Henrietta and Charlie: Saying Goodbye

I was very saddened to learn about the loss of a very good friend. Her name was Henrietta, and she was a long-time resident of the C.A.T.S. resale shop in Westwood, NJ. Here she is, as she often was, with her face held to the sunlight.


Despite our obvious differences, Henrietta and I had many things in common. We both enjoy a good nap; like to look out the window and observe life; and enjoy the company of others, but relish some downtime to ourselves.

Henrietta, like all companion animals, just ask for life's basic necessities: food, water, shelter, medical care, and love. She never passed judgement on me if I gained a few extra pounds, changed my hair color or my wallet was a little emptier than I'd prefer. She was a true friend, and I will miss her greatly. I feel glad to have known her, and the few moments I spent in her presence was the highlight of my week.

She was rescued in Union City, NJ, by a kind soul, on the brink of a snowstorm. Since she was FIV-positive, she was not easily adoptable. I have been cursed with cat allergies, so I could not provide a home. This year we also lost Charlie, a true gentlemen. He had many years of life behind him, and he had a lot of love to give to the very end.

"Home, home where I wanted to go," Chris Martin sings in Coldplay's Clocks. In the end, Henrietta and Charlie really did find their forever home, even it was an unconventional one, filled with love, happiness and warmth, with the guardian angels who run the C.A.T.S. store, including Lynn, the founder and president.

Goodbye, friends. I'll never forget you. Your paw prints are on my heart always.

Please support local animal organizations during these hard economic times. No amount of money is too little. If you can't give much, give a bag of pet food, or your time. Here are some great local groups in New Jersey: C.A.T.S., Companion Animal Trust, Bloomingdale Regional Animal Shelter Society, and S.T.A.R.T. II.

Yes, I'll Have That Here...In A Real Cup, Please

A foreign object to most Starbucks customers: a ceramic mug, which can be filled with your favorite soy-based beverage of choice.

Even if you're in the independent coffeehouse cheerleading camp (generally speaking, I'm a brew-your-own fair-trade, organic coffee at home fan), the reality is that millions of people patronize Starbucks daily. They are a fixture of city life in New York. I received a Starbucks gift card, and when I suggested to the counterperson they should offer ceramic mugs, she said, "we do." Really? Do any of their customers realize this? In an age when corporations are bending over backwards to promote themselves as "green," why are they keeping the lid on ceramic mugs (pun intended) if people are going to drink their beverage there? The company states on its web site that by 2015, its goal is to have every Starbucks cup be reusable or recyclable. But ceramic mugs are something people can use right now.

Starbucks finally wised up and is now offering a 10-cent discount if you bring your own coffee mug. I hope the company gets enough requests to make ceramic mugs the default for customers staying in. I shudder at all those plastic lids languishing in the landfills, in addition to all those trees cut down needlessly.

Visit My Starbucks Idea (free registration required) to request this change, in addition to adding vegan options and leaving soy milk out on the counter. The consumer voice is more powerful than ever in this struggling economy, and we must utilize this strength for a better planet.

"Greed is a Blinding Ray"

There is a genre of musical artists (in my book, including Tori Amos and R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe) who do double duty as musicians and social historians of the times. Many of their works read like poems to me, and serve as cautionary tales or provide calls to activism.



Also on this list for me is Natalie Merchant, who is recording new material after a long hiatus. If you haven't checked out The House Carpenter's Daughter, her haunting collection of folk music - do.



A long-time activist for many causes, Ms. Merchant penned "A Campfire Song," which appeared on the 1987 album "In My Tribe" with the band she fronted at the time, 10,000 Maniacs. Backing vocals are provided by Stipe on the studio version. This sonic tale bears witness to greed, entitlement and environmental carelessness, all themes that sadly transcend time. While the original inhabitants of our land lived in harmony with nature, and were caretakers of the Earth, too many of us have carried on our forefathers' tradition of simply becoming takers.



10,000 Maniacs - A Campfire Song Live




A lie to say, "O my mountain has coal veins and beds to dig.

500 men with axes and they all dig for me."

A lie to say, "O my river where many fish do swim,

half of the catch is mine when you haul your nets in."

Never will he believe that his greed is a blinding ray.

No devil or redeemer will cheat him.

He'll take his gold to where he's lying cold.



A lie to say, "O my mine gave a diamond as big as a fist."

But with every gem in his pocket, the jewels he has missed.

A lie to say, "O my garden is growing taller by the day."

He only eats the best and tosses the rest away.

Never will he be believe that his greed is a blinding ray.

No devil or redeemer can cheat him.

He'll take his gold to where he's lying cold.

Six deep in the grave.



Something is out of reach

something he wanted

something is out of reach

he's being taunted

something is out of reach

that he can beg or steal nor can he buy



his oldest pain

and fear in life

there'll not be time

his oldest pain

and fear in life

there'll not be time



A lie to say "O my forest has trees that block the sun

and when I cut them down I don't answer to anyone."

No, no, never will he believe that his greed is a blinding ray

no devil or redeemer can cheat him.

He'll take his gold where he's lying cold.

Maida Heatter

Do you have baking guru? I do. It’s Maida Heatter. She is the queen of desserts, hands down, no contest, end of story. If you love all kinds of desserts, cookies and sweet breads, then you MUST own every one of her cookbooks. It’s a necessity.

If the name Heatter rings a bell, that’s because she is the daughter of radio commentator Gabriel Heatter who became famous during World War II broadcasts with his: “There is good news tonight.” catch phrase.

Maida never started out to be a chef – she didn’t even attend a culinary school - but she credits her great baking talent to her mother, trial and error and her love of good cookbooks. Her favorite? Mildred Knopf's The Perfect Hostess Cook Book. I'd never even heard of it but am going to the library ASAP to see if I can get it. Maida actually has a degree in fashion illustration and was simultaneously designing and making jewelry as a hobby- which soon turned into a business. She married pilot Ralph Daniels in the late 40’s and in the 60’s when her father became ill, she and her husband came up with the idea of opening a coffee shop in a chic Miami Beach neighborhood.

The coffee shop was named Inside and Maida made all the pastries served there. It was quickly a hit and soon grew into a full scale restaurant. I didn’t move to Florida until 1970, but my parents lived here from 1958 on and my mother had heard about Maida Heatter through word of mouth- the best way to get inside info- and had been to her coffee shop. She became an instant convert. Maida was also teaching baking classes and at one point in the early 60’s, she taught at Burdines, a local department store. I am still amazed Mother did not drive to Miami Beach (which would have been about an hour away) just for Maida's classes because Mother was a superb baker- as was her mother before her (and, in fact, owned a bakery in Detroit in the 20's). As it was, Mother took every baking and cooking class available in the Ft. Lauderdale area.

Anyway, one day Craig Claiborne (who was then food editor of the New York Times) tasted Maida’s desserts and talked her into writing a cookbook. Her first was titled Maida Heatter’s Great Desserts and was published in 1974- the same year she and her husband sold the restaurant. She has since been the recipient of two James Beard awards and has written several more cookbooks, of which I have every single one. Now in her 80’s, she is still baking away in her Miami Beach kitchen, as energetic as ever.

Maida Heatter’s recipes are precisely written and a snap to follow. And I'm not kidding. There is usually a story behind each recipe-such fun to read- plus tips and options; her descriptions have you drooling and dying to try anything-no matter how involved the recipe. Complicated recipes that you might have found daunting are made simple with her detailed directions. It’s impossible to screw up the recipe as long as you do as she says. Exactly.

Do I have a favorite? Couldn’t possibly choose just one. I can narrow it down a little: I do love her sweet breads. And something else: she is a chocoholic (she has one book with nothing but chocolate recipes) so if you are a chocolate lover be prepared- you will go nuts.

A few weeks ago I made her Date Espresso Loaf for my daughter and then sat back and watched her face. It had two of her favorite things in it: chocolate and espresso. She did a double take as all the different flavors registered and then begged a second loaf to take back to New York. And this from someone who really is not a sweet bread aficionado. So you gotta know how good this is. Every single time I have served this particular loaf, people are intrigued and it’s always the first empty plate on my buffet. I have written out the recipe so much I know it by heart. While it’s not MY favorite of Maida's sweet breads, it appears to be everyone else’s.

I often serve it with cream cheese- which seems to top off the flavors nicely and a little tip when you do make it: it needs to be sliced when very cold. The good news? It freezes perfectly. Don’t you love it when you can freeze things? I usually make this in two small loaf pans, use one and freeze the other. In fact, my freezer has several of her sweet breads in it all the time. I'd give anything to know what's in Maida’s freezer!

Date Espresso Loaf

Ingredients:

10 ounces pitted whole dates

3 tablespoons instant espresso granules

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 large eggs

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sifted unbleached flour

1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 1/2 ounces raisins

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

6 ounces walnuts, broken in large pieces

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°. Adjust rack 1/3 up from the bottom.

I make this in two small loaf pans but Maida suggests a 10 1/4 by 3 3/4 by 3 1/2 inch pan. Butter the pan/pans and dust with bread crumbs.

With scissors, cut the dates crosswise into 1/3 to 1/2 inch pieces; make certain no pits escape. Put the dates into a bowl and in another bowl stir the baking soda into the boiling water. Add to the dates along with the espresso granules. Mix and let cool to lukewarm. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cocoa and set aside.

In a large bowl of a mixer, beat the eggs only to mix. Add the oil, sugar and vanilla and beat only to mix. Add the date mixture and beat only to mix. On low speed, add the dry ingredients and beat only until incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the raisins and nuts. Turn into the prepared loaf pan/pans and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. (If you use the two smaller pans, this time will be shorter.) Once during baking reverse the pan. Watch the color of the cake during baking; if the top shows signs of darkening too much, cover the pan loosely with foil. Bake until a cake tester, inserted in the middle all the way down, comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Then invert the pan on a rack, remove the pan and let the cake cool upside down on the rack.

Break Out Your Datebook...

Aside from the official celebration of Earth Day on April 22nd, which we all know is really every day, there will be animal and eco-events galore next month. Mark your calendars for one, a few, or all of these groovy events!

April is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month and what better way to celebrate than by rocking out at Union Square in New York City with the ASPCA and the 4-legged set on Tuesday, April 7th. Between 4-8 pm, enjoy refreshments, live music, and socialize with doggies up for adoption. Don't forget to get decked out in orange - the official color of the ASPCA - even the Empire State Building will be doing it! Impress your coworkers with this free ASPCA wallpaper. But what to pick...the cat, dog or horse?

Be thrifty, green and an animal activist all in one by signing up for a library card and celebrating National Library Week (April 12-18th). Of course I own some things, but communal sharing is the way to go. Netflix? No thank you. I get new DVD releases for $1 and older releases for free at my library; get my reading fix on ("I cannot live without books," Thomas Jefferson to John Adams in 1815); peruse magazines, vegan cookbooks and sample music. The library can also be a great resource to advocate for animals. Learn how using the Farm Sanctuary library outreach page.

Celebrate the Cherry Blossom festival at Branch Book Park in Newark, NJ. Or, just pamper yourself with some Cherry Blossom beauty products from The Body Shop. Or just eat soy cherry chip ice cream from Trader Joe's. It's delicious!

April 24 is Arbor Day, a national observance that encourages tree planting and care. Become a member of the Arbor Day Foundation for as little as $10, and they will plant 10 trees in our national forests.

Don't forget the Hackensack Riverkeeper clean-ups, the first of which is on Sunday, April 26, in Overpeck Park, Leonia, NJ. But you don't have to wait for an official clean-up. Trash is everywhere.

April 9th is the first day of Passover. PETA's VegCooking offers recipes including Carrot Tzimmes, Chopped 'Liver' Spread and Sweet Potato Kugel. For more, click here. For Easter, April 12th, doesn't a Mustard and Apricot Glazed 'Ham', Creamy Mashed Potatoes With Chives, and Apple Walnut Cake sound tempting? Click here. Not a cook? Try the vegan vegetable ravioli salad ($8.99/lb) off of Whole Foods Market's Easter catering menu or how about the vegetarian chopped "liver" ($6.99/lb.) on the Passover menu. Don't forget the campy chocolate in the form of an Easter Bunny. Check out Rose City Chocolatier.

Whole Foods Paramus: A Spy Report

Vegans will be in foodie heaven at the new Whole Foods Market in Paramus. My first impression, it's huge, at 63,000-sq. ft. They have much bigger offering of vegan food than their Ridgewood counterpart, but I could not shop here regularly. Stores of this size are too cold and overwhelming to me.

The have a sizable vegan baked goods section, including these slices of cake and this Moo-Cluck un-cheesecake that would make the Golden Girls proud. I also eyed pre-packaged donuts and brownies. The mark-up is considerable on any processed food.

Vegan chicken salad! We've come a long way. This is $4.49. Or make your own. Try VegCooking's recipe. Right by this, there was a vegan avocado sandwich for $4.99.


Penne Lane Pasta Company vegan artichoke ravioli, $7.99 for a 12-count. A bit pricey, but consider what you'd pay at an Italian restaurant. You could probably get two portions out of this, paired with a green salad and garlic bread.

They also have a gelato bar where there was one soy flavor that I sampled, chocolate chip cookie dough. There were no vegan offerings at the pizza bar, but the counterperson said sometimes there are.

Miss mac & cheese from the pre-vegan days? Me too. Road's End Organics makes a good vegan version, which you'll find at Whole Foods.

It was also great to see signs everywhere indicating which products are locally produced. Visit Whole Foods Market, 300 Bergen Town Center, Paramus, NJ.

That said, I'm sticking to the more intimate and budget-friendly Trader Joe's for general shopping and Old Hood Farm, Emerson, NJ, for local, organic produce.

Want to find a farmers market for fresh local, produce? Search here.

Someone loves Trader Joe's even more than I do, and started a website, TraderJoesFan.com. Check out this recipe for Spicy Pineapple Vegan Meatballs. Yum!

An Evening out at Candle 79

There's been a lot of DVD and vegan pizza nights on my end, so when it was time for a special evening out, Candle 79, one of the most famed vegan restaurants in New York City, seemed like the perfect place to splurge on a nice dinner. Here's a recap of my first visit.

The homemade ginger ale, with agave, sparkling water, lime, and mint, $7. In a word, divine.

The amuse-bouche of the evening was edamame. I thinking they could have provided something more inspiring.

New York Times critic Frank Bruni said this was one of the more enjoyable hummus appetizers he has tried in the city, and I can taste why. Served with grilled paratha bread, olives, and a roasted garlic bulb. Pricey at $13, and they are stingy with the bread so we had to order more, for which they charged $2.

My dish...the seitan piccata, served with spinach, a grilled potato cake, oyster mushrooms, and lemon-caper sauce, $23. A tasty and humane alternative to a dish more associated with veal. The spinach wasn't "creamed" as the menu described, disappointingly...more steamed.

I sampled the Fall Harvest Paella, $20. The smoked seitan sausage was hard to find. This dish was good, but missed the Wow factor.

The dessert special, Mexican chocolate cake with ginger ice cream, $12. The cake was light and airy. The ginger ice cream made this dish. Too bad this isn't on the permanent menu.

If you're going for a romantic night, ask for a table by the window on the second floor. The great thing about dining out is it inspires my dishes at home. I never thought to grill my bread with hummus or serve it with roasted garlic. And I would definitely try making that ginger ale at home. But at these prices, Candle 79 is for special occasions only.

I asked the bartender why there weren't any local wines from Long Island on the menu, and she said it's because they had trouble finding a good wine that was vegan and organic. A shame. Also, the menu listed draft beer as $7, but the bill listed it as $8. A good reminder to always check your bill.

Visit Candle 79 at 154 E 79th St. btwn Lexington & 3rd Ave., New York City.
Click here to see Frank Bruni's audio slide show of his visit.

That said, my favorite place in NYC for vegan dining is still The Natural Gourmet's Friday night dinners. It's $40 per person for 4 courses, but that includes tax and tip, and bringing your own wine saves a fortune. It's communal dining, so you won't have the privacy, but the quality has never disappointed.

A flashback to my visits: fall seasonal fare and a night with guest chef Melissa Gellert .

There's Always Room For Jello Gelée


Because I just can’t resist stuff like this, here’s some Jell-O trivia:

• In Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 silent film "The Ten Commandments," Jell-O was used to create the effect of keeping the Red Sea parted as the Israelites fled Egypt.


• In "The Wizard of Oz," the horse that changed colors was actually six horses sponged down with Jell-O.
  
• The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in Jello.


• Five jello flavours that flopped: celery, coffee, cola, apple and chocolate
  
• The most popular jello flavor is strawberry


• Cranberry Jello is only sold in November and December and is the only jello flavor that comes from real fruit, not artificial flavoring


• There is actually a jello museum: http://www.jellomuseum.com

( A Jell-O museum???)

Still, 72% of us use it regularly in our homes. I know I do. I always have several boxes of sugar free orange in my pantry.

And let's not forget molded Jell-O salads. Come on, fess up- you know you’ve made at least one. My Dad loved a bing cherry Jell-O salad and I was obligated to make it several times a year for him. Then I found some other really old recipes: for a strawberry molded salad; a lime/lemon pineapple salad; a cucumber molded salad- well I’m not going to admit how many I found. We used everything imaginable (and even some things that were downright frightful) in those molded Jell-O salads. They were king in the 50’s. My sister used to make a dessert with a graham cracker crust using 3 Jell-O flavors, cubed, and combined in a sauce made with lemon Jell-O, pineapple juice and whipped cream. Kids loved it. Kids always love Jell-O. They still do. Some things never change.

I don't think many of us make Jell-O molded salads anymore– thankfully. And I haven't seen one on a buffet table for years. I guess we’ve become way too sophisticated. And aside from the sugar free I eat when I am in starvation mode, I don’t stock Jell-O in my pantry. Gelatin, yes. Regular Jell-O, no.

A few nights ago I was wading through the recipe folder labeled “to try” and guess what I found? A contemporary version of Jell-O: Gelée. The recipes and photos were in a June 2001 issue of Gourmet magazine. One was a Grape and Elderflower Gelée and the other was a Rosé-Peach Gelée (which sounded heavenly). The photographs were supposedly of a summer tea party- the table looked luscious. Aren't the molds lovely? I don't own a single elegant mold like those.

I thumbed farther along and came across a December 2007 Gourmet recipe for Passion Fruit Gelée candy. Look familiar? Be fun to try this sometime too so I printed out the recipe.

And finally, one more gelée recipe, this one for a Passion Fruit Gelée with a basil-infused cream top. How divine. This one in Gourmet, June 2006. The powers that be at Gourmet must really be taken with gelées-all sorts. Or maybe it's just because they photograph beautifully (These three photographs were in Gourmet Magazine).

In this case Gourmet referred to the recipe as an “old potluck-supper standby, gelatin goes haute”. Not having any elegant tea parties in the offing but admitting I do adore passion fruit-which is quite tart- I decided to give this a try. Unlike the large molded gelées in the previous photo, this recipe would be simple to cut in half without ruining the presentation, just in case I hated it and had to dump the lot. Of course, I didn’t have those magnificent tall glasses to work with but dug out some smaller juice glasses I thought might work. Gourmet suggested tilting the glasses in an egg carton in the refrigerator. (After all, we mustn't have this look like actual Jell-O.) I couldn’t quite get that to work with my footed glasses, so I just put some dishtowels down in the refrigerator, put the glasses on it and then tilted them against the side of the refrigerator. It worked just fine. So forget the egg carton, it's just an accident waiting to happen unless you have a set of perfectly shaped glasses.

The combination of flavors was really delicious; tart passion fruit in the same mouthful with an herbal, slightly sweet, jelled cream. Of course, not only did Gourmet suggest you tilt the glasses for visual impact, but the flavors do need to be tasted together. I was lucky to find passion fruit nectar in the Looza brand as suggested by the magazine- because much of what my market carried either was a mixture of passion fruit and other juices or not really a nectar, therefore much too sweet- which defeats the flavor absolutely. So I really have to advise you not to make this without finding the Looza brand. This company makes several other flavors which you could substitute, but you won't find them quite as tart. Passion Fruit Gelée makes such a pretty presentation and all ages will appreciate the delicate meld of flavors. I bet you have some prettier glasses to use too.

Passion Fruit Gelée with Basil Cream

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup water
2 cups passion fruit nectar (Looza brand is best)
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups well chilled heavy cream
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons water

Method:
Make the gelée: Sprinkle 2 teaspoons gelatin over cool water in a small saucepan for 1 minute. Melt over low heat, stirring until gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat and add passion fruit nectar 1 tablespoon at a time until gelatin mixture is cool. Then whisk in remaining nectar.
Chill, stirring off and on, over ice cubes until it reaches the consistancy of egg whites. Take a dishcloth and put it in the refrigerator. Partially fill some glasses and then place them on the towel, tilting them against the refrigerator side. Let set until firm.
Make the basil cream: Pulse basil, sugar and a pinch of salt in a food processor. Tranfer to a bowl and add cream. Sprinkle gelatin over the cool water for 1 minute until softened. Heat to melt. Whisk in 1 tablespoon of the basil mixture at a time until the gelatin is cool. Then whisk in remaining basil mixture. Pour through a fine sieve. Chill over ice cubes.
This is an important step: hold glasses at an angle while filling with the basil mixture, slowly righting the glass. Chill until set.

Chickens, Score 1

"Change is nature, the part that we can influence, and it starts when we decide," Remy the rat wisely informs his father in the film Ratatouille.

The people have spoken, and garnered a victory for the chickens. Just one month after Compassion Over Killing teamed up with Mercy For Animals and the Animal Protection & Rescue League, caring consumers urged BOCA to stop using eggs in its products. Mission accomplished! BOCA, the maker of meat substitutes, announced plans to be egg free in 2010. Learn more.

Contact MorningStar Farms, and urge them to follow BOCA's lead. Shifting suffering of one animal, such as a cow, to another, chickens, is just not acceptable.

This is a great announcement to kick off spring, and the celebration today, March 20th, of the Meatout, an international observance promoting a vegetarian diet.

In other news, our friends at Farm Sanctuary are hosting an online charity auction. Wallet a little emptier than you'd like? No problem. A contribution of just $20 entitles you to a Farm Sanctuary membership for one year. Click here to donate.

Check out their cool new activist blog, Making Hay and learn about life at their shelters in New York and California by following Sanctuary Tails.

Home on 8th: Good Vegan Chinese, Check, But...

Brown bagging lunch is usually my preferred way to go, but recently I decided to try Home on 8th, a Chinese restaurant that has a sizable vegan and vegetarian section on their menu. Is it the best Chinese food ever? No. But if you're looking for a quick meal before a show at Madison Square Garden, or you work nearby and are craving Chinese, this an option.

A feast: Tangy Sweet And Sour Soy meat, carrots, peppers, onion and pineapple; brown rice; miso seaweed soup; and two spring rolls, $9.75 for the lunch special.

This place did lose some points for the styrofoam soup bowl and the hard plastic container my meal came in. They have a plain by pleasant enough seating area, and I don't see why reusable dishes can't be used. And styrofoam? I remember being inspired as teenager watching R.E.M.'s 1989 concert for their Green album, captured on my now outdated VHS copy of Tourfilm, when Michael Stipe told an audience member, "That better not be styrofoam, pal." That's my kind of rock star.

What's wrong with plastic and styrofoam? They both take between 500-1000 years to decompose in a landfill, according to GreenMuze. Styrofoam is thought to have the second worst environmental impact behind aluminum production, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board.

Home on 8th, 391 Eighth Ave., between 29th & 30th St., New York City.

St. Patrick's Day Greetings

If there was ever a time when our country needed a festive parade, merry spirits and the luck of the Irish, it's now. The Irish eyes smiled on the NYC parade today, providing beautiful, mild temperatures...a sign of spring, and happier, more positive times to come.

Our friends at PETA's VegCooking site always provide great ideas for a cruelty-free holiday. You can enjoy an Irish feast today or any day of the year, including 'Steak' and Stout Pie, Colcannon, Brown Bread and Chocolate-Stout Cupcakes
Mock Corned Beef and Cabbage, Sage Potatoes, and Vegan Irish Soda Bread, and more. Or how about Irish Whiskey Cake and Irish Coffee?

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all.

Return From Fingal - The Corrs

Eggs: Presenting Problems, and Solutions

With Easter season upon on, heightening the awareness of the cruelties of egg production is vital. In 2007, consumption rose from an average of about 94 million dozen eggs weekly to 115 million dozen the week before Easter and almost 136 million during Easter week, according to the National Egg Council.

In a world where people are so disconnected to where their food comes from, providing a visual is so crucial. Artist, web developer, and animal advocate Mark Middleton created animalvisuals.org to do just that. This is his brainchild, The Virtual Battery Cage.



Among the shocking statistics we advocates are familiar with:
1) In the U.S., some 95% of egg-laying hens are intensively confined in battery cages.
2) As of December 2008, about 300 million birds are confined in battery cages, almost one for every U.S. citizen.
3) Each cage confines 5 or 6 birds on average, but sometimes up to 10 birds.

In addition to presenting the problem, he provides viable alternatives to eggs. These include applesauce, bananas, and commercial egg replacer powder (such as Ener-G Egg Replacer), and others. Too often, I read animal rights literature speaking about the horrors of factory farming, but not leaving the reader with another option. They must walk away with a sense of what they can consume instead, otherwise the point will have been lost.

Check out alternatives to eggs on About.com and Bob's Red Mill Vegetarian Egg Replacer.

Think cage-free are better? Not necessarily, according to the Humane Society of the United States. Most cage-free hens live in very large flocks that can include thousands of hens who never go outside, they say. Here are more facts from the HSUS:

-Cage-free farms usually purchase their hens from the same hatcheries that supply battery-cage farms. These hatcheries kill the male chicks upon hatching - exceeding 200 million annually in the U.S.
-Most cage-free hens have part of their beaks burned off, a painful mutilation.
-Hens are often killed at less than two years old, less than half their normal lifespan. They are typically transported long distances to slaughter plants with no food or water.

Learn more about cage-free egg production vs. Battery-cage egg production

A reality check. This sign hangs outside of the hen house at Farm Sanctuary's Watkins Glen, NY, shelter.

The ideal. Chickens enjoying a dust bath on a sunny autumn day in Watkins Glen.

Freedom rings in this hen house

Sweet solitude.

If you haven't already, please send an e-mail to your legislators asking them to end cruel confinement of farm animals, including battery cages, using this form from Farm Sanctuary.

Mustard Ring

Well, it’s spring break month in South Florida. We are under siege- which is sweet for Florida’s economy but the driving is hell. A1A is barely a road this time of year- it’s solid people- on bikes, walking, running, going to the beach; you can’t make a turn at an intersection without practically getting out of your car to look both ways- bikes come out of nowhere, runners with headphones don’t even glance around- some even pushing babies along in strollers. Doesn’t matter if you have a green light. It’s all about defensive driving. OK. No more complaining; after all, this might just keep South Florida’s head above water until the long, hot summer. Then all bets are off.

Another sure sign Easter is nearly here: my darling granddaughter is coming down on HER break. She returns home on Easter Sunday so rather than making Easter dinner, we will be at the Ft. Lauderdale airport where we will practice patience.

As far back as I can remember my standard Easter dinner meant a Honey Baked ham. Trite, I know. But there are times when you’ve got to take the easy way out. Ham just plain goes with Easter, doesn't it? I even serve it on Christmas day because I want to spend time with my family rather than in the kitchen. Besides, Honey Baked hams are really good.

Christmas Eve with my parents used to be oyster stew and a filet of beef; then when my brother took over, it was turkey. So it was only natural I started serving ham on Christmas day- which everyone still requests with the lone exception of my daughter- who merely tolerates it. But whether Christmas or Easter, I do have an unusual side dish I serve that's a killer recipe- Grace’s Mustard Ring. Sounds really odd, doesn’t it? I thought so too… until the first time I tried it.

Years ago in Michigan I entered three recipes in a local cooking contest. I am embarrassed to confess my efforts did not even warrant an honorable mention. Oh well- life's little disappointments. Anyway…the grand prize winner of that particular contest was my friend Grace. Her winning entry was such a change of pace I couldn’t wait to try it. It was to be served with ham so I made it the following Christmas. Delicious! A pale yellow concoction that is so luscious in appearance nobody has a clue what they’re looking at. At first glance you’d guess it was dessert- a lemon chiffon something or other and then- surprise! It’s plated next to the ham on the dining room table. Describing it just meets with skepticism; you really need to taste it. It’s a sweet/sour mustard chiffon delight. I take it frequently to gatherings when I know ham is being served, but it needs a placard: “This is a mustard ring for the ham”. I’ve found it looks more like a savory if you garnish it with olives or parsley but at Christmas I can’t resist- I garnish it with holly.

So if you’re having ham this Easter, take leap of faith and give this a try- it’s such fun to watch everyone’s face as they taste this; I promise ham will never be the same without it. You can make it days ahead too. And if you detest ring molds, use any shape you wish.

Mustard Ring

Ingredients:

4 eggs (room temperature)

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons dry mustard (like Coleman's)

1 envelope gelatin

1 cup weak vinegar (2/3 cup vinegar, 1/3 cup water)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup whipping cream

Method:

Mix the sugar, salt and dry mustard in the top of a double boiler. Make certain there are no large pieces of dry mustard left. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add the vinegar. Whisk this mixture into the dry ingredients in the top of the double boiler. Soak the gelatin in 1 tablespoon of cold water then melt it over hot water. Cook egg mixture slowly in double boiler, adding the gelatin when it becomes hot. Cook until creamy and thickened. Remove from heat, cool over ice cubes.

Beat the whipping cream and add to the cooled mustard mixture. Pour into mold of your choice and chill. When ready to serve, unmold on a platter and fill the center with black olives, parsley or small crab apples.

Whole Foods Market Opening in Paramus

Attention northern New Jersey vegans and eco-minded shoppers: Whole Foods Market is opening in Paramus on March 19th in the Bergen Town Center. I am a Trader Joe's woman at heart...very affordable prices; great selection on vegan and organics; super-friendly employees (once during a sudden downpour, staff was outside with umbrellas to escort shoppers to their cars. Where do you get service like that?) However, Whole Foods does have a much broader vegan selection, including a large variety of vegan cheeses, which are great additions to my Mexican feasts and 'cheesy' tofu scrambles.


Trader Joe's recently updated their vegan product list.

The Way We Eat: A Look at the Real Costs of What's in Your Cart

People watching. Some people like to do it at a sidewalk cafe or a park bench, but my venue of choice: the supermarket. If you're intrigued as I am as to what people are filling up their carts with and why, some insight into their decisions is revealed in "The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter," by Peter Singer and Jim Mason.

The authors follow three American families. One shops heavily at Wal-Mart and eats the traditional meat and animal by-products centric diet. Another, more conscious consumers, who spend more to purchase sustainable seafood and free range eggs and meats. The third are the vegans. The authors interview each family, then trace the origins of their diet, examining every angle, including the impact on animal welfare, the environment, workers rights, and the local food movement.

Are vegans perfect? Of course not. Case in point: Yellowtail wine. I hear this Australian wine recommended all the time in our vegan community. But does it not matter that this is a non-organic wine that comes from across the globe? Are we cancelling out the impact to the animals' and our environment of all those food miles to transport it to our table, just so we can pat ourselves on the back for drinking a vegan wine, vs. a non-vegan wine grown locally?

Why farm animals?
The authors pose an interesting moral issue, noting that animal movement has focused on animals used in research, for fur and in circus. In the U.S., about 20 to 40 million birds and mammals are killed annually for research, but even the higher end estimate of 40 million represents less than two days' production in America's slaughterhouses each year. Perhaps many in our animal movement think fur and circuses are so frivolous and easier targets than getting people to shun their hamburgers for good. As an animal advocate, the amount of exploitation is overwhelming...clothes, entertainment, food, experimentation, and since they cannot defend themselves, the burden on us to stand up for them is heavy.

On low prices at any cost
"The cult of low prices has become so ingrained in the consumer culture that deep discounts are no longer novelties, they are entitlements," John Dicker writes in his book, The United States of Wal-Mart, the authors noted. I thought of this as I passed a Boston Market and saw a large sign advertising a whole chicken for $1.99. As UK chef Jamie Oliver has remarked, "A chicken is a living thing, an animal with a life cycle, and we shouldn't expect it will cost less than a pint of beer in a pub."

The loss of morality
One of the sentiments that stuck with me most was expressed by Jake, the mother who shops heavily at Wal-Mart, even though she could shop at a store where everything is organically grown and the meats are free range. "Laziness is a part of it," she remarked, as the store is about a 30 minute drive away. The prices are also two to three times higher than at Wal-Mart. "Isn't it a sad thing when our morals become so disposable?" This, to me, is one of the takeaway points of the book and one of the great dilemmas of our time. I've walked into many a household filled with multi-thousand dollar entertainment systems, vast DVD and clothing collections, and more "stuff" so to speak. But when it comes to our food choices, people often put little thought into what they put into their body, and where it came from, and just look for the cheapest choice available, especially now. People are trained to not think of the hidden costs to the animals, workers, environment, or the health care system, and just 'consume.' A shift in values that respects the animals, the land, our fellow humans and ourselves is sorely needed...and the winds of change begin with us.

Supporting the Cycle of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle With Your Paper Goods

I'm always looking for ways to reduce my paper consumption. I cancelled my New York Times subscription and read it online; utilize my local library for books and magazines; call to remove myself from mailing lists when getting unwanted mail. I even bring my own towel to work when washing my ceramic dishes.

But some paper consumption is unavoidable. And for that, our friends at Greenpeace have issued a Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide to help us make an informed decision based on three criteria: 100% recycled content; at least 50% post-consumer recycled content; and bleached without toxic chlorine compounds.

Get the guide here.

Luckily, the toilet tissue I buy made the recommended list: Trader Joe's, $3.99 for a 12-pack. Its facial tissues (99 cents a box) did not, since it only had 10% post consumer content, but they've recently repackaged, and the box I have at home does say 80% post consumer content.

Read more about Greenpeace's campaign against Kimberly-Clark.
Tell Kimberly-Clark that you will avoid Kleenex, Cottonelle, Viva and other brands until they start producing product with recycled content using this Greenpeace form.
Want to reduce your junk mail? Learn how.

Want to cut down on charitable solicitations? When I send a donation, I make sure to tell the charity to put me on their 'once a year-only' solicitation list, that way they don't spend unnecessary resources sending me repeated follow-up requests.

Aunt Hat's Brownies

Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you're immediately accepted and welcomed into the magic family circle when you marry. I was one of the lucky ones. I adored my mother and father in-law and better yet, there were four siblings- 2 sons and 2 daughters and I loved them all. Three of them are no longer with us which makes me infinitely sad. There was so much laughter in that family. Not that we didn’t have our share of really noisy arguments, but nobody took them seriously.

Aunt Hat was one of my sisters-in-law. When I first met her, she and her family lived on Pine Lake in Michigan- in one of those wonderful old winterized lake homes that abound in that area. She loved nothing better than to have a houseful of people around in the summer. Along with her husband and sons she welcomed all her extended family (and there were a lot of us) to visit anytime we wanted. We spent many summer weekends gossiping, griping, eating, joking, lazing, swimming, water skiing, sailing- you name it- on the lake. I gotta tell you: this family was the craziest bunch of sun-worshipers I ever saw. No matter the season, they drank up every bit of sun available. They even used the old tin foil reflection trick in the dead of winter. In the snow. No kidding.
On the dock at Pine Lake, Hat and her mother

Being the youngest of the wives (also the most naive) I would listen with interest, shock, embarrassment, or amazement at their observations on life, family and friends. This was not exactly a fainthearted group so I had to learn fast how to hold my own. Hat’s house became both a refuge and an escape for all of us.

Odd the things I remember about that house; I always want to call it a cottage, because it was on a lake. But it wasn’t, it was a home. A big, old comfortable home. And what do I remember best? The dining room table. Seriously. It was an antique pine lazy susan table. I was mad for it. In fact, I searched all the local antique shops for years, never to find another like it. It sat 10 people at least. That twirling lazy susan center would whip around so fast it made your head spin. You really had to be on your toes.

The Pine Lake house was filled with fun AND the most gorgeous antique pine furniture I had ever laid eyes on- all done with Hat’s fabulous taste. But casual- not stuffy. I wonder now if she ever longed for peace and quiet on those summer weekends; although I sure hope I never went without an invitation.

Aunt Hat, circa 1955

Hat had help around the house- a long suffering maid named Abel (pronounced long A-bell) who pretty much ran everybody’s life. She often walked around with a cigarette dangling from her bottom lip. I remember being at a cocktail party once and we watched (making bets all the while) as the cigarette ash grew longer and longer to eventually drop in the middle of a plate of hor d’oeuvres she was passing. She was a piece of work, everybody’s best friend, a Godsend, a hard worker, a love, famous for her fried chicken and a character to be dealt with- who gave as good as she got. She had to- we were a boisterous group, underfoot all the time- all ages from babies on up.

Aunt Hat never had (and I don’t think ever wanted) a reputation as a fabulous chef - nonetheless meals at her house were always a treat- often as simple as salad, steak and potatoes- standard fare for the 60’s- and lots of barbecues.

But in the end- everyone loved her brownies. In all these years, this is the one recipe of hers I still use. And a simpler recipe you couldn’t find. For some reason none of us really liked nuts in our brownies so these are rich, dark, moist on the inside, crunchy on the outside type brownies. Not a fancy gourmet brownie, just a simple treat everyone loved. If I am asked to make brownies for my family, I make these. I have tons of other recipes- Maida Heatter’s Palm Beach Brownies come to mind- which I would make if I wanted to really impress a group. But if it’s just a basic brownie- this is it. You can make them with a hand tied behind your back- which is pretty much the way Aunt Hat made them- probably holding the phone with the other hand and holding off the dog with one foot. Better yet, you can make them by hand in one bowl. Leave the mixer in the cupboard.


Aunt Hat's Brownies

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup flour
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter and then flour a square 8 by 8 by 1 1/2 inch baking dish.
Cream the butter and sugar and add the eggs one at a time. Add the flour, vanilla and then the chocolate.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes. Cool before cutting.
Makes about 9 brownies, depending on how you cut them.

Extreme Cruelty on an Ohio Pig Farm to Be Exposed on HBO

Footage of suffering endured by animals on industrialized farms is often only seen if you visit an animal welfare group's web site or YouTube page. On occasion, the footage will make the evening news, such as the Humane Society's undercover videos of workers trying to force downed cows to their feet with forklifts and a hose and water so they can walk to slaughter in its investigation of Hallmark Meat Packing Co.

However, the public will get a look at the horrors of an industrialized pig farm on Monday, March 16, when HBO premieres Death on a Factory Farm. The documentary follows the undercover investigation of Wiles Hog Farm in Creston, Ohio, by The Humane Farming Association (HFA), and the subsequent court case. Among the gory findings of the HFA's investigators: piglets being thrown into crates from across a room, an unhealthy piglet being slammed against a wall to euthanize it, and an ill sow being hung by a chain from a forklift until it choked to death.

What happened at this farm is not unusual. As Gene Baur, the President of Farm Sanctuary often reminds us, bad has become normal on today's factory farms. Gestation crates, which restrict impregnated pigs from being able to turn around, have become the standard. A life lived completely against nature, all to save a few cents.

This film airs at a crucial time: when Americans are turning to cheap food sources, including fast food, in droves, as the economy remains anemic. Yet there is an unseen price tag associated with cheap food, and that price is paid by animals in the forms of unusually cruel confinement to save pennies for their producers; workers, who abandon their humanity; the environment; and our own morality, as we have come to value cheap food at any cost whatsoever.

Resources:
Learn more about the HBO special.
Humane Farming Association
PETA's Top 10 Reasons Not to Eat Pigs.

Banff Mountain Film Festival Hitting NYC

Mark your calendars: the Banff Mountain Film Festival is coming to New York City Tuesday, March 10 and Wednesday, March 11 to Symphony Space. Each night has films covering extreme sports, mountain travel and environmental awareness.

A sampling of the cinematography:


Tickets are $21 in advance and $24 at the door.

At last year's festival, I signed up for wind energy from Community Energy. This adds $11 to my monthly PSE&G bill, but the peace of mind of getting clean energy is worth what is the equivalent of one movie ticket a month.

A Warm Duck Salad

My daughter flew down for a long weekend and we wandered out to the mall for the first time since November. Amazing, but I can’t say we were all that surprised to find few customers and even fewer with shopping bags. Of course, it’s nearly spring so the department stores have their summer wear on display. Which means no sale racks. Or at least no sale racks until they grasp there will be NO SALES at all if they don’t reduce prices. I really feel for them, but feel for the rest of us more.

The one area we did splurge on this weekend was food. Are you finding that too? We went to a couple of our favorite restaurants; one was crowded (Saturday night), one was not (Sunday night). I don’t think it has occurred to them yet to consider cutting prices a bit. My daughter tells me some New York restaurants are doing just that- even the higher end restaurants. Smart of them. Florida is still hosting spring breakers until Easter, so it probably doesn't count. The dining-out shock may not hit us until after Easter. Hard to gauge anything in vacation land. Wait until the long, hot summer is upon us. That’s when I will start to worry about some of my favorite restaurants.

All this boring penny pinching means we aren't eating out as much and doing more home cooking; so I say this is a great chance to sample a few new recipes, which is even more fun when family is here to share. I have been dying to try a duck salad which I printed out ages ago and while my daughter is visiting, it's the perfect time to sample it. Because she is a foodie she loves trying something new and I get immediate feedback which is great. I love new salad recipes.

It's a simple enough recipe and everything went smoothly until the first bite. Oh oh. It looked beautiful. The duck was absolutely delicious. But we both agreed the dressing was a disaster- tasteless, bland and it didn’t compliment the dish at all. This salad has oranges and raspberries along with the duck and it badly needs some oomph in the dressing. I recalled a lovely salad I used to make with watercress and oranges. It had a perfect dressing, so I dug it out, compared the two and found the only difference was my old recipe added a little honey and Dijon mustard. Well it made all the difference. So I have rather re-invented the recipe to share with you. It makes a wonderful luncheon salad-pretty and unusual- and now that I have perked up the dressing, very flavorful.

Warm Duck Salad

Ingredients:
2 boneless duck breasts, skin on (about 12 to 14 ounces each)
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons minced shallots
2 1/2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 heads Belgian endive
3 ounces mache or other delicate baby lettuce
6 oranges, peeled and cut in sections
1/2 pint fresh raspberries
1 cup toasted whole pecan halves

Method:
Place the duck breasts on a foil-lined sheet pan, skin side up. Sprinkle with salt and roast ina 400° oven for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove and discard the fat and skin on top and slice the duck. Mix together the salt, shallots, sherry vinegar, zest, olive and vegetable oils, honey and mustard. Tear the lettuces and slice the Belgian endive diagonally in 1/2 inch slices. Place in a salad bowl, top with the orange sections, raspberries and toasted pecan halves. Add the sliced duck. Gently toss with the dressing.
Serves 4.

Some Reflections on Food Waste

Organic celery, intended to be cut up and snacked on with peanut butter...spoiled. Frozen string beans from Trader Joe's...only half a bag consumed, the rest freezer-burned from Thanksgiving. Tomato sauce for my 'meatball' subs...expired. Food waste. I am guilty of committing it, even though I'm fairly conscious of it, and feel guilt-ridden whenever it happens.

This fall, I volunteered for the day for a local food hunger relief organization, the Center for Food Action. My job: sorting through bags of food donations, examining the expiration date, and tossing the expired food. That day, 20 percent of the food went in the garbage. That's one out of five items! The volunteer coordinator said this was typical. "People give with their hearts, not with their heads," he said. A lot of the food items thrown away were made of meat and animal by-products, even more unnerving...all those animals suffered a horrible life and death, for nothing.

After that day, I've been more conscious than ever to eat what I have. For the most part, except for the crimes mentioned in the first paragraph, I've been eating what I have in my cupboards and refrigerator, then restocking. We shop out of habit. We shop out of boredom. We shop because we want something new. But waste is disrespectful to ourselves, to those who have so little while we have so much, and to the environment.

Before the recent snowfall, suburban New Jersey residents were at the supermarket in droves stocking up...as if most of us didn't live within a 10 minute drive of a store. Consider what you have in your pantry and refrigerator. Could you too use what you have before shopping for something new?

Times are hard. Give nourishing vegan food to your local food pantries.
Find a local food bank through Feeding America.

A Chinese Feast at Empire Hunan

While I'm brown-bagging lunch every day and dining out for dinner less often like many to save money, I do still support eating out occasionally. For one, restaurant portions are so huge, eating out at a reasonably priced, local establishment can garner two or three meals if you include leftovers. I also don't want to deprive foodservice workers of an income. I wore the waitress uniform many years myself, and have the utmost respect for waiters...and just about anyone who has to deal with the general public.

One of my favorite places for a Chinese meal is Empire Hunan in Fair Lawn. Prices are very modest, and the atmosphere and presentation have never been a disappointment.

Here's a recap of my last visit there. A cup of miso soup, $1.80. They also serve complimentary Asian slaw.


Steamed vegetable dumplings ($4.50 for six) and vegetable roll ($1.60)

Bean curd with vegetables and brown rice, $8.95. Enough for at least two portions.

Lychee fruit...my favorite way to a meal here. $3.95


Visit them at 38-16 Broadway, Fair Lawn, NJ or 444 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, NJ.