http:\/\/www.lrb.co.uk\/v36\/n08\/seymour-m-hersh\/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
Between that and the anguished situation with my former colleagues I was dyspeptic enough that dramatic action seemed to be required. I called up Old Jim and asked if he could re-arrange his schedule and accommodate a late lunch at Willow. He allowed as how he could manage that, once the fierce dark clouds did what they promised to do, and we found ourselves presently at the Amen Corner long before the usual time.<\/p>\n
It was interesting to watch the place transition from buttoned-down lunch-time to the slack period of a Friday afternoon. Some late diners lingered over plates of the Lunch Counter specials- Friday\u2019s special- last time for this cycle is the mega-tasty short rib Steak and Cheese on Kate Jansen\u2019s delicious home-baked roll.<\/p>\n
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It was too late for that, and Jim opted for a Budweiser and I for a crisp sauvignon blanc. Dante was handling the afternoon trade and asked if we wanted one check or two, something that had never been asked in the seven years we have been hanging out at the place. Jim gave a curt \u201cno,\u201d and then the conversation drifted over to the morning set-up sous chef, who was sitting next to Jim. His birthday it was, and having come off shift, he was celebrating in earnest and way ahead of us.<\/p>\n
He is living with his girlfriend\u2019s uncle at the moment, hoping to save up enough money to marry the mother of his daughter and move up in the world. It was an interesting (though mostly one-sided) ramble through the world of a hard-working 24 year old, and a litany of challenges that I had not been forced to consider for several decades.<\/p>\n
At some point Dante and Marc helped him on to his next destination, which was on the verge of being face down at the bar, and things returned to a more sedate and measured discussion. Both Tracy and Kate stopped by to chat, since things were slow at three, and we had to comment on the gluten-free millet bread we sampled Thursday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working on the bread, and we might be getting close,\u201d said Tracy. \u201cIt is complex. Our loaves have as many as 35 ingredients.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s amazing,\u201d I said. \u201cThe slices we ate last night were rich and nutty and absolutely delicious.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, and without a damn thing on it. I would definitely buy some if you sold it at the bakery counter back there.\u201d
\n\u201cThe problem we are having now is the preservative aspect. We don\u2019t want to add that awful stuff some people put in their bread- like ammonium sulfate or L-cysteine to keep it fresh.\u201d
\n\u201cHoly smokes,\u201d I said. \u201cI thought gluten-free was supposed to be healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGosh, no!\u201d said Tracy firmly and frowned. \u201cThe majority of flours and starches used to make conventionally-sold gluten-free bread are incredibly high in glycemic properties.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are kidding,\u201d said Jim. \u201cThat is poison if you have a tendency for Type-2 diabetes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely,\u201d said Tracy, crossing her arms over her white chef\u2019s jacket. \u201cTurn over a bag of gluten free bread at Trader Joe\u2019s and see what the label says. Rice, even the brown stuff, potato flour and tapioca. Sometimes they contain \u2018industrial\u2019 type binders to make it stick together- like xanthan gum.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIck,\u201d I said, taking a sip of wine. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t sound very appealing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have that. We are working to have a healthy, preservative and gluten free mixture, but that means our loaves have more than two dozen separate ingredients to get the texture we want and still have it stay moist for a few days. That is what we are working on today. It\u2019s an oat loaf.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to buy a loaf- how much would it cost?\u201d<\/p>\n
Tracy pursed her brow, calculated. \u201cThat is really the problem. We don\u2019t know. We can do the cost of ingredients, but there are sunk costs in the kitchen and such that we would have to back into the pricing. Say, six bucks for a small loaf and twelve for a large one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is a lot of money,\u201d I said, trying to think what the last loaf of artisan bread I purchased at the Harris Tweeter. \u201cBut I quit carbs and would only buy it for a blue moon event like a really cool grilled cheese sandwich.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is what we are trying for, and to get the price down. This is all experimental cooking at this point. She sighed. It is funny- I need someone to handle all the back-office stuff like payroll and taxes and permits. We are going through that with the new location we are thinking about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat? That is spectacular news!\u201d I said. \u201cA Willow 2? That is huge!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing for sure. Brian is looking at some options, maybe in Rossyln. That would give us some leverage when the lease on this place comes up again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t move,\u201d I declared. \u201cThis is an institution.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Fish and Wildlife Service is leaving their headquarters across the street at the end of the month. So things do change. Sometimes I feel like this is an institution I feel like I am committed in sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need someone to handle the business end,\u201d said Jim. \u201cThat would free you up to do what you love, and you sure have the passion for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
She smiled and said if we were nice and didn\u2019t scare the other patrons she might send out a slice of the gluten-free Oat loaf.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jim and I went back to talking about days past, making a concerted effort to stay away from the present, where not that much seems funny. My favorite was his story about the dwarfs- little people, I mean. It was a hysterical tale of a friend who had a phobia about them. Stark fear. So, this one night in Northhampton there\u2019s a traveling circus in town and he and a buddy hired one of the little people to walk into the bar where the phobic was drinking quietly and tug on the hem to his coat and sing him \u201chappy birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, in that kinda high-pitched voice like the Munchkins?\u201d<\/p>\n
I nodded. \u201cI always liked Munchkins, but those guys from the Lollypop League in the Wizard of Oz looked like hard cases.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, the dwarf finished the song and my pal panicked, fainted and fell off his stool. He broke his leg, and we had to take him to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cServes him right, I guess,\u201d I said, rubbing the long scar on my thigh where I had done about the same thing without benefit of a single little person.\u201d<\/p>\n
At that point Dante slid a plate in front of us with two slices of the oat bread, still warm from the oven. Jim quickly reached for one and tore off a hunk, popping it in his mouth. He smiled. \u201cThat is tasty.\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked Dante if Willow could spare some fresh creamery butter. I f I was going to eat carbs, I wanted to go all the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cPussy. You ought to take it straight.\u201d In the time it took for the little metal bowls with the whipped unsalted butter to arrive he was starting on the second slice. I loaded up a piece with the butter and tasted it. The lightness of the whip melded marvelously with the nutty rich flavor of the oat loaf. Texture was superb, the consistency moist without being flaccid. \u201cThat is fantastic!\u201d<\/p>\n
Kate Jansen stopped by as the place was starting to fill up with people eager to start the weekend. We talked bread strategy for a while as the level of chatter increased. The sun had come out and flooded through the window adjacent to the Corner. Life was looking up, and I forgot about all the stuff that had got me spooled up in the morning.<\/p>\n
I decided to go home and take a nice long swim. I was paying the check when something else happened. Tracy stopped by and gave me the end of the oat bread.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was enough for our experiment,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you make a nice grilled sandwich when you get home and see what you think.\u201d<\/p>\n
I smiled broadly. \u201cTracy O\u2019Grady,\u201d I said. \u201cYou are the greatest.\u201d I turned and reached out to shake Jim\u2019s hand. \u201cAnd as for you, keep the little people away from me. I can\u2019t afford to fall again!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHappy Birthday,\u201d he said, laughing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is so fifteen minutes ago,\u201d I said, and actually whistled as I walked into the sunlight to see if I could find the car.<\/p>\n
![\"061414-Oat](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/061414-Oat-bread2-374x281.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Copyright 2014 Vic Socotra
\nwww.vicsocotra.com
\nTwitter: @jayare303<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have achieved a new summit: I have written not one but three stories I can\u2019t do anything with this morning. I will have to put them aside. At this rate, I will still be at the keyboard late this afternoon and miss crucial pool time. Anyway, the traumatic news of yesterday morning didn\u2019t sit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8000"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8004,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8000\/revisions\/8004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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