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One of the first lessons I received as a cook happened on my first day on the job. The chef asked me to dice tomatoes for a Milanese garnish; he demonstrated one tomato for me and then had me do one under his supervision. He found it acceptable and left the kitchen.

Then the sous chef quickly came over to me to show me a better way to complete the task. I learned right away, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” would be a saying that I would use many times in my cooking career because even though traditional techniques have given us consistent results for years, there’s always a better way. 

Learning technique is the best way to learn to cook without a recipe but many long-held beliefs are being challenged by modern-day chefs. Home cooks should take note!

Different Can Be Better
For example, many recipes or techniques require cooking a pound of pasta in four to six quarts of salted boiling water, which translates to a gallon and a half of water. The professional kitchen I work in has pots that can accommodate cooking pasta for hundreds of people, but at home, my largest pot is a gallon and a half. I’ve had to cut the water ratio out of necessity and it’s giving me better results in many ways: it uses less energy to boil the water, uses less water, and the water that is used for the pasta becomes even starchier. The starchy pasta water is the oldest trick in the book for restaurant-style cooking that home cooks should try to adapt to adjust the consistency of tomato sauce. Pasta water also improves the taste of jarred sauce.

Another classic culinary technique says to use a large pot of salted water (without a lid) for boiling green vegetables.

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When our bodies are in a good physical state, that naturally transcends to a positive emotional state. Getting out, keeping busy, maintaining an active mind and socializing with others naturally makes one feel better. Isolation is to depression, as socializing is to connections. As humans, we’re naturally wired to desire connections with others. ...

Christian Bernadotte isn’t a worrier. Until his heart transplant at Cleveland Clinic two years ago, he wasn’t much of a planner, either.

For years, Bernadotte, now 70, was busy raising a family and building a career. He traveled extensively for work. He didn’t eat properly. He smoked. He never went to a doctor. Eventually, his lifestyle caught up with him; the Shaker Heights resident had his first heart attack at 49.

Bernadotte lost weight and kept up with his medical appointments and heart medications. “I lived with a bad heart for 18 years and made the most of it. I sailed. I golfed but I paced myself,” Bernadotte says, sitting in the Shaker Heights home he shares with his wife, Marianne. 

Bernadotte carried on with his busy life, all while living with a weakened heart. He became short of breath and had a tough time walking uphill. On Thanksgiving 2017, Bernadotte collapsed at dinner with friends. Two of them were Cleveland Clinic heart surgeons, Per Wierup and Gosta Pettersson.

A device that had been implanted in his heart jolted Bernadotte back to life. Recovering at the Clinic, he was placed on the Status 2 heart transplant list.

The following February, Bernadotte was at home and started feeling ill. His wife called Dr. Pettersson, who lived nearby. By the time he got there, Bernadotte was on the floor and wasn’t breathing. Dr. Pettersson started CPR and revived him.

The incident bumped Bernadotte up to the highest priority status for a heart transplant. A week later, he had a new heart.

Soon, Bernadotte was back to his active life — this time without having to make accommodations for a weak heart. His plan today includes a much healthier lifestyle. He feels and looks great. His wife, Marianne, also has had to make adjustments.

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It’s never too early to start planning for the future. Initiate conversations with loved ones before it’s time to make decisions. Early financial planning and revisiting your financial plan is the best way to ensure your wishes will be carried out. ...

Coming to a place of acceptance, we begin to give grief permission to loosen its hold on us. It’s also the realization that continuing to live our life doesn’t mean we’re leaving the loss behind us. ...

Congress passed major changes regarding distributions from 401k plans and IRAs effective in 2020. The changes do not apply to pension plans. Meet with your attorney for further explanation on how these may affect your estate planning. ...

What a Ride!
What’s Your Favorite Cedar Point Memory?

Cedar Point is celebrating its 150tth anniversary this year with new rides, a nightly parade and plenty of souvenirs. But there’s one thing that one of the nation’s oldest amusement parks is missing: your memories.

Here’s one: getting panic-stuck in the tube slide at the Fun House. A teen worker slid down and coaxed the young park-goer through. Her family still teases her about it. We’re omitting the name to protect the magazine editor’s identity.

Share your memories, photos and videos at cedarpoint.com

 

Boomers, We’re OK
…And We Prove It Every Day

“Just wait until you’re our age.”

That’s what you might want to say the next time a Millennial or another younger person dismisses your advice or mocks your opinion. The catchphrase, “OK, Boomer,” gained popularity last year as a rebuttal to Boomers who were perceived by Millennials, Gen Xers and others as being out of touch or judgmental. 

Of course, every generation has people who are judgmental and out of touch; that’s not just reserved for Boomers. But OK, we can take a joke, even an ageist one. Let’s hope the term fades with the New Roaring ‘20s (that’s 2020 for you younger folks).

 

Fact Finders
Teams Kick Off Mind Challenge Competition

They’ve been sharpening their trivia skills and adjusting their thinking caps. Now it’s time to discover who knows what for the second annual Mind Challenge for the New Majority.

For the next four months, teams from rec and senior centers throughout Northeast Ohio will be competing weekly in the Mind Challenge trivia competitions. The six-member teams represent more than 20 communities. 

The semi and final matches are set for May 6 at the JACK Thistledown Racino. The first-place team gets $3,500; second place $2,000; third $1,500 and fourth place $1,000.

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Boom!

Pop Culture Chronicles

 

Anniversaries

Been There, Celebrated It, And Now It’s Boring

 

By Mike Olszewski

 

A new year is upon us and we say goodbye to “the teens” and head into the last year of the second decade.  (Keep in mind that there was no year “zero” so 2020 is the final year of decade number two for this century.)  We hope your holiday season was memorable, and if there’s one thing boomers like to do is remember.

For the past 10 years, we’ve been commemorating everything that happened in the 1960s.  Granted, there was a lot to commemorate from tragedies (the deaths of JFK, MLK, RFK, Malcolm X and so many others), historical events (Apollo 11, The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show”) and entertainment events (the explosion of pop culture on TV, the so-called Summer of Love, the change from AM to FM radio, groundbreaking books like “The Feminine Mystique” and “Catch 22.” The list goes on and on.

Did You Know?

Sometimes it was a comparison of extremes.  The 50th anniversary of Woodstock was celebrated in Bethel, New York.  A friend of mine, writer/pop historian Martin Grams Jr., attended the anniversary show and said the promoters did a great job saluting that special moment in time.  Oh, and the couple on the cover of the Woodstock soundtrack album was even on hand. They met at the festival and have been married since.

Then we have another anniversary just a few months after marking the ill-fated Altamont Raceway show by the Rolling Stones.  A free show, lots of people hurt and the exact opposite of Woodstock. But that wasn’t the end of the 60s. We have another anniversary in just a few months.  No one can pin down the date when the 60’s era started, because it was an event or series of events rather than January 1, 1960.

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