My blogging will be at a minimum for at least two weeks. My family is going off to visit my family in California! My son has been counting the days til we leave since August 1st. We are half packed and ready to leave tomorrow. Tomorrow will be airline hell, but by Tuesday I will be happily settling into my California relaxation mode.

I used to love flying. Now, if it wasn't for my family living across the country, I'd avoid flying like the plague. Between Homeland Security's ineffectual but degradingly insulting measures and the airline's incresasingly petty fees and service cuts, the fun has been totally sucked out of air travel, leaving nothing but a husk of misery, anger and bitterness. I used to travel with a smile and just enjoy the ride. Now I fly with a tight lipped sense of dread. Thank you very much airlines. You suck and your suckiness gets worse year after year.

My wife and I joined the Park Slope Food Co-op, the largest food co-op in the nation, about a year ago. Recently I came across an interesting graphic in their July 3rd newsletter on the Organic Industry Structure, a complex web of corporate ownership of organics companies, many of which started as independent. I tracked the graphic back to its source with Dr. Phil Howard, Assistant Professor
Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies (CARRS), at Michigan State University. At his site I found even more fascinating graphics that are worth sharing (with his permission) for those interested in organic food and corporate America.

First off, let me start with a digression into "why organic?" I was a latecomer to the organics movement because in the beginning many claims made about organics were dubious. But, as the industry developed and my knowledge of it grew, I began to realize the worth of organic food. My first decision to lean towards buying organic was with meat for one simple reason. Most non-organic meat producers at the time used massive amounts of antibiotics in animal feed, a gross misuse of antibiotics that has contributed to the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria, a serious health hazard. Organic meat USUALLY is raised without antibiotics, and by now some non-organic meats are raised without antibiotics, so really you have to look to see if your meat is specifically labeled "raised without antibiotics" to be sure. But we found organic meat more reliably raised without antibiotics and actually to be of much higher quality than the average store bought meat. The only kind of meat that is generally of better quality is kosher meat, which is of high quality, but I checked, and antibiotic use is not specifically forbidden in kosher meat.

From organic meat we noticed organic produce is often higher quality than non-organic. Or, more to the point, non-organic produce in NYC is generally horrible, while organic produce varies from horrible to great.

But the truth is there are other environmental and health benefits to organics. Not ALL such benefits claimed by the organics industry are real, but many are. The Union of Concerned Scientists recently printed an article on this that I refer readers to for details. Here I quote only the intro paragraphs, but the article goes into some detail:

Amid recent food safety scares and a growing interest in healthy living, increasing numbers of consumers are opting for organic foods. While there is no doubt that organic produce is better for the environment because it is grown without synthetic fertilizers and pesticides (which can deplete the soil and pollute both our air and water), the science has not been clear on whether organic foods are more nutritious than their conventional counterparts—until now.

This spring, The Organic Center (a nonprofit that promotes organic farming) released the most comprehensive comparison to date of the nutritional quality of organic and conventionally grown produce. The authors reviewed the findings of nearly 100 published studies on this topic and carefully matched 236 pairs of measurements for 11 specific nutrients in both organic and conventional fruits and vegetables. The organic produce was nutritionally superior in 61 percent of the cases.

You can learn more about the benefits and basics of organics elsewhere on the Union of Concerned Scientists website.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists recent newsletter, the antibiotic resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that has been an increasing problem in hospitals around the world is now infecting apparently healthy schoolkids outside of hospitals. This is a major development. Up until now anti-biotic resistance was only occasionally a problem outside of hospitals (so-called community-acquired" cases). This may be changing. According to the Centers for Disease Control, MRSA was responsible for almost 19,000 US deaths in 2005.

Another part of this development is also important. Evidence from Europe indicate that the community-acquired cases of MRSA are often associated with livestock operations. This is yet further evidence that the idiotic practice of pouring massive amounts of antibiotics into the feed of healthy animals is contributing to the public health risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria that treatens our children and people with a compromised immune system.

Been awhile since I've done a restaurant review, but feel inspired today to write one of a restaurant we have been to a couple of times in the Murray Hill area.

Indo Munch on Lexington near 31st St.
182,Lexington Avenue,
NY, NY - 10016
Ph:212-545-0010, 212-545-0017

Took me awhile to try the new fusion Indian/Chinese cuisine that hit Lexington last year. First stuff I tried was some ready made Indian/Chinese food I bought from a company in India that sells in bulk those packaged prepared Indian food. Good stuff, but not speectacular. Hadn't tried any restaurants until recently. But we started trying a couple of places in the last few months and have quite liked it. The mixing of Chinese and Indian flavors works very nicely, though often individual dishes will lean quite a bit towards one or the other cuisine. Many dishes are served either "dry" or in "gravy." I think the dry is slightly better, but both are good.

Here is a sampling of what we have tried:

Meant to do my final thoughts on Thankgsgiving either Thursday or Friday. But between cooking, eating, a computer outage, a couple of temper tantrums by my 3 year old and some much needed cleaning of our apartment, only getting to it now.

Thanksgiving is one of America's foundation myths. Every culture has them. And, as with most foundation myths, there is much hidden behind the myth. When Augustus hired Virgil to write the Aeniad, truth had almost nothing to do with the bargain. It was all about giving Rome a myth to be proud of so they could comfortably forget the military coup Augustus had carried out. In our case the happy shiny myth of thanksgiving hides our history of genocide against Native Americans and our establishment as a slave nation. Most Americans prefer the shiny happy myth to the reality. But I believe that if we don't face the skeletons in our closet we can never overcome the consequences of those skeletons. You don't grow and improve through denial.

Last entry I described my technique of treating poultry with concentrated tea to give it extra moistness and flavor. I soaked the capon we are having for Thanksgiving for over 24 hours in the tea, turning it over mid way through to expose both sides.

Today I transferred the capon to a more traditional pre-cooking treatment: a salty broth. In its basic form, brining means to soak a bird in salt water for at least 6 hours (I usually do it 12-24 hours). The brine adds flavor and moisture to the meat. I first heard about this method from Alton Brown on the Food Network. I was impressed with the results. As a white meat fan, dryness is an issue. Brining definitely helps.

Last entry I discussed our choice of bird this year: a capon.

Today I immersed the bird into concentrated cherry tea.

Why cherry tea? Because it made sense last year, it worked and people loved it. Sometimes my cooking instincts jump out and give me an idea that is off the wall. About 90% of the time they work very well...we won't talk about the other 10%. Those suck.

This year, on a whim, Joy and I bought a capon for Thanksgiving.

I have always liked Thanksgiving (as a very food-centered holiday) despite a certain ambivalence towards the underlying colonialism of the holiday. Some years I have written a diary focusing on the ambivalence of Thanksgiving (and Columbus Day) for those of us who know how bloody colonialism was in Amreica but also know that our own families may well have been saved from bloody pogroms and holocausts in Europe by the existence of America.

Still catching up on good restaurant reviews. For reference, here are my past reviews:

Maison du Couscous (excellent Moroccan food in Bay Ridge), Biscuit (Brooklyn's best Carolina style BBQ), the Bourgeois Pig (a quirky wine bar near Washington Square Park in Manhattan), Cafe Steinhof (Authentic Austrian cuisine in Park Slope), and BB Sandwich (NYC style Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches with a balsamic touch near Washington Sq. Park), and Palo Santo, wonderful, if not cheap, Latin America cuisine in Park Slope.

I haven't done a restaurant review in some time. For those who are interested, I have previously reviewed Maison du Couscous (excellent Moroccan food in Bay Ridge), Biscuit (Brooklyn's best Carolina style BBQ), the Bourgeois Pig (a quirky wine bar near Washington Square Park in Manhattan), Cafe Steinhof (Authentic Austrian cuisine in Park Slope), and BB Sandwich (NYC style Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches with a balsamic touch near Washington Sq. Park).