Recipe As Memory and History

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • November 7, 2022

I may have written about this before but it came across my mind the other day while in the kitchen – as it always does. 


When I work in the kitchen, cooking or baking a family recipe, all sort of memories and thoughts of family history come back into my mind. Some are stories passed down; others are memories that I hold in the recesses of my mind that get stirred up (ha!) while cooking. I often feel like Mama Minnie is leaning over my shoulder as I attempt – and likely    destroy – her pasta sauce recipe. It was a recipe my Mother wrote down as Mama Minnie made a batch of her sauce. My Mother figured if she was in the kitchen, writing it down, she would get her grandmother-in-law’s recipe exact. Unfortunately, try as she did, my Mother never felt it was the same and handed it to me. I don’t remember tasting my great grandmother’s pasta sauce but now I riff on it and she may not like what I do. Because when I followed the recipe, it did not taste right. How would I know “right?” Maybe it’s the genes not the taste buds. 


I often feel Mama Minnie and her daughter-in-law, my grandmother, leaning over my shoulder with their kitchen aprons on commenting on my eggplant parmesan (one of my favorite things). And then, I think about running around barefoot in my Mother’s vegetable garden at maybe the age of 2 or so (yeah I have a serious memory so don’t ever tell me you didn’t say something when you did) picking things for her. I remember distinctly being plopped in over the fence after a play in my wading pool and told to pick X, Y, and Z and I know there were eggplants in there. 


Almond Poppy Seed Muffins. I just made those. They were a big favorite of my Dad’s. It’s not a family recipe though. In his office, they had a lot of foodies – and a lot of Italians I might add. Once they moved their offices out of the city, and were in a more relaxed setting, they had “Big Breakfasts” every Friday, no doubt HIGHLY encouraged and supported by my Dad. It helped that they had a small efficiency kitchen installed so they could cook and bring things in. I looked forward to helping out in my Dad’s office so I could be with him (and also those Big   Breakfasts) – though not the library filing of thousands of pages of tax updates printed on TISSUE paper. A woman who worked for him was a great cook and she and my Dad had come across these muffins and wanted to replicate them. I think it took MANY batches before she came up with what they both thought was the right amount of    almond – my Dad was an almond freak as I am too. They obviously enjoyed tasting all the test runs but the final recipe is excellent and even better, easy. Each time I make it, I think about my Dad’s office, going to work with him, and those fun Big Breakfasts that turned a CPA office into an incredible bakery and restaurant every Friday!


JNLF


P.S. If you are wondering why she was called Mama Minnie – my Dad was the first grandchild and so was the one who named the grandparents. She was tiny, especially in comparison to her husband, who called her Minn or Minnie. Thus, she became Mama Minnie and her husband (my great grandfather) became Big Daddy.

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Heat and Humidity

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 20, 2026
Being Nantucket, we tend to stay cooler than the mainland in the summer though the humidity is often over the top. It often makes me think about people in the nineteenth century and earlier – heck, even well into the mid 1900s, and how they handled the weather. With climate change, we have warmed and our weather is more severe and volatile at times. Instead of a nice gentle rain, we get a deluge and the ground has trouble absorbing that sort of onslaught. But they did did still have heat and humidity – and think of a fire in the hearth all day and the bake oven – if it was a baking day. And now, think of the women standing in front of the firebox and bake oven, or even a cook stove later on. I am sure if the confines of their home, alone, les could be worn but for the most part, those women still had a lot of layers on. I am sure that a cloth dipped into or run under the mouth of the pump and wrung out gently – to keep as much as the cool, moisture as possible – was tied around a neck or stuffed down a dress front (or even in addition to the wet neckerchief).  At the Mitchell House, we get a little of the feeling for this. We have no HVAC in the House so we rely on doors being open – with screens to keep the bugs out – and the roofwalk opened (also with a screen) so that air circulates throughout the House. Air can move nicely through – the heat rises, the air moves up and out of the roofwalk hatch very much as it might have in Maria Mitchell’s day. While we do not have the added (somewhat) drying benefit of the heat of the fire in the kitchen, we do have all of the original horsehair plaster, so the House does remain somewhat cooler and drier overall. But some days, the relative humidity does get up into the 90s in the House – that’s when I say, “Get out your umbrellas!” JNLF

Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Nantucket Harbor Water-Quality Monitoring Buoy Joins Regional Coastal Observing Network

July 17, 2026
NANTUCKET, MA— The Maria Mitchell Association’s (MMA’s) Nantucket Harbor water-quality monitoring buoy is now part of the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems, known as NERACOOS. NERACOOS is one of eleven regional associations that make up the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System, or IOOS, NOAA’s national ocean-observing network for gathering and sharing ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes data. This connection means that real-time data from Nantucket Harbor are no longer held only within a local monitoring program. They are now available through the NERACOOS Mariners Dashboard, where scientists, resource managers, educators, mariners, and the public can view Nantucket Harbor conditions alongside other coastal observing sites from Long Island Sound through the Gulf of Maine. The monitoring buoy carries a suite of sensors that track changing conditions such as temperature, oxygen, acidity, nutrients, and underwater light. These measurements show what eelgrass, bay scallops, and other marine organisms are actually experiencing over time. “This is an important step because Nantucket Harbor is now part of a larger coastal observing system,” said Dr. Betsy Sherman, the Maria Mitchell Association’s Senior Marine Science Advisor. “Our data can be compared with data from other sites, used in regional analyses, and placed in a broader environmental context. We are not just looking at Nantucket Harbor in isolation.” The Nantucket Harbor buoy project has been supported by the Great Harbor Yacht Club Foundation, whose early investment helped make continuous water-quality monitoring in Nantucket Harbor possible. Additional support has been provided by the Remain Nantucket Fund at the Community Foundation for Nantucket, the Osceola Foundation, the Sociable Weaver Foundation, and through collaboration with the Town of Nantucket Harbormaster. The timing is especially relevant for coastal communities because NERACOOS is also leading the newly funded NSF Seafood Engine in New England, a regional effort focused on strengthening fisheries, aquaculture, seafood technology, and coastal economies. For an island community facing changes in water quality, habitat, fisheries, and climate, joining this regional network strengthens the scientific foundation for understanding and protecting Nantucket Harbor. The Maria Mitchell Association was founded in 1902 to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. After she discovered a comet in 1847, Mitchell’s international fame led to many achievements and awards, including an appointment as the first professor of astronomy at Vassar College. Maria Mitchell believed in “learning by doing” and today that philosophy is reflected in the MMA’s mission statement, programs, research projects, and other activities. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages.  ####

Walk Accompli!

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 13, 2026
Finished. Finis. Completed. Done. Accomplished. The Mitchell House roofwalk is now done. Back to looking a bit more normal up on the ridgeline. But as I may have noted in the other post about the roofwalk, the one that was removed due to its condition and how it sat on the roof’s ridge was far from the original – or even a nineteenth century one. I am including an image from about 1908 or so in order for you to see the Mitchell House without a walk – even then. Now, an interesting fact is that I am able to date the undated photo because in the west image – where you see the open year – you can actually see the shadow of the Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory – at the backside of the 1825 Kitchen. And given that shadow you also know its late afternoon since that side of the House, as noted, faces West. Another interesting feature is the long downspout – more like a side spout – that takes water from the front gutter, along the upper West façade of the House and across a window and then over the 1825 Kitchen roof where it terminated in a cistern – still in existence under the ground today. JNLF
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