Page 4C
EAT, DRINK & EXPLORE
East Oregonian
Saturday, April 14, 2018
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
In this April 19 file photo, members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) march past Independence Hall during opening ceremonies for the Museum of the
American Revolution in Philadelphia. A year after its opening, officials say the museum will have sold more than 350,000 tickets, meeting expectations, and it is in a
healthy financial position.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION MUSEUM
WINNING BATTLE FOR TOURISTS
“Most people would agree, regardless of their political
affiliation, that this is one of those moments of deep reflection
of who we are as a people.”
By KRISTEN DE GROOT
Associated Press
P
HILADELPHIA
— The Museum
of the American
Revolution is a year
old this month and officials
say it has landed a decisive
victory in capturing tourists’
attention in a city with lots of
revolutionary competition.
In honor of its first
birthday on April 19, also the
anniversary of the shots fired
at the battles of Lexington
and Concord in 1775 that
ignited the war, the museum
is making some additions
while holding the line on the
its most popular exhibits.
“The American Revolu-
tion has always been on the
razor’s edge of the culture
wars. We had no idea how
people were going to receive
Scott Stephenson,
the museum’s vice president of collections, exhibitions and programming
this story of the revolution as
we have written it,” said Scott
Stephenson, the museum’s
vice president of collections,
exhibitions and programming.
“But the public response has
been tremendous, across the
political spectrum.”
The campaign to build
and open the museum closed
at $173 million, when the
goal was $150 million. They
opened with no construction
debt and have a hearty
endowment in place, he said.
It’s been an extraordinary
year to open a museum about
the American Revolution,
Stephenson said, with every-
thing from the uproar over
the removal of Confederate
statues to the Second Amend-
ment debates in the wake of
school shootings.
The museum’s exhibit
starts with the moment in
New York City where citizens
pulled down the statue of
King George III after hearing
the Declaration of Indepen-
dence read aloud. Stephenson
said he’s overheard a number
of debates from visitors about
the toppling of statues around
the country.
“Most people would
agree, regardless of their
political affiliation, that this
is one of those moments of
deep reflection of who we are
as a people,” he said. “The
American Revolution has
incredible relevance.”
Upcoming new additions
include a trip through Alex-
ander Hamilton’s Philadel-
phia and the opening of the
“Revolution Place Discovery
Center” featuring recreated
historical environments to
immerse families.
On a recent morning, the
museum was jam-packed
with school groups, senior
citizen bus tours and visitors
from all over.
Bill
and
Amanda
Hrehowsik were visiting the
museum from Middletown,
New Jersey, with their two
sons. They were in Philadel-
phia for the kids’ spring break
and had already visited the
Franklin Institute, gone to a
Flyers hockey game and seen
the Liberty Bell.
The short films and
Washington’s tent were their
favorites.
“I like that it has a modern
twist with all the interactive
exhibits, so the kids are
engaged,” said Amanda
Hrehowsik.
The museum was on the
list of must-sees because
it was new, and because
10-year-old Matthew was
studying the Revolution in
class.
“It’s really interesting,
because there was some stuff
I learned here that I didn’t
learn in school,” he said.
Maud Lyon, president
of the Greater Philadelphia
Cultural Alliance, said it’s a
challenge for all Philadelphia
museums to get tourists to
move “beyond the bell” —
meaning the Liberty Bell.
“This is a major anchor
that was much needed in
Philly to tell the historic story
we are known for,” she said
of the museum.
From her perspective,
the American Revolution
museum has done all the
right things. Their inclusion
of the previously untold roles
played by Native Americans,
African-Americans
and
women, and their interactive
displays really create modern
feel.
“These days, it’s not easy
to tell history. We have very
diverse perspectives,” she
said.
Gardening: quick and easy strawberries
By LEE REICH
Associated Press
Given how quickly straw-
berries begin to bear fruit and
how easily they are grown, it’s
a wonder that strawberry beds
aren’t as common in backyards as
lawns are in front yards.
The most compelling reason
to grow strawberries is, of course,
flavor.
Variety selection and prema-
ture harvest make grocers’ berries
large and firm, but usually not
much else. In your backyard,
though, you can grow the most
flavorful varieties, and wait to
pick them until they’re sweet and
oozing strawberry-ness. At that
point, perishability doesn’t matter
because the berries need not
travel further than arm’s length to
your mouth or a basket.
Varieties
Depending on how soon you
want to start eating strawberries,
choose between “everbearers”
and “junebearers.”
Everbearers offer the quickest
crops, less than three months after
planting, and bear all season long.
Tristar is among the best of these
types. Some of the older types
bear in spring and fall only.
Junebearers come in greater
variety and yield more, but wait
to bear their first crop until the
year after planting. Once started,
they bear once per season, in
spring or early summer. Planting
two or more different junebearing
varieties can extend the harvest.
Growing guide
Spring is a good time to plant
strawberries, although they can
also be planted in late summer or
fall — if you can get plants then.
Your new plants may look
forlorn, but don’t worry. They
AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach
FILE - This 2009 file photo
shows strawberries as they
are picked from the patch at
Popp’s pick-your-own farm in
Dresden, Maine.
Trimming the roots and then
setting a strawberry plant in
the ground with just the up-
per part of its crown, the knob
where leaves are attached,
gets the plant off to a good
start.
soon grow new roots and leaves.
In fact, you can shear their roots
back to 3 or 4 inches long with a
scissors so you can more easily
fan them out in the planting hole.
Adjust the planting depth care-
fully, leaving only the top half-
inch of the crown exposed so that
it neither dries out from exposure
nor suffocates from burial.
Ever wonder how such a
luscious fruit came to be called
“strawberry?" The name might
reflect the plants’ habit of
strewing about with runners,
which are horizontal stems
punctuated along their length by
daughter plants. The daughter
plants eventually root and make
their own runners.
The name “strawberry” might
also come from a centuries-old
favorite mulch for strawberries:
straw. No matter how the straw-
berry got its name, the plants
love to be mulched. Mulch keeps
the soil moist, suppresses weeds
and keeps the fruit cleaner.
Give strawberries a year-round,
organic mulch.
Adopt a system
Spacing for strawberry plants
depends on your method of
growing them.
With the “hill system,” you
plant them close together — 9
inches apart in a double row,
with 9 inches between rows —
and avoid future crowding by
pinching off all runners. More
plants are needed to get started,
but initial yields are highest. This
system is especially suited to
those junebearing varieties that
naturally develop fewer runners,
and to everbearers.
With the “matted row system,”
you set plants at wide spacing —
24 inches apart in single rows,
with 4 feet between rows — and
allow plants to make runners like
crazy. Fewer plants are needed
to get started, but the first crop is
smaller than with the hill system.
Never allow the mat of mother
and daughter plants to spread
wider than 18 inches, and period-
ically thin out crowded plants.
No matter which system you
adopt, pinch off all flowers that
appear during the month after
planting in order to coax plants
to put their energy into growing
strong roots. One advantage of
everbearers is that they continue
to flower after that month of
pinching, which means you get to
pick fruits later this season from
this spring’s planting!
Sara Moulton via AP
STRAWBERRIES BAKED ALASKA
Start to finish: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
• ½ cup vanilla ice cream
• 10 medium to large
strawberries
• 1 large egg white at room
temperature
• Pinch of cream of tartar
3 tablespoons plus ½ teaspoon
sugar, divided
• 1½ teaspoons Grand Marnier
or balsamic vinegar
• ¼ cup crushed gingersnaps or
cookies of your choice
• Mint sprigs for garnish
Using a melon baller, scoop out
12 balls from the container of ice
cream, put them on a plate, cover
them with plastic wrap and freeze
them while you prepare the rest of
the recipe.
Cut off the leaves from the top
of each strawberry. Cut 4 of the
strawberries into 1/4-inch pieces
and in a bowl toss them with ½
teaspoon sugar and the Grand
Marnier. Halve the remaining
strawberries lengthwise and, using
a melon baller, scoop out a hollow
on the cut side of each strawberry
half (this is where you will put the
ice cream ball). Cut a tiny sliver off
the other side of each strawberry
half so the half will lay flat when
the cut side is up.
In a small bowl beat the egg
white on medium speed with
electric beaters. When it is foamy
add the cream of tartar. Continue
beating the egg white until it
holds soft peaks. Slowly add the
remaining 3 tablespoons sugar in
a stream, beating the whole time.
Increase the speed to high and
continue beating until the meringue
holds stiff peaks.
Preheat the broiler. Position an
oven rack about 6 inches from the
flame. Arrange the strawberries
on a rimmed sheet pan with 2 or
3 inches between them. Fill the
hollow of each strawberry half
with a ball of ice cream. Working
quickly, spoon the meringue over
the ice cream and top of the cut
strawberry and spread it out with
a small offset spatula or butter
knife, making little peaks with the
meringue if desired.
Place the sheet pan on the
rack set 6 inches from the broiler
and broil the strawberries for 45
seconds to 1 minute or until the
meringue is lightly browned.
Transfer 3 strawberries to each of
4 plates. Spoon a mound of the
marinated strawberries next to
them, sprinkle the cookie crumbs
over the plate and garnish with a
sprig of mint. Serve right away.