Inn Street, 1974 (press image to enlarge)
Inn Street, downtown Newburyport, 1974 (press image to enlarge)
Courtesy of the Archives at the Newburyport Public Library.
(If you download the image would you please give The Archival Center at The Newburyport Public Library and The Newburyport Blog credit. Thank you.)
Two views of Newburyport’s Downtown, Pleasant Street from two different time periods.
Unitarian Church, Pleasant Street, 1929, courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Print Department (press image to enlarge)
Church of the First Religious Society in Newburyport (Unitarian), Newburyport, MA
Boston Public Library, Print Department, 1929
Leon H. Abdalian, photographer
Glass Negative
Newburyport's Pleasant Street (press image to enlarge)
Newburyport’s Pleasant Street from upper Inn Street, March 1, 1974
Courtesy of the Archives at the Newburyport Public Library.
And this Sunday, October 28, 2012, author and architect Jonathan Hale talks about his 40-year love affair with Newburyport, “Newburyport is a Work of Art: Why its Architecture is Rare and Irreplaceable.” The program is sponsored by the Newburyport Preservation Trust, and it is at 4 p.m. at the Custom House Maritime Museum, Water Street, Newburyport.
(If you download an image would you please give The Boston Public Library or The Archival Center at The Newburyport Public Library and The Newburyport Blog credit. Thank you.)
I am now going to piss off Newburyport preservationists! Ooops!
The final report of the Newburyport LHD Study Committee (LHD = Local Historic District) is absurdly fair. The five members did backflips to accommodate feedback from the community and from the Newburyport City Councilors. Backflips, cartwheels, you name it, right from the get go. And despite all of that, on an up and down vote it’s not going to fly. That’s just the existing political reality.
The leading member of the “Say No to LHD” group, its heart and soul, who got up in the first informational meeting a year a go, disrupting the entire meeting and storming out, vowing to stop the LHD, has done a remarkable job. It’s definitely a “Wow.” It appears that the end most certainly justified the means. Trashing people’s reputations and character, personal attacks, threats of law suits (most recently in a comment in the Daily News), presenting information early last winter (good tactic starting early) that was and is simply not true, has worked. Congratulations.
The final version of the LHD ordinance has finally gone to the Newburyport City Council, a meeting will take place this Thursday, October 25, 2012, Newburyport City Hall at 7PM.
As I see it, the political realities. (The boundaries of the proposed LHD are High Street, the gateway to the city, and downtown Newburyport from Winter Street to Federal Street.) Lob off the North End of High Street at the Kelly School, and put those folks out of their misery.
There is unanimous support along the South End of the “Ridge” to Willis Lane (which is roughly across the street from Fruit Street). Shorten High Street from Willis Lane to the Kelly School, maybe include St Paul’s Church on the other side (but, good grief, don’t cross the street!).
And protect downtown Newburyport. After all that HUD Federal money, please, does anyone dispute that the restoration of downtown Newburyport is the reason that Newburyport has become the thriving place that it is today? Really, not to protect downtown, good grief.
When Governor Deval Patrick came for a visit at Cafe Di Siena (February 2010), I asked Newburyport City Councilor Tom O’Brien if he would vote for the Newburyport LHD, and his response (this was before all of the hullabaloo), “Of course Mary, there’s been too many tear downs.” This statement was witnessed by Newburyport City Councilor Barry Connell, who with a wink and a smile by both Newburyport city councilors, pretended to write down this vote for the LHD by Councilor Tom O’Brien on the back of his hand.
So why not have have a “No Demolition” zone/overlay for the entire Newburyport Historic District, that would also include “interior demolition for exploratory purposes,” which, for example, lead to the unfortunate creation by a developer on Pine Street, for which the neighbors are suing the developer and the Newburyport Zoning Board of Appeals.
Can the Newburyport City Council come up with the equivalent of the “Wisdom of Solomon?” Can they do it in one night?? And what will they say, now that they get the chance have to have a say. It will be really fascinating to watch.
Bob’s Red Mill Tapioca Flour (press image to enlarge)
I’ve been trying to figure out this recipe for a year and a half and have finally come up with a recipe that works (this is not the traditional Brazilian Cheese Bread recipe, that boils the milk and oil first).
One of the crucial things that I found out, is that there are 2 kinds of tapioca flour, fermented tapioca flour that rises (not sold at this point in the United States) and regular tapioca flour that does not rise (the tapioca flour that is sold in the United States). So having figured that one out, the trick is to use gluten free baking powder to get this delicious cheese bread-balls-tiny loafs to rise.
Traditionally Brazilian Cheese Bread/Balls are round, for some reason I like mine looking like little loafs, so that’s what I’ve pictured here.
Brazilian Cheese Bread-tiny loaf (press image to enlarge)
Brazilian Cheese Balls/Bread are traditionally chewy on the inside, this version is much more like regular bread – a eureka moment.
And this version is lactose free. The cheese, mozzarella and parmesan are lactose free and I use lactose free milk. You can use regular milk.
Tapioca flour has the consistency of cornstarch, and after a certain point, it’s impossible to mix by hand. So what I’ve done is added enough tapioca flour to be able to mix, and then knead the dough with extra tapioca flour.
Recipe below:
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1 Cup milk (I use 1%)
1 1/2 t salt
2 t gluten-free baking powder
2/3 cup canola oil
3 cups tapioca flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
Extra tapioca flour for kneading the dough
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Dough ready for the oven (press image to enlarge)
Mix cheese, salt, baking powder, then add eggs using a fork until the eggs are mixed into the chess, salt and baking powder mixture. Stir in milk and then add the oil, and you can still use a fork. Add tapioca flour, mix with a spatula.
Put in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes, to let the dough bubble (it bubbles!!) and to set. The longer it sits, the firmer it will be. There will be a little oil on the top, don’t worry, it will be kneaded into the dough.
In a large bowl (you could do it on the counter, but the flour is so fine it gets everywhere, hence the recommendation for a bowl) put about 1/4 of a cup or so of tapioca flour (see photo).
Brazilian Cheese Bread baked (press image to enlarge)
Take a third of the mixture, with part of any of the oil that is on top, and put the dough in the bowl with a spatula and coat it with the tapioca flour (see photo).
Take square of parchment paper and put the dough on the parchment paper and knead it. (Again, you could knead the dough on your kitchen counter, but this just makes it a whole lot easier to clean up.) Add more flour if needed (no pun intended), and knead it into the dough, until it is firm (see photo). It will be greasy, don’t worry, it’s one of the things that makes it taste good.
The inside of the Brazilian Cheese Bread (press image to enlarge)
Take enough flour to make about an inch and a half ball of dough. Roll the dough in your hands and then roll into a tube shape about 2 inches (see photo). A third of the dough makes about 15 little “loaves.”
Cover a cookie sheet (roughly 15″ x 10″) with parchment paper. Put the little loaves on the parchment paper (see photo) and put the cookie sheet into the 350 degree oven. Then take a look in about 15 minutes (it should take a total of 20 to 25 minutes, oven temperatures vary).
At 15 minutes the little loaves should be rising. Watch carefully for the next 10 minutes. Often the loaves at the end of the cookie sheet will brown before the inside loaves. Take out the loaves as they become golden and place on a piece of parchment paper to cool. You want the loaves golden (see photo) but not too brown.
Tiny loaves in container ready to freeze (press image to enlarge)
Let loaves completely cool and then place in a container (see photo). Place open container in refrigerator to cool some more. When the loaves are cold, put the lid on the container and freeze.
To eat (if you haven’t eaten them all right then and there) you can defrost them in a microwave.
The loaves have bubbles, holes, just like real bread, and people that I have served them to just can’t stop eating them!! So they are great for folks who aren’t gluten free at all.
Makes 45 – 50 small “loaves.”
Another breakthrough gluten free eureka moment for moi, and hopefully for you too.
(To see why in the world The Newburyport Blog has a recipe for Gluten Free Brazilian Cheese Bread-Balls-Tiny Loaves, please press here.)
Tapioca flour in bowl (press image to enlarge)
Dough in flour in bowl (press image to enlarge)
Flour kneaded (press image to enlarge)
Newburyport preservation quotes:
“We shape our buildings; thereafter, our buildings shape us.” – Winston Churchill
Newburyport's Market Square and the trolley. Press image to enlarge
Folks who read The Newburyport Blog love old postcards. Here’s one of Newburyport’s Market Square, with the trolley, the old firehouse that is now the Firehouse Center for the Arts, is in the background (press image to enlarge).