&LIFE ARTS THE DAILY GAZETTEWWW.DAILYGAZETTE.COM

B4WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2013

BY KAREN BJORNLANDGazette Reporter

‘Have you tried the quinoa chili? It’s incredible.”

Tim Barker loves the homemade Peruvian food at Schenectady

Greenmarket. As he waits in line, the Schenectady resident eyes the cabbage and chorizo empanadas, the fried bananas and pork tamales.

Finally, he makes his decision.“Yucca,” he says. “Today, I’m trying the yucca.” At a nearby table, Faith Weldon of Glenville has

selected an Eastern European dish for her lunch. “Spanakopita. It’s delicious,” Weldon says,

plunging her fork into the thick, warm layers of spinach, cheese and phyllo.

“I had a burek last week,” she says. “I come here every Sunday to have lunch at the market.”

In November, when Schenectady Greenmarket moved indoors to its winter home at Proctors, it expanded into Key Hall.

Each Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the elegant former bank lobby is transformed into a bustling food court with hot and cold dishes served by vendors from local restaurants and catering com-panies. Shoppers can take a seat and enjoy a meal or a snack at big round tables topped with white tablecloths and listen to live music while they dine.

FESTIVAL ATMOSPHEREIt’s like an indoor picnic at Proctors, with foods

from around the world and a festival atmosphere, and it’s attracting more people every week, from young couples with babies to college students and senior citizens.

“It’s going really well,” says Betsy Henry, board chairwoman for Schenectady Greenmarket, which is marking its fi fth winter and has 73 indoor ven-

dors.“Key Hall is such a beautiful place. And our cus-

tomers are fi nally getting a chance to sit down.”The half-dozen or so vendors that sell prepared

food in Key Hall like the new addition, too.“The Greenmarket is very good. People are get-

ting to know the restaurant,” says Shami Waheed, owner and chef of Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant on Jay Street in Schenectady.

Every Sunday, Waheed brings vegan, vegetarian and some chicken dishes to Proctors.

“Everything is mostly vegetarian,” she says.Spinach and lentils, simmered with onions,

garlic, cumin and tomatoes, is a favorite with her customers. “Our rice pudding is very popular.”

BY MINDY YOUNGGazette Copy Editor

Love is in the air . . . or is that the scent of panic?Valentine’s Day is almost here, and surely, there

are plenty of signifi cant others out there who feel a bit frantic, wondering what they should do for their sweetheart for this special day. A card? (That’s a good start.) A romantic dinner out? (Always a nice idea.) Maybe lingerie? (Guys, don’t do it — we both know

that gift is really for you, not for us.) Perhaps a big, heart-shaped box of chocolates?

Ah, chocolate. Chocolate and Valentine’s Day go together like turkey and Thanksgiving. And why not? After all, chocolate has long been rumored to be an aph-rodisiac, and this is supposed to be a celebration of love.

Those are only rumors, though: Most researchers don’t think that the amounts of tryptophan (a building block of serotonin, a brain chemical tied to arousal) and phenylethylamine (a chemical released in the brain when you fall in love) present in chocolate are great enough to produce an aphrodisiac effect.

Then again, it might just be that giving someone some-thing as delicious as chocolate makes them more happy and relaxed, which could lead to . . . well, you know.

DECADENT AND SIMPLEIf nothing else, chocolate is a great way to show that

you care about someone. Most people love chocolate, and besides that, dark chocolate contains antioxidants, which can help prevent heart disease, and plant phe-nols, which lower your blood pressure. So if you give someone dark chocolate, you’re looking out for their health — these effects, however, haven’t been found from eating milk chocolate or white chocolate.

An even better way to show someone you care is to give them homemade chocolates, rather than just grab-bing a box of Russell Stover candy off a grocery-store shelf. True, making some of those fancy- fi lled choco-lates can be tricky and time-consuming. I’ve tried it, and while the results were good, they perhaps weren’t good enough to justify all of that work (not to mention scrub-bing down every sticky surface in my kitchen afterward). But chocolate truffl es are both decadent and simple.

You can make the fi lling in the microwave if you want, and you can even use chocolate chips instead of chop-ping up chocolate. Keep in mind that 1 cup of chips is about 6 ounces, so you’ll need about 1 1⁄3 cups of chips. And as for the coating, you can spare yourself the work of tempering chocolate so that it sets up perfectly hard and smooth and shiny; even chocolatiers sometimes roll theirs in cocoa powder instead. Or if you really want a smooth, chocolate-candy shell, use chocolate candy melts. These can be found in any craft store, are easy to work with and don’t taste too bad. If you’re using a thin layer over a ball of rich chocolate ganache, you probably won’t even taste the coating much anyway.

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES 8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped 1⁄2 cup heavy cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or another fl avor of your

choosing)Cocoa powder or chocolate candy melts

Place the chocolate and cream in a bowl and micro-wave for 45 seconds at a time, stirring frequently, un-til the chocolate is all melted and the mixture comes together and is smooth. (You can also do this with a double-boiler if you’ve got one, but the microwave is a bit easier, as long as you make sure not to leave it in there too long at a time.) Stir in the vanilla extract (orange extract is tasty, too), then cover the bowl and chill the ganache until it’s fi rm but scoopable.

Now, spoon out the ganache and quickly roll it be-tween your hands to form 1-inch balls.

You have two options for coatings. The fi rst option is to roll the balls in cocoa powder, then chill them. The second is to chill them now, then microwave some choco-late candy melts in a bowl until melted and smooth (this won’t take too long). Take out your chilled ganache balls and drop them one at a time into the coating, using a fork to turn them over so they’re coated on all sides. Lift them out with the fork, then tap the fork on the side of the bowl a bit to let the excess coating run off. Then, place the truffl es back on the waxed paper-lined tray and chill.

“In & Out of the Kitchen,” a wide-ranging column about cooking, eating and buying food, is written by Gazette staffers. You can reach us at features@dailygazette.net.

“From the SCCC Kitchen” offers tastes from Schenectady County Community College’s culinary arts program. Today, technical specialist Robert L. Payne II (chef at his family’s The Bears’ Steakhouse in Duanesburg) begins a four-part series on breakfast favorites. First up are pancakes with raspberry sauce.

BY JEFF WILKINGazette Reporter

Robert Payne loves to see people making hot cakes from scratch.

“The biggest thing is, everyone is so afraid to make a homemade batter or a waffl e batter,” Payne said. “They get so stuck on convenience of Bisquick and premade pancake mixes. It’s just a few staple items and you should have them. You’ve got your fl our, you’ve got your sugar. . . . You don’t have to use buttermilk; you can use regular milk.”

Batter can be mixed ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for later use.

“A lot of times, when I’m entertaining, I’ll even make pancakes in advance,” Payne said. “I’ll do them on a griddle so they brown up really nice. I’ll put them on a sheet pan on parchment and I just keep them in the oven on warm and they stay so nice.”

Payne has other tips for top cakes. One, the griddle must be very hot.

“And people, you have to brown them on one side,” Payne said. “You just can’t fl ip them. People play with them, they’ll take a spatula and go this way and go that way. You’ve got to let them cook thoroughly on one side.”

A tip-top cake deserves a terrifi c topping. Maple syrup isn’t always the fi rst choice.

“I love maple syrup if it’s true, traditional, homemade maple syrup,” Payne said. “I hate the fake stuff. A twist, if you want to do a little

healthier — we make a raspberry sauce for the pancakes.”

The sauce is simply made. Raspberries are mixed with sugar. When a liquid forms, the mixture is placed into a sieve lined with cheesecloth and squeezed into a bowl. Honey and fresh mint are other options for sauce additives.

Some folks prefer fruit or other sweets on the insides of their pancakes. Blueberries and chocolate chips are options.

“We had one student who took raisins and she plumped them up with Marsala wine,” Payne said. “With the Marsala wine and plumped raisins, she sautéed some apples, just some chunks of apples with the Marsala wine. She folded in the plumped raisins and apples — beautiful fl avor.”

PANCAKES WITHRASPBERRY SAUCE 2 eggs 1 1⁄2 tablespoons baking powder 3⁄4 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons melted butter (or vegetable oil)

1 cup milk 1 cup of fl our

For raspberry sauce: 1 cup fresh raspberries, washed

(or 1 cup frozen raspberries) 1⁄4 cup sugar (more or less,

depending on individual taste)

For pancakes, blend the eggs, baking powder, salt and sugar into a smooth batter. Add the butter, milk and fl our. Mix briefl y into a smooth batter. Pour onto a hot griddle or hot sauté pan. Flip over each cake after the edges form and are golden brown. Finish off in about 1 to 2 minutes.

For sauce, place the raspberries and sugar in a bowl. Rest until a liquid is formed. Put this mixture through a sieve lined with cheesecloth. Squeeze over a bowl until all the juice is extracted.

Reach Gazette reporter Jeff Wilkin at 395-3124 or at wilkin@dailygazette.com.

FOOD

Forget the mix; best pancakes from scratch

MARC SCHULTZ/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER

A simple raspberry sauce is set to dress up these pancakes — buttermilk in the foreground and chocolate chip behind.

From the SCCC Kitchen

Surprise your valentine by making your own chocolates

In & Outof the

Kitchen

STACEY LAUREN-KENNEDY/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER

Maria Lloyd of Maria’s Peruvian Delights tends to Jessica Kiernan of Glenville at the Key Hall expansion area of the Schenectady Greenmarket. “These are all Peruvian dishes, with a little fusion of American and with Peruvian seasonings,” says Lloyd, who grew up in Peru.

Like an indoor picnicMore people fl ocking to inviting atmosphere

of expanded Schenectady Greenmarket

Customers sit down to enjoy food and company at the Greenmarket.

Near the State Street entrance to Key Hall, Robin Brown of Schenectady’s Café Nola, pushes lemons through a press, adds sugar and shakes it up.

“We make the lemonade right in front of folks,” Brown says. “This week, it was passion fruit. Sometimes it’s guava.”

On a recent Sunday, her Cajun/New Orleans menu featured blackened catfi sh etouffee over dirty rice, mac and cheese and cheddar corn bread.

“I have a different menu all the time,” says Brown, who makes the food with her husband,

See GREENMARKET, page B5

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Chef Kevin, and daughter Rachel. One week, it’s short ribs slow-cooked in Louisiana’s Abita Turbodog beer and cinnamon, the next it might be crawfi sh jambalaya.

Café Nola served food at the market last year, in the lower level under Robb Alley, where there was only a tiny, crowded dining area.

“It’s better this year, and it’s a lot to do with the location. The Greenmarket has helped us promote our cafe. Where else are you going to get the opportunity to eat all these cuisines in one location?”

HAPPY TO BE BACKEuro Delicacies, an Albany catering business,

has also returned for a second winter.“It’s a good community. We’re happy,” says

Armin Hrelja, who operates Euro Delicacies with his parents.

Along with the spanokopita, Hrelja’s most popular dish is the burek, a rectangular roll of fl aky, buttery phyllo fi lled with ground sirloin.

Their menu of warm dishes also includes stuffed peppers, stuffed cabbage, moussaka — an eggplant dish with bechamel sauce — and pile pita, a phyllo dish made with chicken and carmelized vegetables.

Hrelja and his parents, who came here from Bosnia three years ago, prepare Eastern European food for offi ce parties, weddings, summer festi-vals and Troy’s winter farmers market.

“My parents were chefs in Europe,” says Hrelja.

Maria Lloyd of Albany, who runs Maria’s Pe-ruvian Delights, grew up in northern Peru, and came to this country 25 years ago after marry-ing an American. “The Greenmarket has given opportunities to many people,” says Lloyd, the mother of two daughters who are both in col-lege. “That’s how I pay their education.”

Lloyd cooks for the International Food Festi-val and Spanish Heritage Festival in the Empire State Plaza and the Latino Festival in Washing-ton Park.

“These are all Peruvian dishes, with a little fusion of American and with Peruvian season-ings,” Lloyd says. “Quinoa is grown in Peru. I cook a lot with quinoa.”

Quinoa chili is a mix of tomatoes, garbanzos, kidney beans and Peruvian spices. Another mar-ket favorite is a quinoa salad with mango. Yucca or cassava is a potato-like tuber that is common in South American cuisine.

“I try to make it healthy,” she says.Her empanadas are small, crescent-shaped

breads stuffed with beef, chicken, spinach and cheese, or cabbage and chorizo, that can be topped with a green sauce made with cilantro and jalapeño.

“Peruvian food is not very spicy. You make it spicy,” Lloyd says.

MUSIC, TOOFor less adventurous eaters, there are other

vendors.Jean Hull of Gilboa bought her lunch, a big

cup of bean and garlic soup and some spinach pie from Chick and Hen Baking Co. of Glov-ersville. “This is our fi rst time here,” says Hull. “We came for the whole market, but we knew we could get some delicious homemade food, so we came at lunch time.”

Pika’s Farm Table, a Belgian-run company from the Hudson Valley, makes handmade Belgian waffl es at the market.

And it’s not just the food that brings people to Key Hall.

“You bump into your friends, you have time to chat,” says Pam Pearlman of Schenectady, who is there with her husband, Jim Kalohn.

“Today we’re trying the food from Taj Ma-hal, vegetable samosas and masala,” says Pearl-man.

“I like the music,” says Weldon, who sits across the table from Pearlman with her hus-band, John.

“The music is bringing people in,” says Brown, the Café Nola vendor.

On most Sundays, there is free, live music in three places at the market. The schedule is listed on the web site, with solo artists and groups performing jazz, folk, classical and pop.

Sometimes three acts play for the fi rst two hours and three more play for the last two hours.

“Potentially, it’s six different acts on Sundays,” says Henry. “The customers just love it and it really adds to the atmosphere.”

Reach Gazette reporter Karen Bjornland at 395-3197 or kbjornland@dailygazette.net.

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Dear Annie: I’ve been with a wonderful guy for fi ve years. Af-ter two abusive marriages, I am fi nally being treated right. “Bud” and I have only two issues: money and kids. We have broken up a few times over our problems, but hon-estly, I can’t live without him.

Bud is 44 years old and owns his own business, but he does not save money. When I met him, he had nothing. Now he has $20,000 in a retirement account and another $5,000 in savings. He fi nally has his two kids pretty well straight-ened out, although they will never be exactly normal.

Bud still doesn’t manage his mon-ey well. He needs so many things in his house, yet he went out and bought a truck he doesn’t need. He now has six years of payments on it, his auto insurance went up, and if he ever needs new tires, we are talking thousands of dollars. I want him to sell it and get a reasonably priced truck. He says he will lose money on the sale, which is true, but why sink even more into it?

Both of my marriages involved men who overspent on themselves, so I know I have a tendency to be extra cautious. How can I convince Bud that he did the wrong thing by buying the truck, but that he still has time to fi x it? I won’t marry a man I can’t trust with my money. Not again. — Thrice Shy

Dear Thrice: You can’t treat Bud like a child, even if he makes poor fi nancial decisions. He will resent it and push back. Instead, approach all such matters jointly, being re-spectful of each other’s opinions, even when you disagree.

You also could offer to take over the handling of fi nances for the household, keeping everyone within a reasonable budget. But you are wise not to commingle your money if you don’t trust Bud’s ability to handle it. Before marry-ing, consider fi nancial counseling together through your bank or the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (nfcc.org).

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been married 27 years. We each have grown children from previous marriages.

My husband’s 42-year-old un-married son lives out of state. “Mike” is self-supporting, but the only time we hear from him is when he needs some extra money. He lives alone except for his dogs. For the past three years, Mike has spent Christmas with us, staying three or four days. We are always happy to see him, even though we only have two bedrooms and he brings the dogs — even one that is incontinent.

Last year, my daughter, who also lives out of state, visited with her two children. We hadn’t seen her in two years. My husband also was scheduled for knee-replace-ment surgery the following week. So when Mike asked to come with his dogs and a new puppy, we ex-plained that it wasn’t a good time. We asked him to come in February or March, while his father recuper-ated — and hopefully, the puppy would be housebroken.

We have not heard from him since, even though I have left numer-ous messages on his voicemail. What more can I do to mend this fragile relationship? — In the Middle

Dear Middle: Not much. You have explained, and you have called. We trust you will keep all of the kids informed of Dad’s prog-ress, including Mike. But it is up to him to make the next move. We suspect when he needs money, he will get in touch again.

Dear Annie: Most women who responded to “Your Hus-band” do not understand men very well. Without sex, men feel incomplete. It’s part of how we feel loved. Women should realize how important sex is to a man simply by seeing that he is willing to risk everything — his wife, family and assets — to fi ll this void. — Feeling the Void in Indiana

Email your questions to anniesmailbox@comcast.net, or write to: Annie’s Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 Third St., Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

Woman concerned that boyfriend just another spendthrift

Annie’s Mailbox

BY NANCY BLACK

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYYou’re in for some fun! The next

six months are a creative phase of exploration, fun and discovery. Write, record and communicate. Grow your partnerships. Set fi-nancial goals and prepare for June, when career levels up. Balance work and family with love.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 30To get the advantage, check the

day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) — Today is a 7. Now and for the next few months, it’s easier to fi nd money for home improvements. It’s better and cheaper to maintain now than to fi x it later. Your career moves forward joyfully.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) — Today is a 9. Your confusion at work is clearing up. Loved ones are even more supportive for the next few months. Allow yourself to be creative without concern for the result.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) — Today is a 9. Get the house the way you want it, right now and over the next few months. A fi nancial matter moves forward now. There’s plenty of work coming in, so embrace it.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) — Today is an 8. You’re lucky in love for the next few months. You have a lot to say, so say it with words, movement or pictures. Ex-press yourself. Move forward on the basis of an agreement.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) — Today is a 7. Advance a work project. It’s easier to get the money now. You can really be lucky in love and lucky at games at the same time.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) — Today is a 9. You’ve managed

to swim through raging emotional waters and now you’re rewarded. Your effectiveness increases. Oth-ers are listening.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — To-day is a 6. Don’t get impatient. You’ll advance in strides, especially around personal fi nances. Give the eggs some time to hatch. Medita-tion brings peace.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) — Today is an 8. You’re gaining confi dence each day. Projects that had been delayed will go forward. Consider joining an organization that makes a difference.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) — Today is an 8. Your dreams are prophetic. Exercise muscles you normally don’t use, so they don’t atrophy. Try something new. Increase your self-esteem and the infl ux of cash.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) — Today is an 8. Career advancement is easier soon. You’ll acquire wisdom with the assistance of your team. Be willing to listen to new ideas and don’t be afraid to take risks.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) — Today is a 6. For the next few months, you’ll meet important, interesting people with powerful ideas that will stretch your mind. Pay close attention. Use your time with them wisely.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) — Today is an 8. It’s all about your relationships. You can get farther than expected, together. Organize your time around the people you love.

HOROSCOPE

BY SARA SMITH The Kansas City Star

Caspar Weinberger’s maid is about to betray her country, and “The Americans” will have you begging her to hurry up and plant that bug in the defense secretary’s study before his British counterpart gets into town.

The childhood trauma of under-desk air-raid drills notwithstanding, the Soviets have served American culture as safe go-to villains for de-cades, enemies safely buried in the past, twirling their mustaches en route to a satisfying defeat.

“The Americans,” FX’s smart espionage drama, puts the enemy in Guess jeans and an Oldsmobile with Juice Newton on the eight-track. The series premieres with a 90-minute episode at 10 tonight .

Starring Keri Russell and Mat-thew Rhys (“Brothers & Sisters”) as a deep-undercover, accent-free Bo-ris and Natasha, the show rewinds the clock to the Cold War and turns the black-and-white America-fi rst mentality of the early ’80s inside out. The show is an unapologeti-cally fun litmus test for any retroac-tive treasonous leanings.

Directive S, the show’s fi ctional superspy program, melded two young Russians into deadly agents with fl awless English skills and then gave them new identities as Philip and Elizabeth Jennings. They’re sent off to establish lives in Amer-

ica and await further instructions. As the show begins, Ronald Rea-

gan has just taken offi ce and the Jennings family, now a pair of travel agents with two kids, is blending in on the suburban edge of Washing-ton. When the Cold War heats up for the last time, the Kremlin begins to make some unreasonable requests.

As played by Russell, Elizabeth is still a true believer in her mission. She hasn’t been seduced by our air conditioning and fully stocked gro-cery stores. She hasn’t even fully embraced her arranged marriage.

Phillip loves his sorta-wife — you can tell by the way he crushes an-other man’s larynx on her behalf — but he’s not so sure about the USSR anymore. Despite his doubts, Phillip holds his own when it comes to the game, donning wigs and den-tures and exploiting bored Beltway wives and secretaries.

Elizabeth’s methods are tried and true: Blond wig, martini bar, ego-stroking, pillow talk. “The Ameri-cans” doesn’t get two minutes into existence before she gets down to business with one particularly stu-pid mark, and the explicit scenes don’t stop there.

Even with such tempting agents, rooting for the KGB full time is a tough sell. Luckily, there’s someone to root for at the FBI, too. The new guy in counter-intelligence, Stan Beeman, just spent years under-cover with white supremacists, so he knows a little something about a life of deception.

Noah Emmerich plays Stan as equal parts buddy and bully, bring-ing to mind “Breaking Bad’s” DEA agent Hank Schrader. The fact that he moves in next door to the Jen-ningses is quite the coincidence. The show hangs a lampshade on it by letting the Russians hyperven-tilate about their new neighbor’s job during a welcoming brownie drop-off.

New FX series rewinds clock to Cold War eraTELEVISION

Greenmarket

Will Hartshorne of Latham performs at the Greenmarket’s Key Hall area. “The customers just love it and it really adds to the atmosphere,” Betsy Henry, the Greenmarket board chairwoman, says of musicians playing there.

STACEY LAUREN-KENNEDY/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER

Emily Timmons of Funk Farms in Schodack Landing holds a tray of cinnamon pastry logs at the Key Hall expansion area of the Schenectady Greenmarket.

Schenectady GreenmarketWHERE: Proctors, 432 State St., Schenectady — in Rob Alley, the downstairs Education Center and Key HallWHEN: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays through April 28. Closed on Easter, March 31.MORE INFO: www.schenectadygreenmar-ket.org

LIFE & ARTS

Continued from page B4