Robin, Steve and Charna brought this winter squash (the big one) home from a farm stand in Ohio. I'm completely fascinated with it. I've looked through at least 500 pictures on Google and can't find it. Can anyone give me a name for it? I'd love to know more. They were told it is wonderful eating; we haven't tried it yet.
I took the day off from planning my trip (and writing about the last one) to attend a conference on "Women's Health and the Environment." What a worthwhile day this was. Although I often worry about cancer, my family has an extensive history of it, I never thought much about the part the environment plays, or the part it must play in autism and ADHD. This was really an eye opener for me. Being a lazy writer and reporter I rely on you to follow the links I'm providing. This is an important subject; we should all seek to have a better understanding of what is going on.
The conference was sponsored in part by Teresa Heinz, who also gave the opening address. She was marvelous. I was immediately captivated when she declared: "The more we can ask the more we can make healthy choices, and here's
why: ignorance kills and knowledge saves lives. Preventive medicine is
part of knowledge." She stressed the importance of preventative medical care for all, and talked about how our healthcare system was broken, one of my favorite topics. For more of what she said go here.
The theme of the conference was: New Science, New Solutions. The keynote speaker, Nancy Nichols, talked about growing up in Waukegan, Illinois, and how, as children, she and her sister played on the shores of Lake Michigan on what later was identified as tons of PCBs and at least three huge superfund sites. Both of them developed rare cancers when they were in their forties, her sister dying from a rare form of ovarian cancer. Needless to say, I was probably drinking the water in Chicago that came down from Waukegan.
An "Air and Water" panel and a "Food and Personal Care Products" panel gave us more information than I really wanted to know, about how our food is produced and how chemicals found everywhere in our lives are never tested for safety. It almost makes me want to stop eating–a very big statement for me.
I'm not going to tell you everything I learned. The conference website will have podcasts of all of the speakers. I'll let you know when they are posted and hope you will listen to them. And I'll talk about this again.
Darcy and I went to Mellon Park for her walk this morning. There was lots of activity as they are getting ready for the Fair in the Park. As we left we passed three kids who were waiting to direct the artists as they arrive. One of them admired Darcy, petted her and asked, "What's his name?" My reply, "her" pause, "her name is Darcy." I thought about that as I walked away. Why was it so important I identify Darcy as a her. It certainly makes no difference to the dog, and none that I could figure out to the young man who asked. It was all my own bit of foolishness. What makes gender so important, anyway? Aren't we all created equal?
I love the photo Bob Brady posted today, but I found out it's been Photoshopped. You can see the original here.
I've been living in Robin's house since I returned from New York. It's a huge house and I could have two rooms and my own bathroom if I went up to the third floor. But I don't want to go up there–I'm having some trouble with stairs–and she doesn't want me up there–too hot, and we'd have to use extra air conditioning. So I'm in the guest bedroom on the second floor–enough stairs–and sharing the bathroom with Charna. And my computer gets a place on Steve's desk. None of this is a problem for me. I hope it's not for them.
Food is something of a problem. Robin keeps kosher. I've had to learn how to do things in her kitchen. She's also more of a vegetarian than I am. She and Charna eat lots of veggies and lots of cottage cheese. I like the veggies. Cottage cheese is one of the few foods I avoid at all times. I spent a lot of time in Trader Joes last week trying to figure out what I could bring back here. At the time it seemed like a huge problem, but it has all worked out. I'm trying to be a contributing member of the household, thus the dog walking and some minor cleaning.
Third time's the charm, I guess. I got to the consulate about 9:40 am, all my documents in hand, walked down the half block of fencing to control the non-existent crowds, passed the bag inspection, showed my passport, took my number, which was called in 5 minutes, presented everything to a different officer who didn't smile, but didn't scowl either, but who made lots of marks on the papers then disappeared for a few minutes, came back, made more marks, then handed me a receipt and told me to return on Tuesday. I was out of the building before 10, walked past the still empty fencing, J-walked across 42nd St. to the bus stop and watched Falun Gong as I waited. They are across the street from the consulate protesting every day. I found another blog about jumping through hoops for a Chinese visa. Interesting story.
I had a lot of time to kill before my afternoon date so I sat in Bryant Park and read the free Daily News that was handed to me when I entered the subway, then went to the library and looked at a show of contemporary photos about the city. After that down to Chinatown.
Lunch was in an amazing place where you get a choice of 5 items from a huge buffet for $4.50. I don't like eating alone in restaurants; this makes it easier because I don't have to wait around to be served, to say nothing of appreciating the price. This is the season for lichee, longans and rambutans, amongst other exotics. I wandered around looking, smelling (not always pleasantly), and appreciating all the food for sale. If I could live anywhere I wanted, it would be in Chinatown.
I was meeting Shirley Sun at 2 at the Confucius statue, but they've fenced off the statue and taken away the benches. With 40 minutes before my date I was getting tired and wanted a place to sit. I found a "bakery" with a few seats and rented one for $1.50 for an iced coffee. I was determined to sit for at least 20 minutes, but even with an interesting view out the window it was hard for me to stay there. Finally it was time to go find Shirley. It's been a year since I've seen her. She's still working with bus advertising, but now she's designing the ads and posters, instead of selling. I think she's having a very hard time here and is planning to return to China. When I first met her she said she loved it here because the sky was blue. So I asked here if she will miss the blue sky. She said it was too high.
I woke up this morning, in New York, trying to remember last night’s dinner. It was mostly non-traditional, or a mix of many traditions, although Ilana, our hostess, said she was trying to make all the traditional foods. We began dinner in the traditional Jewish way, with a blessing over the bread, a beautifully shaped round whole grain loaf. Each person gets a piece and has to take at least one bite to complete the ritual. I was really hungry after an inadequate lunch on the airplane and ate the entire slice. The first two courses, served to us at the table, were a simple, but tasty, onion soup and a green salad with grape tomatoes. After that we were asked to serve ourselves, buffet style.
We had a vegetarian turkey purchased from a wonderful vegetarian Chinese restaurant in Teaneck: Veggie Heaven. This is one of my all-time favorite places. I don’t know how they do it, but they have chicken, shrimp, lobster and beef all made of tofu or wheat gluten. The amazing thing is that all these things taste the way they are supposed to. I’m sure they are not substituting the real thing: they are certified kosher and have rabbinical inspection of their kitchen.
The turkey looked more like a chicken, but in any case, it looked and tasted like a bird. It was stuffed with some kind of rice blend. Ilana made cranberry sauce, which, along with the salad and the pumpkin pie, were the most traditional items. She made cornbread out of blue corn flour; a tofu and vegetable pie that looked almost like a pizza; pumpkin ravioli that I guess are also traditional, but not in my family; a casserole, or kugel, of pureed squash; steamed, sliced carrots and white potatoes; and, I think, a kind of rice pilaf, or maybe that was the stuffing from the turkey.
Dessert was a choice of grapes, a mix of raspberries and blueberries, and the pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Pumpkin pie is one of the few foods (desserts) I can leave alone. I am grateful there is at least one. My mother never made it; I think she didn’t like pumpkin. She always made wonderful lemon meringue pies for Thanksgiving dessert. I like pumpkin muffins, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, soda or yeast. Robin makes a fabulous pumpkin challah. Thinking about it I guess I don’t like the texture of pumpkin pie.
I tried very hard not to overeat, but I did taste everything. I love trying new food. We finished our dinner with prayers thanking God for the blessings of the meal, also traditional. Later there was tea or coffee in the living room with biscotti we brought from Enrico’s in Pittsburgh.
At the end of the evening, Ron, our host, drove another guest and me, into New York. My final treat came as we crossed the George Washington Bridge and it was completely lit up and beautiful, as I originally saw it from my apartment in Fort Lee. I could even see it reflected in the river after we had crossed. They were repainting it during the last few years I lived in Fort Lee, and the lights were out, so this was very special for me.
Renee is on her way to Norway and I am here, alone, in the apartment. It’s more fun when she’s here, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy my two weeks in the City. About half of my time is already scheduled.
Yesterday was Dominican day in New York. We tried to go to a Dominican street fair, but I forgot the directions and we never got there. We wandered around 190th St. and Broadway finally getting on a bus to the Washington Heights I’m most familiar with: 175th St. and Broadway. We went to a Dominican steak house and had something called Mofongo, described as mashed plantains, on the menu. The mofongo we got had chicken and mashed plantains, and we weren’t sure what else. It certainly did not have the garlic that’s in the recipe I referenced. It came to us looking like it had been molded in a flower pot or coffee can. The chicken had been shredded, some of it so thin it looked like shredded coconut sticking out of the bits of plantain, which were not the consistency of mashed potatoes but more like small chunks. I’m not sure what glued it all together, but it was very dry. I like plantains, mostly, and I’m sure this dish has possibility, but not at that restaurant.
We came back to the apartment, then just before dusk went for a walk on the esplanade along the East River and crossed the foot bridge to Ward’s and Randall’s Island. Although it was very hot all day there was a cool breeze off the river as we walked. We finished the day with sushi and tempura at a nearby sushi house.
This morning I went to the Japan Tourist Office in Rockefeller Center and picked up about 2 pounds of printed matter, including train schedules and railpass info, that I had to carry with me for the rest of the day. I hope to make most of my arrangements for my trip to Japan before I leave New York, since it is most convenient to do it here. There is no Japan Tourist Office in Pittsburgh.
After the tourist office I went to Kinokuniya Bookstore, also in Rockefeller Center. They carry both English and Japanese books. As I browsed amongst the Japanese books I realized how totally impenetrable the language is for me and how unlikely it is I will ever learn it. All those squiggly shapes never seem to remain in my brain. What a pity! I’m told the language is one of the most difficult to learn because the grammar changes depending on whom you are speaking to. I would just like to learn the alphabets (3) so I could begin to read it.
I finished the day at the American Museum of Natural History to see the Gold exhibit. It was quite interesting; I learned a lot about gold I never knew before. But I had to sit down often and before I finished the exhibit I felt like I was walking on my knees. I suppose I’m being too hard on myself. I did a lot of walking around Rockefeller Center before I got to the museum, but I keep thinking I should be able to do more. I plan to go back there to see the exhibit about mythical animals. I did not have enough energy to do both in one day, especially carrying my two pounds of paper.
One thing I almost forgot. I know I’ve written this before: the best thing about New York is encountering the unexpected when you think you’ve seen it all before. I began the day by taking the subway to Grand Central. Instead of walking directly out to the street I rode an escalator up to the Metlife, formerly Panam, building and wandered around looking for an exit. In the lobby at Vanderbilt Avenue I found a wonderful Richard Lippold sculpture I had never seen before: our globe enveloped in rays of sunshine. I took some pictures and you can see a not very good picture at the bottom of this page about the building. That got my day off to a great start.
Last night we ate at Sala Thai on Second Avenue. The highlight of the meal was shrimp in tamarind sauce with a special rice like a pilaf. Very satisfactory. Tonight we decided to go to a movie on the West Side. We took the bus to Columbus Avenue, then started walking south. At 83rd St. we found a bakery-cafe, called Columbus. It was modern cafeteria style; food was displayed in glass cases, you ordered, paid and took it to a table. We each had a selection of three salads and split a kind of cheese baguette. I had a roasted Brussels sprout salad, a multigrain salad and tuna with celery, raisins and apples. Renee had the Brussels sprout salad, lentil salad and sesame chicken. I could eat there every night.
After dinner we saw The Willow Tree, an Iranian movie about a blind man who recovers his sight (and loses his world). Good film, lovely views of Teheran, could have been better cinematography. Now we’re reading the Sunday Times.
100 Books Before I Die 