The Proverbial Question: “And Where Were You?”
New Yorkers like to ask each other “Where were you when (fill in the major event) happened?” When President Kennedy was shot. When 911 occurred. When Hurricane Sandy ravaged our area. And most recently when Joe Biden’s presidential win was declared.
In fact, a week ago, I was in my Eastside apartment mid-morning doing recipe testing for a new book. There was nothing unusual about that until I started hearing a familiar sound: the 7PM New York City Covid-19 clapping for doctors, nurses and first responders. But it was only 11 AM. I ran out on my terrace and sure enough, New Yorkers were going crazy. Taxis, buses, cars were honking their horns. People were flooding their balconies while others were hanging out of their windows clutching whatever they could find to make a loud sound: stadium horns, cow bells, whistles and of course, pot and pans.
I grabbed my saucepan and broken wooden spoon and joined the merry makers. After five minutes of jubilation, I broke down in tears. Stephen Colbert did too as he explained on a recent show. Many other Americans had the same reaction. Tears of joy and tears of relief that this was debacle was finally over. Well, almost over.
My trainer, Jenn Spina, told me she took to the streets immediately after hearing the eruption of noise. She recounted seeing young New Yorkers wearing Biden banners like shawls dancing along the avenues. Her local Westside wine shop offered passersby free plastic glasses of Champagne from bottles popped opened for the impromptu celebration.
Another friend, food and travel guru Beverly Stephen, explained where she and her partner, Jim Jondreau were, “We were standing on the platform waiting for the train in Southampton. Jim's brother called to relay the exciting news. We were thrilled, elated, and relieved. An added bonus is Kamala Harris. So glad to finally have a woman Vice President. I remember how thrilling it was when Geraldine Ferraro was a nominee. When I was at the Daily News, I actually went on her plane for a few days. To think it actually took all these years later to finally get a woman in the job!” At long last, indeed.
Natasha Kavanagh was at her beach house on Fire Island at the time talking to her brother in the UK. Suddenly, her boyfriend, Dr. Lou Aledort, anxiously flashed the news of Joe’s win on his cell phone in front of her face. Within five minutes from hanging up the phone, they were on the beach with their neighbors whopping it up in the surf and on the sand.
While chatting recently with Natasha she asked me if there were something amiss with my blog. Indeed, there was. There was a technical glitch several weeks ago whereby subscribers were locked out of TarteTatinTales without a password, something never required previously to access the site. Apologies for that inconvenience. Luckily, the problem has been fixed with Squarespace, the service which hosts the site. However, there still is a slight issue with Mailchimp, the service which manages the distribution of the site to my subscribers. But, we are working on it.
Had the system not gone screwy, you would have all read the posting before this one which talked about the book I am writing. You can read all about it here: https://nyti.ms/36EzqES. Encourage by my nephew, Tony Boss, I decided to take a few of my favorite chapters from TarteTatinTales— along with thirty-some recipes from family and friends— to produce a hybrid autobiography-cookbook.
As anyone who has ever ventured down the writing-your-first-book lane knows, this can be more complicated than anticipated. Nevertheless, it is a good complicated where my brain gets a serious workout. The process also requires considerable commitment and focus. So, for the next several months writing the book will occupy most of my creative time and energy. I hope to be back to my weekly postings as quickly as possible once the manuscript is handed in to the publisher.
In the meantime, I am recipe testing for a dish of roasted carrots with a pesto made of carrot tops which you will find in this week’s Dessert section. After years of asking the farmer at the green market to cut off the tops, I decided to keep them on. Back in my kitchen I made the plunge and popped several stems into my mouth. They were surprisingly tasty: a delicate yet earthy blend of carrot and parsley. Now carrot top greens are even appearing in my salad mixtures. So why not try using them in a Pesto sauce too?
Pesto sauces, after all, can be made with just about anything as long as there is something green involved plus garlic, nuts and olive oil. You’ll see this recipe does not require grated Parmigianino cheese although you could certainly add it if you’d like to have a richer taste.
So, there you have it. The latest news from TarteTatinTales plus a new recipe for a delicious, easy, and nutritious topping for any vegetable, toasted bread, soups or pasta.
Bon appétit and thanks for indulging me with my first book project!