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PAGE B14 - FEBRUARY 16, 2017 - RANCHO SANTA FE REVIEW
San Dieguito Academy alum puts on play to benefit school BY BRITTANY WOOLSEY Paul Coates is a firm believer that the theater program at San Dieguito High School Academy shaped his life. After all, the 1976 graduate of the school has held various careers in the entertainment industry, including talent managing, agent work and roles in television production. “Sometimes the drama department is kind of meant, not for the misfits, but the people who don’t really fit in in other places,” he said. “Those people wind up being more successful than anybody else.” Now, the 58-year-old Los Angeles man is giving back to the high school program he remembers dearly by putting on a series of self-written plays to benefit the theater. The casts of the plays, which were first put on a few years ago by Coates, are primarily made up of alumni and current San Dieguito students. “I started this tradition of trying to cast these shows with as many alumni and current students as possible so that you could see it and get a sense of how this theater department has been around for decades and continues to be, if we help,” Coates said. Coates will present the second installation in the "Living Plays" series, called "The Middle of It" on Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the Clayton E. Liggett
Theater, which was named for his drama teacher in high school. “The End of It,” the first production in the series, was shown four years ago. Coates plans to premiere “The Paul Coates Beginning of It” next year. The three-part series follows a couple’s progress from falling in love to building families to divorce, in reverse order. “The Middle of It” covers the time between blissful new beginnings of relationships and sad endings. Jewels Weinberg, 19, a 2016 San Dieguito graduate who has been cast in “The Middle of It,” said he decided to participate in the play to help the school. “When I first read the play, I immediately fell in love with it and was so excited for the opportunity to perform with so many talented alumni and others from SDA,” said the actor who performed as the leading role in a school production of Hamlet last year. “Working with the
SEE SDA ALUM, B20
Award-winning journalist Susan Taylor presents ‘Do Pigs Fly?’ at RSF Women’s Fund meeting Feb. 28 On Feb. 28, the Rancho Santa Fe Women’s Fund will host its February General Meeting and Site Visit Signup at the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the 1929 Room. The event will feature Susan Taylor, a former NBC San Diego news anchor for 15 years who now represents Scripps Health as Executive Director of External Affairs. Taylor will discuss her career in broadcasting, how she got started, what she has learned from the industry, how her career choice affected her life, and her personal journey through the stories that she was involved with during her broadcast career. She has covered wars, terrorism, bombings, and interviewed Prime Ministers and Nobel Peace prize winners, receiving Emmys and other broadcasting accolades for her work. She will explain how she came to change her career. The main topic of her speech “Do Pig’s Fly” also integrates her father and her son into her story. Taylor will make you laugh and cry all at the same time. A New England native, Taylor earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting and film from Boston University. She began her broadcast career in Boston as a writer and associate producer. Prior to San Diego, she worked for television stations throughout the country. She has covered the O.J. Simpson trial, the downfall
of Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, the Super Bowl riots in Miami, the Northridge earthquake and the San Diego wildfires of 2003 and 2007. In her current role at Scripps Health, Taylor educates a variety of audiences Susan Taylor about significant changes underway in healthcare both locally and nationally and is a strong proponent for prevention and wellness. Fee for this meeting is $15 per person. Registration link is available at www.rsfwomensfund.org. Coffee and Socializing begins at 9 a.m. Guests are always welcome at RSFWF events. This event is open to women in the community who have an interest in learning about The Rancho Santa Fe Women’s Fund. Founded in 2004, this nonprofit philanthropic organization of dynamic, charitable women have pooled their resources to make an impact on the lives of those in need in the San Diego community. To date, the group has granted over $3 million to local nonprofit organizations.
The Kitchen Shrink’s Vegetarian Copycat Cobb Salad
Plant-based pastrami, anyone?
W
hen my Ottawan cousin recently visited San Diego for a few days of paradise and an escape from her Arctic winter peeked into my refrigerator, her jaw hung open. What happened to her carnivorous cuz, the charcuterie queen? Growing up on the East Coast, we practically sucked in cured, salted and smoked meats intravenesouly, everything from spicy pastrami, marbleized corned beef and pickled tongue to bratwursts and sausages of all manners. Instead, my clean, green fridge was now filled exclusively with organics, including plant-based meats and cheeses, probiotic pickled delights and meatless pates galore. Maybe some of these healthier vegan charcuterie (cured meats — i.e. cold cuts) offerings will convert a few fellow diehard carnivores too.
Mock meats
For those with delicate palates, tofu — also known as bean curd — has been a staple of Asian diets for centuries. These solid white blocks of compressed, coagulated soy curds come in soft, firm and extra firm textures, all having the chameleon qualities of adapting to an array of sweet or savory dishes with a fairly neutral flavor profile. Having a mother
lode of bone-boosting calcium, protein, blood-enriching iron and magnesium, tofu makes a healthy meat alternative whether blended in soups or sauces, tossed in stir-fries, salads, egg scrambles, lasagnas, or as a pan-fried patty chowed down burger style. Tempeh is an ancient Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans and shaped in a densely-packed wedge. A gustatory sponge, this vegan protein with a rich store of calcium, essential minerals and stress-busting Bs seamlessly absorbs flavors, making it an ideal add-in for stews, curries and sauces. Tempeh’s firm texture and zesty flavor lend well to meat and fowl substitutions in chopped and Cobb salads, grilled sandwiches and kebobs. For those who don’t do soy, seitan — nicknamed “wheat meat” — is comprised of gluten, the protein found in wheat and other grains that gives it a chewy heartiness. Reminiscent of luncheon meat in texture, taste and appearance, seitan does a good Reuben, pastrami or other deli fake out sandwich. Other popular knockoff meat products like Tofurkey and vegan bacon called “facon,” usually blend tofu and seitan with smoky flavors to closely imitate the real McCoy.
■ Ingredients (Serves 4): • 1 head Romaine lettuce (cut into strips) • 1 head watercress, torn into bite-size pieces • 16 ounces organic tempeh, cut in slices or wedges • 1/4 pound cooked vegan bacon, crumbled (or turkey bacon if you must) • 1 vine-ripened tomato, diced • 1 avocado, diced • 3 hard-boiled eggs, sliced • 1/2 red onion, diced • 1/4 pound cashew or other non-dairy cheese, crumbled • 1/4 cup vinaigrette dressing ■ The dressing: 1/4 cup vinegar (champagne, red wine or balsamic), 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, 2 teaspoons spicy mustard ■ Method: Blend vinegar with mustard. Whisk in oil and seasonings. Toss with the lettuces and cheese. Place the mixture on a large platter. Decorate with the remaining ingredients making mounds or strips across the greens. Finally, coconut jerky from young coconut meat produces a chewy, zippy carnivororous alternative, especially for those with gluten or soy sensitivities.
In a pickle
When assembling a vegan charcuterie board, expand your sour dill pickle horizons with other crunchy and colorfully fermented foods. Load up on a variety of toothsome probiotics like a heap of fermented cabbage. Fresh refrigerated sauerkraut trumps jarred or canned with a bigger bang of friendly flora. For an Asian riff, try spicy kimchi, a Korean
staple of the fermented crucifer, one of the highest probiotic sources on the planet; also rife with Vitamins A to amp up ocular health, stress-balancing B and antioxidant C. Or simply pick a peck of pickled peppers, green tomatoes, cauliflower florets and baby carrots to add an oomph of healthy eye candy to your table. Now, you can veg out on this recipe for a meatless Cobb salad, feeling indulged without the guilt. — For additional plant-based charcuterie recipes, e-mail kitchenshrink@san.rr.com