HUNGRY GERALD

Some 79 years ago (Wow, that’s a lot of years. HG remembers that time perfectly. Short term memory gives HG problems now), sturdy 13-year-old HG spent a steamy Rockaway Beach summer lifting, stacking, shoving heavy boxes in the stock room of F.W. Woolworth on busy Beach 116th Street. HG interrupted labor with a meal at the Woolworth lunch counter. Each day, HG ate fish cakes accompanied by spaghetti in tomato sauce. Cost: 15 cents. (Might be overstating the price. Likely cost a dime). Probably an awful meal by today’s standard but the famished youngster loved it. These days, HG sups on BSK’s very superior fish cakes (Supermarket or frozen fish cakes are inferior and often inedible). BSK follows the recipe of gifted daughter, Lesley R.(The right ratio of cod, potatoes, herbs and Panko). Happy HG joyfully ate them last night while watching a glorious sunset at HG/BSK’s oceanfront home on green, peaceful, democratic Prince Edward Island, Canada.

BSK encountered a New York Times recipe that contained all the elements HG/BSK enjoy at dinner: “Salmon Soba Noodles With Ponzu-Scallion Broth.” These were the ingredients: Dashi broth, salmon, soba noodles, spinach, firm tofu, scallions, grated ginger, canola oil, sliced radishes, slivers of carrot, ponzu. BSK did a careful mix and followed the recipe meticulously. (Unusual for BSK who likes to deviate and add original touches. This time BSK only substituted spinach for the cabbage called for). It was a sensational dinner dish which BSK promises to repeat often. Drank an abundance of pinot noir (HG/BSK like red wine with fresh salmon; crisp white with smoked salmon, of course). Another joyous evening at HG/BSK’s oceanfront home on peaceful, green, democratic Prince Edward Island.

HG/BSK have a pleasant Prince Edward Island dining custom HG/BSK share with Noel and Yossi M. (BSK’s sister and brother-in-law). One week there’s dinner at HG/BSK’s ocean front home on the north side of PEI; the next week dinner is at N. & Y.’s Ocean Mist Farm on the south side of PEI (near Panmure Island). This week it was N. & Y.’s turn. BSK brought a hand mixed mustard mayonnaise and lemon juice shrimp salad. A succulent starter. Main dish was Noel’s green chili pork stew with asparagus (grown in Yossi’s garden) and cubes of warm mineral rich PEI potatoes. Delish. Dessert was Chapman’s Vanilla Ice Cream (topped with fresh from the vine Ocean Mist strawberries.) Chapman’s vanilla is super creamy. HG and Y. loved it. BSK and N. didn’t. Maybe it’s a guy thing. HG prefaced his meal with a generous pour of Canadian whiskey and had another slug after dinner. A most happy fella.

On a blazing hot New York summer day (July 2 1963), HG and BSK were married in the chambers of Judge George Postel. In attendance were BSK’s parents, Roy and Valerie Kent, and friends, Peter and Julia Meyerson. All are deceased (except HG/BSK, obviously, and possibly Julia for whom no information is available). Wonderful afternoon reception followed at the Library Room of the St. Regis Hotel with the late Bucky Pizzarelli providing guitar music. (It was the luckiest day of HG’s life). Celebration dinner a deux at HG/BSK’s oceanfront home on Prince Edward Island. Caviar (a gift from HG daughter Vicki) and very cool Muscadet. This was followed by mushroom ravioli in a good jarred Arabiatta sauce (BSK enhanced the sauce with olive oil, chopped garlic, chopped red pepper, onions, oregano, Italian parsley.) Drank vintage Chianti. Lovely meal celebrating an auspicious day (After 59 years, HG is still in love with BSK. Want more years, hopefully).

Whatever you want to call them, clams are a treat. When younger, HG would gobble up dozens raw and on the half shell at the great Lundy’s Restaurant in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn. They were accompanied by light buttery fresh from the oven biscuits. Beverage was Piels Beer. Ah, those were the days. When resident at HG/BSK’s Fire Island dune house (two decks so gazed at sunsets and sea views while drinking Martinis) clams were a staple food. HG and pals filled buckets of clams from Great South Bay. No rakes or other implements–just poked with our feet. BSK made the ultimate linguine with white clam sauce (an abundance of clams and garlic). Today, BSK picked up quahogs at the local Prince Edward Island seafood store. So, linguine with white clam sauce was dinner. BSK has not lost BSK’s magic touch. A great dish. Tender clams. Briny sauce. Pasta cooked to a perfect texture. After dinner, watched a spectacular sunset. Glad that the front of HG/BSK’s Prince Edward Island home has many feet of windows. Watching the sunset is a big screen TV show.

HG’S beloved daughter, Victoria Freeman, the renowned New York restaurateur (Shukette, Shuka, Cookshop, Vic’s, Rosie’s), spent three happy days with HG/BSK at their Prince Edward Island home. As usual, much travail for Vicki in getting to this blessed green isle (canceled flights, etc.). The weather? Some rain but plenty of sun ideal for BSK/Vicki beach walks. Feasting: Shucked oysters (Brackley Beach and Colville Bay); Sevruga caviar (a gift from generous Vicki); cod, tofu, spinach, soba noodles in scallion broth; fresh caught seared tuna salad with a plethora of greens, zucchini ribbons, avocado (a Vicki request). Culmination was a huge meal at Clamdiggers Restaurant in Cardigan. Crabcakes. Crisp onion rings. Steamed soft shell clams. Giant platters of seafood (fried clams, haddock, scallops) and French fries, of course. There was a problem. We had to wait for 90 minutes before the food arrived. Busy night and HG presumes the kitchen was understaffed. The wait didn’t blunt HG’s appetite. Usually moderate, HG was a “Clean Plate Ranger”. HG had a credit card in hand but stealthy Vicki had paid in advance. A super generous woman. This was in addition to the gifted caviar and two loaves of hard to find Pepperidge Farm Thin White Bread (perfect as a base for caviar when lightly toasted and buttered and also a worthy companion to softly scrambled eggs). BSK has been searching for more convenient ways for Vicki (and her husband, Marc Meyer, the pioneering farm-to-table chef) to travel to PEI. And, HG has promised to stay alive for more Vicki (and Marc) visits.

The great Jewish writer (an emigre to the USA and Manhattan’s Upper West Side), Isaac Baashevis Singer (1902-1991), wrote in Yiddish exclusively. He said: “Yiddish contains vitamins that other languages don’t have.” His work–short stories, serialized novels, novellas–appeared in the Yiddish language Jewish Daily Forward (“Forvertz”) newspaper. “I have never stopped writing for The Forward. It is my laboratory.” Singer was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978 “for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life.” His acceptance speech before the Nobel audience was in Yiddish. This was the first (and probably last) Yiddish speech before that body. Singer was skeptical of institutional religion and dogma but considered himself a religious man. “When I’m in trouble, I pray. Since I’m always in trouble, I pray a lot.” For the last 35 years of his life, Singer was a vegetarian. He felt there could be no peace on earth if humans slaughtered and ate innocent animals. “I am not a vegetarian for my health, it is for the health of the chickens.”

Ever alert for a merchandising opportunity, American industry has honored everything–human, animal,fruit, vegetable, etc., etc.–with a “Day.” There are the important “Days”–Mother’s Day,Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day–and scores of lesser “Days.” ( Christmas, of course, is the ultimate merchandising bonanza, its religious significance diminished). HG has often expressed contempt for “Days.” Nevertheless. HG always gifts BSK on Mother’s and Valentine’s Days. And, HG was grateful to be warmly remembered by son, Jeremy, and daughter, Lesley, on this Father’s Day. Obviously, HG is not consistent in HG’s “Days”criticism. It is HG’s intention to give Toby, The Wonder Dog, a special treat (plus extra belly rubs) on National Dog Day.

Yiddish is a language that is always on the verge of death but manages to stay alive. Now that it is being taught in some American colleges, it may have increased longevity. In the New York of the 20th Century, there were four competitive Yiddish daily newspapers: The Forward (Furvertz); Jewish Morning Journal; Der. Tag; Freiheit. Most important was The Forward, resolutely Socialist (its radio station, WEVD, had call letters derived from the Socialist leader Eugene Victor Debs). It was the favorite newspaper of HG’s father, a Socialist, early labor union member (joined the Jewish Bund when still a youngster in Belorussia). Founded in 1897, The Forward had a circulation of 275,000 in the 1920’s (diminished to 170,000 in 1939 as immigrant Jews learned English). The Morning Journal was politically conservative and an advocate of Orthodox Judaism (it had a peak circulation of 80,000). Der Tag was directed at intellectual Jews and had a modest circulation. Freiheit was the Yiddish newspaper of the American Communist Party. It promoted the interests of the International Fur and Leather Workers Union headed by fiery Ben Gold. The union had a bloody history battling gangsters and New York police. Gold often landed in jail. Abraham Cahan was the editor of anti-Communist Forward. He was the target of much Ben Gold vitriol. After relentless US government harassment, Gold retired at age 56 to –where else?–Miami Beach. Lived a long life, wrote novels and short stories. Looked like the average Miami Beach “alteh cocker.”

One good thing is Mortadella, the large Italian sausage. It originated in the city of Bologna and the best still comes from there. Mortadella is made from finely ground pork and the addition of cubes of pork fat. The pork fat gives Mortadella a marbled appearance. Sliced pistachios are also in the mix so a slice of Mortadella is a pleasing still life. Baloney (or “bologna”, the inexpensive lunch meat that is in supermarkets throughout the United States and Canada is a staple foodstuff for low income families. Fried bologna has some fans among epicures, however. There’s a little eatery in Montreal that is famous for fried bologna sandwiches and there’s usually a line up of folks who relish them. Mortadella has become fashionable in a number of American cities. It’s being used in a number of cooked dishes and (accompanied by various condiments) is a favored appetizer. An Italian grocery in Providence, RI, imports true Mortadella from Bologna. Generous daughter Lesley R. and her husband, Massimo, gifted HG/BSK with a pound to make their trip to Prince Edward Island savory (ate the last delicious slice yesterday accompanied by PEII mustard pickles). The second good thing is Bagaco, an after dinner spirit distilled by Matos Winery and Distillery on PEI. Matos calls it a “Distilled Grape Pomace.” Basically, it’s a Marc, made from the skins and seeds of wine grapes. The Marc HG has drunk in France (and Grappa in Italy) has a powerful alcoholic punch. Bagaco has strength but it has subtlety and levels of flavor. HG is sipping some while writing this post. Yum.