From the Archives: March 5 in the Pioneer
Mar. 5—March 5, 2015 — Dan Rice, owner of the Big River Scoop ice cream shop in Bemidji, recently published his second book about living in the outdoors, "The Unpeopled Season: Journal from a North Country Wilderness." Rice was inspired to publish the novel after the success of his first book, "The Side of a Wilderness," a semi-autobiographical fiction.
March 5, 2000 — The way Minnesota distributes hunting and fishing licenses has changed to electronic processing at license retailers instead of a traditional paper form. Minnesotans can swipe their driver's license, public safety or firearms card to apply. Hunters and anglers are encouraged to get their licenses early to avoid long lines.
March 5, 1975 — Local officials received word that a federal grant to further development of Bemidji's Industrial Park has been approved. Combined with $311,600 to be provided by the city of Bemidji, the $1,372,000 project will extend the city's water and sewer lines and add an overhead storage tank to the city's water system.
March 5, 1925 — P.M. Dicaire, proprietor of the Cottage Grocery Store at 1101 Irvine Avenue, will soon complete 20 years in the grocery business at that location. Barring a few short trips, he has conducted the business of his store every day since March 7, 1905. He previously owned a hardware store located next to the Elko Theater.
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New York Times
13-06-2025
- New York Times
The Rice Hack That Fuels My Family
A dry skillet and patience are all you need to transform leftover rice into a meal, Eric Kim writes. Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne Published June 13, 2025 Updated June 13, 2025 I grew up with a rice cooker on the counter and a bag of rice the size of me in the pantry. Rice was the main carbohydrate, the grain around which the rest of the meal revolved. So we often had plenty of leftovers, which my mother would fashion into kimchi fried rice or store in single-serve containers in the refrigerator, to reheat in the microwave at a later time. But more often than not, she'd turn it into crunchy little chips called nurungji, or scorched rice. Eric Kim grew up in a house where the rice cooker was a central part of how he and his family ate every day. Rice would be served alongside meals, but then also reused and made into new and different dishes. In this video, Eric shows you some techniques and tips to leverage ingredients in unexpected ways to extend the life of a pot of rice. By The New York Times Cooking People forget that rice isn't just a blank canvas; it has a unique flavor all its own, whether you're cooking jasmine, basmati or sushi rice, or another kind you and your family love. Scorching it helps you taste its nuance. Also known as socarrat (when it's on the bottom of a paella pan) or tahdig (in Persian households), among many other names, scorched rice is ordinarily a natural byproduct. It occurs at the bottom of the pot, sometimes without any cooking fat, which means you can really taste the grain's natural sweetness. Hannah Bae of Noona's Ice Cream has even turned that elusive flavor into ice cream. At the Korean restaurant Cho Dang Gol, where stone-pot rice is the norm, you get two gifts: first, perfectly steamed white rice; second, after tea is poured into the pot to lift the nutty, browned rice stuck on the bottom, the nurungji. The longer you toast the rice, the crunchier the end result will be. Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini You can make easily scorched rice at home. Just add enough fresh or day-old cooked white rice to a dry nonstick skillet, packing it down into a layer about ½-inch tall. Drizzle 1 tablespoon water evenly over the rice. Cook over medium-low until the bottom of the rice is nicely browned and releases on its own, 15 to 20 minutes. When you shake the pan, the rice 'pancake' should slide around as one entity, smelling toasty and fragrant. Then, either with a big spatula or a confident toss of the pan, flip the 'pancake' to lightly crisp the other side, about 5 minutes. The longer you toast the rice, the drier the insides will get and the crunchier the end result will be. I like to keep the interior tender, the best of two worlds. My mother would dry it up completely. Sprinkled with sugar, it was an ideal midnight snack, something to eat in front of the television. But the best way to enjoy nurungji, to my mind, is at a table set with my favorite banchan. Break the rice into a bowl, pour some hot water over to soften it and pair it alongside. Then, sip the remaining tea, a treat on top of a treat. Follow New York Times Cooking on Instagram , Facebook , YouTube , TikTok and Pinterest . Get regular updates from New York Times Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice .
Associated Press
10-06-2025
- Associated Press
Want to grow your own rice? A step-by-step guide for adventurous gardeners
Many of us think of rice as a plant that grows in flooded fields, and that's because the kind of rice we're most familiar with — the long-grain, wetland variety called lowland rice — can be considered semi-aquatic, although it's technically a grass. Lowland rice would be challenging to grow in a home garden, but another, less common variety can be cultivated more easily in typical backyard conditions. Duborskian rice, a Russian short-grained dryland, or 'upland' rice, is a highly ornamental plant that can even be grown in containers, where its 2-foot-tall green and gold panicles will lend height and beauty to the center or rear of mixed planters. But if grown as a crop, cultivating rice from your plants can be a fun activity for adventurous gardeners. Start by making spaceWhen determining how many plants to grow, consider that it takes approximately 10 plants to produce 1 pound of rice. Since each plant occupies only 1 foot of garden space, a 10-by-10-foot plot will hold 100 plants, which will yield roughly 6 to 10 pounds of rice in a season. In the absence of purchased starter plants, seeds are best sown directly into the garden in May or June in frost-free zones. Elsewhere, they should be started indoors four weeks before the danger of frost has passed. Expect seeds to germinate in five to seven days. A 24-hour water soak before sowing will hasten germination. Indoor starts are best aided by a heat mat. Four-week-old seedlings should be transplanted outdoors at the same time it's considered safe to plant tomatoes, peppers and eggplants in your region. Taking care of your rice plantsSelect a sunny spot and enrich the soil with a generous amount of compost before planting. Since the rice requires a high level of nutrients, fertilize every two weeks with a balanced, all-purpose fertilizer. Space plants 1 foot apart to ensure adequate circulation between them, as they will need to be pollinated by wind. You might also surround plants with netting to protect them from birds. Keep the surrounding soil free of weeds throughout the growing season. Separating the rice from the chaff, and other steps Your rice will be ready to harvest in about 105 days. You'll know it's ready when the seed heads appear dry but haven't yet dropped their seeds. At that point, cut plants down to ground level and hang the stalks up for a few days to dry further. But that's not the end of it. Rice will have to be removed from its stalks, and each grain's tough outer shell, called a hull, will need to be removed. On commercial farms, they have equipment to do this, but since you're growing rice at home, you will have to do it manually. Tie the cut ends of the dried stalks together, then place a screen (an old window screen will do) over a wheelbarrow. Rub the seed heads against the screen until the grains fall off into the wheelbarrow. If this sounds too complicated, you can achieve the same results by beating the tied bunch of stalks onto a clean sheet that you've laid on the ground. Once the grains have been separated from their stalks, scoop them up and remove the hulls in batches using a mortar and pestle (put the kids to work!) If you don't have a mortar and pestle, you can hit them with a rubber mallet, but it's a delicate balance to remove the hulls without crushing the rice. The next step is to separate the proverbial rice from the chaff (the hulls). The easiest way to accomplish this is to use a fan to blow the light-as-air hulls away. You can't eat the hulls, but they can be added to compost piles or used as mulch. If you'd like to save rice for replanting next year, put some aside before removing the hulls; they'll need to be intact for the seeds to germinate. To enjoy the fruits of your labor, cook the grains as you would any rice and enjoy it in sweet or savory recipes. It'll be good, but not likely as good as the story you'll be able to tell about that time you grew your own rice. ___ Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice. ___ For more AP gardening stories, go to
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Yahoo
Secrets of a fortress: Inside Litchfield's GAR Hall
Jun. 5—, Minn. — Visitors to the Grand Army of the Republic Hall in this central Minnesota city are able to step back 140 years thanks to the decision of the Civil War veterans who built it. The deed for the property, turned over to what was then the village of Litchfield, spelled out that the building was to be preserved and used in a manner that maintained its original purpose — to honor Civil War veterans and preserve their history. "The building itself is the first GAR hall built in the state," Meeker County Museum Executive Director Danelle Erickson said in an interview for in 2022. Other Grand Army of the Republic posts formed in the state of Minnesota had gathered in homes or other available spaces. The Grand Army of the Republic was first organized by Union veterans of the Civil War in 1866 in Illinois. The states that the organization's purpose was to "maintain fellowship for the men who fought to preserve the Union and to help widows, orphans, and handicapped veterans." The Grand Army of the Republic conducted regular meetings and had thousands of posts throughout the United States, along with thousands and thousands of members, according to Erickson. There were close to 300 members of the Litchfield post throughout the years. The first Grand Army of the Republic post in Litchfield was formed in 1874 but died out with the death of the founder two years later. Another was formed in 1883, and many of the first meetings were in the county courthouse, according to another Members of Frank Daggett Post No. 35 decided in March 1885 that they needed their own building, and construction began in May of that year, using cream-colored brick from the local brickyard. The cornerstone was laid by Memorial Day, according to the online history. The building is described as "reminiscent of a small, medieval fortress" with features that include a central tower, turrets that project above the parapet wall and an inscribed stone with the raised letters "GAR" and the 1885 date. "It's very memorable from the outside, that fortress look. It just kind of shows a lot about the men that were here at the time," Erickson said in the 2022 interview. The bulk of the work was completed by October of 1885. One of the final things added was a "spectacular, 16-globe chandelier," according to another Today, the Meeker County Historical Society is the caretaker of the GAR Hall. The Meeker County Museum, built in 1961, is attached to the back of the building. Officially called "Meeker County Museum at the GAR Hall," it includes a pioneer cabin and exhibits that include artifacts relating to the history of the Dakota people, schools in Meeker County, Minnesotans serving in war, medicine and more. The two-story museum also houses a research library for genealogy enthusiasts. In the anteroom of the GAR Hall are Civil War artifacts, including cannons, literature and photos of important players in the war. The old wooden chairs upon which veterans sat during meetings are set up in the main hall as if ready for a meeting. The altar stands at the front of the room for use by a veteran leading the meeting. Photos of members line the walls, and the decor is original to the time. The Grand Army of the Republic Hall was added to the on May 21, 1975. The areas of significance for the designation are architecture and social/humanitarian. When Erickson became museum director, she learned that some local citizens were concerned the history of the GAR Hall was not being maintained in accordance with the deed. Historic documents, including the 1885 deed, were then reviewed to better understand the intentions of the original members who had deeded the building to the city. Erickson said the goal of all parties involved was the same — preserving the history but just with some "different views on how that was done." The result of their work was the creation of a handbook detailing the proper care and upkeep of the facility. The GAR Hall and museum, located at 308 N. Marshall Ave. in Litchfield, are open year-round for walk-in tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays. GAR Hall programming includes the second Thursday of every month, featuring various speakers throughout the year. "The Civil War, especially for American history, is pretty much one of the most written about book-wise," Erickson said in 2022. "Each year there are thousands of books, hundreds at least, on the Civil War. It's very much a topic that people are interested in, and continue to be interested in." For more from our Lakes Country Treasures series, click on the gems in the map below.
