Notes from a Food Diva: Et Cetera, Et Cetera

More Cranberry Bread

I received an email from Roc Waters:

“I read with interest and a smile on my face about and her cranberry bread. I remember it well because she was my aunt. What you might not know is that she had quite a temper and when something she cooked didn't turn out right she'd open the back door of the house and out it went. This was a habit she picked up from her mother. My grandmother did the same thing, only then there were chickens at the back of the house to clean up the mess. Sen. [Frank] Padavan was and still is a very good friend of my family. Oh, by the way my wife and I still live in my grandfather’s house.”

Rectory Open House

The , which was recently renovated by Kevin Wolfe, was put on display in mid-October during an open house. I arrived just as the church bells announced 5 p.m. On that glorious warm fall day, the Rev. Linden De Bie sat on the porch and invited everyone to try the punch.

This now-perfect rectory home - for the reverend, wife Mary and daughter Cailyn - had a modern open kitchen where two people can cook comfortably and an open home plan that is ideal for entertaining.

All sorts of finger foods, mostly from church members, were ready for sampling throughout the first floor. There were lots of meatballs, mini quiche and English tea sandwiches. Member made sour cream coffee cakes, brownies and blondies - a less chocolaty version. And then, those fab cream puffs as well as many other finger foods and goodies that I don’t recall.

Obama, Nixon and Humphrey

All the news about President Obama and the GOP hopefuls revving up for the 2012 presidential election brings back memories of the Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey election. I was food editor of Parents Magazine at that time. Parents Magazine Press, their book publishing division, wanted to update  the 1966 edition of the “First Ladies Cookbook,” which included favorite recipes of all the presidents of the United States.

The copy for both Nixon and Humphrey was written and set in type. We were to shoot both candidate’s favorite goodies and planned to go to press the day after the election with the favorite food of the newly-elected president.

Fortunately, we could use the same photographer that did the original book. Dione Lucas was responsible for the food back then. I would be doing the new one and thought the schedule with both shots in a single day - beef Wellington and a soufflé included - was daunting but what Dione did, I could do. I didn’t protest.

Off my two assistants and I went with our dummies, our ingredient filled baskets for the finals and the candidates’ recipes to a strange, one-oven home kitchen and a photographer with whom we hadn’t worked before.

The stylist wound up in the hospital and never appeared. I was now responsible for all styling - table appointments as well as food. Things were a little hairy since the stylist, who lived next to the house of a newly married couple whom we were photographing, knew what was at hand and planned to prop from his house as well.

For the Nixon buffet spread, in desperation, I took a very regal looking purple and green throw rug and used it for the tablecloth. It worked.

Signatures by Candlelight

The award winning culinary and hospitality students at SUNY Delhi, where my cookbooks now reside in a special collections room, gave an Italian Panarda, which is a feast from Abruzzo. It was an impressive 10-course, tasting-sized-servings feast that included ice carvings by SUNY Delhi 2011 champions and glowing Christmas trees for decor.

My favorite menu item was prosciutto with compressed melon. It was awesome. Nestled beside a cluster of prosciutto was a domino-sized checkerboard made of 1/8th-inch squares of cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon. The melon, placed in Cryovac to compress it and concentrate the flavors, was easy to make, but imagine arranging 5,320 1/8th-inch squares for 120 diners.

Veal meatballs were served on a bed of polenta topped with a red wine caponata, a wonderful blend of chopped eggplant, tomatoes, onions, capers, pine nuts, anchovies and olives simmered in olive oil.

But Insalata de Barbabietola tickled my fancy and taste buds. Shredded beets were formed into a ¼-inch thick sliced patty. Then, two slivers of fennel, two or three brittle dried pear slices, a scattering of delicate, new-born beet tops and a single melon-ball-sized scoop of gorgonzola ice cream were arrayed on top.

Some improvisations of all three, including ¼-inch square slices of cantaloupe and honey dew melon au natural with prosciutto, will end up on my Christmas dinner list.

The Three-Martini Lunch

At the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, there’s a red and black tapas bar with comfortable armchairs and cocktail tables where you can have a three virgin martini lunch. Choose from the list of appetizers and pick a salad and dessert. They come served in heavy-bottomed martini glasses.

My appetizer was avocado and heart of palm, which was followed by steak cubes on a bedding of lettuce topped with a zesty salsa. The dessert was a salted caramel, crisp crème brulee-like topping on a custard base. All three are set down in front of you to be enjoyed as you view, through floor-to-ceiling windows, the High Museum.

Chocolate Strawberries ala Difference

Upon entering Saks in Atlanta, you’re welcomed auspiciously with a glass of champagne. Then, another server approaches with a tray of strawberries halved, cut side down, a fourth-inch hole, center top and filled with melted chocolate. Mmmm. Less calories. Less cost. Less work.

Eataly

Eataly is now the number three biggest tourist attraction in New York. As a special events coordinator, I led a group from the Great Neck Adult Program to visit the 23rd Street-based gourmet food market, which was created by Douglaston’s Lidia Bastianich, her son, Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali. This was a chance for them to eat and take home the wares of artisans - bread, pasta, wine, cheese and much more all under one roof.

We left early in the morning by motor coach to avoid the crowds. It was nearly 10 a.m. when we arrived. The market opened. No crowds. It was a Tuesday, it was early and it was drizzling. We gathered at La Scula for coffee, juice and brioche (Italian pastries.) La Scuola now seats 20 patrons at handsome marble-topped desks, but a larger version of the eatery is being built and will be open for classes in February.

A son of the founder of Italy’s Eataly spoke to us. The New York market is the only one of its kind in the U.S.

“We opened six years ago in Tokyo and no one had heard of it,” he told us. “The world knows Eataly, New York City.”

We were then free to wander about the cook books (in English on Italian food), shop or have lunch in one of the six eateries, which had seated counters and tables as well as a new rooftop beer garden, Birreria, that is open year-round.

After Lidia said “chow” to us, we were off to the Long Island Expressway.