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
Yes, it is time to bake a challah in the shape of a key . This is the way I did it-play doh style but remember this is an Ashkenazi minhag, a custom, not a halacha so you have more wiggle room. Any key will do- a skeleton key, a house key, a safe deposit … 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
Lamed is for Lukshen When I was a kid I loved to peer longingly into the window of the now defunct Meal Mart kosher takeaway store on Broadway and 77th Street. There were all kinds of intriguing things: roasted chickens, potato kugels, chopped liver but what caught my eye was the savory salt and pepper … Continue reading
For the past few weeks, my youngest son has had a tummy ache of the mysterious kind. Knee jerk psychologists: this ailment is not psychosomatic. I know this kid. He isn’t being bullied or abused. This is physiological but as of today, medical science hasn’t reached the root of the trouble. The standard tests turned up nothing … Continue reading
It is mind-blowing to consider the ways that Torah teachings show up in Jewish cooking.This week is Shabbat Shira, when we read the Song of the Sea, Moses’s poetic prayer uttered after the sea split. This is one of the peak moments in Jewish history when, our people achieved a perfect faith and the simplest maid servant … Continue reading
Look at all those great greens! I don’t know which green eggs it was that Dr. Suess’s notoriously finicky Sam didn’t like, but I bet it wasn’t Kookoo Sabzi. Kookoo Sabzi is a very yummy and very healthy Iranian frittata like dish which happens to be green . If the name Kookoo Sabzi will inspire … Continue reading
When I sat down to write about stuffed cabbage I imagined the paean I’d compose to this East European Jewish classic. First I would explain the deep mystical meaning behind this delicacy alternatively known as holopches, galupches, tutued kaposta or kruv memuleh depending on where in the Ashkenazi Jewish world one traces one’s roots. After … Continue reading
This job takes under five minutes to complete This will eventually morph into farfel! Forget the Siberian Tiger and the Mountain Gorilla! There’s something far important that may be vanishing from the planet—farfel.. The once ubiquitous gravel shaped noodle known as the Ba’al Shem Tov’s tzimmes is almost nearly extinct, replaced on our Shabbos and Yuntif … Continue reading
