Mikhail Baryshnikov and Joseph Brodsky, in a Song of Exiled Russians By Marina Harss

It may seem odd that the poet Joseph Brodsky, a man who had little time for ballet — “the art of better days,” he called it in a 1975 poem — should have counted among his closest friends the Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. (The poem, in fact, was dedicated to him.) Brodsky was eight years older than Mr. Baryshnikov, and in his friend’s dancing he saw something more than ballet, something, as he told the Russian musicologist Solomon Volkov, closer to metaphysics. Mr. Baryshnikov remembers first reading Brodsky’s poetry at 16, just arrived in Leningrad from Riga, Latvia, to study ballet. “The magnetism was there,” Mr. Baryshnikov said recently in a room at the Baryshnikov Arts Center lined with prints of St. Petersburg; his poetry “respected man’s brain and heart and dignity.” This was a year after Brodsky’s trial, in 1964, for “social parasitism,” a Kafkaesque exercise. The trial transcript had circulated secretly, and Brodsky’s sang-froid on the stand turned him into a symbol of resistance and artistic freedom. (He was imprisoned, and spent a year and a half in internal exile.) The two were introduced at a party in New York, soon after Brodsky’s forced departure from the Soviet Union (in 1972) and Baryshnikov’s 1974 defection; they immediately became close. During their 22-year friendship — Brodsky died at 55 in 1996 — they spoke often, opened a restaurant, drank and took walks along the Hudson. Last year, Mr. Baryshnikov, who has made increasingly frequent forays into theater, teamed with the Latvian director Alvis Hermanis, director of New Riga Theater, for “Brodsky/Baryshnikov,” a one-man show, which opened in Riga in October and comes to the Baryshnikov Arts Center, starting Wednesday, March 9. It’s not really a play, or a poetry recital, but something in between. Mr. Hermanis has layered together poems from throughout Brodsky’s career. On Skype from Milan, he explained his concept: “I said to Misha, you have to imagine you are not alone onstage. There are two people, and there’s something going on between them, some secret.” Mr. Baryshnikov recently talked about Brodsky and the show. Here are edited excerpts from that conversation. At several points, you perform dreamlike dances accompanied by the recorded sound of your voice, or Brodsky’s voice. I don’t really dance in the show, but I move quite a bit. Hermanis and I decided there shouldn’t be any choreography per se but reaction, emotion, like a body language or electricity running through the body. There are references to Butoh and to flamenco. In a poem about flowers, I suggested using an element of onnagata [female impersonation] from Kabuki. Because, what can be closer to a beautiful flower than that? You talked to him every day? Almost every day, even when I was traveling. We talked about mundane things. He liked to walk. From Morton Street where he lived up the Hudson or East River, the Brooklyn Bridge, the East Village. He was fascinated by the light and proximity to the water. What do you miss the most about him? Some kind of internal security of friendship. The first years after he went, I felt, even though I have some very close friends, many of whom he introduced me to, very lonely, practically alone, though I had children and my wife and my family. With him, I always felt security if I wanted to talk about something private. International New York Times Amazon BAC

Greenpoint’s Culinary Ghosts via Eat By Francis Lam

When I moved to Brooklyn in 1999, I’d never heard of Greenpoint — a working-class Polish community out past Williamsburg with questionable subway access — before the apartment broker sold me on it. My landlords lived upstairs, among clear vinyl tablecloths and a shrine to Pope John Paul II. I ate bigos, a savory, tart stew cooked so long that its many meats fell to nearly spreadable shreds, and incredibly cheap pirogi in fluorescent restaurants, where I would laugh in amazement at how much pork and potatoes five bucks could get you. I walked around my new neighborhood, looking into shops filled with sacks and sacks of rye bread and hundreds of sausages dangling in the windows, wondering how long it would take me to learn all their names. I wanted to be a part of the community, to integrate, but I never became anything more than an interloper. The cold looks I sometimes got on the street confused and bothered me, until I realized that I wasn’t just a new neighbor, that by paying more in rent than the families around me, I’d made living in Greenpoint just that much more expensive for them. I realized those fluorescent dining rooms were populated mostly by single men, men who’d left their families back in Poland while they tried to make some money in America. I realized that, when I was amused by those massive plates of food, I’d never really thought about how hungry I’d be if I spent the day building furniture, or moving it, as many of them did. By the time I moved away a couple of years later, I hadn’t learned the names of any of the sausages. So I was glad, a few weeks ago, when Monika Woods showed me how sweet her life in the old neighborhood had been. Woods also landed in Greenpoint when she first arrived in New York City, about half a dozen years after I left. With her stylish, oversize glasses, she might also be taken for an outsider. But she moved to the neighborhood because she was born in Poland and missed hearing strangers talk to one another in Polish; because the first restaurant she went to used the same plates her grandmother kept in Poland. Woods agreed to show me how to make her mom’s bigos, and we ambled to her favorite meat market. Walking the main drag of Manhattan Avenue, she pointed out the places that always transported her back to Poland: an entire shop devoted to her favorite brands of Polish candy; a storefront completely obscured by its selection of Polish bottled waters; a store that carried Polish beers that are hard to find even in Warsaw. She pointed to a liquor store that once featured live bunnies and chicks in an adorable Easter window display. She’d come back a few weeks later and asked what happened to them. ‘‘To eat,’’ she remembers the owner saying, with Old World matter-of-factness. But her Greenpoint is changing, in the way I think my old neighbors feared. The candy shop now sits empty, for rent. The restaurant that had her grandmother’s plates closed; next door is a new location of an Anthony Bourdain-approved Chinese noodle shop. When we walked by a hip new restaurant, the kind whose dishes feature swooshes of purées and swipes of sauce, we noticed an odd postscript on the menu: ‘‘Owned and operated by residents of Greenpoint.’’ The story of gentrifying communities is always about the dynamic between the new and the old, the outsiders and the insiders, but that friction is palpable when you feel as if you need to stake your claim to the neighborhood on your restaurant’s menu. ‘‘It’s funny,’’ Monika said. ‘‘I moved away a few years ago, but now, when I come back with my baby and go to a cool coffee shop, the people look at me like: ‘Great. Here come the stroller people. There goes the neighborhood.’ ’’Inside the Polam International Meat Market, though, you could easily be convinced that nothing had changed on these blocks for decades, and that nothing should. There were curtains of smoked sausages, tray upon tray of unidentified cured, smoked, roasted, poached, emulsified, rolled, cased, cubed, caul-fatted meats. It’s a museum of meats, and just 20 minutes inside the store will leave your clothes smelling of salt and smoke for hours. That old pang of wanting to know what all this stuff was hit me, and when the kindly counterwoman offered to slice some chicken-and-parsley sausage for me, I thought it might not be too late to start finding out. We bought ribs and wonderfully smoky kielbasa, and, back in my kitchen, Woods showed me her mother’s method for a bigos that marries butter-soft cabbage with the tense pop of sausage in its skin. Hours later, I supped on silky broth rich with fat and gelatin, kept lively by tart sauerkraut and the sweet, almost floral taste of caraway. What should have served eight was just enough for my brother and me. Woods didn’t have any, though — it turns out that she doesn’t eat meat. But she wanted to show me what a proper bigos is like, from the inside. The New York Times Magazine

Added: Back home near Chicago, we have the best Polish Bakery, "Olympia Bakery", and Polish Deli's. I'm in search of more than one Polish Restaurant, although the one I think of is the Prime Rib of Sunday Brunch. A Banquet Hall catering to the whole population. What's especially appealing about the Polish is their work ethic. And everything they set their hearts on is successful. Including, most importantly, their families. My parent's church is home to three Polish Masses every Sunday, with people travelling up to 15 km to be at Mass. The Bakery is one of my first stops when I arrive in my hometown. And although the Polish candies are tempting, it's more about the Kolackies and sweet & nutty coffee cakes. As I'm not the biggest fan of pork, I do instead love a meal of Polish Kraut and Pierogi's made with potato. Chicago can be proud of its Polish Community as they are meticulous in their business endeavors and never cause a fuss for anyone. And yep, the Millennials are pushing strollers now. Maybe the Polish moved out of New York City to be with their compatriots in Chicago. As per my take on bigos I would prepare the dish with a Beef Chuck Roast with Kraut, simmered with a lil wine and onions, and served with a German Spätzle. To the Polish, I'd say, "Nazdarovya", to a great many years of Polish neighbors, businesses and cuisine. Eat your hat Greenpoint NYC. Our Chicago Polish are here to stay. Photo

Irish apple crumble cake recipe By Donal Skehan

Donal Skehan is a home cook, food writer and television presenter who has written five cookbooks. He presents the TV show Kitchen Hero on RTÉ One in Ireland, Grandma's Boy on FOX International and is a judge on BBC's Junior MasterChef.
"Apple crumble is one of my most favourite desserts of all time, I remember making it growing up and to this day still swoon at the smell of it coming out of the oven. This Irish apple crumble cake is a nice little twist on the classic with a moist apple cake interior and a light crumbly topping. That classic combination of apple and blackberries could also be used here." - Donal Skehan.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients
4oz butter plus extra for greasing
5oz soft light brown sugar
2 large free range eggs
7oz plain flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
11oz peeled, cored and sliced cooking apple (Shouldn’t be more than one large one)
For the crumble topping:
2oz of vanilla sugar (or substitute with caster sugar)
2oz of plain flour
2oz of butter

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 360°F, grease and line a 8in cake tin with a removable base. With an electric hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until they are incorporated.
   
2. Fold through the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until you have a thick cake batter. Stir through the apple and pour the batter into the cake tin. The batter will be thick, so use a spatula to spread across the base of the tin.
   
3. Using a hand blender with a food processor attachment, blitz the ingredients for the crumble topping until you get left with rough crumbs. You can also do this by hand in a bowl using your fingertips to combine the ingredients together. Sprinkle the crumble topping on top of the batter.
   
   
   
4. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
   
5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Irish Central

Added: Grease and Flour Tin, best to use parchment paper on base of tin. You can mix the crumble topping with a fork instead of your fingertips. Careful with baking time -- cake might possibly need 50-60 minutes. Check for doneness at 45 minutes though. I also can't imagine that one apple would be enough. Your choice. 

Jamie-Lee Kriewitz

Germany's choice, Ghost - Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Jamie-Lee Kriewitz (born 1998) is a German singer who is best known for winning season five of The Voice of Germany. She will represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 on 14 May 2016 with the song "Ghost".  Kriewitz was born in Bennigsen near Hanover, Germany. At the age of twelve, Kriewitz joined the gospel choir Joyful Noise. Her father plays the drums, however the rest of her family is not musical. Kriewitz has a preference for the Japanese Decora kei fashion style and for South Korean K-pop, with her favorites being the Korean boyband Block B. Generally fond of Korean culture, she originally intended to pursue a degree in Korean studies. Living vegan since 2012, Kriewitz participated in the "Vegan life is the best life" campaign of animal rights organization PETA. Photo Wikipedia

J&J must pay $72 million for cancer death linked to talcum powder By Jonathan Stempel

Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a Missouri state jury to pay $72 million of damages to the family of a woman whose death from ovarian cancer was linked to her use of the company's talc-based Baby Powder and Shower to Shower for several decades. In a verdict announced late Monday night, jurors in the circuit court of St. Louis awarded the family of Jacqueline Fox $10 million of actual damages and $62 million of punitive damages, according to the family's lawyers and court records. The verdict is the first by a U.S. jury to award damages over the claims, the lawyers said. Johnson & Johnson faces several hundred lawsuits claiming that it, in an effort to boost sales, failed for decades to warn consumers that its talc-based products could cause cancer. Fox, who lived in Birmingham, Alabama, claimed she used Baby Powder and Shower to Shower for feminine hygiene for more than 35 years before being diagnosed three years ago with ovarian cancer. She died in October at age 62. Jurors found Johnson & Johnson liable for fraud, negligence and conspiracy, the family's lawyers said. Deliberations lasted four hours, following a three-week trial. Jere Beasley, a lawyer for Fox's family, said Johnson & Johnson "knew as far back as the 1980s of the risk," and yet resorted to "lying to the public, lying to the regulatory agencies." He spoke on a conference call with journalists.

Carol Goodrich, a Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman, said: "We have no higher responsibility than the health and safety of consumers, and we are disappointed with the outcome of the trial. We sympathize with the plaintiff's family but firmly believe the safety of cosmetic talc is supported by decades of scientific evidence." In October 2013, a federal jury in Sioux Falls, South Dakota found that plaintiff Deane Berg's use of Johnson & Johnson's body powder products was a factor in her developing ovarian cancer. Nevertheless, it awarded no damages, court records show. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (VRX.TO) now owns the Shower to Shower brand but was not a defendant in the Fox case. Reuters and MSN

Added: I would never use Baby Powder. There's been articles of warnings and also knowing some chemistry, it's not healthy. Wonder if Johnson & Johnson will take the product off market. Would other corporations follow suit ? It's a shocking outcome for Jacqueline Fox to have died from ovarian cancer directly linked to her use of baby powder. And what about cornstarch in general ? We use cornstarch for preparing gravies and puddings, for example. Would it be a matter of quantities ? What will the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decide regarding baby powder and what would the FDA say about the consumption of cornstarch in foods ?
*****
By Ivana Kottasova. Talc is a naturally occurring mineral composed of magnesium, silicon, oxygen, and hydrogen. It's used to absorb moisture in many kinds of cosmetic products, from baby powder to make up. The American Cancer Society says it is not clear if products containing talcum powder increase cancer risk. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classifies talc as "possibly carcinogenic to humans." Because products containing talcum powder are classified as cosmetics, they do not have to undergo review by the Food and Drug Administration. However, they must be properly labeled and "they must be safe for use by consumers under labeled or customary conditions of use," the FDA states. CNN

Stephony Smith

It's Your Love (original songwriter) Photo Wikipedia

GELATO WORLD TOUR 2016: THE AMERICAS AND ITALY TAKE CENTER STAGE By Chiara Mancusi

After the stages in Singapore and Tokyo, the Gelato World Tour now turns to the American continent with two stops in the United States, open also to artisans from Central and South America. The first is scheduled for May 27-29 in Chicago; in September, the tour will continue on to the West Coast. 2016 will also see a busy calendar for the Gelato World Tour Italian Challenge, the traveling competition that will travel throughout Italy, stopping at Carpigiani dealers. Registration for the Americas East stage will close on March 31, 2016 (www.gelatoworldtour.com and, for more information, committee@gelatoworldtour.com ). After the success of the inaugural stage in November 2015 held at the offices of Omab, Carpigiani’s dealer in Rome, the Gelato World Tour Italian Challenge has already scheduled another 18 stops for 2016, and still others are being organized. The top two flavors of each stage will participate in the Italian final to be held on March 23-24, 2017 in Anzola Emilia at the Carpigiani Gelato University campus. Here the 8 Italian participants will be chosen to compete in the Grand Finale of the Gelato World Tour. At Sigep 2017, selections will be made for the German stage, which will be held in Germany during the summer of 2017; the grand finale of the second edition of the Gelato World Tour will be held in Rimini in September 2017. Pasticceria Internazionale