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From left, Shawn Serbin, Scott Giangrande and Chongai Kuang. Photo from Brookhaven National Laboratory

By Daniel Dunaief

Chongai Kuang is doing considerably more than standing in the middle of various fields throughout the southeast, looking up into the sky, sticking his finger in the air and taking notes on the potential appeal of the area.

Entrusted with finding the right spot for the third ARM Mobile Facility, or AMF3, Kuang, who is an Atmospheric Scientist in the Environmental & Climate Sciences Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory, is gathering considerable amounts of information about different areas in the southeast.

In March of 2023, the ARM3 mobile facility, which has been operating in Oliktok Point, Alaska, will have a new home, where it can gather information about atmospheric convection, land-atmosphere interactions and aerosol processes.

In addition to finding the right location for this facility, Kuang will coordinate with the larger science community to make recommendations to ARM for observations, measurements, instruments and sampling strategies. Observations from these fixed and mobile facilities will improve and inform earth system models.

Kuang would like to find a strategic place for the AMF3 that is “climactically relevant to provide important observations on clouds, aerosols, and land atmosphere interactions that are needed to answer science drivers” important in the southeastern United States, Kuang said. These facilities will help researchers understand how all these atmospheric phenomena interact with solar radiation and the Earth’s surface.

The AMF3 should provide information that informs climate, regional and weather models.

In 2018, the Department of Energy, which funds BNL and 16 other national laboratories, held a mobile facility workshop to determine where to move the AMF3. The group chose the Southeastern United States because it has atmospheric convection, high vegetative-driven emissions and strong coupling of the land surface with the atmosphere. This area also experiences severe weather including tornadoes and hurricanes, which have significant human and socioeconomic impacts, said Kuang.

The most violent weather in the area often “tests the existing infrastructure,” Kuang said. “This deployment can provide critical observations and data sets,” in conjunction with regional operational observational networks.

Atmospheric phenomena as a whole in the southeastern United States includes processes and interactions that span spatial scales ranging from nanometers to hundreds of kilometers and time scales spanning seconds to days.

Kuang’s primary research interests over the past decade has focused on aerosol processes at nanometer scales, as he has studied the kinds of miniature aerosol particles that form the nuclei for cloud formation. These aerosols affect cloud lifetime and spatial distribution.

“Our research is challenged by disparate scales relevant to phenomena we’re trying to characterize, from nanometers to the length scale of convective systems, which are tens of kilometers or even larger,” Kuang said. These scales also present opportunities to study coupled science with convection, aerosol and land-atmosphere interactions.

The ARM observatories around the world provide atmospheric observations of aerosols, clouds, precipitation and radiation to inform and improve Earth system models.

“We are going to leverage as much as we can of the existing networks,” Kuang said. The ARM has a fixed site in Oklahoma, which provides data for the Southern Great Plains Site, or SGP. The Southeastern site, wherever it winds up, will provide a context for large-scale atmospheric phenomena.

The way aerosols, clouds and weather systems form and change presents a challenge and an opportunity for research stations like AMF3, which will seek to connect phenomenon at spatial and time scales that affect where Kuang and his team hope to locate the site.

Kuang is also staying abreast of the latest technology and is also contributing to the development of these capabilities. The technology the AMF3 may use could be developed between now and when the site starts gathering data.

“We have the opportunity now to start thinking about what the next generation measurement capabilities and emerging technologies are that could be operational in 2023,” he said. “We are in conversations with the broader community and with different vendors and with a number of different investigators who are developing new technologies.”

Researchers hope to understand the coupling between the land surface and atmospheric phenomenon. “That will have feedback on radiation and precipitation and the impact on land-surface interactions,” Kuang explained. The current plan is for the new facility to operate for about five years.

While Kuang is focused on the scientific drivers for the site selection, he has also been exploring the dynamic with potential research partners, including universities, seeking ways to add educational partners.

“We have hopes and plans for this kind of deliberate, targeted outreach within the region,” Kuang said. “We want to organize activities like summer school, to provide young scientists with primers and an introduction about how observations are made within their backyard.”

The work he’s trying to do now is “setting the table and preparing the soil for the eventual siting” of the station.

Kuang will measure his success if the new site improves poorly represented model processes.

Once the DOE chooses a site, Kuang plans to develop and execute an initial science plan that uses AMF3 observations. As an ARM instrument mentor, he will also be responsible for a set of instruments that measure aerosol size and concentration.

A resident of Wading River, Kuang started working at BNL in 2009 as a postdoctoral researcher. When he’s not working, he describes cooking as “therapeutic,” as he and his wife, Anyi Hsueh, who is a psychiatric nurse practitioner, have explored Southeastern Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines.

Kuang is working with Associate Ecologist Shawn Serbin and Meteorologist Scott Giangrande, in site selection. The work presents an “important responsibility and our site science team envisions the AMF3 southeastern united States [site] to enable transformational science,” he said.

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Quinoa. METRO photo

By Barbara Beltrami

Lately I’ve developed a taste for quinoa which, according to Wikipedia, botanists classify not as a grain but as a pseudo cereal because it does not come from a grassy plant; rather the quinoa plant is more similar to beetroot or spinach. No wonder it’s become so popular. It is a remarkable source of protein, amino acids, fiber and antioxidants among many other nutrients, is cooked very much like rice and has a pleasant nutty taste that marries well with just about anything. The following recipes are merely suggestions because quinoa is one of those foods that you can adapt to whatever you have on hand or feel like concocting.

Quinoa Pilaf with Dried Currants and Apricots

YIELD: Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup dried currants

1/4 cup diced dried apricots

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1 cup quinoa

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 cup toasted almonds

DIRECTIONS:

In small bowl, soak the currants and apricots till soft, about 30 minutes; drain.  In large saucepan heat oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers; add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until opaque and soft, about 10 minutes; add quinoa, salt, pepper, broth, currants and apricots; bring mixture to a boil, stir, cover, reduce heat to low and cook until liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to bowl or dish and sprinkle almonds on top. Serve hot or warm with grilled chicken, lamb, pork or beef.

Quinoa Waldorf Salad

YIELD: Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup quinoa

Freshly squeezed juice from half a lemon

2 apples, cored and sliced into half-inch wedges

2 celery ribs, trimmed and sliced into half inch pieces

2 scallions trimmed and sliced

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil; vigorously stir in quinoa and boil until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes; drain and let cool to room temperature. Toss apple pieces with lemon juice to prevent discoloring; drain any residual juice. In medium bowl, combine apples, celery, scallions, mayonnaise, oil, vinegar and salt and pepper. Stir in quinoa, transfer to serving bowl and sprinkle with walnuts. Serve at room temperature with fish, meat or poultry.

Quinoa Porridge

YIELD: Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons honey

1 cup fresh raspberries

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 cup quinoa

2 1/3 cups milk

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Salt to taste

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 pear

DIRECTIONS:

In microwave safe bowl heat honey with 1 tablespoon water; add raspberries and stir to coat; let sit at room temperature 10 minutes. In medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat; add quinoa and cook, stirring frequently, until it begins to pop, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add half the milk, the brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg along with one cup water, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer gently, about 15 minutes. Remove pan from heat, keep covered and let sit until any remaining liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes; fluff with fork. Stir in remaining half of milk and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is thick and creamy, about 3 minutes. Pare, core and dice pear. Ladle mixture into individual bowls and top with raspberries and pear. Serve with breakfast juice, coffee or tea.

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Photo from Pexels

While many are hoping to return to normal after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, we’re hoping for a return to civility.

Last week a woman we know was attending an outdoor event. Like many, she made sure she put her mask on in the car so she wouldn’t have to fiddle with it at the gate. While walking along the street, with a couple of people in front of her and a few behind, a man in a pickup truck yelled, “Take off your masks.”

Why was this necessary?

On a national level a video, showing actor Ricky Schroder harassing a Costco employee because he asked the actor to wear a mask, has gone viral. Even though the actor later apologized for his behavior, why did he get in the face of someone who was just doing their job?

Why did he feel it was important for him to force his belief system on someone who was just being cautious during a major health crisis?

Yes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing themselves, except in certain crowded settings and venues, such as when taking public transportation. There is also another caveat, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal or territorial laws, rules and regulations apply. This exception also includes local business and workplace guidance.

The new CDC guidelines were adopted by New York State May 19. However, people who are not vaccinated still need to wear masks. Unfortunately, not everyone has the integrity to be honest about not being vaccinated.

As we move forward, there also will be people who, even though they are vaccinated, are still anxious, especially since there is a small chance they can still come down with COVID-19 to some degree. Let them wear their masks without being harassed.

Listen, we understand: No one was prepared to be enlisted to fight in a war against an invisible enemy — a virus that spreads without warning. But we American soldiers this time around weren’t asked to give up our everyday lives to risk those same lives on a battlefield. We were asked to hunker down to decrease the chances of people getting seriously ill, even die, from a new virus. We were asked to live life differently so our hospitals wouldn’t be overcrowded, where patients would have to wait for care, or health care professionals would be put in a position where they would need to decide who to treat.

While many feared our rights would be taken away from us, Americans still have all of their rights intact more than a year later after we were asked to stay home as much as possible and mask up when we left our homes.

It’s a shame that a health crisis had to be made political, making our country even more divisive. It’s time to realize that everyone’s journey has been different during the pandemic, and everyone’s fears during this pandemic varied. Some were fortunate that the virus didn’t touch their lives while others lost loved ones.

Every once in a while it pays to take a step back and consider how others feel, maybe even respectfully ask them where they are coming from in the situation.

We still need to practice patience as we slowly but surely come out of this pandemic, although we may be subject to a new, unsuspected virulent strain. Showing a little respect for others and being a bit kinder never hurts to make things a little more bearable.

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Randy. Photo from Smithtown Animal Shelte

This week’s shelter pet is Randy, a domestic shorthair 8-year-old orange tabby male currently up for adoption at the Smithtown Animal Shelter. Randy was surrendered because he does not do well with children.  He loves to come up to and meet new people; he will rub up on your legs and give you a little squeak. Randy has lived with other cats, but would do best in an adult only, dog free home. He does have a spicy personality and plenty of sass to share. He is neutered, microchipped, up to date on his vaccines and was declawed by his previous pet parent.

If you are interested in meeting Randy, please call ahead to schedule an hour to properly interact with him in a domestic setting, which includes a Meet and Greet Room.

The Smithtown Animal & Adoption Shelter is located at 410 Middle Country Road, Smithtown. Shelter operating hours are currently Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Sundays and Wednesday evenings by appointment only). 

For more information, call 631-360-7575 or visit www.smithtownanimalshelter.com.

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Flax Pond Boardwalk. Photo by John Turner
Flax Pond Tidal Creek. Photo by John Turner
Flax Pond Boardwalk. Photo by John Turner
Flax Pond Tidal Marsh. Photo by John Turner
The west side of the boardwalk at Flax Pond. Photo by John Turner
Flax Pond. Photo by John Turner
Fiddler crabs at Flax Pond. Photo by John Turner
Friends of Flax Pond will hold the Winter Lecture Series at the Childs Mansion starting March 5. Photo by John Turner
Path behind Childs Mansion. Photo by John Turner
The back of Childs Mansion. Photo by John Turner
Flax Pond at sunset. Photo by John Turner

By John L. Turner

Scattered along Long Island’s North Shore, in pockets that indent the meandering coastline, are well known places we cherish and enjoy. These harbors and bays like Huntington, Stony Brook, and Mt. Sinai Harbors or Manhasset and Conscience Bays, are places where we fish, kayak, swim, and clam. They are popular places as the number of boats dotting their surface and bathers along their edges can attest. But there is one embayment that has no swimmers, boaters, or clammers — an embayment a bit off the beaten path that has much beauty and is worth exploring — the state-owned Flax Pond in Old Field.  

Flax Pond is not a pond now but once was, separated from Long Island Sound by a bermed beach stretching along its northern edge. In the early nineteenth century a section of beach adjacent to the northeastern corner of the pond was scooped away, connecting the Sound’s waters with those of the pond. Flax Pond, so named as it was once a popular place for retting flax, went from being fresh to salt in a matter of days.

You can’t help but notice a building as you pull into the parking lot at Flax Pond. It is the Flax Pond Marine Laboratory operated by the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SOMAS) at SUNY Stony Brook, in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation which owns the building and the land upon which it sits. SOMAS conducts marine research here on a wide variety of topics including fish and shellfish biology and has a hatchery and algae grow-out center. The lab is used by scientists and graduate students for marine research and is also a destination for students of all ages to learn more about the species and natural communities found in Long Island’s marine environment.

Leaving the parking lot, you’ll pass an informative kiosk that contains an aerial photograph to orient you as well as basic information about the environment at Flax Pond. The easy traversable trail heads west past the Child’s Mansion, where today lectures and seminars are given but where many decades ago Eversley Childs and his family lived. He had bought the house (at that time much smaller and a different style) and several hundred acres which was soon converted into Crane Neck Farm, a working farm, with horse stables, pastures, and gardens.  An enormous (by Long Island standards) London Plane tree, a hybrid of our native mottled-bark sycamore tree shades the backyard.   

The trail continues through a coastal forest dominated by red cedar, past some artifacts of the outdoor gardens and an orchard that were part of the mansion grounds. Soon the trail forks; stick to the right and in moments will be on a new, elevated boardwalk that traverses the marsh. Shortly, you’ll be greeted with a panoramic view of a salt marsh spilling away on both sides of the boardwalk. 

As you near the point where the boardwalk becomes a “bridge,” spanning the tidal creek, look down on both sides in the edge of the marsh mud and if the tide is right (you want to visit at low tide both to see the crabs and to negotiate the trail further north to gain access to the Long Island Sound shoreline) you’ll undoubtedly see many dozens of fiddler crabs. They’ll likely be feeding with both male and female crabs hurriedly stuffing bits of mud into their mouths — the females using both of their arms but the males using only one since the other is an extremely enlarged fiddle that is of no help come dinnertime.  

Fiddler crabs are a common and important species in tidal wetland ecology. They recycle plant matter, breaking it down so it may be reincorporated into the salt marsh and are themselves prey items for other species higher up on the food chain like wading birds.  

The boardwalk continues, ending on a slightly elevated island. But keep following the highly visible trail markers with the hiking medallions affixed to them as the trail runs along the edge of the coastal forest. Here are the “driftwood skeletons” of many standing but dead red cedar trees, all a silver grey color from years of being burnished in the elements. They are visually stunning. 

The trail traverses a low-lying marsh area between the island and the higher ground that separates Flax Pond from Long Island Sound. Please watch for fiddler crabs and their burrows, making sure to not crush any crabs or openings. 

If you make it to the beach, you’ll flank a coastal forest dominated by red cedar and post oak. Take a closer look at the oak and you’ll notice its distinctive leaves; thick and leathery, they have rounded lobes telling you they’re a member of the “white oak’ family of oaks and their cross-shape illustrates they are post oaks — no other oak tree species on Long Island has leaves with quite the same outline. The species has an affinity for the coast, and it is along Long Island’s coast, especially the north shore where it is most prevalent. 

The wood of the post oak is strong and heavy and is used for making – ready for this? Posts! The wood is also made into railroad ties and tunnel props in mines. 

The trail terminates at the shore. In the colder months it’s worth scanning the Sound waters for waterfowl species like scoters, eiders and long-tailed ducks, and for gannets, loons, and horned grebes.  In warmer months look for plovers and terns. In all seasons enjoy beachcombing for jingle and slipper shells! 

IF YOU GO: To get to Flax Pond take Nicolls Road north to Route 25A in Setauket. Make a left onto Route 25A heading to Stony Brook. Make a right onto Quaker Path Road and veer left onto Mt. Grey Road. Follow Mt. Grey Road past West Meadow Beach Road. Make a left onto Crane Neck Road (look for a stone pillar with a Crane Neck sign on the front). The road winds and passes Holly Lane; shortly after this make a right onto Shore Drive. The Childs Mansion will be on your left; go past it and make a left into the Flax Pond Lab parking lot.

A resident of Setauket, John Turner is conservation chair of the Four Harbors Audubon Society, author of “Exploring the Other Island: A Seasonal Nature Guide to Long Island” and president of Alula Birding & Natural History Tours.

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METRO photo

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

No one asked me to give a graduation speech. I haven’t done anything to merit standing in front of a group of people who have poured their blood, sweat and tears into their education and who are eager for a memorable, but short send-off. If they’re like me, some of them are probably trying not to sweat on or wrinkle their diploma while they wonder who came up with the idea of turning a piece of cardboard into a hat.

Anyway, I can’t help imagining what I might say to graduates who have ended one phase of their lives and are preparing for another.

I’d start by urging people not to get angry. Adults have mastered the fine art of being angry, yelling at each other, expressing outrage at the way other’s drive, think, live and date. We can and should learn to be as patient with others as we would like them to be with us. You know those student driver bumper stickers? Maybe we should treat each other as if we’re students of life. Let’s assume, for just a moment, that the worst of what you think someone else might have said to offend you or to cause you to gnash your teeth and pull at your hair isn’t actually what they intended.

After all, during the course of your education, you likely wrote or said something in class that your teacher might have misinterpreted or that a fellow student might have taken the wrong way. Perhaps an effective metaphor here might be to imagine that you are laying out the road ahead of you. Wouldn’t it be better to create streets with turnoffs and that allowed traffic in two ways, instead of building an express lane to the world of outrage, anger and disappointment?

I would also urge you, the current graduates and the keys to an effective future, to listen to ideas and opinions that don’t mirror your own. It’s easy to live in an echo chamber, where people say what you want to hear or what you already think, but you don’t learn and grow much listening to the same ideas and expressions endlessly.

Think about your audience when you share an insight, an idea or even a joke. Your boss is probably not the best person for bawdy humor or a racy compliment, no matter how cool he or she seems. While some story might be incredibly funny to people who were there with you at the time, were inebriated, or have concluded that you couldn’t possibly offend them no matter what you said, the same preconditions don’t exist for your boss or a potential customer. Humor is like flavors of food. What constitutes funny varies greatly, with some people nearly falling over in hysterics watching someone stumble on a sidewalk and others failing to see the amusement from physical humor.

Now, this one might be the toughest to hear, but, just because your parent said it or did it doesn’t mean it’s wrong. As graduates, you have likely decided to turn your parents’ words into the sounds of teachers from the Charlie Brown animated series. While that may help you create enough distance to leave the nest, you should remember that those flawed humans who have loved and supported you from your first steps until this one are on your side and are trying to help.

Finally, I’d like to suggest that what you do is almost always much more important than what you say. It’s easy to throw words and labels in the air — “I’m an environmentalist” or “I love animals” — but it’s much more important for you to turn those words and ideas into actions. Your best intentions are great, but your best actions are that much more valuable.

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TBR News Media

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

Incredible as it seems to us, we are celebrating with a special section this week the 45th anniversary of our newspaper and media group now called TBR. Where did those 45 years go?

When we reconstruct the events of both the news and behind the scenes at the newspapers over those 2340 issues, we have a chronicle of the passing time between the first edition of The Village Times and today. In this week’s issue, you will find, in a highly abridged fashion, our attempt to do just that.  We hope it brings back good memories for you because, if you have lived here during any of that time, it bears witness to what was happening around you as well.

For me the section puts into tangible form the extraordinary work of so many dedicated and talented people who have worked at the paper to gather and present the news in a balanced and cogent fashion. Some of the news has been of happy events: our children’s academic and extracurricular triumphs, our neighbors’ efforts enriching our villages through their civic, political and artistic involvement, the interesting lives we have been able to highlight, our shared history, the businesses and what they had to offer in their ads. Some of what we have printed is of necessity not happy stories. But always all the individual issues defined and held together our hometown. It has been said that what marks the boundaries of a community are its school district and the local newspaper.

Newspapers and other media are more than their reporters and editors. Almost all publications, whether print or digital, have basically the same structure: five departments. Those are editorial, advertising, art and production, business and distribution. Some of the departments are supportive of others, but I can tell you emphatically that all, with their different staffers’ skills, are vitally important and must function in tandem in order to produce the final product.

Many of our staffers have gone on to larger media companies and distinguished themselves on a bigger stage. Sometimes they come back for nostalgic visits and to let us know how they are doing. We are proud of them. Hometown papers and digital platforms are often stepping stones that provide experience and hone skills in the communications industry. But I believe none of those larger arenas is more important than the local papers, where we have to meet and answer to our readers and advertisers in the supermarkets and at the ballfields. And while there are many larger media that carry the national and international news, there are only the local newspapers and websites that tell what’s happening and what’s relevant in our daily lives.

This past year with civic unrest, and with COVID-19, has been particularly difficult for readers and business people alike. It has also been difficult for our staff. With small businesses and their advertising, the main source of our revenues and business model falling by the wayside as residents remained in lockdown, we have had to innovate repeatedly in order to survive. We were forced to reduce the number of employees, and those that remain have taken on more responsibilities even as their hours have been cut. It would have been easier to close down and wait for the pandemic to pass, but we couldn’t do that. We are essential workers, keeping our readers informed of vital information about the disease and the responses of our health systems, our educators and our government. We also needed to let people know where to buy food and supplies when so much of routine commerce had shuttered.

How were people coping, what organizations needed help, where would volunteer efforts be most needed, were all critical facts to know for our combined survival, and we had to come in to work and go out amidst the virus and the protests to gather and then communicate the news. We also were able to reassure with our coverage that ordinary life was continuing, despite the hardships.

On this occasion, when we briefly shine the spotlight on ourselves, I want to salute, among all the essential workers, the brave and committed staff of TBR. THANK YOU.

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Pixabay photo

By Bob Lipinski

Bob Lipinski

There are few greater aromas in the world than the smell of bacon sizzling in a frying pan. In fact, bacon’s mystical “sizzling sound” is reminiscent of the pattering of rain striking the ground.

Bacon in one form or another is made throughout the world in a multitude of forms, styles, flavors, and names. Bacon refers to cured pork from the belly, back or side of a hog. American bacon is mostly cured pork belly that’s salted, cold smoked, and cooked before eating.

Besides pork, you can find chicken, duck, and turkey bacon. We are all familiar with the salty, thin pink strips of streaky fat bacon we buy in supermarkets. But there is also Canadian bacon (back bacon), Irish bacon, rashers (British bacon), Asian bacon, and even vegan bacon. Let’s add to the list guanciale and pancetta from Italy.

Flavors of bacon include apple smoked, pepper-coated, maple syrup, honey, jalapeño, barbecued, Cajun, apple cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, dill pickle, and even chocolate!

To help guide your wine choice, the bacon being paired is American-made, smoked, regular thin cut, cooked medium to slightly crispy, leaving some fat behind for added texture and flavor.

Now, if you like to wrap your foods with bacon; scallops, filet of beef, chicken drumsticks, corn on the cob, asparagus, dates, or even hot dogs, other wines can be served with it.

Bacon, although a white meat (pork), has immense rich, chewy, and hearty flavors that are reminiscent of red meat. Bacon is the best of both worlds; it can pair with red and white wine, and even chilled rosés.

Words such as “bacon,” “bacon fat” or “smoked meats” are descriptors for certain red wines (Mourvèdre and Syrah) especially from the Rhône Valley of France. Other red wines that often display the bacon smell are Pinotage (South Africa), Schiava Grossa (Italy), and Shiraz (Australia and South Africa).

Bacon’s salt and fat components pair well with dry sparkling wines and those fruity wines (red and white) with fairly high acidity. Two often overlooked wines that pair well are chilled rosé and white Zinfandel.

Other wines that pair with bacon are (whites) Chenin Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Scheurebe, and Sylvaner. Red wines are Barbera, Beaujolais (Gamay), Lambrusco, and Pinot Noir.

For vodka lovers, there is a bacon-flavored vodka and an interesting beer from Franken, Germany known as Rauchbier, which has a smoky, bacon-like aroma and flavor.

In closing, there is no such thing as too much bacon and everything does tastes better with bacon.

Bob Lipinski is the author of 10 books, including “101: Everything You Need To Know About Whiskey” and “Italian Wine & Cheese Made Simple” (available on Amazon.com). He consults and conducts training seminars on Wine, Spirits, and Food and is available for speaking engagements. He can be reached at www.boblipinski.com OR [email protected].

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Creamy Curry Dip

By Barbara Beltrami

Light years ago when I was a young homemaker whose weekly culinary adventure was dreaming up creative nibbles for Tuesday’s night bridge club, I would spend afternoons while the babies napped experimenting with concoctions from the magazine clippings I hoarded. Our card game was, in retrospect, not so much a game of bridge as one of our flaunting our newly acquired culinary talents, and any one of the young marrieds who belonged to that elite sorority of four would rather have died than be caught serving the same snack twice, much less a Tupperware bowl of potato chips.  

How many dips I dreamed up for oven-warmed frozen potato puffs, how many combinations of sour cream and something I invented, how many slices of sandwich bread I trimmed and rolled and stuffed and sliced. Actually, I think I burned out early for I haven’t had as many good ideas, even given the food revolution that began in the 80’s or the advent of the internet since.

But now after a year of COVID isolation and quarantine and a few months of post-COVID immunization, our social life is getting back into gear and we’re inviting people over for drinks or dinner to get re-acquainted. In a burst of retro creativity and nostalgia, I find myself foraging through those yellowed files and pulling out the oldies but goodies (although I must confess I’ve tinkered with a few here and there).These many years hence, the thing that has really changed is that I’m the one who needs the nap.

Creamy Curry Dip

YIELD: Makes 8 to 10 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream

2 teaspoons cider vinegar

1 shallot, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Few dashes hot pepper sauce

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients; cover and chill. Serve surrounded by cooked shrimp, bite size raw cauliflower florets, raw carrot sticks, raw celery sticks and any other crunchy veggie suitable for dipping. 

Nutty Cheese Log

YIELD: Makes one large log or two small

INGREDIENTS:

6 ounces goat cheese

10 ounces cheddar cheese, grated

12 ounces cream cheese

2 tablespoons minced onion

2 tablespoons dry white wine

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

1/4 cup snipped chives

1 cup finely chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

Soften cheeses to room temperature.  In a medium bowl combine cheeses, onion and wine. Blend in half the parsley, chives and nuts; shape into a log, enclose in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Combine remaining herbs and nuts in a small container, cover and refrigerate until ready to use. One hour before serving spread reserved herbs and nuts on a sheet of waxed paper or cutting board and roll cheese log in them until it is well coated. Serve with crackers.

Hot Cheese Puffs

YIELD: Makes 12 pieces

INGREDIENTS:

3 slices sandwich bread

2 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1 cup grated Swiss cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Remove crusts from bread; toast and cut into quarters. Preheat broiler. Beat egg whites until stiff; fold in baking powder, salt, cayenne, paprika and cheese. Spread mixture 1/4″ thick on each toast square; broil until browned, about 5 minutes. Serve with cocktails or wine

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