Cooking With Ideas

Food History: Yes!

One way to think about food history, of course, is to think about mold and slime and the yucky things that happen to things that drift (ok, I am convinced that they do it on purpose -- there is agency there, I know there is) to the back of the refrigerator. But there is more to the notion of food history than food that is about to become history because I am cleaning my fridge. Loyal Cooking with Ideas readers know that there is more --because of this interview with Susanne McNally or this one with Derek Linton. Both are historians. Or, you could learn this from books discussed here such as Curry which is by a historian. But there is more, oh so much more.

I am particularly intrigued by sites which focus on New York food history. One to start with is www.nyfoodmuseum.org/; yes, that's right -- a NY food museum on line. When I discovered the site, it was focusing on a traveling exhibit on the Jewish Candymakers of NY. Alas, I missed it. But wow. They have an on-line exhibit looking at how people ate 100 years ago as well as a section called "The Pickle Wing" which tells all about, you guessed it, the pickle -- but also a street fair. And, there is also a virtual exhibit on cooking on the Lower East Side. Here you get interviews with various chefs and others involved with food in the area.

While we all know that NYC is too often mistaken for the whole state (both by people from NY State itself and from elsewhere!), there is more to NY food history than the five boroughs. For some food history related to Buffalo, for example, you can check out Buffalo Business History on the Web which includes several entries on foodie matters. For Finger Lakes history and food, check out this entry at York Staters, entitled "Early Thoughts on a Finger Lakes Cuisine."

Can't quite cope with Bush's America -- or even its historical predecessors? Or just prefer Canada, because that's your home or you love their progressive health care or? Check out the nearby (ok, I am confusing geography, geopolitics and happy clicking on line) Culinary Historians of Ontario. Among other things, this site has swell links. Or, for a broader sense of culinary history (and guidelines for how to start a culinary history group), click here and find all you could ever want to know. to get back to upstate NY, of particular interest to Finger Lakers on this site is the mention of the Genesee Valley Food History Guild (!!?!?) and their website. They have events coming up in May.

So: food history. And even upstate NY food history. Hurrah.

food history
culinary history
food museum
Finger Lakes

Slice, Dice and Spice New York: An Interview and Upcoming Event

One morning, when I opened my email, there was an email from Pat Charland of the Finger Lakes Visitor's Connection in Canandaigua. Through various channels, virtual and real world, she had heard of Cooking with Ideas and wanted to connect over an exciting event coming up in Canandaigua: Slice, Dice and Spice NY. Eventually, we connected -- and here's what you need to know: it's coming, you can participate (including as part of a team; for information on that, click to email Michael Warren Thomas) and you can watch. Also, there is always more to learn as I have been learning from emails from people not mentioned below! So, if you know more -- or are involved and want to ensure we all know, comment away please! Here's all sorts of exciting information!

Bibliochef: When I heard about Slice, Dice and Spice NY, I was truly excited. (Then I was totally upset because I am away for most of it.) Can you describe what it is and when it will take place? And how readers can be part of it?

Pat: Slice,Dice and Spice NY is the first ever Pro-Am Chef competition here in the Finger Lakes. Professional chefs from restaurants in Ontario, Livingston and Wayne counties will be teamed with local “chef wanna-be" amateurs in a cook off competition, much like Iron Chef, using locally grown and produced Finger Lakes foods and wines. There will be nine teams competing, three teams a day (Monday 5/12, Tuesday 5/13, and Wed 5/14) and each day one team will move forward to the finals on Thursday, May 15th. Visit www.slicediceandspiceny.com for all the details! The entire competition is during National Tourism Week, May 12-15, 2008 and will be held at the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua from 4-6 pm each day. Tickets are being sold ($50 in advance or $55 at the door) for the finals on May 15th at Wegmans and online at www.nywcc.com . There are five partners in Slice, Dice and Spice: the tourism promotion agencies in Ontario, Wayne and Livingston counties as well as the wineries along the Canandaigua Wine Trail and the New York Wine and Culinary Center. This program is funded by a matching grant from the I Love NY Explore NY program.

Bibliochef: Aha. I thought the event seemed to be a pro and amateur version of Top Chef! Where did the idea for Slice, Dice and
Spice NY originate?

Pat: Let me fill you in on some of the background. Slice Dice & Spice, NY is the brainchild of the organizations I mentioned: the tourism promotion agencies in Livingston, Ontario and Wayne counties as well as the New York Wine & Culinary Center and the Canandaigua Wine Trail. A team of representatives from each organization had the desire to collaborate in an effort to bring attention to and interest in the Finger Lakes Region through highlighting the common assets each shared. After an initial meeting, the group developed the idea for a culinary competition that would feature each locality’s agricultural, food manufacturing, culinary and wine strengths. The team wrote a grant to Explore NY outlining this idea and explaining how it would drive tourism and interest in the region. In the spring of 2007, the grant was approved and the team set-out to Slice, Dice & Spice, NY.

Spicing Things Up In the Finger Lakes: To move their plan into reality, the partners formed a committee of representatives from each locality that would meet monthly to develop and execute the competition, which was to be called Slice, Dice & Spice, NY. Each partner would own a particular portion of the planning and execution of the event, from sponsorship outreach to marketing the event, gathering team members, identifying the judges and hosting the overall event.

Over the last several months, Slice, Dice & Spice, NY has evolved into an exciting event that is sure to bring attention and excitement to the Finger Lakes Region and give the visitors one more reason to say “I Love New York.” Teams will be asked to create a meal using common, grown in New York, “Market Basket” ingredients plus one secret ingredient. All of these will be products of the region from local farmers and food producers. Wine pairings will be made from the Canandaigua Wine Trail encompassing several local wineries and under the guidance of the winemakers.

Bibliochef: The judges for Top Chef, of course, are often connected to sponsoring
organizations like Food and Wine. And there are also special guest judges. Is that how you chose your judges? Can you say something about each judge? And the criteria for judging?

Pat: One way to answer this would be to direct you to our website! On judges, click here and for our rules for judging, click here. But if you do not want to click and check Look Who’s Judgin’:

Jeff Christiano, Chef Instructor - Lead Judge for Slice, Dice and SpiceNY.com graduated in the top 10 in his class at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. He has a long list of accomplishments and awards, including the title of Gold Medal Winner of the American Culinary Federation. During the past 10 years, Jeff’s focus has been on education. He is currently the Culinary Arts Director with the Rochester City School District at East High School, where he developed the Culinary Arts program and designed the restaurant. Chef Jeff’s commitment to education, the culinary arts and local farms is a great match with the Education Department of the New York Wine & Culinary Center.

Melody McGinley Whitelaw is the chef and owner of The Main Event by Melody and Kids’ Green Kitchen. She is a guest chef on WOR Radio 710 NYC. She is the Life Style and Chef/Food Reporter for Saturday Home Show with Jerry Leen. Chef Melody is a guest chef at Bloomingdales and Macy’s Herald Square in New York City. Chef Melody still finds time to teach children to cook healthy with her “Kids’ Green Kitchen” program and to write food and restaurant stories for newspapers, magazines and cookbooks.

Noah Sheetz, Executive Chef, NYS Governor’s Mansion is also a graduate of the Culinary Institute and formerly owner of his own bakery in the Hudson Valley. Chef Sheetz, has been at the Governor’s Mansion during the Pataki and current administrations. He travels to the region’s of New York State to select items that will complement his “Pride of New York” table and special events.

Lloyd Kinnear, of the NYS Beef Industry Council, owns and operates Rosecrest Farm on Cooley Road in Canandaigua with his wife, Melinda and two children Doyle and Madeline. Their diversified farming operation includes registered Polled Herefords and Angus beef cattle, registered Hampshire and Dorset sheep in addition to custom pork, poultry and farm fresh eggs. Lloyd, a graduate of the Cornell School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is currently the Town of Canandaigua Supervisor and a member of the Ontario County Board of Supervisors. In his volunteer work, Lloyd represents the New York beef breed associations as a director on the New York Beef Industry Council. Other memberships include the New York Beef Producers Association and Rotary International. His culinary experience includes Rosecrest Catering which specializes in Beef, Pork and Chicken BBQ as well as past employment as a Sous Chef and Banquet Manager.

Peter Parts is Co-Founder and Chairman of the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition and has been instrumental in attracting esteemed judges from around the world to participate in this two-day event. This year the competition drew more than 2,300 wines from 14 countries, 44 states and 470 different wineries. The competition has been named among the 20 most influential wine competitions held across the country by American Gold Medal Wines. Best of all, proceeds from this event and a wine auction and dinner benefit Camp Good Days & Special Times, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for children and families all over the world, whose lives have been touched by cancer and other life-threatening.

Chef Lorenzo Bonii, Executive Chef – Barilla Americagrew up with a passion for Italian food in Bologna, Italy. While studying culinary arts, Lorenzo immersed himself in the regional cuisines of Italy. He then traveled to the United States, where he served as the Second Chef at the San Domenico Restaurant in New York City. After working in New York, he returned to Italy and opened his own restaurant, Osteria du Madon, in Bologna. In 1999, Lorenzo joined Barilla at their world headquarters in Parma. In 2003, he was promoted to Executive Chef for Barilla America, returning once again to the U.S. In his current role, Lorenzo is responsible for product and recipe development, as well as managing the culinary execution of all Barilla sponsored events. He resides in Evanston with his wife, Beata, his daughter, Valentina, and his dog, Daisy.

Howard VanBuren, III, NYS Dairy Council, is Senior Account Manager for Chr Hansen, Inc - a dairy ingredient supply company, covering the Northeast region of the US. Howard is a frequent Guest Speaker at NYS food protection meetings and has held Quality Assurance positions throughout the dairy industry. He is an active member of the NYS Cheese Manufacturers, and a popular teacher and speaker at many cultured product plants and at Cornell University Fermentation and Dairy Technology courses. Howard enjoys watercolor painting, golfing and spectator sports in particular a big fan of Buffalo Sabres hockey. Howard lives in Canandaigua, NY.

Robert Downey, III, Executive Chef, Pier House Restaurant, Ramada Geneva Lakefront in Geneva, NY served as chef for the preliminary Slice, Dice and Spice event. He holds an Associate Degree in Culinary Technology from Asheville Buncombe Technical Institute, Asheville, North Carolina. He held previous positions as Executive Chef at Iovinos Ristorante, Corvallis, Oregon and at the Black Diamond Golf Resort, Healy, Alaska. Chef Robert Downey lives in Canandaigua, NY.

Michael Warren Thomas, Radio Show host, WYSL – 1040 am, is a well recognized voice for food and wine and all things natural. For information on radio shows he hosts, including "Naturally Green" -- Rochester's only live call-in gardening show as well as his shows on food and wine, click here. He also organizes tours and is a frequent guest speaker on restaurants and wineries. Nearly 6,000 people have attended his classes and seminars. Michael’s works can be viewed at www.SavorLife.com. He lives in Rochester, NY.

Michael F. Bucher, is Deli Manager at Hartmann’s Old World Sausage. Bucher oversees day-to-day deli operations, handles all event catering, and creates daily lunch and dinner specials. He has owned and operated several local restaurants and has 32 years of experience in the food and beverage industry.

Marc Smith is the assistant director of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY., a research facility of Cornell University. He holds a B.S. in agricultural economics from Cornell and a master's degree in economics from the University of New England. In 1981 he came home to help manage the family farm in Piffard, NY. He has served as York Town Supervisor and on the Livingston County Board of Supervisors. During his tenure as the state executive director for the USDA Farm Service Agency, Marc worked with all manner of agricultural agencies and organizations, from Federal to State to local levels.

Mark Makovec is the Executive Chef for Wegmans’ Cooking School. During the past 8 years with Wegmans, he’s helped develop their magazine MENU, including food styling, ads, and product shots, as well as held several Executive Chef positions, in Rochester and Canandaigua. Mark graduated first in his class at the New England Culinary Institute, and has been chef at several resorts, hotels, and restaurants in Chicago, Atlanta, and Florida, including Chicago’s illustrious Ritz Carlton. With many awards to his name, such as top honors at the Georgia Seafood Competition and the Florida Stone Crab Festival, Mark brings a fresh approach to the culinary bounty of the Finger Lakes.

Deb Whiting, of Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty is chef and co-owner of Red Newt Cellars Winery and Bistro in Hector, NY. The Bistro has been especially noted in its emphasis building relationships with local farms and producers and fostering the concept and practice of regional cuisine. As a long time board member and past chair of the Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty, an organization founded in 1999 to promote culinary relationships between farms and restaurants, Debra continues to not only foster these ideas, but to practice them daily in the Bistro.

These judges deemed to be experts in food, agriculture and wine, will vote each day on the most effective team. Voting criteria will include the teams’ ability to plan a creative menu highlighting the main elements of the meal, use of Market Basket ingredients and the surprise ingredient, and wine pairing. Successful teams will be those whose chef demonstrates and then delegates to his/her amateurs.

Bibliochef: Wow. What an impressive list. I know, too, that there are loads of pros involved as chefs in teh competition itself. And, I notice that Geneva is fairly well represented. . . . what other places are represented?

Pat: Invitations were mailed to restaurants and their chefs in the participating counties. Below is the list of chefs selected.

Ryan Abbey is the lead chef at Geneva On The Lake in Geneva. His formal education is from the Culinary School of the Rockies; the University of Wine, Avignon, France; and the Culinary Institute of America. He likes to eat pizza with everything on it and his favorite ingredients to cook with are cayenne pepper and Red Jacket Orchard apples.

Cory Collins, chef at Keenan’s at the Brookwoods Country Club cites L’Ecole de Cuisine as his training platform. His favorite dish is beef tips au poivre in a cognac sauce over penne pasta topped with fresh tomatoes. His favorite foods and spices to cook with are wines, pepper and Montreal seasonings.

Dominick Dardano, owner and chef at Casa de Pasta in Canandaigua, received formal training from the Culinary Institute of America but cites his mom’s kitchen as the location of his first cooking experience, standing on a chair. He’s worked in restaurants since he was 14. His favorite dish is penne pasta with Italian green beans simmered in tomato sauce and he likes to cook with garlic, Italian parsley and basil. H

Bryan “BG” Garrison, executive chef at the Brown Hound Bistro in Naples, worked in such restaurants as L’Etoile Restaurant (Martha’s Vineyard)., the Lodge at Woodcliff, Runds on the Ridge, and Ridgemont Country Club. He was trained at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, Calif., and the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, N.Y. He also learned to cook from members of his large Italian family, who made everything from scratch. He lists wine as his favorite ingredient to cook with and “hearty red wine” as his favorite food.

Ian McBride, chef at the Big Tree Inn in Geneseo, has more than 17 years experience in restaurants, hotels and country clubs. He attended the Community College of Alleghany County in Pittsburgh, PA and the Loews Hotels Culinary Training Programs. His favorite dish to eat is braised Kobe short ribs on lobster mashed potatoes. When cooking, he loves to experiment with dressings and marinades and is always searching for new barbeque flavors for his grill. Cajun and southwest flavors are also favorites.

Eric Mueller, chef at Warfield’s Restaurant and Bakery in Clifton Springs, is a certified sommelier from the Court of Master Sommeliers and a certified executive chef from the American Culinary Federation. He has also trained at the Culinary Institute of America. Local connections include the Lodge at Woodcliff, Max of Eastman Place and Max’s Chophouse, and The Inn on the Lake, Canandaigua. His favorite food is classic steak frite and his favorite foods and spice to cook with is coriander, especially in crusted fish with a cilantro-based sauce. He prefers to pair his dishes with Synchronicity wine from the Imagine Moore Winery.

Gretta Pagorek, executive chef at The Vines in Naples, was formally trained at the Atlantic Culinary Institute in Dover, N.H. A native of Naples, she began her cooking career “as a youngster”, selling fried dough at the Naples Grape Festival. She’s also worked at the Brown Hound Bistro. Her favorite dish is macaroni and cheese made with a mix of gruyere, mozzarella and cheddar cheeses with bread crumbs on top. Favorite ingredients include Canandaigua Spice curry blends, trout and venison.

Brian Simmons, owner and chef at the Yard of Ale in Piffard started his cooking career at the State Street Station in Nunda under the tutelage of Chef Tom Borden. He graduated from Morrisville State College (SUNY) with a degree in culinary arts and restaurant management. His favorite dishes are rack of lamb and sashimi and he likes to cook with fresh fish and chiles.

Tim Stephens, executive chef at The Pultneyville Grill in Pultneyville, has cooked in more than a half a dozen restaurants. Chef Stephens has also worked as a private chef for the priests at McQuaid Jesuit High School. His favorite foods are grilled meat and fish and he likes to cook with beef tenderloin, scallops, cilantro, tarragon and basil.

Bibliochef: An impressive list of chefs (I confess that I wish there were more women!). I saw on the Slice Dice and Spice website that there are a whole array of amateur teams too. How did they get chosen?

Pat: Teams are formed by event organizers and feature community members, media representatives and local dignitaries. Each day there will be a Participating “county team”, a media team and a team of either wildcard entries and or local dignitaries. Contests on local media, and on the Slice, Dice & Spice website have been held for winners to be selected to compete.

Bibliochef: As a side note I should say that one way to be selected for a Wild Card Team is occurring at the Rochester Farmers Market on May 10. The information is available by emailing Michael@SavorLife.com. As I understand it from what you have already said. there will be a featured ingredient and/or a secret ingredient in the various challenges. Who chooses these ingredients? Are there any general characteristics of them?

Pat: The secret ingredient will be determined each day by the Executive Chef (not competing) at the New York Wine and Culinary Center and will be selected from the Market Basket. [For more on teh Market Basket, click here.] While all teams will see a complete listing of all market basket items, they will not know the specific contents until the day that they are competing.

Bibliochef: Can you tell us what proportion of the available foodstuffs will in fact be from upstate NY? And can you tell us what it took to organize this for a May event?

Pat: The Market Basket will consist of locally grown or produced products from these participating sponsors: Barilla America, New York State Beef Council, American Dairy Association, Hartmann’s Old World Sausage, Nunda Mustard, Honeyhill Farm, Naples Valley Brand Products, Bejo Seeds, Red Jacket Orchards, Arbor Hill, Birkett Mills buckwheat products and others. Bejo Seeds is working with local greenhouses to provide fresh produce for the competition. Additionally, we will make some “fresh” substitutes from other areas to represent products that are native to New York, but that mature in later seasons. No products will be represented that are not ultimately grown or manufactured here.

Bibliochef: I know there was an art contest that featured students designing aprons.
Can you tell us more about that and who will be wearing the aprons?

Pat: Art classes in the schools in the participating counties (Ontario, Livingston and Wayne) were asked to submit designs to be worn on aprons by the individual teams competing in Slice, Dice, and Spice. There were five schools that participated (Mt. Morris, Livonia, Naples, Pal-Mac, and Canandaigua) submitting over 50 designs. Nine winning designs were chosen (a design for each of the nine competing teams) and the grand prize winner was awarded a check for $250. Each of the nine winning students received their art work matted and their design printed on an apron. The grand prize winning design was done by Onagh MacKenzie of Naples Central School. All designs are posted on the website. [For all of them click here and for the winner click here!]

Bibliochef: The Slice, Dice and Spice NY Competition is taking place in Canandaigua and loads of the work -- including the background you are providing us here -- is being done by the Finger Lakes Visitors Connection. Can you tell us about the Center?

Pat: The Visitors Connection is the official tourism promotion agency for Ontario County. Finger Lakes Visitors Connection is the lead partner in the Slice, Dice, Spice program. Founded in 1984, Finger Lakes Visitors Connection’s mission is to create visitorship and economic vitality by marketing and developing the assets of Ontario County as a premier leisure and meetings destination.

Bibliochef: Finally, on the competition: Any predictions of what will happen?

Pat: Slice, Dice & Spice, NY represents a unique approach towards gaining attention and interest in a tourism destination and to highlight the agricultural and culinary assets of the region. It also offers evidence that collaboration among industry executives can make for an exciting initiative that has multiple benefits for the growth and exposure of a region. When all is said and done, one can be confident that Slice, Dice & Spice, NY will be discussed among tourism and culinary marketers as one of the most successful culinary tourism marketing initiatives of the decade, capitalizing on a growing trend.

Bibliochef: And now for some of the questions I ask all of the people I “speak” with! I know you want to answer as a “team” here at the Visitor’s Connection in Canandaigua. So, to start: What’s the absolutely best meal you have ever had? What made it the best
meal?

The Team: This really depends on the mood, the atmosphere, but in general, any meal that incorporates local products, wines and a creative culinary touch are at the top on the list.

Bibliochef: What music, films, books related to food and/or wine would you
recommend? Why? (These could be about scholarly or otherwise!)

The Team: For us it is movies: "The Big Night," "Sideways," "A Good Year." And the song, "Red, Red, Wine." Oh wait -- "Ratatouille," of course! Everyone can cook!

Bibliochef: What do you eat for comfort food?

The Team: Home made soups or mashed potatoes. Monica’s chicken pot pie.

Bibliochef: Do you have a favorite restaurant in the Finger Lakes?

The Team: We all agreed it depends on what we are hungry for -- pasta, chicken, beef, etc. But of course—“they all are” works too!

Bibliochef: Thanks sooooo much for filling us in! And to the team for your answers to less goal directed questions. For more information about Slice, Dice & Spice, NY contact the Finger Lakes Visitors Connection, at 877-386-4669. Tickets are available at www.nywcc.com as well as www.slicediceandspiceny.com and at all area Wegmans Food Markets. For more inforFmation about the event and participants, visit these sites as well.

Slice Dice and Spice NY
tourism week
iron chef
Barilla
Wegmans
cooking contest

Comfort Food Released Today

While I ask about comfort food in every interview I do here on Cooking with Ideas, that is not what this is about. And, while I am in airport bookstores a lot these days, that is also not why I am writing on this topic and this despite the fact that the author of the book reviewed here, Kate Jacobs, is everywhere in such stores today. Why? She is author of the widely distributed and widely read The Friday Night Knitting Club. No, she is not writing murder mysteries about food (alas). No, she is not the author of the next great American novel. The Friday Night Knitting Club is, though, I think, currently number 4 on the NY Times bestseller list. Have I read it? No. But I have read an advance copy of her new novel which goes on sale today: Comfort Food. (For an excerpt, click here.) And no, I am not just saying it was a fun read because she was born and raised in Canada (Hope, B.C., near Vancouver) and went to Carleton University in Ottawa.

What do I think about Jacobs' second novel? My suspicion is that the book will do very well -- it has everything. A woman turning fifty, struggling with a combination of age and the workplace. Links to our national obsession with food-related television through her job as a television chef/cook and characters who ostensibly started a food-related cable station as well as a company specializing in healthy vending machines filled with fruit (ok, I am not in the know enough to know who might be the real world referents for some of Jacobs' notions). Daughters whose lives involve somewhat humorous romantic quirks (not to mention their more-than-somewhat invasive mother). An agoraphobic former tennis star hiding out from the press after her coach father... well, let's not give away too much but suffice it to say she's eating a lot of candy. Financial fraud. Miss Spain 1999. A veritable panoply of characters that make you smile, wince, and giggle. Horrifyingly familuiar team building exercises. The tension of internet versus television. And a few comments on food bloggers along the way. Not to mention multiculturalism and relatively smooth prose. A nice narrative flow and tone of voice. Some will likely call the novel "chick lit" and likely that is who you'll see buying it in airports and elsewhere. It is, indeed, "lite" fare though it takes up early death, and some pretty harsh realities of contemporary life. But it is, indeed, a nice bit of junkie foodie reading. Have fun. It is fun.
No recipes (thank goodness) but loads of foodie fun. And even those who are not truly foodiedwill enjoy some of the celebrity silliness and urban stuff. Don't expect serious literature. And if you are budgeting with the downturn of the economy or upturn in gas prices, get it from your public library or borrow it from a friend. And enjoy the female characters who vary from strong and resilient to quirky -- perhaps even weird -- and the ways they navigate (and transform) the worlds in which they live and work.

For her Jacobs' blog, click here. For an audio with Kate Jacobs focused on writing, click here. For an interview which includes attention to Comfort Food and Jacobs' admission she is addicted to Top Chef and a fan of the Barefoot Contessa, click here.

Kate Jacobs
Comfort Food
chick lit

Edible Finger Lakes: New Magazine for Foodies

A few years ago, I was in Cape Cod and came upon a magazine called "Edible Cape Cod." I believe it was in a restaurant called The Wicked Oyster. I loved it -- and it engendered a fantasy. I would come into money and begin a magazine called "Edible Finger Lakes." I did not. I began something better: Cooking with Ideas. So, imagine my surprise when I began to see hints that a magazine called "Edible Finger Lakes" was about to be published. (If you are surprised, check out www.ediblecommunities.com for more!) And, then, I came upon a pile of them in the Red Dove in Geneva. What a surprise. A new quarterly magazine on food in teh Finger Lakes.

First things first: we know two of the authors: local food bloggers Laura Rebecca Kenyon of Laura Rebecca's Kitchen and Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows of Cookin' in the 'Cuse both have articles in the first issue. Jennifer's focuses on "locavores" (with her usual focus on the Syracuse area) and Laura Rebecca's on Community Supported Agriculture, including the Fellenz Family Farm. And there is some information on other local farms such as Sweet Land Farm at www.sweetlandfarm.org as well as an article by Teresa Vanek of Red Tail Farm.

Several other things to watch out for: there are loads of recipes scattered through out (including a ramp pesto from Deb Whiting of the Red Newt Bistro), and good pointers on how to find, for example, u-pick farms for strawberries when they come into season. Local farmers and others are among the other authors -- most visibly Michael Welch, who is also the publisher. My favorite by Welch is a piece on sausage making with Dano of Dano's Heuriger. If you have not read my review of Dano's Heuriger, click here.) Do check our www.ediblefingerlakes.com for various reasons -- including sources for local food (U Pick Farms, CSAs, and farmer's markets) and a calendar with food-related events (though they do not have Slice, Dice and Spice NY. Click away! And, then watch right here for an interview on that upcoming event! ) They do, however, have advertisements from, for example, Slow Food Rochester and an excerpt from What Are People For? by Wendell Berry.

Don;t stop reading here -- but pick up this magazine when you see it! And let us all know what you think.

edible finger lakes

A Salad to Die For?

At Dijon, in Ithaca, there is a salad to die for. (See the review of Dijon on Cooking with Ideas, here.) That salad involves frisee, bacon lardons, blue cheese, and a poached egg. Initially, my reaction to the whole idea was very clear. Yuck! But then I tried it. And I have been making it at home, with and without bacon. (Even on occasion, I have added candied walnuts. Hmmm.) Never with croutons, though those seem to be there in some versions I have read about. Turns out this sort of salad has a fashionable, and very traditional name: Salad Lyonnaise. I can feel my arteries hardening.

Lardons? Ok, I think of these as high-falutin' bacon bits. They take some patience and are best when you use truly thick cut bacon. Not quite technically bacon, though. (For details, click here and here.) And best when salty.

Poached eggs? For directions on how to poach eggs, click here. Careful about the salmonella risk.

Frisee? I prefer the little bundled baby frisee plants. Yep, beautiful greenish yellow, not terribly prickly. Perfect. But what is frisee? Click here and find an answer.

No recipe I have found uses blue cheese, despite the restaurant where I first encountered this. I do -- because, frankly, everything is better with blue cheese. I have used a strong blue -- salty and very distinct in taste -- and, on occasion, a milder one called Billy Blue (a goat blue). Either works. They are just different.

And, finally, putting it all together. Check out these recipes from www.epicurious.com : Frisee Salad with Lardons and Poached Eggs; Frisee Salad with Poached Eggs; Salad with Canadian Bacon and Poached Eggs; and a Warm Frisee Salad with red Wine Sauce.

An undying need to see a video on this sort of salad and how to make one? Click here. Does it look like this when I make it? No. Is it worth watching? Yes.

LOCAL Chocolate Chip Cookies?

So, I have not been in the kitchen that much recently -- for a whole variety of reasons. Or at least I have not been blogging about what I have been not-so-wonderfully cooking. But one night this month (ok, I am doing entries and sending them out into the world on dates other than when they are written!), I finally did something I have been meaning to do for ages: cook with one of the mixes that the folks from Allens Hill Farm gave me when I interviewed them. [For the interview itself, click here.] The brown bag, with lovely cleanly designed green and white label saying "All Natural 8 Grain Chocoloate Chip Cookie Mix," has been in my pantry for some time, calling out to me, making me feel guilty for accepting something free and then not using it. Not using it and not reviewing it! But, to be truthful, the real reason I made them tonight was I wanted to. I wanted a cookie. I did. Perhaps even more, I wanted the smell of cookies baking in the house.

So, one stick of softened butter, one egg, several tablespoons of water [the [package calls for 2; I used 2 1/2 ], added to their mix -- and voila! Cookies. Inside the brown bag were (a) a mixture of dry ingredients including 8 grain flour [wheat, oat, pumpernickel, buckwheat, corn, soy, rice, potato according to the ingredient list; technically, in my view, those are not eight GRAINS but still] and brown sugar, oat bran, vanilla powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; (b) chocolate chips; and (c) sunflower seeds.

And what did I end up with? 20 cookies. Not too too sweet. Fairly large. Lighter than I had imagined with all those healthy ingredients. Tasty. Even though the "use by date" on the bottom of the package was well past. My fault. And their victory. Yum.

Trial and Error Ravioli OR, How I Relaxed My Way to Frozen Pizza

A while ago, I read The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken -- a delightful read and a wonderful gift. (I reviewed it here.) And recently, I received another wonderful gift: a pasta machine. An Atlas pasta machine. And its ravioli making attachment. So, I have begun the great experiment.

Now, I have, in fact, made pasta before. Once. In a cooking class I took in Denver. Where? At the Cook Street School of Fine Cooking. Did I look for that recipe? No. Did I use the one providedc by the author of The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken? No. Instead, I had seen a recipe for some lovely asparagus ravioli in broth in a recent issue of Gourmet -- and so I used the pasta dough recipe that was appended to that recipe. (For the details, click here and then check out the pasta dough recipe.) This recipe called for cake flour (which puzzled me, I confess) and a bit of all purpose. It called for egg yolks and olive oil and water. It definitely involved more ingredients than the pasta I made in cooking class, which was (at least in my memory) flour and eggs. It turned -- after some work into a lovely set of fettucini and then went into a very tasty chicken soup. Anyway, this time I mixed up all the ingredients. I let the dough rest an hour. And I began moving it through my beautiful (yes, it is in fact beautiful) Atlas machine. At first, it looked like I might succeed. I was thrilled. Then, suddenly, the dough was a horrible tearing mess. It stretched even when I wasn't touching it. My effort to get it wide enough to use the ravioli attachment was perhaps part of it. My difficulty in figuring out where to locate the pasta machine so I could stabilize it using the gadget that came with it was also part of the problem. My relative inexperience with a long piece of dough was another aspect of my difficulties. (Aha, now I remember: there were TWO of us when I made it in cooking class, with one of us poised at each end of the pasta machine. Admittedly not very far apart, since the machine is not exactly huge, but it helped to have four hands.) What really happened tonight though? I think the dough just got over tired and threw up its tiny little metaphorical hands into the air and said: NO. I am not going to be ravioli today. In fact, I am not going to be any sort of pasta. I am going to throw myself (ok, it was me) into the trash can. And while making it. the yucky day disappeared, even though the ravioli remains a dream.

Next time, I am trying a simpler pasta dough. Or, maybe the same one. But I am going to try again. Why not? I have the machine, the broth, the filling and some flour and eggs. And Laura Schenone says I can do it. (See her comment here, right after the review of her book.) Plus, the machine is beautiful. And I want some ravioli. And it just seems like it woudl be the best way to say "thank you" for the machine.

Tonight, though, it is frozen pizza. Yep, frozen. Because it is almost 8 o' clock and I am hungry. While I am waiting for it to warm up (one can hardly call it cooking) I am blogging. And dreaming of ravioli (and looking at directions for the pasta machine -- like those available here -- and. . . )

ravioli
pasta machine
Laura Schenone

Kim Sunee: An Author Interview

It was one of those days. I came home, tired and ready for anything other than work. And there was a package for me. I opened it. It was a book entitled Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee – a beautiful, sort of Provencal cover of yellow with fleur de lis. I set it to the side and, after it sat around for a while, eventually I read it. A memoir, which focuses on a young woman’s struggle with her identity (adopted in Korea, living in the US and then in Europe), her relationships with her adoptive family and men in her life, and her ongoing love affair with food. I was grateful – what a gift to come floating free into my life. I even found a familiar moment in the memoir, having spent a tiny bit of time on the little island in Paris where the author once had a poetry store. So, when I had the chance to do an email interview, I took it (with thanks to Brita Rosenheim of YC Media for organizing it). So, here are a few questions and answers with the author of Trail of Crumbs, Kim Sunee. And yes, the subtitle is key: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home.

Bibliochef: Trail of Crumbs has been described as a culinary travel memoir. Can you tell us a bit, first, about your notion of a memoir and how you came to write one?

Kim: I think it’s important to note that a memoir is not an autobiography. You can write several memoirs in a lifetime. But when writing memoir, you have to step outside of yourself and (with the help of a great editor) only include that which is important to the heart of the narrative. In my story, love, travel, food and the search for identity and home were the shaping elements.

Bibliochef: The word culinary in that description is, of course, part of why readers of “Cooking with Ideas” are interested in hearing from you. Can you talk some about the place of food in your life – and how you came to decide to include recipes in your book? The title seems to allude to Hansel and Gretel’s trail of crumbs. . . where did the title come from?

Kim: When I was first meeting with agents, I originally wanted to write a cookbook. But then I met Joy Tutela of the David Black Literary Agency and we started talking about my story and the idea of a memoir. I already had the title, Trail of Crumbs, in my head for several years—like a song lyric I couldn’t forget—never really knowing what it would become. I was thinking of the fairy tale as well, of course. Finding our way back home through food has an always been an obsession of mine, along with the search for where we belong in the world, and cooking and sharing recipes.

Bibliochef: The notions of travel and home seem key to your book – and yet seem to be in some tension. Food seems to move across boundaries for you –both national and other boundaries of time, space, memory. Why food and travel? How are they linked for you? Linked to or through food?

Kim: Sometimes we need to travel in order to come back home. But I’ve also learned that home is really within ourselves—our sense of security and the inner journey. It’s our best turtle-like quality—once we have that sense of self, we can take it with us wherever we go, and feel at home. Food and the culture of food in other places, of course, is also a way in which we understand others and, ultimately, ourselves.

Bibliochef: Of course, one of the places that matters to your narrative is New Orleans. And, quite obviously, Hurricane Katrina has had an enormous impact on New Orleans – I wonder if you have any comment on the ongoing impact of the hurricane?

Kim: I still feel a lot of outrage and the sorrow of loss...for so many...However, I think the chefs of the city and people from all over the world gathered and supported one another in ways only food can bring people together.

Bibliochef: You have written a book – and are now involved with “Cottage Living” magazine as a food editor. Can you talk some about your writing process – and any differences you see between the two types of writing?

Kim: I just wrote an essay for IACP [International Association of Culinary Professionals] about editing vs. writing. [For the article, click here.] I think they are 2 different ways of thinking...but being an editor definitely helped me be a better writer. The writing process for me is a difficult one. I am constantly revising and laboring, but I’ve tried to let the writer come in first and write and then allow room for the editor to have her place—after the creative process—to revise and edit.

Bibliochef: Many of the reviews – and even the comments on the back of your book –focus on your writing as about a relationship. Writing as a woman, do you have any comment on how much attention there is – in the book and in responses to the book – to the main male character? Do you find more attention to him than to yourself as narrator/author?

Kim: I was surprised, perhaps naively so, about how much attention (in interviews and reviews) was focused on the male character, as you put it. Happily, I’ve received many letters on my Web site, from men and women, about how they appreciated the honesty with which I wrote about love and my relationship, in particular. I’ve come to understand that reviews or reactions to the book are often more about the reviewer than about me as an author/narrator. [For Kim's website, click here.]

Bibliochef: In the book, you also write about the poetry bookshop you had in Paris. And you speak of your own efforts at writing poetry. Can you comment on poetry? Any relation to the themes of food/home/travel?

Kim: Poetry for me is the distillation of a single moment that is so pure and resonates at a certain time in our lives. It’s music and love and the world of small things all wrapped up in a single line of beauty. It’s like the perfect bite—you don’t need the whole meal or the entire dish, just a balanced combination of flavors. I still write poems and food seems to find its way in my poetry now as well. I published a few recently on Powells.com under original essays. [For Kim's original essay at www.powells.com, click here.] People ask why I wrote a memoir first. My questions and obsessions with food and love and the search for home would be the same whether in a cookbook or a book of poems...it just happens that I started with the memoir.

Bibliochef: What music, films, books related to food (other than your own!) would you recommend? Why? (These could be scholarly or otherwise!)

Kim: There are so many, I’m sure I will forget to include a lot of them, but here’s a start: All of MFK Fisher and Elizabeth David. Julia Child and Paula Wolfert. Jean Anderson. Dorie Greenspan. The journal Gastronomica. I LOVE Jim Harrison’s The Raw and The Cooked: Adventures of a Roving Gourmand. Films: "Mostly Martha", "Babette’s Feast", and I recently watched a Japanese film called "Tampopo" about a woman in search of making the perfect bowl of noodles. It’s a spaghetti western in more ways than one. I also like "Ermo"—the quiet beauty of that woman making the dough... And all those fun names for pies in "Waitress". There are so many more—Under the Tuscan Sun, "Big Night", Waverly Root...Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet by Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford. I love all their books—I don’t think I’ve cooked from them but I love the depth of their curiosity. I think Artisan publishes some of the most beautiful cookbooks. Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries—I wish I had written that one. Alice Waters. I always go back to the very basic La Cuisinere Provençale by Jean-Baptiste Reboul. Outlaw Cook by John Thorne. [For Thorne's e-zine, click here.] The Southern Foodways Alliance. ......

Bibliochef: Wow. What a list. Thanks. Some of these are familiar and I love them all -- and some new! I'll be out there looking for them. Meanwhile, what do you eat for comfort food?

Kim: It really depends. A bowl of pasta with some sort of crispy chewy pork product is always comforting. Gumbo with potato salad. Red beans and Rice or sometimes just a bowl of fragrant steamed rice with a pat of salted butter or a drizzle of olive oil. I love cheese and Tarte Tatin with a dollop of chilled crème fraiche.

Bibliochef: What am I not asking that I should? What question have you never been asked that you have always wanted to be asked? What's your answer?

Kim: Hmmm...I need to think about that one. These are all great questions and thank you for including me on your site.

Bibliochef: Well, thanks. And thanks again for your book -- and for all the new things I learned through this interview.

For other interviews, click here or try here for a(n allegedly) feminist review of Trail of Crumbs or here for a review from "Northwest Asian Weekly."

Kim Sunee
Trail of Crumbs
memoir
culinary memoir
travel memoir

What has come in your mail lately?

I admit it. I love free things that come in the mail. I horde coupons. I never use them, but I horde them. At work, there are all sorts of work-related things that arrive unheralded and unrequested. Magazines. Books. Once, a set of CDs. But, suddenly, at home. . . . once more rarely, now more frequently. Free things. What now? As I have said on occasion on this blog, Bibliochef has begun to receive mailings from various presses complete with cookbooks to review. Hurrah! I am a bit behind in considering all of them, so I am going to comment on three of them below. I hope you ( yes, you, dear reader) will comment away if you have experience with any or all of these! Or, if you have fantasies of free things arriving, unsolicited, through Uncle Sam's mail. Or, just because I am asking, so desperately. Comment.

In no particular order:

Regional Greek Cooking by Dean and Catherine Karayanis was just published by Hippocrene Books. Hippocrene has published a variety of cookbooks. But who are the authors? Here's what I found on line:

Dean Karayanis has authored news, sketch comedy, and opinion pieces for TV, radio, and online for over 10 years. In his spare time, Dean reverts to his roots, whipping up Greek culinary masterpieces. Catherine Karayanis is author of numerous online computing courses and articles, as well as four books on networking, database administration, and operating systems for McGraw-Hill. She has also worked in the restaurant business for several years. Sourcce: http://www.helleniccomserve.com/regionalgreekcooking.html.

Their cookbook? Not a high end production with loads of pictures, but a useful book with a range of recipes. And, I must say, as someone who only recently learned to make dolmades, I love the cover with the stuffed grape leaves nestled cozily up against the sliced lemons. [For my entry on dolmades, click here.] The recipes cross a variety of regions within Greece; both the mainland and related islands (e.g., Ionian Islands, Aegean Islands, and . . . ) as well as parts of Asia Minor and Cyprus! The sections devoted to particular sub-regions are followed by a discussion addressed to the question: "What would Greeks drink with this?" (A memory of my Ph.D. qualifying examinations and way way way too much ouzo in Chicago's Greektown surfaces involuntarily. We should, I shudder and think -- and then dismiss -- never drink ouzo again.) Despite this, the section is fascinating.

A few recipes from the book that particularly attracted my attention include one for a shrimp and feta that reminds me of those many years ago in Chicago's Greektown. There is Macedonian Eggplant and Lamb Cassarole, Baked Pears with Feta, and a variety of recipes with hallouhmi (a cheese I have seen in Wegmans and never used). Somehow the very word "avgolemono" seems very very nostalgic.

Hippocrene has also published a Lebanese cookbook, a cookbook focusing on China's Fujian province (I have absolutely no idea where that is), a south Indian cookbook, a belarusian cookbook ( I am dying to see this for various personal reasons), a Czech cookbook, a Filipino cookbook, and a Cajun cookbook. As this list makes evident, Hippocrene focuses on regional -- and understands regional in very diverse and smart ways. They also publish histories, travel titles, and dictionaries of various sorts (albanian/english and vice versa, amharic/english, byelorussian/english, croation-english /english-croation, beginner persian, gaelic-english/english-gaelic, indonesian-english/english-indonesian, and, my personal favorite just because I have a clue about the language to which it refers even if I have no idea of any single word in it, the ladino dictionaries). Really, Hippocrene Books is dictionary heaven for those who are definitively opposed to imperial english and its move to become a universal language. Yes, Hippocrene Books provides a whole range of Arabic/Englsh dictionaries. One publication of theirs to think about carefully is their Modern Military Dictionary, English-Arabic/Arabic/English. Hidden in the marketability of this title, of course, lies (not so very discretely) loads of history -- contemporary and otherwise -- not to mention politics and governmental funding of language education. Of course, Hippocrene is not only a producer of resources for linguists and other dictionary users. They also produce poetry books, illustrated histories and an edition of a book on Gettysburg, but what fascinates us all here at Cooking with Ideas are the cookbooks. Here are some of their cookbook titles: "Afghan Food and Cookery"; "Argentina Cooks"; "Cooking with Cajun Women"; "Secrets of Columbian Cooking"; "Estonian Tastes and Traditions"; "Finnish Cooking"; "Havana Cookbook"; "Jewish-Iraqi Cuisine"; "Taste of Nepal"; "Farms and Foods of Ohio"[one of the few places in this list I have actually been!]; "A Taste of Quebec" [oh, wait, another!]; "Sephardim, Israeli Cuisine"; "Sweet Hands: Island Cooking from Trinidad and Tobago"; "The Art of Uzbek Cooking"; and "Traditional Food from Wales."

What range! I confess I have not included their full list. But wow. What a list! No particular book may be fancy but -- the list. Wow. Taken together, it requires us to ask: is such a list itself an effort at global connectivity or an aspect of global appropriationism? And, on a more mundane note, one must ask: what do youmake of the book I am ostensibly commenting on: Regional Greek Cooking? Let us know!

The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy was published by Viking's Studio imprint. Subtitled "recipes from the beloved bakery for everyone's favorite treats," the book is connected (yep) to Sweet Melissa Patisserie in Brooklyn. The cover is enticing; a beautiful cake, with confectioner's sugar spinkled over it, and berries mounded in the center. The recipes are organized according to the following categories in the table of contents: 1) dessert for breakfast; 2) after-school snack; 3) it's somebody's birthday; 4) what will we do with all of this fruit?; 5) Sunday supper's grand finale; and 6) favorite gifts. What that translates into is 1) muffins, quick breads and etc.; 2) cookies, brownies and bars; 3) special layer cakes; 4) fresh fruit pies, cobblers, crumbles,and preserves; 5) puddings, specialty pies, cheesecakes and etc.; and 6) truffles, brittles, and candies. I rarely bake, so I am not the best judge of this book, but I confess reading it has been helpful in controlling my sweet tooth. Not necessarily why one would think to buy it, but. . . This is not a photography book disguised as a baking book, but is filled with real recipes with directions that work even for me, the non-baker. And I have always wanted a recipe for snickerdoodles. The range, though, moves much beyond this -- homemade butterscotch pudding, cherry clafoutis tart (ok, I have never met a clafoutis I did not like), and pear cranberry pie. Not to mention biscotti. Who knows? I may even bake one of these days. In the meantime, have you cooked from it -- or been to Sweet Melissa's? Let us know!

Things Cooks Love: Implements, Ingredients, Recipes by Marie Simmons is the first in a new series of books from Sur La Table, published by Andrews McMeel books in Kansas City. [Hint: you can get recipes on their website.] Sur la table, of course, is the cooking store we all love, first opened in 1972 in Pikes Place Market in Seattle. The book entered the house accompanied by a spiffy folder of information about it, and a letter. Yep, a form letter, but still. In amongst the information were a few important tidbits: author Marie Simmons, we learn, wrote a column for Bon Appetit for more than 15 years and has written 18 cookbooks. She is, though a deserter -- as a native New Yorker who now lives in California. (Ok, maybe not a deserter, maybe just smarter than those of us who were sucked in by a limited job market and then have stayed in New York State.)

I confess I think this book is really spiffy. It has a section on various kitchen implements -- both a basic one and one that points to more "global" implements which should be used in various forms of cooking. So, in addition to grill pans and cast iron pans and whisksm you can read about mezzaluna, molcajete, and karahi. (What's great, too, is that there are directions for using them --and alternatives if you can't afford to buy every conceivable gadget. Or can't store every conceivable gadget. Or just don't want to die and go to consumer heaven -- or is it hell?) Anyway, after the sections on implements (and how to use them) -- also known as "essential cookware and tools", there are a variety of sections devoted to various cuisines, each with recipes using the relevant gadgets. What cuisines? Here they are: Asian; Mexican; French; Indian;Italian; Iberian (aka Spain and related areas); and Moroccan. The book provides interesting recipes for each area. I admit, though, I kept looking for recommendations of particular brands -- of, e.g., pasta makers and other particular thises and thats. Not in this book. But, definitely recipes that are enticing. For example: "Goat Cheese Stuffed Swiss Chard Bundles with Olives and Sun-dried Tomatoes" and "Lamb Tagine" and "Fresh Fruit Quesadillas." Anmd much much more. I will definitely cook from this.

At the end of the book there does appear a delightful section called "shopping sources." No, they are not all little hints directing you to Sur La Table, despite the ways in which this book feels like a marketing decision (only occasionally -- and perhaps this is why I actualy want recommendations for particular versions of tools -- kind of a consumer reports for the cook?). Why are these few pages delightful? Because the focus is on ingredients. And, yes, the list of sources is itself wonderful --if pretty darn distant.

What can we look forward to from this series? Yep, the mailing which dropped through my mail slot did tell me -- The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet is due out October 2008 and Knives Cooks Love: Selection, Care, Techniques, Recipes by Sarah Jay is due out November 2008. Who is Mushet? For some insight, click here. And Sarah Jay? Again, for a bit of insight, about this proprietor of paellapans.com, click away. While i know what a chiffonade is and how to pit and chop a mango, the latter book (ok, I already said I am not a big baker) is a really exciting possibility. Can't wait!

My one question: am I tempted more by this book because the production values (aka photography) are higher? Maybe. Yep, maybe indeed. And yet we all know that while we sometimes eat with our eyes -- okay, always also eat with our eyes, this is not quite the right way to evaluate cookbooks. . . . The truth is, I will probably cook from all these books one of these days.

So, three cookbooks arrived, unsolicited through the mail, into the foyer of my home. I am grateful for all three. One may entice me into baking. One may tempt me into regional Greek cooking (thankgoodness I made dolmades in a class before this. For background, click here.) And one fits with my secret wish to wander through Sur la table with a gift certificate of enormous proportions. Not to mention, my need for pictures of various things I might buy there -- acccompanied, conveniently enough, with uses for them, directions and recipes!

What has come through your mail slot recently -- especially relevant to food? Fill us in! Please?

Sur La Table
Melissa Murphy
Sarah Jay
Cindy Mushet
baking
Greek cooking
Marie Simmons
Karayanis

UPSTATE 2050

I have no idea how to make this related to food, exactly, but this is a great site and deserved its own little review. Here and there food shows up -- in the linking of Amish to college towns, for example, and the impact on upstate NY wine when California and France experience devastating climate change. But really, this is about much much more.

The site? UPSTATE2050 is filled with tales which purport to be about upstate New York in 2050. The tales are presented as news stories, for example, and range from the impact of war to ecological difficulties to new laws which lead people to be using horse drawn wagons rather than cars to. . . . It is simply a great site -- and open to submissions from anyone who has an intriguing imagination of upstate NY into the future. I admit I really liked one tale about new versions of money which riffed off of the Ithaca Dollar, but also referred to a lovely concept, the Ivy Wars -- nice critique of some of the nastiness associated with higher education.

Anyway, check it out. It is both fun -- funny -- and thought-provoking. Just imagine -- a Mandatory Identification and Registration Act (2015), a Free Tuition Movement, the end of free public high schools, tax free zones. . . a combination of apocalytics, futurology. and. . . .

But then again -- wasn't the Patriot Act unimagineable? Torture undertaken by the U.S.? MOre than five years of war in Iraq? The re-election of George W. Bush? The election of Ronald Reagan?