Chai and newsprint

By Margo Mallar

My nearly 80-year old godmother used to astonish me with her ability to recall the details of meals from decades before: what she ate, how it was prepared and with whom she shared the table. At the time, I paid so little attention to the specifics of food that I had trouble remembering what I had eaten the previous day I couldnt imagine conjuring the specifics of a particularly lovely lunch half a century before.Despite the supposed downward trajectory of memory with age, I find that my food memory is not becoming fuzzier but much sharper over time. Im much more attentive to the pleasures of the table so naturally I retain some of what I used to ignore.The most vivid memories are of the first time I encountered a particular dish or ingredient. Pam and Dick Stevens were there the first time I made Margat Mishmish, the meat stew made with pureed apricots. Kit Schmauch introduced me to red tea and, because of Susan Korpi, popcorn seems incomplete without brewers yeast. I have been so fortunate over the years to have broken bread with such wonderful people that I never really have to eat alone: so many memories accompany each bite that I can close my eyes and Im at a banquet. In the past couple of years, Ive become a real fan of chai. I find it a delicious alternative to coffee, especially in the late afternoon when I need a pick-me-up but not the kick-in-the-pants that coffee offers. Chai is basically black tea brewed with various spices and milk and, like so many deliciously simple brews, it is way over-priced. So when I was recently asked about chai, I immediately thought of Terry Leavitt and the afternoon in Annie Provenzanos kitchen when she taught us to make chai extract. Terry Leavitt was born and raised in Carroll County, so its fitting that shes the editor of the Carroll County Independent, the Ossipee-based weekly newspaper founded in 1881.After taking every writing class she could with teacher Bob Fisher, Leavitt graduated from Kennett in 1982 and headed to Durham to study physics at the University of New Hampshire. Along with classes learning how to apply Newtons laws of motion, she took various cultural history classes and found that she enjoyed the idea of being an archaeologist far more than being a physicist. So she switched majors, graduating with a Bachelors degree in Anthropology in 1987. She worked for a year after graduation then headed off to Columbia in pursuit of a doctorate in anthropology. After a year and a half Leavitt took a break in her studies and returned home to Madison.She helped her father Arthur in the family business, Leavitt Motors, and worked part-time at Book Warehouse in Conway, mulling her return to academia. In October of 1992, as Book Warehouse was consolidating its three area stores, Leavitt and her Conway store colleagues got notice that they had only two weeks before theyd need to find new jobs. After a week, fortune by the name of Frank Gospodarek walked through the door and approached Leavitt, saying I understand you like to write. Gospodarek, a retired CIA officer, was the Independents editor at the time and was looking for someone to cover the Freedom School Board and other general assignments. I remember it was Halloween. I had three assignments and blew them all, Leavitt laughed. I was supposed to take pictures of people in the pool at Purity Springs watching a movie. In the pictures I took you couldnt tell that they were watching a movie. Maybe if Id gotten in the pool I could have captured the scene better. The second one was to take pictures of story-time at Madison Library but my flash was off so I had all these half pictures of people listening to stories and the third one, I dont remember what happened but I know it was completely botched. I had no pictures that were usable and I went into see Frank, wondering what I would do for work the next week. Gospodarek reassured her and sent her to consult with the staff photographer who coached her through her next assignment. Her assignments were few at first, there was no opening for a full-time staffer at the time, so she did some writing for the Independents sister paper, the Granite State News in Wolfeboro. By spring she was working full-time splitting her time between the two newspapers, traveling from Bartlett to New Durham, the southernmost town in Governor Wentworth School District. I needed an oil change every month, she noted, her family devotion to automobile maintenance in sharp relief. More emotionally attached to Carroll County, Leavitt gradually pulled away from the Granite State News, setting down her journalistic roots at the Independent. Gospodarek died of cancer in the late 90s and after an interim editor led the paper, Leavitt assumed editorship in 2001. One of her favorite assignments was about the Metaphysical Fair held at Purity Spring. It was very hard because I was very skeptical. I didnt know what to make of people who were talking about guardian angels as if they were really flying around them and that you could see them yourself if you looked just right. I just walked around asking people what it was they did and they explained it. . It turned out to be a really fun story and I ended up writing that people had told me such nice warm things then why wouldnt I believe? She also really enjoyed writing about the change in laws regarding juvenile crime in the mid-90s. I got to talk to a lot of judges and police officers and really got into what was really wrong with the juvenile justice system, she said. What are her aspirations for the Independent? Well, one day I hope well buy the Sun. Maybe when it grows up and becomes a full-sized newspaper, printed on the big stuff, she teased. For herself? One of these days shes going to write a book or perhaps return for that doctorate. Id really like to write about science in a way that makes it accessible to people, she said. In the meantime, while Im still employed by the itty-bitty Sun, Ill pass on her recipe for chai. Add 1 teaspoon cardamom, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, * teaspoon cloves, * teaspoon nutmeg, * teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons Darjeeling tea and let steep. Then add two to four cups of milk and reheat, sweeten with brown sugar.