Epilogue
How could I have thought I was so invulnerable? How could I have taken such a thing on? At the end, lives were lost, reputations destroyed, peace of mind shattered forever. But we were safe. Emma and I. Does she see what I see in my dreams? As we’ve grown older, we’ve become the kind of friends who don’t keep in touch. Looking at each other is too painful. We know too much—know how close we came to never knowing what we have: small arms reaching up for us, large ones reaching down, encircling, engulfing.
How could I have taken such a risk?
But there really wasn’t ever any question.
Sometimes life lets us make choices. Sometimes it reaches out and chooses us.
Author’s Note
The Big Apple. Jazz musicians coined the city’s familiar moniker in the twenties. There were plenty of apples to pick from the tree, but only one Big Apple, only one New York. If you had a gig there, you had it made.
The ultimate destination.
Growing up in northern New Jersey, I felt much the same. As teenagers, my friends and I used to say we lived “just outside the city,” omitting the fact that we had to cross a state line to get there. At twelve, we were deemed old enough to take the DeCamp bus together to Port Authority—in the daytime. Armed with the small penciled maps my mother would draw, we’d head for Manhattan. One Saturday, it would be museums. My cousin John convinced me to stand in line with him for several hours outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art to catch a sixty-second glimpse of the Mona Lisa, on loan from the Louvre. It’s the wait I remember best now, the mix of New Yorkers and out-of-towners, the jokes, the stories—holding places while people dashed off for a dog from the Sabrett’s “all beef kosher franks” stand. Another Saturday, we’d go from box office to box office on Broadway until we got tickets to a matinee (prices were much lower in the early sixties). We saw everything from Richard Burton in Hamlet to Anthony Newley in Stop the World, I Want to Get Off. Sometimes we’d just wander, walking miles, entranced by the dramatic changes in the neighborhoods from one block to the next. Bialys and bagels gave way to egg rolls, followed swiftly by cannolis as we moved uptown.
No time of year was more magical than December, and from the time I was a small child, there was always a special trip during the season to look at the Rockefeller Center tree and the department store windows.
Other times of the year, my parents took us to the ballet, opera—the old Met with the “cloth of gold” curtain—concerts, and special exhibits at the museums—the Calder mobiles, like nothing anyone had seen before, spiraling in the enormous spiral of the Guggenheim.
Then there were the restaurants—or rather, one restaurant: Horn and Hardart’s Automat. My 1964 Frommer’s guide advises: “Inquire of any passer-by, and you’ll be directed to one that’s usually no more than a block-or-two away.” Sadly, they have all disappeared, and trying to explain the concept to my fifteen-year-old son—you put nickels in the slot next to the food you wanted, lifted the little glass door, snatched it out, and watched the empty space revolve, instantly producing another dish—is well nigh impossible. Fortunately, there are old movies. Just as difficult is describing the food—the superb crusty macaroni and cheese with tiny bits of tomato, the warm deep-dish apple pie with vanilla sauce, the baked beans in their own little pot. Most New Yorkers of a certain age wax nostalgic about Automat food—the meat loaf! And a whole meal for one dollar.
My husband is the genuine article. A native New Yorker, born and bred in the Bronx. “The Beautiful Bronx” when he was growing up, and we have a book of the same name to prove it. When he meets someone else from the borough, talk immediately turns to the Grand Concourse, the “nabe,” and egg creams. Where he lived is now part of the Cross Bronx Expressway, but he can still point out his elementary school as we whiz past. New Yorkers are very sentimental.
And to continue in the manner of Faith’s sweeping generalizations, New Yorkers are also very rude, very generous, very funny, very stylish, very quirky, and very fast. Genetically, they have more molecules than most other Americans. The moment I step off the train or plane from Boston, my pace quickens in imitation, my gaze narrows, and my senses sharpen. Forget all those New York designer fragrances. The essence is adrenaline, pure and simple.
This book is a paean to New York City past, present, and future—written about the end of one very distinctive decade as the city is poised for another—and a new century at that. At the close of 1989, the last thing Faith imagines is that in a few years she’ll be in exile—living in the bucolic orchards west of Boston.
She’ll keep her edge, though, will continue to read the Times and make periodic journeys back to Bloomies, Balducci’s, and Barneys, always keeping in mind what the comedian Harry Hershfield said: “New York: Where everyone mutinies but no one deserts.” 1900 or 2000—some things never change. It’s a wonderful town.
EXCERPTS FROM
HAVE FAITH
IN YOUR KITCHEN
BY Faith Sibley
A WORK IN PROGRESS
PORK LOIN STUFFED
WITH WINTER FRUITS
41⁄2 to 5 pounds boned pork
3 tablespoons
loin, center cut
vegetable oil
1 large apple, peeled, cored,
Salt
and cubed
Freshly ground black
Juice from 1⁄2 lemon
pepper
Approximately 12 pitted
3⁄4 cup dry white wine
prunes
3⁄4 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
Ask your butcher to cut a pocket in the center of the pork loin and tie it at one-inch intervals, or do this yourself at home.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Toss the apple cubes with the lemon juice to prevent dis-coloration. Then stuff the pork, alternating apple cubes and prunes.
Put the butter and oil in a large casserole with a lid, a Dutch oven or Le Creuset–type cookware is good. Place the casserole on top of the stove over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the loin, turning it so that it browns evenly on all sides. Season with the salt and pepper as you cook it. Remove the fat with a bulb baster.
Pour in the wine and cook in the center of the oven for approximately an hour and a half. Use a meat thermometer to check to be sure it’s done, but not overdone.
Place the loin on a heated platter and finish the sauce by first skimming off any fat produced during the cooking, then bringing the remaining liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat and add the cream, stirring constantly. Serve the sauce separately in a gravy boat.
A cranberry chutney or Scandinavian lingonberries go well with this dish. Serves six to eight.
WALDORF SALAD
1 cup diced crisp celery
1⁄4 cup sour cream
11⁄
1
2 cups cored (but not
⁄4 cup mayonnaise
peeled), diced Granny
Pinch of salt
Smith apples
Freshly grated nutmeg to
3⁄4 cup coarsely chopped
taste
walnuts
Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving; then let it warm slightly. Serve as is or on a bed of greens. This recipe tastes best with a slightly tart apple, and Granny Smiths are also pretty with the green celery.
The original recipe was created by Oscar Tschirky, the maître d’, not the chef, at New York’s famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It called for equal parts of diced celery and apples combined with mayonnaise and served on lettuce.
Walnuts were a later addition. Faith has altered it still more, and on occasion she replaces the walnuts with pecans, adds seedless green grapes or golden raisins, and often a slight squeeze of lemon. Serves six.
BIG APPLE PANCAKES
3⁄4 cup milk, plus 2 tablespoons 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1⁄4 teaspoon salt melted
1⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
1 Empire apple, peeled,
1 cup all-purpose flour
cored, and cut into thin
2 teaspoons baking powder
slices, halved
Put the milk, butter, and egg into a mixing bowl and beat lightly. Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the liquid ingredients, stirring just enough to mix. Add the apple slices and stir. Cook on a griddle or in a frying pan, making sure that the apple slices are evenly distributed in the batter.
Makes sixteen four-inch pancakes.
Serve with warm maple syrup—they don’t need much.
FRENCH APPLE CAKE
2 cups sliced, peeled cooking
1 tablespoon cassis
apples
(optional)
Juice from 1⁄2 lemon
4 tablespoons unsalted
1⁄2 cup sugar, plus 1⁄3 cup
butter, melted
1⁄4 teaspoon grated nutmeg or
1 teaspoon baking powder
cinnamon
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus
1⁄4 cup milk
1 tablespoon
1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
Preheat the oven to 400 °F. Grease a cake pan. Toss the apples with the lemon juice and arrange in a spiral on the bottom of the pan. Cover the pan completely, overlapping the slices if necessary. Sprinkle with 1⁄2 cup sugar and the nutmeg. Cover the apples with 1 tablespoon of flour and driz-zle with the cassis, if using, then with 3 tablespoons of the melted butter. Set the pan aside while preparing the batter.
Sift the 1 cup flour, 1⁄3 cup of sugar, the baking powder, and salt together. Beat the milk, egg, egg yolk, and 1 tablespoon of the melted butter together. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until you have a thick, smooth batter.
Spread the batter on top of the fruit and bake for twenty-five minutes. Do not overcook. The cake should be light brown on top. Cool slightly and invert on a serving plate.
Serve warm or at room temperature with a small dollop of whipped cream. This cake is also delicious when made with peaches or pears.
MANHATTAN MORSELS
1⁄2 cup unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 1-ounce squares semisweet
1⁄2 cup white sugar
baking chocolate
1⁄2 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 cup applesauce
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄2 cup chopped walnuts
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan and set aside.
Melt the butter and chocolate in the top of a double boiler.
Cool slightly. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside. Beat the eggs, sugars, and vanilla together. Then add to this the chocolate-butter mixture and the applesauce, mixing well. Stir in the dry ingredients and mix well again. Add the walnuts, stir, and pour into the greased pan.
Bake in the middle of the oven for approximately twenty-five minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack. This recipe makes twenty-four squares.
One of Faith’s favorite apple recipes is the apple version of Denouement Apple/Pear Crisp found in the recipe section of The Body in the Cast. Make it with New York State apples to give it a Big Apple twist.
As always, all of these recipes may be modified, substituting Egg Beaters, margarine, low-fat milk, and low-fat sour cream. The only exception is the sauce for the pork loin. It doesn’t need to be heavy cream, but it does need to be creamy—light cream or half-and-half.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Dr. Robert DeMartino once again for his invaluable medical advice and our years of friendship.
Many thanks also to Faith Hamlin, my agent, and Zachary Schisgal—an editor who edits.
And I am especially grateful to Patricia Hero of Arlington, Virginia, who suggested the title years ago at a bookstore signing!
About the Author
KATHERINE HALL PAGE is the author of thirteen previous Faith Fairchild mysteries. Her first book in the series, The Body in the Belfry, received the Agatha Award for best first mystery novel. She also won an Agatha Award for her short story “The Would Be Widower,” and The Body in the Lighthouse was nominated for a Mary Higgins Clark Award. She lives with her husband and son in Massachusetts. You can visit her website at www.katherinehallpage.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Praise
THE BODY IN THE BIG APPLE
“New Yorkers and suburbanites alike should enjoy this fast-paced mystery; and gastronomes will relish the aptly apple-flavored recipes.”
—Publishers Weekly
And praise for Agatha Award-winner KATHERINE HALL PAGE’s previous
Faith Fairchild mysteries:
“Scrumptious suspense.”
—Boston Herald
“This highly entertaining series effectively mixes modern-day moral dilemmas with
charm, warmth, and humor.”
—Booklist
“Her literary concoction is satisfying and surprisingly delicious.”
— Los Angeles Times
“Page has kept her Faith Fairchild series fresh by making each novel distinctly different.”
—Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
“Murder most delicious!”
—Tulsa World
Other Faith Fairchild Mysteries by
Katherine Hall Page
THE BODY IN THE BOOKCASE
THE BODY IN THE FIORD
THE BODY IN THE BOG
THE BODY IN THE BASEMENT
THE BODY IN THE CAST
THE BODY IN THE VESTIBULE
THE BODY IN THE BOUILLON
THE BODY IN THE KELP
THE BODY IN THE BELFRY
FB2 document info
Document ID: b61cb5d2-fdcf-4529-a672-13abcf0a4d37
Document version: 1
Document creation date: 8.6.2012
Created using: calibre 0.8.54, FictionBook Editor Release 2.6.6 software
Document authors :
Katherine Hall Page
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Body in the Big Apple ff-10 Page 25
