What's Cooking in Region 1 - March 2006
by Marghretta McBean

February in New York City got off to its usual start: the Westminster Dog Show and Fashion Week. The winner of the former, a bull terrier named Rufus, had tons more aplomb than the zombie-like teenage waifs wobbling down the runways. Rufus is living proof that traditional ideas of attractiveness can be ignored when one possesses self confidence and good attitude. Beauty really does come from within!

How can a 45 minute flight take 8 hours? When flying to Manchester New Hampshire in near hurricane strength winds. En route to New Hampshire Mensa's Granite Gathering 2006 "Return to Middle Earth" RG in Nashua, my plane made two landing attempts (add 1.75 hours), ran out of fuel, flew to and refueled at Logan Airport (add 1.25 hours), made three more landing attempts (add 2 hours) and finally flew back to Logan where we were eventually put on vans (add 1 hour) and driven (during rush hour traffic: add 2 hours) back to Manchester. Throw in another hour to get from Nashua to Manchester because the hotel shuttle folks were overwhelmed: power failures had sent area residents to the hotel, the telephone lines had been down, etc. etc.

The hospitality crew outdid themselves. Homemade soups, bread, and cookies; wonderful cheeses paired with excellent wines; games, games and more games; great speakers (the Global Warming lecture given by a meteorologist was especially fascinating); music offerings from professional level members - tons of talent! Over forty dedicated volunteers made this another stellar Region 1 event. Kudos to all!

Northern New Jersey Mensa reprised their now famous "Mid-Winter Blahs" one day RG. The featured morning speaker, Joseph D'Angeli, is a licensed chiroptologist: a bat specialist. Joe gave a fascinating presentation on our flying mammalian friends and brought along Jonathan, a very amiable fruit bat. What motivates someone to spend seven weeks bicycling across the United States? Kevin Gately of NNJM gave attendees his answer in a great travelogue. In addition the traditional game room, Carnelli and a raffle of gift baskets full of chocolate goodies completed the day's festivities. A big tip o' the hat to the Blahs Committee for their dedication, inventiveness and esprit de corps!

Where I grew up, no italian Easter dinner table was complete without a dish of malfatti (spinach dumplings). Italian Jews make a Passover version substituting matzo for the bread crumbs and flour. Happy Easter and ein zeisen Pesach to all!

Malfatti

1. Mix all ingredients except butter together thoroughly.
2. Sprinkle a little flour on waxed paper and, with floured hands, form little dough ovals about 2" long x 1.5" wide x .5" thick, using about 1 tablespoon of mixture for each malfatto.
3. Bring a gallon of salted water to a hard boil, then lower heat. Ease malfatti into the water one at a time. When they float to the surface, they are cooked. Remove with slotted spoon and place on warm serving platter.
4. When a layer covers the bottom, dot it with butter and additional grated Parmesan. Keep warm. Repeat layers until all malfatti are cooked, adding butter and Parmesan to each layer.