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This is a month with the letter R in it but even if it weren’t, you could safely eat oysters (they are sold, in case you were wondering, at LaBonne’s market in Salisbury and probably at the fish truck in Sharon as well, but I can’t swear to it).
That old rule about eating oysters only in months with the letter R apparently had nothing to do with the oysters. It was instituted in the days before there was proper refrigeration. The non-R months are the ones when it’s hot and shellfish might spoil in the truck.
One thing you should remember, though, is that oysters suck in the water around them. It has been found in those hot R-containing months that oysters from the Gulf Coast have a high level of human pathogens in them.
In researching this story, I’ve been surprised by how many people go into raptures when you mention oysters. My father, for one, loves oysters, and a great treat for him would be to go to the Drake Hotel in Chicago, around the corner from his office, and enjoy a big platter of all sorts of ice cold shellfish, slathered in a horseradishy red sauce.
Certainly they are lovely creatures. If you have developed an appreciation for them (and if you are able to get nice, fresh ones), then apparently they are delicious as well. In some parts of the world, they used to be a staple food. Native Americans are said to have left mountains of shells behind. Nowadays, they’re a little too expensive to be treated as anything but, well, a special treat.
Valentine’s Day is approaching but that is not why this column is devoted to oysters this week. No one has definitively proved that oysters are an aphrodisiac, but then again that seems like a very hard quality to prove anyway. A team of American and Italian researchers, however, did study oysters to see if there was any scientific basis for their reputation. One thing they discovered is that oysters are unusually high in zinc, a mineral that helps create testosterone. Oysters apparently also have a rare amino acid that can give a boost to your sex hormones.
On another level, oysters are rich in selenium (a fairly hard mineral to find in foods), iron, calcium and vitamin A.
These health benefits could be offset by the fact that oysters can also make you quite sick, depending on their freshness and where they come from. One Web site notes that oysters are the most heavily regulated food in America, and that’s saying something. This is a country with strict ( if not always effective) health regulations.
As with any food that you eat raw, you’ll want to get your oysters from a source that you trust absolutely. And you will want to consume them on the day you buy them (not just because they’re safer but also because they’ll be tastier). Probably your best bet, if you’re an oyster novice, is to go to a reputable oyster bar such as the world famous one at Grand Central Terminal (where you can also order your oysters cooked in a stew or chowder).
If you want to take a stab at oysters here at home, think about cooking them. This recipe for fried oyster sandwiches is adapted from “The Martha Stewart Cookbook.�
Fried oyster sandwich
2 or 3 oysters, shucked; 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour for dredging;
1 egg, lightly beaten; 2 tablespoons cornmeal; canola oil for frying;
juice of half a lemon; sea salt and freshly cracked pepper; 1 tablespoon mayonnaise; 1 garlic clove;
two slices of a good artisanal bread such as Ecce Panis or Chabaso
To make garlic mayonnaise, you can roast a clove of garlic at about 350 degrees until it is meltingly soft; then mash it into your mayonnaise. You can also chop your clove, saute it in a little olive oil until soft and then mix with your mayo.
Set aside.
Heat the oil until very hot but not smoking. Meanwhile, dredge the oysters in flour, then dip them in the beaten egg, then dredge them through the cornmeal. Fry the oysters until they are golden brown, about three to four minutes. Drain on paper towels (if you want them to drain really well, put a page or two of folded newspaper under the paper towel).
Heat the bread slightly. Slather on your garlic mayonnaise. Add the oysters. In place of the mayonnaise, you can use a crushed avocado.
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Telecom Reg’s Best Kept On the Books
When Connecticut land-use commissions update their regulations, it seems like a no-brainer to jettison old telecommunications regulations adopted decades ago during a short-lived period when municipalities had authority to regulate second generation (2G) transmissions prior to the Connecticut Siting Council (CSC) being ordered by a state court in 2000 to regulate all cell tower infrastructure as “functionally equivalent” services.
It is far better to update those regs instead, especially for macro-towers given new technologies like small cells. Even though only ‘advisory’ to the CSC, the preferences of towns by law must be taken into consideration in CSC decision making. Detailed telecom regs – not just a general wish list -- are evidence that a town has put considerable thought into where they prefer such infrastructure be sited without prohibiting service that many – though not all – citizens want and that first responders rely on for public safety.
Such regs come in handy when egregious tower sites are proposed in sensitive areas, typically on private land. The regs are a town’s first line of defense, especially when cross referenced to plans of conservation and development, P&Z regulations, and wetlands setbacks. They identify how/where the town plans to intersect with the CSC process. They are also a roadmap for service providers regarding preferred sites and sometimes less neighborhood contention. In fact, to have no telecom regs can weaken a town’s rights to protect environmental, scenic, and historic assets, and serve up whole neighborhoods to unnecessary overlapping coverage and corporate overreach. Such regs are unique to every town and should not follow anyone else’s boiler plate, especially industry’s.
Connecticut is the only state that has a centralized siting entity for cell towers. The good news is that applicants must prove need for new tower sites in an evidentiary proceeding and any decisions have the weight of the state behind them. The bad news is that the CSC used to be far less industry-friendly and rote in their reviews, which now resemble a check list. There is an operative assumption at CSC that if an applicant wants a tower, they must need it, otherwise why spend significant money to run the approval gauntlet? This reflects a subtle shift over the years at CSC from sincere willingness to protect the environment toward minimal tweaking of bad applications with minor changes. The bottom line is that towns really cannot rely on the CSC to do all the work for them.
What CSC issues telecom providers is a “certificate of environmental compatibility” after an evidentiary proceeding (not unlike a court case) with intervenors, parties, expert witnesses, and the service provider’s technical pro’s sworn in and subject to cross examination. Service providers get to do the same with any opposition from intervenor/party participants – like towns and citizens -- and their experts. It’s an impressive process whose ultimate goal is the fine balancing between allowing adequate/reliable public services and protecting state ecology with minimal damage to scenic, historic, and recreational values. They unfortunately often fall short of their mandate – like approving cell towers with diesel generators over town aquifers -- evidenced by CSC only rejecting about five cell towers in the past 15-20 years.
The CSC was founded in 1972 and clarified its mission in the 1980’s to prevent the state from being carved up willy-nilly by gas pipelines, high tension corridors, and broadcast towers. With the sudden proliferation of cell towers beginning in late 1990’s, it became the most sued agency in Connecticut by both an arrogant upstart industry if applications were denied and by towns/citizens when bad sites were forced on them. CSC gradually formed a defensive posture that drives their decisions toward industry with deeper pockets and attorneys on retainer.
For citizens, nothing can wreck one’s day like the CSC. It behooves towns to protect what little toolkit they have, and understand the legal parameters of the CSC’s playing field. The CSC is not a “normal” government agency where municipal/citizen redress is based on logic and local support. Their process is largely immune to everything but specific kinds of evidence – like town regs with setbacks/fall zones, radio frequency transmission signal strengths, sensitive areas identified, and detailed wildlife inventory, among others.
There is a current cell tower fight involving two intervening towns -- Washington and Warren; both with good cell tower regs – over a tower site within 1200’ of a Montessori School, near Steep Rock’s nature preserves with comprehensive geology/wildlife databases that include endangered, threatened and special concern flora and fauna, on established federal/state migratory bird flyways, within throwing distance to a historic site capable of being listed on the Underground Railroad, and with an access road on a blind curve entering a state highway that will permanently damage wetlands, vernal pools, and core forests. There are well credentialed environmental experts, including Dr. Michael Klemens, former chair of Salisbury’s P&Z, as well as the former director of migratory bird management at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and an RF engineer testifying to alternative approaches, plus three attorneys representing intervenors. It is the most professional challenge I have seen at CSC since Falls Village successfully mounted one that protected Robbins Swamps several years ago.
The hearing is ongoing, with uncertain results. To see what it takes today to stop an inappropriate tower siting, see Docket #543 under “Pending Matters” at https://portal.ct.gov/csc before removing local cell tower regs – the lowest hanging fruit that any town can possess in case it’s needed.
B, Blake Levitt is the Communications Director at The Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Council. She writes about how technology affects biology.