Punchy Punches For Halloween

 This weelend is going ot be the weekend for Halloween parties. Instead of playing bartender and missing the party why not roll with the punches? Put out fancy bowls of alcoholic and non alcoholic ones. Your guests will get a big kick out of them as they're served ina spooky cup.

Start with a fun punch bowl/ Target has large witch's cauldrons which would be perfect for any kind of punch. They also sell a large clear pumpkin too.If you can;t find onen use your soup pot and soup ladle to pour out cups. You can also use one of your soup tureens (or buy one at an antique store) along with using the ladle that comes with it. Large ice buckets also work well too. What about the punch itself? A perfect spooky holiday sip is a blood red sangria. Start with a sweet red or rose and add the fruit fi the season  such as apples and pears. Orange and leon slices give ti a fresh tartness.  You could  increase the punch's potency by stirring in half a cup of a fruit brandy. Even though this sounds vile, sewer water punch is actually quite tasty - and kicky.It;s Dr Pepper mixed with vanilla flavored vodka and orange juice. Serve this potion in a clear bowl so they can see the "brown water." You can add gummy works if you want to (or Tootsie rolls to really amp up the "ewwwwww" factor.)

What about those little ones? Try a non alcoholic punch  with fun flavors for those tiny trick or treaters. Again serve it in a witch's cauldron or giant pumpkin. Since the main color fo the holiday is orange then think of a bright citrus punch. Combine orange soda (use an intensely flavored one like Fanta for the best taste) Add orange sherbert for more tang and a cup of pineapple juice for a refreshing zing. If you find this too sweet, then  sub in the soda with an orange flavored seltzer. This cuts down on the sugariness and even makes it more palatable for any adults attending. Another squeal inducing sip is the witch's brew punch. It's first mixing ginger ale with  pineapple and lemon juices. The last is added to keep from making th e drink too sweet,.Lime sherbet is added to give it that green color. Now for the special effects. You can put dry ice in a handmade trough wrought from tin foil around the cauldron. This will give it the effect of a smoking pot. You DO NOT want to put this ice in the punch. It's extremely dangerous to do so. Another special  and safer effect is just put a ring of battery operated votice lights around the base of the cauldon.

A good Halloween punch will add - what else - punch  to any party. It's a tasty cup, perfect with those party bites and mucnies. Brew up a cauldron for your holiday drinking.

Celebrating Coleridge.

 Today  is Samuel Taylor Coleridge's birthday.Unfortunatelt there's no cream tea and freshly baked scones to celebrate.As much as he probably loved them- he would have loved this brownie 

 cake, two lucious layers of browning with a fudge butter cream icing. A slice of this and a good cup of Earl Grey is the perfect birthday dessert.

Happy birthday to all those writers and poets out there! May your special day be as weet as this came

The Bread Question

 What was the best bread you ever ate? Wednesday's New York Times Food section featured Genevieve Ko's foccacio recipe. 

Here's the question of the week  have you ever baked a loaf that made you swoon? What was it? Why was it so good?

Good Eating In NOLA

 New orleans is known fo ra variety of things, jazz, hiostory voodoo and tradition.It's also notorious for good food. If you are goung there here are some restuarants that show off the city's best chefs and ingredients.

Regular contributor and New Orleans native Brett Anderson gave this compiliation in yesterday's New York Times Food section. There are twenty five good ones that are perfect during a weekend or a week away in the Crescent City.One of the most famous is Brennans that put the city on the map during the 1950's. Chef Ryan Hacker brings a new sharpness to such classic recipes as turtle soup a nd curried crab roulade. For more classic NoLA food visit Brigtsens, Chef Frank Brigsten's mento was the famed New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme so the food is goung to be traditional and very good. His menu includes everything from shrimp remoulade to pecan pie. For Creole food, there is Cafe reconcile. There are Gulf seafood po'biys and gumbo with red rice.Another classic eatery is the steakhouse is Charlie's Steakhouse , first opened in 1932. There;s a variety of different tender cuts along wit such tasty sides a sonion rings and creamed spinach. You must vist the famed Dooky Chase which is famed for its' seafood and Southern fried chicken.

Yes the city eateries offer other cuisines too.DAKAR NOLA offers Sengalese food. Chef  Siringe Mbaye designed the menu with the crucial role enslaved laborers played in building this city. His shows the strong imfluence West African cuisine has on the city 's history and recipes. Of course there is a French restaurant Mamou in the French Quarter. There are nod sto local tradition like the red bean cassoulet thanks to chef Tom Branighan. he also features escargot and to finish macarons.Italians have made always a big impact in the city so it's no surprise  that there are good Italian restaurants listed. Locals love Paladar 511 that features pasta in tomato sauce and crisp pizzas. There's also port saltimbocca and Wagyu flat iron steak.Indian food is also a big part of the city's dining experience.Saffron NOLA offers Creole and Cajun influenced Indian dishes.There is gumbo with saffrom and ginger along with crab  pudha. There are also Isrealie , Thai and Chinese restuarants too in the city landscape.

New Orleans offers many thing. One is food. Visit the city and discover the  amazing array of food there.

Salmon Farming Its'Future On Land

 Much has been said about salmon fisheries. There's a lot fo negativity regarding them which is bad for te industry and fish lovers. Yet there's an alternative that may be helpful. Salmon farms on land. Can thos work? The answer is yes.

Regular contributor Melissa CLark wrote about this new revolution in today's New York Times Food Wednesday section. Salmon farming may be next to any other farm.In the past most ave been located on the coast whic comes with its' own host of problems.One, these have bigger carbon footprints than a farm with sheep or cows. They create overcrowding of the nearby ecosystems as the fish are allowed to grow in open net areas.It means waters polluted with fish waste along wit other pollution and also promotes the growth of diesases and sea llice. These in turn bring on the need for more pollutants such as antibiotics and pesticides. Then there is the problem of the salmon escaping and breeding with other kinds of salmon which can wreak havoc on the local population. The end result is a new hybrid spawn that can't sustain itse;f and can't make it past the spawn stage.Of course the biggest problem to salmon fisheries is the ocean itself. Warming waters are making it impossible to find a decent site to breed.

This is where land farms come in. Ms. Clark visited one in Auburn, new York in the Finger Lakes area. A former factory is home to thousands of coho slamon. Theyglide throuh a safe ecosystem of fresh water that recirculates  through biofilters every thirty minutes. It mimics a deep seas environment with  the lights dimmed to a deep aqau glow, almost giving the fish a glowing look. More farms like this are being built. Atlantic Sappbire is out of Florida and despite setbacks and will break even in the next year 2024. More farms will be built . According to Brian Vinci, the director of the Conservation Fund's Freshwater Institute,a nionprofit conservation program, land based fisheries are the way to go especially for an American public that wants high quality protein without increasing dependence on imported seafood. Farms like Atlantic Sapphure will be able to increase its volume to 220,000 metric tons of salmon. America is only twenty five to thirty years away of replacing all foreign fish coming from Poland ,Scandinavia and Japan with US bred fish.THis means more affordable fis on the table.

Salmon is America's favorite fish. Thanks to theis new type of fishery , more and more Americans will be able to enjoy it.Land farming not only benefits the environment but the people too.

The New Face Of College Eating

 For years college cafeteria food was just that cafeteria food.it was a better versionof grammar and high school dishes. You got burgers and fries. Sometimes there was French toast for the breakfast menu. Now it's changing  to suit the internationality of students.

This is what's happening at both  the four and two year colleges. Passaic County Community College is one school that offers a variety of different foods, refrelcting it's student body.(heads up I teach there  part timeso I di have a oindness for them) Their dishes represent the large Hispanic population coming in from Paterson and nearby Passaic. Take the food truck MI Sabor Boricoa. Tey have a small stand in the school's five restaurant cafeteria. There is everything from empanadas (the pizza is the best) and tostomes

Ilove their tostone made with mashed fried pmatains. I've always loved them but they make them extra crispy and serve themwith a pink sauce - a mix of ketchup, mayo and garlic powder. Another plus is the Panther Cafe that has extraordinary crispy fries.There is also Totowa Bagels too.

Schools are changing to fit their students tastes. it's a wide palate. It's also an international one too.

Shaking Up Those Fall Recipes

BY now most will be tired of those fall staples -namely everything apple or everything pumpkinspice amongst other ingredients and flavors. Why not try shaking things up with new twists and variations.

instead of apples tyr the other harvest of the season  - pears. There are the BArtlett, Bosc and  Asian to name a few.Instead of baking an apple puie try these beauties in a tart. Add a fragrant frangipane filling ad a buttey crust for a truly different and elegant dessert.Another fun and different idea for alloween is candied pears. This is much the same recipe as with apples but dipping the fruit into a red candy syrup . A stick is inserted in the top part of pear for wasy immersion.You could then roll the bottom in chopped almonds. Grapes are another fall fruit  that's makes for a good snack or dessert. They're full of iron , perfect for fortifying the body for the flu season ahead.Of course these grapes make the perfect jellies.it's surprisingly an easy make.The only problem comes with deseeding the grpaes since Concords are loaded with them. You also have to skin them too which is just a simple pinch . This gets the pulp out.Don;t discrd the skinds though.Their rich purple color is what gives the jam that deep aubergine color.

What about the different spices to use?Pumpkin spice  is a mix of allspice , cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. What about deconstructing this and using the spices individually? Keep in mins that individually mos tof these spices can easily flavor coffee.Use ground ginger to spike chai tea.Allpsice cna be used in savory recipes like jerk chicken or chili.It's great in such diverse dishes as the Pennsylvania Dutch chow chow and a Moroccan couscous. It's a main spcie in carrot cake. Keep in mind that it cna be used in ginger snaps and spice cookies. Cinnamon is another versatile  spice Start a chilly fall morning with ooey gooey cinnamon rolls. THis is a great fall bake and a perfect use of the spice You could also bake a smaller version with cinnamon roll bites which are llke doughnut holes. Cinnamon cna also be used on pork to heighten its' flavor. Ginger can be used in so many Asian dishes. Think a veggie stir fry with slivers of fresh ginger. You could also create a tasty carrot ginger soup.Nutmeg is great sprinkled on Indian pudding or junket, amix of milk sugar and rennet which gives a very creamy dessert.It;s also good on creamed spinach too.

Shake up those fall recipes. Try other fruits of the season. Deconstruct pumpkin spice mix. The end result is tarty recipes that are also true to fall.