Grilling, especially in the summertime, is one of the most popular ways to cook. When the flame meets the coal, that smell draws men, women, children, dogs and felines alike to the grill.Getting creative with the grill can be good for your health. Try to avoid the traditional fare — burgers and hot dogs, steak, pork and even boneless skinless chicken — all of which can produce cancer-causing compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) when grilled. HCAs are a group of mutagenics produced during the cooking of some foods. In this case, HCAs are produced when the foods listed above are grilled to well done. In January 2005, HCAs were added to the official list of carcinogens.So ... grill something else!Fish such as halibut and swordfish are great when cooked over a flame outside. Try shellfish (especially shrimp), on a skewer (try doubling the skewers for better control) with onions, peppers, pineapple chunks and any other local summertime vegetables you find in the garden or at the farm market.And don’t forget that the grill is made for more than just protein. It is also good for starches, fruits and vegetables.Potatoes, sweet or otherwise, make for great grilling. So does corn.Almost all vegetables, as long as they are large enough not to fall though the cracks, work well on a grill. Peppers, onions and squash are good choices. Asparagus, mushrooms, garlic and Brussels sprouts are wonderful. Fruit, especially stone fruits such as peaches, or apples and pears, as well as sugar-rich pineapples and mangos, can be delightful on the grill.Grill your fruit and serve it plain; chop it up into a salsa to go with your grilled meat; or dress it in cinnamon and sugar and grill it on kabobs as a dessert.Grilled peachesServes six 6 peaches, halved, pits removed; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 2 tablespoons melted butter; 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice; 1/4 cup brown sugarMix together all ingredients except the peaches. Dip the peaches into the mixture and then grill them until the exterior turns brown and caramelized and the fruit softens and becomes luscious. You can serve them as is, with ice cream or maybe some cookies. Or you can make a crumble: Remove the fruit from the grill and slice it into a pie tin. Mix 1 cup of oats (the kind you’d use for oatmeal), 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon butter, diced, and a 1⁄4 cup chopped walnuts. Scatter over the peaches. Drizzle honey over the entire cobbler and cook at 350 degrees until the top is golden brown.Grilled pineappleServes two2 1/2-inch thick slices of pineapple (fresh and ripe); 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; 2 teaspoons honey; freshly ground pepperGrill until the pineapple turns a nice caramel color but be careful not to let it burn. Make criss-cross slashes with a knife on the slices of pineapple, for a nice presentation after grilling. Drizzle with the honey and lemon juice and add freshly ground pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
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ESTATE SALE 76 Factory St. Salisbury, CT. Furniture, Rugs, Household items, Art, Books, & More. Friday-Sunday October 9, 10, 11. 9-3 pm. No Early Birds.
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ESTATE AND FAMILY TAG SALE 27 Indian Mountain Rd, Lakeville. Saturday, October 10, 8 am-4pm. Rain Date, October 11. Lots of arts and crafts supplies plus artwork old and new, jewelry, games, household items, and furniture. Many items are one of a kind. Everything priced to sell. Cash, Venmo, and credit/debit cards accepted. Easy parking.
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2 Bedroom House. Millerton, NY. Quiet. 4 miles from town. No Dogs. $2400 monthly, plus utilities. 518-567-8277.
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Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton\u2019s Main Street in 1985.
Provided
For Hermans, the award has prompted some reflection about why he has spent so much of his life involved in community projects.
“I was thinking about it this morning: Why do I do what I do?” he said. “And I think no matter what I’ve done, whether it’s been school board or rail trail, I’m trying to be useful to the communities I’m associated with.”
Hermans is perhaps best known as the longtime co-founder and steward of Oblong Books in Millerton, a business that began almost by accident. He and his former partner, Holly Nelson, were living in Millerton and looking for something to do during the winter. They had been painting houses, including the Grange Hall in Millerton, a job Hermans got through his aunt, who belonged to the Grange.
At the time, Hermans was also working in insurance for his father, doing collections.
“It was fine except I was doing collections, and it really kind of left me cold,” he said.
He and Nelson began thinking about what they might do together. Nelson was an avid reader, while Hermans had studied journalism and had worked in a record store. They noticed a chain of book and record stores operating elsewhere in the Hudson Valley and decided to follow that model.
And so Oblong was born.
Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton’s Main Street in 1985.Provided
“We really learned it by the seat of our pants,” Hermans said.
The business would eventually become a beloved and integral part of Millerton’s commercial life. But although Hermans may have learned the book business as he went, his affinity for retail — and for the connections that happen across a counter — had begun much earlier.
As a child, his second-grade teacher operated a little cardboard pencil shop in the classroom, and Hermans still remembers the satisfaction of selling a pencil for a nickel.
“I really liked selling somebody a pencil for a nickel,” he recalled. “I can remember that experience, and it was so pleasant.”
Later, while living in Arizona, he helped establish a food co-op and worked at the counter.
“I kind of knew that I liked doing that kind of thing,” he said. “It’s a nice way to be pleasant with people, but without making too much commitment to them.”
His relationship with Millerton also predates Oblong. His grandparents lived in the village, and he first came to Millerton as a baby. Over the years, he has watched the town change through several generations.
He remembers a Millerton with a much broader array of businesses, when stores such as Delson’s, the Main Street department store that stood for nearly 40 years in what is now Millerton’s Antiques Center, seemed to carry almost everything a resident might need.
“You could find everything from a set of dishes to a shotgun,” he recalled.
The rise of shopping malls changed that kind of downtown retail, he said, but Millerton has remained a lively commercial village.
“For us, it’s been a great place to have business,” Hermans said. “It’s a busy village.”
For Hermans, running a store was never simply about selling books and records. It was a way of being part of a place.
Music has remained another constant. Hermans continues to sell music at Oblong and hosts the radio program “New Harmony” on WKZE. The business of selling music has changed dramatically over the years, particularly with the rise of streaming, but Hermans has adapted.
He was initially reluctant to bring vinyl records back into the store because of their expense. But about four or five years ago, he began stocking LPs again, and they have become the main form of music the store sells.
He finds that many of the customers buying them are reconnecting with music they loved years ago.
“I do best with classic albums that people may have had when they were young,” he said. “And now that they’re retired, they want to hear it again.”
Hermans still reviews between 700 and 1,200 new music releases each week through the store’s distributor, Alliance Entertainment, carefully deciding what belongs on Oblong’s shelves.
That same commitment to place has led Hermans into a wide range of community projects. His work with the Harlem Valley Rail Trail is among the efforts he mentions when reflecting on his years of civic involvement. He has also served on the school board and has been involved with the Millerton Business Alliance and the Irondale Schoolhouse. He is now involved with The New Pine Plains Herald, which he sees as complementary to the work of The Millerton News and The Lakeville Journal.
“I really think that the important thing about this award is that people understand what a newspaper does to connect them to their community,” he said. “And if that means anything to their lives, they gotta support it.”
Hermans knew Mary Lou and Robert Estabrook and remembers them as people who were deeply conscious of their responsibilities to the community.
“They were really nice folks,” he said. “They were very conscious of what their role in the community was.”
There is, in fact, still plenty on his plate. Hermans admits he needs to scale back because he has taken on more than his current abilities can comfortably accommodate.
“To be given this award is very special,” he added. “But I don’t feel like I’m done.”
This article has been changed to reflect that Hermans and Nelson were partners. A prior version states that they were married.
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