Whether you prefer Wise’s Cheez Doodles or Frito Lay’s Cheetos, or those little, round orangy balls that they sell in those gigantic plastic tubs and try to pass off as cheese doodles, this is a snack food that seems to live on and on. It’s associated with kids’ parties and backyard barbecues, and if you serve it at a party, it’s considered (pardon the pun) cheesy. Yet, we can’t help ourselves, can we? I don’t know about you, but I find it impossible to control my hand when it reaches for the bowl of the bright orange oddities. No matter how good my intentions are when I go to a party, no matter how determined I am to stick to the crudites and fruit salad, my hand just moves away from my body and makes a beeline for those cheese doodles. Damn hand! It’s all your fault I have weight issues!

Personally, my favorite kind are the crunchy ones. Sure, I like the puffy kind now and then. But put those crunchy things in front of me and I’m in trouble. And if I’m PMSing, those suckers don’t stand a chance around me.

How are cheese doodles made? It has to do with pushing the ingredients through an extractor, thereby adding air to it. But that leaves the question of crunchy cheese doodles open. Hmm. I’ll have to investigate that.

Let’s face it, cheese doodles have become part of our culture. I’m not sure why, but they have. I think a generation of kids have grown up thinking that cheese is spelled “cheez.” And that Chester Cheetah over at Frito Lay is one bad ass, huh?

Have you ever seen a cheese doodle sculpture? Has it ever entered your mind to do a cheese doodle sculpture? Probably not. But it did enter the mind of artist Philip Greenspun. So, he did it. And it was displayed at the Lapides Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, in 1994. Check it out.

Courtesy of Philip Greenspun

Wanna see a Cheetos portrait of Conan O’Brien? Here’s the artist in action:

Check out this cheese doodle compilation. It’s weird but fascinating: Tribute to the Cheese Snack

So, another week has gone by  and so has another month. I hope everyone has a great week ahead. And in the immortal words of Eric Cartman from South Park, “I want some cheesy poofs!”

Part of my problem is that I only know the basics of InDesign. When I was working at Travel Agent Magazine, I had to use it, but only for content edits and minor formatting changes. I learned as I went, and there wasn’t any time to learn more than I absolutely had to. Plus, it’s been over a year since I’ve done even that much in InDesign. I had to first re-acquaint myself with the program and figure other things out. Fortunately, I’m skilled in QuarkXPress, so it’s not like I don’t know anything about layout programs at all. But Quark is different from InDesign.

Anyway, it’s taking me forever because I’m doing everything–checking layout, proofing content, correcting layout, correcting content, then I have to redo the Index, table of contents, and check all cross-referenced material throughout the book. I’m totally experiencing deja vu because I already did all of this. But here I am, doing it all again. I’m so grateful that I have someone helping me proof the copy. That’s taking plenty off my plate.

In the meantime, everything else is on hold. Work on my second cookbook, work on my novel and short stories, and the floor needs a good sweeping. I did, however, manage to do a few loads of laundry. I had no choice. I’m going  to be on the road starting Sunday and I need clean clothes.

So, I’m going back to the task at hand. I’m hoping that by next week, I’ll be able to tell you that everything went fabulously and my beautiful new cookbook will be available soon.

I’m sick of the snow, and I’m sure you are, too. So, I’m going to wish you all an end to winter, a quick leap into spring, and a wonderful week ahead.

Hang loose.

Compounding the problem of lost Christmas sales is the fact that they probably won’t be made up next Christmas. The publishing industry is a funny machine wherein timing is everything.  In order to make decent Christmas sales, you have to release a book a few months prior to Christmas (around September), but no earlier than that, to create the right “Hey, here’s a brand new book on the market” buzz. In other words, a book that comes out between January and August are already old by Christmas. That’s not to say that they won’t sell at all. After all, publishers and authors alike hope that a book will have a long shelf life and a nice cookbook can sell as gifts for years to come.

What I’m talking about is the BIG sales spike on a newly released book, which affects the rest of the life of the book. Within a year, a book—any book—is considered “backlist”; that is, books that are still in print and available but are no longer actively promoted or pushed by the publisher. It’s kind of like when you buy a new computer with the latest technology, but your old computer still works, so you put it in the basement or the guest room and every now and then you turn it on to do something. But for the most part, you’ve forgotten it. That old computer has been backlisted. Fortunately, unlike computers, which become completely obsolete after a few years, books can have a long, healthy life in Backlistland and continue to sell very well. But unless the author is famous or something occurs that draws unexpected attention to the book, chances are you’ll not get a sales spike quite like the one you got (hopefully) when the book was initially released.

At any rate, I’m going through the proof now and it’s taking a while. A cookbook is a complex thing with many different elements that have to come together a certain way. There are lots of little things that require correcting (I suppose that it doesn’t help that I’m extremely anal and a stickler for consistency). Cookbooks are very visual, which is why books with color photos sell better than others. But photos are very expensive to print and not all publishers can afford to do that. That’s where illustrations come in. They break up the text and help readers visualize the recipes and ingredients. But even illustrations are expensive. And because I originally self-published this book, cost was even more of a factor. I was also lucky to have a very good friend, Linda, who’s an artist and did my illustrations for free.

Layout for easy reading is important, too. People should be able to bring their eyes back and forth to a page in a cookbook and easily find where they last left off. And the instructions should be easy to read. I dislike books with “run-on recipes”—recipes that just follow one another on the same page—because it makes it confusing sometimes. However, paper costs money and I myself had to do some run-on recipes when I self-published this book. But cookbook designers try to avoid that, if possible. The only cookbook I own that has run-on recipes and very little in the way of illustrations is Marcella Hazan’s The Essentials of Italian Cooking. But Hazan is an Italian cooking legend and she could write a cookbook on a roll of toilet paper and it would sell.

Moving on to the next project, I FINALLY finished the testing on my second cookbook. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. There are still a few recipes that I decided need one more run in the test kitchen. But the bulk of the testing is done and I’m not on this bullet train of daily testing anymore. I felt like I was doing nothing else, day after day. Alicia Silverstone came out with a vegetarian cookbook recently called The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet, and Vegetarian Times interviewed her about it. She said that she was basically on lockdown in her house for 12 days testing the recipes. Now, I don’t know how she did proper testing for an entire cookbook in just 12 days, but it illustrates my point just the same: Developing and testing recipes for a cookbook is a laborious, time-consuming task. I started this second book in 2002. Can you believe that? Eight years in the making, and who knows how many thousands of dollars for ingredients. Well, phase 1 is over. Now on to phase 2: Trying to sell it to a publisher. That’s going to be the hard part. I still have this whole “platform” problem. More on that another time.

For someone who doesn’t have a job, I seem to be awfully busy, which is a good thing but it makes me wonder how I got anything done when I was working. How does anyone get anything done when they’re working? I’m going to try really hard to get through a long list of things to do this weekend and, hopefully, get in some exercise. It’s going to be fairly nice before another winter storm moves in. Sigh.

By the way, did you check out the photo of that old cookbook above? It was printed in 1747 and written by Hannah Glasse, but is attributed to “A Lady.” I love old cookbooks. They really are an insight to what life was like for the common woman. And reading through some of the recipes in pre-Fannie Farmer cookbooks, it’s amazing they were able to follow any at all and get it right.

Anyway, that’s enough for me. Hope you all have a great week!

By: André Karwath aka Aka

Umm, have you guessed the theme yet? That’s right, you’ve won the prize. It’s chocolate! That’s because February is Celebration of Chocolate Month, all hinged on one day: St. Valentine’s Day, this Sunday. (Incidentally, February 14 is specifically National Creme-Filled Chocolates Day. Gee, I wonder why.)
Chocolate has a fascinating history, beginning in the New World. Native to Central and South America, chocolate has been used since at least 1100 B.C. The word “chocolate” comes from the Aztec Nuahatl word xocolatl, meaning “bitter water.” This was a ceremonial drink that the Aztecs made by  mixing chocolate paste with herbs and spices and shaking it in a hollowed-out gourd until it frothed. More directly, “chocolate” comes from a combination of Nahuatl and Mayan dialects for the term “cacao water,” chocolatl. They also used cacao medicinally and called chocolate “food of the gods.”

Cacao pods

[Excerpt from What, No Meat?]
In 1502, Columbus sent cacao beans back to Spain but no one took an interest, most likely because of their bitterness. In 1519, however, explorer Hernando Cortez tasted the Aztec drink and sent the beans once again to Spain. The beans found their way to a monastery where monks added sugar to it. It became a hit, but the details of chocolate-making were kept secret until the Jews were driven out of Spain in the mid-1500s. They went to France and shared the Spanish monks’ secret. French royalty took a liking to it and, naturally, it became elite. It was so expensive that a smuggling ring began in England and Holland to bring in beans illegally from Venezuela. Exclusive “chocolate clubs” opened up where the rich could indulge in it, and it was even used as currency. In 1847, British confectioners added sugar to cocoa and invented the chocolate bar. In 1876, a Swiss, Daniel Peter, invented  milk chocolate for eating after eight years of experimenting.

Where Chocolate Comes From

Chocolate literally grows on trees in cacao pods. After they are harvested, the beans and pulp are removed from the pod, then allowed to ferment.  Here is a further explanation of the process from Wikipedia:

Dried cacao pods

“After fermentation, the beans are dried, cleaned, and roasted, and the shell is removed to produce cacao nibs. The nibs are then ground to cocoa mass, pure chocolate in rough form. Because this cocoa mass usually is liquefied then molded with or without other ingredients, it is called chocolate liquor. The liquor also may be processed into two components: cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Unsweetened baking chocolate (bitter chocolate) contains primarily cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, combining cocoa solids, cocoa butter or other fat, and sugar. Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. White chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar, and milk but no cocoa solids (and thus does not qualify to be considered true chocolate).”

It’s appropriate that chocolate has become so associated with Valentine’s Day because it is believed that chocolate has the same effect on the brain as falling in love and is, therefore, considered an aphrodisiac. And studies have shown that eating chocolate lowers the risk of fatal heart attacks. I mean, come on, if that’s not a reason to eat chocolate, what is?

Keep an eye out on news in the chocolate world. One of these days, you  may end up buying something other than what you wanted. In 2007, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMS), on behalf of the Chocolate Manufacturers Association in the United States, petitioned the FDA to allow them to use vegetable fats and milk substitutes instead of real cocoa butter and milk products, yet still call the end product “chocolate.” The most well-known members of this group are Hershey (the largest chocolate manufacturer in the U.S.), Nestle, and Archer Daniels Midland, an agricultural conglomerate. The FDA rejected the petition, so our chocolate is safe for now. But anything can change. You can read the story Here or for a bunch of links, go HERE.

In the meantime, enjoy the yumminess that is chocolate. No one needs an excuse to buy chocolate, but St. Valentine’s Day is a good one anyway. Mind you, National Celebration of Chocolate Month and National Creme-Filled Chocolates Day are not the only chocolate holidays. No, no, no. Here’s a list of a few more:

February 19                          Chocolate Mint Day
March 24                                National Chocolate-Covered Raisins Day
April 21                                   National Chocolate-Covered Cashews Day
May 15 & August 4                    National Chocolate Chip Day
June 22                                   National Chocolate Éclair Day
June 26                                   National Chocolate Pudding Day
July 7                                      National Chocolate Ice Cream Day
July 28                                    National Chocolate Milk Day
Sep 13                                     International Chocolate Day
October 28,
December 28 and 29             National Chocolate Day
November 7                       National Bittersweet Chocolate With Almonds Day
Dec 16                                   National Chocolate-Covered Anything Day
3^rd Week March                American Chocolate Week

Oh, yeah! Chocolate all year long! And that’s just in the United States. Wooo!

And to get you started, here’s a recipe for Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse (with my approximate American conversions), from JustChocolateRecipes.com. Enjoy!

Valentine's Day card, 1910

Until next week, have a great Valentine’s Day, everyone.

Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse

250 g Dark chocolate (1 cup + 1 tbsp)
5 lg Eggs, whites and yolks separated
1 tsp Orange rind (grated) and extra for garnish
2 tb Roasted hazelnuts or pecan nuts (lightly crushed)
1 tb Caster sugar (“superfine” in the U.S.; otherwise, use confectioners’ sugar)
pinch Cream of tartar

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water. Once melted, remove and allow to cool a little.

Add egg yolks, one at a time, and mix in. Add in orange rind.

Beat egg whites, caster sugar and cream of tartar until it forms soft peaks and fold into the chocolate mixture. Add roasted pecan or hazelnuts.

Pour the mixture into individual bowls and refrigerate. Serve with sour cream, mint and grated orange rind.

This year, it’s the Indianapolis Colts vs. the New Orleans Saints. And since this is the first time in the team’s history that the Saints are going to the Superbowl, I’m sure many New Orleanians and Louisianans are going to party hardy this weekend.

Now, I won’t claim to know much about football, but if you’re having a Superbowl or tailgate party, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s see what’s on the menu…

First, let’s take note on what food holidays coincide with the Superbowl. Tomorrow, February 6 is National Nutella Day. Nutella is an Italian chocolate-hazelnut spread. Hmmm, so many possibilities there. In France, a common snack food is crêpes stuffed with various ingredients, including Nutella. In fact, if you walk down the street of any city in France, you’ll likely encounter a street vendor selling an array of luscious crêpes made fresh right there in his or her cart. (I came across one of these carts in Aix-en-Provence and ordered a crêpe made with Gran Marnier, which is practically a national dish, but it really was hard passing up the Nutella version.) So, in honor of Nutella Day, buy some pre-made crêpes, spread a couple of tablespoons of Nutella over them, and roll them up. Or, do as the Italians do: spread Nutella on slices of bread and enjoy.

Sunday itself is National Fettuccini Alfredo Day. Okay, if you’re having a tailgate party, that may not be the best choice to pack in your cooler.  If you’re having a party at home, however, here’s a simple recipe for it at Epicurious.com. P.S.–It’s not a low-fat recipe. Nowhere even close. But, then, Superbowl Sunday never was about diets, was it?

So, what else can you serve at your party or pack for your tailgate fiesta? An excellent (and healthy) choice is Italian green bean, potato and tomato salad. So easy to put together, it’s just a few fresh ingredients tossed with a low-fat balsamic dressing. Click HERE for my recipe. Or, how about a fresh, delicious spinach and potato pie? It’s a little higher up in the fat and calorie content, but because it’s homemade, you’ll have something truly fresh and preservative-free. That recipe is HERE.

For some other ideas, the Food Network has it all laid out for you. They offer different menus for different game plans. So, they have quick-and-easy, make-ahead, budget-friendly, and several other menus HERE.  Maybe you’re looking for a different Buffalo wings recipe or a different take on chili. It’s there, too. Guy Fieri has a particularly interesting menu (he always does) HERE. His menu intrigues me so much, in fact, that I’m tempted to have an impromptu Superbowl party just to try out his recipes. I mean, he’s got a Jambalaya Sandwich, Tailgate Sangria, and Waka Waka Salad Appetizer, which consists of  ramen noodles, three kinds of cabbage, wonton skins, and Spanish peanuts. Hmm.

(Speaking of the Food Network, I’m glad to report that those of us who subscribe to Cablevision cable service have gotten back the Food Network. I have no idea what deal Cablevision and Scripps Network hammered out, but I hope it doesn’t result in customers getting charged more. Now, Cablevision has sent me a letter saying I need a digital cable box—a separate issue from last year’s federal cable service mandate. It seems that it’s costing me more and more to watch TV, something that used to be FREE. Ugh.)

Over at Nola.com, read “New Orleans Saints players’ personal chefs offer up Super Bowl recipes” for some “home style” dishes.

How about these sure-to-please options:

Tomato-Avocado Salsa with Tortilla Chips

Garam Masala Deviled Eggs

Jalapeno Popper Spread

Pan-Fried Veggie Wontons with Sesame Dip

Cat Cora’s Keftdedes (Greek Meatballs)

Two Sisters’ Chicken Salad

North Carolina Style Pulled Pork

Alton Brown’s Coleslaw

To go with your fabulous menus, have different beverages available—a few different beers and wine (maybe a non-alcoholic choice for your teetotaling friends), some soda, and maybe some iced tea and lemonade. With all these tasty options, you’ll have the hottest Superbowl party in town.

What’s for dessert? Leave that to your guests.

Have a great week, everyone. Enjoy Superbowl Sunday!! And if you’re driving anywhere, be safe—if you’re drinking, have a designated driver.

Peace

Which brings me to my topic for this week: February is National Snack Food Month! Now, snack food is not necessarily comfort food, but for some, it is. And it’s particularly appropriate that I’m writing about snack food today because I’m craving it for an entirely different reason, and it is a source of comfort for me during those times. I think you know what I mean. Moving on…

Pizzelle

Samosas

Just as comfort food means something different for everyone, snack foods means something different for everyone, too. To Americans, it may be potato chips and Oreo cookies. To Italians, it can be sweet pizzelle smothered with Nutella, or savory arancini (rice balls).  In China, a stop at a dim sum house is a good bet for an on-the-go treat, while samosas are ubiquitous at street stands all over India. (Just to get an idea of what your neighbors around the world are munchin’ on, take at look at this Village Voice slideshow on “Strange Snacks of the World.”)

But Americans do tend to gravitate towards the snack-food aisle of the grocery store, where we are bombarded with choices from potato chips, pretzels, corn chips, cheese doodles, Ring Dings, Yodels, Twinkies, Snowballs… and the list goes on. What’s interesting is that snack food companies have jumped on the healthy-eating bandwagon and even the low-carb bandwagon and now offer alternatives to the traditional American snack foods: baked chips, popped chips, soy chips, rice crisps, etc. These are variably lower in fat, cholesterol, carbs, and gluten, so depending on what kind of diet you’re on, check the label to make sure it suits your needs.

What exactly is a popped chip? you ask. Popchips are potato chips that are not fried or baked, but are popped with heat and pressure. I’ve had them and they are really crunchy and tasty, reminiscent of puffed corn snacks (not popcorn). One ounce (22 chips) are 120 calories and 4 grams of fat, versus regular potato chips, which have 150 calories and 10 grams of fat (from Nutritiondata.com). They come in 7 flavors and can be found at various stores around the country.

According to the Snack Food Association, “SFA and the National Potato Promotion Board (NPPB) initiated National Snack Food Month in February 1989 to increase consumption and build awareness of snacks during a month when snack food consumption was traditionally low. The result has been a substantial increase in snack food sales during this month. The promotion kicks off on Super Bowl Sunday and publicity is generated throughout the month of February.”

Let me just say that I try to eat healthily and avoid processed foods as much as I can. But there are times—let’s just say once a month—when absolutely nothing will do but a salty, crunchy bucket o’ carbs. My personal favorites are barbecue, sour cream and onion, garlic and onion (Wise),  and cheddar cheese in the potato chip department, tortilla chips, and crunchy cheese doodles. I love fruit but even for me, fruit just doesn’t cut it. I also enjoy healthy snacks, such as rice cakes and trail mix, but it just can’t deliver on the salt and crunch factor.

Having said that, there are ways to satisfy that salty/crunch craving without planning ahead for that triple bypass surgery in the future. You can certainly opt for the low-fat, baked, low-carb varieties, but a great way to enjoy these types of snacks and still keep it healthy is to make some yourself. My favorite homemade snack is pita chips. They’re easy to make and actually cost you less than most bags of processed chips. Uh huh—a package of pita bread is about $1.99 (I get them for 99¢), and then it’s a few pennies more for a little oil and some spices. The average bag of chips (unless they’re on sale) will run you between $2.59 and $3.99. “Fancy” chips and organic chips are even more. And for your $1.99 investment on the pita bread, you’ll get a ton of chips.

So, when you’re jonesing for that disgusting, ultra-fattening, artery hardening, take-years-off-your-life stuff, give the recipe below a try.  You can eat them plain or with dips and salsa. Really, really yummy.

Stay warm, everyone.

Pita Chips

1 package pita bread
1/4 cup olive oil
Sea or kosher salt to taste
1/4 herb and spice mix of your choice*

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut open the pita breads and stack the rounds. Cut the rounds into 8 triangles and spread them out on a couple of large baking sheets. Brush them with a little olive oil. Sprinkle salt on them (as much or as little as you like), then sprinkle the herb/spice mix over them.

Bake until chips are crisp, anywhere between 5 and 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the bread.

Transfer them to a basket and serve with dip or salsa.

*The herb/spice mix can be whatever flavor profile you like. You can do an Italian/Mediterranean  flavor by using basil, parsley, oregano, and garlic powder; a Middle Eastern flavor by using cumin and coriander; or a Tex-Mex flavor by using chili powder and cumin. Other  ideas: rosemary, dillweed, onion powder, paprika, cracked black pepper, sesame seeds, or cinnamon and sugar for a sweet version (don’t serve those with salsa, though).

Photos of pizzelles and pitas: www.kingarthurflour.com

Anyway, on with the show.

This week,  I want to talk about appetizers. It’s a pretty broad subject, I know, but they’ve been a part of my daily existence for the past year. Allow me to explain.

My next cookbook is going to focus on appetizers, so almost every day I have been testing at least one appetizer. The thing is, when you’re testing a recipe, you have to test it exactly as it’s going to appear in the final recipe, including ingredients and quantities. In other words, if you’re developing a recipe for turkey chili with red beans and zucchini (yeah, zucchini.  so?), you can’t substitute pork and chick peas in the testing and then use cauliflower because they were out of zucchini at the market. Everything cooks up differently, at different times, with different results. You won’t know what your end product will be and that could cause dissatisfaction in your readers. Your recipes must work as written. Where quantities are concerned, again, you need to use the same quantities as stated in the ingredients list of the recipe, otherwise, you may end up with a different yield. So, your readers might be expecting 4 servings and end up with only 3, or 10. And not all recipes are amenable to being doubled or halved.

Why is this a problem for me? Because if I’m developing a recipe for appetizers, it’s going to be for at least 6 people. Appetizers can be fun and delicious, but I must say, one can only eat so many appetizers. It’s gotten so that I’m sick of my own food. I give away a lot of food. A lot. The other night, I asked a friend if he’d like to go get Chinese food. I couldn’t stand the thought of eating my own food again. I was already cooking a couple of things that night, mind you, but I just couldn’t bring myself to eat them. I finished cooking, packed it all up, and went out.

Don’t get me wrong. My food isn’t bad. In fact, if my family and friends are to be believed (not to mention my personal chef clients), I’m pretty good at this cooking thing. But sometimes I just need someone else’s food.

Anyway, back to appetizers. Appetizers have existed since ancient times. Here’s what I wrote about appetizers—or antipasti in Italian—in my cookbook, What, No Meat?:

One of the trademarks of an Italian meal is the antipasto (appetizers or hors d’oeuvres). Contrary to popular belief, antipasto does not mean “before the pasta.” It means “before the meal.” Pasto (meal) comes from the Latin word pastus, meaning “food.” The ancient Athenians actually invented the concept of appetizers; unfortunately for their guests, it was the only course they would serve. Other Greeks felt that this was a sign of cheapness because, as Lynceus put it, “such a layout as that may seem to offer variety, but is nothing at all to satisfy the belly.”

The ancient Romans began having true antipasto in the 3rd century B.C. and continued having this premeal course through the 4th century A.D. It included items that are still considered appetizers today, such as olives and a primitive pizza (think of the focaccia on the table at your favorite Italian restaurant).

During the Dark Ages, meals were more for sustenance than enjoyment, so antipasto had no place in it. During the Plague of the 14th century, one was lucky to get a meal at all, let alone appetizers. With the onset of the Renaissance, admiration for beauty and art was reborn and appreciation of food for its own sake reemerged. Appetizers came back in style and have remained with us to this day.

After I finish all this testing, I’m going on a diet. Maybe even a fast. Parties are fun, but parties every day become a bore (how does Paris Hilton do it, poor thing?). But I don’t want anyone to lose interest in the subject. Appetizers are creative little dishes that guests remember the next day and for days to come.

As Saki (writer H.H. Munro) wrote in “Reginald at the Carlton”:

Hors d’oeuvres…remind me of one’s childhood that one goes through considering what the next course is going to be like—and during the rest of the menu one wishes one had eaten more of the hors d’oeuvres.

Have a great week, everyone! And stay away from those viruses.

Okay, let’s get into it.

Recently, I had a friend visit me from out of town. She wanted to visit the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side. That area of Manhattan is steeped in immigrant history and the Tenement Museum on Orchard Street brings visitors back to a time of really brutal living, before housing laws and the provision by landlords of basic human needs. They offer several different tours in actual tenement apartments. Poking around the restored turn-of-the-20th-century apartments, with its tiny, airless, windowless, dark rooms, makes you appreciate modern living conditions (assuming you’re lucky enough to have a place with several decent-sized rooms, light, heat, and indoor plumbing).

Anyway, as long as we were in that area of town, I decided to plan a day around it. We visited Babycakes, a bakery that specializes in organic, natural baked goodies that are gluten-free and vegan, and often soy-free. (See the Babycakes page under “Foodie Places to Check Out” on the right.) (By the way, the founder of  Babycakes made a book trailer for a cookbook by the same name. It’s pretty cute and worth taking a look HERE.)

We also picked up several knishes at Yonah Schimmel’s Knish Bakery on East Houston Street, which has been there since 1910 (more on that in a future post). We browsed the shelves of Bluestockings, a radical bookstore and activist center on Allen Street. We ended our day with a pizza dinner at Lombardi’s on Spring Street. Why is that so special? Because Lombardi’s is credited as being the very first pizzaria, not only in New York but in the U.S.

Established in 1905 by Gennaro Lombardi, an Italian immigrant, Lombardi’s is a sit-down pizzaria—in other words, unlike most pizzarias, there are restaurant-style tables, and it’s so popular with tourists and natives alike that you have to check in with the maitre d’ at the front, and it’s quite possible that you’ll need to wait a bit for a table. The menu is quite basic. They offer a small and large pizza (no individual slices) of either their “Original” pizza (marinara sauce and fresh mozzarella), or a “White” pizza (mozzarella, ricotta, romano cheese, no sauce), and optional toppings. You can also order a calzone or one of four appetizers and salads: house salad, Caesar salad, tomato and mozzarella plate, or bread sticks and sauce. And that’s it. But that’s all they need to sell, because they do a brisk business. It’s good to be a legend. (For more on Lombardi’s history, click HERE.)

Their prices are what you’d might expect from a place that caters to tourists. As of this writing, a large (18-inch) original pizza, which yields 8 slices, is $19.50; a small (14-inch) pizza, yielding 6 slices, is $15.50. A large white pizza is $21.50; a small is $17.50. The toppings are a little painful, at $3.00 for one and up to $8.00 for 5. Probably the most excrutiating price on the menu is the tomato and mozzarella plate, which comes in at $10.95. It’s a bit on the pricey side, but not exhorbitant and perfectly acceptable for an occasional visit with out-of-town guests, a special occasion, or just for the fun of it.

Is it all worth it? Well, the day my friend and I went in, I found the sauce in need of a little salt, but it might be absolutely perfect on other days. I liked the fact that they used fresh mozzarella instead of the packaged supermarket stuff. Really, the best thing about Lombardi’s pizza is the crust. The pizza is baked in a brick oven, giving the crust a smoky flavor, a crisp crunch, and beautiful charred appearance. If you’re ever in New York, it’s really worth a stop in for lunch or dinner. And it’s just paces away from the history-rich Little Italy, Chinatown, and Lower East Side.

They’re open 7 days a week, with reservations available Monday through Thursday. Be aware if you do go, however, that they accept cash only.

And to indulge in your love of pizza even further, you can go on a pizza tour. Yes, a pizza tour. Scott’s Pizza Tours will take you on either a bus or walking tour of some of the most legendary pizzarias in New York, starting from Little Italy and going into Greenwich Village on the walking tour, and Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx on the bus tour. They can be reached at 212-209-3370 or 1-800-979-3370.

According to the title of this blog post, I promised you some pizza history, so here’s an excerpt from the introduction to the pizza section of my book, What, No Meat? Traditional Italian Cooking the Vegetarian Way, which I’m hoping will be reissued shortly. It’s late. Way late.

Virtually every culture in the world has one form of pizza or another. In the last couple of decades it has even found its way to the most culturally isolated countries. You probably knew that pizza is an Italian creation, but did you know that it goes back to the ancient Romans? The Romans made what they called moretum, a plain baked piece of dough that they ate with onions. Near the beginning of the 2nd second century A.D., the word picea entered the language to describe a piece of round dough dressed with various toppings, perhaps influenced by the Greek word pièzo, “to flatten.” It finally became pizza soon after. (Sauce didn’t enter the picture until the 18th century.)

            The pizza that we know today was created in Naples in 1535 in honor of the marriage of Bona Sforza to Sizismondo I, King of Poland. Despite its grand origin, it became a food for common folk. Pizzerias started out as little holes-in-the-wall, selling pizza to the local peasants. As pizza’s popularity grew, pizzaiuoli (pizza-makers) began adding tables and chairs to entice people to enter. Little by little, they began to decorate and beautify their establishments by putting in colorful tiles or fancy brickwork.

            Gennaro Lombardi opened the first pizzeria in the U.S. in New York in 1905. Over time, it became very popular and more pizzerias opened all across the country, becoming a favorite gathering place for people of all classes. Today, pizza is just as American as it is Italian. According to one urban legend, U.S. pizza is so popular that in the 1980s, college students in England ordered pizza to be shipped overseas. Papa John’s pizzeria filled the largest pizza order in history by delivering 13,500 pizzas in June of 2006. This surpasses the Guinness World Records champion, Little Caesar’s, who delivered 13,386 pizzas on August 19, 1998 to employees of  the VF Corp. of Greensboro, N.C. at 180 locations in the U.S.

            Americans have turned pizza making into an art form, reinventing it over and over, and have honored it by dubbing the second week of January National Pizza Week and September National Pizza Festival Month. And, reflective of people’s strong feelings about anchovies, November 12 is National Pizza With the Works Except Anchovies Day. But pizza is a worldwide commodity. In fact, the largest pizza ever made—122 feet, 8 inches in diameter—was in Norwood, South Africa in 1990.

            Neapolitans are very protective of their creation, so much so that there is an organization called Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletano (Association of True Neapolitan Pizza). This group, as you may have guessed, determines what is and what isn’t authentic Neapolitan pizza by defining the proper ingredients, the proper way of making the dough, and the proper cooking methods. Truth is, you can make pizza any way you wish. Follow your whim, put any toppings you feel like putting—just don’t let the Associazione catch you. 

 Hope you enjoyed that little romp through culinary history and that it deepened your appreciation of pizza—if that’s at all possible. Have a great week, all.

Let’s get drinking…

A while back, I made kumquatcello, based on the recipe for limoncello, except that I used kumquats. (The blog for that is HERE.) The resulting liqueur was unique and smooth, with a delicate citrus flavor, and it’s getting better as it ages.

I’d been wanting to try orangecello and I finally got a chance to do that. All you do is replace the lemon peels with orange peels. Right now, the orange peels are infusing the vodka, and in about a week or so, I’ll be finishing off the recipe. After that, it will sit for a month before I taste it.

I’ve also got a bag of naked oranges now. I’ll squeeze those for some fresh orange juice. I love that! Nothing compares to fresh-squeezed orange juice, no matter what the commercials say.

I’ll let you know how that goes. In the meantime, have a great week, everyone. And for those of you being hit by Arctic blasts, stay warm.

Peace

I’m glad for the good things that have happened, and I’m grateful that my life situations weren’t as bad as they were for others. But, still, I close the book on 2009 with a bon voyage and good riddance.

So many people have suffered this past year, especially where money is concerned. I’m not big on money, but life is always easier when you have it. I firmly believe that money isn’t everything and that if you have good health, you’re way ahead of the game. But not everyone has their health, and I—along with many others—learned that health often costs money. For those of us who cannot afford health care, money suddenly took on new meaning.

And so, in that vein, I want to offer here a recipe for Hoppin’ John. It is said that eating Hoppin’ John on New Year’s Day brings good luck, and eating it with collard greens will make you rich. Okay, so it’s past New Year’s Day, but you can’t lose anything by eating some in the first week of the new year.

This recipe for Hoppin’ John is vegetarian and can be found at Vegsource.com.

Incidentally, a pox on Optimum/Cablevision for dropping The Food Network from its program lineup. It’s one of the most popular channels and I think it’s a slap in the face to the millions of people who enjoy it. Cablevision, stop being cheap and give Scripps more money to keep The Food Network!

So, Happy New Year, everyone! May the new year be better than the last.

Peace.