HUNGRY GERALD

Sunday was Farm in the City Day in Charlottetown, the capital city of Prince Edward Island. Queen Street, the main stem, was lined with stands offering farm vegetables and meats. There were cooked snacks, crafts and face painting (for the kids). Plus live music from local bands. Hundreds and hundreds of folks showed up. Street was jammed. Reminded HG of similar events in New York City. Possibly, HG is a bit of a curmudgeon. Does not enjoy these street events. Too much noise and crowding. Vertical eating is messy. HG was not pleased with “The Night Market” in Vancouver, B.C., even though the nocturnal festivity has a positive reputation. There are two exceptions to HG’s dislikes. One is the grilled Italian sausage on a roll with peppers and onions served at the annual Feast of San Gennaro in New York. (Calvin Trillin shares HG’s delight). The second is Tokyo’s Ameya-Yokocho shopping street (in Ueno). When HG was in Tokyo, SJ took HG on a tour. Fried octopus. Tonkatsu. Shu Mai. And, more. Much more. Only seated meal was superb ramen. There was also a visit to a sake bar. (HG left it moderately tipsy). Of course, eating with SJ is one of life’s treats. Excellent son is allergic to nothing. Is knowing and adventurous. Has good appetite and likes robust food. HG’s favorite dining companion.

So, what do you need to have a perfect life? A hot shower. A comfortable mattress, not too hard and not too soft. A toilet that flushes efficiently. A large Smart TV. On Prince Edward Island there are sea views, spectacular sunsets, salty breezes (whistling winds), swimming, kayaking, beach walks (beach glass finds). PEI food: Much fresh inexpensive fish. World’s best oysters at $.65 cents each. Excellent potatoes and vegetables. Cooking done on big time Viking Professional range and oven. Only drawback: Overpriced inferior wine. Overpriced spirits. All due to taxation. In New Mexico home there is much art. BSK’s pots, paintings and photographs. More photos by George Tice, Nir Baraket and Lyonel Feininger. A wall of books. Much music. Crackling fires in a wood-burning fireplace. Views of Las Barrancas (mesas) and sunsets over Jemez mountains. Eames chairs, Noguchi coffee table, Scarpa dining chairs. Long swims in the heated lap pool. Splendid chickens, beef, Petrale sole from Whole Foods. Other good things from Trader Joe’s plus splendid inexpensive wine, whiskey, etc. Weekly Santa Fe Farmers Market is a treat (roasted chiles, peppers, eggplants and Gundersen’s organic greens). Cooking done on old Viking Professional. Like HG, aged but effective. Much enticing Mexican and Tex-Mex food in Pojoaque (near HG/BSK home) and Santa Fe. Good Vietnamese food at Saigon Cafe and many fine sushi bars. Favorite New Mexican restaurant dish: Green chile menudo at El Parasol in Pojoaque. Both PEI and New Mexico would be meaningless without love. And, that’s what HG receives from the love of HG’s life, BSK. Plus health care, intellectual stimulation, tasty cooking and wine selection, efficient household and financial administration including laundry, cleaning, repairs, etc. After more than 56 years of marriage to this beautiful, creative, multi talented woman, Ninety-year-old (Nov. 9) HG still gazes at BSK and wonders: “How did I ever get so lucky?”

Yes, cod is a very versatile fish. Tasty when fried, roasted, steamed. Wonderful as an ingredient in chowders, brandades and a host of other savory treats. There’s fresh cod and dried cod (“baccala”). HG prefers fresh with the exception, sometimes, in brandade. Cod is important in history. “Baccala” allowed for long sailing journeys as ship crews now had a reliable source of protein that would not spoil. Cod liver oil, despite little HG disliking the spoonful he was fed each morning by HG’s late Mom, was a significant nutritional supplement. One of HG’s favorite cod dishes is baked cod done in basque or Provencal style. BSK made the dish a night ago and it brought warmth to a cold, rainy, windy Prince Edward Island day. Happily, BSK saved a half pound of the fresh cod for crisp and juicy fishcakes last night. BSK constructs them with the right balance of fish, PEI potatoes, panko, etc. Here’s how she does it. Poaches cod in white wine and clam broth. Boils potatoes. Removes spuds when done. Retains fish broth. Mixes potatoes (crushed) with chopped onions, a bit of garlic, Spanish pimenton, dill, and parsley. Moistens with broth and adds flaked fish. Crunches it all together with a beaten egg and broth. Forms mix into thick patties and rolls them in panko. Into a pan of sizzling canola oil. Result is crisp, juicy wonders. The accompaniments were chopped salad (turnips, radishes, fennel, scallions); the last of BSK’s home grown cherry tomatoes to be dipped into sea salt. And, best of all, Prince Edward Island mustard pickles. Pure, organic and one the best condiments in the world.

Yes, that’s HG’s most used phrase. The old (90 next month) guy’s hearing has deteriorated. At family gatherings and dinners with friends, usually voluble HG remains silent as wisps of talk swirl faintly about. Soft voiced BSK must shout in order to communicate. Good news. That’s all in the past tense. After much urging from BSK and the rest of HG’s family, reluctant HG finally gave in and procured expensive (and worth it) hearing aids. There were professional hearing examinations at Horizon Hearing Centre in the Town of Montague, Prince Edward Island. D.Michael Learie, audiology clinician, conducted the tests and prescribed very effective, barely visible aids. Yes, HG can now hear. Oh, joy. There’s another benefit. Hearing is connected to balance. Since wearing the aids, HG can walk without a cane. HG’s bearing is straighter. Days are happier.

Russ & Daughters, the venerable, wonderful “appetizing” shop on New York’s lower east side, sells gravlox (or gravlax) for $42 a pound. Though HG/BSK and family always order smoked fish treats from R & D for festive holiday meals, they never order gravlox (which is probably splendid). For the uninitiated, gravlox is raw salmon, cured in salt and sugar and covered in dill. The fish is weighted down with bricks or other heavy objects and cured for a day or so in the refrigerator. Sliced paper-thin, and served with a mustard, honey (or sugar), chopped dill sauce, it is a great way to start a meal (naughty HG accompanies it with vodka on the rocks). Here on Prince Edward Island, BSK makes perfect gravlox using farm-raised salmon from Nova Scotia. BSK’s dill sauce is the best. And, the cost is about eight dollars a pound, more than enough for a number of meals. Thrifty (and talented) BSK rules.

HG is very fond of appetizers. Often, the main dish in restaurants is a letdown after a flavorful group of appetizers. HG likes to forgo entrees and make a meal of appetizers. American restaurants find this unsettling. BSK objects because when HG orders an appetizer meal, the rest of the table has to endure a long, annoying wait before they get their main dish. Why? HG doesn’t know. Doesn’t happen when dining in Paris. In the USA, an appetizer is called, yes, “appetizer”. In Britain, it’s a “starter” and in France (confusingly) “entree”. In German, it’s “vorspeise.” Same word in Yiddish. HG’s late, beloved father pronounced it “furshpice.” It was mandatory at HG’s childhood table in The Bronx. Father’s appetizer was a piece of schmaltz herring, slice of onion, pumpernickel bread. And, a hearty shot of Park & Tilford rye whiskey. (Substitute vodka on the rocks for the whiskey, and this remains one of HG’s favorites. Essential that the herring has to come for Russ & Daughters in New York). At the family dinner table this was usually followed by chopped liver or gefilte fish. Next course was chicken soup with noodles or kasha. Main dish and dessert were downhill for the most part. In the HG/BSK Prince Edward Island refrigerator are two great, classic appetizers: Oysters (South Lake and Red Head Select). Gravlax (Raw Atlantic salmon cured under weights with sprigs of dill and served with a mustard/dill/sugar sauce). Happily, BSK’s main dishes are as delicious as the appetizers. In HG’s gustatory memory bank are the Amsterdam raw herrings (when in season), dipped in raw onion and followed by Genever gin and a beer chaser. Excellent SJ would bring joy to family holiday feasts in Riverside, R.I, when he bought them for HG and grandson Haru at Russ & Daughters.

Dutch raw herring with onions on a dish

In the refrigerator, there were three ears of Blum’s sweet corn. Although more than a week old, they were still fresh enough for corn pancakes. Yes, HG obeys the “waste not, want not” proverb. So, HG shucked the corn and added the kernels to pancake batter, milk, beaten egg and a dash of canola oil. Fried on an oiled griddle and doused with a goodly amount of Canadian maple syrup, this was a pleasant breakfast on a grey, cold day on Prince Edward Island. When HG was a youngster attending P.S. 86 elementary school in The Bronx, home was just a few blocks away. This made it possible for the little fellow to lunch at home. Often, HG’s late Mom prepared pancakes using Aunt Jemima Pancake mix. The pancakes got a pat of butter plus Log Cabin Maple Syrup. HG doesn’t know whether the maple syrup was the real thing but loved the tin container fashioned into a faux log cabin. The beverage was Postum with hot milk. Postum is still being manufactured. It is a whole-grain, “healthy” alternative to coffee. Rarely see it in supermarkets but, like everything in life, it can be ordered on Amazon. It is, how shall HG put it, an “acquired” taste.

Sunday night, Sept. 30. First night of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year (it’s 5780 now). HG/BSK had the good fortune to be part of the most delicious, rousing, musical new year’s eve celebration ever. It all took place at Amram and Marina’s farm, just a few miles from Ocean Mist Farm, the verdant, fertile agricultural Prince Edward Island acreage of Noel and Yossi M. (BSK’s sister and brother in law). Amram, like Yossi, was reared on an Israeli kibbutz and has been a major organic farmer for many years, first in Turkey and now on PEI. Among his crops are oats which make HG/BSK’s favorite oatmeal. Unique coincidence that two former kibbutzniks should wind up as neighbors on PEI. Amram’s wife, Marina, grew up in a multi-ethnic part of Russia bordering Iran. The diversity of that area influences her splendid cuisine. Amram and Marina’s big dining table was filled cozily. In addition to A. and M., there were their son, Daniel, a senior at Prince Edward Island University; Yossi and Noel; HG/BSK. Plus Luda and Sevillie (originally from Belorussia where Luda (female) was a musician/singer and Sevillie (male) was a music producer. On PEI, Luda is a hairstylist and Sevillie is a financial trader. (They brought perfect, home-baked challahs). And, also at table were Joe and wife, Geneva. Both are retired schoolteachers, originally from Newfoundland. They now winter in Calgary and summer on PEI. The festivities began with wine (BSK brought four bottles) and slices of apple with honey (to guarantee a sweet year, hopefully). Salad dishes covered the table (HG’s favorite was grated carrots). And, then began a parade of hot dishes. Lamb. Chicken. Stuffed cabbage. Stuffed zucchini. There may have been more. A feast of original and savory dishes. The meal ended with Marina’s Russian apple pie and Noel’s zucchini bread (N. and M. also provided a leg of lamb for the meat dishes). Bibulous HG sipped Crown Royal Canadian whiskey brought by Joe. Off to the living room for music. Talented Joe brought his accordion and Yossi had his guitar. What followed was a wonderful concert. Songs of Canada and the Maritime Provinces from Joe ( thoughtfully, he projected the lyrics on a computer screen). Rosh Hashanah and Israeli melodies from Yossi. Then a happy surprise. Beautiful singing of Russian songs by Luda. Some of them were favorites of HG’s late Belorussian-born Mom. Brought back wistful memories. The magical evening reproduced another age when families grew their own food, cooked it without short cuts and finished special meals with homespun music, song (and poetry recitations by the very young). This age came back to life on Rosh Hashanah, Prince Edward Island, 5780.

Jewish custom for the New Year

HG awakened to a sunny, cold, windy Prince Edward Island morning. Happily, BSK had made a pot of steaming Red Mill grits. The wonderful woman topped HG’s portion with a pat of butter and a perfect poached egg. A bowlful of pleasure. HG has always loved grits since encountering them when HG lived in an Athens, Georgia, boarding house at the age of six. HG has a vivid and happy memory of the breakfasts prepared by a smiling African-American woman. Fried ham. Scrambled eggs. Freshly made light-as-a-feather biscuits. And, grits streaked with ham gravy. Drink was hot milk darkened with a bit of coffee. Oh, my!! On the road, HG always has a bowl of grits topped with poached eggs at Waffle House. Purists may sneer, but HG often breakfasts on Quaker Oats grits cooked with lots of grated parmesan. Takes minutes to prepare. When SJ lived in Chicago, excellent son led HG to Soul Kitchen (long closed) for a meal of shucked oysters and a platter of creamy grits with Tasso ham and plump Gulf shrimp. A side dish of crisp, fried sage leaves. It was a sublime dish that is now embedded in HG’s memory.

HG is writing this on Sept. 30 after an epic Rosh Hashonah food and musical evening. HG will be writing about this event in an upcoming post but, for now, let’s focus on Yom Kippur. This day of atonement (and HG has plenty of sins to atone for), will begin at sundown on Oct.8 and end on the night of Oct 9, a 25 hour period. Synagogue services will begin with a Cantor chanting Kol Nidre, a tribute to a forgiving god. (Many good versions of Kol Nidre can be found on YouTube). During this time observant Jews fast. No food. No drink (including water). Washing or bathing is forbidden as are lotions, creams and wearing leather footwear. Conjugal sexual relations are forbidden. As a confirmed atheist and humanist, HG does not observe Yom Kippur. However, HG and Episcopalian BSK, treat Rosh Hashonah as a delightful New Year’s Eve (this year is 5780). Much better than the conventional Dec. 31 event. Though HG’s parents were socialists, secular in outlook and lax about kashruth (keeping a kosher home), they were strict about observing Yom Kippur and strict about HG fasting. Rebellious HG would disappear from home and play basketball with Our Lady of Angels Catholic School boys. Would return famished – the celebratory end-of-fast meal many hours away. In a recent communication, Peter H., the renowned writer, reminded HG of an incident of sinful gluttony in HG’s youth. HG’s late Mom made sensational rugelach. These pastries had a flaky crust and were crammed with walnuts, raisins, cinnamon and honey. Not to be resisted. And, naughty HG did not resist. Mom and Pop were at the Kingsbridge Heights Synagogue (Yom Kippur was the one day when they both attended). So, HG ate one of the 10 rugelach which were meant for the end-of-fast night meal. The day went on and the greedy lad kept nibbling and soon all of the rugelach were gone. Mom came home. Began screaming “Gahnuvim!!” (thieves). The rugelach were close to the rear door. Mom was convinced that a rugelach burglar had entered. Told HG to call the police. HG confessed. Using early public relations skills, HG told Mom the rugelach were too tempting and should have been placed under lock and key. Mom didn’t buy this justification. Mom and Pop did not believe in corporal punishment (thankfully) but there were many harsh words from them. This did not prevent naughty HG from participating in the lush night meal. After all, a growing boy had to eat.