Its been a while, I know. I apologize for the long absence to everyone subscribed. When I got back home following my honeymoon school and life just refused to slow down. I realize now that its less a matter of slowing life down and more a matter of making a point to take at least 30 minutes two write something here.

The need finally came this morning, when I saw a commercial for the Save Ellis Island organization. The commercial brought together actors, athletes, role models, making a plea to help them save this hugely important monument to American History. And indeed it is a great monument, to the young and idealistic years of our nation. A lot of great things happened at the hospital at Ellis Island, and i believe that it should not be allowed to fall into ruin. (more…)

Reprinted with permission from the November issue of the Ester Republic.

As we walked through the front door of my almost-in-law’s home, my then-still-fiancée and I were greeted with crisis. “Theas no moah fresh sablefish, only frozen,” I heard my caterer proclaim as a cordless phone was thrust into my hand. I recognized his Cape Cod accent right away. The development was a disappointment, to be sure, but probably not a crisis. Sablefish is delicious, cheap, and responsibly fished under a community-based system of management. Frozen wouldn’t be as tasty, and would be harder for the chef to work with, but purchasing the frozen sablefish for the event, I mused, would be the ultimate display of commitment to supporting a local, responsible food resource.

My caterer, however, had a different idea. Remember the Tyson pen? “Frozen will taste horrible,” he proclaimed – “You want Barramundi. Its cheap, tastes like Chilean sea bass, and tops all the ‘sustainability’ lists.” Sigh. “No,” I responded, “we’re not going with a farmed fish.” I asked him to find out what other options were available from local waters and get back to me.

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