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Fall Hours began October 16

Cushing House Museum Tours

Saturday Tours Only: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Last tour starts at 3 p.m.

Perkins Art & Research Center
Fridays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

"Is that a ship on your head?" The Curious History of a Well-traveled Hat

by Bethany Groff Dorau, executive director

Like many of you, I wager, I had a vague idea that one of Marie Antoinette’s extreme displays of wealth and time-wasting involved the wearing of a ship, complete with a towering white wig fashioned into billowing waves, on her aristocratic head. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I did not fully grasp the meaning of that fashion choice, and by extension, the meaning of my adoption of it, 250 years later, until after I returned and a friend sent me an article about the coiffure à la Belle Poule...

Voting in Newburyport Through the Centuries

by Susan Squires, Perkins Art & Research Center Volunteer

On December 18, 1788  a late December snowstorm had made the roads almost impassable. Despite, “a thin turnout” in Essex County (2), 265 men trudged through the snow to the Courthouse on Lower State Street near the waterfront in Newburyport to cast their vote in the first ever presidential election.. 

Upcoming Events

Something Is Always Cooking...

Tofu Massaman Curry

This is go to warm and delicious comfort food. You can easily substitute any preferred protein for the tofu if that isn't your thing.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil, divided
• 8 oz firm tofu, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and diced
• 2 large garlic cloves, diced
• 3 tablespoons massaman curry paste
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 1 sweet potato OR 1/3 butternut squash, peeled and diced
• 1 medium or large carrot, peeled and sliced
• 1/4 cup all natural peanut butter (you don't want any added sugar in the recipe)
• Juice of one lime
• 1 tablespoon fresh coriander, chopped
• Chopped peanuts, to serve
• Optional: Add fresh diced green beans, broccoli or cauliflower if you want.
• Rice (Jasmine, Basmati or your choice) cooked to specification.

Instructions:

1. In a large pan, heat 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil and fry the tofu for about 5 minutes until golden and crisp. Remove the tofu from the pan and set aside.
2. Add rest of the sesame oil to the pan and cook the onion, red pepper carrot (and green beans, etc... if including), stir to combine and cook until they soften.
3. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Then add in the soy sauce and massaman curry paste, cooking for another minute.
4. Stir in the coconut milk and sweet potato (or butternut squash). Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer with lid on the pan for bout 20 minutes until the sweet potato (or squash) is tender. Stirring often.
5. Then add the peanut butter and cook for another minute.
6. Add in the lime juice, tofu and coriander. Stir to combine, and serve over rice, with chopped peanuts on top.

Enjoy!

Puzzle Me This...

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 Le négligé galant ornés de la coéffure à la Belle-Poule, courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

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