Brown Rice and Kale Salad

This is the salad I came up with before some long flights. It keeps for a few days in the refrigerator and easily keeps at room temperature for hours. Pack it in some Tupperware or recycled takeout containers and grab your fork and napkins at the airport.

Serves two (or you, twice, because you’re stuck at the airport for a few hours).

2 cups cooked brown rice

1 bunch Lacinato kale, also known as black or dinosaur kale, stems removed, sliced into ribbons

3 Tbsp. raw sauerkraut or kimchi with a few Tbsp. of the vinegar (available at local health food stores and full of good probiotics)

2 Tbsp. olive oil

3 Tbsp. Marcona almonds

6 dried apricots, sliced

Combine the kale with the sauerkraut and olive oil, massage with hands for a few minutes to tenderize, break down, and flavor the kale. When ready to pack up, add the rice, almonds and apricots.

You can vary this recipe by adding different nuts and fruit, adding a few drops of sesame oil to make it Asian style, or whatever you wish.

Manna

670 Montauk Highway

Water Mill

631-726-4444

Lunch and dinner, seven days

Kurt Vonnegut once said of critics: “He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae or banana split.” As a restaurant reviewer, my job is to literally attack that hot fudge sundae or banana split. And then to analyze it, take into account my guests’ opinions of it, deconstruct its components, contemplate its freshness, price, presentation, and finally to praise or criticize it.

One of the best features of this newspaper is the Letters to the Editor section. All letters are printed as long as they are legitimate, not anonymous, and not libelous. If you are a loyal reader of this section, you may have noticed that some folks use it as their weekly forum. It was through one of these letters that I met the “critic’s critic,” Joe Policano. 

He disagreed with one of my reviews, and we began a correspondence. I asked my editors if I could invite Mr. Policano along for a review. The idea was approved years ago but temporarily forgotten. I would get the occasional email from him reminding me that I had made this offer, letting me know his food preferences, when and if he would be in town, and what he thought of such-and-such restaurant that he and his wife had just had the displeasure of dining at. Pierre’s. Lunch. Too expensive.

We decided to meet at Manna, a new Italian restaurant in the old Mirko’s space in Water Mill. “We’ll be the interracial couple in their 80s,” he informed me. “Remind me to tell you about the time I had dinner with Craig Claiborne” was another tantalizing tidbit he threw my way before our meeting.

The Mirko’s space remains the same but is due for renovations in the near future. The entrance has a tiny, cozy bar to the left, and a small dining room to the right with a fireplace, pale blue walls, and an old, low, acoustic-tile ceiling. Some striking artworks by Gil Ferrer, a hair salon owner, adorn the walls, large oil paintings in shades of blue and green punctuated with gazillions of seashells.

When Joe and Kathy arrived, dapper and pretty, respectively, we ordered some Gavi wine and enjoyed the tabletop offering of a dish of ricotta, olives, and sun-dried tomato tapenade to go with some sourdough rolls. They told me they met their first day at Brooklyn College 58 years ago. Joe worked in P.R., running his own firm; Kathy was a teacher. When he retired in 1985, they traveled through Europe for a year.

“Where did Joe’s interest in food come from?” I asked as an amuse bouche of little meatballs arrived. He used to cook a lot and even took Chinese cooking lessons, one time serving a 16-course meal to friends. “We ate Chinese food for two years straight,” Kathy reminisced, somewhat fondly. The meatballs were delicious, light and fluffy, with a mild tomato sauce.

Joe and Kathy raised their children in Queens and spent winters in Puerto Rico until 1990 when they moved to East Hampton year round. His meeting with Craig Claiborne came about when his P.R. company was representing the Czechoslovakian Tourism Office in Washington, D.C. He invited Mr. Claiborne to attend a dinner there, and he did. He then reciprocated by inviting Joe to join him as he reviewed a restaurant in New York City, Trattoria Gatti. Mr. Claiborne didn’t think much of the place, neither did Joe, and Mr. Claiborne confided in him that he really didn’t much like reviewing restaurants at all.

For first courses we ordered eggplant timbale, duck spring rolls, and grilled octopus. The eggplant timbale was a huge portion: roasted slices of eggplant piled high and filled with sheep’s milk ricotta and some mozzarella and topped with tomato sauce. The eggplant was tender and delicious. The duck spring roll appetizer was four small rolls topped with a porcini glaze and micro greens and sitting on an absolutely delicious sauce of parsley, basil, and garlic. 

The octopus salad was a pretty presentation: thin slices of nicely charred octopus, some olive chimichurri, an edible orchid, and more micro greens. I was finding it difficult to interview my guests and pay attention to the food at the same time. Did Joe like his eggplant? “It’s nice.”

I tried to get a sense of what kinds of foods they like and why my critic disagrees with some of my reviews. At this point he tried to tell me he doesn’t recall ever criticizing my reviews and says they’re the first thing he reads in The Star. I ask Joe and Kathy what their favorite restaurants are on the East End. They loved Della Femina’s (“but not his politics!”). They adored Gordon’s in Amagansett, and miss the ambiance of John Duck’s in Southampton. Cafe Max is nice, La Parmagiana in Southampton is considered a good value, and Tweeds in Riverhead is a favorite. I began to realize that we probably have completely different tastes in restaurants, but I appreciated their opinions.

For entrees we tried the swordfish, veal chop, and short rib pappardelle. When Joe got his swordfish, he lamented having ordered two dishes in a row smothered in tomato sauce. Also, his couscous was cold, he informed our waiter, Ricky. Ricky consulted the chef and returned to tell Joe that it is meant to be room temperature. So that’s that. The fish was tasty, and the sauce borders on a puttanesca, full of red onions and olives.

Kathy’s short rib pappardelle was a big hit. We all agreed it was flavorful and the meat tender. I enjoyed my veal chop, for two days actually. It was huge, seasoned and cooked perfectly, and served with truffled wild mushrooms and mashed potatoes and garnished with a few black truffle slices and rosemary sprigs.

The service on the night of our visit was very good but slow. I would attribute this more to the fact that Manna was packed, and the restaurant is brand new. Prices are expensive: Appetizers are $15 to $26, entrees are $22 to $48, sides are $10 to $15, and desserts are $12 to $14. There was no hard liquor license at the time of our visit, but the wine and beer selections are reasonable.

As the Policanos didn’t care for dessert, and we’d been at Manna for three hours by that point, I ordered two to go, the berry Napoleon and deconstructed cannoli. The deconstructed cannoli was pretty good. A few shards of crisp cannoli shell were embedded in ricotta filling with chocolate chips, some berries, and a drizzle of chocolate sauce. The berry Napoleon was absolutely delicious. It was several crisp rounds of puff pastry layered with an excellent vanilla pastry cream and chock full of blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. The top had a crackling layer of caramelized sugar, and it even remained crisp through the following day.

So the fur didn’t fly, blood wasn’t let, and no glasses were broken at the meeting of the critic and her critic. Perhaps Kurt Vonnegut should have taken his armored critics out for a meal and tried to find common ground. As for me, I’m pretty sure my tastes will always differ from the Policanos’, but we have already made plans for a field trip to their favorite Italian restaurant, Baby Moon in Westhampton Beach. 

I like my critics, I like differences of opinion, and I like to hear people’s stories.

Slow Food East End will have its spring market dinner tonight at Almond restaurant in Bridgehampton. While the deadline for reservations has passed, reservations are being taken for the group’s next event, a dinner co-sponsored by the Joshua Levine Memorial Foundation on April 17. “A Moveable Feast,” to be held at the Dodds and Eder Landscape Design Showroom in Sag Harbor, will raise money for kitchen gardens on the East End in honor of the late Mr. Levine, who was interested in educating children about healthy eating and sustainable farming. A host of East End chefs, restaurants, and purveyors will contribute foods, and a silent auction will take place. Tickets are $150 per person, or $100 for Slow Food members, with a $25 discount given to members who buy two or more tickets. 

Easter Sunday

Baron’s Cove restaurant in Sag Harbor will serve an Easter brunch on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Diners may order from the a la carte menu or choose a “Sunday Roast” featuring lamb or beef served with maple carrots, smashed parsnips, roasted fingerling potatoes, and local kale. Outdoors on the lawn, there will be Easter egg hunts for kids at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Reservations are required, and guests have been asked to specify if they are bringing children. 

Easter Sunday dinner at the 1770 House in East Hampton will be served a la carte beginning at 5 p.m. The menu will include sweet pea soup with crab, tarragon, and crispy speck; asparagus salad with a North Fork duck egg, spring onion, and baby mustard greens; lamb chops with rosemary, garlic, potatoes, and roasted ramps; roasted Texas Wagyu prime rib, and maple-cured Berkshire pork chops with smoked local apple, spiced sweet potato, and slow-cooked greens. The restaurant’s downstairs tavern will be serving, as well, from its regular menu. Dinner begins at 5:30 p.m. and reservations have been recommended. The restaurant is also holding a chocolate bunny raffle to raise money for the Flying Point Foundation for Autism. 

Indie Wineries Tips

On Wednesday at Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits in Wainscott, two experts from Indie Wineries will discuss Chilean wines at the next in a weekly series of tastings and classes. Christian Troy, a partner in Indie Wineries, and Kate Olivares, the Chilean portfolio manager, will lead the session at 5:30 p.m. The cost is $10. Those who wish to attend can sign up by calling the store or sending an email to Wainscottmain@ gmail.com.

For those who care about stocking the refrigerator with the freshest produce on the East End, March is the month to begin signing up for membership in a community supported agriculture program, or C.S.A. 

A C.S.A. member prepays a farm for a share of its future yield and gets a weekly supply of fresh produce during the harvest season, usually beginning in June. C.S.A.s eliminate the middleman, putting consumers in direct contact with growers. “Producer and consumer are joined in a mutual support system,” explained Scott Chaskey of the Peconic Land Trust’s Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett. A C.S.A. “builds and sustains local relationships between people and local soils and local economies and the local ecosystem,” he said. “Why not enjoy food with a name and a place and a face?”

Ian Calder-Piedmonte of Balsam Farms, also in Amagansett, agreed that the benefits go far beyond merely connecting a consumer to fresh produce. His farm’s C.S.A. exposes consumers to the bounty of the East End in a new way. “We include vegetables that are longtime favorites, but we also include lesser known varieties, along with recipes and cooking suggestions so that members know how to use them. It’s a great way for members to experience the many delicious vegetables that thrive on the East End that they might not otherwise think to try.”

By paying up front, C.S.A. members cover many of the early-season costs needed to restart a farming operation. In exchange, Mr. Calder-Pied monte says, “members get vegetables at what amounts to discounted prices throughout the season, along with recipes, varietal information, and other personal touches that bring them closer to their food source.” 

Below are a few of the choices for people interested in joining a C.S.A. this season.  

Amber Waves

Amber Waves farm offers weekly, family-size boxes of organic produce that members can pick up at the farm off Amagansett Main Street or offsite in Montauk or Sag Harbor. Members also have access to “you-pick” areas of the farm where they can harvest flowers and in-season produce including herbs, raspberries, and cherry tomatoes. 

Memberships range in length from 15 weeks for $750 to 26 weeks for $1,050. New this year, members will receive a field guide that includes storage tips, field maps, and a calendar of events. Local bread, cheese, and fruit can be added to the weekly box for additional fees. All shares begin the week of Memorial Day  and continue as late as Thanksgiving, depending on the plan. 

Produce offerings vary, but one sample box from last fall included butternut and kabocha squash, radishes, tomatillos, daikon, Russian and Italian kale, mustard greens, sweet potatoes, eggplant, garlic, and lettuce.  

Balsam Farms

Farmers at Balsam Farms curate a box of fresh vegetables, greens, herbs, and fruit that members pick up weekly from the stand on Town Lane in Amagansett. Memberships range from $500 for a 15-week plan to $860 for 26 weeks. Flowers, cheeses, bread, fruit, and eggs can be added to a share for additional fees. The 26-week plan runs from May through November. 

A share in the last week of July 2015 included corn, lettuce, Sungold tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, Cubanelle peppers, cabbage, bok choy, onions, and kale. 

Bhumi Farms

Bhumi Farms, which also has fields in Amagansett, offers memberships that begin June 7 this year. Members can pick up their weekly boxes of organic produce at the farm stand on Pantigo Road in East Hampton or at the Montauk Farmers Market or the Hayground Farmers Market in Bridgehampton. 

Bhumi might be the best option for the busy foodie because it offers delivery as well. Members who enjoy getting out in the fields can harvest certain vegetables themselves.  

Bhumi lets members customize their box each week online. A default box will be put together when selections are not made. Bhumi also offers add-ons like a fruit share, almond milk, coffee, and prepared vegetarian foods. Memberships range from $300 for a five-week share to $750 for a 13-week share including delivery.

The offerings, according to the Bhumi Farms website, include such things as “carrots of every color, sugar snap peas, striped beets, shelling peas, husked cherries, shishito peppers by the crateful, cherry tomatoes, string beans, cucumbers, tomatoes large and small, red and orange, kales, lettuce, wonderful salad mixes, the juiciest watermelons, herbs for every occasion, sweet potatoes, and fairytale eggplant” among other things. 

Quail Hill

If you are feeling a little more adventurous this summer, Quail Hill Farm, on Side Hill and Deep Lanes in Amagansett, offers a more hands-on experience. Although one type of membership offers a weekly boxed pickup, what sets Quail Hill apart from other C.S.A.s is that members harvest in the fields themselves, twice a week. Farmers post a list of what is available each harvest day and where it’s located on the farm. In the fields, signs let them know how much they can harvest per share and how to pick, cut, or dig it up. 

Quail Hill memberships begin in early June and continue through the end of October. Prices start at $350 for a weekly box pickup for a single member to $950 for a family membership that allows you to harvest produce, herbs, and flowers in the fields. Boxed shares do not include herbs or flowers.

A weekly share in early July 2015 included arugula, bok choy, collards, fava beans, kale, fennel, green beans, lettuce, potatoes, radishes, scallions, spinach, Swiss chard, flowers, and herbs such as chives, cilantro, dill, mint, parsley, rosemary, and thyme.

Chimene Visser Macnaughton, the proprietor of Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits and a sommelier, will discuss “Decoding the Restaurant Wine List: Does ‘Date Wine’ Cost $100?” at the next of the shop’s ongoing Wine Wednesday events. The session, at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, will cost $10 and include a wine tasting. Those who would like to sign up may do so by calling the shop or by sending an email to [email protected].

Spring Market Dinner

Slow Food East End’s spring market dinner will be served at Almond in Bridgehampton next Thursday night at 6:30, and reservations are being taken until Sunday. The meal will celebrate the area’s native and traditional foods. It will begin with a cocktail reception. Four courses will be served family-style. The cost is $100, or $85 for Slow Food members. The price includes a beverage at cocktail hour, wine tastings, and tax and gratuity. Reservations can be made at slowfoodeastend.org.

Seasonal Reopening

Il Capuccino Italian restaurant in Sag Harbor reopens tomorrow night for dinner after a seasonal break. The restaurant will have a new bar menu and a fresh lineup of specials.

Easter Is Coming

Those making Easter plans might want to consider a trip to East Hampton Town’s easternmost hamlet, where a sunrise service is normally held at the Montauk Lighthouse on Easter Sunday. 

Starting at 11 on Easter morning, the Montauk Yacht Club will offer a buffet holiday meal that will stretch until 4 p.m. The buffet will include a chef’s table with pan-seared Montauk tilefish, stuffed chicken breast, salads, vegetables, and assorted antipasti, stations with custom-prepared eggs and omelets and leg of lamb, a seafood bar, and handcrafted pasta with a choice of sauces. For dessert there will be a chocolate fondue fountain and a Viennese dessert table. The cost is $74.95 per adult, or $24.95 per child age 8 and up. Those under that age may eat for free. 

Momi Ramen Reservations

Momi Ramen in East Hampton has a new online reservation system at momihamptons.com, where tables may be reserved up to two weeks in advance. The number of reservations will be limited, so walk-in diners can still be accommodated. Bar seating at the ramen eatery is also reserved for walk-in guests. 

Cavaniola’s in ’Gansett

Cavaniola’s Gourmet cheese shop, which sells cheeses, sandwiches, soups, and other prepared foods in Sag Harbor, will be opening in Amagansett in early May. The shop is setting up in a space at Amagansett Square.

St. Patrick’s Day has turned into a silly affair in this country. What began as a religious holiday in Ireland has morphed into an excuse to get buckled, fluthered, ossified, scuttered, and stocious on green beer. There, you just learned some Irish slang for getting drunk. Needless to say, my people have a lot of terms for this national pastime.

I am mostly Irish (Murphy, Donnelly . . . duh!), with a good bit of Norwegian from my grandmother (Wiborg). When we were growing up, our father made sure we were aware of the prejudice against Irish immigrants in America. We didn’t eat a lot of Irish-style foods, except for corned beef and cabbage with potatoes on St. Patrick’s Day. Which gives me another factoid to clear up. The Irish never ate corned beef and cabbage on this holiday until they came to America. Since the fatty bacon they were used to was too expensive or not even available, the Jewish butchers on the Lower East Side offered corned beef as a substitute. Corned beef and cabbage is British, as was St. Patrick. And he didn’t chase snakes out of the country, either; there were no snakes on the Emerald Isle.

If you want to prepare a meal for St. Patrick’s Day that is more true to the roots of that country, a simple baked salmon served with colcannon (mashed potatoes with sautéed onions and kale), some Irish soda bread, and perhaps an Irish cheese — cheddar or Cashel blue — could be on your menu. Any kind of lamb would be authentic as well. 

At the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry, County Cork, a recent St. Paddy’s Day menu was fried lamb belly fingers, slow poached chicken with tarragon, colcannon, roasted carrots, and herbed Irish cheddar croquettes. Not exactly diet food, but certainly more tasty than corned beef and cabbage, right?

I went to Ireland 25 years ago and was  disappointed in the food: a continual round of smoked salmon, brown bread, butter, and Guinness stout. But a more recent trip for a wedding revealed a serious food revolution, especially in Dublin. We had the best mussels ever in Kinsale, a resort and fishing town very similar to Long Island’s East End. But the wedding itself revealed how backwards some parts of the country still are. As this was a hippie-heavy event (Donovan performed), the bride and groom requested vegetarian options for many of the guests. It was literally potatoes five ways, and nothing else. This cracked me up, although it’s a bit sad in retrospect. 

One of my favorite cookbooks is Cathal Armstrong’s “My Irish Table.” He grew up in Dublin where his mum was a renowned baker and his da had a garden and did most of the cooking. Cathal now has a number of restaurants and bars in Alexandria, Va., the most famous of which is Restaurant Eve. Every time I visit, I go see Cathal and tell him what I’ve cooked from his book. He always asks, “Did the recipe work for you? We really struggled with that one!” It’s true, some of the measurements are off, as is often the case when a restaurant chef tries to reduce quantities for the home cook. But his soda bread is simple perfection and the Cashel blue cheese and toasted pecan terrine with apple jam and frisee salad is one of the best flavor and texture combinations I have ever tried.

In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is still considered a religious holiday observed with reverence and solemnity. No dyeing rivers green like in Chicago, no green bagels. As a matter of fact, most of the pubs are closed. The holiday falls in the middle of Lent, when many people are fasting or abstaining. But on this day, after going to Mass, families gather to celebrate and feast on leg of lamb or roast prime rib or a whole baked salmon. So don’t be a dodgy spalpeen, celebrate responsibly and deliciously. Slainte!

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Sip, Sip

Sunday is the day for this year’s Empty Bowls event, when dozens of local chefs and restaurateurs prepare and dish out vats of soup to raise money for Project Most, a nonprofit that runs after-school programs and the Springs Seedlings, the Springs School’s student gardening program. From noon to 3 p.m. at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett, more than 30 chefs will offer all-you-can-sip soups for $12 per adult, $5 for kids aged 13 and below, or $25 per family. Kids under 5 can taste for free, and quarts of soup to go will be available for $12. Tasters can take their own soup mug or bowl, or one will be provided. There will also be a bake sale, arts and crafts, and music by Michael Pour.

On Wednesday, Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits has the next of its “Wine Wednesdays” featuring a talk and wine tasting at 5:30 p.m. This week’s speaker will be Nora Diminno of Paul Hobbs Selections, on “Family-Owned Wineries Creating Benchmark Wines in Argentina.” The popular series, which continues through May 18, has been drawing a crowd. As space is limited, an R.S.V.P. is important. Reservations may be made at the shop’s website, wainscottmain.com. The cost is $10.

Irish Food and Drink

There are several ways to mark St. Patrick’s Day, which is coming up next Thursday, with traditional foods for the holiday. 

At Rowdy Hall in East Hampton, Irish fare and drink specials will commence on next Thursday and continue on March 19 and March 20, the day of the Montauk St. Patrick’s Day parade. A lunch and dinner prix fixe next Thursday only will include two courses for $25, either an appetizer and entrée, or an entrée and dessert. The menu choices will include potato-leek soup to start, a choice of corned beef and cabbage, bangers and mash, or shepherd’s pie as entrees, and Irish whiskey chocolate cake for desert. On March 19 and 20, a la carte specials at lunch and dinnertime will include the potato-leek soup, corned beef and cabbage, and the whiskey cake for dessert, which is served with whipped chocolate ganache, salted caramel sauce, and brown bread ice cream. 

At the Harbor Grill on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton, Irish classics will be on the menu from next Thursday through March 20. The specials — bangers and mash, shepherd’s pie, or corned beef and cabbage — will be served with soup or salad and Irish soda bread for $19. In addition, $5 Guinness drafts will be available.

On Saturday, when the Am O’Gansett Parade starts off the early St. Patrick’s Day hoopla, Indian Wells Tavern on Amagansett’s Main Street will offer a $20 corned beef and cabbage special all day, as well as specials on Giunness, shots of Irish whiskey, and Montauk Brewery beer.

The Indian Wells corned beef dinner special will resume next Thursday, St. Patrick’s Day, and continue through March 20. 

Another March Event

Townline BBQ in Sagaponack will celebrate the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s March Madness by airing games on its five large TVs and offering bar and food specials from next Thursday through April 4. Happy-hour specials will be offered on Thursdays and Fridays from 3 to 8 p.m. and all day on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. The snacks include nachos, wings, hush puppies, hot dogs, and pulled pork and pulled chicken sliders.

Wine Dinners

For those who like a dose of learning with their glass of vino and meal, a couple of wine dinners are on the horizon. 

At Wolffer Kitchen in Sag Harbor on March 20, Gilles Martin, the winemaker at Sparkling Pointe, will pair five selections with separate courses of local fish, porcini risotto, venison, and mascarpone cheesecake. Roman Roth, the winemaker at Wolffer Estate, will help him present each wine. The cost is $85 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Space is limited. 

On Shelter Island, a four-course wine dinner at Red Maple, the restaurant at the Chequit Inn, will feature selections from Lenz Winery on the North Fork. Led by two sommeliers from Lenz, the March 26 event will include a chance to ask questions and discuss the wines. Reservations are required. The cost is $90 per person plus tax and gratuity.

Breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day. Or is it?! You can read studies supporting this theory, and you can find research that refutes it. It definitely makes sense for children.

It has been scientifically proven that if you eat a balanced, nutritious breakfast, you are more likely to eat a nutritious lunch and dinner and less likely to eat junky snacks. It doesn’t have to be time consuming either; you can grab an apple or a banana and a yogurt, and that counts. It has also been proven that when children eat a good breakfast, they have more energy and focus throughout the morning.

Growing up in the ’50s and ’60s I recall our mother making freshly squeezed orange juice for us every morning. How lucky were we? Unfortunately, we’d also have a big glass of milk with breakfast, and I would balk until the end of the meal and have to drink both in quick succession before bolting for the school bus or carpool. If you’ve ever tasted this combination you know how gross it is. Some days we had oatmeal or Cream of Wheat, sometimes dry cereal with fruit, and on weekends it would be eggs or pancakes. Pretty healthy, right? But chances are our father was at the table smoking his Kent cigarettes, and then we’d pile into the ’64 convertible Mustang and barrel down the George Washington parkway with no seat belts. Ahhhh, the good old days!

If you’ve ever had the opportunity to experience breakfast traditions in other parts of the world, you were probably amazed at how different they are. In many countries of Europe, they basically eat cold cuts and cheese in the morning. The French enjoy a flaky croissant with coffee. A common breakfast in Asia is congee, a watery rice gruel that can be topped with anything from steamed fish to fried garlic and scallions, pickled vegetables, and spicy condiments. In Thailand, fried rice is offered. 

One of my favorite, very naughty morning meals is a full Irish (or English) breakfast. This traditionally consists of many kinds of meats: bacon, sausage, and two types of pudding, black and white, baked beans, sauteed mushrooms, broiled tomato halves, eggs, brown bread with butter and marmalade, and lots of tea. Black pudding is made from blood, meat, fat, and oatmeal or bread fillers. White pudding is the same without the blood. Needless to say, those hearty breakfasts are meant for people who are about to spend all day working on a farm or at other forms of hard labor.

Breakfasts in India vary greatly from region to region but often include dosas, idli, uttapam, or rotis served with a variety of chutneys, cilantro, coconut, tamarind, and more. The batter for dosas and idli are healthy and light, made with chickpea or rice flour.

Another of my favorite breakfasts is chilaquiles, popular in Mexico. You can make a huge batch in a cast iron skillet, pop it in the oven, and cut it into wedges for serving. It is essentially fried tortillas with fresh salsa, topped with cheese, fried eggs, sometimes radishes, cilantro, pickled onions or scallions, a bit of crema, and lime wedges.

In Jamaica, ackee is a common breakfast offering. Ackee is the national fruit and national dish of Jamaica. The fruit comes from an evergreen tree and must be fully ripe before cooking. It is often sold canned as well. The ackee is cooked with saltfish (salted preserved cod), onions, peppers, and spices and served with fried plantains.

Where did our ubiquitous breakfast cereals come from and how did they become so popular? In 1866, a group of Seventh Day Adventists set up a water cure colony in Battle Creek, Michigan, called the Western Health Reform Institute. The diet was vegetarian, grain-based, and generally monotonous. One of the Adventists, Harvey Kellogg, went to New York to study medicine and was living in a boarding house with no cooking facilities. He experimented with a cereal that didn’t need cooking; it was a mixture of wheat, oats, and corn, formed into a biscuit and ground up. He named it Granula, Latin for “little grain.” There was already a product with this name so he changed it to “granola.”

In 1893, a lawyer in Denver named H.D. Perky invented Shredded Wheat. When Kellogg got wind of this, he went to meet Perky and offered him $100,000 for the patent. At the last minute Kellogg withdrew his offer but had learned so much from Perky he was able to go home and come up with a similar cereal, called Granose.

Charles W. Post was an inventor who had been a patient at the Battle Creek sanitarium. Along with a fireless cooker, a water-powered electric generator, and an early version of the postal order called Post Currency Check, he invented Postum (a grain-based coffee substitute) and Grape Nuts cereal.

By 1908, everyone was making gobs of money from a product that had cheap ingredients and a high price. Quaker Oats Company came along and jumped on the cornflake bandwagon, and now we have a ridiculously huge number of (mostly unhealthy) breakfast cereals, 387 as of 2009. A product that was created with the best of intentions has turned into Count Chocula, Cap’n Crunch, and “Yucky” Charms.

You are an adult so you can choose whether or not to eat breakfast, but it truly is important that you get your children to eat a nutritious breakfast before school. Make some morning glory muffins and freeze them, make some homemade granola if they’ll eat that. Boil an egg, toast some whole grain bread, it doesn’t take long, but the benefits will last a lifetime. Or at least until lunch.

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Winemaking Chat

A discussion and tasting tomorrow night at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill will feature local winemakers and include a look back at Long Island wine production 40 years after it began. James Christopher Tracy of Channing Daughters Winery in Bridgehampton and Michael Kontokosta of the Kontokosta Winery in Greenport will participate; Brian Halweil, the editor-in-chief of Edible East End magazine, will moderate. 

The program will begin with a wine tasting in the museum cafe at 6 p.m. Museum members and students may attend for free; for others the cost is $10. All are welcome to attend, although the wine tasting is just for people over age 21. 

Meal Plus Mayhem

A three-course dinner will be served along with “excitement and skullduggery,” according to the folks at Keith and Margo’s Murder Mystery Events, when a drama unfolds at the Southampton Inn on March 12. A package deal includes the dinner, open bar, and an overnight stay, along with a chance to participate in the sleuthing. 

Hijinx at Maidstone

Diners at the Living Room restaurant in East Hampton —  and others who visit the c/o the Maidstone inn where it is located — who discover one of the eggs hidden throughout the property this month will receive a prize and facilitate a $10 donation to the East Hampton food pantry from the inn. 

Late-night burlesque shows at the inn have proved popular, and are continuing. The next takes place on Saturday night. Reservations have been suggested for the 11:30 show. 

Food and Technology

Mr. Halweil of Edible East End will be the next presenter at Almond restaurant’s Artists and Writers night on Wednesday, with a talk titled “Let Them Eat Code.” He will discuss how the worlds of technology and food intersect. The evening begins at 7 p.m. and will include a three-course family-style meal, served with a glass of local wine or beer for $45, which includes a gratuity. Advance reservations are required. 

Wine Workshops

Also on Wednesday, a springtime session of workshops on wine begins at Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., each session costs $10 and includes a tasting. Those who attend this week will be led through a comparative tasting, with discussion of various winemaking practices. 

The weekly series featuring sommeliers, winemakers, wine educators, and others in the industry, will continue through May 18. As space is limited, reservations are encouraged, and can be made by emailing or calling the shop. Those who wish to secure a place in every one of the 10 upcoming workshops can prepay and reserve a spot. For better tasting, Wainscott Main is offering a set of two Italian crystal wineglasses for $20.

Spring Market Dinner

Reservations are being taken for this year’s “spring market dinner” sponsored by Slow Food East End. To take place at Almond on March 24, the dinner celebrates native and traditional East End foods. A four-course family-style meal will be served. It will begin with a cocktail reception at 6:30 p.m. The cost is $100, or $85 for Slow Food members, which includes the meal, wine with dinner, and a cocktail, as well as taxes and gratuity. Reservations, which are required, can be made at slowfood.org.

Food Certificate Course

The Amagansett Food Institute will sponsor a session this month for those who wish to earn, or renew, a Suffolk County food manager’s certificate. The class, required for various food handlers, will be held on March 16 at South Fork Kitchens on the Stony Brook South­ampton campus from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The cost is $175, or $155 for Amagansett Food Institute members. Students who successfully complete the course will be issued a certificate valid for three years. An email may be sent to [email protected] to reserve a place. 

New at Rowdy Hall

New on the menu at Rowdy Hall is a Tuscan kale salad, and entrees of Berkshire pork Milanese, served with roasted butternut squash, arugula, and red onion, and a grilled hanger steak salad. For snacks, Rowdy now offers crispy eggplant fries in spicy tomato sauce, fried oyster tacos with sriracha tartar sauce, and cod sliders. 

Sammy’s Reopens

Sammy’s restaurant in Montauk will reopen for the season next Thursday and will be offering an Irish prix fixe all week long.

To say Kosovo, a landlocked country on the Balkan Peninsula, has had a complex history is an understatement. Before the breakup of Yugoslavia during the early 1990s, Kosovo was a region of that country, populated for centuries by Serbs and Albanians. The Kosovo war of 1998-99 pitted the forces of Serbia and Montenegro against the Kosovo Liberation Army, led to the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from the region, and, in 2008, to Kosovo’s declaration of independence. 

Against this turbulent background — not to mention its subjugation over the years to the Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian, and Ottoman empires — residents of that region, known in ancient Greece and Rome as Illyria, have been making olive oil for some 2,500 years. Indeed, Romans brought the product from Illyria to Italy.

However, not until 2013 did olive oil from the region around the small Albanian coast city of Vlore make its way to the United States through the agency of Andrew Strong and Rachael Faraone, Springs residents, and their company, Illyrian Press. How that came about involved “a wild series of events,” according to Mr. Strong, an attorney who is an associate in the Amagansett law office of Richard Whelan.

In 2005, while researching a paper on insurgency in law school, Mr. Strong chose an unusual destination for spring break — Kosovo. He managed to secure an interview with Ramush Haradinaj, the prime minister.  

“He’s an ethnic Albanian and was a villager in western Kosovo,” said Mr. Strong. “His village and family were attacked and killed by Serbs. He helped form the Kosovo Liberation Army, got NATO involved, and became a national hero after the war.” The day Mr. Strong arrived in Kosovo, however, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicted the prime minister for war crimes.

“It was a really interesting legal case. In a moment of out-of-body experience, I asked him for a job as a summer intern.” Mr. Haradinaj agreed to take on the young law student, who then dropped out of law school, spent the next two years living in Kosovo helping prepare for the trial, and then a year in The Hague working on Mr. Haradinaj’s defense.

While in Kosovo, Mr. Strong's job was to go out to the villages and piece together the narrative of the Kosovo War. “I had built this picture of the conflict in a very specific part of western Kosovo, on the border of Albania. That was where all the weapons that fueled the conflict came through. It was kind of like the Wild West.” 

Mr. Strong spent much of his time in that region, learned basic Albanian, and made friends with ethnic Albanians. “We would go to Albania to check it out, and I was arrested by how beautiful it was. There were mountains covered in olive trees diving down into the Mediterranean. And the tradition of pressing olives by hand had remained unchanged for more than 2,000 years.”

The area has hundreds of olive farmers, some with only two or three trees, who bring their harvests to Vesaf Musai, now a partner with Mr. Strong and Ms. Faraone. Mr. Mesai custom presses a limited quantity of organically grown olives in his organic certified press. The oil, made from the indigenous Kalinjot olive, is bottled in Albania; Ms. Faraone designed the label.

In part because of Albania’s history of isolation, its olive oil had never been exported. The oil, which won gold medals in tasting competitions in Italy and Croatia in 2013 and Best in Show in the Albanian tasting of 2013, is now available on the East End at Serene Green Farm Stand and Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor, Marders Garden Center and Nursery in Bridgehampton, the Seafood Shop in Wainscott, and from Eli Zabar. It can also be purchased online through the Illyrian Press.

Mr. Strong, who grew up in the Midwest, and Ms. Faraone, an East Hampton native, met 18 years ago when both were students at Middlebury College in Vermont, but it wasn’t until years later that their friendship developed into both a personal and business partnership.

Until the birth of Henry, their 11/2-year-old son, Ms. Faraone taught kindergarten at the Hayground School and was assistant coach of the East Hampton High School girls volleyball team. The couple’s second child is due in mid-March.

While Mr. Strong wouldn’t absolutely rule out wider distribution in the future, he emphasized he is happy with the scale of the operation at the moment. Everything is done by hand, and maintaining small batches ensures quality. “When you scale up,” he said, “quality can suffer.”