Hanging On Too Long

Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne of England in June 1953 when she was 27. She is now 87, has reigned over the U.K for sixty years and shows no signs of relinquishing the throne. Is this really fair the heir-apparent, Prince Charles? At 65, an age at which most people retire, he is still waiting for his mother to step down. The Windsors, especially the women, have enjoyed long lives. Charles’ great grandmother Queen Mary lived into her eighties and his grandmother, the Queen Mother, recently passed away at the age of 101. How long will Charles await his turn? How old will he be then? How many years will he have as King of England? Perhaps his mother should consider these questions and step down gracefully instead of hanging on .. and on .. and on. The only reason for her to continue on the throne is to try and become England’s longest reigning monarch. At present she is in third place , behind Queen Victoria ( 63 years) and Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth I ( 64 years).
The British monarch is only a ceremonial head of state and whether the Queen abdicates in favor of her son or continues to soldier on does not matter so much. The monarch of Spain, King Juan Carlos, is another matter entirely. He ascended to the throne in 1975, two moths after the demise of Generalissimo Franco, Spain’s long time dictator. For most of his reign , he has been an exemplary ruler, rewriting the Spanish constitution to make it more democratic and fending off a military coup in 1981. He has ruled with firmness and wisdom and was loved by his subjects. ( BTW ,I love his telling Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez ” Why don’t you shut up? ” during a summit meeting in 2007). Lately, however , the King seems to have lost his touch. Last year, he was on a luxury elephant hunting safari in Africa when he broke his hip and had to be flown back home to be operated on. Very poor form for a man who was head of the Spanish chapter of the World Wild life Fund; he was promptly fired from that post. Rumors also linked him to a German businesswoman, 48-year-old Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein who had accompanied him on the African safari. His personal peccadilloes aside, his health is a major concern. In the last two years, King Juan Carlos has had to undergo numerous operations, is in pain from a herniated disc and walks with a cane. His health problems and his long recuperation from his multiple operations call into question his fitness to govern. No wonder that, with Spain in the midst of a financial crisis, 62% of the respondents in a recent poll indicated that they want to see him resign. It would make sense particularly since his son , Crown Prince Felipe ( 45) seems to be a worthy successor. The King , however, has other ideas and assured his subjects that he would continue in office and dedicate himself to doing his best by them and the country. Not the news they wanted to hear !!

I did not much care for Pope Benedict XVI whose outlook I thought was too conservative and behind the times. I applaud however the way in which he resigned. He was 78 when he became Pope and, after eight years as the Vicar of Christ, he decided to step down in 2005 stating that old age, and physical and mental weakness made it difficult for him adequately discharge his duties. It was a laudable decision ,( particularly since his successor, Pope Francis, is a breath of fresh air). How different Pope Benedict was from his successor Pope John Paul who carried on to the bitter end even when he was clearly ineffective because of his physical ailments.

Queen Elizabeth. King Juan Carlos. The Pope. Their actions do not much affect us. Those of U.S Supreme Court judges do. Once appointed to the Supreme Court, judges serve as long as they please, routinely working into their late seventies and eighties. Many of them do so not because of the prestige or for personal aggrandizement, but for ideological reasons. They hang in there waiting for a change in the Presidency so that whoever is appointed to replace them will be of a similar bent. In the process, they continue to occupy the bench even when they are in declining health. I also question whether someone that old , even if in apparent good health, is mentally as sharp as was in his earlier years. In all other professions the retirement age for employees, while somewhat elastic, is pegged at 65. Why should it be different for judges? BTW, judges are supposed to rule base their rulings on the merits of the case, irrespective of their personal leanings. Politics should not enter into their deliberations and voting. It has been increasingly apparent that this is not the case and that too often their political views color their voting.

Setting a fixed retirement age ( say 70 or 75) is not a solution since Presidents would try to pack the court with younger and younger judges who could influence the decisions of the Supreme Court for a long, long time. The only solution is to appoint judges to the Supreme Court for a single term , say 6 years. Not a perfect solution since politicians will try to find ways to get around the rule but at least it’s better than the situation we have now.

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The Perfect Age

On a recent edition of The Chew, the studio audience was asked ” What do you feel  is the perfect age… The age that you look back at fondly if you are older, and the one that you look forward to if you are younger ?”

What would YOUR answer be ?

Knowing how much youth is valued in America, I thought they would pick ” Twenty-five” or perhaps ” Twenty-nine”. At either of those ages, one is setting out on one’s own, independent and still young with the endless future stretching out ahead. Either of those answers would not have surprised me. The audience’s actual response was unexpected. Are you ready for this ?

Their perfect age was ” Fifty”. Their reasons were varied. Being comfortable with who they were. Enjoying the company of the generations on either side of them, both their parents and their children. Stable family life. Etc., etc.

I was very impressed with the maturity of the response. This is a subject I had touched upon in an earlier post four years ago after reading an article in The Economist that described how happiness changes with one’s journey through life. According to it, happiness rises slowly throughout our early years, peaks at age forty-six and then decreases only slightly all the way till the end of life . Kudos to the studio audience for knowing that youth is not all it’s cracked up to be.

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I like The Chew

Though The Chew is its third season, I only saw it for the first time last week . I don’t usually watch daytime TV and I caught the show on Hulu. I liked it. I regularly watch shows on the Food Network and The Chew with its mix of “food, life, and fun conversations about everything” was different and enjoyable. Some of the co-hosts were new to me but others like Michael Symon and Mario Batalli were familiar from their appearances on Food Network shows. I also remember Carla Hall as a contestant and finalist on Top Chef.

What I like about The Chew is that it is fast paced, good natured and fun, and everybody on it seems to be having a good time. Michael Symon is my favorite Iron Chef ( along with Bobby Flay) and I love hearing him laugh. It’s more a cackle than a laugh and we get to hear it often on The Chew ; its infectious! Carla Hall is someone I admire. She is rather odd-looking, but she is completely unselfconscious, is a lot of fun and unafraid to voice her opinions. No wonder she was voted a Fan Favorite on Top Chef All Stars. I’d never heard of Clinton Kelly, the main man on The Chew , but he is easygoing and keeps the show ticking along at a fast pace. The recipes on the show are the type casual home cooks might want to try out and Symon et al make them look easy. The audience participation quizzes and other games are enjoyable too and a good change from Food Network fare which of late has been too much about contests.

I was surprised to see that viewers gave The Chew only a 4.9 rating on a 10 point scale, but I dug a little deeper and found out why the rating is so low. Some viewers were mad at The Chew because it displaced a favorite TV soap. Others were put off by Carla Hall, judging her solely on her looks. Still others criticized the show because the participants were not better known. All of these reasons, in my opinion, are unfair. The Chew may not be great TV but it is eminently watchable. I wouldn’t watch it every day but it is a good way to pass time on a slow afternoon. On a 10 point scale, I would rate it a 7.

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The SAT Changes, Mostly For The Better

( I can write about this subject with some authority because I have taken a keen interest in the SAT ever since my own children were preparing for it. For almost two decades, I have been helping students with the test and advising them about college admissions).

Earlier this month, the College Board announced long-awaited changes to the SAT.The new format SAT will debut in 2016 and the changes, which are wide-ranging, are mostly for the better. Here is a summary of the major changes:

_ The test will revert to the 1600-point scale. Instead of three areas of testing ( Math, Reading Comprehension and Writing each worth 800 points, for a total of 2,400 ), the revised format will test candidates in Math and ” Evidence based Reading”, 800 points each, total 1,600).

_ Math questions will test students on linear equations, complex equations or functions, ratios and proportional reasoning. Calculators will be allowed for only part of the test.

_ The emphasis of the test will be to reinforce basic skills in math and reading and make it more relevant to the skills needed in college. For instance, evidence based reading will require students to not just select the right answer but to justify it by choosing the quotation from the text that gives the best supporting evidence for their answer. The source document will have to be analyzed for evidence reasoning, persuasive or stylistic techniques. At least one reading passage will be from the nation’s founding documents or discussions of such texts.

_ The test will be available on paper as well as online.

_ The essay will be optional.

_ There will be no penalty for wrong answers.( At present, a quarter point is deducted for each wrong answer).

_ Low income students will receive fee waivers so that they can take the test and apply to up to 4 colleges at no cost. The College Board is also partnering with the Khan Academy to provide free online practice problems and instructional videos on how to solve them.

My first reaction on reading about the decision to change the SAT format was ” What took you so long ?” Anyone who is familiar with the SAT will agree that some of the questions, particularly in the sentence completions and reading comprehension passages were unfair, seemingly designed to trip up the student than to measure basic skills. Sometimes it felt as if the preparers were showing off their own knowledge, by including little used words like ” arcane” or British-English words like ” treacly” or “purveyor”. Not one in 50 American adults know the meaning of these words. What chance does a high school junior have? I’m glad the new SAT will focus on words and language skills that the student is likely to need in college and in real life.

The introduction of ” Evidence based reading” is also to the good because it focuses on the interpretation of reading material and why a particular answer choice is correct. In the current reading passages, some of the correct answer choices are subjective or else too difficult to arrive at in a limited amount of time.

I have mixed feelings about the deletion of the multiple choice writing sections. On the one hand, most high schoolers have very poor grammar and this section at least forced them to study it. On the other hand, most colleges seem to disregard the writing scores and consider only the Math & Reading scores when reviewing college applications. That being the case, there was really no point to retaining the Writing sections.

Making the essay optional is also a good idea. In the present format, the essay was the first section in the test and the many students who are not good at writing got off to a bad start which affected their performance in the rest of the test. Essay writing however is a good indicator of critical thinking and organizational skills which are central to doing well in college.By making the essay optional rather than dispensing with it entirely, the new test will give a chance to better students to showcase these skills. I hope , however, that future essay prompts will be easier; some of the present ones are unfairly difficult and would flummox even college graduates.

In the math section, dropping geometry questions and instead emphasizing arithmetic and algebra is a good idea. Except for those who intend to major in science and engineering in college, students have no further use for geometry. Algebra , on the other hand, requires logic skills and is a good indicator of college success. I also applaud the restriction on the use of calculators which will now be allowed only for part of the test. Many students are far too dependent on calculators and this inhibits their fundamental mathematical skills. Perhaps this new requirement is the first step in weaning them away from the use of calculators.

The attempt to make the test affordable for low-income students is laudable and the partnering with the Khan Academy in this endeavor is a stroke of genius. It should be a boon for motivated low-income students.

While the College Board may genuinely have been motivated by a desire to make the test more relevant, there is no doubt that they also had one other incentive to do so – the growing popularity of the ACT. For the first time last year more students took the ACT than took the SAT. The ACT was more popular with students because they felt it was easier and because they did not like the SAT deducting 1/4 of a point for wrong answers. ( That explains why the SAT is dropping that requirement). In my opinion, The math in the ACT is slightly easier but the reading sections has its own pitfalls. I do not feel the ACT is ” superior” or that it is a better measure of basic skills but that is another story and will not be discussed in this post.

Overall, the changes to the SAT are for the better. My one worry is that , in trying to make the SAT more popular with students, the College Board will dumb down the test to the point where it is irrelevant. Without analyzing sample tests, it is impossible to know if my concern is legitimate. Only time will tell.

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In Defense of the SAT

The SAT has been under fire almost continuously from a number of sources. Its critics include educators, parents, students, college admissions officers and education “experts”. Some of the criticism is well deserved but much of it is egregiously wrong and one wonders at the mindset of the people who make it.

These are the main criticisms of the SAT.
_ It is not a good predictor of college success.
_ It favors the rich who can afford to hire tutors and take the test multiple times if they so choose.
_ It does not take into account what poor students have to overcome.
_ The GPA is a more accurate assessment of academic ability.
_ Students who are poor test takers are at a disadvantage when they take the SAT.
_ The test is too rigorous and subjects students to intolerable pressure.

Here is my take on the SAT and why it will continue to be a part of the college admissions process.

The main reason the SAT (or the ACT) is necessary is that it provides a common yardstick to measure the ability of students nationwide. Without it, there is no way to compare students in different parts of the country. The GPA is a good measure of a student’s high school academics but a 4.0 GPA in a good school in suburban N.J. is very different from a 4.0 GPA in rural Arkansas. If the SAT did not exist and college admissions relied only on the GPA, there would be rampant grade inflation as schools tried to give their students a leg up in the race to get into a good college.

The SAT is only one part of the student’s college application. If it were the sole criteria for college admission then, yes, that would be wrong. However, in addition to SAT scores, college applications require the complete record of high school courses taken and grades, college admissions essays, personal statements, recommendations from H.S. counselors and a listing of extra-curricular activities and volunteer work. Taken together, they provide as complete a record of a student’s capabilities as is humanly possible. Because the application is so comprehensive, students have an opportunity to explain how their circumstances might have affected their academics. For instance, if a student has to work park time to support his family financially, it can be stated in the application and will be taken into account by admissions officers when assessing his academics.

It is true that tutoring can substantially increase a student’s SAT score. However, it is not essential . A motivated student can work either on his own or with his friends and still achieve good scores. We are all familiar with the stories of Vietnamese refugee children ( and others) who arrived in America knowing no English and in three or four short years graduated as valedictorians and achieved stellar SAT scores. It should also be noted that some schools offer either free or very affordable SAT prep courses and that their number is increasing everyday. No matter what is done, well to do students will always have an advantage over others not just because they can afford tutoring but because of a stable home environment which encourages studying. However, truly motivated students can surmount the obstacles in their way.

The SAT is not a good predictor of college success but nothing really is. To do well in college, a student must have a good work ethic, curiosity, critical thinking and good math and language fundamentals. The SAT does provide a good assessment of basic skills, particularly in math and critical thinking. It is not as good in measuring language skills but the proposed changes to the exam beginning 2016 will improve it in this area too. The complete college application does provide a fairly good assessment of how a student will do in college but it is by no means fail safe. No matter how well a student does in high school, there are any number of reasons why his college performance may drop off. Some students succumb to partying and other pleasures. Some are intimidated by the level of competition or by being on their own. Others fall in love and let it affect their academics. Any number of things may change.
BTW, some firms ask job seekers for their SAT scores, so I guess they are a good measure of something. ( I don’t agree with this practice because a college graduate is very different from what he was in high school 4 or 5 years earlier when he took the SAT).

As for the criticism that the SAT stresses out students and affects their performance, all I can say is ” Welcome to the real world.” The parameters of the test are well publicized and they have plenty of time to prepare for it. In life, you don’t get to pick and choose what kind of test you would like to take. Or when you would like it. One letter in the NYT pointed out that the test is administered at 8:30 AM, a time when students are barely awake and not at their best. Does the writer realize that most jobs begin at or around that time and that workers do not get dictate when they start work?

True, the SAT does last for almost 4 hours( 3:45, to be exact) but this is nothing compared to what young people will have to face when they go for job interviews. These interviews often last the better part of a day , even a full day or more, and the stakes are much higher. THAT is real pressure.

Yes, in spite of all its detractors , the SAT is here to stay. This is not to say that it is perfect. Far from it. However, it IS pretty good and the proposed changes will make it better.

NEXT: The Changes to the SAT.

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Sriracha: Success Brings Trouble

Huy Fong,the company that makes the popular Sriracha sauce, is an enviable success story. Despite a host of imitators, it has seen its sales increase dramatically and it currently bottles and sells more than 12 million bottles of its sauces every year. It has done this without any advertising, relying on the excellence of its product to generate sales through word of mouth. While copycat manufacturers don’t seem to trouble Huy Fong’s founder David Tran, the company’s recent move to new manufacturing facilities in Irwindale, an L.A. suburb, has created a giant headache for it.

Until about two years ago, Huy Fong used a 68,000 sq.ft. manufacturing facility at Rosemead. However, increasing demand for its sauces led it to expand to a brand new, custom designed 650,000 sq.ft facility in nearby Irwindale. The move was made after the city of Irwindale offered Huy Fong tax breaks and other incentives to move there. Initially, it seemed to be a win-win situation since the move generated 50 fulltime jobs plus another 60 temporary jobs during the peak production season. To give some idea of the scale of the operations, over 500 tons of red jalapenos are trucked in daily during the 12 week season from September to December and are immediately crushed and mixed with garlic , vinegar, salt and sugar to make the sauce.
All went well until some Irwindale residents complained that fumes from the processing of the jalapenos were causing burning eyes, headaches and scratchy throats. They also complained of the pungent odors from the plant.They took their complaints to court and the matter went back and forth before the judge ordered a temporary shutdown of the plant and told Huy Fong to cease odor causing operations as of December 2013.

On the face of it, this seems an entirely reasonable solution. However, there are several inconsistencies in the story.

For instance, while there were three complaints about noxious odors, it was not determined where the odors were emanating from or what was causing them. The state agency which plays the lead role in declaring odors a public nuisance did not issue any violations to Huy Fong. One person commenting on the news story wrote to say” I work half a block from this place and me and my co-workers haven’t noticed any odors.” Recently, Huy Fong invited residents and others to tour the facility and provided golf carts for them to do so. Hundreds of them have taken the tour and have been invited to file reports of any odors they encountered. The news story doesn’t explicitly say so but it does not seem there were any. I find it interesting that it was the son of an Irwindale city councilman who was a leader in the complaint movement. Mere coincidence or …?

Huy Fong has been told to work with South Coast Air Quality Management District and address the issue of the odors. The Public Health Department has also enforced stricter guidelines and has ordered the company to hold the freshly bottled sauce for thirty days before shipping it. This last requirement is mystifying. Odors occur when the peppers are being processed and the sauce is being manufactured. Once the sauce is bottled, no more odors will escape into the air. What is the point of delaying the shipping?

I really wonder at the residents complaints about odors. Huy Fong has been manufacturing its sauces at its Rosemead facility for the past 30 years without problems with neighbors, as far as I know. In fact, it is still continuing to manufacture there. Surely the Irwindale councilors must have paid a visit there before they decided to offer the company incentives to move to their city. Didn’t they notice any noxious fumes while they were in the Rosemead facility? The Irwindale factory is a newer, state-of-the art facility. I find it impossible to believe that their filtration system is inferior to the one at the Rosemead location.

To put the situation in perspective, dogfood factories, meatpacking plants, feedlots, pig farms, coke plants and chemical plants generate lots of noxious odors and even dust. I cannot believe that a hot sauce factory is more odorous than them. If the neighbors of those other factories can bear to live with the stench, why can’t Irwindale manage to live with the factory which it inveigled to come and start operations in its town ?

It is impossible to arrive at the “truth” merely by reading newspaper articles, many of which are incomplete and leave many questions unanswered. In my opinion, though, Huy Fong is getting a raw deal and I hope it prevails.

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Sriracha: An American Success Story

On Food Network shows, when chefs want to add some heat to their dishes, they talk about adding a splash of Sriracha. Not hot sauce. Sriracha. The name is synonymous with hot sauce , as Xerox once was with copiers. And all in the space of just thirty years.
If you think about it, Sriracha is the quintessential American immigrant success story.( Penniless immigrant arrives in America and by dint of sheer hard work and risk taking builds a successful business). Sriracha was introduced to America by David Tran, an ethnic Chinese refugee who fled Vietnam and arrived on these shores in 1980.In Vietnam, he had made a spicy sauce from peppers grown by his brother and intended it as a condiment to be used with pho, the ubiquitous Vietnamese soup. When Vietnam fell to the communists, the Tran family bought their way out and fled to various countries before re-uniting in the U.S in 1980. Within months, Tran began manufacturing Sriracha from ground red jalapeno, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt and the rest is history.Some say that the sauce is based on an original recipe first formulated by a Thai housewife in the 1930s. She lived in the coastal town of Sri Racha in Eastern Thailand and named the sauce after the town, the main reason the name cannot be patented and why there are so many purveyors of Sriracha sauce.David Tran named his company Huy Fong after the Panamian freighter (the Huey Fong) that brought him to the United States. He marketed the bright red sauce in green topped plastic bottles decorated with his astrological sign, the rooster.

Tran intended his Sriracha for use by the Asian community since versions of the sauce are popular in China, Thailand, Vietnam and other southeast Asian countries but it has since become mainstream and is now used for many purposes. If you watch Diners Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network, you know that restaurant cooks all over the country are using it on pizzas, hot dogs, hamburgers and a host of other dishes. Bon Apetit magazine even had an article on 25 ways to use Sriracha. In addition to using it as a marinade and a dipping sauce the article suggested using it in a Bloody Mary, as a cocktail sauce, in marinara sauce, ketchup, salad dressing,to flavor soups, on bahn mi and on garlic bread. The restaurant chain Applebees serves its fried shrimp with a dipping sauce of mayonnaise spiked with Sriracha and P.F.Changs uses it in their dipping sauce too. Lays makes Sriracha flavored potato chips and Sriracha flavored popcorn and another company uses Sriracha in its peach jam! Sriracha inspired products include a lip balm, iPhone cases, and cookbooks.No wonder Tran’s company sells over 12 million bottles a year.
What is behind the meteoric rise of Sriracha to its near iconic status? In my opinion, it is the taste which is spicy without being fiery, and doesn’t fundamentally alter the taste of the dish to which it is being added. Unlike Louisiana hot sauces like Tabasco or Red Devil which are very sour and too hot for my liking, Sriracha’s hotness is leavened by the addition of sugar and garlic. The judicious use of vinegar results in a sauce with a complex, ” rounded” taste , not one that is merely hot and sour, one that makes the sauce versatile so that it can be used for myriad purposes.
Over the years, I was a little puzzled by what I thought was Sriracha’s inconsistent taste. Sometimes, the color of the sauce seemed darker; other times the sauce seemed thicker or thinner than I remembered. Once I noticed that the plastic cap on the bottle was yellow and not green. Then, one day, I read that Sriracha is a generic name and that many companies make their own version of Sriracha, each with its own logo. Some of the other brands even come in containers that mimic Huy Fong’s green topped bottles. Some of the knockoffs are Shark Brand ( China), Phoenix and Unicorn brands( Vietnam), Sri Raja Panich ( Thailand) and a yellow capped version manufactured by Roland foods whose bottles feature two dragons instead of Huy Fong’s rooster. Recently, I picked up a bottle of Sriracha at the local Shoprite without looking at it closely. When I got home, the color of the sauce seemed different, dark brown and not red. I looked closer and found that it was Sriracha manufactured by Badia. The taste was nothing like the Sriracha I’m accustomed to. ( I’ve since seen Sriracha manufactured by Texas Pete. It looks like Red Devil in its consistency and color and I know that I’m never going to try it).
In my opinion, none of the others comes close to Huy Fong Sriracha, the original in the green capped plastic bottle with the Rooster logo, known to aficionados as ‘ cock sauce’. Some of the others may be a few cents cheaper but they’re not for me.
Next: Sriracha’s success brings troubles.

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Can’t Beat Bobby Flay

There was a time when I didn’t care for Bobby Flay. He struck me as brash, cocky, too sure of himself. Over the years though, he has grown on me. Now, I find him easygoing, confident and self-assured, not arrogant, and I like his sense of humor. I was happy to hear of his new Food Network gig, Beat Bobby Flay. Having seen the first few episodes, I find it fresh and interesting, better than tired old standbys like Iron Chef America.

Beat Bobby Flay ( Food Network, Thursdays two thirty minute episodes back-to-back,9-10 PM) is an updated, zippier take on Bobby Flay’s old Throwdown series with some elements of Iron Chef America (hereinafter ICA) thrown in. In the first part of each episode, two up and coming chefs compete against each other for the right to challenge Bobby Flay. They cook one dish that features an ingredient chosen by Bobby Flay ( does this remind you of the ” secret ingredient” on ICA?). The dishes are judged by two celebrity judges and the winner gets to choose the dish for the cook-off between Bobby Flay and himself (shades of Throwdown!). The winner is selected by a panel of experts in a blind taste test.

There are many reasons why I like Beat Bobby Flay. For one thing, the contestants are cooking only one dish at a time ( not five as in ICA) and it is a head to head competition. This makes it easier to follow and , since each half hour episode contains two separate contests, it is fast paced. In the first part, where the two challengers are going up against each other, Bobby Flay is watching and schmoozing with the two judges. They are usually his ICA colleagues, people like Michael Symon or Alex Guarnaschelli, or other celebrities from the world of food,like Jonathan Waxman or Simon Mujumdar. They know each other well and it is fun to listen to them banter. It is also interesting to listen to them air their opinions about the challengers and the dishes being cooked. Another plus is that these dishes are things that viewers might want cook ourselves; watching the show gives us useful ideas that we can incorporate in our cooking. The dishes and some of the techniques used in ICA are beyond the abilities of most home cooks even had we the facilities of the ICA kitchen.

I don’t know how other viewers feel but, for me, many of the things I liked about Iron Chef America have now become the features I dislike most. I am tired of the Chairman’s campiness, his absurd theatrics and the stilted unvarying phrases that pass his lips( Allez cuisine…. Tell us what was your inspiration for the meal. .. Open mind and empty stomach..). I am tired of Kevin Brosh , even though I still like Alton Brown. I am even tired of new gimmicks like the Culinary Curveball which I think detracts from the culinary competition. And finally, I don’t like many of these newer Iron Chefs , who I feel are not in the same league as the originals.

There is one criticism I have of Beat Bobby Flay. When the blind tasting takes place, the contestants are standing in front of the judges , just as in the case of ” Chopped”. It is very easy for the judges to read their facial expressions and know who cooked what. Perhaps it doesn’t matter, because the judges know Bobby Flay’s cooking style so well. He is hardly likely to use wonton wrappers as taco shells or use kimchi in a salad. Still, if it is to be styled as a ” blind” tasting, it would be better for the contestants to be out of sight of the judges as they pick the winner. This, however, is a minor criticism. Bobby Flay may occasionally lose a cooking contest but, as cooking shows go , you can’t beat Bobby Flay.

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Cricket,SA – Australia : Fitting Finale to a Seesaw Series

There are some series, like the recent Ashes, that you wish were over quickly. There are others, like the clash between Australia and South Africa, that you wish went on longer. Considering that all three games of the Australia-SA series ended in lop-sided victories for one side or the other, this may sound strange but true cricket enthusiasts will agree with me.

The just concluded Third Test was one for the ages, one that we will long remember. What a fantastic day’s cricket on Day 5 as South Africa fought hard to the end and almost denied Australia a series clinching victory. First. night-watchman Abbot defied the Aussie attack for almost two hours; then indomitable defense from de Villiers and du Plessis . Later, stouthearted resistance from Philander and the injured Dale Steyn who held Johnson and Co. at bay for 75 agonizing minutes often with 8 and 9 fielders crouched in close in catching positions. When it seemed that South Africa would escape with a well-earned draw, Ryan Harris summoned up his last reserves of strength and yorked both Steyn and Morkel in the space of three deliveries. What an unbelievable finish! Even though the last day’s play produced less than 200 runs, the cricket was gripping and had fans on the edge of our seats. Even for me, following the cricket on Cricinfo in far-off America, it was a nail biter. On the one hand I wanted the Aussies to win because they were clearly the superior side, yet I didn’t want South Africa to lose after their fantastic fight-back.

Even in the earlier two Tests, there was plenty to admire. Mitch Johnson’s fearsome pace in the first test and de Villier’s admirable batting display in both innings. Such a pity he missed a century in the first innings. In the second South Africa’s remarkable turnaround the likes of which I have never seen, Chris Rogers defiant second innings century and of course Dale Steyn’s return to form. All great stuff that left us wanting more and the third Test didn’t disappoint.

Australia are clearly in the ascendant, their rebuilding complete. Of course, their success owes a lot to Mitchell Johnson and his ability to terrorize opposing batsmen and yes, Ryan Harris will be going under the knife shortly but they seem to be loaded with talent. The top order batting is occasionally brittle but the gutsy Rogers and the emergence of Doolan solidify a line-up that boasts Clarke, Watson, Marsh and Smith with Khawaja, Hughes and others waiting in the wings. Their bowling too has a plethora of fast and fast medium pacemen champing at the bit. I don’t know if they have officially replaced South Africa at the top of the Test standings but , in my book, they certainly are Number 1.

As for South Africa , if they are not number 1, they certainly are a close Number 2. Steyn , Morne Morkel and Philander are almost as good as the Aussie pacemen and the batting is formidable. Even with the retirements of Kallis and Smith, the Proteas still have the number 1 Test batsman in the world, de Villiers, in addition to the classy, Hashim Amla, J.P. Duminy and others. On a neutral ground, I’d favor them against any other side in the world except Australia.

One last comment. I wish Graeme Smith had a better final series. He has been great for South Africa over the years and his departure leaves the Proteas a big hole to fill. They may well have an opening batsman to take Smith’s place at the top of the order but What they will miss is his leadership and his fighting spirit. Best wishes to you in your retirement, Graeme. You will be missed.

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The Winter Storm That Never Was

Last Friday, the weather report said that another winter storm was on the way and that , beginning Sunday evening , we could expect snow lasting into the early morning hours on Monday with accumulations of upto a foot.
On Saturday, the HVAC technician who had come to work on our heating system said that he had heard that Somerset County, NJ was going to bear the brunt of the storm and that we would have at least a foot of snow, mixed with freezing rain.
Grumbling about changing weather patterns and global warming, I went to the store and got a carton of milk and some eggs. Other shoppers were also preparing for the winter storm and laying in supplies of bread, milk, eggs, water and other “essentials”. You would think they were going to be snowed in for the winter.
On Saturday evening , the predictions changed for the better. Now, we were only expected to get 3 to 6 inches with heavier snowfalls north and east of us. The predictions remained unchanged through Sunday; I went to bed that night expecting a substantial snowfall.
I woke up Monday morning and looked at the roofs of the neighboring houses. Only a faint, barely perceptible dusting of snow. I got up and looked at the driveway. Same thing. Where had the 12 inches of snow gone? According to the weathercasters, the ” under achieving” storm had veered away from our area and we had been spared the worst. But, had it really? Or had they screwed up once again?
It will not have escaped you that many storm predictions recently seem to err on the high side. Last month, when we were panicked by reports of 3 feet of snow, we got 10 to 12 inches. Still a respectable amount but much less than three feet. This time the predicted 12 inches resulted in just snow flurries. Why does this happen?
In some cases, it seems to be a hoax. That, I think, was true of the monster ” 3 foot storm” of last month. With the ubiquity of social media, rumors spread like wildfire and the more they are repeated the more currency they gain. We were at the closing for our house last month when we heard about 30-36 inches of snow being on the way. It was told to us by three different people at the closing: our attorney, the title insurance agent and a paralegal representing the seller. Worried, I went home and checked the weather report. It did say that there was going to be a major storm but did not make any predictions about the amount of snow. It did say the temperature was going to be about 30 degrees Farenheit. Could someone have misread the statistic and spread the alarm? Very likely.
I am convinced the TV news loves news of bad weather, and that newscasters love to issue winter storm warnings. TV ratings go up at such times with many more people tuning in to find what is in store for them. When the ” storm” does not live up to the hype, viewers are relieved and not upset because they have dodged the bullet. The weathermen have a built-in fudge factor because they always give a range for the snowfall. It’s 1 to 3 inches or 4 to 6 inches, not a single definite number. This is understandable because weather is very localized and can vary considerably over a few miles. Once, there was 1-1/2 inches of rain in New Brunswick, NJ while Edison,just 8 miles away, was dry as a bone. Still , the range gives weathercasters an out when their predictions fall short.
It seems to me that the number of predictions that are off has increased lately and that they usually err on the high side. With storm tracking technology improving continuously, shouldn’t it be the opposite? On the East coast, the one time the forecast erred on the low side was with Hurricane Sandy. Perhaps, after the disastrous aftermath of Sandy, weathermen have decided it is better to be safe than sorry.

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