Lebanon Board of Selectmen's Meeting Agenda for Monday, December 7, 2015.

AGENDA: 4:00 PM Tom Torno – Road Commissioner

　

4:15 PM Sue Collins – Paperwork/discussion

　

 Other business

Late November to Early December Finds us in Thailand, Celebrating Loy Krathong, the Festival of Floating Bowls.

Buddhists celebrate Loy Krathong during the 12th Lunar Month

Late November to Early December.

Loy Krathong (say: Loy KRAT hong) (Festival of Floating Bowls) At the end of the Kathin Festival season, when the rivers and canals are full of water, the Loy Krathong Festival takes place in all parts of Thailand on the full moon night of the 12 Lunar Month (which falls in late November to early December). The 2015 Loy Krathong Festival was celebrated on November 25-27.  
People bring bowls made of leaves which contain flowers candles and incense sticks, and float them in the water. As they go, all bad luck, anger, hatred and bad feelings are suppose to disappear into the waters.
The traditional krathong are made from a slice of the trunk of a banana tree or a spider lily plant. Modern krathongs are more often made of bread. A bread krathong will disintegrate after a few days and can be eaten by fish. Banana stalk krathong are also biodegradable. A krathong is decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, incense sticks, and a candle. A small coin is sometimes included as an offering to the river spirits.
On the night of the full moon, Thais launch their krathong on a river, canal or a pond, making a wish as they do so. The festival may originate from an ancient ritual paying respect to the water spirits.

Traditional Thai Krathong

'Moo Manao'

 

                                                                   

Deselect All

Chili Pepper Fresh Thai chile peppers, 16 oz 15.95 Fish Sauce Fish sauce, Tra Chang Gold Label, 7 oz 4.59 Fish Sauce, Mae Noy brand, 750 cc (25 oz) 4.65 Fish sauce, Squid brand, 25 oz 6.95 Fish sauce, Three Crabs brand 24 oz 7.89 Fish sauce, Golden Boy brand, 24 oz 7.89	Lime Fresh Limes, 20 ct 18.00
See our convenient T

Moo Manao is a trendy dish that's often served to dinner guests during the Festival of Loy Krathong. Most people like it heavier on the lime than the garlic, however there are others who swear by adding additional garlic to the recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 lb pork
3 stalks Chinese kale or a head of cabbage
1 lime, cut into thin slices
3 tablespoons fish sauce (available in the Asian section of most large supermarkets)
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, finely chopped (use more if desired)
1 tablespoon fresh Thai chile peppers, finely chopped
1 tablespoon coriander leaves and stems, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sugar

Method

Grill the pork over medium-high heat until done, then cut the pork into thin slices. Transfer pork to a serving plate. Remove leaves from the Chinese kale or cabbage, and cut the stems into 1 inch pieces, then chill for garnish. Prepare lime slices and set aside. Thoroughly mix remaining ingredients, and pour the mixture over the pork. Garnish with kale and lime slices.

Literary Advent Calendar..........Day 4...........December 4, 2015......

Toward the Winter Solstice

Timothy Steele, 1948

 

 

Although the roof is just a story high,
It dizzies me a little to look down.
I lariat-twirl the cord of Christmas lights
And cast it to the weeping birch’s crown;
A dowel into which I’ve screwed a hook
Enables me to reach, lift, drape, and twine
The cord among the boughs so that the bulbs
Will accent the tree’s elegant design.

Friends, passing home from work or shopping, pause
And call up commendations or critiques.
I make adjustments. Though a potpourri
Of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and Sikhs,
We all are conscious of the time of year;
We all enjoy its colorful displays
And keep some festival that mitigates
The dwindling warmth and compass of the days.

Some say that L.A. doesn’t suit the Yule,
But UPS vans now like magi make
Their present-laden rounds, while fallen leaves
Are gaily resurrected in their wake;   
The desert lifts a full moon from the east
And issues a dry Santa Ana breeze,
And valets at chic restaurants will soon
Be tending flocks of cars and SUVs.

And as the neighborhoods sink into dusk
The fan palms scattered all across town stand
More calmly prominent, and this place seems
A vast oasis in the Holy Land.
This house might be a caravansary,
The tree a kind of cordial fountainhead
Of welcome, looped and decked with necklaces
And ceintures of green, yellow, blue, and red.

Some wonder if the star of Bethlehem
Occurred when Jupiter and Saturn crossed;
It’s comforting to look up from this roof
And feel that, while all changes, nothing’s lost,
To recollect that in antiquity
The winter solstice fell in Capricorn
And that, in the Orion Nebula,
From swirling gas, new stars are being born.

ANNOUNCING: Lebanon Recreation Department and Lebanon Maine Truth Seekers First Annual Holiday Decorating Competition!!!

The Celebration of Kwanzaa, A Celebration of Community, Family, Honor....... and a West African recipe to try!!

Kwanzaa, December 26th to January 1st....
A celebration of people of Community, Family, Honor, Love and Respect.

Kwanzaa was first celebrated in December 1966 and January 1967. The holiday was proposed by Maulana Karenga to give those of African descent a holiday to celebrate their own cultural heritage and the key values of family and community.  Although seen as an alternative to Christmas and thus possibly anti-Christian in the early years, many people now observe aspects of both festivals.

Kwanzaa celebrates what its founder called the seven principles of Kwanzaa, or Nguzo Saba (originally Nguzu Saba—the seven principles of African Heritage), which Karenga said "is a communitarian African philosophy," consisting of what Karenga called "the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world." These seven principles comprise *Kawaida, a Swahili term for tradition and reason. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the following principles, as follows:

• Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
• Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.
• Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems, and to solve them together.
• Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
• Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
• Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
• Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Kwanzaa symbols include a decorative mat (Mkeka) on which other symbols are placed: corn (Mahindi) and other crops, a candle holder kinara with seven candles (Mishumaa Saba), a communal cup for pouring libation (Kikombe cha Umoja), gifts (Zawadi), a poster of the seven principles, and a black, red, and green flag. The symbols were designed to convey the seven principles.

West African Chicken Stew Recipe for Kwanza

1 tablespoon olive oil         

1 (3 pound) roasting chicken, deboned and cut into bite size pieces

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 onion, chopped

1 large potato, diced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander seed

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water                                   
• 3/4 cup unsalted natural-style peanut butter          
  
• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

Prep 10 m            

Cook 35 m            

Ready In 45 m            

1. In a large skillet with a tight-fitting lid, heat oil over medium high heat. Add chicken, and brown quickly. Remove chicken from pan. Reduce heat to medium low, and add garlic, onion and potato to the pan; saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Season with cumin, coriander, black pepper, red pepper and salt. Do not let garlic brown.
2. Mix in water and browned chicken, and any accumulated juices. Place lid on skillet and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Remove lid, and stir in the peanut butter and garbanzo beans. Make sure the peanut butter is blended in. Replace lid to simmer for 10 more minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender. Remove from heat, adjust seasoning, and serve.

 

Literary Advent Calendar 2015... Day 3... December 3, 2015

The Elves and the Shoemaker.......

By the Grimm Brothers

There was once a shoemaker, who worked very hard and was very honest: but still he could not earn enough to live upon; and at last all he had in the world was gone, save just leather enough to make one pair of shoes.

Then he cut his leather out, all ready to make up the next day, meaning to rise early in the morning to his work. His conscience was clear and his heart light amidst all his troubles; so he went peaceably to bed, left all his cares to Heaven, and soon fell asleep. In the morning after he had said his prayers, he sat himself down to his work; when, to his great wonder, there stood the shoes all ready made, upon the table. The good man knew not what to say or think at such an odd thing happening. He looked at the workmanship; there was not one false stitch in the whole job; all was so neat and true, that it was quite a masterpiece.
The same day a customer came in, and the shoes suited him so well that he willingly paid a price higher than usual for them; and the poor shoemaker, with the money, bought leather enough to make two pairs more. In the evening he cut out the work, and went to bed early, that he might get up and begin betimes next day; but he was saved all the trouble, for when he got up in the morning the work was done ready to his hand. Soon in came buyers, who paid him handsomely for his goods, so that he bought leather enough for four pair more. He cut out the work again overnight and found it done in the morning, as before; and so it went on for some time: what was got ready in the evening was always done by daybreak, and the good man soon became thriving and well off again.
One evening, about Christmas-time, as he and his wife were sitting over the fire chatting together, he said to her, ’I should like to sit up and watch tonight, that we may see who it is that comes and does my work for me.’ The wife liked the thought; so they left a light burning, and hid themselves in a corner of the room, behind a curtain that was hung up there, and watched what would happen.

As soon as it was midnight, there came in two little naked dwarfs; and they sat themselves upon the shoemaker’s bench, took up all the work that was cut out, and began to ply with their little fingers, stitching and rapping and tapping away at such a rate, that the shoemaker was all wonder, and could not take his eyes off them. And on they went, till the job was quite done, and the shoes stood ready for use upon the table. This was long before daybreak; and then they bustled away as quick as lightning.
The next day the wife said to the shoemaker. ’These little wights have made us rich, and we ought to be thankful to them, and do them a good turn if we can. I am quite sorry to see them run about as they do; and indeed it is not very decent, for they have nothing upon their backs to keep off the cold. I’ll tell you what, I will make each of them a shirt, and a coat and waistcoat, and a pair of pantaloons into the bargain; and do you make each of them a little pair of shoes.’
The thought pleased the good cobbler very much; and one evening, when all the things were ready, they laid them on the table, instead of the work that they used to cut out, and then went and hid themselves, to watch what the little elves would do.
About midnight in they came, dancing and skipping, hopped round the room, and then went to sit down to their work as usual; but when they saw the clothes lying for them, they laughed and chuckled, and seemed mightily delighted.
Then they dressed themselves in the twinkling of an eye, and danced and capered and sprang about, as merry as could be; till at last they danced out at the door, and away over the green.
The good couple saw them no more; but everything went well with them from that time forward, as long as they lived.

Maine Christmas Trees for the Holidays! Maine Tree Growers Participate in Trees For Troops Program

12/03/2015 02:04 PM EST

*Governor Paul R. LePage commends Maine Christmas tree growers for sending trees to armed forces members and their families*

AUGUSTA - Governor Paul R. LePage and the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry are urging consumers to support local businesses by buying Maine Christmas trees this holiday season. Christmas tree buying season is in full swing and Maine Christmas tree growers are doing their part to support a national program to provide trees to armed forces members and their families as part of the national Trees for Troops effort.

"The Christmas season is an important time to give thanks for the many blessings we are given and show appreciation for the sacrifices that others make on behalf of our country," said Governor Paul R. LePage. "Nothing says Maine more than a majestic, locally grown fir tree that graces a family living room. Thanks to the generosity of Maine Christmas tree growers, men and women of our armed forces will receive trees as part of the national Trees for Troops program. I commend Maine Christmas tree growers for doing their part to show appreciation for armed services members and their families and for all they do to help keep us safe."

 

 Commissioner Walt Whitcomb stressed the importance of Maine's forest industry and resources available to consumers seeking Maine Christmas trees.

"Maine's forest industry accounts for $8 billion in economic activity, with direct and indirect employment of 38,789 workers," said Whitcomb. "Maine tree growers grow a product that is symbolic of that industry and adorns family living rooms locally and beyond our borders. You can support the Maine economy by buying a Maine Christmas tree."

Maine Christmas Tree Association representative Jim Corliss highlighted the efforts of Maine growers to support the Trees for Troops effort. "Just this morning, we loaded 300 trees onto a FedEx Freight trailer bound for the U.S. Marine Corps base in Cherry Point, North Carolina," said Corliss. "This is part of a 10-year effort to provide free, farm-grown Christmas Trees to United States armed forces members in all branches of the military and their families, through donations, sponsorships, grants and the work of many volunteers."

Maine Christmas Tree Association:

The Maine Christmas Tree Association (MCTA) is a non-profit organization comprised of family farms that produce real Christmas trees and wreath products for retail, wholesale, mail order, or choose'n cut during the Christmas season. Producers may specialize or offer a combination of mail order, retail, choose'n cut or wholesale production of tree and wreath products.

The purpose of MCTA since it was incorporated in 1962 has been to promote real Christmas trees and share information about fresh Maine Christmas trees and wreath products with its members. This information includes the latest techniques in growing quality trees and wreath products to the care and recycling of Christmas trees.

Tree Selection and Care Tips: http://www.mainechristmastree.com/tree_information.cfm

Buying Resources: http://www.mainechristmastree.com/products.cfm

Trees for Troops:

Trees for Troops, a program of the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, provides free, farm-grown Christmas Trees to United States armed forces members in all branches of the military and their families, through donations, sponsorships, grants and the work of many volunteers.

Christmas Tree growers have been providing free trees for military families for years. In 2005, FedEx contacted the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, the 501(c)(3) charitable branch of the National Christmas Tree Association, and wanted to be involved in the foundation's mission. Together the two organizations expanded the idea of providing Christmas Trees to military families, and Trees for Troops was born.

Since 2005, more than 157,000 free, farm-grown Christmas Trees have been provided to troops and military families in the United States and overseas through Trees for Troops. Thousands of trees are donated by American farm families and the public, and FedEx delivers these trees to more than 60 military bases in the U.S. and overseas. FedEx has logged more than 573,000 ground miles for the Trees for Troops program.