What's a Pixie? Farmer's Market The Original Conehead? Put on Your Sailing Shoes Imagine: No Parking Hassles Maryland Special Tags

What's a Pixie?

The word pixie may conjure up images of mischievous fairies or sprites, but at newly opened Café Matisse, on Westgate Circle in Annapolis (across the street from Park Place ), a pixie is a drink of maté tea latte. According to owner Matisse Gilson, a pixie has the stimulating effect of coffee without the dramatic highs and lows. Naturally caffeinated and slightly spiced with cardamom, vanilla, and clove, “It has a slightly sweeter taste than chai,” says café patron Terry Collins. Brewed from the stemlets and dried leaves of the perennial tree with the botanical name Ilex paraguariensis , maté takes 25 years to reach maturity and needs high humidity, heat, and plenty of rain—1500 millimeters per year. Maté has been enjoyed by natives of countries in South America for many centuries and used as a folk remedy, for its properties as a stimulant and to cure rheumatism.

Farmers' Market Grabs the Spotlight

The fame of our farmers' markets, offering fresh local produce, has spread around the globe, all the way to Russia . Late this spring a delegation of Russian officials sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development included a visit to the Anne Arundel County Farmers' Market as part of its fact-finding tour to study the U.S. Cooperative Farm Credit System. “They were very pleased with the size of the crowd and the variety of specialty items,” says Lisa Barge, agricultural marketing and development manager at the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation. Of particular interest were the beeswax soaps and lotions. Now that summer is in full swing, the market, at the intersection of Riva Road and Harry S. Truman Parkway , is open twice a week: Tuesdays and Saturdays, 7 a.m. to noon. Newly opening on Wednesday, July 11, is the Centre at Glen Burnie Farmers' Market, at 6711 Ritchie Highway , in the parking lot in front of Best Buy. Its hours of operation are 10 a.m.–1 p.m. For more information call 410-222-7410.

The Original Conehead?

Ah, the ice cream cone—our best and sweetest friend on a warm summer day. Close to the Annapolis City Dock alone there are four ice cream shops and one serving gelato. And when you visit them, one essential question, besides which flavor to enjoy, is “Cup or cone?” For some the choice is a no-brainer—in a cone, and preferably a waffle cone. But who was the first person to put the two together—ice cream and an edible cone? One popular tale gives credit to a Syrian pastry maker, Ernst Hamwi, who was selling zalabia, a pastry cooked in a hot waffle iron, at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis (informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair). He claimed to have aided a neighboring ice cream vendor who had run out of dishes; Hamwi rolled a warm zalabia into a cone that could hold ice cream. While his story is seemingly chivalrous, numerous vendors at the exposition claimed to have invented the ice cream cone, citing a variety of inspirations. Those first cones were rolled by hand, but in 1912 Frederick Bruckman, an inventor from Portland , Oregon , patented a machine for rolling ice cream cones. He sold his company to Nabisco in 1928 and today Nabisco is still producing ice cream cones. Whether you take it in a cup or a cone, ice cream is a treat many enjoy on a summer stroll—and there's no debate about that!

 

Put On Your Sailing Shoes

Competitive sailing is nothing new to the waters of Annapolis and for those in the know, the Wednesday Night Races, held every Wednesday, April through September, offer excellent, accessible competition in a friendly format. And now a young fleet of sailors has entered the water, competing against the most seasoned veterans of the races. Since 2006, Team Tsunami has sailed competitively in each Wednesday Night Race. Comprising 10- to 18-year-olds, the team puts full crews on two J/105s each Wednesday night. And it places other sailors on various other boats that are racing the same evening. They race against the other J/105 boats with adults on them. The team is open to anyone in that age group: experience is not required. The only requirement is that the young person has a desire to learn and a positive attitude. As Lorie Stout, the team's volunteer coordinator, says, “We do not focus on winning, we focus on learning.” For more information about becoming involved, visit www.team-tsunami.org.

Imagine No Downtown Parking Hassles!

If all goes according to plan, stalking down a metered parking space during a summer afternoon in downtown Annapolis may become a distant memory. With so many Annapolitans asking the city for alternatives to stop-and-go driving, the City of Annapolis plans to launch a free bike loan program. After riding the trolley from the Naval Academy Stadium parking lot, tying up their boat at City Dock, or arriving by hotel van or water taxi, participants can borrow a bike and see the sights of downtown.

The volunteer-staffed Free Wheelin' Annapolis will receive support from Capital Bicycle. Volunteers will receive basic maintenance training and use it to keep the program's bikes in good repair. The bikes will be kept at the offices of the Department of Recreation and at the harbormaster's office, where anyone who wants to take a ride can sign them out.

If you want to borrow a bike, it's a simple process. You will have to provide proof that you are older than 18 and sign an agreement that you will pay for the bike if you don't return it. Should the bicycle break down, you promise to chain it in a secure location and call Free Wheelin' Annapolis—they'll pick the bike up. Once you show your proof of age and sign the form, you will be issued a helmet and key and will take your bike and chain off the rack. No credit card is required.

For information about bicycling or volunteering your time or expertise, contact Paula Chase-Hyman at (410) 263-7964 x107.

Maryland Special Tags

 

 

 

 

Whether your primary interest is supporting family farming or being an environmental activist, there's a license plate that allows your car to wear one of your causes on its bumper. But Maryland 's MVA doesn't simply make up these plates—someone has to come up with the idea, and take the special-cause tag from an idea to a finished product.

Maryland 's prized commemorative plate, “the Chesapeake Bay tag, is one of the most popular in the country,” according to Buel Young, spokesperson for the state's Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA). Bay tags are actually a part of Maryland law—the MVA is allowed to offer one commemorative plate at a time, and it has chosen to stick with the Chesapeake tags. The Bay plates, with their blue heron and Chesapeake scenery, were first introduced in 1991. The current redesign was chosen in 2004 “as an update,” Young explains. Sales of the plates benefit the Chesapeake Bay Trust, a private nonprofit. The trust distributes the funds to schools, youth groups, and other organizations to pay for conservation and education.

The agricultural plate, though it isn't Maryland 's chosen commemorative tag, is a “full-scene background” plate, as is the Bay plate. The Ag tag, as it's known, features farm art and the slogan “Our Farms, Our Future,” signifying Maryland 's diverse agricultural history and economy. Sales of this tag benefit the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation.

You can show your support for these nonprofit organizations as you haul hay in your pickup or as you roll your trailer down the boat ramp. You don't have to wait until you renew your vehicle registration, either—Bay and Ag tags are available through http://mva.state.md.us.