Say Cheese!

Combination pizza fondue
Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Vegetarian recipes from recently released cookbooks:

"Fondue," by Lenny Rice and Brigid Callinan (Ten Speed Press, 2007)

If you're a vegetarian and cheese is your best protein friend, then this book is for you -- especially if you are looking for good party food. Fondue may seem like a basic concept, but the authors spice it up with different cheeses, special ingredients and a whole plateful of dipping options to go with each fondue. The "Melted Makeover" section gets creative, representing dishes like pizza or chili in fondue form. For chocolate lovers, there is also a section on sweet fondues.

-- Evelyn Shih
* * *

Combination pizza fondue

* 8 ounces Fontina cheese, grated
* 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, grated
* 2 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 onion, diced
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 small green pepper, diced
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 2 cups coarsely chopped mushrooms
* 1 can of diced tomatoes (14.5 ounces), drained and liquid reserved
* 1 can minced black olives (4.5 ounces)
* 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 2 tablespoons fresh oregano or a combination of fresh oregano and fresh thyme, minced
* ½ cup of pinot grigio or other dry white wine

Combine the cheeses in a bowl and set aside. In a fondue pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the flour, stirring to coat the vegetables. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until most of the moisture has evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, olives, pepper flakes, oregano and thyme and cook, stirring frequently, 2 minutes. Add the wine and ½ cup of reserved tomato liquid and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Decrease the heat to medium-low, so that the mixture simmers gently. Add the cheese mixture, ½ cup at a time, stirring until melted after each addition. Serve immediately.

Serve with toasted Italian bread, focaccia cubes, crisp breadsticks and cherry tomatoes for dipping.

Yield: 3½ cups.

Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.

Real Men Cry.

Carlstadt honors a fallen Marine
Sunday, August 19, 2007

By EVELYN SHIH
STAFF WRITER

The Veterans of Foreign Wars, firefighters from several towns, and the Carlstadt community gathered Saturday to honor fallen Marine Michael Schwarz one more time. [Schwarz, pictured left, courtesy of militarycity.com]

Lance Cpl. Schwarz, who died from a sniper attack in Iraq last November at the age of 20, was a Carlstadt native and a member of the Fire Department along with his father, Ken, and older brother, Frank. Firetrucks were lined up around the block and about 70 people gathered at Memorial Park as the VFW added a plaque in his honor to the town's small war memorial monument.

"We hope that's the last one," said Umberto Antoniotti, the chairman of VFW Post 3149 who had the plaque made.

Schwarz's name joined that of Sgt. Frank T. Carvill, another Iraq war veteran, and Carlstadt natives who died in World War I, World War II, Vietnam, and at the Pentagon on Sept. 11. Pamela Schwarz, mother of the honored Marine, said the turnout didn't surprise her. "Most of them were at the memorial" last year, she said. "That's the kind of community we belong to. They don't forget."

Army Spec. Gary Colombo, a childhood friend who came home in July, was shocked to hear of Schwarz's death last November while Colombo was stationed in California. It was the first time someone so close to him had died in Iraq. Colombo, who also served in Iraq, came back for the memorial for the boy who had lived around the corner from him and joined the Marines in 11th grade, at the same time that he joined the Army.

After the dedication, Colombo lingered by the plaque with his friend's name. "I knew there was going to be a lot of people," he said. "Everyone knew him. He was the kind of all-round guy that could be friends with everyone, and it didn't matter who."

It's been an emotional time for the Schwarz family. Less than two weeks ago, the VFW contacted them about dedication. And on Aug. 9, they celebrated what would have been Michael's 21st birthday.

"He wanted to be 21 and have a drinking party," said Pamela Schwarz. "He couldn't wait. Hopefully he's having one upstairs."

To celebrate for him, the Schwarz family brought a birthday cake made of flowers and balloons to his grave. His friends brought beer, and everyone toasted the soldier.

"We put down some cards, had a little visit, said a prayer, told him happy birthday, and left," said Colombo, tearing up.

But he made no apologies for his emotion.

"Real men cry," he said.

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.

Vegan Baking!

Vegetarian recipes
Monday, August 13, 2007

Vegetarian recipes from recently released cookbooks:

"Allergy-free Cookbook," by Alice Sherwood (DK Publishing, 2007)

Vegetarians know how it feels to be left out at the dinner table. Those who have lifelong food allergies are in the same boat, and Alice Sherwood tries to remedy that with her book of flexible recipes. All the dishes exclude one or more of four problem ingredients, and most of them can be free of dairy, egg, nuts and gluten by following Sherwood's tips. However, because it tries to exclude egg and dairy, the book will be more of a boon to vegans than vegetarians. Watch out for the chicken broth and hefty middle section filled with meat.

-- Evelyn Shih
* * *

Foccacia (dairy-, egg- and nut-free)

* 1¾ cups bread flour plus extra for dusting
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1½ tablespoons superfine sugar
* 1 tablespoon instant yeast
* 5 tablespoons olive oil plus extra for the cake pan
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice
* 1 cup lukewarm water, or as needed
* 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Sift the flour with the salt and sugar into a bowl or food processor. Add the yeast, 3 tablespoons of the oil, the lemon juice and water. Either mix together with a knife to form dough and knead on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes, or run the food processor until a dough is formed and continue to run the machine for 1 minute until soft and slightly sticky.

Lightly oil a 9-inch cake pan and press the dough gently into the pan with wet hands. Lightly sprinkle the dough with water to keep the crust soft. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in bulk. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Dust your index finger with flour, then gently press it into the dough at intervals to form dimples. Lightly sprinkle with water again, then drizzle with the remaining oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Bake in the oven until pale golden brown (about 30 minutes). The base should sound hollow when tipped out and tapped. Sprinkle with water twice during cooking.

Transfer to a wire rack, cover with a clean, damp cloth to soften the crust and let cool.

Yield: 1 loaf.

Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.

No News is Good News

Dische's novel began as a biography
Tuesday, August 14, 2007

By EVELYN SHIH
STAFF WRITER

"I don't like facts," said Irene Dische in a phone interview. "I have the greatest respect for journalism. I don't do it very well, because my mind just slips over into fiction so easily." [photo left, courtesy of kiel.de]

Perhaps it's just as well. Dische, a best-selling novelist in Europe, is releasing a new book set partly in Fort Lee -- a book that started as fact and became fiction. "The Empress of Weehawken" tells the story of her grandmother, an anti-Semitic German who married a Jew and fled to New Jersey months before World War II began.

Of course, there are many books claiming to be "based on a true story." Dische's novel differs in that it uses real names -- and she herself appears as a troubled girl. The book began, she explains, as an autobiography and evolved into a fictional account.

Dische says her imagination was fueled by visits to her old family home in Fort Lee, currently occupied by brother Charles and his family. She tells us more about her inspiration and her family in an interview.

Q. How did you end up writing this family story?

I had a very wild childhood between the ages of 15 and 19 ... and my children were always pestering me to tell them about it, and I didn't want to give them a bad example. So I was always telling them I would tell them about it later, "when you're over the age of danger."

So I was going to write an autobiography of that time in my life, and I kept lying. I kept making things up and making myself out to be a nicer person. I decided that I needed to ask somebody who knew me very well, and who was very critical, to be fair. So I thought of asking my grandmother, because she was always very critical.

She had already passed away, but I had her internalized. I sort of let her write it. Of course, most of the book is about her, because she was very interested in herself and her daughter. But I very much had the sense I was ghostwriting it for the lady who's referred to as the Empress of Weehawken.

Q. Can this book be called a novel?

It is a novel in the sense that in every novel, some things are true, and some things are not. In this case, it was going to be my autobiography, but if you read through to the end, the narrator admits that she makes up a lot of stuff to keep herself amused.

Most everything is based on fact where her life was concerned. Of course, I wasn't there during the Nazi time, so I did have to improvise a bit. But she was a great storyteller and a storyteller who loved detail. So I think a great deal of it is simply true.
Q. How was your grandmother able to bring letters, newspaper clippings and even furniture to America as an immigrant?

She could bring anything she wanted because she was privileged. ... As a Jew she wouldn't have been allowed to take anything. But as a Christian, as an Aryan woman, she was allowed to take everything.

I think that she wasn't going to leave the Germans a thing. And when she got to New Jersey, she suddenly went from being a wealthy woman in Germany to being a woman of modest means, and she made do with it. She simply put the stuff in the attic.

Q. And it was all still there when you looked?

After she was long dead, I bought a house in upstate New York. I took the furniture out of that attic, and I practically furnished a whole 4,500-square-foot house.

Q. "The Empress of Weehawken," titled "Granny's True Confessions" in German, sold 500,000 copies in Germany alone and went on to do well in Italy, among other countries. Why do you think it did so well?

I think it sold because the narrator interested the Germans. ... She's really a bigmouth. She says things that everyone says but you're not allowed to say. But at the same time, she's very contradictory: She talks like a Nazi but is very heroic in helping the Jews.

There were many, many people who came to me and said that they felt that this person was their grandmother, that they just liked her so much. I was very glad, because I had a lot of problems with my grandmother, and in the course of writing this book I became close to her. I was very happy that -- she was thrown out of Germany, originally -- she ended up being very popular in Germany.

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.

All in a Day's Work

Peaceful protest of hiring practices
Sunday, August 12, 2007

By EVELYN SHIH
STAFF WRITER

Activists on both sides of the immigration debate squared off Saturday on the street that divides Dumont and Bergenfield, rallying within shouting distance of the day laborers who are at the center of their battle.

Members of the pro-immigrant Residents Against Racism showed up to counter-protest an anti-illegal immigration group, the United Patriots of America, which holds weekly rallies on the Dumont side of Columbia Avenue. The UPA has targeted the location for more than a year because of a day laborer pick-up spot across the street in Bergenfield. [Image, above, courtesy of residentsagainstracism.net]

"Our big gripe is with the employers," said Charles Nussman of Westwood, a UPA member. "It's illegal for businesses to hire these people, but they do."

But other than some shouting between the competing protesters, the rally -- which drew about 40 people -- was entirely peaceful. Police made no arrests, although officers from both towns monitored the block, especially in light of a clash at a rally in Morristown two weeks ago for Mayor Donald Cresitello, who favors immigration control.

"We're just standing here to show these United Patriots that there are people in this community who support the workers here, and we don't like them harassing the workers," said Residents Against Racism leader Greg Pason of Maywood. "They don't represent us."

The Columbia and Washington avenues intersection has become a focal point in the debate about immigration in New Jersey over the past year, with Rochelle Park-based RAR showing up regularly to counter protest the UPA.

Though the stand-off continues week after week, day laborers have become accustomed to the groups' presence. To them, the weekly protests are merely a murmur, part of the landscape, and business continues as usual.

"If we are not working today, we are working tomorrow, so our spirit is good," said Edbin Santos, a day laborer from Hackensack who was waiting on Columbia Avenue. "The only thing not good is that the people over there, they have children, and they are not spending this time with them."

The UPA, founded by Ron Bass of Linden, protests weekly and takes pictures of cars that pick up laborers. The group voices their support for a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that would deputize local police officers to enforce immigration laws.

"How can those people be against upholding existing laws?" Nussman said, pointing across the street.
[Image, left, courtesy of upa-bergen.com]

"We compare it to deputizing police officers to be IRS auditors," said Pason of section 287(g). "It also opens up the door to abuse within families or from employers, because [immigrants] would be afraid to report incidents to the police."

The UPA brought reinforcements, including members of the Carlstadt-based NJ Citizens for Immigration Control and the New Yorkers for Immigration Control and Enforcement after word got out about a large counter-protest.

"We put out calls to progressive news services and immigration Web sites" to drum up support for Saturday's protest, Pason said. "We'll try to do this on a monthly basis."

Pason began a weekly counter-protest last summer to show solidarity with the workers when he discovered that the UPA had set up a weekly demonstration across the street with such signs as "Jail People Who Hire Illegal Aliens" and "Save the American Worker/No Amnesty."

Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.

FRINGENYC

Festival gives North Jersey theater artists a shot at the big time
Friday, August 10, 2007

By EVELYN SHIH
STAFF WRITER

New York's Fringe Festival proves, as W.B. Yeats wrote, "the center cannot hold." It's the edges that are most magnetic.

Starting today and playing until Aug. 26, the Fringe is a platform for emerging theater artists, including North Jersey's finest. The fest, which this year features more than 200 productions, is sometimes dark, sometimes funny and always daring.

"You could go to Broadway from there," said Jim Tuohy of Lyndhurst. Tuohy (stage name Tooey) wrote and stars in "Two-mur Humor," about how he survived cancer. " 'Urinetown' came out of [the Fringe]. It's a great place to get people to see you. ... It's the Tribeca Film Festival of theater."

In a town where hundreds of new plays sink sight unseen while hoping to be the one breakout hit of the season, the Fringe is a shot at the big leagues. Rivervale playwright and director George L. Chieffet remembers the painful lesson of an earlier run for his Fringe play, "Notes to the Motherland."

"We had a little run in New York in 2003, but the problem was ... it was during the Jewish holidays, so the whole city practically closed down and no one came to see us!" he said ruefully.

Beyond the exposure, the Fringe Festival also gives theater companies help with logistics. "It is nice that you don't have to book the venues," said Tara Dairman, a playwright and first-time producer from Weehawken. "Producing for the Fringe is not as expensive, because you don't have to rent the venue -- one of the biggest costs, I've heard."

The down side is that participants are on a need-to-know basis for their venue information. Dairman did not know where her play, "PB&J," would be staged until June 15, and she didn't find out performance dates until June 29 -- barely a month before her show opens. The actual performances are also frenetic events, with only about 45 minutes budgeted for the cleanup of the previous play and the setup of the next.

But most participants are simply giddy to have a high-profile gig. "This is the first Fringe show for us, so everything is new and exciting," said Laurie Sales, who co-created "As Far as We Know" with Kelly Van Zile. The two met doing theater at Ridgewood High School. "Last night we went to a podcast recording for nytheatre.com, and it was the first event where we met other people with Fringe shows."

The feeling of community is a great perk for young and budding play-makers. "There's a real spirit of everyone within one show pulling together and making it happen, but also there are people from different shows working together for the greater good and just being excited about being in a festival that's so well-known," said Dairman. "I really like that atmosphere."

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com
* * *

Shows with local connections

* PRODUCTION: "Notes to the Motherland."
* WHERE: The Soho Playhouse.
* SYNOPSIS: A one-man play featuring Paul Rajeckas, an American of Lithuanian descent. It was inspired by Rajeckas' real-life pilgrimage to the land where his parents were born. During the trip, he discovers the family's dark secrets -- as well as its redeeming acts -- that were buried with the memories of World War II.
* NORTH JERSEY ARTIST: Director and co-writer George L. Chieffet of Rivervale.
* QUOTE: Chieffet on the first rehearsal: "We didn't really have a rehearsal space at the time, so we did the entire play in my garage in Rivervale. Well, the next-door neighbor was cutting the lawn, and she was wondering what the heck we were doing!"
* WEB SITE: www.paulrajeckas.com

* * *

* PRODUCTION: "As Far as We Know."
* WHERE: CSV Cultural and Educational Center -- Flamboyan.
* SYNOPSIS: Inspired by Sgt. Matt Maupin, who was abducted during an Iraqi ambush April 9, 2004. Creators followed his story through the news media. They visited Maupin's home in Ohio at the three-year anniversary this April to conduct research for the play.
* NORTH JERSEY ARTIST: Director Laurie Sales and producer Kelly Van Zile of Ridgewood.
* QUOTE: On visiting Ohio: "It made the issue a lot more complex for us. Coming from liberal-minded New York City, and knowing how we felt about the war, we walked into a community that touts itself as the yellow-ribbon capital of the world. ... It really changed our view. This is more about a missing child than the military in some ways."
* WEB SITE: uncommoncausetheatre.com.

* * *

* PRODUCTION: "Better This Way."
* WHERE: Theatres at 45 Bleecker Street -- Lafayette Street Theatre.
* SYNOPSIS: A take on the myth of Persephone, the Greek goddess of spring who was captured by Hades, the god of the underworld. Persephone doesn't know whether to stay -- so torn that she is portrayed by two actresses. With projected video of images from post-industrial wastelands.
* NORTH JERSEY ARTIST: Film director Gregory Polin, Englewood native.
* QUOTE: On finding Hades imagery: "Perhaps the coolest place is this place called Centralia, Pa. There was a town there and a coal mine. About 40 years ago, the mine went on fire, and the town became a ghost town. And the mines are still burning today. Steam pours out of the fissures. That was our entrance to hell, basically."
* WEB SITE: deliberatemotion.com/sites/deliberatemotion/btw/

* * *

* PRODUCTION: "Two-mur Humor: He's Malignant; She's Benign."
* WHERE: Center for Architecture.
* SYNOPSIS: This two-person comedic drama is based on the co-writers' real-life experiences with cancer.
* NORTH JERSEY ARTIST: Writer and actor Jim Tooey of Lyndhurst.
* QUOTE: "I was told that I had a brain tumor on April Fool's Day. ... I thought that someone was playing a joke on me," said Tooey. "You have to laugh. And when you can do that, you realize when you're in that place that you really don't have it that bad compared to other people."
* WEB SITE: tumorhumor.org.

* * *

* PRODUCTION: "PB&J."
* WHERE: The Players Theatre.
* SYNOPSIS: Lillie and Millie make the best peanut butter and jelly in Vermont, but their secret ingredient would make men tremble. It's up to radio host Dick Longfellow to discover the truth before he becomes their next victim.
* NORTH JERSEY ARTIST: Writer and producer Tara Dairman of Weehawken.
* QUOTE: On the atmosphere at the Fringe: "There's a real atmosphere of doing risky material. You might not see a play on Broadway every day that's about people putting [body parts] in jelly, but I feel like it barely sticks out in the Fringe."
* WEB SITE: pbandjtheplay.com.

* * *

* PRODUCTION: "7 Stories High."
* WHERE: The New School for Drama Theater.
* SYNOPSIS: Maggie, Oscar, Cora and The Little Girl struggle to determine why their apartment building burned down and what will happen to them next.
* NORTH JERSEY ARTIST: Playwright and producer Hilary Leichter of Demarest.
* QUOTE: "It's a little bit of a whodunit but an absurd, whimsical whodunit about coming to grips with reality."
* WEB SITE: 7storieshigh.com.

For information about times, venues and pricing, call 212-279-4488 or see fringenyc.org.

Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.

You Seat I Seat

Police help motorists with car seats
Sunday, August 12, 2007


[Image left courtesy of nhtsa.dot.gov]







By EVELYN SHIH
STAFF WRITER

It's not enough to buy your child a great car seat -- you have to install it right, too.

Police Capt. Ron Klein and Sgt. Jim Walters of Little Ferry set up shop in the parking lot of a Starbucks on Route 46 Saturday to help motorists learn how to do just that. Nearly 20 drivers came to the Child Safety Event for a car seat inspection and, in most cases, a proper re-installation of loose seats.

"People don't understand how the car seats work in the car," Klein said. "We see what happens when it's not done right."

Kelly Ydrovo of Rochelle Park brought her car in for a check after re-installing a seat for her 4-year-old daughter, Jacqueline. "We're going on vacation next week, so we wanted to make sure she's safe," she explained.

"It's not just installation we do," said Fair Lawn police Officer Tim Franco. "It's education."

"We see people drive by with car seats, and we wanted to help look out for the safety of children," said Starbucks store manager Darlene McKnight. So McKnight, a Garfield resident, asked the Little Ferry Police Department to have an event in the coffee shop's parking lot.

Franco decided to lend a hand to the event after receiving an e-mail from the Bergen County Office of Highway Safety that asked for certified volunteers.

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Installation tips
• The 1 inch test: A properly installed seat should not budge more than one inch when pushed from side to side by an adult.
• The one finger test: You should not be able to fit more than one finger between the child's clavicle and the strap. Make sure to readjust the strap after the winter, when clothes are thicker.
• Leveled harness: The harness retainer clip should be at armpit level. If it is at the belly button, the child could fly out of the chair.
• Heavy weight: When installing, an adult should put his or her weight on the seat to compress the cushion below and pull the seat belt strap as tight as possible.
Source: Fair Lawn police Officer Tim Franco and Little Ferry police Capt. Ron Klein.

Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.