ON TRYING IT

“Emanuel Ax, the great concert pianist, recalls the nervousness when his ensemble, which included cellist Yo-Yo Ma , proposed a new variation on an old piece to their partner, the esteemed violinist Isaac Stern.” Since Stern was 20 years older than they, and had probably played the composition h

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ON THE BAGEL

When I was a child, I would watch the Bronx, New York bagel guys prepare a three ounce bagel (unlike today's whopping seven ounce bagel) made entirely by hand, of high-gluten flour, water, yeast, salt and malt syrup mixed together in a hopper. The rollers would then shape two -inch strips of dough.

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