Watching TV, I have so many questions, but the media don't seem to have answers

WET BUT FAR FROM SEXY: The Claude "Bud" Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant on the California coast provides 50 million gallons of fresh water a day to San Diego, reports E360, an online magazine published at the Yale School of the Environment. (Photo from Poseidon Water) 

Conundrums: Drought, the U.N.,

cling peaches, invisible captions

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Night after night, the evening TV news reports about the drought in California -- claiming there isn't even enough water to fight the wildfires that destroyed an historic mining town and other property.

But in June 2019, there were 11 seawater desalination plants in California and 10 more were proposed, according E360, an online magazine.

Why have the media been silent about them? Why aren't more of these plants being built? 

Don't they hold the solution to this cycle of drought, fires and barren farmland?

BLAST SCENE: The explosion in the port of Beirut on Aug. 4, 2020, leveled many blocks of the Lebanese city and killed more than 200.

What does the U.N. do?

The other night, I saw an alarming TV report on the first anniversary of that massive explosion in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, with soldiers or police battling protesters in the street.

The report portrayed government officials as corrupt and refusing to investigate the explosion, which killed more than 200 people, or assign blame.

Meanwhile, motorists have to spend hours in lines to fill up their tanks with gasoline.

Lebanon is far from the only failed state around the world, so the natural question is what does the United Nations do?

Nothing, in Lebanon's case. Nothing, in Syria's case. Nothing, in the cases of so many African countries.

Does the U.N. merely call diplomats from around the world to come and live lavishly in New York, one of the most expensive cities in the world, and jawbone all day?

What's the good of a Security Council taking decisive action and moving against a failed, corrupt government, if Russia or any other member can veto the council's decisions?

Cling peaches

Is there any good reason cling peaches and nectarines are still being grown instead of all freestone, where the pit is separated from the flesh?

Try to cut them up for a fruit salad or even eat them out of hand without making a mess of the kitchen counter or your clothes or both.

I buy organic, and the peaches and nectarines I find at Whole Foods Market in Paramus, N.J., aren't labeled as cling or freestone, so you don't find out the bad news until you get home.

Are cling superior in any way? I doubt it. They just piss you off.

TV captions

Here is another infuriating oversight -- captions for documentaries that require translation are invariably in white and often blend into the background, so that they're unreadable.

Why not just render them in black? At least you wouldn't miss any words, and when the background is dark, then white captions would be justified.

One color doesn't fit all.

I noticed this recently when watching the PBS series, "Latino Americans."  

I loved the music, but much was lost in the translation when the captions appeared in white.

Antibiotics, salted water, dead animal bits and other bad things hiding in raw chicken

After reading what isn't in the Bell & Evans Cut Chicken Wings I bought at Whole Foods Market in Paramus, N.J., I wondered if other big poultry companies like Perdue and Tyson are as careful.

With some supermarket brands,

you never know what you're eating

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- My wife is roasting close to 5 pounds of chicken wings she seasoned and the aroma is filling our kitchen and spilling into other rooms.

I'm a pescatarian who gave up meat and poultry more than a decade ago, but I live with and help shop for 3 family members who eat beef, pork, poultry and various animal parts a few times a week. 

This week, I picked up a package of Bell & Evans Cut Chicken Wings for $3.99 a pound at Whole Foods Market, and before I recycled the large plastic tray, I read a label on "what makes Bell & Evans different."

The price label of the Bell & Evans Cut Chicken Wings.

No retained water

Bell & Evans wings (and the rest of the chicken) aren't injected with salted water, and are raised without antibiotics "ever," including no ionophores (a class of antibiotics), in the feed, water, through injection or in ovo (egg).

Human antibiotics are used to raise chickens, cows and other farm animals, and that may cause the transfer of drug resistant bacteria to humans, reducing the effectiveness of drugs prescribed by doctors.

Also missing from Bell & Evans chicken:

• No growth hormones in the vegetarian diet.
• Soybeans without hexane, a byproduct of gasoline.
• No ethanol byproducts.
• Feed with no "junk," meaning no animal byproducts (bits of dead animals), and no expired bakery goods, grease or arsenic.  
• All chicken is fed grains grown in the U.S.A.

READ: Rotisserie chicken at Costco

 makes great dog food 

Nearing end of 2020, we're in good health, thankful for election of sane new president

COVID-19 PANDEMIC: We've been quarantining since March, but all of us are healthy, and we toasted our good fortune on Thanksgiving with French champagne from the Costco Wholesale warehouse in Wayne, N.J. 

WILD SHRIMP SALAD: Our first course on Thursday was a salad of wild-caught Gulf Shrimp, sold frozen, peeled and deveined at the Costco warehouse in Teterboro, N.J., dressed with fresh lemon juice, Dijon mustard, cumin and ground Aleppo pepper. First, I cooked the raw shrimp in olive oil with plenty of thinly sliced garlic, and added diced sweet peppers, celery, onion and parsley.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The presidential election is finally over, and Donald J. Trump's days as our unhinged president are numbered.

He is a loser in every sense of the word -- the worst U.S. president in history.

Happy days are here again.

And on Thanksgiving, amid a new wave of the coronavirus, just the 4 of us gathered around the dining room table, toasting our good health and our soon-to-be President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

She is the first woman elected vice president, and likely will be the first woman elected president in 2024.

Our groaning table

For Thanksgiving, we prepared too much food, as usual: 

For the meat eaters, my wife prepared turkey neck and roasted a boneless leg of Australian lamb, plus rice and peas.

As a pescatarian, I prepared a shrimp salad and ordered a 4-course vegan meal from Whole Foods Market, but didn't have room for my wife's fish course, fried whole Yellow Croaker.

I had vegan leftovers and a leftover fried duck egg for breakfast today, and will probably have more leftovers for dinner and for....

ESCOVEITCH FISH: I went to 99 Ranch Market in Hackensack on Thursday morning and picked up 5 fresh, wild-caught Yellow Croaker. My wife fried them and prepared them with a warm dressing of vinegar, pimento, sweet pepper and onion in the style of her native Jamaica.

ORGANIC VEGETABLES: My wife also prepared organic broccoli and string beans with sliced garlic and a variety of no-salt seasonings.

VEGAN COURSES: For Thanksgiving, this pescatarian also picked up a 4-course vegan meal for 2 prepared by Chef Chloe Coscarelli from Whole Foods Market in Paramus, N.J. The centerpiece was a Cremini Mushroom Roast with Mushroom Gravy. Other courses were Miso Creamed Greens, Sweet Potato Casserole, Jalapeno Corn Bread Dressing and Pumpkin Curry Soup (not shown).

 

Monotony of 150 days in quarantine leaves me bored to tears, fearing long food lines

EXCUSE TO LEAVE THE HOUSE: To break the monotony of staying home during the Covid-19 pandemic, I pack up all of the plastic bags and food wrapping we accumulate and take them for recycling at the ShopRite in Paramus, a few miles from my home.

Plastic in our food and water

 adds to worry over coronavirus

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- As an older American, I know the quarantine is blurring time when I have to check my pill organizer to know what day it is.

The Covid-19 death toll continues to climb, but all my family and I can do is try to eat healthy, stay safe and limit our trips outside our home.

Still, with our quarantine nearing 150 days, the monotony, broken mostly by food shopping, is getting to us.

Our days and nights at home have a sameness to them -- punctuated only by horrifying news of the devastation and death caused by the coronavirus.

The United States has passed 5 million confirmed cases of the virus, more than any other country, The New York Times reported.

Food shopping

I've developed an unnatural fear of lines.

Lines that double, triple and quadruple, such as those I saw in mid-April at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro.

Or, even the long, single line of masked shoppers I once stood on at the H Mart in Ridgefield, a Korean supermarket offering a large selection of fresh, wild-caught fish for our Sunday dinner.

Now, I go to the smaller H Mart in Paramus, where there is never a line to get in on weekends, but lately a short line to check out with my fresh fish and prepared dishes like stewed tofu or pollock with sweet and hot peppers.

I've encountered other long lines, especially for returns, at Lowe's and Kohl's, both in Paramus.

Weight gain and loss

In the 5th month of the quarantine, food shopping -- my only form of exercise -- has become a chore instead of something I delight in.

Still, I am trying to buy more and more organic and non-GMO food that is free of pesticides for my family of 4, not only at Whole Foods Market, ShopRite and H Mart, but at Costco Wholesale, where an increasingly large variety of organic products and produce are available.

In the first few months of the quarantine, I gained 6 pounds, but I've been able to lose them and a couple of more by eating only breakfast and an early dinner, and watching my carbs. 

MAY 24, 2020: The line to get into the H Mart in Ridgefield, above, brought wartime rationing to mind. The line continued inside the store, below. 

PROTECTION: The H Marts in Ridgefield and Paramus consistently provide disposable plastic gloves to customers.

APRIL 23, 2020: Customers of Whole Foods in Paramus lining up to enter the supermarket after the hour reserved for shoppers who are 60 years old or older.

Shame on news media

Having spent nearly 40 years as a reporter, copy editor or food writer for 3 daily newspapers, including The Record of Hackensack, I've been so ashamed of the news media's surrender to President Trump.

In only the last month or so, it seems, reporters who cover the White House have started pushing back against Trump's endless stream of lies about the pandemic, the Obama administration, the environment, and Joe Biden, the Democrat who is running for president.

Meanwhile, Biden put his foot in his mouth a couple of times last week, including when he referred to CBS correspondent Errol Barnett, who is black, as "man." 

He also compared the reporter's  question about the candidate taking a cognitive test to asking Barnett if he "used cocaine." 

"Are you a junkie?" Biden said.

So, it's best to focus not on the candidate, but on what he stands for, and I'll take Biden's progressive platform over Trump's destruction of our democracy -- fueled by racism and greed.

A cartoon about President Trump by Steve Sack of the Star Tribune in Minnesota was among the most popular of the week (Aug. 1-8) on Cagle.com.

Plastic and food

After reading the June cover story in Consumer Reports magazine -- "How To Eat Less Plastic" -- I've replaced all of our plastic food-storage containers with glass, and stopped using a cheap coffee maker made mostly of plastic.

Now, I brew coffee in a Farberware Superfast Fully Automatic Percolator that my mother used about 30 years ago in our old Brooklyn home.

If Covid-19 doesn't get you, microplastic in our food and water likely will.

To make matters worse, the vast majority of plastic with a recycling symbol never gets recycled -- it ends up in garbage dumps, leaching into our reservoirs, or pollutes the ocean, where it is consumed by fish and other seafood.

The widespread notion most plastic is recycled is false, part of an elaborate, multi-million dollar ad campaign by the same petrochemical industry that pollutes our air and profits from the widespread use of plastic to bottle water and wrap food.

Watch: "Plastic Wars" from FRONTLINE

TWO MENUS: I'm a pescatarian, but the 3 other members of my family are dedicated meat and poultry eaters, so our food bills are unusually high. And we always have leftovers, such as this Atlantic Halibut Filet from Costco Wholesale I poached in Roasted Chipotle Salsa, and had for breakfast over leftover organic quinoa.

HEALTHY TAKEOUT: Wild Salmon BBQ Turmeric style was one of the 5 meals I ordered from Planted Eats, a health-food cafe in Hackensack.

Daily routine

I'm usually up before 6 a.m. to brew a pot of coffee, then shower (and shave every two days) before putting on my summer outfit -- shorts and a T-shirt, plus flip-flops around the house or a pair of Vans, red to match my Tesla Model S.

Breakfast is leftovers or I'll make a stuffed egg-white omelet with grated Parmesan cheese, smoked wild salmon, Mexican-style salsa and organic arugula or baby spinach, cut into 3 pieces so my wife and mother-in-law can have some, too.

If I don't have food shopping to do, I go online to print out credit cards statements or buy something at AmazonSmile.com or another site (nearly every day, it has turned out), and monthly spending on my Amazon Prime credit card has doubled during the quarantine.

I'll putter around the house or snip fresh herbs from the garden, read leftover sections from The Sunday Times under an awning on our deck, then go upstairs for a nap in the early afternoon, with my phone in my pocket to count steps.

I can easily do a mile or more around the house.

In the early months of the quarantine, I tried to walk in my Fairmount neighborhood every day, but that ended when I tripped over an uneven sidewalk and cracked or broke a rib. 

Early dinner

One of us cooks dinner and when my wife does, I usually have leftover fish or prepare a large dinner salad with raisins, slivered almonds, pitted Greek olives and fresh fruit.

We've been eating dinner as early as 3:30 in the afternoon, then settling down in front of the TV, having tea, roasted almonds, fresh organic fruit and no-fat yogurt until 8:30 p.m., when my wife goes upstairs to sleep.

I usually try to stay up until after 10 p.m., but TV, Netflix and Amazon have become so boring I barely make it.

I did double our Netflix DVD plan to 2 discs out at one time, and movies like "1917" and "Bombshell" have helped.

During the night, I get up 3 times to go to the bathroom, and start all over again before 6 a.m.


What's ahead?

In June, we started picking up takeout food from restaurants, including Lotus Cafe and Art of Spice, both in Hackensack.

And we spent a delightful evening enjoying dinner with wine and a pair of cabaret singers on the patio outside the Papermill Playhouse in Millburn.

Also in June, we drove into Manhattan to visit public statues and sculptures.

But only a Covid-19 vaccine will start us back on the road to normalcy, and allow me to volunteer again at a major hospital twice a week, as well as return to the gym, both for more exercise and the social contact.

I can't wait, even though I've always felt the definition of a "volunteer" is an older American who has nothing better to do with his or her time.

Covid-19 pandemic: Line up at food stores, eat too much, but repairmen come to me

PERSONAL PROTECTION: Just after 8 a.m. today, I found wipes and gloves inside the entrance to Whole Foods Market in Paramus. Since March 18, only shoppers 60 years old and older have been allowed into the supermarket between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. -- special hours for an "at-risk population," the natural-and-organic-foods company says.

MUST SHOW ID: As I was leaving the store a half-hour later, another 60+ shopper showed his identification -- a requirement -- to the Whole Foods employee at the entrance. Below, you have to read the sign carefully to learn the store hours haven't changed -- they're still 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., if you're 60 years old or older.

ORGANIC PRODUCE: On my shopping trip this morning, I found a good selection of organic produce, including apples, sweet potatoes, arugula and parsley, but no store brand of organic spaghetti or other long pasta. And there were no Prime Member Deals available in the butcher section with beef, pork and other meat.

N.J. governor orders all residents

to wear masks in grocery stores

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- I'm doing less food shopping, but standing on lines a lot more, as supermarkets regulate the number of people allowed inside.

I'm cooking and eating more, but we still haven't ordered takeout or delivery from our favorite restaurants in or near Hackensack.

Since the Friday the 13th declaration of a national emergency to fight the coronavirus epidemic in March, our lives have become more sedentary, and that has led to weight gain, boredom and sleep disruptions.

But we're eating well, and trying to buy as much organic and non-GMO food as possible.

I shopped at Whole Foods Market in Paramus this morning, and later in the day Governor Murphy signed an executive order requiring all residents to wear masks in grocery stores "to try to decrease the spread of coronavirus in some of the only businesses that remain open," according to a news account.

Shortages

I've encountered lines and shortages at Costco Wholesale warehouses in Hackensack and Teterboro; Whole Foods and ShopRite -- the places where we spend most of our food dollars.

And do we spend: 

Our family of four has 3 meat eaters and 1 pescatarian (me). 

We often prepare two breakfasts and dinners -- one for my wife, son and mother-in-law, all of whom eat beef, pork and poultry; and a second one for me.

I favor wild-caught seafood, egg-white omelets stuffed with smoked salmon and spinach; big salads, organic pasta and produce, organic quinoa and reduced-fat cheese. I haven't eaten poultry, beef or lamb since 2010.

Victor's Healthy Kitchen

About 2 years ago, I began posting cooking videos at Victor's Healthy Kitchen on YouTube that reflect my love for healthy food, and I continue to do so.

Lately, the videos have shown the disruptions in daily life caused by the pandemic -- all a reminder of the many deaths in nearby hospitals, including the one where I served as a volunteer for 8 years before the program was suspended about a month ago.

See: Victor's Healthy Kitchen

I started writing about food in 1999, when I worked at The Record of Hackensack, and continued to do so after I left the newspaper, launching a food blog in 2009 to explore the evils of factory farms, harmful antibiotics in farm animals, and the widespread use of cancer-causing pesticides on produce.

See: Do You Really Know What You're Eating?

Lines everywhere

On Monday afternoon, I drove to the Costco Warehouse in Teterboro, and found other members lined up single file with shopping carts, and eventually, employees outside herded us into 4 lines.

The wait to get into the warehouse was only about 15 minutes, but I found shortages.

A Costco employee wiped down my shopping cart handle as I joined the line, and inside the store, masked and gloved employees at registers and exits were separated from shoppers by plexiglass, and social distancing signs were everywhere.

I was able to find fresh wild-caught Mahi-Mahi from Ecuador, and a 1-pound package of organic spinach, but there was no Organic Spring Mix from Earthbound Farm.

I used the Mahi-Mahi the next day prepare a large pot of Butterfly Pasta with 4 Fishes that all of us ate for dinner.

THE ZISAS: Hackensack High School teacher Anthony Zisa, left, and his father, Ken, the disgraced former Hackensack police chief and Democratic state assemblyman, waiting on line at the Costco Wholesale warehouse in Teterboro on March 31. Below, businesses in the Fairmount section of Hackensack have been closed temporarily by the pandemic.

MICROWAVE REPAIR: On Tuesday morning, a GE repairman came to our home to investigate a loud buzzing noise when the door of our 30-inch Advantium Microwave Oven is closed, and then ordered the parts to repair the appliance. He's due back to make the repair next week.

TESLA MOBILE SERVICE: Later Tuesday, an employee of Tesla Mobile Service came to our home to top up the windshield wiper fluid in my Model S, below, after a dashboard message alerted me the supply was low.

I'm getting tired of all this running around before Thanksgiving, other major holidays

SYMBOLS OF THE SEASON: Our white Christmas tree, above, and our menorah, made from Murano glass, that I brought back from Italy in 2010, below.

VENICE'S JEWISH GHETTO: I bought this menorah in a shop in what was once the Jewish Ghetto in Venice, Italy. I vividly recall a large display of wall plaques telling the story of Venetian Jews who were sent to the death camps during World War II.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The headline for this post could have been, "Shop too much, cook too much, eat too much."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- I dashed out of the house a little after 8 this morning, skipping my usual big breakfast, and drove to Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

I was hoping to buy wild-caught lobster tails for our Thanksgiving meal before the surface lot off of Forest Avenue became packed and frenetic with shoppers, as it was before noon on Monday.

Meanwhile, my wife drove to the ShopRite in Englewood for an organic turkey to donate to the Center for Food Action, and to a Teaneck market for goat meat for her and the other meat eaters in the family.

Our Thanksgiving menu includes turkey drumsticks from the Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff that we purchased last week, and 3 vegan dishes I ordered online and picked up at Whole Foods on Monday.

I'm a pescatarian who eats only seafood after giving up meat and poultry nearly a decade ago.

Food shopping follies

Last year, I spent $88 on Alaskan Red King Crab Legs at Costco Wholesale, and made a salad with diced sweet peppers and onions, all dressed with Dijon mustard, fresh lime juice and cumin.

This year, I was planning to buy the crab legs on Tuesday, but gave up that idea after my wife, who made her weekly trip to Costco on Monday, reported the Teterboro warehouse was packed and there were no whole turkeys or the smoked wild salmon on our list.

We eat well all year around, including wild-caught seafood, antibiotic-free chicken and as many organics as possible, so all this running around for a special holiday menu seems a little ridiculous.

And we still have our Christmas dinner to shop for in a few weeks.

Dinner out for a change

With all of our Thanksgiving food shopping done, my wife, son and I splurged on an early dinner at Legal Sea Foods in Paramus, where prices and quality are both high.

I enjoyed oysters on the half shell, and all of us had jumbo lump crab cakes, scallops, shrimp, mussels  and lobster in a variety of appetizers and entrees, as well as a kale salad with diced sweet potatoes and ricotta salata, all washed down with white and red wine.

WHOLE FOODS MARKET: This morning, I went to Whole Foods Market in Paramus for wild-caught lobster tails, but also brought home cooked shrimp and cocktail sauce, below.

ORGANIC PRODUCE DELIVERY: On Tuesday, we received our second box filled with 10 pounds of organic produce, including radishes with their greens, from MisfitsMarket.com. We just started the subscription, which cuts down on food shopping, and get one box every 2 weeks.

MORE MISFITS: Organic bok choy and green beans, as well as an extra-cost item, organic blueberries, also were in the box, below.

Overeating, pushing leftovers to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve

BACCALA WITH GARLIC AND BROCCOLI RABE: I used the 2 pounds of boneless salted cod (baccala) called for in this recipe from Whole Foods Market, plus garlic, tomatoes, wine and a big head of organic broccoli rabe. The codfish was boiled three times to remove the salt, then 2-inch chunks were dredged in a little flour, fried and turned over.

ORGANIC PASTA AND WILD SHRIMP DRESSED WITH PESTO: I used a 1.1-pound package of Garofalo Organic Casarecce Pasta from the Costco Business Center in Hackensack, 1.5 pounds of cleaned wild-caught Key West White Shrimp, sold frozen at Whole Foods Market; and dressed them with plenty of Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto from Costco.

Our New Year's resolution:
 Shop less and eat less food

Editor's note: The first version of this post included a video that didn't play and a number of typos, but I've fixed them and included a link to the cooking video at Victor's Healthy Kitchen on YouTube.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- All that's left is a celebratory meal out today (New Year's Eve) before I can return to eating normal amounts of food.

And return to baking small sweet potatoes, a bread substitute I can eat to my heart's content without worrying about gaining weight; or another great side dish, an electric cooker full of organic quinoa with organic diced tomatoes and plenty of garlic.

Yes. I love to eat, and I'm happiest when I'm eating. But we simply buy too much food, and I can no longer dismiss all that shopping by saying it's good exercise, especially if you park far from the supermarket or warehouse entrance, as I do.

We've tried to ignore the profiles of pastry chefs in newspapers, even as some of them have published entire sections devoted to pie, and continue to avoid too much sugar, salt, butter and other saturated fat.

My wife and I don't compete in the kitchen, but on some nights we prepare two meals, because I've eaten only heart-healthy seafood for the last decade, and she and the rest of our family eat meat and poultry, as well as fish.

Too much food

So, on Thanksgiving and Christmas, we ended up with too many entrees (a half-dozen), and I am still eating leftovers from a Feast of the Seven Fishes I prepared for last Tuesday's meal.

I cooked only three of the seven seafood courses, relying on leftovers in the refrigerator for the rest: 

A tuna-sardine salad dressed with Dijon, lemon juice and cumin; silken slices of smoked wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon from Costco Wholesale, and leftover fried squid from a Lotus Cafe delivery (total of 4 fishes).

My annual battle of the bulge is trying to stay under 200 pounds, and this morning, I tipped the bathroom scale at 200.4 pounds -- down from 205.6 pounds.

I had dipped under 200 pounds just before Thanksgiving, meaning I needed nearly 3 months to lose the weight I had gained on a 15-day vacation in Alaska in August, where we ate three big meals a day.

New year dinner

I made reservations for tonight at Rosa Mexicano, the fine-dining restaurant in Hackensack, where we'll order a la carte to avoid the desserts served with the fixed-price holiday menu.

Still, I'll need willpower to avoid eating too many of the scrumptious little corn tortillas (usually made in the dining room) with our guacamole and other food.

And, of course, I won't be able to resist ordering a bottle of Negra Modelo, one of Mexico's great beers.

Pushing leftovers 

On Sunday morning, I made an egg-white omelet to use the last wild-caught shrimp and some leftover sauce from our Christmas dish of Organic Pasta dressed with Basil Pesto.

I still have a little bit of the Baccala with Garlic and Broccoli Rabe, and some of that tuna-sardine salad, but it will be futile trying to get anyone else to eat them. 

NO-FLIP FRITTATA WITH PASTA PESTO: The day after Christmas, I used leftover organic pasta with shrimp and pesto, plus egg whites, to make a no-flip frittata covered with grated parmesan, tomato slices and spoonfuls of pesto. See this how-to video.

GIVING THANKS FOR RED KING CRAB: For Thanksgiving, I prepared a salad of cooked Red King Crab and diced sweet peppers dressed with Dijon mustard, fresh lemon juice and ground cumin.

VEGAN PLATTER: I also ordered a vegan Thanksgiving meal from Whole Foods Market in Paramus, including a head of cooked cauliflower, center; squash, chickpeas and dressing, all of which required reheating in the oven. We decided to throw away the dessert, which was way too sweet.