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ByNancyLindahl Each of us carries a pri- vate food culture around in our brain created by our geography: where we live, where we grew up, what our families ate, and what their ethnic heritage was, our travels , people we've met, books we've read and movies we've watched. Re- member the Primate Par- faits, soft chilled monkey brains served in the mon- key's head in Raiders of the Lost Ark? Favorite flavors and scents rolling around in our memory can trans- port us back to childhood, or across the globe by sim- ply smelling them again. An influence in my food culture was Aunt Bea who introduced me to sweet- breads, hearts of palm, a physicist from Luxembourg that loved foreign films, and chicken calandria — the recipe we always asked her to make when she made one of her infrequent journeys back to Chico. I had the pleasure of spending part of my 18 year-old summer with Aunt Bea in her huge old house on Ashby Place in Berkeley across the street from a re- tired army colonel who was fit-to-be-tied over the garish hippie peace flags her stu- dent- ctivist boarders hung out the second-story win- dows. She was living with her paramour, the German masseuse from the Clare- mont, cooking with her in- ternational student board- ers, and smoking a variety of brands of cigarettes from her throne, an orange Ot- toman-style tufted mohair armchair with a permanent little cloud of blue smoke that hovered over it in the bay window looking out over Ashby Circle. She wore colorful kimonos and black turtlenecks with amazingly intricate earrings. She was a conversationalist, a reader — she devoured everything current — a gardener with an amazing bonsai collec- tion, a philosopher, a con- summate bohemian and general all-round free spirit. I adored her! Born and raised in Chico, the daughter of a local phar- macist, she had ventured wide. She was married sev- eral times, the longest to Herman Singer a Berke- ley English professor who was a friend of John Stein- beck's. They traveled, lived in Spain for a time, and had a son together, Martin, who grew up to be a professional Flamenco dancer. Along the way she collected a pirate's chest of exotic dangly ear- rings, and a card index of interesting recipes. Aunt Bea was a very good cook. That summer she took me grocery shopping at the co-op, which for a girl from waspy little Chico was like shopping the spice market in Istanbul. People from all over the world congregated in '60s Berkeley. Multi-racial couples were commonplace as were saris, turbans, beau- tiful African print dresses, corn-rowed hair, Hasidic ear curls, and children of all colors who roamed the store at will in this per- missive bazaar. These were combined with the colorful costumes of Berkeley hip- pies to form a visual feast unsurpassed by anything in my home town. We toted the grocer- ies home to the cavern- ous kitchen at Ashby Place which had never been mod- ernized. The ceilings were high with a couple of single bulb and pull-chain light fixtures that were way too far away from the action to do any good. The appliances were scattered around like cargo containers that had fallen off a ship. There was no connective tissue of countertops — just an iso- lated stove here, refrigera- tor there, a sink across the large room. In the center of this dim cavern was a large worktable that Bea and her boarders stood around to prep their meals. Some- times they would cook to- gether, and eat at the or- nate, wood dining-room table. Those were great eve- nings with wild conversa- tions that went on late into the night fueled by cheap red wine and student ideal- ism. Sometimes each would cook his own meal and take it upstairs. I thought I had lost Bea's chicken recipe when she passed away, but ran across it this week, tersely typed on a 3-by-5-inch card, with some notes in blue fountain pen and a signature burn mark from a cigarette ash. Instantly the kitchen, the fragrance of spices and Aunt Bea came back. She would serve Chicken Calandria in a big Spanish Poêlon — those clay bakers with one handle jutting out the side and when she took the lid off, there was an incredibly aromatic, rich brown sauce swirling around the falling- off-the-bone chicken, stud- ded with white blanched al- monds and pimento-stuffed green olives, which we had seen in our parent's marti- nis, but never in a casserole! Here's the recipe — back then, everyone cooked so there wasn't much step-by- step detail — this modern- ized version is adapted from a recipe by James Beard: Chickencalandria Ingredients: 4.5poundroastingchicken — I used 6thighs and 4legs skin and bone intact 1cup white cornmeal * ½ cup olive oil 3medium onions, finely chopped 3cloves garlic, finely chopped 1cup dry red wine 1teaspoon sesame seeds ½ teaspoon caraway seeds 1/8 teaspoon mace 1/8 teaspoon marjoram Salt 1cup blanched almonds 1cup pitted green olives 4Tablespoons chili powder Directions: Cut chicken into serv- ing pieces and roll in the cornmeal, shaking off the excess. Save 3Tablespoons of the cornmeal. Heat the oil in a heavy braising pan, and sauté the chicken until lightly browned on all sides. Reduce the heat, add the onions and garlic and cook until they are just so ened. Add the wine, seeds, mace, marjoram, and 3cups of boiling water. Sprinkle with salt, cover, and simmer for 10minutes. Add the almonds, olives, and chili powder, cover and simmer for 20-30minutes more, or until the chicken is tender. Remove chicken from pot, and skim excess fat from the cooking liquid. Mix the reserved cornmeal with ½ cup of cold water and stir into the liquid. Continue stirring until thickened. Serves 4 In Aunt Bea's notes, she says, "I leave overnight and remove excess fat, and then add almonds and olives & finish cooking. Serve with zucchini with cheese stuff- ing, rice." • The white corn meal was hard to find. Wa- ter-ground means water is what powers the stone grinding wheels, so it is ac- tually stone ground with a texture between flour and fine beach sand. I found something similar at the Mexican grocery on Park Avenue, Panadería La Mi- choacana. The corn meal is an important element, so don't skip it — and I would be happy to share with you — I have lots left. • Blanched almonds — also could not find, so I had to blanch my own. I used Bordin's almonds from the farmers market. Here's how to do it: Place almonds in a heat-proof bowl. Pour boil- ing water to barely cover al- monds. Let the almonds sit for 1 minute. Drain, rinse under cold water, and drain again. Pat dry and slip the skins off by pinching the nut between thumb and in- dex finger. Careful — they will shoot across the room. Depending on the age of the nuts, you may have to repeat the process — the skins should look wrinkly and slip off easily. Is it worth the effort? The dish is hearty and rich with a flavor like nothing else I've tasted — it calls for an unusual combination of spices. Carl loved it and is enjoying a third night of leftovers with gusto. We loved it as children. Try it, and if you like it feel free to make it your own signa- ture dish. Aunt Bea would approve. ——— Farm Trail tickets are on sale at www.sierraoro.org. It's the weekend of Octo- ber 11 and 12, and their slo- gan, Tour Taste Toast says it all. We were impressed with the presentations at the CSU College of Agri- culture. It's a great way to spend a fall weekend, roam- ing the countryside, check- ing out what's going on all around us. SWEET BASIL AND THE BEE AuntBea'slegendarychickencalandria PHOTO BY NANCY LINDAHL Aunt Bea's legendary chicken calandria. PHOTO BY NANCY LINDAHL The almost as legendary 3-by-5recipe card for Aunt Bea's legendary chicken calandria. By Malcolm Ritter APScienceWriter NEW YORK How much cof- fee do you drink every day? One cup in the morning? Or do you gulp it all day? Scientists have long known that your DNA in- fluences how much java you consume. Now a huge study has identified some genes that may play a role. Their apparent effect is quite small. But variations in such genes may modify coffee's effect on a person's health, and so genetic re- search may help scientists explore that, said Marilyn Cornelis of the Harvard School of Public Health. She led the research. The project analyzed the results of about two dozen previous studies with a combined total of more than 120,000 partic- ipants. Those participants had described how much cof- fee they drink a day, and allowed their DNA to be scanned. The new work looked for minute differ- ences in their DNA that were associated with drinking more or less cof- fee. Researchers found eight such variants, two of which had already been linked to coffee consumption. Four of the six new vari- ants implicate genes that are involved with caffeine, either in how the body breaks it down or in its stimulating effects, the re- searchers said in a paper released Tuesday by the journal Molecular Psychi- atry. The two other newly im- plicated genes were a sur- prise because there's no clear biological link to cof- fee or caffeine, Cornelis said. They are instead involved with cholesterol levels and blood sugar. Marian Neuhouser, a nutrition researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Can- cer Research Center in Se- attle and study co-author, said identifying genes re- lated to consumption may one day help doctors iden- tify patients who need ex- tra help in cutting down on coffee if recommended. For example, pregnant women are advised to consume only moderate amounts of caffeine because of risk of miscarriage and preterm birth, she said. None of the identified ge- netic variants was related to how intensely a person tastes coffee, and Cornelis said that surprised her. She doesn't drink coffee, she said, because she can't stand the stuff. CA FFE INE Study: DNA linked to how much coffee you drink Online: Molecular Psychiatry: HTTP:// WWW.NATURE.COM/MP ASSOCIATED PRESS In this file photo, the owner of a coffee shop serves cappuccinos to judges during a barista competition in Cranberry, Pa. The Associated Press NEW YORK SodaStream says it isn't winning over enough new customers in the U.S. and reported pre- liminary sales results that fell short of Wall Street ex- pectations. The company's stock tumbled 17 percent to $22.88 in premarket trad- ing. Over the past year, its stock has lost more than half its value. CEO Daniel Birnbaum said Tuesday that the Israeli company's U.S. business un- derperformed in the third quarter because of lower- than-expected demand for its soda makers and flavors. While it successfully estab- lished a base of repeat users in the U.S., Birnbaum said SodaStream isn't attract- ing new users at the rate the company would like. SodaStream Interna- tional said revenue for the third quarter is expected to be about $125 million. An- alysts expected $153.6 mil- lion, according to FactSet. Birnbaum says the com- pany has shifted its focus to play up SodaStream's "health and wellness" ben- efits. SodaStream has touted its machines as a cheaper, more environmentally friendly alternative to buying bottled or canned drinks such as Coke and Pepsi. It has been trying to make a splash in the U.S. and advertised in the last two Super Bowls, with the latest commercial fea- turing actress Scarlett Jo- hansson. Although the ma- chines are in just 1 percent of U.S. homes, the company has noted it's in as many as 25 percent of homes in Sweden. Depending on the model, SodaStream ma- chines cost between $80 and $130 and are powered by CO2 cartridges, which cost about $30 and need to be replaced after a certain number of uses. SodaStream's machines will soon face some formi- dable competition, however. Keurig Green Mountain, which is known for its sin- gle-serve coffee makers, is expected to introduce a machine for cold drinks in coming months. BEVERAGES Sod aStream says it's losing fizz in US; sales fall short of expectations Variations in such genes may modify coffee's effect on a person's health, and so genetic research may help scientists explore that. FOOD » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, October 8, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B4