Apple Tarts for an Abbreviated Autumn

We decided to play it safe and close up the cottage early this year. Looks like we we’re not a week to soon. We arrive to find that 6 inches of snow had fallen the day before, creating a sight we’ve never seen before – autumn in winter. Lucky for us it didn’t get cold enough for the pipes to freeze.

We’ve got a fire going and there’s half a bushel of local apples that we picked up last weekend at the Fall Festival in Forksville, just begging to be put in a nice crust. While rolling out the Pate Brisée, I gaze out the kitchen window at the snow covered ground and begin to entertain the possibility of winterizing the place so that next year we can enjoy it all year round.

But for now, it’s the bittersweet end of another season in the Endless Mountains. Tomorrow morning we’ll pack up the contents of the kitchen cupboards, strip the beds and bring in the hammock, the porch furniture and the bikes. It’s too cold for a bike ride, so we’ll take one last hike around the lake before we hit the road. And we promise ourselves that this winter, if the lake ice freezes, we’ll come back up for the Toboggan Slide. Even if we have to stay at the Inn.

Because this place sure looks awfully pretty in the snow.

Abbreviated Autumn Apple Tarts

I used a minimum of ingredients so the flavor of the apples would dominate. The Pate Brisee is from The Paris Cookbook by Patricia Wells, and the recipe was inspired by (but nowhere near) her recipe for Ultra-Thin Apple Tart from Carton’s Bakery in Paris. I sliced the apples as thin as I could without a Mandolin. One of these days, I’ll make a real Tart Aux Pommes.

1 recipe Pate Brisée (see below)
2-3 tart apples (I used Crispins)
4 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp granulated sugar
Confectioner’s sugar for garnish.

Roll out pastry dough and line 4 small tart pans. If you have time, freeze for an hour before filling.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Peel and core the apples, then slice them as thin as you can. Arrange the apple slices on the tart shells in layers, brushing each layer with melted butter. Sprinkle the granulated sugar on top of the tarts. Place the tarts on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool ever so slightly, sprinkle with confectioners sugar and serve.
Patricia Well’s Pate Brisée

1 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
8 tbsp cold butter, cut into cubes
3-4 tbsp water

Process the flour and salt in the food processor to mix. Ad the butter and pulse for about 10 secs till well blended. With the machine running, add the water gradually until the dough just begins to form a ball. Turn out onto a floured work surface and scrape it bit by bit across the work surface till it is smooth, then form into a flat ball. (Or do as I did, and just gather it with your hands into a ball.) Refrigerate for an hour, or up to 24 hours.
____________________________________
More photos from my lake hike

COMMENTS

  1. Bardiac says: EditBeautiful!It’s too bad apple crisps probably wouldn’t survive being in the mail, isn’t it.Reply
  2. kathy a. says: Editoh, the snow on the ground! we just never get that where i live. the toboggan slide looks like great fun!and your tart looks lovely. i can almost smell it from here.Reply
  3. snoring mouthpiece says: EditHi,Apple tarts? I never try this recipe before but I think this is great sharing. May be after this I will ask my wife to make apple tarts for testing.Cheers,the snoring mouthpieceReply
  4. Maris says: EditI don’t know what looks more beautiful – your apple tarts or those photos!Reply
  5. ccinnkeeper says: EditIf you go up for the toboggan slide, please consider staying at The Crestmont, it’s owned by a friend of mine and she & her family do a great job there.

I Love this Guy

Today’s bit of wisdom from Seth Godin-

Sometimes, the work is the work and the goal isn’t to top what you did yesterday. Doing justice to the work is your task, not setting a world record.

If you don’t read his blog, you should.

Know Thy Sperm Donor

Uncommon but serious gentically-transmitted diseases are being found in the offspring of children from sperm donors who were unaware that they carried these genes. This week’s JAMA reports on one such donor who unwittingly transmitted a gene for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy to 9 of the 24 children conceived using his sperm. At age 22, the donor was unaware of his condition, which often presents later in life. The article’s authors call for more intensive screening of sperm donors for this and other genetic conditions and increased attention by the FDA to the public health implications of sperm donation.

I know what you’re thinking, because it was my first thought, and that is – So what? All children conceived from human parents are at risk of receiving a previously undiagnosed genetic defect, unless every one of us gets our genes screened at puberty for every known abnormality. Why should donors be held to a higher standard than regular dads?

Here’s why. Most dads don’t have 24 children by age 22. If a guy were spreading his sperm naturally, his diagnosis would likely have become apparent long before kid #24 was concieved.

It’s a brave new world out there folks, and we’re messin’ with the gene pool. Poor Darwin must be turning over in his grave. Instead of “Survival of the Fittest”, maybe we should call it “Survival of the Earliest Donor”….
__________________________________________
Addendum – Nice editorial on this topic in the same issue of JAMA.

Brunch at Berry Fields Farm

If three times makes a family tradition, then this is now one of ours – brunch with Irene and Marvin at Berry Fields Farm over Columbus Day weekend. A meal out is just what we need, since we spent most of the previous day at the cottage cooking Mr TBTAM’s big birthday dinner.

I’ve blogged before about Berry Fields Farm – their annual Blueberry Arts Festival is one of our summer highlights in the Endless Mountains. But a meal there is even more special, because owners Barbara and Charles Gerlach serve and prepare it themselves from organic ingredients grown or raised right there on the farm. If you want to eat locally, this is about as close as you get – the dining room is just steps away from the garden, and you can watch the ducks, chickens and turkeys in the yard and listen to the barn animals up the hill while you eat.

And what a delicious meal! The butternut squash soup is smooth, thick and perfectly spiced and has a bit of bacon from the Tamworth hogs raised on the farm. Charles makes a perfect omelet, fresh bread and delicious scones. The sausage, also from the hogs, has blueberries in it, and is delicious. Only the coffee comes from afield.

Berry Fields Farm is also a great place for dinner, and for ice cream in the summer months. They’re open all year round, but you need to make a reservation so they can plan ahead for your meal. If you really want a taste of farm living, you can vacation at the farm, joining in the daily chores in the barn and the garden. In addition to the restaurant, it’s one of the ways Barbara and Charles are able to keep their farm viable.

Berry Fields Farms was named by the New York Times as one of the 44 places to go in 2009. I’d encourage you to add it to your list of places to see anytime. Tell Barbara and Charles we sent you.

________________________________________
More photos from Berry Fields at Bottom of the Crisper

Licorice in Pregnancy – Best to Avoid It

Children born to women who consume large amounts of licorice in pregnancy have lower levels of intelligence and more behavioral problems, according to a Finnish study published in this month’s Journal of Epidemiology.

Of the children who took part in the Finnish study, 64 were exposed to high levels of glycyrrhizin in liquorice, 46 to moderate levels and 211 to low levels. They were tested on a range of cognitive functions including vocabulary, memory and spatial awareness. Behaviour was assessed using an in-depth questionnaire completed by the mother.

The results suggested that women who ate more than 500mg of glycyrrhizin per week – found in the equivalent of 100g of pure liquorice – were more likely to have children with lower intelligence levels and more behavioural problems. The eight-year-olds were more likely to have poor attention spans and show disruptive behaviour such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the researchers said.

The research comes after a study which suggested that liquorice consumption was also linked to shorter pregnancies.( via the BBC News)

I have to say that while the findings are concerning, the researchers did not control for maternal intelligence or perform psychiatric tests on the mothers in their study. Their surrogate for intelligence was socio-economic and educational status, which is a poor substitute in my estimation.

That said, the findings make sense in terms of what we already know about licorice and its effects on the body. Licorice in large amounts is generally not considered safe in either children or adults, and can induce headache, fluid retention, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure and potassium loss. The culprit is the root of the herb glycyrrhiza, the component of licorice that gives it its sweet and distinctive flavor. and which has cortisol-like properties. (Licorice actually used to be used to treat Addisons, and licorice craving can be a symptom of the disease.) In pregnant women, excess glycyrrhiza is proposed to inhibit the deactivation of maternal cortisol by the placenta, leading to abnormally high cortisol levels in the fetus.

While the FDA considers licorice to be safe as a flavor but not a sweetener, the European Union advises against consumption of more than 100 grams daily and requires that products containing licorice be clearly labeled as to this constituent.

These findings make it necessary to provide labelling which gives the consumers clear information on the presence of glycyrrhizinic acid or its ammonium salt inc onfectionery and beverages. In the case of high contents of glycyrrhizinic acid or its ammonium salt in these products, the consumers, and in particular those suffering from hypertension, should in addition be informed that excessive intake should be avoided. To ensure a good understanding of these information by the consumers, the well known term ‘liquorice extracts’ should be preferably used. (From the Offical Journal of the EU)

European licorice tends to be much stronger than American licorice, some of which may not contain licorice at all, but is flavored with anise, fruit extracts and corn syrup. (Red licorice is really not licorice at all, just flavored fruit candy.) If you’re not sure what you’re eating, read the label – if licorice extract is listed, you’ve got the real thing.

How much licorice extract is safe? Your guess is as good as mine, since I could not find milligram amounts on any licorice candy products I searched. My advice would be to play it safe and avoid licorice candy during pregnancy. (Hmm… maybe they should change the name from “Good and Plenty” to “Good only in small amounts”…)

This is just one more case highlighting the urgent need for the FDA to be given regulatory authority over herbal food supplements.
________________________________________
Licorice Plant Image from the USDA website
Licorice image copyright Bert Folsom, via Big Stock Photo

TBTAM on Healthcare Reform

I figure it’s high time I weighed in on the discussion. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I do have all the questions. Ten of them, to be exact.

1. Why is healthcare reform going so badly?

Healthcare won’t get fixed as long as the stakeholders in health care with the biggest voice in its reform are the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, medical device makers, lawyers and others whose business thrives on the increasing health care expenditures of the American public.

Asking these folks to help us reform healthcare is like asking Master Card, Walmart, Verizon and Best Buy to help figure out your monthly budget.

Real reform won’t happen until the American people take their seat at the head of the table and invite doctors, ethicists and healthcare experts (not industry lobbyists) to bring their best knowledge about what interventions are most important, most effective and most cost efficient. Then we can sort out our priorities (you can call it rationing if you want) and create a budget.

Only then we can begin to negotiate with third parties (insurers, Big Pharma, etc) to sell us what we need at the best price. That’s called competition, and it’s what American capitalism is all about, right?

The problem is, the American healthcare consumer (and I include myself here) still thinks someone else is footing the bill. Who that someone is, I don’t know. Maybe the rich. Maybe our employers. Maybe the Federal Government.

What we have yet to get is that there is no “someone else”. The deep pockets are our own pockets, and they are empty. Our tax dollars. Our pensions. Our companies going bankrupt from paying employee health care costs.

Until the American people get it that it is our responsibility to get our spending in line, and until our representatives have the guts to turn away the industry lobbyists and represent their constituents instead of their campaign bankrollers, we will continue to have uncontrolled health care spending.

2. But what about the Insurers?

You think when you buy insurance, you’re paying for healthcare? It’s not healthcare – it’s insurance.

The way insurance works is this – you pay in, they pay out. Their profits are the difference between the premiums we pay and the healthcare they cover. So, the less they cover, the more money they make. Your healthcare needs will always be secondary to their ultimate goal, which is to increase profits.

And here’s the thing – If we spend less, it doesn’t go back into our pockets – it lines theirs.

That said, the insurance indutry’s goal of us spending as little of their money as possible is aligned with our goal to stop healthcare spending. So if there’s a place for a “win-win” between the US healthcare consumer and one of our vendors, this is it. But there have to be limits on profits, or we get nowhere.

3. What do you think about a public option?

If it’s anything like Medicare, it won’t run well and it won’t work without rationing. Sorry.

I do like the solution offered up by Mayo Clinic chief Dr Denis Cortese. Namely the package offered to Federal employees, which allows wide range of choice but limits the profits of the insurers. Cortese suggests that the program eventually replace Medicare, and I agree.

4. What about Big Pharma?

What is it they say? Oh yeah – Ask your doctor. Well, here’s what this doctor says. We use way too many drugs in this country.

Which is not to say I don’t use or prescribe drugs, because I do both. But the marketing of drugs is out of control. In addition, Big Pharma is driving health care policy and clinical care standards. Not to mention populating the medical literature with ghost-written articles whose goal is to teach docs to write prescriptions for their drugs.

How did it get this way? Mostly, I believe, because the business model for success in the industry (ie, happy shareholders) demands that every new drug be a blockbuster. That means getting it out as fast as possible to as many as possible before the side effects catch up with the marketing.

How do they do it? One way is advertising, disease-awareness and fear-mongering. Because the sicker you are, the more illnesses you think you have or might have someday, the more drugs you will buy, and the more money they will make. (Notice this is the exact opposite of the business model for the insurers, who make more money when you are healthy.)

Another tactic Big Pharma uses is to expand the indication for their drug. Grow the population at risk. It’s not just diabetes, it’s pre-diabetes, pre-hypertension, pre–alzheimers… you get the drill. In fact, let’s forget waiting for the illness (or pre-illness) to strike – let’s treat everyone “at risk”. If they can identify you as high risk for, say, breast cancer, and then sell you a drug to lower your risk – Bingo! No matter if that drug increases your risk of something else (for instance, blood clots)- you’re not worried about that risk because they’re not “educating” you about it.

If all that doesn’t work, they can always pass a law mandating the drug.

Now, if they’re lucky and get market share before the FDA calls them on their ads, and the post-marketing adverse events don’t kill the drug, then they can continue to sell as much as they can till the patent expires, at which point the generic manufacturers (which are increasingly becoming the initial makers of the drug) can step in like Walmart and clean up on the volume.

Bottom line – The pharmaceutical industry’s goal is simple – sell more drugs. Whatever it takes. Asking them to help us cut healthcare spending is like asking the schoolyard pot salesman what you should do with your lunch money.

Healthcare reform has to include restrictions on Big Pharma – limits on direct to consumer advertising, banning of ghostwriting and full disclosure of all conflicts by any doctor, medical center or university who accepts their funding. We also need more watchdogs on the media and their role in fear mongering and disease “awareness”.

5. What Happened to Malpractice Reform?

It seems to have dropped off Congress’s “to do” list as far as reforms go. Too bad. We won’t get anywhere without it (see my rant on expectations below.)

6. How about the docs?

We docs have got to get our act together, stop fighting over the pie and help America solve this thing. Unfortunately, we are part of the problem. One reason is that we’re too busy seeing patients and trying to survive. That’s because our current business model demands volume for survival. As our costs of doing business (insurance overhead, malpractice, cost of wages and healthcare for employees, rent, the EMR) have risen, real reimbursement has dropped. Ergo the 15 minute visit, now the 8 minute visit.

Proposed solutions that include cutting reimbursement to docs will only make the problem worse, especially for primary care, which is going the way of the dinosaur.

The good new here is that, overall, docs will follow the money. You wanna’ reimburse specialty care at a higher rate than primary care? No problem, we’ll churn out nothing but dermatologists and back surgeons. You’re willing to pay us cash for Botox and fillers? Sign us up! You’ll reimburse AIDS care at a higher rate? Why didn’t you say so? Look, we built you an AIDS Center!

Not to mention that deep down, a whole lot of us really do have our patients’ best interests at heart, but are just as trapped in the maelstrom as you are. Tap into that interest and make our business model fit your needs, and we’re on our way to fixing this Magilla.

Some docs have decided they can’t wait for national reform, and are taking matters into their own hands, offering quality healthcare at a price they can afford to deliver it. It’s called Concierge Medicine. Unfortunately, Concierge Medicine currently defines only a small portion of the healthcare market. Critics say it cherry picks the healthy and the wealthy, and won’t work for the average American. Others say it’s a choice that most sensible Americans can afford if they choose to use their dollars this way.

I think it’s a step in the right direction.

7. What about the patients?

Or should I say “healthcare consumers”? As I said, we are part of the problem. The American consumer has unrealistic expectations, both in terms of outcomes and costs, when it comes to healthcare. We expect perfection, 100% certainty in diagnosis, and have no tolerance for any delay in diagnosis. We want every test that can be done, damn the cost, when it is us or our family who is sick. We want every last second of life, regardless of the price to society. We want to smoke as much as we want, eat as much or as poorly as we like, and have our cardiac cath and CABG covered, no questions asked. And we want cheap premiums to boot, with unlimited access.

At the same time, we are being sold to, fear-mongered and pushed in every direction by those whose major goal is profits. Which feeds perfectly into our skewed expectations.

8. Can’t we just ration?

It’s a good idea, but it ain’t happening. Not yet. We might accept gas lines, but we won’t accept having anyone tell us what we can or can’t have when it comes to our health.

Bob Wachter at the excellent Health Care Blog has written a fabulous post on healthcare rationing that I encourage you all to read. He concludes that Americans will never accept rationing in other than the imperfect form that currently exists in our capitalistic society.

Twenty years ago, the great Princeton healthcare economist Uwe Reinhardt observed that there are two kinds of rationing: “civics lesson rationing” and “muddling through elegantly.” … The muddling through option, which Reinhardt felt was far more likely, involves limiting the resources available – the number of ICU beds, or MRI scanners, or CT surgeons – and allowing docs, patients and administrators to duke it out at the bedside. The evidence is that they do a decent job at triaging to provide the most good for the most people.

Of course, these limits are naturally present when resources are truly scarce – like livers for transplantation – and in these circumstances we developed thoughtful rationing approaches. The point is that health care dollars increasingly resemble livers.

I happen to think he is right. For the moment.

This first year of national discussion is a preamble. At some point in the not too distant future, reality will set in and we will begin to understand that we need to ration healthcare. Maybe by then, someone will have come up with a better word than “rationing” that doesn’t have such negative connotations to most Americans. Whoever it was who came up with the term “Death Panels” seem pretty good at this sort of thing, maybe we can ask them…

9. It’s a mess, isn’t it?

Darn tootin‘ it is. There’s no way we’re fixing it in one year. But we seem to be finally getting our heads out of the sand, and that’s a start.

I do happen to like much of what Paul Levy is recommending – except I would keep insurance premiums pretax and allow the self-employed to deduct them as well.

10. What’s going to happen this year?

Here’s what I predict will come out of healthcare reform this year –

The insurers, Big Pharma, lawyers, hospitals and others with big profits at stake will be sure to prevent any meaningful change to their bottom line. Healthcare consumers as a whole will continue to expect blood from a stone, which aligns perfectly with industry’s need to keep healthcare growing.

Which will leave the docs with a pie that is unchanged in size, but that they will be forced to split differently. In the one good thing to come out of this whole mess, primary care will win a bigger piece at the behest of the specialists.

And the spending will go on.

Frugal Fig Flatbread

Say that five times fast. Then take a bite of the most delicious appetizer I think I have ever served.

The recipe is adapted from The Frugal Foodie Cookbook, written by Alanna Kaufman and Alex Small, aka the bloggers Two Fat Als. I met Alex and Alanna at the Union Square Farmer Farmer’s Market a few weeks ago, where they were selling their book and cooking up Eggplant Pasta. Once I learned that Alex is a med student at Mt Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, I knew I had to buy his book. (Even though I passed up the pasta – Y’all know my feelings on eggplant…) I was so excited – another medical food blogger! And with a book deal!

Alex and Alanna, a law student at Columbia University, met while undergrads at the University of Pennsylvania, and created all their recipes in their book while living on a student budget. Each recipe in the book has a little story attached and a cost breakdown per serving. Most of the recipes appear to be originals. The book’s introductory chapter (much too short, in my opinion) reveals the Als’ secrets for saving money while eating well – like making their own stock and breadcrumbs, using leftovers wisely, freezing herbs and making their own bread.

Of course, frugality (and regular bread making) is best accomplished by those with little financial resources but lots of free time. Students fall nicely into that category. It’s much harder being frugal while working 10-12 hour days, and even harder once you start taking night call. So it will be interesting to see how Alex and Alanna adapt their frugal lifestyles once the demands of residency and the law firm begin to take their toll. Hopefully by then, they will have the resources they need to enjoy being foodies without the luxury of free time.

Fig and Fontina Flatbread with Rosemary

The Fat Als use this Mark Bittman pizza dough recipe for their wonderful appetizer. That particular dough recipe calls for instant yeast. Since I only had active dry yeast, my recipe calls for proofing the yeast first. I’ve also adapted the original recipe by adding fresh rosemary and a generous sprinkle of salt and black pepper. Although The Als’ recipe calls for half figs, I’ve found that it is better to use fig slices, so that the juices find their way onto the bread while it is cooking. Next time I’ll use even more rosemary.

The recipe below makes two large cookie sheet size breads with a slightly puffy crust. If you like your crusts thin, as we do, you can split the dough into thirds and roll it out thinner, making three smaller breads from the same batch of dough. You’ll need to watch it more closely as the ends will cook quickly.

This bread goes great with a cold beer.

For the dough –

1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup hot water (100 degrees – very hot tap water will do)
A pinch of sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur’s bread flour); more as needed
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus a little more
2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt
3/4 cup water

For the topping-
1 cup shredded Fontina cheese
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 lb. black mission figs
Fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper

Pour 1/4 cup hot water into a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top along with a pinch of sugar. Give a quick stir and let sit till bubbles rise. Combine flour, salt, olive oil and activated yeast in a food processor. Begin processing and add 3/4 cup water through feed tube. Process, adding a little more water if necessary, until mixture forms a slightly sticky ball.

Turn dough onto a floured work surface, and knead to form a smooth, round ball. Put dough ball in a bowl, and cover with a clean damp towel. Let rise until dough doubles in size, 1-2 hours.

Just before the dough is done rising, preheat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Slice the figs by cutting them in half lengthwise (de-stem the ends with the knife if needed), then trimming the backsides flat, so you end up with nice thick slices with skins just around the edges. Divide dough in half and roll it onto lightly oil-greased baking sheets. Rub a little olive oil over the doughs, and divide cheese and figs among them. Sprinkle generously with fresh rosemary, salt and freshly ground pepper. Bake in the oven on the top shelf for 8-10 minutes, until golden. Cut into squares using a pizza cutter and serve.

Chocolate Chip Birthday Cake

Happy Birthday, Mr TBTAM.

Chocolate Chip Birthday Cake

This is a tried-and-true family birthday cake favorite. From Irene, of course. For the grated chocolate, we use chocolate chips, ground in the food processor till it is about a 60/40 mix of finely ground and tiny pieces. I screwed up this one by forgetting to add the chocolate on top till after it was baked – no problem, just sprinkle it on while it’s still hot and no one will know the difference. Serve with tall glasses of milk.

½ lb. butter
1 ¾ c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
4 large eggs, separated
1 cup milk
2 2/3 cups self-rising flour
½ c. grated semisweet chocolate (inside)
½ c. grated semisweet chocolate (topping)
Powdered sugar for the top

Have all ingredients at room temperature. Cream butter and sugar till light. Add egg yolks one at a time. Beat until smooth. Add vanilla. Beat in flour and milk alternately, starting with flour and ending with milk, adding about a third of each at a time and working quickly. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into batter with ½ cup grated chocolate. Pour into greased and floured pan. Sprinkle remaining chocolate on top.

Bake at 350°: 9 x 13 baking pan 45 minutes or large tube pan 55 minutes, or 2- 9 inch layer pans 40 minutes, or 2 loaf pans 45 minutes. Cool, sprinkle top with powdered sugar.

Roasted Baby Eggplant

Hello, little darlings! How CUTE are you??? And those little onions cozied up next to you? Just begging me to take them home and roast them…

Wait. I can’t do this.

I can’t write that “Aren’t these adorable little eggplants I found at the Union Square Farmers Market and look at the wonderful dish I made using them!” blog post I was planning to write.

It would be a lie.

Not because I didn’t buy these little babies, or roast them up with garlic and lemon and olive oil and mint to serve alongside roast lamb chops at a dinner party to a bunch of friends who ate them up so quickly that we wished we’d made more. I actually did all those things.

It’s because the one thing I did not do was eat these adorable little eggplants. Because I don’t like eggplant.

Really. I swear, I am not kidding. I can’t stand eggplant.

I know, I know. You like eggplant. You are not alone on this, trust me. Everyone loves eggplant. Everyone, of course, but me.

I know what you’re thinking – How could anyone not love eggplant?

If you really want to know, I’ll tell you. But I’m a little worried that when I tell you, you won’t like eggplant anymore either. Then you’ll hate me for making you hate eggplant and I’ll feel guilty for ruining every future eggplant experience you might have had. So if you’re easily influenced, or worried on this particular issue or wavering even the slightest bit on the whole eggplant thing, then you might just want to stop reading right now and skip down to the recipe at the bottom, which was really very good according to your eggplant-loving compatriots who ate it.

But if you’re still reading, I’ll tell you why I hate eggplant.

It’s the texture. That sort of rubbery soft sensation that feels like you’re eating something you’re really not supposed to be eating. Like…maybe… Oh, I don’t know.. a cooked alien? Seriously, I think if we were to grill up ET and serve him, he would taste just like an eggplant. And if you leave the skins on – well, now to top it all off, you’ve just made my teeth squeak.

You asked…

It took me years to convince Mr TBTAM that I am not an eggplant lover. He’d cook it up and offer it to me, over and over again, as if he’d never heard what I told him last time he’d made it, which was “I don’t like eggplant”. Or we’d be shopping for something to cook for dinner, and he’d say “How about eggplant?” or “Don’t these eggplants look delicious?” and I would remind him, yet again, that I DON”T LIKE EGGPLANT. Each time would be a new disappointment for him, and he’d look at me as if he had just realized that I was not the person he’d hoped he married.

Of course, being married 24 years, he’s gotten the point by now, and has taken to broiling his own eggplant when he wants it, then ignoring me while he eats it, or ordering Chinese eggplant when we are out, but then of course I can’t share it, even though he’s gotten half of my pan fried noodles. Fine.

My eggplant dislike is well-known in my husband’s family. I think it may have been a bigger issue for his mother than me not being Jewish, which actually, never seemed to be an issue. Of course, in that family, food is like politics, and we all know where every one stands. Peggy hates eggplant. My brother-in-law doesn’t like fish, but loves milk. Irene used to hate cilantro, but now she likes it in small quantities, but she still doesn’t like goat cheese. Mr TBTAM’s sister doesn’t like sugar in her whipped cream, should we make two separate batches or not? His other sister actually swore off garlic, which in my family would be sort of like me leaving the Catholic church, but worse.

Of course, in my family no one cares what food you like or dislike. They’re too busy eating.

The single exception to my “I don’t eat eggplant” rule was Augergines in Spicy Honey Sauce, which actually looks like a cooked alien but tastes wondrous. Maybe it was because the eggplant is called an “Aubergine”, which distracted me long enough to actually taste the eggplant. But I think it was the honey. I’ll pretty much eat anything if it’s sweet. Which is not to say that if I am coming over for dinner, you should go looking for a great honey Aubergine recipe to serve me, because really, I can pretty much promise you I won’t like it.

But I can promise you that you will love this recipe for roasted baby eggplant. After all, how could you not? Those little things really are adorable.

Just like ET.
__________________________________________________________

Roasted Baby Eggplant

I modified a recipe I found on the Real Simple website. We added in a bunch of those tiny baby onions up there in the photo. Those I ate.

12 baby eggplant
1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
fresh mint leaves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup olive oil

Heat oven to 450°F. Slice each eggplant in half lengthwise, leaving the eggplant halves attached at the top. Arrange the eggplants in a baking dish.

Cut the lemon in half. Thinly slice on of the halves into 12 slices, then cut each slice in half crosswise. Insert the lemon slices into the slit in each eggplant, then press some garlic and mint into each slit. Season with the salt and pepper. Squeeze the juice from the other lemon half and drizzle over the eggplants with the oil. Cover with foil and roast, basting frequently with the juices in the dish, until the eggplants are very soft, about 40 minutes.

Remove foil and roast for 5 more minutes. Transfer to individual plates and serve.

Back in the High Life Again

Okay, I’m over myself. Enough wallowing and worrying. It’s time to revel again in the joys of daily life in this marvelous city I call home.

Like having an hour and a half to kill with Mr TBTAM after dropping my daughter off at Pier 40 to see “Confidence Man“, a play stage-managed by her fave Middle School Social Studies teacher. Not enough time for a movie, so what were we to do? Go see the sunset from the High Line, thats what!

What’s the High Line, you ask?

Only the hippest and most wonderful new park in New York City, built along the old abandoned elevated freight rail line that runs near the Hudson River from the meatpacking district all the way up to 34th st and 11th Avenue. The High Line is testimony to what concerned citizens can accomplish when they come together with a purpose – in this case, to save the rail line from destruction by resurrecting it as an urban oasis.

The High Line’s design was inspired by the natural landscape that evolved over the years on the abandoned rail bed, and the design works. The place feels less a park and more like found nature in the middle of an urban cityscape.

Sunset is when the High Line is at it’s best. The setting sun and city lights add a magical glow, and the crowds have thinned enough that you can get a prime Hudson viewing spot on one of the broad lounges that line the lower half of the park.

But don’t just sit – stroll the entire park from bottom to top, going through and under buildings, past galleries, apartment buildings and warehouses. My fave part was walking the narrow Chelsea Grasslands, which brought back memories of summer days spent on the freight train tracks as a kid.

Don’t worry – the High Line is safe after sunset. A Parks Ranger told me there have been no incidents other than the occasional drunk. We saw lots of young professionals and couples, a few small parties, and even ran into my buddy Kathleen and her family in from Minnesota. Unfortunately, the Renegade Cabaret – one woman’s response to the instant audience created when the High Line opened within view of her fire escape – was quiet the night we visited.

The High Line isn’t finished yet – Phase Two will open in 2010 and will extend to 30th street, while the fate of the railyards section to 34th street is still unclear.
But don’t wait till the High Line is finished – go visit it now.
_________________________________________
History of the High Line – Narrated by Ethan Hawke
High Line Design Video – Cool!
Friends of the High Line – Your donation helps maintain the gardens on the High Line
The NY Times has a wonderful collection of High Line articles and images

Fallingwater

I never imagined that a building could evoke tears.

Until today, when I visited Fallingwater.

If you know me well, you are probably thinking it was something else.

Like the fact that we were on our way home from dropping my eldest off at college to start her freshman year.

Or my sister’s recent cancer diagnosis, difficult surgery and more to come chemo.

Or our family’s coming to terms with the fact that we have been unable to save my mother from her chronic pain or failing memory and must now make difficult decisions about where she will live.

But you would be wrong.

Yes, all those things have been going on lately. And while they certainly explain why I haven’t been blogging, they are not why I cried this afternoon.

I cried because this building, this home, this marvel of cantilevered concrete, steel and glass was so beautiful, so ingenious, so damned glorious that I could find no other response than tears.

How could I not cry, when the sudden downpour that began during our tour, a cascade of water from the sky that poured down around us as we walked under the covered walkway to the guesthouse so that we felt that we were actually within a water fall, turned into a radiant sun shower and then stopped just as we stepped out onto the highest terrace?

Or when I learned that Wright was 67 years old and at the low point of his career when he designed Fallingwater and at an age when most of us would be heading to retirement, he jump started the second half of his career, the half in which he created some of his most memorable designs, including the Guggenheim?

Or when I stood in the woods later, looking at that famous view of Fallingwater that we all know, and realized that man, when he does it right, can actually enhance nature rather than destroy it?

There are those who will say that Fallingwater as it was initially conceived and built was not perfect, and they would be correct. The concrete cantilevers needed steel reinforcements Wright had not planned, as did the stairs. Cracks appeared in the main level flooring almost immediately and as it continued to sag over the years, they threatened to bring the building down. But Fallingwater was saved – not by restoring the cantilever to its original position, but by stabilizing it where it had settled. As a result the building is slightly different, but stronger and just as beautiful as when it was first built.

As I write this, I feel as if I am again standing on the concrete cantilever at Fallingwater, and can feel the forces of gravity and counter tension pulling upon me.

I’ve survived my daughter’s senior summer and the move into the dorms with our relationship now settled into something different, but intact – better even, for the transition.

And as for my larger family – my eight sibs, my parents and I – we are learning that, despite our numbers, we are not invincible. Like Wright’s folded concrete cantilevers, we have sustained a crack or two. Already we are finding ourselves changed, settling into a different place than before, and will need some reinforcement and some shoring up as we go on.

But we will go on, strong and beautiful as ever.

When the Mentor Goes Rogue

A prominent Walter Reed Orthopedic surgeon is accused of inflating research data to benefit the Medtronic product that he was researching. The surgeon, who earned over $850,000 as a Medtronic consultant, also appears to have submitted copyright forms with forged signatures of his co-authors, none of them had ever seen the research paper that bore their names. One of these authors had been a resident under Kulko –

As a resident conducting research with Kuklo, Andersen said he noticed “an aberrancy in typical research” that involved “discarding inconsistent findings which did not fit his hypothesis.” Andersen said he had misgivings, but added he was a young doctor inexperienced with the intricacies of research, according to Army documents.

To conduct questionable research is on thing – to do so while mentoring residents takes the violation to a whole new level. These are the future researchers of America, the children of academic medicine. There is a responsibility to train them to conduct good, ethical research that trumps any industry contract.

We are trying to create a culture in clinical medicine, similar to that of the airline industry, that makes residents, nurses and others feel safe to question doctors when they think something may be awry. It seems to me that we need the same culture shift in academic research, particularly when the funding is coming from Big Pharma.