Thanksgiving: Sugar Cream Pie and Jewish Mom's Cake

Thanksgiving means counting one’s blessings, family and food. Food in the form of traditional family favorites and new recipes found while searching for something different than the traditional family favorites. These, in fact, often become more family favorites.

Jewish Mom's Apple Cake with Butter Rum Sauce

Cookbooks, numerous calls to friends and surfing the web brought two choices, a suggestion by a friend and a staple of Indiana.

Jewish Mom’s apple cake is an old-world style cake with layers of stiff batter and sliced apples. After finding several variations, I chose the one which required a Bundt cake pan. With a trip to the orchard, I was set with McIntosh apples, I also stopped and bought some cinnamon and a bottle of rum.

Rum? Yes, rum.

After eyeballing all the recipes, one thing stood out in common. None suggested a glaze, icing or frosting. No drizzling, sprinkling or spreading of a topping was even suggested. Although I respect the traditions of baked goods of the Jewish culture, we in the Midwest, as a rule, like our food covered. Sorry, but it’s true. We want our potatoes, meatloaf and desserts topped with something – anything.

With that in mind, I remembered a bread pudding a couple of years back I had enjoyed, most notably, because of its butter rum sauce. After peeling, slicing and layering the apples and batter, I baked the cake for an hour and ten minutes. The butter rum sauce, infused with cinnamon, complements the cake nicely.

The other dessert choice is sugar cream pie. Although I have, naturally, heard of the item (I am from Indiana) I had never tasted or baked one. I found more than a recipe; I found its history, or lack of history would be more appropriate.

The pie’s origins are hazy at best. Showing up in cookbooks as early as 1816 (the year of our statehood) clears the Amish as instigators. Quakers and Shakers are also noted as possible creators.

However, one thing stands firm. To be considered a true sugar cream pie, whether it is stirred by spoon on the stove top or by finger in an unbaked or baked shell, it must not contain eggs. Basic staple ingredients make up this dessert. Fresh eggs were rare in the old days and so this pie is made with sugar, butter and cream.

We will see in a couple of weeks if these new recipes will become family favorites. I bet that one will and the other, well...we'll see. Perhaps next year I will find a recipe for Italian wedding cake or rum-soaked fruit cake since I now have a bottle of rum which needs to be used.

Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated columnist, travel writer and theater critic. Catch her as Indy’s Arts & Entertainment Adviser on 93 WIBC and follow her on Twitter @ejmusgrave1 and Facebook.

Photo credit: Izzy Evans

Gotta Go is published in the following newspapers: South Sider Voice,  Indiana Weekender, West Side Community News, New Palestine Reporter, West Indianapolis Community News, Pendleton Times Reporter and Fortville-McCordsville Reporter.

IRT: Holes

 Indiana Repertory Theatre also opened its 39^th season this week with Holes by Louis Sachar. The story follows a boy breaking through familial boundaries and predisposed characteristics.

With a sparse set of numerous holes, the characters intermingle with family members of years past, and each other in modern time, at a rehabilitation work camp for boys.

Stepping into the Gotta Go spotlight is my new Destination Actor…Actress, Constance Macy.

You’ll remember when Becky’s New Car raced across the IRT stage, I was so impressed that a second visit was in order. Macy portrayed lead character Becky Foster adorably. She continues sharing her talents in Holes in an opposing personality as Warden, the tough and conniving head of the boys’ camp.

A stand-out performance was turned in by Mauricio Suarez as camper Zero, last seen at IRT in A Christmas Carol. Born in Columbia, Suarez moved to Florida with his family, performing in two television soap operas, a movie and commercials. Moving to Indiana three years ago gave Suarez the chance for live theater. This critic has a feeling we will see more of this young talent.

Bottom Line: IRT's Holes is a great opportunity for introducing live theater to children.

Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated columnist, travel writer and theater critic. Catch her as Indy’s Arts & Entertainment Adviser on 93 WIBC and follow her on Twitter @ejmusgrave1 and Facebook.

Photo credit: Submitted by IRT
For m ore details, visit irtlive.org.

Gotta Go is published in the following newspapers: South Sider Voice, Indiana Weekender, West Side Community News, New Palestine Reporter, West Indianapolis Community News, Pendleton Times Reporter and Fortville-McCordsville Reporter.

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit

I boarded the RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Titanic, the finest ship of the White Star Line on April 10, 1912. With my fiancé and my brother in second class accommodations, I, Miss Dagmar Jenny Ingeborg Bryhl, am traveling from Sweden to America.

RMS Titanic

Thus began my journey at the Indiana State Museum, through the exhibit of the artifacts of the most famous maritime disaster in history.
With more than 240 pieces the journey winds through various rooms stocked with artifacts and recreated first- and third-class cabins. The 'iceberg room' gives the sensation of the freezing air the night of the sinking complete with an iceberg for touching.

Weaving through the displays and reading the well-researched stories behind the relics gives a connection to the actual people who died while doing just as we all do, living our daily lives. From a perfume salesman to the well-known Unsinkable Molly Brown to the individuals transferred to the ill-fated ship from other ships, the sense of reality is more readily felt with the biographies and personal items.

Recreated first-class cabin

 Hair combs, perfume samples, letters, wallets and eyeglasses are available for viewing with the identities of the owners alongside. The dinner menus served in all three classes, along with the china and glassware displayed side-by-side, emphasizes the differences in the social classes.

The eeriness of acquiring an actual passenger's identity upon entering the exhibit is significant in bringing home the reality of the tragedy's magnitude. Not knowing if you survive or perish until the end circumvents the 'just another set of statistics' detachment which occurs with many exhibits.

I disembarked, alive in a lifeboat; one of only 711 to survive. More than 68 percent were lost due to panic, inadequate quantity of lifeboats, general disbelief of the inevitable and freezing water temperature.
According to the British Parliamentary Papers, there were 2224 people aboard. Other reports contain varying numbers due to inaccurate records, people traveling under aliases and passengers boarding and leaving at various stops.

My fiancé, Ingvar Enander, and my brother, Kurt Bryhl did not survive.

Recreated hull of Titanic

Bottom Line: An educational opportunity exists with this exhibit, ripe for parents to encourage children to share their thoughts. An absolute must: watch Titanica, the 45-minute documentary at IMAX, attached to the museum, immediately prior to visiting the exhibit itself. Especially for children, it enhances the experience by showing how everything was rescued.

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit and Titanica continue at the Indiana State Museum through January 16, 2011. For more information visit imax.com/indy and indianamuseum.org.

Photos submitted by Indiana State Museum
Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated columnist, travel writer and theater critic. Catch her as Indy’s Arts & Entertainment Adviser on 93 WIBC and follow her on Twitter @ejmusgrave1 and Facebook. Gotta Go is published in the following newspapers: South Sider Voice, Indiana Weekender, West Side Community News, New Palestine Reporter, West Indianapolis Community News, Pendleton Times Reporter and Fortville-McCordsville Reporter.

Beef and Boards: White Christmas

Haynes sisters Betty (Christnie Mild) and Judy (Erin West)

Do NOT bother going to see White Christmas, the Musical, playing at Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre, Indianapolis. Stay far, far away from this show...unless you feel a need to sit through two and one half hours of seriously old-fashioned, feel-good nostalgia, great singing and fantastic dance numbers, that is.

Based on the 1954 movie, starring Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen, this musical, once again, finds B&B breaking the seasonal rule, bringing the holiday a little early.

But, you can't argue with success. With a packed theater for WC's opening weekend, and the sold-out shows of Smoke on the Mountain: A Sanders Family Christmas two summers ago, owner Doug E. Stark (General Waverly) apparently knows the audience doesn't look at the calendar when deciding where to spend their money and evenings.

Timothy Ford and Curt Dale Clark

From the first note, Bob Wallace (Curt Dale Clark) and Phil Davis (Timothy Ford) draw you into the seasonal mood with their warmth and sincerity wrapping around you like a knitted afghan.

Clark portrays Wallace in a thoroughly likable manner, giving the romantically reluctant crooner the necessary laid-back touch. His strong voice blends well with the other singers, including in Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep, with Christine Mild as Betty Haynes.

Mild's Love You Didn't Do Right By Me

Mild, last seen portraying the title role in the B&B hit show, Always, Patsy Cline, claims the audience's attention best with Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me and Sisters, paired with Judy, portrayed charmingly by Erin West.

John Vessels

 

Standing out most to this critic were the aptly chosen performers for every role, including the supporting cast, most notably, Kenny Shepard, Deb Wims and the ever-animated John Vessels.

In case you've been suffering from John-Vessels-withdrawals, not to worry. Fans of Vessels' portrayal of the good Reverend Oglethorpe in the Smoke on the Mountain saga will be delighted to find him in this show, stealing scenes and depicting deadpan characters, including Ezekiel, the handyman and Snoring Man.

Dave Ruark

Keep your eye on Dave Ruark, portraying Sheldrake. I enjoyed Ruark in April at The Cabaret at The Columbia Club supporting the talent of Lauren Cregor. Ruark is one of those entertainers whose talents are only discovered one layer at a time. His creative abilities range from singing to being one of the original performers of ComedySportz. 

Special note: The second act's high-energy dance act places West and Ford all over the stage including on top of a baby grand.

Bottom Line: Beef and Boards' family friendly White Christmas brings a warm cup of holiday cheer to your heart.
Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated columnist, travel writer and theater critic. Catch her as Indy’s Arts & Entertainment Adviser on 93 WIBC and follow her on Twitter @ejmusgrave1 and FaceBook.

Photo credit: www.juliecurryphotography.com
Comments can be sent to elizabeth@gottago.us. Gotta Go is published in the following newspapers: South Sider Voice, Indiana Weekender, West Side Community News, New Palestine Reporter, West Indianapolis Community News, Pendleton Times Reporter and Fortville-McCordsville Reporter.