November 2020 - ciaooo!

The second wave of Coronavirus cases has reached over 15 million cases in the US. With New Yorkers waiting hours to get Covid tests and an upcoming shutdown of indoor dining, locals will be turning to their kitchens again to eat. What type of safety precautions should we be taking at home?

Over 70% of new cases come from small gatherings in households. We know all the ways to stay safe outdoors, but what about at home?

We decided to find out for ourselves. We interviewed food safety expert Jhack Sepúlveda of the Eat Good Community to learn how we could protect ourselves at home.

Jhack Sepúlveda is a Food and Nutrition Consultant with 12 years
of specialized experience in the food industries Food Safety and
Quality Assurance sector. In the last 6 years, Jhack has focused on providing food service and hospitality industries with customized quality assurance (QA) services and providing Food Protection Certificate Trainings for CUNY and SUNY colleges. You can DM him on his account @eatgoodcommunity.

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Is Ordering Takeout + Delivery Safe?

If the restaurant and you take the right precautions, yes.

Assure you receive food either cold (40 degrees F or less) and hot food (at least 140 degrees F). Use a clean and sanitized food grade thermometer (range of 0-220 degrees F) to take temperatures

It won’t hurt to handle the delivery bag and your money exchange with the delivery carrier with gloves. Immediately discard bags and gloves followed by properly washing your hands (wash hands with soapy warm water for at least 20 seconds)

Foods held out of temperature control or at temperatures greater than 70 degrees F for more than 2 hours should be discarded.

If in doubt that your food was not at the proper temperature reheat food to (165 F) and chill food to less than (40 F)

How can people protect themselves when living with some sick?

It is not certain how long the virus that causes COVID-19 survives on surfaces, but it seems to behave like other coronaviruses. Studies suggest that coronaviruses (including preliminary information on the COVID-19 virus) may persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days. (WHO.INT 2020)

People could catch COVID-19 by touching contaminated surfaces or objects – and then touching their eyes, nose or mouth (WHO.INT 2020)

Avoid sharing personal items like food and drinks. Provide your sick household member with clean disposable face masks to wear at home, if available, to help prevent spreading COVID-19 to others. Clean and sanitize the sick room and bathroom, as needed, to avoid unnecessary contact with the sick person. (WHO.INT 2020)
Avoid eating family-style at home-serve individual plates

Boost your immune system. Now is the time to take those multivitamins or immune-boosting complementary alternative medicine and supplements, sleep more, get your exercise at home and meditate

How can we sanitize our plate-ware and cookware?

For high heat sanitizing, submerge dining ware in hot water (at least 170 degrees F) for 30 seconds

For chemical sanitizing, use a chlorine-based sanitizer with a concentration of at least 50 parts per million (ppm), and the dishes must be immersed in the sanitizing solution for at least 60 seconds. To make 50 ppm sanitizing solution, take 1⁄2-ounce (or one tablespoon) of household bleach and mix it with one gallon of water. (NYC Food Protection Manual)

If Using a dishwasher

Final rinse temperature of mechanical high-temperature dishwasher must be at least 180° F or higher.

What type of homemade solutions can we make at home that can sanitize?

To make an at-home sanitizing solution, take 1⁄2-ounce (or one tablespoon) of household bleach and mix it with one gallon of water.

For Food:

To sanitize fruits and vegetables, make a Vinegar-Based Disinfectant. Make a basic vinegar-based spray. In a standard-sized glass spray bottle, add 1-part water, 1-part vinegar. Add 10-15 drops of essential oils (peppermint, lavender) for fragrance.

For Food Contact Surfaces:

Use a chlorine-based sanitizer with a concentration of at least 50 parts per million (ppm), and the dishes must be immersed in the sanitizing solution for at least 60 seconds. To make 50 ppm sanitizing solution, take 1⁄2-ounce (or one tablespoon) of household bleach and mix it with one gallon of water. (NYC Food Protection Manual)

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Is rinsing with water enough to clean your produce and meats?

Cleaning food with just water alone will not get rid of microorganisms typically found in food. You will need to cook foods to proper temperatures to assure you kill off most pathogenic microorganisms typically found in food.

If you ever noticed a family member cleaning their meats with vinegar or acid, they are lowering the pH level. When you lower the pH level to less than 4.5 bacteria typically found in food will start to die off

Cleaning and sanitizing your produce before cooking will also assure you are lowering the bacterial count in the food

Cooking food to proper temperatures (Poultry to 165 degrees F and Beef to 158 degrees F) will kill off most microorganisms found in food

How often should we be sanitizing our kitchens?

Common standard is to clean in place. Always clean and sanitize before and after cooking.

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If you are cooking three meals a day- that’s six times a day

Wipe down food contact surfaces with the Vinegar/Chlorine sanitizers or commercial antibacterial spray such as Lysol.

Food contact surfaces include counter-tops, sink handles, gas knobs, fridge handles, cabinets, spice bottles and more.

Always wash, rinse, and sanitize food equipment when going from raw food to cook food to avoid cross-contamination

Always store raw food below cooked or ready to eat food (RTE)

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What are some tips to cook food properly?

Temperatures between 140 degrees F and 40 degrees F are considered within, the “Temperature Danger Zone.” microorganisms typically found in food grow the fastest within these temperatures.

Store food at the proper temperatures (cold food between 35-40 degrees F, and frozen food at 0 degrees F)
Avoid thawing frozen meats in the sink for hours. Either thaw in the fridge, or in cold running water. If you thaw out in the microwave, continuous cooking in an oven or stove is required immediately.
Food instead to stay hot or in hot holding should maintain a temperature of at least 140 degrees F

Here are minimum internal cooking temperatures for meats:

Poultry (165 F)

Ground Beef (158 F)

Pork and Pork Products (150 F)

Eggs and Eggs Dishes (145 F)

Fish and Lamb (140 F)

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It’s Election 2020!

If you’ve been glued to your phone aggressively checking the results of the 2020 Presidential Election, you are not alone. Now on Day Four, it’s come down to six battleground states and their electoral votes: Alaska (3), Arizona (11), Georgia (16), Nevada (6), North Carolina (15), and Pennsylvania (20). Now, let’s get to the good stuff. What the heck is the Electoral College?

What is the Electoral college?

While it may sound like a college or university, the Electoral College is simply a group of colleagues. To make things simple – think of it as a “colleague of electors”.

Implemented over 200 years ago, the Electoral College was created to ensure all states had equal representation in the voting process, regardless of population size. At the time, the United States was still a budding country, and some states were simply more advanced than others. Some had larger populations, easier access to newspapers, and solidified education systems, while others were still getting on their feet, made up of farmers dispersed across several states.

The founders feared putting the presidential election in the hands of such a dispersed, varied, and in some areas, uneducated community. They instead decided to select “electors”, a group of educated individuals selected by each political party. . This was driven by the popular vote or number of votes made by the citizens.

Because of the variance in state populations, they decided to make the number of electors mirror the size of the population. Each state has a certain allocation of electoral votes. This is based on the population of each state. States with larger populations have more electoral votes. California for instance has 55 electoral votes whereas Rhode Island has 4. New York has 29.

How Electoral College Votes Are Determined

The total amount of electoral votes in the United States

While the simple answer is that the number of electoral votes a state gets are based on population, the in depth answer is that electoral votes are based on the number of members in Congress (100 Members of the Senate, 435 members of the House of Representative, 3 members of the District of Colombia) totaling 538 electoral votes.

The number of congressional representatives each state has is based on the population size, whereas the Senate always stays the same (2 per state). The founders decided that the the House would be based on population and the Senate would have equal representation. This agreement was part of what is referred to as The Great Compromise.

Side note, this is why the US Census is SO important! Having an accurate representation of the population will dictate how many representatives each state gets in Congress – and in hand, the electoral college.

How are Electors Selected?

Electors are not official government employees.

These are people selected once every four years by each political party to cast a ballot for their state during the presidential election. They are NOT government employees and generally do not have their names publicly posted. The way electors are selected varies by state, but are primarily chosen by the political party and include, “state elected officials, state party leaders, or people in the State who have a personal or political affiliation with their party’s Presidential candidate”.

A lot of people may get confused by electors and the House of Representatives – they are both an entirely different group of people. A simple way to remember is that the House of Representatives are Congress members INSIDE the HOUSE and serve two-year terms. A prime example of a Congresswoman / Representative is Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who represents the 14th district (Bronx, Queens).

Electors…well, we don’t always know who they are. According to the Atlantic, “Right now, the nomination of electors is a backroom process completely opaque to voters. Electors are not listed on most general-election ballots, and many voters who select a presidential candidate on a ballot don’t even know they’re actually voting for electors, much less have any idea who those electors are”. The reasoning is that their identities should be kept secret to prevent bribery or personal harm. Since electors are not government officials, technically, they aren’t bound by law to cast a ballot for the winner of their state’s popular vote.

Has an elector ever voted for someone OTHER than their state’s winning candidate?

Electoral Votes are equal to the number of representatives of each state.

YES. These people are known as “faithless electors”. It has happened over 165 times since the electoral college was instituted, but they have never turned an election. According to Fairvote.org,

“Faithless electors have never changed the outcome of a presidential election. To date, only one elector has cast a vote for the opposite party’s nominee instead of his own in a close contest. “

Generally, faithless electors have done so because of the death of a nominee or some other odd, extenuating circumstance. Electors are chosen because they are considered loyal, and have historically voted for the candidate that won the popular vote of that state.

So How Does A Candidate Win The Election?!!!

The popular vote informs the electoral vote.

In order for a presidential candidate to win they need to win the electoral vote, not the popular vote. This is going to be confusing but bear with us. The simplified process looks like this:

Individual citizens aka YOU vote (called the popular vote).
A candidate is determined the WINNER of that state based on the popular vote.
The winning candidate is awarded the electoral votes of that state. The loser gets 0 for that state.

The winner of the election is the one who gets 270 electoral votes or half of the total electoral votes (538).

How Can A Candidate Win the Popular Vote But Lose the Popular Vote?

What area swing states aka “battleground” states?

If a candidate wins a state, they get all of the electoral votes of that state. States with large populations and electoral votes – like California, NY, Texas, Florida, Penn, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, NC, Georgia, Virginia – are often sought after by presidential candidates. A candidate could win the electoral votes in these 11 states, LOSE electoral votes in all other 39 and still WIN the entire election.

In 2016, Hillary won the popular vote, but Trump won because of the states with higher electoral votes. In total, Clinton had 2,864,974 MORE votes than Trump, making it the,” largest popular vote margin of any losing presidential candidate in U.S. history”, according to ABC. Trump, however, won with 304 electoral votes versus Clinton’s 227 electoral votes.

Whether the electoral college will go away anytime soon is a question for the times. Until then, we’ll be sitting here refreshing our screen to see what the next four years will look like.

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For the last three years, I’ve lived in a crappy little apartment above a bakery.

Although the neighborhood skews primarily Orthodox, my building is a little enclave, mostly of immigrants. Beyond the three doctors-to-be across my hall, or the grandma on the floor above me whose absurdly large bags of onions I carry up the stairs when I see her, or the salwar kameez-clad women who stop me in the lobby to ask me if I’m married, in proper New York fashion, I don’t really talk to any of them.

My neighbors are deeply communal, knocking on my door when my keys are left in the lock, sliding misdelivered mail between door and jamb, and never once claiming my boozy misdeliveries for their own.

I think everyone who’s lived in a NYC apartment at least once has been in a place with a little nook where their neighbors leave out things for others to take—clothing that’s well-worn but not worn out, books that won’t be read again, a purse that you thought you loved but now just makes you sick.

During the last few months of the pandemic, people don’t just put out reminders of exes long past—they put out food. Cans of tomatoes, and mushrooms, and fruit. A head of lettuce and cabbage. A bag of apples. Cream cheese and shelf-stable milk and a carton of eggs nestled beside an open window to keep them cool.

I’m not much for holidays, but this feels like Thanksgiving.

-Ilysse Weisenfeld

As we reveled in what a “New York Thanksgiving” feels like (especially during Covid), we asked fellow New Yorkers to share some of their favorite recipes. Continue reading to see more.

Eat

A Halal One Pan Roast Chicken by @MuslimFoodies

We asked MuslimFoodies is an Instagram account run by 3 Muslim girls on the search for the best Halal food across NYC (hint: you can find a map here).

Materials:
Baking dish (preferably aluminum)
Tongs
Basting brush

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (7 lbs) thoroughly cleaned
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp adobo seasoning
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp cajun seasoning
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tbsp of Trader Joe’s “Everyday Seasoning”
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 whole lemon, halved
10 smashed garlic cloves
3 medium-sized yellow onions, halved
3 pounds of red potatoes, cut into small pieces
3 carrots, sliced up
3 stalks of celery, sliced up
2 tbsp salted butter

Instructions:
Make sure the chicken is patted dry and puncture holes everywhere with a sharp knife.
Take a cup and mix olive oil and all seasonings together.
Pour the mixture all over the chicken, coating entire chicken evenly into the holes and under the skin to trap in the mixture.
Marinate for up to 8 hours or overnight.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Coat aluminum tray with cooking spray or olive oil.
Place all red potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic cloves, and only 2 onions on a tray (sprinkle salt & pepper if you wish, the chicken drippings will add all the flavor).
Take out marinated chicken and stuff the halved lemons, a few garlic cloves, remaining onion, and rosemary sprigs inside the chicken.
Tie up chicken’s ends, place breast-side down on top of the veggies, and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, toasting the chicken over breast-side up halfway.
Periodically baste the chicken with its juices and salted butter when in the oven
When done, mix up all the veggies up in juices and serve.

Eat

An Easy Breezy Steak Dinner by @Dlapidous

Looking for a super easy recipe? @Dlapidous recommends the quick and efficient pre-marinated steak tips from Trader Joe’s.

“The steak tips are awesome! They’re in the butcher section at TJ’s in a vacuum-sealed bag and pre-marinated and all you do is fry them in a pan or grill, etc. not much of a recipe”.

Ingredients:

Steak

Trader Joe’s Steak Tips

Salad

Lacinato Kale
1.5 lemons, Juiced
3 minced garlic cloves
Shaved Parmesan
1/8 – 1/4 Olive Oil

Directions:

Cook steak according to directions. Sear on medium-high heat in a pan in oil until preferred texture.

Salad:
Combine olive oil and the juice of ~ 1.5 lemons, 3 minced garlic cloves. Add salt and pepper to taste. Rub the dressing into a torn bowl of Lacinato Kale and add some shaved Parmesan. Give it time to rest/marinate but not required.

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