The Importance of Earnest Service

I ran out of eggs while making a quiche the other evening. I was too lazy to go out–it was 7 pm–and I don’t know my neighbors so I improvised.

Winnie Hu and Chelsia Rose Marcius covered a potential solution to my missing eggs in their article in The New York Times. They wrote: “Now the nation’s largest city has become the biggest laboratory for the latest evolution in rapid e-commerce — a surge of online companies promising groceries at your door in 15 minutes or less, so no one has to worry about running out of milk or missing powdered cinnamon for a poundcake recipe.” This near instant grocery delivery service model is old news in London, Paris and Moscow.

An aside: The reporters prefaced news of the concept with the following: “The explosion of internet commerce has transformed New York City, with same-day delivery of a couch, a television or the latest laptop just a few clicks away as more companies compete for faster delivery.” This was posted on November 9. With the container backup I wonder how these promises are working out. A friend’s Christmas ornaments meant for sale in her store are sitting somewhere–but not on her shelves.

There is some downside to balance the convenience: Pedestrians are already at risk with the multitude of delivery people on bicycles–many motorized, driving at top speed in the wrong direction or on sidewalks. And what about the bottom line pressure on grocery stores whose owners pay dearly for substantial real estate and staff? And I cringe for the countless bodegas that city folk depend on for a quart of milk or can of soda.

Columbia Business School professor Mark A. Cohen conjectured that “grocery companies cannot realistically deliver in 15 minutes every time as their order volumes increase, or hold on to customers who may give them a try but grow disappointed with the limited selection of products.” Competitors working in some Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Bronx neighborhoods include Buyk, JOKR, Gopuff, Gorillas, 1520 and Fridge No More. A supermarket carries some 35,000 products, report Hu and Marcius, where the micro hubs, maintained for fast delivery, stock from 1,500 to 5,000. One delivery worker told the reporters he dropped off 18 orders over 10 hours.

How does the model work that offers low or free delivery charges and products at standard prices? It does for those businesses, “with investors funding their operations for now,” the reporters wrote, that don’t pay for checkout or customer service employees and buy in bulk from manufacturers. Their locations needn’t be prime nor space big and they maintain tight inventories with little waste they reported.

If the price of goods remains moderate and delivery charges modest I see a use for the 15 minute delivery in market niches such as parents caring for infants and young children as well as the infirm. The frantic who juggle too much would also be likely targets.

Back to my quiche. I wouldn’t have ordered half a dozen eggs through a high speed grocery delivery service. I’d need to retrieve the package from the lobby because deliveries have not been permitted upstairs throughout the pandemic. Once downstairs I’d rather walk up the block to the deli than order online.

I’m statistically insignificant. I’m surely among the few in my giant apartment building who enjoys picking up my Chinese and Mexican takeout meals. What’s seven blocks? [Many other options are a block away but are not my favorites.] At certain times of day and on weekends the numbers of food deliveries to athletic looking 30-somethings made to this building are jaw dropping.

Do you think this almost instant food delivery service will be a flash in the pan? Does the concept appeal to you? Will you give it a whirl?

In upper school I read that some Victorian women took a tiny bit of arsenic to make their skin whiter. The poison accumulated in body tissue with adverse results. I remembered this because I couldn’t get why anyone would want to be whiter. At the time there was almost nothing I wanted more than to be tan. But I digress.

Period manufacturers added arsenic to paint and wallpaper–not healthy–and it was many a murderer’s favorite ingredient. Think Amy Archer-Gilligan the serial killer celebrated in the 1944 movie “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Archer-Gilligan, who was said to have killed between 20 and 100 people, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1919 and lived until 1962.

So I sat up straight when I saw Allison Prang’s Wall Street Journal article “House Subcommittee Hits Baby-Food Makers Over High Metal Content,” with subhead “Report by Democratic members calls out companies over arsenic levels, recalls and product-testing requirements.”

Prang reported: “Some top baby-food makers didn’t appropriately recall products that contained higher arsenic levels than allowed by the government, according to a recent congressional report.”

She noted: “Heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and mercury naturally occur in soil and water. Baby-food makers have said their products contain these metals at safe levels.”

Consumer Reports added some information:

• Can manufacturers exacerbate the situation adding to the damage of naturally occurring metals? CR: “parts of the manufacturing process, including the addition of vitamins and mineral mixes, may be contributing to the problem.”
• According to CR, the process to remove toxic heavy metals “isn’t effective enough.”
• More info about where heavy metals come from. CR:  “most of the heavy metals in food come from soil or water that has been contaminated through either farming and manufacturing practices (such as pesticide application, mining, and smelting) or pollution (such as the use of leaded gasoline).”
• CR maintained it’s possible to manufacture food with low/acceptable levels.
• Babies’ brains, minds, immune and cardiovascular systems can be harmed possibly lowering IQ and creating behavior problems and ADHD. There’s also risk for skin and bladder cancer.
• Are some foods more prone than others? CR: Yes: rice, sweet potatoes, apple juice, and grape juice.
• And if you make your own baby food? CR says it will “eliminate the risk of any heavy metals from additives used in the food” but may not lower them in the child’s diet and depending on the food may increase them.

I’m equally amazed and appalled that major companies didn’t recall foods identified for having unacceptable levels of arsenic and other heavy metals. What marketer can live with these decisions? How dare these people jeopardize the health of babies and the reputations of the well-know brands they represent?

My taste buds have changed. I’ve noticed that some standbys are not as good as they were.

Take Häagen-Dazs, the example that inspired this post. I buy it from different stores thinking maybe it’s the way it’s stored that renders it bland–melted and re-frozen perhaps? In any case, it isn’t creamy and flavorful anymore and while Talenti is thick and smooth and its gelato has zip it doesn’t come in the flavors I like.

I don’t order hamburgers much these days. Unless I’m in a steakhouse they are bland and disappointing. If I cook one at home it is a combo of short rib and steak and/or a zillion dollars a pound. Otherwise it’s best used in meatloaf with lots of condiment support or as meatballs.

I had a yen for an Oreo cookie but didn’t want a large quantity. When I finally found a boxed single row, I grabbed it. I haven’t had this cookie in years so my memory might be faulty. It was good–I ate it with milk, an essential combination. I loved breaking it apart, as before, and I ate some whole. I’m not sure if the treat had as much chocolate punch as in days of yore.

We’ve had crazy weather and I think it has impacted the fruits and vegetables I’ve bought at the farmer’s market. Corn was good this year but not great. Maybe I got to the market too late so the ears had already cooked in the heat. Too many peaches were mushy. Tomatoes were so-so. Sweeter and toothsome year ’round are the tomatoes in between cherry and standard size [photo right]. If bought at Trader Joe’s, they are startlingly less expensive.

I haven’t bought a corned beef or pastrami sandwich for over two years because I’ve not craved one. Between NYC rents and diet-conscious New Yorkers there are very few iconic delis to tempt as there were once. The last super fat sandwich I bought at one of the oft touted holdouts cost $20 and it was only OK and astonishingly anemic in size.

Have you noticed changes in some of your much-loved foods–or have you changed as have new favorites?

Marcel Proust wrote about how eating a madeleine triggered childhood memories in “A la Recherche du Temps Perdu,” (“In Search of Lost Time”). We all have our madeleine equivalents.

HW shared a loving memory of her Mom’s Sunday family chicken dinners. The poultry started in the oven, on the road to developing a characteristic golden hue, but then she’d add water, cover and cook it some more for a very long time. As a result the bird’s complexion turned gray. She did this so as not to poison the family with under-cooked chicken–her concern. Today HW’s cousins reminisce about those renowned dinners and her mom’s legendary gray chicken.

My mom could transform a disappointing, tasteless store-bought pound or other cake into a scrumptious trifle-like concoction or whip up floating island or enliven leftovers so they’d be toothsome. But I always think of her when I see “French toast” on a menu or on the rare occasion I make it for myself.

She would be surprised I chose her French toast for this post as in addition to the above her lamb chops and chocolate brownies and birthday cakes were also to die. I’m sure she thought that by the time I rescued and devoured it the French toast was within an inch of the garbage.

French toast was a Sunday morning staple in our home. Like many a teen, I lingered in bed long after I was asked to wake up and eat breakfast. To keep it warm mom left my portion on an extremely low flame. By the time I’d get to it, the toast was cooked through, not a smidgen of egg taste remained and it was cracker-hard–on the cusp of burnt. As a result, that’s the only way I’ll eat French toast! I cannot order it in a restaurant.

By the way, French toast in France is called le pain du pauvre–bread of the poor–or pain perdu, lost bread. Fresh bread was a crucial element in French homes. A cook gave day old bread another life by dipping it in egg and milk before cooking it.

When I was a kid my dad didn’t cook. Later he made a serious oil and vinegar salad dressing and cucumber salad.

What childhood foods do you remember?

Steak de Burgo Photo: dmcityview.com

It all started with a Facebook review by a friend complaining about the Steak de Burgo she’d been served at a restaurant. New to me I looked it up and soon learned why I’d not heard of it. Seems the butter topping, with herbs, garlic and wine in one version, has been a specialty in Des Moines–where she lives–for 60 years. It appears to be an adaptation of beurre maitre d’hotel [butter, parsley and lemon juice] and other herbed butters the French put on steak.

Ess-a-Bagel Photo: yelp.com

For New York–the city anyway–I think of bagels and dirty water hotdogs, the latter sold by sidewalk vendors, and giant soft pretzels often combined with mustard. My favorite bagels are from Ess-a-Bagel. And we used to specialize in fat deli sandwiches with pastrami or corned beef. My favorite haunts–like Carnegie Deli–have been out of business for years. Health and diet conscious customers opting for smaller portions–or no meat at all–dealt a blow to these establishments.

A friend from New Jersey told me about Italian style hotdogs served either on an Italian roll or pizza bread, with bell peppers, onions, and potatoes.

Another pal shared some Rhode Island specialties. Autocrat is a brand of coffee syrup made in Lincoln, R.I. used to make coffee milk. She told me about a milkshake known, in the Ocean State, as a cabinet. When I lived in Boston we called it a frappe. In R.I. they serve a creamy clam chowder–no doubt a version of what we ID as the New England variety–and celebrate the dish at an annual festival. Local clams are Quahogs. And Del’s lemonade, a frozen concoction, is sold from trucks especially in summer at the beach.

A cabinet. Photo: spoonuniversity.com

David Landsel stuck out his neck in Food and Wine Magazine when he selected the best pizza by state. I bet noses of many pizza aficionados flew out of joint at his rankings. The winners, in order, are New Jersey in first place followed by Connecticut, New York, Illinois, Michigan, California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts,  Ohio and Missouri. I’ve not tried the famed Razza pizza in Jersey City but I have often been to Pepe’s–Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana–in New Haven which my husband had been going to since college. Landsel mentioned John’s of Bleecker in NYC–opened in 1929– which I’ve never tried.

What are some of your most beloved regional drinks or dishes made either where you grew up or where you have lived or do now?

Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana. Photo: tripadvisor.com

Photo: pinterest.com

Words matter–they have literally supported me most of my career as a magazine editor, columnist, freelance writer and in decades of public relations projects from proposal through implementation.

A recent kerfuffle over a hamantaschen recipe in Bon Appetit shed light on the Archive Repair Project launched last summer at Epicurious, in response to the Black Lives Matter initiative. The latter is an online resource for home cooks. Publisher Condé Nast owns both. The project is about revising words and ingredients and impacts all titles in the publisher’s family that runs recipes which also includes Gourmet, Self and House & Garden.

 Takeout.com reporter Aimee Levitt recently explained that a food writer found fault with a six year old article in Bon Appetit that shared tips on how to make the triangular pastries [photo above] served during Purim, a Jewish holiday that begins tonight at sundown. I agree that the title is nasty: “How to make Hamantaschen actually good,” as it implies that the treat tastes bad.

Photo: eatwell101.com

The article under scrutiny was written by a gentile who didn’t explain, as Levitt did, that for dietary reasons religious Jews would not use butter in their cookies–an ingredient that makes bakery goods taste rich. The irritated food writer objected to the implication that “Jews don’t know how to bake” and about the article’s copy and recipes that they were written “Especially by someone who does not come from that tradition.”

According to Levitt, “The edited version of the story includes an apology for the original’s ‘insensitive language’ and ‘flippant tone and stereotypical characterizations of Jewish culture.’ It also excises all references to Bar Mitzvah partygoing and the description of Queen Esther, heroine of the Purim story, as ‘a nice Jewish lady.'”

The Twittosphere was split, according to Levitt, some OK with the magazine’s apology and others “argued that this points to a larger issue in food writing about who has the ‘authority’ to write a recipe, especially from a culture that they’re not very familiar with.”

New York Times opinion columnist Bret Stephens reported that the Bon Appetit editor wrote: “The original version of this article included language that was insensitive toward Jewish food traditions and does not align with our brand’s standards. As part of our Archive Repair Project, we have edited the headline, dek, and content to better convey the history of Purim and the goals of this particular recipe. We apologize for the previous version’s flippant tone and stereotypical characterizations of Jewish culture.”

Indian food Photo: masterclass.com

Stephens asked “If a major media company like Condé Nast can choose to erase and rewrite its food archives for the sake of current Woke sensibilities, why stop there?” [Woke means alert to injustice in society, especially racism.]

Back to the genesis of the Archive Repair Project. Leanne Italie’s December, 2020 Associated Press story, “Epicurious Attempts To Right Cultural Wrongs One Recipe At A Time,”  appeared on the Huffington Post. David Tamarkin, digital director for Epicurious told Italie: “Being such an old site, we’re full of a lot of ideas about American cooking that really go through a white lens. We know that American cooking is Mexican American cooking and Indian American cooking and Nigerian American cooking, that that’s the kind of cooking that’s really happening in this country every day.”

Tamarkin found “painful” the word “exotic” and it has been excised throughout the site as have “authentic” and “ethnic.” Italie reported: “Some repairs are more complicated than removing a single word, such as an entire story about the “ethnic” aisle at the grocery store.” She quoted Tamarkin: “We have purported to make a recipe `better’ by making it faster, or swapping in ingredients that were assumed to be more familiar to American palates, or easier to find.”

As I read about the Archive Repair Project I thought of a takeout place on Lexington Avenue in the 20s in Manhattan that made exquisite Mexican food. It was owned and the food cooked by a staff of Chinese chefs who had worked in Mexican restaurants. I bet none had spent ten minutes in Mexico and wonder how much Spanish they spoke. I thought of my WASP husband who made pasta that tasted better than what is served by many Italian restaurants. What about my mother, a great cook, who found shortcuts galore? Was her food any less tasty for the time-saving substitutes she used?

For those who think a person must come from a tradition to be allowed to improve one of its recipes I say balderdash.

What if People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals–PETA–asks publishers of recipes for meat substitutes throughout and the American Heart Association rallies for alternatives to butter and cream? Are we not going overboard worrying about words like “ethnic,” “authentic” and “exotic” written without malice through the years and that frankly don’t bother me now?

Mexican food Photo: irvingtexas.com

Block long line to be tested for Covid-19, 8:30 a.m.

The pandemic is hard on everyone. Here are a few things I noticed about getting things done in the city that impact seniors, those with disabilities and the time-pressed.

It’s ironic because a city like New York allows seniors to be independent with its myriad transportation options, nearby watering holes and entertainment opportunities.

Standing for Service

Photo: iphoneroot.com

I needed a battery for my iPhone. The Apple staff at the store at Grand Central Terminal couldn’t have been nicer. But there was a lot of standing around waiting: to go upstairs after being checked in; on a line upstairs properly socially distanced–and then hanging out in the station for an hour while the phone was fixed. My appointment was in early evening so the few stores that remain in business at the station were shut. There were neither seats nor distractions.

Standing for Testing

We’re encouraged to be tested for Covid-19. The procedure at urgent care locations in Manhattan is daunting I’m told. You must have an appointment and can only sign up for one the same day. At certain hours I pass long lines outdoors, some with people better socially distanced than others, on cold, rainy and mild fall days [photo above].

I wonder, as I head for the gutter to keep more than a 6-foot distance, why are these people in line? Have they been exposed to Covid-19? Are they feeling ill?

Photo: statnews.com

One friend found a place that had no line. She made an appointment and they called her when they had a free time-frame which gave her 30 minutes to get back. Best that you live very near this place and choose a day with no appointments because you don’t know when you’ll get the call.

Goodness only knows what the rollout to get a vaccine will be like.

A benefit of the suburbs is that you can wait for a test in your car.

Pin the Tail on a Bank: Three’s a Charm

I needed to have a document notarized and was told by my bank that every branch had notaries. No longer accurate. I asked a customer service staffer at the first branch to call another one to confirm that they had a notary. Nobody picked up so I walked there. That customer service man disappeared in a back office.

After I waited the length of time in which three people could have had their signatures notarized he returned and told me I needed an appointment for the next day. At least this customer service person knew of a branch that had a few notaries so off I raced.

I appreciated the mileage I’d covered–recorded on my iPhone–but not the stress and I couldn’t help wonder what if I was unable to hotfoot it around town?

Just Sayin’

I love Trader Joe’s but notice that many shelves are empty during early senior hours no doubt because there hasn’t been time, at 8 a.m., to restock them.

Have you noticed other topsy-turvy situations during the pandemic that have impacted the way/how quickly you do business and/or conduct your life? Do you observe situations that especially impact seniors and the time-pressed?

Photo: liveoak.net

Even before the pandemic I’d find myself in a grocery or drugstore without my reading glasses. While then it was only occasionally because I’d drag pounds of belongings with me, because I carry almost nothing now I leave my glasses at home.

I can see sell-by dates on milk and other crucial info without specs but lately, because I want to get in and out of any business in a flash, I have made a few irritating errors.

Photo: smithsonianmag.com

Have you noticed the baffling number of toothpaste choices at any standard drugstore? I opened a new tube last week and without paying attention placed some toothpaste on my brush. Turns out I bought Colgate Zero, one with no taste. While I prefer seltzer, coffee, and most everything in its original state, without embellishment, I like my toothpaste minty. I’m trying to think of other things I can do with Zero Colgate as I dread using it and dislike waste so I hesitate tossing it.

I had a battle bringing home the correct yogurt: I prefer the gutsier Greek style. Recognizing the brand I grabbed what turned out to be a giant container of standard yogurt which I find slimy. I was more careful the next time only to discover I’d bought vanilla flavor Greek style, not the plain. Not good.

Any ideas for what else to do with toothpaste? Have you made mistakes choosing products when distracted, rushed or without your specs? Do we really need all those choices of toothpaste and for that matter, yogurt?

Photo: wbur.com

Photo: patch.com

I like being in control. That’s one of the terrifying things about the deadly virus. At the moment, it has us all by the short hairs and will until most of us have been injected with two doses of vaccine so it can follow the demise of smallpox and all sorts of other  worldwide plagues.

There’s hardly a newscast that doesn’t warn about Thanksgiving 2020 whether it involves traveling–don’t–suggesting that college students think twice about returning home and recommending that folks celebrate exclusively with those in their households.

In accordance with my response to the 2020 census, that would be me.

Nevertheless I plan to make the usual: sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and apple pie as, until recently, I’ve done for decades. Don’t yet know about the poultry. [I hear an outcry from balanced meal enthusiasts who wonder “where is the green vegetable?” Answer: I’ll eat a ton of salad the day before.]

And as always, I will relish Friday’s leftovers.

Grow up people. Traditions are off kilter this year. Get over it.

Food lines 2020 Photo: reuters.com

I feel no sympathy for those who whine about giving up their traditions of celebrating at their Colorado condo or visiting a brother in Cincinnati. One woman wailed on Facebook that she’ll be alone with her husband, not entertaining her 10 grandchildren and their parents. She could send a check for the cost of the dinner to a food pantry while counting her blessings that she has a husband to share dinner with and a lovely family she’ll hug next summer–if we’re lucky.

Tyler Perry donated dinners to 5,000 hungry people in Atlanta over the weekend. There are countless charities desperate for help. Yesterday NPRs Lulu Garcia-Navarro interviewed Katherina Rosqueta, founder and director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, in a segment “How To Give Back During The Coronavirus Pandemic.” The focus of high impact philanthropy is to improve lives of others rather than maximize tax benefits or honor someone. The major takeaway: cash is better than goods as its more flexible under circumstances where volunteers to distribute food or other goods are hobbled due to the pandemic.

Leftover lunch on Black Friday Photo: foodandwine.com

It doesn’t soothe my Covid-19 anxiety that the president is distracted about his lost election and isn’t watching the store. The one hour he gave to join the virtual G-20 summit this weekend, with Covid-19 high on the agenda, was hardly enough. During his “attendance” he tweeted about election results in Michigan according to John Follain, Arne Delf, Ilya Arkhipov and Josh Wingrove reporting for Bloomberg.com.

In addition, the angry pandemic is raging again. It’s time to stay within our safety comfort zones and to focus on what we’re thankful for, not on what we’re giving up. My cup runneth over. Speaking of cups, I might buy a very nice wine to sip during dinner and while chatting with friends and family. I am blessed with a vivid imagination and will hug my family members and friends virtually. They don’t love me more or less because I’m not with them.

What are your plans? Do you feel pressured to give up your Covid cautious routine or do you think it’s all a lot of hooey and that people who are ducking tradition this year are pitiable?

Food Lines 2020 Photo: theguardian.com

I admire Facebook postings of images of elaborate dishes and desserts for one or two lovingly assembled and photographed by friends but I am not tempted to imitate any of them. I look for something quick and easy. [While I’m sure all are delicious, some don’t translate well on camera and look alarmingly unappetizing, reminding me of the old saw “only a face a mother could love.”]

As the weather cools off I might make a boeuf bourguignon or a quiche Lorraine with the idea of freezing leftovers for future meals but I’m not in a rush. I use every pot in the apartment for the former, [I cook each vegetable separately], and make the crust for the quiche. Counter space for rolling out the dough is in short supply in my kitchen and I’m off-put by also having to dig out my food processor.

If it’s suddenly 7:30 pm I am grateful if I have an Amy’s Pizza in the freezer. I break it in two, put the other half back in the freezer, toss a simple salad while it heats in a toaster-oven and voila!

Speaking of salad, it takes minutes to make a spectacular and filling chef one.  I buy real baked ham from a local vendor–it’s sliced off a majestic bone by hand and doesn’t resemble the slimy packaged or compressed variety. To slices of ham I add what’s in the house such as Swiss cheese, tomato, mozzarella, all sliced, and top it off with a simple oil and vinegar dressing. Cold chicken works too. A few frozen peas or corn kernels heated in a bit of water until just hot is a toothsome and pretty addition.

A beautiful, wonderful country bread for one that costs $5-$8–much that I love it–doesn’t make sense. Trader Joe’s sells ciabatta rolls that I immediately put in small baggies and freeze. I warm a roll in the toaster oven at 350° for seven minutes. The crust is crisp and wonderful and the warm inside welcomes a little olive oil and slices of cheese and tomato.

I also like fettuccine Alfredo or vegetable fried rice from Trader Joe’s, a hot meal in minutes. I add pepper and a few peas to the former and if I have cold chicken, a few small pieces to the latter.

This is apple season. I like Honey Crisp best but try a new variety each week at the farmer’s market. I just bought firecracker apples. I slice the fruit thin–like potato chips.

Do you have quick meal ideas or do you or your mate make elaborate dinners for you and your family? When thinking of food can you erase from your mind all the hungry in this country and the world?