Top 5 Recycling Faux Pas and How to Avoid Them

How to keep the household recycler happy.

By Sami Grover
Chapel Hill, NC, USA | Wed Sep 30 08:00:00 GMT 2009
PlanetGreen.com


If your household is anything like mine, there's one person in charge of the trash and recycling. And wherever I've lived, that's been me. From student digs to young co-habitating professionals to marital bliss - I've been the one sorting through stinky cat food tins, poorly emptied bottles of soda, and plastics placed in the wrong place. And while I don't mind doing the recycling, there's nothing that drives me more crazy than a lax attitude to sorting trash from my housemates or family members. It's really not that hard.

In general, the biggest thing you can do is to stay informed. Talk with your family or housemates about your recycling system, and figure out methods that make it easy for everyone. There are, however, a few common recycling "sins" that seem to have cropped up in every house I've lived in. So, for all of you who don't take responsibility for the recycling in your home, here are a few hints to keep the domestic peace.

Top 5 Recycling Faux Pas - and How to Avoid Them

Unscrew It! - Yes, plastic bottles are recyclable, but in many communities the bottle caps are not. If that's the case for you, then please unscrew the lid before you throw it in the trash. There's nothing more frustrating than sorting through the recycling, and having to remove each bottle cap one at a time. (see Ed Begley's tips on sorting out plastic recycling codes to find out what is and isn't recyclable.)

Look Inside - For some reason, every household I've lived in has had somebody that insists on trying to recycle all envelopes - even when those envelopes are mostly lined with bubble wrap. Besides the fact that a plastic/paper multilayered envelope like that will almost certainly be unrecyclable, it's also pretty valuable. Hold on to those things and use them again. (Remember - always look to reuse before you recycle!)

Clean It! - I have heard arguments that rinsing out cans negates the energy saved in recycling them, but I'm pretty sure that's nonsense (especially for households like mine where hot water is solar heated). One thing is for certain--sorting through sticky piles of gunky recycling is no fun. So please at least empty containers carefully before you discard them.

Not All Glass is Created Equal - In most communities, just because it's made of glass, doesn't mean it's recyclable. Usually glass jars and bottles are recyclable - but drinking glasses, broken windows, vases, light bulbs and the like are not. At least not in regular household trash. Check out Earth911 to find out what is and is not recyclable in your area.

Compostable Doesn't Necessarily Compost - Sorry, just because it says it's compostable, doesn't mean you can throw it in your backyard heap. Most PLA plastics require high-temperature commercial composting to break down. If that's not available, you may as well throw it in the trash.


So there you have it - making recycling easier for everybody isn't that hard. And one last hint - if you're not the one sorting the trash, remember to say thanks!

Casual California Wine Tasting & Dinner at Aroma Thyme Bistro, Sunday September 27th

So it is no secret that Jamie and I went to Napa Valley last June. For those of you following us on facebook you saw the trip unfolding day by day. But don't worry it was official work, and tough work at times. In fact we averaged five wineries a day for three straight days. There is a lot of work, research and development, in every bottle wine that makes it onto the Aroma Thyme wine list. We visited wineries that we have a long relationship with an revisited a few new wineries.

So our first wine tasting of the fall is going to consist of our Napa Valley and Sonoma trip. so you will taste for stand and wines that we experienced from our trip. This wine tasting will be a bit different than the previous ones. This will be a casual wine tasting on a Sunday afternoon at a reduced price with more wines and our incredible food. The new time and date is Sunday September 27th at 6 PM at the awesome price of $49 per person.

Here are some of the possible wineries that we will be serving:
Ladera, Turnbull, Duckhorn, Cline, Jacuzzi, Alpha Omega, Peju & Grgich Hills just to name a few. Start with hors d'oeuvres and the small bites at the bar and finish with a sitdown dinner that includes our killer Kobe Burger.

Stay tuned for the October 23rd Duckhorn Vintners Wine Dinner. To promote this Dinner Aroma Thyme Bistro will be featuring Paraduxx wine at an incredible price of $49 the entire month of October. This wine is normally is Normally on our list forlists for $90. so even if you miss our Duckhorn wine dinner you can still take advantage of their wine at a very special price.

For reservations please call 845 -- 647 -- 3000.

taste of New Paltz, Sunday September 13th, 2009

September 10, 2009

Taste of New Paltz offers food from all over and entertainment

Donna Yee
Poughkeepsie Journal

Your parents might have told you at one time or another to finish everything on your plate.

Be dutiful and take those words to heart Sunday as you sample and munch your way through the 19th annual Taste of New Paltz at the Ulster County Fairgounds.

The food fest, presented by the New Paltz Chamber of Commerce, draws about 8,000 visitors annually from the local area as well as Albany and Westchester counties, New York City, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

“I think the event itself has a following and that people come and are part of it year after year,” said Christine Crawfis, director of marketing and communications at the chamber.

Taste-size samplings of food and beverages will be available for $2 or $3 from a wide range of local restaurants, wineries, breweries, bakeries, farms and caterers.
Aroma Thyme Bistro of Ellenville will participate for the fifth time. This certified green establishment, owned by chef Marcus Guiliano and his wife, Jamie, offers a vast selection of items, from Indian dishes and vegan recipes to pizza and steak.

At this year’s booth, visitors will find sesame-encrusted tuna and brisket.
“We’re going to be doing our sustainable tuna sashimi dish. We’re also doing our akaushi briskets,” Guiliano said.

Guiliano said with events such as this, he chooses dishes that have a proven track record and appear on the menu.

“Go with the big guns,” Guiliano said.

Participants can take a culinary adventure across the globe in one day. Try Mexican cuisine from Acapulco Grill of Kingston and then take a leap over to Neko Sushi & Restaurant of New Paltz for some traditional Japanese fare. Skip back over to try what Caribbean Cuisine of New Paltz has to offer and then sample the goods at Hudson Baking Company of Milton.

As you mull over your next move, check out the wine selections from Whitecliff Vineyard of Gardiner and Adair Vineyards of New Paltz.

Sample farm-fresh products from Jenkins-Lueken Orchards of New Paltz.
“We do fresh peach smoothies with the peaches we grow on the farm,” said Bob James, who is a partner in the orchard with his brother Eric and mother, Margaret.
Cider doughnuts, fruit and fresh-ground peanut butter with apples slices will also be available.

“It’s all fresh and good for you,” James said.

Good eats isn’t the only thing on the menu, though. Live musical performances throughout the day by local music acts will complement whatever tasty bits on which you’re chowing.

The lineup includes Vicki Russell, Cleoma’s Ghost, the Trapps, the Greyhounds and the Sugar Bees.

Kid-friendly activities will take place over at the Kids’ Expo, where there will be a dunking booth, face painting, balloons and a performance by Radio Disney Performers.

If you’re thinking of doing a little shopping, head over to Artistic Taste and Craft Expo for artwork by local artists, jewelry and other handmade pieces.

Edible items can be sampled or purchased at the Country Store.

The Business Expo will showcase area businesses and services along with raffles. The Wellness and Recreation Expo will hold demonstrations where visitors can learn more about health and fitness.

Guiliano’s favorite part of Taste of New Paltz is seeing regular customers.
“It’s a great event,” Guiliano said. “It’s probably the best event we do as far as turnout and seeing our regular customers and the vast amount of food. We wouldn’t miss it.”

Boyd and Blair Vodka now at Aroma Thyme Bistro, Hudson Valley NY

We did it again at Aroma Thyme Bistro. We found another small handcrafted American-made spirit. This time we found a local Pennsylvania potato vodka. Boyd & Blair potato vodka is awesome stuff. So why not be patriotic and order American vodka in your next martini.

Two guys and a copper pot still. Two guys with a passion for great vodka. Their dream was to create a classic vodka-one that made the way they believe vodka was meant to be made. With potatoes, in small, single batches. And they believe in quality over quantity. That's why they made every single batch by hand, literally. There are no computers or automated processes. From creating their own potato mash the ceiling and signing every bottle, and they do it all. The result is a classic five to be savored once at the time.

Boyd & Blair is made from locally grown potatoes. Why potatoes? First they yield a slightly sweeter vodka. Second, they want to create a classic vodka. A vodka made the right way, the original way-from potatoes. Surely cost more than grains. If you want to make a great vodka, you spare no expense.

Oskar Blues Beer Dinner at Aroma Thyme, Hudson Valley

Oskar Blues Beer Dinner

Friday September 18^th, 2009 7pm

$49 per person

Aroma Thyme Bistro, Ellenville NY

RSVP 845.647.3000

Sashimi, Seasonal Fruit

Mama's Little Yellow Pils

Their new canned good is a delicious, small-batch version of the beer that made Pilsen, Czechoslovakia famous. Mama’s is made with hearty amounts of pale malt, German specialty malts, and traditional (Saaz) and 21st century Bavarian hops.

Potato and Quinoa Pancake

Mushrooms

Dale's Pale Ale

Dale's Pale Ale is their flagship beer and America's first hand-canned craft beer. It's an assertive but deftly balanced beer (somewhere between an American pale ale and an India Pale Ale) brewed with hefty amounts of European malts and American hops.

Rocky Mountain Brook Trout

Creamed Corn & Chile Peppers

Gordon’s

Gordon is a hybrid version of strong ale, somewhere between an Imperial Red and a Double IPA. We make it with six different malts and three types of hops, then dry-hop it with a mutha lode of Amarillo hops. It is 8.7% alcohol by volume, and has 85 International Bittering Units.

Braised Colorado Lamb, Pasta & Greens

Feta Crouton

Old Chub

Old Chub is a Scottish strong ale brewed with hearty amounts of seven different malts, including crystal and chocolate malts, and a smidge of US and UK hops. Old Chub also gets a dash of beechwood-smoked grains imported from Bamburg, Germany, home of the world's greatest smoked beers. Old Chub is 8% alcohol by volume.

Chocolate & Berries

Ten Fidy

This beer is equivalent of decadently rich milkshake made with malted-milk balls and Heaven’s best chocolate ice cream. Ten FIDY is about 10% ABV and is made with enormous amounts of two-row malts, chocolate malts, roasted barley, flaked oats and hops. Its huge-but-comforting flavors hide a whopping 98 IBUs that are deftly tucked underneath the beer’s mountains of malty goodness.

Aroma Thyme Bistro in Nations Restaurant News

Potatoes put skin in the game

Chefs get creative turning popular tuber into gourmet menu items

By BRET THORN

(Aug. 31, 2009) When Bill Horst was in college, his friends called him the “potato king.”

“I made everything—mashed potatoes, potato salad, scalloped potatoes, twice-baked potatoes,” he says.

They were versatile, everybody liked them and—crucial to a college student’s budget—they were cheap.

Horst went on to work in the financial industry, but recently he returned to his passion and started experimenting with potatoes again. That included cooking paper-thin potatoes and bacon at the same time in the same fryer.

The resulting “Who’s Your Daddy” bacon potato chips have become something of a sensation in San Francisco, where Horst started selling them in Dolores Park as part of the city’s burgeoning street food scene, for between $3 and $5 a bag, depending on the size.

They’ve been successful enough that Horst now is making them in a commercial kitchen.

What first drew Horst to potatoes continues to attract chefs to this versatile tuber that long ago captured the hearts of Americans. It’s also gluten-free, easy to work with and a hallmark of many cuisines, from Jewish and German to Peruvian and Italian.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans eat more than 126 pounds of potatoes each year. Pictured are Yukon Gold potatoes, left, and the Russet Burbank variety, right.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans on average eat 126 pounds of them each year. That figure might sound high, but it takes four pounds of fresh potatoes to make one pound of dehydrated potatoes, which are used to make most commercial chips.

At Sra. Martinez, Michelle Bernstein’s Latin-tapas restaurant in Miami, the chef tried to make a traditional Spanish dish, patatas bravas, which is made from big wedges of roasted potatoes served with a spicy sauce and aïoli.

“But they were just OK,” Bernstein says. “I thought I was doing an injustice to them. So I decided to go Latin, which I’m obviously more familiar with.”

Bernstein, whose culinary heritage comes from her Jewish Argentine mother, charges $9 for the dish. She turned to Peruvian huancaina sauce for help. That’s a sauce of aji amarillo chiles, saltine crackers, cream cheese, sautéed shallots, lime juice and evaporated milk. Peruvians make a sort of potato salad using that sauce.

Michelle Bernstein, chef-owner of Sra. Martinez in Miami, describes her new-style patatas bravas, above, as “kind of papas huancaina and papas bravas and American potato skins all mixed together.” She stuffs the potatoes with Serrano ham and huancaina sauce.

Her choice of the type of potato to use was influenced by an American delicacy that she says she loves: potato skins. She takes tiny new potatoes, roasts them until soft, fries them á la minute, cuts off the ends and fills them with the huancaina sauce and Serrano ham that she crisps up in olive oil. She tops it with cilantro.

“So it’s kind of papas huancaina and papas bravas and American potato skins all mixed together,” she says.

At Miami Beach steakhouse Meat Market, chef Sean Brasel makes his own version of tater tots, which he stuffs with Gouda cheese.

“We take Yukon gold potatoes and basically shred them,” Brasel says. He mixes them with salt, pepper and a little cornstarch, rolls it into balls, stuffs them with shredded Gouda and deep-fat-fries them. He sells a dish of about six of them for $8.

Yukon golds are also Scott Howard’s potato of choice for his buttery mashed potatoes inspired by those of Joël Robuchon. The chef of Five in Berkeley, Calif., bakes them on a bed of rock salt.

“The salt helps pull out more of the moisture so you have a really dry, potato,” Howard says.

To make his buttery mashed potatoes at Five in Berkeley, Calif., chef-owner Scott Howard first bakes Yukon golds on a bed of rock salt, rices them, then whips in room temperature butter and finishes it with milk, salt and pepper, and truffle butter on occasion, just to gild the lily.

He rices them and then whips in room temperature butter, “almost like you were making a beurre blanc,” until the dish is about half butter. He finishes it with a little milk, salt and pepper, and sometimes, just to gild the lily, tops it with truffle butter.

“Everyone can judge a mashed potato,” he says. “If you do them well, it really sets you apart.”

At the new B&O American Brasserie in Baltimore, executive chef E. Michael Reidt also aims for superrich mashed potatoes by cooking them confit-style first in lobster-infused duck fat.

New York chef Daniel Boulud says potatoes are typically harvested around mid-August, but at that point their water content is too high to make excellent French fries because they get soggy faster than an “aged potato,” so he asks his suppliers to hold on to some of last year’s crop until October, when the water and sugar content of the new potatoes are right for frying.

If the sugar content in a potato is too high, it will burn on the outside before the center is properly cooked.

Boulud charges $6 for a side of fries at his new burger-and-sausage restaurant, DBGB Kitchen and Bar in the Lower East Side area of Manhattan, and they’re included in the price of burgers, which can run as high as $19.

For his bacon potato chips, Horst uses Kennebec potatoes, which he says are the variety used by the big manufacturers.

“They’re specifically designed for frying,” he says, “so they give much more leeway before burning, and they have a nicer, golden look to them.”

Horst started with Russet potatoes, which he prefers because of their meatiness, but his customers overruled him.

Daniel Angerer, the Austrian chef-owner of Klee Brasserie in New York, uses small purple potatoes from the farmers market for his version of German potato salad.

Except for the purple color, it’s a pretty typical European potato salad—with mustard, vinegar, olive oil, salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper and garlic—“but my grandmother didn’t do any sousvide,” he says.

He doesn’t actually vacuumseal the potatoes, he just slices them and puts them, along with the seasonings, in a Ziploc bag, and cooks them in water at 186 degrees Fahrenheit for around two hours.

“If you want to use some garlic, you absolutely gotta make sure it’s roasted,” Angerer warns, otherwise it overpowers all of the other ingredients and takes on a “weird flavor.” So before adding the garlic to the other ingredients he immerses it in oil and cooks it slowly for an hour.

He says that, by slow-cooking the potatoes, they retain their purple color.

“It’s beautiful looking, and even better tasting,” he says, “although you have to season it again after cooking it, because it loses a little flavor during the cooking process.”

Before plating the potatoes, he tosses them with Italian parsley or arugula.

“I just started doing a suckling pig menu, and I’m pairing the potato salad with the suckling pig,” Angerer says. “The suckling pig’s nice and rich and the mustardy potato salad cuts through it.”

He also offers it as a side dish, called “greenmarket potatoes with arugula” for $6.

Some other New York chefs use potatoes in place of wheat, especially in Italian food.

At Pizzeria Veloce, chef Sara Jenkins mixes durum wheat with cooked potatoes and the cooking water for her pizza dough.

“It makes it quite tender and sweet,” Jenkins says.

At JoeDoe, also in New York, chef-owner Joe Dobias says he always has a potato pasta on the menu, and it’s not always gnocchi.

“I think potatoes are a little more user-friendly for the restaurant,” he says. “They’re a little more stable, a little less labor-intensive than semolina, more forgiving and they don’t require as much expertise.”

He oven-bakes the potatoes until they’re just cooked, and then he lets them cool.

“Most people make gnocchi when the potatoes are hot,” he says, “but I think it just makes a tougher dough. So I tend to cool the potatoes completely; I even put them in the fridge.”

He recently used his potato dough to make cavatelli—a sort of rougher, thicker macaroni.

“It’s a little trickier than gnocchi, which is more or less a ball,” he says. “You need a finer dough and you have to process the potato a little more so not to end up with tough pasta.”

He serves it with broccoli raab, Berkshire pork and sweet corn to imitate a carbonara. He also makes a dish inspired by East-European Jewish knishes and Moroccan-Jewish pastelico.

“It’s more or less a mashed potato that’s combined with whole eggs and then dipped in whole egg and fried,” he says, so it forms a crust even though, unlike a knish, it’s not coated in flour.

“It leaves itself open to a lot of preparations,” he says. “In the Moroccan recipe it’s stuffed with ground beef, but ours is basically a scallion mashed potato.”

He says mixing the egg into the potatoes gives it the stability necessary for deep-frying, “so it doesn’t fall apart in the fryer.”

He serves it with a grass-fed hanger steak for $25. He currently is using local Carola potatoes from Sheldon Farms in Salem, N.Y.

Not far from New York City, in the upstate town of Ellenville, chef-owner Marcus Guiliano of Aroma Thyme Bistro uses potatoes where many others use wheat to make his food gluten-free.

“Whenever we make something, we always think, ‘How can we make it gluten-free,’” Guiliano says, because he finds that, the more gluten-free dishes he offers, the more diners seeking out gluten-free dishes come to his restaurant.

“By doing things gluten-free, we open up a whole new market,” he says.

At Aroma Thyme Bistro in Ellenville, N.Y., chef Marcus Guiliano often replaces wheat with potatoes to make gluten-free food. For example, he uses Yukon golds as the binder in crab cakes.

So to thicken his soups and lobster bisque, he throws in whole thin-skinned potatoes while the soup is cooking and then purées them with the soup.

“I like to use smaller ones, so we get a higher skin-to-flesh ratio,” says Guiliano, because he likes the skin’s flavor. “Some of the fingerlings we get are literally the size of a fava bean.”

When they’re not in season, he uses B or C size Yukon golds. He uses those potatoes as the binder for his crab cakes, too.

“I tried quinoa and millet, but Yukon gold works best for us, because it keeps the crab cakes moist,” he says.

He simply purees the potatoes and folds in all of the other ingredients, forms them into cakes, fries them and serves them.—bthorn@nrn.com

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