November 30, 2009
Best of the Decade Posted by Richard Brody
It's been an unusual decade; I spent much of it hunched over spiral notebooks and laptop computers in libraries and cafés and at kitchen tables here and in France while writing a book (remind me to mention the bathroom, in a house in Normandy, that I rigged out as a nocturnal study), and didn't maintain my usual diet of cinephilic delights. Which is why, though few who issue their best-of-decade lists can claim to have seen all releases, many have likely seen more than I have this time around, so I'll put an asterisk to the adjective above and note: the twenty-six best movies I've seen (and will resist the temptation to issue a separate list of the best films I haven't seen). The top ten are in order; the remaining sixteen are grouped according to incidental connections.
bruno_putzulu_cecile_camp_in_praise_of_love_001.jpg
1. "Eloge de l'amour" ("In Praise of Love") (2001, Jean-Luc Godard): Lives up to the promise of its title: one of the most unusual, tremulous, and understated of love stories, as well as the story of love itself; a depiction of history in the present tense, as well as a virtual thesis on the filming of history; a work of art, as well as the story of the work at the origin of art; Godard's third first film, thus something of a rebirth of cinema.
darjeelinglimited1.jpg
2. "The Darjeeling Limited" (2007, Wes Anderson): As ever with the films of Wes Anderson—the best new American director of the last twenty years—love and death, comedy and tragedy, comfort and adventure, understanding and opacity, style and substance fuse in a modernism of personal and reflexive cinema and a classicism of grand and subtle literary emotion.
world.photo02.jpg
3. "The World" (2005, Jia Zhangke): The best new non-American director of the last twenty years, here revealing, at great risk, China's, and his own, painfully ambiguous place in the world.
a_talking_picture.jpg
4. "A Talking Picture" (2003, Manoel de Oliveira): The great September 11th movie, from a spry ninety-five-year-old who sees not only the century's long view but seemingly encompasses Homer's.
regularlovers.photo03.jpg
5. "Regular Lovers" (2005, Philippe Garrel): Or, Nixon in China: The events of 1968, depicted by one of its cinematic heroes as an intimate epic—and, with a self-deprecating fury, as a lovely but unsustainable burst of youthful lyricism.
Sobibor.jpg
6. "Sobibor, Oct. 14, 1943, 4 P.M." (2001, Claude Lanzmann): This discussion with Yehuda Lerner, who took part in the uprising against the extermination camp's guards, is as profound a dialogue on the morality of violence as the cinema has seen.
IC02_Fengming_02.JPG
7. "Fengming: A Chinese Memoir" (2009, Wang Bing): From one of the decade's two best new directors, as well as its best new nonfiction filmmaker. If I had seen Wang's "West of the Tracks" in its entirety, I'd have put it here instead; I saw only about a third of its nine hours, but this feature, converging recent Chinese history with the sufferings endured, at the hands of the regime, by one free-thinking couple, does quite as well.
Knocked-Up-movie-17_use_this.jpg
8. "Knocked Up" (2008, Judd Apatow): Suddenly, all contemporary comedy seemed old-fashioned. From Lubitsch through the Farrelly brothers, the funniest guys in the room were behind the camera; Judd Apatow discovered, or rediscovered, the trick of the great silent clowns—to put funny people on screen—and to make it personal. (If Eddie Murphy had, say, directed "Norbit" in addition to starring in it, it would likely find a place on this list too.)
moolaade.jpg
9. "Moolaadé" (2005, Ousmane Sembene): Women, resistance, and centuries of oppressive tradition, seen with the fiercely clarifying wisdom of age. The subject is genital mutilation; the phalanx of respected women eager to do the dirty work is truly frightening.
the_other_half.jpg
10. "The Other Half" (2007, Ying Liang): The other of the decade's two best new filmmakers, the one who does dramas, bringing a laser-like analytical eye to the crossroads of private life and oppressive authority. His anger builds to an apocalyptic outpouring with few parallels in the history of cinema.
After the jump, sixteen more.
* "Saraband" (2003, Ingmar Bergman): Emotions of shattering power; family, memory, death, and the black sun of a creative force that not only won't die but consumes anyone it can attract.
* "Woman on the Beach" (2006, Hong Sang-soo): A filmmaker dramatizes, with a scathing and comic self-deprecation, the egocentric romantic turbulence on which his art is nourished.
* "Colossal Youth" (2006, Pedro Costa): Modernization and bureaucracy confront poverty without pity. Loamy popular tradition and timeless legends have their pathologies too, and Costa unearths the ironies and contradictions of progress and its simulacra through his careful, loving work with the residents of one poor Lisbon neighborhood in ferment.
* "Le Monde Vivant" ("The Living World") (2003, Eugène Green): Green, an American in Paris whose work seems like the dream of a virtual love child of Robert Bresson and Elaine May, dresses a faux-medieval legend in baroque language, classic romanticism, modern clothing, and prophetic virtue.
* "L'Enfant ("The Child")" (2005, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne) The ostensible street realism of the Belgian brothers' story of betrayal and crime doesn't merely rise to a Bressonian pitch of redemption—it poses Bressonian questions throughout and offers sharply modern, secular answers.
* "Wake Up, Mate, Don't You Sleep" (2002, Miklós Jancsó): At age eighty, the most controlled choreographer of the nineteen-sixties and seventies cuts loose with a contemporary historical fantasy that includes himself and his screenwriter, Hitler and Stalin, and a moment with Beethoven's universalist dream that is one of the most touching scenes of the decade.
* "Cassandra's Dream" (2008, Woody Allen): Few aging directors so cogently and relentlessly depict the grimly destructive machinery of life, and every time the word "family" is uttered, the screws tighten just a little more.
* "Gran Torino" (2008, Clint Eastwood): Few actors have taken themselves out with such a rueful bang.
* "Frownland" (2008, Ronald Bronstein): A punk-like ferocious rage contained in a chamber-music-like precision; film stock run rugged like cold stone, light turned cruel; humiliation and degradation portrayed with tenderness and, ultimately, surprisingly, hope. Dore Mann's agonized performance is one for the ages.
* "Hamilton" (2005, Matthew Porterfield): Beside "Eloge de l'amour," this is the movie I've watched the most times this decade. The twenty-six-year-old director has a preternaturally precise and poetic camera eye as well as tenderness for and understanding of the complexities of everyday lives.
* "Funny Ha Ha" (2003, Andrew Bujalski): Mumblecore is real (neither more nor less so than, say, Italian Neo-Realism or the French New Wave—the fact that the term raises questions doesn't mean that those questions have no reasonable answers) and Bujalski started it. He raises personal cinema to a new height, by way of an aesthetic that blends control and improvisation in delicate, tenuous balance. A remarkably analytical sensibility.
* "Hannah Takes the Stairs" (2007, Joe Swanberg): Love and money among the young and bright; Bujalski co-stars as the one artist in a production-office bullpen who is on the verge of a breakout, which doesn't make things go easier with Hannah (Greta Gerwig, in a performance of astounding inventiveness), who may even be smarter and wiser but is still seeking her place in the world. No less than Bujalski's own film, a picture of a generation.
* "Sex Is Comedy" (2002, Catherine Breillat): The most frightening, disturbing, and seemingly plausible view of the emotional cost of artistic realism in an age of erotic freedom.
* "La Captive" (2000, Chantal Akerman): One of the heights of modernist melodrama; it's as if, thanks to Proust, Akerman, a master of the tableau, discovered a third dimension. The joy of discovery is palpable, shot by shot, and she had young actors, notably Sylvie Testud and Stanislas Merhar, who seem to be savoring it equally.
* "Where is My Romeo?" (2008, Abbas Kiarostami): I haven't seen "Shirin," and if this short film is any indication, it would be here; but this short film, constructed on what is said to be the same principle, deserves it, too.
* "14th Arrondissement" (2006, Alexander Payne) (in "Paris, Je t'aime"): "Sideways" is terrific, but Payne's short film offers both emotional poignancy and profound cinematic smarts in an amazingly clever and original sketch.
I'd welcome word on what else you think belongs here, and what you think doesn't.
Best of the Decade: The Front Row : The New Yorker (26 December 2009)
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2009/11/best-films-of-the-decade.html
http://snipurl.com/tv6zs
Monday, November 30, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Cocina Confidential by STEPHEN METCALF . Photographs by Trujillo Paumier
Cocina Confidential
FORGET THE MARTINI BARS AND SUSHI JOINTS. THE REAL BUENOS AIRES RESIDES IN ITS BODEGONES, NEIGHBORHOOD RESTAURANTS STEEPED IN WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ARGENTINE. STEPHEN METCALF EATS UP.
Photographs by Trujillo Paumier
On a night swaddled in humidity, I made my way down to La Boca, an Italian working-class neighborhood in Buenos Aires. My guide for the evening was the prominent Argentine writer Uki Goni, and as our cab crawled along, half lost, we peered out at meagerly lit scenes of urban decay. ‘‘I’ve had taxi drivers who wouldn’t take me down here,’’ Goni said. Shirtless men carried infants in their arms; the elderly shuffled along without looking up; a well-armed group of policemen turned a corner. These last we asked for directions. They were gracious, but unable to help. Person after person could not point our way to El Obrero, the bodegón we were looking for, an ignorance that left Goni puzzled and slightly dismayed .
El Obrero means ‘‘the worker’’ — it is a parrilla, or traditional barbecue joint. (‘‘Go with time,’’ an Argentine acquaintance told me. ‘‘Three to four hours, to eat to death.’’) It is also, as many parrillas are, a type of bodegón, a simple neighborhood restaurant started by and for immigrants, traditionally of Spanish or Italian descent. Taken together, bodegones form an unofficial institution in Buenos Aires, places where true porteños — as residents of Buenos Aires, a port city, are called — go to enjoy mass quantities of comfort food on the cheap.
Stepping inside after we finally found our bearings, I could see why El Obrero is regarded as a temple of fraternal overeating. The dreariness outside gave way instantly to the clatter of dishes, to bright lights and warm blasts of laughter. Rotating fans, relics from the ’50s, descended from a high ceiling. The floor was a dingy checkerboard, the menu a chalkboard. The waiters, gallant in burgundy shirt jackets, menu a chalkboard. The waiters, gallant in burgundy shirt jackets, greeted us with radiant smiles. Goni is an honored guest here. He has come often to El Obrero and the other parrillas of La Boca, on occasion with the actor Willem Dafoe or the director Francis Ford Coppola. Their pictures hang in a corner, though displayed with far more pride of place are a portrait of the King of Spain in a powder blue sash and photographs of the godhead of Argentine futbol, Diego Maradona.
To taste the real and abiding Buenos Aires, Goni took me to El Obrero. On offer was a complete inventory of the bovine carcass: ojo de bife (eye of beef), chinchulines (small intestines), mollejas (gizzards). ‘‘Until fairly recently,’’ Goni explained, ‘‘a meal in Argentina was beef, potatoes, maybe — maybe — salad.’’ The Argentine palate has evolved, and even at a mecca for steak like El Obrero, there is plenty else. I started with the rabas, fried squid rings that melt in your mouth like buttery lozenges, and a liter of Quilmes, a milky Argentine beer. ‘‘There would have been more bodegones here once,’’ said Goni, who is in his mid- 50s and is best known in Argentina for exposing the extent of the ‘‘ratline,’’ the escape route and eventual haven his country provided Nazis in the aftermath of World War II. ‘‘This is probably one of the last surviving ones.’’
Buenos Aires, goes the claim, is a European city located in South America. True, there are stylish clothes, venerable buildings, small cars and gelato. But to better understand his country, Goni insisted, one should read ‘‘The Return of Eva Perón,’’ by V. S. Naipaul. The essay is cruel, Goni said, but as true today as when it was written, in the early 1970s. To Naipaul, Argentina was less a country than a staging ground for absurdist public traumas that never add up to an actual history. From dictatorship to hyperinflation to, more recently, the currency crisis, which plunged the economy into chaos in 2001, cataclysm seems to come naturally to Argentines.
An older gentleman with a guitar started serenading the crowd. ‘‘Tourists don’t know,’’ Goni said. ‘‘They say, ‘Beautiful girls, macho lovers — I’ll rent a cute place in Palermo,’ ’’ referring to the neighborhood of suave byways that defines the city’s renewal. ‘‘They don’t see the underbelly.’’ The Argentina of Goni’s young adulthood was an economically and, its European roots notwithstanding, culturally insular society. ‘‘We were behind our own iron curtain, in a way.’’
Argentina is nearly the size of India, but with less than one-thirtieth India’s population. It possesses vast tracts of mineral wealth and agriculturally fertile pampas. Once, much of what was consumed here was made here, if inefficiently. ‘‘You could wait 10 or 20 years to get a phone,’’ Goni said. ‘‘Then, in the ’90s, we privatized everything. Now you get a phone in two or three days, and maybe 10 million people in phone,’’ Goni said. ‘‘Then, in the ’90s, we privatized everything. Now you get a phone in two or three days, and maybe 10 million people in the country are much, much better off than ever before. But joining the international community has come at a spectacular price.’’ La Boca, for example, is poorer and more dangerous, while Palermo now gleams with international cachet. But, as Goni said, ‘‘Argentines by and large can’t afford to go there.’’
The old gentleman’s lachrymose folklore ended. The crowd applauded wildly. Goni considered, then said, ‘‘Interesting, isn’t it, how some things completely transcend our idea of ‘good’ and ‘bad?’ ’’
BUENOS AIRES HAS BECOME THAT CITY. YOU AMUSE YOUR palate at a sleek ethnic restaurant, fast-friend it with international party people and find yourself at 4 a.m. on the street, amid boys with beers and suspiciously young women in shrink-wrap outfits, as ill-piloted cabs brush against your back pocket. Palermo has given sections of itself over wholesale to the idea of a cheap playpen for affluent wastrels from the Yanqui north. Its film-and-TV barrio is named Palermo Hollywood, its boutique-and-bistro quadrant Palermo Soho. Menus are bilingual, and ‘‘Apartments for Sale’’ notices are denominated in dollars. Nonetheless, the city remains poised between ingratiating Americanization and the inscrutable nativism that Naipaul described.
I stayed in a duplex off embassy row, overlooking the jacaranda trees of the Plaza Intendente Seeber. One evening, I went with an American who lives in Buenos Aires to eat at Pizzería Güerrín, an old-school joint in the city center. (Locals debate whether Güerrín or El Cuartito, in Recoleta and equally drenched in bygone atmosphere, serves the city's best pie; I enjoyed both. Either way, you must have a fugazzeta, a thick crust pillowed over with mozzarella and a dense tangle of onions.) When we returned to our car, he slipped a few pesos into the hand of a dubious-looking man who had appeared out of nowhere. ‘‘A trapito,’’ my friend explained. Trapitos ‘‘watch’’ your car to make sure ‘‘nothing happens to it.’’
Later we headed out to Rumi, a nightclub. Rumi is a boliche, a true porteño club; food and booze are cheap, the dancing interminable and wild. ‘‘The women here are beautiful,’’ said my new acquaintance, a Mexican businessman named Hector. I agreed. Hector surveyed the dance floor. ‘‘About half of them are men.’’
The key to visiting Buenos Aires, I think, is to locate a city that is neither the ‘‘gaucho curio shop’’ that Naipaul so disdained nor the la-la fantasy of the ‘‘Paris of Latin America.’’ Stroll out of Palermo’s center toward Villa Crespo — a barrio that has nobly rejected the label ‘‘Palermo Queens’’ — and you come upon silent cobblestone streets canopied by oaks and rosewoods. Out on the main avenue is Scannapieco, a 71-year-old heladaría that serves the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted, a dulce de leche the consistency of melted cheese. And although tango is the most oversold concept in tourism since the Scannapieco, a 71-year-old heladaría that serves the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted, a dulce de leche the consistency of melted cheese. And although tango is the most oversold concept in tourism since the cancan, the milongas at La Catedral, an antique timber warehouse filled with artsy bric-a-brac, wire chandeliers and Christmas lights, are genuinely beautiful. Here an older, more rustic and altogether more sensuous version of the dance has been revived by the younger generation.
But old Buenos Aires is best found in the city’s bodegones. ‘‘If it is trendy, expensive or young, it is not a bodegón,’’ said Ruben Guzman, an Argentine-Canadian director whom a mutual friend described as an anthropologist of the bodegones. Bodegones started, by and large, as immigrant groceries, divided into two sections: one for retailing traditional home-country foods, the other for alcohol. Customers who bought a drink would on occasion request a place to sit and a bite to eat, and over time, the bodegón sometimes evolved from a shop into a cafe and social hub.
Ruben and I dined at Café Margot, a classic of its type. More intimate than El Obrero, Café Margot has been, for decades, a gathering place for the notables, mostly futbol jocks and intellectuals and tangueros, of the Boedo district. (No less than Juan Perón was said to treasure its turkey sandwiches.) Café Margot’s open shelving was filled with wine and liqueurs; charcuterie dangled from the ceiling; olives filled large Mason jars. The brick walls were covered in local art.
‘‘First, a bodegón ought to be cheap,’’ Guzman said. ‘‘It has to have at least some homemade food. Charcuterie, the pasta — preferably everything. Here, in Margot, it is a very high percentage, even their beer. It must not be too clean.’’ (Though Café Margot is clean.) ‘‘It must have all ages represented in it — young, old — for a bodegón is not hip. Preferably with bohemians in it.’’ He had described the patrons at Café Margot precisely.
We tucked in to a set of picadas, or tapas-like dishes — in this instance, fleshy tongue-like slabs of roasted red peppers and provolone and provoleta, a fried cheese dish, while we drank pints of the house-brewed beer. When I dipped my bread in the oily remains of a picada, Guzman smiled. ‘‘In Argentina, this is something you don’t do in a restaurant,’’ he said. ‘‘But in a bodegón, they don’t care about manners. In fact, they don’t have any.’’
Against 30 years of upheaval, the bodegones are reasserting themselves as vessels of generosity and calm. They were faced with near-extinction in the ’90s, when they staged an improbable comeback, aided, ironically, by the collapse of the economy. ‘‘Because of the currency crisis,’’ Guzman said, ‘‘people had to find their identity as Argentines again. And it wasn’t just the currency, but neo-liberalism and heavy Americanization. The bodegones were citadels against gentrification.’’ I asked him whether the newfound affection liberalism and heavy Americanization. The bodegones were citadels against gentrification.’’ I asked him whether the newfound affection for the bodegones was simply another way to assert Argentine identity without reckoning with Argentine history. He disagreed. Young people didn’t really experience the dictatorship, he said. ‘‘They experienced neo-liberalism.’’ Globalization has a way of tinting its holdouts in a romantic glow. ‘‘I cannot think of this city without bodegones,’’ Guzman said. ‘‘They will survive. It is part of its spirit.’’
PIETRO SORBA, AN ITALIAN-BORN FOOD CRITIC AND scholar, is the author of the definitive work on the subject, ‘‘Bodegones de Buenos Aires.’’ (The book is bilingual; the English translation is lovely.) Sorba and I met at Miramar, one of the more reputable and longstanding bodegones. It sits on a corner in a former tailor shop, where tango luminaries once came to have suits made. Sorba is a delightful mountain of a man and, from the looks of it, a prodigiously gifted eater. He has been writing about Argentine food for Elle Argentina and Clarín, the local daily, as well as producing documentaries, for years.
We drank malbec, the deceptively soft, dense red wine of Argentina, and passed around a crude wooden tablet listing the platos del día. We started with pulpo a la gallega, or boiled octopus with potatoes in olive oil and pimenton — a sort of paprika — and tortilla a la Española, an omelet-like dish with a spicy salami. When I began espousing pet theories about the bodegón, Sorba demurred. ‘‘Bodegón is the opposite of the culinary culture of Palermo,’’ he said bluntly. ‘‘It is comfort food — no tricks — for people who love to eat. Not for people looking for the fashion thing, or trendy. For my job, I must go to many restaurants. But for me, when I want to eat, I go to a bodegón.’’
Eat, eat, eat — we had moved on to mejillones a la provenzal (mussels, white wine, garlic) and gambas al ajillo (shrimp, garlic, dried chili), all of it richly drenched in olive oil. ‘‘In Italy,’’ Sorba asserted, ‘‘people eat out on the weekend. In Buenos Aires, it is every day. It’s historical. Observe the flats in the center city, the oldest part of the city. The kitchen is small — it’s nothing, in fact. In Italy, people live in the kitchen. But here, people are not as interested in cooking.’’
For all the voguish talk of localism, it’s now possible to get substantially the same meal in any city — in Copenhagen or London or São Paulo. Culinary innovations spoke out to all points of the globe, until food everywhere has been micro-gastronomized into ambrosial dreck. Against the forces of homogenization, the bodegones make an admirable stand. ‘‘This is the first, best example of the porteño menu,’’ Sorba said as we moved on to centolla (king crab) and rabo de toro (oxtail stew). ‘‘In the 1990s, we had a new culinary wave. The new culinary trends were impactful, very hard on the life of the bodegones. But I now believe culinary trends are boring. My next book is going to be called ‘I Am Up to Here With Gourmet,’ ’’ he said, gesturing to his But I now believe culinary trends are boring. My next book is going to be called ‘I Am Up to Here With Gourmet,’ ’’ he said, gesturing to his neck.
Following Sorba’s lead, I hesitate to make too large a claim for the bodegones. Nonetheless, in a city where only 500 yards from the Four Seasons one stumbles upon a villa miseria, a sprawling and viciously impoverished shantytown, they are an implicit guarantee that something exists in between extremes of rich and poor. To reach for another cliché — one that happens only to be true — the importance of clean and well-lit places to Argentina cannot be exaggerated. On the night Goni and I were cabbing it back from El Obrero, he suddenly asked, ‘‘Do you smell that?’’ I did. There was a strong but not entirely unpleasant wood-smokey tang in the air. ‘‘The farmers are clearing land by burning,’’ he said. ‘‘Tonight is O.K., but last summer was really bad. What kind of lawlessness must there be, if you can’t stop the farmers from putting the country’s capital city under an unbearable cloud of smoke?’’
It is possible that Naipaul was right, that Argentina is fated to cycles of forgetting. Commodity prices are collapsing, and the work that might have been accomplished in fat times — education and labor market reforms — remains undone. The ruling Peronists, having mishandled a farm crisis, lost a crucial midterm election. The near political horizon is as Naipaul would have predicted: disarray. But this is why the bodegón is more than a curiosity. ‘‘When you are in a bodegón, you feel like you are in Buenos Aires,’’ Sorba said. ‘‘You political horizon is as Naipaul would have predicted: disarray. But this is why the bodegón is more than a curiosity. ‘‘When you are in a bodegón, you feel like you are in Buenos Aires,’’ Sorba said. ‘‘You breathe its history. Its real history. The eternal Buenos Aires.’’ We pushed away from the table en (considerable) masse with his simple enough benediction: ‘‘We have eaten.’’
Essentials Buenos Aires
RESTAURANTS, CAFES AND BARS La Catedral Cool, authentic milongas. Sarmiento 4006; 011-54-9-11-5325-1630. El Cuartito A 1930s pizza parlor. Talcahuano 937; 011-54-11-4816-4331; entrees about $6.50 to $15.50. Pizzería Güerrín Old-fashioned pizza joint. Avenida Corrientes 1368; 011-54-11-4371-8141; entrees $4.75 to $8.50. Guido’s Bar Holdout bodegón in Palermo. República de la India 2843; 011-54-11-4802-2391; guidosbar.com.ar; three-course meal (with wine) $24. Café Margot Picturesque bodegón. Avenida Boedo 857; 011-54-11-4957-0001; entrees $2 to $9.50. Miramar Atmospheric, good bodegón. Avenida San Juan 1999; 011-54-11-4304-4261; entrees $6.25 to $8.50. El Obrero Classic parrilla in La Boca. Agustín R. Caffarena 64; 011-54-11-4362-9912; entrees $5.25 to $8.50. Rumi Popular porteño nightclub. Avenida Presidente Figueroa Alcorta 6442; 011-54-11-4782-1398; rumiba.com.ar. Scannapieco Fantastic ice cream. Córdoba 4826; 011-54-11-4773-1829.
HOTELS The city has its complement of excellent five-star properties, most notably the Alvear Palace Hotel (alvearpalace.com; doubles from $350), the Four Seasons (fourseasons.com; doubles from $495) and the Park Hyatt (buenosaires.park.hyatt.com; doubles from $490). If you’re looking for something smaller — and less expensive — in a looking for something smaller — and less expensive — in a neighborhood setting, consider the funky Boquitas Pintadas (boquitas-pintadas.com.ar; doubles from $60), the elegant La Cayetana (lacayetanahotel.com.ar; doubles from $120) or the slightly more modern 1890 Hotel Boutique (1890hotel.com.ar; doubles from $75), all in Monserrat, or the homey Racó de Buenos Aires (racodebuenosaires.com.ar; doubles from $100).
FORGET THE MARTINI BARS AND SUSHI JOINTS. THE REAL BUENOS AIRES RESIDES IN ITS BODEGONES, NEIGHBORHOOD RESTAURANTS STEEPED IN WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ARGENTINE. STEPHEN METCALF EATS UP.
Photographs by Trujillo Paumier
On a night swaddled in humidity, I made my way down to La Boca, an Italian working-class neighborhood in Buenos Aires. My guide for the evening was the prominent Argentine writer Uki Goni, and as our cab crawled along, half lost, we peered out at meagerly lit scenes of urban decay. ‘‘I’ve had taxi drivers who wouldn’t take me down here,’’ Goni said. Shirtless men carried infants in their arms; the elderly shuffled along without looking up; a well-armed group of policemen turned a corner. These last we asked for directions. They were gracious, but unable to help. Person after person could not point our way to El Obrero, the bodegón we were looking for, an ignorance that left Goni puzzled and slightly dismayed .
El Obrero means ‘‘the worker’’ — it is a parrilla, or traditional barbecue joint. (‘‘Go with time,’’ an Argentine acquaintance told me. ‘‘Three to four hours, to eat to death.’’) It is also, as many parrillas are, a type of bodegón, a simple neighborhood restaurant started by and for immigrants, traditionally of Spanish or Italian descent. Taken together, bodegones form an unofficial institution in Buenos Aires, places where true porteños — as residents of Buenos Aires, a port city, are called — go to enjoy mass quantities of comfort food on the cheap.
Stepping inside after we finally found our bearings, I could see why El Obrero is regarded as a temple of fraternal overeating. The dreariness outside gave way instantly to the clatter of dishes, to bright lights and warm blasts of laughter. Rotating fans, relics from the ’50s, descended from a high ceiling. The floor was a dingy checkerboard, the menu a chalkboard. The waiters, gallant in burgundy shirt jackets, menu a chalkboard. The waiters, gallant in burgundy shirt jackets, greeted us with radiant smiles. Goni is an honored guest here. He has come often to El Obrero and the other parrillas of La Boca, on occasion with the actor Willem Dafoe or the director Francis Ford Coppola. Their pictures hang in a corner, though displayed with far more pride of place are a portrait of the King of Spain in a powder blue sash and photographs of the godhead of Argentine futbol, Diego Maradona.
To taste the real and abiding Buenos Aires, Goni took me to El Obrero. On offer was a complete inventory of the bovine carcass: ojo de bife (eye of beef), chinchulines (small intestines), mollejas (gizzards). ‘‘Until fairly recently,’’ Goni explained, ‘‘a meal in Argentina was beef, potatoes, maybe — maybe — salad.’’ The Argentine palate has evolved, and even at a mecca for steak like El Obrero, there is plenty else. I started with the rabas, fried squid rings that melt in your mouth like buttery lozenges, and a liter of Quilmes, a milky Argentine beer. ‘‘There would have been more bodegones here once,’’ said Goni, who is in his mid- 50s and is best known in Argentina for exposing the extent of the ‘‘ratline,’’ the escape route and eventual haven his country provided Nazis in the aftermath of World War II. ‘‘This is probably one of the last surviving ones.’’
Buenos Aires, goes the claim, is a European city located in South America. True, there are stylish clothes, venerable buildings, small cars and gelato. But to better understand his country, Goni insisted, one should read ‘‘The Return of Eva Perón,’’ by V. S. Naipaul. The essay is cruel, Goni said, but as true today as when it was written, in the early 1970s. To Naipaul, Argentina was less a country than a staging ground for absurdist public traumas that never add up to an actual history. From dictatorship to hyperinflation to, more recently, the currency crisis, which plunged the economy into chaos in 2001, cataclysm seems to come naturally to Argentines.
An older gentleman with a guitar started serenading the crowd. ‘‘Tourists don’t know,’’ Goni said. ‘‘They say, ‘Beautiful girls, macho lovers — I’ll rent a cute place in Palermo,’ ’’ referring to the neighborhood of suave byways that defines the city’s renewal. ‘‘They don’t see the underbelly.’’ The Argentina of Goni’s young adulthood was an economically and, its European roots notwithstanding, culturally insular society. ‘‘We were behind our own iron curtain, in a way.’’
Argentina is nearly the size of India, but with less than one-thirtieth India’s population. It possesses vast tracts of mineral wealth and agriculturally fertile pampas. Once, much of what was consumed here was made here, if inefficiently. ‘‘You could wait 10 or 20 years to get a phone,’’ Goni said. ‘‘Then, in the ’90s, we privatized everything. Now you get a phone in two or three days, and maybe 10 million people in phone,’’ Goni said. ‘‘Then, in the ’90s, we privatized everything. Now you get a phone in two or three days, and maybe 10 million people in the country are much, much better off than ever before. But joining the international community has come at a spectacular price.’’ La Boca, for example, is poorer and more dangerous, while Palermo now gleams with international cachet. But, as Goni said, ‘‘Argentines by and large can’t afford to go there.’’
The old gentleman’s lachrymose folklore ended. The crowd applauded wildly. Goni considered, then said, ‘‘Interesting, isn’t it, how some things completely transcend our idea of ‘good’ and ‘bad?’ ’’
BUENOS AIRES HAS BECOME THAT CITY. YOU AMUSE YOUR palate at a sleek ethnic restaurant, fast-friend it with international party people and find yourself at 4 a.m. on the street, amid boys with beers and suspiciously young women in shrink-wrap outfits, as ill-piloted cabs brush against your back pocket. Palermo has given sections of itself over wholesale to the idea of a cheap playpen for affluent wastrels from the Yanqui north. Its film-and-TV barrio is named Palermo Hollywood, its boutique-and-bistro quadrant Palermo Soho. Menus are bilingual, and ‘‘Apartments for Sale’’ notices are denominated in dollars. Nonetheless, the city remains poised between ingratiating Americanization and the inscrutable nativism that Naipaul described.
I stayed in a duplex off embassy row, overlooking the jacaranda trees of the Plaza Intendente Seeber. One evening, I went with an American who lives in Buenos Aires to eat at Pizzería Güerrín, an old-school joint in the city center. (Locals debate whether Güerrín or El Cuartito, in Recoleta and equally drenched in bygone atmosphere, serves the city's best pie; I enjoyed both. Either way, you must have a fugazzeta, a thick crust pillowed over with mozzarella and a dense tangle of onions.) When we returned to our car, he slipped a few pesos into the hand of a dubious-looking man who had appeared out of nowhere. ‘‘A trapito,’’ my friend explained. Trapitos ‘‘watch’’ your car to make sure ‘‘nothing happens to it.’’
Later we headed out to Rumi, a nightclub. Rumi is a boliche, a true porteño club; food and booze are cheap, the dancing interminable and wild. ‘‘The women here are beautiful,’’ said my new acquaintance, a Mexican businessman named Hector. I agreed. Hector surveyed the dance floor. ‘‘About half of them are men.’’
The key to visiting Buenos Aires, I think, is to locate a city that is neither the ‘‘gaucho curio shop’’ that Naipaul so disdained nor the la-la fantasy of the ‘‘Paris of Latin America.’’ Stroll out of Palermo’s center toward Villa Crespo — a barrio that has nobly rejected the label ‘‘Palermo Queens’’ — and you come upon silent cobblestone streets canopied by oaks and rosewoods. Out on the main avenue is Scannapieco, a 71-year-old heladaría that serves the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted, a dulce de leche the consistency of melted cheese. And although tango is the most oversold concept in tourism since the Scannapieco, a 71-year-old heladaría that serves the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted, a dulce de leche the consistency of melted cheese. And although tango is the most oversold concept in tourism since the cancan, the milongas at La Catedral, an antique timber warehouse filled with artsy bric-a-brac, wire chandeliers and Christmas lights, are genuinely beautiful. Here an older, more rustic and altogether more sensuous version of the dance has been revived by the younger generation.
But old Buenos Aires is best found in the city’s bodegones. ‘‘If it is trendy, expensive or young, it is not a bodegón,’’ said Ruben Guzman, an Argentine-Canadian director whom a mutual friend described as an anthropologist of the bodegones. Bodegones started, by and large, as immigrant groceries, divided into two sections: one for retailing traditional home-country foods, the other for alcohol. Customers who bought a drink would on occasion request a place to sit and a bite to eat, and over time, the bodegón sometimes evolved from a shop into a cafe and social hub.
Ruben and I dined at Café Margot, a classic of its type. More intimate than El Obrero, Café Margot has been, for decades, a gathering place for the notables, mostly futbol jocks and intellectuals and tangueros, of the Boedo district. (No less than Juan Perón was said to treasure its turkey sandwiches.) Café Margot’s open shelving was filled with wine and liqueurs; charcuterie dangled from the ceiling; olives filled large Mason jars. The brick walls were covered in local art.
‘‘First, a bodegón ought to be cheap,’’ Guzman said. ‘‘It has to have at least some homemade food. Charcuterie, the pasta — preferably everything. Here, in Margot, it is a very high percentage, even their beer. It must not be too clean.’’ (Though Café Margot is clean.) ‘‘It must have all ages represented in it — young, old — for a bodegón is not hip. Preferably with bohemians in it.’’ He had described the patrons at Café Margot precisely.
We tucked in to a set of picadas, or tapas-like dishes — in this instance, fleshy tongue-like slabs of roasted red peppers and provolone and provoleta, a fried cheese dish, while we drank pints of the house-brewed beer. When I dipped my bread in the oily remains of a picada, Guzman smiled. ‘‘In Argentina, this is something you don’t do in a restaurant,’’ he said. ‘‘But in a bodegón, they don’t care about manners. In fact, they don’t have any.’’
Against 30 years of upheaval, the bodegones are reasserting themselves as vessels of generosity and calm. They were faced with near-extinction in the ’90s, when they staged an improbable comeback, aided, ironically, by the collapse of the economy. ‘‘Because of the currency crisis,’’ Guzman said, ‘‘people had to find their identity as Argentines again. And it wasn’t just the currency, but neo-liberalism and heavy Americanization. The bodegones were citadels against gentrification.’’ I asked him whether the newfound affection liberalism and heavy Americanization. The bodegones were citadels against gentrification.’’ I asked him whether the newfound affection for the bodegones was simply another way to assert Argentine identity without reckoning with Argentine history. He disagreed. Young people didn’t really experience the dictatorship, he said. ‘‘They experienced neo-liberalism.’’ Globalization has a way of tinting its holdouts in a romantic glow. ‘‘I cannot think of this city without bodegones,’’ Guzman said. ‘‘They will survive. It is part of its spirit.’’
PIETRO SORBA, AN ITALIAN-BORN FOOD CRITIC AND scholar, is the author of the definitive work on the subject, ‘‘Bodegones de Buenos Aires.’’ (The book is bilingual; the English translation is lovely.) Sorba and I met at Miramar, one of the more reputable and longstanding bodegones. It sits on a corner in a former tailor shop, where tango luminaries once came to have suits made. Sorba is a delightful mountain of a man and, from the looks of it, a prodigiously gifted eater. He has been writing about Argentine food for Elle Argentina and Clarín, the local daily, as well as producing documentaries, for years.
We drank malbec, the deceptively soft, dense red wine of Argentina, and passed around a crude wooden tablet listing the platos del día. We started with pulpo a la gallega, or boiled octopus with potatoes in olive oil and pimenton — a sort of paprika — and tortilla a la Española, an omelet-like dish with a spicy salami. When I began espousing pet theories about the bodegón, Sorba demurred. ‘‘Bodegón is the opposite of the culinary culture of Palermo,’’ he said bluntly. ‘‘It is comfort food — no tricks — for people who love to eat. Not for people looking for the fashion thing, or trendy. For my job, I must go to many restaurants. But for me, when I want to eat, I go to a bodegón.’’
Eat, eat, eat — we had moved on to mejillones a la provenzal (mussels, white wine, garlic) and gambas al ajillo (shrimp, garlic, dried chili), all of it richly drenched in olive oil. ‘‘In Italy,’’ Sorba asserted, ‘‘people eat out on the weekend. In Buenos Aires, it is every day. It’s historical. Observe the flats in the center city, the oldest part of the city. The kitchen is small — it’s nothing, in fact. In Italy, people live in the kitchen. But here, people are not as interested in cooking.’’
For all the voguish talk of localism, it’s now possible to get substantially the same meal in any city — in Copenhagen or London or São Paulo. Culinary innovations spoke out to all points of the globe, until food everywhere has been micro-gastronomized into ambrosial dreck. Against the forces of homogenization, the bodegones make an admirable stand. ‘‘This is the first, best example of the porteño menu,’’ Sorba said as we moved on to centolla (king crab) and rabo de toro (oxtail stew). ‘‘In the 1990s, we had a new culinary wave. The new culinary trends were impactful, very hard on the life of the bodegones. But I now believe culinary trends are boring. My next book is going to be called ‘I Am Up to Here With Gourmet,’ ’’ he said, gesturing to his But I now believe culinary trends are boring. My next book is going to be called ‘I Am Up to Here With Gourmet,’ ’’ he said, gesturing to his neck.
Following Sorba’s lead, I hesitate to make too large a claim for the bodegones. Nonetheless, in a city where only 500 yards from the Four Seasons one stumbles upon a villa miseria, a sprawling and viciously impoverished shantytown, they are an implicit guarantee that something exists in between extremes of rich and poor. To reach for another cliché — one that happens only to be true — the importance of clean and well-lit places to Argentina cannot be exaggerated. On the night Goni and I were cabbing it back from El Obrero, he suddenly asked, ‘‘Do you smell that?’’ I did. There was a strong but not entirely unpleasant wood-smokey tang in the air. ‘‘The farmers are clearing land by burning,’’ he said. ‘‘Tonight is O.K., but last summer was really bad. What kind of lawlessness must there be, if you can’t stop the farmers from putting the country’s capital city under an unbearable cloud of smoke?’’
It is possible that Naipaul was right, that Argentina is fated to cycles of forgetting. Commodity prices are collapsing, and the work that might have been accomplished in fat times — education and labor market reforms — remains undone. The ruling Peronists, having mishandled a farm crisis, lost a crucial midterm election. The near political horizon is as Naipaul would have predicted: disarray. But this is why the bodegón is more than a curiosity. ‘‘When you are in a bodegón, you feel like you are in Buenos Aires,’’ Sorba said. ‘‘You political horizon is as Naipaul would have predicted: disarray. But this is why the bodegón is more than a curiosity. ‘‘When you are in a bodegón, you feel like you are in Buenos Aires,’’ Sorba said. ‘‘You breathe its history. Its real history. The eternal Buenos Aires.’’ We pushed away from the table en (considerable) masse with his simple enough benediction: ‘‘We have eaten.’’
Essentials Buenos Aires
RESTAURANTS, CAFES AND BARS La Catedral Cool, authentic milongas. Sarmiento 4006; 011-54-9-11-5325-1630. El Cuartito A 1930s pizza parlor. Talcahuano 937; 011-54-11-4816-4331; entrees about $6.50 to $15.50. Pizzería Güerrín Old-fashioned pizza joint. Avenida Corrientes 1368; 011-54-11-4371-8141; entrees $4.75 to $8.50. Guido’s Bar Holdout bodegón in Palermo. República de la India 2843; 011-54-11-4802-2391; guidosbar.com.ar; three-course meal (with wine) $24. Café Margot Picturesque bodegón. Avenida Boedo 857; 011-54-11-4957-0001; entrees $2 to $9.50. Miramar Atmospheric, good bodegón. Avenida San Juan 1999; 011-54-11-4304-4261; entrees $6.25 to $8.50. El Obrero Classic parrilla in La Boca. Agustín R. Caffarena 64; 011-54-11-4362-9912; entrees $5.25 to $8.50. Rumi Popular porteño nightclub. Avenida Presidente Figueroa Alcorta 6442; 011-54-11-4782-1398; rumiba.com.ar. Scannapieco Fantastic ice cream. Córdoba 4826; 011-54-11-4773-1829.
HOTELS The city has its complement of excellent five-star properties, most notably the Alvear Palace Hotel (alvearpalace.com; doubles from $350), the Four Seasons (fourseasons.com; doubles from $495) and the Park Hyatt (buenosaires.park.hyatt.com; doubles from $490). If you’re looking for something smaller — and less expensive — in a looking for something smaller — and less expensive — in a neighborhood setting, consider the funky Boquitas Pintadas (boquitas-pintadas.com.ar; doubles from $60), the elegant La Cayetana (lacayetanahotel.com.ar; doubles from $120) or the slightly more modern 1890 Hotel Boutique (1890hotel.com.ar; doubles from $75), all in Monserrat, or the homey Racó de Buenos Aires (racodebuenosaires.com.ar; doubles from $100).
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Colum McCann Wins National Book Award By MOTOKO RICH
November 19, 2009
Colum McCann Wins National Book Award By MOTOKO RICH
Colum McCann won the National Book Award for fiction on Wednesday night for “Let the Great World Spin,” a novel featuring a sprawling cast of characters in 1970s New York City whose lives are ineluctably touched by the mysterious tightrope walker who traverses a wire suspended between the Twin Towers one morning.
In accepting the award, the Irish-born Mr. McCann, now a teacher of creative writing at Hunter College, said, “As fiction writers and people who believe in the word, we have to enter the anonymous corners of human experience to make that little corner right.” The book was published by Random House.
In the nonfiction category, T. J. Stiles won for “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt,” a biography of the man who fathered a dynasty, presided over a railroad empire and, in the words of the judging panel, “all but invented unbridled American capitalism.”
Mr. Stiles, whom the judges praised for his “deep and imaginative research,” took a swipe at the recent move toward electronic books as he thanked a wide range of supporters, including editorial assistants, copy editors and marketing staffers, at his publishing house, Alfred A. Knopf.
“The advent of the e-book is fooling people into thinking that none of these people are necessary anymore,” Mr. Stiles said. “If they cease to exist, the books will only be worth the paper they are not printed on.”
Perhaps the most moving moment of the night came with the presentation of the award for Young People’s Literature, which went to Phillip Hoose for “Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice,” a biography of Ms. Colvin, who as an African-American teenager in 1950s Montgomery, Ala., refused to give up her seat on a bus nine months before Rosa Parks took the same stand.
Mr. Hoose brought Ms. Colvin onto the stage to accept the award. “My job was to pull someone who was about to disappear under history’s rug,” he said. The book was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
The awards, in their 60th year, were presented at a black-tie dinner at Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan. About 640 attendees, down slightly from a year earlier, paid up to $12,000 per table.
The writer and comedic actor Andy Borowitz hosted the ceremonies, joking that just as he had been invited to perform services for no pay, publishing was similarly an industry that demanded “a lot of work, and then nothing.”
The award for poetry went to Keith Waldrop for “Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy,” published by University of California Press.
This year’s nominees had some in the publishing industry wondering about the relevance of the National Book Awards, in part because most of the titles had sold so little and few people had heard of them. The biggest selling finalist was Mr. McCann, with “Let the Great World Spin” selling 19,000 copies in hardcover, according to Nielsen Bookscan, which tracks about 70 percent of retail sales.
The award can sometimes fuel sales, but in other cases its effects are modest. Generally, readers seem to pay more attention the Pulitzer Prize, or even Britain’s Man Booker Prize. This year’s winner, Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall,” has sold 45,000 copies.
The novelist Dave Eggers received the 2009 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. Mr. Eggers, a co-founder of the independent publishing house McSweeney’s who also helped found 826 National, a nonprofit writing center for young people, said in his acceptance speech that he remained “an eternal optimist” about publishing.
“I think this is the most exciting and democratic time,” he said. “There is a pluralism in publishing that is unprecedented.”
The award for the Distinguished Contribution to American Letters was given to Gore Vidal, the novelist and social critic.
In wandering remarks, Mr. Vidal cited anecdotes about President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. In his only comments about publishing, he puzzled the audience by noting, “Nowadays it seems the progress of literature is to first print the book and then pulp it,” adding: “It saves such a lot of time. It’s fun for everybody.”
Colum McCann Wins National Book Award By MOTOKO RICH
Colum McCann won the National Book Award for fiction on Wednesday night for “Let the Great World Spin,” a novel featuring a sprawling cast of characters in 1970s New York City whose lives are ineluctably touched by the mysterious tightrope walker who traverses a wire suspended between the Twin Towers one morning.
In accepting the award, the Irish-born Mr. McCann, now a teacher of creative writing at Hunter College, said, “As fiction writers and people who believe in the word, we have to enter the anonymous corners of human experience to make that little corner right.” The book was published by Random House.
In the nonfiction category, T. J. Stiles won for “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt,” a biography of the man who fathered a dynasty, presided over a railroad empire and, in the words of the judging panel, “all but invented unbridled American capitalism.”
Mr. Stiles, whom the judges praised for his “deep and imaginative research,” took a swipe at the recent move toward electronic books as he thanked a wide range of supporters, including editorial assistants, copy editors and marketing staffers, at his publishing house, Alfred A. Knopf.
“The advent of the e-book is fooling people into thinking that none of these people are necessary anymore,” Mr. Stiles said. “If they cease to exist, the books will only be worth the paper they are not printed on.”
Perhaps the most moving moment of the night came with the presentation of the award for Young People’s Literature, which went to Phillip Hoose for “Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice,” a biography of Ms. Colvin, who as an African-American teenager in 1950s Montgomery, Ala., refused to give up her seat on a bus nine months before Rosa Parks took the same stand.
Mr. Hoose brought Ms. Colvin onto the stage to accept the award. “My job was to pull someone who was about to disappear under history’s rug,” he said. The book was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
The awards, in their 60th year, were presented at a black-tie dinner at Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan. About 640 attendees, down slightly from a year earlier, paid up to $12,000 per table.
The writer and comedic actor Andy Borowitz hosted the ceremonies, joking that just as he had been invited to perform services for no pay, publishing was similarly an industry that demanded “a lot of work, and then nothing.”
The award for poetry went to Keith Waldrop for “Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy,” published by University of California Press.
This year’s nominees had some in the publishing industry wondering about the relevance of the National Book Awards, in part because most of the titles had sold so little and few people had heard of them. The biggest selling finalist was Mr. McCann, with “Let the Great World Spin” selling 19,000 copies in hardcover, according to Nielsen Bookscan, which tracks about 70 percent of retail sales.
The award can sometimes fuel sales, but in other cases its effects are modest. Generally, readers seem to pay more attention the Pulitzer Prize, or even Britain’s Man Booker Prize. This year’s winner, Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall,” has sold 45,000 copies.
The novelist Dave Eggers received the 2009 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. Mr. Eggers, a co-founder of the independent publishing house McSweeney’s who also helped found 826 National, a nonprofit writing center for young people, said in his acceptance speech that he remained “an eternal optimist” about publishing.
“I think this is the most exciting and democratic time,” he said. “There is a pluralism in publishing that is unprecedented.”
The award for the Distinguished Contribution to American Letters was given to Gore Vidal, the novelist and social critic.
In wandering remarks, Mr. Vidal cited anecdotes about President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. In his only comments about publishing, he puzzled the audience by noting, “Nowadays it seems the progress of literature is to first print the book and then pulp it,” adding: “It saves such a lot of time. It’s fun for everybody.”
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Why We Should Put Jihad on Trial By STEVEN SIMON
November 18, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor
Why We Should Put Jihad on Trial By STEVEN SIMON
THE Justice Department’s decision to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, in a federal court in New York City has elicited several criticisms. Most are pointless, but one — the idea that it will give a terrorist a platform from which he could stir up support in the Muslim world for his radical views — is well taken.
First, let’s dispose of the straw men. John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House, accused the Obama administration of “treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue” — as though “law enforcement” is an epithet. In truth, the White House’s counterterrorism team is composed largely of the same professionals who battled terrorists under President George W. Bush. They are generally in sync with the White House’s insistence on a strategy that uses law enforcement where appropriate and military force in places, like Afghanistan, where conspirators can’t be arrested by federal agents driving Fords.
Others complain that Mr. Mohammed might take advantage of quirks of the criminal justice system and go free. That’s highly unlikely. First, he has already confessed to the crime; and, given the zero acquittal rate for terrorists in New York previously, any anxiety about a “not guilty” verdict seems unwarranted.
John Yoo, a former Bush administration lawyer, argues that the trial would be an “intelligence bonanza” for our enemies. Also unlikely. Our prosecutors are certain that there is enough unclassified evidence to make their case. Moreover, the most prized intelligence is recent, specific and actionable. Al Qaeda today is most concerned with discovering when and where the next drone missile attack will take place in Pakistan, information not likely to be disclosed during a trial about a conspiracy hatched more than a decade ago.
Which brings us to the idea that allowing Mr. Mohammed to take the stand will give him a soapbox. The truth is, if the trial provides a propaganda platform for anybody, it will be for our side.
First, federal courts do not permit TV cameras in the courtroom, so the opportunity for “real time” jihadist propagandizing won’t exist. And while defendants and their lawyers can question witnesses, they cannot make speeches; judges are kings in this domain and can quash irrelevant oratory. Some point out that in earlier terrorism trials, like those of the plotters of the 1993 World Trade Center attack, the defendants did ramble at length. True, but does anyone who fears a circus now remember a single word from those earlier trials?
The real propaganda event is likely to unfold very differently. Instead of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed making his case, we will see the full measure of the horror of 9/11 outlined to the world in a way that only methodical trials can accomplish. Historically, the public exposure of state-sponsored mass murder or terrorism through a transparent judicial process has strengthened the forces of good and undercut the extremists. The Nuremberg trials were a classic case. And nothing more effectively alerted the world to the danger of genocide than Israel’s prosecution in 1961 of Adolf Eichmann, the bureaucrat who engineered the Holocaust.
In the case of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alternatives — indefinite incarceration without trial, or a military tribunal closed to the public followed by execution — are far more likely to inspire militant recruits. And highlighting the transparency in our judicial process would strengthen America’s reputation just as cracks are beginning to appear in the jihadist base. A growing number of radical Muslim clerics and theoreticians have reversed course in recent years.
For example, three of Saudi Arabia’s most influential radical clerics — Nasir bin Hamad al-Fahd, Ali al-Khudair and Ahmed al-Khalidi (once described by Osama bin Laden as “our most prominent supporter”) — have disowned Mr. bin Laden. Another, Salman al-Awda, has excoriated him, asking, “How many innocents have you killed?”
Abu Basir al-Tartusi, an influential Jordan-born cleric living in London, now uses the Islamic concept of “covenant” between Muslims and their hosts to condemn jihadist bombings in Britain. In Qatar, the high-profile televangelist Yusuf al-Qaradhawi has advanced a “jurisprudence of jihad” that forbids the killing of most civilians. And from his prison cell in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif — the founder of the Egyptian insurgent group that produced Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri — has declared that the jihad against the West must be abandoned.
To be sure, some of these men’s arguments don’t go far enough to please Western ears. But they are shaping opinion. Polling since 2001 has shown that in most Muslim-majority countries, tolerance for terrorism and support for Al Qaeda is gradually eroding. It is strongly in our interest to reinforce these trends by underscoring the terrorists’ killings of civilians and our own commitment to the rule of law.
An open trial will also provide a catalyst for reflection among Americans on both 9/11 and its aftermath. The years before the attacks have been thoroughly hashed out through the report of the 9/11 commission and by memoirs and histories. The eight years since, a time of unremitting warfare, has had no similar opportunity for taking stock. Regrettably, no trial can provide closure for the traumas of that day. But a judgment in New York, where the greatest suffering was inflicted, will remind us both of the narrow viciousness of the terrorists’ cause and of the enduring strength of our own values.
Steven Simon is a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the co-author of “The Age of Sacred Terror” and “The Next Attack.”
Op-Ed Contributor
Why We Should Put Jihad on Trial By STEVEN SIMON
THE Justice Department’s decision to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, in a federal court in New York City has elicited several criticisms. Most are pointless, but one — the idea that it will give a terrorist a platform from which he could stir up support in the Muslim world for his radical views — is well taken.
First, let’s dispose of the straw men. John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House, accused the Obama administration of “treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue” — as though “law enforcement” is an epithet. In truth, the White House’s counterterrorism team is composed largely of the same professionals who battled terrorists under President George W. Bush. They are generally in sync with the White House’s insistence on a strategy that uses law enforcement where appropriate and military force in places, like Afghanistan, where conspirators can’t be arrested by federal agents driving Fords.
Others complain that Mr. Mohammed might take advantage of quirks of the criminal justice system and go free. That’s highly unlikely. First, he has already confessed to the crime; and, given the zero acquittal rate for terrorists in New York previously, any anxiety about a “not guilty” verdict seems unwarranted.
John Yoo, a former Bush administration lawyer, argues that the trial would be an “intelligence bonanza” for our enemies. Also unlikely. Our prosecutors are certain that there is enough unclassified evidence to make their case. Moreover, the most prized intelligence is recent, specific and actionable. Al Qaeda today is most concerned with discovering when and where the next drone missile attack will take place in Pakistan, information not likely to be disclosed during a trial about a conspiracy hatched more than a decade ago.
Which brings us to the idea that allowing Mr. Mohammed to take the stand will give him a soapbox. The truth is, if the trial provides a propaganda platform for anybody, it will be for our side.
First, federal courts do not permit TV cameras in the courtroom, so the opportunity for “real time” jihadist propagandizing won’t exist. And while defendants and their lawyers can question witnesses, they cannot make speeches; judges are kings in this domain and can quash irrelevant oratory. Some point out that in earlier terrorism trials, like those of the plotters of the 1993 World Trade Center attack, the defendants did ramble at length. True, but does anyone who fears a circus now remember a single word from those earlier trials?
The real propaganda event is likely to unfold very differently. Instead of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed making his case, we will see the full measure of the horror of 9/11 outlined to the world in a way that only methodical trials can accomplish. Historically, the public exposure of state-sponsored mass murder or terrorism through a transparent judicial process has strengthened the forces of good and undercut the extremists. The Nuremberg trials were a classic case. And nothing more effectively alerted the world to the danger of genocide than Israel’s prosecution in 1961 of Adolf Eichmann, the bureaucrat who engineered the Holocaust.
In the case of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alternatives — indefinite incarceration without trial, or a military tribunal closed to the public followed by execution — are far more likely to inspire militant recruits. And highlighting the transparency in our judicial process would strengthen America’s reputation just as cracks are beginning to appear in the jihadist base. A growing number of radical Muslim clerics and theoreticians have reversed course in recent years.
For example, three of Saudi Arabia’s most influential radical clerics — Nasir bin Hamad al-Fahd, Ali al-Khudair and Ahmed al-Khalidi (once described by Osama bin Laden as “our most prominent supporter”) — have disowned Mr. bin Laden. Another, Salman al-Awda, has excoriated him, asking, “How many innocents have you killed?”
Abu Basir al-Tartusi, an influential Jordan-born cleric living in London, now uses the Islamic concept of “covenant” between Muslims and their hosts to condemn jihadist bombings in Britain. In Qatar, the high-profile televangelist Yusuf al-Qaradhawi has advanced a “jurisprudence of jihad” that forbids the killing of most civilians. And from his prison cell in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif — the founder of the Egyptian insurgent group that produced Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri — has declared that the jihad against the West must be abandoned.
To be sure, some of these men’s arguments don’t go far enough to please Western ears. But they are shaping opinion. Polling since 2001 has shown that in most Muslim-majority countries, tolerance for terrorism and support for Al Qaeda is gradually eroding. It is strongly in our interest to reinforce these trends by underscoring the terrorists’ killings of civilians and our own commitment to the rule of law.
An open trial will also provide a catalyst for reflection among Americans on both 9/11 and its aftermath. The years before the attacks have been thoroughly hashed out through the report of the 9/11 commission and by memoirs and histories. The eight years since, a time of unremitting warfare, has had no similar opportunity for taking stock. Regrettably, no trial can provide closure for the traumas of that day. But a judgment in New York, where the greatest suffering was inflicted, will remind us both of the narrow viciousness of the terrorists’ cause and of the enduring strength of our own values.
Steven Simon is a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the co-author of “The Age of Sacred Terror” and “The Next Attack.”
What They Really Believe By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
November 18, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
What They Really Believe By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
If you follow the debate around the energy/climate bills working through Congress you will notice that the drill-baby-drill opponents of this legislation are now making two claims. One is that the globe has been cooling lately, not warming, and the other is that America simply can’t afford any kind of cap-and-trade/carbon tax.
But here is what they also surely believe, but are not saying: They believe the world is going to face a mass plague, like the Black Death, that will wipe out 2.5 billion people sometime between now and 2050. They believe it is much better for America that the world be dependent on oil for energy — a commodity largely controlled by countries that hate us and can only go up in price as demand increases — rather than on clean power technologies that are controlled by us and only go down in price as demand increases. And, finally, they believe that people in the developing world are very happy being poor — just give them a little running water and electricity and they’ll be fine. They’ll never want to live like us.
Yes, the opponents of any tax on carbon to stimulate alternatives to oil must believe all these things because that is the only way their arguments make any sense. Let me explain why by first explaining how I look at this issue.
I am a clean-energy hawk. Green for me is not just about recycling garbage but about renewing America. That is why I have been saying “green is the new red, white and blue.”
My argument is simple: I think climate change is real. You don’t? That’s your business. But there are two other huge trends barreling down on us with energy implications that you simply can’t deny. And the way to renew America is for us to take the lead and invent the technologies to address these problems.
The first is that the world is getting crowded. According to the 2006 U.N. population report, “The world population will likely increase by 2.5 billion ... passing from the current 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion in 2050. This increase is equivalent to the total size of the world population in 1950, and it will be absorbed mostly by the less developed regions, whose population is projected to rise from 5.4 billion in 2007 to 7.9 billion in 2050.”
The energy, climate, water and pollution implications of adding another 2.5 billion mouths to feed, clothe, house and transport will be staggering. And this is coming, unless, as the deniers apparently believe, a global pandemic or a mass outbreak of abstinence will freeze world population — forever.
Now, add one more thing. The world keeps getting flatter — more and more people can now see how we live, aspire to our lifestyle and even take our jobs so they can live how we live. So not only are we adding 2.5 billion people by 2050, but many more will live like “Americans” — with American-size homes, American-size cars, eating American-size Big Macs.
“What happens when developing nations with soaring vehicle populations get tens of millions of petroleum-powered cars at the same time as the global economy recovers and there’s no large global oil supply overhang?” asks Felix Kramer, the electric car expert who advocates electrifying the U.S. auto fleet and increasingly powering it with renewable energy sources. What happens, of course, is that the price of oil goes through the roof — unless we develop alternatives. The petro-dictators in Iran, Venezuela and Russia hope we don’t. They would only get richer.
So either the opponents of a serious energy/climate bill with a price on carbon don’t care about our being addicted to oil and dependent on petro-dictators forever or they really believe that we will not be adding 2.5 billion more people who want to live like us, so the price of oil won’t go up very far and, therefore, we shouldn’t raise taxes to stimulate clean, renewable alternatives and energy efficiency.
Green hawks believe otherwise. We believe that in a world getting warmer and more crowded with more “Americans,” the next great global industry is going to be E.T., or energy technology based on clean power and energy efficiency. It has to be. And we believe that the country that invents and deploys the most E.T. will enjoy the most economic security, energy security, national security, innovative companies and global respect. And we believe that country must be America. If not, our children will never enjoy the standard of living we did. And we believe the best way to launch E.T. is to set a fixed, long-term price on carbon — combine it with the Obama team’s impressive stimulus for green-tech — and then let the free market and innovation do the rest.
So, as I said, you don’t believe in global warming? You’re wrong, but I’ll let you enjoy it until your beach house gets washed away. But if you also don’t believe the world is getting more crowded with more aspiring Americans — and that ignoring that will play to the strength of our worst enemies, while responding to it with clean energy will play to the strength of our best technologies — then you’re willfully blind, and you’re hurting America’s future to boot.
Op-Ed Columnist
What They Really Believe By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
If you follow the debate around the energy/climate bills working through Congress you will notice that the drill-baby-drill opponents of this legislation are now making two claims. One is that the globe has been cooling lately, not warming, and the other is that America simply can’t afford any kind of cap-and-trade/carbon tax.
But here is what they also surely believe, but are not saying: They believe the world is going to face a mass plague, like the Black Death, that will wipe out 2.5 billion people sometime between now and 2050. They believe it is much better for America that the world be dependent on oil for energy — a commodity largely controlled by countries that hate us and can only go up in price as demand increases — rather than on clean power technologies that are controlled by us and only go down in price as demand increases. And, finally, they believe that people in the developing world are very happy being poor — just give them a little running water and electricity and they’ll be fine. They’ll never want to live like us.
Yes, the opponents of any tax on carbon to stimulate alternatives to oil must believe all these things because that is the only way their arguments make any sense. Let me explain why by first explaining how I look at this issue.
I am a clean-energy hawk. Green for me is not just about recycling garbage but about renewing America. That is why I have been saying “green is the new red, white and blue.”
My argument is simple: I think climate change is real. You don’t? That’s your business. But there are two other huge trends barreling down on us with energy implications that you simply can’t deny. And the way to renew America is for us to take the lead and invent the technologies to address these problems.
The first is that the world is getting crowded. According to the 2006 U.N. population report, “The world population will likely increase by 2.5 billion ... passing from the current 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion in 2050. This increase is equivalent to the total size of the world population in 1950, and it will be absorbed mostly by the less developed regions, whose population is projected to rise from 5.4 billion in 2007 to 7.9 billion in 2050.”
The energy, climate, water and pollution implications of adding another 2.5 billion mouths to feed, clothe, house and transport will be staggering. And this is coming, unless, as the deniers apparently believe, a global pandemic or a mass outbreak of abstinence will freeze world population — forever.
Now, add one more thing. The world keeps getting flatter — more and more people can now see how we live, aspire to our lifestyle and even take our jobs so they can live how we live. So not only are we adding 2.5 billion people by 2050, but many more will live like “Americans” — with American-size homes, American-size cars, eating American-size Big Macs.
“What happens when developing nations with soaring vehicle populations get tens of millions of petroleum-powered cars at the same time as the global economy recovers and there’s no large global oil supply overhang?” asks Felix Kramer, the electric car expert who advocates electrifying the U.S. auto fleet and increasingly powering it with renewable energy sources. What happens, of course, is that the price of oil goes through the roof — unless we develop alternatives. The petro-dictators in Iran, Venezuela and Russia hope we don’t. They would only get richer.
So either the opponents of a serious energy/climate bill with a price on carbon don’t care about our being addicted to oil and dependent on petro-dictators forever or they really believe that we will not be adding 2.5 billion more people who want to live like us, so the price of oil won’t go up very far and, therefore, we shouldn’t raise taxes to stimulate clean, renewable alternatives and energy efficiency.
Green hawks believe otherwise. We believe that in a world getting warmer and more crowded with more “Americans,” the next great global industry is going to be E.T., or energy technology based on clean power and energy efficiency. It has to be. And we believe that the country that invents and deploys the most E.T. will enjoy the most economic security, energy security, national security, innovative companies and global respect. And we believe that country must be America. If not, our children will never enjoy the standard of living we did. And we believe the best way to launch E.T. is to set a fixed, long-term price on carbon — combine it with the Obama team’s impressive stimulus for green-tech — and then let the free market and innovation do the rest.
So, as I said, you don’t believe in global warming? You’re wrong, but I’ll let you enjoy it until your beach house gets washed away. But if you also don’t believe the world is getting more crowded with more aspiring Americans — and that ignoring that will play to the strength of our worst enemies, while responding to it with clean energy will play to the strength of our best technologies — then you’re willfully blind, and you’re hurting America’s future to boot.
Mark Bittman's Top 12 Make-Ahead Dishes By TARA PARKER-POPE
November 18, 2009, 12:20 pm
Mark Bittman's Top 12 Make-Ahead Dishes By TARA PARKER-POPE
A Vegetarian Thanksgiving
Vegetable dishes to fill your holiday table.
* Squash Raviolo With Walnut Cream
* Dr. Weil's Stress-Free Squash Soup
* Kale Salad and Creamy Parsnip Puree
* Going Vegetarian for Thanksgiving
Recipe lovers will be eager to pore over Mark Bittman's 101 make-ahead recipes today in the Dining section of The New York Times. But for those who are having a tough time choosing a favorite, Mr. Bittman has offered his top 12 picks for Eat Well's Vegetarian Thanksgiving.
He said of his 101 recipe list: "Note that they're almost all vegetarian. A few have bacon, or sausage, or prosciutto – or whatever. But my thinking was that you're eating a hulking turkey, so everything else might as well be veg. Besides, there's probably at least a semivegetarian at nearly every Thanksgiving table at this point."
To see all 101 dishes, read the full column, "The Minimalist: 101 Head Starts on the Day." He notes that most dishes can be served at room temperature, although the soups should be reheated. Salt to taste, and if a temperature isn't specified, "roast" or "bake" means a 375-degree oven.
2. Apricot-Tomato Chutney
Combine chunks of dried apricot and fresh tomato, a splash of apple cider, brown sugar, ginger, cloves and a touch of curry powder; bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for about 20 minutes.
15. Thai Squash Soup
Simmer cubed winter squash, minced garlic, chili and ginger in coconut milk, plus stock or water to cover, until soft. Purée if you like. Just before serving, add chopped cilantro, lime juice and zest, and toasted chopped peanuts.
23. Leek and Potato Soup
Sauté leeks in butter until soft but not browned, then add cubed waxy potatoes, a little sage and stock or water to cover. Simmer until tender, purée and finish with about a cup of cream for each 6 cups of soup. Serve hot or cold, garnished with chives (if cold, call it vichyssoise).
36. Soba Noodles With Sweet Potato and Peanut Puree
Boil peeled sweet potatoes and purée in a food processor, thinning with cooking water or cream until saucy. Add chopped garlic and unsweetened pure peanut butter and purée until smooth. Boil soba noodles until just done and toss with the purée until the noodles are lightly coated; garnish with chopped scallions. Serve at room temperature or cold.
41. Roasted Caramelized Sweet Potatoes
Toss chunks of sweet potato and 2-inch lengths of scallion with neutral or peanut oil. (Again, a little sesame oil helps.) Roast, turning as necessary, until nicely caramelized; drizzle with soy.
49. Roasted Squash With Bulgur, Pine Nut and Currant Stuffing
Halve and seed acorn, butternut or delicata squash and roast until squash begins to soften. Meanwhile, cook bulgur, drain and toss with coarsely chopped pine nuts and currants. Add a bit of the stuffing to each squash half and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake until squash is tender.
50. Chopped Spinach With Raisins
Cook chopped onions in olive oil until soft. Add chopped spinach and a handful of raisins — maybe a little port, too — and cook until wilted and almost dry. Roasted pine nuts are good on top.
55. Steamed Edamame With Soy Honey Ginger Sauce
Steam and salt edamame. Whisk soy and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat. Add grated ginger and a bit of cornstarch, stir until slightly thickened and pour over edamame.
57. Zucchini and Potato Pancakes
Grate zucchini and potatoes; squeeze to drain. Combine with grated Parmesan, one beaten egg for every 2 cups of the vegetables, a little oregano and flour or fine bread crumbs until the mixture is sturdy. Shape into patties and shallow-fry until browned on both sides.
63. Easy Potato Gratin
Slice potatoes thin and layer them in a nonstick skillet. Dot with butter and add enough half-and-half or milk to come three-quarters of the way to the top of the potatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer until liquid reduces a bit, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a 400-degree oven for 10 minutes until just brown, reduce to 300 degrees and cook until tender, 10 to 20 minutes more.
85. Herbed Buttermilk Biscuits
Combine 3 cups flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves. Use your fingers to rub in 1 1/2 sticks of butter until the mixture resembles small peas. Add 1 cup buttermilk and stir until just combined. Drop large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees until golden, about 15 minutes.
92. Cranberry Truffles
Heat 1/2 cup simple syrup and 1/2 cup bourbon or water; add 2 cups dried cranberries and steep until soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid. Pulse the fruit in a food processor, adding just enough liquid so the mixture comes together. Roll spoonfuls of the cranberry filling into balls, then roll them in cocoa, mixed with pulverized nuts if you like.
Mark Bittman’s Top 12 Make-Ahead Dishes - Well Blog - NYTimes.com (19 November 2009)
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/mark-bittmans-top-12-make-ahead-dishes/?pagemode=print
http://snipurl.com/tbdrx
Mark Bittman's Top 12 Make-Ahead Dishes By TARA PARKER-POPE
A Vegetarian Thanksgiving
Vegetable dishes to fill your holiday table.
* Squash Raviolo With Walnut Cream
* Dr. Weil's Stress-Free Squash Soup
* Kale Salad and Creamy Parsnip Puree
* Going Vegetarian for Thanksgiving
Recipe lovers will be eager to pore over Mark Bittman's 101 make-ahead recipes today in the Dining section of The New York Times. But for those who are having a tough time choosing a favorite, Mr. Bittman has offered his top 12 picks for Eat Well's Vegetarian Thanksgiving.
He said of his 101 recipe list: "Note that they're almost all vegetarian. A few have bacon, or sausage, or prosciutto – or whatever. But my thinking was that you're eating a hulking turkey, so everything else might as well be veg. Besides, there's probably at least a semivegetarian at nearly every Thanksgiving table at this point."
To see all 101 dishes, read the full column, "The Minimalist: 101 Head Starts on the Day." He notes that most dishes can be served at room temperature, although the soups should be reheated. Salt to taste, and if a temperature isn't specified, "roast" or "bake" means a 375-degree oven.
2. Apricot-Tomato Chutney
Combine chunks of dried apricot and fresh tomato, a splash of apple cider, brown sugar, ginger, cloves and a touch of curry powder; bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for about 20 minutes.
15. Thai Squash Soup
Simmer cubed winter squash, minced garlic, chili and ginger in coconut milk, plus stock or water to cover, until soft. Purée if you like. Just before serving, add chopped cilantro, lime juice and zest, and toasted chopped peanuts.
23. Leek and Potato Soup
Sauté leeks in butter until soft but not browned, then add cubed waxy potatoes, a little sage and stock or water to cover. Simmer until tender, purée and finish with about a cup of cream for each 6 cups of soup. Serve hot or cold, garnished with chives (if cold, call it vichyssoise).
36. Soba Noodles With Sweet Potato and Peanut Puree
Boil peeled sweet potatoes and purée in a food processor, thinning with cooking water or cream until saucy. Add chopped garlic and unsweetened pure peanut butter and purée until smooth. Boil soba noodles until just done and toss with the purée until the noodles are lightly coated; garnish with chopped scallions. Serve at room temperature or cold.
41. Roasted Caramelized Sweet Potatoes
Toss chunks of sweet potato and 2-inch lengths of scallion with neutral or peanut oil. (Again, a little sesame oil helps.) Roast, turning as necessary, until nicely caramelized; drizzle with soy.
49. Roasted Squash With Bulgur, Pine Nut and Currant Stuffing
Halve and seed acorn, butternut or delicata squash and roast until squash begins to soften. Meanwhile, cook bulgur, drain and toss with coarsely chopped pine nuts and currants. Add a bit of the stuffing to each squash half and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake until squash is tender.
50. Chopped Spinach With Raisins
Cook chopped onions in olive oil until soft. Add chopped spinach and a handful of raisins — maybe a little port, too — and cook until wilted and almost dry. Roasted pine nuts are good on top.
55. Steamed Edamame With Soy Honey Ginger Sauce
Steam and salt edamame. Whisk soy and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat. Add grated ginger and a bit of cornstarch, stir until slightly thickened and pour over edamame.
57. Zucchini and Potato Pancakes
Grate zucchini and potatoes; squeeze to drain. Combine with grated Parmesan, one beaten egg for every 2 cups of the vegetables, a little oregano and flour or fine bread crumbs until the mixture is sturdy. Shape into patties and shallow-fry until browned on both sides.
63. Easy Potato Gratin
Slice potatoes thin and layer them in a nonstick skillet. Dot with butter and add enough half-and-half or milk to come three-quarters of the way to the top of the potatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer until liquid reduces a bit, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a 400-degree oven for 10 minutes until just brown, reduce to 300 degrees and cook until tender, 10 to 20 minutes more.
85. Herbed Buttermilk Biscuits
Combine 3 cups flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves. Use your fingers to rub in 1 1/2 sticks of butter until the mixture resembles small peas. Add 1 cup buttermilk and stir until just combined. Drop large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees until golden, about 15 minutes.
92. Cranberry Truffles
Heat 1/2 cup simple syrup and 1/2 cup bourbon or water; add 2 cups dried cranberries and steep until soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid. Pulse the fruit in a food processor, adding just enough liquid so the mixture comes together. Roll spoonfuls of the cranberry filling into balls, then roll them in cocoa, mixed with pulverized nuts if you like.
Mark Bittman’s Top 12 Make-Ahead Dishes - Well Blog - NYTimes.com (19 November 2009)
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/mark-bittmans-top-12-make-ahead-dishes/?pagemode=print
http://snipurl.com/tbdrx
101 Head Starts on the Day By MARK BITTMAN
November 18, 2009
The Minimalist
101 Head Starts on the Day By MARK BITTMAN
FOR cooks, most Thanksgiving problems are brought about by the sheer number of dishes competing for the stove: It's not easy to roast a turkey and sweet potatoes for 20 at the same time. The best solution is to make food in advance, like one of the dishes that follow.
Unlike my earlier 101 compendiums, this one has some recipes that take an hour or more. Still, most are pretty quick. Almost all can be served at room temperature, although the soups should be reheated. Salting to taste is always a given. And if I don't specify a temperature, "roast" or "bake" means a 375-degree oven.
RELISHES, CHUTNEYS AND JAMS
1. Onion-Pumpkinseed Relish: Roast thick slices of red onion with olive oil until softened and nicely browned. Chop, then toss with minced chives, toasted pumpkinseeds and a little more olive oil.
2. Apricot-Tomato Chutney: Combine chunks of dried apricot and fresh tomato, a splash of apple cider, brown sugar, ginger, cloves and a touch of curry powder; bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for about 20 minutes.
3. Red Onion Jam with Red Wine and Rosemary: Thinly slice red onions and cook them in olive oil until very soft. Add chopped rosemary and red wine, and cook until the jam thickens.
4. Onion Jam with Bacon and Bourbon: Thinly slice red onions and cook in olive oil with chopped bacon until soft. Add a little bourbon and brown sugar to taste and cook until the jam thickens.
5. Apple Chutney: Cook big chunks of peeled, cored apple with a little apple cider, Dijon or whole-grain mustard and chopped sage until the chutney thickens. Don't cook it until it becomes apple sauce unless you want to.
6. Cranberry-Corn Sauce: Cook a bag of fresh cranberries with about a cup of corn kernels, some chopped scallions, 1/4 cup brown sugar (or to taste) and a splash of water, just until thick.
7. Cranberry-Orange Sauce: Cook a bag of fresh cranberries with orange and lemon zest, cut up (peeled) orange segments, 1/4 cup sugar (or to taste) and a bit of minced jalapeño or chipotle.
8. Cranberry-Beet Sauce: Put equal amounts shredded beets and fresh cranberries in a saucepan with a small splash of orange juice, orange zest and honey or maple syrup to taste. Cook until thick.
9. Prune Relish: Put pitted prunes, fresh mango, a little cider vinegar and sugar to taste in a saucepan. Cook for 30 minutes, adding chopped fresh ginger to taste about halfway through.
10. Ginger-Apricot Chutney: Put dried apricots in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Add lemon juice, minced fresh chili, grated ginger, a couple of cloves and a pinch of cayenne. Cook until thick.
11. Tomato-Corn Jam: In a saucepan, cook roughly chopped Roma or cherry tomatoes with fresh or frozen corn kernels, a minced chili and some sugar and lime juice to taste, until the jam thickens.
12. Garlic-Rosemary Figs: Soak dried figs, stems removed, in warm water until plump; drain and halve. Heat lightly smashed (and peeled) garlic with olive oil on medium-low heat, until softened. Add figs, along with some fresh orange juice. Cook until saucy.
SOUPS
13. Sauté sliced shallots in olive oil, then add chunks of butternut squash, some rosemary and chicken stock or water to cover. As the soup simmers, bake strips of prosciutto until crisp. Purée the soup, swirl in some cream if you like and serve topped with crumbled prosciutto.
14. Steam or poach 2 cups of pumpkin cubes until tender. Meanwhile, sauté 1 cup sliced shiitake mushroom caps in vegetable oil with a few drops of sesame oil. Boil 4 cups water and whisk some of it with 1/3 to 1/2 cup of miso. Stir miso mixture, pumpkin and mushrooms into water and heat everything through, then serve, drizzled with more sesame oil.
15. Thai Squash Soup: Simmer cubed winter squash, minced garlic, chili and ginger in coconut milk, plus stock or water to cover, until soft. Purée if you like. Just before serving, add chopped cilantro, lime juice and zest, and toasted chopped peanuts.
16. Sauté equal amounts chopped, peeled apples and onions in butter until soft. Add stock or water to cover, then simmer for 10 minutes. Cool and purée. Serve sprinkled with Stilton or other blue cheese.
17. Sauté chopped onion in butter, then chunks of sweet potato and stock or water to cover. Simmer until the sweet potatoes can be pierced with a knife, then add chopped kale and cook until wilted.
18. Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup: Sauté chopped onions and garlic in vegetable oil until soft. Add chopped or shredded carrots, cabbage, and daikon or turnip, frozen corn, chopped boxed tomatoes with their juice and stock to cover; bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes, then finish with about a tablespoon of rice wine vinegar per 2 cups of soup and loads of black pepper.
19. Sauté chopped onions, garlic, celery and carrots in olive oil, then add chopped tomatoes (boxed are fine) with their juice, lentils and stock or water to cover. When everything is soft, add a squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of red wine vinegar. Garnish with parsley.
20. Sauté ground or chopped lamb in a little oil, until it begins to brown, then add chopped onion, carrot and garlic and cook until the lamb is crisp. Add split peas, a bay leaf and stock or water to cover. Cook until the peas fall apart.
21. Brown a little crumbled or sliced sausage in olive oil; a sprinkle of fennel seeds is good, too. Add chopped escarole, cooked white beans with their juice, and stock or water to cover. Simmer until the greens are tender and the beans are warmed through. Garnish with olive oil or Parmesan.
22. Trim and halve brussels sprouts (if very large, quarter them) and roast with sliced onion, lots of peeled garlic cloves, chopped fresh sage and enough olive oil to coat. When sprouts are tender, transfer to a pot, add stock or water to cover, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. You can purée this or not. In any case, serve with grated Parmesan and more chopped sage.
23. Sauté leeks in butter until soft but not browned, then add cubed waxy potatoes, a little sage and stock or water to cover. Simmer until tender, purée and finish with about a cup of cream for each 6 cups of soup. Serve hot or cold, garnished with chives (if cold, call it vichyssoise).
STUFFINGS AND GRAINS
24. Combine a little cooked wild rice with much more cooked quinoa; sauté crumbled sweet Italian sausage with onion and fresh rosemary. Toss together. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.
25. Dice fennel bulb and onions and sauté in butter or olive oil (or both) until softened. Add dried cranberries, with a hit of not-too-dry white wine or water. Stir in cooked rice, along with more butter or oil if necessary. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.
26. Chop corn bread into cubes. Sauté cherry tomatoes, scallions and corn kernels in butter or oil. Deglaze the pan with beer, then empty the pan over the corn bread. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.
27. Cranberry Polenta Cakes: Make polenta with half milk, half water; stir in chopped fresh or dried cranberries. When thick, pour onto a sheet tray and let cool. Cut into squares and sauté or broil until slightly crisp. Drizzle with honey.
28. Toss cooked Israeli couscous with toasted pecans, orange zest and juice, chopped mint, cider vinegar and honey. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.
29. Toss cooked black rice with grated sweet potatoes (raw or sautéed in butter or oil), chopped dried apricots and a vinaigrette with honey and grated ginger.
30. Cook brown rice until just shy of done. Drain and mix with an equal amount of ground turkey and a little chopped fresh sage and chopped dried cherries. Form into patties and sauté or bake, turning once, until crisp and cooked all the way through.
31. Combine cooked wild rice with caramelized onions (nearly burnt onions are almost as good, and faster), chopped figs and fresh rosemary. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.
32. Cook couscous in stock or water. With a fork, stir in cinnamon, chopped mint, lightly sautéed pine nuts and melted butter. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.
33. Cook Israeli couscous in stock or water. With a fork, stir in chopped, pitted Kalamata or other olives, chopped green onions and diced, poached or roasted sweet potatoes. Dress with a vinaigrette.
34. Combine cooked bulgur with chopped or grated apple, minced orange rind, grated ginger and chopped parsley. Bake in an oiled dish, use as stuffing or serve as a salad.
35. Pumpkin-Noodle Kugel: Cook a half-pound of egg noodles in salted water until not quite done; drain and put them into a buttered baking dish. Whisk together 4 cups milk, 4 eggs, 1 cup puréed cooked pumpkin (canned is fine), 1/4 cup melted butter and a pinch each of cinnamon and salt. Pour over the noodles and sprinkle with bread crumbs (or, for added kitsch, corn flake crumbs). Bake 45 minutes to an hour, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
36. Boil peeled sweet potatoes and purée in a food processor, thinning with cooking water or cream until saucy. Add chopped garlic and unsweetened pure peanut butter and purée until smooth. Boil soba noodles until just done and toss with the purée until the noodles are lightly coated; garnish with chopped scallions. Serve at room temperature or cold.
37. Sauté crumbled sweet Italian sausage with cubes of butternut squash in a bit of oil. Toss in cooked farro and dress with more oil and lemon juice. Serve as a salad or toss with grated Parmesan and use as a stuffing.
VEGETABLE SIDE DISHES
38. Trim cremini or portobello mushrooms and chop stems. Sauté stems in butter or olive oil with chopped prosciutto, onions, chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, sage, parsley, etc.) and coarse fresh bread crumbs. Stuff spoonfuls of the mixture into mushroom caps; roast until tender.
39. Trim cremini or portobello mushrooms and chop stems. Cook crumbled sausage in olive oil until it begins to brown, then add stems and chopped onion and garlic. Mix with cooked rice, an egg for every 2 cups of mushrooms and enough bread crumbs and grated Parmesan to bind slightly. Spoon the stuffing into the mushroom caps and bake until tender.
40. Peel and trim pearl onions and toss them with a mixture of minced ginger, garlic, chilies and peanut oil. (A little sesame oil is good, too.) Roast until nicely caramelized, then drizzle with soy sauce.
41. Toss chunks of sweet potato and 2-inch lengths of scallion with neutral or peanut oil. (Again, a little sesame oil helps.) Roast, turning as necessary, until nicely caramelized; drizzle with soy.
42. Brussels Sprout Sliders: Trim and halve large brussels sprouts, toss with olive oil and roast at 400 degrees until tender but not mushy. Using the brussels sprout halves as you would hamburger buns, sandwich them around a piece of crispy bacon or ham, maybe a little caramelized onion, and a dab of whole grain mustard. Keep everything in place with toothpicks.
43. Toss chunks of butternut squash with butter and curry powder. Roast until half-tender, then stir in chunks of apple and some maple syrup. Cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until everything is nicely browned and tender.
44. Autumn Rolls: Shred sweet potatoes or carrots and brussels sprouts or cabbage. Roll them up with fresh sage or mint and some sprouts in rice paper. (Add sliced shrimp if you like.) Make a dipping sauce of soy, garlic, grated or minced ginger and honey.
45. Render some chopped bacon in a bit of oil, then add apple chunks; cook until nearly soft. Meanwhile, bake halved and seeded acorn, butternut or delicata squash until they start to soften. Fill squash with apple mixture and finish baking.
46. Chop and toss together equal amounts of beets and carrots; add chopped shiitakes, sesame oil and hot pepper flakes (preferably Korean). Roast until tender and sprinkle with sesame seeds and soy sauce.
47. Vegetable Torta: Roast sliced eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and onions. Stack in layers with fresh basil in a well-oiled springform or roasting pan and top with bread crumbs or Parmesan (or both); bake for 20 minutes or so.
48. Cut sweet potatoes into wedges; boil until tender. Drain and toss with olive oil. Wrap each with a prosciutto slice and a sage leaf, then roast until browned.
49. Halve and seed acorn, butternut or delicata squash and roast until squash begins to soften. Meanwhile, cook bulgur, drain and toss with coarsely chopped pine nuts and currants. Add a bit of the stuffing to each squash half and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake until squash is tender.
50. Cook chopped onions in olive oil until soft. Add chopped spinach and a handful of raisins — maybe a little port, too — and cook until wilted and almost dry. Roasted pine nuts are good on top.
51. Poach broccoli rabe or stemmed greens like collard leaves, then drain and chop. Combine with chopped water chestnuts and diced mushrooms in a skillet with sesame or peanut oil, minced garlic and hot pepper flakes. Cook until vegetables soften and dry a bit.
52. Pickled Collards: Boil 4 cups water and 1/2 cup vinegar with a tablespoon of sugar, a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of red chili flakes. Stem and chop or shred collard greens, pack them into a glass canning jar and pour hot liquid over the greens. Cover, cool and refrigerate at least three days.
53. Steam cauliflower florets and toss with olive oil. Roast with peeled whole garlic cloves and chopped bacon at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Chopped parsley is a worthwhile addition.
54. Cook onion, curry powder and chopped ginger in oil until onion is soft; meanwhile, steam cauliflower florets until nearly tender. Add cauliflower to onion mixture, along with raisins; cover and cook until the cauliflower softens.
55. Steam and salt edamame. Whisk soy and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat. Add grated ginger and a bit of cornstarch, stir until slightly thickened and pour over edamame.
56. Cook lentils, thyme sprigs and chopped carrots in a pot with water to cover until tender; drain and remove thyme. Cook chopped onions in oil until soft; add chopped kale and allow to wilt. Add lentils, stir to combine and cook until kale is tender. Add chopped parsley.
57. Zucchini and Potato Pancakes: Grate zucchini and potatoes; squeeze to drain. Combine with grated Parmesan, one beaten egg for every 2 cups of the vegetables, a little oregano and flour or fine bread crumbs until the mixture is sturdy. Shape into patties and shallow-fry until browned on both sides.
58. Pour a mixture of cooked white beans (with a little cooking or canning liquid) and grated, sautéed winter squash into an oiled baking dish. Mix together fresh bread crumbs, dots of butter and chopped fresh sage and spread over the top; broil until golden brown.
59. Blanch thinly sliced potato and leeks until tender but not mushy; drain well. Layer the vegetables in an oiled or buttered baking dish, then top with a mixture of bread crumbs and lightly sautéed chopped bacon (some cheese mixed in is pretty good, too). Broil until golden brown.
60. Marshmallow topping for adults: Roast or boil chunks of sweet potato, put them in an oiled baking dish, top with dots of cream cheese, and sprinkle with a mixture of brown sugar, chopped pecans and chopped fresh sage. Broil until lightly browned.
61. Cook a lot of chopped fennel in a skillet with butter until pretty much tender. Transfer to a baking pan and add milk, half-and-half or cream to about halfway up the fennel. Sprinkle with thyme and shaved pecorino, then bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, until bubbly and thickened.
62. Spinach-Cheese Pie: Sauté chopped garlic and 2 pounds of chopped spinach in plenty of olive oil until wilted and tender. Remove from the heat and stir in 1/2 to 3/4 cup crumbled feta or firm goat cheese, and a tablespoon chopped dill or mint. Layer 5 sheets phyllo dough in a greased baking dish, brushing each one with olive oil before adding the next. Spread the spinach over the phyllo, then top with 5 more phyllo sheets, each brushed with olive oil. Tuck in the edges if they extend over the ends of the pan, slash the top of the pie diagonally in a few places and bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes.
63. Slice potatoes thin and layer them in a nonstick skillet. Dot with butter and add enough half-and-half or milk to come three-quarters of the way to the top of the potatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer until liquid reduces a bit, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a 400-degree oven for 10 minutes until just brown, reduce to 300 degrees and cook until tender, 10 to 20 minutes more.
64. Mushroom Bread Pudding: Put 6 cups of good bread (day-old is best) cut into 1-inch chunks into a buttered baking dish. Beat 4 eggs with 2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan and pour over the bread. Sauté 4 cups of sliced mushrooms until tender with a teaspoon or two fresh thyme leaves and mix into the bread. Bake until just set, about 40 minutes.
65. Sauté garlic and pine nuts in olive oil until the garlic softens; add trimmed, blanched, chopped broccoli rabe (or broccoli). Put into a buttered baking dish, top with Parmesan and bread crumbs and bake until the topping browns.
SALADS
66. In a blender, whip olive oil, lime juice, a little red onion and a stemmed and seeded jalapeño. Toss with lots of shredded raw sweet potato, diced red bell pepper and chopped cilantro.
67. Sprinkle shelled pumpkin or squash seeds with a little chili powder; roast, shaking occasionally, until lightly browned. Combine with grated sweet potatoes (raw or lightly sautéed in butter or oil), raisins and a vinaigrette made with red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, a touch of honey and maybe a little more chili powder.
68. Peel sweet potatoes and boil until tender, drain and cool; dice. Treat carrots the same way. Make sauce of Dijon mustard, olive oil, cider vinegar and chopped scallions. Toss all together.
69. Shred carrots and cabbage (red, savoy or Napa). In a blender, whip olive oil, lemon or lime juice, a stemmed and seeded jalapeño, garlic and cilantro or parsley. Toss with the vegetables.
70. Blanch, shock in cold water, then julienne green beans, daikon and carrots; chill. Whisk soy sauce with honey and lemon to taste; pour over vegetables.
71. Add chopped scallions and chopped kalamata or other good black olives to cooked and drained white beans. Dress with white wine vinegar, olive oil and fresh thyme, marjoram or oregano.
72. Trim and shred raw brussels sprouts (the slicer on a food processor works well). Toss with lemon vinaigrette and shaved or grated Parmesan. Crumbled bacon, as usual, is a welcome visitor here.
73. Roast beets until tender, then peel and cut into chunks. Toss with olive oil, sherry vinegar, toasted chopped hazelnuts and crumbled blue cheese.
74. Trim and chop kale; salt and squeeze and knead until wilted and reduced in volume, about 5 minutes. Rinse, dry and toss with olive oil, lemon juice, chopped dried apples and toasted pine nuts.
75. Wild Rice Greek Salad: Toss cooked wild rice (or mix wild and white) with chopped tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, kalamata olives and crumbled feta. Dress with olive oil, lemon juice, parsley and mint.
76. Grate apples (red are nice; leave skin on), radish and celery. Roast pistachios and chop. Dress all with olive oil, shallots, grainy mustard, red wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar.
77. Trim and dice fresh tomatillos; peel and julienne jicama (or daikon or kohlrabi). For dressing, combine lemon and lime juices, olive oil and chopped cilantro. Pour over salad, top with toasted sesame seeds.
78. Slowly render cubed pork rind or turkey skin until crisp (for skin, start with a bit of oil or turkey fat). Thin sour cream with buttermilk and stir in minced parsley and garlic, black pepper and a little white wine vinegar. Arrange frisée on platter; top with dressing and cracklings.
79. Cook chopped pears in a covered saucepan with a tiny bit of water until soft. Purée, but not too fine. In your smallest pan, boil a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar with a little brown sugar; lower heat and reduce by half. Spoon the pear sauce over endive leaves and finish with toasted sliced almonds and the balsamic reduction.
80. Trim and coarsely chop chard (rainbow makes for a gorgeous salad) and combine with white beans and chopped scallions. Dressing is minced ginger, a suspicion of garlic, olive oil and cider vinegar.
BREADS AND CRACKERS
81. Tomato Pinwheels: Soak 1 cup dried tomatoes in hot water, drain and pulse in a food processor with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme (add water or oil if necessary). Combine 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon baking soda with 4 tablespoons cold butter (use food processor or fingers). Stir in 3/4 cup yogurt or buttermilk and gather the dough into a ball. Roll into a large rectangle on a floured surface, spread the tomatoes all over the dough and roll it up lengthwise. Cut the log crosswise into 1-inch slices, put them on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees until puffed and golden, 7 to 10 minutes.
82. Cornmeal Flatbread with Onion and Sage: Mix 1 cup cornmeal with 1 teaspoon salt; slowly whisk in 1 1/2 cups water. Cover and let sit for an hour (or up to 12 hours in the refrigerator). Put 1/4 cup olive oil in a 12-inch ovenproof skillet along with a thinly sliced red onion; stir. Heat the skillet in a 400-degree oven for a few minutes, then stir and pour in the batter. Bake at 375 degrees until the flatbread is crisp at the edges and releases easily from the pan, about 45 minutes.
83. Onion-Rosemary Skillet Bread: In a 12-inch cast iron pan, sauté half a large, thinly sliced red onion in about 1/4 cup olive oil until soft and beginning to color. Combine a cup of whole wheat flour with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon rosemary leaves; add 1 1/2 cups water and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter into the hot skillet and bake in a 450-degree oven until the flatbread is crisp on the edges and releases easily from the pan, about 30 to 40 minutes.
84. Sage Crackers: Pulse 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup Parmesan and 4 tablespoons cold butter in a food processor. Add 1/4 cup cream and 1 tablespoon finely chopped sage. When just combined, roll as thinly as possible, score into squares, sprinkle with salt and bake at 400 degrees until golden. Let cool, then break into pieces.
85. Herbed Buttermilk Biscuits: Combine 3 cups flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves. Use your fingers to rub in 1 1/2 sticks of butter until the mixture resembles small peas. Add 1 cup buttermilk and stir until just combined. Drop large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees until golden, about 15 minutes.
86. Spiced Muffins: Mix 2 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon each allspice and ground ginger, and a pinch of cloves. In another bowl, combine 1 egg, 1 cup milk and 3 tablespoons melted butter. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined, adding milk if the batter seems too dry. Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 375 degrees or until done.
87. Combine 2 cups whole wheat with 2 cups white flour and 1 teaspoon each baking powder, baking soda and salt in a food processor. Pour in 1 1/2 cups buttermilk or thin yogurt, and pulse until a ball is formed. Knead for a minute (fold in 1/2 cup raisins or currants at this point if you like), shape into a round loaf, slash the top in a few places and bake on a greased sheet for about 45 minutes, or until the bottom sounds hollow when you thump it.
88. Dill-Cheddar Puffs: Combine 1 cup water with 1/2 stick of butter and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. When the butter melts add 1 1/2 cups flour and cook, stirring, until the dough forms a ball, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, then add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating well until the mixture is glossy. Stir in 2 cups grated Cheddar and 2 tablespoon freshly chopped dill. Drop teaspoons of the batter on greased baking sheets and bake at 425 degrees until lightly browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.
89. Vegetable Crackers: Slice beets, sweet potatoes, plantains or parsnips or all of the above into 1/8-inch disks (a mandoline is helpful) and toss lightly in olive oil. Spread the slices on baking sheets, sprinkle with salt, pepper and, if you like, other seasonings and bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. When browned, flip the chips over and bake for another 10 minutes or so.
DESSERTS
90. Baked Apples: Combine chopped pecans and chopped dried fruit (raisins, dates, figs, cranberries all work) and toss with maple syrup and a sprinkle of cinnamon, allspice or nutmeg or all three. Fill the cavities of cored apples with the fruits and nuts, dot each with butter, put into a baking dish and roast about 30 minutes, until tender. Better with vanilla ice cream.
91. Pears in Red Wine: Simmer 2 cups red wine with 1/2 cup sugar, 2 cloves, a cinnamon stick and a few slices of ginger in a pot for a few minutes, then gently poach peeled and cored pears (use a spoon to hollow them from bottom), until soft. Cool or chill, and serve with a bit of the poaching liquid.
92. Cranberry Truffles: Heat 1/2 cup simple syrup and 1/2 cup bourbon or water; add 2 cups dried cranberries and steep until soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid. Pulse the fruit in a food processor, adding just enough liquid so the mixture comes together. Roll spoonfuls of the cranberry filling into balls, then roll them in cocoa, mixed with pulverized nuts if you like.
93. Pumpkin-Raisin-Ginger Turnovers: Mix puréed cooked pumpkin, raisins, chopped crystallized ginger and sugar. Brush a sheet of phyllo with melted butter and cut lengthwise into thirds. Put a spoonful of the filling at the top of each strip. Fold down to make a triangle and repeat, like folding a flag. Repeat with remaining filling. Brush the tops with butter and bake 20 to 30 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar.
94. Pumpkin-Tofu Pudding: Purée a package of silken tofu, 2 cups of cooked or canned pumpkin, simple syrup to taste, a splash of brandy and a pinch each of nutmeg and salt. Refrigerate until chilled.
95. Indian Pudding: Combine 3 cups of milk and 1/3 cup of cornmeal in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer; stir in 1/3 cup of molasses, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ginger and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and stir until melted. Pour pudding into a buttered baking dish and bake at 300 degrees for about 2 hours, uncovered, until golden brown and set in the middle. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
96. Sweet Autumn Gratin: Combine cubed pumpkin or sweet potato with cranberries and hazelnuts in a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with brown sugar and toss. Drizzle cream over all, dot with butter and bake until soft, bubbly and browned, 50 to 60 minutes. Re-warm before serving if you like.
97. Prunes With Hazelnuts: Simmer prunes in port with cloves and cinnamon until soft; remove prunes and reduce syrup. Strain over the prunes. Top them with whipped cream, and the cream with chopped toasted hazelnuts.
98. Chipotle Brittle: Cook 2 cups sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a deep saucepan over medium heat, stirring once in a while until golden. Off heat, stir in 2 cups peanuts or pumpkinseeds and 1 or 2 mashed canned chipotle chilies with a bit of their adobo (more if you like things fiery). Quickly spread the mixture out on a buttered rimmed baking sheet and let cool before breaking into pieces.
99. Apple-Cranberry Crumble: Peel and slice 4 large tart apples. Toss with a cup of cranberries, the juice and zest of a lemon and 1/4 cup brandy, apple cider or water and put into a buttered baking dish. Pulse 1/2 cup cold butter, 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, 1/2 cup flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon ginger in a food processor until crumbly — not fine. Top the fruit with this and bake until bubbly, about 45 minutes.
100. Spiced Macaroons: Mix 3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Stir in 3 lightly beaten egg whites and a teaspoon almond extract. Drop in small spoonfuls on baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until golden on the edges.
101. Buy some cheese. Unwrap it and put it on a plate with some walnuts and fruit; let come to room temperature. Serve with good bread.
The Minimalist - Things to Prepare Before the Turkey Goes in the Oven - NYTimes.com (19 November 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/dining/18mini.html?8dpc=&_r=1&pagewanted=print
http://snipurl.com/tbdre
The Minimalist
101 Head Starts on the Day By MARK BITTMAN
FOR cooks, most Thanksgiving problems are brought about by the sheer number of dishes competing for the stove: It's not easy to roast a turkey and sweet potatoes for 20 at the same time. The best solution is to make food in advance, like one of the dishes that follow.
Unlike my earlier 101 compendiums, this one has some recipes that take an hour or more. Still, most are pretty quick. Almost all can be served at room temperature, although the soups should be reheated. Salting to taste is always a given. And if I don't specify a temperature, "roast" or "bake" means a 375-degree oven.
RELISHES, CHUTNEYS AND JAMS
1. Onion-Pumpkinseed Relish: Roast thick slices of red onion with olive oil until softened and nicely browned. Chop, then toss with minced chives, toasted pumpkinseeds and a little more olive oil.
2. Apricot-Tomato Chutney: Combine chunks of dried apricot and fresh tomato, a splash of apple cider, brown sugar, ginger, cloves and a touch of curry powder; bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for about 20 minutes.
3. Red Onion Jam with Red Wine and Rosemary: Thinly slice red onions and cook them in olive oil until very soft. Add chopped rosemary and red wine, and cook until the jam thickens.
4. Onion Jam with Bacon and Bourbon: Thinly slice red onions and cook in olive oil with chopped bacon until soft. Add a little bourbon and brown sugar to taste and cook until the jam thickens.
5. Apple Chutney: Cook big chunks of peeled, cored apple with a little apple cider, Dijon or whole-grain mustard and chopped sage until the chutney thickens. Don't cook it until it becomes apple sauce unless you want to.
6. Cranberry-Corn Sauce: Cook a bag of fresh cranberries with about a cup of corn kernels, some chopped scallions, 1/4 cup brown sugar (or to taste) and a splash of water, just until thick.
7. Cranberry-Orange Sauce: Cook a bag of fresh cranberries with orange and lemon zest, cut up (peeled) orange segments, 1/4 cup sugar (or to taste) and a bit of minced jalapeño or chipotle.
8. Cranberry-Beet Sauce: Put equal amounts shredded beets and fresh cranberries in a saucepan with a small splash of orange juice, orange zest and honey or maple syrup to taste. Cook until thick.
9. Prune Relish: Put pitted prunes, fresh mango, a little cider vinegar and sugar to taste in a saucepan. Cook for 30 minutes, adding chopped fresh ginger to taste about halfway through.
10. Ginger-Apricot Chutney: Put dried apricots in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Add lemon juice, minced fresh chili, grated ginger, a couple of cloves and a pinch of cayenne. Cook until thick.
11. Tomato-Corn Jam: In a saucepan, cook roughly chopped Roma or cherry tomatoes with fresh or frozen corn kernels, a minced chili and some sugar and lime juice to taste, until the jam thickens.
12. Garlic-Rosemary Figs: Soak dried figs, stems removed, in warm water until plump; drain and halve. Heat lightly smashed (and peeled) garlic with olive oil on medium-low heat, until softened. Add figs, along with some fresh orange juice. Cook until saucy.
SOUPS
13. Sauté sliced shallots in olive oil, then add chunks of butternut squash, some rosemary and chicken stock or water to cover. As the soup simmers, bake strips of prosciutto until crisp. Purée the soup, swirl in some cream if you like and serve topped with crumbled prosciutto.
14. Steam or poach 2 cups of pumpkin cubes until tender. Meanwhile, sauté 1 cup sliced shiitake mushroom caps in vegetable oil with a few drops of sesame oil. Boil 4 cups water and whisk some of it with 1/3 to 1/2 cup of miso. Stir miso mixture, pumpkin and mushrooms into water and heat everything through, then serve, drizzled with more sesame oil.
15. Thai Squash Soup: Simmer cubed winter squash, minced garlic, chili and ginger in coconut milk, plus stock or water to cover, until soft. Purée if you like. Just before serving, add chopped cilantro, lime juice and zest, and toasted chopped peanuts.
16. Sauté equal amounts chopped, peeled apples and onions in butter until soft. Add stock or water to cover, then simmer for 10 minutes. Cool and purée. Serve sprinkled with Stilton or other blue cheese.
17. Sauté chopped onion in butter, then chunks of sweet potato and stock or water to cover. Simmer until the sweet potatoes can be pierced with a knife, then add chopped kale and cook until wilted.
18. Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup: Sauté chopped onions and garlic in vegetable oil until soft. Add chopped or shredded carrots, cabbage, and daikon or turnip, frozen corn, chopped boxed tomatoes with their juice and stock to cover; bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes, then finish with about a tablespoon of rice wine vinegar per 2 cups of soup and loads of black pepper.
19. Sauté chopped onions, garlic, celery and carrots in olive oil, then add chopped tomatoes (boxed are fine) with their juice, lentils and stock or water to cover. When everything is soft, add a squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of red wine vinegar. Garnish with parsley.
20. Sauté ground or chopped lamb in a little oil, until it begins to brown, then add chopped onion, carrot and garlic and cook until the lamb is crisp. Add split peas, a bay leaf and stock or water to cover. Cook until the peas fall apart.
21. Brown a little crumbled or sliced sausage in olive oil; a sprinkle of fennel seeds is good, too. Add chopped escarole, cooked white beans with their juice, and stock or water to cover. Simmer until the greens are tender and the beans are warmed through. Garnish with olive oil or Parmesan.
22. Trim and halve brussels sprouts (if very large, quarter them) and roast with sliced onion, lots of peeled garlic cloves, chopped fresh sage and enough olive oil to coat. When sprouts are tender, transfer to a pot, add stock or water to cover, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. You can purée this or not. In any case, serve with grated Parmesan and more chopped sage.
23. Sauté leeks in butter until soft but not browned, then add cubed waxy potatoes, a little sage and stock or water to cover. Simmer until tender, purée and finish with about a cup of cream for each 6 cups of soup. Serve hot or cold, garnished with chives (if cold, call it vichyssoise).
STUFFINGS AND GRAINS
24. Combine a little cooked wild rice with much more cooked quinoa; sauté crumbled sweet Italian sausage with onion and fresh rosemary. Toss together. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.
25. Dice fennel bulb and onions and sauté in butter or olive oil (or both) until softened. Add dried cranberries, with a hit of not-too-dry white wine or water. Stir in cooked rice, along with more butter or oil if necessary. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.
26. Chop corn bread into cubes. Sauté cherry tomatoes, scallions and corn kernels in butter or oil. Deglaze the pan with beer, then empty the pan over the corn bread. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.
27. Cranberry Polenta Cakes: Make polenta with half milk, half water; stir in chopped fresh or dried cranberries. When thick, pour onto a sheet tray and let cool. Cut into squares and sauté or broil until slightly crisp. Drizzle with honey.
28. Toss cooked Israeli couscous with toasted pecans, orange zest and juice, chopped mint, cider vinegar and honey. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.
29. Toss cooked black rice with grated sweet potatoes (raw or sautéed in butter or oil), chopped dried apricots and a vinaigrette with honey and grated ginger.
30. Cook brown rice until just shy of done. Drain and mix with an equal amount of ground turkey and a little chopped fresh sage and chopped dried cherries. Form into patties and sauté or bake, turning once, until crisp and cooked all the way through.
31. Combine cooked wild rice with caramelized onions (nearly burnt onions are almost as good, and faster), chopped figs and fresh rosemary. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.
32. Cook couscous in stock or water. With a fork, stir in cinnamon, chopped mint, lightly sautéed pine nuts and melted butter. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.
33. Cook Israeli couscous in stock or water. With a fork, stir in chopped, pitted Kalamata or other olives, chopped green onions and diced, poached or roasted sweet potatoes. Dress with a vinaigrette.
34. Combine cooked bulgur with chopped or grated apple, minced orange rind, grated ginger and chopped parsley. Bake in an oiled dish, use as stuffing or serve as a salad.
35. Pumpkin-Noodle Kugel: Cook a half-pound of egg noodles in salted water until not quite done; drain and put them into a buttered baking dish. Whisk together 4 cups milk, 4 eggs, 1 cup puréed cooked pumpkin (canned is fine), 1/4 cup melted butter and a pinch each of cinnamon and salt. Pour over the noodles and sprinkle with bread crumbs (or, for added kitsch, corn flake crumbs). Bake 45 minutes to an hour, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
36. Boil peeled sweet potatoes and purée in a food processor, thinning with cooking water or cream until saucy. Add chopped garlic and unsweetened pure peanut butter and purée until smooth. Boil soba noodles until just done and toss with the purée until the noodles are lightly coated; garnish with chopped scallions. Serve at room temperature or cold.
37. Sauté crumbled sweet Italian sausage with cubes of butternut squash in a bit of oil. Toss in cooked farro and dress with more oil and lemon juice. Serve as a salad or toss with grated Parmesan and use as a stuffing.
VEGETABLE SIDE DISHES
38. Trim cremini or portobello mushrooms and chop stems. Sauté stems in butter or olive oil with chopped prosciutto, onions, chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, sage, parsley, etc.) and coarse fresh bread crumbs. Stuff spoonfuls of the mixture into mushroom caps; roast until tender.
39. Trim cremini or portobello mushrooms and chop stems. Cook crumbled sausage in olive oil until it begins to brown, then add stems and chopped onion and garlic. Mix with cooked rice, an egg for every 2 cups of mushrooms and enough bread crumbs and grated Parmesan to bind slightly. Spoon the stuffing into the mushroom caps and bake until tender.
40. Peel and trim pearl onions and toss them with a mixture of minced ginger, garlic, chilies and peanut oil. (A little sesame oil is good, too.) Roast until nicely caramelized, then drizzle with soy sauce.
41. Toss chunks of sweet potato and 2-inch lengths of scallion with neutral or peanut oil. (Again, a little sesame oil helps.) Roast, turning as necessary, until nicely caramelized; drizzle with soy.
42. Brussels Sprout Sliders: Trim and halve large brussels sprouts, toss with olive oil and roast at 400 degrees until tender but not mushy. Using the brussels sprout halves as you would hamburger buns, sandwich them around a piece of crispy bacon or ham, maybe a little caramelized onion, and a dab of whole grain mustard. Keep everything in place with toothpicks.
43. Toss chunks of butternut squash with butter and curry powder. Roast until half-tender, then stir in chunks of apple and some maple syrup. Cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until everything is nicely browned and tender.
44. Autumn Rolls: Shred sweet potatoes or carrots and brussels sprouts or cabbage. Roll them up with fresh sage or mint and some sprouts in rice paper. (Add sliced shrimp if you like.) Make a dipping sauce of soy, garlic, grated or minced ginger and honey.
45. Render some chopped bacon in a bit of oil, then add apple chunks; cook until nearly soft. Meanwhile, bake halved and seeded acorn, butternut or delicata squash until they start to soften. Fill squash with apple mixture and finish baking.
46. Chop and toss together equal amounts of beets and carrots; add chopped shiitakes, sesame oil and hot pepper flakes (preferably Korean). Roast until tender and sprinkle with sesame seeds and soy sauce.
47. Vegetable Torta: Roast sliced eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and onions. Stack in layers with fresh basil in a well-oiled springform or roasting pan and top with bread crumbs or Parmesan (or both); bake for 20 minutes or so.
48. Cut sweet potatoes into wedges; boil until tender. Drain and toss with olive oil. Wrap each with a prosciutto slice and a sage leaf, then roast until browned.
49. Halve and seed acorn, butternut or delicata squash and roast until squash begins to soften. Meanwhile, cook bulgur, drain and toss with coarsely chopped pine nuts and currants. Add a bit of the stuffing to each squash half and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake until squash is tender.
50. Cook chopped onions in olive oil until soft. Add chopped spinach and a handful of raisins — maybe a little port, too — and cook until wilted and almost dry. Roasted pine nuts are good on top.
51. Poach broccoli rabe or stemmed greens like collard leaves, then drain and chop. Combine with chopped water chestnuts and diced mushrooms in a skillet with sesame or peanut oil, minced garlic and hot pepper flakes. Cook until vegetables soften and dry a bit.
52. Pickled Collards: Boil 4 cups water and 1/2 cup vinegar with a tablespoon of sugar, a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of red chili flakes. Stem and chop or shred collard greens, pack them into a glass canning jar and pour hot liquid over the greens. Cover, cool and refrigerate at least three days.
53. Steam cauliflower florets and toss with olive oil. Roast with peeled whole garlic cloves and chopped bacon at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Chopped parsley is a worthwhile addition.
54. Cook onion, curry powder and chopped ginger in oil until onion is soft; meanwhile, steam cauliflower florets until nearly tender. Add cauliflower to onion mixture, along with raisins; cover and cook until the cauliflower softens.
55. Steam and salt edamame. Whisk soy and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat. Add grated ginger and a bit of cornstarch, stir until slightly thickened and pour over edamame.
56. Cook lentils, thyme sprigs and chopped carrots in a pot with water to cover until tender; drain and remove thyme. Cook chopped onions in oil until soft; add chopped kale and allow to wilt. Add lentils, stir to combine and cook until kale is tender. Add chopped parsley.
57. Zucchini and Potato Pancakes: Grate zucchini and potatoes; squeeze to drain. Combine with grated Parmesan, one beaten egg for every 2 cups of the vegetables, a little oregano and flour or fine bread crumbs until the mixture is sturdy. Shape into patties and shallow-fry until browned on both sides.
58. Pour a mixture of cooked white beans (with a little cooking or canning liquid) and grated, sautéed winter squash into an oiled baking dish. Mix together fresh bread crumbs, dots of butter and chopped fresh sage and spread over the top; broil until golden brown.
59. Blanch thinly sliced potato and leeks until tender but not mushy; drain well. Layer the vegetables in an oiled or buttered baking dish, then top with a mixture of bread crumbs and lightly sautéed chopped bacon (some cheese mixed in is pretty good, too). Broil until golden brown.
60. Marshmallow topping for adults: Roast or boil chunks of sweet potato, put them in an oiled baking dish, top with dots of cream cheese, and sprinkle with a mixture of brown sugar, chopped pecans and chopped fresh sage. Broil until lightly browned.
61. Cook a lot of chopped fennel in a skillet with butter until pretty much tender. Transfer to a baking pan and add milk, half-and-half or cream to about halfway up the fennel. Sprinkle with thyme and shaved pecorino, then bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, until bubbly and thickened.
62. Spinach-Cheese Pie: Sauté chopped garlic and 2 pounds of chopped spinach in plenty of olive oil until wilted and tender. Remove from the heat and stir in 1/2 to 3/4 cup crumbled feta or firm goat cheese, and a tablespoon chopped dill or mint. Layer 5 sheets phyllo dough in a greased baking dish, brushing each one with olive oil before adding the next. Spread the spinach over the phyllo, then top with 5 more phyllo sheets, each brushed with olive oil. Tuck in the edges if they extend over the ends of the pan, slash the top of the pie diagonally in a few places and bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes.
63. Slice potatoes thin and layer them in a nonstick skillet. Dot with butter and add enough half-and-half or milk to come three-quarters of the way to the top of the potatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer until liquid reduces a bit, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a 400-degree oven for 10 minutes until just brown, reduce to 300 degrees and cook until tender, 10 to 20 minutes more.
64. Mushroom Bread Pudding: Put 6 cups of good bread (day-old is best) cut into 1-inch chunks into a buttered baking dish. Beat 4 eggs with 2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan and pour over the bread. Sauté 4 cups of sliced mushrooms until tender with a teaspoon or two fresh thyme leaves and mix into the bread. Bake until just set, about 40 minutes.
65. Sauté garlic and pine nuts in olive oil until the garlic softens; add trimmed, blanched, chopped broccoli rabe (or broccoli). Put into a buttered baking dish, top with Parmesan and bread crumbs and bake until the topping browns.
SALADS
66. In a blender, whip olive oil, lime juice, a little red onion and a stemmed and seeded jalapeño. Toss with lots of shredded raw sweet potato, diced red bell pepper and chopped cilantro.
67. Sprinkle shelled pumpkin or squash seeds with a little chili powder; roast, shaking occasionally, until lightly browned. Combine with grated sweet potatoes (raw or lightly sautéed in butter or oil), raisins and a vinaigrette made with red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, a touch of honey and maybe a little more chili powder.
68. Peel sweet potatoes and boil until tender, drain and cool; dice. Treat carrots the same way. Make sauce of Dijon mustard, olive oil, cider vinegar and chopped scallions. Toss all together.
69. Shred carrots and cabbage (red, savoy or Napa). In a blender, whip olive oil, lemon or lime juice, a stemmed and seeded jalapeño, garlic and cilantro or parsley. Toss with the vegetables.
70. Blanch, shock in cold water, then julienne green beans, daikon and carrots; chill. Whisk soy sauce with honey and lemon to taste; pour over vegetables.
71. Add chopped scallions and chopped kalamata or other good black olives to cooked and drained white beans. Dress with white wine vinegar, olive oil and fresh thyme, marjoram or oregano.
72. Trim and shred raw brussels sprouts (the slicer on a food processor works well). Toss with lemon vinaigrette and shaved or grated Parmesan. Crumbled bacon, as usual, is a welcome visitor here.
73. Roast beets until tender, then peel and cut into chunks. Toss with olive oil, sherry vinegar, toasted chopped hazelnuts and crumbled blue cheese.
74. Trim and chop kale; salt and squeeze and knead until wilted and reduced in volume, about 5 minutes. Rinse, dry and toss with olive oil, lemon juice, chopped dried apples and toasted pine nuts.
75. Wild Rice Greek Salad: Toss cooked wild rice (or mix wild and white) with chopped tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, kalamata olives and crumbled feta. Dress with olive oil, lemon juice, parsley and mint.
76. Grate apples (red are nice; leave skin on), radish and celery. Roast pistachios and chop. Dress all with olive oil, shallots, grainy mustard, red wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar.
77. Trim and dice fresh tomatillos; peel and julienne jicama (or daikon or kohlrabi). For dressing, combine lemon and lime juices, olive oil and chopped cilantro. Pour over salad, top with toasted sesame seeds.
78. Slowly render cubed pork rind or turkey skin until crisp (for skin, start with a bit of oil or turkey fat). Thin sour cream with buttermilk and stir in minced parsley and garlic, black pepper and a little white wine vinegar. Arrange frisée on platter; top with dressing and cracklings.
79. Cook chopped pears in a covered saucepan with a tiny bit of water until soft. Purée, but not too fine. In your smallest pan, boil a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar with a little brown sugar; lower heat and reduce by half. Spoon the pear sauce over endive leaves and finish with toasted sliced almonds and the balsamic reduction.
80. Trim and coarsely chop chard (rainbow makes for a gorgeous salad) and combine with white beans and chopped scallions. Dressing is minced ginger, a suspicion of garlic, olive oil and cider vinegar.
BREADS AND CRACKERS
81. Tomato Pinwheels: Soak 1 cup dried tomatoes in hot water, drain and pulse in a food processor with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme (add water or oil if necessary). Combine 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon baking soda with 4 tablespoons cold butter (use food processor or fingers). Stir in 3/4 cup yogurt or buttermilk and gather the dough into a ball. Roll into a large rectangle on a floured surface, spread the tomatoes all over the dough and roll it up lengthwise. Cut the log crosswise into 1-inch slices, put them on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees until puffed and golden, 7 to 10 minutes.
82. Cornmeal Flatbread with Onion and Sage: Mix 1 cup cornmeal with 1 teaspoon salt; slowly whisk in 1 1/2 cups water. Cover and let sit for an hour (or up to 12 hours in the refrigerator). Put 1/4 cup olive oil in a 12-inch ovenproof skillet along with a thinly sliced red onion; stir. Heat the skillet in a 400-degree oven for a few minutes, then stir and pour in the batter. Bake at 375 degrees until the flatbread is crisp at the edges and releases easily from the pan, about 45 minutes.
83. Onion-Rosemary Skillet Bread: In a 12-inch cast iron pan, sauté half a large, thinly sliced red onion in about 1/4 cup olive oil until soft and beginning to color. Combine a cup of whole wheat flour with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon rosemary leaves; add 1 1/2 cups water and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter into the hot skillet and bake in a 450-degree oven until the flatbread is crisp on the edges and releases easily from the pan, about 30 to 40 minutes.
84. Sage Crackers: Pulse 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup Parmesan and 4 tablespoons cold butter in a food processor. Add 1/4 cup cream and 1 tablespoon finely chopped sage. When just combined, roll as thinly as possible, score into squares, sprinkle with salt and bake at 400 degrees until golden. Let cool, then break into pieces.
85. Herbed Buttermilk Biscuits: Combine 3 cups flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves. Use your fingers to rub in 1 1/2 sticks of butter until the mixture resembles small peas. Add 1 cup buttermilk and stir until just combined. Drop large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees until golden, about 15 minutes.
86. Spiced Muffins: Mix 2 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon each allspice and ground ginger, and a pinch of cloves. In another bowl, combine 1 egg, 1 cup milk and 3 tablespoons melted butter. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined, adding milk if the batter seems too dry. Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 375 degrees or until done.
87. Combine 2 cups whole wheat with 2 cups white flour and 1 teaspoon each baking powder, baking soda and salt in a food processor. Pour in 1 1/2 cups buttermilk or thin yogurt, and pulse until a ball is formed. Knead for a minute (fold in 1/2 cup raisins or currants at this point if you like), shape into a round loaf, slash the top in a few places and bake on a greased sheet for about 45 minutes, or until the bottom sounds hollow when you thump it.
88. Dill-Cheddar Puffs: Combine 1 cup water with 1/2 stick of butter and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. When the butter melts add 1 1/2 cups flour and cook, stirring, until the dough forms a ball, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, then add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating well until the mixture is glossy. Stir in 2 cups grated Cheddar and 2 tablespoon freshly chopped dill. Drop teaspoons of the batter on greased baking sheets and bake at 425 degrees until lightly browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.
89. Vegetable Crackers: Slice beets, sweet potatoes, plantains or parsnips or all of the above into 1/8-inch disks (a mandoline is helpful) and toss lightly in olive oil. Spread the slices on baking sheets, sprinkle with salt, pepper and, if you like, other seasonings and bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. When browned, flip the chips over and bake for another 10 minutes or so.
DESSERTS
90. Baked Apples: Combine chopped pecans and chopped dried fruit (raisins, dates, figs, cranberries all work) and toss with maple syrup and a sprinkle of cinnamon, allspice or nutmeg or all three. Fill the cavities of cored apples with the fruits and nuts, dot each with butter, put into a baking dish and roast about 30 minutes, until tender. Better with vanilla ice cream.
91. Pears in Red Wine: Simmer 2 cups red wine with 1/2 cup sugar, 2 cloves, a cinnamon stick and a few slices of ginger in a pot for a few minutes, then gently poach peeled and cored pears (use a spoon to hollow them from bottom), until soft. Cool or chill, and serve with a bit of the poaching liquid.
92. Cranberry Truffles: Heat 1/2 cup simple syrup and 1/2 cup bourbon or water; add 2 cups dried cranberries and steep until soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid. Pulse the fruit in a food processor, adding just enough liquid so the mixture comes together. Roll spoonfuls of the cranberry filling into balls, then roll them in cocoa, mixed with pulverized nuts if you like.
93. Pumpkin-Raisin-Ginger Turnovers: Mix puréed cooked pumpkin, raisins, chopped crystallized ginger and sugar. Brush a sheet of phyllo with melted butter and cut lengthwise into thirds. Put a spoonful of the filling at the top of each strip. Fold down to make a triangle and repeat, like folding a flag. Repeat with remaining filling. Brush the tops with butter and bake 20 to 30 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar.
94. Pumpkin-Tofu Pudding: Purée a package of silken tofu, 2 cups of cooked or canned pumpkin, simple syrup to taste, a splash of brandy and a pinch each of nutmeg and salt. Refrigerate until chilled.
95. Indian Pudding: Combine 3 cups of milk and 1/3 cup of cornmeal in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer; stir in 1/3 cup of molasses, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ginger and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and stir until melted. Pour pudding into a buttered baking dish and bake at 300 degrees for about 2 hours, uncovered, until golden brown and set in the middle. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
96. Sweet Autumn Gratin: Combine cubed pumpkin or sweet potato with cranberries and hazelnuts in a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with brown sugar and toss. Drizzle cream over all, dot with butter and bake until soft, bubbly and browned, 50 to 60 minutes. Re-warm before serving if you like.
97. Prunes With Hazelnuts: Simmer prunes in port with cloves and cinnamon until soft; remove prunes and reduce syrup. Strain over the prunes. Top them with whipped cream, and the cream with chopped toasted hazelnuts.
98. Chipotle Brittle: Cook 2 cups sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a deep saucepan over medium heat, stirring once in a while until golden. Off heat, stir in 2 cups peanuts or pumpkinseeds and 1 or 2 mashed canned chipotle chilies with a bit of their adobo (more if you like things fiery). Quickly spread the mixture out on a buttered rimmed baking sheet and let cool before breaking into pieces.
99. Apple-Cranberry Crumble: Peel and slice 4 large tart apples. Toss with a cup of cranberries, the juice and zest of a lemon and 1/4 cup brandy, apple cider or water and put into a buttered baking dish. Pulse 1/2 cup cold butter, 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, 1/2 cup flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon ginger in a food processor until crumbly — not fine. Top the fruit with this and bake until bubbly, about 45 minutes.
100. Spiced Macaroons: Mix 3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Stir in 3 lightly beaten egg whites and a teaspoon almond extract. Drop in small spoonfuls on baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until golden on the edges.
101. Buy some cheese. Unwrap it and put it on a plate with some walnuts and fruit; let come to room temperature. Serve with good bread.
The Minimalist - Things to Prepare Before the Turkey Goes in the Oven - NYTimes.com (19 November 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/dining/18mini.html?8dpc=&_r=1&pagewanted=print
http://snipurl.com/tbdre
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Off the Charts Job Losses Mount, Enduring and Deep By FLOYD NORRIS
November 14, 2009
Off the Charts Job Losses Mount, Enduring and Deep By FLOYD NORRIS
THE rise in unemployment that has occurred in the current recession has been hardest on young workers, while having a smaller effect on older workers than previous downturns. Women have been more likely than men to hold on to their jobs.
The overall unemployment rate, which reached 10.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis last month, remains below the post-World War II peak of 10.8 percent, reached in late 1982. But the proportion of workers who have been out of work for a long time is higher now than it has ever been since the Great Depression.
The persistence of joblessness for so many people — 5.6 million Americans have now been out of work for more than half a year even though they have continued to seek employment — may provide the greatest challenge for the Obama administration if it decides to seek a new economic stimulus program.
The short-term unemployment rate — the proportion of the work force that has been jobless for less than 15 weeks — has begun to decline, however, and stood at 4.5 percent in October after peaking at 4.9 percent in May.
That decline is a signal that the recession, which officially began in December 2007, probably has ended. In past recessions since World War II, the National Bureau of Economic Research has always dated the end within two months of the peak in short-term joblessness.
Over the last three years — since October 2006 — the overall unemployment rate has risen by 5.8 percentage points. That is the largest such increase since the Great Depression, providing another indication of the rapidity and severity of the current downturn.
Before this cycle, the sharpest 36-month increase since World War II was a 4.9 percentage point rise in the period that ended November 1982.
The accompanying charts show the short- and long-term unemployment rates during the three cycles since World War II when the unemployment rate rose above 8 percent, and reflect how different groups of workers fared in each.
Each of the charts begins in the month when the broadest measure of employment — the proportion of people over age 16 with jobs — hit a cyclical peak. The first two end when that measure reached a cyclical low, several months after the recession was later deemed to have ended. The final chart runs through October, the latest month available.
With each chart are calculations on the proportion of jobs that were added or lost from the peak through the bottom for differing groups of workers.
This cycle has been the worst over all, with the government's household survey in October finding 7.7 million fewer jobs than in December 2006, when the employment-to-population ratio reached its high for the current cycle. The declines during the two earlier cycles, from November 1973 to June 1975 and from December 1979 to March 1983, were 0.8 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively.
Women have held on to jobs better than men have during this downturn, reflecting a pattern that prevailed during the previous cycles.
One major difference is how older workers have fared. The number of jobs held by men over 55 is up 5.6 percent since the cycle began, and the number of jobs held by women of that age has risen by 9.3 percent.
There are fewer jobs for workers age 54 to 64 than when the cycle began, but that group has done much better than younger workers.
By contrast, younger workers were more likely to hold on to their jobs in the two previous downturns.
It is not clear why that pattern has changed. It is against federal law to discriminate against older workers, but that law was passed in 1967, before either of the previous downturns. It could be that the plunge in real estate and stock prices in 2008 led fewer older workers to decide to retire.
The proportion of the work force out of work for more than 15 weeks reached 5.7 percent in October, well above the 4.2 percent figure reached in 1982. That had been the highest such figure since the government began calculating the number in 1948.
The proportion that has been out of work for at least 27 weeks — half a year — is now 3.6 percent, also a record.
Off the Charts - Job Losses Both Deep and Enduring, Especially for the Young - NYTimes.com (15 November 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/business/economy/14charts.html?_r=1&sq=floyd%20norris%20Job%20losses%20mount&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=1&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1258290270-LZnRWBjr4bF093Z/ZgTJ1A
http://snipurl.com/t8yqi
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Trucks, Trains and Trees By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
November 11, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Trucks, Trains and Trees By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Tapajós National Forest, Brazil
No matter how many times you hear them, there are some statistics that just bowl you over. The one that always stuns me is this: Imagine if you took all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships in the world and added up their exhaust every year. The amount of carbon dioxide, or CO2, all those cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships collectively emit into the atmosphere is actually less than the carbon emissions every year that result from the chopping down and clearing of tropical forests in places like Brazil, Indonesia and the Congo. We are now losing a tropical forest the size of New York State every year, and the carbon that releases into the atmosphere now accounts for roughly 17 percent of all global emissions contributing to climate change.
It is going to be a long time before we transform the world's transportation fleet so it is emission-free. But right now — like tomorrow — we could eliminate 17 percent of all global emissions if we could halt the cutting and burning of tropical forests. But to do that requires putting in place a whole new system of economic development — one that makes it more profitable for the poorer, forest-rich nations to preserve and manage their trees rather than to chop them down to make furniture or plant soybeans.
Without a new system for economic development in the timber-rich tropics, you can kiss the rainforests goodbye. The old model of economic growth will devour them. The only Amazon your grandchildren will ever relate to is the one that ends in dot-com and sells books.
To better understand this issue, I'm visiting the Tapajós National Forest in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon on a trip organized by Conservation International and the Brazilian government. Flying in here by prop plane from Manaus, you can understand why the Amazon rainforest is considered one of the lungs of the world. Even from 20,000 feet, all you see in every direction is an unbroken expanse of rainforest treetops that, from the air, looks like a vast and endless carpet of broccoli.
Once on the ground, we drove from Santarém into Tapajós, where we met with the community cooperative that manages the eco-friendly businesses here that support the 8,000 local people living in this protected forest. What you learn when you visit with a tiny Brazilian community that actually lives in, and off, the forest is a simple but crucial truth: To save an ecosystem of nature, you need an ecosystem of markets and governance.
"You need a new model of economic development — one that is based on raising people's standards of living by maintaining their natural capital, not just by converting that natural capital to ranching or industrial farming or logging," said José María Silva, vice president for South America of Conservation International.
Right now people protecting the rainforest are paid a pittance — compared with those who strip it — even though we now know that the rainforest provides everything from keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere to maintaining the flow of freshwater into rivers.
The good news is that Brazil has put in place all the elements of a system to compensate its forest-dwellers for maintaining the forests. Brazil has already set aside 43 percent of the Amazon rainforest for conservation and for indigenous peoples. Another 19 percent of the Amazon, though, has already been deforested by farmers and ranchers.
So the big question is what will happen to the other 38 percent. The more we get the Brazilian system to work, the more of that 38 percent will be preserved and the less carbon reductions the whole world would have to make. But it takes money.
The residents of the Tapajós reserve are already organized into cooperatives that sell eco-tourism on rainforest trails, furniture and other wood products made from sustainable selective logging and a very attractive line of purses made from "ecological leather," a k a, rainforest rubber. They also get government subsidies.
Sergio Pimentel, 48, explained to me that he used to farm about five acres of land for subsistence, but now is using only about one acre to support his family of six. The rest of the income comes through the co-op's forest businesses. "We were born inside the forest," he added. "So we know the importance of it being preserved, but we need better access to global markets for the products we make here. Can you help us with that?"
There are community co-ops like this all over the protected areas of the Amazon rainforest. But this system needs money — money to expand into more markets, money to maintain police monitoring and enforcement and money to improve the productivity of farming on already degraded lands so people won't eat up more rainforest. That is why we need to make sure that whatever energy-climate bill comes out of the U.S. Congress, and whatever framework comes out of the Copenhagen conference next month, they include provisions for financing rainforest conservation systems like those in Brazil. The last 38 percent of the Amazon is still up for grabs. It is there for us to save. Your grandchildren will thank you.
Op-Ed Columnist - Trucks, Trains and Trees - NYTimes.com (15 November 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/opinion/11friedman.html?sq=friedman%20trucks%20trains&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print
http://snipurl.com/t8z0r
Op-Ed Columnist
Trucks, Trains and Trees By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Tapajós National Forest, Brazil
No matter how many times you hear them, there are some statistics that just bowl you over. The one that always stuns me is this: Imagine if you took all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships in the world and added up their exhaust every year. The amount of carbon dioxide, or CO2, all those cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships collectively emit into the atmosphere is actually less than the carbon emissions every year that result from the chopping down and clearing of tropical forests in places like Brazil, Indonesia and the Congo. We are now losing a tropical forest the size of New York State every year, and the carbon that releases into the atmosphere now accounts for roughly 17 percent of all global emissions contributing to climate change.
It is going to be a long time before we transform the world's transportation fleet so it is emission-free. But right now — like tomorrow — we could eliminate 17 percent of all global emissions if we could halt the cutting and burning of tropical forests. But to do that requires putting in place a whole new system of economic development — one that makes it more profitable for the poorer, forest-rich nations to preserve and manage their trees rather than to chop them down to make furniture or plant soybeans.
Without a new system for economic development in the timber-rich tropics, you can kiss the rainforests goodbye. The old model of economic growth will devour them. The only Amazon your grandchildren will ever relate to is the one that ends in dot-com and sells books.
To better understand this issue, I'm visiting the Tapajós National Forest in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon on a trip organized by Conservation International and the Brazilian government. Flying in here by prop plane from Manaus, you can understand why the Amazon rainforest is considered one of the lungs of the world. Even from 20,000 feet, all you see in every direction is an unbroken expanse of rainforest treetops that, from the air, looks like a vast and endless carpet of broccoli.
Once on the ground, we drove from Santarém into Tapajós, where we met with the community cooperative that manages the eco-friendly businesses here that support the 8,000 local people living in this protected forest. What you learn when you visit with a tiny Brazilian community that actually lives in, and off, the forest is a simple but crucial truth: To save an ecosystem of nature, you need an ecosystem of markets and governance.
"You need a new model of economic development — one that is based on raising people's standards of living by maintaining their natural capital, not just by converting that natural capital to ranching or industrial farming or logging," said José María Silva, vice president for South America of Conservation International.
Right now people protecting the rainforest are paid a pittance — compared with those who strip it — even though we now know that the rainforest provides everything from keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere to maintaining the flow of freshwater into rivers.
The good news is that Brazil has put in place all the elements of a system to compensate its forest-dwellers for maintaining the forests. Brazil has already set aside 43 percent of the Amazon rainforest for conservation and for indigenous peoples. Another 19 percent of the Amazon, though, has already been deforested by farmers and ranchers.
So the big question is what will happen to the other 38 percent. The more we get the Brazilian system to work, the more of that 38 percent will be preserved and the less carbon reductions the whole world would have to make. But it takes money.
The residents of the Tapajós reserve are already organized into cooperatives that sell eco-tourism on rainforest trails, furniture and other wood products made from sustainable selective logging and a very attractive line of purses made from "ecological leather," a k a, rainforest rubber. They also get government subsidies.
Sergio Pimentel, 48, explained to me that he used to farm about five acres of land for subsistence, but now is using only about one acre to support his family of six. The rest of the income comes through the co-op's forest businesses. "We were born inside the forest," he added. "So we know the importance of it being preserved, but we need better access to global markets for the products we make here. Can you help us with that?"
There are community co-ops like this all over the protected areas of the Amazon rainforest. But this system needs money — money to expand into more markets, money to maintain police monitoring and enforcement and money to improve the productivity of farming on already degraded lands so people won't eat up more rainforest. That is why we need to make sure that whatever energy-climate bill comes out of the U.S. Congress, and whatever framework comes out of the Copenhagen conference next month, they include provisions for financing rainforest conservation systems like those in Brazil. The last 38 percent of the Amazon is still up for grabs. It is there for us to save. Your grandchildren will thank you.
Op-Ed Columnist - Trucks, Trains and Trees - NYTimes.com (15 November 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/opinion/11friedman.html?sq=friedman%20trucks%20trains&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print
http://snipurl.com/t8z0r
Economic Scene Falling Far Short of Reform By DAVID LEONHARDT
November 11, 2009
Economic Scene Falling Far Short of Reform By DAVID LEONHARDT
WASHINGTON
Reduce the growth of health care costs. Bend the curve. Find the game changers. Reform the delivery system.
Yawn.
Health care reform has always had two main goals. The first — insuring the uninsured — carries grand overtones of social justice. The second — making the health care system more efficient — can seem abstract, technocratic and a bit nerdy.
Just listen to Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's chief of staff. He recently dismissed critics who say the current bills don't do enough to change health care by referring to them as "the executive board of the Brookings Institution" and "people sitting in the shade at the Aspen Institute." The goal, Mr. Emanuel told my colleague Sheryl Gay Stolberg, is to pass a bill through Congress, not to figure out what the ideal bill may look like.
Certainly, a bill that can't pass Congress won't help anyone. But I think it's important to step back and understand precisely what health experts mean when they argue for reforming the delivery system.
It is not simply about bending the curve, or slowing the growth, of Medicare's projected spending. It's also about preventing thousands of needless deaths from hospital infections. It's about making sure you get the best cancer treatment, even when that treatment is not the most profitable one. It's about keeping health costs from denying most families a decent pay increase, as has happened in recent years.
Making the medical system more efficient is, in short, about saving lives and giving Americans a long overdue raise. It is arguably the single most important step that the federal government could take to improve people's lives.
And the bill that the House of Representatives passed last weekend simply does not get it done.
That is not a judgment based on some civics class ideal, either. The House bill falls far short when compared with a bill that passed the Senate Finance Committee last month. It also fails to live up to Mr. Obama's campaign proposals and recent speeches. As Representative Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat, told me: "The president and the White House have been much better than Congress on these issues. The Congressional challenge is to live up to presidential rhetoric."
You can argue, however, that these comparisons are actually reason for optimism — that the very existence of the Senate Finance bill suggests that Congress still has a good chance to live up to the challenge.
Jonathan Gruber, an economist who helped devise the universal coverage plan in Massachusetts, says the Senate's version of health reform does considerably more to control costs than he expected. A panel of experts led by Mark McClellan, a doctor and economist who used to run Medicare (and now happens to work at the Brookings Institution), concluded that the Senate Finance bill would help "slow long-term spending growth while building the high-value health care system our nation urgently needs." That panel also suggested some smart changes to the bill.
All along, Mr. Obama's aides have said they knew that Congress might pass bills with serious flaws. The White House strategy was to stand back and work with Congressional leaders to fix those flaws once the legislation entered its endgame.
The endgame is here.
•
For anyone who cares about reducing medical costs and improving outcomes, there are probably six big issues to follow in the coming weeks. Let's take them one at a time:
THE EASY STUFF Each year, about 100,000 people die from preventable infections they contract in a hospital. When 108 hospitals in Michigan instituted a simple process to prevent some of these infections, it nearly eliminated them.
If Medicare reduced payments for the treatment of such infections, it would give hospitals a huge financial incentive to prevent them. The Senate bill takes a small step in this direction by cutting payments to hospitals with high infection rates by 1 percent. The House bill merely requires hospitals to report their rates publicly. There are also other basic patient safety areas in which the bills can do much better.
WHAT WORKS? Earlier this year, I used prostate cancer as an example of how our fee-for-service medical system leads to higher costs and worse outcomes. There are a handful of possible treatments for early-stage prostate cancer, and the fastest-growing are the most expensive. But no one knows which ones work best.
Modern medicine is full of such uncertainty. Again, the federal government could make a big difference here by giving Medicare a moderate amount of money for research, which would pay for itself many times over. The stimulus bill began paying for such research, but the health reform bills fail to pick up where the stimulus leaves off.
A FED FOR HEALTH Twice a year, an outside advisory board sends Congress a list of suggestions for Medicare payment rates, based on the available evidence. Congress generally ignores them, in deference to the various industry groups that oppose any cuts to their payments.
We already have a wonderful model for how to avoid such interference. It's called the Federal Reserve. The Fed is charged with setting interest rates based on economic conditions, not politics. The Senate bill would create such a commission for Medicare. Unfortunately, it initially applies to doctors and home health care providers but not hospitals, thanks to a deal between the hospitals and the White House. It expands to include everyone in 2019. The House bill has no such commission.
Whether one ends up in the final bill will be a good test of Mr. Obama's endgame leadership.
THE MCALLEN PROBLEM Both bills would create some promising voluntary programs meant to reward doctors and hospitals that provide good care rather than more care. But the doctors and hospitals providing the most expensive, wasteful care — like those in McAllen, Tex., described by Dr. Atul Gawande in a recent New Yorker article — surely will not sign up for these programs.
And the language in the current bills suggests that Medicare officials cannot make the programs mandatory without new legislation from Congress, which is an invitation for lobbying from places like McAllen. Giving Medicare the authority to expand even a single successful program would be a big improvement.
CHOICE Last week, the Democratic leaders in Congress sent out another e-mail message bragging that for people who didn't like their insurance, health reform would provide "affordable choices for you that can't be taken away." That isn't true. The bills would do nothing to expand the choices of people with employer-provided insurance.
Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has been obsessively trying to change this — to give even a small slice of people with the most expensive employer plans a chance to buy insurance on the exchange for small businesses and the uninsured. It's not yet clear if he will succeed.
THE CADILLAC TAX Along with the Medicare commission, this tax is the biggest single difference between the Senate and House versions. Right now, health insurance — unlike income — is not taxed, effectively creating a subsidy for the costliest plans and health care providers. Labor leaders have helped persuade the House to keep the tax exclusion intact, largely because many of the most generous insurance plans are held by older unionized workers, who, in turn, have a lot of influence in their unions.
But the tax exclusion is terribly costly for the rest of us. If it were to disappear, employers would have an incentive to sign up for well-run insurance plans, leaving more money available for workers' salaries. If the Senate's tax on so-called Cadillac plans were enacted, the average household would be making an additional $1,000 every year (in today's dollars) by 2019, according to an analysis of Congressional estimates by Mr. Gruber. In my house, $1,000 a year counts as real money.
Are Congress and the White House likely to succeed on all six of these issues? Of course not. But if the final bill were just moderately better than the Senate Finance version, it would be a major victory. Even that Senate bill, as it is, would be worth celebrating. It has the potential to reduce cost growth significantly and to improve health — in spite of all the recent criticism on those counts.
And if the final bill ends up looking like the House bill? Well, then the criticism will have been far too tame.
E-mail: leonhardt@nytimes.com
Economic Scene - House Health Care Bill Fails to Live Up to Its Goals - NYTimes.com (15 November 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/business/economy/11leonhardt.html?sq=david%20leonhardt%20falling%20far%20short&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print
http://snipurl.com/t8yvr
Monday, November 09, 2009
Refining the Twitter Explosion By NOAM COHEN
Link by Link
Refining the Twitter Explosion By NOAM COHEN
DOES Twitter have a T.M.I. problem?
And, no, I don't just mean the Twitter users who share too much information about their lives, social, medical or otherwise.
Simply put, there is way too much information on Twitter — lately, it defies navigation. In January, there were 2.4 million tweets a day, according to Alessio Signorini, a researcher at the University of Iowa. By October, he reports, there were 26 million tweets a day.
Why should we care about information overload at Twitter? Isn't Twitter about the individual experiences — a Tweeter and her followers — not the totality of millions of Tweeters around the world?
Perhaps this is true for most users. But the promise of Twitter — the reason Google and Microsoft have paid to be able to search millions of Tweets — is that it gives the best approximation of the pulse of the world: How popular is the new iPhone? Did Kanye West make a spectacle of himself at an awards show? Or, more ominously, what is it like when there is a shooter loose on an Army post?
•
Until lately, the main way to make sense of an urgent outpouring of tweets on a particular subject was to use text searches: look for the phrase "Fort Hood," for example, or maybe an agreed-upon label, "#fthood," within tweets. Yet during events like the shootings on Thursday at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead, this method is useless. Hundreds of "relevant" tweets pop up every minute, most repeating the same news reports over and over again or expressing concern from far away.
Which is why a new feature that Twitter says it could unveil in the next few weeks — "geolocation" — holds such potential to make the Twitter rapids navigable.
The idea is to take advantage of global positioning systems on cellphones to allow Twitter users to include a precise location with each tweet. Users would be able, right off the bat, to limit their searches to tweets from a particular location.
"Proximity can be this proxy for relevance," said Ryan Sarver, the director of the Twitter platform, who led a "fairly small team" of programmers who after a few months are close to completing the geolocation project. "We are about delivering the right information to the right people."
Even now, before the geolocation feature has been released to developers, visitors to Twitter.com have been able to limit searches by location based on the profiles that Twitter users provide when they sign up.
That simple filter made a huge difference in what a visitor to Twitter's search engine discovered about the Fort Hood shootings. After limiting searches to those from within 15 miles of Killeen, Tex., a town near the Army post, you easily find messages sent by soldiers describing what it is like to be on lockdown or worrying about their children at school on the post.
The tweets from one, RicoRossi, can suddenly leap to the top, even while Fort Hood remains locked down — "a soldier i treated here said he was waiting in line @ SRP when another soldier stood up and started shooting," one early tweet read, using an acronym for the Soldiers Readiness Program, where the attacks occurred.
In response to questions from his Twitter followers, he quickly replied with "idont want 2 b 2 graphic so ill stop there, he was there ... it was like something out of a movie he said im paraphrasing of course."
Another Twitter user, JKsTinkerbell76, described the scene at Scott and White Hospital in nearby Temple, Tex., during her lunch break (around midnight late Thursday): "Still on Lockdown. Police and Security everywhere."
And DaTriggerMan, Killeen, Tex, tweeted Thursday afternoon, "We just got cell phone services back here on ft hood! And I am good thanks for all the concern!!!" And then, four minutes later, "what happen cuz I aint been in front of a tv? We had some shooters on post we good now tho!"
•
Improvements like geolocation have the potential to make the Internet suddenly relevant to society as it is lived, not just relevant to what happens online. Mr. Sarver imagines features like "local trending topics," a list of subjects popular in a particular area; or searches for happy hour in a neighborhood of Dallas that will intelligently link tweets about happy hours to the place they were sent from.
Because GPS will provide the ability to become very "granular" with locations, you could mimic through Twitter the banter at the local diner or a barbershop, by limiting a search of tweets to a two-block radius.
There is also the fear of loss of privacy and loss of security as once-local chats become globally public. That is why Mr. Sarver said Twitter would require two "opt in" decisions — at the profile level and again through the application.
For the technological optimists, the cures for information overload, in essence, are better filters and greater context. The more you know about a message — who sent it and why — the better you understand it.
The open-source project Ushahidi, which takes its name from the Swahili word for "testimony," was quick to understand this. The software allows text messages to be mapped by time and location. It was developed to track reports of ethnic violence in Kenya in 2008. Suddenly mere words can create a moving picture of where violence started and where it intensified.
More recently, through a program called stopstockouts.org, the Ushahidi software tracks a range of medicines for shortages across Africa.
Creating navigation tools for digital information is the next big challenge, said Erik Hersman, a co-founder of Ushahidi who has been in contact with Mr. Sarver's team at Twitter.
"We have more update-type of information," he said. "The stream is getting wider and wider."
Link by Link - Refining the Twitter Explosion With GPS - NYTimes.com (19 November 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/business/09link.html?sq=Refining%20Twitter%20Explosion&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print
http://snipurl.com/tbdqj
Refining the Twitter Explosion By NOAM COHEN
DOES Twitter have a T.M.I. problem?
And, no, I don't just mean the Twitter users who share too much information about their lives, social, medical or otherwise.
Simply put, there is way too much information on Twitter — lately, it defies navigation. In January, there were 2.4 million tweets a day, according to Alessio Signorini, a researcher at the University of Iowa. By October, he reports, there were 26 million tweets a day.
Why should we care about information overload at Twitter? Isn't Twitter about the individual experiences — a Tweeter and her followers — not the totality of millions of Tweeters around the world?
Perhaps this is true for most users. But the promise of Twitter — the reason Google and Microsoft have paid to be able to search millions of Tweets — is that it gives the best approximation of the pulse of the world: How popular is the new iPhone? Did Kanye West make a spectacle of himself at an awards show? Or, more ominously, what is it like when there is a shooter loose on an Army post?
•
Until lately, the main way to make sense of an urgent outpouring of tweets on a particular subject was to use text searches: look for the phrase "Fort Hood," for example, or maybe an agreed-upon label, "#fthood," within tweets. Yet during events like the shootings on Thursday at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead, this method is useless. Hundreds of "relevant" tweets pop up every minute, most repeating the same news reports over and over again or expressing concern from far away.
Which is why a new feature that Twitter says it could unveil in the next few weeks — "geolocation" — holds such potential to make the Twitter rapids navigable.
The idea is to take advantage of global positioning systems on cellphones to allow Twitter users to include a precise location with each tweet. Users would be able, right off the bat, to limit their searches to tweets from a particular location.
"Proximity can be this proxy for relevance," said Ryan Sarver, the director of the Twitter platform, who led a "fairly small team" of programmers who after a few months are close to completing the geolocation project. "We are about delivering the right information to the right people."
Even now, before the geolocation feature has been released to developers, visitors to Twitter.com have been able to limit searches by location based on the profiles that Twitter users provide when they sign up.
That simple filter made a huge difference in what a visitor to Twitter's search engine discovered about the Fort Hood shootings. After limiting searches to those from within 15 miles of Killeen, Tex., a town near the Army post, you easily find messages sent by soldiers describing what it is like to be on lockdown or worrying about their children at school on the post.
The tweets from one, RicoRossi, can suddenly leap to the top, even while Fort Hood remains locked down — "a soldier i treated here said he was waiting in line @ SRP when another soldier stood up and started shooting," one early tweet read, using an acronym for the Soldiers Readiness Program, where the attacks occurred.
In response to questions from his Twitter followers, he quickly replied with "idont want 2 b 2 graphic so ill stop there, he was there ... it was like something out of a movie he said im paraphrasing of course."
Another Twitter user, JKsTinkerbell76, described the scene at Scott and White Hospital in nearby Temple, Tex., during her lunch break (around midnight late Thursday): "Still on Lockdown. Police and Security everywhere."
And DaTriggerMan, Killeen, Tex, tweeted Thursday afternoon, "We just got cell phone services back here on ft hood! And I am good thanks for all the concern!!!" And then, four minutes later, "what happen cuz I aint been in front of a tv? We had some shooters on post we good now tho!"
•
Improvements like geolocation have the potential to make the Internet suddenly relevant to society as it is lived, not just relevant to what happens online. Mr. Sarver imagines features like "local trending topics," a list of subjects popular in a particular area; or searches for happy hour in a neighborhood of Dallas that will intelligently link tweets about happy hours to the place they were sent from.
Because GPS will provide the ability to become very "granular" with locations, you could mimic through Twitter the banter at the local diner or a barbershop, by limiting a search of tweets to a two-block radius.
There is also the fear of loss of privacy and loss of security as once-local chats become globally public. That is why Mr. Sarver said Twitter would require two "opt in" decisions — at the profile level and again through the application.
For the technological optimists, the cures for information overload, in essence, are better filters and greater context. The more you know about a message — who sent it and why — the better you understand it.
The open-source project Ushahidi, which takes its name from the Swahili word for "testimony," was quick to understand this. The software allows text messages to be mapped by time and location. It was developed to track reports of ethnic violence in Kenya in 2008. Suddenly mere words can create a moving picture of where violence started and where it intensified.
More recently, through a program called stopstockouts.org, the Ushahidi software tracks a range of medicines for shortages across Africa.
Creating navigation tools for digital information is the next big challenge, said Erik Hersman, a co-founder of Ushahidi who has been in contact with Mr. Sarver's team at Twitter.
"We have more update-type of information," he said. "The stream is getting wider and wider."
Link by Link - Refining the Twitter Explosion With GPS - NYTimes.com (19 November 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/business/09link.html?sq=Refining%20Twitter%20Explosion&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print
http://snipurl.com/tbdqj
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)