Pomsgiving Cocktail: Drinks on Friday

The last few years I've created a cocktail for Thanksgiving. It's a fun way to start the long Thanksgiving day feast. It perks the appetite and gives everyone something to talk about.  I recently attended a POM Wonderful lunch and was inspired by all the wonderful cocktails. So instead of using the more common cranberry juice, I thought it would be interesting to try using pomegranate juice.

This cocktail uses truly some of my most favorite things--limoncello, Plymouth gin and La Marca prosecco. I discovered La Marca prosecco when I was looking for the perfect prosecco to make the Ruby Sparkler last year. It's from the Veneto, tart and fresh with plenty of bubbles. It's about $10 at Costco and makes a terrific mixer. Plymouth gin is my go to gin, I find it the easiest for mixing because the botanicals are so well balanced. Use whichever limoncello you like. 

I am not a bartender and I find it tricky to come up with cocktails. Working out the proportions took some time but I'm very happy with the final result and hope you like it too! I haven't decided on a garnish yet, what do you think? Lemon peel? Pomegranate arils? Let me know in the comments. 

Pomsgiving

3/4 ounce Plymouth gin

1/4 ounce limoncello

1 ounce POM Wonderful juice or freshly squeezed pomegranate jucie

Prosecco (La Marca recommended)

Combine the gin, limoncello and pomegranate juice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a glass, top with prosecco. 

Enjoy! 

Disclaimer: My thanks to both POM Wonderful and Plymouth gin for providing me with product to use in my cocktail experiments.

With community eligibility, what data source will replace the free / reduced price rate?

U.S. school children with household incomes below 130% of the federal poverty guideline have long been eligible for free school lunch and breakfast, while those with slightly higher income but still below 185% of the poverty guideline are eligible for reduced-price lunch. With a new community eligibility provision, some districts will provide free lunches to all children.

The most important thing to know about this policy is that it may feed more children.

This blog post is about a less important secondary question that nonetheless has some potential interest for readers in U.S. food policy: "What new source of data will replace the free / reduced price rate as a proxy variable for local poverty?" In the past, the percentage of children who received free and reduced price meals served to indicate the level of local poverty -- a higher percentage meant the neighborhood is comparatively poor.

At FiveThirtyEight, Ben Wieder explains the many policy and research uses for this proxy poverty measure:

Two analyses (.pdf) found that school lunch data has been used in about 1 in 5 studies looking at academic achievement conducted by education researchers; that doesn’t take into account its role in work by psychologists, sociologists, economists and researchers in a host of other disciplines.

The data has been used in studies looking at best teaching practices, school discipline and whether playing an instrument improves academic performance. It was a measure of poverty for a study on why kids start smoking, used to differentiate swimming ability among minority students, and a measure of socioeconomic status in at least one article in the Journal of Happiness Studies.

Who gets to participate in the program can have policy implications as well.

Matt Cohen, chief research officer at the Ohio Department of Education, is chairing a working group organized by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to find alternatives to participation in the school lunch program for measuring students’ socioeconomic status.

I agree with some of the sources quoted in the article, who point out that this never was all that great a proxy for poverty in the first place. For example, consider a study seeking to measure whether childhood food insecurity is higher in high-poverty neighborhoods. The free / reduced price proxy variable is a poor indicator for neighborhood poverty, because the meals themselves may directly help reduce childhood food insecurity. Still, it will take some new effort to find a replacement variable, and some research and policy purposes will be inconvenienced in the interim period.

U.S. food supply inconsistent with dietary guidance

The U.S. food supply is far out of balance with dietary recommendations. A new study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics quantifies the gaps. In brief, the U.S. food supply was quite unhealthy already by the 1970s and has not improved noticeably since then.

The authors -- Paige Miller, Jill Reedy, Sharon Kirkpatrick, and Susan Krebs-Smith -- use a measure more commonly applied to individual survey data, called the Healthy Eating Index. Getting this measure to fit national food supply data from USDA requires a bit of shoe-horning, but nonetheless the results are persuasive about the basic picture. As the video below illustrates, for example, Americans have for decades had all the protein we could possibly need, but the food supply for vegetables falls much short of recommendations.

The video -- from the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) -- generally thinks of the food supply as "upstream" and food consumers as "downstream." A possible implication is that policies should alter the food supply so that downstream consumers could eat more healthfully. It should be noted that people in the food business, and perhaps most agricultural economists too, give greater weight to consumer preferences for unhealthy food as a key driver of the gap the study describes. Economists may suggest that the food supply would provide plenty of healthy food if that's what consumers actually would buy.

Still, nutrition scientists and agricultural economists have in recent years been doing better than ever at listening to each other's perspectives on these big questions. For example, in an accompanying article, which calls on dietitians to get involved in designing federal policies such as the Farm Bill, Claire Zizza reviews agricultural economics perspectives as well as public health perspectives on how such policies should be evaluated. It all makes a lively conversation.

 

Stoneline Cookware Review

For the last four months I’ve been using Stoneline cookware in place of my regular pots and pans. I’m always interested to try out non-stick cookware because I hate scrubbing pots and pans. I put the cookware through the paces. I don’t just follow the instructions, I do some of the things you're not supposed to and see how it performs.

The problem with most non-stick pans is that the surface eventually peels, flakes, chips or stops being non-stick, also some of it like Teflon is made with harmful chemicals such as perfluorooctanoic acids aka PFOAs. In four months of using the Stoneline cookware (which is PFOA free) there has been no degradation of the cooking surface. The surface of the pans is smooth but looks like stone, there is nothing to peel or flake. Unlike ceramic non-stick it’s very durable and even when stacked up the pans don’t scratch or chip. They also don’t stain.

• Stoneline describes the cookware surface as a “reinforced stone coating” made of microscopic particles of stone that are transformed into an ultra-hard non-stick coating that won’t scratch, is extremely durable and resistant to abrasion. 

• Stoneline cookware works with all stove tops—gas, electric, induction and ceramic. It can be heated up to 350 degrees on the stove or oven.  

• The pans are initially seasoned with a few drops of oil, something that can be repeated, but I have not found it necessary to re-season them.

• The cookware has a 12 year warranty and a money back guarantee within the first 30 days if you decide you don't like it. 

The first thing I noticed about the cookware is how much hotter it seemed to get than other types of non-stick. I tried cooking eggs because they tend to stick. I learned quickly that I had to use much lower heat than I was used to, but even overcooking the eggs, they easily slipped out of the pan. The instructions say you don’t need to wash the pans, just wipe them with paper towels. That works fine for most things, but some liquids and sauces need to be rinsed off when reduced. That said, there is no need to use detergent or to scrub! But just to see how it would fare, I scrubbed and found the pans still did not scratch. I gave a few of the pieces of the set away and the feedback I got was consistent—that it heats well and evenly and browns food without sticking.

I will keep using these pans, so far I'm very impressed with their performance.

Disclaimer: My thanks to Stoneline for providing the cookware to review. I received a 13 piece set a wok and a roaster. I was not paid for this or any other post. 

Squash, Tamales & Dumplings: Single Subject Cookbooks

The Everyday Squash Cook

There are a surprising number of cookbooks covering a single fruit or vegetable and mostly I'm a bit skeptical about how useful they are. Not in this case. This book covers both Summer and Winter squash and has breakfast and brunch dishes, dips & soups, main courses, salads & sides, breads & desserts! I love how creative the recipes are. Speedy Pumpkin Waffles, Osso Buco with Butternut & Cannellini Mash, Savory Zucchini Popovers, Kabocha Deviled Eggs and Butternut Brownies are just a few of the intriguing recipes. There are 26 zucchini recipes alone. Let’s just say you will never complain about having too much zucchini ever again! If you know someone who grows squash this is a great book.

Tamales

I am crazy about tamales. If they are on the menu at a Mexican restaurant I will almost always order them. Of course there is a world of difference between good ones and lousy ones. Good ones have almost creamy, rich and flavorful masa and delectable fillings. Lousy ones are dry and crumbly, hard and bland. While I already have one book on tamales, I was happy to see this one too. Quite a number of things set this book apart. There are diagrams to show how different wrapping styles, recipes for “nose-to-tail” tamales made from lamb head, beef cheeks, tongue, tripe and more. There are also recipes for salsas and sauces to serve with your tamales, and quite a few vegetarian fillings like artichokes, creamy mushrooms, even broccoli and cheese tamales and bunch of sweet dessert tamales as well. If you want to make tamales at home, this is your book. 

Dumplings All Day Wong

When I was in Honolulu the last time around I arrived on a Sunday and my first stop from the airport to Koko Head Cafe, Lee Anne Wong’s brunch spot in Kaimuki. I had the amazing cornflake french toast but I had to come back for the dumplings because they were already sold out. On my next visit I got the perfectly fried fish dumplings. Wong clearly loves Asian style dumplings and makes both traditional ones as well as her own modern versions. There are steamed, boiled, deep fried and pan fried dumplings to satisfy your dumpling cravings. There are tutorials on how to make doughs and wrappers, how to fold and cook dumplings and more. The pantry section on Asian ingredients is reason enough to buy the book. Recipes I’ve bookmarked include Spicy Chicken Yuzu Gyoza, Sardine Ginger Wonton Soup and Pork and Chive Dumplings. One caveat, although the book cover is somewhat reminiscent of the Dummies books, this book can veer into being a bit "chaffy" from time to time with long ingredient lists and multiple preparations per recipes, that said the instructions are clear and the recipes so creative I still recommend it.

Disclaimer: These books were provided as review copies and this post includes affiliate links

Red Cabbage, Fennel & Cranberries Recipe

Red cabbage frequently ends up in my CSA box this time of year Of course it features prominently in slaws and soups, and makes a good bed for nestling roasts or sausages, but what else? Lately I'm trying sautés. Red cabbage has a really earthy flavor that can go sweet or sour and cooks up easily in a sauté pan, if shredded. 

Red cabbage is healthy, a member of the brassica family, it's cholesterol lowering and perhaps surprisingly the health benefits are greater in cooked cabbage than in raw. If you've ever wondered what makes red cabbage red, it's anthocyanins, a type of polyphenol which is a pigment and is also responsible for the red in cranberries. The amount of Vitamin C is 6 times greater in red cabbage than green cabbage. It's extremely high in Vitamin K too. 

This recipe came about because I had about a half of a head of cabbage, a bit of fennel and some cranberries I wanted to use. The bright and bitter flavors of the dish with just an edge of sweetness complement something rich like pork, sausages, goose or duck. I like the cabbage to still have a bit of crunch, but if you want it softer, just cook it longer with the lid on. 

Note: The amount of sugar you need in this recipe depends on the sweetness of the vegetables and how sweet the wine is. You might start with a tablespoon and add more only if you need it. If you'd rather not add sugar at all, I'd recommend using dried cranberries which are already sweetened. 

Red Cabbage, Fennel & Cranberries 

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon vegetable or rice bran oil 

1 cup sliced onion (half moons)

1 cup sliced fennel bulb 

4 cups thinly sliced red cabbage

1 cup cranberries

Pinch salt

2 Tablespoons packed brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth

1/2 cup red wine 

Instructions 

Heat a large skillet and add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onion and fennel and sauté for 5 minutes or until translucent but not brown. Add the cabbage and sauté for another 3 minutes or until glossy and beginning to reduce in volume. Add the cranberries, salt, brown sugar, broth and wine. Cover and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and cook until the liquid evaporates. Taste for seasoning and serve. 

Enjoy!

Cod fishery in crisis

The federal government this week enacted what amounts essentially to a 6-month pause in commercial cod fishing in the Gulf of Maine, according to a report by David Abel in the Boston Globe yesterday. This is a sad day for New England's most famous fishery.

Cod fishing is a classic example of a situation where free markets would be devastating for everybody, including fishermen and their families. Because overfishing in the past has pushed stocks far below maximum sustainable levels, each fishing boat harms the economic interests of the next. Economists believe that liberated markets serve environmental goals wonderfully in many situations, where property rights to natural resources are well defined, but free markets are a disaster when each producer is chasing a common resource.

Nobody thinks the New England cod fishery should be unregulated. Yet, cod fishermen complain about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) regulators who took action this week. Many fishermen believe the scientific estimates are overly pessimistic, leading regulators to be overly cautious.

Here you can inspect the evidence for yourself, in NOAA's report this past August. Using two different models of cod mortality (on the left and right), the figure reproduced here shows the downward trend over time in estimated spawning stocks biomass (top row) and the upward trend in estimated recent fish mortality (bottom row).

Of course, these estimates could be mistaken. Yet, as a non-expert reading them closely, I found them persuasive. If I were a cod fisherman, I would cry, plan, and organize politically, but I would resist the temptation to blame the messenger.

For the other side of the story, here is a link to the Northeast Seafood Coalition, but I haven't yet found a real scientific rebuttal to the NOAA estimates.

In the tragic political division in this country, so apparent in the recent election, the conservative party is (rightly!) devoted to the great prosperity economic markets can achieve, yet sadly unable to comprehend that vigorous and effective government sometimes is needed to let markets work well.