Cooking With Ideas

I Laughed Out Loud

Talking with My Mouth Full is something I do on occasion, but it is not this book's title that made me laugh out loud. In fact, when I picked it out of the newish books on the shelves of the Geneva (NY) Public Library, it was its subtitle that attracted me: Crab Cakes, Bundt Cakes, and Other Kitchen Stories. Written by Bonny Wolf, NPR's Weekend Edition food commentator who is also an occasional blogger (ok, it's way out of date) and contributor to Kitchen Window (a web newsletter from NPR), this 2006 book is a reasonably quick read. In fact, the book is sort of bloggish, by which I mean it is comprised of short pieces strong together in a sort of chatty fashion and followed by recipes. Wolf has organized her book into three sections: "Generation to Generation," "Feeding the Multitudes," and "Foreign Foods." Topics range from those mentioned in the title -- bundt cakes and crab cakes -- to such wonders as toast and fish cooked in salt (I have always wanted to do this and lived in fear of doing it with the wrong salt. Turns out Wolf got there ahead of me.)

So: what made me laugh out loud? It was a short essay toward the beginning of "Generation to Generation" that made me laugh out loud in pleasure. The essay, entitled "Aunt Esther's Antipasto" begins with the following sentence: "I was married and living in the East before I found out that antipasto did not originate in the Minnesota Iron Range"(p. 21). It was not the notion of the Minnesota Iron Range that made me laugh (though I had never heard of it and I admit the notion puzzled (and puzzles) me; in fact, because I was reading about cooking I sort of imagined a huge cooking appliance somewhere in Minnesota. I have since been corrected). Anyway, what brought about the belly laugh was the tale that followed -- and the discovery of something very familiar embedded in this story of someone else's epiphany. The story -- spoiler alert -- is about Wolf's discovery that what antipasto meant to her -- jarred and seasoned vegetables -- was not what antipasto meant to many other people (trays of meats, cheeses, pickled vegetables, for example, or the first course in an Italian meal). She eventually traces this fixation to a modified (Minnesotan) version of a Sicilian food. But what really made me laugh -- simply and truly with pleasure -- was nothing but the particular antipasto she mentioned part way into the tale as representing something much like what she means by antipasto and what it meant in the Minnesota Iron Range. She mentioned "Something Special Deli Foods" Gourmet Antipasto made in Alberta, Canada (and pictured below). This is the very antipasto which I was introduced to in trips to Alberta and which we were recently utterly frustrated to realize is now impossible to bring home. Why? The new air travel regulations treat this antipasto like they treat toothpaste and shampoo and other liquids and gels. Only 3 ounces can come through in your carry on (and it must fit into a very specific size baggy). And while we love this antipasto, the risk of it (tasty though it is) distributed haphazardly throughout our checked luggage should the (glass) bottle break is just too much.

What should we do? Well, one possiblity is to try to make it. And Bonny Wolf does offer a recipe. Another is to try to find it in the US. There are certainly Costco warehouse stores in the US, which Wolf mentions as one source for the Antipasto. (No, they do not have it on-line.) Or perhaps we could start an import/export business. Any ideas?

There's much more to Wolf's book -- nothing too serious, but I hope you too will find a belly laugh. (I intend to send a chapter on Crab Cakes to a friend who persists in ordering them everywhere I go, but that's a tale for another day.)

antipasto
Bonny Wolf
Minnesota Iron Range

May 2007 Blogs to Watch Out For

I read Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. It is one of my guilty pleasures. I read it. I read the whole thing. And, having just read the July issue (yes, time passes differently in land o' magazines than in the blogosphere) one of the new blogs I have been exploring comes from Ed Gorman's column, Blog Bytes. The site is Cluelass (www.cluelass.com) As Gorman notes, it is a swell site for mystery lovers (not to mention the punny name). If you browse around the site, even you will know when a new mystery with the title (sed a number of times here and elsewhere ) "Murder on the Menu" will be out.

Where else might you stop in the blogosphere these days?

For those of us nonplussed by recent controversy in Geneva, NY about political blogs, I just discovered fingerlakes1.com. Call me slow. There are loads of blogs there -- with entries ranging from snowcones to local politics. Brian Kolb, for example, has a blog. Check it out. And all this preceded No Strings Attached, the blog stirring up political controversy (well, actually just outing it) in Geneva.

If higher education rocks your socks, you might want to check out a 2003 Chronicle of Higher Education article on "Scholars Who Blog" click here. Somehow the whole thing is oddly seriously silly.

And I found a great piece on sabbaticals -- particularly relevant for those of you NOT in higher education -- on this site, which is called Educated Nation. (Novel idea, eh?)

If that is not enough for you this month, there's always the site called "Religion is a Queer Thing."

Yes, I am an academic and it is the end of the academic year. And I seem to be developing a serious case of insomnia. I'll get back to food blogs soon. But meanwhile!

New Link Posted

A new addition to the side bars always merits an announcement. And that's particularly true for our newest link, to Normal Bread. Yes, Dustin Cutler's bread shop, the foodie wonder of wonders in Geneva this past year, has a website. Dustin's bread has been part of this site from the get go, so I am sorry I didn't have the link up before.

If you have never heard of normal bread then you are just abnormal for a Finger Lakes foodie. What to do to regain normalcy? Check out the variety of entries on normal bread right here at Cooking with Ideas, starting with an interview with Dustin before the bakery opened and an entry on the opening itself. Or, better yet, go directly to the source -- either buy some bread at the bakery itself on Washington Street in Geneva or try it at the restaurants that use it -- including Madderlake Cafe (on Rte. 14 South of Geneva or the newest addition to the Geneva restaurant scene, the Red Dove at 30 Castle Street, which is using Dustin's brioche for french toast at Sunday brunch).

Keep An Eye Out For. . .

If you read this site regularly you may know that we are edging up to the one year anniversary of the blog! So, thanks for reading along. In the next little while you can look forward to

*An interview with Hobart and William Smith Colleges' Professor Derek Linton

*A review of Bonny Wolf's book, Talking with My Mouth Full

*Short snippets on a new place in Geneva, The Red Dove, and recent visits to some old favorites

*A minor tirade on Wegman's, pseudo-service culture, and harissa

*A look at Jonathan Reynolds' book, Wrestling with Gravy: A Life, With Food

*A new "Blogs to Watch Out For" entry

(The image, by the way, is an Escher.)

Katherine Hall Page

Turns out I was wrong. Yes, it is true that Katherine Hall Page is a Wellesley alum. But, she is not a new author for me -- something I discovered while reading two books I picked up in Ithaca that she wrote. Her series character Faith Sibley Fairchild is a caterer. She is married to a minister, and she lives in Aleford, MA (though she continues to pine for the Big Apple). As I read along in The Body in the Boullion (published in 1991) and a more recent mystery which I have misplaced, I discovered I had read Page's work before. Somehow I had filed her under "murder mysteries involving churches" in my imaginary file cabinet in the sky rather than under "culinary murder mysteries" -- and totally failed to cross-list them (the obvious solution). In this one, the bodies turn up here and there --including in the title's bouillon (made by Faith). Some are murders --and some are not, it turns out. But the tale is filled with a sort of angst that characterizes women named Faith whose faith is, perhaps, wavering? There is one particularly annoying character named Cyle who is definitely NOT meant to be an Episcopalian priest. And I think there are loads of Massachusetts in-jokes which I may have missed.

All in all, these are fun books, with a bit of ungodly murder amongst the godly and food as well. I got this one (and its lost sibling) at a used bookstore in Ithaca called Autumn Leaves where you can absolutely always find mysteries and on occasion a great cookbook.

May Dates to Watch Out For

May! A month filled with surprises -- Mother's Day and my parents' wedding anniversary and. . . . May. May is an exciting month in Upstate New York. Despite all suggestions to the contrary, I am convinced spring actually might begin in May this year. May -- the month of May Day (who knew?). It is also National Egg Month, National Barbecue Month, National Salad Month, National Chocolate Custard Month, and National Hamburger Month.

I am officially ignoring National Have A Coke Day -- May 8 -- despite my preference for Coke over Pepsi, because I know that Coke is not exactly an eco-friendly choice. I am not so pointedly political in ignoring May 24, National Escargot Day -- they're just not my faves.

So, for this month, let's focus on two very important dates. May 5 is National Hoagie Day -- also a biggie for anyone who traces her roots to Philadelphia. May 11 is also a crucial holiday. Why? It turns out this is Eat What You Want Day. I like that idea so much that I have edited down my usual list of foodie holidays to hoagies and this: Eat What You Want.

As always, I am indebted to various web sites for these calendrical tidbits. Check them out, for example, here.

Wellesley Murders -- Eat Your Way Through

So, I was in Wellesley, Massachusetts for a HERS meeting recently. Wellesley is a planet of its own in many ways. And it has Blue Ginger (alas not a restaurant I visited the latest time I was there). But I did want to share two important food-related bits from that particular trip.

The first: "Killing Them Softly: When it Comes to Murder and Mayhem Wellesley Authors are Masters," an article in the Fall 2006 Wellesley Magazine. Written by Karen Grigsby Bates (Wellesley 1973), the article looks at -- yes, murder mystery authors. (For an interview with Karen Grigsby Bates who is herself a mystery novelist, click here.) Who knew that so many imaginative murder and mayhem types went to Wellesley? Turns out lots of my faves -- the late Amanda Cross (actually Carolyn Heilbrun) graduated from Wellesley in 1947; Diane Mott Davidson in 1970 (click here for a prior entry on her work); Caroline Keene (yes, this is Nancy Drew -- actually Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, 1912 and others subsequently); Jane Gillson Langton (1944); and Emma Lathen (Mary Jane Latsis 1949 & Martha Henissart), among others. While not all are food-related -- Diane Mott Davidson's work is and I am a fan of Langton's Homer and Mary Kelly. And, I met through this article a new author, Katherine Hall Page (1969) whose main character, like Cookie of Diane Mott Davidson fame, is a caterer! All in all, we owe this women's college a lot. Indeed, we owe all women's colleges a lot. Let's keep them alive and well (especially in this era of backlash) not just to get more mysteries but to ensure generations of women's leadership.

The second little tidbit is much more foodie-obvious: Amarin of Thailand, a restaurant in Wellesley. One of the very few places open at all on the night of the Boston Marathon (which also happens to be Patriot Day in Massachusetts and thus loads of places close), they also loaned three women umbrellas when the taxi service closed before we finished our dinner and -- well -- it was absolutely pouring. So: thanks to Amarin!

Geneva Politics: A Newish Blog to Watch

I routinely let readers know when I have added a new link to those listed on the margins of this blog, and I have done so again! This time, the blog is listed under Geneva-related links and is called No Strings Attached. The blog focuses on Geneva City Council politics from the perspective of two councilors: Jackie Augustine and Chip Capraro. Definitely worth a read. And worth letting them -- and other readers -- know what you think makes for a better Geneva. (Yes, I mean Geneva, NY not Geneva, Switzerland, though perhaps we have perspectives on improving that Geneva as well.) I, for example, would like to see some of my Genevan (NY) Democratic colleagues recognize the important role of the many women and men in Geneva who have CHOSEN to make this our home.

Anyway, read away!

Bleeding Hearts

Bleeding hearts are usually something I associate with gardening. They're beautiful -- red, white or, more rareiy, blue. And yet the Susan Wittig Albert title, Bleeding Hearts, appears in her series featuring China Bayles, a former lawyer turned herbalist and store owner. I've read other of her books -- and listed some here, so I looked forward to this one happily. And my glee was rewarded with a good read and a story that was particularly interesting given this week's controversies around gender and sports -- the "exoneration" of Duke lacrosse players (which diverted attention from the widespread gendering of men's sports and their historic link with misogyny as well as raising anew a debate about protecting the identity of women who accuse individuals of rape; see also here) and Don Imus's labeling of the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." In this mystery, it is football coaches -- and thoughtless hero worship -- and what I think of as the pass-the-lemon pattern where deeply problematic people are shuffled from one place to another -- that turn the plot along its devious path. Turns out it is not just the Catholic Church that hides it sinners by moving them from one locale to another. And turns out the entanglements of gender and sports and ambition are not simple at all.

Anyway, Bleeding Hearts includes, as do all of Albert's books in this series, epigraphs from real and faux herbalist magazines, books, and web sites. And, also as usual, the book includes recipes. This one includes recipes for a lemon coffee cake, chicken breasts stuffed with chives and fresh herbs (are chives not an herb, I asked myself?), lemon-rosemary cookies, and heart healthy liver snack bars for dogs. (Ok, the pet theme that runs though this series includes a basset hound named Howard Cosell. If you have no idea who Howard Cosell was -- he died in 1995 -- click here for an obituary. And think of his voice and why someonemight name a basset hound after him.) Amongst the epigraphs are incense recipes and one for a lemon-y lavendar tea.

So: even if you find the plot a a tad predictable at moments, the recipes are not. And, as I have said on this blog before -- she's a former English professor and university administrator and vice president. Why do academics so love to murder in their imagination?

Local Events of Interest

The following food-related events are each at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY -- and are sponsored by Campus Greens as well as Environmental Studies.

Monday, April 23rd at 8 pm in the Geneva Room

David Pimentel lectures on "Food Energy and Society." Pimentel is a world-renowned researcher in agricultural sciences and has also published numerous papers and books in other disciplines relating to energy and society.   

Tuesday, April 24th at 7:30 pm in Coxe 008
Agricultural Forum

Four panelists from the surrounding region will talk about different aspects of agriculture including new research, organic farming methods, problems with industrial agriculture, and other issues that affect us all.  The panelists include Tony Shelton (Cornell, International Agriculture and Research in Biotechnology), Laura Pedersen (President of the Ontario County Farm Bureau), Jim Ochterski (Cornell, Agriculture Economic Development Specialist from Cornell Cooperative Extension [of either Yates or Ontario County -- I can't quite figure out which!]), and Mary-Howell and Klass Martens (owners of a local organic farm and Lakeview Organic Grain).