Jean, Eggs and Ham

Quick cook: strawberry panna cotta

I usually hate any flan (sorry!) or gelatin-like dessert, since the texture weirds me out. But with great trepidation, and a steely resolve to try new foods, I ordered this Italian dessert last month. Firmer than pudding, tangy as yogurt, and smooth as ice cream, it was so surprisingly tasty...I'm hooked.

Alas, I'm psyched for this simple recipe. It's perfect for a summer dinner party: it's very light and sweet, and strawberries are in season right now. And did I mention it's simple?

Strawberry panna cotta with strawberries and honey

• 4 cups halved hulled strawberries (about 2 one-pint baskets)
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat (1%) milk
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons honey

Puree 2 cups strawberries in processor or blender until smooth. Pour puree through strainer, pressing with rubber spatula to extract as much puree as possible; reserve strained puree. Discard seeds in strainer. Whisk low-fat milk, whipping cream and sugar in heavy medium saucepan. Sprinkle gelatin over; let stand until gelatin softens, about 10 minutes. Whisk mixture constantly over very low heat just until gelatin dissolves and mixture is lukewarm, about 3 minutes (do not boil). Remove from heat. Whisk in pureed strawberries and vanilla extract. Divide mixture among six ‟-cup ramekins or custard cups. Refrigerate until panna cotta is set, at least 3 hours or overnight. Cover and refrigerate remaining 2 cups strawberry halves. Gently toss remaining 2 cups strawberry halves and honey in medium bowl to blend. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Run small sharp knife between panna cotta and ramekins to loosen. Dip bottom of ramekins into bowl of hot water 30 seconds. Invert each panna cotta onto plate, shaking gently to unmold. Spoon strawberry-honey mixture over and serve.

At the Carriage House in Totowa...

I hung out with some friends and coworkers last night at the Barnyard and Carriage House in Totowa. Perched on a hill off Totowa Road, only a couple hundred feet it seems from Rt. 80, the old-fashioned wooden tavern and huge backyard patio with a fish-filled pond (and a sand volleyball pit!) felt totally unexpected, like a hidden getaway.

The breeze blew soft and cool, the music (mid-90s rock and some new stuff) flowed, the waitstaff was sweet (though a bit overwhelmed from the size of our party) and it was just a great vibe. The menu is hardly exotic -- mostly burgers, fries, mozzarella sticks, Caesar salads, etc -- but for a chill, summer night, we all felt satisfied.

Has anyone checked it out? Any thoughts?

New organic Thai restaurant in Passaic!

Has anyone checked out the new Thai restaurant in Passaic?? I just heard it opened on Main St. in the Passaic Park section, near A1 Nutrition. My friend Karen Keller, who writes about Passaic, told me it's an organic Thai restaurant. Now that's not something you see every day around here. She's not sure of the name...I'm working on it!

Has anyone checked it out??  Let me know!!

Recall alert: Nestle Pure Like one-gallon water at ShopRite

Nestle has recalled its one-gallon bottles of Pure Life water sold in ShopRite stores across New Jersey and the Northeast. The bottles may be contaminiated with a diluted form of a food cleaning compound that could be harmful if ingested in large amounts over a period of time.  All of the recalled bottles have this code on their "arm": First line…………050508126WF024  Second line……... Starts with the numbers "08" (For example: 0801BB05/2010).

No illnesses have been reported and as of Monday, June 23rd, ShopRite stores should have removed all of the recalled water. Consumers who may have purchased the water should contact the company at a toll free number 866-599-8980.

Mofongo to go in Paterson!!

I am cookoo for mofongo. I discovered this cherished Dominican (originally Puerto Rican) dish earlier this year, and I decided it deserved much more attention when I discovered it was the specialty of the house at D'Classico, a recently renovated upscale-Dominican restaurant in Paterson.

What is mofongo, besides a terrifically fun word? A savory dish made of gently fried plantains, mashed with salt, pepper, garlic and butter, traditionally mixed with fried pork skins (chicharrones), and served with various meats and seafoods. It's molded into a round dome and served with seafood, chicken, beef, or vegetables -- whatever the customer wants, frankly. And it just looks amazing. Look at it! And read more about it here!

                                                    

Polish Clifton: stale economics 101

My friend Sarah and I strolled into European Delights, a shoebox grocery and deli in the Athenia section of Clifton on Allwood. The name is an exaggeration at best -- everything on the shelves of the year-old place, except for German chocolate and a random basket of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, was Polish. Soda called Riwi, kielbasa, lots of Polish brownies and crackers. Four Polish-speaking customers came in to order fresh piergogis and other Polish treats from behind the deli counter, below a handwritten-chalkboard menu listing everything in Polish and English.

Everything seemed comparably priced to American equivalents -- the soda was $1, the cakes about $1.35, etc. How could everything be so cheap, I thought, when it's been imported from Europe? (A question I ask about most ethnic groceries, how they're priced so low when they've traveled so far). I'm digging deep into my shallow economic knowledge here, but I'm sure it's because the dollar goes a lot further in Poland and things cost way less (from our perspective) than they do here.  So when they're imported, they end up costing as much as American food. Anyone feel free to correct me on this.

But that was my theory explaining the low price. Until we took a bite of the chocolate-covered gingerbread cookies (pictured above) Sarah bought called "katarzvnki."  Super, duper stale. And the chocolate was tinged white. Eew. I'd stick with the fresh deli foods. 

Patersonian men: they're lovin' it

So question: if everyone's so broke right now, trying to save money, how come I keep seeing people around Paterson with fast-food bags at lunchtime down on Main St., or in the mornings near City Hall, sipping on Dunkin' Donuts coffee with a donut in hand?

I'm not surprised that people are buying fast-food; nationwide, sales have increased in the past few months, according to the Associated Press. But I'm flummoxed by a study just released by Research International USA, based in Chicago, that found the Americans who buy fast-food most often earn an average of $68,000 a year. They tend to be single, young men. I -- and I'd bet some others of you out there -- assumed that the biggest fast-food buyers were those living paycheck to paycheck. What a terrible assumption.

Come to think of it, most of the Patersonians I see with fast-food bags are youngish men. So that makes me wonder -- are women and married couples spending more time and money shopping for groceries? Are they preparing more foods from home? (I'd bet if the study surveyed Starbucks sales, they'd find many more women in that group...am I alone in thinking that seems a very female-friendly brand?) But why are younger men more likely to buy fast-food? Any thoughts?

Food Network judges to Camden chef: "tell me more!"

I can't believe I forgot to post about last night's "The Next Food Network Star" since our NJ-born and bred chef Aaron McCargo Jr. left a terrible impression on the judges with his overcooked, dried-out cod and super-impersonal performance. They said he needed to reveal much more about his family, his life growing up in Camden and his point-of-view.

McCargo did seem a dim version of his usually sunny self, but come on, do we really need him to share everything about his personal life? The judges didn't ask any of the other contestants to dish about theirs -- maybe because the judges find growing up on the rough streets of Camden so shocking, they want to hear about it. It seems sort of voyeuristically creepy to me.

It does, however, distinguish McCargo from the other contestants and prove to people in downtrodden cities that anyone can make it big with the right attitude and smarts. So maybe he'd help his odds if he did so? What do you think? Should McCargo share more about his life or should his food speak for itself?

Cost of meat, dairy to rise -- thanks, Mother Nature!

Oh, it's Monday! Time for some happy Monday news! Word comes this morning that meat and dairy prices should go up again through Christmastime, thanks to the crazy flooding in Iowa and other midwestern states of the past several weeks. The water destroyed 2 million acres of corn and soybean crops, most of which went to feed pigs, cows and other animals. So, livestock owners say they can't raise as many animals, meaning higher prices.

Might America become a much more vegetarian friendly place? What do you think about the reduction of meat?

Paterson, Clifton schools offer "diverse" menus

I never thought much about God or church in the cafeteria during school lunch. Nor did I think that any student might wish for some meal of a completely different culture, with a name in a different language (pizza, raviolis and goulash were as exotic as my town got).

But my coworker Heather Haddon writes today about the daily effort in schools around Passaic County to create lunch menus, field trip menus, classroom snacks and more with a diversity of foods, from Latin American to Arabic, and foods that meet religious needs, like pork-less or kosher lunches.

I know some of you think this is great, yay for diversity! But I know others of you are scowling and annoyed; it seems unfair to give some people "special" treatment and to change what's always been done to accomodate a few. How will people ever become American if they can't eat American meals?

But what is American? 100 years ago, without any Italians, did we have spaghetti or our beloved (aforementioned) pizza? Before Irish, did we have mashed potatoes? Or the Germans, did we have all sorts of pastry and kielbasa? And, as Heather points out, today's immigrants assimilate faster than those of 100 years ago. Maybe all our fuss over being inclusive in meals in schools is to simply allow kids to thrive, and learn without feeling like an outcast, or confused, or plain hungry.

What do you think?

Supermarket sushi -- better in Jersey?

I picked up some groceries at the ShopRite in Little Falls the other day and seriously pondered buying some sushi in the seafood department. I've had it before -- California rolls baby! -- and I've been quite pleased with the freshness and taste. But then later that night, hanging with friends (who live in the city), they were totally ragging on supermarket sushi. "It's nasty," one said. "Don't trust it," another said.

Say wha? I might be a sushi novice and wouldn't know a good salmon roll if it bopped me in the face. But I think I'm pretty savvy -- I'd be so confident to even say I prefer grocery store sushi for a quick lunch, since it's more convenient to pick up and go (hey, I'm a girl on the run!) and less expensive than sushi from a sushi shop (and I'm cheap!)

So, my friends either must be cracked out or the offerings of grocery stores in Jerz must be more fresh, more tasty. Any thoughts? Any sushi tales?

Deep thoughts: is breakfast good for you?

A new study has found that people can lose weight or maintain a healthy weight when they make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, with lots of fruit and whole grains, and follow a low-carb diet through bedtime.

As a big breakfast and light dinner eater, I heartily support this finding. But I've realized this week that I'm a total oddball (yep, took me this long). I took an informal poll of my office and no one seems to have a particulary well-rounded breakfast.

• "Diet Coke and Advil!" said Dave.
• "Chicken!" said Hiram (?).
• "A toaster waffle!" said Kamana.

So I wonder, what do Patersonians eat for breakfast? Nothing? Bagels? There's certainly tons of variation around here. I've seen traditional Turkish breakfast at Kafe Teria, omelettes and toast the Getty Grill and other diners, chicken and waffles at On the Job Sports Cafe, huevos rancheros at Antijitos Poblanos. But is breakfast best only when eaten out? At home do we stick to boring stand-bys?  Why do we get so excited by lunch and dinner but breakfast gets the shaft? Oh, man, I need more coffee!

Poll party: should more upscale restaurants come to Paterson now or later?

I'm super curious about tonight's public meeting at St. Paul's Church in Paterson about the city's Rail Corridor Study., which basically examines the potential economic development in the area between East 23rd St. and Rosa Parks Blvd. where the state plans to rebuild the Passaic-Bergen commuter rail line. 

Of course, I'm thinking restaurants. Restaurants have sprung up near train stations in nearly every other local town, from Ridgewood to Clifton to Montclair. Many Patersonians would love some great new upscale restaurants, judging from conversations I've had with folks in local fraternities/sororities, business and cultural organizations.

Some believe however - sigh - upscale restaurants might be far, far in the distance. St. Paul's, which drew up its own development plan for the area in 2005, is most concerned right now with how the development could help improve affordable housing options, reduce crime and drug use, and create a safer environment.

But it's the chicken and the egg -- do nice restaurants pop up only after those problems are solved, or do nice restaurants help solve those problems? South Paterson's mecca of Middle Eastern restaurants undoubtedly helped improve quality of life in that area. So poll: does Paterson need more upscale restaurants now, or when the city's doing better? What do you think?

Now Dipp, baby, Dipp

I'm a sucker for ice cream. I'm an even bigger sucker for a love story.

So when I came across Dipps Ice Cream, a new ice cream shop on Lakeview Ave. in Clifton, I discovered its owners Darrin and Tiffany Miles were a husband and wife team with joie de vivre and a sunny outlook on business, risk, and their relationship (that's them in the picture). Why'd they open the shop? To make people happy, including themselves.

"People say, 'This is how an ice cream shop used to be,'" Tiffany said. "With that real homey feel."

Read their story here. And let me know if you've tried Dipps!

Montclair State looooves food scraps

What do you do with 25,000 pounds of food scraps? Montclair State says, "compost them!"

In a fancy groundbreaking ceremony yesterday, MSU officially became the country's first to promise to follow as many "green" policies as it could.  Officials signed an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to continue to develop new systems of green living. Since last year, it's composted all of those scraps in a fancy "Aerobic Food Composter" and generated electricity through solar panels on its roof, and it plans to conserve water.

We hardly ever think about the tons of food we waste, only the food we eat. But, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than one quarter of America's food (about 96 billion pounds) of is wasted, lying in fields, commercial kitchens, manufacturing plants, markets, schools, and restaurants. The U.S. spends an estimated $1 billion a year to dispose of it.

And we can each take steps to reduce waste (and no, I don't mean eat more, as tempting as that may sound). I just discovered this organization that gives tips on how. Check it out.

In the usual spot: Israeli baklava, etc

In the usual spot today (on our office file cabinets), my coworker Ed left some incredibly delicious pastries shipped straight from Nazareth, Israel! They're mostly variations of baklava, that flaky, buttery dessert made of phyllo dough, pistachio, sugar and, well, butter. They were much smaller than their American versions. I guess we supersize our Middle Eastern sweets, too. Oh well!