Details

Written by: Dina Braun

Published: 28 October 2013

Created: 28 October 2013

Last Updated: 29 October 2013

Hits: 4886

Guest Chef Jennifer Rossano served the third organic food and wine tasting at Vintology's new location on Palmer Avenue on Friday, October 4th. Twenty-five guests enjoyed six courses and wine pairings.

Guests were greeted with a a tasting of a white blend from Oregon, 2012 Borealis, and a Ratatouille Tartlet with fresh ricotta and herb infused oil. The tart was light and crisp and the fresh cheese and ratatouille was very flavorful.

The next course was a Truffle Scented Cauliflower Soup – see the recipe below. It was pureed and smooth and paired with a 2011 Errazuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay, a well-balanced Chardonnay from Chile.

The soup course was followed by a Fall Harvest Salad including shaved fennel, celery root apple and hazelnuts served with a Hazelnut-Shallot Vinaigrette. The salad had a perfect balance of both texture and flavor. The salad was matched with a 2011 Marcel Deiss Alsace, a very good white blend from Alsace, France.

The two main courses were a Pork Tenderloin with Spiced Crust and Apple Chutney (recipe below) served with a 2009 Benziger Merlot, Sonoma County and a Braised Beef Ragu over Celery Root and Turnip Mash served with a 2010 Montirius Vacqueyras. Both meat courses were tender and savory and the wines matched up perfectly.

For dessert, the group enjoyed the chef's homemade Fresh Plum Tart served with Vanilla Bean Gelato and a 2012 Vajra Moscato d"Asti.

The combination of terrific food and wine along with the knowledgeable and personal staff all helped to make for a perfect evening.

Here are a few of the delectable recipes:

Truffle Scented Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:

2 TBSP butter
3 TBSP minced shallot
1 cauliflower, about 2 pounds, florets and stems cut into small pieces
3 cups whole milk
½ tsp salt, plus more to taste
¼ tsp white pepper, plus more to taste
1 tsp white truffle oil, plus more to taste
1 tsp finely minced chives (optional)

Directions:

Melt the butter in a medium size pot over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for two minutes, until soft. Do not let them brown. Add the cauliflower and milk, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly, and then blend with salt and pepper to desired consistency. Return the soup to the pot and stir in the truffle oil. Taste, and add more salt, pepper or truffle oil as desired. Serve with a sprinkle of finely minced chives (optional).

Notes:

- This soup tastes lovely without any truffle oil at all. You can also change the seasoning by replacing the truffle oil with 1 teaspoon curry powder or ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg.
- If you do not have any white pepper, use freshly ground black pepper, however you will see the little flecks of black pepper in the soup.
- If you are looking for a low fat option, substitute the whole milk with low-fat milk.
- If you want a dairy free option, use ghee or olive oil instead of the butter, and replace the milk with chicken stock.

Makes approximately 6 cups.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Spice Rub and Spiced Apple Chutney

Ingredients:

1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp dried mustard
½ tsp black pepper
1 TBSP olive oil
1 pork tenderloin, well trimmed, about 1 ¼ pounds

Directions:

Mix the first 8 ingredients together in a small bowl. Dry the pork tenderloin well with a paper towel, and then rub the spice mix well into the pork on all sides. Let the pork sit, well covered, in the fridge for at least 1 hour. The pork can be seasoned up to 8 hours in advance, or the night before.
When ready to grill, take the pork out of the fridge 30 minutes beforehand and let it come to room temperature. Pre-heat the grill to medium, about 400-450 degrees. Grill the pork until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees, medium-well, about 5-6 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board, cover loosely with foil and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice, pour any juices that have accumulated on the cutting board over the meat, and serve with Spiced Apple Chutney, recipe below.
Serves 4.

Apple Chutney

Ingredients:

1 TBSP butter
¼ cup currants (or raisins)
½ tsp cumin seeds
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ tsp coriander seeds
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp fennel seeds
pinch salt
3 medium tart apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 cup orange juice, preferably fresh, strained of pulp

Directions:

Heat the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the cumin, coriander and fennel seeds, and sauté until the butter froths and the seeds begin to darken, about 1-2 minutes. Add the apples, currants, brown sugar, cinnamon and juice. Stir until the sugar dissolves and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and let the apples simmer gently for about 10 minutes, covered. Remove the lid, stir and continue to simmer uncovered for another 20-25 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the apples become very soft and the mixture becomes thick and glazed. Serve warm or at room temperature. Can be stored in the fridge for up to a week.

For more information, contact:

Vintology Wine and Spirits
2 Palmer Avenue
Scarsdale NY, 10583
(914) 723-2040
www.vintology.com

Jennifer Rossano
Chef and Culinary Instructor
jenrossano@verizon.net
914-713-8665

Contributor Dina Braun spent fifteen years as a Catering Sales Manager and loved planning the menus.
She currently spends her days raising her three boys and in her spare time, follows the local food scene and tries many of the new restaurants in Westchester County. She enjoys sharing her opinions with other foodies.

Details

Published: 23 October 2013

Created: 23 October 2013

Last Updated: 23 October 2013

Hits: 3206

Though Section 4B of the Voting Rights Act was struck down by the Supreme Court in June, 2013, there are still many other enforceable sections of the law that do protect the rights of citizens to vote. That was the subject of a talk by David J. Kennedy, Chief of the Civil Rights Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District to the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale on October 18 at the Scarsdale Golf Club.

Section 4 required that jurisdictions of the country with a history of voter discrimination get pre-clearance from the court before making changes to their voting laws. Even without this provision, the U.S. Attorney's office in New York continues to bring cases against districts with discriminatory practices.

Kennedy reviewed a case against Port Chester where according to the 2000 census Latinos constituted 46% of the village's population but failed to win seats on village boards in village-wide elections. As the village had no voting districts, at-large voting denied minorities the opportunity to get elected.

They Department of Justice proved via demographic and regression analysis that the race of a candidate could be correlated with their election results in a certain district. They used this data to demand that Port Chester form voting districts. In the ruling the Judge opted to institute a "cumulative voting" process where each voter is given multiple votes that they can allocate to candidates in whatever quantity they choose. For instance, if there are six candidates for the Board of Education, each voter is given six votes that can be given in multiples to a desired candidate.

As a result, following the redistricting, Port Chester elected their first Hispanic and first Latin American candidates in history. In fact, the first Latin American elected to the Village Board in Port Chester was Luis Merino who works at Scarsdale's Edgewood Elementary School.

Kennedy also reviewed cases brought by the Department of Justice to require that voting materials be available in foreign languages when a jurisdiction included high percentages of Spanish or Arabic speakers for example. If the census indicates that large populations of foreign speakers are present, the jurisdiction must print the ballots and signage in that language.

What can you do to ensure that voting is fair? Kennedy suggested that if you notice any violations you alert his office. They investigate complaints and take action when necessary.

The League's luncheon was well attended and the audience included several candidates and elected officials. Ben Boykin, candidate for County Legislator was there along with State Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins.

In other League news, the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale recently released a consensus statement on changes to the Village's telecommunications laws in response to applications to install DAS antennas in the Village. You can review the statement on their website here.

For more information about the LWVS, visit their website. (Photo credit Nan Berke)

Details

Published: 16 October 2013

Created: 16 October 2013

Last Updated: 16 October 2013

Hits: 3580

Westchester Reform Temple guest speaker Ruth W. Messinger, President of American Jewish World Service (AJWS) will speak during Friday evening services on Friday, October 18 at 7:45 p.m.  Ms. Messinger will speak about "Women Empowering Women, Worldwide," exploring movements around the globe for women's rights, often led by women themselves. She will also highlight grassroots projects that AJWS supports in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Central America that empower women to take the lead.

In 1998, Ms. Messinger assumed the presidency of AJWS, the leading international Jewish human rights and development organization working to realize human rights and end poverty in the developing world. Considered a national leader in the movement to end genocide in the Sudan, Ms. Messinger has been called upon several times to advise President Barack Obama regarding ways to achieve peace in that country. She has also served on the Obama administration's Task Force on Global Poverty and Development and, among her many degrees and honors, she has been named one of the Forward's "50 Most Influential Jews" for ten years.

This service is free and open to the public at Westchester Reform Temple, located at 255 Mamaroneck Road in Scarsdale, NY. For directions or more information, please call the Temple at 914-723-7727, email to office@wrtemple.org, or visit www.wrtemple.org.

Details

Published: 09 October 2013

Created: 09 October 2013

Last Updated: 09 October 2013

Hits: 4666

With election day just weeks away, campaign signs have sprung up on lawns around town. This year the incumbent County Executive Rob Astorino who is a Republican will be challenged by Democrat and Mayor of New Rochelle Noam Bramson. Bramson is a New Rochelle native who graduated from New Rochelle High, went onto college at Harvard where he earned his undergrad degree in just three years and then got a Masters Degree in Public Policy. He has served as Mayor of New Rochelle since 2006 and has attracted private investment to the central business district to create jobs and growth. Bramson, who is 43 years old, lives in New Rochelle with his wife, who is a physician, and their two boys.

With Democrats outnumbering Republicans in the Count by almost two to one, Bramson has good odds of unseating incumbent Rob Astorino. However, this is a race to watch: We asked Bramson what his election could mean for Scarsdale and here is what he shared. (Similar questions were sent to the Astorino campaign and we await a response).

1) Though 20% of our local taxes are paid to Westchester County, many in Scarsdale are not aware of what the County Government does here in the Village. Can you tell our readers how the County impacts Scarsdale and what changes we would see if you are elected?

Regardless of whether someone is personally served by the social services the County provides on a day-to-day basis, County government impacts everyone in Westchester. County government can and should serve as a regional leader promoting more efficient government – something I'll get into in more detail below – which can directly lower Scarsdale's local taxes and school taxes. Both Saxon Woods Park and the Bronx River Trailway in Scarsdale are also County Parks, while the Bee Line bus system is also run by the County.

The County can also choose which programs to prioritize, which can have major impacts on both the County's direct budget and the budgets of local municipalities. Programs like child care and community health centers both improve the lives of local residents in every single town, village, and city in Westchester and save taxpayers money in the long run by helping people hold jobs and stay healthy. They've been cut in the last four years, and by reinstating and making them priorities again we can have incredible impacts on people's lives and everyone's wallets.

The County can also serve as a leader on issues bigger than any village or town that are still vitally important to us. We should be taking part in regional and national sustainability planning groups that Westchester is conspicuously absent from. We should be working to shore up a woman's right to choose whenever it's under attack by passing laws like the clinic access bill that Rob Astorino vetoed. We should be working to promote safer streets by banning gun shows from County Property – as they were for a decade before Rob took office.

Regardless of whether it's apparent to everyone every day, County Government is impacting Scarsdale residents all the time.

2) Your plan of action says you will "create a new regional framework for sharing services, so that municipalities and schools can work together to save money." Scarsdale Village Government is efficiently run but challenged to cover rising costs with shrinking revenues. What do you hope to do to provide relief?

At a press conference last week, I laid out a detailed plan for how I would provide municipalities like Scarsdale choices to opt into when it comes to shared services. We need shared services to be a full time job for the County Executive, not something that is put on the back burner and dusted off right before an election. This leadership hasn't been present the last four years. That's one big reason why our total property tax burden is up by more than $800,000,000 since Rob Astorino was elected.
That's why I presented a detailed timeline for how I would make expanding shared services a reality. On Day One, I'd provide leadership by establishing shared services as a top priority and assigning a commissioner-level staff member to spearhead the effort.

By April 2014, after my first four months in office, we'd be forging expanded partnerships between county and local leaders. That starts with collaborative discussions with municipal and school officials where we'd work to identify our priorities and opportunities. We would by that point have convened a leadership working group, and would have applied for NY State Local Government Efficiency Grants that we haven't sought under Rob Astorino.

We would follow that up by building out a structure for inter-municipal agreements by July 2014. It's imperative that we give local leaders something to say yes to and figure out what an equitable cost-benefit formula is for these projects.

By September 2014, we'd be working with municipalities and school districts to get them to opt-in to potential programs. That way, we'd save money and provide better service in the 2015 budget and beyond – the first years I'd have authority over. Taxpayers would save money overall, and the County itself would spend no more than it does today.
A strong shared services program would present Scarsdale with clear opportunities to partner with neighboring municipalities, school districts, and the County government on projects like road resurfacing, back office IT, payroll distribution, flood mitigation, fleet maintenance, sustainability planning, and arts and cultural planning. By promoting sharing services within County government, we can also cut costs at the County level.

3) An EPA lawsuit has charged that Water District #1 is not in compliance with the Safe Water Drinking Act. What do you plan to do to address this issue? Who will pay for the new water treatment infrastructure?

It is completely unacceptable that, thanks to Rob Astorino's failure to lead, we've now been out of compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act for nearly 550 days. I also take strong exception to his efforts to pass the buck for his own failures down to impacted municipalities, including Scarsdale, by trying to force them to clean up his mess.

This situation was completely avoidable. We've known of the County's obligation to act since 2006, and under Rob's predecessor we'd started to plan for how to meet our legal requirements. That planning slammed to a halt when Rob took office, and as a result we're now facing fines of more than $22,000,000 – with more added every day.

There clearly appear to be potentially acceptable alternatives to the most expensive treatment options that have been discussed. We should be negotiating with Federal officials today to implement those solutions as quickly as possible. Instead, Rob's administration is once again engaged in fruitless and pointless litigation that will cost us untold dollars of taxpayer money without getting us any closer to a solution.

This is part of a pattern of extremism and neglect. Rather than working together, Rob let's his ideological opposition to the Federal Government lead us into battles we can't win and shouldn't be having in the first place. Under a Bramson administration, you can be sure we'll follow the Safe Drinking Water Act.

4) County Government has been hampered by partisan fights over issues such as affordable housing and the county budget. What do you plan to do to end the discord?

We can start by committing to a constructive, working relationship. Before Rob Astorino took office, Westchester had never seen the kind of pitched, partisan warfare that's become commonplace over the past four years. I think you can trace the origins of those battles to the fact that Rob is pursuing a strategy on issue after issue that's straight out of the Tea Party playbook that House Republicans just used to shut down the Federal Government.

5) Westchester recently lost out on $7.4 million in community development grants because the county failed to comply with the terms of the affordable housing settlement. Do you think these funds are lost? Is there anything the County can do to recoup them?

Unfortunately, due to Rob Astorino's intransigence and incompetence the funds have been lost for good. There was absolutely no reason that this had to be the case, though, and I'll make sure it isn't the case going forward with the tens of millions more that are at risk. The issues that exist between Westchester County and the Federal Government cried out for constructive, thoughtful leadership. These were problems that could be bridged if we stopped yelling and communicating via press release, and instead sat down around a table and started talking. Instead of taking a constructive approach, though, Rob Astorino has waged an outright war. That is absolutely the wrong approach, and it was completely unnecessary.

I have my own problems with the Affordable Housing settlement, but Rob Astorino is engaged in a massive campaign of public deception about what's really required by the settlement. Rob Astorino says our affordable housing obligation has gon up by 10,000 units; not true. Rob Astorino says the cost has increased to $1 billion; not true. Rob Astorino says HUD is demanding we put a high rise apartment building on every block; fanciful, and not true at all. Let's stop the scare tactics, and deal with the real challenges we're facing in the real world. That way, we won't lose millions of dollars more for no reason.

6) During your tenure as Mayor of New Rochelle what accomplishments are you most proud of? How will you use what you learned in New Rochelle to make improvements in Westchester?

New Rochelle has faced tough problems head on. When I became a City Councilmember nearly two decades ago, New Rochelle was facing some very serious problems. While we haven't completely solved every issue in our city, we're on the right track and making enormous progress. We've attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment to our downtown, saving taxpayers a net of $8.5 million a year, while bringing good jobs back into our city center.
We've worked immensely hard to keep taxes low while providing vital services, and because of those efforts New Rochelle has the lowest municipal tax rate of any big city in Westchester and the leanest municipal workforce in our modern history. Taxpayers in New Rochelle are getting a better deal than taxpayers in any other similar city in Westchester.

At the same time, we've been tackling vital priorities. We passed GreeNR, an award-winning sustainability plan, and have brought crime down more than 40% from where it was when I took office. The citizens of New Rochelle are generally happy and satisfied, which is why I was honored to receive a record-setting 79% of the vote in my last re-election campaign.

7) How do you propose to limit gun sales in Westchester and enforce gun control?

Step one is reinstating the ban on gun shows at the County Center. One of Rob Astorino's first acts in office was to end a decade long ban on gun shows in Westchester. Gun shows are notorious for lax or non-existent background checks; Attorney Genera Eric Schneiderman recently conducted an undercover investigation and found that many unscrupulous sellers weren't conducting legally required background checks. By bringing gun shows back to Westchester, Rob has made it easier for criminals and the dangerously mentally ill to acquire firearms, and that's just wrong. I'll reinstate the ban on gun shows at the County Center, and work with the County Legislature to implement a permanent ban.