Is wine storage in your home renovation budget?

By Hank Zona

Come on over for a glass of wine. It’s an invitation we hear more and more often in our vernacular. Small wonder—the United States is now the largest overall consumer of wine in the world, and here in New Jersey, wine drinking is well ahead of national trends. We rank comfortably in the top ten among states in total and per capita wine consumption and, not coincidentally, we are third in median household income. This is all more clearly reflected inside our homes, where the new “space race” is all about finding the safest, smartest, most convenient way to house our growing wine collections.

Photo Courtesy of Clawson Architects

Collectors have always sought to have showcase wine rooms and storage areas for bottles numbering in the hundreds, even thousands. They purchase fine glass-ware, often unique to different styles of wine, and the latest in gadgets and supplies, too. Most consumers, though, do not fall into the collector category. Yet many still desire some of the high-end trappings to better enjoy their own pursuits of the vine. It is this group’s purchasing interests that are greatly influencing the home remodeling market now.

Marvin and Rene Clawson, the husband-and-wife team behind Clawson Architects—a full-service architectural and interior design firm in Maplewood—confirm that accessibility to wine is a design request they hear a lot, as kitchens need to allow families to do more and more multi-tasking. “Ninety percent of all the kitchen designs we do now include a wine refrigerator in or adjacent to the kitchen,” says Rene Clawson.

Photo Courtesy of Susanne and Karl Rudiger

That refrigerator may be built somewhere into the kitchen design or as part of a separate beverage center, in the area that in the past was usually populated by a pantry. The cost of the unit itself—EuroCave makes several popular models—can run from the hundreds to the many thousands, not including carpentry, electrical, installation, etc. These modern conveniences are not just for new construction, but often they are retro-fitted and integrated into historic homes.

“We also help create efficiencies in larger homes for busy families”, adds Marvin Clawson. “In those homes, we are encouraging clients to include a beverage center on the second floor and, when the primary wine collection is a greater distance away, wine refrigerators in the master bedroom suite.”

Another trend in the home remodeling marketplace is transforming basement space into deluxe wine cellars. Not every homeowner, it seems, opts for a rec room or man cave. In most cases, a basement actually makes an ideal location for efficiently storing and enjoying a wine collection—subterranean basements work particularly well—and rates as a huge plus if and when the home goes on the market.

Depending on how homeowners plan to use the space (just storage…or perhaps something more ambitious, like a tasting area), a project like this can range from four figures to six figures. Work in a designer’s fee, as this is a renovation you definitely want to get right the first time.

Photo Courtesy of Clawson Architect

Enthused

Wine Enthusiast Companies, based across the river in Mt. Kisco, is the biggest wine storage and accessories company in the United States, shipping out over a half million products this past year. For over 30 years, they have been at the forefront of the market, selling everything from simple corkscrews to elaborate wine storage systems. Because of their Westchester location, the northern and central New Jersey markets are strong for them. Jacki Strum, the Director of Communications and Social Media at The Wine Enthusiast, says the company sells everything to do with wine but wine.

“We have a production development team that is focused on assessing the interests of our customers and then developing new products or identifying top-quality products made elsewhere,” she explains. Not surprisingly, they are a leader in wine storage sales. Demand for wine preservation (items and systems) and wine gadgets is on the rise, too.

Marshall Tilden III is a sales manager at The Wine Enthusiast who oversees a team of storage consultants that fields over one million calls and emails annually. “We ascertain our customers’ future wine purchasing goals, their storage needs and drinking habits and work within their budgets,” he explains. “Our customers often start off with us as apartment-dwellers and when they move to the suburbs, we help them to adjust their wine storage needs for bigger living space and bigger collections.”

What’s Cooking at Retail?

“In the cooking gadgetry world, wine is definitely a trend,” says Ben Salmon, proprietor of the South Orange kitchenware and home entertaining jewel box, Kitchen a la Mode. “We’re seeing tons of new gadgets to keep wine chilled after it leaves the fridge, both in the bottle and in the glass. Aeration is another wine gadget category that continues to be robust. Many more people are using gadgets to help their wines breathe as they’re being poured rather than using the traditional decanter method.”

Photo Courtesy of Susanne and Karl Rudiger

Elaborate wine openers are sometimes installed as part of a kitchen or wine room design, but as a rule consumers seem to be favoring simple openers that are made well with high-quality materials. As for glassware, customers are rethinking “a different glass for every wine” and picking one or two shapes that are versatile in highlighting a variety of wines. “People tend to be buying higher quantities of one or two types of glass than lower numbers of a variety of shapes,” Salmon reports. “I also see consumers moving away from the very inexpensive glasses that are not sturdy and have that horrible beaded rim, but also moving away from the very expensive glasses that can be too delicate for the price. I’m seeing sales surge in high-quality restaurant supply glasses—well-made glasses that drink nicely and don’t cost a fortune.”

Gifting of wine-themed items has seen significant growth according to both Tilden and Salmon, who also note the increasing popularity in the “upcycling” of old wine barrels and bottles for cheese boards, candleholders, tables, and wine storage. The boom in wine-themed products at trade shows is a good indication that more variety will be coming to market.

Editor’s Note: Hank Zona is a wine educator with a loyal following in New Jersey. You can read more of Hank’s work and peruse his event schedule at thegrapesunwrapped.com.

Picking the perfect summer camp has never been easier…which is why you need to start NOW.

By Christine Gibbs

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

How nice it is, in a world that moves at fiber-optic speed, that some things never change. Summer sleepaway camp has been a rite of passage for countless young Americans, stretching back generations in some families. In fact, 2012 marked the 150th anniversary of worldwide camping.

There’s just one thing. Replicating the summer camp experience we enjoyed for our own children (or in some cases grandchildren) isn’t the no-brainer it used to be, especially if you want to build a young person’s mind and body. In this age of specialization, we must assume the exhausting responsibility of matching our children’s interests, likes and dislikes—and perhaps their budding talents—to the camp that offers the greatest chance to learn, to grow and to thrive. All for the pleasure of writing out a large check and then fighting back the tears as they roll away for two to ten weeks of parentally unsupervised fun.

Pick the wrong camp, and not only won’t you ever hear the end of it, your kid will probably find some clever way to work it into your eulogy. Pick the right camp, and at the end of the session your child may grant you a grunt of approval when you ask how it was.

The pressure to get into that “right” camp may not be quite as intense as getting into the right college, but given the ever-expanding choices on top of variables on top of more choices, the process may be even more daunting. That is especially true for a small group of elite camps, such as the by-invitation-only program at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth, which is rigorously selective based on standardized test scores. Really? Yes, really.

Camping in the 21st Century

For those families with mere mortal offspring, the first order of business is deciding between the two types of summer sleepaway camps. There are the old-school Hello, Muddah, Hello, Faddah operations, which feature time-honored and universally shared activities (from hiking and canoeing to complaining about the grub and torturing the counselors). And then there are the specialty camps, which cater to almost every conceivable skill and interest. Is your daughter interested in robotics? Is your son’s golf swing in need of a tune-up? There are several camps within a couple of hours drive that can handle that. Are you arguing with your child about which camp is the right camp? You might consider a debate camp. Really? Again, yes, really.

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

In days past, dating all the way back to the early 1900s, the vast majority of summer sleepaway camps were of the traditional variety: scouting-, religious- or sports-oriented. Today there is a camp for practically every special interest, not to mention many that target special needs ranging from weight loss to autism to terminal illnesses. There are language and travel camps, both domestic and international. There are camps for all of the arts—fine art, music, writing and performing.  There are science, environmental and technical camps galore. Stevens Institute in Hoboken offers its ECOES program (Exploring Career Options in Engineering and Science) and even Apple opens some of its stores to offer free fun summer programs focusing on its own brand of electronic devices.

Sports camps have become an industry unto themselves. They specialize in activities such as golf, soccer, tennis, field hockey, competitive swimming, scuba, sailing and even rock climbing. There are numerous camps whose primary focus is to fast-track budding athletes (some as young as 8 or 9) toward some future Olympics. Others aim at building the skills necessary to secure a college scholarship in sports ranging from softball to sculling. There are football camps for quarterbacks only…which begs the question, who are they throwing and handing-off to? These camps offer fun and games with a serious side; they separate the wheat from the chaff by offering an atmosphere of competition, achievement and success.

Serious, success-driven camps are hardly limited to sports. Future Stars Camp in Warminster, PA, the Superkidz Kamp in Montclair, NJ and Stagedoor Manor—a 26-year old theatrical training camp in the Catskills which counts Natalie Portman, Mandy Moore and Robert Downey, Jr. among its alumnae—are hardcore performing arts boot camps.

And yes, there are actual boot camps now. Often geared toward working with troubled teenagers, they push kids to learn teamwork and also self-reliance in a quasi-military/wilderness environment. They tend to temper their intense work schedules with more traditional recreational camp-type activities such as swimming, hiking and just plain horsing around.

Fortunately, there are plenty of summer camps at the other end of the seriousness spectrum. The Quaker-run Dark Waters Camp in Medford, NJ encourages a non-competitive philosophy with a wide array of arts, crafts and outdoor activities. Similarly, a more balanced agenda is offered at the Stokes Forest Music Camp, where the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University counterbalances serious music sessions with environmental studies and recreational activities. Statistics compiled by the American Camp Association (acacamps.org), indicate that 57% of their accredited camp membership focuses on team-building and more than half provide opportunities for community service, such as area cleanups, recycling, and volunteerism at nursing homes and hospitals.

Dollars and Sense

According to industry statistics compiled by the National Camp Association, U.S. camps rake in an annual $11 billion in business.  More than 11 million American children last summer were tearfully bused or otherwise delivered by their parents to the 12,000 camps spread throughout the nation. Of these, about 60% are of the sleepover variety, two-thirds are run by non-profit organizations, and the remaining third are privately owned for-profit businesses. About one in five camps receive American Camp Association accreditation, which means they have met 300 health and safety standards.

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

This is worth thinking about when narrowing down your choices. Parents are often surprised to learn that, unlike pre-school, there is no government agency that monitors camp conditions and standards. And although most camps are small businesses, they employ more than 1.2 million adults in various capacities such as camp counselors, activity leaders, program directors and support services personnel, so it is something more than a cottage industry.

Not surprisingly, recent economic conditions have impacted consumer spending on summer camps. The good news is that the vast majority have been able to maintain their high standards, with some actually stepping up their games and becoming more competitive. The general consensus about the tangible and intangible benefits of the sleepaway camp experience has kept the industry going. This combination of forces has also benefitted day camps, which are less expensive and often more specialized than sleepaway camps.

Sleepover fees can vary from about $200 to upwards of$800 per week per child. Many camps offer financial assistance of one kind or another—including scholarships (aka “camperships”)—so if you need it, don’t be shy about asking what programs are available.

At the higher end of the scale are camps such as Camp Robindel for girls, located in Moultonboro, NH. At just under $11,000 for the summer, it offers yoga, horseback riding, paddle boarding, surfing, and knee boarding as well as bi-weekly themed meals that are a far cry from the unappetizing camp fare of yesteryear. For boys, a fee of$10,750 for Camp Skylemar in Naples, ME covers a five-hole golf course, eight tennis courts, and three indoor-and-outdoor basketball courts—plus all that nature has to offer. Yet even at the lower end of the scale, there are plenty of specialty sleepaway camps that will match your child’s passions and interests. Their offerings range from computers and technology to fashion and fitness, to the culinary or performing arts.

As much as we want our children to go to the best possible camp, we also want to negotiate lower fees and expenses. There are nearly $40 million in scholarships out there, but beyond these programs, you can explore other ways ways to make fees fit a leaner pocketbook, including no-interest installment payments, sibling deals, early bird sign-up discounts and playing two competing camps off each other. You’ll find some other ideas at campparents.org and camppage.com. Something that many parents are unaware of is the credit the IRS gives for summer camp costs. The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit can cover 20% to 35% of childcare up to$3,000 for each child. In most cases, the IRS considers summer camp as an allowable form of childcare expense if it is necessary for parents to be able to continue to work through the summer.

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Keeping the Campfires Burning

The folks who own and operate summer camps are seasoned professionals who take on the myriad responsibilities associated with providing the most rewarding, enjoyable and safe overall summer experience for all resident campers. Their business depends on positive word-of-mouth from parents and, of course, happy campers. With the growth of social media and web sites over the last generation, the quality-control bar has been raised to new heights. One bad review, easily Googled, can put a dent in even the best camp’s bottom line.

Sheryl Kirschenbaum, Director of Surprise Lake camp in Cold Spring, NY is a good example of hands-on camp administration. When asked about the focus of this Jewish-faith summer camp (which dates back to 1902), she thoughtfully sums it all up. “It’s about intangibles,” she explains. “We let kids be kids. We provide a safe place away from some of the daily insanity that surrounds them. Our focus is always on warm and welcoming…but no cell phones allowed!”

Can Kirschenbaum describe the perfect camper for Surprise Lake? “There is none. Camp is magical in different ways for different children. They’re all perfect in some ways or other.”

“However,” she adds, “I am always searching for the perfect counselor!”

A striking example of a successful family-run camp is Camp Jeanne d’Arc, nestled in the rolling hills of Merrick, NY. The Director, Jehanne McIntyre Edwards is the granddaughter of feminist Ruth Israel McIntyre, who began working with the Girl Scouts in her Philadelphia parish early in the 20th century and moved on to work with the Girl Guides in France during WWI. That French connection was the inspiration behind naming the camp and fulfilling her vision for young women everywhere. Edwards is a believer in the advantages of a girls-only traditional camp. “Girls tend to more easily integrate into a close community environment,” she maintains. “The older campers often become ‘big sisters’ to the younger ones, which can be very helpful in overcoming some inevitable homesickness.”

A totally flexible summer schedule offers 2- (for the younger “newbies”) to 7-week sessions for a fortunate 130 young girls from 8-16. The main focus, according to Edwards, is to foster intercultural growth through a diverse body of campers. The goal is to encourage individual skills and strengths over time to build confidence and self-worth. “We believe that small goals will lead to great success,” she says. Although the camp encourages some friendly competition, it definitely is not one of the high-intensity special-interest camps.

Vetting a Camp

The quality of a summer camp can be measured in many ways, however the one that speaks most clearly may be the percentage of campers in the oldest group who started in the youngest. A healthy population of “lifers” is a good sign. At the best of the best, those graduated campers continue to come back, as junior counselors and then as full-fledged counselors. When evaluating your choices, this is something that definitely needs to be on your checklist of questions.

What else should be on that list? Ask about the safety and security measures that are in place, and what medical resources are available in case of emergency. Ask about the food—what is the typical daily/weekly menu? Is there a nutritionist on staff, or are there at least some basic nutritional guidelines being followed? What kind of training and experience are required of the counselors and directors—are they subjected to background checks?

What is the ratio of campers to counselors? There is no “right” number, but it is a useful statistic for comparison purposes. It is also prudent to ask a camp to elaborate on its discipline policies. If you have an unruly child or if you are afraid you child might be picked on, find out how a camp handles these situations.

References are crucial. Even if you have been pointed to a particular camp by a trusted friend or neighbor, ask if you can communicate with other parents. Finally, trust your instincts and your own eyes. If the camp is within a couple of hours, you might even consider visiting while it is in session.

Always remember that you as parents are in the driver’s seat when it comes to final decision-making. You are undertaking a significant investment in your child’s overall summer experience, so don’t be shy about asking some tough questions.

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

WHY CAMP?

In times past, there were some parents who looked upon camp as a “dumping ground” that freed up their own summers for adult recreation. Today, parents are more involved in a rigorous camp selection process. According to the American Camp Association, the three most frequently cited reasons why parents send their children to camp are to:

• build self-confidence and self-esteem;
• provide a safe environment;
• build social skills and make friends.

News, views and insights on maintaining a healthy edge.

Bariatric Surgery: A “Miracle Moment”

A recent study of diet and nutrition disorders looked at attitudes of the morbidly obese toward obesity and obesity treatment. Researchers found that the majority of study subjects thought of obesity as an unalterable hereditary trait. Although they recognized that personal eating behavior contributes to and exacerbates their condition, they feel that altering this behavior is difficult to change or control. The same study also showed that food is often used as a coping strategy, which makes following a healthier diet plan a “huge sacrifice.” The findings support the idea that, for the morbidly obese, bariatric surgery represents a “miracle moment” that will change their lives without requiring an active role or participation. Researchers concluded that it is important to empower patients before and after bariatric surgery, and to promote a new awareness of the weight-loss process.

Heads Up On Facial Fractures

With all the publicity about the long-term damage associated with concussions, the medical community has become hyper-vigilant when it comes to the diagnosis and treatment of major head injuries. A new study out of Victoria Hospital in Canada suggests that doctors may be overlooking one type of injury—facial fractures. Patients suffering this type of injury show evidence of minor brain injury. Unlike a typical concussion, where the brain is “sloshed” by heavy force, facial fractures appear to injure the brain because impact forces are transmitted through the head. The same dynamic can also cause neck problems. The study, conducted by craniofacial surgeons, showed that facial fractures cause major brain injury 29% of the time—but in the remaining 71% of cases, more than half showed evidence of minor brain injury, which can easily go unnoticed and untreated.

Crazy Time for Cannabis

On the heels of news that marijuana use has been legalized in Washington State, recent research has added to the growing amount of data that suggests that heavy cannabis exposure during adolescence increases the future risk of developing schizophrenia. In addition, legalization for medical use elsewhere in the country exposes an entirely new group of users to pot, many of whom may have other types of psychosis risks. Many healthcare professionals and scientists are now urging for a test that might help predict the risk for developing cannabis psychosis—something that doctors, for instance, could administer before prescribing marijuana to a patient. Genetic researchers at the King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry recently carried out a case control study to investigate variation in the AKT1 gene and cannabis use in increasing the risk of psychosis. AKT1 is involved in dopamine signaling, which is known to be abnormal in psychosis. The study found that cannabis users who carry a particular variant in the AKT1 gene have a two-fold increased probability of a psychotic disorder; this increases up to seven-fold if they smoked or ingested marijuana daily. The results are not conclusive in and of themselves that AKT1 is the key to a genetic test, but according to Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, it “does show that this source of psychosis risk has a genetic underpinning.”

Link Between Sleep Disorders and Cancer Deaths

Sleep apnea sufferers have one more bit of bad news to add to their growing list. A study conducted in 2012 suggest that sleep-disorder breathing is associated with an increased risk of cancer mortality. This on top of increased risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease and depression. Patients with severe sleep apnea had an incidence of cancer deaths five times higher than those without serious sleep-disorder breathing. “We are a long way from proving that sleep apnea causes cancer or contributes to its growth,” says Dr. F. Javier Nieto of the Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health—the lead scientist on the study and a sleep epidemiology expert. “But animal studies have shown that the intermittent hypoxia [an inadequate supply of oxygen] that characterizes sleep apnea promotes angiogenesis-increased vascular growth-and tumor growth. Our results suggest that SDB is also associated with an increased risk of cancer mortality in humans.”

Environmental Factors Trigger Allergies in Newborns

The idea that smoking while pregnant—or significant exposure to second-hand smoke—can trigger any number of problems in a newborn is widely accepted. In the case of allergies, now we know why. Two Iranian scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research recently released findings that show smoking affects the development of peripheral allergy-relevant stem cells in the blood. Their report, published in Clinical & Experimental Allergy, shows that one-year-olds with skin problems, such as dermatitis or cradle cap, had elevated levels of eosinophil progenitors in their blood. This establishes a relationship between the genetic predisposition for a disease and environmental influences. The conclusion the scientists drew is that, just because allergies run in a family, it doesn’t mean a child will suffer from those same allergies. The stem-cell findings prove that environmental and lifestyle factors actually determine whether a genetic predisposition is in fact realized or not.

Holiday Baking: Shoulda Woulda Coulda

Don’t you love it when you hear how unhealthy holiday eating can be? Hopefully, your guilt has worn off and you’ve dropped an unwanted pound or two.  But just in case, Utah State University has some tips for healthier baking. 1) Lower fat content by using plain yogurt instead of shortening or butter. 2) Replace icing with sifted confectioner’s sugar. 3) Add fiber to recipes by using a 50-50 mix of hard white wheat flour with regular flour. 4) Cut the amount of salt called for in baking by a third or half—it’s important from a taste and chemistry standpoint, so you can’t leave it out entirely. 5) Cut the sugar in recipes by 25%—you’ll barely notice the difference. Don’t think of these tips as “too little, too late.” Think of them as a recipe for success in 2013, and implement one every other month. By next December, you will be happier, healthier and guilt-free when the baked goods start rolling out of your oven.

New Findings on Gluten-Free Foods

Back in December, the good folks at Guinness added a new entry in their Book of World Records: the largest gluten-free pizza. It covered more than a third of an acre and weighed more that 50,000 pounds. Given the recent proliferation of gluten-free foods on supermarket shelves, some have questioned whether there is actually a need for this type of product, or whether it’s just some new dietary fad. After all, fewer than 1% of people in the U.S. suffer from Celiac Disease, an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine triggered by exposure to gliadin, a protein found in wheat. So is wheat sensitivity among non-Celiac individuals real or imagined? A recent study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology confirms what many in the field long suspected: non-Celiac wheat sensitivity not only exists as a distinct clinical condition, it shows up in people who already exhibit food hypersensitivity, as well as those who do not. “These findings are very important, and I hope to see more research in this area,” says Dr. Samiappan Muthusamy of the Center for Digestive Diseases. “For our patients with non-Celaic sprue gluten sensitivity disorder, we suggest they continue a gluten-free diet.”

Raisin D’Etre

New data presented at the last American College of Cardiology scientific session suggest that a handful of raisins (not an apple) a day could keep the doctor away for those with mildly increased blood pressure or hypertension. Raisins contain a high amount of potassium—which is known to lower blood pressure—and are a good source of antioxidants, which have been shown to have a good effect on blood vessels. The study may lead to more ambitious trials on the positive impact of raisins on blood pressure. Until then, researchers suggest consuming 60 a day (about a handful). P.S. If you have a dog, please no sharing; vets haven’t figured out exactly why yet, but raisins (and grapes) appear to be toxic to canines.

What’s the ‘real’ cost of obesity?

By Lisa Milbrand

The line between social acceptance and social unacceptability can be a surprisingly fine one. Consider the smoker, once ubiquitous, who now encounters hostility whenever he or she lights up.

It’s one thing, after all, to ruin your own health. But as soon as the collateral damage of secondhand smoke was recognized—to our lungs and our pocketbooks—smokers were dead ducks.

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Are the overweight next?

Laboring through the day with an extra 50 pounds is a chore. Absorbing the glances of pity or disgust each time a French fry crosses the lips is no fun, either. But what happens when the “real” costs of obesity are made clear to the American public?

There’s no question that obesity is on the rise here in the U.S. Currently, 60 percent of American adults are considered overweight. “And 30 percent are considered obese, where it causes a real medical problem,” adds Jim Dunleavy, PT, the Administrative Director of the Trinitas Health & Fitness Center. It’s not just our problem—the World Health Organization recently proclaimed that it now considers obesity a greater threat to humankind than hunger.

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Furthermore, the impact of obesity goes beyond the health issues with which we are all too familiar, including skyrocketing rates of type-2 diabetes, coronary problems and other chronic and fatal diseases. Experts outside the world of medicine are now beginning to assess the cost of obesity in ways that impact everyone’s bottom line. Everything is on the table, from loss of productivity and increased risk of going on permanent disability, to the need to retrofit hospitals and build trains, planes and automobiles with wider seats, to an entirely new level of wheelchair accessibility in public and private spaces.

IT’S PUBLIC

Many inside the world of medicine feel that this is a discussion that needs to happen, if for no other reason than to create a more sophisticated level of public awareness.

“They’ve done a good job of showing the dangers of smoking, but obesity has to be the next thing they tackle,” says Gregory Charko, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Orthopedic Physicians and Surgeons, P.C., in Union. “Everybody pays the cost for this; all health insurance premiums go up to cover the sickest people in the population. There’s a huge cost to the whole society when obese people are disabled prematurely and can’t participate in society, pay taxes and contribute.”

Some researchers have actually tried to put a number on the cost of obesity. They’re finding that about 20 percent of our annual health-care spending—or about$190 billion each year—goes toward treating obesity-related medical conditions. Yet that may be the tip of the iceberg. There are subtler ways we all pay—for instance, in our plane tickets, as airlines’ fuel costs have increased to account for the millions of gallons of extra fuel needed to transport the extra weight, and through governmental or hospital spending to retrofit public transportation and hospitals to accommodate the obese with extra-large seats, toilets that can withstand the excess weight and other accommodations.

We may also have to work harder as a result. “Obese people miss work more, so they cost employers more,” points out Penny Cappuccino, a registered dietitian at Trinitas. Some researchers peg that annual cost to employers at up to $30 billion per year.

IT’S PRIVATE

No one should be surprised if the public cost of obesity finds its way into the headlines more and more over the next few years. Hopefully, that won’t obscure the highest cost of America’s weight problem: the personal one. Almost every study shows that obese people shed years off their lives, and have much poorer health in their later lives than people with normal weight.

Much of this relates to the damage that excess weight can create on every system of the body, from the lungs to the legs. “Obese people are at very high risk of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, as their throat narrows during sleep, causing oxygen levels to drop,” says Vipin Garg, MD, the Medical Director of Trinitas Sleep Disorders Center. “Low oxygen levels to the brain mean a person cannot get to deep sleep, and it affects all the other organs as well. It makes them more susceptible to heart disease, strokes, seizures and things of that nature.

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

And abdominal obesity moves the diaphragm up and stiffens the chest wall with fat around the ribcage, so the lungs aren’t able to fill with air as they would if the person wasn’t obese—that can lead to shortness of breath.”

“Obesity is also the top cause of knee replacement,” says Dr. Charko. “The force across your knee is three to five times your body weight, and if you’re morbidly obese, it just wears that joint down. If you’re over 300 pounds, you’re just carrying too much load for your skeleton, and it’s wearing out because of that increased load. Also, obese people are more prone to lower back degeneration, because of poor abdominal muscle tone.”

Chronic health conditions such as these can actually contribute to further weight gain and impairment of your health. “It’s a vicious cycle,” says Dr. Garg. “Once you’re obese, the one thing you’re supposed to do is exercise, and if you get short of breath with exertion, or have pain, you’ll exercise less—and you’ll get even more obese.”

Because of these chronic health conditions, many obese people become disabled and leave the workforce early. “They spend more of their lives disabled, their quality of life is diminished,” Dr. Charko says, “and they won’t be able to afford to do the things they want to do.”

IT’S PERSONAL

Beyond the social and financial costs of obesity are the ones that are sometimes hardest of all to fix—the psychological ones. “Obese kids may be ridiculed and bullied, and studies show that obese people may have fewer job opportunities and may be less likely to be given jobs,” says Cappuccino. Indeed, John Cawley, a heath economist at Cornell University, found that obese individuals are regularly paid less than their healthy-weight counterparts—to the tune of about 11 percent of their annual income.

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

No matter how you look at it, we’re all losing due to society’s weight gain.

“We’re losing in terms of their health and the quality of life, but we’re losing in terms of how productive that person is and the number of working years they have,” says Dr. Garg. “It’s a big cost to society, when people are spending more time dependent than they are working.”

b When Lisa Milbrand’s not writing about health and wellness for EDGE, she is sharing advice on everything from wedding planning to child rearing as a magazine writer and blogger. If you know a couple haggling over baby names, send them to her In Name Only blog on parents.com.

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You think your boss stinks now? Just wait.

By Mark Stewart

Photo Credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

One in 75 home businesses will generate $1 million or more in 2013. The likelihood of a home business showing a profit over a 3-to-5 year period is double that of a traditional brick- and-mortar business. A recent poll of working-age Americans showed that roughly 7 in 10 would prefer to be self-employed. It seems like a no-brainer, right? Well, all I can say is be careful what you wish for.

As someone who has worked primarily out of a home office full-time for two decades, I have come to a couple of important conclusions. First, I am forever doomed to be one of the 74 people who isn’t bringing in a million a year. Second, I do know what I’m doing. I am successful in my field (publishing), my mortgage gets paid on time, the cupboards are full and I can’t recall the last time I had “nothing to do.” When my spouse or children invite guests over, they do not try to hide me, even unshaven, on my worst hair day. I guess the fact that I still have a wife and kids should count for something, too. I almost never get sick because my human contact is limited. And I don’t have a huge number of friends, probably for the same reason.

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It’s a life I thoroughly enjoy…however, not one I recommend to just anyone.

Invariably and somewhat regularly, I am asked by friends, acquaintances, business contacts and just random people for advice on starting or managing a home-based business. I may not be the brightest business person (my accountant is constantly reminding me of this) but as far as these folks are concerned, I have acquired enough experience to be of some use to them. Consequently, I feel comfortable answering questions, sharing anecdotes and insights, and encouraging them to be honest and introspective about whether they truly are cut out to work from home.

Over the years, I have  developed a very personal and totally unscientific list of Do’s and Don’t’s for people considering a home-based business. Some are common sense, while others are the result of trial, error, experience, and additional error. So without further adieu, I present the full-time home-based business Gospel According to Me:

HABIT FORMING

•             Wake up each day with a battle plan. No, make that Wake up each day prepared to go to war. This is the single greatest piece of advice I can offer, so why save it until last? The world owes you nothing; your home business is not guaranteed to survive. To succeed, you need to look back at the end of each day and be able to say, “I did everything I possibly could today to move my business forward.” It starts with an attitude, and includes intense focus, self-examination and discipline. It means making lists and crossing things off. It means using your time intelligently. It means not getting careless and shooting yourself in the foot. Like a soldier, you wake up every day prepared to go over the top and enter enemy territory. And like a soldier, when the sun goes down, you’re happy if you’ve gained a little ground and have lived to fight another day.

•             If you wake up, get up. When you run a home-based-business, there is no official start to the workday. If you are able to sleep to 9:30, kudos to you. But if your eyes are wide open at 6:30 and you’re already thinking of new ideas, get out of bed and ease into the day.

•             Dress before 10:00 a.m. It’s fine to start the day in your underwear, but at some point you will pass in front of a mirror and realize you look like a hobo. Getting dressed is a way of telling yourself it’s time to get serious.

•             Make lists. Make a new list each morning, prioritize the items that absolutely must be accomplished that day, and cross them off as quickly as you can. The feeling of accomplishment comes when you start crossing off things below the must-do’s. As you think of new items, add them. If new tasks or opportunities arise during the day, add them, too. Even if you don’t get to them, they will be there in writing for you when you make your new list tomorrow.

•             Shower or bathe at the end of each working day. Your significant other, offspring and pets will love you for it. More important, it helps wash away the working part of your day. It can happen at 4:30 or 7:00 or midnight—just don’t be tempted back to work after you’ve toweled off.

•             Learn how to power down. This is the second-most important piece of advice I can offer. A high percentage of the people I know who failed to make a go of a home business (this includes a lot of freelance writers and editors) tell me that the thing they simply could not do was shut their brain off at night. When you work in a traditional place of business, you leave it physically and return home. Yes, some people take their jobs home with them, but there is a physical separation that gives them an opportunity to recharge and be mentally ready for the coming day. When your business is in your home, it’s harder to empty your head before it hits the pillow. If you toss and turn worrying about a client who owes you money, or whether an important phone call went well, or how you can tweak your social media presence, then you will crash into a wall the next day, accomplish less than you want, and toss and turn even more the next night. And there is only so much Ambien you can take.

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THE WORKSPACE

•             Set up a clearly defined work area. It doesn’t have to be sealed off from the rest of the house, and it doesn’t have to be immaculate. But it must be a legitimate workspace. It tells you and everyone else that you are serious about getting things done when you are sitting or standing there.

•             Set up a clearly defined storage area. You need a place to put things that are important to your business, but which you don’t need to access every day. Invest the time required to organize, label, alphabetize—whatever it takes so you don’t waste time retrieving these items.

•             Establish boundaries. As the operator of a home-based business, accept the fact that you will never achieve church-and-state balance between home and business. There will always be spillover, especial if another family member is involved in your company. Nevertheless, explain openly and clearly to those who share your domicile that your home sometimes must adhere to basic rules of business, and that no one should take it personally if they feel ignored or underappreciated in some way. Also, your business workspace must be respected; it is not for them to use or disturb.

•             Clear your line of sight. When you chose a primary workspace—the place where your attention cannot wander—remove family photos and other items that will tempt you to daydream or lose focus. You should never have a window directly in front of you, even if there is a computer screen between you and the window. It’s okay to keep these things near to you, just not right in front of you. By the way, having a clutter • Sound off. You do not need a soundtrack for your life. Eliminate any noise that distracts you, breaks your concentration, or diminishes your ability to be productive. Recognize that your iPod, stereo, radio and television could be your worst enemies. Silence is literally golden. If you are working hard, you won’t notice the lack of music or news chatter. I feel the same should be true of the noises that alert you to new emails, texts, tweets or Facebook entries. They create too many temptations. Keep your phone ringer on, that’s it.

•             Choose a comfortable chair. A desk chair is like a pair of shoes. It’s worth spending a little time and money to find the right fit. Many a carpal tunnel case began with the wrong desk chair. The puffy leather reclining model at Staples may look good and feel great, but that doesn’t mean it’s the one you want. Start out with something that’s already around the house until you develop a sense of which features might enhance the way you interact with your workspace. In my case, I sit in a wooden armchair. Wheels and padding didn’t work for me. To each his own.

•             Backup everything. Invest $100 in a computer backup device and learn how to use it properly. If a database is compromised or you lose a month’s worth of emails, the impact could cripple your business. I speak from experience.

•             Get your phone situation straightened out. Designate at least one line and one physical phone to your business. If that phone rings, it’s business. If another phone rings, it’s not. You cannot imagine how this will reduce the anxiety and stress level in your home. If you have landlines, this is especially important. But even if you are an all-cell household, it enables you to “close your business” and devote yourself to family and personal matters when you need to.

•             Don’t use the phone for business when the little ones are around. A business professional does noted workspace is no crime. Some people simply function better that way.

interact with others while toddlers are screaming in the background. The same goes for babies, teenagers, significant others, dogs and birds. Plan your phone time for when you have quiet time.

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BODY & SOUL

•             Obtain insurance. Boring but important. If you do not have insurance coverage through another job or through a spouse, make this a priority. The peace of mind alone is worth it. Sadly, the cost of a half-decent health insurance plan in New Jersey for a small, independent home business is absolutely vulgar—$300 to $500 a week for a family of four. I am not a religious person, but in my 20 years of paying usurious, ever-escalating premiums, I have developed a belief system based on the idea that everyone in the health insurance industry will find themselves at the bottom of a fiery hole after they die. If I find out otherwise, I will be really disappointed. Did I mention that I’m not fond of health insurance companies?

•             Watch what you eat. And how you eat. I have gone 10 hours without eating or drinking anything because I was so absorbed in my work. Other times I have consumed five full meals in a day out of sheer boredom. It’s a good idea to have a general plan when it comes to breakfast, lunch and dinner. That has helped me stay within 10 pounds or so—up or down—of the same weight for the past 20 years. If you tend toward unconscious or binge eating, recognize that your new workplace is attached to a kitchen, and that no one is there to watch in horror as you down a tub of ice cream at 11 in the morning. Self-control, please!

•             Get regular exercise. This has always been a challenge for me. I don’t swim unless I’m drowning and I don’t run unless an animal is chasing me. I don’t like sports without a score and I have purchased at least three gym memberships in my life without ever actually having set foot in a gym. My solution was to set up an office in the attic of our house, and to take any opportunity I could think of to go to the basement or first floor, and then back up again. On an average day I’ll bet I go up and down 300 steps. My legs are like hardened steel (my belly is more molten). I have never had to blow $1,000 on a stairclimber. I am in pretty decent shape. That being said, I know someone who was so consciencious about regular exercise that she could not begin her day until she had completed the ritual of hitting the gym, showering, and eating a low-calorie breakfast. This was an admirable routine, except for one thing: These were her most alert and productive hours of the day. At 3:30 she was out of gas and worthless for anything other than menial tasks. Use your best judgment here.

•             Don’t drink. There are many ways to reward yourself, and many ways to decompress. None of these ways should involve alcohol. At least one person I know has lost a business (and more) because he started drinking alone when he should have been working. I strongly suspect a couple of others I know stumbled down the same path. Once you are done for the day, cheers, go for it. It’s your life and it’s a free country. Yes, we all know Hemingway did his best work with a bottle next to the typewriter, but his own story didn’t end very well, did it?

TIME MANAGEMENT

•             Stay off the Internet. It’s a tool. Use it intelligently. If you are not pursuing a goal relevant to your home business, leave the Overstock.com browsing, eBay bidding, eNews-reading, Facebooking and other stuff we won’t mention until you have officially called it quits for the day.

•             Identify your most productive hours. On a good day, the human brain probably can muster about six hours of optimum performance. And like any other business, a home-based business can really wear you out. So do yourself a huge favor and recognize the times of day when you are “locked-in” and then plan your schedule accordingly. My mental engine starts firing on all cylinders around 10:30 in the morning and keeps going until 3:30 or so. Then sometime after 6:00 or 7:00 I get a second wind and can work right into the night. The key for me is to assign myself the most important tasks at those optimum hours, and to have dumb-dumb work to do before and in between. What’s dumb-dumb work? Putting things back where they belong. Doing basic research on the Internet. Compiling information on the marketplace or checking out the competition. Going to the post office or the bank.

•             Make personal business into breaks. Everyone needs to take short breaks during the day. Avoid falling into the trap of turning on the TV or surfing the web aimlessly. You will lose too much valuable time. Instead, devote 10 or 15 minutes to taking care of personal business—throw a load in the wash, tighten the hinge on that cabinet, take out the garbage, floss.

•             Use downtime to plan ahead. When you’re not busy, or you’re tired, or you just need to switch gears, use these moments to broaden the foundation of your home-based business. If you have made a business plan, it should include where you’d like to be in 6 months or a year or 18 months—along with the steps needed to get you there. Downtime is the right time to chip away at the tasks required to move you closer to your goals. This has been incredibly important to my business. There’s nothing worse than finishing one job and going, “Um, what do I do next?” I know what I’ll be doing two years from now—which is rare in my business. Trust me, it didn’t happen overnight!

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Home Business by the Numbers

There are more than 15 million home-based businesses in the U.S., and more than 10 percent of American homes are used in some way as a place of business. Women appear to make up a majority of the home-business “workforce.” Start-up costs for most home-based businesses are under $10,000. Many begin with less than $1,000. Some start with the shirt on their backs. Although much of the income generated by home businesses goes unreported, estimates of the amount of money made by people working from home are typically upwards of $400 billion a year. Fewer than 5% of successful home businesses leave the home and move into office or retail space.

Home Office Feng Shui

The Feng Shui of a home office is practical and should mimic that of most business offices. The office should set the scene for your transformation from relaxed resident to reliable and focused professional. When you walk in, you should feel as though you are entering a different world, so that your mind shifts from home-related matters to help you concentrate on work.  Here are some Feng Shui do’s and don’t’s to create a positive work environment in your home office:

Do…

create a “professional” décor.  Hang positive business mementoes on walls, in full view, to reinforce your identity as a successful and skilled worker.

Don’t…

have the room double as a multiuse venue, or it will be difficult to seriously concentrate on your work.

Do…

set up your desk so that all intruders—big or small, human or animal—can be seen, and thus you won’t be startled and distracted from your tasks. Similarly, the computer should sit so the user can easily see the door or room divider.

Don’t….

underestimate the value of bright lighting.

Photo Credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Do…

hang a mirror so that you can see the view from your home-office window.

Don’t…

go overboard on organization. Yes, feng shui tenets stress the wisdom of a clean, efficient office, but this writer ascribes to the sage words: “Out of chaos, comes creativity.”

—Sarah Rossbach, author of Feng Shui: The Chinese Art of Placement and Interior Design with Feng Shui.

Editor’s Note: Mark Stewart has managed the EDGE editorial team since 2009. He also writes books for the school and library market, and runs a successful sports web site. He wrote this article in his wooden desk chair, at a computer set up against a wall with a blue abstract painting, surrounded by clutter, with no music playing.

24 North Ave. East, Cranford HOme • 908.276.3664

Reservations recommended.

Hours: Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. All major credit cards accepted. Dress ranges from neat-casual to festive. Prices: Salads: $8 to $10.

Tapas: $6 to $14, with a mixed selection of tapas at $24. Cocas (mini pizzas): $8 to $10. Paellas and entrees: $18 to $26. Side dishes: $6. Desserts: $7.

In the end, the matter of the Red Velvet cake was the cherry on top of a sweet evening. Cervantes, a Portuguese-Spanish restaurant in Cranford known more formally as Cervantes of Spain, is the real deal –an Iberian destination that tips to approachable authenticity. Its menu bursts with the key foods of the peninsula, from pulpo (octopus) to piquillos (the sweetest roasted red peppers on the planet) to pimenton (smoky, sometimes hot paprika) to potatoes in all forms (mashed and shaped into croquettes, fried like chips, cubed and tossed with jazzed-up aioli). It’s got a near-arm’s-length list of tapas familiar to anyone who has traveled in either Portugal or Spain or been to a big-city Iberian spot; a couple of Mediterranean-style pizzas; more than a half-dozen cauldrons of paella on tap; and a lineup of mild-mannered entrees that gently guide those schooled primarily in Italian or French cuisines into a related realm.

My Portuguese friend is enchanted. My Yankee/Joisey pals are too busy snatching seconds and thirds of the tapas to speak. As the table is re-set for entrees, they gulp and say, “You mean we have to eat more?”

Well, we did skip the Red Velvet Cake – yes, all-American Red Velvet Cake – but let’s talk about the really good stuff first.

Properly conceived and executed tapas, the small plates of Iberia, are more substantial, less precious than many modern American appetizers. Thoughtfully ordered, eight tapas can be a satisfying supper for a party of four. Here at Cervantes, where the bountiful plates of tapas range in price from $6 to $14, you get value and variety on top of roundly flavorful, easy-eating small plates.

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Take that octopus—and don’t be put off by the thought of an eight-armed sea creature. As prepared at Cervantes, it’s quite like all that calamari you’ve inhaled. Only its larger chunks of soft meat aren’t fried, but slowly stewed with Yukon Gold potatoes in olive oil and that smoky, sensuous pimenton. A fan of the classic Italian dish of scampi? Well, here, shrimp are similarly sautéed, perhaps with a more buttery olive oil than the often bitter ones from Italy and an extra teaspoon or two of minced garlic. With hunks of bread to sop up the sauce, you’re golden.

I was feeling mighty sunny myself as I poked through the poached egg sitting atop the dish of duck confit and potato hash and let the runny yolk ooze throughout the dish. Poached egg atop any meat is pure Portuguese, and knowing Cervantes served this riff on a classic was one of the reasons I’d called this dinner to order. Have this, learn from it and make it at home for company from, for the most part, prepared ingredients.

Photo credit: iStockphot/Thinkstock

Cervantes’ chorizo is what Iberians call their very own: It’s not stoked with heat, like some Mexican and American chorizo, but dense, rather than crumbly, deeply meaty rather highly seasoned. It’s served in a rich Rioja reduction that demands bread, or fried potatoes, and it’s yet another tapa that, combined with a vegetable, could do nicely as supper.

Whatever you do, don’t miss the patatas bravas at Cervantes. Think warmed potato salad dressed in a pimenton-licked aioli, a smoother, eggier take on mayonnaise. Six bucks! Heck, after you’ve tried it, you’ll want to buy it in bulk and put it on the menu for Fourth of July. The only miss on the tapas list were the two types of potato croquettes we tried, and not because the mashed spuds weren’t warm and fuzzy fun: The promised chicken in one, and the serrano ham in the other, were MIA in most of the gently fried balls delivered to us.

It’s hard to top good-eating tapas even in Spain and Portugal. My times on the tapas trails rarely were followed by entrees even half as memorable. But do check out Cervantes’ slow-roasted suckling pig, all gussied up in a chic tian of a presentation, a molded round of layered garlicky potatoes topped by carefully assembled meat that tasted like mild pulled pork. There’s a hint of orange in it, a tout to the Valencias so prevalent in the homeland, and that’s the dominant seasoning. Nicely cooked chicken breasts, with just a quick hit of lemon and a deft glaze of Rioja, were light on garlic and olive oil—and rightly so.

Pass on the traditional paella, plumped with chorizo, chicken, shellfish and vegetables: Like far too many paellas, it had overcooked clams, shrimp and lobster and dried-out rice. At $26, it’s also one of the higher-priced items on the menu. We took a chance on the daily fish special, sole in a standard-issue lemon-caper sauce. No need for you to do the same.

If luck is on your side, you’ll get our server, the gent from Lyon (yes, the one in France), who will shake off your request for Red Velvet Cake like a pitcher on the mound rejecting the catcher’s call. I had to ask: Why Red Velvet Cake on an authentic Portuguese-Spanish menu?M. Lyon shook his head. Come on, I beg, whose idea was this? Another shake of the head. Who is the chef?A very talented fellow from Mexico, M. Lyon said, though he didn’t know his name. OK, I say, I want to try this Red Velvet Cake. An even more violent shake of the head ensued.

We locked eyes.

“No, Miss,” M. Lyon said to me. “Not here.”

I was happy M. Lyon wasn’t a complete company man. Frankly, I don’t want to eat Red Velvet Cake in an Iberian restaurant any more than I want to eat patatas bravas at a catfish fry in Mississippi.

So we enjoyed a crunchy-crusted, orange-scented crème brulée (yes, my Portuguese pal said, crème brulée is served over there) and one of the few understated tres leches cakes (hey, our world is one big table these days) I’ve ever eaten.

And all the way home, we plotted our next round of tapas at Cervantes.

Cervantes is located in a modest brick structure astride the train station in Cranford. (Come after 6 p.m., we were advised, and parking is free in the train station lot.) It’s part bar/lounge, where there’s often a lively happy hour, and part dining room. When the weather’s amenable, there’s a patio for outdoor dining. Imagine sipping cava, Spain’s sparkling wine, on that patio this summer as a prelude to a round of tapas.

Problem is, on the night of our visit, only one cava was offered on the wine list. (And the producer’s name wasn’t even given.) Bringing in bubblies that are so right with a diverse selection of tapas would not only do justice to the food, but better serve diners’ needs.

Editor’s Note: Andy Clurfeld is a former editor of Zagat New Jersey. The longtime food critic for the Asbury Park Press also has been published in Gourmet, Saveur and Town & Country, and on epicurious.com. Her post-Sandy stories for NBCNewYork.com rank among the finest media reporting on the superstorm’s aftermath and recovery.

News, views and insights on maintaining a healthy edge.

Good News for Popeye

In the world of healthy eating, spinach and other salad greens are the heroes. In the world of food poisoning, they have often played the role of villains. Over the last decade, no fewer than 18 nationwide food-poisoning outbreaks have been traced back to leafy greens. In 99% of the cases, the problem originates in the way they were washed, which sometimes fails to eliminate bacteria such as E. coli.

William Farrer, MD
Chief of Infectious Diseases Trinitas Regional Medical Center 908.994.5455

Dr. William Farrer, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Trinitas, points out that an outbreak in Europe in 2011 with a toxin-producing E. coli strain linked to sprouts sickened 852 people and killed 32. In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 48 million Americans fall ill to food-related illnesses each year and about 3,000 people die each year from food poisoning. “Our modern food distribution system means that outbreaks linked to leafy vegetables can involve people in multiple states,” observes Dr. Farrer. The good news is that, at the last meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston, a group of scientists presented a new, simple-to-implement parallel-plate flow chamber system that keeps bacteria from attaching to the outer layer of leaves. This method helps disinfecting rinses get to all parts of leaf surfaces equally; only 85% percent of surfaces on average get properly cleaned now. The USDA has already started funding the project.  Dr. Farrer is encouraged by the government response: “Any process that can improve the washing of vegetables can potentially decrease the likelihood of these infections and make our food supply safer.”

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Healthy

Distressing news for all of us raised on the eat-margarine-not-butter ethos: That thinking may be dead wrong. A survey of 1 million people in 50 recent studies by McMaster University in Canada has concluded that saturated fats from animal products do not appear to increase the risk of death from heart disease, diabetes or stroke.

Michelle Ali, RD
Director, Food and Nutrition, Trinitas Regional Medical Center 908.994.5396

Michelle Ali, Director of Food and Nutrition at Trinitas, explains that “the carbon chain of saturated fats consists of fatty acid ‘saturated’ with hydrogen. Trans fats are created by an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils. This addition of hydrogen makes these fats more solid at room temperature and gives them qualities that are similar to shortening or lard. Given that change in consistency, we’ve known for some time that trans fat has been linked to heart disease.” The Canadian researchers concluded that commercially produced trans fats found in snack foods, packaged baked goods and, yes, margarine, raised the risk of premature death by more than 30 percent. The research team was quick to add that this does not mean people should increase their intake of animal fats, which can lead to unhealthy weight gain. We should focus more on eating healthy including more whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean meats, Ali suggests. “In general, we should reduce our intake of saturated fat and, of course, avoid foods that are known to contain trans fat.”

Nickel for Your Thoughts

If you had a nickel for every time you developed a weird skin rash…Well, in some instances, dietary nickel could actually be the culprit. Perhaps counter-intuitively, it’s a common cause of contact dermatitis. If a rash develops on your hands or elbows—or elsewhere after coming into contact with a zipper, belt buckle or other nickel-containing object—you may be mildly allergic to nickel. And the origin of that allergy could be foods such as wheat, rye, nuts, seeds and even chocolate, which are high in nickel. Other causes of nickel allergies can include medical devices containing the metal, including dental and orthopedic implants.

Mouth to Mouth

Anthropologists don’t often make their way into the pages of What’s Up, Doc?, but a study by a joint team from Indiana University and the University of Nevada caught our attention. The anthropologists looked at attitudes toward kissing around the world. Although affectionate pecks on the cheek are common across most cultures, especially for babies and children, in most parts of the world romantic kissing kind of creeps people out. Indeed, in the 168 societies studied, only 46 percent see erotic value in the locking of lips. In fact, among cultures in the Amazon, New Guinea and sub-Saharan Africa, romantic kissing is practically unknown. According to

Rodger Goddard, PhD
Chief Psychologist, Trinitas Regional Medical Center Director of Wellness Management Services 908.994.7334

Dr. Rodger Goddard, Chief Psychologist at Trinitas and Director of Wellness Management Services, kissing spans the spectrum from a dangerous, unhygienic transmission of disease to the most intimate and caring exchange of love. And there are health benefits to kissing, too. Dr. Goddard notes that intimacy and positive relationships—whether sealed by a kiss or an old-fashioned hug—have been shown to improve one’s health and longevity. “Theories about the origins and reasons for kissing are varied, including evaluation of another’s most intimate biological, hormonal information to a reinforcement of trust, intimacy, closeness and sexual attraction to another,” he says, adding that, in a recent article by Dr. Noam Shpancer, men and women were found to differ on their views of kissing. “Half of men say they would have sex with a partner without the need for kissing, while only 14% of women would. Women were found to heavily weigh the overall quality of a kiss in their decision for commitment to someone.”  Some Pacific island cultures practice a “kiss” where a couple’s lips pass a couple of centimeters apart without actually touching. Is the swapping of saliva such a health risk in these places that kissing never evolved? The Nevada study author couldn’t say. However, he did offer an alternative hypothesis: In many of these non-kissing cultures, people don’t brush their teeth.

Now You See Me

The concept of a bionic eye has intrigued us since The Six Million Dollar Man, but until recently the gulf between concept and execution seemed unbridgeable. That looks to be changing. Over the summer, a Florida woman who had been blind for 16 years (as a result of retinitis pigmentosa) held a press conference to announce that she has regained much of her sight thanks to the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, which she had implanted about a year ago. Carmen Torres was the 70th person in the world to receive the Argus II, which is currently the only FDA-approved system of its kind. Needless to say, the procedure is far from simple. More than 30 professionals were involved—from initial evaluation to implantation to post-operative training. The system features a photosensitive array of electrodes that is implanted directly on the retina, and eyeglasses that contain a tiny camera that transmits video to a pocket-sized computer. The computer then sends the signal to the implant, which emits pulses of electricity that bypass damaged photoreceptors in the eye and stimulate the retina’s remaining cells. Very cool.

Weighty Issues

A study published recently on the website of The Journal of Pediatrics found that hospitals could do a much better job in the fight against childhood obesity. Of 300 clinically overweight/obese children admitted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Utah, only 4 percent had their condition directly addressed by physicians (or their medical student trainees).

Yelena Samofalov, MD Trinitas Pediatric Health Center 908.994.5750

Dr. Yelena Samofalov, MD, of the Trinitas Pediatric Health Center, explains why this may occur:  “Discussing a child’s weight issues with parents can be challenging. The health care provider should express concern and also offer a plan of action. This is especially important since health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep disturbances, and joint pain, have their roots in early childhood.” In the Utah study, Body Mass Index calculations of children were seldom performed and weight issues rarely included in discharge diagnoses. The study authors pointed out that this is true for most—but not all—US hospitals. Trinitas, for example, is proactive in fighting childhood obesity. “We take every opportunity to discuss healthy nutrition with our little patients and their parents,” says Dr. Samofalov. “We launched Eat Right Today!, a bilingual interactive educational program for parents and their children, to help them make healthy nutritional choices. Thanks to the program, kids and parents have shown great interest in the benefits of developing healthy eating habits.”

Red Hot News on Chili Peppers

Can eating spicy foods help you live longer? An international team of researchers led by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences says Yes. A five-year study involving nearly half a million participants aged 30 to 79 found that people who ate spicy meals once or twice a week had a 10% reduced risk of death compared to people consuming non-spicy diets. Individuals eating spicy food 3 to 7 times a week saw that risk drop to 14%. The correlation between spicy food and a reduction in cancer and heart and respiratory disease was greater for women, and also among those who did not consume alcohol. Fried and dried chili peppers were the most common ingredient in the spicy meals; they contain Capsaicin, vitamin C and other nutrients. Those who consumed fresh chilies also appeared to have a lower occurrence of diabetes. However, researchers stopped short of saying there is a direct link between capsaicin specifically and a lower risk of disease and death.

News, views and insights on maintaining a healthy edge.

Movers & (Salt) Shakers

Remember the row over Michael Bloomberg’s ban on super-sized sodas? Well, the Big Apple is now taking aim on sodium. New York’s Department of Health proposed that chain restaurants operating in the five boroughs add a salt-shaker icon to menu items that contain more than the recommended daily limit of 2,300 milligrams (roughly a teaspoon). “Studies show that those of us who consume higher amounts of sodium are more likely to develop hypertension, and those who already have high blood pressure are likely to develop heart problems and stroke as a result of higher sodium intake,” says

Michelle Ali, RD
Director, Food and Nutrition, Trinitas Regional Medical Center 908.994.5396

Michelle Ali, RD, Director of Food and Nutrition at Trinitas. You may not want to hear this (or you may know it already and don’t care) but every major chain has at least one delicious-sounding entrée that pushes past 3,000 mg of salt. And they aren’t always the obvious ones. Ali points out that, while most fruits and vegetables are naturally low in sodium, when they are prepared, sodium/salt is sometimes added to improve flavor. “Nutrition information is a tool that can guide consumers to make better food choices,” she says. “If a dish exceeds the recommended amount of sodium, move on to another food choice with less. Do portion control; take a portion home. Finally, add a salad, limit the dressing, and finish off with fresh fruit for dessert.” A final vote on the sodium “warning” should occur this September and the little shakers may be popping up on menus in time for the holiday season.

Bum Deal for New Yorkers

What are those folks across the river up to these days? Not much, according to a study by NYU’s School of Medicine. According to findings published in the latest issue of Preventing Chronic Disease, the average New Yorker sits more than seven hours a day. The study involved 3,600 subjects who wore devices that monitored whether they were moving or sedentary during waking hours. The seven hours broke down to four during the day and three in the evening. Manhattanites actually logged eight hours on their fannies. The stats for men and women were equal. Trinitas Endovascular Surgeon

Ajay Dhadwal, MD RPVI
Endovascular Surgeon, Trinitas Regional Medical Center (Assistant Professor, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School) 973.972.9371

Ajay Dhadwal, MD RPVI, observes that the ill effects of a sedentary lifestyle influence almost every aspect of one’s health, from vascular disease in the blood vessels supplying the brain and the legs, to joint pains and obesity, to heart disease. “Endovascular surgeons often see conditions which, at their worst, can lead to stroke and eventual amputation of the legs,” he says. “Even a minimal increase in activity level can help reduce future risk, especially for those who smoke. For certain patients, regular walking can be as beneficial in the long term as stenting blood vessels of the leg in improving the distance they can walk. To see an overall positive impact, take the stairs more often or walk 20 minutes a day.”

$150 Up in Smoke

The Holy Grail for anti-tobacco groups is an idiot-proof way to stop smoking. Patches, gums and hypnotherapy are effective in some cases but not in others. A recent study of 2,500 smokers took a different approach and yielded some breathtaking results. The key ingredient was bribery. Subjects were divided into four groups and offered different types of financial incentives. Two groups were offered financial rewards for quitting. Two had to put their own cash on the line. Smokers who had to make a $150 deposit and stop smoking to get it back had a success rate twice as high as the first two groups. More revealing is that the $150 group had a success rate five times that of smokers who undergo traditional cessation programs.

Nothing Rotten in the State of Denmark

Allergy awareness in grade schools has been growing for a good two decades now. In some schools, the presence of a single peanut is enough to trigger a lockdown. But do school lunches actually have the potential to positively impact childhood allergies? A study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition this summer attempted to answer this question. Nine Danish schools gave 3rd and 4th Graders their typical pre-packed lunches for three months, and then meals rich in fish, vegetables and fiber for another three months. At the end of each period, parents were asked to evaluate the status of their children’s asthma and/or allergies. The difference? None. Although undoubtedly healthier, the nutritionally balanced school lunches did not “perform” any better than the usual items the kids were eating when it came to allergies. Research on childhood allergies is critical, says

Kevin Lukenda, DO
Chairman, Family Medicine Department
908.925.9309

Dr. Lukenda, DO, Chairman of the Trinitas Family Medicine Department, even when the results are not headline-grabbing. “A child who experiences a full blown anaphylactic response to a food allergen can experience lifelong effects and anxieties,” he says. “This research doesn’t change the fact that having a peanut-free table or classroom can have a tremendous upside benefit for the student and their family, as it allows them to focus on school and not worry about a potentially life-threatening situation.”

Link Between Heartburn & Heart Attacks

Back in June, acid reflux drugs were in the news after a study conducted by researchers at Stanford University and Houston Methodist Hospital showed a link between their use and an increased risk of heart attacks. The drugs in question are proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), which are among the most widely used and prescribed in the United States and are marketed under names such as Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium. The researchers scanned the medical records of 2.9 million patients for key words like “heart attack” and found that they occurred at a rate 15 to 20 percent higher with people who used PPIs. The same correlation did not exist with patients who treated their acid reflux with H2 blockers, including Tagamet and Zantac. It’s worth noting that this is a highly unconventional approach to big data, and although the media grabbed it and ran, the medical community looks at the methodology with natural skepticism. This type of conclusion is typically the result of a randomized control trial, where PPIs would be compared to a placebo to see if the drug did actually produce the specific effect. On the other hand, the fact that H2 blockers did not show a heart attack link supports the idea that more research on PPIs is probably warranted. Until that happens, patients taking PPIs—whether prescribed or over the counter—should talk to their doctors before their next trip to the pharmacy.

CBT Helping Insomniacs Hit the Snooze Button

Recent findings published in Annals of Internal Medicine show that people with severe sleep issues can benefit from Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). This conclusion was the result of an evidence review of 20 separate studies, and showed that insomniacs (individuals who have trouble sleeping for at least a month) who underwent CBT fell asleep 20 minutes faster and reduced the time they were awake once they fell asleep by a half hour. The data was generated by comparisons between groups that took sleeping pills and groups that underwent short sessions with therapists. The CBT group learned new strategies for falling asleep and staying asleep. A major component of CBT is stimulus control, which involves meditative exercises and relaxation techniques.

One interesting item that emerged is that getting out of bed and “hitting the reset button” is better than endless tossing and turning.

Anwar Y. Ghali, MD, MPA Chairman, Psychiatry 908.994.7454

Dr. Anwar Y. Ghali, MD, MPA, Chairman of Psychiatry at Trinitas, agrees that this strategy can help. “Patients who wake up in the middle of the night should not stay awake in bed for longer than about 30 minutes,” he says. “They should avoid keeping an eye on a watch or a clock, since that may interfere with the ability to go back to sleep. Leave the bed and engage in other activities until you feel sleepy again, then go back to bed. Don’t go to the refrigerator for a midnight snack. You may end up perpetuating the habit of getting up in the middle of the night for that trip to the refrigerator.”

Vipin Garg, MD
Director, Trinitas Comprehensive Sleep Disorders Center 908.994.8880

Dr. Vipin Garg, MD, Medical Director of the Trinitas Comprehensive Sleep Disorders Center, agrees that getting to sleep and staying asleep can become a matter of habit. “Many times, specialists in sleep medicine like me recommend sleep restriction technique for insomnia,” he says. “Patients are advised to get into the habit of a certain number of hours of sleep and maintain a certain bedtime and wake-up time. Once they are in this pattern, patients are advised to refrain from going to bed earlier than their normal time, even if they feel sleepy. Often, those who suffer from insomnia are shocked to hear this, since the common belief is that the more time you spend in bed, the more sleep you get. Sleep restriction therapy consolidates fragmented sleep to continuous and deeper sleep.”

For less severe cases of insomnia, there are a number of websites that can help (including calm.com), and the occasional intake of Rozerem or Silenor. However, given that insomnia has been linked to a wide range of health issues—including weight gain, depression, anxiety, heart disease and diabetes—and that sleeping pills aren’t a good long-term solution, chances are you’ll be hearing more and more about CBT and other sleep-related therapies.

CARE-FULLY READY

75 women and 13 men in the January Class of Trinitas School of Nursing completed their nursing and Associate in Science program earlier this year. With graduates from Central and Northern New Jersey, Brooklyn, New York City, and Staten Island, the class was 8 shy of the school’s record-breaking class of 96 in January 2013.

VISIONARY HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR LEAVES IMPRESSIVE LEGACY

Trinitas mourns the passing earlier this year of George F. Billington, former president and CEO of Elizabeth General Medical Center (1963-1991). Billington (seated) is pictured with his successor, David A. Fletcher, who served in that role at EGMC from 1991-2000. Fletcher then became the first President/CEO of Trinitas from 2000-2001. The steps leading up to the creation of Trinitas in 2000 were set in motion one decade earlier when Billington accomplished EGMC’s acquisition of Alexian Brothers Hospital which now serves as the Trinitas New Point Campus.

PAGE TURNERS

Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Springfield has set children on a lifetime of reading enjoyment through its role in the Reach Out and Read (ROAR) program at Trinitas’ Pediatric Health Center. Book donations have reached children like 14-month old Ashley of Elizabeth, shown with Theresa Andrews, Clinical Coordinator of the Pediatric Health Center; her mother Maria Alfaro, and Veronica Vargas, Community Business Development Manager at Barnes & Noble.

SHARED VISION

The Trinitas Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Center hosted a world hunger awareness event to support World Vision humanitarian efforts in Haiti. The event was dedicated to the memory of WIC staff member Erva Williams, an advocate of families and children who WIC serves.

HITTING THE PAVEMENT

Walkers from Trinitas, the City of Elizabeth’s Health and Human Services Department, and the Eastern Union County YMCA enjoyed National Walking Day under sunny skies earlier this year. All enjoyed the brisk walk along the Elizabeth River Trail to promote walking as part of a healthy lifestyle. Trinitas employees at the New Point Campus in Elizabeth and the Finance offices in Cranford also participated.

LIFE SAVING MESSAGE

As guests on Mayor J. Christian Bollwage’s weekly cable show “Our City,” Debbie Durand, Clinical Coordinator, Trinitas Intensive Care Unit (left), and Jackie Lue Raia, Ass’t. Dir. of Resource Development at the NJ Sharing Network (center), discussed the importance of patients and their families giving serious thought to organ donation as a life-saving/life enhancing gift. Both women described the activities of Trinitas and the NJ Sharing Network that promote organ and tissue donation and advocate for those on organ transplant lists.

HEAD OF  THE CLASS

Rose Santee, Associate Dean of the Trinitas School of Nurs-ing, is serving a three-year term through 2017 as a member of the Board of Commissioners of the National League for Nursing’s (NLN) Commission for Nursing Education Accreditation (CNEA).

Rose was one of the first educators nationally to obtain the certified nurse educator credential (CNE) from the National League for Nursing (NLN) in 2005. With more than 30 years experience in nursing education as a faculty member and as an educational administrator, Rose has been instrumental in advocating excellence in nursing education.

PAYING IT FORWARD

Roselle Park resident Mary Jo Daniel and Maritza Pineda of Elizabeth share a common bond as cancer survivors. In appreciation of the caring staff at the Center, Daniel paid it forward and gifted a “31” brand bag filled with comforting items to Pineda. It proved to be a small gesture with huge impact.

UCPAC is a blast from the past.

By Mark Stewart

The year was 1928. Nearly 1,500 people settled into their seats on a Tuesday evening to hear the first notes played by the great Chet Kingsbury on central New Jersey’s newest entertainment attraction, a $20,000 Wurlitzer pipe organ. Above the audience sparkled a magnificent, 13-foot tiered-crystal chandelier. Before them was a full orchestra pit, its musicians ready to accompany the two films scheduled to play, one starring Dolores Costello and Conrad Nagel, the other Myrna Loy. It was opening night of the million-dollar Rahway Theatre.

Later that evening, as patrons exited the building under the 2,500-light marquee, it was difficult to imagine the fun would ever end. The Rahway Theatre was a state-of-the-art entertainment palace built at the height of the Roaring ’Twenties. It could accommodate moving pictures, vaudeville revues, stage plays and concerts. No expense was spared. It even had a nursery to look after children while their parents were enjoying a show.

Upper Case Editorial Services

And yet, there were changes in the wind. The stock market crashed, movie studios started turning out talking pictures and vaudeville died. The Rahway Theatre soldiered on, providing an inexpensive diversion during the Depression and World War II. It hosted rock n roll shows in the 1950s and continued to thrive as a movie house well into the 1960s. Little by little, however, the venue lost its glittering opulence and fell into disrepair. By the 1980s it was in danger of falling to the wrecking ball.

In 1984, title to the Rahway Theatre was transferred to Rahway Landmarks, Inc. A major restoration effort was initiated and one year later it was renamed the Union County Arts Center. First the interior was restored. Next the façade underwent a facelift. As the theatre regained its footing, the city’s Arts District grew up around it. Now called the Union County Performing Arts Center, the theatre is actually one of three performance venues under the UCPAC umbrella—including the 60-seat blackbox-style Loft and the plush 199-seat Hamilton Stage down the street.

“This theatre has served as a community cornerstone for nearly nine decades,” says UCPAC executive director Lawrence McCullough. “Our mission is to present programming that is diverse and accessible and fosters the new generation of young artists and audiences.”

First-time visitors to the old building today have the same reaction as audiences did back in the 1920s: a sense of wonder and awe at its golden-age grandeur. And yes, the old Wurlitzer is still there. It sounds better than ever.

Editor’s Note: For a schedule of upcoming events at all three performing arts center venues, log onto ucpac.org or call (732) 499-8226.

EDGE takes you inside the area’s most creative kitchens.

The Office Beer Bar & Grill • Truffled Tots

728 Thompson Ave. • BRIDGEWATER 32–34 Chestnut St. • RIDGEWOOD 1–7 South Ave. • CRANFORD 61 Union Pl. • SUMMIT
619 Bloomfield Ave. • MONTCLAIR 411 North Ave. West • WESTFIELD

Not your average tater tots, these are handmade tater tots infused with herbs and fried until they are crispy golden brown. They are served with white truffle aioli and sprinkled with sea salt.

Paragon Tap & Table • Beer Brined Pork Chop

77 Central Ave. • CLARK
(732) 931-1776 • paragonnj.com

Our pork chops are brined for thee days and served on top of a creamy bacon mac and cheese. It’s one of the highlights of our gastropub menu.

— Eric B LeVine, Chef/Partner

The Black Horse Tavern & Pub • Goffles Farm Chicken Breast

1 West Main Street • MENDHAM
(963) 543–7300 • blackhorsenj.com

Prosciutto wrapped Goffles Farm Chicken Breast with roasted new potatoes, marsala herb butter & crispy sage. 

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

Piattino Neighborhood Bistro • Pan Seared Atlantic Salmon

88 East Main Street • MENDHAM
(973) 543-0025 • piattinonj.com

Pan Seared Atlantic Salmon paired with a lemon herb risotto, piccata butter and crisped baby arugula.

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

George and Martha’s American Grille • Crispy Jumbo Lump Crab Croquettes

67 Morris Street • MORRISTOWN
(973) 267-4700 • georgeandmarthas.com

Crispy Jumbo Lump Crab Croquettes with Lemon infused Aioli and Roasted Corn Relish.

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

The Office Tavern Grill • Maryland Blue Crab Dip

3 South Street • MORRISTOWN
(973) 285-0220 • officetaverngrill.com

Maryland Blue Crab Dip Sour Dough Bread Bowl filled with Jumbo Lump Crab Dip, served with Old Bay Flour Tortilla chips.

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

Daimatsu • Sushi Pizza

860 Mountain Ave. • MOUNTAINSIDE
(908) 233-7888 • daimatsusushibar.com

This original dish has been our signature appetizer for over 20 years. Crispy seasoned sushi rice topped with homemade spicy mayo, marinated tuna, finely chopped onion,  scallion, masago caviar, and ginger. Our customers always come back wanting more.

— Momo, Chef

Publick House • Roasted Long Island Duck Breast

899 Mountain Ave. • MOUNTAINSIDE
(908) 233-2355 • publickhousenj.com

New to our menu this season is the roasted long island duck breast. The duck is seasoned with salt and pepper and slowly roasted to temperature. Paired with creamy, sweet celery root puree and earthy oven roasted portobello mushrooms, the balance of flavors compliments the fat of the duck breast perfectly.

— Bernie Goncalves, Owner

Morris Tap & Grill • Tuna Tartare Flat Bread

500 Route 10 West • RANDOLPH
(973) 891-1776 • morristapandgrill.com

Fresh ahi-grade tuna tossed in a light ginger scallion sauce served on top of a wasabi brushed lavash crisp.

— Eric B LeVine, Chef/Partner

Thai Amarin • Duck Rad Prig

201 Morris Ave. • SPRINGFIELD
(973) 376-6300, (973) 376-6301 • thaiamarinnj.net

A customer favorite, our crispy boneless duck topped with a sweet and spicy chili and garlic sauce is unique only to us. Topped with aromatic basil and lime leaves, our Ped Rad Prig will have you wanting more.

— Amy Thana, Owner

Café Z • Hot “Z” Shrimp

2333 Morris Avenue • UNION
(908) 686-4321 • CafeZNJ.com

Jumbo shrimp encrusted with panko bread crumbs served with our hot and spicy marinara sauce that we make here.

— Patricia Inghilleri, Owner

Chestnut Chateau • Black Seabass

649 Chestnut Street • UNION
(908) 964-8696 • chestnutchateaunj.com

As the cold weather is in full swing, everyone bundles up and likes to stay warm. I embrace the cold and use the best fish caught in the deep blue waters of our east coast. Black seabass is great whole or filleted. The flaky white meat is served with a browned butter sauce that’s garnished with capers, baby croutons, parsley and lemon supremes.

— George Niotis, Chef

Mario’s Tutto Bene • Vinegar Pork Chops

495 Chestnut Street • UNION
(908) 687-3250 • mariostuttobene.com

Our vinegar pork chops feature three thin-cut Frenched chops that are coated with Italian breadcrumbs and sautéed with sweet vinegar peppers, prosciutto and garlic. They arrive with house-made roasted or mashed potatoes. Our regulars love this entrée.

— John Garofalo, Owner

The Manor • Surf and Turf

111 Prospect Avenue • WEST ORANGE
(973) 731-2360 • themanorrestaurant.com

I pair pan-seared prime filet mignon with a butter-braised lobster, along with fresh seasonal vegetable accents. An airy shellfish emulsion and the creamiest mashed potatoes you will ever taste make for the perfect partners to this classic dish, which has helped The Manor successfully define the art of fine dining for over a half-century.

— Mario Russo, Chef de Cuisine

EDGE is not responsible for any typos, misprints or information in regard to these listings. All information was supplied by the restaurants that participated and any questions or concerns should be directed to them.

BANKING ON THE VALUE OF PARTNERSHIPS

Carmen Rivera, Branch Manager of Investors Bank in Elizabeth,(center) presented a $5,000 check to Nadine Brechner, Chief Development Officer and Vice President, Trinitas Health Foundation. As the first of three installments, the bank’s grant will assist with the purchase of a CT scan for the Emergency Department. At right is Jamie Rudolph who recently joined the Trinitas Health Foundation as its Director of Corporate Partnerships. He brings to the Foundation fundraising experience with an emphasis on creating successful public and private partnerships.

Interested in joining Investors Bank as a partner with the Trinitas Health Foundation? Contact Jamie at jrudolph@trinitas.org or (908) 994-8423.

BIG BOYS DON’T CRY

The 2014 football season was painful for New York’s Giants and Jets. But, when you are a die-hard fan, a Tailgate party can help to heal your wounds.

With that in mind, the Trinitas Health Foundation put on its helmet and shoulder pads and hosted its first-ever “Tailgate with Trinitas” in December where fans enjoyed one of the Giants’ only victories of the season as they faced the Tennessee Titans. Former Giants greats mingled with guests and shared stories about their time in the NFL. All five players spent most of their careers with the New York Giants and have an impressive seven Super Bowl rings between them. In the Tailgate huddle with Nadine Brechner, Vice President, Trinitas Health Foundation and Chief Development Officer, and Gary Horan, President and CEO, (center) were Giants greats Bill Neill, Bart Oates, Stephen Baker, Billy Ard, Perry Williams.

GRANT PLANTS SEEDS FOR THE GARDEN AND TOOLS FOR THE KITCHEN

Young people at the Trinitas Residential Treatment Center at the New Point campus are thanking their lucky stars. Thanks to a generous grant from Starlight Children’s Foundation® NY•NJ•CT, the teens and tweens will be able to grow their own fruits and vegetables. And they’ll have new kitchen appliances so they can experiment with new dishes.

A successful grant submission from the Trinitas Health Foundation resulted in nearly $7750 from Starlight NY•NJ•CT for the Center’s Culinary Arts Program. The young residents will gain experience in gardening by cultivating fruits and vegetables for their table. The funding for the gardening component will help purchase a greenhouse for year-round growing. Widely recognized as extremely therapeutic for many psychological and emotional disorders, gardening has increasing appeal for kids at the Center. Since 2012, many of the Center’s residents have enjoyed cooking shows on the Food Network, and Starlight’s funded enhancements will help improve engagement and personal satisfaction through the Center’s Culinary Arts program.

The new greenhouse will give them a chance to work together to cultivate and harvest what they cook for the Center’s table. And that food preparation and cooking will be done in a kitchen equipped with a new oven and a new refrigerator/freezer.

With little or no family ties, these young people benefit from being with other kids in a place where they can have positive interpersonal experiences and learn valuable life skills. Cooking and gardening fill those needs for nourishment on a variety of levels.

Submit your EDGE People event at www.edgemagonline.com

“I want to take everyone I know to this restaurant…‘This is how we should be eating!’ I want to shout.”

By Andy Clurfeld

Roosterspin Wine Bar & Eatery

251 North Avenue, Westfield. Phone: 908.233.7333

Open for lunch and dinner at 11:30 am 7 days a week: Sunday thru Thursday until 10:30 pm and Friday & Saturday until 12:30 am. For more information log onto info@roosterspin.com.

Defending Jersey’s restaurants is so 20th century, but we do it anyway. We do it because attacks are frequent and the attackers a mix of the ignorant with strong cravings for superiority and the wise who know our state’s chefs and restaurants could really, truly do much better.

This is our collective issue: the dichotomy in restaurants that brings us both brave brilliance and sorry retreads. Restaurants such as Cucharamama in Hoboken, A Toute Heure in Crefending Jersey’s restaurants is so 20th century, but we do it anyway. We do it because attacks areanford, Drew’s Bayshore Bistro in Keyport, and Zeppoli in Collingswood fortify our pride as we learn from, and feast on, the visions of their pioneering chefs. The same-old, same-old menus of countless copycats, be they Italian or Asian, traditional American or globally influenced, do little but provide the busy or the bored a supper away from the stove.

That’s why the emergence of a restaurant with both verve and vision—and extremely delicious food—is cause for celebration. Roosterspin in Westfield, which opened last fall as the sibling of Mono + Mono in New York under the stewardship of owner Mihae Cho and chef Hyun Han, may take off from an uber-trendy genre of modern Korean restaurants with must-offer dishes, but it does it with singular style and technical prowess in the kitchen.

Roosterspin rocks.

Often, literally. There are LPs galore as decor and a deejay at a computer taking requests. I somewhat hesitantly ask for John Coltrane and, within a minute, get a couple tracks of Coltrane. We take menus from a tuned-in server and receive a concise, but not condescending primer on how to navigate a rather novel bill of fare. We dig into a series of dishes that connect the accessible to the adventurous and fall in love with Roosterspin’s cuisine—and concept.

I want to take everyone I know to this restaurant, sitting pretty in a multilevel woody-modern/industrial-cozy space in the downtown district conveniently near the train station. “This is how we should be eating!” I want to shout. This is food we should know and food we can learn from, taking riffs from Roosterspin’s plates into our home kitchens. This isn’t rocket science, either; it’s fun eating, with some new ingredients and twists on techniques making that happen.

Take a simple dish, something as familiar as fries. Season them, give them a dipping sauce pumped with the taste of spirited kimchi, and let folks dig in to something old energized by something new. There is a drizzle of tame cheese to smooth the way, but the novice eater is already craving more.

It is time for another small plate, which is how you can start here or dine straight through. Slurp map chae, sizzling skinny sweet potato noodles spliced with beef, wild mushrooms and shards of Asian vegetables. Bright and unexpectedly light are the seafood patties known as seafood jeon, packed with calamari, shrimp and vegetables and bound by egg. If you are looking for something hearty, snag galbi LA cut, a signature dish here, is a perfect partnership of silky short ribs with rice cakes and vegetables served with a nod to beloved Korean barbecue. Looking for light? The mango salad, flush with pretty beets and sweet potatoes and dressed with sesame, is a dandy mix of flavors that you will have a hard time separating ever again.

OK, but the real reason you come here is to find out what all the fuss is over this Korean fried chicken business. Deep-fried twice to ensure super crispy skin and a desirable burning off of the fat, this is chicken at its best. You can get it with a soy/garlic sauce or a fiery hot sauce. Request a half order with one and a half with the other. Why choose?I took it with a side of fried pickled radish and smiled as I ate.

Roosterspin’s range does not stop with the basics. It serves forth Korean rolls such as the kimchi, with shrimp, kimchi, cucumber, crab and beets given a smack of crunch, then dappled with a smoky spicy màyo. Delish. Roosterspin does sliders in rice buns that demand attention—a spicy tuna tartar with cherry tomatoes and greens and a pop of addictive Korean red pepper paste, a beef bulgogi given the crunch of pickle and the zing of wasabi, and a chop of shrimp and calamari topped with calm tartar sauce.

I do not want to lose the lingering flavors of Roosterspin’s savory fare by ordering dessert, but we need to, right? Soba noodle pudding is serviceable and the green tea mochi de rigueur. No interference, thankfully.

You can be one of the Jersey restaurant bashers, sporting a chip on your shoulder, or you can support a truly thoughtful concept and check out Roosterspin. New is nutrition for the taste buds.

SEOUL FOOD

If Roosterspin whets your appetite for more traditional and authentic Korean fare, you might want to head toward southeastern Bergen County, to Palisades Park or Fort Lee.

Over the past two decades, Palisades Park has transformed itself into New Jersey’s unofficial Koreatown. Three in five of the 20,000-or-so residents are of Asian descent, with the vast majority hailing from South Korea. In terms of density and percentage, Palisades Park is now America’s “most Korean” municipality. The most popular restaurant in Palisades Park is probably So No Nan Jip on Broad Avenue. It features authentic Korean barbecue and is usually packed—often past midnight. However, you can duck into almost any eatery along the town’s main drag and find an authentic Korean meal.

Palisades Park’s next-door neighbor, Fort Lee, also boasts a large Korean population, as well as a robust commercial section featuring Korean shops and restaurants, which stretches from just south of the George Washington Bridge north to Englewood Cliffs. Two of the best are Gammeeok on Main Street and Dong Bang Grill on Palisade Avenue. Besides traditional Korean fare, Dong Bang Grill also does a brisk business at the sushi bar—which is saying something, considering the number of excellent Japanese restaurants in Fort Lee.

Editor’s Note: Andy Clurfeld is a former editor of Zagat New Jersey. The longtime food critic for the Asbury Park Press also has been published in Gourmet, Saveur and Town & Country, and on epicurious.com. Her post-Sandy stories for NBCNewYork.com rank among the finest media reporting on the superstorm’s aftermath and recovery.

Somewhat closer to home and also quite popular are Kimchi Hana, located in South Plainfield, as well as New Keum Ho Jung and Chung Sol Bat,both in Edison. —M.S.

For more and more vacationers, wellness is the issue.

By Lavinia Lee Mears

You’re going where? To do what? It was November of 2000. I had just told my (then) better half that I was departing the next day for Costa Rica to meditate on a mountaintop for a week. His reaction was, well, let’s just say he wasn’t thrilled at my spontaneous decision.

I was tired. Extremely tired. I had just come off a year of back-to-back trials as a new assistant prosecutor. Taking a few days off to rest at home had not worked for this work-a-holic who couldn’t resist picking up her phone or checking her emails. It was too early in my legal career to be a burned-out lawyer; I needed to be in a place where there were no distractions from my sole focus: rest. And so off I went to a yoga and meditation retreat, not quite knowing what to expect.

I arrived in Costa Rica and spent the next week with strangers. I meditated and practiced yoga every day. Despite being a meat-and-mashed potatoes girl, I found myself enjoying the healthy vegetarian meals. I slept like a normal human being and devoted one entire day to silence. Ten days later I returned, rested and relaxed, and had even shed those stubborn five pounds I had been trying to lose for years. I didn’t have that “need a vacation from my vacation” feeling. I looked good and I felt good. I was hooked.

That is how my love affair with the wellness vacation (aka well-cation) was born. In the ensuing decade-and-a-half, my precious time off has been devoted to vacations that nurture my mind and body. I’ve said good-bye to the gluttonous, all-inclusive resort and hello to the all-you-can eat vegetarian meal plan.

The biggest benefit of a well-cation is the jump-start it offers toward reaching your wellness goal. Staying on-program is much easier when the stresses of everyday life are removed and only healthy activities and meals are offered. And since guests share the same outlook, they support one another to stay committed toward reaching their wellness goals. The investment in a wellness vacation continues to pay off when new habits take hold after the vacation has ended. This may explain why the number of people who are investing their time and money in wellness-related travel has been on the rise. The worldwide wellness tourism market—estimated by some at over $400 billion—has been growing steadily since 2007, increasing nearly 13 percent last year.

Choosing the right well-cation, whether here in the U.S. or abroad, depends upon your personal wellness goals and budget. The process begins with an understanding of the different options out there…

Destination Spas

If rest and relaxation is your goal, destination spas offer guests the ultimate pampering experience, usually in a resort-like setting. Overnight accommodations, meals and access to the resort’s facilities are included in the fee. Guests are offered specific spa services geared toward rest and relaxation at an additional cost. Facials, massages, manicure/pedicure treatments and body wraps are offered in a tranquil environment. Prices range from $300 to more than a $1,000 per night.

The world-renowned Canyon Ranch in Arizona offers its 3-night “Spa Sampler” package at a cost of $3,840 per person. Guests can allocate $145 of that amount toward spa services. A less expensive local option is Deerfield Resort and Spa. Located in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Deerfield is less than a two-hour drive from most parts of New Jersey. A three-night stay costs under$900. Accommodations, meals and a 50-minute Swedish massage are included in that rate. Crystal Springs Resort in Sussex County and the Ocean Place Resort and Spa in Monmouth County, are hotels that have full-service day spas available to resort guests and day visitors. Crystal Springs offers guests 2 spas, 6 golf courses, 12 dining options, a water park and a ski resort. Neither Ocean Place nor Crystal Springs offers an all-inclusive option; rates depend on the level of accommodations chosen, as well as the time of year.

Weight Loss

If your goal in 2015 is to lose 5 to 20 pounds (or more), a weight loss retreat can jump-start you toward that goal. Guests adhere to a strict menu, which is rich in vegetables and vegetable juices. Exercise programs are geared to accommodate various fitness levels. Stays range from three days to three weeks and weight loss varies from a pound a week to a pound a day. Since food that isn’t part of the program is outlawed at the retreat as “contraband,” the temptation to cheat is removed. A weight loss retreat is a bullet-proof way to ensure immediate results. Most programs incorporate cooking, exercise and health education classes to teach guests how to stay on-program when they return home.

There are a number of weight loss retreats in the region, including the Copperhood Retreat & Spa in the Catskills. It has been touted as one of the best in the world. The three-night detox plan costs about $1,500, while the 21-day “Break Your Bad Habits” plan rate is about $8,000, depending on what level of accommodations is chosen.

Detoxification

“Detox” vacations aim to rid the body and mind of toxins and tensions. While programs vary in cost and available services, you can expect most detox programs to include:

• All-you-can-eat raw, organic vegetables and juices
• Steam rooms, hot tubs and dry sauna therapy
• At least one day devoted to a water or juice fast
• Spa services such as colon hydrotherapy, lymphatic drainage massage and detoxifying body-wraps
• Exercise and meditation classes

The Hippocrates Health Institute’s 21-day “Life Transformation Program” teaches guests how to detoxify their bodies and enlightens them to the benefits of a raw, “live-food“ vegan diet. Located in West Palm Beach, Florida, tuition for the program ranges from $7,000 to $30,000 depending on the accommodations and services provided.

Fitness

If you already are in great shape and want to bring your fitness to a higher level, fitness vacations (aka Boot Camps) may be the answer.  As the name implies, these places are not for the faint of heart. Keeping up with the rigorous program requires stamina and excellent physical health. Your doctor’s approval is recommended, and in some cases, required. Guests commit to a demanding fitness regimen with activities and/or classes offered from dawn to dusk. Mountain climbing, hiking and surfing are among the leisure activities offered, depending on the climate and geography. Classes on nutrition and healthy eating are included in the fee, as are meals. Accommodations vary from luxurious to rustic.

One of the best known Weekend Warrior boot camps is Utah’s all-inclusive Red Mountain Resort, with rates starting at $295 a night. The resort’s “Adventure Concierge” assists guests with planning activities such as hikes to explore the red rock canyons and cliffs, scenic mountain biking and outdoor excursions such as horseback riding, kayaking and wild-mustang tours.

Yoga

Yoga ashrams offer a quiet respite from the crush of professional life, focusing on stretching, breathing and meditation. Rates can be as low as $50 a night and accommodations are often dormitory-like settings, with shared restrooms and showers. Meals are basic vegetarian and guests are required to follow the daily schedule of yoga and meditation classes, which likely start at dawn.  You may also be expected to help with up-keep of the facility by gardening, cooking and assisting with cleaning up after meals—a practice called “karma yoga.” You may also have the option of learning the art of “mindfulness” by devoting one or more days to complete silence.

Needless to say, there are many resorts and holistic centers that offer the amenities and luxuries of a destination spa along with their yoga classes and meditation instruction. For instance, the Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, California has a six-day “Perfect Health” retreat beginning at $2,875, not including accommodations. Closer to home, the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts offers retreat weekends with various self-improvement courses throughout the year starting at $375.

There are countless wellness vacations options in the United States and throughout the world. The best one will be customized to help you meet your personal wellness goals. If you know what you want and what to look for, you can also do it yourself. For help planning a wellness vacation, contact a certified wellness travel agent or an agent experienced in planning wellness vacations.

Editor’s Note: Lavinia Lee Mears is a Westifeld attorney with a passion for writing and a love of wellness vacations. A mother of two school-age boys, she has lived in Union County most of her life. In addition to her legal work, Lavinia is an advocate for gifted children with learning differences.

Problem-solving by the numbers

By Dr. Rodger Goddard

Life is a journey with constant challenges.  We all face issues and problems on a daily basis.  Some of us enjoy and embrace the life challenges that cross our path, while some of us fear, dislike and run from them.  Some of us are invigorated and some of us are overwhelmed by our issues. It is difficult to know what makes some of us enjoy problem-solving and some of us fear problems.  The 2–4–6–8 Method can help give you the power to know when and how to solve problems yourself…and, just as important, when to seek help.

The 2–4–6–8 Method holds that there are 2 approaches to solving problems, 4 types of problems, 6 ways to assess our problems and 8 basic problem-solving strategies…

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The two approaches to problem-solving involve either solving a problem yourself or getting help from someone else.  People who try to solve problems on their own are sometimes successful, however, sometimes they get stuck. People who reach out to others—whether friends or professionals—often get the help and support they need to sail through the stormy waters of life. That being said, it is not always an either/or situation. It can be self-defeating to either avoid getting help from others or be overly dependent on others and not trust your own problem solving skills.

The four types of problems that you may face are:

• Work Problems, which may involve job, financial, money, coworker or boss difficulties;
• Love Problems, which may involve
• Family Problems, which may involve difficulties or conflict with parents, siblings or children;
• Internal Problems, which may involve dealing with childhood wounds, past traumas or intense inner emotions

The six ways to assess a problem are by looking at the areas of Thought, Emotion, Action, Frequency, Duration and Intensity. Thought refers to how we think about and view our problem. Are our thoughts, for example, helping to solve our problem? Or are they self-critical, condemning or working against us and therefore exaggerating or making our problem worse? Emotion refers to the feelings that a problem brings up in us, and how we handle those feelings. Can we name what we are feeling (e.g. sad, anxious, guilty, angry, insecure, shame or rage)? Are we able to make friends with our feelings and get information from them about what we want and need? Or do we let our emotions overwhelm and injure our health? Action refers to the positive or negative behaviors that we do in response to our problem. Does our problem lead us to say bad things to people—or try to shop, drink, smoke, drug or eat our problem away? Frequency refers to how often a problem or difficulty occurs. Does it trouble us once a month, week, day, hour or minute? Duration refers to how long our problem lasts when it comes. Does it cause us to feel bad for a couple of minutes and then go away, or do we feel terrible for hours, days, weeks, months or years? Finally, Intensity refers to the degree of distress the problem causes. Does it lead us to be mildly uncomfortable and irritable, or so intensely upset that we are ready to explode?

The eight problem-solving strategies in the 2–4–6–8 Method are Communication, Love, Creativity, Fight, Action, Steady Patient Work, Finding Meaning and Emotional Intelligence. To keep them straight, I find it helpful to use the metaphor of the mythical meaning of the planets in our solar system. For example, in mythology, Mercury represents Communication. Strategy #1 involves communicating with others to resolve problems.

Venus represents Love. Strategy #2 involves finding better ways to care for yourself or the people around you in order to feel better and solve your problems.

In mythology, Earth is the Goddess Gaea. Gaea represents mother, birth and Creativity. Problem-solving Strategy #3 involves being artistic, creative and using innovative thoughts to find solutions. The next planet, Mars, is the God of War. Strategy #4—a Martian strategy, as it were—involves being tough and willing to Fight against the negative thing you are facing in the world or in yourself. Jupiter (Zeus) represents power, leadership and control. Strategy #5 involves creating a plan to take charge of the issues that you face and putting that plan into Action.

Saturn is the God of time. People who use a Saturn strategy—Strategy #6—take time to digest and respond to their problems. This involves patience, long-term planning and Steady, Patient Work over a long period of time. They know that continual small actions enable them to change a situation, whether it’s something about themselves, another person or a relationship.

Uranus is the God of heavens and the night sky, and is often viewed as representing a person’s embracing their uniqueness and individuality. Strategy #7 involves Finding Meaning in the larger-life aspects of your problems, of seeing your life as a spiritual journey of discovery. Neptune, the god of the sea, represents Strategy #8, Emotional Intelligence. The turbulent sea represents emotions and everything going on beneath the surface. People who employ a Neptune strategy use their feelings and emotions to guide them. They penetrate into the underlying core meaning and essence of a problem and use their feelings to find direction and answers.

If you are someone who embraces and uses active problem-solving strategies, keep up the great work. The 2–4–6–8 Method is an important and effective thing to have in your toolbox. However, if you find yourself overwhelmed by your problems—if the frequency, duration and intensity of your problems are high, and you have trouble using effective strategies to solve your problems—then it may be time to get professional help. Professional help today involves building your problem-solving skills, so you can still use the 2–4–6–8 Method to better understand your situation and your resources for solving it.

Life is a journey of discovery and challenges on a stormy sea. The 2–4–6–8 Method can help you determine whether you can navigate these challenges on your own, or if you need help in getting to peaceful, calm waters. May the journey of your life be invigorating, fun, spiritual, challenging and fulfilling. I wish you good sailing.

Editor’s Note: Dr. Rodger Goddard has served as the Chief Psychologist at Trinitas Regional Medical Center for over 25 years. He is the director of Wellness Management Services, which provides workshops, presentations and programs to companies and schools to improve individual and organizational success. He is also the director of the hospital’s APA-accredited psychology internship program. He can be reached at rgoddard@trinitas.org or (908) 994-7334.

Yes, there is hope for your dumb home.

By Rachel Rutledge

Is there anything more flattering than the discovery that you’re being fought over? You may not realize it, but as a suburban homeowner, you are the object of intense desire on the part of a very active group of venture capitalists, who are snapping up patents for future “smart-home” products and technologies. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that they are fighting over the companies that will be fighting for your business in 2015 and beyond. The battleground? Your “dumb” home.

We’ve been hearing about smart homes for the better part of a decade. These are the fanciful dwellings that practically run themselves, or at least do our bidding with a minimal amount of hands-on technical expertise. They know when we’re home and when we’re not. They run the lights and heat for us. They brew us coffee, start the shower and warm up the car on a cold morning. They remind us of appointments or can’t-miss TV shows. They even let us know when something under the floor, behind a wall or out in the yard isn’t working quite as well as it should. Unfortunately, because most of us live in older homes or apartments, a smart home has been out of reach. It’s been too expensive or too complicated to consider.

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Well, no matter how tech-averse you may be, it may be time to reconsider.

This is where those battling venture capitalists come into play. They look into the future and see every home as a smart home. And as investors, they want a big piece of the action. They want to own the stuff that will enable you and me and the elderly couple down the street to make our homes super-smart. And the sooner that happens, the sooner the venture capital generates a return. The result has been an acceleration to near-blinding speed of the technology and products that can actually make that happen.

It’s available, it’s affordable, and it’s not all that hard to figure out.

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Opportunity Knocks

Why the sudden surge in smart-home products? The answer is the “smart phone.” The Apple iPhone and its imitators have penetrated the communications market so quickly and effectively that whoever doesn’t own one now will probably break down and buy one in the next few years. Smart phones aren’t really telephones in the traditional sense. They are small, handheld computers that link wirelessly with computer networks, enabling people to communicate by voice. What smart phones (and tablets) are really good at is functioning as remote controls and monitors for smart-home networks. In essence, most of us already own the remote control to a smart house…we just don’t have the smart house yet.

As a consequence, the competition to sell you the technology needed to make your dumb home smarter is heating up fast. If you’ve been to a Lowe’s or Home Depot lately, you may have noticed a lot of new products in this category. They are often situated in high-visibility locations.

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PICTURE THIS…

Your alarm clock wakes you up…it turns on the shower to exactly the right temperature…your flat screen clicks on to your go-to morning show…your cell phone gives you a head’s-up on a developing traffic or weather issue between your home and workplace…as you move from the second floor to the first, the thermostat lowers on one level and rises on another…your coffee maker grinds fresh beans and makes a pot of coffee in time for your arrival in the kitchen…your sound system plays your favorite morning tunes or talk station…a tablet lights up with the front page of your local newspaper… the car starts and warms up for you…the thermostat drops 10 degrees…and the house locks and arms its security system as you speed away.

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Many of the brands should be familiar. Among the companies moving into this space very aggressively are Honeywell, Stanley and Kwikset, along with names that are quickly becoming familiar, such as Lutron and Nest. Nest, which made a lot of headlines in 2014 after being purchased by Google, was started by two former Apple engineers. Not surprisingly, Apple, Google and other major companies—including Comcast and Verizon—are hoping to carve out a dominant position in the smart technology market.

Getting Started

Are we really at the point where every family with a high-functioning phone or tablet can make their home a smart home? Indeed we are. If you have an Internet connection and wifi (a wireless router) in your house, then you are good to go. Just using widely available plug-in devices and changing out a couple of items like thermostats, you can create a basic mesh network that can be controlled from your bed, your car or your office through an easily accessible web interface using your phone.

“A homeowner can create an effective mesh network with a couple of wifi-enabled thermostats and a handful of plug-in devices that control table lamps,” says Andre Conway, an industry consultant who works with commercial and residential security clients in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. “The beauty of this technology is that the more devices you add, the better the mesh becomes and the smarter your home can be.”

“With a more advanced system,” he adds, “you can talk to your phone and instruct your house to turn down the heat, turn up the lights, start the dishwasher or even open the door for the UPS driver—and then lock it again once you’ve watched him drop the package in your house.”

A decade ago, none of this would have been possible without a hefty bill and a byzantine web of timers and controllers. Devices weren’t very good at talking to one another. Today, says Conway, with more open-code development, building a really good system yourself might set you back $1,000. More important than the bargain price is the fact that you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to make it all work. Ease of use and affordability are the benefits to consumers from increasingly cutthroat competition.

So what can a smart home do that your dumb one can’t?As much or as little as you want it to. A smart home can be programmed to execute a variety of functions, saving time and money, or just providing added peace of mind. A smart home can even be taught to “anticipate’; there are sensors on the market that know who each household member is, where they are, what they are doing, and even what they might want to do next.

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PICTURE THIS…

You are busy at work or on an endless string of errands….you get a message from FedEx or UPS about a drop-off…the driver lets you know when he is at your door…you disarm the security system, unlock the door, and watch on a monitor as the package is dropped safely inside your home…you then re-lock and re-arm the system…on your way home, you decide to stop for a drink with a friend and tell your home to keep the heat down, plus turn on a couple of lights…later that evening you turn up the heat, turn on the music, run a bath at exactly 120 degrees, and preheat the oven…all from your car 20 minutes from home.

For those who want a smart home but don’t trust themselves to set it up properly, there are plenty of companies that will come in and do the job for a very reasonable price. As a rule, they don’t make their money selling you a system. Instead, they charge you monthly to make it work, much the way your cable companies charges you for programming and DVRs. The leaders in this field (for the moment, at least) are home security companies. The one you have now probably offers a smart-home package of some kind. If not, another security company will gladly rip out a competitor’s at no cost to secure your business.

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There are good deals out there right now, but those deals are likely to get even better as more players enter the game. In the near future, consumers considering smart-technology retrofits will most likely be choosing between their home-security company, their telephone company, their cable company or their Internet company. High-end audio/video installers will also be vying for a slice of the pie. Each will offer something enticing to get into your home. It is worth noting, however, that your existing security system won’t integrate easily into a smart-home makeover, unless your existing security company gets the job.

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PICTURE THIS…

You are away for a ski weekend and the mercury plummets…you get a text from your home that a pipe has cracked…the water to that part of that house is shut off…the heat near the pipe is turned up…you call a plumber to check the problem…using your smart phone, you let him into the house…you observe/record him as he works to repair the issue…you re-arm the security system after receiving a text that the plumber is done…you continue skiing…you return to a fully functioning plumbing system instead of a catastrophic flood.

Don’t Use Your Dog’s Name

What is the downside to all of this smart technology? Obviously, if you lose your connectivity, your home becomes dumb again in a hurry. A long-term power outage or Internet interruption means having to operate lights and appliances yourself until everything is up and running again. Every system is designed with manual overrides (and hopefully we can all remember how to operate a light switch), but there are some smart devices that become problematic during outages. After Hurricane Sandy, for example, some apartment dwellers with “smart” keyless locks felt pretty stupid when they couldn’t get into their units.

Perhaps the most significant potential negative in a world of smart homes is how incredibly dumb we are about passwords. Poor (or poorly protected) passwords in the hands of the wrong person could be catastrophic. Not only would clever criminals be able to disable your alarm system and open your front door, they could conceivably continue into your home computer and, through that, your work computer (Hello, Sony!). And because all of your devices will be part of a network, a smart lamp, smart dishwasher or smart garage door opener might be the softest point-of-entry for hackers.

Interestingly, in anticipation of this brave new world, Congress is working on a bill that would prevent manufacturers from selling you anything with a default password. In other words, before activating a product, you would be compelled to create a password. Currently, the percentage of people who never change the password from “password” or “12345678” is appallingly high.

If you are currently resistant to the whole idea of creating a smart home—either because of the aforementioned issues or simply on principle—be prepared to find yourself in the minority in a few years. It is easy enough to operate and cheap enough to afford right now, and the products will only get cheaper and more user-friendly. Soon, almost all quality appliances will be available with built-in wifi in order to integrate into a mesh network. And as your smart phone gets smarter, it will become the remote control you simply talk to and tell what to do.

Indeed, with each passing day, more and more people just like you will be walking through their front doors shouting, “Honey, I’m home…” only they’ll be talking to their house instead of their spouse!

You don’t need a Swiss bank account to afford a week on the French Riviera.

By Sarah Rossbach

The last time you walked the red carpet was at a wholesale flooring outlet. The closest you’ve gotten to royalty is eating chicken a la king. Okay, I get it. The jet set is not for you. The good news is that you can still vacation on the Cote d’Azur and live like a prince (or princess) on a pauper’s budget.

Yes, that Cote d’Azur: glamorous Eden, inspiration for impressionist painters and Jazz Age ex-pats, playground of European aristocrats and Hollywood celebrities, location of the Cannes Film Festival and Monaco Formula One Grand Prix race, harbors full of yachts, grand hotels and casinos—a dreamy Neverland of privilege, beauty and opulence. The fact is, you too can enjoy the good life…without laying out$750 per night for a room or $40 for breakfast. Indeed, for years I’ve been visiting this exclusive resort area on less than the cost of a Disney vacation (airfare not included).

My secret? For three decades, I—and now my family of four—have been enjoying a two-bedroom efficiency villa at the family-run Domaine de la Source, just 10 minutes north of the Menton beaches and a half-hour from Monaco for around $1,000 for a week in high season. Once an olive grove, Domaine de la Source offers twelve rental apartments and two pools. It’s hardly the region’s only bargain-priced accommodation, just the one we swear by. We make our own breakfast in the closet-sized but clean kitchen and venture out each day to explore this remarkable part of the Mediterranean coast.

On our most recent visit, we piled into our economy rental car and headed for Monaco, the small but densely populated city-state that for nearly a millennium has been ruled—on and off—by the Grimaldi family. The present ruler is Prince Albert II, son of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III. He runs the principality as a shrewd businessman, with shares in many local moneymaking concerns. At the Royal Palace, for about $12 you can saunter through ornate staterooms and galleries. Built in the 12th century as a Genoese fortress, at a strategic point high above the sea, the palace has been restored and added to over the centuries. In the square outside the structure, it’s fun to view the hourly changing of the guards, and within the palace courtyard, periodic summer concerts are held. I attended one a few years ago and Prince Albert II was seated just two rows in front of me. From there, we walked through the old town to the cathedral where Princess Grace was married and then visited the Oceanographic Museum and the botanical gardens, planted with over 1,000 species of succulent plants. At sea level, the marinas are filled with enormous yachts manned by uniformed deck hands. Up the hill are the casinos, five-star hotels and high-end shops.

Just west of Monaco, the gardens and museum at Villa Ephrussi Rothschild in Cap Ferrat are like a journey back to the Belle Epoque era. The villa was built in 1905 by the eccentric Mme. Beatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild of the famed banking family, who divorced M. Ephrussi—scion of Russian wheat merchants of The Hare with the Amber Eyes—before his gambling debts and ill-advised speculations could ruin her. The villa showcases her eclectic tastes, ranging from Meissen china and Aubusson carpets to genre art of Boucher and Fragonard to a collection of embroidered silk shoes for Chinese bound feet. Though childless, she treated her dogs, monkeys and mongoose as family, once throwing a lavish mock wedding for Diane and Major, her two poodles. The event featured printed invitations and hundreds of human and canine guests (all in formal attire), including a bulldog sporting a top hat. During the ceremony, the “bride” had a gold ring set in diamonds slipped onto her paw. Mme. Ephrussi de Rothschild was just as passionate about gardening. The grounds offer nine different restored gardens that overlook the Mediterranean and choreographed fountain displays. An audio guide is well worth the $20 fee.

There are a number of less quirky, smaller museums in the area that are both impressive and affordable: Musée Picasso ($10) is housed in an ancient chateau overlooking the sea in Antibes; Musee Bonnard ($8) in Le Cannet (a suburb of Cannes); Matisse Chapel ($8) in Vence; Fondation Maeght ($22) in St. Paul de Vence; and Musée Jean Cocteau ($9) in Menton. The Musée Matisse is situated in the hills above Nice, next to a Roman aqueduct, and just down the road is a peaceful cloister garden overlooking the port—all of which you can visit for free.

We especially enjoy touring the medieval hill towns, sited centuries ago high above the sea to protect the populace from pillaging Saracens. Eze, built above Cap Ferrat, is the most heavily trafficked by tourists. Its narrow lanes, which lead to a chateau, evoke life in the Middle Ages and the town has a stunning panoramic view of the Cote d’Azur. There is a two-Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Chevre d’Or, which is well worth the splurge for a meal (or maybe just a kir royale) near the top of Eze. The less-touristy hill towns of Roquebrune and Gorbio require stellar driving skills and steel nerves to negotiate the narrow roads and hairpin turns. The charming hill towns of Italy, near the French frontier, are also lovely and relatively tourist-free.

With its pleasant climate, the Cote d’Azur is a gardener’s Eden. You could spend days just visiting the renovated botanical gardens planted with exotic flowers, trees, shrubs and succulents. Gardens are in the height of full bloom in June. My favorite is Val Rahmeh ($10) in Menont (below). Lord Percy Radcliffe, a former Governor of Malta, created the terraced Botanical Gardens of the Val Rahmeh in 1905. In 1957, Miss May Sherwood Campbell acquired the property and merged it with a bridge to a second garden. The most striking element is a pond she installed with water hyacinths, water lilies, and papyrus. On the road from Menton to Gorbio and Domaine de la Source, Serre de la Madone ($12) is interesting and being refurbished. It’s a small garden designed by Lawrence Johnstone, an American who designed Hidcote Manor’s gardens in England.

Across the border from Menton, in Italy, is Hanbury Gardens (left), near Ventimiglia. Built in the 19th century by Lord Hanbury, a British diplomat—who like many travelers of that age gathered exotic flora from far flung lands of the former British Empire—created a landscape with Moorish and Oriental follies. The garden is quite vertical and dramatic, stretching down to the Mediterranean.

The food in the port towns along the Cote d’Azur does not require a second mortgage. There are any number of small restaurants offering thin-crust pizza, fresh salads, mussels, and pain bagnat (a Niçoise version of a tuna sandwich) for a reasonable price. Menton (right) is a lovely old port town with affordable shops and pizzerias and a large Beaux Art farmers’ market selling artisanal baguettes, cured meats and cheeses that are perfect for a beach picnic.

With the Euros we save on pauper-priced lodging, attractions and meals, we like to treat ourselves to at least one gourmet French meal fit for a prince or princess. There is a Michelin two-star restaurant right on the water and right on the Italy/France border called Mirazur. It’s worth every penny of the $100 per person (not including wine) price tag, and you will definitely need reservations. And of course, there are the grand hotel restaurants of Monaco—many on rooftops overlooking the water—which prepare true gastronomic adventures. They are delicious…mais tres cher!