The Power of Spirit – Join the Event
This post is an invitation for you on multiple levels. First, there’s the human-level invitation, which you’ll get by reading the words here. I’m hosting a live event on Zoom this weekend called The Power of Spirit, and I invite you to join us for it. It will be 3 hours each day, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Pacific Time on October 7 and 8, 2023. The second level of this invitation is the spirit level. I’m writing this invitation while feeling very tuned in (thanks in part to a minidose of magic mushrooms this morning). As I’m writing, I can also feel some of the energy of the upcoming event flowing...
Source: Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog - October 6, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Steve Pavlina Tags: Abundance Announcements Creating Reality Emotions Lifestyle Relationships Source Type: blogs

A Trio of Mushroom Dishes for a Trio of Mushrooms
If you’re ever in the Lake Winnipesaukee area, as we were last month visiting family, stop in at the New Hampshire Mushroom Company in Tamworth. If you’re lucky, the mushroom-growing rooms will be open to the public when you visit. Unfortunately, most of the crew was out giving a mushroom foraging tour the day we visited, so no back room tour for us. Nonetheless, we still managed to score a HUGE box of gorgeous shrooms – Lion’s Mane, Chestnut and Blue Oyster. I was a bit worried we’d never manage to use them all, but my fears were ungrounded, as we had several occasions the following week to s...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - August 4, 2023 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Appetizers Pasta Rice & Potatoes Dried mushrooms Lasagna Mushroom crostini mushroom toasts Source Type: blogs

Chicken with Dried Mushrooms & Tomatoes
When it comes time to figure out what to make for dinner, I love the internet as much as anyone. I usually head straight to the NY Times Cooking section, or to Epicurious, Saveur or Food 52 for ideas and inspiration. But one weekend this past year, with our Philly travel plans cancelled by an upcoming storm (there is nothing worse than the Jersey turnpike in a thunderstorm with tornado and flood warnings), I had the unexpected luxury of free time on a Saturday morning. Sitting with a cup of coffee, I opened Biba’s Taste of Italy, a cookbook whose spine I had yet to crack in the year since it had been gifted to me by ...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - January 19, 2023 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Meat & Poultry Borgotaro braised Chicken Dinner party Dried mushrooms Emilia Romagna italian Make-ahead PGI Porcini recipe Stove top Tomatoes Source Type: blogs

Moroccan Baked Beans àla Mourad
In my continued quest to cook as much as possible from my pantry, I honed in on two cans of Great Northern Beans, originally bought to stock our summer cottage larder, but never used. I suspect that they were several years old, and had made the trip up and back from NYC to Pennsylvania at least twice, if not more. (We empty the larder at the cottage when we shut things down for the season.) Canned beans have a shelf life of 2-5 years, so I knew I was on safe ground using them, and I was determined they were not going to be traveling anymore, unless it was to my kitchen table. Also calling to me was a jar of homemade toaste...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - December 7, 2022 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Uncategorized beans feta moroccan mourad onion tomato Source Type: blogs

Spanish Stuffed Peppers – The Evolution of a New Recipe
My love affair continues with Sofrito, the Spanish slow cooked tomato-olive oil-mirepoix that’s a staple in a healthy Mediterranean diet. I now make it regularly, storing it in small jars in my freezer and searching for ways to incorporate it into the foods we make. For example, these stuffed peppers, a recipe I am proud to say I came up with all by myself. Well, actually, that’s not entirely true. I had a little help from my friends (and family). Let me tell you how it went down… Last week, while at the market, a beautiful multicolored fresh pepper medley caught my eye. I knew I had a pound of lean g...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - November 28, 2022 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Meat & Poultry Rice Vegetables bell peppers corn fish sauce Flor de garum mexican recipe SOfrito Spanish Stuffed Peppers umami Source Type: blogs

Pilchard Curry
When Mrs Sciencebase was a student, she used to make an inexpensive curry: tin of pilchards, tin of tomatoes, chopped onion, crushed clove of garlic, teaspoon each of cumin, coriander, and turmeric powder, salt & pepper, and a half a teaspoon of chili powder. Served on a bed of whole-grain boiled rice. It sounded a bit grim, but wasn’t too bad. (Brown-bread icecream for pudding or Granny Grape Pudding). It was all certainly a whole lot more adventurous than the boiled noodles and soy sauce I once cooked her because I had nothing else in the cupboard. Don’t know if it compares well with a camping meal we onc...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - November 23, 2022 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Food Source Type: blogs

Farro with Oyster Mushrooms & Onions
One of my goals in retirement is to shop more at the farm markets, in order to support local farmers and eat more seasonally. It’s something I could never find the time to do when I was working. (Though I have friends who managed to do so even with full time jobs, so really, what was my excuse?…) Although I adore the Union Square Green Market, it’s a bit of a schlep to visit on a regular basis. Thankfully, we have a wonderful farmer’s market every Sunday here on the Upper West Side, on Columbus Avenue just behind the Museum of Natural History. That’s where some lovely-looking oyster mushro...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - November 21, 2022 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Pasta Rice & Potatoes Vegetables Vegetarian Farro Food waste leftovers mushrooms Oyter Mushrooms Source Type: blogs

Basil Pesto
Posting this recipe for easy reference in an upcoming post. Enjoy! Print Recipe Basil Pesto Ingredients2 cups loosely packed basil leaves1/4 cup pine nuts2 large garlic cloves, peeled1/2 cup olive oil1/2 tsp salt1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese InstructionsCombine the basil, garlic, and salt in the bowl of food processor and grind till the mixture forms a paste. While running the food processor, slowly drizzle in the olive oil.  Fold in grated Parmesan. (If freezing, hold the Parmesan till just before using the thawed pesto.) Last updated 11/15/2...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - November 16, 2022 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Pasta Rice & Potatoes basil pesto Source Type: blogs

Enlightened Cream of Tomato Soup
Warning – The story behind this soup is a long one. A melodrama in three acts as it were. Act I It all started with a chicken that I purchased some weeks ago, in order to get a single chicken liver to use in a Bolognese ragu. After removing the liver from the little packet stuffed inside the chicken, I put the neck back in the cavity, put the chicken in the freezer and made the Bolognese. Act II Two weeks later, I took the chicken out of the freezer, put it in a pot with some veggies and water and cooked it, giving me a meat to make soft tacos for the a couple of dinners and lunches. And also a gorgeous...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - October 30, 2022 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Soups cream tomato soup Source Type: blogs

Maccheroni alla bolognese
Before there was Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy, there was Regional Italian Cuisine, a cookbook tour of Italy’s regions through its foods and recipes. While Stanley’s show is a light aperitivo, this book is the ten course meal, with recipes for dishes that will make you feel like you’re one of the Famiglia. Each chapter of Regional Italian Cuisine focuses on a different region of Italy, summarizing in sequential, gorgeous two-page spreads of perfectly balanced text and photos its climate, crops, food specialties, regional events and sights to see. It then follows with short, well-written ...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - October 13, 2022 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Pasta Rice & Potatoes Bolognese Bolognese sauce Emilia-Romagna italian Italy Italy regional cuisine Meat sauce Ragu recipe Regional Italian Cuisine Source Type: blogs

Spanish Sofrito and the Mediterranean Diet
Sofrito topped flatbreads In the largest study of its kind to date, the Mediterranean Diet has trumped a low fat diet in secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The study was conducted in Spain, where participants assigned to the Mediterranean diet received free olive oil. They were also instructed to use sofrito – “a homemade sauce with garlic, onion, aromatic herbs, and tomato slow cooked in olive oil” – in their cooking two or more times a week. Free Spanish olive oil and Sofrito as a required food group? I’d have moved to Spain to be in that study! But since that never happen...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - September 18, 2022 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Vegetables Vegetarian Mediterranean diet SOfrito Source Type: blogs

Foraged Sumac / Ottolenghi ’s Gigli with Chickpeas & Za ’atar
I first encountered wild sumac in 2015 in Pennsylvania’s Loyalsock Forest. I’ve foraged for it most summers since, both there and along the Pine Creek Rail Trail. This year’s sumac crop was a little disappointing. Despite how much I picked, most of the fruits had worm infestations that limited the amount of usable berries. (Note to self – pick sooner in the season next year…) Still, I got about a cup and a half of dried sumac for my efforts, more than enough for my needs. (If you want to know how to harvest and dry sumac to make the spice, read here.) I used the fruits of...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - September 7, 2022 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Pasta Rice & Potatoes Chickpeas Ottolenghi Sumac za'atar Source Type: blogs

Foraged Sumac / Ottolenghi ’s Gigli with Chickpeas & Za ’atar
I first encountered wild sumac in 2015 in Pennsylvania’s Loyalsock Forest. I’ve foraged for it most summers since, both there and along the Pine Creek Rail Trail. This year’s sumac crop was a little disappointing. Despite how much I picked, most of the fruits had worm infestations that limited the amount of usable berries. (Note to self – pick sooner in the season next year…) Still, I got about a cup and a half of dried sumac for my efforts, more than enough for my needs. (If you want to know how to harvest and dry sumac to make the spice, read here.) I used the fruits of...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - September 7, 2022 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Pasta Rice & Potatoes Chickpeas Ottolenghi Sumac za'atar Source Type: blogs

Coffee Marinated Braised Short Ribs – update
Sometimes a recipe is just so damned good it becomes a family standard. This is one of those recipes. We made it (and I posted it) for the first time over 10 years ago for Christmas Eve dinner, and about once a year since then. My mother-in-law Irene adopted the recipe to replace turkey at Thanksgiving, though I’m sure she’s tweaked it someway, as she always does. Last night I tweaked it by adding two large carrots, diced, at the same time as the onion and garlic. Should have done that years ago, it’s the perfect addition. Next time I’m changing from chicken to beef broth. I never understood why...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - February 20, 2022 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Meat & Poultry braised coffee marinade short ribs Source Type: blogs

Coffee Marinated Braised Short Ribs – update
Sometimes a recipe is just so damned good it becomes a family standard. This is one of those recipes. We made it for the first time over 10 years ago for Christmas Eve dinner, and about once a year since then. My mother-in-law Irene adopted the recipe to replace turkey at Thanksgiving, though I’m sure she’s tweaked it someway, as she always does. Last night I tweaked it by adding two large carrots, diced, at the same time as the onion and garlic. Should have done that years ago, it’s the perfect addition. Next time I’m changing from chicken to beef broth. I never understood why the recipe uses c...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - February 20, 2022 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Meat & Poultry braised coffee marinade short ribs Source Type: blogs