Lun2hin'w ghIvwi and Other Tafes~ An s-eyView o4-Michigan 's Senator n ern s Food for Thought: A,',Culinary Ma by Lisa Bean Even after weeks of spring cleaning, U.S. Senator Carl Levin's office in Washington, D.C. looks more like the home of an overworked professor than a Congressional office. Piles of papers, books and unusual objects with long histories litter the desks, floor, chairs and every available crevice. Photos of Levin with interns and constituents, like family snapshots in a study, are displayed inconspicuously for those who are interested enough to examine them. They are not forced upon every visitor like the omnipotent portraits of Senators and Representatives that usually dominate their lobbies. I had interned for Levin a full week before I even noticed them. Most sections of the office are separated only by Less Nessman style invisible walls or eye level partitions, reflecting Levin's nothing-to-hide attitude - and limited office space. While C-SPAN reverberates throughout most Congressional offices, making one wonder if legislation occurs via television, in Levin's office one can also occasionally hear, "Come on down, you're the next contestant on The Price is Righ..." Levin's office manages to mix a bit of the "real" DOWNTOWN Close to campus $35/40 nightly 630 N. Main Street Ann Arbor (313)996-3130 world in with Washington surrealism. Consistent with Levin's respect for individuality, there were more than a few eccentric characters populating the office. It wasn't dominated by the upwardly mobile, faceless, white, Protestant males who tend to staff the Capitol buildings. Washington Radio and Press intern Shayn Furrow said that Levin's office had the largest concentration of minorities in high positions that she had seen anywhere on the Hill. While Levin is clearly the focus of the office, he is in many ways just another employee. "He's just a more-than-average citizen who does a good job," said intern Joel Davidson, who graduated from Michigan last year. "He's schlumpy," said LSA senior and intern Rachel Rubenfaer. In fact, Levin is dishevelled enough to prompt his office manager to chase after him, straightening his tie and reminding him to wear shoes. Feet propped on his desk and munching on Chips Ahoy during an intern luncheon, Levin described his approach to government: he does what he believes is best for Michigan. Don't like it? Don't reelect him. Simple. Constituents can write, call, wine and dine him, but they are not likely to change his voting. "He doesn't read a lot of constituent mail," said Davidson. Although there are quite a few people whose jobs consist entirely of handling the mail, Levin isn't one of them. He insists that letters be answered quickly and that a record be kept of all responses, but he doesn't seem to take much interest in their content. He said that although he enjoys his job in the Senate, he will not compromise his values to ensure reelection. "I'm happy in public office because I would be happy out of public office," he explained. After all, Levin's desire to effect social change was the key impetus to his political career. His ascent to the Senate was spurred more by the '67 Detroit riots and the Peace Corps losing his application than by childhood dreams of political fame. Levin was bom in Detroit on June 28, 1934. After earning degrees from Central High School, Swarthmore College and Harvard University Law School, he served as Michigan assistant attorney general and the first general counsel for the Michigan Civil Rights Commission before working for the Defender's Office in Detroit. In 1%9, he was elected to the Detroit City Council. He was reelected as president of the Council in 1973. In 1978, he was elected to United States Senate, and he has been there ever since. He married Barbara Halpern in 1%1, and they now have three daughters: Kate, Laura, and Erica. His brother Sander has served as representative for the Seventeenth CongressionaldDistrict since 1983. Levin's laid-back attitude is evident even in his language. When staffers or interns write for him, he frequently requires them to edit their wording to a childlike simplicity. He's a man who is proudly quoted as saying that a piece of legislation has more holes than Swiss cheese. While Levin generally seems like an amiable fellow, he's not a pushover. After attending a committee hearing at which the Senator was questioning a witness, We had the same conversa- tion dozens of times over the summer. One of us would be talking to someone, and mention that he was writing a food column for the Daily. The immediate response would be "Oh, so what restaurants are you going to write about?" or "Can you get me free food?" People are hung up on the idea that writing about food is limited to going to a restaurant and using as many big words as you can think of to describe the menu. But really, how many times can the Daily review a restaurant? There are only so many restau- rants in the area, and hearing 121 ARv DIeo(x, Andrew Levy " Daniel Poux 1 T DI " "1!- 'I 17- 'p the lunch menu at Markley, we're going to explore how students can eat cheaper and better lunches - and avoid the lines in the MUG - by brown bagging it. Look for other columns on Ann Arbor's best-kept food shopping secrets, high-energy snacks for your marathon study sessions, and how to stir-fry your way into the hearts of your housemates. Our column will clirxax with a campus-wide recipe contest, with a big, big prize for the most creative and palate- pleasing dishes. Stay tuned for details. Let's face it: college is a time to broaden your horizons. Students should be experimenting with all aspects of life. This experimenta- tion is not limited to the classroom or the campus; it carries over into the kitchen:as well. Ms Van Horne said it best: "Cooking is like love. It should be entered intowith abandon or not at all." Just because Mom or Dad never made food that way doesn't mean that it won't be good, or even great, Some of our best meals have been the product of one cup of desperation, and a heaping tablespoon of ingenuity. Oh, yeah, mil the me us th< kn an' nu yo' jot un cui prowess in the kitchen. Let's face it; the four food groups for college "Food is like love. It should be entered into with abandon, or not at all." -Harriet Van Home, Vogue, October 15, 1956 some of that knowledge on to you, the reader, in an interesting and easy-to-understand format. In three years of college life, he has discovered some techniques that, while they may not be employed in the kitchens of finer restau- rants, have worked quite well for him. We plan to pass on some of these secrets in the hopes that you may learn something as well, and pass these ideas along to others, to enhance our collective culinary consciousness. Andrew, on the other hand - well, let's just say he's not the portrait of physical fitness. He Michigan Senator Carl Levin: an eccentric but dedicated politician FILE PHOTO -1 OUR 18th YEAR! No tricks, No gimmicks. Just Quality Merchandice. Used CDs, Records & Cassettes bought & sold! 336 1/2 S. State St. " 761-86861 1721 Plymouth Rd., Ann Arbor, MI. 48105 NORTH CAMPUS PLAZA "For Your Parties, Special Occasions, or Lunch" 665-4430 Try Ann Arbor's Best Mediterranean Food " French Pastries " Fruit Tarts and Tortes " Birthday Cakes " Petits Fours and Assorted Cookies " Pies (Spinach, Meat, Cheese) " Petits Plains (Plain, Filled) $2.00 of Merchandise Free I with purchase of any Combo I L Expires 9/27/91 - l - "'" fi" m " " ' "' an intern decided that Levin has such light cafeteria requests - iceberg lettuce lightly sprinkled with sliced turkey and diet thousand island everyday at 11:45 a.m. - because he eats witnesses for breakfast. Despite his down-to-earth image, Levin maintains a politician's edge, that certain something like the makeup they wear on TV that signals they're just not 100 percent real. For instance, although he opposed the Persian Gulf War, Levin opened his remarks to Schwarzkopf at a post-war Senate committee hearing by congratulating him on a professional job. One has to wonder at Levin's parting gift ritual for staff members. He grabs the first book he sees on his shelf and inscribes it to that person. While wiping dust off the cover, discerning the title, and trying to remember the recipient's name, he offers the book as a gift to be cherished. One departing legislative assistant received a photo journal of every Chabad house in the United States, perfect for any coffee table. Regardless of Levin's own capacity for bullshit, he does not appreciate it in others. He was impressed more by an intern who spoke honestly of her uncertainty about future plans than one who, in sarcastic anticipation of a job offer, said that his short-term goal was to be a legislative correspondent position in Levin's office. Most members of Levin's staff speak highly of their boss. But interns, who have more room for honesty, sometimes provide another view. "We do things for him. We don't get paid. At least we should get a hello. He's a busy man, but he should know my name is Rachel," said Rubenfaer. Thinking he was passing through a room of visitors, Carl once inquired, "So, who do we have here?" "These are your interns," said Legislative Director Chuck Cutolo. Please turn to page 10 about Zingerman's "delectable deli fare" with "palatable pas- trami" served over "luscious lettuce" year after year becomes tiresome. Restaurants have been done. Over and over... and over. So, we vowed never to review restaurants. And why should we? When we decided to do a food column, we quickly realized there was so much more that could be contained under the nebulous banner of "food writing," and that those ambitious readers of the Daily that made it this far through the pages of Weekend deserve more. So we spent the summer talking with students, professional food writers, and each other, to come up with column ideas that touched on some issues relating to the one of the human body's most important necessities: food. If you think about it, there is nothing that human beings do more often throughout the day, and throughout their lives, than eat. And no matter what petty issues students concern them- selves with - statistics classes, sex, or the "No Guns, No Cops, No Code" movement - the phrase "Geez, I'm starving! What do I have in the fridge?" keeps popping into your heads. That's where we come in. Much of the "how-to-eat- healthy" hype is fine in theory, but strict dietary guidelines are virtually impossible to follow for students short on time, money and students can be neatly summa- rized as follows: fast, easy, cheap, and good. With that in mind, we can proceed. We are not going to waste your time with pompous preachings about the dangers of cholesterol, or waste precious column inches on cutesy recipes for peach cobbler. This is going to be a food column by college students, for college students. Each week we will try to deal with some pressing concerns about how to meet those four collegiate food groups, and give you some ideas for meals that are fast, easy, cheap and good - both good tasting and good for you. Dan was lucky enough to grow up in a household with 01 shares the problem that many of you deal with every day - how to cope with a world where medical research is making it less and less appealing to eat pizza for lunch and dinner, and cold pizza for breakfast. He has picked up some interesting ideas for how to eat the food you love, while trying to keep that cholesterol count below 200. We will share so of those with you as well. To many people, a refrigera- tor is a good place to keep beer cold. To others, especially those living in residence halls, a refrig- erator is a fleeting mlemory of a time when life was simpler and Mommy and Daddy paid the grocery bill. If you have a refrig- erator and use it for storing food, you can make great strides toward eating good, cheap, healthy food. Even in a residence hall. And that's not to say that you can't order out for food. But we'll attempt to clear up the difference between a large pizza with pepperoni and salami, and a turkey chipati. Instead of giving you an entree-by-entree description of and one package of ramen noodles. If you look at one of our recipes and realize a different or better way of doing it, or some Let's face it: college is a time to broaden your horizons. Students should be experimenting with all aspects of life. This experimentation is not limited to the classroom or the campus; it carries over into the kitchen as well. sub ex( kn exi we id< us on ou ou kn the M" of Bu go for *FAST *EASY *CHEAP Stir frying: basic techniques and a fem quick healthy meal that will impress ti love. Brown baggin' It beat the lunchPush The new four food groups: radicali about? Crunch time snacks: healthy altema all-nighters. Carbos versus caffeine. Fast food packaging: an In-depth ex local take out joints. Cut down on the meat, eat better a lasagna with no-cook noodles. Thanksgiving: how to throw the bloc friends. Recipes for the basics; stuffin pie and turkey in a bag. I *GOOD parents who knew enough about cooking and nutrition to provide him with great meals and a good understanding of how good foods can go together. We hope to pass / a' mac ' rte. September 13, 1991 WEEKEND Page 4 Page 9 WEEKEND Septem , 1 . 1 t ,,au r. _