Posted by: philipfontana | May 25, 2012

Memorial Day 2012

Memorial Day 2012

or

Veterans Memorial Day?

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     Excuse us for living, but what better way to begin a Memorial Day post than with the American Flag. In this day and age in our country, it represents the only common ground we have left that says, “Cease fire. We all agree about this.” (Well, most of us!) And if you are reading this, my compliments for taking time from your holiday weekend preparations &/or celebration for a patriotic moment.

Briefly, Memorial Day is set aside to take the time to remember and commemorate those who have died in the military service of our country. That is the essence of Memorial Day. But in practice, it is a day we also recognize all veterans of military service who are deceased. This is documented by the practice of the VFW, of which I am a member, and the American Legion, of which my father was a member, of placing a small American flag on the gravesites of as many veterans as they possibly can.

Then we have Veterans Day every November 11. This day is dedicated to honor veterans of military service to our country. It is usually associated with living veterans as opposed to the deceased. It has been suggested to combine both Memorial Day and Veterans Day into one day commemorating all who have served, both the deceased and the living. It does make more sense than forcing veterans to identify with Veterans Day because they are alive, only to slip into the Memorial Day “class” for others to honor once they are gone! And, in my opinion, Memorial Day is the more prominent and has the right “ring to it,” to combine both sentiments, honoring all veterans once a year, the deceased and the living. Naturally, this will never happen as long as we have enough living “vets” in the VFW and the American Legion to lobby Congress, waving that flag, to preserve November 11th as Veterans Day. Anyway, for the record, a “Veterans Memorial Day” would “do the trick,” as they say. We could all come together and put our arms around the  living veterans at our annual barbecues and thank them and remember all our fallen heroes and veterans who have passed on in the process.

If how we identify personally is any measure, then I cast my vote for a “Veterans Memorial Day.” You may have relatives and friends, living or deceased, who are or were veterans. –Your grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, uncle, aunt, sister, brother, cousin, neighbor, schoolmate, friend. You pause on Memorial Day and remember him or her, that special person. If they are still alive, do you say to yourself, “Oops, I can’t include him?” Of course not, you just did! You don’t wait for Veterans Day.

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“Buck Sergeant” Joseph A. Fontana, on the island of Saipan, southeast of Japan, Medic in U.S. Army Air Corps, July 1944 to Sept 1945, WWII

     For me identifying means my father, SGT Joseph A. Fontana, medic in the U.S. Army Air Corps, pictured above sitting on a jeep in Saipan. He is long gone now. But like so many in “The Greatest Generation,” he spoke little of his fourteen months there. We have the old photos and even some WWII artifacts. We know he endured Japanese aircraft strafing the island. And I say “identify” and close with the following photo of another “GI” who is still alive, standing next to a jeep in Vietnam. Who? Check me out and the caption below.

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Specialist Fourth Class Philip Fontana, Republic of South Vietnam, 97th Military Police Battalion, January to December 1970

     Excuse us for living, but a “Veterans Memorial Day” just seems more appropriate.

Comments: What do you think?

10 Comments

Posted in Holidays

Posted by: philipfontana | May 18, 2012

3rdPastaPost

                                                                                                                                                                            The Third PastPost

                                                                                                                                                                             Aglio Olio di Geri

by

Phil & Geri

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     Ah, Aglio Olio di Geri!

     Excuse us for living, but we make THIS recipe more often than any other pasta dish for our “Friday Night” routine! (If you missed that Post, you will find it below along with PastaPosts 1 and 2, the all-time favorite Spaghetti and White Clam Sauce and Pasta Filippo, respectively.) Incidentally, more of you click on these pasta recipes than any other topic on “Excuse Us…”!

Agio Olio di Geri is, as it infers, Wife Geri’s take on the traditional simple, basic Sicilian Aglio Olio or Garlic and Oil. We’ll get to Geri’s recipe in a moment. But that old classic recipe is simply garlic, semi-finely chopped, lightly braised in oil, a little parsley, over your favorite spaghetti. We enjoy that too. We also have another version to “tame” the garlic flavor/taste. We call it “Dark Garlic and that one is fun too. We merely cut the garlic in long, flat horizontal pieces and braise it until it’s dark brown. This gives it a unique, pungent taste. But you have to have that pasta ready, and quickly, get that dark garlic and oil off the flame and onto the pasta just before it burns! –Try it! –Be daring!

Anyway, back to Geri’s reinvention of Aglio Olio. She adds scallions, a little red pepper for a great kick, and, of all things, some ham, of course parsley, and even grated cheese! The old Sicilians must be rolling over in their graves as if we are guilty of committing “uno peccato,” a sin! –We love it over fettuccini!

Final comment: The Ham! This came about because we wanted to add a little healthy protein to the pasta mix here. The surprise was the wonderful sweetness the ham added. But Geri cautions that the right ham “makes or breaks” this recipe. Her recipe calls for “Honey ham” from the deli and not baked Virginia ham and not boiled ham. What’s the difference? –“Miles different” and not the same thing nor as good by far. Trust us! We’ve tried it and it doesn’t work. This works and, boy, is it good! Mangia!

     Presenting…

…Aglio Olio di Geri

2/3 cup canola oil

1-2 bunches of scallions (sliced 1/4-1/2” thick)

8 cloves garlic (sliced long)

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/4 lb. Honey ham (from the deli, cut in 1” pieces)

1 cup fresh parsley (coarse chopped)

5 heaping tbs. grated Pecorino Romano Cheese (jarred grated cheese carried by Shoprite)

1/2 lb. pasta, fettuccini or vermicelli or your favorite spaghetti

2 tsp. salt

4 quarts boiling water

* Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water

Heat oil in medium sauce pan. Add scallions and garlic; sauté until tender, 3 min. Add red pepper flakes and Honey ham. Simmer slowly 15-20 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Add above reserved pasta water to the drained pasta. Toss with sauce mixture and parsley. Add grated cheese and toss.

Makes 2 generous servings!

Excuse us for living, but this is our all-time favorite “staple” as a pasta dish, I guess, because we have it more often than any other pasta recipe!

Comments: Now or maybe after you make the recipe?

8 Comments

Posted in Friday Night/Recipe Posts

Posted by: philipfontana | May 11, 2012

Current Events

Remember “Current Events Day”?

What News Stories Are You Following?

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Phil Fontana, Social Studies Teacher, Ridgedale Middle School, 1974-1985, Florham Park, New Jersey

     Excuse us for living, but remember “current events day” back in your social studies &/or history classes back in middle school and high school? It was usually on a Friday, so I dubbed it “Lazy Teacher Day.” Therefore, as a social studies/history teacher myself, I avoided like the plague mention of current events on a Friday. In fact, I avoided the overworked phrase totally and called the news “controversial issues.” I filtered news events into the beginning of many daily lessons as well as having students collect news articles on “controversial issues” as they prepared for “The Great Debate” I held in all my classes every year.

After I wrote this post, I stood back and laughed! What hit me was “once a history teacher, always the history teacher.” So, apologies at the outset if I sound like your high school or middle school social studies/history teacher.

I’ve tried to make this “Excuse Us…” experience open to any topic and all age groups and not “pigeon hole” it. I have, however, purposely avoided partisan politics on the national level, at least, especially in this presidential election year. Close friends and family know too well my politics which easily slips out and can be easily deduced, I am sure.

Well, we are all influenced by the sources from which we get our news.—The internet, TV and radio, and newspapers (remember those?) and magazines. And, we often favor sources/stories/analysis that reinforces our preconceived notions. That said, I’d be interested in what news story or stories, what controversial issues, interest YOU most.

Under “Comments,” what news items are on YOUR mind recently?

Just me putting aside the 2012 Presidential Election, here’s what has caught my attention, my interest, lately:

  1. President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage: This controversial issue will be debated between now and Election Day. In the non-partisan spirit of “Excuse Us…,” I’ll “take a pass” on this one!
  2. The recent unemployment rate for April of 8.1%: While the lowest since January 2009, the experts forebode a gloomy economic forecast. This is based on job growth down from 154,000 new jobs in March to 115,000 in April.
  3. The one year anniversary of the demise of Osama Bin Laden: The thorough media coverage of our brave and capable U.S. Navy Seals was fascinating. What interested me most was the places and time OBL spent hiding in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The first 8 hiding spots were brief stays of months. But the last two, both near Islamabad, Pakistan, were two years and six years respectively. The old man let his guard down and the U.S. CIA and military were there like the neighborhood “Welcome Wagon”!!!
  4. The defeat of conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy by a socialist, Francois Hollande, in the French presidential election: My immediate concern was for the economic impact the election results would have on the U.S. economy. France and Germany, in reverse order, are the economic powerhouses holding the European Union’s debt crisis in check. This past week’s U.S. stock market jitters and drop, unfortunately, reinforced my concern.
  5. The Rutgers University Board of Trustees blocked Governor Christie’s plan to give Rutgers-Camden to Rowan University: Thursday, May 3, 2012, the Trustees voted 32-4 adopting a resolution calling the merger “inconsistent with the mission of Rutgers University.” The resolution did, however, hold open the possibility of some compromise. The Trustees, in effect, stopped Governor Christie’s plan in its tracts and left him with reaching some compromise proposal as the only possible alternative.
  6. The latest al Qaeda bomb plot targeting U.S. aircraft: This recently unfolding story reads like a Clancy novel! –The CIA and its counterparts in Saudi Arabia and Yemen infiltrating a terrorist group in Yemen! –Plus a Saudi double-agent posing as a suicide bomber escaping with the new bomb device! Score one for the “good guys.” But this is a good reminder after the one year anniversary of killing Osama Bin Laden that this terrorist thing is far from over!

Comments: What news stories are catching YOUR attention lately? And see you in Social Studies Class tomorrow!!!

Sources:   The New York Times, The Star-Ledger, Daily Record

Time Magazine

TV & radio news programs

Internet news websites

4 Comments

Posted in Camden, Christie, National Economy, National Politics, New Jersey, News, Rutgers

Posted by: philipfontana | May 3, 2012

UK Return

Back from the United Kingdom:

England, Wales, Scotland

April 20-May1

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A must backdrop, Big Ben & Parliament

     Excuse us for living, but we’ve been away on a long promised trip to London and the United Kingdom. “Wife Geri” and I are fulfilling 40 year promises to show each other places we traveled to when we were young that the other had not seen, if you follow me. Last year I showed Geri around the Netherlands. This year it was Geri’s turn to show me London and the UK. We had the added novelty of # 2 son, Peter, living and working in London last year and this year, giving us a great sightseeing assist while in London. Then, we were off by bus traveling north up west England to Wales and over to Scotland, as far north as Edinburgh, and back down east England to York and back to London. While in York, we had the added treat of visiting with lifelong friends. They drove down from the Newcastle area where they have been living for the past four years.

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Globus Tours, “British Sampler”

     Always the history teacher, I could not help reflecting on this meaningful journey. All my years in the classroom, I emphasized the ethnic melting pot we cherish called America. What this trip brought home to me was our common Anglo Saxon foundation coming from our country’s roots in the United Kingdom. It was all there, what was and will always be the United States of America; culturally, intellectually, spiritually, socially, politically, economically. It was almost sacred to view one of the four remaining copies of the Magna Carta in the British Library in London. –A refreshing reminder of who we are and from where we came.

     Excuse us for rediscovering our past.

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“The Victoria,” an old style British Pub at 10 A Strathearn Place & Sussex Place, London. –Fish & Chips “to die for” & great ales to wash it down!

4 Comments

Posted in Announcement, Travel

Posted by: philipfontana | April 19, 2012

UK Trip

Excuse Us, But We’re “Out” Living!

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2 Comments

Posted in Announcement, Travel

Posted by: philipfontana | April 12, 2012

Save Rutgers!

Rutgers in the Homestretch:

The Rutgers-Rowan-UMDNJ Debacle

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Governor Chris Christie

     Excuse us for living, Governor Christie, but “here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten us into!”

     It began, so we thought, Wednesday, January 25, as the seemingly innocent unveiling of  UMDNJ Advisory Committee’s recommendations to restructure New Jersey’s university system. What we know now is that it was in reality a political scheme. This task force of Governor Christie was well at work at least as early as the summer of 2011. And how under the guise of UMDNJ reorganization the Committee expanded its charge to reorganize UMDNJ, Rutgers University, and Rowan University in one fell swoop is beyond my understanding. Add to that Governor Christie throwing in his usual “line in the sand” deadline of this July1 and the stage was set for the mess in which New Jersey now finds itself.

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Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick

     The “hook” the UMDNJ Committee used was to throw Rutgers University the very attractive “bone” its President, Richard McCormick, wanted in the form of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, from UMDNJ. In the process, also as breakaways from UMDNJ, Rutgers would get the School of Public Health and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, both next door in Piscataway. In the proposed process, UMDNJ in Newark would be reduced to a smaller Health Sciences University and a separate State-owned nonprofit University Hospital.

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Activism on Rutgers-Camden campus

     –But ah, Rutgers, not without a price to pay! The deal was tied to Rutgers ceding its Rutgers-Camden campus with undergrad college, law school, and business school to Rowan University of Glassboro. Rowan just happens to be getting ready to open its new Cooper Medical School of Rowan University this fall 2012 in Camden next door to Cooper University Hospital. This recommendation of the UMDNJ Committee was presented as a vision to create a “research university” which would forge an economic renaissance for what is, some quarters claim, an ”historically neglected” South Jersey. (Latest Eagleton poll, 57% in NJ against loosing RU-Camden to Rowan & 22% in favor)

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George Norcross, Chairman, Cooper University Hospital & Cooper Medical School

     To complete the tale of woe, enter insurance broker George Norcross (of questionable past commissions from the Delaware River Port Authority in the vicinity of $400,000). George Norcross is a longtime Democratic political boss of South Jersey who just happens to be Chairman of the Boards of Trustees for both Cooper University Hospital and, guess what, the new Cooper Medical School of Rowan University as well. Norcross struck the deal to build the new medical school with then Democratic Governor Jon Corzine. What transpired was a grand alliance between the new Republican Governor Chris Christie and the Democratic boss, George Norcross, to bail out Rowan financially.

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Political cartoon, the Daily Record, by Margulies

     So that is the web our Governor Christie has spun for Rutgers and New Jersey. What follows are all the developments and nuances to fill in the picture as it has unfolded over these past weeks and months. And keep in mind that while due deliberation is in order re matters educational, financial, and legal, the Governor insists on a July 1 deadline and a “let the chips fall where they may” approach.

     The List of Events/Nuances: (or skip to #10, 11, 12 & the “Conclusion”!)

  1. Sol J. Barer, Chairman of the UMDNJ Advisory Committee, chosen by Christie, is a member of the Rutgers Board of Trustees. He also happens to be CEO of the multi-billion dollar  biopharmaceutical Celgene Corporation, Summit, NJ. Remember, his report came out January 25.
  2. Late summer-early fall, Rowan commissioned a 15 page report from the consulting firm, The Learning Alliance for Higher Education, based at the University of Pennsylvania, for $30,000. The report has been dubbed “secret” since it was received by Rowan way back on January 26, the day after the UMDNJ Advisory Committee issued its recommendations. Yet, the report was only made known to the public in April. The report concluded that Rowan would need a substantial increase in funds to takeover Rutgers-Camden and open a new medical school. Therefore, the report advised what it called the “New Rowan University” to turn a deaf ear to critics, move swiftly to meet the Governor’s July 1 deadline, forcing critics with no choice but to climb aboard.
  3. Rutgers-Camden Chancellor Wendell Princhett came out at a February Board of Trustees Meeting opposing the plan, naturally, to allow Rowan to “swallow” the Camden campus.
  4. More recently in March, Interim President of Rowan University, Dr. Ali Houshmand, released his 19 page report on how Rowan would go about taking over the Rutgers-Camden campus and what The New Rowan University would look like. –A very brassy step considering the takeover was far from a “done deal.” And, Rutgers-Camden administrators and faculty were not consulted in the process.
  5. Then countered Rutgers-Camden Professor of Economics Eugene Pilotte arguing against the merger solely on financial grounds. He elaborated that Rowan’s new medical school would require large subsidies from the hosting academic institution and the State. He noted that the new medical school had already “skyrocketed” Rowan’s debt and “downgraded” its bond rating. He called Rutgers-Camden a “financial windfall” and a “cash cow” for Rowan’s new medical school.
  6.  Bruce Fehn, Rutgers Chief Financial Officer, came forward with UMDNJ being almost a half billion dollars in debt, owing $450 million to bond holders, and only $50 million in assets debt free.
  7. As a result, Rutgers President Richard McCormick told the board of Trustees that there was “a lot of information” about UMDNJ’s finances that “we haven’t been able to obtain.” He cautioned that this could impede the Board of Trustees voting before Governor Christie’s imposed July 1 deadline for the plan.
  8. Then, did you hear the one about the “proposed” light rail line, just a mere 18 miles long, connecting the Rowan campus in Glassboro to Camden? — Hm.
  9. The latest brouhaha was outright political between Senate President Stephen Sweeney, Democrat from West Deptford, Gloucester County in South Jersey, supporting Christie’s plan for Rowan to takeover Rutgers-Camden, and U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, opposing the plan. Sweeney is lining up to challenge Lautenberg in a primary race should Lautenberg choose to run again in 2014, presently age 88. Lautenberg recently sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan questioning the wisdom of the plan & its impact on research grants and student loans, plus letters to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman regarding the legality of such a plan. Sweeney issued a public letter signed by all the Democratic State lawmakers of South Jersey in the Legislature, plus a few Republicans, criticizing Lautenberg’s letters.
  10. Complicating the picture further, Rutgers President McCormick is retiring at the end of the academic year. And while McCormick favors the acquisition of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, he does not approve of the Rutgers-Camden giveaway to Rowan. Never-the-less, McCormick as well as other political and educational leaders have been criticized for not raising their voices louder against the plan for Rutgers to gain a med school and lose Rutgers-Camden. As a result, in recent weeks top Democrats and Rutgers officials, including McCormick, have been meeting privately to come up with an alternative plan.
  11. So, all roads seem to lead to Governor Christie’s July 1 deadline. The Legislature would have to vote and the Rutgers Boards of Governors and Trustees would have to vote. The Governor appoints 6 of the 12 Governors but only 11 of the 60 Trustees. Here’s the rub. The governor is inclined to revamp the higher education system –this mess of recommendations–by executive order without the approval of the Legislature and without a vote by the Rutgers governing Boards. However, there is legal question as to whether he has authority to do so under a law that permits him to reorganize State government departments. This caused the Governor on March 27 to say that he would ask the State Attorney General and the Governor’s Counsel regarding his authority to do so. This comes after a report by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services, Trenton, concluding that the Governor will need legislation for the reorganization plan. The OLS cites a recent decision by the Appeals Court that the Governor did not have the power in that case to dismantle the Council on Affordable Housing. –Sounds like a “Duh” moment to me!!!!
  12. To add intrigue to this imbroglio, on April 11 the Board of Governors announced its choice of Dr. Robert L. Barchi as the new President of Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey to replace President McCormick this September 1. Dr. Barchi is currently President of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, a respected medical college and health sciences university. If that is not tipping their hat to the first part of Governor Christie’s plan for an RU medical school, I’ll eat mine! The answer lies in a compromise: a medical school for Rutgers and an intact Rutgers-Camden. That would leave the door open to a collaborative relationship between Rutgers-Camden and Rowan which would give South Jersey its research university.

Conclusion: At this date, the Governor may still try to act to implement his original plan of an RU med school and a Rowan takeover of Rutgers-Camden by executive order. In that case the Legislature has the power to stop the deal by mustering enough votes in both the State Senate and Assembly. If it comes to that, Christie’s Republicans will join with South Jersey Democrats to permit the plan to pass. And while George Norcross (remember him?) can tell politicians how to vote, he won’t be able to bully the majority of independent members of the Rutgers Board of Trustees, sworn to protect Rutgers property and assets. –That is, if Governor Christie even cares to honor the Rutgers Board’s vote!  In that case, “See you in Court!”

“Go Rutgers! Fight Team Fight!”

Comments: Please! Plus take action! Share this link! Contact NJ State Senators & Assemblymen, the Governor, Rutgers’ President, Boards of Governors & Trustees, NJ U.S Senators & Congressmen, Letters to the Editor, Guest Op-Ed Columns, etc.  

Sources: News articles, The Star-Ledger, January-April 2012

The columns of Bob Braun, The Star-Ledger, January-April 2012

News articles, the Daily Record, Morris County, January-April 2012

On-line website articles, January-April 2012


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Posted in Camden, Christie, New Jersey, Rutgers

Posted by: philipfontana | April 6, 2012

April 6

Wishing You a Good Easter & Passover!

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Taken at Keukenhof Gardens, Lisse, Netherlands, April 2011

4 Comments

Posted in Announcement

Posted by: philipfontana | March 31, 2012

2ndPastaPost

The Second PastaPost

Pasta Filippo

by

Phil and Geri

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     Ah, Pasta Filippo! Excuse us for living, but this is another one of our favorite pasta recipes as well. (If you haven’t followed the evolution here, click back to the post, “The Story of Friday Night,” and then, “The First Pasta Post,” a recipe for white clam sauce. Then you’ll be up to speed with all of us.) For those of you not of “the I-talian persuasion,” or not the least familiar with the romance languages, Pasta Filippo translates to “Pasta Philip.” Are you getting the connection here? We named it after me! –And for good reason!

After years of trying and concocting various pasta dishes on Friday Nights, it was almost ten years ago –hard to believe– that I said to Geri that I had a new idea. I wanted to have a simple pasta dish with my favorite things, ingredients if you will. First of all, I love sundried tomatoes. And any such dish would have to have plenty of garlic. –And an oil base, naturally. –And parsley. –Had to have parsley for taste and looks. And what kind of pasta? I love fettuccine! The dish had to use fettuccine.

Now this is where the magic, where the divine inspiration comes in. I have the idea and Geri, My Wife Geri,  she adds the “know how,”  the execution.  She transforms the idea into a  reality. –Translated, she’s the cook! She knows what she is doing. And so she knows how to make my conception into a recipe with the ingredient quantities, plus the slicing and putting it all together. And then she makes me look good, me bragging that it was my idea, while she adds things like scallions and fresh ground pepper. –Just beautiful!

The beauty of Pasta Filippo is the nice sweet flavor and, yet, so delicate to the taste. And, we learned that the recipe is very diversifiable, i.e., it can be altered to meet your needs and desires. Examples: You are planning a dinner party with garlic in the meat entrée and you want a light pasta dish to go with it without garlic. Pasta Filippo is wonderful even without the garlic. It tastes so good with the simple combination of the other ingredients. It’s really delicious even without the garlic, I am ashamed to admit! Or, maybe you have a social engagement that night or tomorrow and you don’t want to be reeking with garlic. Pasta Filippo! You can still have a fun pasta meal without the garlic. And another last nuance of the dish that we discovered is that it’s great with clams! We thought that white clam sauce was the Holy Grail (Well, it still is really!) But throw in a can of clams to give Pasta Filippo a whole new dimension. It gives the recipe’s flavor a real twist. But it’s good too! It depends on your preference. And so, we like to mix it up, most times with the garlic, sometimes without for practical reasons, and sometimes with clams for something different.

     Presenting…

…Pasta Filippo

   1/2 cup canola oil

1 med. bunch of scallions (sliced 1/4″ thick)

* 8 med. cloves garlic (sliced long)

1 tsp. fresh ground pepper

1  8 oz. jar sundried tomatoes in oil & reserve 1/4 cup of this oil

1 cup fresh parsley (coarse chopped)

1/2 lb. fettuccine pasta

1 tbs. salt

4-6 quarts boiling water

Drain oil from sundried tomatoes. Reserve 1/4 cup of this oil & add it to 1/2 cup canola oil. Heat in medium sauce pan. Add scallions & garlic; sauté until tender, 3-5 minutes. Cut sundried tomatoes in 3rds & add to scallion/ garlic sauté, add black pepper & heat gently. Remove from the heat.

Cook fettuccine in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain in colander. Toss with sauce & fresh parsley.

Use a pepper grinder at the table for fresh ground pepper to taste!

Makes 2 generous servings!

*This recipe does surprisingly well without the garlic for those menus you plan with garlic in another dish. It’s also actually very good without garlic when your social schedule dictates “no garlic.”

Optional: 1 10 oz. can whole baby clams, drained (no clam water), for those who think white clam sauce is the only clam pasta besides red clam sauce, The addition of clams significantly changes the recipe & the taste to a uniquely different, sweeter taste.

Excuse us for living, but we love this pasta recipe too!

Comments: Now or maybe after you make the recipe?

12 Comments

Posted in Friday Night/Recipe Posts

Posted by: philipfontana | March 24, 2012

Numbers

The Numbers:

Blog Statistics

and

Local Banks

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Federal Reserve Building, Washington, DC

     Excuse us for living, but the statistics, or “the stats,” on this blog are doing better than the interest at the banks! Both my wife, Geri, and I have had a marvelous experience with this blog thus far. It has kept us busier than we anticipated just posting once a week. And the interactions with you the readers from comments on the posts, that you can read as well, to e-mails and telephone calls have been so nice. –Just so upbeat, positive, and encouraging. I have learned a lot already from this experience. The “stats” provided by the online service, WordPress, are a hoot in themselves: 1,270+ “hits” so far with only 9 posts. And the last one, the 1stPastaPost, was the most popular with 161 visits to Excuse Us…in the first few days of the week. (And that includes 25 from the UK, 3 from Hungary, and 1 from the Czech Republic! Who are you?) Maybe the previous post, “The Story of Friday Night,” helped as a precursor teaser with, “look for future PastaPosts.” Or, more likely, pasta recipes are just popular! Anyway, while we were not totally surprised by the popular reaction, we still were amazed! Pasta reigns! Politics and news wane! It tells us something about ourselves, our society, and maybe about the “silly season” of primary politics, our improving but dragging economy, and the sad state of world affairs. Pasta! Lord, help us! –There will be a 2ndPastaPost sooner than later! Thanks for the good numbers!

We are all too familiar with the not so good numbers at the banks with .2% on savings accounts these days, years! Maybe with a required minimum deposit and balance you have seen a special checking account sink to .6% and a money market account sink to .7%. We will forgo discussion of those “come-on” 3-4% checking accounts with all sorts of monthly required transactions.

Well, here’s an “excuse us for living” story, if I ever saw one. It appeared in The New York Times, Sunday, March 4. “0.2% Interest? You Bet We’ll Complain,” was the title of this news column/analysis by Gretchen Morgenson. I started cheering, “It’s about time somebody spoke up for us in the news!”

Morgenson said at issue was the Federal Reserve driving down interest rates to “almost zero,” actually .25%, “to shore up big banks and an economy that those banks helped drive off the cliff” in the first place! But then she stokes the fire for us by saying, “Stop your bellyaching,” to Americans making almost nothing on our savings accounts. She doesn’t stop there but adds tongue-and-cheek, facetiously, “So suck it up, America: If it’s good for the financial system, it’s good for you.” At this point, she had me hot under the collar!

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Sarah Bloom Raskin, one of the seven members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

     Then Morgenson explained the motivation for her ire. She went on to report on a speech by one of the seven members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Her name is Sarah Bloom Raskin and she gave a speech in Westport, Connecticut, the week prior, Thursday, March 1.

Raskin started off her speech playing down the effect of the Fed’s low interest rates on our savings accounts, CDs, savings bonds, etc. She then irresponsibly stated that this money is only “7% of household assets,” whatever she meant by that. “Instead,” she continued, “the bulk of household wealth is held in stocks, retirement accounts, business equity and real estate.” At this point I was thinking, who is she talking about, and “What’s in her Koolaide?” Then she went on to scold us that rates of return on these assets depend on the strength and growth of the economy. And then, to add insult to injury –and I think this more than anything caused Gretchen Morgenson to write this column—Raskin, member of the Federal Reserve, claimed that we all benefit from low interest rates when we finance cars and other goods and refinance our mortgages. –And the final clincher, thus, “freeing up income for other uses.” –Truly a “holy cow” moment!

She must be delusional! That can’t be all of the 99% we hear so much about that she was talking to. The Fed better pull their own member from the talk circuit! You can bank on that! –Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Excuse us for living, but the blog stats beat the interest rates at the local banks any day soon.

Comments? Please!

    

10 Comments

Posted in National Economy

Posted by: philipfontana | March 17, 2012

1stPastaPost

The First PastaPost

Spaghetti and White Clam Sauce

The Number One Recipe or It Doesn’t Get Better Than This!

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     Excuse us for living, but everyone has a favorite dish or recipe that is No. 1 in their book and Spaghetti and White Clam Sauce is No. 1 for us! This first PastaPost is a follow-up to the recent blog post, “The Story of ’Friday Night’!” (Click on that one if you missed it!) There, I described how every Friday night, all the years of our married life, my wife, Geri, and I have a romantic dinner for two by candle light, a bottle of wine, and a favorite pasta dish. There, I promised from time-to-time to share a favorite recipe with a PastaPost.

But how can I resist telling you about the origins and history of our little recipe? (That’s a warning! You may want to skip down to the recipe right now!) It all started when I was a teenager growing up in Paramus, NJ. The Fontanas cheated and did not make a famous old Sicilian recipe from “la famiglia.” They, like so many others did for convenience, opened up a can of Progresso White Clam Sauce. It was OK but nothing like “the real thing.” Even back then, I had the “itch” for something better. And so, when “Mom” was not around to make dinner one night (a very unusual occurrence in our home in those days), I “doctored up” a can of Progresso by frying up some extra garlic in oil and added it to the mix. The word from “Dad” to “Mom” was, “I like the way Phil makes the clam sauce.” –This was like “peccato,” sin, committed in words from my father’s lips and “disgrazia,” disgrace, for my mother!

And so, it was that same “doctored Progresso” that I made for my fellow draftees in Vietnam in 1970. I wrote home with explicit instructions re what I needed for a nice antipasto and my version of clam sauce. The care packages were not far behind. My GI buddies had a feast!

Fast forward to 1972. Geri and I were married that Labor Day weekend and moved to our new apartment in Morristown, NJ. It was there that Geri and I concocted our first recipe on a Friday night for spaghetti and white clam sauce. It was very simple back then: oil, garlic, onion, a little oregano, red pepper, parsley, salt, and, of course, clams, and boil up the pasta. We got a lot of mileage out of that recipe. Within a year, we were moving to a Drew University efficiency apartment as a grad student. And, before I knew it, I became a social studies teacher in a local middle school. –My dream come true! Again, a year later we moved into our first house. But there were still a few months left on that Drew U efficiency lease! So, most of the men on the faculty and I put together a “stag party” of card playing, plenty of beer, wine, clams on the half-shell, and, you guessed it, spaghetti and white clam sauce. That clinched it! The principal declared that Geri and I had to cook clam sauce at his beautiful carriage house for the men faculty and their wives, 20 some people. – 6 lbs. of vermicelli pasta, in cafeteria size pots, 48 oz. of oil, 6 bulbs of garlic, and 14 6 oz. cans of small clams and the recipe was “famous”!

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     To this day some 35+ years later, some of those friends and family still use and swear by that original recipe. Others have followed our lead as the recipe has evolved. –First, Geri added white wine to the recipe many years ago. And then the pie`ce de resistance, Geri added butter and chicken broth.

Over the years we would order spaghetti and clam sauce occasionally in restaurants. We were always disappointed. We finally asked ourselves why are we torturing ourselves, to say, “Our recipe is better?” So, we stopped ordering clam sauce “out” and save it for one of our Friday Nights!

Presenting…

…Spaghetti and White Clam Sauce!

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* 1   6.5 oz. can chopped clams                              1/2 tsp. oregano

* 1   10 oz. can whole baby clams                          1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

1/3 cup canola oil                                               4-5 tbs. fresh parsley (chopped)

1 med. onion (sliced thin)                                         1/2  lb. vermicelli pasta

8 med. cloves garlic (sliced long)                               2 tbs. salt

5 tbs. butter                                                           4-6 quarts boiling water

2/3 cup dry white wine

2/3 cup chicken broth (Herbox granules)

Drain liquid from the two cans of clams and reserve. Heat oil in a medium sauce pan. Add onion and garlic; sauté until tender, 3-5 minutes. Stir in butter, wine. chicken broth, oregano, red pepper and reserved clam juice; simmer uncovered about 30 min. Add drained clams and parsley to sauce and heat gently.

Cook spaghetti in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain in a colander. Serve with sauce.

Makes 2 generous servings!

*Optional: Not our preference, but you can substitute 1 ½ doz. Littleneck or Topneck clams for the canned clams. However, then also add 4 oz. bottled clam juice to replace reserved clam juice. Canned clams do it all for you, plus you get plenty clams in the pasta with consistency!

Excuse us for living, but it doesn’t get better than this!

Comments: Now or maybe after you make the recipe?

25 Comments

Posted in Friday Night/Recipe Posts

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