Allegheny Almanac

Free Film Screening at Mardi Gras in downtown Warren, PA

The Boonies Film Festival presents "Goliath" an unusual comedy about an important cat at 7 p.m. Friday at Mardi Gras restaurant. The comedy has been showcased at multiple film festivals around the country and on the IFC Channel too.

Local recording star Matt Maloof provides free music after the show and there is even talk of free food, too. The entire thing is free, did I say "free?",  to promote the Boonies Flim Festival to be held in Warren, PA this summer from August 17 through August 20. Maybe this will make February more tolerable. I could use a few laughs. Thanks, Boonies!

Things get started at 7 p.m., but the restaurant at 344 Pennsylvania Avenue, near the point in downtown Warren, PA, opens at 5 p.m.

For more information on the Boonies Film Festival and local cinematography visit Boonies International Film Festival.

 

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Where Hunting Season Never Ends

Warren native and professeur Reg Darling explains the "sacrament" of hunting to non-believers in a highly literate journal that took a lifetime to write. "Hart" is the original name for deer and also stands for "heart" or spirit. "Well" means health. And Hartwell is the central character of the book. Aside from a first-aid manual, this book should be in every hunting camp in the county and perhaps under every hunter's Christmas Tree. The book cover depicts a sacrifice made to coyotes, near Tiona, Pennsylvania.

This stuff actually happened and is probably going on right now and involves characters many local residents will recognize as their neighbors, although the names were changed to protect the author in a roman a clef style. It is important to point out, however, that Hartwell is a real name as is Hartwell Road. More about this later.

 It's 287 pages and takes about 2 months to finish, longer if you read between the lines which is the best part.

If you are a hunter or love someone who is, this book will enrich your life. Not for the squeamish. Darling is also an award-winning artist and frequent contributor to publications like Backcountry Journal, Bowyer's Journal, and Professional Bowhunter Magazine.

Available at Authors Books & Music on Liberty Street in downtown Warren, Amazon.com, or the author's web site. Just google "Hartwell Road" or "Reg Darling."

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But wait, there's more! Readers who purchase this book in the next 24 hours (or the next 5 years, for that matter) get a special bonus--a genuine "coming of age" story about the main character named "Bartleby." The tale is weaved into carefully crafted details of expert hunting techniques every father or mother will want to tell a son or daughter about, saving years of trying to find the right words at the right time.

Read all about how to successfully keep a job you don't really like, losing love, finding love, dealing with incorrigible parents, getting an education, the necessity of grieving no matter how long it takes, coming to mature terms with life-threatening illnesses, proper eulogies, even retirement and much, much more--all of which occurs pretty much right here in this neck of the woods. Whether you believe "coming of age" is something that occurs somewhere around the 21st or the 61st birthday, you're sure to save big money by living vicariously through Bartleby's adventures as he hunts relentlessly for things he prefers to do for very important reasons.

But this is no self-help book. It's an expedition out of the life of quiet desperation most of us live and still wonder how we got turned around in the first place.       

-- Chris Lareau

Roasting Corn on the Cob Outdoors

  By Denise Grant

Many fond summer memories revolve around picnics and corn roasts.

Fall has arrived in NW PA and since there has been no frost there is still a corn harvest and the chance for one final corn roast before the leaves turn and the gardens finish up for the season.

When it comes to serving corn at a picnic some people boil the corn indoors and bring it out while other will roast the corn in the husk in an open fire or on a grill. Roasted corn always signified a longer more festive picnic to me.

If you haven’t grilled corn before here is an easy way to prepare the corn

Unshucked Corn on the Cob
Container of Water
A Fire (Campfire or Grill)

Steps

• Take the ears corn, straight from the farm, without pulling back the husk at all, and place it in the container of water
• Let the corn sit until it’s nice and waterlogged. This is usually an hour or two. While waiting prepare any other picnic snacks.
• Take the wet husks of corn to your fire.
• Put the corn on the fire. If using a campfire, toss the ears of corn into the coals at the edge of the fire pit. You are looking for coals that have started to turn white but are still really hot. If you’re using a grill, just set them right on the grate.
• Occasionally turning the corn, let it cook for half an hour or so until the husk of the corn is nicely burnt. Knowing how long to wait just takes time and practice, but typically the entire outside of the husk is burnt black.
• Pick the corn out of the fire up with a long handled grabbing tool or tong. Set it off to the side to cool a bit. The corn will be hot so use care when removing from the fire.
• After the husk is cool enough to handle, pick it up and peel it back. Some people fold the entire husk backwards from the end of the cob and use it as a handle.

Roasted corn has a unique flavor and makes a change in your picnic menu.

If you haven’t grown corn in your garden before here are a few helpful corn growing tips.