Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer. We hope you have fun in the sun while taking in a parade, going to the beach, or simply relaxing in your own backyard.

PATRIOTIC TRIFFLE

16-20 Servings Prep: 30 min. + chilling
30
30
Ingredients
1 package (3 ounces) berry blue gelatin
1 package (3 ounces) strawberry gelatin
2 cups boiling water
1 cup cold water
2 cups cold whole milk
2 packages (3.4 ounces each) instant vanilla pudding mix
1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
1 pint fresh blueberries
1 quart fresh strawberries, quartered
1 prepared angel food cake (8 to 10 ounces), cut into 1-inch cubes

Directions
In two small bowls, combine each gelatin flavor with 1 cup boiling water. Stir 1/2 cup cold water into each. Pour each into an ungreased 9-in. square pan. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set.
In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mixes for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Fold in 2 cups whipped topping.
Set aside 1/4 cup blueberries and 1/2 cup strawberries for garnish. Cut the gelatin into 1-in. cubes. In a 3-qt. trifle bowl or serving dish, layer the strawberry gelatin, half of the cake cubes, the remaining blueberries and half of the pudding mixture.
Top with blue gelatin and remaining cake cubes, strawberries and pudding mixture. Garnish with reserved berries and remaining whipped topping. Serve immediately. Yield: 16-20 servings.

Patriotic Trifle published in Simple & Delicious July/August 2007, p15

View the Top 10 Patriotic Dessert Recipes.

Lauren Pelon is a fiscal year 2011 recipient of an Arts Tour Minnesota grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is funded, in part, by the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008. Pelon has performed throughout the U.S. and in China, Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, Russia, Kazakhstan, Australia, and New Zealand.  She is noted for her versatile use of a diverse array of instruments, but Pelon has also won recognition for her lovely soprano voice, and for her compelling compositions and arrangements of music from many countries and cultures.  Lauren has performed with symphony orchestras, The Philadelphia String Quartet, on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” and at the Russian Institute for the History of the Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia.  She was the recipient of the 2001 “Artist of the Year” award from the Southeast Minnesota Arts Council, and 2010 Artist Initiative Award from the Minnesota State Arts Board.  William Kearns, American Music Research Center, Boulder, Colorado, called Pelon’s concerts "captivating and awesome."  An audience member recently remarked, “Her concerns for the sense of community and her understanding of ‘home’ just shine through the beauty of her music.”
 
Holthaus has three books of poems, three chapbooks, and three collections of essays, all of them rooted in the earth and the idea of community or home.  Holthaus’ poems have been published in the U.S., Egypt, and Iraq (in Arabic).  He received a 1990 National Endowment for the Arts Individual Fellowship for Poetry, and his prose was cited in “Notable Essays” in 1994 and 1998. Holthaus recently worked with the Experiment in Rural Cooperation to write From the Farm to the Table, What All Americans Need To Know about Agriculture, a book on farming in the upper Midwest.  He has worked for Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society, with the Island Institute on issues of sustainability in Sitka, Alaska, and with the Pepperfield Project in Decorah, Iowa.
 
Gary Snyder said of Holthaus’ book, Unexpected Manna, “In the drum and dance of the present he opens it both ways to the real: secular dryness and the shaman’s sacrament.  But no promises.  The clear cold of reality.  And the early morning challenge of getting to work on it.”

Audience responses to recent presentations of “The Story of Music, Stories from Home” have been very appreciative: 
• “Exceptionally moving throughout – I was transported.  The linkage of music and word came alive.” 
• “It was an inspired and inspiring program.  Such tasteful, serious handling of ‘our life story.’”
• “What a team!”

Award winning poet and essayist Gary Holthaus and internationally acclaimed musician Lauren Pelon team up to offer a unique new program called “The Story of Music, Stories from Home” Isanti County Historical Society, Cambridge on June 16, 2011 at 7:00 pm.  Cost is $10 per person. Tickets are available at www.ichs.ws or at the Isanti County Historical Society.

Pelon plays a variety of ancient and modern instruments ranging from lute, lyre, and concertina, to recorders, gems horn, electric wind controller and pedal board.  Holthaus reads from his poems and essays.  Both the music and the readings offer unique perceptions of the natural world, and celebrate our sense of place, community, and home.

Kathleen McCully, Executive Director, Isanti County Historical Society, said, “We are so pleased and privileged to have Lauren and Gary present this program in our community.  They will both challenge and inspire us.”