Notes from a Food Diva: Douglaston's Creatively Inclined

Elana Mugdan recently had the Queens premiere screening of her film, “,” at the .  

It all began when someone contacted her and asked if she'd like to open the church doors at “some ungodly hour.” The church, as they sometimes do, had rented out space as a staging area for a film. Elana landed a position as a sound intern on the set of John Cameron Mitchell’s “,” which stars Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckart and was shot in Douglaston.

Growing up, she always made movies. She had been on commercial sets and knew that this was what she wanted to do. Elana went to the University of Maine, where her interdisciplinary program provided for her the background to write and produce her semi autobiographical film that is based on happenings on the “Rabbit Hole” set.

All this brought Douglas Anderson to mind. My son, Craig Brock, Gus Alimaras and Douglas Anderson were buddies. They had a club in which Craig was vice president in charge of refreshments. Milk and Chips Ahoy cookies were very popular and he made a lot of pasta. Meetings took place at the Brock home in the garden room, basement and clubhouse that they nailed together under the dining deck.

At that time, I was teaching a night class at New York University titled Demonstration of Cookery. The class included demos of two, three and five minutes during the term. The final exam was a 10-minute demo in Bloomingdale’s sixth floor kitchenwares department. That took a bit of convincing, but Bloomies finally agreed.

One meeting day when Douglas Anderson left behind a loose-leaf notebook, I flipped through what appeared to be a TV script. That’s when I learned that Douglas was studying film production at NYU. Pointing out that it would add to his resume, he agreed, for the price of film and developing, to shoot the demos as they took place over the course of a few days.

When I complimented Walter Mugdan, proud dad-in-charge-of-screening-and-popcorn at the recent Douglaston premiere, I added that it brought back memories of Dorothy Mesney and Walter’s mother, Edith Mugdan (who lived in Douglaston), who started the avant guard North Shore Friends of the Opera. (Above is a 1955 photo of Dorothy and her husband, Peter, who was also involved.)

Dorothy, a piano teacher living on Manor Road, had James Conlon as a student. He has served as conductor of the Paris National Opera longer than any other since 1939 and now is director of the Los Angeles Opera, the Ravinia Festival, which is the summer home of the Chicago Symphony, and the Cincinnati May Festival (again, longer than any other in the festival’s 138 years).

I remember so vividly sitting on hard chairs in her uphill driveway with the conductor above, standing before the open garage doors. Conlon, age eight, conducted a recording of the “1812 Overture.” And, yes, a rocket went off at the finale.

Jimmy doesn’t remember it.

I related the incident at the Green Room at Lincoln Center after arranging as a member of the International Hospitality committee for the wives of United Nations delegates to attend one of Conlon’s rehearsals. On arrival, they were served coffee and cookies brought by a conductor and ardent Conlon fan who had just introduced a specialty cookie side line and flew in for the occasion.

Jimmy incidentally looked so much like his father that day as he sat in the Green Room in a black turtleneck, legs crossed, answering questions.  

Behind the Mesney home grew a tree with cherries of exceptional flavor and great abundance. We had so many juicy lattice-topped pies made from them over the years. Later, when Tanya Bastianich Manuella bought the home, it was cut down to accommodate a new garden design.  

Dorothy was always entertaining, often with potluck suppers. Her stew with 10 bay leaves was a big hit and she gave me the recipe when it was relatively unknown. I’ve lost it. Her daughter, Barbara, emails from Los Angeles that her brother Douglas loved it and added:

"I am a set designer in film. I stopped designing for theater many years ago, as it was too complicated trying to manage two careers. I continue to paint oil paintings and you have received some of them in Christmas cards. My sister, Kathy, has recently retired from Cornish College of the Arts, where she taught theater for 33 years. She taught directing, acting, dialects, body movement, etc. Her husband taught there as well in the same vein. Douglas is running his own company, as usual, called Vashon Island imaging. They print books and art and he creates his own images as well. They are photography based."

Once I brought over Crepe Suzette to Dorothy’s potluck, but we had to leave for Memorial Field to watch fireworks before dessert was served. 

”Just leave it on the table. The dogs won’t touch it,” Dorothy said. 

Dorothy loved animals and had huge tanks with fish and several large turtles swimming about to amuse a student waiting for a lesson. I didn’t feel comfortable with that, but off we went. And the crepes were gone when we got back. Fortunately, I had put a plate of second servings on top of the china cabinet and we served them cut into tidbits on picks.

Walter Mugdan had said when I mentioned his mother and Dorothy, “It’s a full circle.” And now that the Andersons have passed and their home on the corner of Douglaston Parkway and Hillside has been sold and edged with a stone wall, and I’ve reconnected with the recipe for “Greek stew” via the Mesneys, it’s completed the circle for me.     

Greek Stew

Douglas Mesney improvises Greek stew for you, having made it before (but not recently). The bay leaves give this dish its dominant flavor. Use them as plentifully as pleases your palate.

In a large cast iron or 'crock' pot, layer alternately:
- ground meat (beef or lamb)
- thinly sliced potatoes
- diced tomatoes (canned is OK)

- seasoning: salt, pepper, bay leaves

- highly seasoned chicken broth

Each layer should be about 1/2 inch,  potato layer 3/4 inch. Season each layer 'set' with salt, pepper and a couple of bay leaves. I put the seasoning on the tomato layer. 

Pour chicken broth over pot’s contents.
Cover and bake at 350° F (about 220° C) until done (less than an hour).
Make 1 cup of chicken broth, highly seasoned with minced garlic, onion and some 'Mrs. Dash.’