Save the Bees
I hate bees. Over a year ago, one of those buggers stung me on the forehead without any provocation at all. I didn’t even see it coming. One moment, I’m happily walking along pushing a stroller. The next, I’m blinded with pain.
Then this past fall, a few bees really ruined my visit to the Schenectady Greenmarket.
But bees are important. They are important beyond the fact that they make honey, without which I’m uncertain how Young Master Fussy would survive. Honey bees are actually really really important. Maybe more important than you realize.
Without bees there is no food. Well, there are no plants. Well, there are no plants that are pollinator dependent. But still, that includes a lot of tasty and delicious things.
And bees are in trouble.
Their hives starting dying, in what became known as colony collapse disorder. And the problem just got worse and worse. And for a long time, nobody knew why. Honestly, we still don’t. But there are some prime suspects emerging, and the good news is that there is a way for you to help.
Speedy Delivery
The comforts of home aren’t lost on me. Sure, sometime it’s nice to dress up and go out and see people. But other times you just want to eat in your cozy socks, with no smiling, cheerful waiter to get in between you and your food.
I don’t have to tell you the reasons people order in. It’s a national obsession.
What kills me is that to a large extent the kinds of food we choose to get delivered or bring home are the ones that suffer most from the trip. This really struck me after my post on A Very Jewish Christmas. When I wrote about Chinese food, not once did I mention take-out. Yet, in discussing local restaurant options it became apparent that for some people Chinese food is inextricably linked to take-out.
I know that Chinese take-out is a thing. But for the most part it is not a thing that I do.
The Meat Sheet Explained
I’m not the only one who has recently been thinking a lot about the meat we eat. Albany Jane had a recent post on The Great Meat Debate. But a lot of the fire in my belly is the result of a post on the From Scratch Club blog that got me int a few interesting debates on Paula Deen’s Facebook page, of all places.
A long time ago I stumbled upon this web video, which I thought did a pretty good job of identifying the big issues in reasonably entertaining way. But even then I was trying to eat happier meat.
The thing, is I enjoy meat. If push came to shove, I could live without it. But it’s so delicious that I would prefer to keep eating it. But there are some problems with meat. And I’m getting a little fed up with what is being done to animals in the name of our pleasure and nutrition.
Let me give you the briefest sense about what I mean.
Out With a Bang
It’s unlike me to be brief. But I’m still on vacation down in Pennsylvania and there’s a lot going on down here. Just last night I tried my hand for the first time at making pork and sauerkraut, which is allegedly some New Year’s tradition. While it is supposed to be the first meal you have in the new year, we will have it as the last meal of the old year.
I’m into tradition, but not so into superstition.
To start 2011 off on the right foot, and on the right food, we are going to tuck into a breakfast of my father-in-law’s famous buttermilk pancakes and locally made breakfast sausage links. Naturally I made sure the farm was stocked with 100% pure maple syrup.
But there were a couple of completely unexpected things that happened this week, which really helped to wrap up 2010 and tie a bow on the whole year.
The first was pure luck.
Flecks of Gold
Despite what some people may have you believe, Albany is no culinary Mecca. Frankly, there is no reason why it couldn’t be, and that is at the heart of my frustrations with this town and its restaurants.
Still, there are some bright spots. And there are certainly signs of an ongoing upward trajectory. This year I encountered things that were both delicious and unexpected. Some of them have been from regional institutions that have been around for ages, and others were from brand new ventures.
This isn’t an exhaustive list. It’s a personal one. And I’m trying my best to keep it to the things I have tried for the first time this year (so the Ale House wings, Capital Q brisket, Bella Napoli donuts, Bob & Ron clam strips, et al. don’t make the list).
Oh, and it’s in no particular order
Ask the Profussor – Tying Up Loose Ends
It’s the last Ask the Profussor of the year! Sure, one of you may ask a question in the next few days, but I’m going to feel great about starting the year with a clean blog slate.
There are a few serious posts that are waiting in the wings. But this isn’t the week for such heavy matters. This is a week for introspection. It’s about looking forward and looking back. It’s about getting ready for one last party and putting the champagne (or some other sparkling wine) on ice.
Maybe you’ll even host a dinner. Maybe you’ll go out on the town. Me? I’m on the farm, hopefully having a traditional dinner of pork and sauerkraut. Maybe I can convince my brother-in-law to play a few games of Pente while we wait for the clock to strike midnight. In the unlikely event Mrs. Fussy stays up past ten o’clock, perhaps we’ll all play cards.
But since I make it a habit to answer all reader questions, and since I’ve had a few stack up since my last Ask the Profussor on December 9, today is the day to check them off my list. There are still a couple other things I need to do before closing out the year, so without any further ado, onto the questions.
Striking a Nerve
It’s a dead week. There is little motivation to do big things between Christmas and New Year’s. During most of my professional career, the ad agencies I worked for would close their doors. It was a bonus week of paid vacation. Which also makes it the perfect time to do annual recaps and take care of the loose ends as the year comes to a close.
While to some it may seem like link fishing, this annual exercise of taking a deep look at what posts struck a nerve and what posts failed to launch is very useful to me. Part of this surely has to do with my past life examining people’s media consumption patterns. Old habits die hard. But the other part does help inform my decisions on how to write about the things that matter to me.
That said, I am proud to present to you the FLB’s twelve most-read posts of 2010.
They are really here for two reasons. One is for me, which I just detailed above. But the other reason is for you. I write a lot of original posts, and I don’t expect anyone to read them all. Not even Mrs. Fussy reads every single one. It’s likely these will all be familiar to loyal readers, but even you may have missed one or two. The only way to know is to see the list for yourself.
Is This Thing On?
The end of the year is upon us. And even though it feels like I just celebrated New Years a few months ago (actually, I did), I am still not immune to the impulse to look back and take stock of the year that is rapidly coming to a close.
Instead of starting with the triumphs, I will start with the failures.
After all, I’m not just hard on local restaurants, food critics and diners. I am also equally hard on myself. It’s no secret to me which categories of posts have failed to thrive on the FUSSYlittleBLOG. I’ve known for a while. And I do them no favors by putting them on days of the week that have lower readership.
But there are some things I like to write about, and dammit they are going to stay. Even still, the following posts did worse than expected. Maybe you all just needed to wash your hair on those days.
So now, at the end of the year, I’m giving them all one last chance at life. Ladies and gentlemen, here is the parade of the damned, the dirty dozen, the twelve posts that went by mostly unnoticed, and certainly unloved.
Le Sigh
I don’t care how they do it in the movies, or in the locker room after winning the big game, when you open up a bottle of sparkling wine, whether it is actual champagne or some méthode champenoise wine produced elsewhere, there should be no popping of corks. Period.
If you want to festively open your bottle of wine, there is one method I endorse, but it requires a bit of special equipment, as you will see.
The best way is delicate and requires a bit of finesse, but is endorsed by sommeliers all around the world. As long as I’m in a showing versus telling mood, here is a sommelier to demonstrate how it’s done.
The less festive technique produces not a pop, but a sigh. After all, the special thing about champagne is the bubbles. Those bubbles are really nothing more than carbon dioxide in the wine. That celebratory pop is the sound of the carbon dioxide leaving your bottle, which if you stop to think about it, isn’t anything to celebrate.
Luckily the new year is less than a week away, and that is something good to celebrate. But that also means there is precious little time to run out to the wine store and pick up some bottles. Good Champagne from France is great, but every year I like to try and take a little bit of stuffing out of its cachet. In my mind, what makes this sparkling wine special is not its geography, but its bubbles, which are the result of the crazy way in which it is made.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
There isn’t much more I can do for you at this point. Christmas is tomorrow. I hope for your sake that you don’t need to go to the store today. Please say that you have all your presents, wrapping paper, food, wine, spirits, and various sundries.
Because it’s madness out there.
And it’s likely to be just as crazy on the roads, at the train stations, and in the airports. We talked a bit about this, and the implications holiday travel has on eating, back around Thanksgiving. So there is nothing new to report.
Which makes me think we should talk a little bit about tomorrow. Because while it is Christmas, it will also be Shabbos. And much like Walter Sobchak, I don’t roll on Shabbos. So that means the time is now.
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