EL SEGUNDO HERALD January 20, 2022 Page 15
Michelle Keldorf from front page
relished her years as a student. “If I could be a
perennial student,” Keldorf said, “I would be.”
She finished her studies in North Carolina,
then took the big leap to relocate in California.
She had visited family in Northern California
and said she was “drawn to the West coast.”
She ended up in Hermosa Beach, scouting out
long-term employment opportunities. She took
a job in Seal Beach with the Olson Company,
where she worked as a director focusing on land
acquisitions and later as director of marketing.
After working for a couple of other companies,
she started the Marin Acquisitions firm,
an independent brokerage company, in 2016.
She saw opportunities in her field that she did
not think were being mined, so she decided
to strike out on her own, looking for “more
autonomy and freedom,” which also afforded
Keldorf the opportunity to collaborate with her
old employer, the Olson Company.
When she is not working, Keldorf finds the
time to participate on the Planning Commission
and the L.A. County Affordable Housing
Coordinating Committee, entities that allow
Keldorf to leverage her areas of expertise in
city planning.
Keldorf has always had an interest in giving
back to her community and felt that serving
on the Planning Commission was a perfect
outlet for her acquired skill set “to be part of
the fabric in this community.” Her duties on
the Commission include instructing city staff
on decisions pertaining to certain planning
applications, recommendations involving the
City’s General Plan, as well as work-related
to land subdivision, planning, and zoning.
Jay Hoeschler is also a member of the Planning
Commission. “What impresses me about
Michelle as a planning commissioner is that
she dives deep into understanding how each
land use topic affects all stakeholders—residents,
businesses, developers, and the City,” he
Michelle Keldorf. Photo courtesy of Michelle Keldorf.
emailed. “She researches way beyond what is
in the typical PC agenda and formulates smart
observations and questions that always make
for an excellent discussion on the dais. “From
her day job, she brings tremendous knowledge
of real estate development and particularly
Travel from page 2
restaurant spaghetti—this sauce won’t taste the
same to them. We don’t use the name here,
because in America, “Bolognese” has evolved
to mean just about any meat-tomato-based
sauce with “Italian” seasonings. Surprisingly
enough, this Tuscan sauce is the quickest and
simplest of our two favorites.
2 lbs. beef, 1 lb. pork, 1 lb. veal, separately
ground or (if you have the time) chopped.
Equal parts beef stock (1 can approx.), red
wine, and chopped fresh Roma tomatoes.
1 large onion, 1 bell pepper, 1 box mushrooms,
1 head (not a misprint!) garlic, all chopped.
Start the liquids and tomatoes in a large Le
Creuset with too much oregano, basil, bay
leaves, salt, sugar (a dash to mitigate acids),
and black pepper. This gives the sauce time
to start evaporating and thickening.
Chop, sauté (in olive oil), and add everything
else, one ingredient at a time. Cook until the
thickened sauce tastes right, at most an hour.
Add more herbs if needed. Top with Parmigiana
Reggiano (no substitute). Freeze in apportioned
baggies for future feasts.
The Neapolitan Sauce:
When you order any pasta al Sugo south
of Rome, you’ll be eating whatever the owner
feels like serving you. But usually, it will taste
something like this one. Americans will generally
recognize this sauce as something like the
version they’ve ordered in a better Italian or
Sicilian restaurant. Sicilian-Americans might
call it “gravy”.
True San Marzano tomatoes are grown only
on the ashy slopes of Mount Vesuvius and are
absolutely unique and non-negotiable. Beware
of “SM type” and other fakes. We buy the
whole ones and hand-squish them—yes, that
will freak out some people, but it ensures
actual pieces of tomato in the sauce. 2-3 large
cans, along with 1 small can of tomato paste.
Equal parts red wine and beef stock (1 can),
plus 4 anchovies.
1 onion, 1 bell pepper, 1 box mushrooms,
1 head of garlic.
1-2 lbs. top round or chuck steak, hand
chopped.
6 hot/sweet Italian sausages, sauteed or grilled
(but not pricked), and sliced on the thin side.
Parmigiana Reggiano (no substitute).
As with our Tuscan sauce, start the liquids
and tomatoes in a large Le Creuset with too
much basil, bay leaves, salt, sugar (a dash to
mitigate acids), and black pepper. This gives the
sauce time to start evaporating and thickening.
Meantime, chop, sauté, and add everything else,
one ingredient at a time. Add more herbs as
needed, but hold the oregano, or else the true
Sicilians will come looking for you.
Le Creuset loves to burn tomato paste, so
your options are medium heat, constantly
watching for 2 hours, or low heat forever. We
sometimes make the sauce at night, cooking
on low heat for 3 hours, then leave it on the
stove and cook the next AM for another hour.
A spoon should stand up in it.
On Oils:
Never use any oil except olive, preferably
Italian, and too expensive. If you can’t taste
the difference, you’re not using enough of it.
On Pastas:
Don’t waste a good sauce on cheap or fast
pasta. The quicker it cooks (anything less
than 10 minutes), the lower the quality (if
any) of durum wheat semolina. Check the
package. In the USA, we only buy the Italian
product Rustichella ‘d Abruzzo (on Amazon
as a last resort). Here too, if you can’t taste
the difference, you might want to cut back
on the sauce.
On Preparation:
It might sound obvious, but the main
ingredient in any pasta dish is the pasta.
The sauce is meant to flavor, not drown
it. That’s the reason we never, ever
skimp on pasta (but don’t necessarily
mind repeating ourselves). We rarely use
more than a cup or two of sauce and pre-mix
it with the pasta on the stove, then give it a
minute for absorption. If the restaurant’s sauce
splatters all over your pristine white blouse,
they’re disguising cheap ingredients.
You can’t add too much grated cheese.
Seriously. There has to be a law somewhere.
Spaghetti is twirled on the fork in the base
of your plate. In Italy, if the server offers you
a spoon, it’s because they expect Americans
to ask for one. If you’re older than ten years
and chop your spaghetti, we might have to
disown you. Your Italian friends certainly will.
And BTW…
You might have noticed that we play rather
fast and loose with quantities of ingredients.
This isn’t out of laziness. Any Italian dish
has to be cooked to your (not our) taste
and adjusted on the fly to suit your whim.
Sometimes it all works beautifully, sometimes
not so much. And that’s what makes Italian
cooking such a fascinating ride.
Next up: The Thing About Bruxelles.
Ben & Glinda Shipley, published writers
and photographers, share their expertise and
experience of their many world travels. If
you have any questions or interest in a particular
subject, please email them at web@
heraldpublications.com. •
A table and a bottle of Chianti on a summer afternoon in Fiesole above Florence. A grumpy Mount Vesuvius at sunset from downtown Naples.
Tuscan sauce over fresh cheese and spinach tortellini. Neapolitan sauce over #12 spaghetti.
residential and affordable housing issues. That
is so timely right now in our town, and I really
appreciate the insight.”
Keldorf said that she “couldn’t imagine a
better place to raise a family” than El Segundo.
She is raising three sons with her husband,
Chris; all the boys attend ESUSD schools. She
likes to “walk miles around the town,” seizing
a coffee and traversing west to see the waves
crash on the beach, as well as chauffeuring
her children to their extra-curricular events
and building relationships with locals. “I feel
incredibly blessed to have a great network of
friends,” she said.
Keldorf sees the future of El Segundo to be
unlimited and is planning to be a part of that
future. “When much is given,” she said, “much
is expected. We all have an obligation to make
this place the best that we possibly can.”
And Keldorf continues to do more than her
part in that regard. •