As much as I detest the addiction metaphor , (chochoholic, fashion addict , etc) I can’t find a better way to describe my relationship to sourdough. I’m hooked! Sourdough also known as wild yeast, is of course a magical combination of flour, warm water and a bit of fermented dough . Until commercial yeast became … Continue reading
Here are some more challah shapes to try. Source Rabbi Dovid Meisels Shavuos Secrets.
I know that this is hard to believe but the Torah doesn’t anything about blintzes or cheesecake, or cheese kreplach or even sour cream for Shavuot. The only cooked food mentioned is bread, as in the Shnei Lehem, two loaves made from the wheat of the new crop and brought to the Temple along with the … Continue reading
Forget Zen koans, trips to the Dalai Lama, meditation retreats. You can find life’s secrets in a cheese blintz. Says the Rebbe Rav Naftoli of Ropschitz , the cheese (in Hebrew gevina) whose numerical value is 70 (gematriya) stands for the 70 paths to Torah wisdom which enlightens the soul of the Jew. The pancake wrapper is a … Continue reading
On the fifth day of Sivan there was a great commotion in the Heavens. Hashem was preparing to give the Torah to the Jews but the angels were unhappy. ‘We don’t want You to give the Torah to the Jewish people, ” the angels said. “We want to keep the Torah here in heaven for … Continue reading
Maybe blogging is making me crazy because last night I woke up after midnight worried that I’d left the sugar out of my cheesecake. With Ahmadijead wielding nukes, the US economy heading into freefall and Syria self destructing is this a reason to loose sleep? Instead of saying Tikun Hatzos, the prayer for the redemption … Continue reading
Growing up I thought I knew the scoop on L’ag B’Omer . The story I was told was about Rabbi Akiva’s students who disrespected one another and then died in a plague. On L’ag B’Omer (the 33rd day of the Omer count which spans from Passover until Shavuot) they stopped dying and we celebrate. Now that I lived in Israel … Continue reading
I don’t have an Aunt Lillian. My one and only aunt is called Ava . She sings, plays piano and tap dances but she doesn’t bake apple cakes.I love her anyway and I’m sure she’d love Aunt Lillian’s cake even as neither Aunt Ava or I have a clue as to who Aunt Lillian is .Well she’s someone’s Aunt and … Continue reading
As a kid growing up in New York, I admired magazine photographs of Ranch dressing. Maybe it was the color contrast, creamy white over dark green but those pictures always made me salivate. Sadly, I never tasted Ranch dressing because in those days it never seemed to be kosher. Then I moved to Israel where I lived in … Continue reading
