Dutch Albany Extravaganza

Attention Albany, NY area residents: Save the date and mark your calendars for the Dutch Albany Extravaganza on Sunday, March 7th! From the Capital Region food blog, Table Hopping:

The event will include traditional Dutch treats and coffee at the Bistro/Bar at 74 State, a trolley tour of historic Albany locations, lecture by food historian Peter G. Rose on Dutch art and food, and a traditional Dutch dinner at Marché.

Peter G. Rose, food historian and author, will also be giving a lecture on Dutch art and food. Rose, recipient of the Alice P. Kenney Award for research and writing on the food customs and diet of the Dutch settlers in New Netherland, is author of Summer Pleasures, Winter Pleasures, a cookbook filled with informative and tasty Hudson Valley recipes.

This will be a day of events that you won’t want to miss.

Visit Table Hopping for the pricing and menu information, and check out Peter G. Rose’s cookbook.

Deciphering Warhol and Van Gogh

The New Yorker recently ran two stellar pieces on legendary artists (summarized nicely at The ArtBlog), one by Adam Gopnik about Vincent van Gogh and his severed ear and the other from Louis Menand concerning Andy Warhol's life and work. They're engrossing articles, with revealing facts and analyses on these artists, which is surprising, given that these are two of the most studied and dissected artists of all time.

We highly recommend both essays, with a chaser of the following books from last year, Mystery of The Night Café: Hidden Key to the Spirituality of Vincent van Gogh and Materializing Queer Desire: Oscar Wilde to Andy Warhol for additional perspectives and critical analyses.

Have you read these essays and/or books? If so, what are your opinions?

Albany Antiquarian Book Fair

SUNY Press was one of 60 exhibitors at the 35th Annual Albany, NY Antiquarian Book Fair in the historic Washington Avenue Armory. Dealers from at least ten states and Canada were selling antiquarian and out-of-print books, manuscripts, autographs, postcards, maps, posters, photographs and ephemera. Because many of the dealers specialized in New York/Northeast items, we brought along some of our Excelsior titles, which highlight the cultural and historical impact of New York state on the world.

We had a steady stream of people browsing and buying all day, and the fair itself seemed very well attended. Thanks to our partners at the Albany Institute of History & Art for sponsoring this event once again.

Inaugural John G. Neihardt Lecture

On Tuesday, October 6 at 6:00 pm, join SUNY Press and the Albany Institute of History & Art for the Inaugural John G. Neihardt Lecture. The lecture will feature a talk by renowned anthropologist and historian Anthony F.C. Wallace. Wallace's talk will center around the Tuscarora Indian nation and include a tribute to John G. Neihardt and Black Elk. Neihardt was the celebrated author of twenty books of poetry, fiction, and philosophy, many of which are now available from SUNY Press. The John G. Neihardt Lecture was established by Coralie Hughes in honor of her grandfather. SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher will give a brief introduction.

Click here for more information and directions.

Hudson 400 Dinner in Downtown Albany

Albany Institute of History & Art curator Doug McCombs and Marché's Executive Chef Brian Molino

(photo from the Table Hopping article on the event)

This Saturday, September 26th, Marché at 74 State will be offering a Hudson Quadricentennial dinner. The menu for the event was developed by the Albany, NY restaurant’s head chef, Brian Molino, in consultation with curators Tammis Groft and Doug McCombs, from the Albany Institute of History & Art. Molino also found inspiration in our new cookbook Summer Pleasures, Winter Pleasures: A Hudson Valley Cookbook. Albany Times Union senior writer Steve Barnes wrote about the upcoming event:

The meal, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the restaurant in the downtown hotel, features five courses modeled after food found on menus and in records at the Albany Institute, for which the meal is a fundraiser.

Besides sturgeon—served lightly smoked and roasted, with butter-braised cabbage—dinner will feature oysters, turkey, lamb, rabbit, pork, local vegetables and, for dessert, warm bread pudding with black currants and candied quince; the courses will be paired with beverages from Brewery Ommegang, which makes Belgian-style ales in Cooperstown.

Molino describes the fare as refined, fine-dining interpretations of dishes he found in records at the museum and books by food historian Peter G. Rose, whose works include Food, Drink and Celebrations of
the Hudson Valley Dutch and the recently released Summer Pleasures, Winter Pleasures: A Hudson Valley Cookbook.

Sounds delicious. Click here for the rest the article. Do you need reservations, you ask? Yes, you do. It may be too late at this point, but it's worth giving them a call at 518-434-7410. This promises to be a fantastic culinary experience.

SUNY Press partners with the Albany Institute of History & Art

We're happy to share with you that we are now partnering with the Albany Institute of History & Art to offer digital and print editions of previously published works by the Albany Institute, one of the oldest and most prestigious museums in the United States. These works showcase a wide range of topics, including colonial Dutch arts and crafts, contemporary painters of the Hudson River, artists Paul Cushman and Richard Callner, and a celebrated overview of the two-hundred-year history of the Albany Institute. Visit our website for a complete list of these titles.

We're also collaborating with the Institute on new publishing ventures, so stay tuned for more information!

Founded in 1791, the Albany Institute is one of the oldest museums in the United States. Visit their website for more information about the museum and for current exhibitions.