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Beer or health food? “Liquid Bread” promised both

Lifestyle Columns

For many people, a cold beer on a warm evening is a favorite summer indulgence. But if you look back far enough in history, beer wasn’t an indulgence; it was part of a healthy diet. There are written records of beer brewing (and drinking) from as early as 5,000 years ago. Before reliable sanitation systems, beer was safer to drink than water; in addition to the antiseptic properties of alcohol, brewing beer requires boiling the water. Beer was also considered a source of nourishing starches. Like bread, it is made from grains and yeast. In fact, beer is sometimes called “Liquid ...

Master Gardener’s Gardenfest tour back in bloom

Lifestyle Feature

After a couple of years’ absence, the Brown County Master Gardeners’ Gardenfest Tour is returning, and like any good perennial plant, it has grown back stronger than before. The Gardenfest Tour is 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 26 and will feature nine gardens selected by Brown County ...

Eye on Nicollet

Lifestyle Feature

#1. A welcoming clover... #2. And a welcoming store. #3. A holy bell.... #4. And a watery door. #5. A shady place where many have kneeled... #6. A chain-link basket behind the field.

Study rooms arrive!

Lifestyle Columns

You may have noticed changes in the library if you’ve visited us recently. We moved our adult and young adult DVDs to the second floor of the main building, along with the new magazines and newspapers. All of this was to make space for two study rooms and a designated Memory Lab. I’m pleased to share that we’ve completed this project, and our study rooms and updated Memory Lab are available for public use! We often receive requests for a quiet, semi-private space for individuals or small groups. The library now offers two study rooms for this purpose. Our smaller study room ...

Traveling dresser sets kept gentlemen well groomed

Lifestyle Feature

Father’s Day is a time to treat Dad to the finer things in life. What could be finer than accessories for a Victorian gentleman? Maybe the box that holds them. This Victorian gentleman’s traveling dresser set, which sold for $243 at an auction by Rachel Davis Fine Arts, includes nine bottles and jars to hold the various lotions, colognes, pomades, hair oils, and other personal products that a well-to-do man of the late 19th century couldn’t possibly do without. If you have seen photographs of Victorian gentlemen with their slick hairstyles, sculpted mustaches, and well-maintained ...

When a chair is more than a chair regardless of size

Lifestyle Columns

A chair is a chair is a chair, isn’t it? Four legs to stay on the floor, a high back to keep the sitter upright, and maybe a stretcher base for support. And everything is made of wood, of course, with variety coming from upholstery, decorative carvings, or the shape of the legs. That may have been true up to the 20th century. Furniture changed dramatically when designers took advantage of new materials that opened up previously unheard-of possibilities: plastics. Man-made plastics were used for household implements by the 1920s, but it wasn’t until after World War II that the ...