Gotham Gal

Another crane falls

Construction in NYC is at an all time high.  Bloomberg has been a huge supporter of this growth.  We have seen some of the problems with growth over the past six months.  Cranes falling down and people being killed.  This morning, another crane fell on 91st street and killed 3 people. 

The Building Department was probably staffed with enough people 10 years ago but it certainly isn't today.  They are undermanned.  There are a variety of inspectors running around NYC inspecting cranes that make very little income and probably aren't equipped to make decisions regarding safety.  It is apparent from the serious of accidents that have taken place.

The other problem is that there are a variety of contractors who have recently cropped up in the city who probably shouldn't be building buildings of the size they are under contract for.  They have reached their peter principal. 

The cities reaction over the past couple of weeks has been to sent the Building Departments inspectors around to job sites all over the city and just shut down everyone and everything.  Some sites ( like mine ) has been shut down for something that could have been fixed with a conversation and was just requested not required.  In the past, an inspector would come back a day or so later to review and give the go ahead.  Now, they are coming back 6 weeks later.  Why?  Because they are short staffed and are at a loss of what to do.  Stopping jobs that are good jobs is going to have an effect on the city financially.

The city needs to bring in outside help immediately.  Bring in an outside source that knows how to evaluate safe job sites.  Have them branch out through the entire city quickly and effectively.  Shut the bad sites down and look into the contractors running them.  Get the good sites up and running immediately.

There is talk of some of the larger contractors looking to hire lobbyists to deal with this situation because there sites are being shut down for ridiculous reasons.  We don't want to bring unruly lobbyists into a situation that can be remedied immediately.

Bloomberg needs to hold the bad contractors accountable for poor safety and the death of their staff.  It is unacceptable.  But it is also unacceptable to pool the good guys with the bad with no information or transparency on how the city plans to fix this problem.  Stopping everyone does nothing but delay more deaths.  It is also creating anger and uproar among the developers and contractors in the city who have a lot of money at stake and have done nothing wrong.

Summer salad

I am a huge fan of vinegars.  Vinegar changes the entire structure of a dressing.  Cider vinegar is the key to a good gazpacho and this particular salad.  Simple easy salads are a standard in our house during the warm months.  This particular salad I read about on Food and Wine.  Quite good.

One Granny Apple, peeled, cored and sliced into matchstick pieces
1 box of grape tomatoes cut in half
1 lb. of green beans, blanched in hot water
1/2 small red onion sliced ( this part I omitted because raw onions upset Jessica's stomach)

Dressing:

1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 T. cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 T. boiling water ( sounds strange but it works)

Mix together the mustard, vinegar and water first and then slowly pour the olive oil in while whisking.

That's it.  Easy.  Simple and refreshing. 

Back into the political game

Raising money for political parties is never fun.  It isn't fun if you are running for office and it isn't fun if you  are trying to just help the cause.  It is rewarding but every time I do it, I swear that I never will again.  Never say never.

I saw Chuck Schumer a few weeks ago, who happens to be one of my favorite politicians, and talked to him about possibly raising money again.  Our friends ( who we have done this with ) expressed an interest in raising money again to help out some of the people running for the Senate in various states around the country. 

I mentioned it to Chuck and no surprises, someone called me the next week.  We met with Kay Nagel, who is running against Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina.  I was impressed with her energy, her desire to represent North Carolina in the Senate, her career (raising 3 kids a long the way) and overall, I agree with her stand on many of the issues we face today.

The other candidate that we are going to meet is Mark Begich.  He is running in Alaska for state Senator.  He is currently the mayor of Anchorage, born, bred and raised in Alaska.  He, like Kay, is challenging the old Republican guard.

Today I got to have lunch with a small group of people and Claire McCaskill who we raised money for two years ago.  She is currently Senator for Missouri and and has been very involved with Obama's campaign.  If only the senate could be full of people like Claire.  She is absolutely fantastic.  Claire has also come into her own in the Senate and carved out her role.  Impressive lady.  A breath of fresh air.  Smart, funny, realistic and understands how to be political without compromising her values.  She also let her guard down at lunch which is huge.  Most politicians wouldn't have the "balls" to do that.

Conversations ran from immigration to Iraq (where the majority of our money isn't going to the troops) to Obama and stem cell research.  She is an optimist and quite frankly, so am I.   Obama is running a different campaign.  There are a lot of fear in the room that if he doesn't come out of the box fighting (like the Republicans have over the past 8 years ) then once again the Democrats will come in second.  I am not so sure I agree.  There are few people who have the vision to see change afoot and how to react to it.  Looking back at the last 8 years, who would have come up with the Karl Rove strategy but he did.  It is imploding.  Obama senses the change and has run his campaign around it quite impressively.  Anyone can talk about shoulda woulda coulda but to be the person to write a new ad campaign or create the new show that nobody saw coming or create a new business is a rare person.  I believe Obama has that ability and he has stuck to it regardless of what his staff has told him. 

The money part or getting the campaigns funded and candidates voted in sucks.  Bottom line.  I said I wouldn't do it again because you really need to work your contacts, talk to people and see your money just go into a big pool of cash that you can't deduct, you can't ever get back and you aren't sure if your candidate is going to win.  So far, we have backed 3 winners.  Schumer, McCaskill and Sherrod Brown of Ohio.  I hope that our next go around is as successful.  Claire believes that the Democrats have a chance of picking up 7-8 seats in the Senate and 20 in Congress.  That would be fantastic.  The key to change is also getting new freshman in the door who are interested in changing business as usual. 

Mini mac and cheese

We went to a kick off the summer party this past weekend.  We brought the appetizers.  We narrowed it down to three things.  Our favorite was the mini macaroni and cheese.  The girls looked at a bunch of recipes.  Although we wanted to substitute Gruyere for American cheese...we read that was a no no for minis because the pasta won't stick together to create the mini. 

The taste is classic old fashioned gooey mac and glue.  Not the high end fancy stuff.  Here goes...

1 lb. elbow macaroni
3 T unsalted butter
1/2 cup grated Parmigiana
4 T flour
1 1/2 cup milk - I used 2%
8 ounces grated white cheddar cheese - sharp
8 ounces deli-sliced (swear) American cheese - I used white again
2 large egg yolks
1/2 paprika

Preheat the oven to 425. 

Put the elbow macaroni in large boiling salted water, cook about 5 minutes, until al dente, drain and keep to the side.

Use non-stick mini-muffin tins.  We sprayed them with something like Pam.  This recipe makes about 48 minis.  Take the Parm and sprinkle into the bottoms of the tins to coat the bottom.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter.  Then whisk in the flour for about 2 minutes.  Whisk in the milk and cook (keep whisking) until this boils.  Then add in the cheese.  It gets super thick so we went back and forth between the wooden spoon and whisk.  In the end, you should be using the whisk.  After all the cheese is melted, take off the heat and whisk in the egg yolks and paprika.  Fold in the macaroni.

Spoon the macaroni in the tins.  Sprinkle more parmigiano on top of the macaroni.  Bake for about 10 minutes or until they are golden and sizzling.

You can make them earlier in the day.  I'd suggest warming them up before serving. 

After the past 8 years, the world just became flat

We are in the process of building a new place to live.  It is an ongoing joke among our kids about the variety of real estate projects we have taken under.  I have been thinking a lot about our beach house and what we should do.  The kids want to bring more and more friends, I am happy if they bring 3 friends each, it is just a matter of where does everyone sleep.  The kids were making fun.  Why don't you buy a house, gut it, renovate, spend three years on it but keep to schedule.  Ha, ha.  What can I say?  I love the process.

As I begin to drill into the world of furniture and fabrics much has changed over the past 8 years.  Italian companies, where a lot of the high end goods are made used to cater more to the Americans.  For instance, the stock fabrics were geared towards American tastes.  So where a flannel used to be one of the stock fabrics, now it is gold lame.  Why?  Because the Italians as well as other high end furniture and fabrics companies have realized that as the dollar weakens and America is no longer the pillar of strength, the majority of their customers are coming from other places like South America, Germany, Japan and even Russia.

Last year, when we were skiing and went down to the area to collect our skis, I said to the kids "just listen".  What we heard were languages from all over the world.  We ( that would be our family and other Americans ) represented about 20% of the people there.

Although this is a small glimpse of the world it is a tiny window into the post 9/11 world thanks to the Bush administration.  Our dollar is weak so our purchasing power is weak.  Countries all over the world are frustrated with the my way or the highway ethos.  Maybe or maybe not but I believe all of this has created a flatter world.

Change, I hope, is coming with the next election.  Hopefully a new vision but I believe the flat world is here to stay. 

Good Boys and True

Our last production this year at the Second Stage Theater was Good Boys and True.  We ended up going on opening night which was fun from the people watching perspective.  Not that I knew many of their names but I recognized many faces and actors and actresses that we had seen over the years.  Nothing better than a good people watch.

As I have said in the past, I have yet to see a bad play at Second Stage.  The acting is always good.  The play is usually thought provoking and interesting.  They do a solid job.  I am absolutely signing us up again for next year. 

Good Boys and True centers around a scandal at a prep school in the Washington DC area.  St. Joe's which I gather is supposed to represent St. Alban's that is an all boys prep school in the DC area. 

The sex scandal is a discovery of a tape that shows intimate details of the supposed captain of the football team having abusive sex.  You can't see the boys face in the tape but the coach believes it to be Brandon, the football captain.  He bring in his mother.  The coach and Brandon's father went to St. Joe's together and shared in many of the behind the closed door goings on of years past.  The father is traveling so the mother meets with the coach. The mother, of course, can't imagine that her son was involved in such a scandal.

As the story unfolds, we learn that Brandon is having a relationship with another high school football player, Justin, who is gay.  Hence, the tape to undercover his fear of reality to the world that he is gay.

The whole story about the scandal wasn't what I liked about the play.  It was the underlying topics of the haves and have nots.  The girl that Brandon had sex with came from the local public school, the other side of the tracks, per se.  His friend, Justin, was the first of his family in a school like St. Joe's that he didn't particularly care for.  He wasn't part of the good old boys club, the net work, the air of privilege, the master of the universe syndrome. 

As we begin to watch our oldest daughter go through the college process and look at the choices we made with her for High School, the play is thought provoking. 

After we left the theater, Fred turned to me and said "that play is confirmation of why sending our kids to LREI is the best decision we ever made". 

James Frey, Bright Shiny Morning

Regardless of all the controversy over James Frey,  I really enjoyed reading his first two books, A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard.  Both well written, page turners and interesting stories.  I could care less if a Million Little Pieces wasn't exactly true but then again what story is?  There are about 10 sides to every story and even what you individually remember isn't always accurate.  Bottom line, the guy had a huge abuse problem and got to the other side and wrote a book about it.  He is a helluva writer. 

I picked up Bright Shiny Morning the day it came out.  Loved it.  The book is so brilliantly put together.  Describing Los Angeles through stories of different characters who have found their way to Los Angeles all for different reasons.  His description of their lives as they fill the vast landscape of LA.  The four stories of Esperanza (the Mexican American), Joe ( the Venice vagrant), Dylan and Maddie ( the teenage runaways from Ohio ) and Amberton ( the Hollywood star living a phony life ) are all intertwined though separate.

I also loved how Frey gave the history of Los Angeles over the course of the book from the beginnings in the 1800's to now.  The variety of facts and figures he wrote about over time from how many museums, laws that exist, people who live there, gas that is consumed, Veterans Hospital stats, etc.  A real overview of Los Angeles.  Clever.  I have spent a lot of time in Los Angeles and he really does a great job of giving the reader real insight into the city at large.

I particularly liked the first page which carried the disclaimer, he wrote  "nothing in this book should be considered accurate or reliable".   Made me laugh out loud.

Regardless of all the brouhaha over his first book,  Bright Shiny Morning proves what I have known all along.  James Frey is a great writer and his insight and writings on Los Angeles is a worthwhile read. 

Softball

Josh got to play in the 8th grade softball game this past week because the 8th graders were on their trip to DC.  It was pretty cool for him and his friend to be able to represent the school for the 8th graders. 

The first game was home court, JJ Walker.  The second game, later in the week, was at 36th and First.  Another concrete jungle softball field.  It is one of the things that I love about the city.  No grass, just concrete with a backstop.  It works.  If you didn't know about this place, you wouldn't even realize it existed. 

The park is hidden behind greenery as you enter the midtown tunnel.  Not only a baseball field but a large kids playground that was packed. 

Great game.  We won. 

Return to Commerce

We returned to Commerce for dinner on Saturday night.  Now that they have settled into a groove, here is my take.  The food is really good.  I had the soft shell crab special and the sashimi to begin.  Fred had the chicken breast with sauteed peas and ramps.  All delicious and well cooked.  The breads on the table are also a bonus.  I would continue to come back for the food but here is the problem....the noise level.

The noise level is so high that you can't really hear anybody speak.  In turn, everyone starts speaking louder and louder.  The noise also creates this frenetic vibe that makes the wait staff a little disoriented.  Our waiter, wasn't sure where to stand.  He took our order but then appeared frazzled.  I asked him to get the wine and the bread.  It was as if he was happy to have someone give him direction.

My recommendation to Commerce is to take two days and put some type of fabrication on the ceiling which will reduce the noise level by decibels.  It isn't a 20 year old hipster place and the clientele that they will continue to draw off of for years to come don't want to scream at each other through a meal.  The food is so good and deserves to be served in an environment that is calming and enjoyable vs. tense and loud. 

Walking out on to Commerce street after the meal took my anxiety level down 10 points.  Commerce...fix the noise!

2nd Annual Golden Schmaltz Awards

Sunday night was the 2nd Annual Golden Schmaltz Awards at the New Shul, the temple we belong to.  Conceptually a great idea.  Get everyone together for a fund raiser for the synagogue to taste everyone's food entries and pick a winner.  Last year, the concept was best brisket which worked much better.

The concept this year was twisted takes on Jewish classics.  There were less entries because too much thought goes into the concept.  It wasn't straight forward.  The success of the brisket could have been just moved into a different item like kugel or kreplach or borsch.  Simple and easy.  You also have to bring tastes for 75 people.  Also, the space was small.  They tagged this event with a scavenger hunt at the beginning.  Two things wrapped into one.  The event should have been a community bake off (or cook off), lots of liquor and food, if you don't come to anything all year except for the high holidays...you should come to this.  We need to raise money and we want this to be a big barn raiser.  The event was over thought.  Sometimes simple works.

The judges were Stephen Lyle, owner and chef of Village and Hillary Groffman from Dean and Deluca/owner of an organic farm in the E. Hamptons and Rick Field from Ricks Picks.  They were very serious about their work. 

A few of the entries were green eggs and no ham matzoh balls which appeared to be a huge hit.  Matzoh balls with spinach, Guacamole Zoup which was a chicken matzoh ball soup with a guacamole on the side to add in.  It was actually really interesting and good.  Others were Flankenstein which was short ribs over polenta which were excellent and schmaltzie mushroom risotto.  All clever but again, too much. 

I entered in two different recipes.  Mini kugels and a take on Chinese pork buns that were folded (like Momofuku's) but stuffed with pulled brisket, bread and butter pickles and sauteed red onions with a dollop of barbecue sauce.  Other ideas I had were a soup dumpling filled with chicken soup, finger shaped rugallah filled with a variety of dried fruit ( made it and it was delicious but too much effort for 75 people).  Here are the recipes below.  The kugel is great for a party.  The brisket buns is a major pain in the ass.  Buy the buns pre-made and stuff away but don't bother making them.  Huge ordeal.

Kugel Mini-muffins       

8 ounces of thin egg noodles
1-cup sour cream
1-cup cottage cheese
½ cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 T. butter
½ cup currants
Mixture of cinnamon and sugar (1/4 cup each)

You will need a 24 mini muffin pan.  I used an oil spray to coat the interiors of the tins.  Take a little bit of the cinnamon sugar mixture and coat the interiors of the tins. 

Boil the noodles until al dente.  Drain in cold water and put back in the pot.  Add butter and coat the noodles.  Add the sour cream, cottage cheese, granulated sugar, 3 eggs (slightly beaten), and ½ cup of currants.  Mix thoroughly.  Also, throw a few Tablespoons of the cinnamon/sugar mixture in to coat.

Using a tong, fill the muffin tins up to the top.  Take the cinnamon/sugar mixture and coat the tops. 

Bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until the tops are browned.

BRISKET BUNS

BRISKET
1 5/6 lb. brisket
3 medium/large Spanish onions, sliced 
bunch of Italian parsley
1 bag of small carrots (ready to eat)
couple bottles of your favorite barbecue sauce
1 can of chicken broth - about 2 cups.
salt, pepper and paprika

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a large dutch oven pot. Salt, pepper and paprika the brisket. Layer the bottom of the pan with 1/2 the onions, 1/2 the parsley and 1/2 the bag of carrots. Put the brisket on top of this. On top of the brisket spread the rest of the onions, carrots and parsley. Take your favorite barbecue sauce. I prefer Bone Suckin' Sauce, which I buy in 1/2 gallon sizes. Pour the barbecue sauce over the brisket until is it almost covered. Take the chicken broth and pour on top. The meat is braising so make sure it is pretty much covered in liquid.
Put the brisket in the oven for around 3 1/2 to 4 hours. When the brisket is done, you can easily cut into the meat but it is not falling apart, yet. Take the brisket out, slice it against the grain and put back into the pot. At this point, I generally just leave it on the stove. Sometimes I throw par-boiled whole potatoes in that slowly continue cooking from the heat in the pot. Then, reheat before serving in the oven.
Brisket is one of those meals that always taste better the next day.

For the sandwiches, you really want to pull the brisket apart and slice very thin.

BUNS
1-cup warm water
½ tsp. active dry yeast
3 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. nonfat dried milk
3 ½ cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
Canola for greasing and brushing

Stir together ¼ cup warm water with yeast and a pinch of sugar.  Let stand for about 5 – 10 minutes.  If mixture doesn’t form up, start over again with new yeast.  Whisk in dried milk and remaining ¾ cup warm water. 

Stir together flour and remaining 3 tbsp. sugar in a bowl, then stir in yeast mixture with a fork until dough forms.  Knead the dough with your hands until all the flour is incorporated.  Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead until is elastic and smooth and soft, about 5 minutes.  Form dough into a ball.

Put dough in an oiled large bowl and turn to coat.   Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature.  Let double, takes about 2 hours.

Once the dough has risen, take out.  Punch the dough and transfer to a lightly floured surface and flatten slight into a disk.  Sprinkle the baking powder over the center of dough, then gather the edges of dough and pinch to seal in the baking powder.  Knead the dough with just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking until the baking powder is incorporated.  About 5 minutes.  Return to dough and cover with plastic wrap, let dough rise about 30 minutes. 

Take wax paper and cut 32 pieces that was 3 X 2.

Form dough into a long 16 inch log or even longer.  Cut into about 32 pieces, ½ “ each and keep dusted with flour and loosely covered with plastic wrap.   Roll out 1 piece at of dough into an oval of 3 by 1 inch.  Then remove the excess flour and brush canola oil on top, fold in half, put on top of a piece of wax paper and then set into a large cookie sheet, cover with loosely with plastic wrap.  Once complete, let them sit for about 20 minutes.

Set a steamer rack inside a skillet, enough for the water to reach within 1/2” from the bottom, then bring to boil.  Place 5-7 buns (still on the wax paper) on the rack.  Cover tightly and let steam for about 3 minutes.  You might need to continue to pour boiling water in to keep the water at the right level. 

Remove buns, take off the wax paper, wrap in a wet towel (not terry cloth) to keep warm.  You can freeze them by wrapping tightly in a double layer of plastic wrap for about a week.  Thaw them in the refrigerator fully wrapped and reheat buns wrapped in a damp towel and tin foil at 350 until soft and heated through.

SANDWICH

Slice the bun down the middle but not completely through.  One end should be closed.  Brush the bottom each of each bun with barbecue sauce, put in a few slices of brisket and brush a little more barbecue sauce on top.  Add in a few sliced red onions and bread and butter pickles.  Serve.