Reading: The Eckert Family Fall Cookbook: Apple, Pumpkin, Squash Recipes, and More

Fall is here, Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away. This year I’m hosting my friends I spend the holiday with. We’ve been together nearly every year for more than a decade now. Even though it’s potluck we all try to find something new and fun to bring to share with others.

This year I’ll likely make one of the recipes in a new local cookbook: The Eckert Family Fall Cookbook: Apple, Pumpkin, Squash Recipes, and More:

For decades, the St. Louis region’s most popular destination for pick-your-own produce has been Eckert’s Orchards. The Eckert family has been preparing delicious meals from foods grown on their farms for seven generations. Eating locally grown foods is a family tradition, and over the years, the family’s collection of delicious fall recipes has grown. From a classic apple butter that has been handed down for generations to a more modern preparation of pork with apple cider reduction, this cookbook has something for everyone. These tried and true family recipes are designed to allow the flavors of the season to shine through. Tips and techniques from the growing fields will ensure successful preparation of fresh ingredients while maximizing flavor. From fall squash to sweet potatoes to apples, these recipes provide inspiration for many memorable meals utilizing the delicious fall harvest. (Reedy Press)

Look for the book in local stores or order online.

— Steve Patterson

A Look At Local Election Results

Voter turnout in the City of St. Louis was an impressive 72.8%! That figure is a bit misleading though, 72.8% of registered voters cast ballots on Tuesday, a total of 142,042, but not every ballot voted on every item. I personally didn’t vote in those races with only one candidate (ex: Circuit Attorney), others did the same.

Here is a list of how many voters did not vote on citywide races:

• President: 456
• Senate: 1,754
• Governor: 3,052
• Lt. Governor: 5,081
• Secretary of State: 5,935
• State Treasurer: 6,199
• Attorney General: 5,251
• US Rep Dist 1: 5,802
• Circuit Attorney: 18,541
• Public Administrator: 11,067
• Sheriff: 10,173
• Treasurer: 8,824
• Amendment 3: 13,748 (change current nonpartisan judge process)
• Proposition A: 8,003 (local control of St. Louis police)
• Proposition B: 5,534 (increase cigarette tax)
• Proposition E: 11,032 (prohibit healthcare exchanges)
• Proposition R: 13,459 (reduce Board of Aldermen)

So 456 people took the time to vote but didn’t pick a presidential ticket? The fewest ballots cast were in the race for Circuit Attorney. Competitive races get higher participation. Hopefully,  in a decade, when we have 14 wards instead of our current 28 there will be increased competition.

Tuesday night when I was at Sen. Claire McCaskill’s watch party at the Chase I checked local results on the KMOV iPhone app, I tweeted the following image that I’d taken as a screen capture.

Oh no, Prop R is going down big time, not just failing to get the 60% approval necessary to change the charter. Very quickly I got replies saying the results from other sources showed the opposite. In the end 65.9% of registered voters weighed in on this important change to city governance. But I’m bugged that 13,459 voters, 14.5% of registered voters, didn’t take the time to make a decision. Though if they had Proposition R might have failed!

But it passed with 61.49% of the vote, just over the 60% needed. So a decade from now you’ll see some real change start to happen.Will the 2020 census record yet another decline in population? Would making the reduction in the number of aldermen have sent a message to young progressives to stay in St. Louis, that we can change? We’ll never know the answer to that last question.

— Steve Patterson

Grocery Shopping By Bicycle

To many people stocking up at the grocery store means taking the car, but not everyone  thinks that way.

When I saw this woman come out of Vincent’s pushing a shopping cart with two bags I expected her to go toward the parking lot. Instead she headed to the bike secured to the bus stop sign. Initially was a bit shocked because, like me, she wasn’t a young 20-something. The more I thought about it I realized I know people my age (mid 40s) to well into their 70s that bike everywhere.

If the bus wasn’t about to come I would’ve stopped her to find out more. Given that she has fold-out baskets on her bike I’d say if she has a car at all it doesn’t get used much for grocery shopping.

Those of you who drive everywhere may find it hard to believe that a person can live in St. Louis without a car, but more and more are doing so.

Note the bike racks in the background, not near the entrance. It’s telling she locked her bike to the sign post rather than one of the two bike racks further away.

— Steve Patterson

Readers Optimistic About The City+Arch+River Project

Readers in the poll last week responded they were optimistic about the City+Arch+River project to connect the Gateway Arch to downtown.

Q: Optimistic or Pessimistic About The City+Arch+River Project?

1. Optimistic 197 [62.54%]
2. Pessimistic 85 [26.98%]
3. Neutral 16 [5.08%]
4. Other: 9 [2.86%]
5. Unsure/No Opinion 8 [2.54%]

I’ve gone from optimistic to neutral since funding seems to be a challenge.

1. Unhappy that the project doesn’t include eliminating the depressed I-70 lanes.
2. impatient! when does construction start?! NOW!!!
3. For the better
4. Portion will get done but not sure about Metro East projects.
5. cautiously optimistic.
6. It still won’t truly connect the city to the arch grounds.
7. Pessimistic about it being completed on time.
8. disappointed with the choices 
9. Biggest waste of money. 

I think we’ll see something completed by the 50th anniversary party on October 28, 2015 but it will be significantly scaled back.

— Steve Patterson

Completely Different Economies

Many people use daily deal sites/apps like Living Social and Groupon and many local versions exist now as well. Businesses run deals in an attempt to attract new customers, but the distribution of deals is .

Recently looking at a map (above) of Groupon deal locations it become clear to me the central corridor and south city are my only options, no businesses in north city seem to be participating. A notable exception is advertiser Rambles on 14th Street in Old North had  a recent deal on Living Social.

Perhaps the north city merchants realize the cost of a new customer through such sites may simply be too high, not enough bang for the buck. I looked on Ujamaa Deals but didn’t find anything local:

Ujamaa Deals was founded to directly combat the chronic unemployment plaguing the Black community. No community that spends over 90% of its money with businesses that they don’t own will EVER achieve political, social, cultural, or economic equality or independence!

The idea behind Ujamaa Deals is very simple. The real unemployment rate in the Black community is over 20%, with some estimates as high as 30%, and these numbers are not improving. It is a fact that Black-owned business are more likely to hire Black people than non-Black-owned businesses (about 85% more likely actually). Blacks currently spend less than 10% of their money with Black-owned businesses. So it became obvious to us that the most efficient way to combat Black unemployment is to re-direct more Black dollars to Black businesses in order to help them grow, and when they grow they’ll need to hire more people, and those people are likely to be Black. So by spending money with Black-owned businesses we are creating wealth and jobs for ourselves and decreasing our dependence on others for goods and services.

One sentence really stood out to me:

“Blacks currently spend less than 10% of their money with
Black-owned businesses.”

That’s a harsh reality if true! Looking into this issue I ran across an article by Ujamaa Deals co-founder Lawrence Watkins where he discussed the  4 half-truths about black-owned businesses — and why you should still buy black:

1. Customer service is terrible with black-owned businesses.
2. The prices of black-owned businesses are higher than at other firms.
3. Encouraging people to buy black is racist. We need to encourage people to buy American.
4. There aren’t any black products that I really want to buy.

Obviously much work needs to be done to get a thriving economy is predominantly black areas.   I don’t have any solutions, do you?

— Steve Patterson