Shaun Richman

February 6, 2005July 17, 2023

Recipe: Crab-stuffed Mushrooms

I had a taste of this dish at a restaurant in Washington’s Dupont Circle. I’ve ordered it at a few other restaurants, but found the quality to vary wildly (One diner in the West Village, which shall remain nameless, served up a hash of white button mushrooms and imitation crabmeat). I decided to take a crack at the dish myself. I thought it was promising enough to memorialize the recipe here for future experimentation.

Ingredients:
8 ounces of lump crabmeat (I found a can of Phillips brand crabmeat for $6; usually this will cost upwards of $10)
4 Portobello caps (No more than 3 inches in diameter)
1 small green pepper (I only used about 2 tablespoons of chopped pepper)
1 celery stalk
2 slices of bread
3 cloves of garlic
1 shallot
Olive oil
Small jar of alfredo sauce (Do yourself a favor and use light alfredo sauce)

1. Place the portobello caps, bottom side down, on a cookie sheet or tray and place in the oven at 350 degrees. Be sure to brush the mushrooms with olive oil so they don’t stick to the tray. Bake them for ten minutes, or until they begin to wilt.

2. Finely chop the garlic, shallot, celery and pepper. Toast the slices of bread and break them up into itty bitty little bits.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan or skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and shallot. Allow a minute or two to blend, then add the pepper and celery. Allow five minutes for vegetables to reduce.

4. Slowly mix in the crabmeat. Wait three minutes and then fold in the bread crumbs and alfedo sauce. Cook the whole mixture for an additional five minutes.

5. Flip the wilted mushrooms over so that they are upside down. Again, make sure to brush the caps with olive oil. Spoon the stuffing onto the mushrooms. Place back into the oven for five minutes, until the stuffing turns slightly brown.

6. Enjoy! Tell me what you think.

February 5, 2005July 17, 2023

The Milton Friedman Memorial Bridge, Sponsored by Exxon

The roads are for sale. So are the bridges, and, for the right price, the ground underneath us. New York Gov. George Pataki is seriously proposing selling or leasing the Tappan Zee Bridge and the New York State Thruway for a one-time infusion of cash into the state budget. The buyers, of course, would be able to charge tolls for the life of the lease, or longer.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, whose Chairman, Peter S. Kalikow, held a press conference not too long ago to decry the state’s and city’s refusal to raise taxes or issue bonds to not only pay for basic maintenance (Welcome back, C train!) but to fund the expansion projects that are desperately needed (2nd Avenue subway, East side LIRR access, etc.), is also exploring the yard sale option. The 2nd Avenue subway, which has been no more than a hole in the ground for the last 30 years, is reportedly a likely candidate for privatization.

This privatization hokum is a pretty obvious shell game. Pataki wants to maintain his legacy of never raising taxes during his tenure. It’s his one bonda fide conservative credential that impresses the national Republican party (it’s so Presidential!). Taxpayers still pay for these roads, just more and for a longer time. Pataki’s idea, I think, is a non-starter.

The MTA’s proposal, however, is worth considering. The very first subways and trolley lines were, after all, built and run by private companies under contract with the city. Usually, those companies had real estate interests along the proposed transit lines that were made more lucrative once served by a station stop (why else would there be an 18th street station in between 14th and 23rd?!), and that’s how they made their money. The city-mandated nickel fares didn’t really pay their operating costs and they all eventually went bankrupt. Then the city took over their operations, cheap.

Sounds like a plan. Hey, Mr. Ratner, I’d love to visit your arena, but it’s so inconvenient from my Kew Gardens apartment. But, if you build a subway line from here to there, I promise to ride it all the time. Hey, I might even pay my fare occasionally.

February 4, 2005July 17, 2023

“Run for the shadows in these golden years…”

Now begins perhaps the biggest fight long-planned by the “Republican Revolution.” With his re-election and substantial majorities in both houses of Congress, not to mention a majority of states’ governors, Bush has more clout and more power than any Republican has had since Theodore Roosevelt. Social Security pisses off free market Republicans because it is one social welfare policy of the government that remains massively popular, despite 25 years “big, bad government” rhetoric. Of course, Bush is willing to risk his legacy over this fight. After Social Security goes the minimum wage, the rest of our Pell grants, Roe vs. Wade…

They really aim to repeal the twentieth century.

The plan, of course, reduces guaranteed benefits for future retirees. Workers can divert up to 4% of their payroll taxes to a limited number of government-chosen mutual funds, and, at retirement, must divert some of their money into an annuity which will supplement the reduced monthly benefit.

Immediately, Bush’s “base,” the banks and brokerage firms, will make a fortune on user fees on millions of mutual fund investments. Again, the government will limit the number of plans that workers can choose, and those plans will be administered by a small number of companies under contract from the government (presumably, “bidding” on these contracts consists of donating the most money to the most Congressional campaigns).

In the short term, Bush finally establishes the primacy of the market. Once we’re all investors, do we worry about the impact of environmental legislation, corruption investigations and union campaigns on the companies in which we are invested? Certainly, the Powers That Be and the pundits will remind us of these conflicts of interest at every opportunity.

Finally, Bush plants the seeds for Social Security’s eventual, final collapse. As less money goes into the SS Trust, even the lowered guaranteed benefits won’t be met, but, by golly, the money invested in the market continues to pay off for most retirees, and, so, some future president will propose that we finally scrap the outmoded government portion of Social Security and simply switch over to 401(k)s.

Ironically, I spent today opening my IRA, with money that I rolled over from my previous employer’s 401(k). I can see my future career rolling out before me: it’s a series of company pensions that I’m never around long enough to become vested in, and 401(k)s with tiny matching percentages. To be fair, my last employer’s 401(k) funding was very generous. Even so, I’ve never had any faith that this money, invested in the market, would be there for my golden years quite like Social Security is currently guaranteed to be.

Moreover, nothing can make one feel quite as powerless as putting one’s money and faith in a series of mutual funds. The literature you are given to consider the funds never fully lists the companies that you will be invested in. The power to take your money away from a company with whose ethics you disagree is reserved for people with so much money that they probably don’t care much about ethics anymore.

In his first term, Bush seemed able to ram through any tax cut or war that he wanted, so it’s easy to feel a sense of inevitability about Social Security privatization. But there’s more of us than them. Already, in the lead-up to the State of the Union, Bush took a drubbing from our quarters for “fuzzy math” and scaremongering. We can win. Take action. Stay informed. Get ready to take to the streets.

February 3, 2005July 17, 2023

Hey, Where’s Tommy?

I saw Tommy Stinson at the Mercury Lounge last Saturday. A legend at 15, Tommy was the bass player for the late, lamented Replacements. He had a couple of promising bands in the 1990’s done in by corporate indifference. He wound up, of all places, as a well compensated side-man in the new Guns-n-Roses. Contrary to reports, he hasn’t left. Being in Axl Roses’s new Guns is a lot like being in the National Guard these days; you can be called up at any time, and your tour of duty might never end.

There was something a bit dispiriting about watching Tommy go through all the rock star moves in support of his pretty decent new solo record at the tiny Mercury. He may be a legend, but it’s because of his mis-spent youth playing Robin to Paul Westerberg’s Batman. But the guy could have been a rock legend in his own right. He’s reminiscent of Rod Stewart when he was still cool. Of course, Rod the Mod wasted his talent, so if we measure Tommy by that yardstick, he still comes out ahead.

The evening’s pleasant surprise was all three opening acts, who played variations of your basic two guitars, bass and drums alternative rock. But, since that’s rarely done well these days, it feels like a revelation when it is.

The Victoria Lucas were reminiscent of early Talking Heads with their male-female vocals and song codas that segue into instrumental jams that bear little resemblance to the songs that they are technically still a part of. The core quartet was augmented by a cast of musicians who look like they were roused from a nap at an NYU study hall and told to play whatever the heck Casios and trumpets they could find.

Todd Deatherage is an Austin-cum-Brooklyn singer-songwriter whose alt-country clings closer to the Clash than Cash.

Finally, the Black Spoons were a revelation. A pretty tight trio with visual style and a good sense of humor. Anyway, I just can’t deny a song like “Julia Heartache.”