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STAYING IN

By D Magazine |

GIZMO

Local inventor Morton Rachof-sky may well be remembered as Father Time for his brilliant innovation, the 25-hour clock. Sure, it sounds weird, but it’s based on scientific fact: studies show that the human body actually operates on a cir-cadian day of 25 hours, not 24. Wow. What a screw-up. We’d like to thank Mr. Rachofsky for fixing this major boo-boo-and not a century too soon. Call 1-800-637-8583 to order the 26-hour clock.

AIRBORNE

LISTENING Liza Richardson has been oneof Dallas radio’s best-kept secrets for the lastseveral years. But that’s about to change. Untila month ago she was keeper of the graveyardshift on KERA/90.1, feeding night owls asteady diet of eclectic music with aninternational beat. From midnight to 6 a.m.she serenaded her listeners with everythingfrom pop and classical to ethnic and folk. Herplay list and on-air ease attracted a loyalfollowing in spite of the late hours. In fact,during a recent membership drive, Liza pulledin a record $5,000 in pledges, a good sign onpublic radio where listeners vote yes with theircheckbooks. On May 1, however, Liza left herovernight shift to take over Chris Douridas’spopular 8 p.m. to midnight show on KERAafter he defected to the West Coast. Now herdays are back to normal for the first time intwo years. But, thank god, our nights arestill as interesting. -Anne Warren

A Soothing Sorbet

RECIPE Whether it’s used for entertaining poolside or just to savor as the mercury reaches 100-plus, the Raspberry Sorbet at Beau Nash is a true warm-weather necessity. Tart, cool, delicious, and easy to make, this summer soother will impress your friends and please your palate.



1 cup sugar

1 cup water

4 pints fresh raspberries



Boll sugar and water together for one minute. Cool. Set aside.

Puree raspberries in blender with cup of sugar/water mixture. Process approximately three minutes.

Remove from blender and mix with remaining sugar/water mixture and strain through fine strainer to remove seeds.

Process in ice cream freezer according to manufacturer’s instructions. Remove from machine and freeze for two hours prior to serving to obtain a semi-soft consistency.

Yield: 2 cups

Grape Expectations

SIPPIN’

The only commercial muscadine vineyard in Texas is owned and operated by Malcolm Davis (at left) and his brother Lane, good of boys from Emory, in Rains County. Their 12-acre vineyard, 12 miles southeast of Canton, is called the Chateau Texas Vineyard and produces 100 tons of muscadine grapes a year.

Their Chateau Texas wine, sold exclusively at Neiman Marcus NorthPark, has been a favorite of muscadine wine lovers for several years. Now the Davis brothers are offering Chateau Texas grape juice and marketing it in the same familiar Chateau Texas wine bottles.

The entire 2,000-case juice production comes from a spectacularly sweet grape called the Summit, which contains twice the sugar of ordinary table grapes. The Summit is a bit more troublesome than other grapes, he adds, since she is uniquely and profoundly female and requires “pollinators,” which means extra effort.

Each August at harvest time, the quarter-mile-long rows of vines bulge full and green with decorative interlacings of copiously appointed hanging ornaments. They stretch in linear precision toward the southeast like proud soldiers in full parade dress. Each of the 2,000 vines is irrigated with 25 gallons of water a day from the vineyard’s 650-foot-deep well.

Malcolm doesn’t mind the extra care. He’s a perfectionist anyway, a quality resulting from his mathematical training. He’s a robust and friendly computer expert whose North Dallas office is the center of his actuarial business. Along with the 1985 Chateau Texas silver medal, he has accumulated honor society plaques, Outstanding Young Man of the Year awards, and national backgammon championship trophies.

Chateau Texas juice is available atNeiman Marcus NorthPark, Tom Thumb,and Simon David. -Tom Dodge

SAFETY PINS

First we couldn’t even say the word in polite company and now we’re wearing them as jeweiry. Shoryl Gold hand-paints condom packages and turns them into pins in a variety of themes and motifs. For more info, write her at P.O. Box 167533, Irving, Texas, 75016.

VIDEOS



ROCK-UMENTARIES

Dinosaur rockers like McCartney, The John still stalk the earth, but you’ve got the lines, and the kids, and the noise. . .How about a nice video instead?

Don’t Look Back, D. A. Pennebaker’s 1967 quest for Bob Dylan, reminds us that the singer was always an opaque mystery. The wonder of the film is that it captures Dylan be-coming famous on a tour of England. Even his philosophical spats with reporters are fascinating, and the concert footage is of the highest quality.

Pennebaker’s Monterey Pop (1968) is a choppy mess redeemed only by touches of genius like Janis Joplin’s gut-wrenching rendering of “Ball and Chain” and the dreamy harmonies of Jefferson Airplane. You want diversity? Imagine concert today with blues, jazz, folk, and rock superstars on the same bill.

No Nukes (1980) brought together Bruce Springsteen, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Doobie Brothers, James Taylor, and others to rock against nuclear war. Standout moments: Taylor and then-wife Carly Simon’s exuberant “Mockingbird,” the Doobies’ “Takin’ It to the Streets,” and Springsteen’s “The River.”

Perhaps the best rockumentary ever is The Last Waltz (1978), capturing The Band’s final concert in 1976. It doesn’t hurt to have Martin Scorsese directing, and the backstage banter is fun, but the credit really goes to the players, including Van Morrison and Ronnie Hawkins.

-Chris Tucker

BOOKS



SUMMER READS

Summer should be looked at as a three-month moratorium highbrow, and the intellectually taxing. To me, warm weather calls for lighter, morestrenuous fare. So don’t feel guilty about being seen with a sleazy, erotic, slightly decadent, or socially unredeeming your arm. It’s just a90-day vacation fromreality. A few suggested summerreads:

Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls-an erotic and magical fantasy about a lonely housewife who has an affair with a six-foot-seven green lizard named Larry. (A personal favorite.)

An Woman by Oominick Dunne-a classic immorality play filled with the driven denizens of high society, and a murder thrown In for effect.

What Happened to Their Kids: Children of the Rich and famous, by Malcolm Forbes- this book will make you feel like a winner since most of these kids-who-had-every-thing are, you guessed It, losers.

When She Was Bad-The Story of Bess, Hortense, Sukhreet and Nancy by Shane Alexan der-poor Bess Myer-son-she fell in love with a married sewer contractor and, well, the rest is history. Alexander reconstructs

rocked New York. Deception by Philip Roth-a rather tawdry tale (autobiographical? only Roth knows for sure) of a married man in the grip of an affair(s). (Yes, there is who’s counting?)

-Anne Warren

The Faux Tan

D TAN TEST Let’s face it. The pursuit of a perfect tan is a dangerous pastime-unless you’re fond of that all-over lizard look. However, Sunbelt vanity being what it is, former sun worshipers will try all kinds of alternatives in search of a healthy, natural-looking glow. So we thought we’dconduct an informal tanning test of ourown, using five over-the-counter productsto determine which fake tan looked theleast Take. Our test subjects? Fiveunsuspecting, untanned employees. Beloware the results: -Lucie Nelka

New Fish In Town

FISH STORY New designer fish seem to come along faster than new boutique wines. Are they mutations caused by mysterious solar rays, or what? In any case, two of the newest seem to us the best, sweetest-tasting denizens of the deep yet.

Escolar is a strikingly white, firm-fleshed fish with the beautiful texture of tuna, but a rich flavor all its own. In fact, escolar are caught in nets designed for tuna-you may agree that in this case, the accidental byproduct tastes even better than the intended catch. It’s probably the only fish we know that tastes positively wonderful simply baked in its own juices. We’ve also successfully broiled moderately thick steaks of escolar; thinner slices, when sautéed in butter, resembled veal in taste and texture.

Fresh-water fish are extremely scarce in our fish markets. Aside from catfish, an occasional rainbow trout is usually the limit. Thank goodness, then, for the exotic-sounding new creature called the tilapia. Originally from African lakes, the tilapia has been domesticated and is now growing on farms here in Texas. It is sensational whether grilled or broiled or blackened. Mercifully for those who-like us-find fish hard to cook, both escolar and tilapia seem relatively immune to errors by the home chef. It’s probably their moist, firm flesh that provides the safety margin.

Escolar and tilapia are intermittentlyavailable at the Whole Foods Markets at2218 Greenville Ave. in Dallas and at Coitand Belt Line in Richardson. Tilapia maybe found regularly at Fishmonger’sSeafood Market, 1915 N. Central Expwy.,Piano. -W.L. Taitte

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