Author: Kacie Cotter-Harrigan
Stretching Expectations
Cover Photo: Saratoga Springs Gymnastics Team Seniors Ava Dallas, Megan Wishart, & Sophia Damiano.
Photos provided.
The Saratoga Springs gymnastics team got off to a record-breaking start this weekend, led by senior Sophia Damiano’s historic vault performance at the World Class Gymnastics Academy in Latham.
Damiano scored a 9.65 out of 10 total possible points. It was an astonishing feat for the first Suburban Council meet of the season, which was also a charity event for Hatsgiving, which provides hats to pediatric cancer patients.
This isn’t the first record the Blue Streaks gymnastics team has broken since being led by Coach Deborah Smarro.
Last year, Damiano and teammate, Ava Dallas, burst past the previous records when they both earned a vault score of 9.475 – which was the third time Dallas had delivered a performance for the record books during her high school gymnastics career.
EXHILARATION, BEAUTY & GRACE
Each of the seniors on the Saratoga Springs team has grown and progressed through the years, upping their game, on and off the mat, with unparalleled beauty and grace.
“From my perspective, it’s exhilarating and I think they are just as excited to break a record every single time it happens,” said Coach Smarro.
Smarro was a gymnast in college and has been the Saratoga Springs coach for 15 years, during which time she’s helped countless athletes develop and perfect their skills. Last year, Saratoga received their 19th consecutive Section II championship title. (Because of the pandemic, all winter sports sectional and state competitions have been cancelled this year. Saratoga will be competing only in Suburban Council meets with Bethlehem, Guilderland, and Shaker High Schools, within the stringent safety protocols that have been put in place.)
ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL
This year’s seniors have grown in their leadership roles as well as in their athletic prowess, thriving through the knowledge they’ve gleaned by helping others.
“It’s always team first and individual accolades second. While they achieve individual accomplishments, it’s the team accomplishments that they pride themselves in most. The girls are part of a team with a set of core values and it’s those core values that they adhere to,” said Smarro.
This year, the team has chosen to focus on three goals – to achieve team totals, their individual progression, and to support one another to stay safe and healthy throughout their six-week season.
EMPOWERED TO EXCEL
These gymnasts are able to achieve this high level of success because they are organized, dedicated and task-oriented.
“It travels over into their regular, daily lives. They are all very good students and are volunteers out in the community,” said Smarro.
All three seniors on this year’s team have 90 and above grade point averages academically.
In addition to her record-breaking achievements, Ava Dallas has also shared her enthusiasm for the sport as a coach at the Wilton YMCA. Sophia Damiano was last year’s Section II all-around champion and holds the balance beam record of 9.425. Senior Megan Wishart has earned a spot on the state team twice, is a team captain, works an afterschool job at Home Goods and has an internship at the Town Court.
Smarro, who has been struggling the last three years with the illness and then death of her father, has experienced first-hand how being a part of this team can build an invaluable sense of resilience within all those who are part of it.
“It empowers them when things are not going so well. It gives them the strength of mind that they can do anything when they put their mind to it and they know they have coaches, siblings, teammates, and family members to support them,” she said.
On Friday, Jan. 8, the Saratoga Springs team will be competing against Shaker. They will also be honoring their seniors with a presentation, gifts, words of wisdom, and treats prepared by the younger members of their team. Because no spectators are allowed, parents and others will be able to view the ceremony via live-stream.
Shop Local, Eat Fresh, Stay Safe and Save Time!
The winter season of cold weather and lots of snow has come, and the farmers’ market is feeling grateful for our indoor home at the Wilton Mall. Since November, indoor markets have been running safely and smoothly every Saturday. Still, many customers who would like to eat fresh food and support local farms and producers understandably do not feel safe shopping indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While our vendors can’t be outside in the cold anymore (frozen vegetables don’t taste so fresh!), we can bring fresh products to our customers. We have launched a new online ordering platform with contact-free curbside pickup every Saturday morning.
The platform currently offers various products from about 20 winter season vendors, though more products and producers are added weekly based on customer requests and community needs.
Available products will also change weekly due to local food seasonality, ensuring the freshest products are listed every week.
The online storefront is open weekly from Monday evenings until Thursday nights at 9 p.m. Between these times, customers can navigate to the store using the link below. Products from multiple vendors can be added to a virtual shopping cart, with just one credit or debit card payment required at checkout. SNAP/EBT customers may defer payment until they pick up their order, and deferred credit/debit and cash payments are accepted on-site as well. The minimum order amount is $15, and there is a $3 flat fee per order to cover the time and money spent by the market to run the online system and prepare orders.
On Saturday mornings, customers may park in reserved curbside pickup spots located right outside the Bow Tie Cinemas entrance to the Wilton Mall and receive prompt delivery to their vehicles. This service is also available to pedestrians and those taking public transportation.
The farmers’ market’s mission is to provide access to fresh, healthy, and locally produced food to everyone in our community; thus, the market hopes this contact-free curbside pickup program will provide another way to help meet this goal during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
Access SFM2GO at localline.ca/saratoga-farmers-market or navigate there on our website: saratogafarmersmarket.org. Customers can sign up there to receive a weekly email update about new products offered and other curbside pickup news.
The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is open Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Find us online at saratogafarmersmarket.org, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter: www.saratogafarmersmarket.org/weekly-newsletter.
Sisters & Food
Hello my Foodie Friends!
The hangover of the holidays is over and it’s time to get back to eating right and using great tools to make that happen. It’s a new year and a fresh start so let’s make some delicious food together. My older sister CarolAnn, is a master with mandoline slicers while using them frequently in her food prep. Since she is eight years older than I am, when I was very young, I thought she was the smartest person in the world. When she taught me something it always stuck with me. I was a terrible listener with everyone except for her. I remember when I was young and allowed to visit her at her new house after she had gotten married. I would sit in her kitchen and watch her make the best salads. She would include many ingredients in her salads so that you were as full as if you had eaten a plate of Italian food. CarolAnn’s secret weapon in her prep was the mandoline slicer. She would peel and make cuts to cucumbers and many other vegetables, then would run them through the mandoline slicer to make the perfect bite-sized pieces. As she was doing all of this, she would explain every step and how to be safe. She would also add in words of wisdom about life and work.
As I reminisce on these times, I learned that food creates a home, connections, celebrations, and embraces family and friends. In creating meals, we are creating homes and a nurturing environment. The meals do not have to be fancy or gourmet. It isn’t about how special the recipe is. It is about being conscious of an important part of life and honoring that importance. By elevating the importance of food in our family’s lives, you pass that importance on to them. Families connect around the dinner table, all sharing the meal they know is just for them. Whether I’m making a salad or a meal, CarolAnn’s teachings are always on my mind. As she is now very ill, and she is fighting for her life, I feel and appreciate those learnings even more.
Do you have a mandoline slicer hiding in the back of your pantry, just begging to be used? Essentially, you can accomplish much of a mandoline’s work with a steady hand and a sharp knife. However, when slicing up zucchini ribbons, slicing eggplant or shredding brussel sprouts, mandolines cut prep time down significantly and promise consistent, even results. And they’re fun to use; especially when you need to create consistently thick or thin slices for your favorite recipe. At Compliments to the Chef we carry several different brands of mandolines. The OXO Good Grips mandoline is a perfect tool for home chefs. It is a trusty tool through thick and thin (produce). Slice or julienne cucumbers, potatoes and more with a turn of the comfortable dial on the Chef’s Mandoline Slicer. Each mandoline includes a food holder that protects hands and the stainless steel blade quickly makes even slices. All blades store safely on board and are removable for easy cleaning. With this easy-to-use mandoline, hands and fingers stay away from sharp blades at all times. Most mandolines come with three or four slicing blades beyond the basic blade. These allow you to slice paper thin, a little thicker (think potato chips), thick julienne (think french fries), and thin julienne. If you’re not sure how your blades will slice, invest in a few potatoes and try each setting out. It’s usually a good idea to have a few extra veggies on hand when you’re learning to use your mandoline slicer as well so you can get the hang of the whole process.
At Compliments to the Chef, your Neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery store, we have items that can assist with making your meals. Show your love through the foods you cook and if you have a big sister give her a hug. Stop by Compliments to the Chef located at 33 Railroad Place and let us know how we can help you with your culinary needs. Remember my Foodie Friends; “Life Happens in the Kitchen.” Happy New Year! May 2021 bring you health, happiness, and hope.
Take Care,
John & Paula
The Next Chapter: Developing a Different Kind of Education for Girls
The Charlton School is providing a different kind of education to help girls feel safe, connected, and empowered.
This was the impetus behind a recent $200,000 grant to The Charlton School from the Sarah B. Foulke Charitable Fund (administered through The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region).
Sarah Blackwell Foulke, a long-time Saratoga Springs resident and an attorney who practiced in Saratoga County, learned to use art, music, and writing as a way to process, and genuinely express her feelings.
These practices allowed Sarah to clear her head, work around insoluble problems, and succeed in life – first academically, then professionally, and always as an empathetic and generous friend, said Suzan Nolan of the Sarah B. Foulke Charitable Fund Board.
A PLACE TO THRIVE
Originally established as an orphanage in 1895, The Charlton School is now a therapeutic learning community for girls offering on-site residence, small classes, and high levels of academic and counseling support.
“Ninety-eight percent of our students come to us through direct referrals from their home school districts. These are bright students who are not performing academically – not because of their cognitive abilities, but because they need their sense of self shored back up,” said Alex Capo, Executive Director of The Charlton School.
The Burnt Hills campus, rebuilt in the mid-to-late 1950’s and early 1960’s after a devastating fire, is a place where girls can thrive. In addition to the academic curriculum, they also teach life skills, sports, and provide equine therapy.
“The Charlton School, long before I got here 17 years ago, understands adolescence and adolescent development,” said Capo.
ARTS’ MANY ADVANTAGES
While other schools across the country are cutting their art programs, at The Charlton School, art is used as an invaluable tool for self-expression.
In 2014, their chapel was converted into an arts space, and now has been renovated by Schrader & Company Construction Services and renamed The Sarah B. Foulke Arts Center.
“Art making fosters healing and mental well-being. It develops self-awareness, and gives students a better ability to cope with stress. Encouraging students to simply make art (and not sensor themselves or be too critical) gives them the freedom to experience all these emotional benefits,” said Mary Jo Bradley, Art Teacher at the campus’ Ketchum Grande Memorial School.
Learning about art and artists helps students in a myriad of ways.
“With social media, students are aware of living, non-famous artists that they find on places like Instagram or DeviantArt. I have also found that street artists, like Banksy, whose art is political and controversial, makes a strong impact on adolescents who are grappling with big questions about the world and their place in it. For the population at Charlton specifically, living women artists like Yayoi Kusama and Cindy Sherman are important for them to know about,” said Bradley.
FUEL FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE
Each year, the Sarah B. Foulke award will be given out at graduation to an outstanding Charlton art student.
“Hiring in the current market is not simply based on getting an advanced degree, but also on how creatively you think. Each and every project our students are given requires them to think imaginatively, persevere and focus – all skills they need as adults,” said Bradley.
The new arts center is the first in a series of campus improvements to be made under The Charlton School’s capital campaign plan called ‘The Next Chapter’. They are appealing to the community for support to help with other renovations including new student cottages, administration office, a new health and wellness office, dining hall and student commons.
The arts center ribbon cutting will be held on January 15 at 11 a.m. To learn more about The Charlton School, find them on Facebook.
The First Malta Rocket Test
On Christmas morning, December 25, 1945, the residents of Malta were startled by a loud noise coming from the heart of Luther Forest. It was not the clatter of Santa’s reindeer on the roof but instead America’s race to the Moon had begun.
Toward the end of World War II the American Army became concerned about the V-2 missiles Germany was raining on London so they asked that engineers from the Schenectady General Electric plant go to Europe and interview the captured Germen scientists and select the papers, drawings and actual rocket parts to be shipped back to America. A team, under the direction of Dr. Richard Porter, went to Peenemunde and Nordhausen where the rockets had been developed. They interviewed Werhner von Braun and his team, confiscated “tons” of papers and drawings, as well as actual rocket parts. The team identified which scientists and engineers should be brought back to the States. The campaign was code named “Operation Paperclip.”
Simultaneously another G.E. team was tasked with finding a convenient but secluded spot to build a test facility. They found it tucked among the towering pines of the Luther Forest Preserve, a 7,000 acre forest sanctuary in the towns of Malta and Stillwater that had been developed by the Luther family. The Army took 165 acres of the vast forest by eminent domain and later added a “security zone” – a one mile easement in all directions from the main facility in which “No one can inhabit, stay overnight or carry guns.” Here, the Malta Rocket Test Station was constructed and from 1945 until the mid-1960s, rocket engines were assembled and put through “stationary” ground tests, i.e. the engine were harnessed to a large gantry. No flight tests were ever conducted at the facility. The results were heard as far away as Clifton Park and Ballston Spa while nearby residents still describe how plates rattled on the kitchen table.
The operation was named Project Hermes, after the messenger of the Greek gods. At first the rockets were exact copies of the German V-2 rockets but soon the program truly became American. Among the missile and satellite programs that were tested here were the Bumper, Vanguard (first to lift a satellite in orbit), Vega, Discoverer, Centaur, Polaris and Skybolt. In addition to the rocket motors, work was done on various liquid fuels and heat resistant materials for nose cones.
In 1964, the site was sold to the New York State Energy Research Authority which still occupies a building on the grounds. In 1972, a portion of the complex was sold to the Wright-Malta Co.,
composed of former G.E. employees who continued with ordinance testing and energy-related research throughout the 1980s.
The Empire State Aeroscience Museum, located on the grounds of the Schenectady Airport in Glenville, has a wonderful interactive display that gives the feel of what it must have been like to witness a 50,000 horsepower motor being tested nearby.
Paul Perreault has been the Malta Town Historian since 2009. He served as principal in the Ballston Spa School District from 1978 until 1998 and as a history teacher at Shenendehowa High School from 1967 until 1975. He is a member of the Association of Public Historians of New York State, the Saratoga County History Roundtable and the Ballston Spa Rotary Club. Paul can be reached at historian@malta-town.org
The Christmas Eve Feast
Hello my Foodie Friends!
Our most relished Christmas treasures come with the decorations, the scents of pine, the sounds of music and jingles, and for many, what happens in the kitchen. Many of our holiday traditions begin in the kitchen. We hold tight to our families’ holiday traditions, especially when it comes to food. There are foods such as; roasted chestnuts, savory smoked ham, fruity cakes, specialty cookies, and eggnog that we hold to as popular holiday traditions. These iconic foods are vital to holiday menus and are fully ingrained in the culture of the holiday, as they tend to be eaten solely during this time of the year.
Coming together to celebrate the holidays becomes a time of giving. It is a time to be with your family and show your gratitude and appreciation of what you have. This holiday season, we may be more challenged than others in spending the holidays with those that we love. As we prepare for our smaller gatherings, I reminisce on some of my favorite Christmas Eve’s spent with those that are still with us, and some that I have lost in recent years.
Through out the decades that have gone by, many of my memories include family and friends who cooked up incredible holiday feasts. I reflect on the Christmas traditions of mine and Paula’s Italian families in which the Christmas Eve Feast cannot be overlooked. In meeting my wife four decades ago, our first Christmas Eve together was spent at her parents’ home celebrating the Feast of Seven Fishes with all of the fish dishes presented that evening. Paula’s family was more traditional than mine, probably because my Dad was Irish so we had a little of each. I watched with a calm expression as my wife ate and relished the marinated fresh anchovies as part of the antipasto. Jumbo shrimp, baked clams, and fried calamari were also part of the first course, which, I ate too much of. Next an array of dishes began to come out of the kitchen. These included: the seafood salad, which is a combination of crab, shrimp, calamari, and lobster with celery, olive, and parsley in citronette, the Baccala salad with salted cod tossed with sweet cherry peppers, capers, and olives in a lemon dressing, and then the octopus salad, also known as Inslata di Polipi. This is where I stopped and stared at the cut up octopus tentacles sitting in front of me and I loudly proclaimed that, well, “I love Fried Baccala” and politely said I must have some. There are many ways to serve fish during the feast. Some people include as many as 12 or 13 dishes, including mussels in spaghetti, fried calamari, anchovies, sardines, whiting with lemon, scungilli, lobster fra diavolo, capellini with tuna sauce, branzino, sole, and shrimp scampi, or linguini with clam sauce.
Meanwhile back at my house my Mom was cooking an Irish feast for my Dad of Roast turkey and stuffing, clove-studded baked ham, crispy goose fat potatoes, steamed Brussels sprouts, buttery sweet carrots, crispy parsnips, cranberry sauce, bread sauce and gravy.
The holidays are about getting together and having a good time. It is about enjoying yourself and the people you are with. Cooking for the people you love is a gift in itself. Hold onto the traditions that have been created by generations past; or create your new ones. Enjoy your holiday season. Stop by Compliments to the Chef; your Neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery store located at 33 Railroad Place to help you with your holiday gifts and culinary needs. We hope that 2021 brings many blessings, laughter, health, and happiness to you and your families. Remember my Foodie Friends; “Life Happens in the Kitchen” –
Happy Holidays to all of our Foodie Friends!
Take Good Care,
John & Paula
Cold-Hardy Grapes Yield Soul-Warming Wines
The Fossil Stone Vineyard bottles of wine almost seem to glitter on display tables at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market: The golden hue of La Crescent, the ruby glow of Marquette, the fiery dark pink of their Rose, a blend of the two.
Fossil Stone is among the market’s newest vendors, joining in late August. But for owners Michael and Kelly Spiak making wine is not new. Their journey, like much of farming, is all about having a passion and the patience to transform that passion into products.
For Michael Spiak, passion began while traveling through New Zealand with the military. “New Zealand was blanketed with vineyards, which I had a strange fascination with,” he says. “I loved everything about them … the posts, the vines, the grapes, and of course the wine.”
He and his wife Kelly owned land in Greenfield Center. They decided in 2006 to try growing grapevines. Their first wines came from vines planted in 2009, and they began selling wine in 2014. Today, Fossil Stone consists of more than 3,000 wines and a winery barn. A tasting room is set to open next summer.
The Spiaks grow cold-hardy French hybrid grapes developed by University of Minnesota viticulturist Peter Hamstead to produce LaCrescent – a crisp white with hints of apricot – and Marquette – a smooth medium-bodied red with hints of cherry and plum. They also craft a Rose from a 30-70 blend of Marquette and LaCrescent.
“It is darker than most Roses,” says Spiak, “but don’t let that fool you. It behaves very much like a Rose.”
At Fossil Stone, winter is a time to craft wines before the growing cycle begins in late February when vines will be pruned prior to bud break in late April/early May. The grapes grow through late summer and are harvested in fall.
Fossil Stone wines pair well with many winter farmers’ market offerings, such as beef brisket. “I used to work for the Saratoga North Creek Railroad as a locomotive engineer,” Michael Spiak recalls. “The chef on board used our Marquette to make a wine reduction and poured it over a broiled brisket and then paired it with our Marquette.”
“It was delicious.”
The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is open Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.. Find us online at saratogafarmersmarket.org, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter: www.saratogafarmersmarket.org/weekly-newsletter.
