“There’s always going to be someone who is the naughty judge, someone who’s going to be the governor who double-crosses the people, and there has to be a me. If there isn’t a me, we’re in big trouble.”
———Abbie Hoffman
Chicago Seven defendant and counterculture dissident, Abbie Hoffman, once defined himself as “an orphan of America” and “a child of the Woodstock Nation”. The media recalls him as rising to national prominence by trying to levitate the Pentagon, for his protest throwing money at the New York Stock Exchange, or for wearing patriotism in an American flag shirt on national television. Hoffman once said, “Myths are the only news, and the only thing that stays true all the time is a lie.” And so it is with him. The Abbie Hoffman the world remembers is a fiction borne of media spin and personal mythology.
Goth is never forever.
Any of us who dabbled in the darker aesthetics during our formative years have surely learned that vital lesson. Graveyard dreams and existential thoughts may have given us Halloween every night, but who among us hasn’t cringed while reminiscing on the costumes we draped ourselves in?
Lamotta’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria is a restaurant that’s been serving SWFL and the Fort Myers area for over 30 years. Take a journey with Pressure Drop host, Eric Taubert, to this authentic Italian eatery.
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Pressure Drop episode 14 finds Eric Taubert reviewing il Pomodoro Cucina Italiana, an Italian restaurant in Fort Myers, Florida.
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Pressure Drop 13 - a review of Vesuvio Italian Grille - St. James City, Pine Island, Florida
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This is a Pressure Drop video (episode 12) showing the Siam Hut Thai Restaurant in Cape Coral.
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Learn the secrets to making successful peanut brittle in the microwave with this fabulous recipe — hosted by Eric Taubert!
In this episode of Pressure Drop, Eric Taubert goes on location at the 2nd annual Native American Indian Festival at Sun Splash Water Park to see some of the unique, hand made, one of kind Native American arts and crafts, paintings, pottery, jewelry, sculpture, beadwork, leather work , food and much more.
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In this episode of Pressure Drop, Eric Taubert reveals his Saturday morning ritual of visiting the Cape Coral Farmer’s Market - going on location in the process. He mentions steel drum artist, Dave Lapio, and trop-rock phenomenon, John Friday. Taubert also invites everyone to Cape Coral’s newest winter festival - Santa Land - located at the Sun Splash Water Park on December 18-23 from 5 pm to 11 pm daily.
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“Chestnuts roasting over an open fire…”
Everyone knows the song that firmly planted the visions of roasted chestnuts into our collective Christmas imagery repertoire. But how many of you have actually eaten a roasted chestnut? And while we’re at it, what exactly do you know about this cherished chestnut you’ve been singing about for most of your life? If you’re like most Americans — probably not much — but all that’s about to change.
7 Things You Never Knew About Chestnuts
- The perennial holiday hit, “The Christmas Song” which begins with the line “Chestnuts roasting over an open fire…” was actually written in less than 45 minutes on a scorching hot day in mid-July by Mel Torme and his song-writing partner Bob Wells.
- Chestnuts were one of the primary foods of the Native Americans who taught the pilgrims how to cook them in stews or grind them into flour for bread.
- In Italy, Chestnuts were once known as a poor man’s food because they were an easily grown food staple which was often used to feed the less fortunate. Chestnuts are given to the poor as a symbol of sustenance on the Feast of Saint Martin and are also traditionally eaten on Saint Simon’s Day in Tuscany.
- Early Christians recognized chestnuts as a symbol of chastity. Legend has it that chastity belts were inspired by the difficult to open chestnut.
- Chestnuts contain twice as much starch as potatoes. They have been used for centuries as a good source of carbohydrate and vitamin C.
- Chestnuts date back to prehistoric times and were probably one of the first foods eaten by man
- The American Chestnut was once the dominant tree of the Appalachian Mountain range. In 1904, diseased Asian Chestnut trees were imported and planted on Long Island in New York. They carried a fungus to which the American Chestnut Trees had no resistance. As a result the “chestnut blight” occurred which nearly devastated the American Chestnut population. Now only a few groves of American Chestnut remain in isolated locations.
How to Roast Chestnuts
If you’d like to try your hand roasting chestnuts at home in your conventional oven this season, we are pleased to offer the following fool-proof recipe:
In America, fresh chestnuts are available in the produce section of most supermarkets between October and Christmas. There are almost always a few spoiled nuts in the batch. Throw out any with cracks or holes. Use the ones which feel heavy for their size and show no mold on their shells. Remember, like popcorn, a chestnut is a closed shell with moisture trapped inside, when heated it can, and will, explode unless you score the shell first to allow the steam pressure to escape.
- On a towel-covered cutting board, use a small vegetable or paring knife to carefully score the top of the chestnuts. One X-shaped score on the top of each chestnut is all you need. Be careful, they can slip out of your hand easily and you don’t want a trip to the doctor for stitches to ruin the holiday memory you are trying to create.
- Place scored chestnuts in a saucepan full of cold water. If you’d like, you can add some salt to the water to counteract some of the sweetness of the chestnuts. Bring them to a rolling boil, and then remove the pan from the heat. Allow scored chestnuts to rest in the hot water for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Drain, but do not dry, the chestnuts and arrange them in a single layer on a general purpose baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.
- Place the baking sheet with the chestnuts into the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven, allow 5-8 minutes to cool, remove shells, and enjoy!
“All the goods nature and art lavish on the table of the rich do not offer him anything which leaves him as content as our villagers, when they find their helping of chestnuts after attending their rustic occupations. As soon as they set eyes on them, joy breaks out in their cottages. Only mindful of the pleasure they then taste, they are forgetful of the fatigues they endured: they are no more envious of those of the towns, of their abundance and sumptuousness” — Calendriers du Limousin 1763
— writing and photography by Eric Taubert
