Queen Anne’s Chorale Presents "Holiday Pops!"
On December 6, 2009 at 4:00 p.m., The Queen Anne’s Chorale will present its Christmas concert, “Holiday Pops”. The single performance will be held at the Todd Performing Arts Center at Chesapeake College on Rt. 50 in Wye Mills, MD. A reception will follow, enabling the audience to join Chorale members in the Christmas spirit.
The Chorale is very honored to have as its artistic director, Mr. Robert Huntington, who begins his 8th year directing the 60 voice singing ensemble. Mr. Huntington carefully selects quality repertory for each concert and has become well known for his excellent musicality and creative programming. Accompanist, Cindy Bidinotto-Slate brings another high level of expertise to the Chorale’s successful performances as well.
This season’s concert will launch the Christmas season with some great standards such as “Silver Bells”, “We Need A Little Christmas”, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”, “Let It Snow”, and “White Christmas”. Talented soloists from the Chorale will perform and a combo of bass and drums will accompany many of the selections. Kids of all ages will especially enjoy the presentations of “ ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” and “The Grinch”. The audience will have the opportunity to participate in singing as well. This performance is sure to put its listeners in the “holiday” spirit!
Tickets are sold at the door or through Chorale members and are $10.00 for adults. Children through high school are admitted free. The concert venue is handicapped accessible.
In keeping with the Queen Anne’s Chorale community outreach, this Christmas concert will also be performed at William Hill Manor on Monday, December 14. The Chorale has been performing for the retirement community there for many years.
The Queen Anne’s Chorale is funded in part by directed or designated support from federal employees through the Combined Federal Campaign and grants from the United Way of Queen Anne’s County, Queen Anne’s Arts Council, and the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive.
For more information please call: 410 827 0825 or visit www.qachorale.org.
Let’s Can Apples
by JR Coffey
The smell of cooking apples seem to say Fall. It is that smell and taste that we want to capture in the canning jar. I believe Fall is one of the busiest times in regard to canning and preserving. Many fruits are in during the Fall season, including grapes, apples, pears, plums and figs. Let’s get started canning!
The varieties of apples are endless. I prefer Golden Delicious to can for Baking, Ginger Gold for Apple Chutney, Winesaps, Grimes Golden or my favorite Northern Spy for applesauce and apple butter. The early apples such as Summer Rambo and Transparent are good for sauce and cooking as well. I use the same apples for pies as for sauce.
Apples for Baking
1 gallon apples, peeled and quartered
1 C. sugar
1 t. Fruit Fresh
Mix sugar and fruit fresh and sprinkle over apples. Cover and let stand overnight. Next morning, pack apples into clean jars, leaving ¾” headspace. Add hot water to juice left in container and dissolve sugar and divide liquid among the jars. Add more water to fill jars to within ¾” headspace. Wipe jar rims, seal and process (cold pack) 5 to 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Do half gallon jars 15 minutes. Do not process too long or they will turn to sauce instead. Golden Delicious are excellent canned this way.
A slight variation is to use 2 to 3 pounds sugar for a 5 gallon container of prepared apples. To serve, put your apples in a casserole dish. Sprinkle with about ¼ C. brown sugar and dot with about 1 or 2 T. butter. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 to 60 minute.
Apple Pie Filling
Please see Peach column for my pie filling to can recipe. Just add 1 T. ground cinnamon per double batch of glaze for each ½ bushel of apples. This will can 14 to 16 quarts each time. You could add some apple pie spice (1 to 2 t.) instead of or in addition to the cinnamon. Some also like about a teaspoon of vanilla as well in apple pie filling.
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