the Scallion for April 17, 2010
| April 17, 2010 | REGENT MARKET CO-OP E-news |
eat your vegetables |
Late-Cambrian Trace Fossils Discovered in RMC Basement
Madison — RMC Board Secretary Vic Forberger often works in the store’s basement office. When he noticed staffer George Rothdrake leading strangers back and forth to a little-used dark corner of the basement, he became suspicious.
In the store, Rothdrake is known to co-op members just as “George,” a familiar face behind the counter, personable, helpful, “perhaps a little abstracted,” according to some, but certainly not the kind to be engaged in illegal activity.
Baffled, Forberger confronted Rothdrake about the young men he was conducting through the basement. “They were outdoorsy types,” Forberger recalled. “More like TAs than drug dealers.”
In response, Rothdrake, an undergrad at UW in Geology, revealed that they were in fact teaching assistants. They were from his department and were specializing in Paleobiology. He had called them in.
Once confronted, he began an uncharacteristically lively explanation.
“I noticed that the corner of the basement had never been floored, and it’s not topsoil. It’s bedrock! And it’s covered with odd striations, long, curving double lines of indentations. I knew I’d seen them before! I kept going down to look at them.”
“Finally I had my eureka! I recognized them! The indentations! They’re–!” The low-key, self-possessed Rothdrake was shouting. “They’re Climactichnites! A trace fossil from the late Cambrian period! A 12-foot slug! The first footprints on land! We’ve got to get the carbon-dating started!”
The putative Climactichnites Ichnofossil in the RMC basement
“It was like Clark Kent came out of the telephone booth as a paleobiologist,” recalled Forberger.
Joe Heggestad, owner of the property, remarked, “If those fossil traces have already been there 500 million years, can’t they keep a while longer?”
“I’ll be a fossil before anybody’s tearing this co-op down,” said Randy Winkler, general manager, at the suggestion that the store would need to be razed to start research. “First off, those ‘striations’ look like old-time motorcycle tires to me. And second, I’ve got a pallet of adult diapers coming in I’m gonna store in that corner.”
“It’ll be a few more years before I start the PhD,” said Rothdrake with a shrug, resuming his place behind the counter and adjusting his apron. “Oh, well.”
George behind the counter
Randy Recommends . . .
Specials
- A&H free liquid detergent 50 oz. Save $1.00.
- Cheerios, regular and honey nut, Save $1.00.
- Rice Krispies – 18 oz. Save $1.00.
- Grape Nuts. Save $1.00.
- Gardettos 8.6 oz. $1.99 each, save $1.30.
- 32-oz Gatorade $1.49.
- All brats will be $1.00 off from April 19th thru April 25th.
- Rising Moon Organic Frozen Raviolis: $4.19/8 ounce package. Goes great with Pesto!
Health and Beauty from Dr. Bronner’s
- Dr. Bronner’s Lavender and Peppermint Castille Soaps: $9.79+ tx/32 fl oz bottles, save $4.00.
Here are a few picnic items for the early spring season
- Tofurky Deli Slices: $2.79/5.5z package, save 70 cents.
- Vegenaise Original and Organic: $3.79/16z jar for Original, save $1.40; $4.69 for Organic, save $1.70.
- Reed’s Raspberry, Cherry, and Spiced Ginger Brews: $4.79+ tx/4 pack, save $1.60.
New Products
- Renaissance Farm Sweet Basil Pesto in a 15 ounce size. Now in the frozen section. Great for parties, families, or hearty pesto eaters! $12.69/ea.
- RP’s Frozen Raviolis and refrigerated Tortellonis are back with a couple new products: Pumpkin Tortelloni and Spinach Linguini.
- Helen’s Kitchen Organic Burritos can now be found in the frozen section. These are vegetarian burritos with an introductory deal of $2.09/ea.
- Late July Mini Sandwich Cookies are an organic cookie we just brought in. Now on sale for $2.79/5 ounce box.
Finally, please welcome our new employee, Laura Broman.
Our membership fry-out is May 14th, from 4 – 7 pm. Also we have fresh local spinach now available.
A Fond Farewell to an Old Friend
and an Invitation to RMC Members
Barbara Wright, owner of the Dardenelles Restaurant, will be closing down at the end of April. Barbara is a coop member and has been a great friend and support to the RMC. She has graciously opened the doors of the Dardanelles for our annual member-recognition party. Below you see her doing a cooking demo at one of our Spring Street Fairs.
The Regent Market Coop Board of Directors will celebrate her at the Dardanelles and cordially urge you to join them.
The Barbara Wright Appreciation Brunch
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Noon
Dardanelles Restaurant
1851 Monroe Street
R.S.V.P. by replying to this email
Barbara teaches Elsa Forberger the art of the omelet
Cooking from the Shelves of the Little Store
This week’s recipe is from Ron Rosner. He says, “The Portuguese pumpkin soup recipe below was provided by Ellen Sapeda, Professor in UW’s Portuguese Dept. I prepared it, to great acclaim from my class-mates, for an end-of-semester party. Serve it with a baguette or ‘toasts’.”
Ron is a long-time resident of the neighborhood. “How long?” He answers opaquely that he remembers when the little store’s competition was El Rancho, and the morning of the Sterling Hall bombing. He’s helped organize RNA’s garden tours for the past 20 years and volunteers on Campus at the Allen Centennial Garden. He and his wife, Ronnie Hess, live atop the drumlin in the Heights.
Pumpkin Soup
Sopa de Abobora
Ingredients
- 2 medium yellow onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 1 medium garlic clove, peeled and minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 1/2 pounds butternut squash, halved, seeded, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks, then each chunk peeled
- 5 cups chicken broth
- salt, if needed, to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Directions
In a large heavy saucepan set over moderate heat,stir-fry the onions and garlic in the olive oil 5 minutes; turn heat to low, cover pan, and let the mixture steam 20 minutes (this is a refogado). Add the squash and toss well with the onion mixture; pour in the broth, bring to a simmer, adjust the heat so that the liquid bubbles gently, cover, and simmer about 1 hour until the squash is very soft. Puree the mixture in a food processor. Bring the soup to serving temperature over low heat, add salt as needed to taste, also the pepper.
Joan Peterson is the editor of “Cooking from the Shelves of the
Little Store.” She welcomes your recipes! Send yours with a short bio
to her e-mail address.
Cooperatively Speaking . . .
We continue a new feature this week, where we’ll post short essays from members on such issues as food co-ops, agriculture, the buy-local movement, organics, or any other relevant topic. Last issue we featured MIKE PRAGER and his advice on kids-and-food.
This week we hear from Brad Wolbert, who happens also to be the newly-elected president of the Regent Market Coop Board of Directors. His essay appeared originally in the RNA Newsletter, in Fall, 2009.
Brad Wolbert, President, RMC Board
Regent Market Co-op — Eighty-Five Years on Regent Street
The house I live in on Chamberlain Avenue was built
in 1927. At that time, it was on the very edge of town.
Across Farley Street to the west stretched farm fields
and pasture all the way to Middleton, a few miles
away.
Yet even then, a little store was already well
established near the corner of Regent and Allen
Streets. It was a freestanding building at that time,
part of the Universal Grocery chain, whose main office
at 634-36 West Main was large enough to merit its
own rail siding.
Through the years, the grocery store changed hands
and became first a Kroger’s, and then, after the
war, a Super IGA. In 1977, Joe Heggestad bought
the store and operated it until 1995 (neighborhood
old-timers still call it “Joe’s Market,” as in ‘Gotta
pop down to Joe’s for a loaf of bread.’ Against the
odds, the store survived while other family-owned
neighborhood groceries such as Ken Kopps (formerly
Fauerbach’s) and Millin’s on Monroe Street, the Sentry
on Speedway, and Miller’s Market on University near
Highland have all disappeared.
Today, Regent Market doesn’t merely live on — it
anchors the small but lively (a stoplight! an ATM! a
mail dropbox!) retail district at Regent and Allen that
includes Mike’s on Regent, Stony Hill Antiques, Milio’s,
Higher Fire Clay Studio, Gatherings, Fine Earth Studio
and Gallery, La Mop Hair Studio, and the Froth House.
How is this possible when almost all the other
small groceries in the city have closed in the face of
competition from the likes of Woodman’s, Sentry,
Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s? In 1998, the little
store closed its doors, too — but only for 3 months.
Almost miraculously, a small group of former staff
and committed neighbors managed (with some help
from Willy St. Co-op and others) to re-open the store
as a food co-operative. Almost 1,000 neighborhood
residents signed up as founding members to get the
store back up off the ground.
The Regent Market Co-op has been open for
business for over 10 years now, and its future looks
bright as more and more people perceive the value
and convenience of being able to shop for groceries
without driving to the edge of town, supporting a local
and community- owned store staffed by people they
know personally, and seeking out organic and locally
sourced basic foods. “The Little Store” is part of the
Regent Neighborhood’s unique identity, and running
into friends in the store is part of the fun of living here.
And it’s nice to think that all the way back in 1927,
the occupants of my house bought their groceries at
the little store on Regent Street. More than eighty
years later, they still do.
Acknowledgements to “75 Years of The Little Store,” written by Jay Rath in 1999. If you would like to contribute an essay to “Cooperatively Speaking,” please submit your comments by replying to this email address.
Member of the Week
Meet Kim Genich
Kim was caught by the camera when he dropped into the store to pick up a New York Times. He and Willa Schmidt have been members since the very beginning of the coop. In particular, they like the coop’s fresh organic produce, Organic Valley milk and other dairy products, Amy’s Pizza, and other local products.
What’s more, they like the short walk to get there.
West High Student of the Week
Meet Fernando Ruiz
The camera caught Fernando when he stopped into the coop for chips and a can of Arizona tea with his buddies after school. He’s a sophomore at West and his favorite subject is English. Polite and friendly, Fernando is always welcome at the coop.
RMC’s 2010 Spring Street Fair
Have you missed the co-op’s street fairs in the past?
Don’t let it happen again!
There will be plenty of live foot-stompin’ music, lots of great things to eat, prizes to carry home, stuff for kids to do.
Let the Regent Market Co-op show its appreciation for your support!
FRIDAY, MAY 14TH
Right out in front of the store!
