the entire country during the winter months, they are found in very small numbers.  Data collected on mature birds indicates that bald eagles are slightly larger than golden eagles, and one needs to remember that in all birds of prey female birds are larger than males.     
  

Trees in Your Pocket

Blogcritics.org has just posted a review of Trees in Your Pocket: A Guide to Trees of the Upper Midwest by Thomas Rosburg!

...Taking up minimal space and weighing virtually nothing, Trees in Your Pocket is the ideal guide to bring along on expeditions into the forest...

Read the review here.

Midwest Nature Quote of the Week

To any rule that might be drawn concerning hibernation, there is an exception to confound the issue. The phenomenon is not restricted to such herbivores as the rodents, for many of the insectivorous bats are hibernators. And even among the true sleepers, there such exceptions as the eastern chipmunks. One chipmunk may sink into the typically deep torpor of the true hibernant; another individual may remain active in deep January.

John Madson, Stories from Under the Sky 

Important Iowans: Samuel J. Calvin

Samuel J. Calvin
(February 2, 1840 - April 17, 1911)

--A renowned geologist and State University of Iowa professor, he was born in Wigtonshire, Scotland. In 1851 the family moved to a farm near Saratoga, New York, then within a few years to Buchanan County, Iowa. An excellent student, Samuel taught school in nearly Quasqueton at age 16. On the Iowa frontier, he reveled in exploring the vanishing native prairie landscape.

....

While teaching at Lenox, Calvin forged a strong friendship with a student, Thomas Macbride. The two took regualr field trips to explore the flora and geology of the surrounding prairies. Calvin left Lenox in 1869 to be a school principal in Dubuque, but he and Macbride continued their field trips, which soon ranged across the state of Iowa and throughout the United States and into Canada.

As Calvin's teaching reputation grew, the State University of Iowa invited him to deliver a series of lectures. They were so well received that in 1873 the university invited Calvin to serve on the faculty in natural sciences and as curator of the University Cabinet, the school's collection of geological specimens, fossils, and mounted animals and birds. Calvin combined lectures with laboratory and fieldwork, the latter two applied elements controversial among professors at the time. Calvin also employed photography in his teaching, becoming a renowned photographer and amassing a collection of 7,000 photos. As his lectures earned a stellar reputation, many students attended to observe their rhetorical and literary craft. Calvin's published writing also became known for its aesthetic eloquence as well as its scientific precision. Calvin took seriously his role as public scholar, seeing geology as both scientific and cultural pursuit, a subject for specialization as well as general education. He became well known across the state for his public "illustrated talks" (with slides) given before all manner of clubs and schools, predating all university's development of a formal extension program.

The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa, by David Hudson, Marvin Bergman, Loren Horton

Iowa Farm Photo of the Week

Rooster:

Iowa Farm in Your Pocket: A Beginner's Guide, Kirk Murray