Midday

It's the 6th anniversary of the universally beloved What Ya Got Cookin-Thanksgiving Edition, here on Midday.

Last Thanksgiving, the rule of thumb was cancel, or keep it super small. COVID infections are once again on the rise, but lots of people, even those as young as five, have been vaccinated and boosted, so many more people are venturing back to the Thanksgiving table.

Our mission here on Midday is simple: we've got three wonderful chefs at your disposal to share recipes and tips to help make your Thanksgiving dinner a delicious and memorable affair.

John Shields is a chef and the proprietor of Gertrude's Chesapeake Kitchen at the Baltimore Museum of Art. He's also the host of Coastal Cooking on MD Public Television and PBS. John's latest book is The New Chesapeake Kitchen.

Chef Damian Mosley is the creative spirit behind Blacksauce Kitchen, which you can find at the Waverly Farmer’s Market and at their storefront on 29th Street in Remington.

A little later in the show, we’ll check-in with Debonette Wyatt, the chef and owner of My Mama’s Vegan, a new Vegan restaurant on Greenmount Avenue here in Baltimore. So if you are not a turkey eater, we’ll be showing you some love a little later.

And speaking of My Mama’s, we’ll also check in with Tom's mama, Rosemary Hall, to find out what she’s bringing to Thanksgiving with his brother in Tennessee...

Whatever you love about Thanksgiving, we’d love to hear about it. What are your family food traditions? Which of the six million ways to make cranberry sauce will you choose tomorrow? Who’s coming to your house, or whose house are you going to, and what COVID precautions will everybody be taking?Let’s talk, and let’s share with each other the things we love about Thanksgiving, culinary or otherwise.

Some community notes:

The Y of Central MD’s annual Turkey Trot Charity 5k is happening again tomorrow. You can run it. You can walk it. You’ll enjoy it either way, and you’ll help the Y provide meals and services to folks throughout Central MD. To sign up, click here.

And this note about some musical happenings at An Die Musik, the performance venue in Baltimore’s Mt. Vernon neighborhood. The John Lamkin Quintet will play a set Friday night; TK Blue and the Mentors Trio will play Saturday night, and on Sunday afternoon and evening, the Eric Byrd Trio will play “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” a great show for families. You need to be vaccinated to attend in person. You can stream all of these shows too. Check it all out at An Die Musik's Website.

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Here are three of John Shields' classic Thanksgiving recipes:

Thelma’s Crab and Artichoke Dip
This rich and satisfying dip recipe is from Baltimore’s Thelma Tunney. It teams blue crabmeat with tender artichoke hearts in a lightly spiced mayonnaise-based sauce and is actually prepared like a casserole. When guests find out Thelma has been invited to a potluck party they are also attending, their mouths start watering in anticipation of this dip. Thelma often serves this dish as an entree baked in individual ramekins accompanied by a fresh garden salad and a hot crusty baguette. When you serve it as a dip, provide plenty of baguette slices or crackers for dipping.

8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Juice of 1 lemon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
Freshly ground black pepper
1 jar (16 ounces) artichoke hearts, drained and cut into small pieces
1 pound backfin or special crabmeat, picked over.
½ cup chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 6-cup casserole dish. Combine the cheese, mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire, lemon juice, cayenne, and black pepper in a large bowl. Stir until well mixed. Gently fold in the artichoke hearts, crabmeat, and parsley. Pour the mixture into the casserole dish.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve at once. Serves 8 to 10.

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Champagne Cabbage and Apples
Not that I really understand the concept, but some people just do not like sauerkraut—go figure. But I found a solution--a little devious, but a solution nevertheless. And here it is: a braised champagne “kraut,” with ginger, caraway, and a goodly amount of tart apples. The secret is rinsing the sauerkraut well under cold water, and then the kraut naysayers will enjoy a plateful extolling the virtues of cabbage, and, of course, champagne. Honestly, whether you like kraut or not, this dish really is a crowd pleaser.

6 tablespoons butter or olive oil
2 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (optional)
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 tart apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
2 jars (2 pounds each) sauerkraut, rinsed in cold water several times and drained
2 cups dry champagne
1 teaspoon caraway seed (optional)
Salt and black pepper, to taste.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a heavy ovenproof pot, melt the butter, and if using, render the bacon for a few minutes. Add the onion, ginger, and garlic. Sauté for 4 minutes. Add the apples and sauté for 2 minutes longer.

Place the rinsed sauerkraut into the pot. Pour in the champagne, caraway seed, salt, and pepper. Toss together and bring to a boil.

Cover tightly and bake in the oven for 1 hour. Serves 8.

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Emily’s Favorite Black Rock Orchard Apple Pie

2 ¾ cups flour
¾ cup butter
1 large egg
¼ cup milk
10 large tart apples
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup cereal flakes (corn, wheat, or a similar type of cereal)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the flour in a mixing bowl and cut butter in with a pastry cutter, or the tips of your fingers, or in a food processor. If using a food processor, use the pulse feature, taking care to only get a coarse mixture. You don’t want to over-process. Beat the egg and the milk together and mix with the flour mixture to form a stiff dough. Divide the dough into two pieces and refrigerate.

Peel, core, and thinly slice the apples into a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together and mix with the apple slices.

Roll out one ball of dough to fit the bottom and sides of a 12X9-inch Pyrex baking pan. Sprinkle with the cereal flakes, leaving a ½-inch border around the edges of the dough. Spoon the apple mixture over the flakes. Roll out the remaining dough and place over the apples. Seal by pinching the edges together and brush with a little milk to help brown the top of the pie.

Place pie in the oven and bake for 1 hour. Remove pan and place on a wire rack to cool. Pie may be served warm or cold. Serves 10 to 12.

Adapted from John Shields’ Chesapeake Chef column in Edible Chesapeake Magazine Fall 2008 Edition.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Now, we turn our attention to two of Maryland’s most prominent voices in the world of poetry.

A little later in the program, Tom speaks with our state’s poet laureate, Grace Cavalieri. But we're joined first by Baltimore poet Kondwani Fidel. Last year, he released his debut poetry EP “The Mud Was Made For Us.” He’s also the author of the non-fiction book, The Anti-Racist: How to Start the Conversation About Race and Take Action, and he’s featured in the short film, Hummingbirds in the Trenches. He holds a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore. He’s a professor at Coppin State University.

Kondwani Fidel joins us on Zoom.

Poet, playwright and author Grace Cavalieri has served as Maryland’s poet laureate since 2018. She’s written 26 books and chapbooks of poetry, and she’s had more than two dozen plays produced in theaters across the country. Her latest books are called Grace Art: Poems and Painting, and The Secret Letters of Madame de Staél . Grace is also the founder of The Poet and the Poem, a radio show and later, a podcast that she has hosted for 44 years. It’s currently available through the Library of Congress.

Grace Cavalieri joins us on Zoom from Annapolis.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

The COP26 UN Conference on Climate Change in Glasgow, Scotland, ended 10 days ago, with deep divisions between some of the world’s largest contributors to global warming still intact.

President Joe Biden tried to re-assert American leadership on climate, and following his return from Scotland, the House passed his bipartisan infrastructure bill, which contains $47 billion in environmental funding, including money to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay and to deal with the effects of climate change. That alone is the largest spending package on environmental provisions in American history, and days later, the House sent the much larger Build Back Better Act to the Senate which, at the moment, contains more than $550 billion dollars in climate provisions.

Joining Tom to discuss the COP 26 Conference and the way forward in confronting climate change is May Boeve (pron. BOO-vee), the co-founder and executive director of the environmental advocacy group, 350.org.

May Boeve joins us on Zoom from Oakland, California.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Today it’s Midday on Development. A little later in this hour, Tom speaks with Klaus Philipsen, an architect, urban planner and the president of ArchPlan, Inc., a design firm in Baltimore. He also hosts The Community Architect blog and he's the author of Baltimore: Reinventing an Industrial Legacy City. Philipsen discusses the proposal to revive the old "dollar house" homesteading program in Baltimore City and the different urban development strategies that might help move the needle on the more than 15,000 vacant properties scattered throughout the city.

Klaus Philipsen joins us on our digital line.

But we begin with a Baltimore developer who has for several years built homes and commercial properties in Remington, an historic neighborhood that borders the Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus. He’s also involved in reviving Lexington Market on Baltimore’s West Side and other projects.

Thibault Manekin is the co-founder of Seawall Development. Drawing on his experience running basketball leagues in South Africa and other countries that was premised on the assumption that playing together heals deep-seated wounds, Manekin has thought about how to bridge the Black and White divide in Baltimore, and transform not just buildings, but lives.

He's just published a new book, Larger Than Yourself: Reimagine Industries, Lead With Purpose, & Grow Ideas into Movements.

Thibault Manekin joins us on Zoom.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Today on Midday, Tom's Newsmaker guest is Baltimore City Police Commissioner Michael Harrison.

So far this year, 303 people have been victims of homicide in Baltimore City, and 639 other people have shot. By now, you’ve undoubtedly heard the reports of what everyone refers to as the “grim milestone” we passed earlier this week when five-year old Nivea Anderson became the city’s 300th homicide victim. The last time our city made it through a year without more than 300 people losing their lives to violence was two years before that poor little girl was born.

Governor Larry Hogan announced the state would fund a $100,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or people who killed Evelyn Player, a 69-year-old woman who was stabbed to death at Southern Baptist Church in East Baltimore on Tuesday. The Governor remains critical of city leadership and their efforts to reduce crime.

Those leaders — the Mayor, the State’s Attorney and the Commissioner — have pledged that they are all on the same page when it comes to confronting this deadly dilemma. Three weeks ago, Mayor Brandon Scott announced he was allocating $50 million dollars of American Rescue Plan funds to the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement to support Violence Intervention programs and other initiatives.

We welcome listener calls, emails and Tweets.

Commissioner Michael Harrison joins us on Zoom.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

It's time for another visit from Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins Tom this week with her review of The Great Leap, playwright Lauren Yee's 2018 socio-political fable about personal ambition, set amidst a Sino-American "friendship" basketball match in 1989, on the eve of China's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. The play is getting a regional premiere at Bethesda's Round House Theatre. Jennifer Chang directs the live-on-stage performances with a cast that includes Grant Chang, Eric Hissom, Lois Shih and Randy Nguyen Ta.

The Great Leap continues at Round House through Dec. 5. Streaming begins Nov. 26. Patrons must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination upon entry and wear masks while attending performances at the theatre, with limited exceptions. Click here for full details.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

In the fall of 1968, just a few months after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was gunned down on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, an extraordinary thing happened in northwestern Montgomery County. A Black Methodist church in a community called Quince Orchard, and two nearby White Methodist churches decided to merge into one congregation. Cities across the country, including Baltimore, were dealing with unprecedented racial tension in the aftermath of the riots and uprisings that erupted after King’s murder, just as these three churches began a nearly unprecedented odyssey together.

A film that tells this amazing story will air on Maryland Public Television this coming Monday as part of MPT’s Standing Against Racism: Fostering Unity Through Dialogue initiative. It’s called Finding Fellowship, and Tom's guest today is the film’s director and co-producer, Jason Green.

He is also an attorney and former associate counsel in the Obama White House who is co-founder and senior vice-president of Skillsmart, a local technology firm. Jason Green joins us on our digital line from Gaitherburg, Md.

The documentary"Finding Fellowship" will air on MPT at 9pm on Monday, November 22, and at two other times as well, and it will be available after the broadcast for streaming on-demand. For more information, click here.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Every ten years, following a national census, Congressional seats are re-allocated, and Congressional district boundaries are re-drawn to assure that each member of the House represents roughly the same number of constituents. As the population of the US shifts, certain states will lose seats in the House, while others will gain them. New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, West Virginia and California will all lose a seat in the next Congress. Oregon, Colorado, Montana, Texas, Florida and North Carolina will each gain seats.

The 2020 Census showed that the state of Maryland grew by more than 400,000 people, although the City of Baltimore has lost 35,000 residents during the last 10 years.And with that population loss comes a loss of clout on Capitol Hill.Maryland will retain the eight-member House Delegation it currently holds, and on Dec. 6th, the General Assembly will meet in a special session to determine what voters those eight districts will include.

Last January, Republican Governor Larry Hogan appointed members to a commission called the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission. That body submitted proposed maps for Congressional and state districts to the Governor a week and a half ago. (see link below)

A separate commission, appointed in July by Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Adrienne Jones - both Democrats - has released its own set of maps, including four different proposals for Congressional districts. (see link below)

Today on Midday: where we are in the redistricting process, how we got here, and what we can expect moving forward.

A little later in the program, we're joined by Dave Daley, a senior fellow at the non-partisan group FairVote and the author of two books about gerrymandering and re-districting, the latest called Unrigged: How Americans are Battling Back to Save Democracy. Daley recaps the history of how the current Maryland Congressional map was devised 10 years ago.

We also hear from Josh Kurtz, a journalist who covers all things legislative in Maryland as the founding editor of Maryland Matters, one of the state's leading political news journals.

But we begin with former Maryland State Senator Jim Brochin. Brochin, a Democrat, has teamed up with former Republican Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman to form Fair Maps Maryland, a group that advocates for the legislature to adopt the recommendations that Gov. Hogan’s commission has put forward. Fair Maps Maryland is being advised by Doug Mayer, a former communications strategist for the Governor.

Jim Brochin joins us on the phone from Towson, Maryland.

Here are links to the two separate redistricting commissions and their respective proposed maps:

Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission

Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Tom's guest for the hour today is Celeste Headlee, an award-winning public media journalist and author who is heard frequently as a guest host on NPR and American Public Media. Her TEDx Talk about how to have better conversations has been viewed more than 26 million times, and she has served as a consultant to companies around the world on race, diversity and inclusion.

She is the author of three books, the latest of which arrives just in time for those potentially difficult conversations around the Thanksgiving dinner table. It’s called Speaking of Race: Why Everybody Needs to Talk About Racism-And How to Do It.

Celeste Headlee joins us now from Bethesda, Maryland, on our digital line.

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Ms. Headlee will be speaking about her book tonight at 7:00 in the Wheeler Auditorium at the Enoch Pratt Central Library. It’s part of the Baltimore Festival of Jewish Literature. There’s an on-line option available as well. For more information and tickets, click here.

And on Sunday afternoon at 2:30, the Festival will present an interactive event for children at the Oregon Ridge Nature Center. Noa Baum, the Israeli author and storyteller, will talk about her book, How the Birds Became Friends. For more information, click here.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Today on Midday, we examine the challenges facing nursing homes, home-care providers and the elder-care industry as a whole.

Nursing homes, like hospitals and other care providers, are facing severe staff shortages. The pandemic has led to labor shortages throughout the economy. Restaurants have had to scale back hours because they can’t find enough servers and cooks. The supply chain has been disrupted by not enough truck drivers to meet the demand, and school systems across the country are scrambling to certify and hire bus drivers.

A report issued last week by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living says that nursing homes are down 221,000 jobs since the pandemic began. This decline of 14% in the workforce dwarfs any other sector. A survey showed that 78% of nursing homes and 61% of assisted living communities have serious concerns about their ability to remain open.What does this mean for the elderly who need help in both community based and at-home settings?

Joining Tom to discuss these issues are:Joseph DeMattos, Jr. He’s the President and CEO of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland; and Allison Roenigk Ciborowski, the President and CEO of Leading Age Maryland, a network of non-profits that encourage innovation and collaboration in care for the aging.

_________________________________________________________________For family members providing care at home, here are some important resources:

Baltimore City Division of Aging 410-396-2273

Baltimore County Dept. of Aging 410-887-2594

Maryland Dept. of Aging (for other jurisdictions) 410-767-1100

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.