I never baked for Pesach. Frankly, the entire subject led me to despair. What can you possibly bake with matzo meal and/or potato starch that justifies the ingestion of hundreds of empty calories?Because of that, my standard Pesach desserts were strawberry fluff(two egg whites, one cup sugar, one bag frozen strawberries, process together and then … Continue reading
My mother always served Intagashlinganah Borsht at lunch on the second day of Pesach but I never knew why. It certainly wasn’t to please me. I mean which kid, especially a non Russian one likes borsht? Even my husband who is a blessedly non picky eater still complains about how his parents served it at his … Continue reading
Believe it or not, the Talmud says that that garlic is an aphrodisiac. Yes, that is a fact. Here’s a quote from the Babylonian Talmud (from Gil Marks‘s Encyclopedia of Jewish Food) “Five things were said of garlic. It satiates, it warms the body, it brightens one’s face, it increases semen and it kills intestinal … Continue reading
When I discovered that my formerly lovely red delicious apples were growing soft brown patches on their sides I knew it was time to perform cosmetic surgery. No I didn’t botox the fruit, I pared off the ugly patches, shredded the healthy flesh and gave my apples a new lease on life as apple muffins. My salvage operation … Continue reading
This past week I was in Osher Ad, one of Jerusalem’s amazingly named supermarkets, Osher Ad means endless bliss when I came across these.Yellow zukes. Arent they gorgeous? I knw they have them all the time in Fairway but here in Israel they are as exquisitely unusual as truffels or morrels. For some reason our … Continue reading
This goes around Haman’s head. I didn’t make this stuff up, honest injun. It’s an old Poylisher (Polish Jewish) tradition to fashion a long rope shaped Challah called a Koiletch to symbolize the rope that hung Haman and will please G-d hang round the neck of Mahmoud Ahamdinjead (Haman2) and all of our other enemies. … Continue reading
Clockwise Harp (as in David’s), Lion (of Judah) Fish (as in Mazal Dagim, Adar) Bear (as in Amalek and the Persian Empire) and Hamentasch
Ah the joys of being a culinary anthropologist. When I discovered that the Sephardim insert hard boiled eggs into a bread to represent Haman’s eyes, I had to try it. The custom is to gouge out the eye/eggs at the Seuda. And who says that being Jewish isn’t fun? If this doesn’t appeal to a … Continue reading
I nearly skipped HameI nearly skipped baking Hamentaschen making this year I just didn’t have the energy And making Hamentaschen is work. A lot of steps. First comes making a dough, then rolling it out, cutting it over and over and over again and then finally filling it, pinching it into triangles and watching it bake. That’s … Continue reading
Purim is one of the three kreplach holidays. The other two are Yom Kippur and Hoshana Rabba. That is because kreplach, with the meat hiding under a dough blanket is a hidden food as the Purim story, which took place over 11 years is a “hidden miracle.” Also the dough denotes Hashem‘s mercy while the … Continue reading
