Thank You Nelson Mandela for the Truth You Shared

Yesterday a great man died. He inspired us; he reminded us to be all that we can be, never less.

Whether it was his courage to withstand hunger without hate in the hell that was the prison on Robben Island or the joy with which he viewed the rounded gourd-shaped World Cup soccer stadium, he demonstrated daily the depth and width of the human heart when filled with understanding love.

He led South Africa to freedom, without the horror of massacre. He showed the world that problems can be solve without burning restaurants and shattered hotel windows.

The lessons he taught have flowed like a mighty river beyond the borders of his single country. As a result, country after country, of which he was not even a citizen, have lowered their flags today in respect and gratitude.

This global gesture is done to honor a man, who showed through a courage that defines the very heart of love, that compassion - not explosions, is the path to peace and fellowship.

Thank you. Thank you for being Nelson Mandela.

May we never forget the lessons you shared, the lessons you taught. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013

Why Peaches Should be the Official March Madness Food

It’s 1891 and it’s rather cold outside in Springfield, Massachusetts.

As the winds blow, James Naismith has been struggling with an assignment given to him by his supervisor, Dr. Luther H. Gulick at Springfield’s Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Training School.

Dr. Gulick wants a new vigorous indoor sport created for the School’s male students that equals the exercise value of such summer sports as American football and soccer.

And Naismith was given just 14 days to create an indoor game that would provide a much needed "athletic distraction" for the bored students.

Dr. Gulick further demanded that the new game should not take up much room, help to keep the school’s athletes in shape and explicitly emphasize fair play "for all players and not be too rough”.

(A little like being asked to create a new form of soufflé without heat, no?)

After some thought, Naismith divided his physical education class of 18 students into two teams of nine players each. He then directed their attention to the elongated commercial peach baskets he has strapped up high at either end of the gym.

He explained that the new game was played by throwing the ball (on this day a soccer ball was used) into each team’s basket while the opposing team tried to retake the ball and score points in their basket. And so basketball was born – thanks to a peach basket, a ball and one creative teacher.

Well, not quite because there was the ladder. The ladder? Yes, because the peach basket still retained its hard commerce bottom requiring the janitor to climb a ladder after each score and remove the ball. An activity that, as you might expect, slowed the game down dramatically.

By 1906, the basket bottom had been removed (great decision) and the wooden fruit basket was replaced by a chicken wire frame.  Still later the wire frame was replaced by a net 15 to 18 inches in length.

And while the net’s supporting metal ring is now universally called the “hoop”, everyone still refers to the score as “making a basket”.

So, please, don’t forget the noble peach who got it all started when you plan your March Madness promotionals. After all, it did all began with those specially designed long beautiful peach baskets.

Go Final Four!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013 

Tennis Master Andy Murray Scores with Scottish Hotel Purchase

Tennis ace Andy Murray has just bought the multi-million dollar luxury Cromlix House Hotel near his Scottish home, just north of Edinburgh. 

The US Open and Olympic champion plans to transform the grand Victorian manor house, where his brother Jamie married Colombian Alejandra Gutierrez in 2010, into a five-star destination.

Locates close to his home town of Dunblane in Stirlingshire, the refurbished hotel is scheduled to re-open next spring just ahead of the 2014 Ryder Golf Cup, which is being staged a short drive away at Gleneagles.

Murray said in a statement to the press: “By re-establishing Cromlix as a leading luxury hotel at the heart of the Dunblane community, we will be able to attract new visitors to the area, create a number of new jobs and focus on supporting other local businesses. I'm pleased to be able to give something back to the community I grew up in.”

The Cromlix House is set in 50 acres of breath-taking rolling woodlands and currently has 14 vintage bedroom suites, a beautiful wedding chapel, a baronial reception hall, two drawing rooms, a conservatory, a classic dining room, a well-stocked library and several meeting rooms.

The Eden Family, who have owned the estate for more than 30 years, is happy the property is passing to someone with a strong commitment to the local community. Future plans for the Hotel involve a Chez Roux restaurant.

Renowned Chef Albert Roux, owner of Le Gavroche in London, is one of a group of industry experts consulted by Inverlochy Castle Management International (ICMI), which will manage The Cromlix House on behalf of Murray.

ICMI’s managing director, Norbert Lieder, is confident that “'With Andy, we can create a very special hotel in his home community. While we aim to create a destination that attracts visitors from around the world, we are also determined to ensure it remains a venue of choice for local people”

Bravo, bravo, bravo!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013

Hollywood, Brownies and the Oscars

Soon the bright spotlights of Hollywood will shine high in the sky and the red carpet will be rolled out below. Cinematic star after star will walk that carpet and then take their seat, hoping that the T.V. cameras will focus on them as the announcer calls their name to come and claim a coveted Oscar.

Yet there are stars who have not sought the limelight or the Award. Some actors, such as Marlon Brando, have even chosen not to attend the Academy Ceremonies to avoid having to accept their award in person.

Another such ceremony-shy celebrity was Katharine (or Kate) Hepburn.  Born into a socially aware New England family, she was not an actress who needed to be discovered, hopefully drinking sodas at Schwab's Drug Store lunch counter.

For you see, her mother, also named Katharine, was a strong willed feminist and a national known suffragist. Along with Margaret Sanger, she co-founded the organization that would become Planned Parenthood.

Her efforts were matched by her husband, Thomas Hepburn, who as a doctor also fought for the right of women to obtain safe and complete health care.

This was not, as you might guess, a household that produced passive Victorian daughters (or actresses). At every meal the six Hepburn children were encouraged by their parents to speak freely and debate any topic of interest. And while current events and individual sporting activities were often the subjects of dinner discussions, there was one topic and dessert that was enjoyed by all – brownies.

But not just any brownies - the brownies of Bertha Palmer, owner of Chicago’s Palmer House Hotel and female extra ordinary.

Like the senior Katharine, Bertha was an early advocate of women’s rights – both in the doctor’s office and at the ballot box. Her active support was vital to the success of the Women’s Building at the Columbian Exposition, right down the boxed lunches served there. 

Palmer knew, as many of the early American feminists did, that mutual conversation and supportive fellowship was critical to the success of a national suffrage movement. If the women gathered at the Fair’s Pavilion could be prompted to linger over luncheon, common ground through conversation could be found.

But how? What better than a great new dessert – one too good to put down (but not too messy to enjoy). And that was the task that Bertha Palmer set for her skilled pastry chefs at the Palmer House.

Their resulting creation was the brownie (see recipe below).  It was that same brownie that Kate’s mother served proudly to her progressive family, along with the story of its origin and purpose. These were the same brownies that Kate would later make for Hollywood friends as she passionately explained why talent and truth matters so much more than mere money or annual awards.

Let’s hope the Academy remembers this culinary lesson wrapped in sweet chocolate as they honor those who stand in the bright lights of fame brownies,  on rich red carpets beneath California's starry skies.

PALMER HOUSE BROWNIES (With Many Thanks to Feminism and Hollywood)

INGREDIENTS

• 1lb 2 oz Semisweet Chocolate
• 1 lb Butter
• 1lb 8oz Granulated Sugar
• 8 oz Cake Flour (King Arthur)
• 1 tbsp Baking Powder
• 4 Whole Eggs
• 1 lb Crushed Walnuts
• 1 cup Water
• 1 cup Apricot Preserves
• 1 tsp Unflavored Gelatin

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. In a double boiler, melt chocolate with butter.
3. Mix sugar, flour and baking powder in separate mixing bowl,
4. Add chocolate butter mixture and mix for 4-5 minutes.
5. Add eggs.
6. Pour onto 9-inch by 12-inch baking sheet.
7. Sprinkle walnuts on top of batter and press down slightly into mixture.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until batter has risen ¼ inch and the edges are crisp.
9. Remove and cool for 30 minutes.
10. In a saucepan, heat and bring to a boil for 2 minutes the water, apricot preserves and gelatin.
11. Brush apricot glaze over cooled brownies with pastry brush.

Enjoy!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013

Tea and Tablets Hallmark the Last Episode of Downton Abbey 3

The last episode of Downton Abbey’s Season 3 saw the Crawleys (minus the Irish black sheep, Tom Branson, who is home with the baby) off to Scotland for their annual journey to field and flora.

Robert Crawley for one was glad to return to the embrace of tradition after having been forced to face the urgent need to modernize the economic base of Downton Abbey in order to survive the changing times. 

There will be tartan and tweeds, fishing and frank talk, shooting and stepping out at the ghillies’ ball.  

Yet always present is the fact that, just as Scotland is NOT England, the new century will be very different from the last.

Consider the arrival of Michael Gregson, Lady Edith’s amorous very married editor. Like a latter day Edward Rochester from the bildungsroman novel Jane Eyre, he is trapped in an undissolvable marriage to an insane wife.

In Bronte’s book, the heroine runs from a romantic relationship with a man so encumbered. A more modern Lady Edith struggles to understand the situation and seemed to finally accept the possibility of a shadow relationship.

Yet some things don’t/can’t change or there will simply be no order/no meaning in the English world of manners. One such tradition is the need to savor hot tea in all times of stress and strain – but a proper cup of tea.

And what is a ‘proper cup of tea’? NOT something brewed hours before sitting (and cooling) in an impersonal thermos. A correctly made cup of tea requires fresh hot water.  In short, it requires a fire either in a kitchen or where if one is outside fishing or hunting?

Enter the fabulous Kelly Kettle. Created in Ireland by an avid angler named, yes, Kelly over a hundred years ago, it is the perfect (and an in-the-known) answer for how to obtain hot water without burning down the surrounding forest or grasslands. 

Simply fill the outer lining with water and then light a small fire in the core cylinder and in an amazingly short time one has fresh piping hot water for tea (or warming toddies).

But no tea is complete without sweets. Once again, what’s possible is a comfortable home setting, doesn’t transfer with equal ease and grace to the Scottish moors. Yet tradition must be maintained. And the Scots, of course, have an answer. Just have a tablet.

Not a tablet of medical or digital fame, but one of absolute culinary glory. What we are referring to is a heavenly Highland treat that is neither a piece of candy nor a slice of fudge but something wonderfully different.

Made simply from sugar, butter and condensed milk cooked slowly to a ‘soft ball’ stage (235 degrees), it is compact, delicious and an ideal companion to an outside cup of tea.

For you see, with tea and a sweet in hand, any subject can be discussed (at least in the world of Downton Abbey’s third season) from unhappy marriages to alternative relationships.

Shocking, but so very English.

And the resolutions? Well now, they’re to be revealed in Season Four, possibly this Fall or Winter. The next Season is currently being filmed with Lady Mary, it is rumored, moving into the central role.

So until then, enjoy a heartening cup of tea with one ‘tablet’ of sweet delight and cheerfully chant “patience, patience – soon, soon”, but with an English accent, please. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013