Offal is the British name for animal gut, what we Americans euphemistically call or organ or ”variety meats.’ I prefer the British term because it sounds like “awful” which is the opinion most people have of this type of food. Because organ meats are high in fat and cholesterol lots of people won’t touch 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
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
Like nearly everyone else in this country, my kids got the barbeque bug last night. Me, I was dog tired after standing on a nearly endless line at Osher Ad (remember endless bliss) supermarket… The truth is that the wait wasn’t really so bad. I struck up a conversation with a lovely woman from Samara, not Samarkand … Continue reading
Did you know that the Purim miracle really occured during Pesach? Well it did. Esther actually fasted on Pesach, which isn’t ordinarily permitted –we Jews don’t fast on festivals, but with Haman’s genocidal threat in the air the Rabbis allowed the fast.And it worked The nation united, Hashem heard our plea and Haman went to the … 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
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
When I was newly married my mother in law gave me with her tattered and yellowing copy of Evelyn Rose’s Complete International Jewish Cookbook. I suppose some brides would have been insulted at being given an old cookbook, but I was touched. I felt like my mother in law was passing Rose’s and her own cooking legacy onto … Continue reading
