05/22/2006

Community honors Frostic

by cymbre foster

Special to the Record-Eagle

BENZONIA — Sassy and savvy, artist and author Gwen Frostic was famous for her rustic studio and workshop tucked into the woods along the Betsie River west of Benzonia.

She would have been 100 years old this spring so her friends, family and the community planned several events to honor this Michigan icon.

Frostic died in April 2001, just a day short of her 95th birthday. Thousands of visitors annually flock to her gift shop to purchase her signature paper products printed from her linoleum-block carvings of nature-inspired subjects.

Organizers invited the public to a birthday party on April 26, Frostic's actual birthday, so they could not only get a peek at some of her early designs, but sample some of her favorite foods as well.

"What we served on her birthday was food she liked," said Pam Lorenz, a long-time friend of Frostic's, "like her famous baked beans and her favorite brownies."

"We wanted to commemorate her life. She really did add so much to the community."

Lorenz was a friend of Frostic's for more than 20 years. As the co-owner of the Brookside Inn in nearby Beulah she was well acquainted with Frostic's culinary preferences.

Lorenz met the artist in 1981, shortly after she and her husband Kirk had purchased the restaurant. She remembers the day Frostic came in, sat down, and asked her to come over to her table.

"She asked, 'if I brought you some of my placemats would you use them?' I told her yes," recalled Lorenz. Frostic's business has been supplying her signature placemats to Brookside ever since.

Frostic was a regular visitor to the restaurant, usually choosing items from the menu but sometimes requesting a favorite sandwich, which the staff would prepare if they weren't too busy. Because Frostic was such an icon in the area, the Lorenzes decided to include some of her favorite sandwiches on their menu.

For more than a decade, one of Brookside's best-selling sandwiches was "Gwen's Favorite Sandwich" — a tea sandwich consisting of cream cheese, olive, and walnuts seasoned with a little Lawry's seasoned salt, slathered between two layers of white sourdough bread. Visitors loved it.

"I had one woman tell me she had to order Gwen's favorite sandwich because she was going to her studio after lunch and wanted to tell he she had it," said Lorenz.

On Wednesdays the Brookside still offers another Frostic favorite, the "dilly" — cold shaved ham, lettuce and a little mayonnaise between slices of their homemade dill bread.

Frostic's employees at the Presscraft Papers studio also had opportunities to sample her favorite dishes at potlucks held at the shop. Often she would supply the brownies or her hearty baked beans, which included equal parts pork to beans.

"She was always delegated to bring the beans," said Lorenz.

Frostic also made her mother's brownie recipe for years and liked to tell the story about how she made them for her mother's bridge club. Everyone loved them, so when one woman asked for the recipe, Frostic wrote it down for her. When the woman made them they tasted terrible.

"When Gwen found out that the woman baked them for the time written on the recipe she said, 'Well, nobody bakes brownies for as long as it says, everybody knows that,'" recalled Lorenz.

Frostic's favorite meals were typically simple, traditional foods like grilled cheese on rye, egg salad, or pickled bologna. She also loved liverwurst and a slice of onion on white or rye.

"She was very easy to get along with when it came to food. If she had a bad meal somewhere she would always say why complain, it's only one meal," said Lorenz.

In honor of her landmark birthday, Presscraft Papers is introducing 12 new designs Frostic carved while she lived in Wyandotte. Lorenz said it is fun to see the differences between the bold colors and simple designs of her early work compared to the subtle, delicate designs that came later and became her signature. There will also be a selection of new Christmas card designs as well as new rubber stamps.

Following are a few of Frostic's favorite recipes.

Baked Beans

2 lbs. navy beans
2 lbs. shoulder pork cut in pieces
1&2/3 c. white sugar
3 t. (scant) salt
1/8 t. pepper
1 bottle ketchup

Blanche beans in boiling water in hot roaster five minutes. Pour off water. Add other ingredients and boiling water to cover. Boil on high for an hour. Simmer on low, stirring occasionally, until done, about four hours depending on the size of the beans.

Brownies

4 squares baker's unsweetened chocolate, melted
3/4 c. butter
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 c. flour
1 c. chopped walnut meats

Melt chocolate and butter together. Stir in sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add flour and walnuts. Stir until blended. Put in a well-buttered 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Bake in moderate oven at 350° for 30 to 35 minutes (though Frostic said cooks should know better than to bake them that long). Cut in squares when cold.

Dainty Tea Cookies

1 c. butter
2/3 c. sugar
3 egg yolks
1 t. almond extract or vanilla
2&1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder

Cream butter and sugar until waxy. Beat egg yolks until light. Add yolks and almond extract Then add flour mixed with baking powder gradually until soft dough. Bake in hot oven until light brown.