Coming Up this Spring

The One Book One Community Steering Committee has chosen Bill Bryson's book A Walk in the Woods for our spring 2014 read. This hilarious memoir details Bryson's ill-fated attempt to walk the entire Appalachian Trail with his unprepared and out-of-shape friend "Katz".

Knitting Nancy

One Book One Community Steering Committee member Nancy Benton spearheaded a knitting program to provide warm scarves and skull caps to soldiers in conjunction with our reading of We Band of Angels. The Enterprise published this article about Nancy and her project.

Swing Dance

The Bridgewater Independent took some terrific pictures of our Swing Dance on November 3, 2013.

An Inspiring Event

Our kick-off event for We Band of Angels featured visits from Helen Cassiani's son, Mark Nestor; her niece, Laura Cassiani; and Daniel Miles, a former patient. Nestor presented the Bridgewater Public Library with two scrapbooks of his mother's memorabilia. Following the presentation committee members, family, friends, and neighbors drove to the St. Thomas cemetery where Laura Cassiani laid a wreath on her aunt's grave. The Bridgewater Independent covered the event.

Bridgewater Public Library Trustee Pamela Hayes-Bohanan accepts the scrapbook on behalf of the town.

World War II recipes

Desserts prepared by One Book One Community committee members based on World War II era recipes were served at our fall 2013 kick off event "Banding Together".

New Rumford Sugarless Recipes

When you view your half-empty sugar bowl with alarm . . . when your sugar ration runs short . . . when you pine for a good Rumford cake, shortages or no–that’s the time to dip into this little treasury of Rumford Sugarless Recipes. There’s not a spoonful of sugar in any of them–but they taste mighty good just the same!Baking without sugar is no secret of the wizards; it’s a little different, that’s all. Better follow these

Cautions to Cooks Using Sugarless Recipes

FOLLOW the recipes given here exactly. The experts have worked out just what happens when you switch to syrups, etc. and you will have best results if you follow directions to the letter.

Generally speaking, you can replace one-fourth the sugar in any recipe with corn syrup (although our recipes here use no sugar). Expect a darker color in your cakes and frosting if you use a dark syrup rather than a light one; the dark syrups impart a more golden color.Another thing to expect is slightly different texture from what you’re used to. Remember the cakes your mother made when you were small . . . how they were a little firmer in texture . . . the kind that “stick to your ribs”, as she used to say proudly? Well, there’ll be a little of this in sugarless cake recipes. Don’t be surprised. A lot of people prefer it!

Be sure to use Rumford All-Phosphate Baking Powder in your sugarless baking. This is not “just advertising”–the fact is that sugar tends to mask flavors. In sugarless recipes the flavor of the other ingredients is more apparent, “comes through” in the finished product. That is why it is important to use Rumford Baking Powder–because this important ingredient is one you should not taste. Rumford contains no alum, leaves no bitter taste–it is a pure calcium phosphate type. Thousands of actual tests prove beyond a doubt that Rumford leaves behind no after-taste to fight with other flavors, does in fact have no taste at all in the finished product! This is of extra importance in sugarless baking.

Remember, too, that food is too valuable these days to waste! Insure yourself against baking failures–guarantee yourself a cake that’s “raised right”–by using Rumford Baking Powder.

A “good volume” in your baked goods is a little harder to achieve with recipes using no sugar. Therefore, it is important to know that you can use a little more Rumford Baking Powder for greater volume without spoiling flavor because Rumford contains no alum.And nutrition-wise Rumford contains valuable amounts of calcium and phosphorus–important minerals you need in your daily diet–which remain even after baking.

Rumford Special Cake
(Three eggs–Corn Syrup)

A cake for a party–particularly good in seasons when eggs are plentiful, though not too demanding at any time. Frost it with the sugarless frosting–flavored with orange!

3 cups sifted cake flour

4 teaspoons Rumford Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups corn syrup

3 egg yolks

2 teaspoons grated orange rind

1 cup milk

3 egg whites 
SIFT together flour, Rumford Baking Powder and salt. Cream shortening, add 1 cup of the corn syrup gradually, and cream until fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, and beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk, stirring well after each addition. Add grated orange rind. Then, beat egg whites until stiff, and add to them the remaining 1/2 cup corn syrup gradually, beating until mixture stands in stiff peaks. Fold into batter until well-blended. Bake in 2 greased 9-inch layer cake pans in a moderate oven (375° F.) for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool and frost as desired. (See recipe for sugarless frosting in this folder.)

VARIATIONS
Yellow Cake: Use 6 egg yolks and no whites. Beat second 3 egg yolks with a rotary egg beater until thick and lemon colored and add the remaining 1/2 cup corn syrup gradually, beating constantly.

White Cake: Use 5 egg whites and no egg yolks. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then gradually beat in the 1/2 cup corn syrup.

Chocolate Chip Cake: Add 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate, broken into small pieces, to the cake batter just before folding in the beaten egg whites.

Rumford Honey CakeAny nutrition expert will tell you about honey’s qualifications as a pure natural sweetening–and you’ll find out that it helps a cake stay fresh longer!

2 cups sifted cake flour

3 teaspoons Rumford Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

2 egg yolks

1 cup honey

1/2 cup milk

2 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanillaSIFT together flour, Rumford Baking Powder and salt. Cream shortening until light. Beat egg yolks until lemon colored, gradually adding 1/2 cup of the honey while beating. Add the egg-honey mixture slowly to the creamed shortening, creaming while adding. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk, mixing well after each addition. Beat egg whites until stiff; gradually beat in remaining 1/2 cup of honey until mixture stands in stiff peaks. Fold into cake batter until well-blended. Bake in 2 greased 9-inch layer cake pans in a moderate oven (375° F.) for 30 minutes. Cool and frost as desired.

VARIATIONS
Chocolate Cake: Add 3 squares unsweetened melted chocolate. Melt the chocolate over hot water and add just before folding egg whites into batter.
Honey Spice Cake: To sifted dry ingredients add 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon cloves and 1/4 teaspoon ginger.
Honey Mocha Cake: Add 1/2 cup strong, black coffee to liquid ingredients and omit all the milk called for.

Rumford One-Egg CakeVery easy on war-time budgets. Though the fine full flavor doesn’t hint of any economy!

2 cups sifted cake flour

3 teaspoons Rumford Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter or other shortening

1 cup corn syrup

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon grated orange rind

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
SIFT together flour, Rumford Baking Powder and salt. Cream butter or shortening until fluffy; add 1/2 cup of the corn syrup slowly, creaming thoroughly after each addition. Beat egg until lemon colored. Add remaining 1/2 cup corn syrup gradually, beating while adding. Stir in grated orange rind and vanilla. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk to creamed mixture, mixing thoroughly after each addition and beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Bake in two well-greased 8-inch layer cake pans in a moderate oven (375° F.) for 25 minutes. Cool and frost as desired.

VARIATIONS
Nut Cake: Add 1/2 cup chopped nut meats to cake batter.
Banana Cake: Reduce milk to 1/4 cup and add 1/3 cup mashed bananas with the liquid ingredients.
Upside-Down Cake: Mix together 2 tablespoons melted butter and 1/4 cup corn syrup. Spread over bottom of an 8-inch square pan. Arrange cooked apricot halves, sliced peaches, chopped nuts or other cooked fruit over butter and corn syrup mixture in pan. Pour in Rumford one-egg cake batter, and bake in a moderate oven (350° F.)for 50 minutes. Turn out on platter and serve hot or cold with cream.

Rumford Cup CakesUSE any one of the three Rumford cake recipes, or their variations, for making Rumford Cup Cakes. Bake in well-greased muffin tins in a moderate oven (375° F.) for 20 to 25 minutes. The recipe for Rumford Special Cake makes 24 medium or 16 large cup cakes; recipe for Rumford Honey Cake makes 20 medium or 14 large cup cakes; and recipe for Rumford One-Egg Cake makes 18 medium or 12 large cup cakes.

Sugarless FrostingThis is one of the variations possible by adding different flavorings and colorings, chocolate shot, coconut, or whatever!1 1/4 cups corn syrup
3 egg whites
2 teaspoons flavoring (vanilla or other flavoring)
1 teaspoon Rumford Baking Powder

BOIL corn syrup in a saucepan over direct heat until it spins a thread when dropped from a spoon. Beat egg whites foamy, add Rumford Baking Powder and beat until stiff. Add corn syrup slowly, beating vigorously while adding. Add flavoring and continue beating until frosting is stiff and stands in peaks. This makes frosting for two 9-inch layers; one medium loaf cake; or 16 large cup cakes.

Rumford Drop CookiesWar-time way to keep the cookie jar full–with easily digested honey as the sweet-tooth ingredient!

2 1/2 cups sifted flour

3 teaspoons Rumford Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup shortening

1 1/4 cups honey

1 egg, well beaten

1 1/2 teaspoons vanillaSIFT together flour, Rumford Baking Powder and salt. Cream shortening, add honey slowly and cream until fluffy. Stir in well-beaten egg and vanilla. Add sifted dry ingredients, a little at a time, blending well after each addition. Drop by teaspoonfuls on lightly greased cookie sheet and bake in a moderately hot oven (425° F.) for 12 to 15 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

VARIATIONS
Chocolate Drop Cookies: Add 1/2 cup grated semi-sweet chocolate to creamed shortening mixture before adding sifted dry ingredients.
Nut Drop Cookies: Add 1/2 cup chopped nut meats to creamed shortening mixture before adding sifted dry ingredients.
Orange Drop Cookies: Add 2 teaspoons grated orange rind and 1/4 teaspoon orange flavoring to cookie batter in place of vanilla.
Fruit Drop Cookies: Add 1/2 cup raisins, chopped figs or prunes to creamed shortening mixture before adding sifted dry ingredients.

Rumford Apple Corn MuffinsVictory variation of your pet muffin recipe!3/4 cup sifted flour

1/3 cup cornmeal

3 teaspoons Rumford Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sliced raw apple

1 egg, well beaten

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup honey

3 tablespoons melted shorteningSIFT together flour, cornmeal, Rumford Baking Powder and salt. Wash, pare and cut apple into eighths. Remove core and cut crosswise in very thin slices. Combine egg, milk and honey. Add to dry ingredients, stirring only enough to dampen well. Stir in melted shortening. Fold in apple. Fill well-greased muffin tins 2/3 full and bake in a moderately hot oven (400° F.) for 25 minutes. Makes 12 medium sized muffins.

Quick Loaf Bread3/4 cup sifted flour

3 1/2 teaspoons Rumford Baking Powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup corn syrup

2/3 cup milk

3/4 cup chopped nut meats (optional)SIFT together flour, Rumford Baking Powder and salt. Mix with whole wheat flour. Blend corn syrup and milk, add to dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in nut meats, if used. Bake in a well-greased loaf pan (8 x 4 inches) in a moderate oven (350° F.) for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool before cutting.

Carrot Cookies


1 tablespoon margarine
2 tablespoons sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence
4 tablespoons grated raw carrot
6 tablespoons self- raising flour (or plain flour with 1/2 teaspoon baking powder added),
1 tablespoon of water
Method - Cream the fat and the sugar together with the vanilla essence. Beat in the grated carrot. Fold in the flour. If mixture very dry then add a little water. Drop spoonfuls onto greased tray and press down just a little.  Sprinkle tops with sugar and cook in an oven at 200 centigrade for about 20 minutes.




One of our most successful One Book One Community selections was Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919. 

Stephen Puleo visits Bridgewater

The highlight of the Dark Tide read was a visit to Bridgewater State University by author Stephen Puleo.

Around the Common

The Bridgewater blog "Around the Common" featured a post about Dark Tide to help promote our Molasses Cookie Contest.

Bridgewater and Raynham Share Community Wide Read

In the spring of 2011 the neighboring town of Raynham joined Bridgewater in reading Dark Tide. 

Molasses Cookie Contest

Four Town Councilors were the judges for the 18 entries in the Molasses Cookie Contest to kick off Bridgewater's One Book One Community Read of Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919, by Stephen Puleo. The Bridgewater Independent covered the event.

The winning recipes are shared here

One Book One Community Author visits BSU

Our Fall 2011 selection was John Shors' Dragon House. His visit was covered by the Bridgewater Independent

Library Corner

Reference Librarian, Mary O'Connell, of the Bridgewater Public Library  explained why she enjoys local food, and shopping at farmers' markets when we read The Town that Food Saved by Ben Hewitt in this piece published in the Bridgewater Independent.

Local Author kicks off One Book One Community events

In the spring of 2012 One Book One Community selected The Town that Food Saved by Ben Hewitt. Local Author Kristi Marsh kicked off our events with a discussion of her book Little Changes and going organic on a budget.

Helen Cassiani profiled in The Bridgewater Independent

Helen "Cassie" Cassiani, a Bridgewater native was one of the nurses held captive by the Japanese during World War II. She is a featured in the One Book One Community selection of We Band of Angels, as well as this article in the Bridgewater Independent.

Helen Cassiani at Camp Edwards, Hyannis, MA 1941.

Photo Gallery

Gloria Moran, OBOC Committee member, greets Anh Nguyen, who spoke about life in Vietnam at our "Pho for Lunch" program.  (Dragon House by John Shors was our chosen title)

John Shors, author of Dragon House, and Mary O'Connell, Reference Librarian at the Bridgewater Public Library.

Joohn Shors visited the Bridgewater Public Library to say hello to the staff.

Lorraine Carrozza, Mary O'Connell, Gloria Moran, Kristi Marsh, Evelyn DeLutis.
Kristi presented a program on "Goin' Organic with a Budget Friendly Attitude", as part of our program
celebrating "The town that Food Saved" by author Ben Hewitt (spring of 2012)



Mary O'Connell, Nancy Sarno, author Ben Hewitt, Gloria Moran, Sue McCombe



When we were reading The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan, we were treated to a demonstration
of traditional middle-eastern dancing.  (fall 2012)

Amir (dancer), Gloria Moran, Mary O'Connell, Liz Moura, Sue McCombe, Evelyn DeLutis.

Sue McCombe of BSU introduced Pat Donovan, who spoke about how to make Nantucket baskets.

Pat Donovan brought along a selection of his Nantucket baskets to share with the audience. 
Program:  Sailors' Arts and hearts, part of our "In the Heart of the Sea" semester (spring 2013)

"All About Whales" was presented by Krill Carson, from Bridgewater State University. (April 2013)

The One Book One Community committee has had a lot of fun over the years, read some great books, and met some interesting authors.

Helen Cassiani on her wedding day, at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Bridgewater.

Stop at the Bridgewater Public Library and see a selection of photos and other materials related to Helen Cassiani's imprisonment during WWII.

Helen Cassiani came home in 1945 after being released from the Japanese prison camp.  This is a photo of Helen arriving at Logan Airport.

This is a photo of Helen Cassiani in her later years.

High School photo

This is Helen Cassiani's high school photo.  She attended Bridgewater High School.

Helen Cassiani

The Fall 2013 selection for One Book One Community is We Band of Angels, by Elizabeth Norman.  Helen Cassiani of Bridgewater was one of the nurses captured by the Japanese during WW2.  Her story is told in this book.

BSU Newslog Three Cups of Tea

The 2010 spring selection for One Book One Community was Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. 

One Book One Community offering in Bridgewater is food for thought

In spring 2012 Bridgewater's One Book One Community Read was Ben Hewitt's The Town that Food Saved. One Book One Community Steering Committee members commented on the work for the Bridgewater Independent.

One Book One Community has Fruitful Discussion in Bridgewater

Amar gives a belly dancing lesson 

In conjunction with Bridgewater's One Book One Community Read The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan, Amar Gamal explained the history of Middle Eastern dancing and gave a lesson in Belly Dancing at the Bridgewater Public Library in October 2012. A lemon-themed lunch was provided by the One Book One Community Steering Committee. The event was covered by the Bridgewater Independent.

One Book One Community Steering Committee members Pam Hayes-Bohanan, Gloria Moran and Sue McCombe enjoy a belly dancing lesson.

More photos of the event from the Bridgewater Independent are available here. 

Nathaniel Philbrick visits Bridgewater

Bridgewater State University sponsored a visit by In the Heart of the Sea author Nathaniel Philbrick. One Book One Community steering committee members along with some BSU faculty, neighbors and friends, enjoyed dinner with Philbrick before his keynote address on April 2, 2013.

One Book One Community Chowda Fest Kick-Off

The New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus provided the entertainment for the Chowda Fest luncheon held at the Bridgewater Senior Center, in conjunction with the One Book One Community Read In the Heart of the Sea. The event was covered in the Bridgewater Independent. 

More information about the Chowda Fest also available here.

From Pots to Pages

The Fall 2011 One Book One Community Read Dragon House by John Shors kicked off with a Pho soup lunch, with guest speaker Anh Nguyen, at the Bridgewater Public Library. The story was covered by the Bridgewater Independent.

Pho soup lunch kicks off community read "Dragon House"

Also See Photo Gallery: Pho Lunch at the Library

Helen "Cassie" Cassiani - Bridgewater native

Our Fall 2013 selection is We Band of Angels by Elizabeth Norman. Norman's book tells the story of army nurses who were imprisoned in Bataan by the Japanese during World War II. One of the women featured in the book is Helen "Cassie" Cassiani who hailed from Bridgewater. Her grave is located in town and we will be placing a wreath on it later this fall. This newspaper article from The Brockton Enterprise (February 6, 1945) was written after she was released.

Click on link above for full size.

Stories

Publicizing Bridgewater's One Book One Community Program beyond our own borders provides other cities and towns who are running their own programs, or who wish to start one, to learn from our successes, as well as our mistakes.

Sue McCombe, Director of the Office of University and Community Partnerships, keeps the One Book One Community website up to date and regularly writes about the program in pamphlets, brochures, and other University publications. Read her Program History here.

Mary O'Connell, Reference Librarian at Bridgewater Public Library reflected her experiences on the One Book One Community Steering Committee in the September/October issue of Public Libraries Magazine.

Pamela Hayes-Bohanan, Reference Librarian at the Clement C. Maxwell Library wrote about the program for the Journal of Library Innovation in 2011.

In the Heart of the Sea Lesson Plans

As I mentioned in my post about Dark Tide, I usually use each springtime One Book selection in my course for future geography teachers. Once again, the author -- the delightful Nathaniel Philbrick -- has done a lot of the relevant work for us, by writing a popular history so richly infused with geography.

From How to Watch a Horror Movie

Most of the students in my course are planning to teach at early childhood or elementary levels (since high-school teachers in Massachusetts are currently not allowed to study geography), so none of them would be likely to use Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea in their actual classrooms. The subtitle -- The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex -- scarcely hints at the gruesomeness of this tale, which I often had to read through thinly-parted fingers.

Seriously, this is a complex tale, expertly told, with many insights into the environmental and economic geography of whaling. Fortunately, the tale is so compelling that several versions are available at various reading levels, including a young-adult version by Philbrick himself.

As with Dark Tide, my students created lesson plans, in this case according to themes, connecting the book to the national geography frameworks. The course web page includes these plans, links to alternative texts, and many other resources. We include photographs taken during a class field trip to Nantucket, funded by the BSU Office for Undegraduate Research.


View In the Heart of the Sea in a larger map

The students and I also developed a map of the significant places in the story. It is shown here at a global scale; zoom in to see relevant Nantucket sites in more detail.

Dark Tide Lesson Plans

In the spring of 2011, the One Book One Community selection was Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919. A highlight of the semester was the campus visit by Stephen Puleo, a public intellectual who brings together diligent research and perceptive analysis with a gift for story-telling.

As I have done most spring semesters since the One Book partnership began, I used Dark Tide as a text for an upper-level course I teach for future geography teachers. Because they will need to adapt all kinds of things for use in their classrooms, I have them apply the geography curricular frameworks to whichever text we are reading.

In the case of Dark Tide, the author really did half the work for us. Puleo tells the true story of this disaster and its aftermath in the context of its times, tying it to global geopolitics and the geography of local immigrant communities. Working in teams, students created lesson plans for several different chapters, and I posted them on the class web page for other educators to use or modify.

Nickel and Dimed

Our first One Book One Community Selection in the spring of 2006 was Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. The highlight of the programming was an author visit.

click to enlarge