Happy Mother's Day!

I am the luckiest girl in the world.  Because I not only have the world's best Mom...

(and adorable sister)

And Grandmother...

I also have the super bonus of the most amazing Mom-in-Law...

And some extra Moms-by-Choice!

Thanks to all of you for showing me what it means to be a woman, a wife, a mother, a sister, and the best possible human being.  What it means to love, to live, to be strong, to work, to play.  I would not be the woman or the person I am without having had every one of you in my life, and today, as every day, I am deeply humbled and so very grateful.

Love you all, thank you for being.

XOS

Jumping Genres, But Hopefully Not The Shark

Hello Chickens!  Today I want to share some lovely news about a new project with you.

But first, a teeny bit of backstory.

I always thought I was going to be a lawyer.  From the age of six or so, I would tell anyone who would listen that I was going to be a lawyer when I grew up.  And anyone who ever heard me negotiate with my parents for a second glass of pop or one more chapter before bed had no doubt that was a smart path for me.

In high school I served for a year on the Illinois Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division after-school program.  I was on my school’s mock trial team, and we took our show to the statewide competition where we went up against a school from Leaf River, IL, and I made one of their team members cry during cross examination.  The Illinois Supreme Court Justice moderating the trial indicated I might want to skip college and law school and just start litigating.

When I got to university, I was leaning towards a career in international law.  Being that this area of law is all about treaties and trade agreements, and that China was going to open to the West the year after I was due to graduate from Law School, I signed up for Chinese 101, and started imagining my junior year abroad in the exotic Far East.  Chinese 101 met five days a week at 9am.  I went to one full week of classes, learning to say “Hello”, and then proceeded to sleep thru it not only the rest of the semester, but the entire last day to drop classes, garnering me my very first F in history, and plunking me solidly on Academic Warning. 

My parents were so proud.

Since International Law was out, I shifted my focus to Entertainment Law, having been both a musician and actor, and imagined making millions protecting the interests of artists, and then retiring from practice young (with plenty of money) in order to serve as a judge.  This was my goal for a full two years, right up until I spent the three months between my sophomore and junior year living in a mud hut in Kenya and teaching at the local secondary school.  I realized there that I could be a good lawyer, and a wealthy lawyer, but not a happy lawyer.

I returned stateside to pursue a career in education.  One MA in Education and four years teaching high school English in the Chicago Public Schools, was followed by eleven years running education programs at not-for-profit professional theaters, and consulting with both education entities on arts integration in the classroom, and educational program development for arts organizations, as well as teacher and teaching artist training and curriculum development.

Leaving the world of arts education for full time writing was the hardest decision I ever had to make, but also an important one.  And making a life as an artist is a source of unimaginable joy.   But I do miss the contact with young people, the connection of teaching, working with passionate educators.

My once fervid desire to be a member of the legal community was replaced by a deep and abiding love of the legal procedural, in television, print, and on film.  Name a Law and Order episode, and I’ve seen it.  I own L&O Trial By Jury on DVD.  If cops are fighting bad guys and lawyers are defending the innocent, it is on my TiVo, much to the chagrin of poor Charming Suitor who loves me in spite of it.

Our schools, it is no surprise to any of us, are in a state of disaster.  No Child Left Behind should have been called Every Child Left Behind, with essential areas of the arts and civics education lost to budget cuts and standardized testing.  Teachers are desperate for interesting and compelling curriculum and resources, and kids are being given short shrift, especially in the area of Civics and education about our legal and judicial systems. 

So when a friend of a cousin approached me nearly two years ago about potentially working with him to co-author a young adult legal thriller that would be a fantastic fun read for middle-schoolers, but also a source of actual information about the legal system and constitutional law that teachers could integrate into their classroom curriculum, I was intrigued.  When he said we would not only write the book, which could hopefully be the first in a series, but that we would be developing student guides and teaching study guides, and creating a website to serve as a resource for educators, and that everything we did would be appropriate for use on both Constitution Day and Law Day in the schools, I was in.

As a writer, working in a totally new genre is exhilarating.  Since writing tends to be solitary and isolating, working with a wonderful collaborator is refreshing.  And as an educator, working on something of genuine academic value is the work of my heart.

Wainwright for the People has been embraced by the American Bar Association, which will publish it in March of 2013.  As I do with all my books, I would like to ask you to pre-order your copy.  Unlike my other books, I am going to ask you to do it this month through Kickstarter.  There is much work to be done, especially on the website development side and working on the educational materials, in addition to the actual writing of the book, and for all of that to happen, we need some support.

Any donation of $15 gets you a copy of the book, same as if you pre-ordered from a bookstore or online bookseller, but in addition to the book, you will know you are helping make the educational elements of this project come to fruition.  The campaign runs for exactly one month, so if you do want to pre-order your copy (or copies!) you have till the end of the month to do so. 

You can get all the info on the project you might need here, including reading the (very rough draft) of the first three chapters:

 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joelrothman/wainwright-for-the-people

 Feel free to post this on Facebook, tweet about it, send it in an e-mail to whomever you like.

 And thanks in advance for your support, it is an unbelievably exciting new venture and I am thrilled to be a part of it, and to share it with you all.

 Yours in Good Taste,

The Polymath

Happy Day

One year ago today, I married my Charming Suitor, my best friend, my confidante, my muse, my partner in crime.

Are we not a bucket of adorable???

I recieved as a wedding gift an extra set of wonderful parents, a new sister and brother, and two incredible nieces, all of whom I could not love more if they were mine my birth instead of choice.  I got to watch my own family open to embrace and include my CS, and watch them all come to be family in such a seamless and effortless way that it makes my heart smile whenever we are together.

In the past year we have turned two households into one home, two groups of friends into one rollicking gaggle.  We have filled the year with amazing travel, laughter, and a love that really does, despite the cliche of it, grow stronger and deeper every day.  We have supported each other through some difficult and trying times, and celebrated milestones.  We have cooked together, for each other and for others, and frankly, everything really does taste better. 

So, on this very special day, I just wanted to say as out loud as I can, thank you to my extraordinary husband for the best year of my life, the best love of my life, the best life of my life.  I am the luckiest, happiest girl in the world.  Here's to year two.

With my whole heart,
Stacey

Pumpkin Seed Oil Winner

Thought this posted, but obviously I am technically challenged...clearly computers are not one of my polymathmatical skills!

Maggie, email me your address at staceyballisinfo (at) gmail (dot) come and your pumpkin seed oil will be on its way!

The Polymath

Freezcube Winners

Congrats to Emilie, Mvarela and April, you have won your own Freezcubes!

E-mail your mailing addresses to me at staceyballisinfo (at) gmail (dot) com.

Coming soon...some more awesome new products, and the return of the Stennifer Lunch Tour!

Yours in Good Taste,
The Polymath

Food Safety

It may have been mentioned before, I am very diligent about food safety.  Charming Suitor might occasionally call me the food police.  This is usually after I have recklessly and wantonly discarded four day old takeout leftovers that he "was going to eat tomorrow". 

To be fair, we come at food safety from very different places.  He has a cast iron stomach, inherited from Reverend Charming, who can eat two week old pasta with chicken and pronounce it "tingly, but delicious", with no ill effects.  I, as we may have mentioned, have a digestive system only slightly less sensitive than a fifteen year old girl with a breakout on junior prom night.  I have been poisioned by many, but never by myself, and I would like to keep it that way.

But while I am diligent, I am not insane.  I know the difference between a "sell by" date and an "expiration" date.  I believe in trusting my eyes, nose, and mouth, and just because the cottage cheese says four days ago if it isn't fuzzy, doesn't smell off, and tastes good, I will still eat it.

Today I want to talk about the freezer.  Many people think that because food in your freezer is frozen solid that it is automatically protected from bacteria etc.  For a long time I did too, and only discarded food that I knew was really old, or was freezer burnt...and even then more because I knew they would not be delicous, not because I thought they might be harmful.

I have many freezers in my life.  We have the upstairs freezer, for ice and everyday items.  We have the freezer in the downstairs fridge, for stuff like frozen meat and veg to grab for dinner.  And then we have CS's huge chest freezer for large cuts of meat, and bulk items.  And there is the freezer at The Farm, where we spend most weekends.

And that is where the problem starts. Because two out of four weeks when we get to The Farm, our microwave and the bedroom clocks are all blinky.  Meaning at some point since people were last there, the power went out.  But for how long?  Ten seconds?  Ten minutes? Two days?  The minute food in your freezer goes above zero, bacteria can start to grow.  If the power goes out, and then comes back on a day later, your food will refreeze, and you will never know what might be lurking.

Until now.

CS and I went to the Housewares show, and the minute I saw this little beauty, I jumped up and down and clapped like a child.  CS pronounced it "made for you", and I investigated.

Say hello to my leeetle friend!


This, my Chickens, is the Freezcube, and you are gonna want one for every freezer in your life.

The premise is simple.  You put this in your freezer with the small side down overnight, which will freeze the liquids solid, provided your freezer is set cold enough for safety. 

(guess whose wasn't!  THE HORROR!) 

Then you flip it over, so the frozen parts are on top.  Then leave it.  If you check your freezer and any of the liquids have melted into the bottom, you know something has gone awry.  The different colors are labeled based on the number of days you have to consume the contents of your freezer without danger, from 1 day to 14 days to THROW EVERYTHING OUT RIGHT NOW!

The simplest thing in the world, peace of mind.

And while you can get your own Freezcubes at Amazon , they have also sent me a few to give out to some lucky readers!

So, comment below with your own food safety tips, or confessions, or quirks, or any tools you use to keep the contents of your fridge and freezer safe for human consumption, and on Monday I'll let you know who is getting a Freezcube of their very own!

Your in Good Taste,
The Polymath

A Little Molecular Gastronomy

So Chickens, where do you fall out on the whole Molecular Gastronomy thing?  Pro or con?  Cutting edge cuisine, or elaborate hoax?

For me, I am pro, but with some caveats.

As with any style of cooking, it is about elevating the ingredients.  Sous vide cooking, very low constant temp immersed in circulating water, for example, can make a short rib both meltingly tender AND perfectly medium rare, heretofore impossible.  So if someone has that on the menu, I am in.  The ability to manipulate texture, especially in contrasting temperatures, is very interesting and when done well, can enhance the experience of eating a dish.  The classic El Bulli trick of taking the purest essence of olive and sperifying it so that it LOOKS like an olive, but explodes in the mouth with olive flavor is exciting, and works with the food.

HOWEVER.  The people who just put foam on everything like a garnish of cat gack, the people who are more concerned with showing off knowing a technique than they are with the food, that I find annoying.  There are many many fewer people doing Molecular Gastronomy WELL than one might imagine from the preponderance of powders, liquid nitrogen ices, and caviar-ed EVERYTHING that pop up on menus everywhere.

Not everyone can be Grant Achatz, whose Alinea continues to be one of the most exciting meals I have ever had the pleasure to experience.  And I'm less and less interested in the food that looks like something else...I actually don't find the idea or visual of eating dirt or cigar ash appealing, even if it does end up being delicious.  (Dirt Cake with Gummy Worms is exempted from this, of course, because chocolate trumps everything.)

But like many other trends and techniques, I had never had much desire to "try that at home".  My parents will remember cringingly my unimpressive C- in high school Chemistry.  And I don't want to fuss that much over my food.  But there is something to be said for the proverbial gift horse.

Culinary Imports sent me some of their products to play with, and I have to say, it can be fun, and there are some applications for the home cook.

The main thing I find cool to work with is that sperifying effect, making "caviar" is actually pretty cool, and they feel fun to eat.  I'm a bubble tea kind of girl anyway.  And I miss Freshen Up Gum. 

This is Balsamic Vinegar "caviar" floating in olive oil.  An enormously fun way to re-imagine a caprese salad for a dinner party, instead of dousing your beautiful white cheese with liquid, strewing these glistening dark balls over the top is both show-stoppingly gorgeous, but also makes the experience of the salad new and fun.  Ditto over strawberries or vanilla ice cream for an elegant and unusual dessert.

Our best applications were for cocktails, for which we enlisted our best mixologist pals, C&H.  The caviar trick allowed us to add a punch of flavor without diluting the original drink.  Since we are on such a Negroni kick, we made some Aperol caviar (a bitter liqueur) and floated them in our classic Negronis.  The drink remained the same, but now and again with a burst of extra flavor,  totally fun.

Frankly, a lot of the rest of it, foams and gels and glow in the dark and DIY pop rocks...it is a bigger pain than it is worth for the kind of cooking I do.  But I will give Culinary Imports a lot of credit, they have made the process MUCH more accessible for people who do want to play at home.  They have worked to make the chemistry easier, with a measuring system that doesn't require a scale or an advanced degree.  Their kits come with everything you will need and recipes to start you off, which make them a potentially awesome gift for the uber-foodie or mixologist on your list.

Not at all interested in food-science projects?  CI will not leave you in the cold.  Perhaps their single best product?  Pumpkin seed oil.

This bright green oil has a mild nutty flavor that is really delish!  We tried a riff on pesto, replacing the traditional basil and parsley with arugula and mint, and replacing the olive oil with pumpkin seed oil...fantastic.  It works very well on salads, especially grain salads like wheatberry or quinoa.  And it is very good for you.

And Culinary Imports wants one of you to try it for free!

Yep, they have donated a 16 oz bottle for one of my fabulous Chickens.

SO...comment below with your opinions or experiences with Molecular Gastronomy, pro or con, or a tale of what you want to make with Pumpkin Seed Oil, and one of you chosen at random will get this prize.  Winner announced next Monday.

Yours in Good Taste,
The Polymath