November at the Library

By FALLS CHURCH TIMES STAFF

October 30, 2011

The Library will launch its new downloadable ebook service on Wednesday, November 16.  Over 1000 titles will initially be available, covering all age groups (children, teens, and adults) and a wide range of topics and genres, including general fiction, mystery, romance, fantasy, biography, history, religion, essays..and much more.  New titles will also be added each week. 

The downloadable eBooks will be compatible with most standard reading devices like Nooks, Sony Readers, iPads/iPhones, and Android phones and tablets.  Many will also be compatible with Kindles!

More information will be available about this new service as the launch date approaches.  Until then, please feel free to visit the Reference Desk or call 703-248-5035 with questions

November book discussions include The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara on Thursday, November 3, and Second Epilogue to War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy on Tuesday, November 8.

Details on these and many other November events are available in the Library’s monthly newsletter.

FRIDAY 11/25: State Theater Schedule

Thanksgivin’ Fever Party ft. The Right On Band
The World’s Greatest 70′s Show Band
Wed. November 23
Doors: 7 pm $12 adv/ $15 day of

The Nighthawks and Skip Castro Band
Fri. November 25
Doors: 7 pm $20

WEDNESDAY 11/16: eBooks come to Mary Riley Styles Public Library

On Wednesday, November 16, we will launch our new downloadable ebook service. Over 1000 titles will initially be available, covering all age groups (children, teens, and adults) and a wide range of topics and genres, including general fiction, mystery, romance, fantasy, biography, history, religion, essays..and much more. New titles will also be added each week.

Our downloadable eBooks will be compatible with most standard reading devices like Nooks, Sony Readers, iPads/iPhones, and Android phones and tablets. Many will also be compatible with Kindles!

Although downloadable eBooks will eventually be listed in our regular catalog, they are borrowed and managed through a separate site that will be linked on our web page as “Downloadable Collection.” You will be able to check out up to 3 eBooks at one time and may choose whether to borrow each for 7, 14, or 21 days. And, since access to the eBook automatically expires at the end of the borrowing period, there are never any books to return or overdue fees!

You will also be able to place up to 3 holds/reserves on items not currently available (because other patrons have borrowed them). When those holds are ready, you will receive an email notifying you that you have two days to logon and download your eBook.

As the launch date approaches, we’ll have more information about this new service. But in the meantime, please feel free to visit the Reference Desk or call 703-248-5035 with questions!

 

MONDAY 11/28: City of Falls Church Seeks Community Input on 2012 Legislative Program

The Falls Church City Council is developing its 2012 Legislative Program and seeks input from the community. The adopted Legislative Program provides the foundation for positions on bills before the Virginia General Assembly that will impact the City. The draft 2012 Legislative Program includes the following:

Priority Positions

• Charter Amendments – Elections
• Public Safety – Dangerous Weapons in City Facilities
• Non-Discrimination – Sexual Orientation as a Protected Class
• Pedestrian Safety and Cross Walks
• State Funding
• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) – update to permit technology resources

Regional Positions

• State Funding of Local Programs
• Transportation Funding – The City supports legislation and funding to address the transportation crisis in Northern VA
• State Education K-12 Funding
• Line of Duty Benefits

Support Positions

• Law Enforcement Funding
• Land Development and Property Maintenance
• Elections
• Energy Efficiency & Environment
• Affordable Housing – Virginia Housing Trust Fund
• Affordable Housing – Tax Credit and Other Incentives
• Libraries – Find it Virginia!

The City Council will discuss the draft Legislative Program (which can be viewed at http://bit.ly/slRivm) at its Nov. 21 work session. The City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing at its regular meeting on Nov. 28. For more information, contact Assistant City Manager Cindy Mester at 703-248-5042 (TTY 711) or cmester@fallschurchva.gov.

http://www.fallschurchva.gov/Content/NewsMedia/2011Releases/Nov/LegProgram_2011Nov18.pdf

SUNDAY 10/30 & 11/5: VPIS Tree Planting [RE-SCHEDULED FROM SATURDAY 10/29]

Come out and plant trees on Saturday October 29 8:30 AM and Saturday November 5 8:30 AM. Contact Seth Heminway at [ mailto:heminway.seth@gmail.com ]heminway.seth@gmail.com (no “g’) for locations which we be announced.

We need able bodied volunteers so bring your friends. On planting days wear boots or heavy shoes and gloves and a shovel if you’ve got one. We have extra tools and light refreshments. The Neighborhood Tree Program is a partnership between the City of Falls Church, the Village Preservation and Improvement Society and volunteers to help restore and maintain a health tree canopy in the City by raising funds to purchase trees, educating residents and using contributed labor to reduce costs.

Native shade trees are planted within 15 feet of the curb. For more info go to: www.vpis.org/trees

SATURDAY 10/29: 98 year old Walter Mess to be at dedication 400 S. Oak.at W&OD Trail

Many of us who use the W&OD Trail and the other area Parks don’t know how important Walter Mess was to the process of establishing a regional park authority that serves us all today.

In the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority’s early years, Walter Mess, land economist and mortgage banker hiked each property the new agency considered acquiring. NVRPA now preserves more than 10,000 acres and operates 19 regional parks in the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church and the counties of Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun.

Walter Mess worked with fellow Northern Virginians in the 1950s to form the regional agency to plan, develop and operate a system of regional parks. Arlington and Fairfax counties and the City of Falls Church were the founding jurisdictions. In 1959, he was the City of Falls Church’s first appointee to the Board. In 1999, NVRPA honored his 40 years of service by naming the agency headquarters, The Walter L. Mess Building.

Walter Mess generated community and legislative support and raised funds to give birth to the NVRPA. He guided the institution with a combination of wisdom, political acumen, dedication and plenty of hard work to create a legacy that continues to grow from those early days in the 1950′s. His vision and achievement of that vision has been recognized as a model for our entire nation. In 2004 Walter Mess received the National Voluntary Service Award from the National Recreation and Parks Association. Street on the W&OD Trail in the City of Falls Church next to the American Legion.

The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority Board named longtime chairman Walter L. Mess Chairman Emeritus in recognition of his founding role and 46 years of accomplishment and service with NVRPA. The Board honored its nationally acclaimed leader, the second Chairman in the Authority’s 46-year history, when Walter Mess stepped down as Board Chairman and City of Falls Church representative to the Board following his 90th birthday.

Please join the grateful community of Falls Church citizens to honor Walter Mess who is now 98 years old. The Walter Mess Plaza will be dedicated with Walter Mess being honored by grateful notables on Saturday, October 29th at 1 pm. at 400 N. Oak Street on the W&OD Trail in the City of Falls Church next to the American Legion.

Please come to express your appreciation for an asset that many of us take for granted, and thank Walter Mess yourself.

WEDNESDAY 10/29: St James Bazaar

October 29th Everything Must Go Yard Sale 8am –1pm 6-9pm: Games! Nowhere Else Shop, Bingo, Bake Sale, Raffle Ticket Sales and Drawing, Haunted House, Beer, Brats & Boogie Opens at 5:30pm; Dancing at 8pm, featuring parishioner Dan Barrett & his band!

Liberty Tavern’s Liam LaCivita

BY Kathleen Nixon

October 28, 2011

Falls Church Times Staff

Liam LaCivita, Executive Chef at Liberty Tavern is our next Falls Church Farmers Market Chef. His demonstration is tomorrow, Saturday, October 29th from 9am to 11am. (The demonstration is now rescheduled for Saturday, November 5th)  Liam shares with us some of his background and philosophy on local cuisine.

Tell our readers a little about your background? Why did you get into cooking? Who inspired you? What have been some of your challenges as your career has advanced? What is new on the horizon for you?

I am half Irish and half Italian.  A lot of the food that I do is based on those two cultures.  I got into cooking primarily because I found it as another way of using my creativity in a more immediate way.  Food has always been an integral part of my life, through the traveling I did with my family and of course the food in my family has always been the center of attention. Some of my challenges in my career is constantly staying ahead of the curve, that being a chef is not all about cooking.  That is what I like most about being a chef, is that it is constantly evolving.  One minute your human resources, next minute a line cook, next minute a plumber…hahaha!

Tell us a little about your restaurant, your staff and how you incorporate local producers into your restaurant purchasing?

The Liberty Tavern is an American Regional restaurant that focuses on the use of seasonal and local ingredients.  We never opened the The Liberty Tavern specifically as that, to me it has always been common sense to use local and seasonal foods in my cooking.  That must be the Italian in me.

You work with many of the local producers? Who do you work with?

Dragon Creek, Polyface Farms, Trickling Springs Creamery, Jenkins orchards, Tuscarora organic Co-op and The Fresh Link. The last two are co-ops that bring small farmers products to the restaurants.

As a customer, what changes have you seen in the local food landscape?

I have seen many changes in the local food scene, hell just the fact that people are starting to understand a tomato doesn’t taste very good in February is a big change.

When did you start using local ingredients in creating your menu and recipes?

I have been using local ingredients probably since 1995/1996.  But specifically around 1997/98 when I was sous chef at 21 Federal in Nantucket where the local natural resources and farms dictated what I wanted to serve.  Everything was seasonal, it just made sense.

What ingredients has been the most challenging to work with?

No ingredient is really challenging.  Though if foraging for mushrooms, it is always interesting the proper way to cook mushrooms that I have never seen before.

Do you think your customers understand and appreciate your incorporation of local food into your menus?

I truly believe our customers appreciate and understand the food we serve and the use of local ingredients.  I know that because they tell me themselves.  That I appreciate.

What local ingredients are not yet available to the local economy that you would like to incorporate into your menu?

There are a lot of foraged local ingredients that don’t make it to the local economy. I would like for that to start changing.

How long have you been part of the Farmers Market Chef series?

This is my third or fourth year I believe.

What do you like best about the Farmers Market Chef series? Any challenges or surprises?

I love the sense of community at the Falls Church Farmers Market.  I like that it is almost a social event as well as a shopping experience.

What will you be preparing for your demonstration?

A medley of crostinis with housemade goat ricotta with Liberty Tavern bacon, caramelized farmers market apples, local greens; Wild mushrooms, truffled honey, sea salt and thyme; and roasted brussels sprout leaves with lemon marinade.

Due to the weather, we have rescheduled the Farmers Market Demonstration for Saturday, November 5th.

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