Forth of July 2015
Some of my fondest memories of growing up on Lake Hopatcong were swimming for the Chabon’s Vikings swim club. (Chabon's was a local bar and restaurant located on Espanong Road in Jefferson Township that sponsored our swim team.) I remember looking forward to swim team all winter long. At the end of June, our city friends would come out from Brooklyn, Bayonne and Clifton to stay in their summer cottages and, along with our school friends from East Shore Estates, Lake Forest and Nolan’s Point, that was our swim team. We would walk, bike or row to Chabon’s every morning for practice. Coach Chris Christensen led grueling training sessions, and we’d swim lap after lap getting ready for the biweekly meets that were the fabric of our summer days and our social life. Having enjoyed the camaraderie and fun of participating in a swim team, I thought it would be a great tradition to pass on to my children. We live near Lake Tamarack in Stockholm, N.J., and the Tamarack Torpedoes of the Wallkill Valley Swim Conference seemed like a great team for my kids to join. Francis was about 5 and Erika was 7 when they got started. Erika enjoyed it immediately, being the sociable type. There were lots of girls from her class who lived on the lake and she fit right in. Francis, however, was a bit more reluctant. Maybe it was nerves, maybe it was the humiliation of having to wear one of those speedo bathing suits, but he had a few episodes in the beginning of his first season. He spent an entire meet at Forest Lake in Andover in my station wagon, having locked himself in to avoid swimming in the Boys 6 and under 25-meter freestyle. At one of the home meets, he wouldn’t budge from his seat on the Italian ice cooler behind our funnel cake stand because he didn’t want to go in the water. Things got better as he got to know a few of the boys, and he began coming to practices and meets a bit more willingly. As a swim team mom, there were lots of jobs for me to do in addition to ferrying the kids to the away events. Timers, scorers, ribbon writers, stroke judges, finish judges, boat rowers, 50/50 raffle sellers, someone to sing the national anthem, and concession attendants were needed for the swim meets. Of these duties, concession attendant was my favorite. I loved preparing and selling the foods and talking to the families who had come to cheer for their kids. I hadn’t had so much fun since I worked as a waitress at Zorba’s Charbroil. I may be biased, but the Lake Tamarack concession was truly the best in the league. Families were asked to contribute a main dish, side dish, green salad, pasta salad or a dessert for at least one meet. The head of the food committee was very creative and assigned a theme for each meet. We dabbled in several world cuisines (German, Italian, Mexican and Chinese). One year we even published a cookbook.
My Chinese sesame noodles were very popular, and I ended up making them for every home meet because they always sold out, even if it wasn’t Chinese night. For this column, I adapted a recipe from Barbara Tropp’s “The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking,” one of my most beloved cookbooks. Tropp always called for authentic Chinese ingredients and if you are motivated to go to an Asian market to find them, by all means, buy black soy sauce and black vinegar for the dressing. Use 3½ tablespoons of black soy sauce to replace the soy sauce and molasses, and 1½ tablespoons black vinegar to replace the balsamic vinegar and water. The Chinese black soy sauce is dense and has a molasses flavor. The black vinegar is pleasant-tasting and mild.
1 lb. “forkable” pasta, such as gemelli or rotini
For the Dressing 3½ tablespoons soy sauce ½ teaspoon molasses 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon water 2 tablespoons sugar 2 teaspoons kosher salt 3½ tablespoons toasted sesame seed oil (now available at your local supermarket)
1. Cook the pasta, adding 2 teaspoons salt, in rapidly boiling salted water, according to the package directions. Drain in a colander, rinse with cold water, and then drain again. Set aside in a large bowl. 2. In a small bowl, whisk the soy sauce, molasses, balsamic vinegar, water, sugar and salt together until the sugar and salt dissolve. Whisk in the toasted sesame seed oil. Pour the dressing over the noodles. 3. Just before serving, toast the sesame seeds in a frying pan until just fragrant, being careful not to burn them. Toasting the seeds in the microwave works well, too; evenly spread the sesame seeds on a small plate leaving the center area empty. Microwave at 1-minute intervals until the seeds just turn brown. 4. Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds and the chopped scallions or chives over the noodles. Serve at room temperature.