Boston Flora

Category: Author Book Signing

  • Saturday, July 9, 2:00 pm, and Tuesday, July 19, 7:00 pm- Ancient Grains for Modern Meals

    Williams-Sonoma Copley, at 100 Huntington Place in Boston, will host a special book signing and cooking demonstration with Maria Speck this coming Saturday, July 9, beginning at 2 pm.  Maria will be signing copies of her cookbook Ancient Grains for Modern Meals.  This is a unique opportunity to meet a leading chef and author.  No reservations required, and the event is free.  Maria will also appear at Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge, on Tuesday, July 19 at 7. Food writer Maria Speck’s passion for propelling Old World staples such as farro, barley, polenta, and wheat berries to the forefront of new American cooking is beautifully presented in Ancient Grains for Modern Meals. In this inspired and highly personal book, Speck draws on food traditions from across the Mediterranean and northern Europe to reveal how versatile, satisfying, flavorful, and sophisticated whole grains can be.

    Speck grew up in Greece and Germany before moving to the US as a young adult. She is a writer and journalist, and has contributed to Gourmet, Saveur, and Gastronomica, as well as Marie Claire and Elle. Her popular cooking classes in Cambridge focus on the flavors and cooking styles of the Mediterranean.


  • Wednesdays, July 13, 27, August 10, and August 24, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Preserving the Harvest: Putting Food By

    We all love fresh food grown from the garden. But we live in New England and if we expect to eat as well in January as in August, we need to preserve the summer garden’s abundance for the lean days of winter. Learn about the techniques of putting food by, including water bath canning, pressure canning, dehydrating, root cellaring and lacto-fermenting to create delicacies that will see us through the dark days and remind us of what awaits in the spring. An upcoming series of four classes at the Berkshire Botanical Garden will demystify all aspects of preserving food.

    On Wednesday, July 13, the class is entitled You CAN Do It! Hot water bath and pressure cooker canning is not just for jams and jellies (although it’s really good for those too). Learn how to put up your own salsa, chutneys and condiments. We will explore the many ways a canner can be put to use creating wonderful and unique gifts as well as enhancing your own food pantry. This class will also cover pressure canning and will demystify this useful method for insuring food safety. On Wednesday, July 27, enjoy Dry it – You’ll Like It & Baby It’s Cold Inside. Dehydrating and freezing as methods for preserving foods are perhaps the easiest for beginners. Learn how to use a dehydrator to make soup, snacks and delicacies to give as gifts or enjoy at home. Home-dried food has less salt and sugar, is far less expensive than the commercial counterparts and fabulous taste. Freezing summers bounty is another fool proof method for putting food by. Once mastered, the basics of blanching, chilling, air tight wrapping and freezing will provide a taste of summer in the depths of winter. These tried and true, simple techniques will be just like having Guido’s right in your house. Wednesday, August 10 brings We’re in a Pickle Now. Lacto-fermentation is one of the only food preservation techniques that actually enhances the flavor and nutrition of a food. Well learn about the chemistry and techniques of fermenting food on a small scale. Make every meal better with some kimchi. Finally, on Wednesday, August 24, we’ll learn What Lies Beneath. Think you can’t eat garden fresh food in the middle of winter? Think again! With a root cellar, you can enjoy carrots, beets, turnips, onions, potatoes, leeks and fruits like apples and pears all winter long. A well-made root cellar acts like a second refrigerator but needs no electricity. Use it to store wine, cider, lard and all those tasty lacto-fermented vegetables. We will explore what it takes to create a root cellar, how to prepare vegetables for their winter home and how to use the produce you store there.

    All classes are led by Kathy Harrison, who has been preserving food for over 30 years. She teaches classes on all manner of food preservation for many organizations and has presented trainings for NOFA and Mother Earth News. She is the author of several books. Her latest is  Just In Case: How to Be Self Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens. Kathy and her husband, Bruce run Barefoot Farm, where they raise bees, organic fruits and vegetables.

    Register on line (www.berkshirebotanical.org) for all four classes (BBG members $75, nonmembers $85), or register for any individual class ($22 for all.)

  • Saturday, June 25, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm – Bark Ecology and ID: Get to Know Your Trees

    Identifying tree species can be challenging when the traits typically used to describe them—leaves, buds, and twigs—are not clearly visible or, in the case of leaves, not even present. Join Michael Wojtech on Saturday, June 25, from 9 – 1 in the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain for an exploration of bark, the tree characteristic that is always visible in every season. A copy of his new book, Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast, is included with the class fee. You will learn how to differentiate six different bark types, how to use the book’s identification keys, and begin to discover why such a variety of bark characteristics has evolved—Why do some species have smooth bark, while on others it is thick and broken? Why does bark peel? After a classroom session we will practice identifying native tree species on the grounds of the Arboretum. Open to naturalists at all levels of experience.  $55 Arnold Arboretum members, $70 for nonmembers.  To register, visit http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=1026&DayPlannerDate=6/25/2011.

     

     

  • Thursday, June 16, 11:00 am – Boston’s Gardens and Green Spaces

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay and The Friends of the Public Garden join local author Meg Muckenhoupt as she travels through the verdant world of her book, Boston’s Gardens & Green Spaces. This exciting lecture examines the role of public spaces throughout Boston’s historic and contemporary landscape. Rediscover Boston’s most revered historic parks and explore the city’s ever-expanding network of public spaces. How has the philosophy behind public spaces shifted over the years? How significant is the native flora and green space to the city’s overall health? This is a fascinating journey through green Boston, past to present—and all nature lovers, gardening enthusiasts, and history buffs should be sure to come along for the ride. Meg Muckenhoupt is a freelance environmental and travel writer. Her articles have appeared in The Boston Globe, the Boston Phoenix, Boston Magazine, the Time Out Boston guide, and many other publications. She holds a certificate in Field Botany from the New England Wild Flower Society. This special June meeting will take place Thursday, June 16 beginning at 11 am at Trident Booksellers, 338 Newbury Street (between Hereford Street and Massachusetts Avenue.)  Garden Club of the Back Bay members will receive written notice of this meeting – rsvp’s required due to limited space.

  • Friday, June 17, 2:00 pm – Tiffany & Co.: Flora and Fauna: 170 Years of Tiffany Excellence

    John Loring will present an illustrated lecture Tiffany & Co.: Flora and Fauna: 170 Years of Tiffany Excellence as part of the 2011 World Flower Show on Friday, June 17, at 2 pm in the Cityview Ballroom of the Seaport World Trade Center (Plaza Level.)  Mr. Loring is Design Director Emeritus of Tiffany & Co. and the author of numerous books on Tiffany, and art in general. He graduated from Yale University and has an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute. He has served on the acquisitions committee of the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.Tickets to the lecture are $10, and may be purchased on line at www.wafausa.org.

  • Thursday, June 16, 3:00 pm – The President’s House and Garden

    An important aspect of the 2011 World Flower Show, to be held June 15 – 19 for the first time in the United States, is the series of terrific lectures available for a modest (in this instance $10) fee.  William Seale will present a program entitled The President’s House and Garden, in the Amphitheater of the Seaport World Trade Center on Thursday, June 16, beginning at 3 pm. William Seale is author of the recently updated two-volume set, The President’s House—which includes an epilogue on the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush years. He also serves as editor of White House History, the journal of the White House Historical Association. Drawing from his vast knowledge of this national landmark, Seale will offer an unforgettable account of the White House from its origins during the nation’s beginning to today, a continuing story of adapting and altering, yet always keeping close to the original image and purpose of the landmark. In addition to showing how the different presidents and their families used and lived in the White House, he will also reveal the roles played by scores of characters—butlers, housemaids, caterers, gardeners, coachmen, architects, interior decorators, and even fortune-tellers—in the keeping and management of the house. Tickets may be ordered on line at www.wafausa.org.

     

  • Monday, May 9, 7:00 pm – Seeds: One Man’s Serendipitous Journey to Find the Trees That Inspired Famous American Writers

    Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, will host author Richard Horan on Monday, May 9, beginning at 7 pm, for a discussion of his latest book Seeds: One Man’s Serendipitous Journey to Find the Trees That Inspired Famous American Writers from Faulkner to Kerouac, Welty to Wharton.  From the wooded road made of golden hemlock running past L. Frank Baum’s childhood home to the lonely stump of Scout’s oak in Harper Lee’s Alabama, Richard Horan gathers tree seeds-and stories-from the homes of America’s most treasured authors. At once a heartfelt paean to literature and a wise, funny, and uplifting account of one man’s reconnection with nature, Seeds celebrates Horan’s triumphs and calamities on his quest to link trees with great writers.  Richard Horan recently spoke with Tom Ashbrook, the voice of “On Point”, about the book and his experiences on the road.  Horan is a novelist, English teacher, and book reviewer for several national publications. His novel Goose Music was a finalist for the Great Lakes Fiction Award and won the ForeWord Book of the Year Bronze Medal. He lives in Oswego, New York.  For more information, email ellen@portersquarebooks.com, or call 617-491-2220.

  • Thursday, May 26, 5:30 pm – Founding Gardeners: How the Revolutionary Generation Created an American Eden

    Andrea Wulf’s new book Founding Gardeners. How the Revolutionary Created an American Eden will be published in  late March 2011 by Knopf.  Ms. Wulf will travel to Boston and speak on Thursday, May 26, in a program co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.  The talk will take place at the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street in Boston, with a reception at 5:30 pm and the lecture at 6:00 pm. The program is free but registration is required :  log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu for more information.

    The Founding Gardeners offers a fascinating look at the revolutionary generation from the unique and intimate perspective of their lives as gardeners, plantsmen and farmers.

    For the founding fathers, gardening, agriculture and botany were elemental passions, as deeply ingrained in their characters as their belief in liberty for the nation they were creating. Andrea Wulf reveals for the first time this aspect of the revolutionary generation. She describes how, even as British ships gathered off Staten Island, George Washington wrote his estate manager about the garden at Mount Vernon; how a tour of English gardens renewed Thomas Jefferson’s and John Adams’s faith in their fledgling nation; how a trip to the great botanist John Bartram’s garden helped the delegates of the Constitutional Congress to break their deadlock; and why James Madison is the forgotten father of American environmentalism. Taken together, these and other stories are a revelation of a guiding, but previously overlooked ideology of the American Revolution.

    The Founding Gardeners adds depth and nuance to our understanding of the American experiment, and provides us with a portrait of the founding fathers as they’ve never been seen before.

  • Wednesday, April 27, 5:30 pm – Ancient Grains for Modern Meals

    Food writer Maria Speck’s passion for propelling Old World staples such as farro, barley, polenta, and wheat berries to the forefront of new American cooking is beautifully presented in Ancient Grains for Modern Meals. In her inspired and highly personal book, Maria Speck draws on food traditions from across the Mediterranean and northern Europe to reveal how versatile, satisfying, flavorful, and sophisticated whole grains can be. Her lecture, to be held Wednesday, April 27 beginning at 5:30 pm in Emerson 210 at Harvard University, is free and open to the public. For directions, log on to www.harvard.edu.

  • Friday, May 6, 5:30 pm – Invertebrates on Plants: Identifying Galls, Mines, Leaf-ties, and Other Signs in a New Field Guide

    Charley Eiseman and Noah Charney, authors of Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates, will conduct a special session for the New England Botanical Club on Friday, May 6, beginning at 5:30 pm at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, Massachusetts, on the topic Invertebrates on Plants: Identifying Galls, Mines, Leaf-ties, and Other Signs in a New Field Guide. For more information, log on to www.rhodora.org.