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Yearly Archives: 2021

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There are many fruits and vegetables that are beneficial for kidney health. METRO photo
Increasing fruits and vegetables may protect kidneys

By David Dunaief, M.D.

Dr. David Dunaief

Chronic kidney disease is on the rise in this country. Approximately 37 million U.S. adults have chronic kidney disease (CKD), with as many as 9 in 10 not aware they have it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (1). In this article, we will look beyond the more obvious causes of chronic kidney disease, like diabetes, smoking, aging, obesity and high blood pressure (2).

Why is early-stage CKD so important? It is associated with a 40 percent increased risk of developing cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks (3). It also significantly increases the risk of peripheral artery disease (PAD). Those with decreased kidney function have a 24 percent prevalence of PAD, compared to 3.7 percent in those with normal kidney function (4). Of course, it can lead ultimately to end-stage renal (kidney) disease, requiring dialysis and potentially a kidney transplant.

One of the problems with early-stage CKD is that it tends to be asymptomatic. However, there are simple tests, such as a basic metabolic panel and a urinalysis, that will indicate whether a patient may have mild chronic kidney disease. These indices for kidney function include an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), creatinine level and protein in the urine. While the other two indices have varying ranges depending on the laboratory used, a patient with an eGFR of 30 to 59 mL/minute/1.73 m2 is considered to have mild disease. The eGFR and the kidney function are inversely related, meaning as eGFR declines, the more severe the chronic kidney disease.

What can be done to stem early-stage CKD, before complications occur? There are several studies that have looked at medications and lifestyle modifications and their impacts on its prevention, treatment and reversal. Let’s look at the evidence.

Leveraging Medications

Allopurinol is usually thought of as a medication to prevent gout. However, in a randomized controlled trial, with 113 patients, results show that allopurinol may help to slow the progression of CKD, defined in this study as an eGFR less than 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 (5). The group using 100 mg of allopurinol showed significant improvement in eGFR levels (compared to the control group over a two-year period. The researchers concluded that allopurinol slowed CKD progression. Allopurinol also decreased cardiovascular risk by 71 percent.

Fibrates are a class of drug usually used to boost HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels and reduce triglyceride levels, another cholesterol marker. Fibrates have gotten negative press for not showing improvement in cardiovascular outcomes. However, in patients with mild to moderate CKD, a meta-analysis (a group of 10 studies) showed a 30 percent reduction in major cardiovascular events and a 40 percent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular mortality with the use of fibrates (6). This is important, since patients with CKD are mostly likely to die of cardiovascular disease.

The authors concluded that fibrates seem to have a much more powerful beneficial effect in CKD patients, as opposed to the general population. So, there may be a role for fibrates after all.

Diet’s impact

Fruits and vegetables may play a role in helping patients with CKD. In one study, the results showed that fruits and vegetables work as well as sodium bicarbonate in improving kidney function by reducing metabolic acidosis levels (7).

What is the significance of metabolic acidosis? It means that body fluids become acidic, and it is associated with chronic kidney disease. The authors concluded that both sodium bicarbonate and a diet including fruits and vegetables were renoprotective, helping to protect the kidneys from further damage in patients with CKD. Alkali diets are primarily plant-based, although not necessarily vegetarian or vegan diets. Animal products tend to cause an acidic environment. The study was one year in duration with 77 patients.

In the Nurses’ Health Study, results show that animal fat, red meat and sodium all negatively impact kidney function (8). The risk of protein in the urine, a potential indicator of CKD, increased by 72 percent in those participants who consumed the highest amounts of animal fat compared to the lowest, and by 51 percent in those who ate red meat at least twice a week. With higher amounts of sodium, there was a 52 percent increased risk of having lower levels of eGFR.

The most interesting part with sodium was that the difference between higher mean consumption and the lower mean consumption was not that large, 2.4 grams compared to 1.7 grams. In other words, the difference between approximately a teaspoon of sodium and three quarters of a teaspoon was responsible for the decrease in kidney function.

In my practice, when CKD patients follow a vegetable-rich, nutrient-dense diet, there are substantial improvements in kidney functioning. For instance, for one patient, his baseline eGFR was 54 mL/min/1.73 m2. After one month of lifestyle modifications, his eGFR improved by 9 points to 63 mL/min/1.73 m2, which is a return to “normal” functioning of the kidney. Note that this is an anecdotal story and not a study.

Therefore, it is important to have your kidney function checked with mainstream tests. If the levels are low, you should address the issue through medications and/or lifestyle modifications to manage and reverse early-stage CKD. Don’t wait until symptoms and complications occur. In my experience, it is much easier to treat and reverse a disease in its earlier stages, and CKD is no exception.

References:

(1) CDC.gov. (2) JAMA. 2004;291:844-850. (3) N Engl J Med. 2004;351:1296-1305. (4) Circulation. 2004;109:320–323. (5) Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2010 Aug;5:1388-1393. (6) J Am Coll Cardiol. 2012 Nov. 13;60:2061-2071. (7) Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2013;8:371-381. (8) Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2010; 5:836-843.

Dr. David Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management. For further information, visit www.medicalcompassmd.com. 

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Photo from Pexels

By Michael Christodoulou

Michael Christodoulou
Michael Christodoulou

The COVID-19 pandemic may end up changing our lives in some significant ways. To cite one example, it’s likely we’ll see a lot more people continue to work remotely, now that they’ve seen the effectiveness of tools such as videoconferencing. Education, too, may be forever changed in some ways. Perhaps just as important, though, is how many people may now think more about the future – including how they invest.

If you work with a financial professional, you may have connected with this individual over the past several months through a videoconferencing platform, rather than in person. Some people like this arrangement because it offers more scheduling flexibility and eliminates the time and effort of traveling to and from an appointment. Others, however, still prefer face-to-face contact and look forward to when such arrangements will again be practical and safe for everyone involved. But if you’re in the first group – that is, you prefer videoconferencing – you may now wish to use this communication method in the future, at least some of the time.

But beyond the physical aspects of your investing experience, you may now be looking at some changes in your investment strategy brought on, or at least suggested, by your reactions to the pandemic.

For example, many people – especially, but not exclusively, those whose employment was affected by the pandemic – found that they were coming up short in the area of liquidity. They didn’t have enough easily accessible savings to provide them with the cash they needed to meet their expenses until their employment situations stabilized. Consequently, some individuals were forced to dip into their long-term investments, such as their 401(k)s and IRAs. Generally speaking, this type of move is not ideal – these accounts are designed for retirement, so, the more you tap into them early, the less you’ll have available when you do retire. Furthermore, your withdrawals will likely be taxable, and, depending on your age, may also be subject to penalties.

If you were affected by this liquidity crunch, you can take steps now to avoid its recurrence. Your best move may be to build an emergency fund containing three to six months’ worth of living expenses, with the funds held in a separate, highly accessible account of cash or cash equivalents. Of course, given your regular expenses, it may take some time to build such an amount, but if you can commit yourself to putting away a certain amount of money each month, you will make progress. Even having a few hundred dollars in an emergency fund can help create more financial stability.

Apart from this new appreciation for short-term liquidity, though, the foundation for your overall financial future should remain essentially the same. In addition to building your emergency fund, you should still contribute what you can afford to your IRA, 401(k) and other retirement plans. If you have children you want to send to college, you might still explore college-funding vehicles such as a 529 plan. Higher education will still be expensive, even with an expansion in online learning programs.

Post-pandemic life may contain some differences, along with many similarities to life before. But it will always be a smart move to create a long-term financial strategy tailored to your individual needs, goals and risk tolerance.

Michael Christodoulou, ChFC®, AAMS®, CRPC®, CRPS®

Financial Advisor from the STONY BROOK EDWARD JONES

Edward Jones. Member SIPC.

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Photo from Wikipedia

By Barbara Anne Kirshner

The boys of summer are back!  And with them the voice of the New York Yankees’ John Sterling, and the partner he’s referred to as his compadre for some 16 years now, Suzyn Waldman. For this Yankees fan, the start of the 2021 season, April 1st, featuring this pairing on Yankees radio, WFAN, can’t happen soon enough.

I grew up watching the Yankees with my mom, an avid Yankees fan. She knew all the players by name. During the late 1990’s into latter 2000, whenever Mariano Rivera came to the mound, Mom would say, “It’s all over now, the Sandman has arrived. It’s good night Irene.”  And to Mom’s delight, more times than not, Rivera would close the other team out. 

John Sterling. Photo from Wikipedia

In 2007, my mom suffered a major stroke with smaller ones to follow. She was in and out of hospitals and physical therapy centers. I was with her every day driving from my home in Miller Place sometimes to Port Washington, then to Glen Cove, then to Amityville and for a while, she was home in Plainedge.

During those long trips each day, I listened to WFAN and the Yankees game. It was at that time when John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman became my special friends, always there to make the drive I had to take more comfortable. Mom passed away September 2009 and the last time the Yankees won the World Series was November 4, 2009. I always felt that she sent the Yankees blessings from Heaven and that’s why they won that year.

Though my daily drives ended in 2009, my connection to WFAN and those Yankee broadcasters remained intact. I enjoy the clever repartee between Sterling and Waldman that, combined with their ability to detail every pitch, every hit, every base run, allows the listener to see the action clearly in the mind’s eye. 

Even at the times when I watch the game, I always turn down the volume on the television and turn up the volume on Sterling’s and Waldman’s play by play. Sorry, Michael Kay, but for me, no one compares to them. Sterling’s signature remarks add to the fun of the game. The amusing catchphrases Sterling has for each player combined with his final bellow for a Yankee victory of “BALLGAME OVER! THEEEEEEEE YANKEES WIN, THEEEEEEEE YANKEES WIN” and his calls for home runs of “It is high, it is far, it is gone!” adds an extra excitement to the game that I just can’t miss.

Suzyn Waldman. Photo from Wikipedia

In August 2020, due to health reasons, Sterling had to step away from his broadcast duties for several games and, though Waldman was her usual wonderful self, there was something BIG missing. The only other time Sterling stepped away from broadcasting the Yankees games was in 2019 for four games. Before that he called 5060 consecutive Yankees games.

This year, Sterling has made it known that he is in fine health even at 82 years of age so hopefully we can look forward to an entire season with the twosome doing their thing for the Yankees. Happily, the season begins on time not like last year at the height of COVID when the baseball season didn’t start until July 23 and ended after 60 games on September 27.

During spring training 2021, Sterling had the opportunity to call the March 15 and 22 baseball games with his former partner, Michael Kay, on the YES Network. It was good to see and hear my favorite sportscaster, but I look forward to his pairing with Waldman.

Sterling’s compadre, Waldman, is multi-talented. She was a musical theatre actress who segued into sportscasting, not an easy transition for a woman to make. Her opposition is well-documented. But she has maintained her dignity and flourished in sportscasting despite everything. At the Yankees home opener on July 31, 2020, Waldman sang the Star Spangled Banner, receiving high praise for her rendition.

The boys of summer return April 1st and with them the voices of John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, still stellar after all these years together. So off to the broadcast booth we go for those familiar voices of Yankees baseball.

Miller Place resident Barbara Anne Kirshner is a freelance journalist, playwright and author of “Madison Weatherbee —The Different Dachshund.”

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Peach and Mustard-Glazed Baked Ham METRO photo

By Barbara Beltrami

What’s a holiday dinner without a roast of some kind as the piece de resistance?  For Easter it’s usually ham or lamb, but I remember many an Easter dinner where turkey made a spring comeback or pork, roast beef and once even a “gourmet” meatloaf took center stage. If you don’t have traditional family recipes for Easter, maybe the following ones will help you.

Peach and Mustard-Glazed Baked Ham

YIELD: Makes10 to 12 servings.

INGREDIENTS:

One 8 to 10 pound smoked fully cooked bone-in half ham

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup peach jam

1/2 cup country-style Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 300 F. Place ham cut side down in roasting pan. With sharp knife score tough skin top to bottom in several places; cover with foil and bake 1 1/2 hours. In medium bowl vigorously whisk together the sugar, jam, mustard and cayenne pepper; reserve one cup of mixture, cover and set aside. Brush remaining mixture all over ham; bake approximately another hour, until glaze is nice and brown. Brush reserved glaze over ham and bake 20 to 30 minutes, until second glaze turns brown and a thermometer reads an internal temperature of 140 F. Let sit 20 minutes before carving. 

Roast Lamb with Rosemary and Garlic

YIELD: Makes 8 servings.

INGREDIENTS:

8 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1/3 cup olive oil

1 cup red wine

Finely grated zest of 2 lemons

2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon prepared Dijon mustard

5 to 6 pounds bone-in leg of lamb

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a large nonreactive flat dish, whisk together the garlic, rosemary, oil, wine, lemon zest and juice and mustard. Add lamb and turn well to coat; cover tightly and refrigerate at least 8 hours. Preheat oven to 375 F. Remove lamb from marinade, place on a rack in a shallow roasting pan and with the tip of a sharp knife pierce slits in several places over the outside. 

Strain garlic, rosemary and zest from marinade and with a small spoon poke them into the slits; rub remaining liquid all over lamb and poke some into slits as well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast uncovered in a 375 F oven, turning once to crisp on all sides, 1 1/2 hours. Serve with roasted potatoes and fresh asparagus.

Roast Prime Rib of Beef

YIELD: Makes 6 to 8 servings.

INGREDIENTS:

One bone-in 6 to 7 pound prime rib, at room temperature

1 large shallot, cut into 8 wedges

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 cups red wine

4 cups beef stock or broth

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 F. With a sharp paring knife make 8 slits all over the top fatty side of the roast and press a shallot wedge into each one. Season with salt and pepper; place roast on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Roast two hours for rare, 5 to 10 minutes more for other increments of doneness; an instant read meat thermometer should read 125 to 135 F for rare. 

Remove from oven, tent with aluminum foil and let sit on carving board. Place roasting pan on cooktop over high heat; add wine and stir, scraping bottom of pan with a wooden spoon; add broth and parsley and continue cooking until liquid is reduced by half. Slice roast, arrange on large platter and pour liquid over slices. Serve with sautéed shallots and mushrooms and Yorkshire pudding.

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A scene from Minari. Photo courtesy of Sundance Institute

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

In the opening shot of director-writer Lee Isaac Chung’s engrossing Minari, the Yi family arrives at the Arkansas land that the father Jacob (an extraordinary Steven Yeun) purchased. Jacob drives the truck with the family’s possessions. His wife, Monica (Han Ye-ri, simultaneously heartbreaking and a pillar of strength), follows in their car. A small crack in the windshield is almost indiscernible. But this fissure reflects the slow fracturing of the couple’s relationship.

Minari is a thoughtful film, both delicate and tense. And while the story is intimate, it is not small. It deals with the clash of family responsibility and the desire to follow a dream. 

A scene from the film

Initially, Chung wanted to adapt Willa Cather’s My Antonia, but he discovered the late author’s wishes blocked any screen adaptations. Still wanting to create a tale of rural life, he turned inwards and created a semi-autobiographical work inspired by his upbringing. He begins with a list of eighty childhood memories and guidance from Cather’s words: “Life began for me, when I ceased to admire and began to remember.” From this unusual start, Chung fashioned the wholly personal screenplay for Minari.

Jacob Yi has brought his family from California to Arkansas to start a farm — his own “Garden of Eden.” It is 1983, and 30,000 Korean immigrants were entering the United States annually. Jacob plans to grow Korean produce for sale to stores in Dallas. The Yis take-up residence in a single-wide, fourteen-foot trailer on the plot, and Jacob begins to farm. Monica’s stoicism cracks with their change in life: “It just gets worse and worse.”

In the meantime, Jacob and Monica continue the work they had done in California, sexing chickens in a hatchery. To watch their two children, they bring Monica’s mother, Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung, brilliantly eschewing any caricature of a grandmother), over from Korea.

While the family has come for a new start, the marriage shows signs of deep trouble. There are disagreements about where to live and how to spend their money; they don’t fully agree on dealing with their son’s heart murmur. They live in a cold distance, with anger always brewing under the brittle surface. Moments of affection are severed by the movement of a hand, the turning of a head, or the shrugging of a shoulder. The children’s stress reflects their parents’ inability to communicate. Soon-ja observes, “You two will fight over anything.” The daughter, Anne (Noel Kate Cho, mature beyond her years), is more parent than child, running interference and caring for her younger brother, David (Alan Kim, real, honest, and very funny).

Two pieces become central to the story. The first is water, the essential element of farming. Its importance in its presence and absence threads through the entire film. The need for water comes full circle, almost as a washing away of mistakes that have come before. The water allows for a fresh beginning.

The second is the connection between David and his grandmother. Forced to share a room, he dislikes her for not being what his idea of a grandparent should be. His concept is the cookie-baking, non-swearing elder of American media. But from her, he draws strength and begins to leave the fear of illness behind. The bond is a real one; there is nothing precious or sentimental. The grandmother takes him to plant the titular minari (a sort of wild celery). For her, minari represents all that is wonderful: it protects and heals; it grows wild and yet nurtures. It is perhaps not the subtlest part of the film, but it perfectly defines the grandmother-grandson link.

Elements of Korean culture — in food, discipline, and family — are carefully woven into the film, present without being “presented.” There is a yearning for their homeland but also the shadow of the Korean War. The parents predominantly speak Korean to each other and the children. The children respond in kind. However, between them, Anne and David speak English. Language is both communication and barrier, constantly floating and shifting. American culture appears in some of the most unlikely places. The obsession with Mountain Dew is both amusing and telling.

A scene from ‘Minari’

The film lives in the beats and the silences. Whether it is a shot of the idyllic verdant landscape or the dark, cramped trailer, life unfolds. While beautifully cinematic, there is no artifice. In an unusual and exquisite performance, Will Patton plays Paul, a Korean War veteran who works side-by-side with Jacob. Paul, who is a bit of a religious fanatic, chatters and blesses. But he is kind, and, even in his eccentricity, Paul is grounded in the established world. 

When the family attends church, the citizens of the nearby town welcome them. They are not a hillbilly send-up, with a reception that is kind if a bit awkward. While Monica was the motivating force to attend, she decides not to return but sends the children each week. The Yis face curiosity, subjected to the occasional peculiar question or comment. But they are not ostracized or mistreated. Chung offers human beings and not archetypes. 

Discussions about religion and heaven, many of them directed towards David, swirl about the characters. But in the end, Minari is about a different kind of belief. With its flawless cast and sensitive writing and direction, the film illustrates the ability to overcoming obstacles. It shows faith in self, growth, and the love of family. In short, Minari is about life.

Rated PG-13, Minari is now streaming on Amazon Video

Photos courtesy of A24

 

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Stock photo

Suffolk County Police arrested two women for unlicensed massages during a raid at a massage parlor in Miller Place this evening.

In response to numerous community complaints, Suffolk County Police Sixth Precinct Crime Section officers, along with the Town of Brookhaven Investigator, the Town of Brookhaven Fire Marshal, and the Town of Brookhaven Building Inspector, conducted a massage parlor investigation at Shangri-La Spa & Bodywork, located at 832 Route 25A at approximately 8 p.m. on April 1.

Chao Ma and Li Huang were arrested and charged with Unauthorized Practice of a Profession, a Class E Felony under the New York State Education law. The Town of Brookhaven Investigator and Fire Marshal issued multiple violations to the tenant.  The establishment was closed by the Brookhaven Town Building Inspector as a result of the violations.

Ma, 36, and Huang 37, both of Flushing, are scheduled to be arraigned on April 20 at First District Court in Central Islip.

A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

 

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Standing, from left, Angela Cammarata, Service Coordinator for St. Joseph’s Village, Pharmacist Amanda School, Legislator Nick Caracappa, Pharmacist Dan Gambhir, Pharmacist and Owner of Bell Mead Pharmacy Ruby Masson. Seated: St. Joseph’s Village resident Elyse Biederman.
St. Joseph’s Village resident Elyse Biederman gets her vaccine shot.

This week, Legislator Nick Caracappa helped residents of a senior housing community in his district get their first COVID vaccine. St. Joseph’s Village in Selden, which houses approximately 230 residents, is managed by Catholic Charities of Long Island. Legislator Caracappa coordinated with Bell Mead Pharmacy in East Setauket to have pharmacists on-site over a two-day period to administer 50+ Moderna vaccines.

“I was thrilled to be part of what was truly a community effort to get these folks vaccinated,” stated Legislator Nick Caracappa. “A special thank you goes to Ruby Masson, owner of Belle Mead Pharmacy and her friendly staff, Angela Cammarata, Service Coordinator for St. Joseph’s Village who arranged the appointment schedule for the residents, and Lynn Reddy from Catholic Charities for working collaboratively with my office to get this accomplished and help keep our senior population safe.”

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Photo from Craig den Hartog

The Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Chamber of Commerce is presenting the Old Town Blooms Daffodil Dash Virtual one mile, 5K and 10K Run/Walk later this month. 

Chamber member and owner of Emerald Magic Lawn Care Craig den Hartog has decades worth of horticultural consultant experience. He and a team of local people began planting daffodils as an effort to clean up the community — an initiative he called Old Town Blooms.

“Me and a few neighbors were noticing the roadside getting more and more litter,” he said. “Instead of complaining about it, we took it upon ourselves to clean it up.”

Along Old Town Road, from Coram to up near Setauket, more than 30,000 daffodils have been planted, brightening things up. The initiative has expanded throughout the years.

“If you clean up an area, it stays clean,” he said.

The daffodils became so beloved by the community that last year, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the group wanted to create a day dedicated to the flower. Unfortunately, thanks to the global virus, that day was cancelled.

So, this year, in a partnership with the chamber, they decided to host a virtual race, that will help support the Port Jefferson Station Train Car, flag fund and community beautification process.

Called The Great Daffodil Dash, funds raised from the race will help keep the flags flying and help repair the train car — a historic spot that the chamber acquired in the 70s — while helping to buy more bulbs for the area.

Den Hartog said the PJST Chamber Train car is one of the last remaining early 1900 electric baggage coach cars. It was put in service around 1914 traveling from Jamaica station to Manhattan. The train car was transported to its current location in the mid-1970’s and is a Suffolk county landmark situated alongside the chamber’s memorial American flag within the Town of Brookhaven. 

The race will begin April 17 and go until April 25. Participants can choose from several different distances, including a one mile, 5K, 10K or simply a walk. Racers then use social media to post their times, and photos, for the event. 

To sign up for the race, or to donate to the cause, visit pjstchamber.com. For questions, contact Craig at [email protected].

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Casatiello Photo by Melissa Arnold

By Melissa Arnold

Aside from a five-year stint in Suffolk County, Long Island, I’ve spent all my life in the shadow of Philadelphia, on the Jersey side. South Jersey is full of delightful perks — sprawling farmland that earned us the Garden State nickname; the Shore; Wawa convenience stores; and a melding of diverse cultures.

My Italian-American family has been here for several generations now, long enough to have lost our immigrant relatives and their knowledge of the language. Two things do remain: our family recipes, and the mashed-up, incomprehensible names we have for Italian foods. (Perhaps the most well-known is “gabagool,” our word for capicola made famous in The Sopranos.) 

Each year on Palm Sunday weekend, my grandfather, whom I called Poppy, would visit with football-sized parcels wrapped in aluminum foil under each arm. Inside were stromboli-like breads stuffed with Italian meats and cheeses and rolled up like a jelly roll. Poppy called it gozzadiel. His wife, Eleanor, made them annually for everyone they knew.

It’s been more than a decade since Poppy passed away and the gozzadiel deliveries halted. I could never get the recipe out of Eleanor because she never had one — like most Italian women, she baked with her senses, not measurements. “Just make a pizza dough and put the salami, ham and cheese on it,” she told me good-naturedly. That was all I got, and then eventually she passed, too.  

A few weeks ago, as Palm Sunday approached, my late-night thoughts wandered to the upcoming Easter traditions and to the gozzadiel we mention wistfully each spring. I began to Google intensely from my bed, grasping at straws: “Italian meat bread.” “Rolled Easter bread.” “Gozzadiel in English.” I got lots of recipes, but none of them were right. Google doesn’t speak our broken Italian.

Finally, I landed on a Neapolitan rolled bread called casatiello. Using my rudimentary Italian skills from high school, I spoke the word aloud into the dark. “Ca-sa-ti-ello … Ga-za-diel.” Close enough! But a proper casatiello features chunks of meat, and whole hard-boiled eggs affixed to the top with crosses of dough. Eleanor’s bread had layers of meat, not chunks. And there were no eggs atop ours. But it was a start. And this year, so help me, I was going to make it.

Mind you, I am not one of those crazy people that made a sourdough starter in the heat of last year’s lockdown. I love to cook, but I’m no social media influencer. I know how to follow directions and call my mother. Mostly, I just improvise.

So I did what Eleanor told me — I went to ShopRite and bought a refrigerated pizza dough, nervously plopped it into a bowl with olive oil, covered it up and said a prayer. A few hours later, my husband and I stared at the puffy, risen mound as if it were an infant. “Let’s do this,” he said.

Using a pepperoni bread recipe as a guide, we rolled out the dough in a rectangle as thin as we could, then covered it with my mom’s recommendations of Di Lusso Genoa salami, BelGioioso provolone, and imported ham. More cheese. More prayers. A careful, tight rolling and an eggwash, and finally, the trip to the oven. I read that the inside should reach 160 degrees, which took some trial and error — it needed 30 minutes at 400 degrees, and another 10 minutes covered with foil at 350 degrees (I was nervous).

The result was a perfectly golden behemoth. The next day, we gathered around my parents’ table as my father made the first cut to reveal a beautiful spiral and, miraculously, the exact flavor of our beloved gozzadiel. My dad raised his eyebrows and declared, “This could raise them from the grave. You nailed it!”

I was unprepared for the visceral flood of nostalgia that washed in with those first bites and transported me to another time. This was a true food memory, the kind that happens at tables like mine all over the world to bind families, friends, and communities. And it was glorious.

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The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office held a swearing in ceremony for 20 new Deputy Sheriff Recruits on Thursday, April 1, 2020, at the Maxine S. Postal Auditorium in the Riverhead County Center. These new Deputy Sheriff Recruits will begin a rigorous six-month training program that includes instruction in firearms, emergency vehicle operations (EVOC), EMT training, and individualized field training. The recruits will graduate in the early fall, joining a force consisting of 230 Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs.

Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. welcomed these new deputies to the Sheriff’s Office, reminding them that they “now hold a position of authority in Suffolk County, and with that authority comes great responsibility.”

 For more information on the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office Policing Division, please visit www.suffolksheriff.com.

Photos courtesy of Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office

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