VPR Classical Bids Adieu to Cheryl Willoughby

Cheryl Willoughby, long-time VPR Classical host and director of music programming, will be leaving VPR to accept a new position of Music Director at WGBH in Boston. Cheryl will oversee all classical music programming for the station.

During her time at VPR, Cheryl contributed greatly to the formation and growth of VPR Classical. She began hosting her daily morning program just after WNCH 88.1 went on the air in the Upper Valley in 2004.

It was under her leadership as music director that VPR Classical has grown and has steadily increased its local programming and community partnerships, as seen most recently with the month-long 60th anniversary celebration of the Marlboro Music Festival this summer.

Cheryl’s last day at Vermont Public Radio will be this Friday, September 9th. We will miss her but wish her well in her new adventure.

During a transition period, you will hear a new line-up of programming on VPR Classical beginning Monday, September 12. Walter Parker will host from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. time slot, followed by two hours of Performance Today with Fred Child. Joe Goetz will continue to host from 3-7 p.m.

Stay tuned for more details as we work to continue our mission to increase our local presence and content on VPR Classical.

VPR Cooks: Our Winning Potluck Recipes

We recently had a potluck barbecue at VPR to welcome summer. Many of us prepared our favorite side dishes to share with the staff. We're a bunch of over-achievers around here, so naturally we decided to make it a contest. While everything was delicious, we voted on our favorites and sharing the winning recipes with you. What's your favorite summer side dish?

Best Side Dish: Gail England's Miniature Stuffed Peppers

20 Peppadew peppers from South Africa - sweet & spicy

1 small can tuna - finely flaked

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1 Tbsp mayonnaise to moisten

Finely chop:

1 tsp parsley

1 Tbsp lovage, celery, or celeriac

3 wild violet leaves

1 Tbsp wild clover leaves

dash of salt & freshly ground pepper

Mix all together and stuff in the peppers. Adding wild edibles adds subtle flavor and lots of nutritional value. Naturally, only use plants that you know well and are unmistakable!

You can also try stuffing the peppers with fresh breadcrumbs or cooked millet, parmesan cheese, freshly chopped basil and oregano, a sprinkle of garlic powder, salt & pepper, or any other combination that suits your fancy.

Best Dessert: Jonathan Butler's Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares

Jonathan says: This is the easiest recipe ever. I'd like to tell you it was Grandma's ol' family recipe handed down through the years, but I got it from a Google search and a few clicks. Check out the comments. I followed some of their tips (like mix the sugar and graham together before blending, maybe use more chocolate and less butter in the topping, etc.). Enjoy!

Non-Traditional - Or Is It?

Not everyone loves the turkey, stuffing, cranberry jellies and slivered almond green bean casseroles that typify the culinary fare of Thanksgiving. In the diverse spirit of this country's cross-continental, multicutural heritage - one could ask how representative those dishes are of America, anyway?

In my house, we've moved away from turkey for the holiday meal. For many years now I've enjoyed taking the extra time the day offers to leisurely prepare a special meal of some particular ethnicity. It purely comes down to food preference rather than philosophy. Indian cuisine (that's South Asian Indian, not Native American) for its wide range of flavors, spice intensity, and cool/hot sensations has proven to be the favorite. With the hours of preparation and careful cooking it requires, we can usually plan on the holiday meal to be ready in the early evening. The result MORE than makes the anticipation worthwhile!

By around 6pm or so, my much-loved marble mortar and pestle (stained green from the jalapeno mint chutney) is resting on the counter, its work done at last for the day - and the numerous little bowls (I use my Chinese condiment dishes) that hold everything from chopped coriander, hand-ground cumin and cloves and turmeric and cardamom seeds are all emptied out, these ingredients having found a home aromatically simmering away in everything from Chicken Tikka Masala to spicy cauliflower (Phool Gobi aur Aloo Ki Bhaji) and handmade flatbreads (Naan).

Also non-traditional is the source of the many interesting, colorful dishes at my Thanksgiving banquet. My secret is not in time-tested recipes that have been handed down from (Scandinavian!) relatives - it's a dog-eared, broken-binding book I stumbled upon many years ago at a secondhand bookstore in Denver. As reliably as any family member, the stories it tells and secrets it has shared over the years now make Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking another welcome and familiar guest at our annual Thanksgiving dinner table.

Each family has its own reasons for making the food it does during the holidays. The important thing is to do what you do for a reason, and enjoy the results - whatever they are - together.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at VPR! Whether it's turkey or from Turkey, may you enjoy a beautiful meal with enough to share with friends and loved ones, and maybe even have a little left over to enjoy again (and again) over the weekend.

Me? I'm waiting (not very patiently) for that second helping of honeyed pistachios and Gujerati cabbage/carrot salad with toasted black mustard seeds. You'll find the recipe for Sambhara here, as part of our VPR Cooks series. Enjoy!

VPR's Nina Keck in the news

The Rutland Herald and Times Argus profiled VPR's Nina Keck in today's paper. You can read the story here.

Keck has won two national Edward R. Murrow Awards, including one this year for her story about the final exam for an oxen driving class.Listen to her Murrow Award winning story, Final Exam with a Twist.

Upon the High Seas

I'm not particularly seaworthy and am a woefully bad swimmer. But for the second time in six months, I'll be playing on the Burlington Waterfront in a rather exciting event. In February, it was the Penguin Plunge. On Sunday, August 2, I'll be working with 21 other individuals to power a dragon boat during the Lake Champlain Dragon Boat Festival.

We had a practice last weekend and I became keenly aware of just how much my body can ache and also the importance of team work. One thing about dragon boats - rowing faster doesn't necessarily mean going faster. Rowing in time with your team (we're presumptuously called Chase Our Wake) does.

The event raises funds for Dragonheart Vermont (a breast cancer survivor group) and Camp-Ta-Kum-Ta (for kids with cancer).

Hard work aside, one thing became abundantly clear at the conclusion of our practice session. Win or lose, this is really quite fun. But I am hoping our craft doesn't become the latest installment in VPR's "History Under the Waves" series.

A Century of Service

Last Friday, we gathered for our annual employee recognition lunch to honor staff members who have reached milestone years of service to VPR in 2009. This year, we celebrated six staffers:

Left to right, that's Steve Zind (15 years), Cheryl Willoughby (5 years), Sam Sanders (30 years), Walter Parker (25 years), Tim Johnson (5 years), and Robin Turnau (20 years). We did the math; that's 100 years! Every person who works at VPR makes it a stronger organization, but as a staff working as a team and family it becomes worth even more than a century of service. Congratulations!