Mark Bittman, Don't leave me!

I just read today in the New York Times that my favorite columnist, Mark Bittman, is ending The Minimalist. I'm not saying this in a way to make my husband jealous, but I love Mark Bittman. I've written about him here and here and his "How to Cook Everything" cookbook is my go-to cooking resource. I also have my own binder of recipes, which is bursting full of The Minimalist columns and recipes I've printed and collected over the years. Click here for a list of 25 of Mark's favorite columns

Here are a few quotes that jumped out at me as Mark discusses the end of his Minimalist column.

"The column’s goal, my job, has been to help make home cooking more accessible." I agree that he has done his job well. Mark Bittman, I will miss your clever and simple cooking ideas.

"One goal has always been to demonstrate that few recipes are dogma; they can all be tweaked. And learning to tweak is part of becoming a cook." Mark, this is why I love your style. I hate following recipes, because they feel so rigid. I love the way you always encourage me to be creative and use the ingredients I like and already have.

"I refused to buy into the notion that there was a “correct” way to prepare a given dish; rather, I tried to understand its spirit and duplicate that, no matter where I was cooking." All I can say here is Yes!

On the plus side, Mark Bittman isn't leaving the New York Times entirely. He's going to be writing a new weekly column on the politics of food, (another topic very dear to my heart). For all those who had no idea food, farming, and healthy eating was so political, I highly recommend Michael Pollen's book, In Defense of Food.

Mark Bittman, I will miss your weekly column, but I am glad it is not over between us.  I still have 13 years worth of archived columns to get through, and I'll always be a devoted follower of your cookbook.  I wish you the very best. 

Mark, we raise our batter bowls and measuring cups to you.

How to Cook Everything with Joy

Osei and I are engaged in a loving debate about the best cookbook. Personally, I am a devoted follower of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. After all, it teaches us how to cook EVERYTHING. It is simple, direct, and always uses the ingredients that I already have in my kitchen. Plus, Mark writes like he's talking to me personally. We practically converse in my kitchen as he sits on the stool, instructing me how to bake, for example, Bread Pudding.

I ask him, "Mark, do I need to cut the bread," and he just seems to read my mind, replying, "You can cut or tear the bread, but cut off the crusts if they are too thick." Thanks, Mark. Do I feel guilty substituting multi-grain oat bread for white bread? Absolutely not! After all, that is what Mark would do- he is always fully encouraging of me making healthy substitutions. And he even gently suggests ways to embellish my recipe- I can throw in some chocolate chips, raisins, chopped walnuts, orange zest, and the list goes on.

Most of all, I have so much respect for Mark because he knows that I can cook delicious and healthy foods best when I can cook simply. None of his recipes require an extra trip to the store for some obscure but necessary ingredient, like "3 pinches of saffron from the southern region of the Philippines." No offense here to Julia Childs, who is the notorious Queen of using intimidating and labor-intensive cooking ingredients and instructions. Julia and I both went to Smith College, so she obviously holds a dear place in my heart, though her style feels completely inaccessible to the everyday woman (i.e. someone like me who neither buys ducks, keeps cream and creme fraiche in the house, nor has a desire to de-marrow a bone).



Simple Recipes for Great Food. I couldn't put it any better myself. Though I generally attempt to refrain from circular references during debates with my husband, the New York Times even refers to How to Cook Everything as "A more hip Joy of Cooking." Also, check out the two little stickers on the cover. Winner. There you go. Bittman takes the cake.



My husband Osei, on the other hand, prefers the Joy of Cooking. Meh. We flipped through it this morning to see a small illustration of how to peel and cut a pineapple while leaving the pineapple chunks attached to the core. Fancy schmancy, but who actually carves a pineapple but leaves it all connected like that? Do you really think you're going to be able to rip your little chunk of fresh pineapple off of that core with just a toothpick?

Plus, Joy of Cooking is a little outdated, in my opinion. My grandmother was a talented cook and all, but still, I can't help but think that Bittman's How to Cook Everything is a much more relevant resource for us "hipster cooks" today. Let's leave Joy of Cooking for those who want to make fancy centerpieces out of pineapples.

One more reason I'm a true supporter of my friend, Mark is that he cooks things that Osei and I actually eat! For example, check out Mark Bittman's "The Minimalist" coulmn in the New York Times. It is all about making whole grain pancakes. We love whole grain pancakes. In fact, Osei is probably the lead experimenter in our weekend pancake adventures. He's played with whole wheat flour, buckwheat, oats, carrots, nuts, raisins, and banannas, so far.




Don't these pancakes look delicious? Mark Bittman is just like us. He likes whole grain pancakes, and all the variations you can imagine, just like Osei and I do. In case my husband is still not convinced that How to Cook Everything is our go-to cookbook, perhaps I can sway his mind this weekend when Mark and I bake some oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cranberry-walnut cookies.

One more cup of coffee before we go...

New York Times has an article today called It's Time to Make a Coffee Run, proving what distance runners (at least this one) has known all along... the benefits of caffeine and exercise...

* Caffeine is one of the few legal performance enhancers not prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency

* Nothing new that caffeine improves performance... but scientists believe the reason for the power-output post-coffee is that the muscles release calcium stored in muscle, which helps speed and endurance. Also, caffeine impacts the brain's sensation of exhaustion

*The effect of performance improvement is estimated at between 5-25% (the low range for average performance expected for the masses, and a controlled labratory setting.

Not sure if I'll be able to find a Starbucks to get my SBUX staple (grande in a venti cup with cold soymilk) before my Paris marathon, but I'll definitely be able to find a cute place to get my pre-race cup'o'jo

Playing...is NOT an intuitive concept for everyone.

I have a colleague just a few years older than me, an overachieving workaholic with an MBA, J.D (that is a law degree), a CFA, and oh yeah... no life outside of work.  

When we first started working together, my first thought was (obviously) who is this person?  I've since learned that he most likely has no other activities BUT work... or else doesn't know how to do anything else.  His family lives in another country, and he apparently also has a girlfriend also currently living in another country.  

He literally lives at the office.  In one of life's little dramatic ironies, his landlord threatened to evict him on New Years Eve because he was convinced he didn't actually live there.  So what does he do?  He spends the morning petitioning to the management company, and then comes into the office at 2:30 pm.  ON NEW YEARS EVE.  When the office closes at 3:00.  Per company policy, if you stay at work past 8:30, our company pays for a car service home.  He lives waaaaaay uptown.  (That car service concept is wasted on me because I get to walk to work, not that I would care to be in the office that late anyway).  But it is NOT necessary to work until 10:00 or 11:00 or midnight.  Saturday and Sunday, however, he does inform me he goes home early.  Like 7:00 pm.  ON SATURDAY.

He's also not the best time manager.  In fact, he's one of the least efficient workers I know, but seems to thinks he doesn't have a choice but to stay in the office and work past the point of exhaustion.

I gave him the New York Times article on the importance of playing, and made him read it.  Three times he chimes up with an "I disagree!" or "But...".  I tell him to keep reading.  He gets to the point about natural settings activating this involuntary attention.  

So what does he do?  He proceeds to spend the next 4 hours downloading a PICTURE of a green mountain with a lake.  It will be made into wallpaper on his desktop, he reasons, so he will get to spend his day in front of his computer in front of a natural setting.  Oh Goodness.  It takes so long because there are restrictions for downloading wallpapers, so he has to get IT to do it for him.   Forget actually GOING outside and looking at a tree (or even a city block and fresh air is an improvement), or forget getting your work done quickly and going home before 6pm on a Friday.  No, go download a picture on your computer of a natural setting.

Kids, this is not the point.  Playing should be PLAYING.  Go outside.

Keep on Playing!

Work-life balance is a major point of contention between me and my employers.  We differ sharply on the concept that "the longer you're in the office, the more work you do" and sitting in your chair for the sake of sitting in your chair.

I'm motivated to work efficiently and get things done so that I can leave in the evening to go run.  When I don't run, I am grumpy, sleep poorly, and overall less am productive and feel less happy.  Running-time is the only time I know I'll get fresh air all day, and I keep going during the day knowing I get to spend those miles after work (most of the time, occasionally before) in Central Park, my favorite spot in New York City.  

When I run with my friends, running is almost therapy- maybe it is something about sharing the bond of running/sweating/trying to have a conversation at an elevated heart rate in the first place that has brought my running buddies and me closer.  When I run alone, running is active meditation.  I think about something I'm trying to solve, or I intentionally let my mind wander to think about nothing at all.  Returning from a run leaves me re-inspired, refreshed, and energized.  In short, running is my play-time. 

The New York Times just published an article about the importance of recess in child development.  I beg to argue that it is not important to just young children, but that is besides the point.  Basically, there are 2 forms of attention- directed attention and involuntary attention.  Directed attention is what we use when we're concentrating on work, reading, sitting in front of a computer etc.  It is a limited resource and leaves us fatigued.  

On the other hand, involuntary attention kicks in when we are distracted by playing, and seems to kick in when we're in natural settings.  This kind of attention allows our directed attention to restore itself.  

Here is my favorite quote... "Young rats denied opportunities for rough-and-tumble play develop numerous social problems in adulthood.  They fail to recognize social cues and the nuances of rat hierarchy; they aren't able to mate.  By the same token, people who play as children 'learn to handle life in a much more resilient and vital way.'"

So, more proof that playing is important to physical and social development, and more fodder to my argument that running makes me work better.  

And as for the implied correlation based on rat studies between failing to play/failing to view playtime as important and socially-unadjusted colleagues with unhappy home lives?  I'll leave that one for the reader to decide.

Out and about the town

The Art Students League of New York on 57th and 7th Avenue.

Bryant Park, including the new BofA tower in the background, at 42nd and 6th Avenue.  During the 2 months we were in the new office before moving to BNP Paribas building, my commute doubled.  If I hit every "don't walk" light, it took me about 27 minutes.  Then again, I could still walk to work. 

Ah, good ole' Times Square taken from 42nd and 7th Avenue.

All the news that's fit to print at the New York Times building, at 42nd and 8th Avenue

The mail must go through.  Post office at 34th and 8th Ave

Mark Bittman, you make me wanna cook!

I love Mark Bittman's New York Times cooking column, The Minimalist.  I bought this cookbook last year after basically flipping a coin between this and Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  Julia, after all, went to Smith too, and well, it is Julia Childs!  However, I am confident I made the right choice... I guess you could say Mark Bittman is just a little more... user friendly.  

You may fall off your chair

Oh, those Brits.  I nearly pulled a muscle laughing when I read this article in the New York Times today.