Harmless Quackery

East Hampton

December 29, 1997

Dear Helen,

I appreciate William Ellis's gallantry in defending his wife's practice of therapeutic touch, which in reality is a harmless form of quackery. And I appreciate the fact that in defending so-called energy healing, Mr. Ellis refers to himself as "a highly-trained and experienced behavioral scientist."

But I wonder why, then, when citing sources that endorse therapeutic touch and other "energy medicine" (whatever that is), he mentions only unnamed "scientists of stature" and such centers of quackery as the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy and the Institute of Noetic Sciences, founded by astronaut Ed Mitchell, whom fellow astronauts, by the way, regard as nice but a weirdo.

In calling therapeutic touch pure hokum, I have the support of such "scientists of stature" as Stanford University Nobel Laureate Paul Berg, Paul McHugh, chairman of the psychiatry department at Johns Hopkins University, and Nobel Laureates Murray Gell-Mann and Francis Crick, who, as a group, are surely highly qualified to make a judgment.

Mr. Ellis, without mentioning the sources, also claims that "many studies, including impressive double-blind studies, have clearly demonstrated the efficacy of therapeutic touch." Where were these studies published, Mr. Ellis? In the journals Nature or Science? In the Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, or other reputable publications? Not likely.

Finally, Mr. Ellis likens the nonexistent human energy fields to electromagnetic fields. As every schoolchild knows, electromagnetic or magnetic fields can be precisely detected and measured.

And, indeed, practitioners of therapeutic touch, who claim that healing occurs when they manipulate a patient's energy field (without laying a hand on the patient), say that they can feel that energy field.

So let's cut to the chase. There is a simple, eminently fair test that can verify or demolish the claim that a human energy field can be felt or detected by a touch therapist.

As I mentioned in a previous letter, that test (terms of which must be agreeable to both the claimant and the tester) can be made available upon short notice by the James Randi Educational Foundation of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Any touch therapist who can prove that he or she can feel or detect that field will be awarded a $1.1 million prize. So far, there has been just one taker, who failed miserably in the test, which was administered in front of staff members at a Philadelphia hospital.

But if you have the courage of your convictions, Mr. Ellis, perhaps you can talk you wife into going for the prize and demonstrating that the practice I call quackery is really valid.

Sincerely yours,

LEON JAROFF

Baby Teeth

East Hampton

December 31, 1997

Dear Helen Rattray,

Those attending the Dec. 5 Guild Hall meeting, "Brookhaven: Problems and Possibilities," expressed great concern about the newly announced high cancer incidence rate on the East End, especially for the female breast and male prostate.

As one who has long warned that radioactive discharges from both Brookhaven National Lab and Millstone contributed to the otherwise inexplicable Long Island cancer epidemic, I was interested in the defense of Brookhaven raised at the meeting by Dr. Stephen Musolino, a Brookhaven health physicist.

Star readers may recall that last year Dr. Musolino agreed to rebut my charges on an LTV program provided I would not be present at the studio. His appearance at Guild Hall and his willingness to defend Brook haven in public debate is a great advance and encourages me to pose some questions to him, which remain unanswered.

He announced that my proposed study of strontium-90 levels in Suffolk County baby teeth was "flawed" because we would indeed find trace amounts of strontium-90 due to past bomb test fallout and milk produced elsewhere, for which Brookhaven could not be responsible.

I find this to be an astonishing admission that fully justifies the decision recently made by the board of the new environmental nonprofit organization Standing for the Truth About Radiation (STAR) to finance the extension of the baby tooth study to all other areas possibly affected by reactor emissions of strontium-90, for which there is no natural source.

We have estimated that there are about 50,000 families in Suffolk County with children between the ages of 6 to 12, who annually lose and discard thousands of baby teeth. We currently have less than 200 baby teeth from Suffolk and other counties, clearly too few to yield reliable results.

My question to Dr. Musolino is this: How many teeth would we need from Suffolk County and elsewhere to justify his prediction that emissions from B.N.L. have been too small to be harmful?

Forty years ago, dental associations in St. Louis collected thousands of baby teeth and found a 20-fold increase in their strontium-90 content associated with the peak years of above-ground nuclear bomb tests, which helped persuade President Kennedy to terminate them in 1963.

The same question should be posed to Dr. Shirley Kenny, president of Stony Brook, recently designated to take over the management of the Brookhaven National Lab. She recently told David Friedson, STAR's president, that she was aware that the lab has lost the trust of Long Island residents and asked for our help in regaining that trust.

I am therefore confident that in time Stony Brook will endorse our baby teeth project, which will help establish the truth about radiation. Readers of The East Hampton Star willing to help STAR's baby teeth campaign should communicate with our East Hampton office at 66 Newtown Lane.

JAY M. GOULD

Fisheries In Trouble

Massapequa

December 30, 1997

Dear East Hampton Star,

I read the original Times article, the follow-up by Charles Witek, then your commentary in The Star on haul seines. Did you read the article in the Times?

For example, you write:

". . . Charles Witek 3d, who called haulseiners the "strip miners of the inshore sea," and said their nets kill thousands of bluefish and other untargeted species . . . ."

Witek did not need to say this, Peter Matthiessen, author of "Men's Lives," said this in his book. Witek quoted him, since you never would have believed it if it came from a recreational fisherman.

You write:

"He believes that if they are allowed to pursue a modified version of the fishery banned by the state in 1990, they would, in effect, deplete striped bass stocks singlehandedly."

Witek never says this, not directly or implied. He does make the point that he believes that this method of harvest is "dirty," and wonders why haulseiners are so interested in this gear type, when they already have access to the fish through a variety of other gear types.

You write:

"The best opinions are supported by fact and come from reliable sources."

Witek lists all of his sources: The National Marine Fisheries Service in its September report to Congress, Peter Matthiessen in "Men's Lives," the 1996 Ocean Haul Seine Survey, and a host of regulatory mandates that you can easily verify. You make vague references to a few of your own sources, though I would never be able to check up on any of them.

I have opinions on the remaining sections of your editorial, but it will probably get me nowhere. I'm sure this letter will never make it past your electronic in box.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has recently declared so many species as overfished! You mention a few where there is recreational participation, but you fail to discuss those fisheries in big trouble where it's close to 100 percent commercial: cod, silver hake, white hake, American lobster, Atlantic sea scallops, Atlantic swordfish, Atlantic halibut, tilefish, and monkfish.

My father used to take me fishing for some of these fish as a kid. In recent years, the commercial fisherman has removed the "sportie" from the equation, and I will probably never be able to venture out for any of those fish again in my lifetime. I don't want to see it happen with striped bass.

JOHN PAPCIAK

The question "Why this gear type when they have others?" reveals a sadly uninformed perspective. Pound traps work but are inconsistent and are a highly specialized method. Gillnets and the boats required to set them are expensive. Rod and reel pinhooking requires a costly investment. That the five haulseine crews already have the dories, nets, trucks, and, most important, the know-how to catch bass with ocean seines, is the heart of the matter.

In addition, modified haul seines could not possibly have a measurable impact on bass stocks.

Our figures on recreational landings come from the State Department of Environmental Conservation and the National Marine Fisheries Service. And, it was Charles A. Witek 3d who in The New York Times called haulseiners the strip miners of the sea. Peter Matthiessen is not quoted using the term, nor does it appear in "Men's Lives." Ed.

Please address correspondence to [email protected]

Please include your full name, address and daytime telephone number for purposes of verification.

A deal between East Hampton Town and the State Department of Environmental Conservation will allow the town to spread the gargantuan task of closing its two landfills over the next 13 years. Although a final decision on how to do so was not made, the town also learned last week that its 1990 application for $4 million in state assistance finally had been approved.

Town Board members were shocked by estimates last year that the cost of permanently closing the landfills, as required, could be as much as $50 million - the largest capital project in town history.

But two productive meetings with the State Department of Environmental Conservation in the weeks before and after Christmas left the new Town Board and its team of landfill experts with some hope.

Long-Term Schedule

Steven Latham, the town's lawyer for landfill matters, reported, during a Town Board meeting Tuesday, that East Hampton had been found eligible for the maximum assistance, $2 million per landfill. The town will have to borrow the rest, which could have a huge effect on the tax rate.

But the returning Town Board members - Supervisor Cathy Lester and Councilmen Len Bernard and Peter Hammerle - appeared relieved that the D.E.C. had agreed to a "highly flexible" preliminary work schedule, as Mr. Latham put it.

"Keep in mind that you are not making a final decision now on whether to cap or mine. The decision now is whether to accept $4 million. . . . This is just the beginning of the process," Mr. Latham said.

Mine One, Cap Other

Dr. Kevin Phillips, who heads the town's team of consulting engineers and geohydrologists and is a partner in the Ronkonkoma engineering firm of Fanning, Phillips, and Molnar, and Peter Dermody, a geohydrologist with that firm, had recommended last year that the town cap the East Hampton landfill and mine the landfill in Montauk.

Although the consultants said mining, the removal of some 30 years' worth of garbage and land reclamation, was the better alternative environmentally, they advised the board that it would cost significantly more at East Hampton, the larger of the two dumps.

From a fiscal perspective, the elongated schedule will permit the town to borrow in smaller increments. Additionally, there are generous repayment schedules available with municipal bonds, sometimes as long as 20 or 30 years.

Logistically, it will give the town until the end of 1999 to polish a work plan for the Montauk landfill and begin mining, and until the middle of 2008 to finish the job. It also will delay any capping at Springs-Fireplace Road until the halfway point for mining Montauk, the end of 2003. That would allow the findings there to help steer the course for the East Hampton dump.

Capping East Hampton and mining Montauk was estimated to cost a combined $38.4 million, compared to $50 million for mining both.

"Nominal" Fines

Mr. Latham told The Star that the earlier meeting allowed him to correct a "miscommunication" that had caused the D.E.C. to cite the town for violations at its Springs-Fireplace Road facility, which resulted in a threat of up to $80,000 in fines.

While the possibility of "nominal" fines lingers, Mr. Latham said, all the violations have been cured and the D.E.C. has been appeased.

The violations stemmed from aD.E.C. report that work to remove old septic sludge lagoons near the East Hampton landfill was behind schedule and paperwork on the operation of the adjacent recycling center was not filed on time. Mr. Latham said these situations were quickly brought up to date when the Town Board learned of them.

Ways To Recoup

Dr. Phillips said the second of the two meetings, on Dec. 30, went "extraordinarily well." He said the town and the D.E.C. took just a half hour to agree on a preliminary schedule for closing the two landfills and to hear the news of the $4 million grant.

Landfilling at the dumps ceased in 1993.

The consultants were quick to say the D.E.C. had agreed the town could mine East Hampton if something compelling turned up in Montauk to change the Town Board's mind about capping. And, they agreed there were ways to cut costs that should be explored.

Selling the hundreds of tons of gravel estimated to be in the Montauk landfill and reclaiming the land there for another use, if permitted by the D.E.C., could help the town recoup millions, and using town employees to do some or all of the work could be cheaper than hiring a contractor, they advised.

Capping Problems

While cheaper, capping is not without disadvantages, as well. It requires the 100-foot-high mountain between Springs-Fireplace Road and Acca bonac Highway to be regraded to half its height, a three-year project that would cause significant odor and require the monitoring of the area for groundwater contamination and methane gas build-up for at least 30 years.

A good portion of the $4 million in assistance will go toward paying down previous loans for lawyers, engineers, land around the East Hampton dump, where a series of monitoring wells were required to be installed, and the wells themselves.

Supervisor Lester noted, however, that the town also had applied for nearly $72 million in grant money and low-cost financing for a variety of capital projects, including landfill closure and the construction of the recycling and composting plants.

Helpful Infusion?

Though that money is expected to take several years to arrive, it would pay off or refinance loans for already completed projects and help keep the tax rate from soaring.

During Tuesday's meeting, the returning members of the board also tried to bring the two new members, Councilwoman Pat Mansir and Councilman Job Potter, up to speed on the complexities of the project. They had many questions, but appeared, by the end of the hour-long discussion, satisfied that the town was moving in the right direction.

At one point, Mr. Potter wondered whether it was possible to do nothing in Montauk, which was found to be a benign landfill with no groundwater contamination, and Ms. Mansir asked whether the consultants weren't overlooking some third option that could be cheaper or simpler.

Warning Given

"Will we look back in 20 years and say 'Aw, gee, if only we'd known. . . ?'" she asked.

Dr. Phillips warned, instead, that in 20 years people were likely "to look back and say it was ridiculous to spend all that money capping landfills; they're going to say they're all split, they're leaking, and we're still getting plumes of contamination in the groundwater," he said, adding that the expense and futility of capping was the board's impetus for studying mining.

Dr. Phillips went on to explain that a third method of closing landfills, known as phyto-remediation, had been tried experimentally upstate. Willow trees were planted to stabilize the surface of the landfill and to absorb rainwater so it wouldn't carry contaminants into the groundwater.

No Successes

But the roots of the willow trees absorbed heavy metals from the garbage below, and the trees themselves had to be disposed of in a landfill as a result, said Mr. Dermody.

The same team of consultants had also, it was explained, tried to negotiate an easier and cheaper alternative to capping for Fishers Island. While the D.E.C. did relax some of the rules, Mr. Latham said they argued unsuccessfully that the island's comparatively tiny dump posed no environmental hazard and should be exempt altogether.

"The D.E.C. will not give full relief and the number of variances it will grant is limited," said Mr. Latham. He added that East Hampton had managed to procure a few variances of its own during recent negotiations, such as a 75-percent reduction in the number of monitoring wells the agency had once wanted installed.

Further Aid?

Councilman Potter also wondered if the state would offer more financial assistance later, but Mr. Latham said that was unlikely. No municipality had gotten more than East Hampton, though it costs far more than $2 million to close even a small landfill. He suggested a statewide lobbying effort by the State Association of Towns.

The consultants, D.E.C. officials, and the Town Board will explain the details of the agreement and answer questions at an informational meeting set for 7 p.m. on Jan. 22. The meeting will be at the LTV Studio in East Hampton.

Larry Cantwell was the man who, greatly to his own relief, found the missing 300th-anniversary movie.

"We had moved our office three times in the past four years," the Village Administrator said on Monday, explaining how the film came to be lost, "from Main Street [in the old Osborne Bank building] to Cedar Street [temporary quarters in the Emergency Services Building] to Main Street [in the renovated Beecher House]."

"We had two metal film canisters - everyone remembered those - that had been in storage ever since I came 15 years ago. [Former Village Clerk] Don Halsey had told me it was an old film and we should hang on to it. When Averill [Geus, a vice chairwoman of the anniversary committee] told me they were looking, I said, 'I'm sure we have it.' "

"But I didn't find it in our new building, although everyone remembered the film cases and knew it was somewhere. We went through every space at the Beecher House looking for it, and finally thought, perhaps it got left behind at the police station?"

Mr. Cantwell checked out the basement storage room in the Cedar Street building. The film, he said, "to my chagrin," was nowhere to be found.

"As soon as you really want or need something, it's not there," lamented Mr. Cantwell. "You know you have it, you search and search, then you have that sinking feeling. . . ."

In the end, it was Chief Glen Stonemetz of the East Hampton Village Police who suggested the film might be in his department's Lost and Found, under lock and key.

There, on a shelf, were the two missing canisters. "I felt much relieved," said Mr. Cantwell feelingly. "I'd felt personally responsible for them."

A 52-part television series in honor of East Hampton's tricentquinquagenary, "Past and Present: Celebrating 350 Years of East Hampton," will premiere on Channel 27 this week.

The first installment will include footage from Sunday's opening ceremony for the year-long anniversary celebration, and the first of a series of "History Moments" by Hugh R. King, the town crier.

Future shows will feature historic footage from LTV's video archives, interviews with local historians, readings from historic documents, performances, footage from the 1948 300th Anniversary parade with narration by John Meeker, tours of local landmarks, and official anniversary events such as the monthly lecture series, which begins on Jan. 31.

"Past and Present" will air Mondays at 11 a.m., Tuesdays at 8:15 p.m., and Sundays at 5 p.m. LTV has put out a request for any video and film material that residents may wish to see incorporated in the program.

What was lost has been found again, much to the satisfaction of the 300 or so history buffs who overflowed Guild Hall on Sunday for the kickoff of East Hampton Town's 350th anniversary celebration.

Applause and whistles greeted Bruce Collins's announcement that a two-reel film of the 1948 parade and pageant, missing for almost 50 years, had been unearthed late in the week, deep in the bowels of the Emergency Services Building on Cedar Street.

LTV raced to print the film on Saturday, just in time for a videotape to be shown to a packed crowd in Guild Hall's library.

The showing was among the highlights of a day of pageantry and celebration that included the raising of the official anniversary flag, a fife-and-drum march and musketry salute, and a few historic speeches by former Town Supervisors and other dignitaries.

One resident of the town who, like many, had been away for the long holiday vacation, chanced to be driving home past the village green just as the Long Island Companies of the Third New York Regiment, resplendent in colonial uniforms, were firing their weapons. She was startled, and wondered for just a moment, she said, "what kind of people live here."

Mr. Collins, who heads the committee organizing the yearlong celebration, had the answer: People who, he told the Guild Hall audience, "leave a legacy to those following, to guide them on the road ahead."

After welcoming remarks from Guild Hall's president, Henry Korn, Town Supervisor Cathy Lester, and East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. (who was heard again a few hours later in a Channel 12 television news soundbite), slides of anniversaries past were shown.

A ticket to the dinner given in 1849 survives; as it was flashed on the screen Mr. Collins observed that Judge Henry P. Hedges, a noted local historian, had addressed the diners at some length that evening - 13,000 words, to be exact.

Artifacts from 1899 and 1924 were shown, and the 300th Anniversary logo, of a settler in a Pilgrim hat and an Indian sachem shaking hands. Warren Whipple was its designer.

Next came mention of some of the anniversary-related events ahead, including a treasure hunt aimed at, though not limited to, students in schools here. Its clues will lead seekers to local historical sites, and prizes will be awarded for locating the most sites.

"A great educational tool," Mr. Collins called the yearlong project.

He announced also, among other things, that a "silver benefactor," North Fork Bank, has come forward to sponsor the year's commemoration. North Fork announced on Saturday that it would give $15,000 to the cause, joining the "golden" benefactor, Suffolk County National Bank, which contributed $20,000 a few months ago.

Town officials, at the suggestion of Supervisor Cathy Lester, kicked off East Hampton's 350th year by playing dress-up at Friday's Town Board organizational meeting.

The costumes, replicas of clothing worn from the early colonial period to the early 1800s, came from the East Hampton Historical Society collection. The society also supplied the board with quill pens, lanterns, several early tools and implements, and dried herbs - a 17th century remedy to ward off evil spirits.

Supervisor Lester made her entrance in a black woolen cape and white bonnet worn over a full-length, floral print dress. Councilwoman Pat Mansir, Cynthia Shea, the town attorney, and Carol Brennan, an assistant town clerk, wore similar costumes.

Councilmen Len Bernard and Job Potter and the Town Clerk, Fred Yardley, dressed in frock coats. Justice Catherine Cahill wore a white wig over her black robe.

In a bold fashion departure, Councilman Peter Hammerle showed up in a suede colonial-era militia costume, complete with three-corner hat and musket, which he borrowed from Christopher Stress, who works for McLean and Associates, the town's engineers, and is a member of the Long Island Company of the Third New York Regiment. Members of the group stage Revolutionary War-era re-enactments at Mulford Farm each year and took part in Sunday's anniversary kick-off celebration.

"I seem to have been the wrong size," said Mr. Hammerle. "I came away from the Historical Society with a night shirt, and I didn't want to wear that."

Although he said it "felt great" to commemorate the anniversary in costume, Mr. Hammerle confided that he was not that comfortable wearing knickers with knee socks that were tied tight around his calves.

"Those socks were cutting off my circulation," he said.

"I was happy when I saw the costumes because I thought they would all be drab gray," Ms. Mansir said. "They finally made a woman out of me by getting me in a dress. And there were no sneakers or dungarees under it."

Karen Hensel, the Historical Society's director, said it would be safe to assume that East Hampton's first settlers dressed in "more somber and severe" clothing. "One would not look at their costumes as the last word," she said. "We went not for authenticity but for fit. We tried to present a feeling of times gone by."

The costumes are stored in a climate-controlled room at Clinton Academy and worn during the society's "Living History" programs at the academy, the Osborn-Jackson House, one-room school, and Mulford Farm, she said.

Among the artifacts the society brought out from its collection were a water clock dating from the mid-17th century, candle molds, mortars and pestles, wig curlers, foot warmers, Native American brooms, and a blubber spade.

While most town officials took the dress-up session light-heartedly, Mr. Potter said it made him reflect on the past. "Sitting up there, it made me think of what they went through," he said.

Legend says the name Whooping Boys Hollow, about halfway between East Hampton and Sag Harbor off Route 114, comes from warring Native Americans passing along a trail, or restless spirits dwelling in the woods.

More likely, according to the Rev. Jacob E. Mallmann in "Shelter Island and its Presbyterian Church," it is named for the "parting whoop" let out at the spot in 1653 by braves carrying the body of Poggatacut, the Sachem of Shelter Island, to Montauk for burial. (Some sources say the year was 1651.)

North of Whooping Hollow Road, a 1935 state landmark sign (which has been moved over time with the widening of the highway) marks the site. It also calls attention to Sachem's Hole nearby, where the body of Poggatacut (also spelled "Poggaticut") was laid while the pallbearers took a break during the trek.

Montauk Indians passing the sacred site kept Sachem's Hole clear of leaves and debris for almost 200 years.

Lion Gardiner referred to Poggatacut as the "great Sachem of all long Iland." His influence passed to his younger brother, Chief Wyandanch of Montauk, when he died.

William Wallace Tooker, a noted ethnographer who made a lifelong study of the tribes of Long Island, notes, however, that the name Poggatacut appears in no other colonial document but Lion Gardiner's. The state sign refers also to "Buc-usk-kil," though the connection between Buckskill Road, a few miles away off Stephen Hand's Path, and Whooping Boys Hollow is unclear. Buckskill is apparently of European origin: a "kil" in Dutch is a creek or other water source.

The only reference to Buckskill in the East Hampton Library's Long Island Collection is from April 9, 1698, when the Town Board "did then order that the prison should be sett at ye end of bucks skell."

So they're over. The holidays seem to begin with Halloween and stretch on and on through Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, and for some benighted families (like mine), with three or four birthdays tossed into the melee, it ain't over till it's over.

But guess what's not over, sports fans? You may think that New Year's Night ends college football with the New Orleans Sugar Bowl - which has been preceded by the Rose Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Citrus Bowl, the Gator Bowl, and, so help me, something I had never heard of before, the Outback Bowl (from Tampa, that famous "outback"), plus a half-dozen assorted minor "bowls" scattered around the country (though, oddly enough, no Rice Bowl).

And as I write the Peach Bowl is under way and the Orange Bowl comes up tonight.

But for us true fanatics, the Fat Lady still hasn't sung: The N.F.L. playoffs are winding to a close that will culminate with the Super Bowl on Jan. 25. That's the last real football before we enter the horse latitudes and the icy grip of endless hockey games and the 3,000 or so basketball games televised from all over the country from now until June.

So, you might well ask, what does a cook care?

Well, even fanatics gotta eat, and if the cook is one of their number, game plans must be made in the kitchen so that no plays are missed.

And if you are not a fan, you can win their hearts and minds by going straight for the stomach. Then maybe you can get them out to a movie or to watch the ice-dancing competitions.

Do-Ahead Dishes

The best options are do-ahead dishes and simple food that doesn't require a lot of cutlery and fussing around to serve; it can be made now and stashed in the fridge (or freezer, if necessary), then whipped out during the endless commercials and time-out lulls.

You'd be amazed at how much can be rushed through while the announcer is bleating on about tires or cars or various potables. (The most satisfactory potables for football are usually several kinds of beer, soft drinks, Bloody Marys, Tequila Sunrises, Margaritas. That sort of sprightly drink. Wine-drinkers are usually asleep by half-time.)

I realize that many people will settle for soggy pies hauled from the nearest pizzeria by whoever loses the coin toss. However, given the distance most of us live from any pizza joint, the things always arrive flabby and tepid and totally unresponsive to attempts at rehabilitation.

Pizza is street food. I've never met one that was edible more than 10 feet from the oven it was baked in.

A Versatile Food

Empanadas are little meat pies, originally Spanish, that migrated into Mexican cooking. They're portable food, perhaps invented like sandwiches so that Lord Sandwich could keep to his card table, or like the nori-maki (handrolls) invented for Japanese gamblers.

They may be eaten hot or cold; they may be sweet or savory, and they may be served as hors d'oeuvres, a main course, a snack, or a dessert. Any food that versatile is certainly worth learning about.

Leftover meats, fish, refried beans, ratatouille, cheese and onions, or any moist but not too sloppy filling makes delicious empanadas. They're really supposed to be fried, but I find baking them simpler, and the turnovers less rich and heavy.

It doesn't matter whether you bake or fry, but it is essential that the filling, whatever it is, be chilled before it is put into its pastry pocket.

Empanadas

These empanadas are filled with picadillo (a sort of Mexican hash made with ground beef) and are best eaten hot.

Makes about a dozen

6-inch turnovers.

Picadillo

2 Tbsp. olive or salad oil

1 lb. ground chuck

2 cloves garlic, minced

2/3 cup finely chopped onion

Salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp. chili powder (or more if you have a hot tooth)

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. ground allspice

3 Tbsp. tomato paste

1/2 cup water

1 Tbsp. small capers

Heat the oil and saute the ground beef, breaking up the chunks with a fork. Add the garlic, onions, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring, until the onions are transparent. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, and allspice; cook briefly over low heat to rid the spices of their "raw" taste. Stir in the tomato paste, water, and capers and simmer about five minutes, covered. If the picadillo is too dry, add enough water so that the mixture is juicy but not runny.

Spread out on a platter and chill in the refrigerator while you make the pastry.

Pastry

2 cups flour, sifted

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 cup vegetable shortening (such as Crisco)

6 or 7 Tbsp. ice-cold club soda (or plain water)

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together; then, with a pastry blender or two table knives, cut in the shortening until it is in bits the size of small peas. (Or blend the shortening into the flour, baking powder, and salt in a food processor.)

Sprinkle on the cold club soda spoonful by spoonful, pressing the dough together with a fork. (I don't know why this makes crisper pastry than plain water, but it does.) Use just enough club soda to hold the flour and shortening together.

Form the dough into two balls, handling as little as possible. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for half an hour in the fridge.

Fry Or Bake

Roll one ball out on a floured pastry cloth or board to about an eighth of an inch thickness. Using the lid of a coffee can or something sharp-edged and about six inches in diameter (hors d'oeuvre empanadas should be only about three inches in diameter), cut out circles of pastry and lay them aside on waxed paper. Repeat with the second ball of dough.

Spoon about one tablespoon of the chilled picadillo onto the center of each pastry circle, moisten halfway round the edge with ice water, and fold the pastry over to form a half-moon. Then crimp the edges tightly together with a fork. Complete the remaining turnovers.

Either fry the empanadas a few at a time in about one inch of very hot oil for about five minutes (then they must be well-drained on lots of paper toweling), or bake as follows:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Arrange the turnovers about an inch apart on a greased cookie sheet, prick each with a sharp fork, brush with melted shortening or salad oil, and bake about 15 minutes until they color a pale golden brown.

Note: These freeze well, unbaked. Thaw before baking.

Marinated Tuna Burritos

Strictly California cuisine. I got the basic idea for these from an imaginative paperback by Victoria Wise and Susanna Hoffman. These handy snacks could also be made with salmon or swordfish and are easy and quick to make. Some fish markets sell chunks, cut from the premium steaks, at a bit lower price. If large, cut them into bite-size pieces.

Makes 12 burritos.

2 lbs. tuna, salmon, or swordfish chunks

2 Tbsp. grated onion

1/4 cup fresh lime or lemon juice

1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce or Japanese marinade

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 head savoy or Chinese cabbage, shredded

Salt to taste

2 Tbsp. minced fresh cilantro

1 or 2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and minced

Your favorite salsa

12 flour burritos

Toss And Turn

Mix together the first five ingredients and let stand, at room temperature, for about 20 minutes.

Heat a really large skillet or two smaller ones and film them with olive oil. Drain the fish chunks and toss them in the pan in a single layer to sear quickly. Turn them quickly several times for about three minutes, remove, and keep warm.

Heat the tortillas in a low oven, wrapped in a tea towel, or in the microwave very briefly.

Toss the cabbage into the same skillet and stir-fry quickly over high heat. Remove. Divide the fish and cabbage among the warmed tortillas, sprinkle with cilantro and jalapeno, and drizzle a bit of salsa on top of each. Roll them up and serve.

These could also be made ahead, wrapped in wax or parchment paper, then reheated very briefly - they're to be eaten warm, not hot -when needed.

Black Bean Soup

If you puree this soup and make it not too thick, it can be served in mugs and won't even need spoons. Nothing could be simpler than cooking black beans, but if you prefer, there are pretty good canned ones on supermarket shelves.

Makes about two quarts.

4 cups cooked black beans

3 cups bean juice or beef broth

1 bay leaf

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 large onion, chopped

1 Tbsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. ground coriander

Salt and red pepper to taste

Red wine or sherry vinegar

Garnish: sour cream (optional)

Simmer the beans briefly with the bean juice or broth and bay leaf. Heat the oil in a skillet and gently fry the garlic, onion, cumin, and coriander until aromatic and the onions are transparent. Stir this into the bean soup and season to taste with salt, pepper, and a splash or two of vinegar. Simmer briefly and puree (after removing the bay leaf).

Reheat and serve in mugs, with a teaspoon or so of thinned sour cream on top.

I learned how to shoot and was not a bad shot.

Good sportsmanship and safety was the rule.

Amagansett was still country when Kenneth Edwards and I were married in 1943.

Ken and I were not only husband and wife, but friends and companions. We liked doing things together and since game was a big part of the winter larder, I needed to learn how to shoot.

Ken would take me to the dump and would bring his pistol. He would set up bottles for me to shoot at, but try as I might my aim was not good enough to hit them.

Let a rat show its nose, though, and I would have it. The dump was infested with them at that time.

Little by little I did learn how to shoot and was not a bad shot. I was so proud of my prowess that I decided to have Ken's brothers and their wives over for a festive dinner. I had shrimp cocktail, candlelight, and wine, and the piece de resistance, a wild goose that I had shot.

However, I had never cooked wild game before.

Ken, with knife in hand, made a grand gesture of carving the bird, when the knife bounced back at him and the goose bounced off the floor. The dinner had to proceed without the goose.

I discovered there is an art to cooking game. I made it a project from then on, and did learn how to do it well. The old folks used to boil the birds first, which I did not like, since all the goodness was cooked out. I steamed the goose first, with the seasonings, and then roasted it.

We wanted to teach our son to handle a gun, and gave him a BB gun with instructions as to handling it. We let him practice in the backyard until we found him trying to shoot a bird out of a tree two houses down, in Ken's sister's yard. The gun was put on hold for a while after that.

One time we heard bullets whizzing by and traced it to the Bistrians' house on Atlantic Avenue. Peter Bistrian and family lived in the third house on the east side, past Old Montauk Highway. We found that the boys, Pat and Bruce (I believe), were practicing with a rifle, shooting in our direction. After we spoke with Pete, their father, the rifle was no longer theirs to practice with.

Hunting was natural for us. Game was plentiful at that time. Ken spoke of how in years gone by he would walk a long distance to get to Oyster Pond, in Montauk, and then return with game on his back.

We belonged to the Indian Field Gun Club, which had a shanty on Oyster Pond, where we spent many a weekend. It was complete with outhouse. We cooked and heated with a coal stove, used kerosene lamps, and had a pump at the sink for water. We hunted, looked for clams and oysters, and enjoyed the privacy. The East Hampton gun club had a shanty nearby and the Montauk gun club had one across the pond.

Good sportsmanship and safety was the rule. We shot only what we could eat. The one exception was a fox that we thought was killing our birds and was mangy.

When the hunting season opened, we were always concerned about the people who drove out from the city to hunt for the day. We figured that they took their guns out once a year and were not careful about handling them. With their red outfits on, they would pile as many into a car as possible and head out to the country to hunt.

One day Ken, Kenny, and I were at Lazy Point, on the lookout for pheasants, when we saw one crossing the road. We got out of the truck just as an out-of-town car arrived. People streamed out, as if from a Barnum and Bailey Circus car. I said, "Let's get out of here," but Ken said, "No, we were here first." We let the dog out to flush the pheasant, as we all stood at half moon. The pheasant flew and we raised our guns to shoot, when one of the stranger's guns went off, peppering our son. Fortunately the only shot that penetrated was one pellet that went into his finger. No one would admit having the safety off, before raising their gun.

Our son Ken Jr. would bring his Chesapeake retriever, Dash, to the Indian Field shanty, and now and then his friend Terry Parsons. Terry's family owned the Amagansett Lumber Yard.

We would occasionally invite friends like Betty and Erwin Schellinger, who lived in a house built by the Schellinger family in 1763, on Main Street in Amagansett - doctors' offices, today.

One time when the Schellingers were at the shanty, hornets invaded the attic. We worked hard to smoke them out. We thought we had succeeded, until bedtime. The bunkroom had four bunks and Ern had the upper bunk and as he sank into bed, he jumped up and shouted: "Ow! He stung me in the ass!" We laughed about it many times. We had missed one hornet.

The camp was sold in 1961. The shanty was moved behind the Town Marine Museum on Bluff Road in Amagansett. It is pretty much the way it was, except for the bunkroom door, where everyone had written their names, the date, and what game was taken. The door was stolen. It would add so much if it could be found and replaced.

The state park bought the other camps at the same time as the Indian Field Gun Club.

My husband was associated with Gardiner's Island, as was his father before him. Sam Edwards owned the Magdalene, an old 110-foot sub chaser which had been converted to a fishing boat. He would transport things back and forth for the island. Ken took over and we were very good friends with Jimmy and Alex Eccles, who were the caretakers at that time. We would visit them now and then. They lived in the old manor house, which later burned down. We slept in an upstairs bedroom with no heat or bathroom and no insulation. We cuddled close to keep warm and used the under-the-bed potty.

Winston Guest was renting the island at that time and he had a downstairs game room, with all his trophies which he had collected from all over the world, which included javelins. When he and his friends got tipsy they would throw them at the back door. Sometimes the javelins would go through the back door and hit Virginia Hall (the slaves' quarters).

We hunted on the island also, but that is another story. The memories come floating back and, once started, can go on and on.

Louise E. Edwards moved to Amagansett at 17, and lived there until 1994. She now lives in North Carolina. Her husband and son are now deceased.

The Maidstone Arms

Main Street

East Hampton

324-5006

Open daily for lunch and dinner

The Maidstone Arms is an oasis of calm in an increasingly noisy, frenzied world. The impression - illusion though it is - that you are in a country inn in the wilds of New England is so soothing that the first thing you do when you sink into your chair is to breathe a heavy sigh of relief: You've escaped.

The main dining room has been enlarged and very prettily redecorated in blue. The waitstaff is friendly and accommodating but no one hovers about or overcossets you, and if you want a three-hour lunch, so be it, you won't be hurried along.

One of the nicest times to visit is at Christmas, when the inn looks like a Bing Crosby film set and hot rum toddies are served at the bar.

Silky Terrine

A good wine list is to be expected, but there is also an armlong list of cognacs and single malt whiskeys. The menu is very imaginative, with dishes showing gentle influences of everywhere from Vietnam to Mexico.

While the prices of entrees, from $19.50 to $30, are on a par with those of other good East End restaurants, the appetizers, $7 to $18.50, are definitely on the expensive side. But the appetizers are rather special.

We didn't go so far as to try the most expensive, a seared foie gras with "orange-scented spring fruits," but judging by how good the silky terrine of chicken and duck livers ($12.50) was, it is probably worth the money.

Care And Attention

The terrine was wonderful, but the cost might still have caused pain if it hadn't been for the care and attention lavished on the plate - the little heap of sweet and sour baked shallots, the drops of an intense onion reduction, and the dark, rich, nutty triangles of toast.

The mixed green salad justified its $9.50 price tag by being twice the size of those elsewhere.

The grilled shrimp rolls ($11.50) with rice noodles and nuoc nam, a Vietnamese fish sauce, provided an unusual combination of flavors, but they paled beside what is described as a "rum-smoked salmon martini."

Have A Salmon Martini

This is a martini glass of lightly smoked salmon that has then been marinated in rum and smoked again by the chef. It'll set you back $12.50, but it's marvelous. If you want to celebrate spring, I suggest taking a midday break from hoeing next weekend to have both a salmon martini and a real martini for lunch. (Just kidding.)

Moving on to the entrees, the grilled sirloin of beef is a fine hefty piece for the price, though the garlic mashed potatoes disappointed, being a little on the dry side. It's a safe bet, considering the quality of the side dishes, that this was but a momentary lapse.

Gilding The Lily

The halibut was served with the most spectacular herb-roasted root vegetables (it might not seem that the words "spectacular" and "root vegetable" belong in one sentence, but try these and you'll understand) and "truffled" fava beans, which were whole fresh fava beans in what appeared to be a rough puree of different vegetables.

The fish itself had been rolled in rather powerful spices, including cumin, that I found a bit dissonant with the fish.

Another dish where perhaps imagination ran away with the chef is an excellent loin of pork, tender and tasty, which is beautifully complemented by a molé sauce and crunchy handmade garlic chips. We agreed that it would have been fine just like that, but to include a crabmeat stuffing was gilding the lily. More was less.

A Winning Duck

But there were no reservations about the roast lacquered duck with coconut almond rice, shiitake mushrooms, and baby bok choy, which was our favorite entree and is highly recommended.

Coming a close second was the rack of Colorado lamb, with its dark spicy outer crust and a rose-pink center. It came with a mixture of onions and a garlic couscous and it brought to mind an interesting piece of food trivia.

Most people will be familiar with the lines from Fitzgerald's translation of Omar Khayyam that are a paean to the simple life: "A book of verses underneath the bough,/A jug of wine, a loaf of bread - and thou/Beside me singing in the wilderness -"

Accompaniments

But did you know that in the original Persian, Khayyam includes a leg of lamb in the list? Now that's more like it!

While it is the fish and steaks and such that are always center stage on a menu, at the Maidstone Arms diners should really pay attention to what else comes with the dish, because some of the extras are as good as the big-name draw.

Every dish, as it should for those prices, comes with different accompaniments and it is here that you really see the chef's imagination at work: those amazing roasted root vegetables, the fresh fava beans, some baby bok choy, the garlic chips, three different sorts of onions, and so on.

The Whole Package

The dessert menu is full of tempting choices, including a Texas peach cobbler and very nice individual apple tart rather like a tarte Tatin. The cobbler sat well with me because I like the stodgy cobbler part, but the rest of our reviewing crew complained that it was light on fruit.

When you have finished dining, you can wander into the enclosed porch, where there is live music of an unobtrusive kind, for a nightcap.

The food at the Maidstone Arms is expensive, but imaginative and very good. That would be a sufficient recommendation, but it's the whole package - lovely service, no music, good acoustics, pretty surroundings, a tranquil atmosphere - that makes dining here such a pleasure.