Safe Summer Seafood

There's nothing like raw oysters and cold beer to finish off a summer's night. Or a clambake right on the beach.Or freshly caught lobster, perfectly boiled and served with melted butter. All of these are great, especially now but are they safe?Are our waters OK for these catches to exist in? Are they safe for us to eat?

So far so good. Here in the New York area we've had problems with a sewerage treatment plant leakingstraight into the Hudson. Luckily it had been contained and didn't hit the waters off of New Jersey's north shore. This would affect the striper fishing in Raritan Bay as well as the Atlantic's lobster and shellfish industries. I've spent July eating locally caught lobster almost on a weekly basis. It's all been OK and safe with out any side effects (except for the fact of me getting fat from all that melted butter). There is always some concern when it comes to oysters which are nature's natural filters. They process algae and silt rich water and basically spew out purified H2O. Unfortunately pollutants get inside too and can contaminate the oyster flesh. Usually when this happens there are news reports and warnings .

What about the radiation that leaked out of Japan this past spring? Due to the double whammy of a devastating earthquake and destructive tidal wave, the Fukushima nuclear plant wound up leaking into the Pacific Ocean. There were worries that Pacific breeds such as tuna and salmon were contaminated. There were even concerns about fish and crustaceans from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska being radiated. Again, everything is OK and seafood from California to the Aleutian Islands is safe to eat.

If you're dying for a cold plate of raw oysters then go for it. They and every other seafood is safe to eat this August. Enjoy the ripe fruits of the sea while you can.It's the season for them!

Honest Abe's Menu

Today is Abe Lincoln;s birthday. This great man came from humble beginnings as we all know. His backwoods origins also included a love of simple food whether from the forest or the garden. He ate simply , his mind more on his law studies than on his stomach. Despite all he ate well and even nutritiously.

Lincoln's Southern Illinois and Indiana back in the 1800's was just starting to become farmland. His stepmother probably cooked a lot of wild onion and parsnips, either boiled or stewed with meats to flavor them. There was plenty of wild meat to choose from, from raccoons to squirrels to pigeons. Lincoln had a fondness for chicken, especially fricasseed and he carried that with him to the White House. H e liked gingerbread a, love from his boyhood along with fruits, in particular apples. These probably grew in abundance on his farms and along the roads and were always there for the picking.

Once he was elected into the White House, Lincoln abandon his culinary loves. He still enjoyed plenty of fresh fruits,. especially grapes in the summer. He still loved apples along with apple pies pies He was not into the fancily decorated cakes and gelatins of the period, preferring simple butter cookies and plain cakes. He did have a passion for oysters especially in a creamy stew.. This last was a big 19th Century passion. Mostly everyone from that era relished this particular bivalve. and there was an incredible amount of oyster recipes in cookbooks of the time. One thing that stood out Lincoln was a lifelong non drinker,he preferred a glass of water to wine or spirits. This may have come from his days of drinking fresh stream or well water a a boy.

Abe Lincoln wasn't a gourmand like other presidents. He had none of Jefferson's culinary curiosity about food nor was he a love of all things rich like Taft . Much like his principles, he was more for the simple and pure..